Ten days, alone, in the Far North, near polar bears, the new exploit of an adventurer from Lille

Six peaks, three glaciers, not far from polar bears and despite frostbite. This is the feat that Lucas Van Den Hende achieved in ten days during his expedition to Svalbard, the northernmost inhabited land in the world. Story of the adventurer from Wambrechies, near Lille, who is not his first attempt.

He had already made headlines in 2023 via his oxygen-free ascent of 6,119 meters in the Himalayas. Lucas Van Den Hende does it again with a new feat. For ten days, from April 28 to May 8, 2024, the adventurer climbed within a perimeter of around twenty kilometers around his refuge in Longyearbyen, on the island of Svalbard, six “small” peaks of 1,500 meters, three glaciers, a plateau and a cave. All this, not far from polar bears and snow foxes. Interview.

After your adventure in the Himalayas in 2023 and the ascent of 6119 meters, you surprised us with this expedition…

These are less technical summits which rise to 1500 meters. We are not in high altitude conditions with the lack of oxygen, but on the other hand the techniques are quite close since there is a lot of snow and it is quite cold, -5°, but the temperatures felt may be much less.

I was looking for another adventure that was out of the ordinary, like training, with conditions similar to high altitude. The difference this time was that I was completely alone. And then I found it quite fun to go and see the northernmost mountains in the world. You have to imagine the context: 3,000 polar bears, 2,000 inhabitants, mostly scientists.

You're talking about training. For what?

My ultimate goal would be to achieve an 8,000 without oxygen. Afterwards, there are a lot of peaks before you get there. I think that this year or next year, I will attempt Peak Lenin in Kyrgyzstan, 7,134 meters, to enter the league of very, very high peaks.

What was your daily life like in Svalbard?

I left the shelter early enough to walk and climb. It was special because I could do it all day since the sun didn't set at that time of year. As a result, I sometimes came home at 10 p.m. from an expedition and the brightness was like noon. I was sick one day with a fever, a sore throat, I think, which got worse. I bathed in the early morning near the refuge and it lowered my body temperature.

Otherwise, I mostly ate freeze-dried food. After returning to the shelter and doing it again. I was planning to do three summits, but having done two in three days, I ended up being more greedy than expected. Overall, it was physical, I must have lost 7 or 8 kilos in 10 days.

How did you protect yourself from polar bears?

With a gun. I took shooting lessons in Belgium, I struggled to get permits to bring my rifle to Svalbard, but fortunately I didn't need to use it. I came across bear tracks and reindeer carcasses, too. But not a bear cross. At one point, I would have liked to, but once there, I quickly abandoned this idea… We are still talking about a man-hunting animal.

Other risks?

I had a Recco beacon in case of an avalanche. It was a real danger. Global warming is causing more and more of them. Svalbard is warming 7 times faster than normal. And in terms of conditions, it was pretty terrible. When I arrived, it was -5° instead of -25°, I felt around -20°, but the conditions were very uncertain. In the ice caves, we also realize that the layers decrease from year to year. The lines formed each season are closer and closer together.

Does life seem dull when you return?

Yes, a little! There is always a moment when we come back where we are still there and where we take even longer to realize. With the Himalayas, I was more euphoric when I returned, because it was a childhood dream. There, the Arctic, it took me longer to move on to something else, it was more personal.

For a long time, I didn't really know what to say about it. It was complicated, I was still there. So of course, it's not an 8,000, but the adventure was just as crazy. I was perhaps even more afraid in the Arctic, with this very particular climate of solitude.

Psychologically, what does mountaineering give you and why do you climb?

Do I really have the answer? It's a bit like falling in love, it can't be explained and that's good too. There has been a fascination with the mountains since I was a child. I think there is also something very exciting about being afraid, about stressing out beforehand. We think, there is an adrenaline rush.

We try to control our emotions to stay focused and we learn things about ourselves. There is also an attraction for surpassing oneself and the mountains. Finding yourself on a land where there is no life apart from polar bears and snow foxes, getting lost all alone on this other planet… It was an incredible adventure.