03/23/2026
The time has come, Swift Adventures will no longer be offering guided river and glacier SUP tours in Alaska. It has been an amazing opportunity to create this business from the newly emerging sport of river paddling. There were no other businesses like it in the world to model it from and very few safety rules developed about the sport when I first started exploring every drainage within a few hours of Girdwood. After many years of convincing friends to join me in exploring remote rivers, organizing large glacier camping trips for dozens of people and SUP trips to Mexico with multiple friend groups I decided that I could actually make a business out of having fun.
I knew absolutely nothing about owning or operating a business but I wrote notes for every river trip (mainly about what not to do), created a list of rivers I could safely get folks down and then eventually applied for permits through the Forest Service and State of Alaska. The same friends I had adventured with for years became my guides, river safety plans were developed, guide training schedules made, certification courses completed, workers comp insurance aquired, transportation sorted and then permits issued to create the worlds largest river SUP company. The next step was the media, which turned out to be the most difficult as I barely knew how to turn a computer on. I created my entire website and developed social media accounts (thanks for the help Lynn!) and learned how to make videos, design tshirts, stickers, posters and rack cards for advertising. Thank you Raeann for the beautiful logo design! Swift Adventures held safety clinics, hosted events such as the SUPOlympics in Hope, held SUP Pilates classes, trips to Mexico and took hundreds of local kids groups down the river on a yearly basis.
Part of the challenge of running rivers in Alaska was figuring out how to access them but with the help of Jetboats, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, trains and cruise boats we were able to effectively provide an incredible Alaskan experience. I would also like to thank Hala for such a great board design and Karl WAk for handing down the dealer reigns.
There were many reasons why i decided to end operations but the biggest one was safety concerns due to the leash systems on the market today. The leashes available have not proved to be reliable in all situations and i would like to see the industry change the design to a pressure release mechanism before I feel comfortable taking beginners on the river. Other reasons such as Portage Creek being an incredibly dynamic river with diminishing water flows one week giving way to flood stage depths the next, strainers on every corner and weather that can change in a heartbeat. I consider myself lucky that we didnt lose anyone and, at the same time, honored to have the opportunity to share this sport with the thousands of people who have adventured with me in the past.
Swift Adventures will continue as more of a not for profit club for all of you who are still interested in unique trips and may even involve motorcycles in the future....I will never stop adventuring. Thank you to everyone who was able to share this with me, some of the best times of my life!
And yes, I have a good bit of gear for sale.
