Ep. 1195: Pack Rafting and Multi-Sport Adventure with Thor Tingey
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pack rafting, whitewater, backpacking, multi-sport adventure.
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Thor Tingey, co-founder and CEO of Alpacka Raft (alpackaraft.com), the pioneering company that turned pack rafting from a niche Alaska hack into a global adventure sport. Thor shares his wild upbringing in Alaska, the epic expeditions that exposed the flaws in early packrafts, and how he teamed up with his mother Sheri to design the first modern, durable packraft in their basement. Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or curious about lightweight wilderness travel, this episode dives deep into Thor's backstory, the origins of Alpacka Raft, and everything you need to know about pack rafting—plus practical tips for getting started and exploring hidden rivers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast. |
| 0:09.1 | Thanks for adventuring with us as we discover what incredible athletes and outdoor enthusiasts are doing all over the world. |
| 0:16.8 | Now here's your host, Kurt Linville. |
| 0:18.6 | Hey, friends. |
| 0:20.0 | Thank you for joining us today. |
| 0:21.4 | I interviewed a fellow by the name of Steve Fastbinder. |
| 0:25.3 | Boy, it's been about 10 years ago. |
| 0:27.2 | And he introduced me to the idea of pack rafting. |
| 0:30.3 | And I had never heard of it before. |
| 0:31.9 | And today we're revisiting the whole adventure sport of pack rafting and multi-sport adventures that it allows, |
| 0:38.8 | but we're doing it with Alpaca Raff's CEO who founded the company a long time ago, |
| 0:45.3 | but we're going to talk about adventure packrafting. It's going to be a heck of a lot of fun. |
| 0:50.3 | It's such a, it's one of the favorite subjects of mine. So our guest today is Thor Tini, and he |
| 0:56.3 | started the idea of pack rafting, not not pack rafting itself, but modern pack rafting with the |
| 1:02.7 | modern gear that we have. And then he went off to law school and became a corporate lawyer. And then |
| 1:06.9 | he left corporate America and came back to pack rafting at alpaca rafts. |
| 1:12.2 | And so that's going to be a fun story. Thor, welcome to the program. |
| 1:15.4 | Thanks. Excited to be here. |
| 1:16.9 | Yeah, I love it when I get to hear how people, you know, kind of built a career and then |
| 1:22.3 | did a pivot and came back to the outdoor industry in general or to the life they love or to, you know, |
| 1:29.0 | a more adventurous approach to living. How did all of that transpire? |
| 1:32.3 | That's funny. I've had three careers in my life and I would seem the perfect candidate |
... |
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