The Idaa Trail
Yellowknife, Canada | Film Feature
Adventure, Documentary
The film follows Clementina, an athlete and seeker, as she attempts a self-supported XC ski through the sub-arctic wilderness of the Northwest Territories. Carrying her entire life in a sled, she navigates the historic indigenous trade route on a learning journey connecting many remote communities.
The Idaa Trail
Yellowknife, Canada | Film Feature
Adventure, Documentary
Green Light
This campaign raised C$4,380 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
41 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
The film follows Clementina, an athlete and seeker, as she attempts a self-supported XC ski through the sub-arctic wilderness of the Northwest Territories. Carrying her entire life in a sled, she navigates the historic indigenous trade route on a learning journey connecting many remote communities.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Welcome to our crowdfunding campaign!
WE ARE NOW 100% FUNDED! BUT HOPE TO GO BEYOND!
Thank you to everyone who has supported, and to everyone who has just come to learn more about this project. With your help, I've been able to meet Clementine most recently in Gameti, NT, as she resupplied and rested for the next haul, the 30 days of skiing to get to Deline. With just 7 days left in this campaign, we would love to continue fundraising, as the additional proceeds will go directly towards the production of the film. With this first part secured (allowing me to goto meet Clementine) we are now assured there will be footage of the expedition to be used towards producing a film. The later steps are to interview additional Elders and learn more about the history of the trail from the Indigenous Government and other knowledge keepers. So if you are here for the first time, you can still contribute to this campaign. Thank you again!
----------------------
We are producing an adventure documentary film, which will follow our protagonist, Clémentine Bouche, as she embarks on a 2 month, 700km solo and self supported cross country ski, across the frozen subarctic landscape along a traditional Indigenous trade route, in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
For our full story, please read and continue further down. For the executive summary, we've organized to keep some information up top for easy viewing. But we encourage you to read everything in its entirety :)
Main Goal:
Our primary goal is to raise $3500 CAD, which will allow the filmmaker to journey to the remote communities to join Clémentine while she arrives to rest and resupply. Our hope is to follow her learning journey in each location. In order to produce a film worthy of this journey, we hope to have footage captured of her arrival and departure in each community, as well as how she feels at certain stages of the trail. Our hope, is to raise beyond our 100% goal, to enable us to bring on additional crew to shoulder some of the filming of this epic quest. With the remote landscape, the unforgiving cold and hundreds of kilometers of open snow covered landscape between each community hub, we will need all the support we can get. Our hope is to continue crowdfunding for several stretch goals, which would yield the option to have an additional film crew join in these community hubs. Further crowdfunding goals would also allow us to respectfully compensate additional Elders whom we would love to interview, to include a true Dene perspective on the journey.
With the near immediacy of Clémentine's departure (beginning of March 2026) and with her adventure being solely self funded, in order to expand upon her personal narrative, we need your help. To get on location to these community resupply hubs, and to capture Clémentine sharing her story with youth and the community will add so much value to the film. To respect community time and engagement with Elders, we want to be able to compensate them for their consultation. It goes without saying that it is paramount to capture this female strength story as one part, but to also equitably include the importance behind the journey and the learnings that Clémentine will have as the traverses the route. You will be a part of this journey, contributing to a film that we hope will be a respectful and insightful window into Clementine's learning journey of this trade route.
Mike Lee (the filmmaker) first met Clémentine on a frosty winter run in 2021. They are both members of a local running club called the Javarunners, which meets several times a week to run, rain, sun or snow. Since then, Mike and Clémentine's taste for adventure overlapped, with Clémentine never saying no to any adventure. She has tackled several race formats that were meant to be canoed or kayaked, only to swim the entire distance, gone on epic, multiday kite skiing adventures, and even brought a new sport to the north, swimpacking, whereby she travelled to the end of the Ingraham Trail in Yellowknife, put all of her belongings into a water tight barrel, tied it around her waist and began swimming the multiday journey back to civilization, portaging and camping along the way....out of a barrel!
She is no stranger to athletics and is an accomplished swimmer, triathlete, gymnast, improvisational dancer, slackliner....the list goes on!
