January 15 Meeting Program - Speaker: Ken Friesen
President Bob introduced our speaker, Ken Friesen, a Manitoba adventurer.
Ken opened his talk mentioning some of his hero’s such as Sir Edmund Hillary and
Shackleton.
In Ken’s case his passion was the Whiteshell. Back in the early 1980’s he and his
cousin dared each other to go to all the lakes in the Whiteshell. His cousin moved away but Ken was hooked on this passion. Starting in 1984, for the next 14 years he, his wife and a number of friends worked on completing this project. While Ken sometimes went alone or with his wife, over the years there were 31 friends that went on trips with him.
Some trips were shorter day trips and others were 5 took 7 days. He enjoyed the
wildlife, the vistas but more than anything the brotherhood these trips built.
In 1998 he completed his last trip to Last Lake where he left a memorial. He returned to the site in 2025 but was unable to locate the memorial.
Over the years many friends urged him to write a book about his adventures. He wrote a couple of short stories about one or two trips and when those were praised, he decided to proceed to write a book. (The advent of Covid in 2020 gave him the extra time he needed)
The book was published in July 2025 (Tiptoe to Last Lake) and sold very well.
Questions were asked about any injuries he suffered and Ken replied that his biggest
injury was after a TV interview when he tripped.
Ken had maps and displays showing all the lakes in the Whiteshell.
Bob thanked Ken for his interesting presentation.
