Nicolas Vanier

Nicolas Vanier (2013)

Nicolas Vanier (born May 5, 1962 in Dakar , Senegal ) is a French adventurer, writer and filmmaker . He has especially traveled to the far north.

Life and travel

Nicolas Vanier attended the Montargis agricultural high school . At the age of 20 he crossed Lapland on foot. The following year he was traveling in northern Québec , following in the footsteps of the Montagnais indigenous people . In 1986/87 Vanier and his team traveled 7000 kilometers through the areas of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska , from Wyoming to the Bering Strait . Means of transport were 12 horses , 24 huskies , a raft and two canoes . This adventure was captured in three films and in 1988 two books were created about it, "Le Triathlon historique" and "Solitude Nord".

The crossing of Siberia from south to north in a period of more than one and a half years took place in 1990/1991. It was 7000 kilometers through the tundra , from Mongolia to the Arctic Ocean , which he covered with the help of traditional means of transport (horses, dog sleds , reindeer , ponies and canoes). For this expedition there is the film “Au nord de l'hiver” ( In the north of winter ) and his book “Transsibérie, le mythe sauvage”. In 1993 Nicolas Vanier took part in the life of an Eveny nomad family in the Siberian Arctic . He tells this story in his book “La vie en nord”. In May 1994 his novel "Solitude blanche" was published. With his wife and eighteen-month-old daughter, Vanier traveled a year on horseback through the Rocky Mountains and the Yukon Territory in 1995 . Then they drove 1500 kilometers to Alaska in dog sleds. His book about "Das Schneekind" was published on December 20, 1995, the film about the journey on DVD.

In 1999 Robert Laffont Verlag published the book The White Odyssey about the journey through Northern Canada from Skagway in Alaska to Quebec with sled dogs (8600 kilometers) in less than a hundred days. Nicolas Vanier founded the organization "Les Fauteuils Glissants" (" the sliding chairs " - analogous to wheelchairs ) in 2000 , which enables the physically handicapped to drive dog sleds and prepare for the great dog sled race in Alaska. In the winter of 2003, Vanier began shooting his first fictional, feature-length film in Yukon, “ The Last Trapper, ” a production by MC4. He then published the children's picture book “ The Last Trapper ” and the illustrated book of the same name. In January 2005 he started The Great Odyssey (Grande Odyssée), a 1000-kilometer race through the Alps in which the best dog sled drivers in the world competed against each other. In 2009 his second feature film " Loup " (Eng. The Boy and the Wolf ) will be released, depicting the difficult coexistence of Siberian reindeer nomads and wolves and the return of humans to their natural traditions. Vanier now lives in Sologne .

Filmography (selection)

• 1987: "Caravane", "Rivières ouvertes" and "Partage des eaux"
• 1995: L'Enfant des Neiges
• 1999: L'Odysée Blanche
• 2004: The Last Trapper (Le Dernier Trappeur)
• 2008: The Boy and the Wolf (Loup)
• 2013: Belle & Sebastian (Belle et Sébastien)
• 2019: Paul and the School of Life (L'École buissonnière)

Publications

• With my dogs. 6000 kilometers through Siberia, China and Mongolia , Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-89029-464-3 .
• The snow child. A family on the road through the snowy desert of Canada , Piper, Munich 2001, ISBN 978-3-492-23720-8 .
• The white odyssey , Malik, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89029-170-8 .
• Adventure in the snow desert , Knesebeck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89660-238-1 .
• Gold under the snow , Malik, Munich 2005 ISBN 3-89029-305-0 .
• The son of the snow desert , Piper, ISBN 3-492-24012-7 .
• The white storm sequel from the snow desert , Piper, ISBN 3-492-24311-8 .
• Adventure Yukon Quest , Malik, November 2017, ISBN 978-3-89029-246-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Nicolas Vanier in the catalog of the German National Library
• Nicolas Vanier in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• official website