ALBERTANS EXPLORE
This province dominates a list of Canada’s 100 best modern explorers, compiled by Canadian Geographic. Of course there are mountaineers, but Albertans have done amazing things all over the globe.
Albertans are a bold bunch.
In its June issue, Canadian Geographic is releasing a list of Canada’s best modern explorers and Albertans are well represented. It helps that many of the explorers are recognized for mountaineering, but Albertans have done some amazing things all over the globe on mountains, but also in the water or through feats of endurance in inhospitable lands.
“It’s always nice when you’re acknowledged by your peers,” said Jerry Kobalenko, a writer, photographer, frequent High Arctic traveller and resident of Canmore.
Kobalenko, who says he’s been on more than 40 expeditions, has written books and magazine articles about his travels.
“Lists like this are like writing awards,” said Kobalenko. “You can live without them but they’re very nice to get.”
Kobalenko doesn’t call himself an explorer — he prefers traveller.
“I’m not sure how relevant ( explorer) is to people like myself who, out of intellectual curiosity and love of landscapes, we, you know, travel and ... look at things,” Kobalenko said.
He says his interests lately have been historical and he’s interested in following in the footsteps of Arctic explorers. Recently, he went to Labrador to visit the site of a Second World War- era plane crash. Kobalenko says the aviators waited for rescue, but nobody came to save them. The whole time they were only 50 kilometres from an Inuit village and he took a trip to understand why they didn’t look for help.
“The sun, at that time of year, was right behind the village and the light was too blinding,” Kobalenko said. “I have come to believe that a traveller, an educated traveller, can make small historic contributions.”
Other Albertans on the list have also made historic contributions in a different way.
In 1982, Laurie Skreslet, Calgary resident, became the first Canadian to summit Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.
Skreslet said he wanted to give something back to his country and give Canada a team to believe it.
“We’re way too self- deprecating as a country,” he said.
Visiting Everest had been a lifelong dream for Skreslet, who ran away from home in his late teens to see the world’s highest peak. He worked on ships to get himself to Asia to visit, but was robbed on the Afghanistan border and forced to turn back.
Nicholaus Vieira, of Canmore, has camped in a cave a vertical kilometre down and over 10 km from the closest entrance for over two weeks. The self- professed “cave addict” is also known for the Raspberry Rising project to explore and research a cave in B. C.
The cave, which Vieira calls one of the most beautiful in Canada, is only accessible in winter by snowshoe or ski. At the entrance, cavers have to put on scuba gear and dive to the first “sump” before squeezing through a narrow passage and scaling a 25- metre waterfall. Vieira was the first person to climb the falls in 2012. After the falls, it’s more “climb and dive,” said Vieira.
“We can do everything we can do on the surface and more down there,” Vieira said, mentioning underwater lakes, sand dunes and ice floes.
Susan R. Eaton, a geologist, geophysicist, snorkeller and Calgary resident, also appreciates life off of solid ground.
Eaton has been on three scientific trips to Antarctica and is leading the Sedna Epic Expedition, named for the Inuit goddess of the sea. The goal is for a team of women to snorkel relay through the Northwest Passage over 100 summer days in 2017 and 2018 while highlighting the lack of sea ice that makes the trip possible.
Eaton plans to start teaching snorkelling in three Baffin Island communities next summer while introducing the locals to ocean creatures. “People in these northern communities … don’t swim,” she said. "We’re going to take them on snorkel safaris.”
Eaton also hopes her all- woman dive team will inspire girls and women in Canada’s far north. The team is made up of women from different backgrounds, apart from the dive team, Sedna will include artists teachers and students from the South and North, which she hopes will encourage girls to see the possibilities open to them.
Eaton also mentioned she is one of only 18 women on the list of top explorers ( the top 100 list has more than 100 names, because some couples were recognized as one team).
Other notable Albertans on the list include:
Philip Currie — Paleontologist and namesake of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum;
Simon Donato — Founder of Adventure Science;
John Dunn — Wilderness photographer;
John England — NSERC northern research chair;
Will Gadd — Ice climber, first person to climb Niagara Falls;
Ryan Harris — Lead diver for Franklin Expedition discovery;
Leanne Allison and Karston Heuer — Husband and wife team, filmmaker and writer;
Eva Koppelhus — Paleobotanist and palynologist;
Jen Olson — Ice climber, represented Canada in Sochi 2014 in the ice climbing cultural event;
David Schindler — Environmental scientist who studies acid rain;
Chic Scott — Mountain climber, founder of Canadian Himalayan Foundation;
Raphael Slawinski — Mountain climber, first ascender of several mountains, searching for a new route up Everest;
Sharon Wood — First North American woman to summit Everest.