Fresh Adventures
Ditch the cookie-cutter guided experience everyone else falls prey to.
Join Fresh Adventures for a fresh look at Western Canada like you’ve never seen before and won’t find anywhere else, lead by locals who are from and live where they guide.
To find out more behind how Fresh Adventures got its start and what’s in store for the future, Josh interviews Fresh Adventures founder, Alex Ross
More about the episode…
Josh sits down with Fresh Adventures founder Alex Ross. Fresh Adventures leads guided tours through Western Canada providing you the chance for an EPIC trip guided by someone who lives and grew up in the surrounding area that you explore. Not only is your tour handcrafted by a true local, they’re experiences and tours are 100% unique, unlike the thousands of cookie cutter tours that are sold to various tour groups across North America. Alex prides himself on the fact that he’s able to provide a one-of-a-kind experience and it’s just that aspect that sets Fresh Adventures apart. Beyond that he has created a livelihood off sharing his love and literally the spark that made him grow to appreciate nature with his clients through Fresh Adventure.
Have an opinion? We want to hear it! Join the conversation and leave a comment, check out show notes, and get all the links mentioned in this episode below
Links/resources:
- A closer look at what to expect on a Fresh Adventure trip
- Check out Fresh Adventures website
- Check out Fresh Adventures different tour options
- A more indepth look at the value behind Fresh Adventures
- A Recap of Reddy Team’s trip out to the Powder Highway w/ Fresh Adventures
Show Notes
Show Notes
- What is Fresh Adventures all about?
- Fresh Adventures is just my idea of trying to live a fresh life and do things that other travel companies aren’t. So, the word fresh came in from everyone out there having a preconceived ideas of what they want to do for tours…I actually found out last year that their are actually one or two companies out there that create tours, create the itinerary, and sell them of to like 20 other tour companies…that’s exactly what I’m trying to fight…”
- What made you decide to pair Powder Highway trips and Summer Camping trips together?
- Basically, our spread is between different geographic regions in Western Canada…I’m actually in a fierce battle trying to figure out where to live. So, it’s between a few regions for me the Rockies, the island, the coast around Vancouver, the Powder Highway, or way up north…The reason I do it is because everywhere has so many amazing things… You can’t match the coast on a perfect summer day going surfing with your buddies and, you can’t match the Powder Highway on a perfect winter day…”
- Did you always know you wanted to start your own business?
- “Yeah, I can actually remember the first day I knew I was going to be a guide. I was 10 years old my parents told me I couldn’t get a pocket knife until I was 12 years old and I said this is garbage, one day I’m going to be an adventure guide and I’m going to need a pocket knife. That was the first time that I publicly stated that I was going to be a guide…”
- Who would you say is the perfect person to go on one of your trips?
- “…I’ve taken people on absolutely every fitness level, every skill level. I’ve taken beginners skiers, people who couldn’t even do a blue or green run…When I started we were running day hiking tour out of Vancouver and that was kind of mayhem. Every single day you’re getting 8-10 new people some who are coming from cruise ships, the train, some who are traveling around the world to climb a specific mountain…you get such a diverse range…”
- What has been one of the hardest parts about building Fresh Adventures to what it is now?
- “What isn’t hard about starting a company…There are so many challenges along the way, the list just keeps on growing…It’s something you might not realize because you’re working for someone else but everyday there are challenges and something pops up…For running a company like this there are so many different permits and when you’re hiring people there are all sorts of regulations…You gotta build a strong team, you gotta build company culture…I’m not sure what’s my greatest challenge along the way but, it’s absolutely full of challenges…”
- What’s your greatest fear in regards to Fresh Adventure?
- “The biggest leap I’ve ever made in my life is going to from working for someone else to working for myself and my absolute greatest fear in life is doing that in reverse…”
- How did you get to the point where you could take that leap?
- “There were a few ways that was made possible, and a few were jobs. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve worked 40 jobs in the last 8 years…out here there’s a lot of seasonal work…but, I’ve been fiercely fighting that and trying to stay on top of everything…There’s also a really fine line when I got started. I needed a lot of things to learn in my first year…”
- What are some of the biggest mistakes that you’ve made while getting Fresh Adventures off the ground?
- “I like to think that any day that I haven’t made a huge mistake is a day I haven’t woken up yet…Major mistakes, it depends on what sort of mistake. As a guide, you quickly realize that you’re holding peoples trust and that is such a fine balance. You wave to people, you talk to them, they look at you and thing this guy knows his stuff, I’m gonna follow him…”
- What advice would you give to someone that wanted to start a business?
- “Half of me is screaming, tell them to keep their job because it’s stable and predictable…looking back working for the man was awful, just slavery…I guess what I’m getting at is if you know what you want then you need to follow the path that’s right for that. For me, I want to be able to call the shots, I want to be in the world where I want to be at any given time…The biggest thing for people to realize is why they want to do this…”
- Where do you see Fresh Adventures headed into the future?
- “Basically, Fresh Adventures where I thought it would be a few years ago…The whole reason I got into this was my absolute passion for the wilderness, I spent my childhood in places where you wouldn’t see another person…if you venture into the wilderness it can be incredibly relaxing and I remember my original mission was to take people into the wilderness. Which is what we do on our tours but, I wanted to do it on a bigger scope. And so, it sort of reminded me that I need to get cracking and start working towards getting permits to take people into the backcountry…I really want to get more into paddling…doing a few days paddling or even a canoe trip down a river is absolutely magical…”
- What’s the best part about running Fresh Adventures?
- “The best part about running a tour is that you get paid to do what you love to do. BUT, after you’ve done that a few times…it grows for you. The first part about guiding was making a meager living doing exactly what I love to do. Then it kind of grew and grew and, I started to love people who had the same reactions as me as when I first got there…eventually you start to see people going through what you went through in the very infancy of your career as an outdoors person…that’s something that a lot of people forget…I had to go through all the same steps as anyone else…When I take people skiing and I see them facing these challenges, I’m able to help them because I’ve been through there not too long ago…”
- [BONUS] What is something that people don’t know about you that sets you apart from your competitors?
“Truth is, I am an adventure guide and with that it is actually more practical for me to have no fixed address, you can be homeless… For me to have an actual place to live out here is insane. I’d be paying five thousand dollars a month, just for a place to maybe lay my head 5 days a month…This is my true differentiating point…I’ve got a team of about four people and every single one of us live within 100 miles of the tours that we guide…We are the 100 mile guide. You come on a Powder Highway tour and you will be with a guide who is from and lives within a hundred miles of the tour. You will be on a tour that has been designed by somebody who has spent ALMOST a decade living exactly where that tour takes place…I know this area like the back of my hand and it gets no more local…”
