LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
As most youth head back to their classes, one Fort Simpson high school student is looking forward to a week of climbing mountains in Alberta.

Cadet Sgt. Sky Lennie is one of eight cadets who will be going to Expedition Rocky Mountain Climb 2016. - photo courtesy of Sky Lennie

For Sgt. Sky Lennie with the Fort Simpson Cadet Corps, the trip almost seems like no big deal - despite the fact she was one of only eight cadets across the country accepted for the course.

But Lennie, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student, has a history of making history. In March, she represented the Northwest Territories at the Arctic Winter Games as part of the snowshoe biathlon team - a position she snagged during trials in December after impressing her instructors with her shooting skills, despite working through the pain of an injured ankle.

She also recently qualified for the National Star of Excellence - the only one of the Fort Simpson cadets to do so this year.

The upcoming course will prove a different challenge for Lennie. Running from Sept. 19 to 23, Expedition Rocky Mountain Climb 2016 will take cadets into the Alberta Rockies for a high-altitude hike and climb.

Although she said she is slightly nervous, Lennie also said she is looking forward to the challenge.

"I know it will be harder on my body, physically," she said.

She already had time to prepare for that, though. Lennie is just coming off a six-week course in Alberta that included elements similar to the upcoming hike.

In July and August, Lennie went to the back country of Calgary, about an hour out of the city, for a six-cycle leadership and challenge course.

That course included rock climbing, glacier climbing, mountain biking, white-water canoeing, horseback riding and an alpine trek through the valleys and passes of mountains.

Glacier climbing up Mount Olive on the Alberta-B.C. border, similar to what Lennie will be doing on her upcoming expedition, was the most challenging part, she said.

"We were still getting used to the altitude, and for that cycle we had to go even higher than the altitude we were getting used to," she said.

"It affects your pacing, and it's harder to breathe."

Highlights from that course for Lennie include mountain biking, which she found to be her strong suit, and a few days of white-water canoeing down the Red Deer River.

"(Canoeing) was amazing. I loved it," she said.

"At first, when I picked canoeing, it was the safe choice . I thought it would be a bit boring, since I've done it quite a lot."

Instead, Lennie learned how to properly communicate with her canoeing partner while trying to keep the boat upright in rapids.

"It turned out to be really fun," she said.

Cadets were given the task of canoeing around a "hole" in the rapids - a deep part in the river, also known as hydraulics, where the river flows back on itself.

Instead, thinking they had already passed the hole, Lennie and her partner accidentally paddled right into it.

"We went straight in. Luckily, we didn't flip but we had water up to our thighs in the canoe," she said.

"We almost made it to the eddy before we finally went over."

Completing that course means Lennie can now be recommended for staffing in the region or at the Rocky Mountain Cadet Training Centre.

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