Levi Palituq has been working as a guide and outfitter in Clyde River for over 20 years.
He says he got into the industry by accident, when a woman on her way to Pond Inlet got stranded in the community. Palituq, who happened to be picking a package up at the airport, then "took her out, and that's how it started."
The 59-year-old Inuk whose full-time job is as a curriculum development manager for Arctic College, says his business, Palituq Outfitters, "is not a full-time job. It's like a seasonal thing. They say it's very expensive to get up here. My client base is very small compared to Arctic Kingdom and the other big guys up here. What I do is for a small world. Not very many people are into skiing, dog-sledding, mountain climbing, or base jumping... I'm catering to anyone and everyone who comes up here to ski in the mountains."
Palituq says he serves an average of 30 clients per year, supplying mainly logistic services.
"If they're climbers, I take them to the mountain. If they're skiers, I take them to the starting location. I pick them up a few weeks later," he says.
Clyde River is home to mountainous fjords, and Palituq is the only insured, licensed outfitter in the community.
"I'm not competing with anyone," he says, adding that he's sometimes sub-contracted by larger outfitters but mostly works based on word-of-mouth referrals.
"Currently, I'm not on any website... I operate on a basis of good word, meaning if I have a couple of clients in a season, they'll put a good word [out] for me. I don't ask them to, but if I do a good job, they'll talk to other people," he says. "Sometimes I have returning clients SA国际影视传媒� they come back. Sometimes they tell a friend... I'm not huge, I don't have a website, I don't market myself. Word of mouth is free. If I do a good job, someone else is going to advertise for me. I'd like to keep it that way."
Palituq also says the workload is getting to be more challenging as he ages.
"I'm getting older, I'm not eager anymore... in the warm months, I find myself doing my own stuff. I used to have the eagerness to go out, I don't anymore," he says.
The sport hunting offered by bigger outfitting operations holds no appeal for him, although he has done it in the past.
"The hassle, the commitment SA国际影视传媒� it was too much for me," he says.
Palituq is largely content with how things are currently.
"As a sole proprietor, it works for me, it works for my family. It's not something huge, it's just a small business. But a lot of people from around the world know me now."
