An interview with Dr. Mikhail Malakhov
KSKA: Thursday, July 20, at 2:00 p.m. The main guest for this show is one of the world’s greatest polar explorers. Dr. Mikhail Malakhov has skied to the North Pole 16 times, including an expedition in 1995 when he made it there and back unsupported. Malakhov is leading an expedition to retrace some of the greatest expeditions of Russian America, a project he has been working on since 2009. It’s a great year for it, as we mark the 150th anniversary of the Alaska Purchase, when Russia sold Alaska to the United States.
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The Alaska Range
KSKA: Thursday, Nov. 10, at 2:00 p.m. The Alaska Range is the most dramatic topographic feature in Alaska, and among the greatest in the world, with North America’s tallest peak. On the next show, we’ll be talking about the Alaska Range, and the effort to capture it in a new book. In the second half of the show we’ll have the treat of hearing from Art Davidson, a member of the first climb ever to summit Denali in the winter.
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Preparing for winter recreation
Winter has arrived in Alaska and it's time to play in the snow! On this Outdoor Explorer we'll
have Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News columnist and Rick Roth from Alaska Mountaineering
and Hiking answering questions about winter recreation.
The Olympics, athletes and their moms
KSKA: Thursday, Feb. 1, at 2:00 & 8:00 p.m. The winter Olympics are here, and Alaska is sending the most athletes ever. Half the nordic ski team is from Alaska, and six of those skiers are going with their siblings. We’ll talk with America’s top skiing siblings, Erik and Sadie Bjornsen, and their mom, Mary, and I’ll have Rosie Brennan and her mother, and Rose Mancari’s mother, too.
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A Denali Himalaya connection
Denali and the Himalaya have attracted mountaineers since the early 1900s. Many climbers, including Alaskans, got their start on Denali's bitterly cold and windy slopes, then moved on to the Himalaya. This show features Steve Mock with the Denali Rescue Volunteers, the Alex Lowe Foundation, and the Khumbu Climbing Center.
Revisiting Small Game Hunting
KSKA: Thursday, Dec. 4, at 2:00. Small game can be an entry for young people into hunting, but it’s also is a tradition for sportsmen going back centuries and shows up in classic literature from all over the world. On the next Outdoor Explorer, the topic is hunting upland game birds and small mammals.
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Citizen Ski Racing
Tour of Anchorage 2013 from ATMI on Vimeo.
You don't have to be an Olympian to participate in a Nordic ski race. Anchorage has races for the rest of us, where fast skiers can duel at the front while older and less competitive skiers push their personal limits. The Tour of Anchorage is the biggest race of the year, with up to 2,000 contestants covering up to 50 kilometers, but local volunteers organize many other cross-country ski races during the winter that are open to anyone willing to try. KSKA: Thursday 1/9 at 2:00 pm and 9:00 pm Listen Now
Teaching Kids How to Downhill Ski
Teaching your kids to ski is as much a lesson for you as it is for them - a lesson in patience. Don’t give up yet. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’ll share tips for helping your children become confident on skis and with other outdoor skills Alaskans need. We'll be joined by the experts, and by other parents listening and sharing their own stories and advice.
KSKA: Thursday 3/21 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm 
Olympic prep & a viral skating video
KSKA: Thursday, December 7, at 2:00 p.m. The winter Olympics are coming up. How will Alaska’s winter athletes get there? Who pays the bills for their elite athletics and world travel? We’ll talk with ski coach Erik Flora to learn more about how they manage all this. Also in the show, we’ll hear from a pair of skaters who made a spectacular viral video you may have seen, about backcountry ice skating. t's a packed show we're sure you'll enjoy.
