Into the Alaskan Wild

At Xtratuf, we sometimes use the phrase “Alaska Proven.” Just two words, but we feel there’s some power to that statement, because of all the states, Alaska is the one that throws down the toughest natural challenges. And in the process, it fosters bonds of community that we feel are exceptionally deep and strong.

Our boots entered the world of Alaska commercial fishing about half a century ago. We brought some heft to the situation—our triple-dipping technique, resistance to acids and chemicals, our slip-resistant outsole. But the fact that our work has endured and thrived in Alaska waters is the highest honor any company could receive. The work out there is demanding, the conditions sometimes intense, the stakes high for those who pursue the trade and the families and communities that depend on them. We are honored to be a part of it all.

Along the way, we’ve gotten to know Alaskans. Gotten to know their pride in their place, their work and the special culture that arises at the meeting point of those forces. Another thing we like to say is that a lot of folks arrive in Alaska as lone wolves, then become part of the pack. This is a land where people help each other out, united by the wonder and beauty of the North and the everyday endeavor of living, working and traveling here. Alaskans—there are not that many folks who can claim that mantle, but it’s the kind of group you want to belong to.

We hope the stories here cause ideas for an Alaska adventure to blossom like fireweed in the mountains. The places and people you’ll encounter here are just unlike others elsewhere. When you’re ready for the trip, we’ve got what you need.

SHOP ALASKA-PROVEN GEAR AT XTRATUF.COM

“I grew up in Eagle River, which is a small suburb outside of Anchorage. We grew up running on Mount Baldy and Mount Magnificent. I really understand that I’m not competing with my neighbors in Alaska. We’re successful because we’re working together. I talk about a fireweed, when it grows back after forest fires. A purple flower that grows back in the thousands and millions. One plant can produce 80,000 seeds. They paint the mountain purple—after it’s all burned, there’s this beautiful purple mountainside. It comes back in the spring after a fire, so it’s a turning point. I want that analogy to be my life.”

– Alev Kelter, U.S. women’s national rugby team

“I just got off of a 12-hour ferry ride last night, from Whittier to Cordova, which is where I live. You can’t drive in. It’s not connected to the road system. There used to be a train back in the day, but now you have to fly or take a ferry in. I’m an Alaska Native. Connection to the place is really important for my own core values and my partner’s core values. And so that’s why we’re making this place home. We’re building a community around that. We fish and we hunt. I grew up doing those things, so did my partner. We feed our two boys wild salmon that’s caught either by us or by our family. If you live here, you have that kind of connection with food—anything that comes from the land has a kind of reverence attached to it.”

– Nels Evangelista, photographer and filmmaker

“I could answer ‘why Alaska?’ with so many reasons. My father was a commercial salmon fisherman in southeast Alaska, so I grew up spending summers on his fishing boat. And I started working for him as a crew member full-time when I was 18 years old. And nine years ago my father passed away and I took over his fishing business. We operate in southeast Alaska, which is pretty much just a series of islands. We are most of the time fishing right off the shore, so either more inland around the town of Ketchikan and Petersburg, or more on the coast. When we’re doing that, home is on the boat. I also grew up skiing. When we were fishing in Alaska in the summers, I would spend every clear day staring at the big, gorgeous, snow-capped mountains—some of the biggest mountains I had ever seen. I dreamed of one day being able to ski on those mountains. As my professional ski career started to take off, I got the opportunity to do that. I fell in love with it, and have done a trip there every year.”

– McKenna Peterson, pro skier and commercial fishing captain

I ended up here filming documentary shows to release in Norway, where I’m from. What I found is that you can live more sustainably here, catching your own food, hunting and fishing. And that’s what I like.

The social pressure in Alaska is just more relaxed. I find it fascinating. There is just less of a sense of keeping up with the Joneses here.

In Alaska, the richest person around might drive the crappiest car.

The vastness of everything—the immense amount of nature. Wilderness you can go into and not see another person for months.

I haven’t bought meat or fish in five years. You can be completely self-reliant in terms of protein.

I’ve learned to be very creative in the kitchen. Because if I don’t shoot anything but a moose, then that’s what I’m going to eat for a whole year, until next hunting season.

In August and September, it’s well-known that people will be at work less. It’s hunting season. You see people out on their ATVs, in their trucks and with their trailers all over the state.”

Go buy the $15 permit to go dip-netting, and you can get 25 salmon. That equals a hundred salmon dinners.

I like to do a caribou hunt in April. And I usually make jerky out of that entire caribou, so I have dry jerky for the whole summer, for adventures.

I think black bear is my favorite game meat. If you get it at the right time, it’s really good eating.

June and July—that’s salmon and halibut season. I go to the ocean with friends who have boats, or I travel to certain rivers where the salmon are running.

IF YOU HAVEN’T been on a boat in Norway, you’re considered an odd person.

Here, when I go to the ocean, I know I’m there to fill up my freezers. We drink beer and have a good time, but we’re also aware that this is going to be dinner for the next six months.

Then comes berry-picking season. You’ll catch me dead before I buy berries at the store.

I GO FOR MOOSE. I try to do some sheep hunting, and then maybe a deer hunt if I have time. And then October, November, December, it’s like, go hibernate and eat your food.

I’LL RUN INTO old timers hunting in their jeans and their crappy backpack, and I just think, “Wow, I want to be like that guy.”

I ALSO HAVE a dog team. I have 17 of them. Naturally, their season is in the wintertime.

As long as you’re doing what you like and it feels fulfilling, finding the people and community is kind of seamless.

How we train depends on whether we’re doing an expedition that coming winter. If so, I’ll train them like I’d train myself for a race.

We put in the miles. Put in the heavy workloads. The feeding. Everything is basically customized to pull 800 pounds over four months in the bush. They’ve got to be ready for it.

In April, if I’m not out doing an expedition, I like to take them up to the North Slope and do one last hurrah. The snow is melting in the interior, but up north in the Arctic, it’s still perfectly winter season.

Trading favors, trading work. You don’t ever pass by a car that’s stopped on the side of the road.

The winter is very long. It gets dark. It gets cold. You help each other wherever the need is.