Eric Brossier and France Pinczon du Sel – Part I: Tandem in the cold
Attracted by the beauty of the Arctic and in search of rational explanations of how it works, the two partners immersed themselves in a frozen landscape. Ideal conditions in which to meet modern-day Inuit and share a few ancestral customs.
This is a two-part article. Here’s the first, and we’ll see you next week for the second.
Straddling a snowmobile and wearing sealskin gloves, they open the throttle and head straight for the white floe. A carriage follows: a wooden Inuit sled on which battery-powered instruments measure the thickness of the pack ice. Images that recur in several documentaries on the lives of France Pinczon du Sel and Eric Brossier.
These two French have spent more than 25 years in the Arctic “doing science”, following a lifestyle close to that of the traditional excursions of the region’s inhabitants: out on the land, as they explained to polarjournal.net during various meetings at the Donegal pub and the Gwennili bookshop in the French Brittany.
After more than 12 overwintering, twenty or so summer campaigns and a tour of the Arctic, the two companions take advantage of their few returns home to recharge their batteries, prepare other projects and, at the same time, recount their adventures.
“25 years ago, I dreamed of postcards, extraordinary wildlife, landscapes and auroras. If I want to go back today, it’s for the people of the Arctic,” explains Eric Brossier beside a wood-burning stove. “I can’t see myself deploying a colossal amount of energy without these communities, who have their say and so much to contribute.”
“For me, living in beauty helps. It’s a real joy every morning, and being useful to the scientists and providing logistical support is all the more satisfying, because you’re not going there just for yourself,” explains France Pinczon du Sel. “When you love a landscape or a region because it transports you, you might want to protect it. And for me, this beauty helps me talk about these regions and reach out to young people.”
In the sub-Antarctic archipelago of Kerguelen, Eric Brossier first had the idea of contributing to science in isolated regions, when he was a young civic service volunteer overwintering with the French Polar Institute. It’s an idea he pursued to the utmost in the Arctic, passing the baton to the people who live there. “They’re in a better position to contribute to a better understanding of the planet, even though I lived up there for a long time and still work there regularly,” he explains.
Attracted by the beauty of Antarctica, Beaux-Arts-trained navigator France Pinczon du Sel took part in her first scientific expedition aboard Pen Duick III in 1998. She was inspired by the small community life of the American and Ukrainian stations. In 2002-2003, she sailed around the Arctic on Vagabond, the expedition sailboat, with Eric Brossier. When she wasn’t on watch, she drew a series of watercolors and began to document the results of an experience that was to become the experience of a lifetime.
Although the circumnavigation of the Arctic was seminal for the crew, it wasn’t so much the passage through the straits and the stopovers that had the greatest impact on them, but rather the successive wintering periods. In Svalbard, they taught themselves the rudiments of life on the ice during five wintering periods spent following the scientific protocols of European and Norwegian researchers. But between 2011 and 2013, France Pinczon du Sel and Eric Brossier switched sectors and joined Grise Fiord, Nunavut.
“It was a rediscovery,” recalls Eric Brossier. Used to living in the wild, they aroused the curiosity of the inhabitants of the nearest village, 50 kilometers away. Challenged by the modern world, the latter are no longer as nomadic as they once were, but they do leave the villages on hunting and fishing expeditions, in groups or on their own. “In some of the villages where we stayed in Nunavut, the fishermen who raise their first nets under the ice pack in winter redistribute fish in front of the houses on their return,” explains France Pinczon du Sel. Through their permanent presence, they observe and participate in local life.
One day, they are visited by a hunter and his son, Terry. They had recovered a lost seal pup and wanted to show it to the couple and their children. Spontaneously, Terry and his father bonded. “If a seal pup wanders away from its mother and the hole she’s made in the pack ice, it won’t be rescued. His mother would put herself in too much danger by moving away from her only escape from a bear,” explains Eric Brossier.
Through encounters, advice and time, Eric Brossier and France Pinczon du Sel learn to hunt and fish. Even if some products from the south are appreciated, there’s plenty of food on site. “There’s a community spirit of sharing. Regularly, the town halls buy meat or fish from the hunters and fishermen, and in the middle of winter, the whole village is invited to caribou and seal feasts. They know there isn’t a hunter in every family,” explains France Pinczon du Sel.
“The locals’ aim is to feed themselves; ours is less to be self-sufficient than to do science,” explains Eric Brossier. Their way of life is similar to that of the Inuit, who go hunting and fishing as a family. As a result, Eric Brossier and France Pinczon du Sel have made friends and learned to dress differently, modify their diet and prepare their sledges. “They eat frozen fish, for example, and it’s delicious,” says France Pinczon du Sel.
They’re gradually leaving their modern clothes behind to wear more rustic and less expensive clothing, “but also heavier”, comments Eric Brossier, recalling a few outings. “I sometimes go hunting or fishing with an Inuit friend. He comes to the boat and asks me to bring 20 gallons of fuel, enough for 2 to 4 days, and it’s up to me to have my equipment and snowmobile ready the next day. For me, it’s a real pleasure to be in this situation of trust and mutual interest.”
In this way, France Pinczon du Sel and Eric Brossier learn how the Inuit find what they need in nature, without wasting, respecting the seasons and the life cycle of species. “We’ve integrated ourselves into the environment, to be happy and healthy, but also to be more efficient in the scientific work we’re engaged in,” explains Eric Brossier.
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