Resort chef wants 610-km swim down frigid B.C. river to raise environmental awareness
Here’s a fundraising marathon you don’t see every day. Ali Howard, a 33-year-old chef who lives in Telkwa, B.C., plans to swim the entire length of the Skeena-a silty, rain-swollen and cold-beast of a river that starts in the plateau country of northern B.C. and winds its way through 610 km of mountain and forest to Prince Rupert. Howard plans to wear a dry suit, a flotation device and, quite wisely, a helmet. She says she was inspired by the story of a Slovenian man who swam the length of the Amazon. There are no piranhas in the Skeena; it’s best known as one of the world’s premier salmon rivers. But anyone who has seen it knows this is no minor undertaking.