It all began in 2010 when we bought a used bus on Kijiji to start offering day trips from Red Deer to the mountain ski resorts, including Sunshine Village, Lake Louise, Castle Mountain and Kicking Horse. Our background was in ski racing so this felt like a natural fit for our new adventure, starting a tour company.
A lot has changed since those days: we’re now based in Nordegg, skiing is no longer our main focus and our operations have grown to include the Nordegg Canteen. What hasn’t changed is our goal to inspire our guests to play outside and help them experience their adventure so that they can discover the culture, people and natural beauty of the region.
That’s why we’ve chosen to change our name, after operating as Pursuit Adventures from 2010 to 2021, to Nordegg Adventures. The new name better reflects what we do and brings together the tours, food and other adventures we’re dreaming up in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region.
The Red Deer Years
Summer 2010
We bought a bus! We tested the idea of offering downhill mountain bike trips that first summer.
Winter 2010/11
In the early years we offered larger group trips like this trip for Red Deer College to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.
Winter 2010/11
Offering smaller group weekends to Whitefish, Montana felt like a better fit for us and small group adventures have been our focus since.
Winter 2011/12
Toonie Days at Norquay were popular day trips to the mountains. Lift tickets were $2 per person and the bus ride from Red Deer was $35.
Summer 2012
A summer spent exploring the Red Deer Region, looking for new tour ideas and building the Explore Central Alberta website.
Winter 2012/13
The Pursuit Film Fest: two nights of ski movies in Red Deer we organized in 2012 and 2013.
Winter 2012/13
Our booth at the Red Deer’s SnowFest. We attended annually from the fall of 2010 until 2017.
Winter 2012/13
Day trips to Sunshine Village and Lake Louise continue to grow, making up most of our winter adventures.
Winter 2012/13
The addition of Castle Mountain to our ski & snowboard day trips proved popular.
Summer 2013
Summer 2013
Our booth at the Red Deer Market in the summer of 2013. From our start in 2010 until 2019 the market was a major part of our summers and our main sales office in the early years.
Winter 2013/14
Our first office, a 100 square foot cabin we built in downtown Red Deer next to Traptow’s Cool Beans.
Summer 2014
We worked with Tourism Red Deer to offer the Red Deer Experience Experts program, a full-day tour to help front-line staff learn about things to do in the Red Deer region.
Summer 2014
The launch of our family adventures in Red Deer, offering programs in local parks to encourage kids to play outside.
Winter 2014/15
The launch of Snowshoe in the City, an introductory tour and only available on Tuesdays that combined a snowshoe tour at Heritage Ranch with craft beer and wings. This tour became a bestseller instantly.
Winter 2014/15
Despite the mountains having a record-breaking year for snow, a dry and warm winter in Central Alberta makes for a shorter season for the ski bus.
Spring 2015
Summer 2015
The Red Deer Expert Tours expand to cover more of Central Alberta, including the Markerville area.
Summer 2015
The first of our river float tours on the Red Deer River offered in partnership with the Kerry Wood Nature Centre.
Fall 2015
As our focus shifts from the ski bus to sharing the region with visitors, we started to take part in more Travel Alberta programs including attending the annual industry conference.
Winter 2015/16
Taking part in AdventureEDU hosted by Travel Alberta and the Adventure Travel Trade Association in Kananaskis Country.
Winter 2015/16
Expanding our Snowshoe in the City programs to include family adventures in Waskasoo Park.
Summer 2016
Some of the tours we drove were a little different… Like driving on the runway at the Red Deer Airport during their construction projects, a tour of potholes for county councillors and a visit of gas stations for a corporate client.
Summer 2016
The float tours on the Red Deer River continue to grow as we added a team-building option for groups.
Fall 2016
Our small downtown office becomes too small. We moved into the Visitor Information Centre at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
Winter 2016/17
We replaced our original bus with a new to us 16 passenger bus just in time for the winter 2016/17 season.
