Ice swimming in the Arctic Circle

After a bet with her husband, Faustine Fourré Avramidis started ice swimming and then fell in love with it. Since taking an icy plunge, she has discovered a community of ice swimmers across the globe and met a local community, Riviera Penguins, in France where she lives. She has since been to Svalbard, Norway, which is where this story begins…

There are so many things to keep you awake at night before a trip north of the Arctic Circle; for me it was about physical and mental preparation.

How do you train your body efficiently to handle temperatures that would make any penguin shiver while the sea temperature in Nice, France, is still flirting with a high 20ºC? Each of us had set ambitious distance objectives ranging from a kilometre to a mile in the Arctic waters. Our anxiety was about both the ability to swim our chosen distance and being able to recover easily after getting out of the water. Warming your body back up after a dip in freezing water is no easy task and it is an important step of the performance to not underestimate. As well as this, we had uncertainty around the water temperature. Previous swimmers had measured a temperature of -2ºC at the same time of the year.

Mentally, I was thinking about what to do if a polar bear heads in my direction while I’m swimming. As all the expedition guides in Svalbard will inform you, there’s no leaving town without a hunting rifle. Accidents have happened and they don’t want more. The walruses should not be forgotten either. While they won’t eat you, a one-ton creature playing with you isn’t ideal.

Fantasy vs reality

Our group of five French swimmers landed into Longyearbyen, the northernmost populated city in the world this June. Picture this, a lunar landscape in black and white, a chilling wind, and not a tree in sight. It’s as if we went back in time before colour-television was invented. It was unsettling, but we were also ecstatic and knew it was just the start. After checking in, we rented some bikes to visit our different swim spots to decide on the final one.

The first spot was a disaster: a windy, muddy nightmare with strong currents and a lengthy walk of 100 meters through knee-deep water just to reach the swimming depth. It was quickly discarded.

Our second option right outside the harbour wasn’t any better, it wouldn’t accommodate the weather forecast prediction.

Our third and final spot was reached after a nice calm bike ride on a flat road along the sea, facing the black and white mountains. It lays protected from the winds, with practical stands on the beach, a small private harbour protecting the peaceful area with its dike. We put on our swimsuits and tried the waters straight away: after 10m of sea-walking we could swim in a freezing, crystal-clear, black, calm water. It’s a go for all of us!

The swim(s)

On the big day, you could feel the tension in the air. We were each bound to our race morning routine: when to wake up, what to eat. We reached the beach by bike, which ended up being a great warmup-up session! There was almost no talking this time: we were all focused on our swim. We measured the temperature: 2ºC.

My heat was about to start when the local police roll in. Not what you want before a swim, but we had all our required documents in order (Governor & harbour authorisations, mandatory riffle) and were cleared to start.

Our organiser rang the starting bell, and I quickly realised that the most dramatic part of my swim would not be the cold but an encounter with jellyfish as I saw the first one after only 70 meters. I’m allergic to them and I had learned to fear them more than the polar bears. I had to focus on them during my whole session; the other harsh conditions then became secondary. I finished my 1,000m objective in 20 minutes. I was cold but not dramatically frozen, so recovery was quick and went very well in the heating tent set up on the beach.

For the second heat: the first-heat swimmers became the chaperons and vice-versa. Everything went great and we all rode back to the hotel exhausted but proud of what we accomplished! The big challenge we had been thinking about non-stop for the last three months was completed at last.

After a good night’s sleep, we headed on another adventure: a private boat trip to the glaciers to swim amongst the icebergs. The stark beauty of the Arctic environment was truly breathtaking, and that swim was nothing less than magical. The sun was back and the contrast of vibrant colours against the icy blues and whites was an unforgettable sight, with 40-metre high glaciers in the background. I even got to swim next to a (small) turning iceberg that disclosed its magical blue face.

Our encounter with the Arctic scenery made us realise firsthand the urgency of the climate change situation. It was hard to imagine how thick ice once covered the 30km between the glaciers and the town every winter; now it only runs 1km from the glaciers. Longyearbyen has experienced a 8ºC winter temperature increase in 40 years. The poles are heavily hit by climate change and their whole ecosystem is at risk. Our planet is fragile, and we all need to act now.

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