Simon-Pierre Goneau


Biography

Simon-Pierre has been a lover of nature and the great outdoors since he was a child. He spent much of his youth competing in alpine skiing at various levels and, in his late teen years, stood on the podiums of the Quebec Cup and the Canadian Junior Championships. In 2001, while studying for a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he represented Canada at the World University Games in Poland in this discipline.

He discovered climbing and mountaineering at the age of 15 thanks to a French ski coach who was also a member of the Chamonix guide company. With him and the other members of his ski team, he was introduced to the high mountains on the Écrins bar in the Alps. Although the autumn weather deprived them of the summit, this experience was a milestone for SP and he now dreams of climbing the highest peaks in the world.

Around the same time, his parents went on several ski expeditions in northern Quebec and the Torngat Mountains. SP discovered ski-pulka adventures and the great polar expeditions and promised himself that one day he too would reach the poles.

Once he finished university, he plunged headfirst into the projects offered by his professional field. His dreams of great adventure were postponed and he and his wife took the opportunity to start their little family.

In their mid-thirties, bored with the 9 to 5, he and his wife sold everything, bought a sailboat and went on sabbatical with the children. During that year, they sailed to Florida where they spent the winter. The following years, they discovered the St. Lawrence River, from the Great Lakes to the Magdalen Islands.

The mid-life crisis did not spare SP and his old dreams came back to haunt him. In 2020, he decided to realize one of his oldest ideas: crossing Quebec by bike from its southernmost point to its northernmost point. He travelled more than 1700 km on two wheels in the middle of winter and almost reached Hudson Bay, but bad snow conditions and the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic put an end to the adventure.

Back from this unfinished journey, he has only one objective in mind: to finish this adventure at all costs because other dreams are waiting to be realized.

Transboreal Expedition

Expédition Québec Plein-Nord