Dear Escape Adventurers,
Escape Adventures has endured a lot of change over the past 28 years. While the COVID-19 pandemic’s full impacts remain undetermined, I am absolutely certain that the outdoor industry will recover, and I am confident that Escape Adventures will play an important role during the recovery.
While most businesses I have consulted with are uncomfortable with the fact that there is no blueprint for this moment, I am in the opposite camp.
At moments like this I am taken back to the days when we were just a 2-man operation. The only thing I could think about was how to give our guests the best possible experience. To give you an unforgettable experience.
Still in college with a brick cell phone on my side, 4 mountain bikes, and a renovated cargo van, we were ready to tackle the world. What great days those were. Waking up and having the opportunity to go out and ride a bike with you. The opportunity to design ways to haul your rental bikes on top of a van, transport your food safely in a trailer, design new routes that showcased the area’s best features, and cross utilizing our limited resources. Ways to simply better our business and your experience was the thrill of our lives.
I feel like that opportunity is here again. This is why as Director of this company I am excited more than ever about the challenges we face. We innovated our way into this industry, and we are innovating our way through COVID19.
Our management team and I have been busy executing a 3 phased approach to navigate challenges and position our business to be ready to take you outdoors when the time is right.
I wanted to share some of those things with you today.
PHASE 1:
When it was clear the inability to travel was going to deeply impact our tour business, we put together some decisions in mid-March:
- We would do everything we could to keep ALL personnel who wanted to keep working, doing just that. I’m happy to report that has been the case.
- Several of our tour leaders are currently working construction on our ALL NEW Aquarius Trail Hut System, a weeklong adventure program where individuals or groups can hike or bike from one hut to the next. We have built five huts that meander through Utah’s most scenic backcountry by day and finish at a custom off-grid hut by night. Huts are equipped with food, drinks, beds, showers, and electric bike charging stations.
- Some of our office staff was repurposed to working in our three bike shops – Las Vegas Cyclery, Moab Cyclery, and RTC Bike Center.
- Renovating our gear and vehicles as well as facilities
- We cut nearly all but the most essential discretionary spending
PHASE 2:
As the pandemic progressed faster than anyone anticipated, I determined the need to enact the next phase of our plans:
- Provide our guests with a way to engage during the stay-at-home orders;
- Daily posting on our social media outlets. The recipes have definitely been your favorite.
- Putting together a video series to allow you to experience some of our favorite places from the comfort of your home.
- Release a modified flexible cancellation policy for trip departures in 2020-2021.
- Update our Road Bike catalog to reflect more health and awareness procedures.
PHASE 3:
As we chart our course ahead, our team has put together a detailed plan to make you feel confident and comfortable traveling with us. The bullet points are below and the details here.
- Existing and updated sanitization practices including fogging vehicles between tours
- Continued focus on small groups, parties of 7 or less, and private tours
- New ways to help you safely practice social distancing in the outdoors
- On select itineraries, driving your own vehicle to start/finish
- Updated food preparation protocols
- Updated rental bicycle sanitation
- Updated risk mitigation plans
- Trained and prepared Trip Leaders
- Food Handler Safety Training
- WFR (Wilderness First Responder) certification
We still have a lot of work to do. We are a business that will not only survive this pandemic, we will thrive in the years ahead because of people like you – past, present and future guests. You motivate us.
So, for now, be safe and stay healthy. There’s a lot of good out there. When this is all over, Escape Adventures will be waiting for you.
Thank you and keep dreaming,
Jared Fisher
Director of Everything
Escape Adventures
