Stéphanie Gicquel, based in Paris, is a lawyer with an international firm. That’s only a part of her identity though. She’s a long distance runner. Working long hours in the office would make her want to get out and run, even if it meant running late hours when Paris begins to fall asleep.
She, along with her husband Jeremie, skied across Antarctica through the Geographic South Pole, from November 14, 2014, to January 27, 2015. The couple returned with hours of footage, which they edited into a 30-minute film titled Across Antarctica , which was screened earlier this week at Jaipur International Film Festival and received a Special Jury mention.
She used every vacation abroad to explore desert landscapes in America, Australia, Asia and Russia. Above all, she was attracted to the polar belt. “I explored Greenland, Spitsbergen and Antarctica on foot and on skis; I ran a marathon at the Geographic North Pole,” she says.
If you wonder why someone would want to run or ski across zones that have extreme weather conditions, Stephanie reasons, “I guess it has something to do with the colours — white and blue — the cold and purity, the infinite landscape.”
A few years ago she was in Ushuaia, Argentina, travelling across Drake Passage down along Antarctic Peninsula on a boat.
One morning, she woke up in front of Antarctic mountains and felt both joy and frustration. “Nature is so pure and unique down there. But I could only see the coast and mountain ranges running through the peninsula. I wanted to see and know more about this cold continent,” she says.
Stephanie read up extensively about Antarctica and felt the urge to take up an expedition. “It seemed the only way to get closer to the reality of this continent, and also a way for me to know how far my body could go,” she says. Her husband Jeremie was on the same page. The seed for an arduous skiing expedition was sown.
arranged
“Preparation is about finding the right mix between fundraising, logistics and physical preparation. You can be in the best physical condition, but if you cannot fund the expedition, you will stay home,” says Stephanie. It took the couple three years of work.
Apart from a personal milestone, the couple wanted to bring back images and videos of the inside of the continent and share them with the world. Her husband took charge of collecting all video equipment and learnt how to use them in extreme conditions.
Video equipment added 20 kg to the other equipment they had to store and pull in their sledges. “That is the reason I decided to have three re-supply points along the expedition route — mostly at South Pole,” she says.
They took one day off, without skiing, to do some filming. But most of the filming was done as they skied across Antarctica. They wanted to finish the expedition in 75 days, before summer ended in the continent. “My husband would stop a few minutes, do some filming and then speed up as we had to stay close to one another, especially during white out days. He managed without his fingers being severely damaged by frostbite. That was the toughest part of the expedition,” she says.
At the end of skiing 2045kms, she weighed just 39kg. When temperature dropped to -50°C on several days, she could no longer feel her fingers and toes. On some days she skied long hours, barely got four hours of sleep and woke up feeling hungry. Food supply wasn’t plentiful. She reminded herself that the trip wasn’t about her and her husband alone. “I had to think of sponsors and the charity Association Petit Prince for which I was raising funds. Only a severe injury could have taken me out of Antarctica. I never felt like giving up,” she affirms.
At that time, Stephanie wasn’t conscious of the possibility of a Guinness World Record. “This expedition was about living a lifetime experience,” she insists.
Her 2045-km ski is now listed as the longest unsupported ski expedition by a woman in Antarctica.
* Stephanie Gicquel’s 2045km expedition earned her a Guinness World Record for the longest expedition in Antarctica on ski without kiting by a woman.
* Across Antarctica , a 30-minute film on the expedition was screened at Jaipur International Film Festival recently.
