Mission accomplished for adventurer Caroline Côté from Quebec: she reached the South Pole on Wednesday and broke the coveted world record on this 1130 km route in Antarctica for a woman on skis and in complete autonomy.
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“Arrival,” the Montrealer confirmed at 11:40 a.m. (Eastern Time) only in a text message transmitted by satellite.
Côté, 36, will therefore have braved Antarctica for 34 days to reach the goal. The previous brand from 2016 belonged to Swede Johanna Davidson in 38 days and 23 hours. The latter has already taken care of congratulating the Quebecer on the new record.
From Hercules Inlet to the South Pole
Having started her journey on December 9th in Hercules Inlet, the Montreal native will have accomplished the feat despite very difficult conditions.
“It’s windy and there’s a lot of snow, which makes it difficult for me to progress,” she confided at the beginning of the adventure.
Also on Tuesday evening, with only 14 km to go, Caroline Côté made the wise decision to pitch her tent for the night. In the bitter cold and at high altitude, she finally reached the South Pole the next day.
Its official time will be set shortly after the exact departure and arrival time. One can speak of 33 days and a few hours… The American company Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, which describes the expedition between Hercules Inlet and the South Pole as “the ultimate challenge”, carefully followed the progress from afar in Québec.
Greeted by her husband
Côté, also a filmmaker, will eventually share the images of her latest adventure, at the end of which she will become the first Quebecer to reach the South Pole solo and only the second Canadian after Ontarian Meagan McGrath.
When traveling alone, the Montreal native also counted on the support of technical director Vincent Colliard, who is also her husband. The latter, initially stationed in Punta Arenas (Chile) for the first few weeks, greeted him upon his arrival at the South Pole and at the same time served as a tour guide for a group in Antarctica from December 29.
Next stay in Paris
In addition to a new film to be produced, a podcast and conferences are on the agenda at Côté in the coming months.
After a brief return to Quebec, she also plans to fly to Paris to attend a festival screening a short version of the documentary The Last Glacier. The work, entitled Njord, summarizes Côté and Colliard’s crossing of Svalbard on skis in the middle of the polar night.