Latest news with #Dufour
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- General
- Boston Globe
The Hiker Who Couldn't Be Found
But on May 10, a hiking party found human remains off an Adirondack Mountains trail. An autopsy confirmed that they belonged to Léo Dufour, a 22-year-old Canadian university student and experienced hiker whose disappearance more than five months earlier set off an all-out search. It is not yet clear how he died, leaving a mystery: How did such a hardy young man hike into the Adirondacks and never hike out? Whatever happened, it was a reminder that every hiker is always as little as 'one badly sprained ankle away from a serious situation,' said Mark Scott, the owner of Great Range Mountain Guides in the Adirondacks community of Elizabethtown, N.Y. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Dufour arrived in Newcomb, N.Y., on Friday, Nov. 29, to make the roughly 18-mile round trip to the Allen Mountain summit and back in a day. The hike can take four hours or more each way. He was expected home to Vaudreuil-Dorion, a Montreal suburb, by Saturday night. Advertisement Allen is one of the 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks, those with summits at elevations of at least 4,000 feet. It is not the highest, but it is probably the most remote — a long, flat approach for 7 miles or so, and then a mile and a half of steep climbing on a rough trail. Advertisement Hiking solo at any time has its risks, but late November 'is definitely a dicey time to go out, because the situations can be so different from the start to the finish,' said Tony Goodwin, the longtime, now retired, executive director of the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society. Dufour was slightly built, at 5-foot-7 and about 150 pounds, but he was no rookie. He had been to the top of 32 high peaks, putting him well on his way to becoming a 46er: someone who has summited them all. He memorialized each summit reached with panoramic videos posted on his social media accounts. But something went wrong this time. When he was overdue coming home, his father contacted authorities. What followed was an extraordinary search involving 59 rangers scouring hundreds of rugged backcountry miles in deep snow and frigid temperatures for more than a week. That Sunday morning, Dec. 1, New York State Police found Dufour's snow-covered car near a trail that leads to the Allen trailhead. A trail register showed that he had signed in with a one-day hike planned. He was the only person to sign in that day. When he set out, he had on La Sportiva hiking boots, a black Arc'teryx coat, black shell pants, a tan winter hat, and reflective sunglasses. His gear also included a North Face backpack, snowshoes, ice cleats, extra clothing layers, mittens, an iPhone, a headlamp, a phone charger, a stove, and noodles. His equipment suggests he was not unprepared for the hike he had planned and underscores how unusual it is that he wound up in mortal danger. Rangers found a set of tracks leading from the car toward the summit. It was one of a few fleeting clues, and of little help. Snowfall had made the tracks impossible to follow. Advertisement The rangers searched in shifts for more than eight days, exploring nearly 400 miles of dangerous terrain at steep elevations: tight drainages, thick forest, cliff ledges, and swampy lowlands. Temperatures fell below zero. The wind was fierce. At times, searchers were swimming in chest-deep snow. Dufour's last known location was near the Allen summit, his destination. Searchers found his water bottle above 3,500 feet and detected two spots on the hike where his cellphone had been. Everything else was unknown. Was he injured in a fall? Did he stray from the trail after becoming disoriented because of hypothermia? Did he simply miss a turn? On the search's eighth day, with little hope left of finding him alive, rangers had to divert their attention to rescue a man who had crashed his car after driving from Quebec to look for Dufour, the Adirondack Explorer website reported. The next day, Dec. 9, state officials said the search was shifting from rescue to recovery mode and that the active effort was being suspended because of 'treacherous conditions.' 'It is no longer safe for anyone to continue searching using the methods and strategies in place since Dec. 1,' the Department of Environmental Conservation said. Months passed. Winter turned to spring. The snow melted away. And then the hikers made their morbid discovery off Allen Mountain trail. Dufour's family could not be reached for comment, but confirmation of his death landed hard with those who had become invested in his plight. That was especially so in his native Quebec, even among people who did not know him, but shared his love of hiking New York's mountains. Advertisement Dufour had been studying to become a teacher. He had an internship during the 2023-24 school year at Ecole Cité-des-Jeunes in his hometown, where his mother also taught, said Chayi Beaulieu, a social worker at the school that year. Beaulieu described Dufour as 'vibey' and 'laid-back.' 'All the kids loved him,' she said. Andréanne Villeneuve-Dubuc got to know him at a different school, École Saint-Thomas, in Hudson, Quebec, where he filled in for the regular gym teacher at the end of the year. Villeneuve-Dubuc, a special education teacher, said Dufour had 'a special kind of presence. You wanted to be around him.' A hiker herself, she called it 'a beautiful, soul-nourishing sport, but one that requires vigilance.' As a tribute to Dufour, Villeneuve-Dubuc plans to hike Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest mountain. It was something they had talked about doing together. 'I'll carry him with me every step of the way,' she said. This article originally appeared in
