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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After being on the move for more than a dozen years, Clark Marcino is ready to settle down - sort of.

A longtime employee of Discovery Mining Services, the Manitoba-born Marcino, now a registered massage therapist, has established his own massage business.

Clark Marcino, registered massage therapist and owner of Mobility Massage, transitioned from working in the bush for Discovery Mining Services to starting his own, more grounded business in Yellowknife. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

But he's not ready to stay put at home quite yet, offering his clients the option to have their massage in the comfort of their own homes.

Hence the business name, Mobility Massage.

Marcino first came to the North, like many others, due to a perception that the North was the last frontier, filled with acres of scenic wilderness.

"I had a friend who was a fisheries biologist, doing char studies in Holman," said Marcino, speaking from the small but cozy studio in his vintage 1950s home on Rycon Drive. "He'd come back every year and tell stories about how awesome the North was."

Marcino's wife Joan, a nurse, applied for work in Yellowknife and Whitehorse. Yellowknife bit first, so up they came, with Marcino starting work with Storefront for Voluntary Agencies, an antecedent of Volunteer NWT.

That was followed be a speedy assignment to Discovering Mining Services. Marcino knew the owner through the friend of a friend.

"He was desperately looking for people to work in the bush and I liked camping," said Marcino. "I got hired over the phone and met him by a float plane and hopped off on a plane. It was the beginning of a 15-year odyssey of travelling across the Arctic."

Marcino set up camps in remote locations, constantly on the watch for not-so-friendly visitors.

"Bears would pop up. Wolverines," he said.

Exciting as that life was, "I started missing my life in town. I was always travelling," said Marcino.

He sometimes went six to seven weeks without seeing Joan.

"It was definitely starting to take a toll on our relationship."

Marcino took a two-year massage program at Edmonton's MH Vicars School of Massage Therapy, which specializes in distance education.

By late last year, he was registered in the NWT, but business was slow at first, given Marcino's limited budget for advertising.

He now has between 20 to 30 regular clients, 60 per cent of whom request he come to their homes.

"In the wintertime, it's nice not to have to go outside and tense right up after a massage," said Marcino.

While specializing in Swedish massage, Marcino expanded his scope to deep tissue massage and massage for those with acute injuries or who are recovering from surgery.

Marcino said he believes fate had something to do with his new career path. Just as Mobility Massage took office, Athletic Therapeutic Massage, a downtown clinic, shut its doors.

"A lot of people were looking for a new place to get their massage," he said.

Next week, to celebrate National Massage Therapist Week, Marcino will be offering a 10 per cent discount to new clients.