KVAK's Frosty Fever March 22nd!
Valdez Adventure Alliance and PWSC Outdoor Leadership Program bring back the Adventure Extravaganza featuring popular interactive activities and fun for youth and adults! Outside you can build an “igloo” and set up a tent. Inside you can build a penny stove, learn how to tie knots, watch exciting video clips, pick up free stickers, play with the 3:1 pully system, and snag some extra goodies by becoming a VAA Member. Plenty of materials and space available, so come join the fun.
Monday, March 22, 4-7:30pm PWSC Atrium
From the February American Trails Newsletter!
Submit Your Project to the Trails Move People Survey
Please take a few moments to include your shovel-ready trail project in this survey whose purpose is to quantify the capacity of the trails community to build, maintain, and develop trails now, and to provide input to the Departments of Agriculture and Interior process for prioritizing and awarding Great American Outdoors Act and Land and Water Conservation Fund funding.
You can read more here or sign up for the American Trails Newsletter!
EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION
Northwest Youth Corps offers a challenging education and job-training experience that helps youth and young adults from diverse backgrounds develop the skills they need to lead full and productive lives. Our programs include residential conservation crews for both youth and young adults, local community crews, an internship program for college aged participants, a fully accredited high school, and a two-acre organic farm.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OPEN SPRING POSITIONS
Get Ready for the Fat Bike Bash April 2-4
We are currently setting up the 2021 Fat Bike Bash, so get ready to have some outdoor fun, from April 2-4. We have events for both kids and adults, so bring your family (we want to see some pets, too!). We’ve made a couple of new events this year, too.
We have 4 races, including the cross country race and the extreme downhill race from last year. We are adding the adult triathlon relay and biathlon relay, with awards for the all men’s, all women’s, and mixed teams. The triathlon includes 2 miles of biking, 0.6 miles of kayaking, and 0.5 miles of running. The biathlon has 1.5-2.0 miles of both fat bike racing and cross-country skiing.
Along with the races, there will be a few social events as well. We’re holding a kid’s street party on April 2nd, with youth booths and a bike rodeo (which will have a free barrel race and loop race). Afterward, there will be an adult street party, so our riders can let loose and have fun with a live DJ. On April 3rd, we will have a Bikes and Beers social at Growler Bay Brewing (non-alcoholic drinks available). There will be an auction, sales, awards, and recognitions, with Better World hosting the auction.
We hope you bring your pets to the Bike & Bark on April 4th. It’s always such a joy to see all your dogs enjoying the outdoors as well!
If you would like to volunteer for this event, contact michelle@valdezadventure.com
We’re excited the short film Blue was selected to be a part of the Inheritance Festival in the UK! Brighton will screen Inheritance during their Primetime Slots every Sunday 6pm - 8pm in April (with different films from the festival every Sunday) - Other channels include KMTV Kent; Notts TV Nottingham; Sheffield Live Local TV Ltd! Check it out here.
Save the Date!
Alaska Trails is excited to be hosting the 2021 Statewide Trails Conference – April 15th - 17th 2021
And we NEED YOU to SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE!
Click HERE to submit your idea
Please give us YOUR IDEAS - Alaska Trails is seeking proposals for presentations and workshops that showcase best practices in trail construction, trail maintenance, economic development, volunteers, trail design, partnerships, trail benefits and trail-related policy. Help make the conference a great kick-off for the 2021 trail season – and beyond!
Meals Hill: Join the project team at Virtual Public Meeting #2
Join the project team at Virtual Public Meeting #2 to view the proposed design concepts for Meals Hill! You'll have the opportunity to learn more about how the design concepts were developed, ask questions, and give feedback.
Virtual Public Meeting #2
Monday, February 8th
6:30-8pm
Join with the Zoom LINK
Or CALL-IN:
+1 253-215-8782
Webinar ID: 861-5696-6362
Passcode: 724191
If you aren't able to attend, you can still participate by:
Reviewing the meeting materials, which will be posted on the project website after the meeting.
After the public meeting, an interactive tool will be posted to the project website where you can view the concepts and provide feedback.
Drop by the Civic Center between February 8-19 and view the project displays at your convenience.
The online platform and the in-person posters will be open for comment until February 19, 2021.
Next steps: Watch your inbox and the project website for future opportunities to participate.
Project background: Meals Hill is 184 acres of public land located near the Valdez Ferry Terminal that is permanently protected by a conservation easement. The Meals Hill property is a significant landmark with environmentally diverse habitat, and it has the potential to be a recreational destination for the City of Valdez.
The City of Valdez Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services Department is beginning the process for the Meals Hill Master Plan. This master planning process will help guide development of the Meals Hill property in the years to come, and incorporate community feedback and vision about what is important to those in Valdez.
Huge Shout Out to Boot Donor!
