[bluesy guitar music] ♪ ♪ >> Heather: We are about to set out on a truly Alaskan road trip, and somewhere around here is the perfect piece of history to get us inspired.

Wow, look at this old thing.

We’re going to be traveling the same road that this car was originally brought to Alaska to take on.

The Valdez Trail, now known as the Richardson Highway, was an important route in the early 1900s, funneling adventurous prospectors in and out of interior Alaska, first by foot, then horse, then automobile.

So to give you some idea of how grueling the trail used to be, this car survived only two trips before it was permanently out of commission.

Today the Richardson Highway is still a main vein for interior Alaska, and it’s the focus of our spring adventure.

[upbeat instrumental music] ♪ ♪ Now, you can rent RVs in April if you act quickly enough, but for this trip we’ll be relying on a relic of our own, a 1982 Winnebago Brave.

Let’s hope this thing still has some life in her.

I got myself some driving glasses, ’82 Winnebago driving glasses.

Everybody loves Fairbanks this time of year.

It’s known for its beauty... break-up beauty.

Our trip starts in Fairbanks, the end of the Richardson highway.

We’ll head south to Valdez stopping in Delta Junction to try some local cuisine, the Black Rapids Roadhouse to get a history lesson, and continue on to Summit Lake, where we’ll experience the annual extreme sports adventure called Arctic Man, nestled deep in the Alaska Range.

From there we’ll continue south to Glenallen and on through the Chugach Mountains to Valdez, over 360 miles in all.

>> We believe in hormone-, steroid-free meat and meat with some flavor.

And so that’s what we’re here for, and that’s what we’re doing.

We’re very fortunate.

In Delta, we’ve got a yak farmer.

We’ve got an elk farmer.

And there’s a man over in Nenana that raises reindeer.

So there’s nice variety.

>> Heather: That’s a lot of meat.

Look at this stuff.

There’s yak snack sticks, summer sausage.

And they have elk.

They have the same thing, snack sticks, summer sausage, polish sausage, snack nuggets, elk kabob, elk gumbo.

I’m trying yak for the first time.

Perfect for a road trip.

I’ve been well-fed while I’m in Delta.

The early Valdez Trail was difficult, to say the least.

Miners began walking it in the early 1900s, and the first car made the trip in 1914.

The ruggedness of the trail was cushioned only by the steady stream of roadhouses that cropped up about every 20 miles or so.

That was the average daily travel distance back then.

Of the original roadhouses, only a handful still exist.

They were built for utility and shelter, and most have burned down or been left to deteriorate.

The Black Rapids Roadhouse was on its way to the same fate, but over the past few years a restoration effort has been under way.

So you’re either the smartest man alive or the craziest.

>> Or the craziest, yeah, and it’s still a toss-up.

You know, the old guys, they just sort of built it with whatever they had handy.

To recreate it takes a lot of money, so we’re going to be chipping away at it and adding to it.

>> Heather: So are you a history buff, Mike?

>> No, nope.

No, this place survived thanks to my wife.

I was ready with a bulldozer to take the whole thing down, and she convinced me that it was worth saving.

I didn’t believe it.

>> Heather: There are snowdrifts in here.

>> Now you are exploring at your own risk.

I just noticed that a beam I put up a couple of years ago is a little on the low side, but we’ll have to trust that that thing is going to hold itself.

>> Heather: Do you know much about the history?

What was this like when this was functioning as a roadhouse?

>> We’re slowly putting together the stories for it.

People stop by all the time and want to see where Frank Glaser-- matter of fact, my little boy, that’s what he calls this place.

It’s Frank’s place.

>> Heather: He does?

>> Uh-huh, because we told him all about Frank Glaser.

He came through in 1917, I think, and he was first a hunter for the road crew.

He’d hunt sheep, and you can still--there’s still lots of Dall sheep up here in these hills.

And he’d pack them down and feed the crew here.

Then he took over running this place for about ten years.

The thing that amazes me when I read the story is the distances those guys would cover by foot.

He would regularly hike to Fairbanks from here.

You know, I drive it, and it takes me three hours, and I think it’s a long drive.

And then I stop to think about this guy who used to follow caribou herds.

You know they would pack the snow for him, so he’d follow their tracks and not plunge through the snow and stuff.

So that stops me from complaining about the drive for about ten minutes.

In a sensitive way, we’d like to open up this kind of wilderness to kids, young and old alike, really to find out what it was like once to have to deal with the land instead of watch it on TV and what it’s like to go explore it.

This place is tough to live, and it’s tough to explore, but its rewards are commensurate.

I mean its amazing country.

And nobody-- It’s really not very well-known.

There’s a major highway through it, but all these little creeks and all these hills, they’re magical, but you got to earn that beauty, and that’s kind of what we want to show people here.

We figure there’s not going to be too many people who are going to be satisfied to sleep in this and eat sheep that we drag down from the hillside, so we figured we’d better make something a little more luxurious.

From the minute I got up here and started considering it, I knew there was no other place I could put the lodge, because you get up here, and it’s a different world; look.

