Blog #6: Uapishka Expedition

Uapishka Expedition: 2020

[Editor's note: The following blog post was written in the style of The Endurance, by Alford Lansing. ]

The story that follows is true. Every effort has been made to portray the events exactly as they occurred, and to record as accurately as possible the reactions of the students who lived them. For this purpose, a wealth of material has been generously made available to me, most notably the painstakingly detailed journals of virtually every expedition member. These said expedition members bear no responsibility whatever for what follows. If any inaccuracies or misinterpretations have crept into this story, they are my own and should in no way be attributed to those who took part in this expedition.

Members of the Kroka Trans-Uapishka Expedition

Thomas Rosenberg, leader

Jo Moore, second-in-command

Sydney, storekeeper

Rachel, navigator

Audrey, official scribe

Pele, surgeon

Calla, first cook

Elena, second cook

Katarina, water manager

Kai, camp manager/able mountain man

Julia, gear manager/able mountain woman

Elijah, fireman

Sarah, first engineer: skis

Eliza, second engineer: repairs and kitchen manager

Part 1

The decision to summit Mount Lucie was made at 3 P.M. For most of the students, however, no declaration was needed because by then everybody knew that fate had spoken and a group decision had been reached. There was no show of fear or even apprehension. They had talked unceasingly for an hour and now each face was a picture of united determination and consensus.

Katarina returned to her work of melting snow into drinking water. Outside the tent two-mountain humans, Kai and Julia were busy splitting the last of the rounds for the next day’s worth of firewood. Inside, Sydney, Elena, and Sarah were resting, as all three were very nearly exhausted from almost four days of trail breaking through snow up to the hips. 

They were for all practical purpose alone in the Uapishka wilderness. Their plan was to start their ascent in the early darkness of the morning, giving them enough time to reach Lucie’s summit and return in the safety of daylight. 

Part 2

The decision to attempt Mount Lucie, while it signaled the beginning of the greatest of all Uapishka adventures, also sealed the fate of one of most winter expeditions. The goal of the Uapishka leg of expedition was to ski up and across the Uapishka plateau and mountain range east to Mount Lucie and then back and southwest to Jacques’ cabin all the while celebrating winter life. 

The preparations for this expedition began across the St. Lawrence in a little town called Aintelicit. Gear needed to be repaired and prepared for the new leg. Food needed to be scraped together and organized for the coming days. Academics needed to be finished. Moleskin and hand sanitizer needed to be replenished. By the sunrise of Thursday March 12th the van and trailer were packed and all members of the expedition were on their way to the legendary Uapishka

They took the ferry across the St. Lawrence to BaieComeau and then drove 360 kilometers North to their starting point. In her journal that night, Audrey summed up the day: “We arrived and skied over to Guy Boudreau’s Cabin in the woods. This is when we realized that some of our plans had to change: Julia and Rachel can’t possibly pull the sleds with the amount of weight they contained, as much as they would love to, as the sled-to-body weight ratio was one that they could not muscle over.”

The ferry across the St. Lawrence

Expedition sleds are loaded at Guy Boudreau's Cabin

The next day was spent skiing up and down the plateau to bring all the rations for the next three weeks up to the mountains. On the Fifth day of expedition, Monday March 16th, the crew woke up to a beautiful day of -25 F / -32 C, Low humidity and blue skies. After a quick breakfast they all headed out back towards Mt. Jauffret. On the climb up the students entertained themselves by singing loudly and making up silly parodies to songs known by all. The summit at 3,494ft was as beautiful and it was windy as much as they all would have liked the moment shared up top was a short one. On their way down Jauffret a Ptarmigan was spotted hiding as a lump of snow among many other lumps of snow. 

Climbing the slope "switchback" style in deep snowpack

The expedition continued southeast to Pinoco Lake where the sleds with the extra gear and food for the end of the trip where to be stored. Then movement continued across Massif Sage to what the expedition dubbed “Thank God Hollow”. This camp was named because the four days prior to reaching it were spent skiing through treacherously deep not frozen enough to hold us wet and therefore heavy enough to make plowing through it tricky business. Then the expedition spent the last of their energy reserves on the damned snow and the practically vertical ravine they had to climb up. The exclamation “thank god” was frequently used.
This day, March 20th, also happened to be the day of Elijah’s birth, which was merrily celebrated with the best brownies ever eaten on expedition, sent from his mother and sister. All members of the expedition went to bed in great anticipation of the coming rest day. 