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Youth Employment in Parks
Youth Employment in Parks offers Anchorage High Schoolers the opportunity to work on trails and parks in Anchorage. Host Paul Twardock visits a trail crew at University Lake to learn about the program
Backcountry Skiing
Backcountry skiing opens more of Alaska to access by muscles alone than any other sport, and can take you to the most awesome and fearsome spots, too, for self-reliant adventure. But it’s complicated. We’ll learn about the several kinds of backcountry skis and techniques -- telemark, randonee, touring -- what each is best for, and the most reasonable route to find your way into the sport.
KSKA: Thursday, 2/27 at 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
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Lee Bolling & Singletrack Advocates
Do you like mountain biking? If so, you’ll want to join Adam Varrier, your host for this Outdoor Explorer, where we’ll be speaking with the president of Singletrack Advocates, Lee Bolling. We’ll talk about all the best riding spots in town, and how they got to be there.
Surfing and hiking
When most of us think of the outdoor activities that Alaskans love, we tend to think of hiking, biking, skiing, and skating. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we talk about one not so common Alaskan outdoor activity, surfing - we talk about where to do it and how to get started as a beginner. We also talk about a more common outdoor activity, hiking, and how one woman prepared for her trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro by hiking in Southcentral Alaska.
Thanks for listening!
Erin McKittrick and her Cook Inlet trek
KSKA: Thursday, July 27, at 2:00p.m. The next Outdoor Explorer comes from a yurt in Seldovia, Alaska. We met with adventurer Erin McKittrick to talk about a journey she made with her young children, and husband Hig, around Cook Inlet on foot and by pack raft. It’s the region where we live, but can remain hidden from most of us, with 100s of miles of beaches that rarely have a human footprint. We’ll also learn how they raise their backwoods family in such a dynamic, yet modern Alaska.
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Non-profit bike programs
KSKA: Thursday, July 13, at 2:00 p.m.
On the next show we’re learning about a couple programs started by leaders in the cycling world to help young people become fit, confident cyclists. In the first half of the show, Lael Wilcox, an amazing athlete of world caliber, will be talking about her adventure with middle school girls. In the second half, we’ll learn about a new bike school, which aims to teach bike repair skills, and to turn underprivileged kids into bike riders and racers.
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The First People in what is now Chugach State Park
In this Outdoor Explorer, we will learn about the First People in what is now Chugach State Park. My guest will be Aaron Leggett, Senior Curator of Alaska History & Indigenous Culture at the Anchorage Museum and President of the Tribal Council of the Native Village of Eklutna.
100th Anniversary of Migratory Bird Treaty
KSKA: Thursday, May 12 @ 2:00 pm. On the next Outdoor Explorer we mark the 100th anniversary of the migratory bird treaty, a conservation landmark and learn how migrations come through our state and where and when you can enjoy them.
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Athletic Injury Prevention and Avoidance
This week we have an important show for anyone who exercises to keep fit. We're talking about injury prevention and recovery. You can avoid a lot of the injuries that come from overuse and excessive effort, and we’ll tell you how to speed your recovery if you do get hurt. As with so many things, a lot of it is mental.
KSKA: Thursday, March 31, at 2pm and Thursday, April 07 at 8pm
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Long-Range Snow Machine Expeditions
For the next Outdoor Explorer we’re in Fairbanks for a kind of adventure that is uniquely arctic and Fairbanks hard-core: long range expeditions by snow machine. We'll be joined by UAF scientist Matthew Sturm, whose studies of snow led to a career of traveling the breadth of North America on snowmachines with a team of very tough motorheads. We’ll learn about those trips, and how to prepare for motorized travel in some of the most remote spots on the globe.
KSKA: Thursday 12/55 and 2:00 and 9:00 pm.
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Sailing into retirement
What’s your retirement fantasy? How about sailing from Alaska to Mexico and exploring the warm waters there? On the next Outdoor Explorer, we'll feature a couple who did just that, sailed away the day after finishing work, and returned back into port in Alaska four years later. Along the way, they tested their boat and their marriage. And they came back with the stories and experiences of a lifetime. It's an inspiring tale you won't want to miss.
Thanks for listening!