Alta (Norway) (AFP)
A blue glow on an expanse of snow as far as the eye can see. A few scattered branches punctuate this plateau exposed to the four winds. It is in this lost corner of the far north of Norway that two Frenchmen came to train on the eve of an ambitious adventure.
Next month, Matthieu Bellanger and Loury Lag will leave from eastern Canada to Alaska, via the legendary Northwest Passage. The 30-year-olds also plan to climb the Denali, the highest mountain in North America. Seven challenges on seven continents in seven years: this is their plan.
East of Alta, by 69.5N, they came to look for conditions similar to the extreme latitudes they will frequent, either -25 or -30 ° C. Little disappointment, winter is too mild, only -5 during the day and up to -10 at night. Fortunately, a good snowstorm brings some play.
Only four hours a day right now, in the morning. Everything is white-blue and as in the shade, the sun is too low on the horizon to show itself.
Short hair and voluntary chins, the adventurers, as tattooed as full-bodied, repeat the same gestures, to engrave saving automatisms in the event of great cold and strong wind: pitch and stow the tent in a few minutes, put away their pulkas to the millimeter, always according to the same organization.
These sleigh sleds that they will tow by the waist using a harness will initially weigh around sixty kilos: everything to survive independently.
Their duvets resist to -60 ° C. They will mainly eat freeze-dried food. But a friend, the starred chef from Camargue, Armand Arnal, has prepared vacuum-packed meals for them to improve their food when they need it.
To drink, snow to melt endlessly.
© 2020 AFP