One of the most familiar names at the 2019 Get Outside Expo is also one of our most-traveled. Marty Koch is a retired St. Louis park ranger and the former Program Director for Alpine Shop. He has traveled extensively to the wild areas of America, photographing nature’s beauty. He is a photographer, instructor and freelance writer who has authored two books of his photography and is currently working on a third.
Marty is a nationally-recognized speaker from trade shows across the country, where he’s known for his many presentations on “The Amazing Earth.” He’ll be showing us two of those programs this weekend.
On Saturday, Marty will be the first presenter of the day at 10 am with The Amazing Earth: Zion National Park. Zion National Park is an amazing place full of canyons, rushing rivers, seasonal waterfalls, and astounding views. This presentation will cover the most popular sites as well as a couple of hidden gems. Learn about the parks geology, natural history, accommodations and much more.
On Sunday, Marty will lead off the the final day of the EXPO with The Amazing Earth: Wonders of Canyonlands National Park. The largest of Utah’s five national parks is Cayonlands National Park near Moab, UT. As the name suggests, this park is all about the canyons, geologic formations, and big rivers. This program will explore the three sections of the park: Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. Topics will cover visiting the park, lodging, and camping facilities, other attractions in the area.
Find out how the MR340 grew from 11 boats in 2006 to over 500 boats in 2019. The World’s Longest Non-Stop River Race has been listed as one of National Geographic‘sTop 100 American Adventures and it draws paddlers from around the world. Best of all, it happens right in our backyard.
Scott Mansker is the race director for the MR340 and will be presenting during the 2019 Get Outside Expo at noon on Sunday, March 3
Imagine a race across the entire state of Missouri, just you and your boat thrown against 340 miles of wind, heat, bugs and rain.
The Missouri 340 is an endurance race across the state of Missouri. Competitors will start in Kansas City and finish, some of them anyway, in St. Charles. With numerous towns and hamlets, the course offers plenty of opportunity for resupply while en route. The Missouri River is also incredibly scenic and isolated in some stretches, with wildlife and beautiful vistas to rival any river in North America. But if you’re trying to win this race, you won’t have time to enjoy any of it.
Participants are allowed exactly 88 hours to complete the course. There are nine checkpoints along the route where paddlers are required to sign in and sign out. Cutoff times will be associated with these checkpoints based on the 88 hour pace. Failure to miss two consecutive deadlines is grounds for disqualification. To finish this race in 88 hours is a huge accomplishment. Only 2/3 of the teams were able to do that last year.
There are no dams, locks or portages on this stretch of the Missouri. You could, conceivably, finish this race without ever having left your boat. (We don’t recommend it.) This doesn’t mean that the race is without danger. Any time you put yourself on the water, especially moving water, you assume a certain amount of risk. The Missouri 340 course is all on Class I water. The current is about 3 mph and there are no rapids. The biggest hazard to paddlers would be motorboats, mostly fisherman, and the occasional towboat pushing barges. In river obstacles would include wing dikes, buoys and bridge pilings.
On Saturday evening, March 2 at 7 pm, at the 2019 Get Outside Expo, Alpine Shop is proud to present – on the side of our building weather permitting! – DamNation, a feature film presented by Patagonia, on the impact of dams throughout our nation.
The film is FREE to all participants and will also feature a complimentary beer from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company for those 21 and older.
The Story
This powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has moved beyond the fictional Monkey Wrench Gang to go mainstream. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds, after decades without access. DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature.
DamNation opens big, on a birth, with the stirring words of Franklin D. Roosevelt at the dedication of Hoover Dam, and on a death, as the engineer at Elwha Dam powers down the turbine on its last day. DamNation stints neither the history nor the science of dams, and above all conveys experiences known so far to only a few, including the awe of watching a 30-pound salmon hurtling 20 feet into the air in a vain attempt to reach the spawning grounds that lie barricaded upriver. We witness the seismic power of a dam breaking apart and, once the river breaks free, the elation in watching wild salmon – after a century of denied access – swimming their way home.
The People
DamNation’s filmmakers have done their documentary homework. Rediscovered archival footage and pristine vintage photography reveals the young archaeological “salvage” team working against time to recover priceless Anasazi artifacts before the flooding of Glen Canyon in 1958. We meet singer Katie Lee, who was among the last to experience the canyon and, at the age of 94, still recalls the vivid beauty of its walls. Her nemesis, Floyd Dominy, the long-time Bureau of Reclamation czar who dammed Glen Canyon, exudes pride in his power to alter a landscape. We also hear from dam defender Congressman Tom McClintock and dam critic, ex-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.
Most of the voices in DamNation ring far from the lobbied halls of our capitols, and closer to the heart of a river. We hear the smoldering outrage of a Nez Perce elder recalling from his youth the flooding of his people’s sacred falls and fishing ground along the Columbia, and the quiet testimony of a river keeper who has manned his post 12 hours a day for 13 years to count, observe and protect a Rogue River steelhead run. And DamNation is not without its action heroes, including the activist/artist who two decades ago painted under moonlight a giant crack down the face of Hetch Hetchy’s dam.
