NUNAVIK:SARVAK The Third Step

So after completing the first descent of the Ford River and teaching the local Inuits to raft and kayak, anything more than that would be gravy! And we found some! Our Friend Jimmy offered to take us to one his fishing spot where he said had a good waterfall. We found a steep technical creek and had a load of fun running the main slide/waterfall.

That concludes the NUNAVIK:SARVAK movie. Hope you guys liked it and Hopefully will inspire some of you to get up there and discovery the endless possibilities of the GREAT North.

NUNAVIK:SARVAK The Second Step

After spending time exploring the amazing Ford River, it was time to share our love of white water with our Inuit friends. The guys from Georges River came down to Helens Falls with their boats ready to learn some new paddling tricks. We spent 2 days teaching and refreshing basic white water techniques before going back to their village for a kayak clinic. We invited the local population to the public swimming pool and had an awesome time teaching people to paddle and roll. We had accomplished our second goal, we shared with the locals!

NUNAVIK:SARVAK The first Step

After countless days an nights of work, yesterday saw the release of the full edit of Nunavik:Sarvak in front of the Quebec Kayak crowd. People seemed to enjoy the images and it is now your turn!

The movie will now be available for your pleasure on the internet, it will be dropping in three steps just like our adventure. So here is the first one, this is the story of our first and main objective, running the first descent of the Ford River.

ENJOY...

Sault à la Puce

This weekend felt like a powder weekend in skiing season. Friday afternoon came with some heavy night that kept falling throughout the night. Saturday morning was filled with the same buzz you'd find in a ski town the morning of a dump! Finally the rain had come and we set off to enjoy it all weekend long!

Here's some Pics of the Sault à la Puce, a classic technical steep section a the doorstep of the city.

A special place to be...

NUNAVIK:SARVAK

Teaser of the movie about the first descents in Nunavik that we did last summer. Full feature should be out at the beginning of the winter. In the mean while, it's rainy!! Finally, we might be able to enjoy some of the local runs here!!

Rivière Valin, Pic Only!!

Guillaume, Premier Rapide, Valin

Alex, Premier Rapide, Valin

Frank, Rapide de la crack, Valin

Alexis, Rapide de la crack, Valin

Emerick, Chute, Valin

Frank, Chute, Valin

Frank Free Wheel, Chute, Valin

Emerick, First ever Switch Free Wheel, Chute, Valin

Frank, Chute, Valin

Dylan Stoked, Chute, Valin

Guillaume, Air bag Rapide, Valin

Alexis, Air bag Rapide, Valin

Simon, Air bag Rapide, Valin

Dylan, Air bag Rapide, Valin

Dylan, Air bag Rapide, Valin

Georges River and other Adventures

So here we are, the first part of our expedition is over. The Ford river has been taimed and we are moving on with the second objective of our trip, sharing our love of the river with the local Inuits.

DAY 7

We woke up this morning to a grey sky and hazy weather. The fog wasn’t moving up and the air was cold. We ate another breakfast; well the same has usual and waited. The plan was to take our Inuit friends out for some whitewater teaching, but let’s just say that they weren’t has exited has us… We finally rallied them up and went out on the water, thanks to Level Six their were kept warm despite the cold breeze. Time was spent playing around eddy lines and surfing a little hole at the bottom of the Helen Falls. After numerous flips, we got out of the water. The cold and rainy weather not helping the afternoon was slow and lazy. The boys sat up some nets and caught some trouts and salmons. The evening was spent talking and cooking the fishes in the traditional Inuit tent they brought.

DAY 8

Again the morning was grey and cold, but this time things got moving faster. We packed the camp up and filled the motor boats for the ride home, to Kangiqsualujjuaq (Georges River). The 2 hours ride to the town was cold and we were all glad to finally make it to the local dock. There some of our contacts from town were waiting for us and we headed to the Kuruurjuaq Park office and tourism center for some well deserved heat and coffee! There we had a talk with France Brind’Amour our “Mom” away from home and were granted with a house! Thanks to the guys at the park and especially to Charlie Munick we were able to dry up and take a well deserved shower. I spent the rest of the day emptying the numerous SD cards we had filled with footage and pictures from the Ford.

