r e viR g
B e a c h b u r g , ON Paddler Services at
RiverRun on the Ottawa River
See our web site for take-out, camping,
accommodations and meals. 1-800-267-8504
RiverRunRafting.com T h e O u t f i t t e r s
Al Pace 51 & Lin Ward
ORANGEVILLE, ONTARIO; NORMAN WELLS, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES YEARS CANOEING: 20
A
l Pace and Lin Ward are arctic outfitters you’ve probably never heard of. Canoe
North Adventures’ clientele is almost exclu- sively repeat customers from Ontario. They do very little marketing, but in the past 20 years the husband and wife team have led 77 trips on the lumbering tundra rivers of Nuna- vut and the powerful, pulsing waterways of the Mackenzie Mountains. Now, they’re hoping to expand operations
from a new base in Norman Wells, in the heart of the Northwest Territories’ river-rich Sahtu region. Pace and Ward partnered with Norman
Wells-based floatplane company North Wright Airways and received government funding to build a new outfitting centre, set to open this summer. “The region has been struggling with the downturn in the resource sector,” says Pace. “They looked at us to pick up some of the slack in the adventure tourism industry.” Ward hopes the log and timber-frame fa-
cility, which has been largely constructed through local labour, will serve as a day lodge to welcome guests to the north and become a jumping-off point for commercial and self- guided trips on the countless glacier-fed rivers that flow out of the Mackenzie Mountains. The pair has no doubt that business will
increase with the addition of their new outfit- ting centre—to the point that they’re consid- ering recruiting a few new guides. “We have this neat little secret up there,” says Pace. “We want to slowly release the spark of opportunity to the canoeing community.” —Conor Mihell
www.canoerootsmag.com 45 Canot-camping La Vérendrye
R
f h t
a
t t O e
i w
a
t
n
a
PHOTO: WALTER BRENNAN
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 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52