Trekking: All Raid the North Extreme events are designed with an "expedition" approach. There are few checkpoints and typically no restrictions on route choice. We leave the decision-making to the teams. Although our checkpoints are never hidden (in fact, they are only ever placed at distinguishable features) the route between checkpoints is rarely obvious. Planning your route will be an important and time-consuming task. Aside from hiring a plane or car, there will be no restrictions at all on route choice through the trekking sections.

Paddling: Paddling regularly offers us the most opportunity and the most challenge. We design water sections in response to the wilderness available in the region. Coastal regions open the potential for kayaking legs, but only where risks of ocean paddling are mitigated by sheltering islands or reefs, or by strickly using inlets or fjords. Canoes are the most common vessel for paddling, and often provide the most route choice and the enjoyment of a good portage. Packrafts have been common features of our events, as an optional piece of gear carried by teams and used when crossing a body of water is faster than trekking around. In past events, we've included historic watercraft such as Voyageur Canoes in northern Ontario and Dory rowboats in Newfoundland.

Mountain Biking: Biking routes will range from easy, meandering railway trails or country roads, to aggressive, muddy singletrack. We often seek out abandonded logging roads that have grown in to provide great doubletrack routes, but which are often part of complex networks that must be carefully navigated. Teams may find themselves on snowmobile trails, ATV routes, historic horse trails or other animal tracks. We do not include hike-a-bike sections purely for the 'challenge'; this occurs only when it's the most sensible way to connect two separate routes.

Fixed Ropes: Raid the North Extreme generally features several heart-stopping ropes sites, including rappeling, zip line, tyrolean traverses, and less often, ascending. Fully qualified ropes rigging experts manage our ropes sites to ensure absolute safety of the site, as well as to ensure competitors are geared up and properly prepared for each fixed rope activity. Skills required for the race will be tested at registration prior to the race, and any certifications necessary will be communicated well in advance to all teams.

Navigation: Navigation is a very important element of all Raid the North Extreme races. Our goal is to provide teams with a unique and natural wilderness experience. We also have a strong commitment to a "leave no lasting trace" philosophy. We put no markings on the racecourse (so nothing can be left behind) and we make no new trails or obstacles. Teams are challenged by the natural landscape and wilderness. This means navigation skills are a must and teams must be familiar with routefinding and feature reading in natural wilderness environments. Although trails exist in some of the areas you will be travelling through, few of them are marked on the maps. In the course instructions provided just prior to the race, we include descriptions of any known trails that are not shown on the map and could have a significant impact on the speed of teams through that section. We do this to eliminate the "luck" factor in navigation. We do not want some teams to have a significant advantage because they accidentally found an unmarked trail that took them a significant distance in the right direction. Indirect trails, trails shown on the maps provided or wildlife trails are NOT described in the competitor directions, however. As with most 1:50,000 scale maps of wilderness areas, it is not expected that the maps provided will be a complete representation of all features your team will encounter. Interpreting the accuracy of maps is one of the fundamental challenges of wilderness navigation.