The Shift
DamNation shows how far things have moved and how quickly, from the assumption 50 years ago that dams were always a power for good, to the first successful attempt to remove a marginal dam 20 years ago on the Kennebec River. The film highlights other dam removal stories, including the Elwha and White Salmon Rivers in Washington, the Rogue River in Oregon, and the Penobscot River in Maine.
Diverse interests across the country are coming together to remove obsolete dams and find more cost-effective options to meet power, shipping, irrigation and other needs, while helping to restore rivers, preserve tribal customs, recover fish stocks, revitalize waterfronts, improve recreational opportunities and render watersheds more resilient to climate change.
Dam owners, impacted communities, and politicians are now reevaluating the usefulness of certain dams and often advocating for decommissioning and removal. Some call it a movement, others call it a generational shift in values.DamNation documents both – and the undeniable momentum behind river restoration that has begun to take hold in our country.
Origins
When, as a young man, DamNation producer Matt Stoecker witnessed migrating steelhead jump at, and bounce off, Stanford University’s Searsville Dam, he recognized the destructive power of a single dam on an entire watershed and beyond. Matt is now a fish biologist, who has since spearheaded the removal of more than a dozen such barriers to migration and is actively involved in efforts to dismantle several others. He and Patagonia founder/owner Yvon Chouinard, a long-time “dam buster” who for years has supported groups working to tear down dams, share the desire to free our rivers. Together they decided to capture such efforts, and their healing effects, on film and share them with the world. Teaming up with Felt Soul Media’s Ben Knight and Travis Rummel, DamNation was born.
Join us on Saturday, March 2 at Alpine Shop Kirkwood at 7 pm for our presentation of DamNation!
$5 at the Pint Night gets you a custom plastic pint cup, plus two free pours of some fantastic Schlafly Beer.
We’ll also be pre-selling a brand new way to enjoy Al-Pint Night’s in 2019… More details will be coming on Wednesday, February 27! Stay tuned!
The Missouri Whitewater Association (MWA) is a public organization which exists to encourage the growth of paddling as a beneficial recreational sport and a recognized competitive sport, to teach paddling skills, river safety techniques, to sponsor river trips and other outdoor activities, and to educate club members and the general public about the sport and about river conservation. The MWA will be hosting the Missouri State Whitewater Championships on March 22-24 on the St. Francis River near Fredericktown, MO.
Team River Runner – St Louis (TRR) with ST. Louis VAMC gives military veterans and their family members an opportunity to find health, healing, and new challenges through whitewater boating and other paddling sports. The benefits of TRR have as much to do with social support, finding emotional strength and re-creating personal identity as they do with athletic activity.
The St. Louis Canoe & Kayak Club supports canoe and kayak related activities, trips and educational programs. The Club promotes safe and ethical use of our waterways. Other projects include helping to keep our waterways clean and provide instructional skills clinics through the year.
Is your Valentine an outdoor lover? Does he or she love to hit the trail, sleep under the stars next to a campfire, wake up the next morning and do it all over again? If so, then there’s only one place you should be looking for Valentine’s Day presents: Alpine Shop!
Why stick to boring flowers that will be dead in less than week? Why add more sugar to their diet with candies? Give them something they’ll cherish for years every time they wear or use it!
Tonight, Tuesday, February 12, 2019 from 7–9 pm, we’re hosting our first ever Cupid’s Kegger at our Kirkwood location to make finding the perfect Valentine’s Day present the most fun it has ever been! We’ll have complimentary beer on hand from Schlafly (okay, it will be bottles, not a keg, but the idea’s still the same) and extra outfitters throughout the store to help you find the perfect gift for your outdoor loving Valentine.
Oh, and if your Valentine isn’t a big outdoor lover? Well, you can still come in and grab a beer and shop for yourself. After all, you need to show some love for yourself, too. Right?
*You must be 21 to partake in Cupid’s Kegger. And if you didn’t know that already, please, don’t bother coming in to the store. For those over 21, please limit yourself to two beers. Thanks!
Featuring more than 30 hours of FREE classes, demos, presentations and entertainment over three full days of sales, Alpine Shop’s #getOutside EXPO will have you ready to explore the warmer side of the great outdoors!
Get Inspired. Find an Adventure. Learn a New Skill.
All programs are FREE to attend all weekend long at our Kirkwood store. It’s just part of the 2019 #getOutside EXPO!
Saturday and Sunday will start off with Yoga sessions an hour before our normally scheduled open. After that, you’ll find presentations featuring: tips from a nationally-renowned travel expert; information on the world’s longest non-stop river race from the race director, himself; seminars on hiking the Camino de Santiago, a Saturday night movie from Patagonia, and much, much more!
Don’t miss two nights of inspiring Adventure! Tickets are available now!
Alpine Shop’s most popular film festival of the year returns this March as we celebrate 27 years of hosting the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour here in St. Louis in 2019.
This international traveling festival celebrates the most inspiring action, environmental and adventure films from the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival each year in Banff, Alberta. Each year, we also get a little more inspired to discover something about ourselves through the spirit of adventure.
Join us for two nights of inspiration and adventure on March 27, at the Moolah Theatre and Lounge, and on March 28 at the The Sheldon – in the Grand Center Arts District of St. Louis. Completely different films each night!
