Forget Survivor Man.
Crisp mornings, hiking trails, horseback riding and fireside chats define classic outdoor adventuring. This May, UB's Outdoor Pursuits is offering their eighth annual "Alaskan Sampler," a trip that offers adventurous students, faculty and staff an opportunity to experience all the grandeur of the subarctic Alaskan tundra.
"Those who have gone on this trip come away with lifetime memories and newly-found friendships," said Russ Crispell, director of Outdoor Pursuits. "This kind of trip takes away the unknown and the worry, leaving only 16 hours a day of hiking, backpacking and photographing animals like moose, caribou, bears, wolves and eagles."
Since its inception, Outdoor Pursuits has traveled to Zoar Valley for whitewater rafting, the Adirondacks for a northeast backpacking trip and west to Arches National Park in Utah.
"Consistent with the explosion of growth in outdoor activities in the U.S., I have seen an outburst of interest here at UB in outdoor activities," Crispell said. "School is stressful and getting outdoors, taking a hike or paddle, serves as an important neutralizer of the stress from daily school life."
Hank Schmidt, a senior business management and technical theatre major, recently joined the campus group because he was interested in learning more about adventurous backpacking as well as the outdoors.
"I've actually never been backpacking per se, other than just short trips outside Letchworth [State Park]," Schmidt said. "But I was really interested in all the equipment needed and the knowledge needed to go on longer weekend or week-long camping trips."
For Schmidt, Alaska is of particular significance because of its widely renown wilderness and the challenges that it presents for rookie hikers.
"I never see myself planning any hiking or backpacking trip to Alaska as opposed to going somewhere else like Germany," Schmidt said. "I feel that getting a group of people interested and actually motivated and together enough to go to Alaska is pretty unique."
After arriving in Anchorage, one of the first sights on the agenda is Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America. From there, adventurers will hike, whitewater raft on the Nenana River, backpack in from the Denali Highway and trek on the Matanuska Glacier.
Josh Crispell, a staff member with Recreation and Intramural Services and Russ' son, has traveled to Alaska in the past with the group and considers the liberating quality of the wilderness to be an important factor of adventuring.
"It gives students the time to really think, instead of having to write giant essays and do projects and have to deal with clustered city life," Josh said. "It grants them freedom and a lot of people want, and need, freedom from Buffalo once in a while."
According to Russ Crispell, instead of worrying about adventure seeking, travelers should just bring their cameras and enjoy the gorgeous landscapes.
"I have been to Alaska more times than the fingers on my hand and it has been my hope to make an annual pilgrimage of sorts," Russ said. "The state of Alaska is unlike any other that we have and it's amazing and beautiful beyond words."
Outdoor Pursuits offers tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, snowshoes and camping stoves, all of which will be used for the upcoming expedition. The cost of the trip is $1000 dollars for each participant, excluding airfare to Anchorage.
This year's Alaskan Sampler takes place May 18 to 26. The registration deadline for the trip is April 15.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