Pele skis along broken trail

Audrey gathers boughs for the winter tent

Assembling the snow wall

Spring came in during the night, blowing gale-force winds that threatened to carry the tent away with all the students in it. Life continued on as normal: wood to be split, bough floor to be thickened, The Endurance to be read. This moment was when the students were forced to discuss the future of the trip. They had traveled to the eastern edge of Uapishka in order to summit Mount Lucie, but after the heavy snow and state of exhaustion the plan was under reconsideration. Members wondered whether more would be gained from celebrating winter living, going on fire solos, making snow palaces, exploring the nearby area, and carving… Some argued that summiting Lucie was arbitrary, done for the glory of the name, and could go and summit any other peak and be just as satisfied. Others felt strongly about Lucie in particular, that she was the one they had come for, that they had spent their energy for, and therefore weren’t excited to change plans. The members of the trans-Uapishka expedition sat in a circle in the tent and talked. Around and around they went stating their thoughts and desires until a consensus was reached and Lucie loomed over them. The ascent would begin the next day and involve a 26-kilometer round trip.

"Spring came in during the night"

Rachel on a warm, sunny day!

Part 4

The morning was a cold one at -15ºF. As individuals left towards Lucie their hands froze inside their mittens and their toes stiffened in their boots. The sun rose in all its hazy lemon flavored glory inspiring introspection among the crew. Somewhere along the chain of lakes and drainages that led to the base of Mount Lucie the crew all gathered and set out to finish all together. As they started climbing up to the alpine zone the sun and wind in their combined effort broke through the cloud cover and spilt blue sky over them. As they climbed higher still, a sundog appeared with a second rainbow curving around its right side. They reached the peak at 3,550 ft and arranged themselves before the magnificent view of the Uapishka range they had traveled through. A photograph was taken, however, even such a simple act was difficult as the extreme cold sent any kind of technology to a quick death. They continued onward descending on the northeastern side, finding awesome bowls to ski down pack free. As they traveled down the length of Lac Lucie the sun shone down on them forcing off warm layers and eating away at their cheeks and noses. 

The group on the alpine summit!

Part 5

In the next days the expedition traveled back to Pinocchio lake where they set up camp to finish reading the Endurance and work on their essays. From there they were broken up into two groups by Thomas and Jo and sent out on solos to finish the expedition. The first group, "Super Fly", consisted of Eliza, Audrey, Calla, Sarah, Julia, and Pele. This group was given the tent fly and the Russian stove as their gear. The second group, the "S.E.E.K.R." (Sydney, Elijah, Elena, Kai, and Rachel), were given the tent and stove. Routes were assigned and after a somewhat painful goodbye everyone set out. The S.E.E.K.R. group smoothly got their camp set up in a beautiful location with a plethora of fir boughs and firewood. Meanwhile the Super Fly group . By the time the roofless igloo covered by the fly and tiny Russian stove were set up with a fire going the sun had disappeared over the horizon. They had a cushy bough floor and had plenty of firewood split into small pieces to accommodate the Russian stove. Despite all their work, nothing they tried made the stove cook their food faster. The boughs they had woven around the stovepipe, in attempt to prevent it from melting their snow wall, caught on fire almost immediately despite their greenery. There was a mad rush of people trying to put it out with snow and their hands until Calla quenched it with water.

Pele shows off his snow-wall construction

Kai and Sydney climb out of a "hole"

The next day dawned  beautifully, blue skies and wispy clouds being pushed around by the wind.Their route was to take them over an alpine zone. From the top they could see out all around them, Uapishka on one side and the Manicouagan reservoir on the other. Soon they came to realize that despite the beautiful view, they had yet another series of challenges ahead of them. The side of the alpine they needed to descend was a vertical icy cliff, and the overly enthusiastic wind was blowing them towards it. For what seemed like ages they carefully crept along the edge trying to find an appropriate descent. Eventually such a spot was found though some members were skeptical. It wasn’t as vertical as the rest of the cliff and so they slowly made their way down, step-by-step, sideways down the mountain. It was a truly lovely family moment, which made them realize, that even during trying times there was no place they’d rather be and that they felt safe and cared for within the group.

Before long they reached the beautiful camp that the S.E.E.K.R.s had. Everyone was joyous at reconnection, so grateful to have made it safely back together into each other’s arms. 

Julia considers a navigational decision

Jo breaks trail

Part 6

The "Super Fly" group upon hearing about the beautiful camps, bannocks made, and relatively relaxing time that the S.E.E.K.R.s had, both wanted to cry and laugh out loud. Both groups had a wonderful time, just in drastically different sort of ways. The seven flavors of bannocks that the S.E.E.K.R.s made sounded delicious, and there was perhaps a little envy over the early bedtime. But neither group regretted their experience and the next day all the students said goodbye to Uapishka as they took down winter camp for the last time. 

