Together with 3 teammates, we attempted one of the “last firsts” remaining in the adventure world, which was to cross the infamous North West Passage in the Canadian High Arctic on human power alone in one season. We had a 2-month window, during which the ice melts for the summer, to complete this 3,300km journey. In this incredibly remove and rugged part of the world, we encountered dangerous storms, huge masses of ice that at times came close to crushing our boat as well as meeting some incredible people in the few Inuvialuit and Inuit settlements we passed through. Despite flogging ourselves like dogs for 55 days, strong headwinds and ice hampered our progress in our 25-foot rowing boat. As the water was beginning to freeze again in early September, we had to settle with making it 1,900km across the passage.

Aside from attempting one of the last remaining adventure firsts, a key focus to this trip was to shine a light on the critical impact climate change is having on our planet. We did this by speaking to the locals to learn from them and one of our team (Frank Wolf) made a documentary about our voyage.  Another teammate (Kevin Vallely) wrote a book about our trip. Links to the documentary trailer and Kevin’s book are below

To view “The Hand of Franklin” Documentary Trailer

https://vimeo.com/189812215

Rowing the Northwest Passage Book – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rowing-Northwest-Passage-Adventure-Rising/dp/1771641347

Personal Reflections from this trip

  • Failure sometimes comes with pushing boundaries
  • Experience is a great teacher if I am open and willing to learn
  • Connecting to our purpose is one of the most powerful things we can do