Families that are active together build memories that last a life time! Specifically, Ice Climbing active which is no easy task, but plenty of fun and challenge that is a kind of rewarding that is not easily forgotten.
This is why we are especially grateful for 3 year old, Balin Keene Billock, who recently became our newest (and youngest!) Youth Ice Climbing Boots sponsor. Climb On, Balin!
Become a Valdez Adventure Alliance Member!
Click on the image to be taken to the membership page or email us your questions and comments!
ALYESKA SUPPORTS YOUTH
There are still spots available in the youth clinics of the Valdez Ice Climbing Festival, Feb 12-14, 2021!
A grant from Alyeska Pipeline Services made it possible to have two different levels for the youth clinics in 2021. “Thanks to Alyeska we will be able to serve all levels of our local youth, including ones who participated in the past, or who have never participated. There is an Intro/Beginner clinic on Feb 13 and an Intermediate/Advanced clinic on Feb 14.” Says Lanette Oliver, Executive Director. “The Alyeska grant will also us to waive registration and clinic fees for those who need it in this especially hard time.” For information about the clinics go to Valdez Adventure Alliance For information about fee waivers email Lanette@valdezadventure.com
FUN FACT: Did you know Alyeska means Alaska? Alyeska is an archaic spelling of the Aleut word Alaska meaning "mainland", "great country", or "great land" (source: Wikipedia). OR, as described in John Green’s first novel, Looking for Alaska: "that which the sea breaks against".
Thank you, Alyeska pipeline service company!
Event Coordinator Wanted!
EVENTS COORDINATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview: Valdez Adventure Alliance is a small non-profit. This is a contract job and can be between 5-30 hours per week depending on time of year and the choice of the contractor. This position is responsible for the organization, coordination, and management of VAA’s outdoor events including Valdez Ice Climbing Festival and Valdez Fat Bike Bash. This position works closely with the Executive Director.
Special Opportunities: Work time for this position can be very flexible. When and where you work is flexible as long as the work is completed on time and all preparation for the event comes together. Work load increases in month leading up to and during event. Regular support is available from the Executive Director.
Responsibilities Include:
Communication with gear reps and organization of demo/rental gear for the event.
Recruit, schedule and manage volunteers for general event duties and specialized teams
Work with the Executive Director to plan clinic schedule, including instructors, locations etc.
Management of EventBrite and tickets
Communicate/manage/facilitate Safety Team before and during the event.
Some social media promotion, including Instagram and Facebook
Maintenance of website and info therein
Onsite management of Keystone Canyon events during the weekend.
Onsite participation/management of evening events in coordination with Executive Director
Venue planning and communication
Silent auction and sales
Registration
Organize, maintain, and track gear inventory before and after event
Work with Executive Director to organize silent auction and sales during event
Organize and supervise races
Pay: Based on experience
Send resume and cover letter to Lanette@valdezadventure.com
Valdez Adventure Alliance is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.
Valdez Adventure Alliance is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities, when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodation applies to all aspects of employment, including the application process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact Lanette Oliver, lanette@valdezadventure.com
Hurray for Auction Sponsors and New Team Members!
WORKING HARD FOR YOU OVER THE HOLIDAYS
Hannah Metroka and her brother, Hyland Garvey, the latest additions to the Valdez Adventure Alliance Team, have been working hard over the holidays keeping the Worthington bathroom clean and stocked, and the path cleared, as well as grooming Shoup Bay Trail. The snow doesn’t stop, so neither do they. Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays these workers from the completion of their appointed work. Lanette Oliver, Executive Director, says: “We feel it is important to keep the bathroom at Worthington open in the winter for people who are traveling, and we want to keep Shoup Bay Trail groomed to continue to increase that trails' usability by more populations more of the time. We are fortunate to have Hannah and Hyland taking care of this important work that is funded, in part, with support through a Community Service Organization (CSO) grant from the City of Valdez.”
Huge thanks to Mountain Equipment for their Ice Fest Auction donation <3 We Love Mountain Equipment!
IN THE MOUNTAINS SINCE 1961
Mountain Equipment has played a pivotal role in the birth of modern mountaineering. And all we have learned, lives in our gear.
Visit GearDuffel.com to purchase our products.
So Grateful to our local graphic designers and artists!
This month we’re honoring Amy Strohmeyer from Anchorage!
#grateful #ValdezAdventureAlliance LOVES its #graphicdesigners <3
CVEA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SUPPORTS YOUTH
Valdez Adventure Alliance is pleased to announce the award of a grant from the CVEA Community Foundation. This grant will support clinics and gear for youth at the Valdez Ice Climbing Festival, Feb 12-14, 2021.
