Expedition News

PLANE CRASH SITE REVEALS NEW

WWII PLANE DISCOVERY IN GREENLAND

New data about the location of the wreckage of a J2F-4 Grumman Duck airplane carrying three military flyers, which crashed on the ice sheet of Greenland in Nov. 29, 1942, has led researchers to believe the plane is located in a small and specific area which can be excavated this spring.

The Fallen American Veterans Foundation (FAVF) and mission leader Lou Sapienza says a newly discovered account of a visual sighting of the plane in 1962 on the Køge Bugt ice sheet surface, combined with surveys made by NASA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research Engineering Lab (CRREL), and reviewed by the FAVF Remote-Sensing Board, is the best evidence of the exact location of the plane and the remains of Lt. John Pritchard (USCG), Radioman First Class Benjamin Bottoms (USCG) and Corporal Loren Howarth (USAAF).

Last flight - Lt. John Pritchard (front seat) (USCG) and Radioman 1st Class Benjamin Bottoms (USCG) readying for its final flight en route to downed B-17 crew. Lt. Pritchard would be the first pilot to ever land an amphibious biplane on its pontoon on a glacier. (Photo by Howard S. Gammill, Photographer's Mate 3rd Class U.S.N.R)

"This is a critical piece of specific, credible and scientifically accurate information and further proof that we know exactly where these three men are," said Sapienza of Rockport, Maine. "We are committed to working with United States Coast Guard and the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to getting our team back on the Greenland ice in spring 2019 and bring these men home to their families."

The FAVF Remote-Sensing Board includes scientists from the Ohio University Byrd Polar Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Glacier Dynamics and Remote Sensing Group, the University of Iceland, among other academic and private industry experts.

The Fallen American Veterans Foundation, Inc., advocates for surviving families of the 83,000 U.S. Military Personnel Missing In Action (MIA) since WWII through advocacy and proposed legislation and lobbying.

For more information: www.favf.uswww.favf.us

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SWEDEN'S SVEN HEDIN

Sven Hedin (1865 - 1952) was a famous Swedish explorer and one of the very first honorary members of The Explorers Club - elected before 1910. By simple course and distance measurements, he alone explored and mapped larger areas overland than any other person in history. In total he spent almost 20 years in the field filling out the blank spots on the map of Central Asia.

Hedin's autobiography, My Life as an Explorer (Asian Educational Services, 1996), was marketed by his New York publisher in 1925 as "the greatest story of exploration and adventure by the greatest explorer of them all." In 2001, National Geographic Adventure selected the book as one of the world's 100 greatest adventure books of all time.

Sven Hedin dressed for success in 1906 (photo courtesy of The Sven Hedin Foundation)

"Although Hedin was once an international celebrity and a national hero in Sweden, his strong support for Germany, throughout both World Wars, made him deliberately disappear from our collective memory and today he has been largely forgotten by the general public, even in Sweden," writes Lars Larsson.

Larsson is an explorer from Are, Sweden, who in 2013 was funded by National Geographic to depart on the first of a series of expeditions to Asia in Sven Hedin's footsteps to raise awareness and knowledge about environmental and climate change, as well as increase the knowledge about Sven Hedin's role in the history of exploration.

Larsson's main objective is to study and document how the natural and cultural landscape has changed in the locations Hedin visited more than 100 years ago. His main method is repeat photography, taking advantage of Hedin's vast photographic collections, consisting of thousands of images, held at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm.

Lars Larsson (photo courtesy Peder Lundqvist)

Larsson hopes to retrace all of Sven Hedin's expeditions carried out between 1885 and 1935, an epic journey that will take him up snow-clad mountains, down wild rivers and through the burning deserts of Central Asia. So far, six years into the project, he has done five trips - three to Iran, one to the Caucasus and one to the Pamirs, the latter spanning the countries of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Xinjiang, China.

What was originally conceived as a five-year project has become an open ended and potentially life-spanning mission. Larsson is focused on journeying to Tibet within two years, Hedin's main staging area. Beforehand, he tells EN,"I will probably do a couple of easier trips in between, such as traveling from Tehran in Iran to Karakol in Kyrgyzstan, passing through the big cities in Central Asia. That is a trip Hedin did in 1890-91."

Besides his focus on Central Asia, Larsson is also an expert whitewater kayaker, a former Swedish champion, member of the National Swedish Team for ten years, and a pioneer of over 40 whitewater first descents in Scandinavia.

For more information: lars@utforskaren.com.

Learn more about the project at http://svenhedin.comhttp://svenhedin.com

EXPEDITION NOTES

American paleontologist and geologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara

Dr. Kenneth Lacovara Wins The Explorers Medal

The Explorers Club announced this week that Dr. Kenneth Lacovara FN'03 is the 2019 recipient of its highest honor, The Explorers Club Medal. Awarded for extraordinary contributions directly in the field of exploration, scientific research, or to the welfare of humanity, he joins a renowned legacy including Adm. Robert E. Peary (1914), Roy Chapman Andrews (1932), Auguste Piccard (1954), President Herbert Hoover (1961), the crew of Apollo 11 (1971), Sir Edmund Hillary (1986), Mary Leakey (1989), Jane Goodall (1993), James Cameron (2013), and many more.

Dr. Lacovara has unearthed some of the largest dinosaurs ever to walk the planet, including the super-massive Dreadnoughtus, which at 65 tons weighs more than seven T. rex.

He is founding Director of the Edelman Fossil Park of Rowan University in New Jersey. In the depths of its quarry, Lacovara and his team are uncovering thousands of fossils that provide an unprecedented view of the last pivotal, calamitous moments of the dinosaurs.

He will be honored at the 115th Explorers Club Annual Dinner, at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square on Saturday, March 16. For ticket information: www.explorers.orgwww.explorers.org

Molecular Frontiers Journal Announces "Solutions for Planet Earth" Awards

Earlier this month, World Scientific announced the Molecular Frontiers Journal Award inviting students who are excited about helping the planet to get creative and submit proposals that identify opportunities and challenges for future earth and to come up with solutions for these.

The competition is open to high school students from around the world ages 13 to 18. The top three entries selected by a scientific committee will receive a cash award and certificate. The submissions will also be highlighted on the Molecular Frontiers Journal page and the winners will be invited to produce an article for the digital open access publication. Deadline for submission is Feb. 28, 2019.

For more information:

Dr. Lorie Karnath, lkarnath@yahoo.com, https://www.planetearthsymposium.org/submissions/https://www.planetearthsymposium.org/submissions/

FEATS

Ben Lecomte witnessed extensive plastic pollution during Pacific swim attempt.

Benoit Lecomte, 51, is a French-born long-distance swimmer (now a naturalized American citizen) who claimed to be the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean without a kick board in 1998.

Recently, he attempted to become the first person to swim the Pacific, departing June 5, 2018, from Choshi, Japan, in the Kanto region. After covering an arduous 1,500 nautical miles, the effort was abandoned in late November when a storm caused "irreparable" damage to the mainsail on his support boat. He had been trying to raise awareness of climate change and plastic pollution throughout the journey. It was not long after he reached the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a zone dominated by ocean plastic, that he was presented with typhoons and severe storms.

"I am very disappointed because I had not reached my mental and physical limits," he said in a statement. "I realized that the danger is not the shark, it's the plastic that we see every day that is there and that shouldn't be there."

Reportedly, he's continuing his mission with a new focus: documenting the extent of plastic pollution on Earth, starting with an expedition from Hawaii to California.

Sponsors include Lifeproof, Shotz, Tyr, and XPrize.

During his 73-day, 3,716-mile Atlantic swim 20 years ago, Lecomte was supported by a 40-foot sailboat that had an electromagnetic field to ward off sharks. He was accompanied by a crew of three aboard the sailboat, where he could rest and eat between each swimming period. Lecomte typically spent eight hours swimming each day in sessions of two to four hours.

Learn more about his attempt here: http://benlecomte.com

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."

- Mark Twain (1835-1910), real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer

MEDIA MATTERS

Mars Insight Lander (photo courtesy NASA)

Missions To Mars Have Experienced a High Failure Rate

NASA's Mars InSight probe finally made it to the red planet after a 300-million-mile journey lasting seven months. The spacecraft slammed into the Martian atmosphere at 12,300 mph late last month before settling on the Elysium Planitia, an extensive lava plain near the equator. The $814 million lander will use a sophisticated array of onboard instruments to study Mars' core, crust and mantle to help scientists learn more about how the planet was formed.

There's a reason they call the descent "seven minutes of terror," writes Statista data journalist Niall McCarthy on Forbes.com. "Given the price and amount of work put into the endeavor, all of that trepidation is understandable given the high failure rate of previous missions to Mars. Whether its landing a probe on the Martian surface, orbiting the planet or merely conducting a flyby, only 40% of previous trips have proven successful."

He reveals NASA has enjoyed considerable success with 16 missions succeeding out of 22. On the other hand, the USSR/Russia has seen 15 out of its 18 missions end in failure.

Read the story here: https://tinyurl.com/marsinsightterrorhttps://tinyurl.com/marsinsightterror

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques (illustration by Oriana Fenwick)

Packing for Space in a Shoebox

Engineer, astrophysicist, physician and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques of Montreal and Houston, tells Air Canada's Enroute in-flight magazine (December 2018) how he preps and packs for six months in space.

He tells writer Katie Underwood, "It's everything from athletics to Russian language training to learning to fly and using the Canadarm. And we have to learn all the emergency procedures of the space station and the rocket. All in all, it's like a mixture of getting a pilot's license, public speaking and training for a sports event."

Saint-Jacques continues, "Your suitcase is the size of a shoebox. You only need to bring personal effects, like a wedding ring, or mementos you want from Earth. Everything else, like toiletries, is standard issue. I'm bringing something to remind me of my children and my wife, and a Rubik's Cube that my parents gave me when I was a kid."

He and his two fellow crewmembers reached the ISS earlier this month, the first to be sent to the space station since a crewed Soyuz launch was aborted in October after a booster rocket failed to separate properly, crippling the rocket.

Read the interview here:

http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/david-saint-jacques-on-prepping-and-packing-for-six-months-in-spacehttp://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/david-saint-jacques-on-prepping-and-packing-for-six-months-in-space

Amundsen Biopic is Coming to a Theater Near You

SF Studios has unveiled the first teaser trailer for the upcoming biopic film Amundsen, profiling the life of iconic Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Amundsen is a legendary name in Scandinavia, however not many people from America seem to know about him. He was the first to reach the South Pole in 1911, and the first person to reach both the North and South Poles in 1926, along with many other daring accomplishments exploring the coldest places on Earth.

The film is the solo directing debut of Espen Sandberg, who previously co-directed Kon-Tiki and Dead Men Tell No Tales. It premieres Feb. 15, 2019.

See the teaser trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/amundsenteaserhttps://tinyurl.com/amundsenteaser

EXPEDITION FUNDING

Applications Accepted for AAC Research Grants

AAC Research Grants support scientific endeavors in mountains and crags around the world, funding projects that contribute vital knowledge of the climbing environment, enrich understanding of global climber impacts and support and improve the health and sustainability of mountain environments and habitats.

In addition to their relevance, applications are considered in terms of their scientific or technical quality and merit. The application period is now through January 15. AAC Research Grants are powered by the National Renewable Energy Lab and Ridgeline Venture Law, and supported by the Arthur K. Gilkey Memorial Fund and the Bedayn Research Fund.

Apply here:

https://theamericanalpineclub.formstack.com/forms/research_grants_2019https://theamericanalpineclub.formstack.com/forms/research_grants_2019

WEB WATCH

Lama bags first solo ascent of Lunag Ri

You Won't Believe This Footage of a First Solo Ascent of Nepal's Lunag Ri

We know that headline sounds like click-bait, but if there was an Oscar for best climbing footage, it would go to the video team behind this clip of Austrian alpinist David Lama's first solo ascent last October of the formidable Lunag Ri Massif (22,661-foot) in the Himalayas, on the border of Tibet and Nepal.

Lama climbed the beautiful, and terrifying, peak alone. This POV and drone footage captures the ascent beautifully. Lama honored Conrad Anker, his former climbing partner during a 2016 attempt, with total praise in a blog post on his site. Although only a little over three minutes, it had our heart racing and our frontal lobes firing.

See it here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOx1mAxEHKcfiOR6YGYxLQQhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOx1mAxEHKcfiOR6YGYxLQQ

EN's HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

To paraphrase the late Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, one cannot be too rich or too thin, or have too much outdoor gear. When it comes to cool gadgets or kit that can be used on an expedition or adventure, too much is never enough.

For that special adventurer or explorer in your life, we respectfully suggest a few must-haves for under the tree this holiday period. While it's too late for Hanukkah, these are all ideal choices for Christmas, Kwanzaa or even Chrismukkah and Festivus (yes, those are a thing).

Christie's Head of Handbags & Accessories Matthew Rubinger with the Louis Vuitton trunk.

* Louie's Aluminium Explorer Trunk

Designed for intrepid explorers, this historic travel trunk could become the most valuable trunk in history. Louis Vuitton produced just a handful of these aluminium trunks - designed for the most intrepid of explorers - in a single year: 1892. Today, only two examples are known to exist.

One is in the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. The other is this one, offered in Christie's Handbags & Accessories auction. In addition to filing patents for special hinges and clasps, Vuitton was the first to make a flat-top trunk that could be stacked. (Prior to this, trunks were made with curved lids.)

Pricey, yes. Your recipient can use it to store the flotsam and jetsam of their entire expedition - in fact, the whole schmegegge - including that expedition underwear they wore so many days their chest hair grew through the fabric (hey, it happens). Estimated auction price: £50,000-100,000. (https://tinyurl.com/explorertrunkhttps://tinyurl.com/explorertrunk)

Smile! You're on Canine Camera.

Go Fetch

This harness puts the "pet" in POV. The rugged GoPro mount can handle mushing to the North Pole or competing in the Iditarod race. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog, except if your pooch is FaceTiming with this rig behind your gift recipient's back. ($39.99, GoPro.comGoPro.com)

Lokai bracelet has its high and low points.

Pass Water

If your friend or loved one failed in that second Everest summit attempt, here's a consolation prize: gift them a white Lokai bracelet that contains water from Mt. Everest, reportedly taken from Camp Two. It also includes one black bead containing mud from the Dead Sea (earth's highest and lowest points, get it?). ($18, mylokai.commylokai.com)

Have blankie will travel.

The Expedition Binky

It's a chaotic world out there, especially on an expedition or adventure. So your gift recipient will find comfort in the Kachula Adventure Blanket. A better binky has yet to be found. Use it as a blanket, travel pillow, light sleeping bag or even emergency poncho. It's water resistant, has a removable hood and a "stash pocket" (in case you're camping in, let's say Colorado, or some other 420-friendly state). ($72, coalatree.com)

Good for Tinkling with a Skunk

Perfect for the Democratic woman representative in your life.

After a tumultuous meeting with President Trump on Dec. 11, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, "You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you." Well if that's ever the case with a female friend or loved one this holiday period, get them the Tinkle Belle, the "best stand-to-pee accessory" on the market, or so says the company that makes this 9-in. hydrophobic funnel-like device that's, thank god, top-rack dishwasher safe.

So there's that.

To avoid subjecting our readers to TMI, it's best you watch the video yourself at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwblY0SdX74https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwblY0SdX74.

Then decide if this is the right gift. ($27.50, www.thetinklebelle.comwww.thetinklebelle.com)

Friend or foe?

Send the Little Buggers on a Trip

Now here's a must-have for anyone active outdoors, which come to think of it, is all of us. This little kit, which we admit is fairly cringey, will help determine if a tick is a carrier of Lyme Disease before symptoms appear. Trouble is, the Cutter Lyme Disease Tick Test requires one to capture the tick and send it off to a lab. Not so easy finding the tiny critter, but we're sure your holiday gift recipient can figure it out.

Results come back within three business days of its arrival at the lab. Sure, this might be a strange holiday gift, but it's a whole lot more practical than soap-on-a-rope. ($24.99, www.cutterticktest.com)www.cutterticktest.com

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Get Sponsored! - Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called:

Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.

Author Jeff Blumenfeld, an adventure marketing specialist who has represented 3M, Coleman, Du Pont, Lands' End and Orvis, among others, shares techniques for securing sponsors for expeditions and adventures.

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Coming in April 2019: Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism(Rowman & Littlefield) by Jeff Blumenfeld

Pre-order it here:

https://tinyurl.com/Travelwithpurposebookhttps://tinyurl.com/Travelwithpurposebook

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2018 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com (made payable to blumassoc@aol.com). Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

PADDLING THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE

By Pam LeBlanc, Special Correspondent

Austin, Texas, paddler West Hansen will trade Amazon tropics and Russian waves for crushing ice and polar bears next summer, when he attempts to lead the first expedition to kayak the Northwest Passage.

West Hansen paddling the Amazon River, just below the confluence of the Ucayali and Marañon rivers. Photo by Erich Schlegel

Hansen, 56, made the longest source-to-sea paddling descent of the Amazon River in 2012 and the first descent of the Volga River in Russia two years later. Team members include veteran paddlers Jeff Wueste, 57, and Jimmy Harvey, 55. Launching in summer 2019, they'll cover 1,900 miles, half of which have never been kayaked.

The team will follow the same east-to-west route that explorer Roald Amundsen took during his landmark three-year navigation of the passage, completed in 1907, starting in Baffin Bay and finishing at the Beaufort Sea. Along the way, Hansen will monitor plankton and jellyfish populations, and record ice coverage.

"(Firsts) are getting more and more rare, and it's pretty special doing something no one's ever done," Hansen says.

The paddlers will face gale force winds, car-sized slabs of ice and pummeling waves, plus orcas and polar bears.

"You can't fire a gun (to spook them) because it sounds like cracking ice and polar bears are used to that," Hansen says, noting that the team will carry satellite phones, emergency beacons, firearms and screaming flares to ward off 2,000-pound predators.

"It's been attempted several times, but no one's ever come close to accomplishing it," says Hansen. "We have a lot more experience in long distance expedition paddling than anybody else who's tried. And we're older, which is always a bonus."

West Hansen's route.

The expedition is expected to take 60 days and will cost nearly $75,000. Hansen is looking for sponsors, and can be reached via west@westhansen.com.

Pam LeBlanc is an Austin, Texas-based freelance writer specializing in adventure travel, fitness and conservation. She will join the expedition as an embedded journalist.

EXPEDITION NOTES

Space Exploration Takes Giant Leap for Mankind

The world watched as two significant achievements in space exploration occurred within the past month, starting with history's farthest exploration.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, about the size of a baby grand piano, flew by a small, distant world in the Kuiper Belt on New Year's Day. The object studied, officially designated 2014 MU69 and nicknamed Ultima Thule, is 4 billion miles from Earth. No spacecraft has ever explored a world so far away. It was a suitable encore to the same spacecraft's last historic mission 3-1/2 hyears ago - recording the first high definition images of Pluto.

The highest definition photo so far of the minor planet Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt. The first images to arrive were only a vague blur taken during the approach, leaving its exact shape a mystery: did it look like a bowling pin, or was it perhaps two small objects orbiting each other? This photo, which followed the next day, has revealed the object to be a cluster of two fused objects, a "contact binary," in the shape of a snowman.

Several weeks before, the New Horizons team offered people around the world the opportunity to "beam" their name and a choice of messages, at the speed of light, toward New Horizons and Ultima Thule on flyby day. Some 30,500 people ultimately signed on. "Happy 2019!" was the top choice, selected by 8,100 participants, followed by "Keep on Exploring!" sent by 6,800 participants.

Transmitted on New Year's Eve from the satellite communications facility at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland - where New Horizons was built and is operated - the signals carrying the messages reached New Horizons just hours before the flyby, then continued on past Ultima Thule and through the Kuiper Belt.

"Never before has the public had an opportunity to have their names and messages across our entire solar system on the historic day of the farthest exploration of worlds in human history," said New Horizons Principal Investigator and "Beam Me" project originator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado.

New Horizons' closest approach to Ultima Thule occurred at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, when it zipped approximately 2,200 miles from the object. The spacecraft sent back the first close-up images of its Kuiper Belt target in the following days, confirming that Ultima Thule is a contact binary, and offering tantalizing hints of the science to come.

Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist, New Horizons participating scientist and Queen lead guitarist, speaks with media at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on Dec. 31, 2018.

Further testament to the project's popularity among the general public, is the reaction to an original song created by Brian May, lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, who also happens to be an astrophysicist. It's May's personal tribute to the on-going NASA New Horizons mission.

Brian May's New Horizon music video has been viewed almost 986,000 times on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Jm5POCAj8

What led a legendary rocker to become an astrophysicist is perhaps a story for another time.

Reached while on a much-deserved vacation in Australia, Stern tells EN, "The exploration of Ultima Thule is behind us, but the scientific results are almost all ahead, as less than 1% of the data from New Horizons has been downloaded as of today, Jan 9. Data will continue to stream back for 20 months to unlock Ultima Thule's secrets."

Stern continues, "The media reaction to the exploration we did - the farthest exploration of worlds in history - was fantastic. Hundreds of front pages like the NYT; documentaries by no less than NOVA, NHK, BBC, and others; coverage on daily newscasts by CDB, CNN, PBS, NPR, and many more. We are very pleased to have explored, to have learned, and to have raised awareness across the world for scientific exploration."

Even though the flyby took place on January 1, the images are just starting to trickle in. The data has a long way to travel. Ultima Thule itself is 43 times further away from the Earth than the Sun, so it takes over six hours to send a signal back to Earth. That number will only increase as the New Horizons probe travels yet farther away.

Follow this mighty little spacecraft at:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Where-is-New-Horizons.php

In a related story, a Chinese spacecraft has become the first to land on the far side of the moon in another historic moment for human space exploration.

The successful touchdown earlier this month was hailed as a major technical feat and is seen as an important step towards China's wider ambitions in space.

The robotic probe Chang'e 4 landed in the unexplored South Pole-Aitken basin, the biggest known impact structure in the solar system, at about 2:30 a.m. GMT on Jan. 3. Prior to confirmation of the landing and the release of the first close-up shots of the far lunar surface by the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, many details of the mission, including the planned timing of the landing, had been kept secret.

The landing was described as "an impressive accomplishment" by NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

FEATS

Over a Barrel

On October 24, 1901, Annie Taylor was the first person to conquer Niagara Falls in a barrel. After climbing inside her airtight wooden barrel, the air pressure was compressed to 30 p.s.i. with a bicycle pump. Though bruised and battered, Annie made it. She expected fame and fortune but, alas, died in poverty.

This winter, 71-year-old Frenchman Jean-Jacques Savin is hoping for a much happier ending. Earlier this month he set off across the Atlantic Ocean in a large orange barrel, hoping to float to the Caribbean by the end of March. He is traveling at "two or three kilometers an hour" (one to two miles an hour) and intends to (literally) barrel his way across the ocean, attempting to reach the Caribbean with only ocean currents and trade winds propelling his 10-ft. capsule, according to a Facebook page set up to document his project. The craft is smaller than a pickup and held upright by concrete ballast.

Savin's ocean crossing is hardly a barrel o' fun.

The vessel includes a small kitchen and bed, and space for storage. Savin is dropping markers on his way to allow international marine observatory organization JCOMMOPS to study ocean currents.

On his project's website, Savin - a former military parachutist, pilot and park ranger in Africa who has already crossed the Atlantic four times using a sailboat - described his venture as a "crossing during which man isn't captain of his ship, but a passenger of the ocean."

Savin's 55,000-euro (or $62,000) project has been funded by sponsorships, including two French barrel makers, and a crowdfunding campaign.

Brush up on your French and track him at:

http://www.atlantique-tonneau.com, https://www.facebook.com/pg/BOUTESA/posts/?ref=page_internal

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."

- Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

An Unassisted Antarctic Crossing? It's Debatable

By Jeff Blumenfeld, editor

Amidst all the depressing news of politics and international conflict came an uplifting report late December that two adventurers, nearly neck and neck, achieved a grueling traverse of Antarctica. Man against the elements, facing the worst conditions Antarctica threw their way.

Certainly, the approximately 920-mile "crossings" set by American athlete Colin O'Brady, 33, then two days later by British army Captain Louis Rudd, 49, of Britain, were no easy feat. Hauling supply sleds weighing some 375-400 lbs., they faced extreme winds of up to 60 MPH, whiteouts, crevasses and temperatures below minus 40 degrees F.

