• Horizon & Co's "Summer Ice" trip
• Explorer Hotel
• Northface gear
• Blachford Lake Lodge
• Dogsledding
• Diamond settings

Diamonds in the Rough

Canada has always been known for its snow. Thanks to Horizon & Co., it may soon be known more for its ice - and not the kind that you scrape off your car. This boutique travel service offers treks across the Northwest Territories by bush plane and dogsled in order to find a genuine diamond in the rough . . . and we don't mean figuratively.

"This is a trip of firsts. It'll probably be your first ski plane ride, your first dogsled ride, and your first chance to see how diamonds are made," says Andrew White, Horizon's Director of Sales.

This is also probably your first chance to cut your own diamond. All you have to do is survive a luxurious week discovering how miners lived in one of the last great frontiers. Your reward is a stone mined and engraved from the very countryside you've been exploring.

The adventure begins with a flight on a private jet to Calgary or Edmonton.

You'll then head to the Explorer Hotel, where you'll be swathed in layers of Northface expedition gear to battle the elements of the Northwest. (Batman wishes he were this well prepared). Then you'll travel via bush plane to the Blachford Lake Lodge, where you'll soak in an outdoor Jacuzzi by a log cabin and watch the Northern Lights as you reflect on the perilous first days of your quest for riches.

The next morning starts off with a 2-hour dogsledding expedition. Now, you're so close, you can practically smell the diamonds. After driving the team yourself, you'll end your journey at your private prospector's tent, where a guide will stoke the wood-burning stove and a private chef will cook caribou.

Finally, it's D-day - the moment you'll get to cut your own rock (about the size of a small earring). If you chose a diamond before the trip, you'll hear its story from the craftsman who shaped and polished it. Professionals can shape and laser engrave a raw diamond at the factory, either the one you cut or a chunkier one they've mined themselves. It's B.Y.O.S. (bring your own setting).

The voyage lasts only 6 days, but the diamond lasts . . . well, you know the rest.

 

Posted on April 10, 2006