Samuel Trepanier shot by Alejandro BritoBorn October 8th 1987, I grew up in Sainte-Barbe, Québec (Canada). That’s where my parents introduced me to motocross when I was four years old. I have been enjoying this sport ever since. It definitely was my first passion by far, but not my last! Motocross for me reached an all time high after meeting Benoit Lapointe who later became a really good friend. With him I learned a lot about racing and mechanics. It was then that I started training on closed tracks and took my first falls. That wasn’t enough to stop me though and I began to compete all across the Quebec regions with a pall, Didier Godbout. We had a lot of fun together but the competition world was not for me. I still kept training on closed tracks until one day l took a bad fall that sent me to the hospital; I was told by my doctor that day it would be my last time. After a battery of tests I ended up in plaster for seven months, but a year later l was back on the track!

In 2005 I joined Benoit and his team on the committee for the Valleyfield Super Motocross and that same year I received my high school diploma in International studies. Changes were starting to take place in my life, new studies in aeronautics and a training to become a Coast Guard.

dscf30111.jpgIn the winter of 2006 it was a tough one due to my aeronautic degrees plus the Coast Guard training. At that point the idea of continuing to university after this degree was totally overlooked because of the overwhelming labour and officially become a Coast Guard, more info here. The summer of 2006 had me working in Oka on the Deux-montagnes Lake. Being a Coast Guard turned out to be a transforming experience with exciting challenges. It taught me a lot! A beautiful year, and if that wasn’t enough, 2006 was also the year I began climbing which quickly became a passion. My first time was at Horizon Roc climbing gym in Montreal.

EscaladeJanuary of 2007 was all about sport climbing and in May of the same year I discovered the joys of climbing outside on cliffs. All summer long I would be going after different crags and new climbs. Exploration was the motto that year! Also my job as a Coast Guard was taking me to another waterfront, St-François Lake where I spent my years as a child.

2008 had me going back on a decision I’d made not so long before. I choose to start a mechanical engineer degree at the Sherbrooke University. I was staying in an old presbytery where a climbing gym was going to be built soon (in the church). That year I met Emmanuel Crevier who intended to teach me a lot about climbing history and ethics. In the summer I returned to motocross and took another hard fall, (fingers crossed) the last I hope! The difference about this accident was that it had me thinking for the first time about the implications of a serious injury. What if I were to become paraplegic? It happen like a flash in my mind.. Actually my life did flash before my eyes… Events I remember are, bike bounces, handle bar, I flew off… Crashed, blood of my lung… Pain, excruciated pain… Fear, good Lord its bad! The pain turned to numbness and it came to mind it might be spine. And then the next question was, am I alive! There is so much I would have to give up…
Later, I decided to take it easy with the machine and concentrate a little more on climbing, so that summer I took my first trip to New River Gorge, West Virginia. I instantly become addicted to traveling!

In 2009 I switched universities and move to ETS in Montreal. Europe_2009The climbing gym was taking forever to be built and I couldn’t take anymore having to travel to Sherbrooke/Montreal every single weekend to go climbing and see my girlfriend! Transferring from one school to the other turned out to be a real pain because of the paperwork and in the end had me completely sick of the system. A break was more than welcoming and I decided to not do the autumn session at University but travel instead and discovered some more of this planet’s beauties! That summer I did my first 5.13a and worked at Plastique Rotek – pretty boring after saving lives and managing my own crew – but it allows me to get my first internship. After that, I now wanted to conquer the crags of Europe. So for three and a half months I travelled across France, Sardinia, Corsica, Italy and Spain where I spent time on one of my favourite rock climbing routes ever, Zona Zero, 5.13d (8b). It was my hardest achievement so far and it has me believing I can do even better. You can take a look at some of the best pictures I’ve taken during the trip, chosen amongst over 2000 photos! Having the chance of climbing so much during those three and a half months had truly been a blessing in my life. I’ve had the chance to visit magnificent places and meet awesome people. It’s no use saying the return to Québec and the regular normal life was difficult!

