Introduction to North-West Expeditions (my new side hustle with my Dad)
This year I had the opportunity to step away from a 12 year career at Apple Retail. It has been an incredible experience giving me time to do many things, including starting a passion project company with my Dad and older brother.
What follows is the story of how we have started. In other posts I will be sharing some of Dad’s writing and more about the company.
Thank you for joining us on our Expedition.
Founded by Dad
Founded and led by our dad, North-West Expeditions was a rafting/guiding company in the North-West of Canada.
It started with a scouting trip down the Nahanni River in 1972. That trip was 529 kms (328 miles) down an unknown river with paper maps, two friends, and a couple of rafts. When he got home he knew for sure he had to start a company.
The years that followed were a pretty amazing time in his life and deeply influenced my brother and I growing up.
“I count myself very fortunate… and quite happy that I have the privilege of doing this and sharing it with other people who would otherwise not experience it.”
Founder Dr. David Rowe (Dad) in a 1976(ish) Documentary about North-West Expeditions
The Brothers
Dad inspired a love of nature, a desire to get on the water, get out for a hike, a ride, a whatever. Regardless of the activity he inspired us to go do cool things outside.
Guiding has been a shared experience between the three Rowe men.
Steven currently spends his winter weekends as a ski host in the Rocky Mountains, and Ian was a canoe guide on the Athabasca River in Jasper National Park when he was eighteen.
These days Ian’s outdoor activities are mostly bike rides around town, paddle boarding and kayaking in English Bay, snowboarding local hills, and the occasional easy hike.
Steven on the other hand, is out in the wild, exploring remote islands, diving of the coasts of Canada and Mexico, and exploring the Canadian Rockies on a mountain bike or skis.
Dad, or at least his original stencilled logo and stories, have always present in our adventures. To this day we still talk about canoeing the Nahanni and he still wears his famous-to-us logo stencilled orange Anorak.
So Here We Are
During the holidays of 2017 Steven got a copy of Dad’s original hand drawn logo and used it to make some hoodies as gifts for the family.
We loved them — we’d admired the logo our whole lives. The cool part was that other people loved them too.
After a few whiskey infused nights of talking about it, we decided to (re)launch North-West Expeditions to share our love for the brand and its spirit with you.
The Journey Now
The more we’ve talked about it, the more we realize how lucky we are to get to do things we love to do with people we love to do them with. From paddle-boarding, to skiing up hill, going for drinks, or starting this company, it is important to us to make time for people and get out exploring together.
So here we are.
North-West Expeditions is made for these moments. We hope you will bring us along when you are out creating your own.
You can learn more and see our work at www.northwestexpeditions.com.
Sincerely,
Steven, Ian and Dad
“There’s a certain measure of freedom that’s very important to me. I find it preferable to work eighteen hours a day on the river than a nine to five job.”
Founder Dr. David Rowe (Dad)