Global News
13-05-2025
- Global News
A Quebec hiker was found dead in the New York mountains. Here's what we know
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Nearly six months after a Quebec hiker vanished in the Adirondack Mountains, New York state authorities confirmed the discovery of his body over the weekend. The body of Leo Dufour, a 22-year-old man from Vaudreuil, Que., a suburb west of Montreal, was found off Allen Mountain trail in Essex County, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed in a statement Sunday. U.S. officials say it was a group of hikers that found his remains on Saturday morning and reported it to authorities. New York State Police responded to the scene, working alongside forest rangers and a DEC investigator. On Sunday, they confirmed the man's identity. The DEC offered its condolences to Dufour's family and thanked forest rangers for their tireless efforts in the last few months. Story continues below advertisement The 22-year-old was reported missing after he never returned home from a one-day hike on Nov. 30, 2024. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Police found his snow-covered car at the trailhead in December, but said tracking him was tough due to the recent snowfall. Search parties from multiple agencies looked for him over several weeks, but were ultimately forced to suspend the effort as worsening winter conditions made the search too dangerous to continue during the months that followed. They resumed this spring after snow receded across the Adirondack backcountry. Dufour had travelled to the U.S. to hike the Allen Mountain in the town of Newcomb on Nov. 29, 2024. '46ers club': Dufour had climbed 32 of the 46 Adirondack high peaks His social media profile said he was a student at Université de Montréal and showed him enjoying the outdoors. He posted photos and videos of himself doing a lot of hiking, camping, enjoying the beach and travelling Europe. One album on his Instagram profile titled '46ers Club' showed he had climbed 32 of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks — a group of mountains in New York state, each rising at least 4,000 feet in elevation. Story continues below advertisement The ambitious goal of summiting all 46 peaks is a popular challenge among avid hikers. His last documented hike in the album was Mount Colden — the 11th-highest peak in New York, with an elevation of 4,714 feet. Allen Mountain, where his body was found, is the 26th-highest of the Adirondack High Peaks, with an elevation of 4,340 feet. –with files from The Canadian Press
Vancouver Sun
25-04-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Tuition hike for out-of-province students at Quebec's English universities overturned by court
Article content MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge has overturned a university tuition hike for out-of-province students that the government introduced to reduce the number of English-speaking students in the province. Article content Article content The decision, released Thursday, is a partial victory for Montreal's two English-language universities, McGill and Concordia, which have said the Quebec government's recent changes caused a drop in enrolment. Article content Article content Justice Eric Dufour found the government's 2023 decision to increase out-of-province tuition by $3,000 — 33 per cent — was unreasonable and 'not justified by existing and convincing data.' Article content Article content The government had argued the fee increase was necessary to protect the French language in Quebec. Higher Education Minister Pascale Dery had also said the hike was justified because most out-of-province students leave Quebec. Article content But Dufour found the government could provide no statistics about the retention of out-of-province students. 'Increased protection of the French language remains fundamental, especially considering the linguistic context in which Quebec finds itself, a continent populated predominantly by Anglo-Saxons,' he wrote. Article content 'But this vigilant protection does not justify the creation of policies and the making of decisions … based on erroneous or absent data.' Article content He ruled that the fee hike can remain in place for up to nine months until the government revises its tuition plan. Article content Article content A spokesperson for Dery said the minister would not comment on the decision before reviewing it fully. Article content Article content The decision also overturns a new requirement that 80 per cent of out-of-province undergraduate students at English-language universities reach an intermediate level of proficiency in French by the time they graduate. That rule was to come into effect this fall. Article content Dufour found that threshold is unreasonable because of the 'almost certain impossibility' that the universities would be able to meet the target. He noted that the universities had suggested a less ambitious target of 40 per cent. Article content In his decision, the judge also pointed to inconsistencies in the government's logic, suggesting that if the minister believes out-of-province students don't stay in Quebec after graduation, then it doesn't make sense to require them to become proficient in French. Article content However, Dufour upheld the Quebec government's decision to set minimum tuition for international students at around $20,000 and to claw back a large portion of the fees from English institutions to redistribute them to French-language universities.
