Former math teacher, Pascale Vézina-Rioux from St-Étienne-de- Bolton now devotes most of her time to the trekking group Les Chèvres de montagne de l’Estrie. She joined two women this summer in the Qamaniq expedition, meaning the great adventure, a wildlife five-day 100km trek in Nunavut’s Kuurujjuaq Park. They crossed mountains and rivers in order to meet Innu women. One of the participants, Charlotte Qamaniq is also an Innu throat singer. Their adventure was captured on film.

On August 11, the women left for eight days, six of them were filmed. The challenge in such an expedition is not so much the cardio exercise but to ensure that basic needs are met. “You have to feed yourself, sleep, keep warm and manage your energy,” says Pascale “it was also quite extraordinary to share this experience with Charlotte’s innuit culture.” It was also Charlotte’s first such expedition.

From the very first days, the women had to work on their mental strength. They had to deal with torrential rain. Luckily, at the end of each day they could slip into dry clothes.

Pascale returned from Qamaniq with the hope of returning with her friend Maryse Paquette who founded les Chèvres de montagne de l’Estrie. New adventures could include ski-touring and kite-surfing.

Until then, get ready to find out more about their adventures in Qamaniq at the “Trails in Motion 2018” festival where film maker and adventure photographer Caroline Côté will present a movie based on their adventures.

Translation: Francine Bastien