Expedition team training

In the great cold, preparation is the fire that warms and learning the star that guides us.

Throughout his life, Nicolas Dubreuil has had the privilege of learning from the greatest experts of the polar regions: the Inuit hunters. The ancestral knowledge they have passed on to him has enabled him to acquire the techniques he needs to survive and progress on pack ice, recognize the different types of ice and anticipate an encounter with a polar bear. These lessons have saved his life on numerous occasions during solo expeditions in hostile environments.

Today, he passes on this expertise through training courses designed for those wishing to become polar expedition leaders. These courses take place either in France, or directly in polar zones, for a week's total immersion in the field. Every day, trainees are confronted with a problem specific to extreme environments: managing the cold, progressing on pack ice, supplies, encounters with wildlife or managing helicopter operations.

Whenever possible, this training is enriched by the presence of Greenlanders who share their unique experience of life in these isolated regions. The aim of this course is to make participants fully autonomous, capable of guaranteeing their own safety as well as that of the people they will be supervising on future expeditions.

A complementary module also allows us to try out the latest and most effective techniques for evacuating a ship trapped in the ice. For 24 hours, we learn to live like Ice Robinsons, abandoned on a piece of drifting pack ice.