Biography
Passionate about expedition stories and the nordicity of Quebec, Samuel Lalande-Markon has completed several adventures in remote regions by bicycle, canoe and ski. As an author, he is interested in the interior dimension of adventure as well as in the individual and collective relationships with the territory.
Samuel has cycled across Canada and the United States, ridden all over northeastern North America, climbed high peaks in the western United States and Canada, in Ecuador and in the Alps, skied and snowshoed in the great white of Quebec in winter.
For the 2018 and 2021 Transtaiga expeditions, he crossed Quebec by bike and canoe, first from south to north, from Montreal to Kuujjuaq, then from east to west, from Blanc-Sablon to Waskaganish, in the company of David Désilets. In 2020, with Félix-Antoine Tremblay, he completed the first fatbike crossing of the Route blanche on the Lower North Shore.
In winter 2023, Samuel cycled and skied from the southern to the northern extremities of Quebec with Simon-Pierre Goneau as part of the Transboreal Expedition, the first known complete crossing of Quebec. Completed in 91 days over a distance of 2960 km, the project was awarded The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Expedition of the Year grant and will be the subject of a documentary film to be released in winter 2024.
His first book, La quête du retour, was published in 2021 by Les heures bleue. In 2022, he contributed to an adaptation of this adventure story as a documentary concert with the baroque music ensemble Les Boréades de Montréal. He is a regular contributor to Géo Plein Air magazine.
About
Trained in performance at the Université de Montréal and at Mannes College The New School for Music in New York, Samuel has played as a tuba player in several ensembles in the greater Montreal area such as the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre métropolitain. In 2007, he founded the contemporary music ensemble Magnitude6, for which he was artistic director for nearly ten years. For the past few years, he has been seeking to bring together his artistic practice and his interest for adventure.
Samuel is a proud ambassador of the Quebec companies Panorama Cycles, Telloc and Happy Yak.
