The allure of a frozen frontier

On clear winter nights in Canada's northern Yukon territory, Emily Kalil often finds herself standing quietly in the snow, watching visitors look up at the sky.

"I still get excited when I see it, and I live here," she said. "That sense of awe never goes away."

Kalil is a co-owner of one of the Yukon's largest tour operators. After working in outdoor education in British Columbia, she and her husband Aaron moved to the capital city of Whitehorse, and bought the business in 2024 following several winters guiding aurora tours.

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are caused when charged particles from the sun collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere, producing shimmering waves of green, purple and pink light.

The phenomenon is most visible at high latitudes during long, dark winter nights, making northern Canada one of the world's prime viewing regions.

For Kalil, the magic of seeing the aurora in the Yukon lies not only in the light itself, but in the place.

"The north part of Canada and Whitehorse is still very untouched.

"Not a lot of people come here, and I think that's what makes it magical — you're watching the aurora in a place where the majority of the world has never been, or probably will never be," she said.

"There are only about 40,000 people in the Yukon," she added. "There are more moose than humans."

Her company uses a private viewing site, far from city lights but close enough for late-night returns. The site includes heated huts, hot drinks and outdoor firepits.

"It's very hard to stay outside all night," Kalil said. "So people go out, then come back in to warm up, have tea or hot chocolate, and then go back out again. It's a really comfortable flow."

A typical aurora tour begins around 10 pm and runs until after 2 am, she said. "But sometimes the aurora does not appear."

The unpredictability is part of the experience, she said, and the biggest challenge of running aurora tours. "I can control everything except the aurora," Kalil said. "Managing expectations is the hardest part."

Based on nearly two decades of operating experience, the company sees the aurora roughly once every three nights. For that reason, Kalil encourages guests to book multiple nights.

"We always recommend three nights," she said. "If you don't see it in three nights, that's very rare. It's bad luck."

Some of her favorite moments come not from perfect conditions, but from patience. Kalil recalled one family who had failed to see the aurora on three consecutive nights and nearly skipped their final tour because of heavy snow.

"When we were about to leave, the snow stopped and the aurora came out," she said. "We stayed until three in the morning. Their little girl was about 8 years old, and she said, 'They look like fireworks'. That was a really special moment."

For first-time visitors, her advice is simple. "Go out every night," she said. "Don't rely too much on apps. Every night is different. There's always a chance and it's always worth going."

Standing beneath a vast northern sky, watching people tick something off their bucket lists, remains the most rewarding part of her work.

"To be with someone in that moment, after they've dreamed of it for so long," Kalil said, "that's easily the best part of my job."