Two things to say here:
1. Charlie Renfro @renfroski can make anyone look cool on skis, even an old hack like me. If you need a ski photographer, he’s an awesome guy!
2. I’ve been obsessed with powder skis for decades, through @blisterreview and @chugachpowderguides (now my 15th and 14th winter with them, respectively) and my perpetual chase for soft snow. I’ve given input on a few ski designs over the years and now I’m super excited to have had quite a bit of input into something totally new, hopefully coming to a big powder day near you later this season. Heritage Lab is doing a “Kickstarter” type project for what I think will be ideal for heli and cat skiing and the best days of the year under the lifts. I wrote a bit of a diatribe that got sent to the Heritage email list. Please take a look if you have a few minutes and love powder skis. This design is pretty locked in but I’d love to hear what people think of my ideas. And if you want a pair, order soon! If we get enough orders we may have them in hand later this winter. Btw, I get no financial kickback on this at all, just a passion project that I think could be pretty cool. Happy shredding all! Link in bio
Well, Ren, 6, kicked off the season pretty much doing what he did last April, and is obsessed with trying these on most runs now. Neve (18mo) in on the action too! Ren has 12 days at the hill and says he wants 100 this year. Kid skiing is the best skiing! (Despite the suboptimal start to winter)
Everyday Advocacy in Action: Alaska BHA Member Spotlight
Advocacy doesn’t just happen behind a podium or in the policy room — it lives in conversations, stories, and shared experiences in the field. Across Alaska, passionate members of our BHA community are finding creative ways to champion public lands and waters every day.
🗣️ Paul Forward, AK Chapter Board Member at Large @paulforward
Paul’s advocacy has primarily been in the form of going on Podcasts to discuss the issues as well as being an avid writer of letters both to lawmakers and influential members of the outdoor industry. Podcasts Paul has done in the past few months with a focus on public lands issues include: The Blister Podcast, The Outdoor Life Podcast, Journal of Mountain Hunting Beyond the Kill, and @alaskawildproject . He has also helped host some local events over the past year with the Alaska Chapter in southcentral. More than anything, sharing stories and a love of wild public lands in face to face interactions seems to help as much as anything. A year ago a short film was released on Youtube by Sitka about a hunt that Paul did on public land that also highlighted some important conservation issues.
👉 How do you advocate for Alaska’s wild places? Share your story in the comments!
#EverydayAdvocacy #AlaskaBHA #KeepItPublic #PublicLandOwner #ConservationCommunity #SitkaGear #PublicLands #HuntingIsConservation
After over 30 days of hunting in the arctic (my favorite place in the world) in August/September, it’s nice to come home and enjoy the Girdwood area! Ren and I did a quick float of Kenai after school last night and he caught this dolly totally by himself. The kid is really figuring it out and the fish are getting fat on the glut of eggs in the water!
We’ve also been enjoying some river time and the annual Forward family (Eagle River) apple harvest and cider making!
For those not in the area, the sockeye return this year in the Kenai is astounding. I’ve never seen anything like it in more than 30 years of fishing it. I was recently told by a well respected PhD fisheries biologist that this mega return (7-8% higher than historical averagea and 25% higher than the last 10 years) is thought to be a result of climate change. In simple terms, warmer lakes are producing larger fry/smolt with higher survivability. Unfortunately, in the long run, climate change is considered the most important and pervasive threat to future salmon runs in Alaska according to the most recent Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Report.
As far as lifetime memories go, I don't think it gets much better than this. I arrowed this bull at about 25yds with 6yo Ren right next to me. (after he spotted it before me, headed our way!) I don't think either of us will ever forget it. Then, on that beautiful arctic evening, Erin @erinleighak brought baby Neve (1yo) up to help cut and pack this bull 3 miles back to our camp. The next day we ate both tenderloins alongside some fresh caught arctic char under the late evening sun. I can’t really describe how good that all felt.
