[Review 1999] [Review 2000] [Review 2001] [Review 2002] [Review 2003] [Review 2004] [Review 2005]

[Review 2006] [Review 2007] [Review 2008] [Review 2009] [Review 2010] [Review 2011] [Review 2012] [HOME]

AlpenView's 2010 Season Review

Part Two, August 7 to season end, 2010.

Please help with this review. Send photos, additions and corrections to: mail@alpenview.com

Part One, season start through August 7, 2010. _ Part Two, August 7 to season end, 2010.

Left to right: Molly and Mickey Jones, Fru and Shawn Finn, John and Hennie.

Between groups of clients, AlpenView staff, friends and family gather to work on lodge maintenance. We also take some time to relax and enjoy each others company. 

A rare shot of Fru mowing the lawn. 

Mickey and Hennie Square off in a game of ping pong.

 

A rare shot of Fru fly fishing.

Shawn delivers the log tow line to John on the beach at Eagle Harbor. Collecting logs for firewood is an important chore at AlpenView. Wood is used to heat the lodge and the banya. 

 

Hennie and John enjoy a day of halibut fishing with Shawn on the Finlander.

Left to right: Roger, Alex, Matt, Shawn, Dave, Marc, Barbara and Ryan.

 Lodge, August 11 to 14, 2010

Matt Greber - Kodiak, AK
Alex Greber - Kodiak, AK
Roger Greber - Columbus, OH
Ryan Greber - Columbus, OH
Marc - Chicago, IL
Barbara - Chicago, IL

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Molly Jones, Mickey Jones, Shawn Finn and Eric Cymbolin.

Matt and Alex beachcombing.

 

Shawn and Roger display a black rock fish.

 

Ryan really liked the fast action rock fishing.

 

If your name is Gerber, you are not a banya weenie.

 

Matt with a king salmon.

Above: The ping pong tournament.
Below:: Wildlife viewing from the flying bridge of the Finlander.

 

 

Marc made fly fishing lessons pay off for this stringer of Dolly Varden.

Left to right standing: Bob, Meade, Carolyn, Eric G., Eric C. and Chris.
Sitting: Jim and Dave.

 Lodge, August 14 to 21, 2010


Jim Jacobs * Davidsonville, MD
Bob Morrissey - Annapolis, MD
Meade Rudasill - Riva, MD
Eric Gustafson - Albuquerque, NM
Carolyn Gustafson - Albuquerque, NM
Chris Gustafson - Albuquerque, NM

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn, Amy Finn, Deb Christiansen and Eric Cymbolin.

Guests partake in the evening meal featuring smoked beef.

They don’t call it Eagle Harbor for nothing. Above: two young eagles in the nest.
Below Dave helps Bob release a pink salmon in the stream at Eagle Harbor.

Above: A parent eagle roosts above the nest.

 

Meade, Bob and Jim display some of their catch of silver salmon, king salmon and halibut.

 

Meade and Carolyn enjoy a card game while traveling on the Finlander.

 

Chris with a big silver.

Carolyn (above), Eric and Chris (below) display some of their halibut catch. 

Left to right: Eric, Dave, Bernie, Ray, Shawn and John.

 

Alpenglow. For a short time, on a clear morning, the sunrise will paint the peaks before filling the valleys.

Lodge, August 21 to 28, 2010


Ray Sirois * Shapleigh, ME
Bernie Beaudoin
* Overland Park, KS
John Haubert - Alexandria, VA

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn, Amy Finn, Deb Christiansen and Eric Cymbolin.

 

John was graced with this yellow eye rockfish.

Eric helps Ray display a black rock fish. They are a great saltwater fly fishing target. 

Ray travels with some well stocked fly boxes. 

 

A bear fishes the stream at Eagle Harbor.

John and Dave climber Mt. Geddis-Farzukan. It’s a tough hike from the beach to the summit at 2580 feet.
Above: A spring creek where we filled our water bottles on the way up.
Below: John at the summit.

 

John takes advantage of a snowfield to speed his descent.

Food is a big part of life. At AlpenView we get a great deal of enjoyment out of both the preperation and consumption.
Above: Deb and Amy at the buffet which they have filled with barbequed pork, baked beans, fresh baked bread and all the trimmings.
Below: Ray, as guest chef, prepared moose meet pie. Often repeat customers will act as guest chef for a meal during their trip.

 

Above: Shawn’s favorite meal is teriyaki chicken and fried rice.
Below: Sushi is a popular appetizer.

 

 

Left: Eric helps Bernie "Mr. Halibut" display two big halibut he caught. Both fish were caught within an hour of each other.

Above: Ray caught this silver while saltwater fly fishing. It was a great fight as the fish made a complete circumnavigation of the Finlander during it’s struggles. 

