AKOR expedition: another crossing of Canada begins

Three years after the historic crossing of Canada along its North-South axis, a new AKOR expedition is underway. Starting from the border between Alaska and the Yukon, Nicolas Roulx and Catherine Chagnon will this time cross the country from West to East on foot, by bike, by canoe and by sailboat.

kilometers of cycling that we had to do to begin with “,”text”:”We really left the border. There is a demarcation in the wood which is razed. We’ve been making our way since then and we’re about halfway through the 140 kilometers of cycling we had to do to begin with “}}”>We really left the border. There is a demarcation in the wood which is razed. We’ve been making our way since then and we’re about halfway through the 140 kilometers of cycling we had to do to begin with. says Nicolas Roulx about the journey that began on April 21.

Three years ago, accompanied by his friend Guillaume Moreau, he traveled across Canada by human force from the ice floes of the Canadian High Arctic to southern Ontario. Catherine Chagnon had joined them during their trip and she was hooked. Shortly after their return, the route of this new expedition was already drawn.

Unlike the last [expédition], we didn’t take several months off before leaving so let’s just say it was really stressful in the last few weeks. In [expédition] like ours, the devil is in the details. Everything must be thought through, the equipment must be optimized and the logistics must be reviewed with everyone relates Roulx.

Spring is long overdue

Having left by bike to begin the adventure, he and Catherine Chagnon have cycled through the mountains for the last ten days. They will continue in this way for a little over a week until reaching the Northwest Territories, where they will be joined by Guillaume Moreau and a new teammate, Mathieu Béland, to begin the canoe section of the expedition at two boats.

days. We were banking on the fact that El Niño was going to bring a slightly earlier spring, but that doesn’t seem to be the case”,”text”:”Currently we are cycling over rivers and lakes that are still frozen solid. We are supposed to paddle these rivers in 10 days. We were banking on the fact that El Niño would bring a slightly earlier spring, but that doesn’t seem to be the case”}}”>Currently, we cycle over rivers and lakes that are still frozen solid. We are supposed to paddle these rivers in 10 days. We were banking on the fact that El Niño was going to bring a slightly earlier spring, but that doesn’t seem to be the caseexplains Nicolas Roulx.

The presence of ice risks complicating things, he admits, while the members of the expedition will have to descend a network of rivers to end up in the MacKenzie River.

Rivers could be in flood or not yet flowing. It can be very reckless to go down rivers in these conditions. We have no idea what to expect, but we’re ready for anything.

By sailboat across Hudson Bay

Nothing to simplify the logistics, the canoe journey will end at Baker Lake, the geographical center of Canada, where a crew by sailboat leaving from Quebec must join the expedition around August 12.

There are so many people joining us in class [d’expédition] that on the logistics side, it’s really an acrobatics. The Anorak sailboat leaves Quebec at the end of June and they have a navigation of approximately five weeks to join us describes the adventurer who will then cross Hudson Bay with the wind.

If all goes as planned, he and Catherine Chagnon will finally reach Baffin Island to complete their crossing of approximately 6,500 kilometers to the Atlantic Ocean on foot.