On this journey, she will be embarking on a 700km solo, self-supported cross country journey along the traditional Dene trade route, the Idaá Trail. (There is also a final push for an additional 500-800km of Kite Skiing at the end of the cross country ski!) This route will take her through the heart of the sub-arctic wilderness, journeying from Yellowknife, to Bechoko, Gameti and then onward to Deline, which sits on Great Bear Lake, the largest lake entirely contained within Canada.
For the filmmaker, he only learned of this epic adventure a few months in advance of the trip. But for Clémentine, she had been planning it for years. Slowly downsizing her belongings and giving up her apartment, she began housesitting to save up enough to embark on this cross country ski expedition. Clémentine has made it a strong focus to do this expedition under her own power, both physically and financially. This works incredibly well for flying under the radar, but when Mike found out about her one of a kind expedition, he KNEW it had to be shared.
The Idaá Trail is a traditional Tlicho trade route, which is normally traversed by canoe, and connects Great Slave Lake to Great Bear Lake. There are many historically relevant sites along this trail, as well as several community stops, where Clémentine will meet and speak with community members about her journey.
Originally from Paris, France, Clémentine moved to Yellowknife to pursue her career as an Environmental Advisor. She is an adventurer who spends her off hours dreaming up crazy, wild adventures that get her out on the land. Clémentine isn't just an athlete, she is a student of the North. She possesses unimaginable grit, but also a palpable vulnerability. As a guest on these lands, Clémentine wants to connect with the land, stepping away from the hustle and bustle of city life and disconnecting from the online world that steals our attention. She seeks a different path, one that will teach her about traditions past, cultures present and about the important histories of the lands on which she now finds herself living. She will capture her own raw, unwashed reality—the anxiety of being alone out in the wild northern landscape, the biting cold of the north winds and the constant pull of her sleds on her ski harness. Her personal diaries will reveal a woman grappling with the immense weight of the history of the land, while juggling the technicalities of extreme cold survival, daily filming, personal resolve and mental health.
When I (Mike) first learned of this expedition, I couldn't believe the timeline and how soon it would be upon us. Initially, there was no concept for a film, aside from the daily video logs that Clémentine planned to record on her journey. As I sat and thought about this more, I realized that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to share this story and bring it to a wider audience. Never again would I meet someone so determined, so passionate and so brave to take on an expedition such as this, alone. It is not only the adventurous nature of the story, but the historical relevance of the trail and the reasons why Clémentine chose this Indigenous trade route in the first place, these are all more reason to share this story. Our goal is to have the film anchored by the voices of the Tlicho Government. We have approached the Tlicho Government to host a learning session for Clémentine. If we can achieve the proper funding, we hope these voices will hopefully be the grounding narrative to share some of the history and meaning of the Idaá Trail.
For myself, also as an uninvited guest on these lands, it is paramount for me to respect the traditions and cultures of the many Indigenous peoples who are stewards to these lands. I have had the good fortune of living and filming in many different countries, and as a half Chinese Canadian, I do my absolute best to be as respectful as possible. To share the story of a female heroine on this traditional trade route, it is inconceivable not to reach out and involve the different communities and have their grounding narrative through interviews and discussions. If possible, with appropriate funding, support and approval by the communities, we hope the Tlicho narration will provide a historical voiceover to this modern voyage, explaining the significance of the trade route and ensuring the film isn't just about an athlete, but encompassing the timeless relationship between the Dene people and the land.
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As an adventure documentary filmmaker who has lived in both the Canadian arctic and now the subarctic, the scope and type of this expedition is exactly the story that I love to capture.
Stretch Goal #1: $7000 Additional film crew to capture community engagement at each landing location.
Stretch Goal #2: $10,000 This will allow us to respectfully pay for any Elder interview time and consulting for this film, as well as help improve the quality and content we can include. This includes having several different Tlicho Elders narrate portions of the film, as well as doing different community interviews with Elders to learn more about the history of the trade route.
Stretch Goal #3: $15,000 This would truly increase the production value of the final film, allowing the Editor to work alongside visual artists to help with any animation needs to highlight the history of the trail and the journey that Clémentine will be embarking on.