Colin O'Brady

Both claimed their efforts were solo, unsupported and unassisted, as they man-hauled their supplies without the use of kites or mechanical means. In O'Brady's case, he claimed to achieve the first-ever such crossing, a feat he called "The Impossible First." Members of the exploration community begged to differ, including Norwegian Borge Ousland, now 56, who in 1996 achieved a true crossing, albeit with the use of a "ski sail" for part of the way. Still, he is considered the first explorer to ski alone across Antarctica from coast-to-coast.

Rudd and O'Brady began and ended their treks not at the seacoast but at points on the inland facing side of two great ice shelves. The distance they traveled - approximately 920 miles - was only half the 1,864 miles that Ousland covered.

Between November 1996 and January 1997, Ousland man-hauled a sled initially laden with 412 pounds of food and gear for 64 days across Antarctica from the ocean edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf to McMurdo Sound, on the seacoast below the Ross Ice Shelf.

Until 1997, no one had crossed Antarctica from coast-to-coast without receiving resupply along the way. Ousland's unsupported crossing 22 years ago set the standard for Antarctic crossings that has been unfairly diminished in the current adulation about O'Brady and Rudd.

Writes David Roberts in the New York Times (Jan. 3), "It's not surprising that in 2018, the effort to claim the purported first solo, unsupported traverse of Antarctica became an all-out race between two contenders. For sponsored professional adventurers who feel the need to connect in real time to a social media audience, true exploration becomes secondary to the need to set 'records,' to claim 'firsts,' no matter how arbitrarily defined."

Referring to Ousland's expedition, Roberts continues, "On the 'downhill' leg from the pole to the coast, Mr. Ousland occasionally unfurled a 'ski sail' of his own devising: in his words, 'a simple piece of square fabric' that would catch the wind and help propel him as he skied across the snow.

That minimal aid, in the view of more recent traversers such as Messrs. O'Brady, Rudd and Worsley disqualified Mr. Ousland's epic solo jaunt from the laurel of an 'unsupported' journey." (Editor's note: Henry Worsley died of peritonitis after sledding more than 800 miles attempting the same feat three years earlier.)

Borge Ousland (1996-97 route); GPS locations of campsites and planned Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions route (O'Brady and Rudd routes); all routes shown are approximated. (Courtesy New York Times)

Putting that journey aside, the debate rages whether O'Brady's and Rudd's expeditions from the so-called Messner Start on the Ronne Ice Shelf on Antarctica's eastern coast, stopping short at the Leverett Glacier on the Ross Ice Shelf, can truly be considered a crossing, when Ousland soloed much farther from two opposite coastal points bound by ocean. As the Antarctic historian and mountaineer Damien Gildea argued in a post to the website ExplorersWeb.com, "The ice shelves are land ice and therefore part of the continent. This was accepted by all the earliest polar travelers who did, or attempted, crossings."

To us, nothing will ever match a true Antarctic crossing at its widest points - the International Trans-Antarctic Expedition, a 3,741-mile, seven-month feat of endurance by man and sled dogs, from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Soviet scientific research base at Mirnyy on the far coast. You want to talk about crossings, assisted or otherwise, spend seven continuous months out on the Antarctic ice.

Louis Rudd

Then there's the interpretation of "unassisted." The Twittersphere was ablaze with the little known fact that both recent adventurers followed a track, known as the McMurdo-South Pole Highway or the South Pole Overland Traverse (SPOT), for more than 350 miles. Was that not assistance? The SPOT is a flattened trail groomed by tractors towing heavy sledges to resupply the polar station. Flags every 100 meters or so make navigation easier, especially during whiteouts.

The route is devoid of sastrugi - the wavelike ridges of hard snow - and is routed to avoid crevasses. Tractor marks are visible in a photograph of O'Brady taken on Day 50.

Writes Paul Landry of PolarConsultants.com, one of the best-known polar guides in the world, "I do consider the use of the SPOT road as being assisted as it eliminates the need for navigation and is an advantage to travel conditions - the road offers faster travel conditions compared to the untouched snow beside the road. It is a form of assistance as it allows one to move faster."

Veteran polar guide Eric Philips of Icetrek Expeditions and Equipment, Hobart, Australia, tells ExplorersWeb.com, "It is a highway (that) more than doubles someone's speed and negates the need for navigation. An expedition cannot be classed as unassisted if someone is skiing on a road."

Philips tells EN, "A skier benefits from the road in many ways, particularly after it has been seasonally re-opened - it negates the need for glacier travel skills and equipment, the road and flags are a navigational handrail, the psychological aid of knowing that a road is nearby, rescue is much more simplified (it's very difficult for a plane to land in the middle of a sastrugi field), etc."

We reached out to O'Brady via his website but had not received a reply by presstime.

While the debate rages about what many consider an assisted partial crossing of Antarctica, polar guides such as Philips, and others, are calling for an agreement about Antarctic/South Pole expeditioning that will include a widely-accepted and fair labeling protocol that some are calling a Polar Expedition Classification System to replace ambiguous terms such as "unsupported" and "unassisted."

Philips emails EN, "While we are working on a Polar Expedition Classification System, we will likely still use the terms unassisted and unsupported but apply very strict definitions."

This business of superlatives is a tricky one as explorers and adventurers continuously add parameters to records, especially after the fact. No matter how this plays out, Richard Wiese, president of The Explorers Club, the organization whose prestigious flag was carried by O'Brady, writes in an email to Club members, "... the exceptional accomplishments of Ousland, O'Brady and Rudd, all focus important attention on the polar regions and make our global audience far more aware of just how fragile these regions have become."

Read David Robert's story in the New York Times here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/opinion/antarctica-obrady-rudd-solo-crossing.html

Read what Peter Winsor of ExplorersWeb.com has to say:

https://tinyurl.com/explorerswebobrady

See the rather fawning Jan. 7, 2019, CBS This Morning interview that focused, in part, on the songs that powered Rudd across the ice:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lou-rudd-on-the-songs-that-got-him-through-solo-antarctic-trek/

MEDIA MATTERS

Mountains Make You Dumber

We know that cognitive function is impaired at high altitude, but it's not entirely clear why, writes Alex Hutchinson in a Jan. 5 post on OutsideOnline.com.

In 1925, the eminent physiologist Joseph Barcroft, fresh from a pioneering high-altitude research expedition to heights of Cerro de Pasco in Peru, made a provocative claim. "All dwellers at high altitude," he wrote, "are persons of impaired physical and mental power."

The accuracy of that statement remains hotly debated, to put it mildly, nearly a century later. Highlanders in the Andes and Himalayas, whose ancestors have lived above 10,000 feet for thousands of years, beg to differ. But for temporary visitors to the highest places on earth, Barcroft's claim is self-evident: mountains make you weak and stupid.

According to Hutchinson it's not obvious why. The obvious culprit for reduced cognitive function is the thin high-altitude air depriving your brain of oxygen. The resulting impairment of judgment and decision-making can have serious and sometimes fatal consequences when you're choosing routes, scaling cliffs, and assessing weather and snow conditions.

But there are lots of other factors beyond the oxygen levels during a typical alpine expedition that might dull your judgment, such as sleep deprivation, dehydration, and simple physical exhaustion from the prolonged effort it took to get there.

Further down in the post he writes, "If you're heading out for a big adventure in the mountains, there's not a whole lot you can do about either the thin air or the prolonged physical exertion. ... Sleep and dehydration, on the other hand, are much more modifiable. Neither is easy at high altitudes - but if you make them a priority, there's potential for improvement."

Read the full story here:

https://www.outsideonline.com/2378771/why-mountains-make-you-dumber

Department of Derring-Do

The New Yorker (Jan. 7) focused its gimlet eye on a reunion at The Explorers Club of two explorers of great renown: Jim Fowler, 88, the zoologist and the former host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the pioneering nature procedural, and John Atwater Bradley, 87, a retired management consultant, adventurer, raconteur, and exuberant dropper of names.

According to writer Nick Paumgarten, Fowler, who was wearing Ugg boots, a safari jacket, and a Citroën ball cap, while Bradley had on yellow slacks, a salmon-colored Princeton reunion blazer (class of 1954), a bawdy-Santa tie, and a straw boater with a black-and-orange band and a pin in the shape of a Thompson submachine gun.

Musing on the mission of humanity, Fowler said, "It's to create a quality of life for all the people on the planet. The world of nature is not a very pleasant place. Most living things are fighting and killing and eating each other. I was with some cannibals in Africa years ago, and I asked one of them what his name meant, and he said, 'It means, I'm strong and my axe is sharp, so no one can kill me or eat me.'"

Fowler, who the late, late night talk show host Johnny Carson nicknamed "Jim Foul-up," went on: "I've had a few close calls. In the Amazon, I made a mistake. I was approaching an eighteen-foot anaconda, and I slipped. It grabbed me by the hand and swallowed my arm up to the shoulder ... Anaconda have half-inch teeth, so I couldn't pull it out. Sorry, getting gory."

Read the story here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/a-party-for-besties-at-the-explorers-club

EXPEDITION FUNDING

Apply for Field Grant From The Explorers Club and Fjällräven

The Explorers Club and Fjällräven, the Swedish manufacturer and retailer specializing in outdoor equipment, announced earlier this month "We Love Nature" field grants which will aid in continued exploration and research that helps better understand the environment, a changing climate, and how it is intertwined with wildlife and civilizations around the planet.

The program seeks young explorers who are working on sustainability, wildlife, and climate to educate and inspire the next generation of conservationists and explorers. The Explorers Club - Fjällräven Field Grant will award two recipients $5,000 each to aid in sending extraordinary young explorers into the field to conduct critically important research.

Proposals must include a focus of saving the preciousness of nature and how the recipient will make a lasting impact on younger up and coming generations who will continue to carry the message.

Apply at grants.explorers.org. Deadline is January 21, 2019. Awardees must be 18 - 35 years old at time of award.

WEB WATCH

How About a Hug?

Many tears were shed when Virgin Galactic CEO George Whiteside urged everyone to hug it out after a Virgin Galactic rocket plane blasted to the edge of space on Dec. 13, capping off years of difficult testing to become the first U.S. commercial human flight to reach space since America's shuttle program ended in 2011.

Richard Branson, center, celebrates with pilots Rick 'CJ' Sturckow, left, and Mark 'Forger' Stucky, right.

Virgin's airplane-like SpaceShipTwo took off from California's Mojave air and space port, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Shaggy, goateed Richard Branson was there dressed in a leather bomber jacket with a fur collar, tearing up before hundreds of spectators.

He shared the moment with his 3.2 million Instagram followers, "Many of us cried tears of joy when we reached space, and the air really was filled with love as we celebrated the milestone flight. It certainly was for two of our wonderful team. After the flight, The Spaceship Company flight test engineer Brandon Parrish proposed to his girlfriend Veronica McGowan, a Structural Engineer at The Spaceship Company. What better way to propose than with a ring that had just flown to space? Huge congratulations to the happy couple."

The commemorative video has been seen almost 860,000 times. See the posts here:

https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/reflecting-upon-virgin-galactics-first-space-flight

Working under the theory that no good deed goes unpunished, Australian astronaut Andy Thomas is quoted in The Guardian (Dec. 17), "It's true that he will fly to the edge of space, but he can't stay there. He falls right back down. It's really just a high-altitude aeroplane flight and a dangerous one at that. As a technology to get humans out into space it's a go nowhere, dead-end technology."

Read the story here:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/18/richard-bransons-virgin-galactic-space-flights-criticised-as-dangerous-dead-end-tech

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Coming in April 2019: Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield) by Jeff Blumenfeld

Pre-order it here:

https://tinyurl.com/Travelwithpurposebook

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.

The final sinking of the Endurance. It was abandoned in November 2015 as the masts collapsed, the hull crumbled, and the men watched helplessly from the ice as their boat sank. The rest is history.

SEARCH FOR SHACKLETON'S ENDURANCE WAS A GOOD TRY

At press time, an expedition to locate one of the most iconic exploration ships in history was cancelled due to bad weather.

The Weddell Sea Expedition 2019 and the icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II reached the last known location of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated ship, the Endurance, which was crushed by the ice and sunk in 1915. According to a tweet by the director and archaeologist of the expedition, Mensun Bound, "We are the first people here since Shackleton and his men!"

Unfortunately, bad weather led to the loss of an AUV and cancellation of the effort.

The Agulhas did not break a straight-line channel through a solid ice shelf to reach the site. Instead, through a combination of favorable surface conditions and the skill of her experienced crew, she threaded a narrow channel - following leads through drifting floes to arrive at approximately 68.5 degrees S 52.5 degrees W, the final position Shackleton's crew recorded for the Endurance.

The search was a secondary goal for the research team. Before heading towards the wreck site, the expedition conducted a subsea survey of the Larsen C ice shelf using ROVs and AUVs. According to Professor Julian Dowdeswell, the expedition's chief scientist, the data gathered will help oceanographers and glaciologists "better understand the contemporary stability and past behavior of Larsen C, with its wider implications for ice sheet stability more generally."

Since the team is already in the Weddell Sea and carrying all the tools needed for hunting a shipwreck at depths of 9,000 feet, it tried to locate Endurance and survey the site. If Endurance had been found, the team says that the wreck was not going to be touched or disturbed. That was not to be.

The ship became trapped in the ice, absolutely stuck, which is what happened to the Endurance some 100 years ago.

“The conditions were brutal. It makes you think about all that Shackleton and his team had to put up with. It was dangerous back then 100 years ago, and it’s dangerous today," said expedition leader Bound in an expedition video.

He paraphrases Shackleton: “This is the worst corner of the worst sea on earth. What the ice gets, the ice keeps.”

Read the expedition blog here: weddellseaexpedition.org

View Bound's video report at: https://vimeo.com/317146403/dd8de74aa7

EXPEDITION NOTES

Inspiring Explorers 2019: Leah Stewart, Alexander Hillary, Marco de Kretser, Rosanna Price and Georgie Archibald

Young Explorers to Kayak Antarctic Waters in Spirit of Polar Exploration

Sir Edmund Hillary's grandson, a living kidney donor, and a mother are among a group of young explorers who are heading to Antarctica to take part in an expedition featuring kayaking with New Zealand Olympian Mike Dawson.

New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust has just named the five young people selected

to take part in its 2019 Inspiring Explorers' Expedition, March 2-17, 2019. They are accomplished photographer Alexander Hillary (Sir Edmund Hillary's grandson); living kidney donor and freelance camera operator Leah Stewart; Wellington communications specialist and mother Rosanna Price; Christchurch learning advisor Georgina Archibald; and photographer and sound specialist Marco de Kretser, from Auckland.

The group will join two students and a teacher from Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate on the expedition. The group will travel to the Antarctic Peninsula from South America aboard a One Ocean Expeditions vessel.

This is the fourth Inspiring Explorers' Expedition, and follows last year's successful 560 km crossing of the Greenland ice cap, the summiting of New Zealand's Mt. Scott in 2017, and the crossing of South Georgia island in 2015.

Learn more about the project at: https://www.nzaht.org/pages/meet-the-2019-inspiring-explorers-1#

The historic Church of San Lorenzo Venice (Chiesa San Lorenzo) is being given a second life as it re-launches as Ocean Space. Photo: TBA21-Academy

Ocean Research Center Opens in Venice

TBA21-Academy (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary) this month announced the opening next month of Ocean Space - a new, collaborative global hub for trans-disciplinary oceanic research and discovery in Venice.

Following decades of careful restoration and renovation, the historic Church of San Lorenzo is being given a second life as it re-launches as Ocean Space, a new collaborative platform for research, discovery, and innovation supporting ocean stewardship and conservation.

TBA21-Academy also is opening its archives to the public with the first physical presentation of OceanArchive, developed by Etienne Turpin with the support of Andrés Jaque and Office for Political Innovation. The launch of Ocean Space reintegrates the historic church, which has been largely closed to the public for the past 100 years, back within the social and cultural fabric of city. The space will be activated throughout the week of the Venice Art Biennale in May 2019, including a special live performance by Jonas.

TBA21-Academy (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary) leads artists, scientists, and thought-leaders on expeditions of collaborative discovery, fostering a deeper understanding of the ocean through the lens of art and engendering creative solutions to its most pressing issues. For more information: TBA21.org

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"All of us are transients here. What endures is our planet and her oceans. From my mid-Pacific vantage point, human artiface and artifacts appeared small and temporary. This is why dreamers will always build boats to voyage into that eternal ocean realm: to gain the perspective that is hidden from those who stay close to the shore."

- Ed Gillet, quoted in The Pacific Alone: The Untold Story of Kayaking's Boldest Voyage(Falcon Guides, 2018), by Dave Shively. In the summer of 1987 Ed Gillet achieved what no person has accomplished before or since, a solo crossing from California to Hawaii by kayak. Gillet, at the age of 36 an accomplished sailor and paddler, navigated by sextant and always knew his position within a few miles. Along the way he endured a broken rudder, among other calamities, but at last reached Maui on his 64th day at sea, four days after his food had run out. Until the book was issued, Gillet barely spoke of his crossing for 30 years.

MEDIA MATTERS

New York Times Supplement Features Controversial Antarctica Trek

A stand-alone supplement in the Jan. 19 New York Times, penned by Adam Skolnick, acknowledges the controversy surround what is considered "unassisted" and "unsupported" when it comes to Antarctic crossings.

In regards to Borge Ousland's longer crossing in 1996-97, American Colin O'Brady is quoted, "He's one of the greatest modern-day polar explorers. But to me, it's apples and oranges."

Englishman Louis Rudd, who was simultaneously crossing separately, addresses critics of the adventure, especially in regards to their route following a marked path that heavy vehicles traverse, "I wish they could be there, it's not a road at all. Trying to say it was easy that we skied down a road is just so wrong. It's unbelievable. It's a bit disappointing. It's a shame that they haven't actually said, 'Well done, guys, great effort that was, tough journey.'"

Antarctic Weight Loss Plan: Unassisted or not, Louis Rudd lost more than 30 pounds on his journey.

Both were unaided by kites for propulsion, a device Ousland used for part of his trek over 20 years ago.

According to the Times' Adam Skolnick, both men carried satellite phones and remained in touch with their respective expedition managers and handlers. Some in the exploration community argue that this communication should be considered assistance. (See this month's Expedition Mailbag for further comment from two readers.)

One little known fact: O'Brady buried his excrement six inches deep and brought four rolls of toilet paper. Rudd is old school: he used ice. TMI?

Read the Times story here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/sports/reflections-on-antarctica.html

The elusive Andean cat (photo courtesy Preston Sowell)

Cat's Cradle

Hemispheres, the in-flight magazine in every United Airlines seat pocket, features explorer Preston Sowell in its February 2019 story, "Cat's Cradle: The Search for the Andean Feline: An expedition into the High Mountains of Peru in Search of the Mythic Andean Cat." Sowell has studied the small, bushy-tailed Andean cat, which lives in the mountains of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru and is the most endangered feline in all of the Americas, according to writer Cayte Bosler.

Finding the cat could help secure legal protection for the Sibinacocha watershed, which is currently under threat from mining and rapid climate change. "Documenting the Andean mountain cat may be a lifeline for protecting the area," Sowell tells Bosler. "We all rely on the resources that mining brings, and our society can't survive without it right now. However, some areas just shouldn't be disturbed. I think the Sibinacocha watershed is one of them."

Preston Sowell

The story continues, "Scientists don't know much about the Andean cat's behavior. Barely larger than a house cat, it lives only in remote, austere areas above 13,000 feet, roaming alone over long ranges to hunt prey like the viscacha, a rabbit-like rodent with long, furry ears. Our team strategically places camera traps, equipped with motion sensors, to collect data. On the first excursion, we find scat, an exhilarating clue. Here. It's been here. We set a camera and wonder: Will it return? Will we get a glimpse into the unknown?"

The team returned with four images of the cat, including a close-up of the distinctive tail: long, thick, and banded with dark rings.

Read the story here:

http://www.unitedmags.com/cats-cradle-the-search-for-the-andean-feline

Editor's Note to our many Colorado readers: Sowell will present his findings on Feb. 21 during a free public talk at the Fjallraven store in Boulder starting at 7 p.m.

For more information: https://explorers.org/events/detail/fjaellraeven-speaker-series-with-preston-sowell-boulder-co

Insurance Companies to Everest Trek Operators: "No More Mr. Nice Guy"

International insurance companies last month threatened to end travel coverage to Nepal if the government did not crack down on elaborate helicopter rescue scams that target foreigners trekking near Mount Everest and other high altitude peaks.

Last year, investigations by the Nepali government and Traveller Assist, a medical assistance company based in Ireland, found that some trek operators, guides, helicopter companies and even doctors and hospitals had conspired to bilk millions of dollars from insurance companies by pushing for emergency mountainside evacuations for minor illnesses, or when simpler treatment options were available, according to Kai Schultz writing in the Jan. 25 New York Times.

The Nepali government found evidence that some guides went as far as intentionally making hikers ill by spiking their food with large amounts of baking soda, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea and other ailments, and then calling for an emergency helicopter evacuation.

These evacuations can cost as much as $40,000 each, depending on how many trekkers are on board, and insurance companies are often stuck with the bill, writes Schultz.

See the story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/world/asia/nepal-everest-insurers-fraud.html

Dem Bones: A Final Discovery for British Explorer Matthew Flinders (1774-1814)

This statue of Matthew Flinders unveiled by Prince William in 2014 at Euston Railway station in London shows the explorer crouched over a map of Australia. Flinders will be re-interred at a yet-to-be determined site. His cat Trim is portrayed on the right. (Associated Press photo).

Britain is carrying out its largest-ever archaeological dig, courtesy of construction on a multibillion-dollar, high-speed rail system to speed passengers between Britain's biggest cities. But last month, workers in London unearthed a traveler from a different era when they found the remains of Capt. Matthew Flinders. The British explorer led the first circumnavigation of the continent whose name he would go on to popularize: Australia, according to a Jan. 25 story on NPR by Ian Stewart.

Archaeologists in London have been working under a giant temporary shelter to exhume and move at least 40,000 human remains from St James's Gardens, a former burial ground. Flinders' headstone had been moved from the cemetery during the 1840s and his remains had been presumed missing.

But last month, archaeologists found an ornately engraved lead plate with a well-preserved and unmistakable inscription: "Capt Matthew Flinders."

Flinders (1774-1814) was the first person to circumnavigate Australia and the explorer who popularized its name. The region had been known as "Terra Australis Incognita" or "Unknown South Land" according to the National Library of Australia. It was later named "New Holland" by Dutch explorers. But after Flinders' expedition, he wrote "Australia" on a map and the name stuck. He was accompanied the entire way by an indigenous man named Bungaree, according to Australia's ABC broadcaster. Bungaree, an interpreter and guide, simultaneously became the first Australian to sail around the continent.

Read the full story here:

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/25/688769145/bones-of-famed-british-explorer-found-during-construction-of-u-k-train-line

The Secret is Out

We're not sure how a 115-year-old organization that counts as its members Peary, Hillary, Heyerdahl, Armstrong and Aldrin can be considered a "secret," but that's what the BBCcalls The Explorers Club in its Jan. 17 feature.

Mike MacEacheran writes, "The deepest oceans. The farthest rivers. The highest peaks. Even the moon and outer space itself. All of it has been mapped by the club's globetrotting members. And on any given day, many can be found in the back room, taking tea while plotting their next extraordinary adventure. Talk is not of the weather, but of moon landings and blow dart encounters."

Teddy Roosevelt's membership app (Photo by Mike MacEacheran)

Says newly re-elected Club president Richard Wiese, "Exploration for us is now less a cult of personality and more a cult of data. And because of that we're getting better at finding the truth."

The story includes a shout-out to American writer and broadcaster Lowell Thomas of Lawrence of Arabia fame, an enthusiastic member in the 1960s, who was instrumental in the club acquiring its current headquarters, once a private family home owned by an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine.

"'This place used to be about pushing dragons off the map,' said the club's archivist and curator of research collections Lacey Flint, leading me on a fascinating tour of the townhouse. 'We still push those dragons, but the club has become so much more. What really excites members is that we know more about the volcanoes on Jupiter than we do about the very bottom of our oceans,'" writes MacEacheran.

Read the entire story here:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190116-the-secret-travel-club-thats-been-everywhere?ocid=ww.social.link.email

EXPEDITION MAILBAG

No single story in Expedition News' 25-year history has elicited as much feedback as our January 2019 coverage of the claims by American athlete Colin O'Brady, 33, and British army Captain Louis Rudd, 49, to have separately crossed Antarctica unsupported and unassisted. Here are two representative samples of the letters we've received.

