Minnesota explorer Pascale Marceau and partner escape close calls during Canadian Arctic expedition
GRAND MARAIS, Minn. — Adventurer Pascale Marceau splits time between Canada, in Minnesota, and a tent in the middle of nowhere on her endless expeditions.
One of her recent expeditions, however, did not go according to plan. WCCO caught up with her on the North Shore.
"You couldn't get a more pure environment. We were surrounded by nothing but pure nature," Marceau said.
She and her partner had four polar bear encounters as they pulled all their supplies on sleds and skis across Canada's high Arctic country, her longest exploration to date. But it was one moment that almost ended the entire thing.
"We had an Arctic explorer's nightmare. My partner fell through the thin ice," she said. "We were headed towards the crux of this expedition to round this cape. ... We knew it was thinner but it felt fine. We were checking."
Suddenly, her partner was fully submerged in the Arctic Ocean.
"it was actually just like you would see in the movies. You try and get to the edge and it just keeps collapsing as you put weight on it," Marceau said. "You get into rescue mode. I just jumped on my stomach and I laid down flat and reached out my ski pole. He grabbed the basket and it was just like, 'OK, we're going to be OK.'"
When a lack of ice forced a change of plans, extending the trip four days and 30 kilometers, Marceau and her partner ran out of rations.
"They actually couldn't come pick us up because the ice was too thin," she said. "In the past, you could plan an expedition and you knew the ice was there. The change is you can't rely on ice conditions."
In ways the trek took a toll on her body, but it also strengthened it. Marceau's rheumatoid arthritis symptoms disappeared.
"I did some regular bloodwork after the expedition and all my rheumatoid factors are gone," she said.
She credits regular doses of vitamin D from the expedition for that.
Next for her is a new ascent in the mountains of Alaska, with a freshly sharpened mindest to find a way and figure things out, even when it seems impossible.
"You know the ups and downs of life and the challenges, they seem to just kind of level out a little bit," she said. "Everything is calmer and smoother and you don't get rocked by hardship."
Marceau is sharing more from her expedition Friday night at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais. The event starts at 7 p.m. in the Blue Building. It's free to attend. She's also doing some virtual presentations on Jan. 16 and 24, which you can find on her website.