Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorWagner, Forest J.
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-19T23:57:30Z
dc.date.available2017-09-19T23:57:30Z
dc.date.issued2017-08
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11122/7904
dc.descriptionThesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017en_US
dc.description.abstractGeographical features and cultural traits may influence the character of big-mountain tourism in Alaska. For example, Alaska's wild landscape, rich climbing and skiing history, and cultural mythos of wilderness and frontier fostered its status as a major destination for niche big-mountain tourism. Growth in the industry since the 1980s has been phenomenal, though a change threatens the identity of mountain guides of the region, demanding they accept international standards for their self-regulating and uniquely Alaskan version of big-mountain tourism. This research project explored big-mountain niche tourism in Alaska, considering the influences of wilderness and frontier concepts on the tourism culture and examining guides' and clients' motivations for participation in the industry. I queried clients and guides at two guiding services, the Alaska Mountaineering School and its Denali mountain climbers, and Alaska Powder Descents and its Coast mountain heli-skiers. The quantitative client survey assessed participant motivations for engaging in big-mountain tourism, for hiring a guide, and for travelling to engage in mountain tourism. The qualitative guide interview asked guides their motivations for working in big-mountain tourism, their experience with the management of big-mountain risk, and changes they had observed over time in the industry. I am a professional mountain guide and instructor in Alaska and use this experience as a third data point. The findings showed that Alaska's big-mountain tourism offers individuals a transcendental, sublime, yet physical encounter, one that is part of a globalized political and economic system. Except for the guides themselves, the high mountains are generally accessible only to those who are at the high end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Gender is also a defining characteristic of the industry, as the guiding ranks and the clientele in Alaska's big-mountain tourism are overwhelmingly male. For guides, the frontier mythos of intrepid and rugged individualism is a powerful motivator, an identity construction that relates well with the depictions of the region in early literature, and in images promoted by the tourism industry. Clients on the other hand may come to Alaska because it is geographically exceptional, but they are not as enamored of the frontier ideology that resonates so deeply with many permanent residents.en_US
dc.description.tableofcontentsChapter 1. Introduction, a call to action -- Chapter 2. Adventure tourism, wilderness, frontier, and Alaska -- 2.1. Big-mountain tourism -- 2.1.1. Modern tourism -- 2.1.2. Niche big-mountain tourism in Alaska -- 2.2 Wilderness and frontier -- 2.3. Depictions of Alaska in literature -- 2.3.1. Exceptional Alaska, wilderness frontier -- 2.3.2. Changing landscapes and lifestyles -- 2.4. Research methods -- 2.4.1. Client survey -- 2.4.2. Guide interview -- 2.4.3. Guiding company profiles, geographic setting of Talkeetna and Juneau -- Chapter 3. Big-mountain tourism client survey, results and analysis -- 3.1. Client demographics -- 3.2. Motivations for engaging in big-mountain tourism -- 3.3. Motivations for hiring a guide -- 3.4. Motivations for travelling to engage in big-mountain tourism -- Chapter 4. Big-mountain tourism guide interview, results and analysis -- 4.1. Guide demographics -- 4.2. Guides motivations for working in big-mountain tourism -- 4.3. Guides' experience and the management of big-mountain risk -- 4.4. Changes observed over time in big-mountain tourism -- 4.4.1. Increases in popularity led to equipment advances and changes in clients -- 4.4.2. Changing certification requirements -- 4.4.3. Changing processes for becoming a guide -- 4.4.4. Reservations about changes to big-mountain tourism -- Chapter 5. Big-mountain tourism in the Alaskan context, discussion -- 5.1. Alaska, destination for adventure and wild nature -- 5.2. Alaska big-mountain tourism, a uniquely inspiring landscape and culture -- 5.3. Mountain adventure, risk acceptance and management, with guide as facilitator -- 5.4. Big-mountain guiding as niche tourism, it commercializes adventure -- 5.5. Niche big-mountain and mass tourism are positive for Alaska -- Chapter 6. Conclusion -- Bibliography.en_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.subjectMountain tourismen_US
dc.subjectAlaskaen_US
dc.subjectTourismen_US
dc.subjectRural tourismen_US
dc.titleCowboy professionalism: a cultural study of big-mountain tourism in the last frontieren_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.degreemaen_US
dc.identifier.departmentArctic and Northern Studies Programen_US
dc.contributor.chairCole, Terrence
dc.contributor.committeeEhrlander, Mary
dc.contributor.committeeHeyne, Eric
refterms.dateFOA2020-03-05T14:36:27Z


Files in this item

Thumbnail
Name:
Wagner_F_2017.pdf
Size:
12.83Mb
Format:
PDF

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record