DAY 9

This morning was spent driving around town to get our bearings and try to find a way to teach kayak to the local kids. Finally, after some meeting and discussions we were allowed to use the swimming pool for our little paddling clinic. We then did a little grocery shopping at the local COOP (where you buy everything from ATV to guns and food) and we were amazed at how expensive life can get around here... For example, 2 litres of Oasis orange juice goes for 11.59$. During the afternoon we had a meeting planned with the people at the park and our local contacts for a little picture show were we showed our pictures and talked about our expedition.

The night was one of the best moments for me. We took our 3 boats to the local swimming pool where we had invited everybody from town for a little kayaking clinic. So people gathered in and around the cold pool and we took turns showing people how to roll the boats and paddle. Everybody had a smile in their faces and seemed happy to see the white guys teaching them how to use their own invention that is the kayak. Modern life style still clashes a lot with the traditional way of life of the population from North. I think that one of the biggest changes for them is the fact that they now have more free time. Modern tools enabling them to accomplish the same tasks but faster, they are now granted with some free time. This newly acquired free time isn’t always used for goods things (strong alcohol and drug consumption) but helping them to discoverer new ways to spend time can only help them stay away from trouble.

DAY 10

We woke up with our now customary “epic” omelette, with expired eggs form the local dump, bacon and hamburger patties all cooked in bacon fat, we ran out of olive oil... We then dashed to the park office, our new headquarters and planned some more paddling using Google Earth and local knowledge. After roughly 1 hour we had a plan! Go out with Jimmy to a near town creek today and paddle the Barnouin River tomorrow.

We packed Jimmy’s boat with boat, filled it with gas and we were out. A short 30min boat ride brought us to the river at Illutalviniq. We then bushwalked for a good hour to the top of the river. We ran the river and found a fun slide/waterfall which we lapped a couple of times before continuing towards to bottom in a pretty steep boulder garden. The water was low, but the boulders created nice features that were fun to run. On our way back to town, we stopped for some fishing and mushroom picking. In the evening, we paid a visit to Jean-Guy, a now local white guy and listen to the stories and opinions he had to share.

DAY 11

After another "epic" omelette, we headed up to the park office. There we were in for a bad surprise... We learned that, up here, even the best made plans are prone to fall apart depending on the mood of people. We never found out why, but nobody was willing to go to the Barnouin River even if it was their own plan... So we scramble all morning to find a replacement boat driver, but were not able to. Let’s just say that moral was pretty low around our “epic” salad with beacon fat dressing.

Fortunately enough, the guys liked kayaking in the pool so much that the community bought our boats! We had one less thing top carry back South with us. Guillaume also decided that it was time for him to change his paddling gear and sold almost all of his stuff during a yard sell in front of our house! We cooked an amazing blueberry and Char feast for our last meal and invited France to join.

DAY 12

Today marks the start of the ride back home. We took a Twin Otter ride from Georges River to Kuujjuaq and met some guys from BC coming back from a canoe expedition between Nain, Labrador and Georges River, why would you do that!?! (http://www.frank-wolf.net/) Once we got in Kuujjuaq, Guillaume got packing because he was due on the 4pm flight, while me and Adam were booked for the day after. We then headed for lunch at the local hotel and got back to the airport to say goodbyes to Guillaume. We also tried to get on the same flight. It was fully booked and we waited until boarding to be told that 1 spot was available! So Adam and me got into a rock, paper and scissors tournament for the remaining seat. I won, but decided not to leave my buddy alone in a far west like town for the night, I stayed... So we headed back to the local hotel for some rather expensive bad beers and ate diner in the parking lot. We finally settled in for the night in a wooden area by the village.

DAY 13

We woke up pretty early this morning. It might be due to the fact that we are finally heading home! We packed our tents and went for a 4 hours long breakfast at the restaurant, taking advantage of the free internet access and week old news papers. Noon came and it was finally time to head home, so packed our bags, left the Air Inuit hangar and waited patiently at the airport.

LOOKING BACKReflecting back on that trip really makes me think that more and more, my paddling interests are shifting towards expeditions. Nunavik is filled with rivers asking to be discovered. The people up there are warm hearted and welcoming. I would definitely go back next year...

One of the problem with Nunavik is the access. The only way to get there is by airplane and it is not cheap. A ticket sells for 2000$ which is more expensive than going to Europe. Maybe the actions taken by our government to open up the North (to mining companies like most non informed people say) isn't that bad. With the development of infrastructures might also come the development of the touristic industry, which would greatly beneficiate to Nunavik. But with all that development happening fast and more people from the South travelling up to the North, one thing has to remain in our minds, RESPECT.