I was very fortunate to spend 21 dsys in my favorite part of the world and am still adjusting to being home. After 7 incredible days with the family, they flew home and I relocated to sheep country where I had 14 days of my usual stumbling around with my bow looking for an old ram. Lots more stories and pics to come.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention in every one of these posts that I can’t believe how fast the arctic is changing. Even in just the 5 years I’ve been walking around in this general area, the willows have gotten notably bigger, one of the creeks has turned orange and I found a milk white creek this year. Seeing my kids up here, I can’t help but wonder what this place will be like when they’re my age. #climatechange
The public land sell-off in the Big Beautiful Bill is a disaster and has rightly been getting a lot of attention—but it’s just the tip of the spear. Here are four more threats buried in the bill that deserve your attention and action:
📍 Ambler Road would carve a 200+ mile industrial scar through untouched wilderness, blocking caribou migration and crossing thousands of streams. It’s a private road for a foreign-owned mine—with zero public access. Follow @huntfishbrooksrange and @alaska_bha for the science, especially Jim Dau’s take.
⚡ IRA Rollbacks mean rural Alaska loses clean energy funding, locking communities into expensive diesel and accelerating climate change—one of the top threats to Arctic wildlife like caribou and fish that both locals and visiting hunters rely on.
⚠️ NEPA Weakening would fast-track destructive development in places like the Brooks Range and ANWR, cutting corners on environmental review and threatening sheep, caribou, and subsistence hunting for good.
🛢️ANWR faces renewed drilling threats. More noise, more fragmentation, more stress on one of the last intact ecosystems on Earth.
📞 Please call your senators today and tell them to oppose these provisions. These lands—and the species and people who depend on them—can’t afford to be collateral damage.
📷 Solo hunt in ANWR, 2024.
@backcountryhunters recognized two of my photos for their annual awards. These are special memories with good friends, which made the news pretty special. The first photo is the “grand prize” winner and will be a cover for the Backcountry Journal - the shot is of @paulforward soaking in the first snow of the year, on a windy alpine ridge. We were on day 6 of a 30 day archery sheep hunt in the Chugach that he let me tag along on.
The second shot is of my buddy @cyrwoody and a blacktail buck. We were slowly moving through a stand of old-growth river bottom in the Tongass. Woody had blown the call and we’d waited 15 minutes. We started slowly still hunting up an active deer trail. All of a sudden Woody froze as the buck materialized out of thin air, 10 yards in front of us. Woody didn’t even raise his gun. We just enjoyed the proximity for the next few minutes as the buck slowly circled around us and moved on. I love watching Woody let bucks pass and learning to see more deer during the rut.
There’s nothing like the friendships I’ve gotten to form with hunting partners. Grateful to all the friends I’ve gotten to share time in the woods and alpine with. Now is a good time to join groups like @backcountryhunters and fight for the right to pass these experiences onto the next generation.
Anchorage friends! Please come to @doubleshovelciderco tonight at 6pm for a presentation by Kyle Smith, Alaskan mountain goat biologist on mountain goat conservation and hunting. This event is supported by @goatalliance and @alaska_bha and there will be membership opportunities and door prizes from both including some nice @benchmade knives. I’m on the BOD for both of these orgs and they are both worth joining. There will even be a special cider release for this event, "Nanny Goat Nectar".
If you know me, you know that I’ve always loved mountain goats both as a hunter and just as someone who lives and plays among them in the Chugach. They are one of the most fascinating species on the planet and represent wild places like few other animals. Whether you hunt, ski, hike, photograph or just like knowing that goats are out there, please consider supporting mountain goat conservation efforts. In this new era of heightened conservation uncertainty, joining organizations like these is more important than ever.
Video is from a solo bowhunt a few years back. I had just arrowed a nice billy with my recurve when this entire herd streamed past me. This nanny was curious about me sitting quietly on a little perch mid-slope and spent almost 10 minutes checking me out from under 10 yards. Pretty magical!
If you're in Reno this week for @wildsheepfoundation Sheep Show and want to talk sheep conservation and bowhunting, look for me at the @sitkagear booth! Photo by @colin_arisman from the time we spent together in 2023 for @sitkagear "The Hard Way"
Please join me tonight 7pm MST with @goatalliance for a live online seminar on bowhunting for mountain goats and mountain goat conservation. Link at @goatalliance
