Featuring Jean Gabriel Leynaud and Bettina Aller - 52 min
Directed by: J.G.Leynaud - Produced by: Freeport Media & Sombrero & Co

AN ATTEMPT TO SKI ACROSS THE ARCTIC OCEAN

In 2006, Jean Gabriel Leynaud and Bettina Aller set off again for a polar trek of 2000km from Siberia to Canada via the Pole.  It is rather difficult to ski there due to poor ice conditions and they were often compelled to swim in order to move on...  

How did Bettina get interested in the Arctic Ocean?  

JGL: Bettina started to drive across Africa by truck, then hike in the jungles of Bornéo and Kalimantan.  She then had the opportunity to make a last stop in the North Pole.  She found the journey wonderful, but far too short.  Hence, she crossed the Groenland to train herself, and then all alone and without any help, she tried to reach the Pole on foot.  After two unsuccessful attempts, she decided to try again, with me.     

How would you define your attraction for the poles?  What seems essential to you up there?

The poles are totally apart.  Since my first visit, I fell in love.  The South is much more welcoming and easier to live because there are no dangers in sight.  Along the coast, the animals and the bloodhounds are extraordinary.  It's more austere in the North, we feel more isolated and never completely safe.  There are of course the bears, but the floe which cracks or opens up at a high speed.  Yet, we tend to quickly forget these dangers facing the beauty of lights and the shapes designed on the ice.    

The show of the floe in the beginning of March is indescribable.  Unfortunately, I had the strength to record and to photograph only a few bits.  The sun brushes against the horizon for hours within a setting that reminds one of an open-air museum.