ARKTIKA 2.0 – Alexia Elkaim

There are only two things which can warm you up, in the chill of the Arktika Camp, in northern Finland: the onion soup of grandmother Litmanen, and love.

Although I’d like to think of the first option as true, I’m not entirely sure, as I made that part up, but of the second part I have direct testimony, from my direct correspondence with Gilles Elkaim himself.

Gilles spent 30 (thirty!), traveling in the arctic region of the world alone, with only his dogs as companions (but this is a different kind of love). He had not yet encountered a person mad enough to adopt his type of lifestyle, and he had no intention of stopping and giving up to his adventures.

Until one day, a girl named Alexia arrived at the Arktika Camp, among the tourists who were paying to spend a week of adventure, including tours of the area, snowy landscapes and races with the sled dogs. Despite the temperature being 30 degrees below zero, Alexia had an absolute ball.

Once back home, she felt the need to go back, and she did, twice, working as a handler, taking care of Gilles’ dogs while his work took him hundreds of kilometers away.

“She fell in love first with my dogs, then when I was back she fell in love with me and so did I.”

At twenty, Alexia seemed well grounded, so Gilles asked her to marry him. Thus, Gilles’ next journey, the one we are about to narrate to you, will no longer be a solitary adventure, but in sweet company of his wife Alexia.

The age difference, an adventurous life in extreme conditions, remoteness from everything and everyone... are these problems for a relationship? Gilles replies:

“We are simply happy in the nature with our dogs.”