Above and Beyond! All additional funding beyond what we utilize for production of this film will be used allow this film to be screened locally in the different communities where this journey takes place. Ideally, it would be shared and viewed by youth in each community where Clémentine had previously shared her journey while she was actually embarking on the full 700km distance. Funds will also allow us to prepare the film for a film festival tour
With your support, we can make a film that truly encapsulates female strength, subarctic identity and environmental conservation. Please give this page a follow above, as it helps with our engagement and shows interest and growth in this campaign. Share it with your friends and family and anyone who you think might be interested or may benefit from joining our cause.
Share our campaign page with your Friends & Family!
Follow tencolours Canada on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tencolours.canada) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/tencolours.canada)
as well as Clémentine herself (www.instagram.com/nomadic.clementine)
Join our newsletter to get updates on the campaign! https://www.tencolours.ca/the-idaa-trail
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Return Flight costs from Yellowknife to Gameti
Costs C$1,000
return flights from Yellowknife to Gameti for filming
Return flight from Yellowknife to Deline
Costs C$2,500
Deline is the final community, from which Clementine will then embark on an addition 500-800km of kite skiing on Great Bear Lake
Cash Pledge
Costs C$0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Mike Lee of tencolours Canada:
Mike joins as Director and Cinematographer. Cofounding his first filmmaking production company in Tokyo, Japan, he gravitated towards music, technology and art filmmaking. As things progressed he began making adventure films on crazy mountain trail runs around Japan. Eventually moving to the Canadian North, he has continued his passion, having photos of runners on the Dettah ice road featured in a special edition National Geographic Japan. He is passionate about sharing stories that highlight human achievement and perseverance, while also sharing and respecting the lands on which he now lives with his family. (www.tencolours.ca)
Clementine Bouche:
The protagonist of the film, who is a wild and adventurous spirit, always gravitating towards crazy and exotic challenges of her own, she has completed epic cross country ski and kite skiing trips, swimpacking adventures as well as being a dedicated runner in the -40 celsius winters of the Canadian sub-arctic. She is also an avid slackliner, gymnast, dancer and triathlete. Owing to her resilience in tackling these types of outdoor adventures, she is also a photographer and sports filmmaker who will be filming herself on this journey to share in the intimacy of being isolated, alone and self supported on an arduous 700km ski in the Canadian North.
Caroline Cox of Arctic Fox Media/ Cooper Quartz Media:
Caroline joins as Producer, bringing her many years of Northern filmmaking to the project. She has worked on projects such as: The Amazing Race, x, y and z, while also producing her own films which include award nominee Food for the Rest of Us, Backcountry Hustle and ___. She is a multifaceted individual, able to tackle all aspects of film production and will bring all of her skills to help with this adventure documentary. (https://www.copperquartz.com)
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Welcome to our crowdfunding campaign!
WE ARE NOW 100% FUNDED! BUT HOPE TO GO BEYOND!
Thank you to everyone who has supported, and to everyone who has just come to learn more about this project. With your help, I've been able to meet Clementine most recently in Gameti, NT, as she resupplied and rested for the next haul, the 30 days of skiing to get to Deline. With just 7 days left in this campaign, we would love to continue fundraising, as the additional proceeds will go directly towards the production of the film. With this first part secured (allowing me to goto meet Clementine) we are now assured there will be footage of the expedition to be used towards producing a film. The later steps are to interview additional Elders and learn more about the history of the trail from the Indigenous Government and other knowledge keepers. So if you are here for the first time, you can still contribute to this campaign. Thank you again!
----------------------
We are producing an adventure documentary film, which will follow our protagonist, Clémentine Bouche, as she embarks on a 2 month, 700km solo and self supported cross country ski, across the frozen subarctic landscape along a traditional Indigenous trade route, in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
For our full story, please read and continue further down. For the executive summary, we've organized to keep some information up top for easy viewing. But we encourage you to read everything in its entirety :)
Main Goal:
Our primary goal is to raise $3500 CAD, which will allow the filmmaker to journey to the remote communities to join Clémentine while she arrives to rest and resupply. Our hope is to follow her learning journey in each location. In order to produce a film worthy of this journey, we hope to have footage captured of her arrival and departure in each community, as well as how she feels at certain stages of the trail. Our hope, is to raise beyond our 100% goal, to enable us to bring on additional crew to shoulder some of the filming of this epic quest. With the remote landscape, the unforgiving cold and hundreds of kilometers of open snow covered landscape between each community hub, we will need all the support we can get. Our hope is to continue crowdfunding for several stretch goals, which would yield the option to have an additional film crew join in these community hubs. Further crowdfunding goals would also allow us to respectfully compensate additional Elders whom we would love to interview, to include a true Dene perspective on the journey.
