PRESENTATION
WHAT IS THE GREAT NORTH ADVENTURE ?
This adventure, which started out from Skagway, Alaska, USA, on the 1st of July 2007 aims at making it from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, by foot, alone and without assistance, across the Great Canadian North, in less than 300 days. Here is the project as it was explained by Fabian before he left:
The Great North Adventure is a project, as you might have guessed, which started off quite some time ago. It has now been almost 2 years. Amongst the mishaps, the search for partners, the preparations, the meetings, more mishaps, the material, the non-kept promises, and many more that I’ve forgotten, I’ve already burnt a lot of calories. But now the adventure is here, at the tip of my fingers.
As the idea was to cross the Great North, from West to East and on my own, the encounter with Francois Joncourt, the designer of the Carrix* was crucial. Francois, whom I went to visit, welcomed me with open arms in a friendly and relaxed way and I thank him briefly but very sincerely, and as the departure is imminent, he’ll understand that time is precious. His support, as I stated, was fundamental. Thank you Francois and your superb CARRIX ! Thanks to him, the adventure is possible: htpp://www.carrix.ch
Next thing, water. As you might already know, the Great North is gigantic. On the west coast, the Rocky Mountains, and then the Tundra, immense and infinite, littered with white-water rivers in the summer. My family and friends will be reassured if I equip myself with an ultra-light and resistant Alpaka raft, on sale at Paul’s place, http://www.kayak-canada.ca. In Canada, it will be Paul, himself who will assist me. He will stock my material and then send it to me. He has my total confidence. It’s also thanks to Francois that I met him. He will be my lifeline and my link to the outside world.
The food. Lyophilized, but good. Thanks to a small French company in Sables d’Olonne, MX3.http://www.mx3.fr. Without forgetting, of course the fur “chapka” in order to have a warm and clear head, as was so kindly reminded to me by Monsieur Guillment-Dandurand from the chapel of the same name who was instantly enthralled by the project. http://www.torpedo.fr
And of course, you don’t go off to walk in the Great North, with 50 kg of equipment in the summer and 150 kg in the winter, without a minimum of preparation. Concerning the muscles, I called in Michel, a specialist who works at Longué, in the Maine and Loire region, where he has a small and friendly gym called SPORFORM. Pity that he doesn’t have a blog or a site; I could have attached the link.
As you can see, an adventure as solitary as this one, starts out with its share of help, of support, of partnership, that I unfortunately don’t have time to mention and for good reason, the departure is in 11 days, from Roissy airport to Montreal, where I will spend only a few days, just enough time to sort out the logistics. Then off again, but this time for Alaska.
With these few lines of text, you’ve been able to discover a few people and partnerships involved in this adventure. We’ll try our best in the following days to help you to get to know them better and to discover others, those who are already active and others who will come and join us.
I probably won’t have a satellite telephone for the first part of the voyage, that is from Fort Smith NWT (see map). However, I will use internet and the telephone in the Inuit villages (oh yes, the igloos have gone, well almost) and I’ll regularly explain the photos and the films (we’ll try and make films for television during our expedition, but it will be a challenge). The media relay will be ensured by Léonie, someone close to my heart (the rest is private), and the Callisto association who manages the project. It will update as regularly as possible the blog and provide you with the latest news.
Don’t hesitate to drop us a line, it will be of great encouragement.
Thank you for your attention and good adventure to you all.
Fabien.
