This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  This will be our last episode for season five. As is often the case, we are going to close out the season with a few topics that we w...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  So far this season, we’ve covered many aspects of climbing Denali, including how harrowing expeditions can be when they go wrong.&nbs...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  This season, we’ve heard many stories about climbing Denali. Whether they were stories of triumph, tragedy, or something in between, ...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  We are now past the halfway point in our season about mountaineering on Denali, North America’s tallest peak. Today, we’re jumping fo...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  Unlike previous seasons of this program, the episodes so far have been primarily a chronological history lesson of mountaineering on ...

In this episode, we’ve covered many firsts. The first team to summit, the first airplane used as part of an expedition, the first team to reach both summits, and, unfortunately, the first known fatalities on Denali. In our next episode, we’r...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as usually told by those who lived them. Today, most of our stories will not be first-hand, since we are delving into the early history of documented attempts to climb Dena...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. Thank you for joining us as we kick off season five. This year, our theme is climbing Denali.  North America’s highest mountain is a c...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. This is the last episode of our fourth season, which we have dubbed Susitna Valley origin stories. Over the course of the season, we have e...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. Today, we’ll hear stories from people for whom even Talkeetna was too crowded. Instead of the hustle and bustle of the booming metropolis o...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. Today, we’ll hear about people who came to the area to live a remote lifestyle.  Whether they came as part of the Homestead Act, other...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  So far in this season about arrivals in the Susitna Valley, we have covered the first people to arrive here, whose ancestors are stil...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. In this episode, we’re continuing our exploration of stories from locals who thought they were coming here temporarily, but ended up callin...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. As we focus in Season Four about how local residents found their way here, a common trend emerges fairly quickly.  Many who call this ...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories of Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. Our fourth season is focusing on Northern Valley origin stories, how people found themselves here at various points in history.  In epis...

This is the Blue Tarp, stories from the Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.Our fourth season focuses on Susitna Valley origin stories.  Everyone who lives here today got here, somehow. To begin this season, we hear abou...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  This will be our last episode for season three, which has focused on women in aviation.  As we wind down this season, we want to...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  In our last episode, we heard stories about some of the scariest moments our interviewees experienced in their time within the aviati...

NOTE: This is an updated version of Episode 6.  When initially published, we inadvertently left out part of Robin Spaulding's story.  That section, which begins around 17:35, has now been included.This is The Blue Tarp, sto...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories of Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  In this season, we’ve been focusing on women in aviation.  For this episode, we’re going to focus on a job unique to the area, eff...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories of Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  On this episode, we’re going to hear what it means to be a woman in a community that is often viewed as being rather male dominated. ...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories of Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  On this episode, we’re going to begin our look at local air services and the various roles that women have played in making aviation in...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them. For this season, we’re focusing on aviation in the area, particularly the stories told by and about women in the field.  The first epi...

This is The Blue Tarp, stories of Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  Thank you for listening to this episode, which marks the beginning of our third season, which will focus on women in aviation.

This is The Blue Tarp, stories from Alaska’s Northern Susitna Valley as told by those who lived them.  As we wrap up our second season focused on events in the Northern Susitna Valley, we are coming back to Talkeetna.  Specifically...