LANSING -- Three whitewater companies are preparing to merge, and the new operation will be rooted among old friends whose rafting history goes back to kayaking 550 miles in 28 days in 1970.

"That was a life-changing trip," said Dave Arnold, managing partner with Class VI River Runners, which will merge with Adventure Mountain River and The Rivermen.

Arnold said he was about 17 years old when he made the trip with Paul Beuer, Adventure Mountain River's president, and Jeff Proctor, his Class VI managing partner.

The three will join with Brian Campbell, owner of The Rivermen, under 25-year "weekend warrior" Class VI river guide Paul Buechler, formerly the vice president at McJunkin Redman, where he spent 26 years gaining experience in finances and corporate strategy.

"I've seen the industry evolve over the years, and I think the rafting industry is ripe to go from a one-day rafting product to a destination, multi-day product," Buechler said. "This is really the genesis of sitting with those guys ... and saying that by combining three companies, we can afford to invest in a lot of products."

Activities will be coordinated among the companies this spring, and Adventure Mountain's operations will be integrated at the Class VI base camp for the 2008 season.

The Rivermen will continue to operate out of its present base camp just south of the New River Gorge Bridge, and some management and administrative operations will be combined in the offices of Class VI.

The Class VI site will begin an $11 million expansion to add nine buildings to its campus, so The Rivermen can merge. The Rivermen site will be used for the introduction of an alcohol-free, family- and youth-oriented outdoor recreation facility for whitewater rafting and other outdoor activities to provide guests with even more options.

The entire integration will be complete by 2009.

"The industry peaked in '95, with 225,000 people on the New and the Gauley, and in 2000, we came back to almost that level. But last year, we had 171,000 on the New and the Gauley, and that's a huge drop," Arnold said. "How do you, as a business person, address that? The simplest way is to get people to stay longer."

Arnold said whitewater rafters have marketed with a "skim-and-score" mentality for many years, so people come in for a day or two and then leave. He said the marketing now would shift toward creating a resort where people want to stay a few days.

Class VI, through its campus expansion, plans many more lodging options, an amphitheater, paintball, bar and swimming pools.

"These are all very expensive things to do," Arnold said. "For years, when we were growing, we had huge growth curves, and it was fun because we always had money to put back in ... and this new infusion of cash creates energy."

Buechler said the new operation will have about 20 options for outdoor activities, with price points and intensity of activity levels to fit everyone -- from primitive camping to luxury cabins and a swimming pool to ATV rides, with wine and cheese hikes, fly fishing and horseback rides in between.

While most companies had followed the previous trend in tourism -- package deals -- Buechler said those products no longer will be outsourced but offered onsite with the company's own staff and brand.

"Obviously, someone could say bigger is not always better," Buechler said. "But I think the small companies, and no one company, can afford to invest in the infrastructure to become a destination to make it worthwhile."

Arnold said this is his 31st year with Class VI, and he spent two years in the industry before that. The merger will keep him in the business for five more years at least, and he's one of the West Virginia investors in the project, so he said he would keep some skin in the game for many years to come.

Arnold said he and his partner both are third-generation entrepreneurs, but they never operated with the idea that the business must be handed to their children.

"A lot of people have asked us what will happen when we retire," Arnold said. "Some entrepreneurs are basically doing everything to pass things on to their kids, and we've always said the best thing would be if one of our employees would step forward and buy it, because they understand the culture and us, and all the people in this merger are river guides -- our feet are in the water."

Arnold said his wife, a science teacher, has a sign in her office that says "adapt, migrate or die -- this is the law of nature," and he thinks it's the law of business, too.

"It's time, I think, to adapt, move on or collapse," he said. "Most people with knowledge of the industry had been saying there were too many outfitters. Last year, the number was in the high teens, and this year there will be three total mergers."