Prince Albert II meets Mike Horn near the South Pole

Published on 14.01.2009 - General Info

Summit meeting at the South Pole between Prince Albert of Monaco and some of the big names in polar exploration, including Mike Horn and Borge Ousland.

It was to mark the end of the International Polar Year and support the efforts being made by his Foundation that H.R.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco decided to spend a few days in Antarctica. There are three main aims to his 'Antarctic Mission 2009':

To make world public opinion aware of the dangers of climate warming and to encourage people to cut their greenhouse gas emissions,
To promote scientific research in polar regions by supporting the men and women who work there.
To reiterate article 2 of the additional Madrid protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into effect on 14th January 1998 and which states: "the Antarctic is a natural reserve dedicated to peace and science".

After spending three days on King George Island, the Prince and his team of scientists arrived at Patriot Hills on 10th January. The group set out the following day by Twin Otter for a polar odyssey lasting several days that would take the Prince and his entourage across two major areas of the frozen continent (west and east), dropping in at 26 permanent bases (amongst them our Princess Elizabeth Zero Emission Station) that the Prince had decided to visit. We know of course that he was due to stop off at Amundsen Scott and would visit Dome C at Concordia along the way. Other stopovers included the Australia Davis station, as well as Russia's Novolazarevskaia base in Queen Maud Land.

Prince Albert is not the only person seeking to focus everyone's attention on the importance of protecting the polar regions and taking a greater overall interest in protecting the environment as this International Polar Year draws to a close. Also in Antarctica is South African explorer, Mike Horn, who has just launched a major awareness project aimed at young people. This new initiative, the Pangea Project, is scheduled to last for four years and we will doubtless have the opportunity to talk about it further at a later stage.

After setting out from Patriot Hills over forty days ago, Mike Horn currently has the Pole in his sights and it is from here that he has decided to have two youngsters selected by his project (Clèmence Cadario and Nicolas Valdivieso), come and join him for the final few days of his trek. They will be accompanied by the famous Norwegian explorer, Borge Ousland.

When Mike told Prince Albert about his Pangea Project, the two men immediately agreed to meet one another on the icecap close to the Pole. This will give the Prince an opportunity to learn more about travelling in the polar regions as he immerses himself in the environment that he has pledged to protect at all cost.

As a result, the ALE Twin Otter carrying some of the members of the sovereign's team, landed alongside Mike Horn's camp on 12th January at 7 pm, Argentinean time. "If you only knew how good it was to see that plane," said Mike to the Prince in his powerful accent, "and to see you and the others. I've been out here for 42 days on my own. It's big, it's white and sometimes it's very monotonous ÂÂÂÃâ which tends to get you brooding..."

They stayed together two days (with Borge Ousland and the two young ones) and walked anout 20 kilometers on the ice. Then the Prince flew to the american base Amundsen Scott Station before heading to McMurdo, few hours later and continuing his voyage towards Eastern Antarctica.