The rest of the way down the plateau continued to be very steep as the group was essentially skiing down a waterfall. But the crew was determined and so didn’t make any unintentional sacrifices to the Uapishka river god. They arrived at Jacques’ camp in the afternoon greeted by a beautiful archway of poles he had set up for the students to pass under. It was like entering through a portal, or like passing under the arms of supportive parents. The whole experience was a beautiful one and the students gathered around Thomas, Jo, and Jacques beaming from the love they now shared for this place.

Elijah makes his descent

Jacques's cabin!

Audrey and Kai bring firewood

Part 7

The next two days were spent finishing academic assignments and doing service work for Jacques who all the students fell in love with, at least a little bit. He looked like a gnome straight out of a beautifully illustrated picture book, with a big puffy white beard, a flannel shirt, and suspenders. He spoke his own language to the crew, not quite French, not quite English, and not quite loud enough for them to hear, but despite this they could somehow understand exactly what he meant. Maybe it was his body language, or more likely just the magic he exuded but no one had any issue understanding his intent. Everyone loved working for him and his friend Pierre who had come to help. Students used old mushing sleds to bring logs down from the road to his camp where they were chain sawed, split and stacked. The woods around the property had sculptural art hidden throughout and each time a student passed through with a load of wood they would notice something new – it was a beautiful time. By the second day the crew had finished stacking all the wood Jacques would need for the whole of the next year. All the members felt deeply satisfied with this work knowing they had helped out this magical man, still living in and caretaking the cabins, in his eighties.While the future is uncertain, the group, newly formed by Uapishka, is ready to joyfully meet whatever comes our way!

Sarah carves her spoon

Jacques woodshed

The Manic 5 Dam and tractor trailer for scale

Selected student work

A home is warmth and reassurance

Its letting out a breath of relief

Falling, and trusting the wide arms of familiarity and routine

Leaning in, trusting, knowing

Knowing the shapes in the curving plaster wall in the stairway, 

the tones of each board beneath my feet,

Every rip and stain on the kitchen couch,

the light dancing in the wood stove.

Knowing the green and blue and red mittens hanging down, 

the humps and lumps on the rickety stove, 

the jumbled stuff sack pile of a kitchen, 

the simplicity of a circle.

-Calla

Katarina

Mont Lemming Camp 

March 17th 2020

4.5 k Traveled 2950’ elevation

Uapiska Expedition Day 7 Semester Day 66

Uapishka gave to me and to us far more than I, a human have to understand or reciprocate. Uapishka, the land I’d pictured for a year and counting through words of stories without ever having image with enough grandeur and power, I hold gratitude in myself for, for at last having my own-blistered toes there. Uapishka gave us the gift of being so little, a tribe of red anoracks stamping determindadly through waist deep snow, swallowed, tiny pricks of life in this land of mountains so endlessly generate of themselves, of contours, saddles, peaks, bends, lakes and watersheds. Uapishka will live always in me as a place of possibility and vastness, creation perfect at all seeing. In these mountains so unwalked by two-leggeds,  I received the gift of being strange to them, accepted, reviewed the gift of their knowing and kind indifference. Through icy crevices and narrow lines we impossibly held each other in, long spaces between far reaching places, we focus in and become what’s essential, and to, expand to into the open air. In Uapishka’s sacred indescribable tunnels of wind we receive the gift of our solitude and way of standing alone in the world white and blue and gray and black, but so together and unbreakable in heart, always. I have a gift now, to know that I have everything I need. 

Elijah 

I gave my fear of the future and regret of the past to the wind, just one more story for it to moan. I dashed my palaise of reserve and falseness upon the rocks, to blossom into the delicate ephemera of spring. I took a bit of me and bound it to the trees in blood-oath: spruce and silicon, ad infini.

In return, our fair lady of the mountains gave me memories, family, home. Those moments, burned crystal clear, I shall wear like beads around my neck as we, still a family but now without a home, displace ourselves south, south to where I know the stones but am a wanderer still.

Elena

What makes a home? 

An object can make a home: furniture, pictures, rooms, kitchen, bedroom, and a roof. What about the people who greet you when come in the door? They hand you a steaming hot cup of chocolate. They smile at you. The warm welcoming is what makes a home.  

Rachel and Elena

Eliza

Calla