In February, two young men from Hearst plan to ski and snowshoe 450 km through the wilderness, from Fort Albany on the James Bay coast to Hearst.
Thirty-three-year-old Jean-Philippe Marineau and Patrice Beauparlant, who’s 32, aim to raise $125,000 from their 30-day trip to build a new main cabin at the only summer camp in Hearst, Camp Source de Vie.
They’ll be retracing the steps taken by Marineau’s father and two friends back in 1985 to build the camp. Jean-Philippe says he promised his Dad he would do it, just before he died in 2017.
“When you lose somebody close, you feel powerless,” he comments, “so this Great Challenge expedition will allow me to do a gesture in his memory and the fundraiser will have a positive impact for the youth in our community.”
Both 2025 trekkers went to Camp Source de Vie as kids.
They say the biggest part of the challenge is going 15 or 20 kms a day along rivers and a pipeline, pulling sleighs and setting up camp each night. Marineau says they’ve been training in the gym and outdoors.
“Once in December, once in January to do like a four-day weekender trip so we could get used to our gear and our routine. So I guess that’s the longest, four or five days.”
The pair says they’re not afraid of wildlife because they won’t be on the polar bear migration route, and wolves are not a concern. They will have bear bangers, just in case.
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