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Trail building and Olympic skiing with John Morton

Alaska Public Media | By Eric Bork
Published February 2, 2022 at 1:55 PM AKST
John Morton

The Winter Olympics begin this week in Beijing, China. To mark the occasion, this week’s guest on Outdoor Explorer will be biathlete, author, and former Alaskan John Morton, who’s participated in ten Olympics: two as an athlete, five more as a coach and team leader, one as Chief of Course for the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 and, finally, two more as a spectator. He’s got plenty of stories to tell from 50 years’ worth of Olympic experiences and his time stationed at Fort Richardson in the 1960s and ‘70’s in the Army Biathlon program. We’ll discuss changes to the Olympic Games over the years, friendships made across political borders, the art of building ski trails, the power of international competition to bring people together, and Morton’s newest book, “Celebrate Winter”.

HOST:  Adam Verrier

GUESTS:

  • John Morton, Olympian and author of "Celebrate Winter".

LINKS:

BROADCAST: Thursday, February 3rd, 2022. 10:00 am – 11:00 a.m. AKT

REPEAT BROADCAST:  Thursday, February 3rd 2022. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT

SUBSCRIBE: Receive  Outdoor Explorer automatically every week via:
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Eric Bork
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs. After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
See stories by Eric Bork