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Castner’s Cutthroats: Alaskan Scouts

Will Kutscher — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 19:18:49 +0000

Handpicked by Colonel Castner during WWII, the Alaska Scouts was a rouge’s gallery of tough Alaskan trappers, miners, hunting guides, dog sledders, and many Alaskan Natives. Learn more about one of the American military’s most unique units.

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The Black Beauty: A Short History of Cast Iron Cookware

Will Kutscher — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 19:51:24 +0000

There is something about a cast iron skillet that tugs at the heart of any outdoorsman. It’s almost as if its burley black surface has retained a hint of every fire it has hovered over and every dish it has cooked. Holding one, you can feel its history coursing through it, almost like it has a story it wants to tell over a couple of beverages by the bonfire.
Well, it does have a story, one that is almost as old as recorded history.

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Storis: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast

Angela Becia — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 21:54:04 +0000

The Storis began her long career as an ice patrol tender for the United States Coast Guard, commissioned on September 30, 1942. She was to patrol the east coast of Greenland, on the lookout for German activity. It was an appropriate assignment for a vessel so named: “storis” means “great ice” in Scandinavian.

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George McJunkin’s Discovery of a Lifetime

Angela Becia — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 10:37:51 +0000

Born sometime between 1851 and 1856, McJunkin originally came from Texas, and as a young man worked his way across Colorado and New Mexico as he pursued the life of a professional cowboy. He was a self-made in this respect: he worked the trails on cattle drives, trained horses to sell in Santa Fe, and helped a family called the Roberds establish a ranch on the Purgatoire River in Colorado.

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Extreme Cold Vapor Barrier Boots

Angela Becia — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 16:00:11 +0000

The U.S. Army’s first cold weather boots were called “Mickey Mouse Boots” for their oversize appearance. Officially designated the "Type I" & "Type II" footwear model, it was first worn by soldiers and Marines during the Korean War in the 1950s as standard issue footwear.

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The Survivors: Alaskan Arctic Musk Oxen

Angela Becia — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:08:49 +0000

With no reason to fear mankind, the muskox was almost driven to extinction by the advent of guns that ripped through the slow-moving herds. In Alaska and on the rest of the planet, they simply disappeared by the late 1800s. All that was left of an animal that had been around since the time of the caveman were fuzzy stories passed down through Indigenous communities.

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Filson in the Field: Searching for Muskox in the Alaskan Arctic

Angela Becia — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 22:53:57 +0000

As a company founded on equipping folks headed into the frozen desolation of the Klondike goldfields in 1897, we knew that we needed to do something that was a bit off the beaten path. With this in mind, we decided to head to the western edge of Alaska, above the Arctic Circle to tell the tale of the remarkable rebirth of an animal that was hunted to extinction in North America over a century ago, the musk ox.

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The Evolution of Hockey Gear

Angela Becia — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 23:09:54 +0000

When a modern NHL team takes to the ice, players are protected from head to toe, the focal point of which is their large colorful sweater. The need and developments we see today are the result of decades of tinkering and improvements based on poor experiences that defined the need for such gear.

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125 Years of Hockey: A Diverse & Surprising History

Angela Becia — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 00:05:00 +0000

Hockey has a diverse history that may surprise even lifelong fans. From the first professional all-Black league formed in Nova Scotia to the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, funded by two brothers during the logging era, it's a sport with an exciting story to tell.

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DOGS WITH JOBS: Labrador Retrievers

Angela Becia — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 23:56:20 +0000

Blessed with a perpetual grin and soft floppy ears, Labrador Retrievers have been the most popular breed of dogs in America since 1991. A virtual Swiss Army knife of a dog, this sporting breed can do almost anything.

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