Above: Brad caught this nice rainbow. Rainbows are not common in the streams around Ugak Bay.


Right: Bernie and Brad display some silvers caught while freshwater fly fishing.

Lodge, August 28 to September 4, 2010


Ray Sirois * Shapleigh, ME
Bernie Beaudoin
* Overland Park, KS
Chick Forrence
* Hudson, NH
Scott Bobbitt
* Nashua, NH
Don Berube - Nashua, NH
Brad Barker - Fort Collins, CO
Janet Barker - Fort Collins, CO
Britt Johnston - Woodinville, WA

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn, Amy Finn, Deb Christiansen and Eric Cymbolin.

 

 

Don and Janet toughed out some strong winds and choppy seas to catch these nice silvers.

Contestants on the beach cheer on their first lap teammates as they wait to make the exchange. Butt naked kayak relay races, a lot of lodges don’t have that! 

 

Nice catch guys! Left to right: Britt, Scott and Chick display some silvers. Kneeling: Eric displays some black rock fish.

 

 

Eric wins the last hand on poker night. With eleven players buying in at $10.00 each, the last hand was worth $110.00! A new lodge record.

 

A bear fishing the stream at Saltery Cove.

 

A bear walking by the banya?

Scott and Britt partake of fresh fish sandwiches during a day of fishing at Eagle Harbor.

 

Wild horses in the estuary at Portage Bay. 

 

Left to right: Darrel, Tom, Shawn, Dan, Scott, Paul, Charlie, Eric and Dave.

 Lodge, September 4 to 11, 2010


Charlie Ryan * Lima, OH
Paul Scheiwiller
* Lima, OH
Dan Wilker * Lima, OH
Tom Ahman * Lima, OH
Scott Stallkamp * Lima, OH
Eric Bostic * Lima, OH
Darrel Long * Lima, OH

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn, Amy Finn, Deb Christiansen and Eric Cymbolin.

Below: Dan and Paul display a nice Dolly Varden.

Left: It’s always flat calm when you leave on a kayak adventure. Scott, Eric and Dan had to battle a 15 KT. Headwind and a 2’ chop on their return from Seal Island.

 

Paul wins on poker night!

 

Scott is thinking: hey Darrell, aren’t you supposed to use chop sticks?

 

A lip rippen day of saltwater fishing in Ugak Bay.

The evolution of smoked salmon.
Above: The salmon is cut into portions while on the boat. The cuts are made separate the best parts for each of three smoking methods.
Top right: The salmon is brined over night in a bucket, drained and laid on racks in the smoke house.
Below: The thin strips on the upper racks will stay in the smoke house for several days. Eventually becoming "Cold Smoked Salmon". The thick chunks on the lower racks remain in the smoke house for one day and are either packaged as "Lox", or cooked in a hot smoker and packaged as "Hot Smoked Salmon"
Bottom right: When the smoking process is finished, all varieties are vacuum packed and labeled for the freezer.

 

Sunrise at the lodge. 

Charlie Ryan has a long history with Dave and Shawn. Charlie first visited Dave at his prior lodge in Olga Bay during the mid 1990s. Since then, Charlie has made several trips to both AlpenView Lodge and the out camp. He is a popular group leader and always brings several friends along on his trips. Thank you Charlie!

  

Charlie, Scott and Paul display some of the freshwater fly fishing catch.

 

Top left: A herd of Sitka black tail deer are sky lined on the north ridge of Mt. Geddis-Farzukan.
Bottom left: Tom on the summit.
Below: Dave ascends a snow filled gully on the way to the top.

 

A view of inner Ugak Bay from the summit of Mt. Geddis-Farzukan.

 Shawn with a nice rainbow taken in the pool below Molly Falls.

 

A starfish in the shallows near the lodge.

 

The evolution of frozen take home fish.
Above: The fish is cut into portions while on the boat.
Below: Guests vacuum pack their fish in specie specific, labeled bags. Often this chore is accomplished while enjoying an adult beverage.
Right: The vacuum packed fish is carefully stacked in the freezer.

 

Left to right: Pauly, Jim, Alex, Stefan, Peter and Markus.

 Lodge, September 11 to 18, 2010


Peter Schug * Staufenberg, Germany
Alex Schug * Germany
Stefan Ruhl * Germany
Thomas "Pauly" Leipold * Germany
Markus Jung * Germany
Jim Arneson * Kodiak, AK


Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn, Amy Finn, Deb Christiansen and Eric Cymbolin.

Evening activities at AlpenView are a lot of fun. When the weather is nice we often play horse shoes or stroll along beaches and trails. When the weather is poor we often play ping pong or poker.
Above: Deb and Amy watch a horse shoe match from the "not so cheap" seats.
Below: Alex tosses a shoe.

