Etienne : he has landed this morning in North Siberia

Published on 10.04.2010 - Generali Arctic Observer

The trajectory of the balloon

Jean-Louis Etienne landed gently this morning in Siberian territory, 200 km north of Batagaï, a city known for its weather station.

It was 7:40 am (HF) this Saturday morning when Etienne's balloon landed in Siberia, 280 km north of the Russian city of Batagaï, with a 2 km/ph wind. These ideal conditions allowed him to land vertically with his rozière. The only difficulty met by the doctor-explorer is now to deflate his enormous balloon, which offers an immense grip to the wind and weighs about 350 kg.

Etienne has just achieved a successful first crossing of the Arctic ocean, after 121h30 hours (5 days and 1h30) and 3130 km crossed between Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) and his landing area in Siberia. All in all, he has covered a distance of 3631 km.

The previous comparable attempt was made by a British citizen, David Hempleman-Adams, in 2002. After a take-off in Spitsbergen, he flew over the North pole before returning to Spitsbergen. By crossing the Arctic ocean, Jean-Louis Etienne has established a first reference time for such a distance in balloon above the Arctic ocean.

Waiting to be picked up

Back on land, Jean-Louis Etienne is now waiting for his technical team, blocked for administrative reasons to Yakutsk, a town located approximately 600 km of Batagay. Etienne has all what he should need to wait: food, gas to cook, heating, books and even a knife to protect itself from the numerous wolves inhabiting the region.