Who We Are
We are a small company that wants to make a difference. Founded in 2024, Yukon Alpine Adventures was created to raise the bar of ethical and respectful guiding within the ecotourism industry. We want to help people experience the power of Yukon’s mountain landscapes while ensuring Yukon First Nations are honoured and respected.
Recognizing Yukon First Nations
Commercial guiding is a resource extraction business. We access the Traditional, settlement and treaty Territories of Indigenous peoples and extract the tourism profits from the Land. Far too often, none of these profits reach the communities that have been stewarding these lands for generations. Unfortunately, there is no requirement to consult or engage with First Nations in the Yukon for any wilderness tourism operation that wants to operate on non-settlement Lands. The regulations to operate in parks are inconsistent, and park fees, permits and licenses rarely go to the local Indigenous communities. This has to change.
In the spirit of reconciliation, we commit to the following three principles.
•Consent•
We commit to engaging with each First Nation before operating on their Traditional Territory. We will endeavour to connect with each First Nation throughout the year with updates on our proposed trip itineraries, routes and expedition logistics. We will also provide each Nation with an operational report at the end of our guiding season (October) outlining the season’s expeditions, group compositions, wildlife observations and environmental impact tracking.
If any concerns or objections arise, each Nation will be able to contact us and we will do our best to immediately redress any concerns and implement solutions, including if necessary a pause on operations.
•Non-Compete & Collaboration•
We commit to doing our best to not compete with any Yukon First Nation guiding companies and will endeavour to share trip logistics and adjust trip itineraries if asked by any local First Nation business. We also commit to working towards integrating First Nation guides and interpreters into our trips. All of our guests will also receive a cultural orientation from a First Nation interpreter to ensure participants follow respectful Land travel protocols.
We also commit to developing a mentorship program for aspiring Indigenous guides within the next 7 years (2031).
•Profit Sharing•
We commit to working towards making meaningful financial contributions to the First Nation communities whose lands we access by donating 5% of gross profits every year to a Yukon Indigenous-controlled organization. As our company grows, we will continue to reassess our donation model to ensure our donations are meaningful and appropriate. We also commit to being transparent with who and how much we are donating on our website.
Low Impact Travel
The trips we offer were developed because we think immersing yourself in a landscape without other people, with no trails or infrastructure is something special. That being said, we recognize that our commercial use of these spaces can have a detrimental effect on these delicate, northern ecosystems. To help manage our footprint, we’ve developed standards for all of our trips.
* Make Leave No Trace Principles a cornerstone of our trips.
* Honour First Nations’ wildlife and Land protocols.
* Coordinate with other guiding companies to minimize over-usage of campsite locations.
* Limit access to fly-in locations to a maximum of twice a season.
* Conduct environmental self-assessments and document campsite disturbances.
* Continually rotate routes and campsites to minimize impact.
Olivier Clements
Owner | ACMG Hiking Guide
Olivier Clements (he/him) has been a professional guide and outdoor educator since 2017. He started as an outdoor instructor on Vancouver Island leading youth on hiking, climbing and caving trips in the mountains of Strathcona Provincial Park, before completing his hiking guide certification with the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) in 2020.
After guiding all over British Columbia’s coastal trails and mountains (with almost a dozen West Coast Trails under his belt), Olivier moved to Whitehorse in 2019. Since then, Olivier has worked as a guide throughout the territory, leading groups in the mountains as well as working with youth in Whitehorse’s outdoor education programs.
Emma Dobson
Co-Director | Guide | Culinary Lead
Often working behind the scenes, Emma Dobson (she/her) is Yukon Alpine Adventures’ secret weapon. Emma works not only as a guide, but also as our in-house chef, developing our delicious camping menu. After working for years on tall ships and luxury ski lodges, Emma started teaching culinary arts in high schools. From menu planning, dish testing, and dehydrating techniques, Emma is key to arguably the most important part of a trip, the food!
Emma is also an experienced guide with a speciality in river canoeing. Since 2015, she’s guided canoe expeditions and facilitated outdoor experiential education programs in BC, the Yukon and Ontario.