Paddling Tranquility | Alaska Stories

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PADDLING TRANQUILITY

AN ALASKAN ADVENTURE

Film by: Toby Harriman

Story & Photography by: Jussi Ruottinen & Toby Harriman

Photo By: Jussi Ruottinen

--- A Planet Unicorn Original ---

Back in 2017, my buddy Kyle and I flew out to Inner Lake George, just next to Knik Glacier. We found an old canoe and Kyle paddled out through a freezing slushy layer of broken ice. It was incredible, beyond incredible. Check out that shot here to understand what I’m talking about. Ever since then, I have always wanted to keep exploring remote glacier areas and keep creating abstract, adventurous aerials and stories. Especially considering places and scenes like these won’t be around much longer the ways things are going. So after that first trip, I ended up getting a couple of inflatable paddleboards, thanks to my friends at Body Glove and had high hopes of flying them out to some cool places in the near future. But after a year of non-stop travel and putting things off, I finally got my ideas together, got my buddy Jussi onboard and we set off on some of the most epic adventures I have been a part of to date.

We have seen shots like these for years with kayaks and packrafts, we knew we had to get our paddleboards out here. So for our first adventure, we backpacked a board and some camera gear (50lbs in total) 3 miles out to try and find an amazing glacier pool. After a 1 mile backtrack after going the wrong way, we finally found the route and set eyes on the most beautiful glacier lake we have ever seen. Alaska never seems to disappoint!

Photo By: Jussi Ruottinen

Photo By: Toby Harriman

Photo By: Jussi Ruottinen

Photo By: Toby Harriman

Helicopter Drop-off

Our second epic paddleboard adventure was one that has been on the bucket list for years. Jussi and I drove down too Seward, strapped our inflatable paddleboards to the outside of a helicopter via my friends at Seward Helicopters and we’re flown out to one of our favorite places, Bear Glacier. I have flown over this area a few times over the years, so getting dropped off to hang out for the day was definitely a dream that finally happened. We paddled around for hours listening to the glacier calve in the distance and the icebergs flip over in front of us. It was an incredible experience and one of the most surreal moments we have experienced in a while.

Photo By: Jussi Ruottinen

Special Thanks:
Body Glove Paddleboards
Seward Helicopters
Shimoda Design

Music:
Epoch by Blake Ewing (Musicbed)
Light from Night by Future of Forestry (Musicbed)
SFX (Epidemic Sound)

Gear:
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
Polar Pro ND/Polarizer Filters
BodyGlove Performer 11' iSUP
Shimoda Explore 40 & ICU strapped on Paddleboard.

Follow Along:
instagram.com/tobyharriman
instagram.com/jussiruottinenphotography

*Paddling around icebergs or in glacier lakes as we did can and is extremely dangerous as icebergs can flip over and rock at any time and these pools can drain at any time, please use extreme caution and go with an experienced guide, company or go at your own risk.