uring proofing for every issue, we edit out at least one reference to Alaska’s challenging weather or terrain. This has held true for the more than 150 issues I’ve worked on. We don’t delete earnest references to Alaska’s extraordinary conditions because they don’t matter but because even Alaskans living in urban areas are confronted with their reality regularly.

Alaska Business’ editing team lives in Alaska. We wake up occasionally on an icy winter day and wonder how we’re going to traverse our driveway safely, much less the roads to work. And considering that minor challenge (that nonetheless may take preparation, care, and specialty equipment), we are aware of the major challenge of transporting say, pre-fabricated walls, armor rock, or steel pipes to locations without roads and with limited or constricted access by air or boat. We may need to plan weeks ahead to order a specialty tool; remote projects may need to order supplies months or even a year ahead to make sure the right parts are on site on time.

These logistics are important and notable, but they are also known to our readers, wherever they may reside. Thus, the editorial team trims even beautiful, poetic, or poignant expressions of Alaska’s breathtaking landscapes and exhilarating weather.

One of this month’s special sections, Industry Support Services, inspired this reflection, as those stories are almost without fail drafted with a weather/terrain double header. It’s hard to fault the writers: support services are highly technical, cost-intensive endeavors when they take place in areas rich with infrastructure and materials. But when one is responsible for fabricating a housing facility (that is comfortable and safe) miles away from any road or runway to support a project (requiring materials transported across multiple states) to extract a resource that necessitates transportation following the highest levels of safety—it’s hard to not mention the snow and ice, the mountains and oceans, and the bears that make every job exciting.

We’re going to keep cutting them though. Taking those challenges as given creates more space to share the many other ways that Alaska’s businesses are awe-inspiring.