Adventurer takes on epic voyage
CANADA C3: Crew of 60 on a five-month, $10-million trek along Canada’s coastlines
ABOARD THE MV POLAR PRINCE — Kevin Vallely steers his kayak to the base of Cassel Falls and smiles contentedly as the cooling mist soaks into his wool toque and drips down his face.
Below him, the clear waters off West Redonda Island pulse with dozens of dreamy moon jellyfish. In the near distance, two humpback whales break the still cellophane surface then dive deep, waving goodbye with distinctive tail flukes.
The North Vancouver architect has explored some of the most exotic, inhospitable and downright dangerous places on this planet, yet remains passionate about the simple pleasures of paddling the B.C. coast.
“Exploration is a personal thing, going places that are new to me, seeing different cultures, talking to different people, getting stimulated. This is the reboot for me. That’s what adventure is all about.”
Vallely is among 60 persons — crew, organizers, and participants — completing the 15th and final leg of Canada C3, a five-month, $10-million voyage along Canada’s Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific coastlines in recognition of 150 years of confederation. The federal government is contributing about twothirds of that cost, and more than 100 other donors the other third.
Four themes of the expedition are diversity and inclusion, reconciliation, youth engagement, and the environment. Further planned stops on the 150-day expedition include Nanaimo, Howe Sound, Vancouver, and Saturna and Salt Spring islands.
Everyone on board the leased 67-metre icebreaker, a former Canadian Coast Guard research vessel, fancies themselves a bit of an explorer on this 10-day journey from Campbell River to Victoria. The trip included an opportunity to paddle kayaks and standup paddleboards in waters north off the Sunshine Coast.
Vallely is the real deal. His list of accomplishments include hiking the Grouse Grind in 28 minutes and powering along the West Coast Trail — typically, accomplished in five days — in just 10 hours, 13 minutes. Those turned out to be warmup exercises.
His first great adventure occurred in 2000 when he skied the route of the Iditarod sled-dog race, about 1,800 kilometres across Alaska in the dead of winter. “It was an eye-opening and life-changing thing for me. I came out the other end different.”
In 2001, he planned to bike the island of Java, Indonesia, and summit all its active volcanoes but the trip lasted only three weeks due to anti-American sentiments in the wake of the Twin Towers attack in New York City.
“We had people screaming “American!” and pointing a gun at us. We had to get out. It was really, really scary.”
Sure, Vallely craves the physical challenges of his expeditions, but over the years he has also appreciated the compelling stories to be discovered and pass on along the way.
In 2006, he visited Sandakan in northern Borneo where more than 2,000 Australian and British soldiers lost their lives at a Japanese prison camp and during a series of forced marches at the end of the Second World War. Only six survived.
“It was a horrific chapter of the war that got lost,” said Vallely, who hiked in the soldiers’ footsteps. “It wasn’t all about me being the fastest or going the furthest. It didn’t matter anymore. It became an amazing way to share a story.”
Having said that, in 2009 he was part of a team that set a world record — 33 days — for an unsupported journey from the edge of Antarctica’s continental ice shelf to the South Pole.
“It’s hostile and remote and you have everything in your sled,” he recalls. “That was a crazy adventure, eating chunks of butter and deepfried bacon just to keep our body weight on.”
In 2013, he and three other men attempted to complete the Northwest Passage in a 7.5-metre “ocean rowing boat,” investigating climate change along the way. They made it almost 1,900 kilometres over 55 days, from Inuvik to Cambridge Bay, before being stopped by unusually bad weather.
“It’s like a four-man tent,” says the member of the New York-based Explorers Club. “Think of the biggest storm you can, for 48 hours, everyone shoehorned in there.”
He recounts the experience in his first book — Rowing the Northwest Passage: Adventure, Fear and Awe in a Rising Sea — just published by Greystone Books.
At 53, Vallely remains focused, self-confident, and ever-enthusiastic about life and what it has to offer. “It’s all attitude,” he said. “I feel I can go out with 20-year-olds and keep up. Except I’m the old guy who has some knowledge now and experience.
“You just keep doing it until you can’t, and then it’s done.”
Look for Larry Pynn’s stories from the C3 expedition every day next week.
For more information on Canada C3, visit: canadac3.ca/en/homepage.