Executive Director, Lanette Oliver said: “Youth clinics are expensive because they require a small number of students and an instructor specialized in working with youth, and youth gear is expensive and hard to find. The CVEA Community Foundation has supported these clinics in the past, making it possible for some of the students to now have enough experience to move from beginner to intermediate in 2021. Past support from the community has also allowed us to secure seven sets of gear, but more is needed.”
More information about the festival and youth clinics at valdezadventure.com or contact lanette@valdezadventure.com 972-835-6039.
You can support the youth by donating to help purchase youth gear by clicking HERE
What Great Memories from the 2018 Valdez Ice Climbing Festival
Check our schedule: Valdez Ice Climbing Festival 2021: February 12-14
CONRAD ANKER & ANDRES MARIN CLIMB VALDEZ
ATHLETES
WOMEN’S CLINIC
YOUTH CLINICS
A Message from our Executive Director #GivingTuesday
Valdez Adventure Alliance is holding it's Ice Climbing Festival in Feb 2021 ~ A vital event which contributes to the entire community. We are looking for add a nurses clinic and to purchase youth and women's boots! Please think of us this giving season! #GivingTuesday#Unselfie #ValdezIceClimbingFestival#climbValdezAlaska
Cal Gerber interviewed by Prince William Sound College!
We are so proud and grateful to Cal for all he does for Valdez Adventure Alliance!
“Calhoun Gerber is interns with the Valdez Adventure Alliance
by Vicki Heisser | November 13, 2020
In a recent interview with PWSC outdoor leadership student Calhoun Gerber and Valdez Adventure Alliance’s Lanette Oliver, I learned more about Gerber’s internship with the Valdez Adventure Alliance.
PWSC: Hi, Cal. So tell me, what motivated you to do this internship?
Gerber: I was excited to get a local job, make connections, and get to know the town [Valdez] better. This was definitely a good choice for that.
PWSC: Please share what it is you are doing and learning.” >>>READ MORE!>>>
Title VAA ED speaks out for Public Land Access
Recently, as part of the AAC Climb the Hill, I had to opportunity to talk to Senator Murkowski about protections for public lands and waters. Here is what I said:
“As the only non-climber here, I would like to talk about why this is important to the millions of Americans who are not climbers.
I will start with the rivers. Over and over I have seen this story. There is a river people love for recreation. At some point, someone decides they want to damn it, or put a factory that dumps pollution, or such. The people fight it and defeat it. In a few years it comes back up, and the people fight it and defeat it again, but inevitably, eventually, the people lose. We The People, lose. The only way to ensure the endurance of special rivers for ourselves and our posterity is to put them under national protection.
Now, about access and equality. I was raised on a farm in Oklahoma. My father was a science, geography and history teacher. He wanted to share that knowledge and love with his family. He could not fly us anywhere for summer vacations, but he did load all seven of us in the station wagon, my twin and I in the seat facing backwards. As there was no air conditioner, the red dust billowed in through the windows and the holes in the floorboard, coating everyone with a layer of grit. Since there was no radio, we sang songs from a green, hardbound song book. This is how we drove to Carlsbad Cavern, Painted Desert, and Yellowstone. This is how I experienced a land of amber waves of grain and purple mountains. This is how I learned and loved the country my grandfather, father, brother, and three nephews fought for. Thirty years later, I wanted to instill love of our nation, cultures, and arts in my son. I became acutely aware of differences between rich and poor in the ease of access to such experiences -- juggling work to be off when museums are free, saving for months to take him to Phantom of the Opera. We don’t kid ourselves. We know for most daily things, rich and poor are not equal. We are not equal when we shop for groceries, some at the Dollar Store and some at Wholefoods. We are not equal when we get our hair cut, some at Quick Cuts and some at the Boutique Salon. We are not equal when we go through airport security.
But, when we cross that magic line and step into National Parks, we are equal. On the plane we can’t all be in first class, but we all ride the same Denali tour bus. We will never have the same view of the theatre stage, but we all get the same view of the Grand Canyon.
There is a duty to secure access opportunities for millions of us, and millions in future generations, to equally enjoy our nation's resources.”
Sign Up for the Climate Superstars Challenge Today!
Looking for educational classroom activities that work online or in-person? Sign up for the Climate Superstars Challenge, a 10-day interactive online challenge focused on making environmental education fun and engaging! Middle school classrooms (grades 6-8) will work together to complete daily tasks that teach them about saving energy and observing their local climate. Classrooms that complete 7 out of 10 tasks will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a Samsung Flip 2 digital flipchart! The Climate Superstars Challenge will be held from October 19-30. Sign up today to receive your free Educator Guide! READ MORE
Celebrate Children's Environmental Health Day 2020
Children's Environmental Health Day is an annual event devoted to raising awareness for children's environmental health issues. It gives us a chance to celebrate successes in the field, share exciting new initiatives, discuss the challenges ahead, and serve as a rallying cry for action. This year's event falls on October 8. READ MORE