Expeditions

KEVINVALLELY

As we stand on the edge of the Atlantic, looking back across the continent, it's hard to believe it's only been three weeks since we dipped our feet into the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean in Concon, Chile. So much has happened in such a short time - struggling through heat exhaustion and injury, labouring over winding mountain roads and along sandy dirt tracks, reveling in the majesty of the Andes mountains and the serenity of the Argentinian Pampas, spending mornings alone with our thoughts and afternoons dodging speed-crazed truckers on roads too narrow to share. The Expreso De Los Andes expedition has been an amazing ride - testing, enlightening, frustrating and exciting - a true adventure.
Youth Ambassador Connor Clerke joined us on our final run through the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, helping us draw to a close a very tumultuous - yet still very satisfying - running expedition across the continent of South America.
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Expreso De Los Andes

On January 7, 2009 Kevin Vallely, Ray Zahab and Richard Weber broke the world record for an unsupported trek from Hercules Inlet to the Geographic South Pole, a distance of over 1,100km. The team updated the interactive southpolequest website daily, adding photos and answering questions from students all over North America. Thousands of students followed the expedition as it unfolded live.
“It is an interesting human characteristic that may, in fact, be one of the special successes of our species. If recollections of pain were too clear, we would likely stop breeding – and definitely stop doing polar expeditions. Cherry Gerard put it perfectly in his book, The Worst Journey In The World: “Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has yet been devised.” As we lie in our tent just hours after arriving at the pole, Ray, Richard and I are already letting the memories of five weeks of suffering slip away into the afterglow of nostalgia.” read more

South Pole Quest

On March 13, 2010 Ray Zahab and I made it to the end. We ran and trekked across Lake Baikal in record time traversing the 640km frozen surface of the oldest, deepest lake in the world in 13 days 16 hours, bettering the previous mark by over a week. We contoured our way around pressure ridges and jumbled ice to average over 50kms per day all the time pulling sleds weighing 110lbs.
We faced raging winds and snowstorms that clawed at us as we moved and hammered us we slept. The humidity was so severe that by the middle of the journey, our sleeping bags, along with all our clothes and gear, were soaking wet. The temps dove down to -40C and drained the life out of the batteries in our electronics. We still maintained our 1:00 a.m. web updates with students back home though. Connecting with the kids was the reason we were out there and it inspired us to push even harder. What an adventure!! read more

The Siberian Express

In 1845 Sir John Franklin set sail from London with two boats, 129 men and a the dream of finding the North West Passage. He'd never be heard from again. Years later a story would unfold: both ships gone, all men lost, cannibalism the final resort. The British Empire was shaken to its core. What had happened?
The key to the mystery lay on the shores of King William Island. With their ships, the Erebus and Terror, inextricably locked in sea ice off the coast of King William Island, all crewmen would abandon ship and make a dash for safety. None would survive.
Joined by four team members including CBC television's Evan Solomon, I travelled to King William Island in August 2007 in hopes of finding evidence of this infamous tragedy. We'd find more than we ever thought possible. read more

Spreading from the Indian Ocean to the Malacca Straits is a vast stretch of untouched jungle, one of the largest tropical rainforest reserves in the world. At nearly 2.6 million hectares - roughly the size of Belgium - the Leuser Ecosystem is the only place on earth where rhinoceros, elephant, orang-utan and tiger live together in one place. Today this vital ecological reserve is under threat.
"We're at war here to save this forest," states Greg McDonald, the Communications Officer for the Leuser International Foundation. "That's why we like to use the patrols."
Teams of elite rangers, some atop enormous Asian elephants, head deep into the jungles in pursuit of poachers and illegal loggers. In May 2007 I travelled to Aceh province of Sumatran Indonesia to accompany one of these patrols. read more

Deep in the jungle of Borneo lies a hidden trail that was witness to one of the worst acts of barbarity of WWII. Soldiers from the Japanese Imperial army force marched sick and emaciated POW's some 250kms across the dense, primary jungle of British North Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia) using the prisoners as pack animals in a last ditch effort to flee approaching Allied troops. Orders from Tokyo had been explicit: "annihilate them all, leave no trace" Only 6 of 2434 Australian and British troops would survive the march.
Early in 2006 Kevin travelled to these hidden jungle tracks to retrace this brutal, forgotten episode of the war's history. It would be the first time in 61 years that the trail would be retraced thanks to the efforts of locals who recut the trail through the jungle. read more

Ireland's rugged Dingle peninsula pokes defiantly into the North Atlantic and forms the most western edge of Europe. It's a mythological place, an enchanting and foreboding land, locked in an eternal battle with the weather and the sea.

