Rowing the Northwest Passage

August 28, 2017
Adventurer and explorer Vallely’s debut takes readers along on his harrowing but beautiful 2013 journey in a custom-made rowboat through the Arctic Ocean’s Northwest Passage, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This “dance between tranquility and chaos” on the water is not for the faint of heart. Readers follow Vallely from finding partners and sponsors to creating specifications on construction of the four-seat boat to leaving his two young daughters behind to set out. He brings readers deep into the choppy, freezing waters, where his craft is tossed about like a cork at times and narrowly misses huge masses of ice at others. He describes waking up one morning to find “a hundred-by-hundred-foot ice floe that has wedged itself up against our bow.” There are adventures on land, too—wonderful meetings with colorful locals and other hardy expeditioners and encounters with curious polar bears. The trip was ostensibly taken to publicize how climate change has altered the Arctic, but Vallely’s book is as much a history lesson and thrilling travelogue as it is an ecological warning.

September 15, 2017
Drawing on his lifelong fascination with the Arctic, perennial desire to test himself physically (his prior expeditions include skiing the Iditarod Trail, climbing active volcanoes in Indonesia, ice-biking through the Klondike, and retracing a WWII march in Borneo), and a burgeoning concern over climate change, Canadian adventurer Vallely came up with the idea of cajoling three companions into embarking on a rowing journey through the Northwest Passage. His previous experience seeking answers to the mysteries of the lost Franklin Expedition provided him with some familiarity with the region, and his determination to speak with residents and learn their thoughts about global warming fueled his desire to pull off what years ago would have seemed impossible. The foursome encounter brutal weather, are nearly overwhelmed by violent waves, and find the trip far exceeds their expectations in difficulty. But they also have many far-reaching conversations with the people they meet, which leave Vallely with a deep respect for local knowledge of the current state of our climate. A rousing combination of science and adventure in the Arctic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)