Our Story
People often ask us how we came up with the crazy idea to start this business. Here it is. Grab a cup of coffee, relax, and enjoy the story:
Rachel grew up in Austin and San Antonio, Texas. When she was little, she enjoyed fishing in streams and playing in treehouses with her friends, and she studied dance for many years. She later graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor's degree before moving on to pursue a Master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Virginia Tech. In this program, she studied Leadership, Training, Team Building, and Organizational Development. After graduation, she sold everything she owned, including her car, and moved to San Francisco. Her years in San Francisco will always be some of the most memorable years of her life. She made some great friends, worked long hours as an Organizational Development Consultant for a dotcom business through the highs of the boom and lows of the bust, enjoyed countless road trips along the coast and into the mountains, and eventually met her husband Matt while volunteering on a 3-day Breast Cancer Walk.
After the dotcom bubble burst, Rachel went traveling for a month in South America where she climbed the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu, volunteered her time with an elementary school on Lake Titicaca, and did some serious soul-searching. She then continued on to Costa Rica where she met up with her good friend Tara for some beach time and ziplining through the jungle. Moved by her experiences on this trip, she decided that she wanted to do more meaningful work, or at least work that was more enjoyable. She packed her bags, and moved to Tahoe to spend a winter as a Ski Instructor. After that, she spent the following year leading treks through the National Parks of the United States. The trips were 3 week camping trips, back to back, with primarily European clientele. After a year of living out of a van and a tent, she built a huge portfolio of photographs and memories, but she was ready to take her dreams to the new heights.
She took a trip to Alaska and fell in love with the landscape. She admired the huge trees of the Tongass National Forest, and realized after bushwhacking through the forest that most people who visit Alaska never really get to see its hidden beauty. She was remembering her experience zipping above the jungle in Costa Rica and the unique vantage point that offered to people who would not have been able to see the remote rainforest otherwise. After returning from that trip to visit Matt in Phoenix, she proposed the idea over sushi and a game of pool to start a Zipline Tour in Alaska...
Matt was born and raised in Alaska. He grew up in Fairbanks where the temperatures range from 60 below to 90 above 0. He was raised in an area that provided huge contrasts, and he has a great appreciation for contrast to this day. He enjoyed many camping trips in Alaska with his friends and family back in those days, and he often visited Juneau, where his mother grew up. He later played basketball in college at Oregon Tech where he received his Associate's Degree before transferring to Arizona State Univeristy where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.
Matt's good friend Joey, who he played basketball with in college, called him up one day and asked him if he wanted to join him to work on a National 3 Day Breast Cancer Tour. At first, Matt was skeptical, but he finally agreed to the idea because he would have an opportunity to travel and spend time with his friend on the road. He made lots of great friends and has great memories of those years on the road. It was on the San Francisco 3 Day event that he met his future wife, Rachel.
Matt continued with the tour, and traveled to other countries in his free time. Then he was asked to be the Project Manager for the inaugural 3 Day Walk in Phoenix, Arizona. He had to work closely with the city on all of the challenging logistics of a 60 mile walk with thousands of people camping together for 2 nights in a city that had never experienced an event like it before. After successfully overseeing his event, Matt and Rachel had plans of their own...
At this time, Rachel had already been working for a year on her own managing a Race for the Cure Tour (also benefitting Breast Cancer). She was inspired by her experience on the 3 Day in San Francisco, and she realized that she could pack up her things and live on the road without any expenses while saving money for her dream to start a Zipline Tour in Alaska. At the same time, she was able to spend her extended breaks from work learning about the zipline industry by volunteering, helping on builds, and training on other Zipline/Canopy Tours.
After a year on the road, Matt joined her, and they worked as a team managing these events for another year while building their knowledge and experience in the Zipline industry. They also got some experience working together in close quarters and learned how to find a healthy balance in their business and personal relationship.
During a month-long break from the Race for the Cure Tour, Matt and Rachel set up their base camp in Juneau (literally a tent) and began searching for land for their Zipline Tour. They caught salmon and picked berries for their meals, and they captured floating ice from the glacier to keep their food cold, or to make the occasional "glacier-rita". After working with Jackie Stewart from the Small Business Development Center, they decided to focus on Eaglecrest Ski Area as a location for their tour because the community owned ski area was in need of summer revenue to supplement their income. Once they had an agreement to use the land, they secured a variety of permits required to operate their tour.
On the day before construction of the tour began, Matt surprised Rachel by proposing to her with a ring he carved out of wood from a branch on one of their trees. All of their dreams were coming together at once, and these were very exciting times, to say the least. Soon after, the physical work began. The entire course was built over snow pack in order to protect the surrounding wetlands. Most of the materials and supplies were pulled in by hand with sleds. Some tours use helicopters to drop their supplies in remote locations, but this tour was built with good old fashioned blood, sweat, and tears. They would collapse into bed at night watching surfing movies to help them relax from a hard days' work and all of the stress involved with starting a new business.
After 2 months of construction, the tour was complete. Our first tour in Juneau consisted of local family and friends on a cold, snowy day in the early spring of 2006. We have been zipping happy customers through our beautiful Alaskan rainforest ever since that day. On quiet days outside, they often reflect on all of the hard work that it took to make our dream become a reality, and how great if feels to see what they have accomplished together.
Rachel and Matt were married on September 30th in Zihuatanejo, Mexico with a small group of family and friends taking part in the celebration. Since they began operating their own tours, they have been providing training and consulting services to other Zipline Tours, and Rachel is one of 10 members of the International Canopy/Zipline Tour Committee through the Association of Challenge Course Technology (ACCT). In the Spring of 2009, she presented a Pre-Conference Workshop on Operating Canopy/Zipline Tours at the ACCT conference in Houston. Their consulting business Zipstart is growing quickly.
The newest addition to the family is their dog, "Z" (short for Zihuatanejo). She shares their spirit of adventure, and loves to play in the snow. She can sometimes be seen as guests are coming or going from the tour. In their off-season, Rachel and Matt love to travel and visit their friends and family, and they are in the process of starting a charity organization.
Thanks for taking the time to read the story of how it all began. If you have been on the tour, or are planning a visit, Matt & Rachel are grateful to have the opportunity to share their dream with you. It's the smile on the face of each person who comes on this tour that makes all of the hard work worthwhile.
