Recognition
We are pleased to announce that National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic's magazine dedicated to travel, has selected Northwest Rafting Company's trip on the Chuya and Bashkaus Rivers in Siberia as one of its 50 Tours of a Lifetime awards for 2013. This award is given to the year's "most authentic, most innovative, most immersive, best guided, and most sustainable trips." We consider this a very high honor.
Northwest Rafting Company is ECHO's sister organization. ECHO is owned by Dick Linford and Joe Daly, while NRWC is owned jointly by Zach Collier, Dick and Joe. Both companies are run by Zach out of our Hood River Office.
Rafting Siberia's Kaa-Khem in 2011
ECHO and NWRC have been running trips in Siberia for years. The trips are organized by Vladimir Gavrilov, a Russian physicist who immigrated to the United States from Latvia in 1992. He came in order to give his family a better life and to run river trips for ECHO. While in Latvia, Vladimir explored over 40 rivers in Siberia and Central Asia, using home-made inflatable catamarans and often living off the land. He has written a book on his experiences titled Rivers of an Unknown Land. It has long been his dream to develop river trips in Siberia that offer the level of safety and comfort that Americans have come to expect on their river trips. He has succeeded.
Vladimir at home in Siberia
We are very proud of the awards that both companies have won over the years. These include ECHO’s winning National Geographic Adventure’s Best Outfitter on Earth award in 2008 and 2009 (They then stopped issuing the award), and National Geographic Traveler’s Tour of a Lifetime award and Outside Magazine’s Trip of the Year award for our trip on Siberia’s Kaa Khem River in 2011.
Northwest Rafting Company (NWRC) won Outside Magazine’s Trip of the Year award for its trip to Bhutan in 2011, National Geographic Traveler’s Tour of a Lifetime award for our trip on Siberia in 2013. We were also voted Best of the Gorge in 2012.
We want to thank Zach and Vladimir for their professionalism and dedication to excellence.