Alex and Dave square off in a ping pong match.

A jelly fish on the beach near the lodge.

 

Amy’s first loaves of bread! They turned out great. 

Above: Gray cod double hook-up.

Below: When the fish box is overflowing, you have had a good day.

 

Above: A yellow eye and a blue sky always makes a good picture.
Below: Anything can happen. Pauly and Peter were both hooked up with small reef fish. Pauly reeled his up without trouble. While peter reeled his fish up, it suddenly grew ten fold in size!
Ling cod will often attack a small fish on an anglers line and not let go. Often the ling is netted without ever being hooked.

 

 

Alex snapped this nice shot of Pauly and Markus while kayaking on Ugak Bay.

 

Shawn helps Stefan display a fly caught silver.

 

Above and at right: Bears of Eagle Harbor.

 

Vern, Bob and Brent display some of their load of silver salmon.

What comes onboard the Finlander ends up in the freezer.

Vern is an old salt from way back. Here he guides the Finlander home to the lodge while visiting with Shawn.

Lodge to Camp, September 18 to 25, 2010

Frank Varriale * Boise, ID
Brent Varriale
* Fruitland, ID
Bob Richmond - Boise, ID
Vern Brinkerhoff - Lincoln, CA

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn, Deb Christiansen and Eric Cymbolin.

Dinner at the Lodge.
This week was split, starting at the lodge and moving to the camp.

Dinner at the camp.

Fun and games. Shawn is the lucky winner of a poker game at the lodge.

Brent is the winner of the one fly competition at the camp.

 

Left to right, standing: Shawn Bob and Frank.
Sitting: Vern, Dave, Brent and Eric.

 

Frank with a fly caught steelhead.

 

Bob with a fresh silver.

Eric tries to get into the Whittier Daily News by displaying the paper as a Beaver makes a fly by.

Left to right, top row: Giorgio, Gianni, Ugo, Marco, Adriano and Maurizio.
Bottom row: Eric, Shawn and Dave.

 

Gianni and a steelhead.

 Out Camp, September 25 to October 2, 2010

Adriano Gardumi * Italy
Ugo Visintainer * Italy
Maurizio Giovannini - Italy
Marco Palmieri - Italy
Giorgio Postal - Italy
Gianni ??? - Italy

Staff for the week were Dave Jones, Shawn Finn and Eric Cymbolin.

Giorgio with a stringer of Dolly Varden for our lunch.

Maurizio with a steelhead. 

 

Trentino Fly Club members like to fish with flies they make themselves.

 

Brown bear siblings swim across the home pool.

 

Some bears are not to picky about what fish they eat.

 

The raft is loaded for a big down stream adventure.

 

Shawn guides the boat down river on a chilly morning.

Some nice steelhead caught by Adriano, Marco and Ugo.

Heading home on a sunny afternoon in September.

Out Camp, October 2 to 9, 2010

Don Andrews * Denver, CO
Eric Jensen * Bend, OR

Staff for the week were Dave Jones and Eric Cymbolin. 

They say the big fish run last and some of the steelhead caught this week seem to support this theory.
At Left: Eric Cymbolin with a great buck.
Below: Don with a nice buck.

Dave did double duty for most of the fall season. Head guide by day.

Head cook in the morning and evening.

Eric Jensen with the steelhead of the 2010 season, estimated at 36".

 

The silver salmon go through quite of a metamorphosis from the sea caught version seen earlier in this review.

A fall Dolly Varden is beautifully colored.
   

The Finlander is hauled out for winter work and storage.

Left to right: Lew, Stieg, Steve and Chris. Kneeling: Dave.

October 29 to November 3, 2010 

What does a guide do when his season is finished? He goes fishing!
After closing the camp for the season and pulling out the Finlander, Dave visits the Karluk River to fish with friends.

 

Lew and Steve with a nice steelhead.

 

Dave and Stieg land a double hook-up.

Dave helps Chris display his steelhead.

 

November brings some tough weather to the sport of steelheading.

 

Snow sticks to felt soles making walking difficult.

 

An ermine, in summer this same animal is called a weasel and is brown in color.

 

Stieg spent a day hunting a got a great 5 x 4 black tail deer.

During the snows of November, a heated home is hard to beat. Our sleeping quarters were in the yurt. An odd structure but it worked well. The kitchen and dining room were in a traditional cabin.

Dinner in the cook cabin.

Andrew Airways pilot, Steve Larson, tours the camp while his plane is tied to the river bank. Steve and Dave go way back. They flew together at Island Air in Kodiak during the late 1970s. Steve and Dave have shared many adventures over the years.

Hand warmers, beads and nail polish. A table full of Karluk River steelhead tools.

Part One, season start through August 7, 2010.