Follow the Rules

"Two undeniable facts from the Expedition News article: Colin O'Brady's and Louis Rudd's feats are significant efforts ... and publicity about such accomplishments as 'unassisted' and 'unsupported' in the general media focuses important attention on the fragile polar regions. That said, unlike summiting a mountain or completing a marathon, there are an infinite number of potential ways to 'cross' Antarctica, depending on the 'rules' - something that the general public would not be aware of.

"Quoting Damien Gildea in Explorersweb, 'Normally, in any field, if someone wants to claim a first, they do so on a track of similar length, and in the same style as their predecessors.

"'You do not contrive a route that is both geographically shorter and artificially easier, thereby choosing just the rules that suit you.' (https://explorersweb.com/2019/01/09/crossing-antarctica-how-the-confusion-began-and-where-do-we-go-from-here/)

"What are the 'rules?' The best ones I know of were originally the 'Rules and Definitions' created by Tina and Tom Sjogren in 2002-2004, the early days of Explorersweb(http://www.adventurestats.com/rules.shtml). Perhaps they crafted the rules to favor their own successful 2002-03 Hercules Inlet-Pole trip. Those rules state that the start or end point of a full trip or traverse has to be from the boundary between land and water - the coastline, and that permanent ice is considered part of the ocean, not the land.

"Of course the heroic era explorers had no choice but to start from where their ships could get them to ... conversely, today's NGO support companies ALE and ALCI, cannot practically support expeditions from Ross Island, the Bay of Whales area, or the Wilkes Land coast. Also, the 'rules' state that, 'using tracks created by motorized vehicle (same goes for bridges or roads) is considered support.'"

- Bill Spindler

Boulder, Colorado

A field construction engineer and inspector based in Boulder, Spindler run three Antarctic websites: southpolestation.com, palmerstation.com, and mcmurdostation.com. He examines the recent crossing controversy here: https://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/10s/crossings.html

Technology Provides an Advantage

"I agree with all who commented that the ice road provides support, both physical and moral, for speed of movement, navigation of direction, and safety from crevasses and large sastrugi. Borge manhauled a much longer supply of food with him, his journey being over twice the length of the recent adventurers. I understand that the sail Borge improvised was not even used for the first 1,000 miles - rather only on the "home-stretch" well to the north of the South Pole where winds blow toward the coast, and then only where the sastrugi was minimal.

"Another point ... I am unaware of communications back in 1996-97. Iridium came into being the year following Borge's successful crossing of Antarctica. No doubt there is a huge mental boost for today's adventurers to carry small, lightweight, solar-powered devices that allow for emergency evacuation and for Tweeting with the world."

- Rosemarie Keough

Salt Spring Island, B.C.

Along with her husband Pat, Rosemarie Keough, based in British Columbia, is a medalist of The Royal Geographical Society and The Explorers Club. The two have been awarded World's Best Nature Photographers 2003. Antarctica, the inaugural volume in their Explorer Series of luxurious private press tomes, has received 23 prestigious honors including World's Best Photography Book, World's Best Printing, and Outstanding Bookarts. (www.keough-art.com)

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld - How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools.

Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey.

Pre-orders available now on Amazon. Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Get Sponsored - Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called: Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.

Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2019 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the
EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

EXPEDITION UPDATE

The adventurous Ulyana

Ulyana Horodyskyj is One of World's Most Adventurous Women

"For me, science and adventure go hand-in-hand," says Ulyana Horodyskyj, who we profiled in our June 2018 issue. She has been named one of the world's most adventurous women for 2019 in Men's Journal (January 2019). Jayme Moye and Mary Anne Potts write that she is among the women who are redefining the limits of what's humanly possible.

To study climate change, the 32-year-old has traveled to the icefields of Mount Everest, the fjords of Baffin Island, and the glaciers atop Kilimanjaro. That's because it's those places where the effects of a changing planet are often most easily observed.

In 2016, she founded Science in the Wild to bring adventurous citizens along to help collect data and see science in action. Her latest research, studying the impact of soot from North American wildfires, took her to Norway's desolate Svalbard archipelago in 2018, with a documentary film coming this year about climate change and industrial pollution.

In September 2016, she was chosen as mission commander for the NASA Johnson Space Center's HERA (human exploration research analog) 30-day isolation experiment, simulating a long-duration mission to an asteroid. She was one of 120 semifinalists out of 18,354 applicants for NASA's 2017 astronaut class.

Earlier this month, we're happy to report she married musician and expedition guide Ricardo Pena who has studied the 1972 plane crash site in the Andes made famous by Piers Paul Read's 1974 book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors. Officiant at their Denver ceremony was Eduardo Strauch, one of the survivors of that tragedy.

Read the Men's Journal profile here:

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/worlds-most-adventurous-women-2019/ulyana%e2%80%a8-nadia-horodyskyj-scientist-and-alpinist/

Alison Hargreaves and son Tom Ballard in 1995. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

Body Found of British Climber Tom Ballard, Son of Alison Hargreaves

In September 1995 we wrote about the Aug. 13, 1995, deaths on K2 of British climber Alison Hargreaves, Rob Slater of Boulder, Colo., Bruce Grant of New Zealand, Jeff Lakes of Calgary, Alberta, and Spaniards Javier Escartin, Lorenzo Ortiz Monson and Javier Olivar. Hargreaves, then 33, was the first woman to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, according to ExplorersWeb.com.

Now comes word of the tragic death of Hargreaves' son, British climber Tom Ballard, 30, and his Italian climbing partner, Daniele Nardi, 42, who late last month disappeared on the Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat - at 26,660 ft./8126 m the ninth highest summit in the world.

Ballard and Nardi were trying to climb a new route on Mummery Spur when they disappeared. Stefano Pontecorvo, the Italian ambassador to Pakistan, said Spanish climber Alex Txikon found the bodies on the Mummery Spur trail. Pontecorvo added the bodies were in a place that was difficult to reach but everything possible would be done to try and recover them.

Climbers Jack Geldard and Nick Brown documented Ballard's alpine solos for website ukclimbing.com. They wrote in 2015:

"There's no denying that part of Tom's motivations come directly from his mother's legacy. He's chosen the same mountains, the same path, and he too wants to be a professional climber."

Read more and watch the video here:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/07/bob-ballard-found-titanic-can-find-amelia-earhart-airplane/

Disheartening News About Neil Armstrong

Extensive news coverage surrounding the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing included disheartening news that Neil Armstrong possibly suffered a premature death due to medical malpractice. What's more, controversy has arisen over the family's efforts to sell memorabilia relating to the space hero's celebrated career.

The family of astronaut Neil Armstrong was paid $6 million by a hospital as part of a wrongful death settlement, according to a report in the New York Times.

Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital, outside Cincinnati, reportedly paid the secret settlement in 2014, two years after Armstrong's death in 2012 at age 82. Probate documents confirm the funds were distributed as part of a wrongful death and survival claim.

His family attributed his death to complications from coronary bypass surgery saying at the time, "We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures."

The New York Times reported last month that Armstrong's sons believed that his death was due to incompetent post-surgical care at Mercy Health - Fairfield Hospital and threatened legal action against the hospital.

Although the hospital defended its actions and the care Armstrong received, they ultimately decided to pay out the settlement and avoid a legal battle.

Read the story here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/us/neil-armstrong-wrongful-death-settlement.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

In a related story, Heritage Auctions of Dallas conducted a three-day sale of Armstrong memorabilia in conjunction with the 50th anniversary.

The auction netted over $2.4 million, largely through the sale of Armstrong's gold medal, which flew with him to the moon. The 14-karat-gold piece sold for $2.05 million.

Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Lunar Module-flown 14K-gold Robbins Medal sold for over $2 million.

Aside from that giant leap, other smaller steps from the auction have included an American flag that flew aboard Apollo 11, which sold for $137,500; Armstrong's personal copy of NASA's "Preliminary Apollo 11 Flight Plan," which went for $112,500; and his own NASA flight suit in the agency's trademark dusty blue, which sold for $81,250.

Read about the auction in ArtNews (July 18):

http://www.artnews.com/2019/07/18/neil-armstrong-auction-moon-landing-anniversary/

The auctions were not without criticism, according to a July 27 New York Times story by Scott Shane, Sarah Kliff and Susanne Craig. Numerous auctions netted $16.7 million in sales by late July.

Some relatives, friends and archivists find the sales unseemly, citing the astronaut's aversion to cashing in on his celebrity and flying career and the loss of historical objects to the public.

"I seriously doubt Neil would approve of selling off his artifacts and memorabilia," said James R. Hansen, his biographer. "He never did any of that in his lifetime."

Countered son Mark Armstrong during a CBS This Morning interview, "You just hope that people get positive energy from these things." He told the New York Times they had "struggled with" what their father might think of the auctions. "Would Dad approve? Let's see what positive things we can do with the proceeds," he said.

Armstrong continues, "I think he would judge us not on whether we auctioned items or not, but rather what we do with the proceeds and how we conduct our lives. Dad said that he wanted to leave the world a better place than he found it. I intend to follow his example and teach my children to do the same."

He and his wife, Wendy, said they were using auction proceeds to create an environmental nonprofit in honor of Mark's parents, called Vantage Earth, that Wendy said would work "to preserve and protect the earth from the damage done to it by its own population - a concern raised by Neil upon looking back at the earth from the moon."

Read the Times story here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/us/neil-armstrong-heirs.html?searchResultPosition=1

EXPEDITION NOTES

USS Grunion Bow Section

Bow of a World War II Submarine Discovered Off Aleutians

The bow of WWII Submarine USS Grunion (SS-216) has been discovered in 2,700 feet of water off the Aleutian Islands by a team pioneering robotic ocean exploration. The ongoing WWII submarine discoveries lead by ocean explorer Tim Taylor are applying comprehensive 3D imaging pioneering a new frontier in ocean exploration.

The historic discovery was made utilizing a combination of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV's) and advanced photogrammetry imaging. These ground-breaking new technologies and methods are at the forefront of underwater business technology and are forging a new frontier in subsea exploration.

The finding of the lost bow section of the USS Grunion completes a vital missing part of the puzzle and answers the questions posed on many expeditions undertaken 13 years ago by John, Bruce and Brad Abele, sons of the USS Grunion captain, Mannert L. Abele, USNA class of 1926.

USS Grunion was a Gato-class submarine commissioned on April 11, 1942. On her way through the Caribbean to her first posting in Pearl Harbor, she rescued 16 survivors from USAT Jack, which had been torpedoed by a U-boat. Her first war patrol was, unfortunately, her last. Sent to the Aleutian Islands in June 1942, she operated off Kiska, Alaska, where she sank two Japanese patrol boats.

Ordered back to the naval operating base in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on July 30, the submarine was never heard from again. She was declared overdue from patrol and assumed lost with all hands on October 5, 1942. She is the final resting place for 70 sailors.

The project is taking the large data sets collected on their discoveries and having them processed into 3D archeological photogrammetry models. This scientific approach extracts geometric information from equipment that is already integrated in most of the modern underwater remote filming systems, advancing imagery collection into high-quality 3D data sets that will be used in archeological research, historical archives, virtual and augmented reality, and educational programs and applications.

"This goes so far past video or still imagery, it truly is the future of recording historical underwater discoveries. Spending minimal time on site collecting a comprehensive 3D historical baseline model allows archaeologists and historians to spend months back home performing detailed research," states Taylor who coordinates his discoveries with the Naval History and Heritage Command.

The USS Grunion Expedition is part of the ongoing Lost 52 Project supported in part by STEP Ventures and has been recognized by JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) as the first and most comprehensive offshore underwater archaeological expedition in Japanese waters.

This expedition marks the fourth WWII Submarine discovery by Tim Taylor, CEO of Tiburon Subsea and founder of Ocean Outreach, Inc., based in New York.

For more information:

www.lost52project.org

Watch a video of the discovery here:

https://tinyurl.com/TimTaylorGrunion

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

- William Shakespeare's tragedy Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene iii - Ulysses speaking to Achilles.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

Rangers Without Borders Studies Eastern Europe Wildlife Protectors

Rangers Without Borders, led by Joshua Powell of London, recently completed the first-ever comprehensive study of the work of wildlife rangers in Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, as part of a program of scientific expeditions across Central Asia, the Caucasus region and Eastern Europe.

The conservation research program, funded by National Geographic and donations from members of The Explorers Club, organizes its research around three main themes vital to the effectiveness of wildlife rangers: ranger livelihoods, equipment and training; poaching threat and anti-poaching capability; and trans-boundary cooperation. It uses this research to provide free, impact-driven, consulting services for ranger forces.

Outside of the global focus on the work of wildlife rangers in Africa, rangers in the Eurasia region work in a range of challenging and varied environments, with species that are equally charismatic and important for global conservation.

Sites of particular interest included Hirkan National Park on the Azerbaijan-Iran border and refuge for the Caucasian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) and Sarychat-Ertash State Nature Reserve in the military border zone between Kyrgyzstan and China, which is thought to be significant for snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and where there was documented examples of snow leopard poaching in the 1990's.

Rangers Without Border's Caucasus expedition team (left to right: Elizabeth Streeter, Joshua Powell (Expedition Leader), Peter Coals, Afag Rizayeva, Laurie Hills). The entire team is under 30. Photo credit - Elizabeth Streeter/Rangers Without Borders

Powell, 25, was part of the original Adventure Canada-The Explorers Club Young Explorers program in 2016, as was cameraman Aleksandr Rikhterman, 27, and credits The Explorers Club's NGEN (Next Generation Exploration Network) group and board member Milbry Polk as being a significant source of inspiration and support for Rangers Without Borders (see related story).

Indeed, the whole team is under 30 and Powell says this was an important aspect of the program's development, describing a personal desire to offer opportunities to young conservationists. Powell has become a member of the Queen's Young Leaders community, representing the UK, for his work to lead Rangers Without Borders and was recently named the Scientific Exploration Society's Explorer of the Year for Inspiration & Scientific Trail-blazing (2019).

To find out more, use the hashtag #RangersWithoutBorders on all social media platforms, or visit https://www.joshua-powell.com/rangers-without-borders

MEDIA MATTERS

Every summer at least 20,000 people attempt the 15,776-foot summit of Mont Blanc. The majority spend a night in the Gouter Refuge on the French side.

A Safety Tunnel for Mont Blanc?

The Gouter Refuge - a futuristic structure that clings to a cliff at 12,516 feet - is, for many people, the final stop en route to the top of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, straddling the border between France and Italy, according to a New York Timesstory by Paige McClanahan (July 26).

Every summer at least 20,000 people attempt the 15,776-foot summit. The majority spend a night in the Gouter Refuge, on the French side, which welcomes climbers from late May through September. Local officials and guides say the number is growing, and that today's climbers are less experienced, even as warmer temperatures are increasing the risk of rockfall and transforming once-snowy ridges into treacherous sheets of ice. A small number of climbers also appear to be unwilling to respect the rules - or even pay for their accommodation.

More than half a dozen routes lead to Mont Blanc's summit, but just two - the Three Mountains Route, which starts from Chamonix, and the Normal Route, which starts from the neighboring community of Saint-Gervais - are accessible to climbers with only a moderate amount of experience. While the majority return from the summit unscathed, both itineraries entail risk.

The Normal Route - chosen by about three quarters of the climbers aiming for the summit - goes across the Grand Couloir, a steep, narrow gully that acts as a sort of bowling alley for falling rocks. Near the top, the path leads onto a narrow ridge of snow and ice, about 100 yards long and just a couple of feet wide, that's flanked by steep drops. If you stumble there, you can fall to your death, according to writer Paige McClanahan of the Times.

Alternatively, the Three Mountains Route, a more technical itinerary that accounts for most of the remaining quarter of climbers, goes below a series of towering ice cliffs that occasionally - and very unpredictably - slough off enormous quantities of snow and ice onto the path below. Both routes are threatened with avalanches, and both cross glaciers laced with crevasses: yawning gaps in the ice that can swallow climbers whole.

The Three Mountains Route has become steeper and icier, while rockfall in the Grand Couloir on the Normal Route, is becoming more frequent and voluminous, especially in the afternoon. The Petzl Foundation once proposed building a small tunnel to protect people crossing the gully, but the suggestion was opposed by many guides and local authorities. This is a wild landscape, not an amusement park, opponents said. Signs have been erected along the route to warn people of the risk, but many still choose to cross the gully at the most dangerous time of day.

The peak time for rockfall is also the peak time for people crossing the couloir.

Read the story here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/travel/overcrowded-and-more-dangerous-mont-blanc-faces-a-crisis.html

Ricardo Pena of AlpineExpeditions.net is a mountaineer based in Colorado who recently climbed the Three Mountains Route, which he found more technical than the guidebooks suggest, then descended via the Normal Route to the Gouter hut (pictured above).

When asked for comment on those who attempt Mont Blanc without the necessary experience, he tells EN, "Personally, I would vote in favor of a tunnel or changing the route to avoid that Grand Couloir even if it means adding a new via ferrata (a protected climbing route).

"It is a total gamble with your life. It is very dangerous and it doesn't seem to be a matter of crossing at certain hours to be safe anymore. Guides are risking their lives, even more than everyone else since they have to do it so often. I'm normally in favor of climbing all mountains in their natural state and by your own means as much as possible, but this is one case where I think it is a good idea to build a tunnel or do something to avoid that ridiculously dangerous couloir. Especially considering how many people attempt this peak each year.

"The mountain is definitely getting more dangerous and it's true more and more inexperienced people are coming making for a very dangerous situation," Pena said.

EXPEDITION FUNDING

Apply for the Adventure Canada-Explorers Club Young Explorers Program

By Milbry Polk

Special to Expedition News

In 2016, The Explorers Club and Adventure Canada launched the Adventure Canada-Explorers Club Young Explorers Program. As of this summer the program has 35 outstanding graduates of the program run by Stefan Kindberg and myself of The Explorers Club, and Cedar Bradley Swan of Adventure Canada.

The purpose of the Young Explorers Program is to encourage and facilitate the spirit of exploration through the pursuit of science, cultural studies, art and conservation. The program aims to encourage personal growth for young people age 20 to 30 who will benefit from direct experience, academic study and cultural exchange in the North. It is our hope that the Alumni will be leaders of next generation explorers.

Each Young Explorer participant has a project to be completed during a selected Adventure Canada Expedition Cruise. To date some of the projects have included assessing emergency medical response, traditional boat building, profiles of Inuit carvers, fishing, traditional storytelling, poetry, seaweed surveys, plastics, geology, robotics, and climate policy.

This work has resulted in films, PowerPoint presentations, podcasts, cook books, art shows and reports. Some of the graduates have gone on to become Emerging Explorers at National Geographic, some have won prestigious awards based on the work they began in the Arctic, others have created new programs based on what they learned.

All graduates present their work at the Explorers Club Polar Film Festival held in New York in January. They also join The Explorers Club NGen, a core group of younger members.

For more information on the graduates and their projects visit the website built by graduates Trevor Wallace and Brianna Rowe:

https://acec-youngexplorers.squarespace.com

Applications for the 2020 season will be available in late Fall 2019 through explorers.org.

WEB WATCH

Jelle Veyt

Watch POV Footage of Everest 2015 Avalanche

Belgian adventurer Jelle Veyt shows what it was like to be in an avalanche at Everest Base Camp in 2015. The horrifying footage was shot following the earthquake that year on the mountain that killed almost 20 people.

As a former street kid Jelle and his sponsors Vayamundo and Secutec are funding different projects in the world for him to undertake.

This month he will start on a cycling expedition from Belgium to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, a journey of 10,000-plus miles using only human power. By July 2020 he expects to start the Kili climb - part of a bigger project he calls Human Powered 7 Summits of Happiness.

Reach him here: veyt.jelle@gmail.com, www.jelleveyt.be

View the video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiafVrxVm_4&feature=youtu.be

EXPEDITION MAILBAG

What are the Odds of Dying While Mountain Climbing?

Carl Schuster of New York writes to comment on Chuck Patton's story in the July 2019 issue of EN wherein Patton believes, "Non-climbers or amateur climbers may think climbing to be a way to fame and fortune. Can you name one person who died on Everest last year? Climbing does not earn notoriety by itself; only by spectacular death or achieving one of those dwindling 'firsts' will a climber get recognized, and fortunes are not made that way."

Schuster opines, "Chuck, you have solved a 78 year old mystery! '... your mind must stay focused on five minutes ahead and less than 30 seconds behind.' The most succinct, precise and profound piece of self awareness. I've been trying from the beginning to understand this. Now I do."

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Read a review here:

https://booktrib.com/2019/06/the-bright-side-to-voluntourism/

Available now on Amazon. Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at:

tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook, @purpose_book

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2019 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E continues to elude searchers.

Amelia's Plane Remains Missing

The search for Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E Special is over for the summer, and the plane remains missing.

As we wrote in August, National Geographic explorer-at-large Bob Ballard and National Geographic Society archeologist-in-residence Fredrik Hiebert traveled to the remote Pacific atoll Nikumaroro, Republic of Kiribati, to solve the mystery.

Boulder, Colorado, resident Andrew McKenna reports there were two ships in the vicinity last month, one was Bob Ballard's deep sea research vessel R/V Nautilus, and the other the M/V TAKA out of the Solomon Islands. The TAKA's crew conducted field work ashore, including forensic dogs again, looking for more evidence related to what they think was the castaway's partial skeleton found in 1940.

"If we're lucky we'll find more bones that can be analyzed for DNA," McKenna writes.

Something intriguing was recovered from the ocean floor with technology beyond any that had ever been used in the search for Amelia Earhart. Yet it wasn't what Ballard and his team were looking for.

The full story will be told Oct. 20 during a two-hour National Geographic Channel special.

Read about the latest search here:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/08/tantalizing-clue-marks-end-amelia-earhart-expedition/

EXPEDITION NOTES

Glacial guide Helga Kristin Torfadottir stares out from inside the Grimsvotn volcano towards the Vatnajokull glacial ice cap. Photo credit: Dave Hodge Photography @davehodgephoto

Prototype Mars Suit Tested in Iceland's Most Martian-Like Environment

A team of renowned explorers and researchers journeyed inside an Icelandic volcano and across the country's Vatnajokull ice cap, during harsh weather conditions and unstable terrain, to test the MS1 Mars analog suit in a martian-like environment. This was an Explorers Club flag expedition involving suit designer, Rhode Island School of Design's (RISD) Michael Lye, a senior critic and NASA coordinator, and Benjamin Pothier, who studies I.C.E. (Isolated, Confined, and Extreme) for the Iceland Space Agency (ISA).

The RISD Mars Suit 1 (MS1) features a hard upper torso and soft lower torso design, with rear suit entry. At roughly 50 pounds, the suit is similar to what a planetary exploration suit would weigh in Martian gravity.

The data collected will assist in habitat and spacesuit design that can be used to train astronauts on Earth. Future research in Iceland will focus on identifying signs of Martian life, using geothermal energy, and exploring how sources of frozen water at the polar regions of the Moon and Mars can be repurposed for rocket fuel, oxygen, hydroponics, and long-term human habitation.

Expedition team members pose on the Vatnajokull glacial ice cap with Explorers Club flag #60, first taken on an expedition in 1935. They lived together in a small one room research hut for ten days testing the Mars suit. Photo credit: Dave Hodge Photography @davehodgephoto

The team traveled to the remote location and lived for six days in the Grimsvotn Mountain Huts, which had one room of bunk beds, no running water and long days of work during almost constant sunlight. The group endured a few weather events and multiple technical failures yet consider the mission overall a success with the data collected.

The Iceland Space Agency (ISA) led the successful mission to one of Iceland's most remote terrestrial analogs. Terrestrial analogs are areas on Earth that mimic the conditions of other planets and moons and may inform how Martian life can exist on the planet today.

The mission of the Iceland Space Agency (ISA) is to facilitate discourse and coordinate operational logistics between the Icelandic government, foreign organizations, academia, and domestic enterprise as they relate to the fields of space science, exploration, and business in and around the country of Iceland and with ISA teams globally.

For more information:

Alison Watson, ali@thelegacy.house, https://www.icelandspace.agency

FEATS

Erin Parisi (Photo: Tahvory Bunting, Denver Image Photography)

Transgender Athlete Hopes to be First to Complete Seven Summits

The nonprofit TranSending.org, based in Castle Rock, Colo., is using mountain climbing as a metaphor for what it means to be "trans," and reverse a long-held misconception that being transgender should be a detriment to personal growth.

To that end, the group is placing its Executive Director Erin Parisi, 42, a transgender athlete, on a quest to complete the Seven Summits. Reportedly, while about 80% of finishers are male, and 20% are female, it has yet to be finished by an openly transgender woman.

According to the group's website, "We will boldly proclaim, from the highest point on every continent, that we are proud, able, and will hide no longer."