National Post
25-04-2025
- Business
- National Post
Tuition hike for out-of-province students at Quebec's English universities overturned by court
MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge has overturned a university tuition hike for out-of-province students that the government introduced to reduce the number of English-speaking students in the province. Article content Article content The decision, released Thursday, is a partial victory for Montreal's two English-language universities, McGill and Concordia, which have said the Quebec government's recent changes caused a drop in enrolment. Article content Article content Justice Eric Dufour found the government's 2023 decision to increase out-of-province tuition by $3,000 — 33 per cent — was unreasonable and 'not justified by existing and convincing data.' Article content Article content The government had argued the fee increase was necessary to protect the French language in Quebec. Higher Education Minister Pascale Dery had also said the hike was justified because most out-of-province students leave Quebec. Article content But Dufour found the government could provide no statistics about the retention of out-of-province students. 'Increased protection of the French language remains fundamental, especially considering the linguistic context in which Quebec finds itself, a continent populated predominantly by Anglo-Saxons,' he wrote. Article content 'But this vigilant protection does not justify the creation of policies and the making of decisions … based on erroneous or absent data.' Article content He ruled that the fee hike can remain in place for up to nine months until the government revises its tuition plan. Article content A spokesperson for Dery said the minister would not comment on the decision before reviewing it fully. Article content Article content The decision also overturns a new requirement that 80 per cent of out-of-province undergraduate students at English-language universities reach an intermediate level of proficiency in French by the time they graduate. That rule was to come into effect this fall. Article content Article content Dufour found that threshold is unreasonable because of the 'almost certain impossibility' that the universities would be able to meet the target. He noted that the universities had suggested a less ambitious target of 40 per cent. Article content In his decision, the judge also pointed to inconsistencies in the government's logic, suggesting that if the minister believes out-of-province students don't stay in Quebec after graduation, then it doesn't make sense to require them to become proficient in French. Article content However, Dufour upheld the Quebec government's decision to set minimum tuition for international students at around $20,000 and to claw back a large portion of the fees from English institutions to redistribute them to French-language universities. Article content McGill and Concordia challenged the changes in court last year, arguing in part that they violated the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights. But the judge decided it wasn't necessary to rule on the constitutional arguments, since the case could be resolved under administrative law.
CBC
24-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Quebec judge invalidates tuition hike, French requirements for out-of-province university students
A Quebec Superior Court judge on Thursday struck down a tuition hike for out-of-province Canadian university students in Quebec and the French language requirements that the province had attempted to impose on them. In his 82-page decision, Judge Éric Dufour awarded McGill and Concordia universities a partial victory. He invalidated changes that the Higher Education Ministry made to its budgetary rules. Those changes raised tuition fees for out-of-province students by 33 per cent and said 80 per cent of them needed to learn French by graduation. The changes also affected international students, setting their minimum tuition fees at about $20,000. Dufour struck down the rules that affected out-of-province Canadian students, saying that the ministry lacked data to support its claims that they weren't integrating into Quebec society. "The evidence shows that the ministry has absolutely no data on this subject, or only fragile information to back it up," Dufour wrote. He also said that the requirement that 80 per cent of out-of-province undergraduate students at English-language universities reach an intermediate level of proficiency in French by graduation was "unreasonable given the near-certain impossibility of achievement." Dufour gave the ministry a nine-month timeline to revise the fee structure. For now, the current rules will stand, he wrote. The language requirements, however, are immediately invalidated, according to the ruling. But he did leave the international student fee increases unchanged. He said it was reasonable that the government should want to rebalance the funding that English and French universities receive. English universities tend to attract more international students, who pay higher tuition fees. The Higher Education Ministry has said the higher fee structure for international students would allow them to redistribute money to Quebec's French universities. WATCH | Why did Quebec want to raise tuition fees for out-of-province students? Breaking down Quebec's revised tuition plan and what key players are saying 1 year ago Duration 1:59 Quebec had initially doubled tuition fees for out-of-province students, later rolling that number back to a 33 per cent hike but imposing the French language requirement. The increase raised tuition fees for out-of-province Canadian students from about $9,000 to $12,000. Premier François Legault had said the presence of English-speaking students hurt the future of French in Quebec. The heads of Quebec's English universities had criticized the move, saying the increase in tuition fees made their programs unappealing to students across the country. Both McGill and Concordia had said the tuition hikes had led to a drop in enrolment, and caused them to tighten their budgets. The requirement to teach French to 80 per cent of their students was "totally unrealistic, both technically and academically," Deep Saini, McGill University's president and vice-chancellor, said in December 2023, when the Higher Education Ministry announced the changes. McGill and Concordia filed a lawsuit against the ministry, contesting the tuition changes, in 2024. It was not immediately clear if the ministry would contest Dufour's ruling. Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry's office said they would take note of the judgment, but issued no further comment.
