Another important piece of how we run this business is the work we do to make our trips as low impact as possible. Some things are super simple, like our fully paperless reservation system, because shit it is 2022 and who needs to be dealing with paper? Or our mostly vegetarian menu, because it is super tasty and the data shows that a primarily vegetarian diet is demonstrably better for the planet. Choosing to fly less – or not at all – for our trips was also an easy choice, it reduces our overall emissions and it lowers the cost of our trips, making them accessible to folks from a slightly wider socioeconomic range. When we do fly, we offset our emissions, which was a more complicated decision. Carbon offsets are not perfect, but my hope is that they are better than doing nothing at all. 

The most fun part of this business is obviously the time spent outside with cool people in amazing places. But a close second, and a foundational aspect of how we do things, is our nonprofit partner program. Every trip makes a meaningful donation to a nonprofit organization working to minimize the impacts of industry and development on Alaska’s wildest places. I’ve built our business plan to include these donations as a mandatory cost of doing business – just like insurance, accounting, or advertising. The way I see it, healthy, intact ecosystems are the very foundation of our trips and it is our responsibility to help protect them. Would we have a higher profit margin if we didn’t make these sizable donations? Sure. But again, how we operate matters more than money, growth or any other capitalistic measure.