Drew Nylen grew up in the sunny and rugged South Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada, a landscape dominated by fire-scarred ponderosa pines and prickly pear cactus. He developed an intimate knowledge of the local plant and birdlife from his grandparents, both avid naturalists who lived at the end of an old forestry road in the mountains. In his formative years, Drew traded the rolling hills near his childhood home for the peaks of the Canadian Rockies, working as a ski patroller, guide, avalanche controller and professional skier. This new path took Drew to far-flung places he had only ever dreamed of, guiding in the mountains of Japan, the Arctic Cordillera on Baffin Island and across western North America.

Drew’s love of adventure has led him to bike across Canada twice and ski nearly 200 miles across mountains and sea ice with his partner and dog. He runs, sails, paddles and forages for berries wherever he can. His winter profession is forecasting avalanche hazards from his home in Atlin, BC, and guiding in the St. Elias range. Summers take him abroad to explore the far reaches of the High Arctic. An Expedition Leader on Nat Hab’s East Greenland Arctic Adventure, Drew has a wealth of knowledge and deep passion for the ecology, cultures and landscapes of the north.