At Girl Paddlers, our mission is to empower and elevate women in the world of paddling by sharing stories, experiences, and insights that inspire our community.
We’re thrilled to introduce a new guest series from a professional multi-sport guide who has navigated not just challenging waters, but the obstacles faced by women in the outdoor industry. Join us as we share these powerful reflections and work towards building a stronger, more inclusive space for all women of the water.
Alaska is the pinnacle of wilderness guiding for many in the outdoor industry. Its wide open spaces, rough and untamed forests, glaciers, and many lakes attract most who love the outdoors and love exploring the unknown. Getting to guide here is a dream for many, and in the wet Southeast Alaska, wilderness and paddle sports guides alike flock to help people experience the water. Canoe guiding in Alaska is an experience in itself, and canoe guiding as a woman makes things even more interesting. From rugged wilderness to calving glaciers to unexpected sexist comments on the water – the combination is a conversation we haven’t had enough of in the world of paddle sports, yet.
My name is Halle and I’m a multi-sport adventure guide. I live as a seasonal nomad, traveling out of my van with my dog, Lassen, and sometimes my boyfriend, August. I’m a passionate feminist when it comes to breaking barriers for women in the outdoor industry.
My first season as a guide was as an assistant rock climbing guide in New River Gorge National Park, located in West Virginia. While I was heavily invested in the world of uphill mountain sports (and still am), I was living amongst some of the best and most experienced whitewater guides in the country. This was my first introduction to the world of paddle sports. The New River and the Gauley River are known to have some of the most intense rapids in the United States, if not the world, and I lived next door to the guides who knew these rivers like I knew the rocks I climbed. I was the only rock guide in guide camp, so my days were spent learning and talking about the rivers and the experiences my friends were having while on the water.
It opened my mind to the fact that there are endless options for the outdoor industry and lots of sports to explore with clients.
I absolutely love my job and the industry I work in. Getting to facilitate experiences with nature that people might never have gotten otherwise. I love that I get to teach naturalist information while navigating the sports I’m passionate about. Through these sports and these experiences, people are able to gain a deeper connection to the natural world through the world of adventure and the trips I guide.
In the years coming out of New River Gorge, I worked mostly as a hiking and backpacking guide, taking people into the backcountry and teaching about the wilderness. One day, in the heat of summer in Oregon, I learned about a job opportunity in Alaska that could take me north again the following summer.
I had spent the summer before my West Virginia summer, in Fairbanks, and fell in love with the great and wide open north. Going back to Alaska was a dream of mine, and getting there would mean taking on a sport I hadn’t worked in professionally before.
Entering Paddle Sports
So where and when did I personally enter the world of paddle sports? In April of 2024, I started work in Juneau, Alaska as a canoe guide on Mendenhall Lake. Our trips involved piloting big canoes, either 22 or 29-foot boats, six-mile round trip to and from a view of the glacier.
We spent time on the water, taught people how to paddle in a canoe, navigated katabatic winds (sometimes up to 42 miles an hour), and discussed the effects of climate change on our glacier and its lake with clients. I had faced challenges as a female guide before, but never before was I met with as much pushback as I had when first entering the paddle sports side of the outdoor industry. As a guide who works hard to make sure that women have a space in the outdoor industry, it was frustrating to be met with so much doubt, and so many challenges, particularly at the hands of the people who had hired me to guide them.
The start of our season involved weeks of formal training, despite each employee’s previous experience level in canoes. We did capsize rescue training in the glacial lake, we conditioned our bodies to paddle up to twelve miles a day, and we perfected the art of steering, or skipping a big canoe.
Before long, existing on Mendenhall Lake became second nature to me. I knew its rocks and unique wave patterns and the best routes to take depending on wind and the paddling capabilities of my clients. The lake, and the guides who practically lived on its waters, including myself, existed in symbiosis with each other, acting as a bridge between cruise ship tourists and climate change activism.
Over the next six months on the water, I not only watched myself and my own guiding abilities change to adapt to this new side of the industry, but I watched the glacier change, and went through the waves of shoulder season, to peak season, to shoulder again as the weather cooled and the paddlers I’d gotten to know so well started leaving for the season.
Throughout the season, I encountered a concerning amount of comments and microaggressions, as a woman on this side of the outdoor industry. That is what I’m here to talk about. In this 3 part series, I will be highlighting the side of the paddle sports industry that isn’t talked about as frequently, and discussing what we can do, as women of the water, to make sure that our place here is valued.
Disclaimer: I intentionally will not be naming the company I worked for, as my coworkers and supervisors were not a part of this problem. Any names of coworkers that I mention throughout this series will be changed to respect their privacy while still discussing this important issue.
Written by: Halle Homel
