After losing a friend in a packrafting incident seven years ago, Luc was rattled to the core. It became a catalyst for a new chapter in his own packrafting journey, where he totally reassessed his own skillset and started learning more about safety. This led him to write The Packraft Handbook, which we focus on in this episode. Those of you who already have a copy of the book will enjoy the extra background on the book writing process and getting to know Luc on more of a personal level.

EPISODE LINKS:

Things to Luc at - Alaskan Adventure

Luc's Vimeo (lots of great videos!)

Luc's Instagram

Order The Packraft Handbook via Luc's website

The Packrafting Podcast on Instagram

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

Annie shares some of her most memorable packrafting and bikerafting adventures in Scotland and Greenland. We hear about her encounters with muskoxen, quick sand on a glacier-fed river, and dealing with a sinking raft. We also talk about the dynamic of doing trips with a romantic partner. 

EPISODE LINKS:

Annie's personal website

Annie's Instagram 'A girl outside'

Annie's You Tube

The Cairn Project (Annie's 'Dip a day' was in support of the Cairn Project)

The Bikeraft Guide (Four Corners Guides)

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

Forrest McCarthy blazed the way for modern-day packrafting in the lower 48 in the early 2000s.  Our conversation ranges from his early years of getting into adventure and his love of the desert lands in Southern Utah to a couple of his most memorable packrafting trips. He shares a scary moment on a solo trip in Patagonia, where he was separated from his packraft. He also talks about an upcoming research trip in the Brooks Range with Alaskan friend and legend, Roman Dial. We finish off discussing addiction to adventure and the important role the outdoors has played in Forrest’s own sobriety. 

Sarah lives in Alaska, where she finds joy in many outdoor activities, from wild ice skating to backcountry skiing and packrafting. She teaches mental-health informed online fitness programs for outdoors people. We go down many tangents in this episode, from the joys of bear encounters in the Brooks Range to some of her earlier packrafting mishaps. We talk about fear management in an outdoor setting, including her intentional approach to building confidence and nervous system capacity. She also openly talks about her challenges with fertility.

Links

Sarah Histand website (personal website and fitness training)

Sarah's Instagram 

Arctic Refuge blog

A free packraft warm-up workout video by Sarah

Packraft training tips from Sarah

About the Summer Strong fitness program

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

Jeffrey Creamer is a packrafter based in Colorado who loves designing creative whitewater expedition routes. His favourite trips combine hard whitewater with backcountry skiing or ski mountaineering, often in remote areas of the lower 48 where people don’t typically explore. In this episode we chat about many of his most memorable adventures, including a Bull Lake Creek trip and adapting the ‘Du’Mor’ packraft route to include several ski legs. We also talk about packrafting Upper Cherry Creek, a classic whitewater run in the Sierra Nevada. As a special bonus at the end of this episode I talk to Thor Tingey from Alpacka Raft. He shares a bit more about the history of design for their more technical boats and what’s so special about their new packraft, the Valkyrie.

Links:

• Jeff's Instagram
• Jeff's Youtube
• Packraft Perfection: Riding a Flash Flood through Utah's Paria Canyon
• Blog post - Middle Fork Kings River, Kings Canyon National Park in California.

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

In this episode we talk about Willem’s signature trip style, including how he plans his trips and what it is he enjoys most about multi-week adventures. We chat about some of his earlier trips in Scandinavia, Greenland, a packraft-assisted traverse of the South Island of New Zealand and a near-death experience during a four month traverse of Norway.

Willem’s written trip recounts and photographs have provided inspiration for people all over the world, with many packrafters following his routes. However, he has grappled with sharing online and in 2013 he stopped sharing GPS coordinates of his routes. We discuss some of the consequences of sharing detailed trip recounts, including environmental impacts in South Greenland and how the death of two Belgian packrafters last summer has impacted him.

In 2016 Willem was the recipient of the Golden Paddle Award from the American Packrafting Association.

Links

Willem's personal blog

Into the Arctic (Willem's outdoor tour business)

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

Sheri Tingey started working in design in the outdoor industry in Jackson Hole when she was a young adult. It wasn’t until she was in her mid-50s that she founded Alpacka Raft with her son, Thor. After almost two decades battling chronic fatigue, Sheri was ready to get her teeth stuck into a new project. With somewhat serendipitous timing, Thor asked her to build him a boat. And so the vision of Alpacka Raft was born. 

In this episode she shares some of the evolution of the outdoor gear industry in the USA, including the impact it had when companies went into mass production and manufacturing moved off-shore. She also talks about ‘Alaska Crazies’, the birth of modern-day packrafting in Alaska, and gives us an insight into the beginnings of a new sport and how the packrafting community has evolved over the past twenty years. The creators out there will also love her insight into her inspiration and design process.

Welcome to the second episode in the storytime series. These are off-the-cuff campfire style stories, narrated adventure recounts and essays. They’ll each be around ten to twenty minutes long and will be published every so often between regular episodes of the show.Check out:

Four Corners Guides & Scullbinder Ranch

Doom's Instagram 'Republic of Doom'

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

The tables are turned as Dulkara answers questions put to her by her mother, Janine Martig. Dulkara bought a packraft before she ever sat in one, at a time when they were little known in New Zealand. She already had a passion for outdoor adventures and remote journeys but packrafting made her view topo maps with fresh eyes.

In this episode, she shares the camaraderie and excitement of some of her trips, including a sweaty mission in the Kimberleys of Australia, a journey in the Fairweathes in SE Alaska and a recount of an evacuation from the Gates of the Arctic National Park. She also shares a little of her other passions and what drives her to encourage others to embrace the great outdoors. 

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

Welcome to the first episode in the storytime series. These will be off-the-cuff campfire style stories, narrated adventure recounts and essays. They’ll each be around ten to twenty minutes long and will be published every so often between regular episodes of the show.

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.

Avid ‘packraftineer’ Stanley Mulvany has spent decades exploring the rugged terrain of Fiordland and South Westland in New Zealand. Most of his routes have virtually no trails or human impact. He also completed a mostly solo traverse of NZ’s Southern Alps, in a few stages. He is a retired doctor, now 71 years old and is showing no signs of slowing down in the outdoors. For the last 9 years he has incorporated packrafting into his missions.

In this episode, Stanley talks about some of the trips he has undertaken, many of them with his longtime fellow adventurer Gavin. He also talks about his growing passion for writing about adventure and nature.

Check out Stanley's personal adventure blog.

Podcast sponsored by Alpacka Raft:

Alpacka Raft has been handcrafting packrafts for 20 years and has spearheaded packrafting into its modern, more accessible era. All of their boats are made-to-order, in Mancos, Colorado. Whether you’re looking for the perfect whitewater packraft, an ultra-light option for bikerafting or backpacking, or the ultimate do-everything backcountry adventure tool, Alpacka Raft has a packraft for you. Find out more at their website AlpackaRaft.com

Music: 

Original music by Evan Phillips, a musician from Anchorage, Alaska. He’s also the host and producer of The Firn Line, a podcast about the lives of mountain climbers.