Yup, the technical part is pretty easy.
The catch is that since you're dealing with such an extreme angle of view, the likelihood of all it "fitting" within the same exposure becomes smaller. You
could use high dynamic range (HDR) techniques, but that's a lot more work. It an ever bigger challenge than "normal" photography. I bet if you gave a novice an image-stabilized 400mm lens and let them loose, they would produce some cool images. Give the same person a 12mm lens and they probably won't have as many hits.
Alaska though... yeah, it sounds like you missed an amazing opportunity!