It’s a great project, because we don’t have resources of energy here, and this is a severe environment, so we had to build it from the ground up as energy efficient as we could.

These walls are like 13 inches thick, I think.

There’s 8 inches of concrete, which is like heat sink for the heat from the building.

And there’s 2 1/2 inches of foam on both sides.

It was sort of out necessity that we make this thing a model, like a roadside model for how to conserve what resources you have, but it kind of fits with what we want to do down here.

I don’t want to disturb this place.

I mean, I try to design a building that fits in with the whole hillside, and I think that’s how we have to start approaching energy, here in Alaska and elsewhere too.

You know, we have to start trying to fit in instead of dominate the earth.

So that’s kind of how we would like this place to look and operate.

>> Heather: Beautiful.

>> Though I’ve got to do something about this ice.

I don’t think this is in the plans.

April is my favorite month down here.

March and April are amazing down here.

I mean, people don’t know that.

People are just waiting for break-up in Fairbanks, and they don’t realize unless they’re like cross country skiers or something, or snowmachiners, too, they do know that.

>> Heather: Yes, some of the snowmachiners know that.

[engine buzzing] [hard rock music] ♪ ♪ Arctic Man has been called Alaska’s Mardi Gras.

In its 20 years, it’s become an extreme sports spectacle, attracting thousands to the Hoodoo Mountains of the Alaska Range.

>> Okay, come on!

>> Heather: It’s part competition, part campground, and big part party.

If Alaska had a festival to honor the snowmachine, this would be it.

>> You’re firing, like, your brain is firing so quick when you’re going at those speeds.

First see it, decide what you’re going to do, and then react, and you’re going 80 miles an hour.

>> Heather: Sunny Prather helped pioneer the women’s snowboarding division.

>> We wrecked at 85 over the top.

>> Heather: How are you?

Did you get hurt?

>> I did, but I’m not going to tell you where.

>> Heather: Well, you don’t need stitches do you?

>> No, I don’t need stitches, and now I know I can wreck at 85.

>> Heather: Good to have that understanding before the race day.

>> Well, the course starts out at the top peak, known as the tit.

It’s a straight shot.

You try to grab as much speed as you can, then you drop into what’s known as the upper canyon.

If there’s lots of snow, it’s nice and smooth.

If there’s not very much snow, you’ve got to avoid a couple of boulders and a couple of pretty big ditches through here, which is called the hook-up, where the skier and snowmachine in tandem have to maneuver through the canyon to an uphill section where they have a radar called over the top.

>> He touched 80 right before he went that way.

>> The course record is about four, just over four minutes-- four minutes and seven seconds.

It’s a long ways.

>> Heather: That is a long way.

>> You plan for like eight months to show up to Arctic Man, have a blast with all your friends.

>> We drove down last night and came in about 9:00 or so and went riding.

It was pretty sweet.

>> If you get here early enough, and we got here Sunday night--no, sorry, Monday night.

You wait ’til dark, and then you just push it over when there’s nobody out and about, but the best place to put it is actually behind your motor home so no one else can see it.

>> Down comforter, full body pillow, it’s quite the set up.

I woke up sweating this morning.

>> That was dinner, but, yeah, it might be breakfast in the morning.

>> Heather: There’s good reason why they say this becomes the fourth largest town in Alaska for the week of Arctic Man.

[funky rock music] ♪ ♪ >> Watch the ladder and you’re head, because you’ll bump your head.

We’ve had 25 people in here partying at once, man, and it’s just, you know, nice and warm.

You know, we plug all the lights in.

Every year we’re doing something to make the bus better, you know.

Come on in.

Let me take you on a tour of the Arctic Man Ritz Hotel.

We’ve got 12 VIP beds, and we’ve got another sitting room back here.

This is kind of the private little compartment in the back, you know, where you can get away from what’s going on in front.

You can come back here and just kick back and rest.

We’ve got surround sound, and we rock.

>> Heather: I can’t believe they bring ice in all the way from Hawaii for this.

>> Hi, how are you doing?

>> Heather: Good.

Mmm!

Rainbow shave ice and proof that coffee carts exist everywhere.

>> Double red is your release gate, okay?

Got that?

The next gate there is blue, so what does that mean?

Do you both go through that?

No, it’s a DQ.

>> Heather: Okay, Howard, you’ve got snowmachines here pulling skiers at life-threatening speeds.

>> No, who told you that?

You must be dreaming.

>> Heather: No, but, seriously, how did you get started?

>> Oh, I was a skier when I was a kid and decided that skiing was more fun than snowmachining, and my brother would bring me up here skiing.

And I was sitting up here one night thinking this would be a heck of a race.

1986, first race, nine competitors, 90 people watching the race.

You know very, very low key.

You tapped him on the shoulder to go, and we hit a stopwatch, and down below we took two stopwatches, compared the time, broke the time out-- very, very low key.

It’s come a long way since then.

Women’s snowboarding is next, and there’s three of you.

You’re up in the order that we call your names out.

Number seven.

Sunny, where are you at?

You’re the last one, number six.

You defaulted.

>> Five’s my number, but we’re okay with six.

