Tethys, the epic of a return to our roots
The adventure
A crossing of the Alpine arc, hiking and swimming
A few figures
⏱️ 112 days
3548 km
🏃🏻♂️ 3420 km hiking
🏊🏻♂️ 128 km swimming
From Ljubljana to Nice
🇸🇮🇦🇹🇮🇹🇨🇭🇱🇮🇫🇷🇲🇨
🏔️ 203 000 m of elevation gain
In semi-autonomy
🎒 18 to 28 kg of payload
💦 138 measurements and water samples taken from the peri-alpine lakes and their main tributary
All transit routes, both outbound (Annecy-Ljubljana) and return (Nice-Annecy), were conducted by train or bus depending on the sections, with a focus on minimizing the carbon footprint of the project.
I am currently finishing gathering a multitude of unpublished data about the journey, information rarely highlighted in adventure stories. As a scientist, I was keen to compile them in order to offer innovative and unique graphic visuals on the experience. To be discovered very soon!
The visual of the actual route of the odyssey is being updated.
A few links
You will find the route of the Tethys adventure here:
Extending the metaphor of the
climate challenge
Climate change, scientifically established for decades, bears the imprint of total anthropogenic responsibility. Awareness is growing, faltering but real. Planning is taking shape and taking form, projections are becoming more refined and precise, but the actions, those that could mitigate this upheaval and prepare us for it, remain dramatically insufficient. Paradoxically, it is as difficult to fully appreciate the efforts that need to be undertaken as it is to imagine that they are within our reach. And yet, they are. But on one condition: total commitment, both individual and collective. We are still far from this commitment. The momentum towards action is hampered by the absence of stories that inspire and mobilize, these powerful imaginations, but which are sorely lacking today. So, instead of losing ourselves in speeches full of promises and drifting in troubled waters laden with doubt, why not take up a challenge that could reflect the one imposed on us by the climate? It is in this spirit that the Tethys adventure was born: a living metaphor, a story designed to bear witness to the magnitude of the climate challenge. I invite you here to revisit the founding ingredients of this adventure, these foundations that shaped my way of conceiving Tethys, so that the metaphor becomes tangible: a race against time, against ourselves; a dive into the heart of the efforts to be undertaken, into our physical and mental entrails.
The leap into the unknown, between doubts and anxiety
The climate challenge
Responding to climate change with mitigation and adaptation issues.
The Tethys adventure
Crossing the Alps hiking, swimming and semi-autonomously.
The founding ambition, between responsibility and transparency
A global commitment
The Paris Agreements aim to limit global warming to well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, while continuing efforts not to exceed 1.5°C. This commitment, although non-binding, is based on the desire to set targets and achieve them, with the need for monitoring. From this commitment comes responsibility and a duty of transparency.
An oral and public commitment
By sharing this challenge with my loved ones, by actually launching a documentary film project, and then by discussing the project in the media, I committed to crossing the Alps hiking and swimming, semi-autonomously. Although none of this is binding, this promise, which is almost like a bet, actually draws a responsibility. Furthermore, the desire to provide follow-up during the adventure responds to a duty of transparency.
Colossal objectives, between planning and apprehension
Drastically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions
Climate change mitigation goals require a drastic reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions. The three main gases concerned are, in order: carbon dioxide (mainly from the combustion of oil, gas and coal, as well as from cement manufacturing and land use change), methane (associated with ruminant farming, organic waste management, leaks during oil and gas extraction and transport, and wetlands) and nitrous oxide (associated with agriculture, including the use of nitrogen fertilisers, the chemical industry, biomass combustion and the use of internal combustion engines).
Explore the Alps in all their breadth
To cross the Alps hiking and swimming, it is necessary to establish an itinerary that specifies the key figures of the journey and the physical objectives to be achieved. Three objectives have been established to symbolize, through physical efforts, the efforts to drastically reduce emissions of the three main greenhouse gases responsible for climate change: 3,270 km on foot to represent the efforts to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions, 193,000 m of positive elevation gain for the efforts associated with methane, and 160 km by swimming for those associated with nitrous oxide.
A near horizon, between uncertainty and vulnerability
An imminent deadline
Meeting the Paris Agreements imposes a time constraint on our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, as each increment of greenhouse gas emissions leads to an increase in global warming. France’s goal, for example, is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 to align with the ambitions of the Paris Agreements.
A race against time
Setting a duration for the adventure, 112 days, materializes a time constraint. This number resonates with the European emergency number, symbolizing the climate emergency. In reality, after these 112 days, it is as if we were making an appointment in 2050 to evaluate the efforts actually made. Any downward reassessment of the physical objectives at the end of the journey would reflect insufficient efforts to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, thus leading to an increase in warming compared to the objectives of the Paris Agreements.
All this is what I imagined before leaving, so that the Tethys adventure would immerse me in this reality. In truth, countless bridges can be woven between the climate challenge and this epic. This is the whole objective of knitting valorization projects, such as the documentary film and the graphic story, which make it possible to create a common thread to fully exploit the potential of the metaphorical ball and share the extent of the project's messages.
"Alban's ambitious project carries many beautiful sporting values, and the physical training required to succeed in his endeavor will be significant. His determination appears unwavering, and he will need to rely on that to complete his crossing of the Alpine arc. I send him all my encouragement and will follow his progress with great interest. Strength to you!"
Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz,
World's best ultra-trailer in 2023