Josée Auclair

Josée Auclair (born May 20, 1962 in Sherbrooke, Quebec) lives with her husband Richard Weber and their two sons, Tessum and Nansen in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Josée started cross-country skiing at the age of ten and competing at fourteen. She was a member of Canada's National Cross Country Ski Team and represented Canada at international championships namely in Sweden and Germany. Between 1979 and 1982, she wan four national titles at 5km and 7.5km competitions and, during her years at the University of Vermont, she was a member of the relay team who kept winning the honours.

At five occasions between 1999 and 2004, Josée skied to the North Pole as part of the "last degree expeditions" organised by Canadian Arctic Holidays, the Arctic expeditions and adventure company she operates with her husband. She acted as the assistant-guide on four of these expeditions but in April 2001, it was in the shoes of the expedition leader that she guided the very first all-women team to ski to the North Pole from a Russian base. In 2006, Josée was back in the expedition leader role for a group of 9 people heading from the North Pole to Ward Hunt at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut Canada. On April 27, the group had managed to reach latitude 88 50' but had to be evactuated and brought back to the Borneo drifting station due to the bad ice conditions. Their safety was in jeopardy. In January 2007, Josée set foot in Antarctica for the very first time as a team of four women called upon her to be their expedition leader for a last degree expedition to the South Pole. She is therefore the first Canadian women to have guided expeditions at both poles.

Josée has traveled extensively in the Arctic since 1988 and has assisted her husband Richard and his partner Mikhail (Misha) Malakhov on several of their expeditions. She has actively participated in preparing and outfitting four major expeditions to the North Pole. Richard and Josée have over 20 years of experience and more than 45 Arctic expeditions to their credit (13+ of them to the North Pole). They are very well know across the Canadian Arctic, particularly in Nunavut. They are leaders in tourism and specialists in North Pole and northern logistics.

The Weber-Auclair family also operates Arctic Watch, Canada’s most northerly lodge located in Cunningham Inlet on Somerset Island in Nunavut.

Degrees

* Bachelor degree in botany from the University of Vermont
* Teaching certificate from the University of Quebec

North Pole Expeditions

Awards

External links

*Arctic Watch and Canadian Arctic Holidays
** [http://www.canadianarcticholidays.ca/ Canadian Arctic Holidays Website]
** [http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/travel/travel_magazine/summer_2007/somerset_island.asp Beluga Haven]

* South Pole Expedition 2007
** [http://www.southpoletrek2007.blogspot.com/ South Pole Trek 2007 Website]

* Women Quest 2001
** [http://www.vergemagazine.ca/articles/03winter/buck.html Women on the Edge]
** [http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=1229# Women team up for North Pole trek]

Other
** [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/03/30/north-tourism.html?ref=rss Arctic outfitters call for adventure safety rules]

ee also

*List of female sportspeople
*List of polar explorers