Winter 2016/17
A busy winter meant that we started to use vans and SUVs to expand our operations.
Winter 2016/17
The Frosty Nose + Toasty Toes tours in collaboration with a local yoga studio.
Winter 2016/17
We won first place at the Entrepreneurship Challenge at the Growing Rural Tourism Conference.
Summer 2017
The Red Deer Expert Tours are updated to move from a listing tour to longer stops allowing frontline tourism staff to experience what the region has to offer.
Summer 2017
Danielle won the Red Deer Experience Awards for individuals in the tours and activity sector.
Summer 2017
The launch of our Raft + Craft Beer tours in Red Deer.
Fall 2017
The opening of Basecamp + Cafe, our base in Capstone at Riverlands in Red Deer where we brought together our commercial kitchen, office, booking desk and gear rentals.
Fall 2017
From 2017 to 2019 we attended Canada’s West Marketplace, taking part in Travel Alberta’s Scholar Program, to promote our tours and the region to international travel resellers.
Winter 2017/18
We attended Travel Alberta’s SHiFT program in Banff, a week-long experience development workshop.
Winter 2017/18
Summer 2018
The Showcase Tours, in partnership with Tourism Red Deer, are refined to focus on experience and itinerary development while sharing some of the best things to do in Central Alberta with frontline tourism staff.
Summer 2018
The raft tours on the Red Deer River continue to grow with new tours like the Birds + Wildlife Float Tour.
Fall 2018
Travel Alberta included us in their green bench Team Alberta photo shoot. The pictures were used for industry communications.
Winter 2018/19
The ski bus is now a small part of our operations but its influence is apparent in how we approach all of our adventures.
Winter 2018/19
We’re part of Travel Alberta’s SHiFT program in Sylvan Lake, both as part of the community team and as an experience provider. The tour we created for the program, Inspired by Nature, is now a larger tour series we’re offering in Nordegg.
Summer 2019
Based on the interest from international operators we started building new canola colours tours in Central Alberta. The pandemic hit before we could take these to market.
Winter 2019/20
The COVID-19 pandemic started to impact our operations in January when we saw an increase in cancellations from international guests. At this point, the majority of our operations was already in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region and we made the difficult decision to close Basecamp + Cafe and to cancel all of our tours in Central Alberta to relocate to Nordegg.
Spring 2020
With the pandemic making it hard to predict when we’ll be able to offer tours again, we took over the ice cream shack in Nordegg. This was the start of the Nordegg Canteen and our new base of operation.
Red Deer was our base of operation for our first decade as a tour company. It’s where we got our start as a ski bus to the mountains and was a central location in the early years of offering tours in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region. During those years we saw a lot of changes to our tours and guests as we grew from a ski trip provider to an adventure travel company.
In 2012 we began to expand beyond the ski bus, offering guided day hikes and snowshoe tours in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region. At the time the ice bubbles of Abraham Lake weren’t internationally renowned as they are now. While some, like Aurum Lodge, had been offering winter photo tours on the lake for a number of years by that point, it wasn’t until around 2016 that we saw the ice bubbles gain popularity when the New York Times, National Geographic and others wrote stories about the area. These stories combined with the growth of Instagram and the appeal of ice bubble photos on social media changed our operations with Abraham Lake ice walks becoming our most popular tours.
While the tours in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region were starting to take off we were busy developing new adventures in Central Alberta. Some of these tours included:
- Snowshoe in the City at Heritage Ranch, where we combined snowshoeing under the stars with an apres of craft beers and wings, was one of our most popular tours;
- Float tours on the Red Deer River, like the Raft + Craft Beer tour that combined a river experience with local food and brewery tours; and
- Prior to the pandemic we were working on sightseeing tours built around the canola colours but unfortunately we moved before they could be brought to market.
