NW Angle Ice Road Brought Everyone Together for a Common Purpose
With their backs against the wall and facing another season with little to no revenue, NW Angle businesses came together with a common purpose. Technically, they are competitors to one another. So much more, however, they needed each other for their businesses to survive. The main route for guests to travel to the NW Angle is 40 miles through Canada. With the U.S. / Canada border closed due to the pandemic, resorts were cut off from their customers. The only other way to reach the Angle was to stay in U.S. territory and come across the lake. It seemed far fetched to many, but left with few options, the group organized, invested and planned an ice road.
The NW Angle Guest Ice Road was a success and it stood for many things. The entrepreneurial spirit of a small business owner. The creativity of a solution when faced with a difficult, seemingly insurmountable challenge. Teamwork amongst competing resorts. But perhaps the one thing it stood for the most was hope.
Bret Amundson, host of Prairie Sportsman TV had the opportunity to travel the NW Angle Guest Ice Road up to the NW Angle and discuss what the road meant to people. Perspectives of resort owners, cabin owners, customers and even one of the people who plowed the ice road all winter. This piece is as much about the human spirit as it is the ice road. Enjoy.
