Major Accomplishments

Adventures are Matty's way of life. Growing up in a family of outdoor enthusiasts, Matty's outdoor life started with a canoe trip when she was 2 weeks old. Her love for adventure and challenge is still much a part of Matty's life.

After a 22-year involvement with the Outward Bound Schools across North America, Matty's focus shifted to placing NorthWinds on the 'map' as a leader in Arctic adventure travel and Polar expeditions. When not leading expeditions Matty is off on her own personal journeys down rivers, up mountains and over ice caps.

March -> May 05 : Ultimate North 2005 North Pole Expedition. Matty guides a British team (Tom Avery, Hugh Dale-Harris, George Wells & Andrew Gerber), with 2 teams of dogs, following Peary's 1909 route from Cape Columbia to the North Pole. Our coverage.

November 04 -> January 05 : Kites On Ice 2004-5. Matty was the leader of this un-supported, un-resupplied, 52 day, expedition to the South Pole with her kids Sarah & Eric and couple Conrad (49) and Hilary Dickinson (51). The team kite-skied back in a world record breaking 17 days. In one day they covered 107 nautical miles. Our coverage.

November 03 -> January 04. Matty leads a team of 4 to SP - Ray Middleton, Mike Barry, Alex Blyth and Iain Morpeth. They leave Patriot Hills on December 5th and reach SP on January 21st 04. Our coverage.

November 02 -> January 03. Matty leads team of 5 to SP, starting from Hercules Inlet - Guillermo Banales and Angel Navas, two Spaniards, Graham Stonehouse and Andrew Cooney, two Britons, and Devon McDiamid. Her husband Paul Landry guides another group of 3 - Andrew Gerber, Tom Avery and Patrick Woodhead - to SP as well.
Our coverage.

Mt. Barbeau 2002. Matty guided a ski mountaineering expedition to climb Mt. Barbeau. At 8,900 feet, it is the highest mountain east of the Rockies.

Ellesmere Island Traverse 2000. Matty guided a ski and dog sled expedition across Ellesmere Island through the historic Sverdrup Pass.

North Pole 1997. Matty guided the first women's expedition to the North Pole, an 82 day journey across the shifting polar ice pack.

Baffin Island Expedition 1990. Paul & Matty completed the first circumnavigation of Baffin Island traveling 4,000 kilometers with Canadian Inuit Dogs.

Mountaineering Expeditions to South America
1981 Peru, climbed six peaks including Huascaran 22,180 ft.
1983 Peru & Bolivia, climbed 4 peaks including Illimani 21,280 ft.

Whitewater Expeditions:
1979 & 1981 Grand Canyon, private trips
Wilderness whitewater rivers: Moisie, Missinaibie, and Coppermine
1980 Whitewater kayaking trip to New Zealand

Author:
On Thin Ice A Women's Journey To The North Pole. An honest and engaging story of the first women's expedition to the North Pole.

Co-authored Basic River Canoeing and Outward Bound's Wilderness Canoeing Handbook.

Leadership:
Outward Bound During her twenty two year involvement with Outward Bound, (1974 to 1996) Matty worked with four Outward Bound Schools across North America. Her responsibilities included: Whitewater Co-coordinator, Instructor & Course Director, Staff Training, Program Development, Program Manager, Equipment Manager & Logistics Manager.

Matty McNair's passion for Polar travel is amazing. In 1990 she travelled 4000 km around Baffin Island by dog sled. 1997 saw her leading the first woman's expedition to the North Pole. In 2000 she led an expedition across Ellesmere Island through Sverdrup Pass. Then in 2003/04 she led two ski-all-the-way expeditions to the South Pole, and in May/June 2003 crossed the Greenland Ice Cap with her children Sarah and Eric by ski-kites with dog sled support.

November 2004 Matty headed South again with her two children to ski un-re-supplied to the South Pole and kite back! This has helped her get into great physical and mental shape to head to the North Pole with Tom, Andrew, George and her 2 teams of Canadian Inuit Dogs for the Barclays Capital Ultimate North Expedition. Coincidently, like Peary, she was born in Pennsylvania (though now holds dual American/Canadian citizenship) and is now the same age as Peary was when he discovered the North Pole in 1909.

Matty started skiing at age 2, qualified for the national whitewater slalom championships when she was 15, biked with her family across Europe, competed in Cross Country ski races throughout Colorado in the 70's, climbed in Peru and Bolivia in the 80's, and moved her family to the Canadian Arctic in the 90's.

Before starting her company NorthWinds Arctic Adventures in the Canadian Arctic she worked for the Outdoor Leadership Training Seminars (Colorado), the Outdoor Learning Center for Bemidgi State University (Minnesota), the Breckenridge Ski Touring and Mountaineering School (Colorado) and was involved with Outward Bound Schools across North America for 22 years with responsibilities ranging from Whitewater Co-coordinator, Course Director, Staff Training and Program Development Coordinator and Arctic Program Manager.

Matty has an addiction to adventure. She has kayaked and canoed numerous rivers in North America and New Zealand. Her love of climbing high has taken her up Popocatapetl in Mexico, Illimani in Bolivia, Huascaran in Peru, and she led a ski mountaineering expedition up Mt. Barbeau, in Northern Ellesmere Island, Canada.

Matty is also a writer. She has written articles on paddling and climbing and is co-author of Basic River Canoeing, and Outward Bound's Wilderness Canoeing Handbook. She also wrote On Thin Ice: a woman's journey to the North Pole, with personal insights into leading the first woman's expedition to the North Pole.

Source : Company website