Education
3 Tips for Teaching the Most Essential River Skill: Stoke
By Willa Mason, Boreal River As whitewater instructors or trip leaders, it’s our job to teach paddlers all the essential hard skills. To make that happen, we need paddlers who want to return to the river time and time again....
Learning on the Deh cho: Whitewater rescue adapted for Land Guardians
Skills training in K’ahsho Got’ine district, Northwest Territories Author: Willa Mason, Boreal River A small group of K’ahsho Got’ine Land Guardians stood on the banks of the Dehcho (Mackenzie River), with their instructor Caleb Roberts. It was the first morning...
3 Tips to Manage Your Group as a Paddling Instructor
Where you put yourself really matters. Author: Willa Mason, Boreal River “Why aren’t you waiting behind the rocks?” my apprentice instructor asks. He’s referring to a row of boulders that blocks our paddler’s otherwise straightforward path down the rapid. “Sit...
5 Soft Skills to Make you a Better Adventure Guide
By Jennifer Kingsley, a writer and guide based in Ottawa, Ontario. Jennifer is the founder of Meet the North and the author of Paddlenorth: Adventure, Resilience, and Renewal in the Arctic Wild. In the guiding world, there is a lot of emphasis on...
Experiential Education, Grit and Protecting What You Love
School trusts Boreal River for staff training and student expeditions What is hard work? That’s an important question these days when many young people are addicted to immediate, often positive, feedback via technology. High performance sport coaches lament the lack...