Abstract
Using an All-Terrain Wheelchair (ATW) allows disabled people to gain access to natural spaces. This activity provides social experiences and feelings of proximity to nature. Even more remarkable, expeditions carried out using ATW follow slow rules by integrating contemporary ethical and ecological preoccupations. Indeed, the ATW spirit, generated by the pioneers of this practice in France in the 1990s, still remains and consists in creating adaptations in order to access nature, and not the opposite. However, the carbon footprint of distant expeditions using ATWs questions the imageof an eco-friendly outlook. This footprint is all the more a subject for debate that the new generation of handiathletes promote handicapacity in their search for the most complete autonomy possible. Indeed, studying the organisation of an ATW expedition (Chile) revealed that developing innovating ATWs using electrically assisted hand-cranks tends to relegate eco-friendly concerns to the second place. However, the search for performance does not necessarily deviate from an eco-friendly approach, since it implies seeking a minimal use of modern assistance means, and thus having a smaller impact. These ATW expeditions, which by nature have an impact in terms of transcontinental transport means, imply a balance between handi-capable engagement and eco-friendly designs.