At peace on the Nahanni. PHOTO: MIKE BROADFOOT
WENDY GRATER
WIRY AND SOFT-SPOKEN, Wendy Grater isn’t the type of person you’d expect to be guiding wilderness canoe
trips in the Canadian Arctic, leading newbies through class III whitewater and lugging 85-pound tripping canoes on rugged portages. Yet for the past 30 years, Grater has been guiding big-ticket wilderness adventures on remote Canadian rivers, log- ging more annual river days than guides half her age and run- ning the company to boot. While her competitors envy her busi- ness sense and success, perhaps Grater’s biggest contribution to outdoor adventure has been her pioneering role in changing the face of wilderness leadership. “There just weren’t many women doing this in the late 70s
and early 80s,” says Grater, 54. “It was challenging because people weren’t comfortable with a woman as a guide. You had to prove yourself time and time again. But it’s changed a lot in the last 20 years. It’s commendable that the outdoor recreation profession has embraced equality.” Grater has owned and operated Black Feather, a wilderness
adventure company headquartered in the lower level of her home in Parry Sound, Ontario, since 1998. She began guiding at age 17 at Camp Kandalore in Ontario’s Haliburton region and quickly graduated to leading sub-Arctic canoe trips on rivers like the South Nahanni, Mountain and Hood for Black Feather, then a division of Ottawa’s Trailhead retail outlet. In 1984, she be- came a partner in Black Feather and has led hundreds of trips and watched dozens of guides come and go ever since. “She’s a visionary in the sense of exploring new routes, sens-
ing leadership skills in young guides and trying new business strategies,” says Wally Schaber, the founder of Black Feather and owner of Trailhead. “She also walks the walk. She spends equal time on the trail and in the office.”
36 SUMMER/FALL 2009
WHETHER LEADING A BUSINESS OR A TRIP, WENDY GRATER
THE OUTFITTER NEVER STOPS PROVING HERSELF Besides encouraging more women to be-
come wilderness guides, Grater has also created a successful suite of women-only guided wilderness trips. “The women’s trips are great because
there isn’t the pressure of having to do something well because husbands are watching,” she says. “There’s also a higher degree of teamwork than on our mixed trips. We have to cooperate more on difficult portages.” To better deal with the physical challenges of guiding 40 to 50 days per summer, Grater spends her winters training for and participating in inter- national masters-level cross- country ski races and playing hockey. She says the other difficulty of running Black Feather is that her home of-
When she started, people weren’t comfortable with women as guides.
fice demands a balance between business and day-to-day life. “I hear the phone ringing in the evenings and have to decide whether or not to answer it,” she says. “But when all is said and done, I’m glad to be making a living at something I also do on my holidays.” » CONOR MIHELL
PHOTO: RICK MATTHEWS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48