With the near immediacy of Clémentine's departure (beginning of March 2026) and with her adventure being solely self funded, in order to expand upon her personal narrative, we need your help. To get on location to these community resupply hubs, and to capture Clémentine sharing her story with youth and the community will add so much value to the film. To respect community time and engagement with Elders, we want to be able to compensate them for their consultation. It goes without saying that it is paramount to capture this female strength story as one part, but to also equitably include the importance behind the journey and the learnings that Clémentine will have as the traverses the route. You will be a part of this journey, contributing to a film that we hope will be a respectful and insightful window into Clementine's learning journey of this trade route.
Mike Lee (the filmmaker) first met Clémentine on a frosty winter run in 2021. They are both members of a local running club called the Javarunners, which meets several times a week to run, rain, sun or snow. Since then, Mike and Clémentine's taste for adventure overlapped, with Clémentine never saying no to any adventure. She has tackled several race formats that were meant to be canoed or kayaked, only to swim the entire distance, gone on epic, multiday kite skiing adventures, and even brought a new sport to the north, swimpacking, whereby she travelled to the end of the Ingraham Trail in Yellowknife, put all of her belongings into a water tight barrel, tied it around her waist and began swimming the multiday journey back to civilization, portaging and camping along the way....out of a barrel!
She is no stranger to athletics and is an accomplished swimmer, triathlete, gymnast, improvisational dancer, slackliner....the list goes on!
On this journey, she will be embarking on a 700km solo, self-supported cross country journey along the traditional Dene trade route, the Idaá Trail. (There is also a final push for an additional 500-800km of Kite Skiing at the end of the cross country ski!) This route will take her through the heart of the sub-arctic wilderness, journeying from Yellowknife, to Bechoko, Gameti and then onward to Deline, which sits on Great Bear Lake, the largest lake entirely contained within Canada.
For the filmmaker, he only learned of this epic adventure a few months in advance of the trip. But for Clémentine, she had been planning it for years. Slowly downsizing her belongings and giving up her apartment, she began housesitting to save up enough to embark on this cross country ski expedition. Clémentine has made it a strong focus to do this expedition under her own power, both physically and financially. This works incredibly well for flying under the radar, but when Mike found out about her one of a kind expedition, he KNEW it had to be shared.
The Idaá Trail is a traditional Tlicho trade route, which is normally traversed by canoe, and connects Great Slave Lake to Great Bear Lake. There are many historically relevant sites along this trail, as well as several community stops, where Clémentine will meet and speak with community members about her journey.
Originally from Paris, France, Clémentine moved to Yellowknife to pursue her career as an Environmental Advisor. She is an adventurer who spends her off hours dreaming up crazy, wild adventures that get her out on the land. Clémentine isn't just an athlete, she is a student of the North. She possesses unimaginable grit, but also a palpable vulnerability. As a guest on these lands, Clémentine wants to connect with the land, stepping away from the hustle and bustle of city life and disconnecting from the online world that steals our attention. She seeks a different path, one that will teach her about traditions past, cultures present and about the important histories of the lands on which she now finds herself living. She will capture her own raw, unwashed reality—the anxiety of being alone out in the wild northern landscape, the biting cold of the north winds and the constant pull of her sleds on her ski harness. Her personal diaries will reveal a woman grappling with the immense weight of the history of the land, while juggling the technicalities of extreme cold survival, daily filming, personal resolve and mental health.
When I (Mike) first learned of this expedition, I couldn't believe the timeline and how soon it would be upon us. Initially, there was no concept for a film, aside from the daily video logs that Clémentine planned to record on her journey. As I sat and thought about this more, I realized that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to share this story and bring it to a wider audience. Never again would I meet someone so determined, so passionate and so brave to take on an expedition such as this, alone. It is not only the adventurous nature of the story, but the historical relevance of the trail and the reasons why Clémentine chose this Indigenous trade route in the first place, these are all more reason to share this story. Our goal is to have the film anchored by the voices of the Tlicho Government. We have approached the Tlicho Government to host a learning session for Clémentine. If we can achieve the proper funding, we hope these voices will hopefully be the grounding narrative to share some of the history and meaning of the Idaá Trail.
