Cowboy professionalism: a cultural study of big-mountain tourism in the last frontier

ABSTRACT

Geographical features and cultural traits influence the character of big-mountain tourism in Alaska. This research considers the intersectionality of wilderness and frontier concepts on tourism culture, examines guides’ and clients’ motivations for participation, and relates these influences to the larger phenomena of tourism generally and nature tourism specifically. The findings show that Alaska’s big-mountain tourism is globalized in its political and economic scope. Guides imagine themselves as pioneers on a last frontier of mountain pursuits, notions that relate well to images depicted of the region in literature and promoted by the tourism industry. Clients, on the other hand, come to Alaska because of its exceptional geography and unique mountain sporting culture, but are not as enamored with the mythos of the frontier.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism
• big-mountain tourism
• adventure tourism
• northern studies
• place identity
• sport
• nature sport
• cultural geography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Kevin Krein (2019, Chapter 5) and Taylor (2010, Chapter 10).

2. Hal Rothman (1998, 29).

3. Adrian Franklin (2006, 398–99).

4. United Nations World Tourism Organization (2023). Accessed 11-13-23: https://www.unwto.org/tourism-data/global-and-regional-tourism-performance.

5. Martin Wolf (2014, 22).

6. Daniel Boorstin (1971, 107).

7. Numerous theorists have considered the alienating effects of modern life. See Melvin Seeman (1959).

8. See McCannell (MacCannell 1976, 160) on this point.

9. See, for example, Alaska Economic Trends. Accessed 11-14-23: https://labor.alaska.gov/trends/jan23.pdf.

10. See “Shoreline Mileage of the United States at https://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/states/shorelines.pdf. Accessed 2-10-23. Of note, Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline, and is home to three of North America’s ten highest mountains, Denali, Mt St. Elias, and Manali (Mt. Foraker).

11. See Krein (2019, 91–92).

12. Adam Helman (2005, 3–4).

13. See Mountaineering Statistics and Annual Reports, https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/mountaineering-summary-reports.htm. Accessed 2–12.23. Of note, I was part of the statistics for Denali in 2023 and was on the mountain for about a week waiting out a storm that limited access to the upper mountain.

14. Colby Coombs (1997, 63–64, 100).

15. Calvin Heusser (2007, 15, 18).

16. Douglas Brinkley (2011, 53).

17. See MacCannell (1976, 105).