Nicolas Roulx - Akor Expedition | Episode 4 - The Boreal River Show

The Akor folks like big expeditions-and they’ve got a massive one in the works for 2021
…they’ll attempt a complete crossing of Canada from the northernmost point to the southernmost point. 8000km over 7 months-self-propelled by ski, canoe, and bike.
But if you’re not sure if they can do it, you’ll feel more confident once you hear about their last trip: in 2018, departing on June 7th from Shefferville, Quebec, they crossed Nunavik and the Torngats by canoe.
They learned from the local Indigenous people along the way. People who inhabit the territory today and whose ancestors lived in these areas for thousands of years. In Akor-founder Nic’s words: “They know their land so well, they know their land much better than I know my neighbourhood [in Quebec City]”.
The crew of 6 accomplished their impressive trip in 65 days:
- dragging across frozen lakes
- paddling down the massive and icy George River
- dragging and lining up the Koroc
- portaging an interior passage of the Torngats
- running the Palmer River to the Labrador coast
- and finishing things up with a 500km paddle on the ocean to the village of Nain, Labrador
Polar bears were a big concern (“we felt like prey…”)
You’ll hear some great stories-about the challenges and fun along the way. Nic talks about their goals for collecting data for scientific research. And educating people in the “south” about the “north”: at the time of this recording in November 2019, they’d presented to over 7000 people at more than 50 talks since returning from the trip.
Links:
See a short and incredible video of the 2018 Torngats trip: • Expédition AKOR 2018
Akor website - expeditionakor.com/en/home/
Akor Facebook - / expeditionakor
Boreal River: borealriver.com/