Transarctic, the Quest for the Two North Poles

Through PONANT’s alliance with The Explorers Club, this voyage will feature Glaciologist Dr. Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña. Ulyana is the head of science communication at the University of Colorado Boulder's Climate Adaptation Science Center and a National Fellow of The Explorers Club. With a PhD in geological sciences specializing in glaciology, her research focuses on supraglacial lakes, Himalayan glacier floods, and the effects of pollution on snow and ice at high altitudes. A recipient of National Science Foundation and National Geographic grants, Ulyana also founded "Science in the Wild," a citizen science initiative with expeditions to Nepal, Baffin Island, Kilimanjaro, and the Andes. In 2016, she served as mission commander for NASA's HERA 30-day isolation experiment, simulating an asteroid mission. Equipped with specialized laboratories onboard Le Commandant Charcot, Explorers Club Science Grantees will provide invaluable firsthand knowledge, delving into their ongoing research.

With featured guests Laurence de La Ferrière, renowned French adventurer and Cindy Miller Hopkins, American Photo Ambassador.

In 1926, when Umberto Nobile crossed the Arctic via the North Pole, aboard the Norge airship that he designed himself, he became the first man in the world to undertake this crossing. It was an exploit that many would subsequently attempt to repeat. For, behind the idea of exploring our planet’s last latitudes, there lies the prospect of raising our spirit, of matching our thirst for the unknown with our deep desire to gain a greater understanding of the world in which we live.

Le Commandant Charcot, a ship of scientific opportunity, follows in the tradition of Nobile, a pioneer and a tireless architect of polar discovery, in order to discover some of the Arctic’s secrets during a dedicated research mission at the highest point of the north.

The ship, the latest addition to the company’s fleet, shaped for polar exploration, is preparing to sail, transpolar maritime route, that is inaccessible to traditional ships. From the legendary Bering Strait, a link between the East and the West, to the ice-covered land of Svalbard, Le Commandant Charcot will carve out a path through the ice floes, exploring the ice of the Beaufort Sea, and use open water leads to attempt to reach the elusive Magnetic and Geographic North Poles.

Like a pioneer, you will cross these ice-covered landscapes of the Arctic by sea. During your exploration, you will discover the research projects that are part of the scientific mission taking place on board. This is a unique opportunity to clarify your knowledge alongside a multi-disciplinary team of around twenty researchers on board, to understand their investigations and closely follow their work. Also accompanied by our expert naturalists, you will discover unique ecosystems while sharpening your perception of the polar world and comprehending the stakes of their transformation. Use this journey to grant yourself an initiatory immersion: the rare occasion to take part in an adventure that is making a contribution to scientific research.

Taking an all-new route means pledging to enter an unexplored world with respect, taking the time to observe and understand, as a conscious witness, the unfolding show. With your senses awakened, with the ice floe as your travel companion, you will move through an ever-changing environment, its hypnotic panoramas of raw beauty sculpted by sea winds and plays on light. In the heart of the drifting ice, you will savour the constantly renewed poetry of the elements.

Find out more about the world of Le Commandant Charcot here!

We are privileged guests in these extreme lands where we are at the mercy of weather and ice conditions. Our navigation, mainly in the fjords, will be determined by the type of ice we come across; as the fast ice must be preserved, we will take this factor into account from day to day in our itineraries. The sailing programme, outings, activities and observation of fauna cannot be guaranteed and are subject to weather and ice conditions. The experiences are unique and vary from day to day and for each departure. The Captain and the Expedition Leader will make every effort to ensure that your experience is as rich as possible, while respecting safety instructions and regulations imposed by the AECO.