But it attracted a lot of attention to this story because of this unique combo of climbing volcanoes and kayaking among them. The Aleutian Island trip was-- we didn't see anyone. It was super cold.
to Iceland, Norway, and Kamchatka, Russia and South New Zealand and Alaska and the Alutions and Aleutians and pretty much everywhere in between. So I think for us, when it comes to kind of planning and executing these experiences, the coolest thing is Google Earth actually
Like Iceland, for example, it's just, it's so raw. And the Aleutians, they've-- I feel like, all the setups, all the reefs, everything is like perfectly established for good waves, which is really interesting. So try to move forward here, because I don't we don't have tons of time.
And Unangan means people next to the sea. And we were otherwise called Aleut , but we don't use that because that was given to us by our former oppressors in the late 1700s. And so, yeah, hello to your viewers, and I'm glad to be here.
and then we would go explore it and bring back stories of adventure, but also environment. The first was in the Aleutian Islands. That's a 6,000-foot volcano in the background in the Aleutians and a 22-foot-long kayak in the foreground there.
These can be 80, 90, 100, 120 mile an hour winds. So we took this giant Aleutian 76 from Capetown down to the Russian base called Novolazarevskaza. I mean, kind of like a modern day Millennium Falcon sort of aircraft.
plays a huge role. This place then we went to the Aleutian Island chain, it's basically one of the most remote places on Earth. It's like this island chain that stretches from Russia to Alaska.
So they brought all of these cows to feed the troops. at clear skies in the Aleutians.
What's that? Are the Inuit? They are Inuit. Aleut . Yeah. So interrelated. I guess it's different.
And this culture was-- the culture that we have was so rich that we-- it's difficult to eke out a living in the Aleutian chain and in the Bering Sea. But yet we got to the point where we had the most densely populated linear mile
And this name is given to one person in each lifetime amongst all of my people. And the last Kuuyux went looking for me anywhere in the Aleutian chain and the Pribilof Islands and found me on St. Paul Island and gave me his name.
There's a lot of Russians hanging around, just keeping the base going. The reason this base exists is because on this big Aleutian 76 flight, you've got Germans, Norwegians, Japanese. A lot of different government organizations come down to this Russian base, and then small feeder flights take them out to other their government bases.
And I think that's what inspired us to go to these cold places because there's no Starbucks coffee on the beach or parking meters. So the Aleuts , the natives, the natives are amazing. They have such a great sense of humor.
So they brought all of these cows to feed the troops. And it was in the middle of the Aleutian Islands.
Catamount, up in Vermont, which was one of the pioneer, one of the my generation of brewers, failed. Kodiak Island is off the coast of Alaska over toward the Aleutians.
You need two different planes. One is a retired Soviet war plane, an Aleutian 76, that can haul you in and out of Antarctica, which is the first marathon. You need to start in Antarctica because it's the only continent where winds and weather can cause a significant delay.
The first was in the Aleutian Islands. That's a 6,000-foot volcano in the background in the Aleutians and a 22-foot-long kayak in the foreground there. And this was-- I love this picture.
And It was so funny, because, you know, like anyone else, we're researching these places and trying to look into them, like, all we would see is just like grey photos. Like, sunny day in the Aleutians, there's just like foggy skies, couldn't see anything. We had no idea there was even a volcano here in this place, let alone visible, actually.
And you're like, man, I wonder what it would be like to actually walk along those beaches and check it out. So basically, there you can see the Aleutian Arc and some of the pinpoints that we put down for places that we've spotted and could have potential waves.
So they brought all of these cows to feed the troops. But mud head to toe, amazing new Aleutian wax job right here.
And today I'm excited to introduce Ilarion Merculieff in our Google talk. Ilarion has more than 40 years of experience serving his people, the Unangan Aleut people of the Pribilof Islands and other Indigenous peoples in a number of capacities locally, nationally, and internationally.
and our concern was always that one of these things was going to go into the river. But you know, then when I went to the Aleutian Islands with kayaks, it was the very beginning of technology.
We send in there a bit of synthesized mammoth DNA. They lived along the coast of California, up across the Aleutian Islands, and onto the Commander Islands.
It was very unusual because St. Paul Island gets 20 days of sunshine a year on the average. And so I was four years old, and I said in Unangan, ,, which is the Aleut language, I said, it's sure beautiful out.
Bob Paine also coined another term to describe this sort of relationship, this sort of cascading effect of one species on others, And just these urchin barrens-- carpets of sea urchins were all that existed up and down the Pacific coast, all the way through the Aleutian Islands.
It was definitely-- there was some blank stares, and we'll get more into that. But what really draws us, I guess, to these regions is this, right here, this big Aleutian trench that you see. And that big trench is what really creates this opportunity for massive waves, massive waves to smash this coastline and create opportunities for incredible surf.
And if the laws are right, and you can have a little tap room, you can make a pretty good living with something like that. I profile the Kodiak Island Brewing Company in Kodak Island, Alaska, which is out toward the Aleutians. I think there are more bears on Kodiak Island than there are people.