This morning, while I was still tucked in my sleeping bag with the tent's ceiling dangling mere inches above my nose, I'm able to confirm that Alain is weird.  After a raucous night of wind flapping the walls of our collapsed tent--sounding much like a bad drummer--Alain tells me that he slept like a baby.  That it had been his best night yet! 

While I'm still processing this absurd comment, he tells me that he has to turn on his phone--that he's expecting a call from Albert.  Albert, I will soon find out, is the Prince of Monaco.  He's also a friend of Alain's who happens to also be in Greenland at the moment.  Alain and Prince Albert share the same passion for defending the polar environment.  Prince Albert has visited the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the world's first zero emission research station, which Alain and his colleagues at the International Polar Foundation have built.  And the Prince is also heavily involved with the Aspen Institute's Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change.  This Commission is working to address three objectives:

1. Examine the implications of impending climate changes for the Arctic, its peoples and resources — with particular attention paid to the marine envi­ronment — and the related impacts on the global community.
2. Assess the adequacy of current multilateral ar­rangements, as well as the most current scientific understanding of Arctic systems, in support of a goal to affirmatively balance and sustainably man­age social, environmental, and economic impacts in the region related to climate change.
3. Make recommendations for greater international cooperation in regulating human activities affecting the Arctic region and marine environment.

After Alain wraps up his call and the wind dies, we extract ourselves from the tent and find that a beautiful day has replaced the dreaded winds.  We take advantage of the good conditions and favorable terrain--we're skiing slightly downhill, and we cover 33 kilometers in 10 hours.  Towards the end of the day, we see some rocky mountains on the horizon.  Any feature on the landscape is a welcome change, and we get an exhilarated feeling probably similar to that of a sailor seeing land after weeks at sea.