Chugach Mountain Institute

Mat founded the Chugach Mountain Institute late 2021 in the heart of the Chugach Mountains (the area traditionally used by Sugpiaq, Eyak and Ahtna indigenous peoples for fishing and trading but known more recently as Valdez, Alaska). Based in one of the most environmentally extreme but sublimely beautiful areas in the world, a community that struggles with its socio-ecological heritage from an economy based on resource extraction that culminated in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Chugach Mountain Institute is dedicated to improving relationships between people and planet through outdoor education and guided mountain adventures.