.:Bound by the Unknown:.: Alyeska

A little catching up to do:

The end of last week ended well considering how the beginning went. I was on-call all last week, until this morning. I got called out just once and that was for a story about three bears who were leaving the Alaska Wildlife Conservation for the Minneapolis Zoo. I ended up having to put the story together as a NatPack - a natural sound story. This is a story that is carried by subject interviews and the natural sound of the story; no reporter track. I'm not sure how much longer the video is going to be up on our website, but if you go to ktuu.com and look through the flash player on the home page, you'll see a story called "Portage Bears Migrate South". It's not the greatest by a far stretch, but at the very least it was really good practice for me having to think like a reporter and covering all the bases of a story by myself. It was a bit stressful considering the time constraints faced, but all in all I was able to get it to air; that's the most important thing.

This past weekend was a busy one. It was J-Week (Journalism Week) for the Alaska Press Club. Saturday was a day full of presenters and professional learning seminars. My day started with listening to Scott talk about Video Basics, then on to Mr. Boyd Huppert, a reporter at Kare11, and his presentation on Visual Storytelling. I've been to several presentations by Boyd over the past couple of years and every time I attend his sessions I learn something new. He is a wealth of knowledge with his craft and is tops in the country for his profession. Later on in the day I was able to sit in on a lighting presentation by Clark James Mishler, and yet another session hosted by Mr. Huppert. All in all, it was a superb day of learning and professional growth.

Sunday morning was a spillover of Saturday's events with yet another presentation by Boyd. This one focused on storytelling as a team. It was really good to see so many of my co-workers there, as there have been some issues recently with the reporter-photographer relationships at work. Boyd had great things to teach us about about the "marriage" and the "dancing" that is involved while reporters and photographers are out in the field. I took lots of notes!!

After the Sunday session, Scott, Boyd, one of my co-workers and myself went to Mount Alyeska. It was Boyd's first time to Alaska and Mount Alyeska was the point of destination to show him the magnificence that is the state. I wish that I had brought my still camera so that I could post some pictures here of that trip. The co-worker who joined us on the trip, and myself, are planning a return trip to the mountain to take some photographs and to enjoy the view again. It is absolutely stunning.

After spending a brief time on the top of the mountain, we met up with a couple of other co-workers and went to a restaurant called the Double Muskie. The food was really good, however pricey.

Moving on to stories that I've been planning on writing about for several weeks now but have been sidetracked for one reason or another...

Three weekends ago now one of my co-workers and I thought it would be a good idea to go skiing. It was only her second time going ever, and my first. We had a blast even though we didn't really know what we were doing. We took a lesson with Nurse Nancy and from then on out we just tore it up. We had such a good time!! We even talked about getting our own gear and trying to sneak in another day on the slopes before the mountain closed for the skiing season.

photo credit: L.T.

On a side note real quick, my good friend Justin suggested that I try an online photo album for all of the pictures that I take here. I've decided to go with Picasa. Instead of the long line of pictures that take up a lot of space here on my blog, you can click on these links to see my pictures. Please let me know if there are issues with the links or pictures.

Alyeska Trip 1

Based upon the success of the first trip of skiing on Mount Alyeska, we came up with the keen idea of making another trip. Let me just preface this with an "oh dear".

This trip involved the same co-worker as before (Lori) and myself, along with another co-worker whom had never been skiing before. Three of us total, with a combined skiing time of roughly 17 hours. Luckily for our co-worker who's first time it was, we were able to meet up with an acquaintance of Lori's: Tall Paul. Tall Paul has been skiing for over 30 years, and let me tell you, he was a HOOT. A real character. He was a lot of fun, and very helpful...for the most part... He joined us early in the day and was able to provide us some tips for further success on the mountain... After a couple of hours of warming up on the "easy" slopes of Chairs 3 and 7 on the mountain, we broke for lunch. During this time, Tall Paul was able to convince me that it would be a good idea to go to the top of the mountain for a trip down the "intermediate" slopes of Alyeska. Sure thing, I thought. Why not, I was having a blast and felt that no matter what the slope was, he wouldn't be putting us at risk, and I felt it would be a grand adventure for me to take advantage of... Lori, after some thought and reluctance, decided to join us. Our co-worker whom was trying to feel her feet again after being strapped in ski boots for the first time, decided against the idea of going out again. She had had enough for the day.

So off were Lori, Tall Paul and myself up the side of Mount Alyeska. To get to the very top, we had to take two chair lifts. The first chair dumps you off about 3/4 up the mountain and you ski down a little ways to reach the second chair that will take you to the very top. So as Lori, Tall Paul and I are slowing climbing along the mountain in the chair lift, Lori and I are realizing just how high we are. By the time we reach the end of that first lift, I'm intimidated by the view and the height. The vastness of the mountain is overwhelming!! Lori seemed to have chilled out a bit after the ride up, as I took her picture with Tall Paul and a beautiful view of Girdwood, the mountains and Cook Inlet at their backs. As I hand Lori her camera back and she turns around to take in the view....that did it. She froze and said I'm not going anywhere. I think it was her reaction to our location that calmed down my own nerves. From that point on what should have taken us, considering our skill level and the terrain of the mountain, roughly 35 minutes or so to get down the mountain....Lori had other plans. TWO hours later, the three of us rendez-vous'd at the bottom. It took us that long to get Lori down the mountain. Lori's trip down included skiing, walking, being dragged by her boot, being carried by Tall Paul, and finally, being picked up by the Medic Squad when she sat down and refused to get up, that there was just no way, no how, not that afternoon, not ever was she going down the mountain without the help of the Medics transporting her down in tow. Lori, I'm sorry I laughed, just as I'm sorry I'm laughing as I type this!! ...as for myself...after I relaxed from taking in the view and just how high, open and intimidating the mountain was, I was able to feel confident about getting to the bottom. My methods down the slope included skiing, tumbling, and sliding feet first on my belly. It was pretty freakin' hilarious - every time I landed hard, I laughed even harder! I even lost my skis twice! It was embarrassing, a challenge and a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again, and to do it better.