I decided to set up a Foundation whose purpose is to protect the environment and to encourage sustainable development (...). By definition, this is a common global challenge that requires urgent and concrete action in response to three major environmental issues: climate change, biodiversity and water.

H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco

8.30 hrs, we board a Basler BT 67 which takes off for the Russian base, Vostok, a two-hour journey from Concordia to the west of the Pole.

It’s an adventure within an adventure: this scientific research centre is the most isolated in the entire continent. The lowest temperature on Earth was recorded in Vostok: minus 89.2° on 21st July 1983. The spot has the reputation of being the worst place on Earth for man. However, you never get ill here apparently - germs are unable to survive.

But Vostok is first and foremost a place for international cooperation where French, American and British researchers work together on a regular basis. Since 1957, ice samples have been taken from here that are sent throughout the world for analysis. For a long time, Vostok held the record for the oldest piece of ice ever removed: 400 000 years old.

We enter the station walking through a labyrinth of passage ways shovelled and sawed out in the snow.

The snow has accumulated over time and the buildings are now situated four metres below the ice. After passing through three heavy wooden doors which insulate the inside from the cold, we arrive.

We begin the tour in the room where the ice cores are collected. The drilling equipment is antediluvian.

Nonetheless it works perfectly well as Professor Vassiliev Nikolay from the Saint Petersburg School of Mining Engineering demonstrates. He laughs about his situation: that of a professor teaching in one of the most important establishments of his country who must also play the role of a mechanic with hands stained black with oil in order to get the ice samples.

Once the ice core has been removed, the details are taken down (date of removal, depth...) and stored in a room that has been dug out at an even greater depth.

The temperature there is minus fifty. The ice cores are carefully labelled and placed in line on wooden shelves. Part of the 41 years of work carried out in Vostok is stored here. Many samples are sent to dozens of laboratories in an attempt to uncover the mysteries of evolution.

The work has been continued on a more intensive basis since 1996

Scientists have discovered a lake 4 000 metres below the station. Liquid potentially is synonymous with life. Bacteria have already been found. Although they don't come directly from the lake, it's a beginning.

Three hours later, we leave Vostok full of admiration for the men, whose work despite the difficult conditions and very few resources, enables research to move forward.