She was born Aron Parisi in Clarence, New York, and played football at Clarence High School, graduating from there in 1995 and the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1999. Today Parisi is a real estate asset manager for a regional telecom.

After announcing her transition, questions arose within herself, friends, and family on whether she would be able to continue her passion for adventure sports and travel at the same pace she had in her past life.

Parisi recently appeared in an advertisement in 5280 Magazine for TranSending7 sponsor Hair Sciences Center, Greenwood Village, Colo.

Few doubt her now: to date she has completed four of the Seven Summits in under 12 consecutive months with ascents in Australia, Africa, South America, and Europe.

"With three summits left (Denali, Vinson Massif, Everest), we're now looking at limited seasonal climbing windows that are dependent on geography and larger fundraising needs. We took the rest of this year off to fundraise, train, and strategize the next summits - and enjoy the mountains and friends here at home," she tells EN.

"Staying ended up being a good move. A very well known climber donated his arctic expedition sled to my next training and summit bids; American Alpine Club and The North Face underwrote a Live Your Dream Grant to provide further alpine training; and we have a few partnerships/sponsorships in development."

For more information:

www.transending7.org, staff@transending7.org

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal."

- Paulo Coelho (1947- )Brazilian lyricist and novelist, best known for his novel The Alchemist.

MEDIA MATTERS

HMS Erebus and HMS Terror weathering a gale in an ice pack. In 1845, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror departed England in search of the coveted Northwest Passage - but it ended in disaster.

New Evidence Sheds Light on Ill-fated Northwest Passage Attempt

Evidence recovered from beneath the bitter cold of Canada's Arctic Ocean will shed new light on the final days the ill-fated expedition of the British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, who disappeared with his crew in 1845.

Parks Canada and Inuit researchers recently announced the results of a study of the HMS Terror - including "groundbreaking" new images from within the well-preserved ship - and raised the possibility that logs and maps have remained intact and legible after nearly 170 years underwater, according to The Guardian (Aug. 28).

Over several weeks in early August, the researchers launched 3D-mapping technology to survey the wreck site off the coast of King William Island in Nunavut.

For the first time ever, the team was also able to make seven trips inside the ship by piloting a remotely operated vehicle through the ship. Nearly 90% of the ship's lower deck - including the areas where the crew ate and slept - were accessible to the vehicle. In total, the expedition was able to study 20 separate rooms.

Recent excavations on nearby islands suggest a combination of scurvy, hypothermia - and potentially cannibalism - killed the crew after they abandoned the two stranded vessels.

Since the monumental discovery, Parks Canada has set about studying both ships in detail, with the aim of better understanding the lives of those aboard - and the final months of the voyage.

Read the story here:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/28/hms-terror-sir-john-franklin-evidence-recovered-arctic-ocean

New rule addresses world's highest garbage dump.

Everest to Ban Many Single Use Plastics

In early May, a volunteer clean-up team collected three metric tons of garbage from Everest in just two weeks, lending support to the claim that Everest is becoming the "world's highest garbage dump."

Among the trash that was hauled from Everest were empty cans, food wrappings, plastic bottles and climbing gear. Now, as the BBC reports, Nepal is trying to tackle the problem by banning single-use plastics in the Everest region, according to a Smithsonian.com story by Brigit Katz (Aug. 28).

Due to take effect in January 2020, the ban will apply to bottles and plastics that are less than 30 microns (0.0012 inches) thick. Local shops will be prohibited from selling products that fit these criteria, though plastic water bottles will be an exception to the rule.

"We will soon find a solution for that," Ganesh Ghimire, chief administrative officer of the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality, the region that encompasses Everest, tells CNN'sSugam Pokharel and Julia Hollingsworth. But for now, the exemption is a logical one.

"People have to drink a huge amount of water up there," Catherine Heald, a travel specialist at Remote Lands, explains in an interview with Megan Spurrell of Conde Nast Traveller.

"To refill water bottles from larger containers would be a challenge. They need more time and infrastructure to be set up to do that."

Plastics do not quickly biodegrade, but instead break down into smaller and smaller pieces.

In a related story, Nepal's government announced that it would crack down on permit rules in an effort to limit the number of climbers on the mountain.

Now, those who wish to ascend Everest must have previous experience scaling at least one Nepali peak that is more than 6,500 meters (or 21,325 feet) high. And the fee for climbing Everest has been raised from $11,000 to $35,000.

https://tinyurl.com/everestjunk

Marriage is tougher than Everest.

Think Everest is Tough? Try Marriage.

Caroline Louise Gleich and Robert James Lea were married Aug. 10 at the Snowbird Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. The bride, 33, is a professional ski mountaineer and adventurer based in Park City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah.

The groom, 38, is a Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Park City. He is also a professional athlete who has already completed two-thirds of what he called his "self-created, ultimate world triathlon," by climbing Mount Everest and swimming the English Channel, according to the New York Times Vows story by Vincent M. Mallozzi (Aug. 10).

As months of dating rolled by Gleich came to regard Lea "as a person I could trust and depend on, someone who was always there for me," she said. "He was a real man, not a man-child or one of those Peter Pans out there who never wanted to grow up."

They also believed in many of the same causes, and became activists together, fighting climate change and advocating for the nation's national parks. They have also embarked on a social media campaign "to raise awareness about the gender gap in outdoor recreation," Gleich said.

In Sept. 2018, after dating for four years, Gleich proposed to Lea - "I asked his mom for permission," she said - at the top of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world at 26,906 feet.

"I guess she got tired of waiting for me to ask," Mr. Lea said, laughing.

Eight months later, they climbed Mount Everest together. "It was a wonderful but very stressful experience," Gleich said.

Asked what their next big challenge might be, Gleich pointed to what she considered the most challenging and slippery slope of all: marriage.

"It's the scariest and biggest adventure either of us could have ever imagined being a part of," she said. "Of all the adventures we have been on, marriage is definitely the one with the most uncertain outcome."

Read the wedding page story here:

https://tinyurl.com/everestvsmarriage

EXPEDITION MARKETING

The alley behind The North Face in Boulder, Colorado

Photography Matters

Say what you want about Tweeting from the top of Mount Everest. Go ahead, and FaceTime Live from the Amazon. Want to Snapchat your expedition? Knock yourself out. Photography still matters. It mattered when Shackleton's expedition photographer Frank Hurley dove into the Weddell Sea to rescue exposed glass plates sinking with the Endurance in 1915, and it matters today.

This became evident to us while walking in a back alley near our headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, only to stumble upon this photo on the rear of The North Face store.

Salespeople in the store had no clue what the image depicted until we told them it was titled, "Lunch is no Picnic in the Antarctic," and documents the International Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1989-90), the first non-mechanized crossing of the continent. And by "crossing" we mean from one end to the other, not a pie-shaped wedge from one coast to the other. The project was co-led by American Will Steger and French doctor and explorer Jean-Louis Etienne.

The image, taken by Steger, shows three teammates as windblown snow pelts their faces, coating beards and eyelashes with ice crystals and denying them even the modest comfort of rest.

Richard Weber of Vernon, British Columbia, a member of the 1986 Steger International Polar Expedition, the first confirmed expedition to reach the North Pole without resupply, tells EN, "That is one of the best, maybe the best expedition photo ever."

We're told it appears in the vicinity of other North Face retail outlets, a testimony to the enduring impact and importance of expedition photography.

WEB WATCH

Nice looking engine vs. bad looking engine.

Field Researchers Locate Damaged A380 Aircraft Engine in Greenland

It's any travelers' worst nightmare: flying in an aircraft that lands with less engine than it had on take-off.

In September 2017, an Air France A380 (with the registration code F-HPJE) bound from Paris to Los Angeles diverted to Goose Bay, Canada, after losing an engine part somewhere over Greenland.

Damage to the aircraft was confined to the No. 4 engine and its immediate surroundings. A visual check of the engine had shown that the fan, first rotating assembly at the front of the engine, along with the air inlet and fan case, had separated in flight.

The picture of the engine in flight was horrifying. Fortunately the plane landed safely.

In late June, just under two years from when the incident occurred, the engine part was finally recovered in Greenland by BEA (the Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority) working for the Danish Accident Investigation Board.

Investigators knew early on that the incident occurred about 150 km Southeast of the city of Paamiut, located in Western Greenland. The primary motivation for recovering it was being able to conduct a proper investigation to prevent a reoccurrence.

The search was conducted by an aerial campaign using synthetic aperture radars to detect and locate the missing parts on the ice sheet under the snow layer. It also involved a ground campaign using ground penetrating radars.

A tip of the hat to dedicated researchers working in harsh conditions with modern search technology.

Read the full 68-page report here:

https://www.bea.aero/uploads/tx_elyextendttnews/F-HPJE_TECHNICAL_REPORT_05.pdf

Or better yet, watch the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPcSU0A1G9w&feature=youtu.be

Sam Neill

Bad Hair Day

New Zealand actor, winemaker and friend of the late Sir Edmund Hillary, Sam Neill, marveled at the ordinariness of Sir Edmund Hillary during the Sir Edmund Hillary Centenary Celebration in New Zealand this summer. The Jurassic Park actor said Hillary's haircut was so bad it looked like someone tried to murder the top of his head.

Sir Ed on a bad hair day.

Neill called the famous climber an "ordinary man with an ordinary haircut ... so ordinary, no one has ever looked like Sir Ed before or since."

Neill continues, "He was a shy ordinary, insecure schoolboy in a brutal school system."

The actor was struck by the ordinariness of one gesture on the summit of Everest when Hillary shook the hand of Tenzing Norgay, and the Sherpa climber embraced him in return, pounding him on the back.

"That handshake at the top of the world I found completely touching ... ordinary gestures so ordinarily human and beautiful ... Ed insisted on being ordinary until the day he died."

View the seven-minute video here:

https://tinyurl.com/siredmund

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Read a review here:

https://booktrib.com/2019/06/the-bright-side-to-voluntourism/

Available now on Amazon. Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at:

tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook, @purpose_book

Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2019 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com

EXPEDITION NOTES

Nina Williams appears in In The High Road (Photo by Brett Lowell)

REEL ROCK 14 Begins Film Tour

REEL ROCK Film Tour, featuring exceptional climbing films for the past 14 years, returns this fall with a new collection of world premiere films.

Founded in 2005 by filmmakers Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer, REEL ROCK has grown into the premier global platform for award-winning climbing films that weave bold action, humor, heart, and soul into larger-than-life human stories for a wide audience, from the core climber to the armchair mountaineer.

This year, the films include:

* In The High Road, the powerful and bold Nina Williams tests herself on some of the highest, most difficult boulder problems ever climbed.

* United States of Joe's - Climbers collide with a conservative coal mining community in rural Utah, to surprising results.

* The Nose Speed Record - Climbing legends Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold battle Yosemite dirtbags Jim Reynolds and Brad Gobright in a high stakes race for greatness.

Attend the tour in dozens of U.S. cities this fall, as well as Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Switzerland, and elsewhere.

View the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBPGrQbQGv4&feature=youtu.be

For more information:

www.ReelRockTour.com

Filmmakers: Enter The Explorers Club Polar Film Festival

Entries are now being accepted for the Polar Film Festival, scheduled for Jan. 24-25, 2020, at The Explorers Club headquarters in New York.

The event will showcase a diverse collection of feature films, documentaries and shorts about the Arctic and Antarctica. The films explore the history and grandeur of Earth's polar regions as well as the environmental challenges they are facing.

Attendees will have an opportunity to rub elbows with polar explorers, filmmakers and special guests who will share their stories and imagery. Entry deadline is Nov. 1, 2019.

To enter:

https://filmfreeway.com/ExplorersClubPolarFilmFestival-298809

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

- Andre Gide (1869-1951), French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1947).

EXPEDITION FOCUS

Expedition News Celebrates 25 Years of Exploration and Adventure Storytelling

By Jeff Blumenfeld, editor and publisher

It was October 1994, 25 years ago to be exact. It was the birth of Expedition News, a monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures.

Today, 300 issues and an estimated 1.2 million words later, we're still at it, having never missed a single month. Still at it celebrating the field of exploration and adventure, with an emphasis on those projects you might not read in National Geographic or anywhere else for that matter.

EN editor and publisher Jeff Blumenfeld celebrates 25 years of exploration and adventure storytelling.

For a quarter century, we've been fascinated by projects that stimulate, motivate and educate. We've been inspired, as well, by the steadfast determination of people such as Norman D. Vaughan, determined to climb a mountain in Antarctica named after himself. Or by Reid Stowe, an artist and sailor who completed history's longest non-stop, self-sufficient sea voyage - 1,152 days without once coming ashore.

To avoid taking ourselves too seriously, we've written about the quirky side of this business of always trying to discover what's over the next hill, to see the unseen. We've gently covered Sir Edmund Hillary's spectacularly bad haircuts; Andy Warhol's phallic image left on the moon by Apollo 12; and peak baggers upset that Rhode Island's 812-ft. highpoint is on private property.

We wrote about an adventurer who hit 510 golf balls 1,319 miles across Mongola (a par 11,880); a Polar Capsule, once thought lost, that floated from the North Pole to the northern coast of Ireland three years later; an adventurer in a pedal boat who achieved the fastest human-powered west-to-east crossing of the Atlantic (40 days); and the environmentalist who drove from London to Athens on nothing more than cooking oil that he begged from restaurant French fryers and schnitzel shops along the way.

Were these significant expeditions, which I define as trips with a nobility of purpose? Hardly. But Expedition News nonetheless honored their persistence and dedication to fulfill a personal dream.

We've been profoundly saddened right down to our very core by the untimely demise of explorers and adventurers we've met and have come to admire. Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura, British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, American alpinist Jeff Lowe, and freediver Audrey Mestre who tragically died before our eyes at a competition in 2002.

After meeting polar explorer and environmental educator Will Steger in 1985, who four years later agreed to be my Explorers Club co-sponsor, it occurred to me that the hundreds of excellent expedition proposals I used to review as a public relations representative for The Du Pont Company, needed to continue circulating once the textile giant took a pass.

In our business plan, I wrote that Expedition News would shine a light on well-developed sponsorship proposals and provide credit for sponsors who find value in demonstrating product performance of their expedition gear and apparel in extreme conditions.

So it was that Expedition News began as a modest fax, then became a printed edition mailed each month. An early form of e-mail called MCI Mail was also used to communicate with subscribers.

Today, through direct e-mail distribution, a website, blog, Twitter account, and excerpts in The Explorers Club Explorers Journal, we reach an estimated 10,000 explorers, adventurers and corporate sponsor each month.

While not particularly remunerative, publishing Expedition News for so long did lead to book deals with Skyhorse Publishing in 2008, and Rowman & Littlefield in 2019. It also resulted in three separate invitations to serve as a guest speaker on cruises to the Mediterranean, Western Caribbean, and Canary Islands. It was an opportunity to take over the main stage on three Celebrity cruise ships, sharing the success and failures of numerous explorers and adventurers with hundreds of passengers.

Had the talks not conflicted with bingo games, or handbag sales, there would have been hundreds more cruisers in the audience. But still, being a cruise ship lecturer was a great gig.

Lessons Learned

So what have I learned these past 25 years?

* Fully Embrace Social Media - Every project needs to fully embrace social media, if for no other reason than to provide maximum exposure for sponsors. Typically, an expedition leader is entering into a marketing agreement with a sponsor. You want funding? Your benefactors will want to receive credit and assistance in selling their product or service.

* Everest is an Annual Train Wreck - It's the mountain the media loves to cover. Much as I try to avoid writing about it every spring, to paraphrase the character played by Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part 3, just as I thought I was done writing about it, the mountain pulls me back in.

Want to impress someone? Tell them you climbed the world's second tallest mountain. We admire mountaineers such as Vanessa O'Brien who became the first American and first British woman to climb K2 (as a result of her dual nationality). Everest has been summited over 5,300 times, according to National Geographic. K2 and dozens more challenging peaks, not so much.

* There's Never a Shortage of Expedition News - Our initial concern that we would be struggling for material has proven unfounded. There are always more projects than we can jumar into each issue. There are new firsts to cover; historic mysteries to solve such as the disappearance of Amelia Earhart or loss of Mallory and Irvine's Vest Pocket Kodak (VPK) camera on Everest; and an entire category called cryptozoology that relies on exploration techniques to solve unexplained phenomena (yes, we're looking at you Bigfoot).

* The So What? Rule Still Applies - A tourist comes back and tells you about all the countries he or she bagged; an explorer will mention countries, but more importantly, will explain why those visits mattered.

When it comes to seeking sponsorship, there needs to be a reason for the trip. A news hook, perhaps. Or a charitable tie-in. Or legitimate scientific study. Otherwise, sponsors ask why they should sponsor your vacation.

* Firsts Still Count - Scoff though you may that the list of firsts is being sliced thin. However, stories of fighting adversity to become the first to summit blind or disabled or as a transgender, still matters to the millions who are blind, disabled or undergoing a change in their sexual orientation. Summiting a mountain continues to be a metaphor for overcoming adversity.

* The Expedition Isn't Over Until the Last Powerpoint - Unless you were self-funded, or the project was funded through donations with no payback expected, explorers and adventurers have a duty to tell the rest of us, those who didn't get to go, how they overcame adversity and why the project mattered.

Climbing that peak, crossing Antarctica, or descending the Amazon was the hard part; captivating the audience with your unique perspective of that part of the world should be the most rewarding, especially as it relates to inspiring future explorers.

Thus has it always been. Whether through magic lanterns, Kodak slide carousels, or Powerpoints, the public still loves a great adventure story well told.

Hopefully, our storytelling journey will continue for the next 25 years.

MEDIA MATTERS

TIGHAR Inspires National Geographic Oct. 20 TV Special About Earhart Search

If there is one thing about the Earhart mystery that everyone can agree on it's that it will take a conclusively identifiable piece of the plane to close the case. This past August, evidence uncovered in more than 30 years of science-based investigation by TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) convinced Dr. Robert Ballard to try for that goal in the waters off Nikumaroro Island in Kiribati (See EN, September 2019).

The expedition, sponsored by National Geographic Partners, concluded in late August without finding the plane. A two-hour National Geographic TV special to air October 20 will chronicle his search and the TIGHAR discoveries that inspired it.

According to Richard Gillespie, executive director, TIGHAR's plans for further operations at Nikumaroro await a thorough review of the data collected by Ballard. Meanwhile, TIGHAR continues to research the possibility that a conclusively identifiable piece of the plane has already been found, a 24 by 18 inch section of aluminum aircraft skin, that washed up on the island in 1991.

Analysis by the National Transportation Safety Board laboratory confirmed the physical material was right, but attempts to match the artifact's complex combination of features to a Lockheed Electra, or any other aircraft, invariably ended at best in close-but-no-cigar.

"It was only when we began testing the hypothesis that the artifact is a fragment of the one part of Earhart's Electra that was absolutely unique did we make real progress," Gillespie says. (See EN, March 2019, for more information about the patch).

Is the patch the sole surviving part of Earhart's plane?

Gillespie tells EN, "Such a claim would be extraordinary and, as astronomer Carl Sagan was fond of saying, 'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.' Our investigation of the artifact must, therefore, be extraordinarily rigorous."

Learn more at tighar.org

A pair of archival images from the mid-1940s that showed off a new invention of the day: a "pressurized suit for airmen of tomorrow," which, by allowing pilots to fly safely to altitudes of up to 62,000 feet, literally helped human beings attain new heights in travel. (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense)

We Go to Extremes

"Humans can hardly survive anywhere. It is both terrifying and comical, how vulnerable we are. We live comfortably, sort of, under exactly one condition: in the temperate patches of a very thin crust on a relatively small planet in a tiny corner of the known universe," writes Sam Anderson in the New York Times Magazine (Sept. 29).

"Transport us anywhere else, and we will basically instantly die. Other planets will choke us; black holes will crush us. Even our own modest planet's oceans will drown us, and its poles will freeze us, and its deserts will dry us into leathery husks.

"And yet: We still want to go everywhere," Anderson writes.

"... a real voyage, by most definitions, requires our actual bodies. And if the destination is sufficiently extreme, we may find ourselves making use of one of the most venerable technologies in the history of human innovation: the big, clunky suit. I'm talking about B-movie, Frankenstein's monster, stumbling and bumbling, aggressively inelegant, vaguely humanoid Bubble Wrap. Clunky suits are the modern version of knight's armor: artificial shells designed to ferry us through alien zones."

See more images of the clunky suits that enable exploration here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/24/magazine/adventure-archive-photos.html

Can Climbing Everest Help Sell a Handbag?

Top luxury brands have been compelled to look beyond traditional advertising - driven in part by consumers' desire for companies with a sense of mission. Premium marketers are looking to the ends of the earth, from the depths of the South Pacific to the peak of Mount Everest, to set them apart, according to a story in WSJ Magazine (Sept. 2019).

Cleanup Crew - A Bally-sponsored effort this May helped rid Mount Everest of litter as part of its Peak Outlook initiative. (Photo: Samir Jung Thapa)

Last spring, the Swiss fashion house Bally sponsored a mission to remove garbage from the slopes of Mount Everest, even in the so-called Death Zone above 26,000 feet. In September, Italian watch manufacturer Panerai will take about 15 customers diving off the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, hoping to catch sight of whales.

And from August through December, the Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen will underwrite a round-the-world flight for a restored Spitfire airplane that first went into production in 1943.

"Premium marketers have been compelled to look beyond traditional advertising, driven in part by consumers' desire for brands with a sense of mission," writes Nat Ives.

"Rarefied land, air and sea environments fit luxury marketers' ambition to project an aura of exclusivity. None of these brands are cleaning up Times Square, after all, or crossing the country in an Amtrak train."

Read the story here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-climbing-everest-help-sell-a-handbag-11565699639

EXPEDITION MARKETING

Ulyana N. Horodyskyj, Ph.D.

Adventure Scientist Featured in Cannabis Beer Video

Ulyana N. Horodyskyj, Ph.D., mountaineer, scientist and founder of Science in the Wild based in Broomfield, Colorado, was recently honored as a Colorado taste maker, featured in an original video series for CERIA, the state's first THC-infused beer. An online contest also features a guided Rocky Mountain hike by Horodyskyj up one of Colorado's 58 14ers (peaks over 14,000 feet).

CERIA Brewing, based in Arvada, Colorado, was co-founded by Keith Villa, Ph.D., creator/brewmaster of Blue Moon craft beer before he retired from MillerCoors in early 2018 after 32 years.

See the Horodyskyj video here:

https://ceriabrewing.com/tastemakers/ulyana-horodyskyj

WEB WATCH

Juko's Doodle

On Sept. 22, the Google Doodle celebrated the 80th birthday of the late Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest. She was also the first woman to climb the Seven Summits. She passed away in 2016 at the age of 77.

Tabei is celebrated for breaking stereotypes about women, both in her culture and internationally.

The whimsical animation is a high honor indeed. In 1998, Google's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were on their way to Burning Man and wanted to message their trip to the world. So they took Google's signature logo, which greets visitors to the company's homepage, and replaced the second "o" with an image of the festival's icon. They considered their "out-of-office" message a public inside joke.

This is how Google Doodles began - and the company, only a few months old, wasn't even incorporated yet.

Now, 21 years and several thousand Doodles later, the daily sketches are the quirky face of one of the world's most powerful companies, seen as part of five billion searches per day.

See the Doodle here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o27MD7Y9oA4

Don't look down

The Scariest Bus Ride EVER?

A Himalayan bus route that shows terrified tourists peering down into a valley three miles below has always amused us. We've been on some scary Nepal highways, but none this vertiginous. Since we first saw this post in 2014, it has been seen over 11 million times.

The Alwas-Killar Road bus route in India's remote Pangi Valley could well be one of the most dangerous, and certainly terrifying bus rides ever - as this video shows. The road has been nicknamed by some wags the "Almost Killer Road."

As a busload of scared travelers traverse the rocky mountainsides at an altitude of 14,500 feet, one of them records the experience as he keeps up a priceless running commentary and shrieks of terror and nervous laughter are heard in the background.

It's a good time waster to view while you're sitting there at work.

See it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPyYGw9Jn6w

BUZZ WORDS

Low-Head Dams

When Kenneth R. Wright, P.E., an Explorers Club member from Boulder, won an award from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) for his work in low-head dam safety, it made us wonder what makes these structures such drowning machines - so far in 2019, over 37 deaths have occurred nationwide, according to the association.

We've seen low-head dams all over the world on various expeditions.

