Show lifestyle alt Jake ©ribime §flje Section W Sumlav FASHION W-- 2 FOOD W-- 8 Novemlier 20 101UI Page 1 Btnrnuf'wwa— mm U sV'“Tgr72f skier rrTt K - 1"- b' inWV 'Jf 0j ' ' I’ J ' Vf J tSV v iftSlil tyt Nestled In an Alaskan fjord town of Whittier isn’t near anything By Craig Hansell Tribune Staff Writer WHITTIER Alaska — Fishing the Gulf of Alaska is an experience far removed from skiing Utah’s Wasatch Mountains where Alex von Wichman competes for the University of Utah Women’s Alpine Ski Team Duchess dipped under the weight as Ms von Wichman loaded boxes for the resupply trip she and her brother Nick made to their fishing boat Alexandra Her tattered sweater is evidence of her outdoor lifestyle on the northern fringe of the Gulf of Alaska Alex 22 Nick 26 and their brother Brad 27 are partners in their purse-seine- r fishing boat They use Duchess an runabout operating on its third engine as a resupply craft This day they were running a new water pump to Brad and school teacher Mike Sizelove who leased the boat for the silver salmon season Nick cast off and eased Duchess through the Whittier Marina They kicked up the throttle and headed south about 35 miles from Whittier with their load of goods for Alexandra A huge icefall loomed above Whittier on the town side of the fjord Ms von Wichman told of a r avalanche that cascaded off the east side of the fjord with enough force that it created a tidal wave which broke over the marina breakwater NCAA-champio- n 42-fo- mid-winte- During this trip a waterfall splashed into the fjord while a seagull rookery added its noises to the setting “There is so much to learn and be afraid of One line around a foot and that’s it” Ms von Wichman said of fishing’s inherent danger "Weather bird-nurser- y is also so unpredictable” over the Clouds hung Seattle-styl- e inlet as the skier continued to tell of the von Wichmans involvement in fishing It began with a handful of crab pots and escalated into a fullblown fishing business Alexandra with its complement of seiner nets is a state-of-th- e art fishing boat However a commercial fishing license can cost as much as $170000 That's why the von Wichmans joined with Sizelove Sizelove has a license but no boat “Fishing has changed a lot Our crab pots used to come up full and that is a lot of crab A jumbo shrimp is 7 to 9 years old by the time you eat it Now there are strict regulations and the abundance isn't what it was "Nick dives for sea urchins all winter The Japanese buy the roe It is an orange delicacy like caviar When it is fresh it is sweet Last time I went to San Francisco with Brad I tried some in a sushi bar — yuck” The inlets and islands south of Whittier are reminiscent of Washington’s San Juan Islands Except here it is a bit cooler and there is more snow and ice visible on the higher peaks Nick spots the Alexandra and pulls alongside Sizelove with Brad on board assisting was relaxed and waiting in line for a chance to set their nets off the point and corral a silhold full of the hatchery-brevers A full complement of orange survival suits lined the cockpit ready for d unexpected weather conditions which could quickly become life threatening In many areas a life jacket would provide a margin of safety Here only miles from activeglaly calving ciers a survival suit is a necessity in the cold water The von Wichmans seem at home in Alaska and the “Last Frontier” has been good to them Ms von Wichman has taken skiing skills learned on the slopes of Aleyska Resort near Anchorage and added to the University of Utah’s NCAA Ski Championship fortunes Now the senior French major will have one more year of ski competition before she returns to Alaska with her French degree to take over the Alexandra so Brad can give medical school a try Her first days as a Ute freshman See W-- 3 Column 3 iceberg-producin- Alex von Wichman inspects part of the silver salmon catch from one run with the purse-seine- r fishing boat Alexandra which she shares with her two brothers Nick and Brad g Nick von Wichman enjoys Alaskan sunshine on a resupply trip to fishing boat stationed on north edge of Gulf of Alaska Net holding tank on the Alexandra are brimsilver salmon ming o er w ith the hatchery-bred Once a good location is spotted fishing boats converge on the site to take turns setting nets and hauling in the owners’ share of the run A couple of sets can net about 2000 pounds of salmon which then are sold to fish company boats silver-salmo- Tribune Staff Photos by Cro'g Hansell n There’s obligation to use power in cause of beneficial tasks man He's a huge pudgy-pawewritten all with over him But looks are deceiving Until he retired a few year ago J P was a family doctor and he had a delicate touch with those big mitts of his Whether in surgery or tending to a skinned knee he could be as gentle and as precise with those large lunch hooks as the mother who gave you birth Maybe I shouldn't put it that way I'm sure there is such a thing as a clumsy mother a woman who is all thumbs even when dealing with her children a woman whose children run to their father with hurt knees lest Mom hurt them even moie There are mothers who bump their teeth on the bruise while kissing it to make it better But as a general rule the mother who gave you birth develops such an attachment to you that she tends to d clumsy-and-roug- h be uncommonly careful after all the work she put into making you Most mothers are pretty protective even the clumsy ones J P has always been protictive of his patients And it is somehow common for oversized men to be so gentle They come to recognize that their size and strength is a threat to others if they gel clumsy so they take it easy when they are around all the little people in their worP Indeed that is part of the appeal of those flower commercials by Merlin Olsen the former football player for the Los Angeles Rams Gentleness is becoming to giants And there is some fascination with the juxtaposition of a large strong man with flowers so fragile he could crush them with his breath Yes I know they also use him in flower commercials to break down the myth that liking flowers is a sissy thing to do (I don’t think it's a sissy thing to do but if you think it is w hv don’t you say so Merlin Olsen1) The amazing thing about my friend J P isn’t merely that he was always so gentle with patients large and small It s how gentle he still is with his front-enloader has Farming long been his first lose doctoring a sideline And for years he enjoyed nothing more than to crawl up on his big green tractor at the end of a day of doctoring and move logs or dirt around with that huge horizontal bucket on the front end of the rig He loves that tractor and its scoop Some people go bowling Some garden Some play poker Some watch soap operas Some go fishing Doctors are the same They just have more expensive toys than the rest of the boys J P likes to play farmer on his tractor hauling gravel here and there for this project or that on his mountain lanch lie is king of the world up there on that tractor throne Not surprisingly it has become an extension of him — strength controlled by gentleness and guided by delicate skill have seen him move boulders with that bucket — and 1 twigs without breaking them Sitting aboard that big green tractor I have seen him use the lip of that bucket like a scalpel smoothing the gravel on a new ranch road skimming the top layer of pebbles aside with the big pudgy paw on his tractor — power used in the cause of delicate beneficial tasks But he wasn't up there in that seat of his big green tractor one recent weekend when I visited lie was standing beside me while we watched his grandson who wants to be a doctor ) up there on that trartor showing a surgeon s gentle touch with that huge hand on the front of the tractor J P admits he has mixed emotions lie doesn’t get to play with his given tractor as much as he used to And he'd rather be up there on that seat himself But he’s so impressed with i the way the kid has taken to the rig What a gift he has for running his grandpa’s tractor There are signs in his grandson’s skill with that tractor of a young man who is learning the lesson that those in this life who are given strength and power are obligated to use it gently to soothe the skinned knees of others That kid already understands whether you are a farmer a doctor or a mighty nation that you have an obligation to use power in the cause of delicate beneficial tasks And J P is so proud of his grandson that he’ll probably send him flowers Bill Hall is a coin muist anti editorial page tenter for the Lewiston T " Lake Morn'-gTnbu- ne k |