Polar Blog

When Sébastien, our polar guide, began sending satellite images of the region around Kangerlussuaq, a certain tension crept into the group chat. The pictures told a worrying story: the snow cover was thin, far thinner than we had hoped. In Greenland, the ground belongs to three distinct worlds: sea ice, the vast inland ice sheet, and the Arctic tundra. Our route runs across the tundra, a landscape that loses its snow completely during the brief summer before turning white aga

Seven days before departure, I enter the final stage of preparation. A few more conditioning sessions are planned, and I’ll speak with a performance coach next week—likely later than ideal, but better than not at all. We’ll see. Romain, the coach, holds the world record for full immersion in ice water at 2 hours and 35 minutes, well beyond what is generally considered survivable. He understands mental resilience. That, however, is a story for another article. Now it’s time to

It’s D-30 to the start of the expedition. I am getting into a more detailed review of everything from medicine to food and small equipments. When planning the logistics of an expedition in the Arctic, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the cold—and rightly so. Braving sub-zero temperatures requires high-quality protective gear, and without it, you're simply not going far. But through my experiences last year, I’ve come to realize that another, often overlooked fact

Finding your way in the Arctic is nothing like plotting a casual road trip. There are no marked paths, no comforting signposts, just a vast, unbroken canvas of white where all landmarks vanish and every direction feels identical. Out here, navigation becomes both an art and a lifeline. My tech setup is anchored in reliable GPS navigation using the Garmin GPS 67i, paired with an inReach satellite plan that ensures global communication and emergency messaging even when the res

Five months out from the Arctic Circle Trail, the hum of preparation is already thick in the air. Gear checks dominate the agenda,...

Into the White: A Journey Through East Greenland There are two unmistakable markers that separate the Arctic from the Antarctic: the...

The ACT is a virtual route that crosses Greenland's ice cap from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut, along the Arctic Circle line. A 160 km...

We finish our navigation on a high note, sailing in front of the Cape Horn. The waters around Cape Horn are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs . The need for boats and ships to round Cape Horn was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in August 1914. Sailing around Cape Horn is still widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting . Thus, a few recreational sailors continue to sail this route, some

We left the icebergs behind us, starting 2 full days at sea accross the Drake passage On our way back, the seas are a little rough but...

Today we land at one of the most important site of the Commandant Charcot first expedition in 1903. The weather today is Antarctica...

ps: Day 12 post has now been updated. We navigate north, in the Crystal Sound, with the Antartica Peninsula on starboard side. A "sound"...

Stonington island is a landmark place, site of the British Base-E. Today was a very busy day, with a first successful landing at...

Antarctica is a very quiet place... We wake up this morning, surrounded by the ice shelf, and if we may think we have not moved at all during the night, with the natural ice shelf drift, we are actually 1.8km further north than yesterday. Yet, the ship is like lying on the ice and it looks it has not moved an inch. Outside it's full white , up to the horizon, with some nuances of gray, a monochrome painting . It's vast, it's silent, it's freezing, -6 degrees. 8am and we go

After a day at sea, around 8pm, the ship stops at Cape Brown, near the George VI ice shelf, and we get to disembark on the Antarctica...

Antarctica from a climate category perspective is a desert, a white desert. It never rains in Antarctica, and certainly much less than in...

Today is a sad day. My grandmother, Marianne, passed away at 99. That is a long life well-lived. As I travel at the other end of world...

This island is named after the famous ship of Commandant Charcot. During the night we sailed south from Detaille island, along Adelaide...

Detaille Island is a very important historical site. It is where the British Base-W is located. Built in 1956, it had to be suddenly...

Beautiful weather for this second day of navigation and we start seeing the first distinctive signs of Antarctica. Our first tabular...

We are very lucky with the weather crossing the Drake Passage. Today is a full day of navigation at sea, as it takes 2 days to cross the...