These people are living on the land and FROM the land so any development has to be done with immense respec of their traditions and beliefs. And, when you do get there, you have to keep in mind that they have a different culture, but if you do that you'll learn a great deal from these guys.

Fall is now at our doors here and rain should be too... In the mean time, I'm enjoying the freestyle scene a bit more!  

THANKS TO OUR PARTNER
1. First Air
2. Level Six
3. Base Camp Montréal
4. Air Inuit
5. Nunavik Park
6. FQCKEV
7. ABV Kayak

First Descent of the Ford River

Let's just say that it all started with an idea... Guillaume got this idea in my head a while ago and it made its way inside my head. Since my trip into the Grand Canyon in January my paddling focus shifted from river running, creeking and playboating to Expedition paddling. The lifestyle provided by expeditions is as simple as it gets. Sleep, eat, paddle and start over!

The Ford River is located in Nunavik, above the 56th parallel, but it might has well be in Russia. It is as expensive and complicated to get to this region than getting to Siberia. After weeks of planning and sorting out the detailed logistics, we set out to Kuujjuaq and then to the Fords River put in. Every expedition is the same, until you are not on the water, it’s always a puzzle to get everything in place, but once all the pieces are together, the sense of relief is so good!



So here is a day to day report of our trip. This expedition will also be featured in Kayak Session in the near future.

Departure

So, after flying from Montréal to Kuujjuaq, Adam and I met up with Guillaume who had just returned from a guiding trip on the Koroc. The first afternoon was spent exploding our gear and sorting what was necessary and what wasn’t. After a solid 2 hours of packing, the boats were loaded and we were off to the floatplane base just outside of Kuujjuaq on Stewart Lake. We set up camp in a cabin lent to us by Serge from Johnny May Air Charter. We settled in for the night in the mosquito filled cabin, after an hour of mosquito slapping, we resorted to sleeping with our bug nets on!

DAY 1

After a short sleepless night we got up and rallied to the floatplane dock. We had to delay the flight a bit due to satellite phone issues. After many phone calls, we decided that this piece of equipment wasn’t that necessary and finally boarded the Turbo Otter for an hour long flight. The flight was planned in such manner that we could fly over the Ford River on our way in. Anxiety was pretty high because we didn’t know what to expect from this unknown river beside the information from a local Inuit who claimed that it was filled with rapids! As we flew over the river the stress level dropped as we discovered a good flow and plenty of runnable rapids with some other major drops.

After an hour, we finally landed on Ford Lake, the headwaters of the Ford’s North fork. We knew that a side creek was coming out of some other lake at this location and we found the goods. After landing and unloading, we hiked to find some awesome looking sets of rapids and tons of blueberries and mushrooms! We set up the camp and hiked the boats up to the top of the creek section. The first two drops were good to go and the two last ones a bit too manky for our expedition’s standards. So, we lapped the first two drops all afternoon. When we were finally satisfied we headed down to the last drop and did a little fishing. We soon had our diner and headed to the beach for some cooking. After a great meal and little hick up the local summit, we settled in first the night. Just a quick dash through my tent door got at least 30 mosquitos inside. So, after a mass murder of mosquitos, I could finally sleep tight.

DAY 2

We woke up to a semi-clouded sky and had a quick breakfast due to the mosquitos. After packing, we started the long journey through the 2 lakes we had to cross before getting to the river itself. Half a day got us to the second lake discharge through a series of small R2 rapids and rock garden. We finally got to the first big obstacle. The river was split by a rocky island with a solid class 4-5 on river left and a lean rocky pass to the right. We decided to call it a day and enjoy the sun.

Just after deciding of a camp location, we spotted a bear on the river’s left bank. We ran over to take pictures and try to get him has close as possible to the other shore. It turned out that this particular bear was quite curious and not being able to smell us but see us encouraged it to sit and stare at us like we were from another planet. We used the rest of the afternoon to fish and recharge the batteries under the sun.

DAY 3

I woke up under the sun this morning and since it was still early, decided that a little fish could be good in our scrambled eggs. So I went fishing, 20 minutes did the job and I got back with two nice speckle trouts. After that filling breakfast, we packed up and started our day on the water. At our first scout we eddied on river left and headed down stream. Everything was well until Adam called for us: “Guys the boats!” Our friend the bear was back and slowly making its way to our boats. We dashed back towards our kayaks fearing that the bear was interested in the food under our hulls. When we got there the bear was less then 5 meters away and the rocks we were throwing at it didn’t seem to do the trick. It actually took two bear bags (exploding fireworks) to scare him away.

