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No rest for Dominick

Oct 14, 2004 00: 23 EST
A Finnish journalist has published a book questioning Dominick's death. "There is a strong possibility that Dominick Arduin is still alive," says he and his research friend.

"She studied the language"

"First of all, there were no traces found after her, and if not a normal suicide it was a social suicide," he told AFP.
"For over a year before she left for Russia she studied the language quite intensively, and she could now be living there close to where she disappeared. She also had some contact with people living there before she left," he added.

"She had Financial problems"

"It was quite suitable for her to disappear at the time, because she had financial problems and was not getting money from her sponsors," he added. "She was a person that lived in a kind of fairytale," he also quoted Arduin's relatives as saying that she had a history of disappearing for months when she was younger, while her friends branded her as a "storyteller" about her past and life.

Rumors from the ice

ExplorersWeb have received some upset mails over this book already. For some reason, the girl was surrounded by this kind of rumors lately. After her disappearance, a mail from some of the polar trekkers was sent to us from the ice. The mail stated she had lied about her parents being dead, and about her being a cancer survivor.

Friends dumbfounded and disgusted

We checked with her brother and friends: The brother confirmed that the parents were indeed dead, and friends confirmed her cancer history. Her family and friends were also dumbfounded and disgusted by the accusations in the midst of a frantic search for the Arctic explorer.

Damage repair media tour

After Dominick’s disappearance, her polar outfitters were slow to conduct a full search due to "lack of funds". When ExWeb, the Finish community, parts of the Polar community and Dominick’s friends raised the money, the outfitters still refused to take on the search.

The mission went instead straight to the Russian logistics providers, while the Polar outfitters went on a damage repair media tour to Finland. Shortly after, negative rumors about Dominick began to appear in the Finnish papers.

"I want a real expedition"

"I want a real expedition, not this %^&* bullshit," said Dominick after she had been airlifted with the other teams 36 nautical miles towards the pole. She came back with the plane to the proper starting point - the coast of Russia.

An avid canoeist living in Arctic Finland, Dominick brought 10 kg of snow with her for fresh water, a canoe and a dry suit. The next day, a full moon rose. Several North Pole teams reported issues with their ARGOS positioning beacon. Dominick's beacon transmitted only faint signals. The full moon and an approaching storm both set the Arctic Ocean in motion, breaking up the ice with the pans colliding in a dark, cold torrent.

Another narrowly escaped death

Another Polar trekker who tried to start out from the coast - Frédéric Chamard-Boudet - narrowly escaped death. Skiing a section of thin ice without his survival suit on (the suit slows the skier down) the ice broke and Frederic fell into the water.

The skier spent 4 minutes in the freezing ocean before being able to haul himself up amidst the thin ice. Having lost his skies in the fall, Frederic managed to remain a float and escape death on his sledge. Frostbite had already affected his hands and feet. At 5h47 (UTC), Frederic sent off his distress signal requesting a helicopter rescue. The Russians managed to the rescue Frederic early next morning.

Tracks disappearing into ice rubble

While searching for Frederic, the Russians also made a detour to Dominick's last known GPS position. They found tracks disappearing into ice rubble. A frantic race against time took place to raise funds and organize a thourough search for her. But it was too late and Dominick was lost to the Arctic Ocean.

Slander without a trace of proof

All rumors aside, without a slightest grain of factual proof of her survival, the journalist’s book is at this point nothing less than a dirty attempt to make a buck on evil slander.

Five expeditions set out for a North Pole expedition this year, all from the Russian side. Wave Vidmar to be the first American to ski solo and unsupported to the North Pole. Frédéric Chamard-Boudet to do the same for France. British Ben Saunders attempted a first solo, unsupported crossing. Danish/French duo Bettina Aller and Jean Gabriel Leynaud skied to the pole with support and French/Finnish woman Dominick Arduin attempted the first solo, supported female North Pole trek. None of the expeditions completed, and one perished.

The teams came out late and a big open water lead just off the starting point posed the first immediate problem. Two solo skiers, French/Finnish woman Dominick and Frenchman Frederic decided to ski/paddle across the huge, 55 km semi open water area, in an attempt for a clean North Pole expedition (which must start from land).

Three of the five expeditions instead took a helicopter across the opening; British Ben Saunders, American Wave Vidmar, and the Danish Bettina/Jean-Gabriel duo all opted to airlift over the 50 kms of open water off Cape Arkticheskiy’s coast.

An avid canoeist living in Arctic Finland, Dominick brought 10 kg of snow with her for fresh water, a canoe and a dry suit. The other expedition, Frederic, decided to try to ski around the lead. For the next three days, Frederic made excellent distance, 18 km, reaching latitude 81°18 after two and a half days.

The next day, a full moon rose. A full moon causes tidal changes forcing the Arctic sea ice in motion and breaking it up. The full moon's impact is most violent near the coast, and the danger time zone, peaking at its full phase, in fact stretches from a few days before to a few days after. The full moon could well have contributed to the sinking of a Scientific Arctic base at that time.

Several North Pole teams reported issues with their ARGOS positioning beacon. Dominick's beacon transmitted only faint signals.

The full moon and an approaching storm both set the Arctic Ocean in motion, breaking up the ice with the pans colliding in a dark, cold torrent.

Frederic narrowly escaped death. Skiing a section of thin ice without his survival suit on (the suit slows the skier down) the ice broke and Frederic fell into the water. The skier spent 4 minutes in the freezing ocean before being able to haul himself up amidst the thin ice.

Having lost his skies in the fall, Frederic managed to remain a float and escape death on his sledge. Frostbite had already affected his hands and feet. At 5h47 (UTC), Frederic sent off his distress signal requesting a helicopter rescue. The Russians managed to the rescue Frederic early next morning.

Somewhere, in the midst of it all, was a brave, little French/Finnish girl who refused to compromise her goals. A frantic search for her was organized by ExplorersWeb and the Finish community. But Dominick was lost to the Arctic Ocean.

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