For myself, also as an uninvited guest on these lands, it is paramount for me to respect the traditions and cultures of the many Indigenous peoples who are stewards to these lands. I have had the good fortune of living and filming in many different countries, and as a half Chinese Canadian, I do my absolute best to be as respectful as possible. To share the story of a female heroine on this traditional trade route, it is inconceivable not to reach out and involve the different communities and have their grounding narrative through interviews and discussions. If possible, with appropriate funding, support and approval by the communities, we hope the Tlicho narration will provide a historical voiceover to this modern voyage, explaining the significance of the trade route and ensuring the film isn't just about an athlete, but encompassing the timeless relationship between the Dene people and the land.
As an adventure documentary filmmaker who has lived in both the Canadian arctic and now the subarctic, the scope and type of this expedition is exactly the story that I love to capture.
Stretch Goal #1: $7000 Additional film crew to capture community engagement at each landing location.
Stretch Goal #2: $10,000 This will allow us to respectfully pay for any Elder interview time and consulting for this film, as well as help improve the quality and content we can include. This includes having several different Tlicho Elders narrate portions of the film, as well as doing different community interviews with Elders to learn more about the history of the trade route.
Stretch Goal #3: $15,000 This would truly increase the production value of the final film, allowing the Editor to work alongside visual artists to help with any animation needs to highlight the history of the trail and the journey that Clémentine will be embarking on.
Above and Beyond! All additional funding beyond what we utilize for production of this film will be used allow this film to be screened locally in the different communities where this journey takes place. Ideally, it would be shared and viewed by youth in each community where Clémentine had previously shared her journey while she was actually embarking on the full 700km distance. Funds will also allow us to prepare the film for a film festival tour
With your support, we can make a film that truly encapsulates female strength, subarctic identity and environmental conservation. Please give this page a follow above, as it helps with our engagement and shows interest and growth in this campaign. Share it with your friends and family and anyone who you think might be interested or may benefit from joining our cause.
Share our campaign page with your Friends & Family!
Follow tencolours Canada on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tencolours.canada) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/tencolours.canada)
as well as Clémentine herself (www.instagram.com/nomadic.clementine)
Join our newsletter to get updates on the campaign! https://www.tencolours.ca/the-idaa-trail
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Return Flight costs from Yellowknife to Gameti
Costs C$1,000
return flights from Yellowknife to Gameti for filming
Return flight from Yellowknife to Deline
Costs C$2,500
Deline is the final community, from which Clementine will then embark on an addition 500-800km of kite skiing on Great Bear Lake
Cash Pledge
Costs C$0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Mike Lee of tencolours Canada:
Mike joins as Director and Cinematographer. Cofounding his first filmmaking production company in Tokyo, Japan, he gravitated towards music, technology and art filmmaking. As things progressed he began making adventure films on crazy mountain trail runs around Japan. Eventually moving to the Canadian North, he has continued his passion, having photos of runners on the Dettah ice road featured in a special edition National Geographic Japan. He is passionate about sharing stories that highlight human achievement and perseverance, while also sharing and respecting the lands on which he now lives with his family. (www.tencolours.ca)
Clementine Bouche:
The protagonist of the film, who is a wild and adventurous spirit, always gravitating towards crazy and exotic challenges of her own, she has completed epic cross country ski and kite skiing trips, swimpacking adventures as well as being a dedicated runner in the -40 celsius winters of the Canadian sub-arctic. She is also an avid slackliner, gymnast, dancer and triathlete. Owing to her resilience in tackling these types of outdoor adventures, she is also a photographer and sports filmmaker who will be filming herself on this journey to share in the intimacy of being isolated, alone and self supported on an arduous 700km ski in the Canadian North.
Caroline Cox of Arctic Fox Media/ Cooper Quartz Media:
Caroline joins as Producer, bringing her many years of Northern filmmaking to the project. She has worked on projects such as: The Amazing Race, x, y and z, while also producing her own films which include award nominee Food for the Rest of Us, Backcountry Hustle and ___. She is a multifaceted individual, able to tackle all aspects of film production and will bring all of her skills to help with this adventure documentary. (https://www.copperquartz.com)