WIARTON, Ont. — It was so cold this winter that two outdoor adventurers made an 80-km trek across Georgian Bay on foot in February — the first recorded crossing of its kind.

Scott Parent, who runs tours with Fathom Paddle Guiding, is no stranger to the testy waters of Georgian Bay. He crossed the Sweetwater Sea alone on a standup paddleboard back in the summer of 2011.

Soon after that he approached Zane Davies of Explorer's Tread at the Outdoor Adventure Show and they talked about walking across the bay in the dead of winter.

The two watched weather trends and ice breakup patterns for the last two years and anticipated completing the trek last year, but conditions were too dangerous.

This season, February's record-low temperatures meant the ice was set and the crossing was a go.

"After the 2011 solo crossing in high summer, I set my sights on the possibility of doing a winter traverse because I saw the potential for paddle boards to couple so well in winter travel... I knew that it would have to be considered a paddling objective," Parent said in a telephone interview.

He said the idea the bay freezes over is inaccurate and that using a standup paddle board made the trip possible.

"Every winter the centre of the bay will always have open water," Parent said. "There's rivers and channels that open up."

Parent monitored the ice charts and models in the winter of 2014, but never felt confident a window of opportunity was there. He returned from a trip to Alberta in January and saw how the temperatures in Ontario had dropped drastically and quickly, and that it was time to go. The two gathered a slew of modified equipment, including paddle boards they customized by adding an extra skin of fibreglass, epoxy resin and "crazy carpets" to the bottom.

Parent said once the factory fibreglass is worn away by dragging the boards across the ice and snow, they basically begin to disintegrate.

They used a hybrid approach by combining equipment from different sports, including ice-climbing gear, pick axes, camping equipment and dry suits with neoprene booties and moccasins and set off from the Cape Croker shoreline March 11.

Parent said the decision to make the trip was made easier by having a compatible, confident teammate.

Davies is a volunteer firefighter with the Lion's Head Fire Department, has ice-water rescue experience, and a background in public safety and outdoor education.

Parent and Davies "rehearsed" many times by traversing the first 10 kilometres of ice off the Cape Croker coast — the most treacherous portion of the crossing due to fast-changing conditions.

"There's a current there. If you go there and look you can actually see the current. Cape Croker, the way the ice forms, there always tends to be an open section on any given day, depending on the wind. We knew if we could get across the open section and across all the hummocky stuff on the other side and then get to the ice floe, then we'd probably be able to progress all right," Davies said.

Parent said the first night's sleep was pleasant, even comfortable.

"We fastened our lightweight tarp with ice-climbing screws into thick ice," Parent said. "We slept on our boards. They acted as insulated foam mattresses that would float should the worse case scenario happen."

Much to their surprise, they woke up about 20 metres from an open channel of frigid water that "wasn't there the night before."

During the night the ice had split and the duo drifted nearly two kilometres on a chunk of ice.

On the second day they crossed an open channel of approximately two kilometres by standup paddle board. Davies has a kayaking background, so he opted to kneel on his board and use a kayak paddle to move along.

After 55 kilometres of walking and paddling, they reached Double Top Island, part of the Western Island chain in central Georgian Bay, where they found the lighthouse door open. Davies suggested it had been smashed off by snowmobilers who frequent the islands.

The discovery gave them the opportunity to take advantage of double bunk beds and get out of the wind.

From Double Top it was another 27 kilometres to shore. Davies had a minor fall through the thin ice near an open channel, but with the proper gear and dry suits, the ordeal was manageable.

On March 13, they arrived in 12 Mile Bay.

Parent said while he and Davies may be the first to cross Georgian Bay under their own power in modern times, he speculates that animals and maybe even humans could have made the trek long ago.