I always wish I could share the Arctic Man with my family, but I don’t believe anyone in my family has ever seen one extreme ski movie, like a whole movie even, you know?

So for me to try to explain to them what I do is very foreign.

I live almost this fast all the time.

A lot of my time--it’s my own.

I choose what I spend it on, but I don’t leave myself a lot of downtime.

We had our rope get caught in our track today, and my driver got a little bent, and I said, "You know, it’s perfect that it happened today.

Today doesn’t have to be our day.

Tomorrow has to be our day."

And I know it’s going to be.

It’s in the stars.

It’s in the numbers.

I can see it in my driver’s eyes.

Like since we met, neither of us has had any doubts about each other’s skills or abilities, and it’s panned out.

Every day, Toni has just been phenomenal.

>> Heather: We finally made it to race day.

We’re in racer alley, where riders are tuning up their sleds and getting ready to head up to the course.

Now, there are going to be thousands of people up there today so things should get interesting.

We’re about to head up there ourselves.

>> Some people just stay outside the spray, but I like to stay right in it.

>> Heather: This place is a zoo.

>> Whoo!

>> Yeah!

>> Five, four, three, two, one-- >> Heather: Sunny looked great coming through here.

I can’t wait to find her at the finish line.

Have you seen Sunny?

>> Yeah, she won for women snowboarders.

>> Number one, baby.

They got our time wrong.

It’s 5:15-- 5 minutes, 15 seconds.

>> This is the winner’s circle over here.

>> All right.

>> Heather: How you feeling?

>> Top of the world.

>> Heather: Are you tired?

>> No.

>> Heather: So long from Arctic Man.

We’ve taken a slight detour from the main highway, and while I am sure there are many fun things to do here, I heard about this new gallery that’s opening up, and they’re allowing me a sneak peek.

Oh, my goodness.

[eerie music] ♪ ♪ I’ve seen Dall sheep on the wall, but these are full, realistic scenes where wolves have taken down a caribou, and the bear has come and taken their kill from them.

[breathing heavily] From Glenallen, we’ll make the last leg to Valdez, passing through Thompson Pass in the Chugach Mountain Range.

Once a town built on mining, it’s now black gold that helps keeps Valdez alive.

It’s probably most known for the 1964 earthquake, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and its fabulous fishing, but in recent years it’s become a major hub for world-class winter sports.

Because the peaks that were once a threat to early travelers are now a major draw for outdoor adventurists.

[inhales deeply] I love the smell of the ocean.

It’s almost as nice as being on top of the mountains at Arctic Man.

It’s nicer, and I hope I’ll get a good night’s sleep.

It’s 7:30 in the morning on one of the busiest heli-skiing days of the year.

They’re going to get us up in a ’copter.

I’m excited, although they’re really busy, so we’re pretty much just lucky as can be to even get out there.

Apparently things change minute to minute around here.

I didn’t think I was going up.

Now they’re telling me, "Get your snowboard gear."

They’re going to put me on the mountain.

The light’s flat, so we’re going to stick to a pretty easy run.

I’m excited.

I had to borrow these goggles, and I have my favorite sporting socks on, so I feel set.

>> The front of the aircraft is where you want to be, so the pilot can see you, and you can see the aircraft and the pilot’s face.

Always approach the aircraft between 9 o’clock and 11 o’clock.

>> Heather: I might be in over my head, but I am not complaining.

Thank you; thank you.

>> The skiers weren’t too happy with the first runs, but, boy, we made up for it for last runs.

Now they’re afraid.

I think Heather’s cold.

>> Heather: Yeah.

We’re just climbing up a bit here.

We’re up where it’s nice and steep.

Out of this world-- I found myself in tears on that mountaintop.

I saw mountains as far as the eye could see--steep ones.

I was up on the top of that mountain thinking, "My mother doesn’t even know where I am right now."

Looks like I got my wish.

I met some local boys, and they’re going to take me out on the water.

Ohh, not bad.

>> Of course, as you know, this where the oil spill was in ‘89.

I was feeding otters when I was a little kid.

They had all the otters and animals, and they were using, I think, Joy or Dawn dish soap on them all.

The town doubled in size overnight.

There was a lot of people that came here, just rushed from Anchorage when there was an oil spill.

There was a lot of money to be made.

There was so many jobs and so many things going on, so many animals being saved-- little Valdez transformed.

Some people, actually, unfortunately, I think, call him Saint Hazelwood, because there’s a lot of spillionaires--is what we call them--people who made millions on the spill.

So the spillionaires all have their modular homes and trailers double deckered now.

>> There was a lot more abundance of wildlife, I mean, like a hundred fold from what there has been lately.

I am one of those displaced herring fisherman.

I used to fish commercially, so since there are no more herring to fish, since our season has not been open, I have been--gone to other modes of work running charters.

>> Heather: It’s a fitting end to a crazy trip.

I met a lot of people who embrace the same adventurous spirit as the pioneers who blazed the original Valdez Trail.

It’s going to be hard to top this one.

For more information on the places visited in this or other episodes of Anywhere, Alaska, as well as behind-the-scenes photos and additional travel options in the state, you can find us online at: