Feb

Mr Lightfoot: How Andrew Skurka trekked Alaska

Mark Pawlak Category

Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, trekkingholidays Tags

Adventure Travel, Alaska, canoeing, Kayaking, National Geographic, Skiing, trekking, Trekking in Alaska, winter sports

When choosing a rucksack one observation will serve you well: ‘Buy a bigger rucksack and you’ll only take more gear’, something Andrew Skurka knows well.

Andrew is one of a generation of trekkers who travel on foot, travel light, and travel fast. So when it came to planning his epic circumnavigation of Alaska, every gram counted.

Alaska, for all its state parks and picnic places, is a testing place: tundra-carpeted plateaus, massive mountain ranges, and waterways and rivers flowing full with glacial water. And it’s cold, real cold. Temperatures tumble and islets freeze – as do fingertips…

Photo: Michael Christopher Brown/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Leaving Kotezebue, his aim was to be the first person to trek around Alaska, self propelled. The first section was on skis, and he unclipped to walk or canoe where the terrain demanded.

The distances he covered are vast, but still shorter than on earlier exploits – previous wanderings saw him complete 7,778 miles from the US Atlantic to Pacific coast!

Choosing to travel alone rarely leaves you alone – eventually, there’s always someone around to share the trials and trails. Still, on foot Alaska can seem boundless, so part of the test for Andrew was to remain motivated, focused and determined to see his journey through.

He prepared well –always vital no matter what adventure you are planning – taking first place in the 2009 Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic adventure race must have helped him, but clearly he wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact…

In one moment he ignored his map, preferring to follow caribou along a route they’d proved for hundreds of years, and it was here, tears flowing, that he found his place…

Andrew’s trekking around Alaska is covered in more detail in a National Geographic piece by Dan Koeppel.

For more images of this incredible journey, please look at the National Geographic photo gallery or look in the March 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine, on newsstands February 22.

About the author

Mark Pawlak wrote 194 articles on this blog.

Editor at Adventure Sports Holidays, Mark's love affair with travel and the challenges of adventure sports continues... "You could save all year for a two-week, all-inclusive, doss by the pool, booze and buffet binge. Or, with a little planning and some good equipment, get off your arse and plan an adventure!"

Simone February 18, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Wow that is an incredible and inspiring feat. Did he take the Kayak and skis with him the whole way?

I would love to do something like that but think I should start small…..
Luke February 18, 2011 at 5:33 pm
I love hearing about expeditions that are a first. You would think that in today’s day and age there is no where left to explore, no more ‘firsts’ to be achieved but there are plenty out there you just need to be imaginative and the adventure is there to be had. But coming up with the idea is one thing doing it is another.
Thomas March 16, 2011 at 1:09 pm
I like crazy people who decides to do incredible adventure. It makes me think about Sean Penn movie “into the wild”, where a young boy decides to leave his previous life to discover the world and goes to place where no one has ever been!

Mr Lightfoot: How Andrew Skurka trekked Alaska

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