Circumnavigating this wild piece of land is the Dingle Way, a 180 km trail that Kevin, Nicky and their two young daughters follow during the summer of 2006. The nine day trek around the peninsula proves a wonderful way to experience a piece of Ireland in a way few others do. The route connects small villages by way of mountain trails, farm tracks and boreens (small local roads) and gets the young family far away from the tourist crowds that flock this piece of paradise. read more

Determined to maintain their adventurous spirit even after having a baby, Kevin and his wife Nicky embark on a kayak adventure with their 9 month old daughter Caitlin to Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia.
The three journey to Moscow and board the Trans-Siberian railway which takes them 6000kms across the breadth of Russia to the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude. Once there the young family trade the train for a jeep and journey another 12 hours down a remote dirt road to reach the tiny hamlet of Ust-Barguzin and the start of their kayak journey. It's only here, in this remote outpost on the shores of Lake Baikal, that they discover their Russian travel visa is invalid. If they turn themselves in they'll be arrested, fined $25,000 and deported. If they try to avoid the authorities they'll need to find an illegal way out of Russia. The kayak trip continues as planned but the adventure on the water is only a warm-up for what awaits them. read more

In 1900, two remarkable two thousand kilometer bicycle trips forever shaped Klondike Gold Rush legend. Max Hirschberg, a roadhouse manager, and Ed Jesson, a young miner, had dreams of striking it rich on the "gold-lined" beaches of Nome when they decided to ride a bicycle from Dawson City,YK in the dead of Winter. They braved bone numbing temperatures, harsh winds and snow blindness as they pedaled over the uncertain ice of the frozen Yukon River.
In 1999, Kevin Vallely and two friends successfully skied the full length of the famous 1860 kilometer Iditarod Trail from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. It was out there in that cold, unforgiving landscape that Kevin began to understand the magnitude of suffering and risk that Max Hirshberg and Ed Jesson had undertaken. To do it himself was a challenge he found irresistible. Bikes on Ice is his adventure. read more

As a member of Team Subaru Canada, Kevin raced in what proved to be the toughest Eco-Challenge ever. Race organizer Mark Burnett decided to make the Fiji Eco-Challenge the last event in his successful series and endeavored to make his last race something to remember. He succeeded. Out of 81 teams to start only 10 would finish with another 11 teams finishing a shortened course.
Team Subaru Canada would demonstrate their experience by starting out slowly and letting attrition takes its toll on the over zealous teams. After nearly 10 days of heat exhaustion and sleep deprivation, Team Subaru Canada would place 8th overall. read more

Kevin Vallely and Frank Wolf attempt to be the first people to bicycle between and ascend all 13 of Java, Indonesia's 10,000 ft volcanoes. They arrive in Jakarta on the evening of September 10, 2001. Events of 9/11 shock the world the following day as the two embark on their expedition.
Vallely and Wolf have no concept of the profound repercussions playing out on the international stage. As a military build-up begins on the border of Afghanistan the safety of Westerners in this part of Southeast Asia becomes of great concern. Intense heat, wild drivers and active volcanoes were expected by the two adventurers in their Chasing the Dragon expedition but traveling through the largest Muslim country in the world as a "Jihad" was declared against all Westerners ultimately seems to have the Dragon chasing them. read more

"Where cowards won't show and the weak will die" reads the race motto. The first running of the Iditasport Impossible takes Kevin Vallely, Dave Norona and Andy Sterns on an 1100 mile ski adventure across the barrens of frozen Alaska in February 2000. Following the route of the famed Iditarod Sled Dog Race, the trio battle sickness, storms and frigid temperatures as they attempt to be the first ski racers to traverse this infamous trail.
It's out on the frozen Bering Sea, after 30 days of hard skiing, that Andy Sterns severely injures himself and is forced to abandon the race. David and Kevin reluctantly leave their friend behind and two days later successfully complete their ski to Nome. Andy will return a month later and will complete the journey as well. read more

"Gold!" The word rang out like a rifle shot and started the stampede. It was the 1890s and the area now known as Dawson City, Yukon was nothing more than a tranquil convergence of rivers in the Canadian North. But the gold madness quickly changed this. Countless thousands gambled everything and made the perilous 1,000 km journey over the Chilkoot trail and down the mighty Yukon River in a race to stake their claim. It was a fever in every way: a migration of bleary-eyed irrationality that ran hot for a short time but soon cooled and disappeared. All that remains today is a tiny town with a big story to tell.
As the first stage of his "Bikes and Ice" expedition, Kevin and three companions retrace this classic gold rush route from Dyea, Alaska to Dawson City, Yukon. The 8-day journey introduces him to Yukon country and sets the stage for his more demanding ice bike adventure to Nome, Alaska a year later. read more

In the Footsteps of Franklin

The Jungle Patrollers

The Sandakan Death March

The Dingle Peninsula

Blessed on Baikal

Bikes on Ice

Eco-Challenge

Chasing the Dragon

The Iditasport Impossible

In the Tracks of Jesson