Thousands of visitors visit the Davidson Glacier at Glacier Point in the Chilkat Inlet each summer. (Berett Wilber.)

Alaska Excursions owner Robert Murphy answered questions about his company’s operations for roughly an hour on Friday. The public testimony was part of his appeal of the borough’s decision to deny a permit for a canoe tour operated by the Skagway-based company.

Murphy addressed concerns about the company’s safety practices that arose last year after a client drowned when a canoe overturned at Glacier Point, a remote area of the Haines Borough. Borough Manager Debra Schnabel asked Murphy questions about the origins of his company and how it has evolved over the years.

According to Murphy started his own tour operation when he was nineteen years old, shuttling tourists up to the White Pass summit in a van. From there he created Alaska Excursions, which now hosts roughly 100,000 clients each summer and employs 150 people during the peak of the tourist season.  

The company offers six tours for cruise ship passengers visiting Haines, Skagway and Juneau. Outings include dog sledding, horseback riding, zip lining, an ATV tour and a canoe tour.

Last year, Alaska Excursions faced criticism from several former employees who worked on the canoe tour at Glacier Point in 2017. In letters to the Haines Borough Assembly, former guides expressed concerns about the company’s safety practices.

Murphy said that his company had problems with the former guides while they were working for Alaska Excursions.

“It became kind of a toxic environment. It wasn’t healthy for our company. It wasn’t healthy for them. It really was not a good match and I really don’t want to say much about it and sling mud.”

None of the guides were invited back and Murphy hired an entirely new crew of Glacier Point guides the following summer.

Murphy said that in response to the criticism from former guides, Alaska Excursions hosted swift water rescue training, supplied trauma bags to all the company’s sites, and provided training from Skagway Emergency Medical Services.

Murphy went on to say that in spite of the company’s best efforts to improve, a client still drowned on a canoe tour in July.

“What we want to do is guarantee that something like that can never happen again. Not just right there but anywhere else. That is part of the reason why we brought on a director of safety and risk management.”

Murphy says the new position is tasked with identifying risks and enforcing the company’s safety policies.  

When asked about the public concerns that have been raised over the company’s safety practice Murphy said that local media was in part to blame. He said that news stories did not accurately reflect the company and the opinions of the majority of its employees.

“I can see where a lot of the public of Haines thinks we’re an unsafe company because that’s what they’ve been told. That’s what has been hashed out. And we’re in a rough situation. How do we tell the public who we are? We’re working on that. We are working on a way to say this is Alaska Excursions. This is who we really are,” Murphy said.

The Haines Borough recently denied Murphy’s application to renew Alaska Excursions’ Glacier Point canoe tour permit on the basis that his company had failed to register its canoes with the state.  

Murphy said he did not believe the borough’s reasons for denying the permit were valid.

“While it is true that they needed to be registered, we bought the business from Bart Henderson and started the business in the early 2000s. The canoes have never been registered. We have operated with them not registered. I don’t think anybody realized that they needed to be registered.”

Murphy was made aware that the canoes needed to be registered with the state during the Alaska State Troopers’ investigation of the drowning at Glacier Point. Murphy says the company registered the canoes in August.

Borough Manager Schnabel said she would make a decision on Murphy’s appeal by February 18.