A low-head head dam is a structure that generally spans from one side of a riverbank to the other, partially blocking the waterway and creating a back-up of water behind the dam. As water reaches the wall, it flows over the drop off, which can be anywhere from 6 inches to 25 feet.

The low-head dam is the most dangerous type of dam - they may not be easily spotted because the top can be several feet below the water's surface. Because of their small size and drop, low-head dams do not appear to be dangerous. However, water going over a low-head dam creates a strong recirculating current or backroller (sometimes referred to as the "boil") at the base of the dam. Even on small rivers, the force of the backroller can trap your canoe or kayak against the face of the dam and pull you under the water - even while wearing a personal flotation device.

We've seen these all over the country and parts of the world, and thanks to Ken Wright, who often testifies as a dam safety engineering expert in drowning-related lawsuits, we will be treating them with lots more respect.

Learn more and see safety videos at:

https://damsafety.org

ON THE HORIZON

David L. Mearns

Sea Stories Returns to The Explorers Club, Nov. 9, 2019

On Saturday, November 9, 2019, The Explorers Club located at 46 E. 70th Street in New York, will host its annual Sea Stories, a day focused on ocean exploration, scuba diving and marine life at its headquarters in Manhattan. Speakers include:

Choy Aming - "Secrets of the Tiger Shark Highway"

Randall Arauz - "From Science to Policy: Changing the Tide for Endangered Marine Species in the Eastern Tropical Pacific."

David L. Mearns - "The Golden Age of Shipwreck Hunting"

Beth Neale - "Breathless Exploration - Discovering Your Inner Freediver."

Robbie Schmittner - "Sac Actun: Exploring the World's Largest Cave."

Admission $70; must be purchased in advanced. For more information:

https://explorers.org/events/detail/sea-stories-2019. For reservations: 212 628 8383 x 10, reservations@explorers.org

Osa and Martin Johnson

WINGS OVER TANZANIA

Long before the very first wildlife documentary, an American couple named Martin and Osa Johnson captured the public's imagination from 1917-1937 through their films and books of adventure in exotic and far-away lands. The Johnsons were the quintessential models of the golden age of exploration. They were cut from the same cloth as the boldest of innovators, explorers and entrepreneurs. They were people with big ideas and the courage to make those ideas reality.

Through years of work in the field they innovated wildlife film techniques and made documentary movies that were superior to others at the time. It's estimated that they exposed about a million feet of film during their lives and they believed their footage would be an irreplaceable record of our "unspoiled" natural world.

In 1933, Osa and Martin Johnson took two Explorers Air Yachts (Sikorsky S-39 and S-38) to Africa to create the first flying safari documentary of the continent. They flew from Cape Town to Cairo over the course of two years. Most of their time was spent in East Africa, capturing the very first aerial and some of the first conservation footage of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, and many areas of Tanganyika (Tanzania).

A modern-day filmmaker will recreate the Johnson's flights throughout Tanzania.

Fast forward to today: director and explorer, Haley Jackson of Delta, Colorado, will lead a team of explorers and filmmakers on a modern day flying expedition to retrace the Johnson's flights of the 1930's throughout Tanzania. Using the replica Sikorsky aircraft from the original flying safari, the team will film an aerial expedition of Tanzania's 16 National Parks. The 10-week effort is scheduled to begin in 2020.

Using the pilot's journals and the Johnson's footage and photos, the team will film the same landmarks, landscapes, and animal herds that the Johnsons filmed nearly one hundred years ago.

Using IMAX's large-format 3D camera equipment, they will create unparalleled images of the wildlife, landscape and people that call it home. By juxtaposing new footage with the matching shots from the Johnsons, the project, called "Wings Over Tanzania," will create a doorway into the past, to experience the abundant wildlife, landscape, and people as it was in the 1930's. The flying safari will accomplish four objectives; help wildlife conservation, inspire science and aviation, boost wildlife sanctuaries, and ignite hope.

The $5 million project is seeking sponsorship. For more information and to watch early Johnson film footage, view http://www.haleyjackson.com/tanzania-beyond-the-wild/

Contact: Haley Jackson, haleyjack@gmail.com, 310 487 7803

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Reid Stowe

Marathon Sailor/Artist Back in the News

Reid Stowe, the marathon sailor and artist we've been covering for 20 years, is back in the news. Credited with the longest nonstop ocean voyage in recorded history (1,152 days), today Stowe is raising a family in suburban North Carolina and driving a 2005 Chevy Malibu. But he has also obsessively been making giant abstract paintings, most of them using the weather-beaten sails that carried his schooner across the globe (See

EN, July 2010).

He was recently back in New York to visit the Chelsea gallery that is showing his art, according to the New York Times story by Alex Vadukul (Oct. 27).

"All this time later, I'm still trying to tell the world the story of what I went through," said Stowe, 67, during his recent stay in Manhattan. "I've departed the touch of earth longer than anyone else. All my paintings carry the vibrations and significance of that journey."

In 2007, he and his girlfriend departed from Hoboken on a boat stocked with six tons of nonperishable provisions and a sprout garden. On Day 15, a freighter hit their schooner. Around Day 300, his partner, Soanya Ahmad started feeling sick, and a boat picked her up near the coast of Australia. Communicating by a satellite phone, Stowe soon learned that she was pregnant. On Day 457, Soanya gave birth to Darshen in New York. Mr. Stowe met his son for the first time when he arrived on the Hudson two years later.

Currently, while residing in Greenboro, N.C., he takes care of his father who has Alzheimer's and is also trying to publish a memoir.

Read the entire story here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/nyregion/reid-stowe-longest-ocean-voyage-.html

EXPEDITION NOTES

Kelvin Kent image by Jim Pisarowicz

Kelvin Kent Talks About Being at Altitude

Kelvin Kent, a member of Chris Bonington's British teams for Annapurna (1970) and Everest (1972) spoke to an Explorers Club chapter in Montrose, Colorado, last month about his climbing career. Kent considers the 1970 Annaurna climb, "the last of an era of logistical sieges," and believes there are phenomenal climbers today who are almost like ballet dancers. In regards to the rigors of climbing above 8000 meters, Kent said, "After being at altitude for long periods of time, no one can tell me this isn't doing damage to one's brain cells."

He recalls how team members had to warm their Mallory batteries in saucepans to get a few minutes of radio broadcast time out of them.

In regards to the unspeakable weather experienced in the Himalayas, he said, "Human beings can withstand wind and can withstand cold, but they can't withstand both .... but regardless, human beings will always try to do things they haven't done before."

In 1971, Kent was deputy leader of the British Trans Americas Expedition which took two Range Rovers from Anchorage to Terra Del Fuego in southern Chile. Kent is a charter council member of the Scientific Exploration Society and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is the author of five books and remains active on five boards in the Montrose/Ouray/Ridgway areas, including the nonprofit Western Colorado Friends of the Himalayas (westerncoloradofriends.wordpress.com/mission).

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams."

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014), Columbian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

EN Travels to Iceland in the Footsteps of Apollo Astronauts

Neil Armstrong worked hard and played hard during Apollo geology field exercises in Iceland. (Photo by Sverrir Palsson courtesy of the Exploration Museum).

On one of the world's most remote island nations, in a windswept North Iceland town of 2,300 hardy souls 30 miles south of the Arctic Circle, a small private museum devoted to exploration is making a name for itself honoring space exploration.

The idea behind The Exploration Museum dates to 2009 when Husavik locals realized the role Iceland's otherworldly lava flows in the country's Highlands played in training almost three dozen Apollo astronauts. NASA had found a parallel lunar landscape: no vegetation, no life, no colors, no landmarks.

Last month EN was privileged to be part of the annual Explorers Festival which brings explorers and adventurers together for a series of talks by explorers, art and photo exhibitions, poetry readings, concerts, and film screenings.

Over the years since its inception in 2014, the tiny museum at the top of the world has hosted presentations about the Jeff Bezos-funded recovery of the Apollo 11 rocket engines; awarded astronaut Scott Parazynski (veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks) and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17) its Leif Erikson Exploration Award; and also hosted Walter Cunningham (Apollo 7), William Anders (Apollo 8), Rusty Schweickart (Apollo 9), and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16).

Through the efforts of its founder, Orlygur Hnefill Orlygsson, a monument honoring the Apollo astronauts that trained in Iceland in 1965 and 1967 is located outside the museum, unveiled in 2015 by the grandchildren of Neil Armstrong.

Orly Orlygsson (l) and Explorers Festival director Francesco Perini are dressed for success Iceland-style.

Orlygsson is an expert in exploration history and a space exploration enthusiast, with a range of experiences including journalist, photographer, filmmaker and parliamentary assistant, as well as his current ownership of the Húsavík Cape Hotel. Turn on the hot water in the rooms and it smells of sulfur; flip the handle to "cold" and the water is the world's best-tasting, the same liquid bottlers ship to the states and sell for $3 a throw.

Orly, as he is affectionately called, is the director, writer and star of a quirky, charmingly eccentric Icelandic film called Cosmic Birth about space exploration that premieres at The Explorers Club on Nov. 15, 2019 (see below).

Mark Armstrong and son Andrew in the Exploration Museum holding a sweater worn by Neil Armstrong during a visit to the North Pole with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1985.

In a talkback after a screening in Reykjavik, Mark Armstrong, 56, son of Neil, explained how he consulted on the 2018 film First Man, particularly the dining room scene where his father, played by Ryan Gosling, discussed the risks involved in his space mission.

The younger Armstrong remembers, "We were confident because our father seemed so very confident in the mission." Later he said, "Our mother was the true actor. She must have been terrified but didn't let on to us."

Mark believes the U.S. was letting space slip away. "The country's leadership in space exploration came at tremendous cost in terms of dollars and lives. The space program has been languishing but it's starting to pick up - there's a lot of cause for optimism right now."

In reference to the Apollo program, he said, "Apollo proved that if we apply ourselves, amazing things can happen. Apollo gave people hope that achievements are possible beyond our dreams if work at it together."

The festival included presentations by the Iceland Space Agency (ISA) regarding efforts by the Ohio-sized country to join the European Space Agency (ESA).

"Sure, we have an inflated sense of self, but we realize how insignificant we are," says space strategist Thor Fanndal. "But we punch well about our weight considering we only have 350,000 citizens. What kind of country our size would be this well known everywhere? We want to become part of something grander than ourselves."

Iceland is back in the space training business: this past summer NASA returned to the country to test the prototype of a self-driving rover truck set to explore Mars in 2021.

Learn more about the Exploration Museum at: https://www.explorersfest.com/the-exploration-museum

Cold as Ice

Colorado Explorers Club members broke out their polar expedition gear on Nov. 1, 2019, to visit the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility in Denver, the world's largest such facility which stores, curates and studies ice cores recovered from the planet's polar ice sheets. Over 21,000 meters (about 13 miles) of core samples are stored from Antarctica, Greenland and the high mountain glaciers of the world. The laboratory provides the opportunity for scientists to examine ice cores without having to travel to remote field sites.

13 miles of ice cores are stored in Denver

The Denver Federal Center repository was dedicated in August 1993 and is one of only three such facilities in the world. Some of the cores being stored were extracted from as far down as 3,000 meters (9,842 ft.) and date back 2-1/2 million years. The frigid samples are used for scientific research related to climate change and other disciplines. Interestingly, once cores are extracted, they are protected for shipment in the kind of plastic wine bottle netting used by your local wine retailer.

The lab uses a specially designed keyboard to accommodate heavy gloves.

The tour was conducted in both the "warm" exam room (minus 10 degrees F.), and the main storage room chilled down to minus 32 degrees F., which was for many visitors, including about 25 local schoolchildren, the coldest temperatures they've ever experienced.

By the time ice cores arrive for study, it's estimated that each meter of ice is valued at approximately $25,000. Outdoor gear companies often test their cold weather apparel within the space.

Mr. Freeze with assistant curator Richard Nunn. The 1997 Batman & Robin movie character, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the lab's mascot.

"It takes a special kind of crazy to work in these temperatures," admits assistant curator and tour guide Richard Nunn. "By studying ice cores, we can start piecing together what's happening to our planet. It provides information on the rate of change which can help us better understand climate."

For more information: www.icecores.org

MEDIA MATTERS

South slope of the Grandes Jorasses, with the Planpincieux Glacier on the left.

Glacier Collapse Would be Size of Four Epcot Spaceship Earth Spheres

The Italian side of a Mont Blanc glacier is at risk of collapsing due to increased ice melt linked to climate change, scientists and local officials warn. A massive chunk of the Planpincieux Glacier on Grande Jorasses peak of the Mont Blanc massif is the cause of concern. About two feet of its ice melts per day due to high temperatures.

According to a radio interview with Peter O'Dowd of public radio's Here & Now (Sept. 27), if the popular hiking spot collapsed, 250,000 cubic feet of ice could launch down the mountain.

Glaciologist and Colorado College visiting professor Ulyana Horodyskyj climbed Mont Blanc in summer 2018 and says, "If you've ever been to Walt Disney World, there's the Epcot Spaceship Earth, you know that golf ball structure. Imagine four of those," Horodyskyj says. "That's how big this volume of ice is."

Although it's nearly impossible to predict just how imminent the collapse of Mont Blanc is, Horodyskyj says scientists are doing what they can to monitor just how quickly ice is slipping down the slopes. She says scientists can utilize radar, satellite images and even time-lapse cameras to keep a close watch on the ice melt.

An "alarmingly wide" crack was detected in the glacier this year, she says. The glacier's fracture is common during the high heat of summer, she explains, but was wider than usual this year.

"Glaciers, in general, are highly sensitive to rising temperatures and when you're talking about temperate glaciers, it means the glacier [is] already at its melting point," she says.

As the potential for a catastrophic collapse looms and the urgency surrounding climate change action grows, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly recently that Mont Blanc's future "must shake us all and force us to mobilize."

Listen to the five-minute interview here:

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/09/27/climate-change-mont-blanc-glacier-italy-ice

Like Electronic Crack on Kilimanjaro

We're all addicted to our technology, even more so on expeditions. Relatively easy climbs on Mt. Kilimanjaro are no exception according to the story by Anupreeta Das in the

Wall Street Journal (Nov. 9-10, 2019). The writer asks whether she can survive on the mountain if her phone died.

To fight the cold she snuggled her smartwatch, AirPods, two digital cameras, a headlamp, charging cables, three power banks and several dozen spare batteries inside her bag.

She writes, "Gadgets, especially smartphones and devices powered by lithium-ion batteries, respond poorly to extreme cold. They can freeze or develop glitches. Batteries drain alarmingly fast. (On day two, as we climbed from 11,550 feet to 12,540 feet, my phone's battery went from 100% to 72%. In airplane mode.)

Eddie Frank, a longtime Kilimanjaro guide writes in a blog post advising climbers on ways to stay connected, including buying a local SIM card, "We're addicted to our personal technology so let's not have a philosophical discussion about going cold turkey on technology while on our Kilimanjaro climb."

Das adds, "But here's why I couldn't let my iPhone die. It was my main camera, my alarm clock, my mirror in selfie mode, my flashlight, my electronic diary - and as I discovered, my pedometer even without a connection, allowing me to track my progress in miles walked, steps taken and floors climbed."

Read the story here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/she-climbed-kilimanjaro-but-the-real-achievement-keeping-her-phone-alive-11573242914

OUT THERE

Alan Stern says Pluto is everyone's favorite planet.

12 Questions for Alan Stern

S. Alan Stern, 61, is an American engineer and planetary scientist and principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. Stern has been involved in 29 suborbital, orbital, and planetary space missions, including 14 for which he was a principal investigator.

It was Stern you saw on a worldwide feed last December 31 when the New Horizons interplanetary space probe, launched in 2006, closed in on the Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69, which was recently given the Native American name of Arrokoth.

It's the now familiar snowman-shaped object four billion miles from the sun that has been extensively studied. While Voyager and Pioneer had a head start and are the furthest manmade objects from Earth, thanks to New Horizons, Arrokoth is the furthest world ever explored.

He and David Grinspoon are co-authors of Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto (Picador, 2018).

We recently caught up with Stern for dinner near his home in Gunbarrel, Colorado, and posed a few brief questions.

EN: What was your dream growing up?

SAS: I wanted to be an astronaut since probably age four. While I was named to NASA's short list, I'm disappointed that I never made the final cut. I feel sorry for NASA (ed. note: he says in jest).

EN: So who is your favorite astronaut?

SAS: Hand's down, the late John Young, the astronauts' astronaut. He did it all: piloted and commanded four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command and Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle. Oh yeah, he also flew twice to the moon and walked on it.

EN: There hasn't been a moon landing since 1972. What's up with that?

SAS: I find it unbelievable, but that dry spell is going to end soon.

EN: How soon?

SAS: Certainly in the 2020s. In fact, I'd bet the next decade is going to be another Roaring 20s as far as space exploration is concerned.

EN: Why even return to the moon? Why not go straight to Mars?

SAS: Because the moon is our training ground. Considering no landings for almost 50 years, we're out of practice.

EN: Will Mars eventually be colonized?

SAS: It's going to happen, just wait and see, and with some people who are alive today. We need to provide this kind of inspiration to children today, exciting them about science and engineering careers, and the sheer audacity of exploration of all kinds.

The most detailed images of Arrokoth (MU69) obtained just minutes before the New Horizons spacecraft's closest approach at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2019. It's said to be the most primitive object ever encountered by a spacecraft (NASA photo).

EN: If Voyager and Pioneer satellites are the furthest manmade objects from Earth, how is Arrokoth the furthest world ever discovered?

SAS: Voyager and Pioneer have traveled further than New Horizon, but there's really nothing out in their area of deep space to visit. It's like driving through western Kansas!

EN: In 2015 we received our first-ever high definition images of Pluto thanks to New Horizons. How's the satellite probe doing these days?

SAS: It's performing perfectly. It's taking data, sending data, and we're making plans for what we expect it will do next. Stay tuned.

EN: Pluto: Planet or Dwarf Planet?

SAS: It's a planet, and a lot of peoples' fave planet - the Solar System saved the best for last. Next question?

EN: What's this we hear about a space elevator?

SAS: It's b.s. for now. But come back to me in the 22nd century when technologies are more advanced and we'll see what's possible.

EN: How about High Altitude Platforms Stations (HAPS) that would enable wireless broadband deployment in remote areas, including in mountainous, coastal and desert areas?

SAS: This is going to be a huge business. In fact, I'm in a related business myself.

EN: So, tell us, are we alone?

SAS: Very likely not. And I think it won't be long before we know. Even if all we find are some extraterrestrial slime or fish, it would be profound ..... and great fodder for late night comics.

In the Nov. 10 Wall Street Journal, Stern says he is starting to think about another mission to Pluto, one that probably wouldn't be launched until at least 2027 and thus won't reach its destination until the mid-2030s.

Read the story here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/make-pluto-great-again-11573411628

BUZZ WORD

You don't need to go to space to experience the Overview Effect.

Overview Effect

When astronauts have the opportunity to look down on Earth from space they experience a sensation that can produce a lasting effect on their psychology. This shift is commonly referred to as the Overview Effect.

Recent studies suggest that exposure to this vantage point leads to an overwhelming sense of emotion, a stronger connection to all living beings, and a greater appreciation for the planet. (Source: Benjamin Grant, author of Overview: A New Perspective of Earth [Amphoto Books, 2016] who uses mesmerizing satellite photography to provoke the same feeling of overwhelming scale and beauty in each of us.

For more information: https://www.over-view.com/book/

EXPEDITION MAILBAG

Department of Shameless Self-Aggrandizement

Among the many letters of congratulations we received upon celebration of our 25th anniversary, were these three that humbled us.

"A quick note to congratulate you on a quarter century of producing the finest expedition newsletter out there! I hope all's well, and here's to the next 1.2 million or so words..."

- Ben Saunders, English polar explorer, endurance athlete, and motivational speaker.

"Congratulations on a quarter century of serving the exploration world through Expedition News! Having a 'transmission belt' between the explorers and the public to explain what we do is a vital part of our world."

- Don Walsh, American oceanographer, explorer and marine policy specialist.

"First of all a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS on your 25th anniversary. Yours is an amazing story. You have truly created an iconic communications medium and have every right to be massively proud of your accomplishment. I greatly appreciate what you do, as obviously do so many thousands of others. I look forward to every issue and hope to continue to do so for another decade or two (from my perspective, hopefully much longer from yours)."

- Chuck Patton, former climber who summited Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Washington in New Hampshire, and Mount Santis in Switzerland.

ON THE HORIZON

U.S. Premiere of Icelandic film, Cosmic Birth, The Explorers Club, Nov. 15, 2019, 46 East 70th Street, New York

An Icelandic documentary film about mankind's journey to the Moon and the experience of viewing the Earth from a quarter of a million miles away. The film also looks into the role that Iceland played in the training of the Apollo astronauts for the first manned missions to another world. It aired nationally on Icelandic TV and appeared in Iceland theaters on July 20 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing.

For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/cosmicbirthfilm, https://explorers.org/events/detail/film-screening-cosmic-birth-we-went-to-the-moon-but-discovered-earth

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Explore Pitcairn with Pacific Islands Research Institute

Our mission is to explore the most remote islands in the Pacific and discover their secrets.

Due to our long-standing friendships with some of the residents of Pitcairn Island, we have been invited by the islanders themselves to spend a month on Pitcairn exploring petroglyph sites and conducting forensic archaeology. We will be the first to test for DNA at a historical burial site in Adamstown. We anticipate two teams of two weeks each, maximum six participants per team, plus guides, researcher and forensic anthropologist.

Timing: June/July 2020.

This is a self-funded Expedition at $16,900 pp.

For more information: Capt. Lynn Danaher, FN'05, Pacific Islands Research Institute, 808 755 8045, 4islandexplorer@gmail.com

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Members of the 1990 International Polar Expedition met with Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa (center) and the city's environmental minister, Takeshi Shimotsuma (far right) to discuss the city's role in developing the IPCC Kyoto Guidelines to support and implement the Paris Agreement. The expedition team urged the Mayor to continue his leadership role, and he congratulated them on their accomplishments on and off the ice. Team members from left to right: Geoff Somers, Great Britain; Will Steger, USA; Jean-Louis Etienne, France; Keizo Funatsu, Japan; Victor Boyarsky, Russia; and Cathy de Moll, expedition manager.

1989-1990 Trans-Antarctica Team Celebrates 30th With New Climate Declaration

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the historic 1989-1990 Trans-Antarctica Expedition across Antarctica, the six expedition team members reunited in Japan recently to share their concern for the continent's future, and their commitment to the world's young people who will be most affected by the climate change that is now occurring.

The 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition was the first-ever non-mechanized crossing of Antarctica and the longest-ever traverse (nearly 4,000 miles). The international team of six included Will Steger (USA), Jean-Louis Etienne (France), Victor Boyarsky (Russia/Soviet Union), Qin Dahe (China), Geoff Somers (Great Britain) and Keizo Funatsu (Japan), plus three sleds and 40 sled dogs. The expedition's purpose was to bring world attention to the international cooperation that managed this continent of science, and to lobby the world's leaders to ban mineral exploration and continue uninterrupted the international Antarctic Treaty.

1990 Trans-Antarctica team member Will Steger (USA), left, speaks to a crowd on November 10 at the Tokyo International Forum about the vital importance of international cooperation in stemming the precipitous melting of Antarctica's ice shelf and in addressing a growing global climate crisis. Also pictured: Victor Boyarsky, Qin Dahe, and Geoff Somers.

In November's appearances in Hokkaido, Kyoto, and Tokyo, Japan, the team issued a mission statement updated from the one they read on December 11, 1989, at the South Pole, noting that their expedition would no longer be possible due to the melting of the Antarctic ice shelf, and emphasizing the ever-increasing urgency for international research and cooperative action to address the growing crisis. The team also met with Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa, an international leader in climate action.

The Trans-Antarctica anniversary events in Japan were sponsored by the DAC Group, North Face Japan, and Gore-Tex Japan. A similar celebration is scheduled in Lanzhou, China, in March, 2020 on the 30th anniversary of the expedition's completion, March 3, 1990.

The full transcript of the expedition's 2019 mission statement can be found at:

http://www.cathydemoll.com/new-page-1

Read the Antarctic Treaty here:

https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/antarct/anttrty.jsp

EXPEDITION NOTES

Scripps professor Jeff Severinghaus (Photo courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

Search Begins for World's Oldest Ice

A group of local scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego are in Antarctica to search for the world's oldest ice. The reason? To understand more about Earth's climate history by looking at ice caps, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The research team will be seeking an entire ice sheet, about two miles thick, to use as a sample, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The problem? A standard drill could take five years to dig deep enough to find the necessary ice sheet sample, according to researchers with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. That's where San Diego's team of researchers come in.

