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The French at North Pole
Eight French reached North Pole in four distinct expeditions. Jean-Louis Etienne was the first French to ever reach a Pole - North or South - in 1986, solo, unsupported but with air resupplies. It took 10 years before four Frenchmen from the High Moutain Military Group (Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne - GMHM) reached North Pole unsupported and unassisted. Three of these four men became soon after the first men to ever reach unsupported the Three Poles of the Earth (Antoine de Choudens, François Bernard, Antoine Cayrol). In 1997, the famous alpinist Christine Janin was the first Frenchwoman to ever reach North Pole, unsupported but with air resupplies. She remains the only one to date. At last, in 2000, Arnaud Tortel and Rodolph André, after having reached North Pole, failed near in their attempt to achieve an Arctic traverse.
Since then, only two French tried to reach the Pole. Dominick Arduin, after an aborted attempt in 2003 which led to the loss of most of her frozen toes, disappeared in 2004 during her second attempt. Frédéric Chamard-Boudet, the same year, was rescued in extremis by a russian helicopter while the ice-floe piece on which he was standing was dislocating completely.
The next challenge for a French will be therefore to reach the Pole, solo, unsupported and unassisted or to achieve an Arctic Ocean crossing.
List of French at North Pole
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n°
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n°
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Name
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Sex
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Year
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Comments
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1
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1
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Jean-Louis Etienne
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M
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1986
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Solo, unsupported,
air resupplies
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2
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2
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François Bernard
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M
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1996
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Unsupported, unassisted
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3
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3
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Antoine Cayrol
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M
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1996
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Unsupported, unassisted
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4
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4
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Antoine de Choudens
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M
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1996
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Unsupported, unassisted
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5
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5
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Bernard Virelaude
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M
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1996
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Unsupported, unassisted
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6
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6
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Christine Janin
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F
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1997
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Unsupported,
air resupplies
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7
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7
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Arnaud Tortel
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M
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2000
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Unsupported, unassisted
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8
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8
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Rodolph André
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M
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2000
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Unsupported, unassisted
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Statistics
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First
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1986
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Jean-Louis Etienne
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First unsupported (2)
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1986
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Jean-Louis Etienne
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First unsupported unassisted (3)
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1996
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Antoine de
Choudens
François Bernard
Antoine Cayrol
Bernard Virelaude
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Number
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8
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Number unsupported (2)
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8
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|
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Number unsupported unassisted (3)
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6
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First crossing (4)
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-
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First crossing unsupported (4) (2)
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-
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|
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First crossing unsupported unassisted (4) (3)
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-
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Number of crossing (4)
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-
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|
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Number of crossing unsupported (4) (2)
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-
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|
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Number of crossing unsupported unassisted (4) (3)
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-
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First solo (5)
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1986
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Jean-Louis Etienne
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First solo unsupported (5) (2)
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1986
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Jean-Louis Etienne
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First solo unsupported unassisted (5) (3)
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-
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|
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Number of solo (5)
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2
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Number of solo unsupported (5) (2)
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2
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Number of solo unsupported unassisted (5) (3)
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-
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First crossing solo (4) (5)
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-
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First crossing solo unsupported (4) (5) (2)
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-
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First crossing solo unsupported unassisted (4) (5) (3)
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-
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Number of crossing solo (4) (5)
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-
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Number of crossing solo unsupported (4) (5) (2)
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-
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Number of crossing solo unsupported unassisted (4) (5) (3)
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-
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(2) "unsupported" : human powered only, without external power aids (motorized vehicle, dogsled, parasail,...)
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(3) "unassisted" : without any outside help such as air-resupply, rescue or oxygen ; nevertheless, the "unassisted" label does not exclude a distant logistical support
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(4) "crossing" : crossing of the arctic ocean or the antarctic continent from seacoast to seacoast via the Pole ; this label also applies to return trips
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(5) "solo" : the explorer shall be alone, but it does not imply to be also "unsupported" or "unassisted"
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All expeditions up to 10/30/07
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Source : 3 Poles, Adventurestats / Explorersweb, The Himalayan Database
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