Inside Radventures offers tours to the "best-kept secret in adventure travel"
Banff-based Radventures says it’s showing people this country’s most popular national park in a way that doesn’t leave them feeling overwhelmed by the at times huge numbers of people visiting the natural retreat.
Dale Schober, founder and CEO of Radventures, says Banff remains at the core of his company’s business and this past summer was particularly strong, with September doing very well.
“The challenge isn’t convincing people to come,” he says. “It’s helping them experience Banff without feeling like they’re being funnelled through it. That’s why we’ve built around small groups, better timing with sunrise and sunset tours, and quieter ways into iconic places, rather than just adding more volume. Our Banff day tours have now earned 4,500+ five-star reviews, so the appetite for the Rockies is clearly still there.”
But Schober adds that his company is taking advantage of other parts of this country’s vast wilderness expanses, sending people to such far-flung locales as the Yukon and coastal Newfoundland.
The 8-day Yukon Summer: Light That Never Ends features Dawson City and its many reminders of the Klondike Gold Rush, with tour participants going a Parks Canada walking tour, visiting Dredge No. 4, and having a night at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, a lively casino featuring can-can dancers and other gold rush-style entertainment. They then head to nearby mountainous Tombstone Territorial Park.
But Schober says his company shows other sides of the Yukon too.
“The Yukon’s story is bigger than 1898,” he says. “It includes (Kluane National Park’s) Kluane’s Icefields and thousands of years of First Nations history, which is why we also spend time at Long Ago Peoples Place and the Da Kų Cultural Centre. Dawson is the most colourful chapter, but it isn’t the whole book. We wanted guests to experience the Yukon as more than a gold-rush story, because the real story stretches from First Nations history to some of the wildest landscapes in Canada.”
Radventures also offers the 4-day Yukon Winter: Chasing the Aurora, which gives participants daily chances to see the Northern Lights by dog sled and snowshoes.
“The Aurora is the draw, and the Yukon is one of the best places on Earth to see it: long dark nights, almost no light pollution, and a season that runs from late August to April,” Schober says. “You add dog sledding, snowshoeing, and a hot spring soak under the Northern Lights, and it becomes the kind of trip people tell stories about for years.”
Schober suggests that Canada is the “best-kept secret in adventure travel. Our country has more wilderness than almost anywhere on Earth, and most visitors only ever see the same five viewpoints. Canada has fjords in Newfoundland, a ‘Galápagos of the North’ in Haida Gwaii, and some of the biggest icefields outside the poles. The world’s next big adventure boom is happening in our own backyard.”
The company has gone on its largest expansion to date, and Schober says it won’t be the last, adding it’s looking at “more of Canada that most visitors never reach, and we’re building out our international and RadWomen collections in parallel.”
Canadians often flee south on vacation when winter weather sets in but Radventures is eager to promote its winter program, which includes riding electric fat bikes in Banff, with Schober stating that the “wide tires float on packed snow and the e-assist does the heavy lifting on climbs, so you don’t need to be a cyclist to enjoy it. If you ride a bike, you’ll love it.”
As well, early interest is strongest for the Yukon trips, both summer and winter. “People are hungry for the North, and very few operators offer it year-round,” he adds.
Radventures is also seeing a lot of interest for Vancouver Island and lots of curiosity around Saskatchewan as one of the first operators to really focus on this area, Schober continues.
Every Radventures trip has a maximum of 12 people, with hand-picked places to stay and local guides who know the stories behind the scenery, Schober reports “It’s an adventure without roughing it: real hikes and wild places, then a hot shower and a good dinner. “
Schober notes that Radventures is a member of 1% for the Planet, “because the places we take people need to stay wild.” Among other things, 1% for the Planet supports environmental initiatives.
