Episode 22: Thom Andriesen; What Does A Small Town Owe Its Volunteers?

Episode 28: Tod Sebens; What If You Treated Your Life Like A List

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2560124/fan_mail/new] Something is off about a guy who can casually mention getting lifted by a humpback whale and then move right along to the next story. Tod Stevens has spent decades stacking real adventures the hard way, through mechanical skill, odd jobs, and a stubborn willingness to try things most of us only talk about. We sit down and follow the thread from growing up between Virginia and California to joining the US Army as a marine diesel mechanic, including the pride of helping train the first woman to become a senior marine diesel mechanic in his track. From there, the conversation veers into the kind of lived history you can’t fake: basic training incidents that still haunt him, a cross-country breakdown that turns into a lesson in human kindness, and a surprising stint promoting country music shows that puts him face-to-face with famous performers in unfiltered backstage moments. Then Alaska takes over with Talkeetna bush life, small-town stories, and a six-month sail around Mexico where boat repairs pay the bills. We also get into the Haines years: starting Denali Boatworks, directing community theater, upgrading DMX stage lighting at the Chilkat Center, and doing special effects work on the film White Fang before heading south again. Tod’s Antarctica seasons with the National Science Foundation bring the scale up to eleven, from McMurdo to remote camps, deep ice cores, and the weird reality of color deprivation. Along the way, we talk risk, recovery, shark conservation, solo bicycle travel, side-scan sonar and ROV work, whale disentanglement, and the wake-up call of surviving sepsis and double pneumonia. If you like Alaska stories, Antarctica jobs, whale watching, hands-on trades, and travel that doesn’t gloss over the danger, this one is for you. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share it with a friend who loves a good true story, and leave a review with the moment that surprised you most.

Episode 27: John Svenson; A Mountaineer Artist Explains How Adventure Becomes A Life In Art

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2560124/fan_mail/new] Denali is the easy part compared to the people. That’s one of the clearest lessons we pull from our conversation with John Svenson, a Haines, Alaska mountaineer and working artist whose life somehow spans Yosemite dirtbag years, Alaska state surveying by rope, high-altitude guiding, and a studio full of watercolor, fused glass, and beadwork. We talk in John’s Extreme Dreams Gallery as spring ramps up in Haines and the season starts to feel like controlled chaos.  John walks us through the long arc: growing up in Southern California, getting pulled north through Alaska Indian Arts, and finding mentors who taught him what real expedition travel looks like. From there we get into Denali guiding and the hidden job of leadership: team psychology, acclimatization, risk calls, and the moments when a guide has to protect the whole group from one person’s spiral. If you’re curious about Denali climbing, mountaineering training, or what guiding actually demands, this part is packed with real-world detail.  Then we shift into the art and the economics. John breaks down how an adventure life becomes subject matter, why galleries shape what artists can afford to make, and how glass art and watercolor each pull you in different directions. He also shares two deeply human threads: making memorial beads by fusing cremated remains into glass, and how surviving cancer reshaped his urgency around early screening and paying attention to timing. We wrap by talking about mentoring younger artists, what “mastery” really means, and why Haines still feels like one of the best places on earth to build a life.  If this conversation hits you, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves mountains or art, and leave us a review with your biggest takeaway.

Episode 26: Lee Heinmiller; A Lifelong Haines Local Explains How A Community Gets Built

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2560124/fan_mail/new] A town can start with a big dream, but it survives on unglamorous details: heat that actually works, water that keeps running, and neighbors who show up when the plan falls apart. We talk with lifelong Haines resident Lee Heimiller, president of the Port Chilkoot Corporation, about the unlikely chain of events that helped turn Fort Stewart from a postwar military site into the heart of Port Chilkoot. Lee shares the inside story of veterans trying to buy surplus equipment, the scramble to finance a fort purchase, and what it meant to build a community in Southeast Alaska when money was tight and winter was not forgiving. From there, the conversation opens up into a deep, practical history of Haines and Tlingit cultural work through Alaska Indian Arts and the Chilkat Dancers. We get into how scouting, statehood-era promotion, and federal manpower training programs helped launch artists and carvers, and why the value of a totem pole is measured in hours, risk, and responsibility as much as dollars. Lee also tells stories about shipping major carvings, projects that ended up across the country, and the way cultural pride grew when public performance was not always welcomed. We also take on the question people argue about the most: Fort Stewart’s barracks buildings. Lee breaks down why “save it” can mean $30–$40 million, how landmark rules shape what’s even allowed, and why a seasonal tourism economy makes big redevelopment plans so hard to sustain. If you care about Haines Alaska history, Fort Stewart, Port Chilkoot, Alaska Native art, and what preservation looks like when budgets get real, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves local history, and leave us a review telling us what part of Haines you want us to record next.

Episode 25: Sean Brownell; From Ski Bum To Heli Ski Pioneer In Southeast Alaska

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2560124/fan_mail/new] A fishing boat flips in the dark in a 60-mph blow, and a 23-year-old stays calm enough to get everyone into a life raft. That same steady nerve shows up again and again in our conversation with Sean “Sean Dog” Brownell, a longtime Haines resident and one of the old-guard voices in Alaska heli skiing. We go back to where his winter obsession starts, how the Juneau ski-bum years turn into early heli days, and why those rough beginnings eventually demand real avalanche education and professional guiding systems.  From there, the story widens into what it means to build a heli ski operation in Haines, Alaska over decades: weather windows, pricing by the run, loyal “core” clients, and the constant push and pull of permits, land ownership, and borough-managed maps. Sean talks candidly about competition between operators, how small boundary mistakes can change an entire run, and why he’d rather see a stable status quo than another round of high-drama rulemaking.  We also dig into Powdah Mountain, Sean’s DIY local ski hill built from a driveway, grooming, and a whole lot of sweat equity, plus the new Powdah Mountain Ski Club effort to get organized for insurance, fundraising, and grants. Add in homestead-scale gardens, cold-room food storage, and the “heli homestead” lifestyle, and you get a picture of adventure tourism that is grounded in community and day-to-day work, not just glossy footage.  If you care about backcountry skiing, heli skiing in Alaska, the economics of outdoor recreation, or how small towns manage big terrain, you’ll get plenty to chew on here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves the mountains, and leave us a review. What part of Sean Dog’s story hit you the hardest?

Episode 24: Stuart DeWitt; From Trapping Lines To Fishing Grounds In Southeast Alaska

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2560124/fan_mail/new] He grew up in Haines, Alaska with a bike, a beach, and more wilderness than rules and it shaped everything that came after. My guest, longtime local Stuart DeWitt, walks me through the moments that built his edge: early hunting trips, learning to trap from old-school mentors, and the kind of outdoor freedom that turns into real capability when things go sideways. Then we get into the working life. Stuart shares what it really takes to survive in commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska, from gillnet salmon to Dungeness crab and halibut fishing under the IFQ quota system. We talk about why diversification matters, how risk decisions get made, and the wild chain of events that led to buying a 45-foot boat in Hawaii, building a cradle, barging it to Seattle, and driving it back north. It’s a masterclass in timing, relationships, mechanical problem-solving, and being prepared when luck shows up. We also don’t dodge the hard parts: viral encephalitis as a kid, the brutal reality of hospitals full of sick children, the politics of fisheries management, allocation pressure, hatchery economics, and what happens when prices crash. On the personal side, Stuart reflects on coaching youth basketball, building confidence through small wins, and what he hopes his kids remember about work ethic, reliability, and family. Subscribe for more conversations rooted in Haines and Southeast Alaska, share this with someone who loves fishing or small-town stories, and leave a review if it hits home. What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken that ended up changing your life?