We were fortunate to work closely with Tourism Red Deer to grow the destination, including through the development of a series of familiarization tours for tourism employees where they got to experience first-hand what Central Alberta has to offer to visitors. Travel Alberta’s support allowed us to expand our focus on international visitors and develop new products through programs like SHiFT and Canada’s West Marketplace Scholar along with their support for business development and media visits.
During those years our base of operations also grew, from home-based with a presence at local markets and events to our own commercial space. In the fall of 2013 we moved into our first office: a 100 square foot building we built on an empty lot in Downtown Red Deer, next to Traptow’s Cool Beans, a double-decker bus converted into a coffee shop. That little blue building was a fun place to work but by 2016 we needed more space and moved into the Tourism Red Deer Visitor Information Centre. In November of 2017 we moved once again, to a bigger space in Capstone at Riverlands where our Basecamp + Cafe allowed us to bring everything we offered under one roof.
By 2019 the majority of our operations were in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region, making it more challenging to operate from Red Deer. In early 2020 we started seeing cancellations from our international guests due to COVID-19, a sign of what was to come in March when restrictions were implemented. At that time we made the difficult decision to stop our operations in Central Alberta and to relocate to Nordegg as a business and family. The move allowed us to focus on a smaller region, simplify our operations and offer new adventures in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region that were logistically challenging to operate from Red Deer.
Nordegg Adventures
Summer 2011
We started work to offer guided tours in the Abraham Lake region.
Summer 2012
The start of our guided hikes in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region.
Winter 2012/13
The launch of our winter guided tours in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region. The focus was on winter hikes and snowshoe tours as day trips from Red Deer.
Summer 2013
Our guided hikes continue to grow in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region.
Winter 2013/14
A lot of the winter was spent exploring the region, working on new products to offer.
Summer 2014
The Spreading Creek fire meant a smokey summer in the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region.
Summer 2014
The start of our ladies-only guided hikes series.
Winter 2014/15
The interest in the ice bubbles is slowly starting. It’s a stop on our tours but not yet known enough to be a draw.
Winter 2014/15
A dry and warm winter means that we’re offering guided hikes before the end of March that year.
Summer 2015
The guided hikes continue to grow as the tours in the Red Deer region and the ice pops gain popularity, keeping our focus closer to the city.Â
Winter 2015/16
We’re starting to see a lot more interest in the ice bubbles of Abraham Lake but not enough yet to be the main feature of our tours.
Winter 2015/16
The Thompson Creek area was our most popular area for snowshoe tours in the early years as part of the Forest Fires + Ice Bubbles adventure.
Summer 2016
We participated in a number of meetings and guided hikes organized by the Friends of the David Thompson Corridor, a group that only existed for a short period of time.
Winter 2016/17
This season saw a large increase in international visitors as the popularity of Abraham Lake grew worldwide.
Summer 2017
Fall 2017
We took part in a business development tour showcasing the region for Korean Tour Operators organized by Travel Alberta.
Winter 2017/18
Interest in the region continues to grow as we start to see more media visits, including from The Traveller, a Korean magazine.
Winter 2017/18
Our winter tours in the region are starting to pass the ski bus and our other Central Alberta tours in popularity.
Winter 2017/18
Photo tours on Abraham Lake gain in popularity even though we have yet to advertise or even post them on our website.
Summer 2018
Ladies-only guided hikes continue to be popular while our focus shifts to developing new experiences in the Red Deer Region.
Winter 2018/19
Our busiest winter yet with media, influencers and guests visiting from all over the world.
Winter 2018/19
We’re honored to win the David Thompson Country Tourism Business of the Year award.
Winter 2018/19
We got to work with a number of Japanese productions, including Vogue Japan and ItteQ, who are featuring in the ice bubbles during the winter 2018/19.
Fall 2019
We continue to see strong interest for the region as we participate in Canada’s West Marketplace.
Winter 2019/20
After an amazing start of the season we start to see increased cancellations as a result of the upcoming pandemic.
Winter 2019/20
Media interest in Abraham Lake continues to be strong even though the conditions can be challenging. This shoot included a diver going under the ice.