Cassiopée - 5.14aIn 2010 I went back to school anxiously awaiting the next climbing trip. I was climbing harder than ever, then my first climb related injury that put an end to my participation to the competition season. The injury was in the abdominal area, inguinal hernia. It happened while on a traversing problem. It was a serious enough wound that required a medical surgery. My first general anaesthesia (as you can see below I got completely fucked-up!); but, seven days later I was back at the gym and able to do suspensions on a fingerboard without pain. Two weeks later and I was able to climb on ropes! It took a few days more and I was finally able to start bouldering again. If I trained all winter long at Allez Up I knew I’d get back into shape. I had a project awaiting me at Mount Baldy. It was called Cassiopée and I knew if I can do it, it’ll be my hardest route ever, 5.14a (8b+). I’m three and a half years into climbing when I finally climbed Cassiopée but that Kamouraskasummer was short. When you’re a student at ETS University, you need to take at least one summer class session. Climbing needs to come second, since I was a full time student, but I was still able to find time for it in the evenings. With my good pall Guillaume Dorion, I climbed at Castor crag and Tranchant and I “on sight” my first 5.13a/b. Later that summer I would hit Kamouraska’s famous crags for the first time in my life. Better late than never I thought then!

That fall season was an era of a new dawn Satellite de Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM)an internship at MDA where I learnt a bunch of interesting things about satellites. RCM My principal realisation that fall was most definitely the conception of a new spatial mechanism. I turned down 30% of the weight of this new mechanism who allowed the release of satellites’ panels once they get into orbit. In the meantime I was still climbing and for the first time I won first place in both difficulty and marathon at a competition called FestiRoc. The rest of the season was devoted to bouldering and I did my first V10s (7c+) in Val-David. My devotion to the sport got me on the Allez Up competition team where I met and befriend Cloé Legault, a professional fashion stylist. Having a beer all together, she encourages me to meet with some agencies. So I showed up at the most prestigious modeling agency in Montreal and I’m delighted to learn that they might be interested in representing me. The conditions are, get a haircut and lose the shaggy, which I did, painfully might I add! Two days later I receive the news, I’m part of the Folio team!

2011 proved to be as intense as any other year on the climbingFestiroc 2010 - Voie: Jéronimo, Assureur: Socrate Badeau (ouvreur de la voie) side. Alexandre Brunel was training us for the Allez Up competition team. Organizing my love life, my studies, my new modeling career and my trainings for climbing competitions turned out to be a real challenge! As best I can, I dealt with my teachers for different dates for my exams when I had photo shoots. Although fully motivated, fatigue eventually catches up with me in March and following a particularly difficult training I started feeling pain in one of my hands. Stubborn as always I kept up with the hard work and what was my second injury, just a minor injury that transformed into a major one. I had to give up a very important competition that April, The Nationals.Team Allez Up

Thankfully, I was going from one photo shoot to another from the very beginning of my new modelling adventure. Vincent Francis, my agent, saw my potentials and exploits them as best he could and found me jobs. In spite of it all I’m forced to put on hold my climbing trip to South Africa. That was the beginning of the unpredictable schedule I have to deal with as a model. Even school is hard to fit in the schedule so I decided to put it on hold also. The opportunities were too good and too many for me to turn down. Things were really starting to take off! In August I finally got a chance to work internationally when I am recruited by Wilhelmina in New York City, Marilyn Men in Paris, Promod in Hambourg, View in Spain, Select in London, and at Fashion in Milan.

Vol Hamburg-ParisI landed in Paris on September 10th 2011 at age 24. It was my third trip to Paris, but the first time as a model. My confidence was as good as it ever had been and I was ready to take on the challenge, although I couldn’t help but wonder if I would be able to get bookings fast enough, the clock was ticking. Any doubts I might have had vanish when I landed my two first jobs on the first day!
With my resume I was able to make a name for myself in France, Italy and Germany in only four months. I had the privilege to meet so many people who have contributed something to my career and I have been lucky enough to make new friends in the climbing community.

What I found the hardest to do was preparing for the constant traveling. 17 flights (Stops aside!) in 13 weeks! It was stressful to keep moving to a different city every six days or so and sometimes having just a few hours to prepare physically and mentally! I was quickly getting used to it though and the last few months taught me a lot. Things as simple as doing the laundry become problematic when you’re always on the move. In short, modeling is not only a job, it’s a lifestyle.

Madame Figuaro Paris - The Artist

2012 was starting off in a great way and direction plus a new acquisition in making my blog even more interesting with my new Canon 6D! Cause being in front of the camera is awesome, but behind is great too!

From partying to travelling and from working to professional road racing, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 were good enough that one day I should be writing a book about it.

Set your own way…

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