Dominick Arduin

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Dominick Arduin (1961-2004) was a Frenchwoman who disappeared in her attempt to ski to the North Pole.

In 1988 Arduin moved to Finland. For 15 years she worked as a guide in Finnish Lapland and received dual citizenship. She said that she had grown up in the Alps, that she had been orphaned at an early age, had recovered from cancer and had been the only child aside from a dead sister.

Arduin reached the Magnetic North Pole in the spring 2001. She was rescued after the first failed attempt to reach the geographic North Pole in 2003. Most of her toes had to be amputated due to frostbite.

On March 6, 2004 Arduin begun her second attempt to become the first woman to ski alone to the North Pole. She set out from Cape Arctichesky in Siberia. She lost contact after two days of travel. A helicopter search failed to find any trace of her though they recovered another traveler, Frederic Chamard-Boudet. Search ended March 21. She most probably drowned when trying to row over a gap in the ice field.

After her disappearance, there have been claims that she could have staged her death or intentionally committed suicide. One of the reasons is Finnish writer Sven Pahajoki who decided to investigate her past in order to write a book about her. He found out that she had actually lived in Paris as a child, her parents had died a decade later in different circumstances, she had not had cancer and she had a brother. According to him, Arduin's uncle had said that she might have faked her disappearance to start anew.