“Even in the most peaceful village, you’re surrounded by fresh graves… and you know the war is still there.”

What does it mean to explore a country at war?

In this episode of Explore, host David McGuffin speaks with Laval St. Germain, a Canadian explorer who has just returned from a journey deep into the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine. Travelling overland into the country, St. Germain set out to ski the Chornohora Ridge and climb Ukraine’s six highest peaks — what he found was a place of striking contrasts. 

In the high mountains, wildlife is rebounding due to a wartime hunting ban, with wolves, bears and lynx returning in surprising numbers. But elsewhere, the war continues to devastate landscapes, with some calling it an “ecocide” as forests burn, infrastructure collapses, and ecosystems are destroyed.

The Carpathians themselves are among Europe’s last wild regions — home to ancient cultures like the Hutsul people and layered with history, from World War I trenches to long-forgotten border markers that once divided empires. But even in these remote and peaceful settings, the war is never far away. In village cemeteries, fresh graves of young soldiers serve as a stark reminder of the ongoing conflict.

From skiing windswept ridgelines to navigating military checkpoints, and from quiet conversations with locals to witnessing the surreal normalcy of life in Kyiv, St. Germain offers a rare, ground-level perspective on Ukraine today — one that goes beyond headlines to reveal resilience, complexity and humanity.

In this episode:

• Skiing across Ukraine’s highest peaks in the Carpathian Mountains
• A landscape shaped by shifting borders, empires and conflict
• Wildlife is rebounding in some regions while war devastates others
• Life in remote Ukrainian villages and the impact of war on communities
• Travelling through Ukraine during wartime — from trains to checkpoints
• Kyiv today: a vibrant city adapting to ongoing conflict
• How modern warfare, including drones, is changing life on the ground

Laval St. Germain is a Canadian explorer, commercial pilot in the Arctic and Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He is the only Canadian to have summited Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. His expeditions have taken him to some of the world’s most remote and politically complex regions, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. He has also rowed solo across the North Atlantic from mainland Canada to mainland Europe and skied to the South Pole.

More with Laval St. Germain: 

• Explore podcast episode 95: Laval St. Germain's journey to Afghanistan's highest mountain
• Explore podcast episode 78: Laval St. Germain: Mountains, oceans and the Arctic
• Jan 19, 2019 — Meet the Canadian explorer who just completed the Seven Summits