Tag Archives: Alaska

Arctic Journey: From Greenland To Alaska

Two film crews explore the spectacular wilderness of the Arctic. The people who live there face dramatic changes.

Part two takes viewers from East Greenland to Alaska. The region around the North Pole is one of the greatest and least-known wildernesses in the world – and it’s rapidly changing due to global warming. 350 people, most of them Inuit, live in Ittoqqortoormiit in Greenland. The nearest settlement is on neighboring Iceland. Almost 800 kilometers of Arctic Ocean separate the two islands. The film team accompanies an Inuit family through Scoresby Sound, a fjord system on the eastern coast of Greenland.

They travel hundreds of kilometers in small boats through pack ice, passing icebergs as high as skyscrapers. On the way they meet whalers who are hunting for narwhals in summer. In this Inuit culture, narwhal skin and polar bear goulash have ensured survival for thousands of years. Greenpeace and WWF activists want to stop whaling and polar bear hunting – but this poses a threat to the indigenous way of life on Greenland.

On the expedition through the world’s largest fjord system, the team learns about the consequences of global warming: melting permafrost and a rapid increase in greenhouse gases. The changes are worrying. Some say they have brought benefits to the far north — the ice breaks up earlier and so too does the hunting season. However, the risks outweigh this benefit. The knowledge and way of life that have been passed down from generation to generation may soon be unsustainable.

Marine Wildlife: ‘Sea Otter Moms’ Doing Everything For Their Pups (Video)

Northern sea otter pups are raised exclusively by their moms–the fathers play no part. As a result, it falls on mothers to do it all: hunting, feeding, keeping the pups warm and protecting them from predators.

The northern sea otter subspecies (E. lutris kenyoni), is found in the Aleutian Islands, Southern Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington. Within Alaska, there are 3 stocks. The Southeast stock can be found in the coastal waters of Southeast Alaska.  The South central population spans from west of Glacier Bay to the eastern edge of Cook Inlet. The Southwest population stretches from the western edge of Cook Inlet out the Aleutian Islands.

Aerial Travel: ‘Alaska’ – USA’s Largest State (Video)

The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word “Aleyska,” meaning “great land.” Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest mountains in North America. Denali, at 20,310 feet, is the tallest mountain in North America. Alaska is big, has 586,412 square miles are bigger than Texas, California, and Montana combined.

Adventure Travel: Rafting 30-Miles In South Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Photographs and Text by Christopher Miller for The New York Times – October 19, 2020

As Bjorn and I push through thickets of devil’s club and trundle over chest-high nurse logs, the trees seem to grow before our eyes. The forest stands as a witness to the passage of time, and a nearby stream as a lifeline to the past.

The saplings at the confluence of the stream mark the present, while the giant spruce and hemlock at its source likely predate the European colonization of the Americas — so that the only humans who could have witnessed the birth of this stand of trees are the area’s Tlingit and Haida peoples.

It’s late April 2019, and my traveling companion, Bjorn Dihle, and I are on a four-day, 30-mile excursion through the heart of Prince of Wales Island along the Honker Divide Canoe Route, the island’s longest trail. We have forgone the canoes and opted for packrafts due to their size and weight; they’re easier to schlep over logs and across the many short portages.

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New Aerial Travel Videos: “Away” In The Western U.S. By Jason Hatfield (2020)

Filmed, Edited and Directed by: Jason Hatfiled

A film meant to transport you AWAY to the places you love or have yet to see. An aerial view of incredible landscapes through Colorado Wyoming Utah Arizona and Alaska.

Soundtrack: “Art of Silence” by Uniq

Website

Top New Adventure Films: “Paddling Tranquility” In Alaska Directed By Toby Harriman (2019)

Filmed, Edited and Directed by:  Toby Harriman

Paddling Tranquility Short Film Directed by Toby Harriman (2019)

Guide & Photographer: Jussi Ruottinen
Music by: Blake Ewing (“Epoch”) & Future of Forestry (“Light from Night”)

Paddling Tranquility Short Film Directed by Toby Harriman (2019)

Back in 2017, my buddy Kyle and I flew out to Inner Lake George, just next to Knik Glacier. We found an old canoe and Kyle paddled out through a freezing slushy layer of broken ice. It was incredible, beyond incredible. Check out that shot here to understand what I’m talking about. Ever since then, I have always wanted to keep exploring remote glacier areas and keep creating abstract, adventurous aerials and stories.

Paddling Tranquility Short Film Directed by Toby Harriman (2019)

Especially considering places and scenes like these won’t be around much longer the ways things are going. So after that first trip, I ended up getting a couple of inflatable paddleboards, thanks to my friends at Body Glove and had high hopes of flying them out to some cool places in the near future. But after a year of non-stop travel and putting things off, I finally got my ideas together, got my buddy Jussi onboard and we set off on some of the most epic adventures I have been a part of to date.

Paddling Tranquility Short Film Directed by Toby Harriman     (2019).JPG

Website: https://planetunicorn.com/