Clark Fyans, the Lead Guide and Field Producer for BOTR who has also worked extensively with Brain Farm, knew he wanted to get the boys into some serious alpine wilderness -- having summited Denali 10 times himself among other, ridiculous accolades -- but he wasn't sure what the trip would come down to:

"I wanted to get [the pro riders] into an environment where we were still in the mountains but out of their element in a way. We're usually using helicopters... We were just south of Mt. McKinley. [Ed. aka Denali, the highest peak in North America.] It's a protected area, the Pika Glacier know as 'Little Switzerland,' and it's traditionally a spot that people go to do mountaineering. It's just this great amphitheater. We're probably the first people to go in there and build a kicker [laughs]."

As for the riding that went down -- including guest talent Pat Moore's first real AK line -- Fyans was surprised at how well the boys stepped up to the "new" way of doing things:

"Yeah, I mean, all of the riding that went down was really dramatic and exceeded all of my expectations. I thought we'd be doing super basic stuff looking to the future... Instead, John J right away got into a pretty decently exposed mountaineering-style line. Then, the next day, all three of them got into some stuff. Pat Moore's first real AK line was very aesthetic... To have Pat come and be a part of it and get not just his first Alaska line, but to have it not be the typical fly-to-the-top heli... He really had to work for it. For popping someone's AK cherry, [Pat Moore] had a pretty unique way of doing that, I'd say."

Fyans also called the ice fall kicker the crew built, "all-time" -- keep in mind this is from a guy who was heavily involved in "The Art of Flight" and knows his kickers.

As for whether Moore showed up for an Alaska glacier camp with nine different Slayer t-shirts, John Jackson laughs and says: " He toned it down a little bit for Alaska. He had a funny little gardening hat. Glacier glasses. He had fun."