Paleoclimatolgist Jeff Severinghaus believes he has a faster way to find the ice sheet - a drill that could take just 48 hours, instead of five years. Severinghaus is working with a geologist at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, John Goodge, to design a drill, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

This month, the team will use the drill in Antarctica, in hopes of learning more about Antarctica's history from ice sheets, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Severinghaus will return from San Diego in the spring with his discoveries, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Learn more here:

https://tinyurl.com/scrippsoldice

FEATS

Colin O'Brady

Celebrity Adventurer and Neophyte Rower Leads Drake Attempt

The Drake Passage is one mother of a body of water, named for Sir Francis Drake who in the sixteenth century called it ". . . the most mad seas." When the cold air of the Antarctic ice cap collides with the warmer maritime air over the ocean surrounding the continent, the result is a vicious storm belt of blizzards and dense fog spanning 600 miles from the southern tip of South America to the South Shetland Islands.

On the best of days the ocean is turbulent and, on the worst of days, impassable in smaller vessels. Mariners have long called this region the "Roaring Forties,""Furious Fifties," and "Screaming Sixties," referring not to decades, but lines of latitude.

In March 1988, the late American Ned Gillette, then 43, and his team set out against the currents to row the Drake assisted by a small sail and fueled by 6,000 calories per day of energy bars and shakes. For fourteen days, the four-man team muscled their hardy heavy-gauge aluminum Sea Tomato 684 miles from Cape Horn to Nelson Island in the South Shetlands, just off the Antarctica peninsula.

This month, celebrity adventurer Colin O'Brady, 34, an American professional endurance athlete, motivational speaker, adventurer and former professional triathlete, and his five teammates, will embark on The Impossible Row, an attempt to complete the world's first completely human-powered crossing of the Drake.

Main sponsor The Discovery Channel said the crew will not use any motors or sails and must work around the clock to complete their mission.

Home away from home for six extreme endurance rowers.

O'Brady, from Portland, Oregon, tells his 11,400 Twitter followers on Nov. 17, "Up until I started training just a few months ago, I'd never rowed a boat before. But I've been strengthening the most important muscle for years; my mind. Mindset is the key for any of us to fully unlock our potential and make the impossible possible."

O'Brady was on The Tonight Show to talk with Jimmy Fallon about his partnership with the Discovery Channel.

"Get this," he said to Fallon. "I've never rowed a boat anywhere in my life."

Watch his Nov. 16 appearance here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wacVZa4DQ6g&feature=youtu.be

In 2018, the neophyte rower completed a 930-mile expedition on foot across the Antarctic continent in a controversial 54-day journey (see EN, January 2019). The then 33-year-old documented his journey - which he called The Impossible First - on his Instagram page.

For more information: www.Discovery.com/theimpossiblerow

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Our earth is a raft in the sea of the universe. The more we learn, the more we realize how fragile it is. We need to engage everyone in preserving the wonders of our raft."

- Milbry Polk, Explorers Club Sweeney Medal recipient, awarded at the 115th annual dinner in New York on March 16, 2019. Learn more about her work here: www.milbrypolk.com

MEDIA MATTERS

Bombardier Blood

A new documentary focuses on mountaineer and severe hemophiliac Chris Bombardier's attempt to climb the Seven Summits. Bombardier Blood follows his summit of Everest where he and his medical team overcome frozen veins, fatigue, and the omnipresent fear of life-threatening bleeds - to raise awareness and critical funds for the global hemophilia community.

Chris Bombardier is a mountaineer and outdoorsman with severe hemophilia B living in Salem, Mass. The documentary is an inspiring and heart-warming adventure film that cinematically highlights both what is and is not possible when living with this rare disease. It is available for community screenings.

Watch the trailer here:

https://www.bombardierblood.com/teaser

OUT THERE

Barry Clifford

Ten Questions for Barry Clifford, Underwater Archaeological Explorer

In May 2014, Barry Clifford, now 74, one of the world's most renowned underwater archaeological explorers, reported he found the wreck of the Santa Maria, flagship of Christopher Columbus, off the coast of Haiti. Over 90 people crowded into the historic Clark Room of The Explorers Club for the announcement. The news was carried worldwide.

The newest adventure for Clifford is the 12,000 sq. ft. Whydah Pirate Museum on Cape Cod that houses a full-scale replica of Samuel Bellamy's Whydah Gally, a pirate ship that sank in 1717 off Wellfleet, Mass.

Clifford discovered the wreck and its accompanying treasure in 1984, helped in part by family friend John F. Kennedy, Jr., who was part of his dive team. To this day, the Whydah remains the only fully authenticated pirate ship ever found. At the heart of Clifford's museum is an interactive lab where visitors can watch archaeologists work their way through recovered pirate artifacts piece by piece.

We caught up with him recently in Boston, across Massachusetts Bay from his home in Provincetown.

EN: How can you be sure you discovered the wreck of the Santa Maria off Cap Haitian?

BC: We spent several years surveying the Bay of Cap Haitian, eliminating over 560 anomalies before discovering the eight and ninth 15th century lombards (cannons), ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere.

Coincidentally, it was the exact distance (1.5 leagues) as described in the Columbus Dario (diary) from the wreckage of the Santa Maria to Fort Navidad, the fort Columbus built, in part, from the wreckage of his beloved flagship.

Most recently, even more compelling evidence came to light when fellow explorer Dr. Charles D. Beeker, director of Indiana University's Center for Underwater Science and Academic Diving Program, discovered evidence that the "Columbus Anchor" uncovered in the 1960's, which Columbus purportedly used in an attempt to kedge (winch) off the sand bar on which they had "silently" grounded, was located within anchoring distance of the wreck we had discovered.

EN: Not everyone believed this discovery, did they?

BC: Sadly, both lombards, and a variety of compelling artifacts were looted from the site after UNESCO rejected our discovery without consulting our archaeologists, or, examining a word of our research.

UNESCO still disputes the findings. But I take comfort in that the same people who said I didn't find the Santa Maria also didn't believe that we found the Whydah in 1984..... until our team pulled up a ship's bell upon which was cast in block letters THE WHYDAH GALLY 1716.

The bell inscribed THE WHYDAH GALLY 1716

EN: Do you have plans to return to Haiti to conduct conclusive research?

BC: We'd love to, but it depends upon the government of Haiti. Right now, it's one of the most dangerous countries on earth and we've yet to receive permission to return.

EN: Historical revisionism in the modern era has made Columbus somewhat of a controversial figure. Instead of Columbus Day, some states celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day. Why the on-going effort to conclusively prove the location of the wreck?

BC: Right or wrong, this ship and the Columbus expedition changed the course of human history. He was an explorer who followed his dream and I have great admiration for him.

EN: Where's the money coming from to continue this quest for the Santa Maria?

BC: I received some funding from various television shows, lectures, and early funding, but otherwise it's all been funded by myself and a dear friend. I've yet to sell any recovered artifacts from a career of underwater exploration.

EN: Why not? especially if the proceeds will support more exploration?

BC: I started out exploring for treasure, but when I realized these recovered artifacts came from slave ships and some were used to pay for people, I decided I could never wear that around my neck or sell it.

EN: How did JFK, Jr. become involved in the search for the Whydah?

BC: I knew Caroline Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. from skiing in Aspen, and agreed to add JFK, Jr. when he asked to join our Whydah search in 1982. He was an important member of the team and a terrific young man, then about age 22. Around that time, his diving compass was snagged and broke off. We later found it in 2007 and it's now on display in our Cape Cod museum.

JFK, JR.'s compass lost in 1984, recovered in 2007. Note initials in the upper right corner.

EN: You're somewhat of an expert on pirates. When did pirates start saying things like "aye matey" and "arghhhh?"

BC: Those are Hollywood inventions. But if you're curious about why men and women went under the skull and bones, watch Poldark, the PBS Masterpiece show streaming on Amazon Prime.

EN: So what you're saying is that pirates have been much maligned?

BC: Pirate society was an early exercise in democracy where former slaves were experimenting in democracy with Europeans, often being elected as officers, and sharing equally in the plunder. Crew members were elected to higher positions based upon what they contributed to the brotherhood and well-being of the ship. It wasn't about skin color.

EN: What's next for you?

BC: I'm working on a book of short stories, planning additional tours for our museum tour of pirate artifacts, and hoping to expand our Cape Cod museum. I have no plans to retire until I'm 92 to correspond to the year Columbus "sailed the ocean blue."

Learn more about the Whydah Pirate Museum here:

https://www.discoverpirates.com

EN'S HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

It's our favorite time of the year, a time for us to share with you some, ahem, quirky gifts to give to the explorer in your life. After all, soap on a rope won't do for this group of alpha males and females. They'll be looking for gifts with some gravitas. We respectfully submit our top five for the holiday season, a time when we all know, money is no object. Whoop whoop.

Behind every successful explorer is a substantial amount of coffee.

Rocket Fuel

For the rocket man (or woman) in your life, the one who dreams of joining the space program, consider these rocket fuel ceramic mugs. Coffee doesn't ask silly questions. Coffee understands. ($19.99, https://shop.amnh.org/rocket-fuel-ceramic-mug.html).

The Vermonter Therma-Phone is made of Johnson Woolen Mills outer fabric.

Smartphone Cozies

Therma-Phone's Mobile Phone Survival Kits are perfect for explorers who can't survive without constantly posting from the trail. They're like cozies, but instead of your favorite THC-infused brew, they protect those addictive pocket brains we all carry. The phone protector is an engineered heat-reflective, insulated soft case that retains and reflects heat back to the phone to keep it warm, thus extending battery life five to 10 hours, or so they claim. ($39.95, www.therma-phone.com)

The Moki is a Step Up

A Step Up

Yes, there is a way to stand on a tire to reach a rooftop rack, but it's a lot more convenient using a Moki Door Step that attaches to those U- and D-shaped door latches found in most every SUV. The rubber coated hook withstands 400 lbs., although we suspect a 400 lb. explorer or adventurer will be tall enough to reach the rack regardless. ($44.95, www.rightlinegear.com)

The motorized wiener machine.

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)

When the weather warms up, it's the perfect season for cooking hot dogs on a camp grill. But after a hard day digging up dinosaur bones, the last thing a hungry explorer wants to do is stand there manually turning his foot long sausage meat. That's why the Rotisserie Kit just had to be invented. It attaches to any portable drill and is perfect for roasting pigs in a blanket, assuming you can dial back on the drill speed. (Coming soon, price TBD, www.imaginecamping.com)

The BMW NIGHT SKY, a feasibility study by BMW Individual.

It Came From Another World

For the love of all things holy, there's no better way to shower your largess on a friend or loved one than gifting a luxury car with meteorites embedded in the dashboard. The BMW Individual M850i NIGHT SKY was created as a feasibility study by the experts of BMW Individual in a manual process lasting several weeks.

They quilted cosmic patterns into the merino leather seats and roof lining, created starry constellations in the central console, and applied a series of mosaics - from the 4.5 billion-year-old material of a genuine meteorite. The small mosaics cut from an iron meteorite are only 0.35 mm thick. Starting price is an astronomical $111,900. Your recipient can hop into this bad boy the next time he or she drives to the Fortress of Solitude.

(https://www.bmw.com/en/innovation/meteorite-styled-car.html)

For more gift ideas, check out TheExploreStore.com for a host of clever products based on an exploration theme. Among its many items are books including EN's Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would-Be World Travelers (hint, hint).

IN PASSING

Barbara Hillary was the first African-American woman on record to reach the North Pole, and first to reach both the North and South Poles.

Barbara Hillary (1931-2019)

Barbara Hillary, an African-American woman with a deeply ingrained sense of adventure, passed away in Far Rockaway, New York, on Nov. 23 at the age of 88. It's said that her body lived hard, and it simply wore out.

Many people know the major storyline of Barbara's expeditions to the North and South Poles in her 70s - feats of pure grit and determination. Barbara made one final, epic expedition, to Mongolia, earlier this year. She accomplished that trip, too, against the odds, and with tremendous support from friends, guides, sponsors, journalists, and the hospitable people in Mongolia.

Back when we knew her, she would like to say, "Wouldn't it be better to die doing something interesting than to drop dead in an office and the last thing you see is someone you don't like?"

Her friend Deborah Bogosian writes, "Everything about her was fascinating, convention-breaking, and confounding. Her record-setting treks, her defeat over cancer, her arduous fight to get her house back after Hurricane Sandy. Her years as a nurse, her gigs as a taxi driver and in sundry other jobs that gave her more than a few stories to tell. Her appreciation for archery, guns and knives, big trucks and big dogs. The roses and miraculous tomatoes she grew."

Learn more about her life and read her New York Times (Nov. 27) obituary at:

www.barbarahillary.com

EXPEDITION NOTES

Citizen of the World is a very highly modified Twin Turbine Commander 900

Citizen of the World Aircraft Expedition Aims For the Poles

An aircraft titled Citizen of the World, began the call of adventure last November on a six-month 26,000 nautical mile flight that will, according to its chief pilot, connect the South Pole and the North Pole and everyone in between on a mission of global peace.

The aircraft is a very highly modified Twin Turbine Commander 900 with predator drone engines, custom 5-bladed nickel-tipped scimitar composite props, and a sophisticated avionics suite. The Citizen is intended to complete a Polar Circumnavigation this year.

Pilot Robert DeLaurentis, 54, with the help of 95 sponsors, hopes to generate greater awareness for aviation safety, technology and education. According to DeLaurentis, author of Zen Pilot: Flight of Passion and the Journey Within (Flying Thru Life Publications, 2016), new technology is an integral part of the expedition, creating first-time records and science experiments, such as:

* Citizen of the World is reportedly the first aircraft in history to be tracked globally with the new Aireon Space-Based ADS-B Flight Tracking using the Iridium NEXT Satellite Constellation of 66 satellites that have just come online.

* Citizen will also reportedly be the first aircraft in history to use biofuels to fly over the North and South Poles.

* The aircraft will be carrying two science and technology experiments onboard including a proof-of-concept Wafer Scale Spacecraft for NASA, as well as a plastics/microfibers collection experiment for Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Celebrity ride-alongs are being sought to add to the project's global brand impact.

DeLaurentis, who resides in San Diego, reports in his latest blog on Dec.16, 2019, successfully completing the project's South Pole flight from Ushuaia, Argentina, in just under 18 hours. "It was a very challenging flight which included loss of navigation many times, extreme weather, the risk of fuel gelling, pilot fatigue and shortage of fuel." Learn more at:

http://PoletoPoleFlight.com

A documentary is planned. See the teaser here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpXCAZ0_GXI&feature=youtu.be

Gregg Treinish wants your roadkill

Roadkill is Gold for Citizen-Scientists

Wherever explorers and adventurers travel these days, there are scientists and researchers back home desperate for hard-to-obtain environmental data that would otherwise be unavailable for conservation.

That's the premise behind the formation of Adventure Scientists (AS) in 2011, a nonprofit that equips partners with data collected from the outdoors that are crucial to addressing environmental and human health challenges. As such, it serves as an invaluable connection between the conservation and outdoor communities.

Founder Gregg Treinish of Bozeman, Montana, spoke to the public last month at the Fjallraven store in Boulder, Colorado, and explained that AS studies some of the world's most pressing issues where the collection of field data is crucial. Data collection can be expensive, time consuming, and physically demanding, which limits the role that science currently plays in the conservation process. Adventure Scientists tackles this problem by recruiting, training and managing individuals with strong outdoor skills - such as mountaineering, diving or whitewater kayaking - and empowering them to retrieve hard-to-obtain data from the far corners of the globe.

Take the crisis of microplastics, pollution you can't actually see without a microscope. Adventure Scientists has created one of the largest libraries of microplastic pollution in the world, according to Treinish, who conceived of the idea of conducting field research while hiking the Appalachian Trail. "I decided I wanted to dedicate my life to service and do it outdoors," he told the chapter. "I finally felt I was using my outdoor skill set to make a difference."

The problem of wildlife-vehicle collisions is global. AS asked cyclists, runners and long-distance walkers to make roadkill observations to aid transportation officials and protect the lives of humans and wildlife.

As part of its timber tracking initiative, the group also collects samples of bigleaf maples to build a genetic reference library to help confirm that the wood, popular in guitar making, is harvested legally. The tonewood is highly prized for its complex beautiful grain, to the extent that poachers are illegally cutting down bigleaf maples in the Pacific Northwest.

National Geographic named Treinish an Adventurer of the Year in 2008 when he and a friend completed a 7,800-mile trek along the spine of the Andes Mountain Range. Since then he has undertaken several epic long-distance treks, served as a field technician on diverse expeditions, and guided others to experience the wild firsthand.

The list of Adventure Scientists projects is extensive, all supported by hikers, bikers, skiers, and photographers from all walks of life who have chosen to make a difference by donating their time in the field.

Learn more at:

www.AdventureScientists.org

EXPEDITION FUNDING

Explorers Club Explores Relationship with Discovery Channel

Many Explorers Club members were caught unawares earlier this month when a confidential board document was leaked to the New York Post. According to the Jan. 2 story by investigative reporter Melissa Klein, The Discovery Channel is contemplating a multi-million dollar, multi-year relationship with the New York-based Club established in 1904.

The story reports Discovery would provide the Club with approximately $1 million a year for a fund that would support exploration. Some $2 million will be spent to renovate the headquarters building; and $300,000 per year would be paid to rename the Club's headquarters located in a 1910 Jacobean townhouse on the Upper East Side. The building is currently named for former Club member and renowned broadcaster Lowell Thomas (1892-1981).

News of the proposed deal, which is still under negotiation, was generally well received by the members we spoke to, with the exception of strong pushback over renaming the building.

In a Jan. 15 letter to members signed by president Richard Wiese, Development Committee Chair Richard Garriott, and Dr. Janet L. Walsh, Chair of Ethics and Governance, the Club emphasized that it has a team of experts working on this sponsorship.

"Our Club's most outstanding leaders including members of our Board, our Club's attorneys (including expert outside attorneys), media and television specialists, communication professionals and tax experts - all (are) working to make a potential Discovery sponsorship a beneficial relationship for each of our members. From our perspective, this team's attention to detail, dedication to the Club's mission, vision, and values, has been indispensable to Club stewardship," the letter states.

It continues, "At the root of any of our existing sponsorships is our ability to provide expedition funding for our members, advancement of our Club's mission and support for youth activities and grants. .... at no time would we ever compromise our mission, our vision, and the values we hold as a Club."

If it goes through, this would be a win for both Discovery - which seeks more awareness and exclusive content - and the Club which would receive welcome revenue - possibly upwards of $20 million this decade - to continue its support of exploration.

The media giant has a successful history supporting exploration-related nonprofits including an almost 20-year relationship with the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where Pluto was famously discovered. In that sponsorship deal, the media company provided major funding to build the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) near Happy Jack, Arizona.

The DCT project got underway in 2003, when Discovery founder and former CEO John Hendricks proposed what would become a $16 million gift to Lowell Observatory from his foundation and from Discovery Communications. In return, Discovery received naming rights to the telescope and first right of refusal to use images from the telescope in their online and broadcast educational programming. As of last year it was the fifth largest telescope in the continental U.S. (https://lowell.edu/research/research-facilities/4-3-meter-dct/)

The media company's reported interest in The Explorers Club seems like a perfect match. But as they say, the devil is in the details.

Full disclosure: EN editor and publisher Jeff Blumenfeld is a member of The Explorers Club.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse."

- Paul Hawken (1946 -), American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, and activist. Source: Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, University of Portland (Oregon).

MEDIA MATTERS

PBS Born to Explore Renewed

Born to Explore hosted by Richard Wiese, a half-hour television series produced by Explorer Films, LLC, in partnership with WGBH Boston, has been renewed for its eighth season. The show travels worldwide to celebrate world cultures, encounter rare and endangered wildlife and discover the wonders of the planet.

Wiese and co-executive producer Mercedes Velgot have produced over 200 shows and has received two Daytime Emmy Awards and 14 Emmy nominations, as well as 35 Telly Awards, 4 Parents' Choice Awards and a CINE Golden Eagle. Primary funding is provided by Aggressor Adventures.

Earlier this month, The Explorers Club announced that Wiese was re-elected president by its Board of Directors. This will be his third term in that leadership role.

Learn more about the show here:

https://www.borntoexplore.net

Folds and grooves still visible in this 2,600-year-old brain. Photo: York Archaeological Trust

He Lost His Head; Researchers Find it 2,600 Years Later

Nearly 2,600 years ago, a man was beheaded near modern-day York, in northeast England - for what reasons, no one knows - and his head was quickly buried in the clay-rich mud. When researchers found his skull in 2008, they were startled to find that his brain tissue, which normally rots rapidly after death, had survived for millennia - even maintaining features such as folds and grooves, writes Rodrigo Pérez Ortega in Science Magazine (Jan. 7, 2020).

Now, researchers think they know why. Two structural proteins - which act as the "skeletons" of neurons and astrocytes - were more tightly packed in the ancient brain. In a year-long experiment, they found that these aggregated proteins were also more stable than those in modern-day brains. In fact, the ancient protein clumps may have helped preserve the structure of the soft tissue for ages, the researchers reported earlier this month in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface (https://royalsocietypublishing.org)

Read the story here:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/how-chunk-human-brain-survived-intact-2600-years?utm_source=newsfromscience%3Dflipboard%3Dflipboard2447498

Borge Ousland and Mike Horn. (Photo courtesy Borge Ousland)

Borge Ousland Says "Leave Your Fears Behind"

Borge Ousland is the first person to have completed an unsupported solo crossing of the Antarctic via the South Pole. Last month, Ousland, 57, and fellow explorer Mike Horn, 53, completed a grueling, 87-day expedition across the Arctic Ocean in the dark of the polar night, experiencing temperatures below minus 40 F.

In an interview with Jim Clash, contributor to Forbes.com (Jan. 8) Ousland says, "Mike and I wanted to do a classical, old-style polar expedition, crossing the North Pole by entering and exiting the ice by boat. The last time this was tried was when Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen left the polar ship Fram in 1895. Nansen and Johansen did not, however, reach the North Pole, so this challenge remained undone up to now. It was a battle from day one, but we made it unsupported.

"No one has completed a trek across the polar ocean in this style before, and no one has done an expedition up there that time of year. We probed unknown territory, so to speak."

When asked how he managed fear, Ousland replies, "You have to leave your fears behind on a trip like this. The focus is on survival. There is only room for that fear that keeps you safe and alive, and that helps you deal with immediate danger. We were beyond rescue for most of this trip, and wouldn't have made it if we were going to be afraid all the time."

Read the story here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2020/01/08/exclusive-interview-borge-ousland-on-his-grueling-87-day-expedition-across-the-arctic/#360008b6f8e3

EXPEDITION MARKETING

Guide Service Celebrates 100th Polar Expedition

For years we've met amateur adventurers who say they've skied to the North or South Pole, while in reality what they accomplished was the so-called "Last Degree" about 60 nautical miles. We often congratulate them for the effort, while cautioning them to qualify their claims for the sake of their own credibility.

One company that has led exactly 100 Last Degree amateur expeditions to date is Chicago-area-based PolarExplorers. In a recent promotional email to EN, they proudly announce that despite strong winds, limited visibility and extremely cold temperatures, a five-person international team reached the South Pole on Jan. 12.

The team skied the Last Degree of latitude from 89° degrees S to 90 degrees S. This 60 nautical mile (111 km) journey was the second polar expedition for four of the five team members who have already skied the Last Degree to the North Pole.

Annie Aggens, director of PolarExplorers, points out that the South Pole is more predictable than skiing across the frozen sea that surrounds the North Pole. "There is no open water within hundreds and hundreds of miles of the South Pole. There is no ocean drift. Where you fall asleep is where you wake up. And there are no polar bears."

Another important difference is that while there is nothing at the North Pole, the South Pole is home to the permanent Amundsen Scott South Pole Station as well as a small seasonal basecamp for explorers who arrive by ski. PolarExplorers guide Keith Heger adds, "It's incredibly satisfying to see the station appear like a small dot on the horizon and to watch it get bigger knowing that it is your destination."

PolarExplorers organizes annual expeditions to the North Pole, South Pole, Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland and other destinations in the Arctic and Antarctic. Their 101st expedition will be to the North Pole in April. Their polar expeditions may be just 60 n.m., but it's still no walk in the park.

For more information: www.polarexplorers.com

EXPEDITION INK

Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy (St. Martin's Press, December 2019)

Reviewed by Robert F. Wells

A bit of context. As a teenager in 1861, Adolphus W. Greely enlisted in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Soon, his mind was marinated with imagery of the horrific battle at Antietam. Then he was off to the Dakota Territory in the early 1870's as the country's top meteorologist - while the world became enveloped in the financial crash of 1873.