We continued our way down stream quickly through good class 3-4 rapids. We reached a spotted we the river was divided in 3 channels and we ran all the possible lines before continuing. We finally reached the crux of the river that we had spotted from the plane. It turned out to be a 75m long slide with a huge hole at the bottom, after which the river was flowing directly into a wall! Even if the slide itself was looking really nice and fun, the nasty hole/wall pillow discouraged us from running the line. We opted for a portage on river left along the rocky outcrop. We ran a little section of class 3 before reaching a second set of slides with 4 consecutive drops all backed by nasty holes with almost no pools between them. Again we opted on portaging but this time on river right.

Half way through the portage we spotted a nice camp area along the slab and putted up our tents. This place was paradise! Sunny, big whitewater, swimming pound and great artic char fishing. We enjoyed a good afternoon and went to bed after another glorious sunset with our bellies filled with fish and Arpik berries (cloudberries).

DAY 4

We woke up under the rain... Instead of a lazy morning fishing and cooking eggs, we got dress for river in our tents and had breakfast under the tent. After packing our wet gear, we started by running the chicken line of the last slide. This day was amazing as for river, not for weather. Shitty rain made it hard/impossible to take stills with my camera so we dashed down the river pretty fast. We got to a good slide set with numerous lines to be run. We elected to stop on river right and gave the first drop a go.

After seeing both Adam (caught by a nasty hole at the bottom) and Guillaume being deported off line, I chose a more conservative line. We then got to the second drop. The main line seemed too narrow and pushy so the boys ran a river right smaller line. Guillaume’s run was really good and then Adam got down. Everything was perfect until he rode an underestimated wave directly into a pretty dynamic hidden hole. The colour of the water sometimes makes it hard to see certain river features. He was in for a good 35 second beat down with numerous ends and a final back flip, all of that with a 80 lbs boat!

After paddling a somewhat long flat section with a face wind we settled on a beach campsite. Again the sun greeted us for the end of the day. Time was spent drying the wet gear, charging batteries and trying to catch some fish. The spot wasn’t the best for fishing so we only ate our dried dinners and we to bed to a cold night.

DAY 5

We again woke up under the rain, so we ate and packed quickly. The day was cold and foggy as we launched in the river. Fortunately we were granted with a nice stretch of almost none stop class 2-3-4 read and run rapids all the way to the end of the Ford. After only an hour and a half of paddling we were in the Georges River, the end of our journey...

We paddled to the end of Helens Falls rapid and found a huge beach for camping. After walking 1km upstream to scout this large volume river rapid, we headed back to our boats and pitched the tents. Since, we were tired and the weather was still pretty wet, we all spent the afternoon napping and reading in our tents. Again, the sun came out at diner time and gave us yet another beautiful sunset. We then went back to sleep, but the cold and lack of fatigue made for a long night.

DAY 6

That morning, we headed up the portage trail to the top of Helens Falls. After scouting the right line, we elected not to run it. Too may moves and too many big holes were in the way. So, we decided to fire up the 15 feet waterfall besides it. We ran it over 5 times each and enjoyed the sun. After a good and satisfying session, we headed downstream, running the left lines. We reached the second ledge and found a thigh line between two holes at the top and practically no time to make a ferry to avoid to other holes at the bottom. Guillaume felt lucky and went for it. He stuck the line and claimed it!

When we reached the bottom, through a series of amazing wave trains and the boys from Kangiqsualujjuaq were waiting at the bottom of the rapid in their fishing boats. After, some quick presentation, we helped them set up camp until Adam found a porcupine! I thought it was pretty cute and gave it a good photo shoot. That’s until the guys saw it and came running with their iphone and ipads taking pictures. Up until now it was ok, but I didn’t expect the end of the encounter… Jaiku clubbed it and proceeded to skin it and cut it in quarters. So after some boiling and seasoning we ate a pretty good meal!

This marks the END of the first part of our trip. The Ford River is done and it seems to be a good candidate for guided trips. With 5-6 days of cool rapids and amazing scenery, this river would be perfect for tourists with little time and good budgets!!!!

The second part of our trip will be coming soon, filled with rafting, kayak lessons, a second first descent and other adventures!