‘MY EMOTIONS EXPLODED’
CANADIANS BECOME FIRST ALL-WOMEN TEAM TO SUMMIT OUR THIRD-HIGHEST PEAK
Two Canadians have just made history as the first all-women team to reach Canada’s third-highest peak.
Pascale Marceau, from Ottawa, and Eva Capozzola, from Golden, B.C., reached the peak of Mt. Lucania — an impressive 5,226 metres — on the afternoon of April 26. A calm, clear day made for a stellar, breathtaking summit to the top, Marceau described, with the duo grateful for being able to soak in their surroundings without the need to “retreat for fear of freezing extremities or being sucked in by clouds.”
“It was a treat … we spent 45 minutes enjoying the 360 view one gets from Canada’s third-tallest peak,” she said. “It was breathtaking.”
It was also a moment of pure joy for Gili Keselman, Capozzola’s husband of one year. Throughout the day, his eyes were locked on a live tracker, constantly pressing refresh and seeing a little arrow advance along the ridge.
Once the team made it to the top after 14½ hours of climbing, there was an outpouring of emotion, he said.
“I was screaming and crying and rolling on the floor, I couldn’t believe it,” Keselman said. “My emotions just exploded. I waited for a call or text from her, and sure enough a text came with a message saying, ‘Summit! I love you.’ ”
Keselman said Capozzola took on this challenge to accomplish something that’s never been done before. It’s a journey requiring “grit, determination, strength and extraordinary confidence” along with overcoming challenges and stigmas that women across the world are pushing to break free from, he said.
“It’s a monumental undertaking and the fact it has never been done amplifies that difficulty to an extreme,” he said.
Now, the hardest part of their journey awaits: the trek down.
Summiting Lucania is a feat many climbers only hope to accomplish. Located in Yukon’s Kluane National Park and Reserve, the mountain often provides less-than-favourable conditions, with climbers often battling -30 C temperatures, icy slopes and notoriously harsh winds.
Nestled 65 kilometres north of its giant neighbour and Canada’s tallest mountain, Mt. Logan, Lucania is seldom visited. Only a handful of climbers have taken on the peak, with Capozzola and Marceau being the first all-women team to do so.
The fact that there had been so few footsteps ever to have dotted the mountain was what drew Marceau to the it in the first place, she wrote on Instagram five days before the expedition commenced.
“The feeling of exploration is strong and that fills my soul,” she wrote, saying the remoteness and wildness of the peak elevated her sense of adventure.
When Marceau finally summited Lucania, it was a moment of great pride for her partner, Lonnie Dupre, who has been in frequent contact with the duo during their expedition. Dupre helped with the logistical aspect of planning the trek and has been monitoring the team to make sure they have sufficient food and fuel supply.
“It’s a big, big, big accomplishment … I’m so proud of them,” Dupre said. “But I’m also worried sick.”
As a climber himself, who took on Lucania with Marceau a few years ago, reaching about 3,800 metres, he knows the conditions on mountain peaks can be dangerous.
“It’s very difficult and cold up there, so communications are left very brief,” he said. “You can’t really spend too much time (on the summit) because time and speed is your safety — you won’t survive if you don’t make it back to your tent. That’s your lifeline.”
The focus next was to get the team back down safely, Dupre said, as descending is significantly more challenging than ascending. Going up, you have your hands and feet, but coming down all you’ve got is your heels — and if you fall there’s nothing to grab onto, he described.
Because of this, the duo will down-climb facing into the mountain for at least seven days, which is a very slow, tedious process because it’s “not as secure as climbing up,” he said. Keselman added the food and gear in the backpacks will make for the heaviest load they’ve ever had to carry — about 23 kilograms.
Part of the traverse also took a huge toll on Marceau’s ankle, she said.
“It became obvious that my well-trodden boots have reached the end of their life for support and padding,” she said. “Every step was excruciating.”
Thankfully, the weather conditions seem favourable over the next few days, says Michael Schmidt, who has also been photographing and monitoring the team’s expedition alongside providing weather updates to them about twice a day.
“It’s exciting … they just did a super job,” he said.
The team received a Women’s Expedition Grant from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) to take on this expedition, along with being sponsored by the Society of Women Geographers.