In 1879, a good friend, George DeLong, commander of the ship USS Jeannette, was lost without a trace while on an attempted voyage to the North Pole. In the face of this backdrop, Greely set off on a revolutionary scientific mission in 1881 to reach "Farthest North" - and establish a critical weather station as part of an "International Polar Year (IPY)" effort.

Early goings were routine. "Leads," or sea lanes of navigable water, brought the expedition through dreaded Melville Bay - known as a "mysterious region of terror." An outpost dubbed Fort Conger was set up as polar darkness settled in... and by mid-May of 1882, the goal of "Farthest North" was achieved. Along the way, impressive scientific data was recorded. Then all hell broke loose. It lasted for literally two more years.

Resupply missions never arrived - thanks in part to Secretary of War, Robert Todd Lincoln, who thought Arctic exploration was an utter waste of money. Greely's ship Proteus was "nipped" in ice, crushing its hull and sending it to the bottom. A "devil's symphony" of grinding ice from colossal paleocrystic floes relentlessly taunted the crew with combinations of moaning, thunder and shrieking. Temperatures often plummeted to minus 50 degrees F. Gales became norms.

Meanwhile, the crew abandoned Fort Conger with its shelter and supplies to seek help farther south at Cape Sabine. Suffering was severe. Frostbite was common. Food ran out. At one point, the crew sat down to a meal of "a stew composed of a pair of boot soles, a handful of reindeer moss, and a few rock lichens." All drifted in and out of deliriousness... as 19 died. And all hope nearly died with them.

Copious notes somehow survived - which became the chronicle narrated in this book. The acute misery of each day splayed out, page after page. The tale is brutal, as men slipped into unconsciousness and beyond to death. Then, miraculously, a rescue mission in July 1884 found seven survivors clinging onto wisps of life, and brought them home. Commander Greely survived.

And after a short burst of acidic press claiming rumors of cannibalism during the venture, Greely survived to become a richly-deserved hero. He carried on for decades - giving speeches (where he never accepted a penny, in deference to those who died at Cape Sabine) ... and he was one of the founders of both the National Geographic Society and the Explorers Club.

If you want excitement, as recreated three decades later by Sir Ernest Shackleton's venture in Antarctica, this is your book. Just make sure you've got your "woolies" on.

Robert F. Wells, a member of The Explorers Club since 1991, is a resident of South Londonderry, Vt., and a retired executive of the Young & Rubicam ad agency. Wells is the director of a steel band (www.blueflamessteelband.com) and in 1989, at the age of 45, traveled south by road bike from Canada to Long Island Sound in a single 350-mile, 19-hr., 28-min. push.

ON THE HORIZON

New York Wild Film Festival, Feb. 27-March 1, 2020, New York City

Through powerful, exhilarating films and conversations, the festival presents an opportunity to exchange ideas, celebrate the wild and effect change. New York Wild is a platform to create excitement, identify critical issues, build partnerships, and reach audiences that care about exploring, discovering and protecting our planet.

The kick-off reception at The Paley Center for Media is Feb. 27; film showings begin Feb. 28 at The Explorers Club, 46 E. 70th Street, New York, and continue through the afternoon of March 1. There's also a special showing of family-friendly films for ages 7-plus that Sunday afternoon.

For more information:

https://nywildfilmfestival.com/2020-schedule-tickets/

AAC Annual Benefit Weekend, March 13-15, 2020, Denver

The American Alpine Club will host the 2020 Annual Benefit Dinner (ABD) weekend March 13-15, 2020 in Denver. Since 1902, the Annual Benefit Dinner has served to convene the climbing community and garner support for the Club's work around the protection of wild places.

This year's ABD will be presented by Patagonia and will feature a keynote by Kris McDivitt Tompkins, Former CEO of Patagonia and current president of Tompkins Conservation.

Tompkins is a longstanding defender of wild places and a champion for the planet.

She will speak March 14, 2020, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (1101 13th St, Denver). She and her late husband Doug Tompkins turned millions of acres across Chile and Argentina into National Parks in an effort to restore and re-wild landscapes.

For more information:

www.americanalpineclub.org/annual-benefit-dinner

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Space Available for John Huston's Ski Expedition to Svalbard

Colorado polar explorer John Huston is organizing a short expedition March 15-22, 2020, to Svalbard, Norway - a scenic mountainous archipelago located in the North Sea at 78 degrees N. His co-leader is long-time friend and expedition colleague Harald Kippenes, a Norwegian who owns and operates Yourway Adventures & Expeditions.

Harald and John have worked closely together since 2005 when they were teammates re-staging Roald Amundsen's race to the South Pole for a BBC/History Channel film production.

The route is stunning - beginning east of Longyearbaen, travel is via stunning glaciers, mountain passes, and mountain-lined valleys and ends back in town. There is a chance of northern lights occurring. Participants will sleep in tents and haul sleds with all the necessary gear and food.

Huston is a professional polar explorer and veteran of the first American unsupported expedition to the North Pole. He has completed major expeditions to the South Pole, on Greenland, and to Canada's fabled Ellesmere Island.

Cost is $4,750 pp. For more information: http://www.johnhuston.com/svalbard

SEARCHING FOR THE GHOSTS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S WWII PAST

In 2018, author, adventurer, and television producer James Campbell, 58, helped to organize a trek across Papua New Guinea on a WWII trail that he re-discovered in 2006 while researching and writing his book, The Ghost Mountain Boys (Crown, 2007). The rugged 150-mile route was used by a battalion of U.S. soldiers ordered by General MacArthur to march to the battlefields on the north coast of the Papuan Peninsula. Military historians call their 42-day trek "one of the cruelest in military history."

On November 10, 1942, this C-47-DL Flying Dutchman Serial Number 41-18564 Nose 564 took off from 5-Mile Drome (Wards Drome) near Port Moresby piloted by 2nd Lt. George W. Vandervort on a flight to deliver cargo and troops to Pongani Airfield near the north coast of New Guinea. Aboard a total of twenty-three including the three air crew, a Chaplin and soldiers from the 32nd Infantry Division, 126th Infantry Regiment. Inbound while crossing the Owen Stanley Range, the C-47 was caught in a severe downdraft and crashed at an elevation of 9,000 feet into a flat area near Mount Obree. (Source: https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/c-47/41-18564.html)

This June, Campbell, a resident of Wisconsin, and historian and adventurer Peter Gamgee, 62, from Queensland, Australia, will help lead two strenuous treks on the same trail. The first one, June 3-11, 2020, will visit the crash site of the C-47-DL cargo plane that was re-supplying the exhausted troops in November 1942. The battalion's beloved commanding officer, Colonel Quinn and the entire crew perished, as troops looked on from the jungle below. Few people have ever seen the crash site.

The second trek, June 13-20, will visit the site of the Flying Dutchman, a C-47A cargo plane, carrying 23 men, that crashed in the high mountains of the Papuan Peninsula just days after Colonel Quinn's plane went down. While eight of the 16 survivors remained with the plane, two separate parties of four set out to find help. After trekking for over one month, one of the parties made it safely to the coast.

A group sent to rescue the survivors failed to locate them. Eventually, another party would find the crash site and the remains of the men left behind. The Flying Dutchman still lies in the jungle, unvisited by outsiders for more than 50 years.

Campbell and Gamgee intend to confirm the location of both wrecks, mapping them precisely for the first time using GPS. They will return those GPS coordinates and notes and photographs detailing the state of both wrecks to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and the PNG National Museum. There are still three MIAs associated with the crash of the Flying Dutchman. Any evidence they discover will be shared with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, for whom they have already mapped possible MIA sites on other parts of the trail.

The trek is seeking to raise $7,500 for C.U.R.E Kits, books, and solar lights, which it will distribute in the various villages along the route, and filming. Corporate donations will come with sponsorship rights.

Teammates are being sought and must have a high level of fitness. The Trek Grade is 4 and 5 and includes remote jungle conditions.

Getaway Trekking will provide all logistical support. Costs, which are estimated at US $5,640, includes all in-country accommodation, transport, including chartered flights to and from the trail, and a personal carrier. Participants will be responsible for getting to and from PNG.

For more information on the trek: www.ghostmountainboys.com.

Interested trekkers can contact James Campbell at bogmoose@frontier.com or at 608 333 1177

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Map of Antarctica places the length of O'Brady's trip into perspective.

The Colin O'Brady Problem

The U.K. has its Walter Mitty Hunters Club dedicated to exposing the truth behind those who pose as soldiers and steal the valor of men and women in the Armed Forces.

In the U.S., false claims of a military nature are against the law. Congress passed the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 to make it a crime for a person to claim they have served in the military, embellish their rank or fraudulently claim having received a valor award, with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit by convincing another that he or she received the award.

The closest the expedition world comes to this involves explorers who exaggerate their claims.

According to a post by National Geographic (Feb. 3) Colin O'Brady, who we covered in previous issues of EN, has prompted numerous polar experts to claim he's embellishing his accomplishments in pursuit of fame.

Aaron Teasdale writes about O'Brady's Jan. 3, 2019, Antarctic expedition in which he claimed the first-ever solo, unsupported, unassisted crossing of Antarctica.

"Prominent leaders of the adventure and polar communities were less enthusiastic about O'Brady's claims. Conrad Anker, Alex Honnold, Mike Horn, Borge Ousland, and others spoke out against him, accusing O'Brady of exaggerating his accomplishment or worse," Teasdale writes.

O'Brady "didn't do what (he) advertised," says Australian polar explorer Eric Philips, co-founder and president of the International Polar Guides Association (IPGA). "This wasn't some Last Great Polar Journey. Rather, it was a truncated route that was a first in only a very limited way."

Says writer Jon Krakauer, "O'Brady needs to be called out for his false claims."

Famed polar explorer Eric Larsen tells National Geographic,"I don't think anyone looked at the route (O'Brady) was skiing and thought it was even remotely impossible. The reason no one had done it is because no one thought it was worthwhile, in the sense of being anything record-breaking."

O'Brady claims to be the first person to ski alone and unsupported across Antarctica, but in the opinion of many of the world's leading polar guides and historians, that distinction belongs to Norwegian Borge Ousland, considered by many to be the modern era's most accomplished polar explorer.

Shortly after O'Brady completed his trek, prominent American climber Conrad Anker, who has made more than a dozen expeditions to climb the continent's frozen mountains, tweeted, "@borgeousland is the first to cross Antarctica unsupported. Full Stop."

In 1997, the 34-year-old Norwegian pioneered a new route across the frozen continent, much of it never traveled by humans, over 64 days and 1,864 miles, to achieve one of the world's last great geographical feats. Antarctica had now been crossed solo, according to National Geographic.

Looking at a map of Antarctica, you might wonder how O'Brady's 932-mile route can be considered a crossing of "the entire continent," as he calls it, since it appears to start and end several hundred miles inland, especially compared to the much longer journeys of Ousland, Mike Horn (who completed a daring 3,169-mile solo kite-ski crossing of Antarctica in 2017), and others.

Ousland skied from water's edge on the Ronne to water's edge on the Ross. When he undertook his expedition two decades ago, this was considered the only way to claim a crossing of Antarctica.

"To me, Antarctica is what you see on a satellite map," says Ousland, noting the ice shelves have been a part of Antarctica for at least 100,000 years, according to the NatGeo article.

O'Brady has built his personal brand around achieving the "impossible." Yet the veteran polar explorers National Geographic's Aaron Teasdale consulted for the story used different descriptors for his trip, labeling it "achievable,""contrived,""disappointing," and "disingenuous."

Driven by what he describes as the "embarrassing confusion" over O'Brady's claims, and recognizing how a lack of well-defined criteria allowed him to "pull the merino wool " over the public and media's eyes, IPGA Master Polar Guide Eric Philips of Icetrek Expeditions recently announced the Polar Expeditions Classification Scheme (PECS), that sets a new standard for polar expeditions and records.

According to the PECS, which was created in consultation with leading polar authorities, O'Brady's trip would not be classified as a "full crossing," nor would it be considered "unsupported." Philips, who boasts a lifetime's commitment to polar exploration and the community surrounding it, says he wants to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

Costco Magazine in its February 2020 edition read by approximately 13 million members promotes O'Brady's book, The Impossible First (Scribner, 2020), claiming he was the first person ever to cross Antarctica solo.

We reached out to Costco for a correction but at press time have yet to hear back.

Read the story here:

https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/adventure/2020/02/the-problem-with-colin-obrady

Learn more about PECS here:

https://www.icetrek.com/pecs

First to row the Drake? It's debatable.

In a related story, O'Brady claimed another debatable feat: the first human powered row across the Drake Passage.

In 12 days, on Dec. 25, the six-man team traveled over 600 miles of open ocean, facing intense winds, giant swells, and stormy weather in a 29-foot row boat. The other teammates were Jamie Douglas-Hamilton of Edinburgh, Scotland; Fiann Paul of Reykjavik, Iceland; Cameron Bellamy of Cape Town, South Africa; Andrew Towne of Minneapolis (and formerly Grand Forks, N.D.); and John Petersen of Oakland, Calif. The feat was filmed for Discovery Go online.

View episodes here:

https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-impossible-row/

EXPEDITION NOTES

Outdoor Retailer Snow Show Debuts New Products

Among the 1,000 different brands on display last month at the Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show in Denver were some that have some application for exploration and adventure. The trade event is the largest in North America, attracting more than 10,000 buyers, 1,300 designers and 800 members of the media. Here are four that caught our eye:

Help them find your sorry self.

* RECCO SAR Helicopter Detector - Used for large-scale search of missing persons in open terrain, so long as said persons are wearing RECCO rescue reflectors in their gear. It's a standard rescue tool for SAR teams worldwide. (RECCO.com)

Scan the snowpack.

* Avametrix AvyScanner Avalanche Predictor - The AvyScanner is a lightweight, handheld device that uses ultra-wide band radar and sophisticated artificial neural network "machine learning" to scan the snow pack and identify the conditions likely to produce a human-triggered avalanche. (https://www.avametrix.com/avyscanner)

Stay warm with bison fur.

* United By Blue BisonShield - Tired of feathers coming out of your parka? Try bison fibers - a natural insulation made from salvaged American bison fur, a by-product of the ranching industry. The Bison Ultralight is made of 50% wool and 50% bison fur said to be warmer, lighter, and entirely natural. (unitedbyblue.com)

Helmet safety lights are solar powered.

* Solar Powered Bike Helmets - By incorporating Swedish tech brand Exeger's ultrathin, flexible solar panels into its helmets, POC can equip them with an endless source of electricity without adding bulk. They will feature an integrated rear-facing safety light when available later this year. (pocsports.com)

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Before we invented civilization our ancestors lived mainly in the open out under the sky. Before we devised artificial lights and atmospheric pollution and modern forms of nocturnal entertainment we watched the stars. There were practical calendar reasons of course but there was more to it than that. Even today the most jaded city dweller can be unexpectedly moved upon encountering a clear night sky studded with thousands of twinkling stars. When it happens to me after all these years it still takes my breath away."

- Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (Ballantine Books, 1997)

MEDIA MATTERS

The eerie sight of the Titanic sitting on the sea bed in the North Atlantic

Wreck of Titanic Hit By Submersible; U.S. Keeps It Quiet

The Triton DSV Limiting Factor, a hi-tech submersible costing $35 million, is said to have struck the Titanic last year. According to a Telegraph (UK) story by Bill Gardner (Jan. 28), the expedition leader last month admitted that the state-of-the-art Triton submersible collided with the wreck in July when "intense and highly unpredictable currents" caused the pilot to lose control. It is the first collision with the Titanic made public since the wreck was rediscovered in 1985.

Organized by EYOS Expeditions, an adventure firm based in the Isle of Man, the trip was accompanied by scientists from Newcastle University and was the first dive down to the Titanic in nearly 15 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allegedly failed to tell the court that the Triton sub, pictured, had struck the Titanic CREDIT: EYOS/EYOS

Rob McCallum, the EYOS expedition leader, confirmed that there had indeed been "contact" with Titanic due to strong ocean currents, but insisted any damage could only have been minor.

"We did accidentally make contact with the Titanic once while we were near the starboard hull breach, a big piece of the hull that sticks out. Afterwards we observed a red rust stain on the side of the sub," he tells the Telegraph.

"But the submersible is covered in white fiber glass and is very delicate and expensive. While underwater it's essentially weightless - it's not a battering ram."

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government weather agency which also holds responsibility for protecting deep sea wrecks reportedly knew that the two-man EYOS submarine struck the Titanic, but officials monitoring the dive failed to report it.

Nonetheless, the company hopes to return to the wreck later this summer to recover the Marconi wireless that sent out the fateful distress call.

Read the story here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/28/exclusive-wreck-titanic-hit-submarine-us-government-kept-quiet/

Matthew Henson (seated) and other 1909 polar team members with the original

Peary sled.

Scenes for Polar History Film to be Re-enacted in Ely, Minn.

Ely, Minn., renowned as the base of many polar expeditions, is about to host another - or more correctly, a polar re-enactment. This month, Voyage Digital Media will be recreating scenes at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge on White Iron Lake circa 1909 of Robert Peary's dogsled expedition to the North Pole. Actors, including Wintergreen guides, will be dressed in period costumes including fur parkas as team members. Wintergreen's Canadian Inuit sled dogs - the same breed used on Peary's expedition - will pull an exact replica of his 12-ft. komatik dogsled laden with furs and supplies.

The documentary film is being co-produced with the non-profit National Maritime History Society (NMHS) of Peekskill, N.Y., and made possible by grant funding from Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest and the H. F. Lenfest Fund from The Philadelphia Foundation.

The film tells the story of the Ernestina-Morrissey, an historic Arctic sailing ship associated with numerous early expeditions. This ship was skippered by Peary's team member Robert A. Bartlett.

For the Ely shoot, re-enactors will play the roles of Peary and Bartlett as well as Peary's Polar Inuit companions and his career-long expedition colleague - African-American Matthew Henson.

Wintergreen Lodge owner Paul Schurke said he hosts film crews every season "but this project certainly ranks among the most unique and it will be a personal time-warp for me. The 1986 dogsled and ski expedition that Will Steger and I led to the North Pole replicated elements of Peary's expedition but we didn't do it with period costume and sleds - we weren't wearing caribou parkas," he said.

Rather, they were wearing anoraks and footwear designed locally by Susan Schurke and Patti Steger that led to Ely's iconic apparel manufacturing businesses, Steger Mukluks and Wintergreen Northern Wear.

Schurke said his one concern is how his Inuit dogs will do harnessed in a Arctic fan hitch, in which they'll be splayed out from the sled on long ropes. "Here in the boreal forest, they've always been harnessed two-by-two in the tandem hitch so we'll see how they respond to a fan configuration. It could be a bit of chaos."

For more information: Paul Schurke, Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, info@dogsledding.com 218 365 6022

EXPEDITION FOCUS

What Expeditions Taught Me About Entrepreneurship

By Joel Ehrenkranz, MD

Chief Operating Officer

Tribeca Pharma

Salt Lake City

My first foray into field research, 1977-1983, investigated seasonal breeding in the Labrador Inuit. I've led studies on thyroid disease in Western Siberia, Outer Mongolia, and an Indian slum, iodine deficiency in the Rwenzori Mountains, and the ethnopharmacology of fracture treatment in South India. A successful expedition accomplishes the intended goal on time, under budget, with no heroic tales to tell about harrowing escapes from the jaws of death.

Joel Ehrenkranz, MD, in Madhugiri, Tumkur District, Karnataka, India, harvesting plants used for fracture healing.

In parallel with my field research endeavors, I have also founded five biotech companies. Some of the products developed by these companies - a home pregnancy test, point-of-care diagnostics, drugs for osteoporosis - trace their origins to events that occurred during field research.

In 2007, for example, when I inadvertently found myself doctoring in an Ebola epidemic on the border of Uganda and the Congo, the idea to use a new technology, the smartphone, for medical diagnostic testing came to me.

In 2016, while studying thyroid disease in a Bangalore, India slum, I came across the use of herbs for healing fractures by traditional bone setters. Learning about botanicals for fracture repair has led to new products for preventing osteoporosis. A successful biotech startup gets a product to market on time, under budget, with an absence of mishaps and excuses.

There is considerable similarity between an Explorers Club-caliber field study and founding a successful biotech startup. Both involve setting an objective, reviewing the literature, developing a plan, recruiting, funding, permitting, logistics, execution, delivery, analysis, and communication. The lessons learned in the course of Explorers Club-level expeditions have general applicability to undertakings and endeavors in general.

Exploration and entrepreneurship are two sides of the same coin. Donning polished dress shoes and a tailored suit in place of crampons and an anorak turns an explorer into an entrepreneur. Conceiving and completing an expedition represents entrepreneurship basic training.

Some pointers for a successful exploration project:

* Do your homework.

* Write a plan that details goals, milestones, time line, budget, and logistics.

* Pay close attention to the world around you.

* Stay focused on achieving your objectives.

About the author: Joel Ehrenkranz lives in Salt Lake City and is a member of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Explorers Club. He's an associate professor of endocrinology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a serial entrepreneur with an insatiable curiosity about the natural world. His current company, Tribeca Pharma, is developing plant-derived compounds for the prevention and treatment of skeletal disorders.

EXPEDITION MARKETING

Apa Sherpa

Everest Guide Apa Sherpa Signs With Celebrity Speakers Bureau

Bruce Merrin's Celebrity Speakers Bureau, based in Las Vegas, has agreed to represent world record mountaineer and inspirational speaker Apa Sherpa for speaking appearances worldwide, including corporate events and meetings, conventions, retreats, seminars, workshops and more.

"Sherpa," the native Himalayan ethnic group that shares his last name, live on the borders of Nepal and Tibet and are known for their skills in mountaineering. Perhaps the most exceptional and renowned among them is Apa Sherpa, who holds 13 world records for summiting Mount Everest.

In his keynote address, "A 30,000-Foot View of Leadership," Sherpa shares his unique perspective on leadership, gained from his 25 years of leading expeditions and his 21 ascents of Everest, four of those without the use of supplemental oxygen.

In 2010, he formed the Apa Sherpa Foundation, to assist with education projects and schools in the Khumbu Valley of Nepal, which has the mission to empower individuals throughout the world to follow his example in overcoming adversity. Without an education, becoming a guide is the only lucrative means of survival for members of his native village.

For more information: https://brucemerrinscelebrityspeakers.com

Sherpa Adventure Gear Announces New Education Campaign

Sherpa Adventure Gear Commits to Education in Nepal

Sherpa Adventure Gear, Modesto, Calif., which specializes in technical travel apparel, announced an education giveback program, aiming to provide 10 million days of school for children in Nepal by 2030. Since January 1st, 2020, Sherpa Adventure Gear has been donating a day of school to a child in Nepal for every item sold online and in stores globally in order to reach that goal.

"We are on a mission to help educate the next generation in Nepal," says Sherpa Adventure Gear CEO Kelsie Costa.

"The brand's founder, who is from Nepal, has made education a priority since day one, believing that it's the gateway to opportunity. That same belief is still core to us and I'm thrilled to introduce the next level of giveback and am thankful to consumers supporting our brand's educational goals in Nepal."

For more information: sherpaadventuregear.com/10MillionDays

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism(Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld – How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey.

Read excerpts and “Look Inside” at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Get Sponsored! – Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called: "Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers."

Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News– For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.

By its very definition, exploration is dependent upon travel. Explorers have a desire to make sense of the unknown, to see what is over the other side of the hill. During the worldwide COVID-19 crisis, travel has been severely restricted, at worse banned.

As the world turns to science and technology for a solution to the coronavirus, explorers are adapting accordingly:

* Everest is now closed. Following an announcement from China that it would restrict climbing on its half of the mountain due to coronavirus concerns, Nepal followed suit with a full shutdown of the mountain's southern side, completely closing off the peak to climbers hoping to summit this spring.

The decision to close Everest largely concerns the nature of the virus itself, which affects respiratory function in affected individuals. In a low-oxygen environment like Everest, respiratory impairment would prove doubly dangerous. The communal nature of Everest base camps, where climbers live in close quarters, also played a part in China and Nepal's decision to close the mountain, according to the outdoor trade publication SNEWS.

Alpenglow Expeditions and other guide companies planning ascents on the Tibetan side of the mountain have already cancelled spring trips. As of Mar. 12, Nepal still had no overt signs of the health crisis. That could change on a dime.

