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Scott Foster: searching for the next great adventure
By Eric Morrison
Whalesong Staff
Scott Foster has
ascended Mount McKinley twice, kayaked through treacherous weather
all around Southeast Alaska, and is about to take the biggest risk
of his life - quitting his day job to search for his next great
adventure.
The soon-to-be retired information officer at the University
of Alaska Southeast has built an impressive resume, including jobs
as a teacher at East Anchorage High School, a newspaper reporter,
radio DJ, television journalist, press secretary for former Gov.
Jay Hammond, freelance writer and househusband. But he believes
his outdoor and physical activities define him.
“I like physical activity,” he said. “I
feel better physically, or more importantly, mentally, when I’m
active.”
Foster’s outdoor resume includes climbing, running
a marathon, parachuting, ballooning, sailing and many hours of sea
kayaking.
“It’s not like I’m a superstar or a great athlete,
but I enjoy doing physical activities outside,” he said.
Local avid outdoorsman Larry Musarra first met Foster
at a Juneau Alpine Club meeting about an icefield crossing trip.
Musarra said that he found Foster to be very interesting and felt
the questions he asked were evidence of knowledge and experience
for such adventures.
“It’s interesting to have these questions
that you don’t always ask yourself,” Musarra said. “Then
you have to think about it a little bit and it gets the thought
process moving.”
Since their initial meeting, Foster and Musarra have embarked on
several outdoor adventures, including a kayak trip from Outer Point
to Admiralty Island to hike Robert Barron Peak, and a kayak trip
from Echo Cove to Sunshine Cove.
Sleeping in a tent in the rain and paddling along Southeast’s
shores seeing the sights are some of Foster’s favorite activities.
“When you’re outdoors, most of the elements
of the complicated modern lives that we live are gone,” he
said. “I like the simplicity that results from that.”
Foster’s idea of simplicity does not mean his outdoor adventures
are simple. During his first attempt to summit McKinley in 1964,
Foster and his group of three others had to turn back at 14,000
feet due to one of the member’s Army National Guard obligations.
“We weren’t beat by the mountain or the weather,
but this guy had to get back,” he said. “I looked at the
top of the mountain and swore at it and said I’d be back.”
Several years later, Foster received a call from the
National Guardsman, who asked him to join his team for another attempt
at the summit. In 1968, the group spent 30 days getting to the top,
spent 30 minutes there, and 30 hours climbing back down.
“We worked 30 days, working as hard as I’ve
ever worked,” he said.
When he accomplished his goal and made it to top of the highest
peak in North America, Foster said he thought of “cold beer
and greasy hamburgers, and showers. That sounded really good after
30 days.”
“Looking back on the things I’ve done, I take
great pride in climbing that mountain,” he said. “It’s
silly to say, but I think it was the high point of my life. I’m
really glad I did it. It was a long time ago and I’m still
glad I did it.”
Foster said he has been on many other memorable outdoor
adventures since, including hiking and hunting on his 40th birthday
with his brother, a three-day solo kayak trip on his 50th birthday,
and recently hiking the Grand Canyon from the south rim to the north
rim on his 60th birthday.
“And now I’m ready for my next great adventure,”
he said. “To explore life outside the daily work world.”
There are no plans written in stone, but Foster said
he aspires to visit Antarctica and is in the beginning stages of
planning lengthy kayak trips around Southeast Alaska.
“While I still have interest and the physical ability,
I want to do more than just go to work,” he said. “My
theory is, our obligations of work are so overwhelming that the
variety of abilities that I have don’t surface because I’m
too busy with work.”
He said he doesn’t plan to stop working altogether,
but rather to use the variety of his abilities on his own terms.
“I hope I can put myself in the path of opportunity,”
he said. The experienced TV and radio personality, and author of
more than 300 published articles, plans to continue documenting
the stories and adventures from Southeast and afar with freelance
opportunities.
“I’m trying to do what feels right for me
to do,” he said. “It’s been hard to give up this
job. In one sense I feel that I’m taking the biggest risk of
my life.”
Article reprinted with permission of the Juneau Empire
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