THE KURIL ISLANDS
The inhospitable Kuril Islands stretch for more than 1,000 kilometres between Japan and Russia.
An archipelago of volcanic islands that are still active, its terrain is rugged, with sheer cliffs dropping into the sea and steep rocky coasts.
Here's the story of a journey to the other side of the world, and of survival in extreme climatic conditions!
THIBAUD DUCHOSAL
A former competitor on the Freeride World Tour and now a professional freerider, he has managed to turn his passion into his job, and the mountains into his office.
An adventurous skier, what drives him every day is his passion for skiing and the exhilaration of travelling, discovering landscapes still untouched by human traces, and leaving his own as a souvenir of his passage.
"I'm going to board a sailing boat in Yuzhno Sakhalinsk to sail to Petropavlosk Kamchatski in Kamchatka. On the programme: 15 days sailing with 7 to 8 days skiing on the various Kuril islands. We are the second known expedition to make this trip!
FROM PARIS TO YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK
I've been going skiing in Russia regularly for 10 years now, but mainly in the western part of this immense country. When I arrived in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, I got a shock: we really are at the end of the world!
The journey was long, the airport basic and the town austere and cold: the climatic conditions are extremely harsh, as you can see and feel in the town's architecture. There are no windows on the first floor: that's how much snow the city can hold!
BOARDING FOR THE KURIL ISLANDS
I join the other skiers, photographer Stéphane Godin, and the three members of the Russian crew who will be taking us to the islands. Before embarking, we spend a day preparing the equipment and making sure we have everything we need in terms of safety gear (bear spray, distress rockets, fishing waders, etc.). Over there, on these uninhabited islands, polar bears are king, and there are a lot of them!
I already have my ski equipment with me: my skis, my skins and my Cairn helmet. All my personal equipment travels in the hold of the plane.
Two days after our arrival, we finally reached our boat. There, surprise: the Dumbo is in fact a small 11.50m sailing boat. With 10 of us, it's a bit cramped... so a real tetris ensues to accommodate all the equipment! The skis ended up firmly attached to the back of the boat.
LIFE ON BOARD
The first crossing to Kurilsk was rather pleasant, with very good weather and a very flat sea. We made the most of these unique and splendid landscapes, and came across some wild animals: during one crossing, around forty orcas followed us and swam around us for more than two hours!
As the good weather isn't always there, we also spend a lot of time in the living area chatting, discussing our projects and adventures, our passion for skiing... From time to time I take the helm.
For me, the Kuril Islands were an opportunity to take my adventures a step further, to do what only 4 people in the world have done to date: ski in a totally hostile and isolated part of the planet. I'm not disappointed, we don't meet anyone on the crossings, we're in a zone off the radar, out of time.
Four times a day, the captain receives the weather report by satellite. Storms are frequent and the area is rarely sailed, so you have to be extremely vigilant about the rapidly changing conditions!
The other two crew members are in charge of organisation and saving energy and food. On a boat, everything is planned and rationed to make sure you get to the end of the journey!
DIFFICULT CONDITIONS FOR SKIING
Between storms and volcanic eruptions, the conditions weren't exactly ideal for skiing.
On the morning of 10 May, we made our first attempt to ski the island of Paramushir! Unfortunately, it fell into the water (as did we!) and turned into a rescue operation.
When we disembarked, the dinghy that was taking us ashore overturned and the engine took on water! The captain, soaking wet and in shock, no longer wanted to row back and forth between the boat and the beach. Sensing that the situation was getting out of hand, I tried to take the controls to recover the four skiers already ashore. But the captain didn't want to lose face, and made one bad decision after another! The boat hit a shoal, the keel broke, he tried to recover the skiers from a place that was inaccessible to them and to us, and the tension went up a notch!
Finally, I took the oars and swam the dinghy between the waves. In the meantime, a bear had come forward and was overlooking the beach where our companions were waiting. We had our work cut out for us, but one by one I managed to get all the skiers safely back to the boat. To learn that the waters in which we are sailing and in which I have just swum are infested with white sharks!
It wasn't until the end of the trip and the return journey that we were finally able to ski a little.
Looking back, I realise that we came very close to a real tragedy. Because in these completely hostile and isolated territories, if anything happens to you, you're a dead man. The water is 4 degrees and there are no boats sailing in this remote part of the world! Faced with the elements, we're really nothing...