A ten-hour drive took us from the city to the mouth of the river. On the way, we met the whole team and became acquainted with the equipment and even (a little) with the nature that was beginning to welcome us.
This first day was all about getting to know each other, over a first supper together on the outskirts of Montréal’s airport, then in the early hours of the morning on a bus that would travel all day along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River.
The bus
We’ve come from all over to share this adventure: Aurélie from Sherbrooke, Ruben from Montréal, Vincent from Saint-Constant, Sarah from Gatineau, Emma from Ottawa and Chandra from Brantford. Along the way, we’re joined by Gabrielle in Quebec City. The team is now complete.
In ten hours on the bus, we had time to change seats several times, sing together to the sound of the ukulele, play dice, take naps and admire the increasingly wild and wintry landscape, far from the brown snow and skyscrapers of Montréal.
The ball
Eve-Marie helped us with the introductions by giving us a ‘question ball’ to pass around. Thanks to her, we learned that Vincent’s favourite person is his grandfather (who taught him how to skateboard!), that Aurélie can sing Céline Dion’s ‘Sous le vent’ very well at karaoke, and that Ruben loves raclette. I could also tell you that Lysiane, our expedition doctor, identifies with the element ‘water’, and Marie-Pier, our nurse, is more ‘fire’. And the rest of the team? From the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation, we have the dynamic duo of guides Eve-Marie and Marie-Michelle. Jessica is our psychosocial counsellor. And finally, there’s me, Valérian, photographer and blogger. And tomorrow we’ll meet our five Attitude Nordique guides, including the legendary Mario, one of the Foundation’s co-founders, who has many adventures to tell.
The group
But tomorrow is another day… and another bus ride. It will be another five hours’ drive north to reach our base camp: Uapishka Station, at the foot of the Monts Groulx. We’ve been promised that as soon as we get off the bus, we’ll put on our skis and breathe in the wind of adventure. More importantly, it will be an opportunity to try out some of the impressive list of equipment we were given at our hotel in Baie-Comeau. We’ve been told about layers – under-layers and over-layers, day bags, night bags, sleeping bags, waterproof bags, and the different ways of keeping medicines and granola bars warm when it’s very cold.
Luckily, we were able to enjoy the sun, the snow and the beauty of the landscape as soon as we arrived in Baie-Comeau. We spent a few minutes feeling the wind on our faces, listening to the waves, watching the birds…
And then we agreed on some principles to live our adventure together: care, respect, tolerance, listening to ourselves and to others.
The last word goes to Chandra: “The expedition is not the ultimate goal of this journey. Our goal is to share and invent our own way of functioning as a group.”
Valérian Mazataud, volunteer photographer-blogger for the Sur la pointe des pieds Foundation
Translated by Lorraine Gagnon
In pictures
