The Russia connection.

• Author: Ess, Charlie
• Position: Includes related article on Rivers' business in Alaska, Images - Russian businessman Larry Rivers

Larry Rivers isn't afraid of a little risk. He limps out to the tarmac of the Talkeetna airstrip in his black sea bass boots - the only ones that fit him comfortably after a rock-climbing accident last year - and runs his hand along the strut of an airplane with the appreciation of a pilot whose tenure is steeped in years of tiny airstrips and tricky crosswinds.

He's by no means done climbing, and he still jumps into his plane as often as many of us use our cars. But these days Rivers has begun enjoying the rewards of an intense entrepreneurial adventure as an export manager representing U.S. companies in Russia.

The scene of this newest venture juxtaposes high-tech business from Talkeetna, a berg that swirls as a mountaineering pit stop for climbers clawing their way up Mt. McKinley. Rivers, 50, operates his Russian venture, Image International Marketing Agency - as well as a guided hunting and flightseeing business - all from a 7,000-square-foot hanger/office.

The downstairs portion seems conventional enough for an air charter outfit, what with its brochures, chairs and the like. The second story, however, looks like a makeshift newsroom lined with a series of plywood desks arranged to hold massive monitors, laptops, fax machines, phones and other office equipment. One wall is adorned with wooden-framed clocks set to the respective times at the East Coast, Europe, Magadan and Alaska. Stuffed and mounted animals, harvested by Rivers from afar, preside on the tops of file cabinets nearby.

RUSSIAN REALITIES

The lure of conducting business, particularly in the Russian Far East, has attracted its share of Alaskan players. Rivers is but one of a few to assault its unfamiliar commercial terrain and come out on top. "A lot of people go over there, make some noise; but very few get into it," says Rivers, a tall man with piercing blue eyes and a physique that suggests he's a scrapper on any turf. "People fly over, meet somebody there, think they've gotten the tiger by the tail, dabble in it, and return."

Though the actual number of U.S. ventures in Russia remains obfuscated by proprietary motives, there is widespread knowledge of the reasons why entrepreneurs have gone over and failed. Most of them stem from a misunderstanding of the business climate.

"You don't just transplant the way you do business here over there and think it's going to work," says Molly Davenport, technical assistant program manager with the University of Alaska's American Russian Center...