Winter 2019/20
Tours starting from Lake Louise are on track to surpass departures from Red Deer before the pandemic puts a damper on our season.
Spring 2020
After a decade in Red Deer we relocate to Nordegg. The pandemic leaves us unsure as to what’s next as we take over the ice cream shack that became the Nordegg Canteen.
Summer 2020
Winter 2020/21
It was a busy winter filled with uncertainty. Tours were booking at the last minute, keeping us on our toes, but being based in Nordegg made a challenging season much easier to manage.
Winter 2020/21
Behind the scenes on a content shoot for the Explore Nordegg & Abraham Lake project, working with local industry partners along with MODERNSPEAK and Roam Creative thanks to the support of Travel Alberta’s Cooperative Investment Program.
Winter 2020/21
Summer 2021
A lot of work behind the scenes, including the new Inspired by Nature series and float tours on the North Saskatchewan River. The Canteen continues to grow and is our main focus while a lot of uncertainty remains due to COVID for the tours.
Summer 2021
Throughout a busy summer we’re finding time to get on the river to work on new tour options in the upper section of the North Saskatchewan River, bringing back some of the float tours we had offered on the Red Deer River in the past.
Summer 2021
The pandemic has made it a slower year for media productions but we still get to work with some great crews coming filming in the region.
Summer 2021
Fall 2021
Work continues on content creation for Explore Nordegg & Abraham Lake as we work on new tours for the fall colours.
The pandemic and the move to Nordegg allowed us to take some time to look at our adventures with a fresh set of eyes, considering what was working and what we could change now that we are based in the region.
As we prepare for a new normal in tourism we have been working on better defining how we approach adventures, guide training and experience development. We’ve started sharing some of those ideas on nordeggadventures.ca/crafting-experiences and implementing them in all aspects of our operations.
In the fall of 2021, after having previously operated as Pursuit Adventure & Travel Inc. since 2010, we rebranded to Nordegg Adventures to better reflect our operations and plans for the future. We’re excited to continue sharing some of our most popular tours like the Abraham Lake Ice Walks and Icefalls + Ice Bubbles while we introduce new photo tours, art-inspired adventures and river floats on the North Saskatchewan River.
Explore Nordegg & Abraham Lake
As we expanded our tours in 2012 we found that finding information about the region that went beyond business listings was difficult. We created a separate site to share trail guides, self-guided itineraries and adventure inspiration for visitors to the region under the Explore Central Alberta brand.
In 2020 we decided to focus the project on the Nordegg & Abraham Lake region, relaunching the site as explorenordegg.ca.
Starting with the winter of 2020/21 we worked with industry partners like Expanse Cottages, Girth Hitch Guiding, Rockies Heli Canada and David Thompson Country to promote the region. Thanks to the support of Travel Alberta’s Cooperative Investment Program – Partnership Marketing we have been able to work with MODERNSPEAK to develop content and a marketing campaign for Explore Nordegg & Abraham Lake.
In the fall of 2021 we registered Explore Nordegg & Abraham Lake as a nonprofit corporation focused on developing and promoting our region as a corporation.
The Nordegg Canteen
Winter 2011/12
Right from the beginning we wanted food to be part of our adventures. It started with hot chocolate and snacks at the bus after a day of skiing.
Summer 2012
Summer 2015
By the summer of 2015 we decided to bring our lunches in-house, starting with our own Montreal-style bagel sandwiches.
Summer 2015
We introduced our ice pops that summer as a refreshing treat after a hike.
Summer 2015
The ice pops quickly gained popularity and starting that summer our cart was found at the Red Deer Market, the Downtown Red Deer Farmers Market, the Bentley Farmers Market, the Market on Main in Rocky Mountain House and at other events throughout the region.
Summer 2015
The ice pops are getting noticed, including a feature in our local newspaper.
Winter 2015/16
The addition of our homemade marshmallows and hot chocolate mix for our tours and at events like Red Deer’s SnowFest.
Summer 2016
Our food carts continue to grow with the addition of s’mores at events like the Canada Day celebrations in Lacombe.
Winter 2016/17
We sponsored breakfast, including our donuts that are now featured at the Nordegg Canteen, for the Social Media Breakfast events in Red Deer.
2017-2020
From 2017 to 2020 our main base of operation was our Basecamp + Cafe in Capstone at Riverlands in Red Deer.
2017-2020
Having our own commercial kitchen allowed us to expand our menu for the tours and to feature outdoor inspired food at Basecamp + Cafe.
2017-2020
Lunches on our full day winter tours now include soups and sandwiches made our Basecamp + Cafe.
2017-2020
Our homemade hot chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers become a staple on all our winter adventures.
Summer 2020
Unsure of what the pandemic would mean to our tours, we took over the Sugga Shack and the Wienery when we moved to Nordegg. We were hopeful that if we couldn’t run tours at least we could sell ice cream.
Summer 2020
It was a family effort to get the truck and shack looking great before we re-opened as the Nordegg Canteen.
Summer 2020
The yard was mostly unused with a snowfence blocking the view of the golf course. It looks a lot different now with planters, tables, firepits and a stage for live music.
Summer 2020
The response was better than we could have dreamed of. Our biggest challenge that first summer was keeping enough ice cream in stock in our limited space to make it through the week until the next delivery.
Summer 2020
The donuts, now available each morning, started as a Sunday morning special since space was so limited in the truck.
Summer 2020
By the end of the first summer the yard started to take shape, becoming a great place to enjoy evenings in Nordegg.
Summer 2020
The shack and truck weren’t the greatest on bad weather days, like this August Long Weekend storm.
Fall 2020
In order to stay open year round and to have a little more kitchen space so that we could offer a full menu we took over the hair salon next door.
Fall 2020
We closed for the season on the Thanksgiving weekend, hoping for some good weather to finish outdoor projects. Unfortunately for us, the snow started the day we closed…
Fall 2020
And it just kept on snowing while we tried to get the new Canteen ready for the winter.
Winter 2020/21
The Canteen re-opened for the winter in the new space by mid-December.
Winter 2020/21
The yard started to take shape by February but COVID restrictions limited what we were able to do throughout the winter.
Summer 2021
The yard is coming together with more picnic tables, flowers, and firepits along with craft beers, fries and sandwiches.
Summer 2021
The truck is still used for specials, burger nights and as part of our truck takeover days where a guest chef sets up a special menu as a fundraiser. This summer we had Frontier Lodge and the Goldeye Centre bring their great food to town.
Summer 2021
As the COVID restrictions are eased we started hosting live music nights in the yard.
Food has always been part of our adventures, from the hot chocolate on the ski bus to the hiking lunches featuring local food. Since 2015 we have operated our own commercial kitchen to make lunches and snacks for our tours. Making our own food from scratch, using some of our favourite ingredients and featuring local products whenever possible allowed us to have better control over the experiences we create for our guests. Between 2015 and 2019 we also sold our ice pops, hot chocolate mix and handmade marshmallows that are featured on our tours at markets throughout Central Alberta.
The move to Nordegg meant that we needed to find a new commercial kitchen, something that is not easy in a town with very limited commercial space. We took over the ice cream shop and food truck on the main street in April 2020, re-opening them as the Nordegg Canteen. The ice cream shop wasn’t much more than a garden shed with an ice cream freezer in it but we figured that if COVID-19 prevented us from offering our tours we could at least sell ice cream.
That first summer turned out to be a busy one and by the fall of 2020 we took over the hair salon next door and converted those ATCO trailers into a year-round take-out restaurant with a yard offering great views of the mountains. As the COVID restrictions eased in the summer of 2021 we were able to bring live music back to Nordegg with a series of evening concerts in the yard.
The Nordegg Canteen now offers a full menu, craft beer and live music on weekends throughout the summer.