In an effort to help, popular coach, keynote speaker and mountaineer Alan Arnette of AlanArnette.com, which is dedicated to raising awareness for ending Alzheimer's, has posted a day-by-day Virtual Everest 2020 - Support the Sherpas campaign that links to 10 fundraising efforts from outfitters including Alpine Ascents International, Adventure Consultants, Furtenbach Adventures (see above), and others.

Access the list of fundraising campaigns here:

https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2020/04/02/virtual-everest-2020-support-the-sherpas/

Follow Virtual Everest here:

https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/everest/everest-2020-coverage/

They can see clearly now, but for how long?

One bit of bright news:

The distance between the Indian state of Punjab and the Himalayan MouNtain Range is just shy of 200 km (124 miles). And now for the first time in almost 30 years, residents in the north western state can actually see the world's tallest mountain range, according to Sarakshi Rai writing in Esquire Middle East (April 12).

One of the reasons for this decreasing air pollution levels in India is because of the coronavirus lockdown imposed for the last month.

A report released by the country's Central Pollution Control Board late last month said the nationwide curfew implemented on March 22 and the subsequent lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two days later, "resulted in significant improvement in air quality in the country, as revealed by data analysis and comparison of data for time before enforcement of restrictions."

Now if it could only stay that way without causing such hardship.

ADVENTURES IN SELF-QUARANTINE

One would be hard-pressed to find a better definition of oxymoron than "self-quarantine exploration." Among our thousands of readers, most are probably experiencing severe withdrawal from travel, exploration and adventure. We "explored" and cleaned our garage recently. Ok, that's done. Closets were next, then the junk drawer in search of a bottle of Purell from that last trip to Nepal.

Long-distance paddler Susan Marie Conrad, 59, a resident of northwest Washington State, had to delay her planned 1,200-mi. through-paddle of the Inside Passage. It was cancelled after a year of planning, saving, and training, despite what her friends thought was an ultimate form of social distancing.

"I know there's no way in hell I'm going paddle away from this reality and think I'll be sitting on some beautiful beach, enjoying the sights and sounds of the Inside Passage, no matter how magical, while this pandemic continues to unfold," she wrote to her followers.

"The Inside Passage will always be there. I'm grateful that I have the health, time, and financial resources to plan and pull off something like this in the first place. It's a privilege, not a necessity. In the end, it's not about what I want, it's about what's best for the greater good."

EN feels the exploration world's pain as we all work together to surmount what is likely the largest crisis in many of our lifetimes. Not a group to sit idly by, the exploration world is pivoting with a range of opportunities to keep homebound spirits alive. So put down the puzzles, and consider how you can scratch that itch to explore even while social distancing. Pivots that we admire most include:

Ground Control to Major Tom

* Take a Masterclass with Astronaut Chris Hadfield

MasterClass (www.masterclass.com) is an immersive online education platform that offers access to genius by allowing anyone to take online classes with the world's best. Instructors include Christina Aguilera, Serena Williams, James Patterson, and Chris Hadfield, EN's instructor this past month.

Referred to as "the most famous astronaut since Neil Armstrong," Colonel Chris Hadfield is a worldwide sensation whose video of David Bowie's Space Oddity, produced in the International Space Station while weightless, was seen by over 45 million people online.

He is acclaimed for making outer space accessible to millions, and for infusing a sense of wonder into our collective consciousness not felt since humanity first walked on the Moon. A heavily decorated astronaut, engineer, and pilot, Colonel Hadfield helped build the Mir space station, performed two spacewalks, and in 2013, became Commander of the ISS for six months off planet.

Hadfield uses a model of the ISS during his MasterClass.

Want to learn about the In-Situ Resource Utilization for Mars exploration? Watch the ISS traveling through the aurora australis? Learn about quindar tones (see Buzz Words)? Bubble detectors? Ion propulsion engines? Escape velocity and Hohmann transfer orbits? Chris is your man.

In regards to exploring space in the future, he says in the online series, "We need to invent stuff we don't even know we have to invent .... It takes a huge group of people working together right on the edge of possibility."

Watch Hadfield perform Space Oddity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo.

* Learn from an Antarctic Pro How to Shelter in Place

As the station chief for the Global Monitoring Division's (GMD) Atmospheric Research Observatory at the South Pole, Christine Schultz spent 13 months during 2010 into 2011 in one of Earth's most isolated places: Antarctica. Three of those months were spent without the sun hanging in the sky and with temperatures dropping to an average of minus 70 degrees F.

During her time in Antarctica when she wasn't working, Schultz and the rest of the crew found ways to stay entertained in their own shelter-in-place scenario.

"People get pretty creative over the winter months when there's not a lot of outside stimulus," Schultz tells Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer. Over her time spent sheltering from the minus 70 degrees F. temperatures, Schultz and the group watched movies, learning how to knit and hit the gym.

"My greatest advice for anyone in isolation is to get creative and make sure you have a routine," Schultz said. Especially in the winter months, a routine helped her maintain her sense of day and night. She also suggests not staying in pajamas all day.

Read the April 3 story here:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/globetrotting-meteorologist-offers-advice-on-sheltering-in-place-after-living-for-a-year-in-antarctica/711446

* New York Wild Film Festival Goes Online

Turn off Tiger King and focus on films with more redeeming value. The popular New York Wild Film Festival invites you to traverse the seven peaks of Fitz Roy in Patagonia; ride 3,000 miles from Mexico to Canada on horseback; row across the Atlantic with four working mums from Yorkshire; kayak and kite ski over the Greenland Ice Cap; sail on a makeshift raft and trek across hundreds of kilometers of remote outback and so much more.

See the free line-up of films here:

https://nywildfilmfestival.com/watch-online/

Staying positive and continuing to plan for the future during this public health crisis means exploration can come roaring back when life returns to some semblance of normalcy.

The megalodon is ready for prime time.

* Explore the Oceans From Home

Ocean First Institute, located in landlocked Boulder, Colorado, connects youth with the wonders of the ocean and the importance of hands-on conservation through programming that highlights scientific exploration. Its in-person and virtual education programs have already inspired over 110,000 students across the world to take action within their local communities.

Upcoming webinars in April include: Mysteries of Megalodon, Can sharks really smell a drop of blood a mile away?, and What can I learn by being a SCUBA diver?

Learn more:

https://www.oceanfirstinstitute.org/resources/

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Self-Quarantining Arctic Explorers Have Great Timing

It's tempting. Many of us may prefer to be somewhere else on the planet instead of locked down at home. Somewhere else, like Svalbard, Norway, for instance, home of two intrepid explorers of the Hearts on Ice project. In a classic case of great timing, the two planned to be in self-imposed isolation well before the coronavirus crisis plagued the world.

Hilde Fålun Strøm (left) is from Svalbard; Sunniva Sorby resides in British Columbia.

In September 2019, seasoned expedition leaders Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sorby began an nine-month study in isolation in an historic 215 s.f. trapper's cabin known as Bamsebu in Svalbard (See EN, November 2018).

The goal of the project is to show rapid climate change escalation and what can be done to mitigate the effects. Now it's turned into so much more. Due to the virus crisis, they may extend their stay. Current international travel restrictions make it difficult for Sorby to return to Canada.

In a recent letter to sponsors, Strom and Sorby write, "Who would have thought when we planned this expedition and platform in support of engagement and education around our Climate Crisis that we would be sitting in the middle of a very different sort of crisis. Our hearts are with all of you.

Bamsebu, A COVID-free zone.

"We have more opportunities for wildlife observation (we have had over 33 Polar bear encounters so far - largest bear was 600kg!), ice core sampling (longest ice core to date is 46 cm), phytoplankton and salt water collection (eight samples - will collect more when the ice thaws), drone flights (17 successful infrared pre-programmed flights) to measure surface temperatures, hosted school calls with experts (18 hosted calls with thousands of youth around the world on topics that range from Technology to Weather to Citizen Science).

For more information:

https://www.heartsintheice.com

Watch their pre-expedition video here:

https://vimeo.com/315700999

For advice on surviving self-isolation, see:

https://www.heartsintheice.com/9005/

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain."

- Vivian Greene (1904-2003), British writer regarded as the world's foremost expert on dolls' houses. The saying, apropos for these troubled times, can be seen in inspirational posters and greeting cards worldwide.

EXPEDITION INK

EN's Favorite Adventure Books

You can only stare at Netflix and Twitter for so long. Now perhaps more than ever before, this is the time to get wrapped up in a good adventure book. Before you set out on your own adventure or expedition, become a student of those who have gone before. Here are some of our favorite books on the subject, as reprinted from Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers (Skyhorse Publishing). How many have you read?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (1884). The classic

American novel that inspired countless budding adventurers. "Huck's always

been my hero," polar explorer Will Steger says. "I've patterned my

life after his."

Annapurna - Maurice Herzog (The Lyons Press, paperback edition,

1997). French climber Maurice Herzog's gripping and horrific account of

the first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak in 1950.

Arctic Dreams - Barry Lopez (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986). An inspiring,

classic celebration of the Arctic region.

The Brotherhood of the Rope: The Biography of Charles Houston -

Bernadette McDonald (The Mountaineers Books, 2007). The story of the

1953 K2 expedition and the famed belay that saved five people.

Crossing Antarctica - Will Steger and Jon Bowermaster (Alfred A.

Knopf, 1991). First-person account of the $11 million expedition that

will be remembered as both Antarctica's final dogsled adventure and the

longest of any kind ever.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing (The Adventure

Library, 1994 Edition). One of the greatest rescue stories ever told.

Eric Shipton: Everest & Beyond - Peter Steele (The Mountaineers

Books, 1998). An in-depth look at this climbing and exploration legend

who explored at a time when there were still white spaces on the map.

Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer (Villard Books, 1997) - Hard to believe,

but climbing Everest became even more popular after the 1996 tragedy

was recounted in such vivid detail.

Kon Tiki - Thor Heyerdahl (Rand McNally & Company, 1950).

"Fishing was easy; sometimes the bonitos swam aboard with the waves."

Feel the romance of one of the world's best-known expeditions by reading

an original edition purchased from a used book store.

The Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory -

David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld (National Geographic, 1999). Did

Mallory and Irvine reach the summit? Where's Irvine's camera? Better

read this if you have any hopes of finding it on your own expedition.

The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2 - Rick Ridgeway (The Mountaineers

Books, 1980). What can go wrong on an expedition? Plenty. This

is a first-person account of a K2 climb, warts and all.

North to the Pole - Will Steger with Paul Schurke (Times Books,

1987). Could Robert E. Peary have reached the North Pole in 1909 unsupported?

Will and Paul demonstrate in fifty-five days and a thousand zigzag miles how it could have been done.

Sea of Glory - Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, 2003). Lewis and Clark

received all the publicity 30 years before, but the U.S. Exploring Expedition

of 1838 to 1842 was the granddaddy of American seagoing expeditions.

Shackleton - Roland Huntford (Ballantine, 1987). The definitive

Shackleton, every excruciating moment of his extraordinary life.

Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches - Jill Fredston (Harcourt, 2005).

Fredston is one of North America's leading avalanche experts. Dreaming of

a white Christmas? Read this and you'll think of snow in a whole new light.

Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance -

Kenneth Kamler, MD (St. Martin's Press, 2004). The expedition doctor has seen it all. You will reconsider swimming in an Amazon lakes after reading about the candiru.

The Seven Summits - Dick Bass and Frank Wells with Rick Ridgeway (Warner Books, Inc., 1986). Two middle-aged men with a dream to be first to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. The Seven Summits craze started here. When he liked something, such as Snowbird's legendary deep powder, Bass would tell us, "It makes my heart sing, my thing zing, and my socks roll up and down."

They Lived to Tell the Tale: True Stories of Modern Adventure from the

Legendary Explorers Club - Jan Jarboe Russell, editor (The Lyons Press,

2008). Oceanographers, naturalists, Arctic explorers, NASA astronauts,

and even an ethnobotanist all recount their most memorable projects.

Touch the Top of the World - Erik Weihenmayer (Penguin Putnam,

2001). The story of the first blind climber to summit Mount Everest. His

guide dog was a chick magnet, but can he really tell the denomination of

paper bills by smell alone?

List excerpted from Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers (Skyhorse Publishing, 2014)

MEDIA MATTERS

The Explorers Club Goes Hollywood

There was something quite familiar about the climatic scene of Hunters, the Amazon Prime original content about a diverse band of Nazi hunters in New York City in 1977. There in episode 10 was the Explorers Club HQ Roosevelt Room standing in for a doctor's office, and the club's library as the location for the episode's explosive finale starring Al Pacino and Logan Lerman.

The scenes were shot last Labor Day Weekend according to club executive director Will Roseman who says use of the club for location shoots is a significant fundraiser for the 116-year old organization.

The Explorers Club library was repurposed for the climactic finale of Amazon Studios Hunters. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Murphy).

Roseman says the club receives standard location rates of $2,000/hour for shooting time, and $1,000/hour for prep, based on a minimum 12-hour day. "The revenue generated through these location fees goes to student grants, building improvement and general administrative costs," Roseman says.

"We've had many celebrities at the club over the years. It's fun to see them, but after a quick hello we usually just go back to work."

Produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions, Hunters blends history and fantasy for a unique TV thriller. Creator David Weil said he came up with the concept five years ago and was largely inspired by stories his grandmother told him as a boy.

Other productions shot at the club include The Verdict (1982) with Paul Newman; and TVs Vinyl with Bobby Cannavale; and Tiny Fey's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

EXPEDITION FUNDING

A fuel-efficient cookstove can profoundly change lives in Nepal. (Photo courtesy himalayanstoveproject.org)

Now You're Cooking

Himalayan Stove Project (HSP) released its newest fundraising video, What is Himalayan Stove Project?, depicting its project to deliver fuel-efficient cookstoves to Nepal. The voice of Mandy Stapleford of Good News Good Planet narrates the 2 min. 20 sec. video, filled with images of Nepal from a recent delivery mission. It focuses on how the stove can change the lives of families by reducing household air pollution.

Watch the new video here:

https://vimeo.com/388581736/3@5599c673

The sustainable cookstoves lower levels of damaging indoor air pollution by reducing smoke and harmful gasses by up to 90%, also reducing the amount of particulate matter contributing to climate change. Additionally, the stoves greatly reduce the amount of fuel use by up to 75% resulting in less time needed to gather biomass fuel, a daunting and often dangerous task for women and children.

Since 2012, HSP has worked with Nepali partners to deliver nearly 6,000 cookstoves. HSP sponsor Kahtoola helped sponsor the video.

For more information: Pam Miller, pam@himalayanstoveproject.org, www.himalayanstoveproject.org

EXPEDITION MARKETING

The NASA worm and meatball logos

NASA Brings Back the Worm

The original NASA insignia is one of the most powerful symbols in the world. A bold, patriotic red chevron wing piercing a blue sphere, representing a planet, with white stars, and an orbiting spacecraft. Today, we know it as "the meatball." However, with 1970's technology, it was a difficult icon to reproduce, print, and many people considered it a complicated metaphor in what was considered, then, a modern aerospace era.

Enter a cleaner, sleeker design born of the Federal Design Improvement Program and officially introduced in 1975. It featured a simple, red unique type style of the word NASA. The world knew it as "the worm."

Now the worm is back. And just in time to mark the return of human spaceflight on American rockets from American soil.

The retro, modern design of the agency's logo will help capture the excitement of a new, modern era of human spaceflight on the side of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle that will ferry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Demo-2 flight, now scheduled for mid- to late May.

It seems the worm logo wasn't really retired. It was just resting up for the next chapter of space exploration. The meatball will remain NASA's primary symbol.

Read the announcement:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-worm-is-back

For past stories about NASA's symbols, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/symbols-of-nasa.html

BUZZ WORDS

Quindar Tones

Most often referred to as the "beeps" that were heard during the American Apollo space missions, Quindar tones were a means by which remote transmitters on Earth were turned on and off so that the Capsule communicator could communicate with the crews of spacecrafts. (Source: Astronaut Chris Hadfield on Masterclass; see related story)

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism

(Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld- How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey.

Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com.

Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

EXPEDITION NOTES

Unalaska, Alaska, is the chief center of population in the Aleutian Islands.

Field Technician Needed for TV Documentary Set in Aleutians

A television production company with a track record of hit shows on A&E, Discovery, History, Netflix, Travel Channel and many other networks is looking to cast a science or field technician for an upcoming show.

The ideal candidate must have on-hand experience with magnetometers, drones and other surveying equipment. A knowledge of Arctic or Alaskan terrain is preferred, but not required. This is an opportunity to be a part of a three- to four-week expedition in the Aleutian islands looking for lost artifacts. The goal of the expedition is to highlight the great history of the area, and hopefully uncover some truly unique finds. The production company prides itself on authentic story-telling with great characters and is not looking to fabricate drama.

For more information: casting10560@gmail.com

5G Comes to Everest

Base camp at Mount Everest now has 5G coverage, thanks to China Mobile. However, even at 5364m above sea level (17,598 ft.), this is not the highest place on Earth that you can get a 5G connection - currently that is the Intermediate Camp at 5800m, according to the mobile technology website GSMArena.com (April 21).

To honor its 20th anniversary, China Mobile overhauled the 177 km transmission line that connects Base Camp to its main network. This line now powers three 5G base stations and three 4G ones. Eight tons of networking equipment were hauled up, which also allowed CM to also build two 5G base stations at the Intermediate camp.

The new high-speed connection can be used to broadcast video live from the camps whether it's day or night. Two more 5G base stations were also being installed to operate at the Advanced Base Camp at 6500m (21,325 ft.).

Here's a quick history of cell coverage on Mount Everest: the first 3G connection from Base Camp was established in late October of 2010, allowing video calls. A few months later in 2011 a tweet from Everest was sent out from a Samsung Galaxy S II (which also starred in the world's highest unboxing video). This wasn't the first tweet from the summit, that one came in 2010 via satellite. In 2013, China Mobile flipped the switch on the first 4G tower in Base Camp and demonstrated a live video stream in HD.

Reader comments below the story were none too kind. Says Cyber, "useless amount of junk, people persistently continue to pollute every corner of the earth."

Posthc piles on with: "Rich Sport Rich Trip Rich Stuff and No local people will use 5g."

Ouch.

Read the full story and watch the drone sizzle reel here:

https://tinyurl.com/everest5G

Some food containers bearly pass

Smarter Than the Av-er-age Bear

A recent story in Costco Magazine about the Bear-Resistant Products Testing Program at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana, sparked our interest. Bears are given garbage cans, coolers and other food containers for an hour to see if they can bat, claw, bite, flip, or smash they way in. One technique bears like to use is a CPR maneuver as they explore weaknesses in a container.

Only products that withstand 60 full minutes of a 700-pound bear mauling receive a valuable stamp of approval from the federal Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) certifying them as bear-resistant. Keeping bears out of human food and garbage is the best way to ensure their survival in the wild.

This testing protocol allows consumers, parks and municipalities to obtain products that they know will work to keep human food and garbage inaccessible to bears and keep them out of conflict with people.

Watch a bear perform cooler CPR here:

https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/bears-as-product-testers

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"[Nature] causes me to reflect on those precious people in my life, amplifying how much they matter to me . . . my mind ranges over them much like the mountains in my memory, too, each alike but unique.... Every day, especially every day outside in nature, is another chance at redemption."

- Author and endurance athlete Marshall Ulrich writing in Both Feet on the Ground: Reflections from the Outside (DNA Books, 2019). Ulrich is an extreme endurance athlete - ultrarunning icon, Seven Summits mountaineer, and adventure racer. He's raced, led expeditions, or climbed mountains in nearly 30 countries, and visited 30 more. He uses his adventures to drive home a very powerful message especially suited to today's shelter in place orders: "Get out and stay out - as often and for as long as you can."

For more information:

www.marshallulrich.com

EXPEDITION FOCUS

NASA Shuttle Flight Director: "We Built That"

For 33 years, Paul Dye, the featured speaker at an Explorers Club dinner, worked in increasingly responsible roles within the U.S. (NASA) Manned Space Program, both as a technical expert in spacecraft systems and, eventually, as the overall lead of many missions to space. He retired from NASA in 2013 as the longest-serving Flight Director in U.S. history.

Dye said he was hired by the legendary Gene Kranz, the crew-cutted NASA Flight Director in the homemade, five-button, off-white vest portrayed in the Apollo 13 movie by actor Ed Harris. "The Flight Director has ultimate authority over a flight and no one can take that away from him," Dye said.

No Handshaking Allowed - The Spock salute was de rigueur at a Mar. 13 presentation when former NASA Flight Director Paul Dye, was joined by Explorers Club members Mike Seibert (left), who spent 12 years working on the operations team for the twin Mars rovers

Spirit and Opportunity, and Alan Stern (right) principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Dye's Flight Director career spanned both the space shuttle and International Space Station programs. The winner of many prestigious awards including the Johnson Space Center Director's Commendation, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and four NASA Exceptional Service Medals, Dye delighted in bringing the lessons learned from the most advanced flight operations back to the next generation of space operation professionals and to general aviation pilots and builders.

"Everybody is important right down to the people who design the nuts and bolts on the spacecraft," Dye said. "In fact, nobody on the team received a mission patch until Olga, our janitor, received hers."

Among his more humorous anecdotes is the story of the pneumatic tubes that transported documents within the Houston Mission Control Center (MCC). "They were only designed to transport a maximum of three ounces of paper, but engineers being engineers, we had to test the system. Someone packed a tube with pencils and we wound up removing splinters for a while," Dye said.

The team's staple diet was pizza, donuts and kolaches, a Czech breakfast food comprised of sweet bread filled with various breakfast items. Dye hoisted "Skinny Black Tie and White Shirt Days" in honor of early scenes of the MCC during the Apollo era, and tried to find the most annoying music possible with which to wake up astronaut crews. Touchingly, they played the Charlie Brown theme song when NASA supporter and cartoonist Charles Schultz died in 2000.

To this day, the Silver Snoopy Award, a sterling silver Snoopy lapel pin that has flown in space, symbolizes the intent and spirit of Space Flight Awareness. An astronaut always presents the Silver Snoopy because it is the astronauts' own award for outstanding performance, contributing to flight safety and mission success.

Dye will often check when the International Space Station is flying over his Nevada backyard, then go watch it overhead, remembering fondly, "We built that .... It's kind of a neat feeling.

"I learned the game from Apollo veterans so it was my honor to pass down knowledge to younger teams who will eventually control future flights to the moon and Mars."

Dye's forthcoming book, Shuttle Houston: Life in the Center Seat of Mission Control (Hachette Books, 2020), tells the stories of flying human beings in space, and developing and executing missions to conduct science, deploy payloads, and build structures in space.

Backdropped by a blue and white part of Earth, the International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-130 crew member on space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 7:54 p.m. (EST) on Feb. 19, 2010

In related news, you can view the International Space Station as it soars above your own backyard, a great diversion if you're self-quarantined.

Spot The Station is a free on-line alert service that allows you to watch the International Space Station pass overhead from several thousand worldwide locations. It is the third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot if you know when to look up. Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster.

You can sign up here:

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

MEDIA MATTERS

Eba, an approximately 5-year-old Jack-Russell terrier mix, sniffs at the breeze.

Silver Lining: Pandemic and Poop-Sniffing Dogs Gives Whales a Break

American and Canadian marine scientists - and one talented dog - are seizing an unexpected opportunity presented by the coronavirus pandemic. They are trying to establish whether Pacific Northwest whales benefit from the current drop in boat traffic and underwater noise.

Stay-home edicts have significantly reduced recreational boat trips and ferry crossings this spring. Commercial whale watching tours and the cruise ship season remain on hold. Large cargo ships continue to come and go with slightly reduced frequency, according to Northwest News Network's Tom Banse on KUOW NPR (May 11).

Noise and vessel disturbance are considered major factors in the decline of the Northwest's endangered resident orcas alongside the other big factors of dwindling food supply - chiefly, chinook salmon - and toxic pollution.

"From a killer whale's perspective, not having fast moving boats around like recreational boats... that might be quite beneficial," said oceanographer Scott Veirs of Seattle, who coordinates an underwater microphone network called Orcasound.

A dog named Eba, trained at the University of Washington, is used to locate whale scat from up to a mile away. Often to check on whales without disturbing or capturing them, researchers need to collect poop samples, which contain valuable information about their health. Eba gets to play with her favorite tug toy as a reward for finding floating whale poop.

Listen to the story here:

https://www.kuow.org/stories/pandemic-gives-pacific-northwest-whales-a-respite-from-din-of-underwater-noise

Explorers Club members: Oh the tales they could tell. (Felix Kunze photo)

Tales From The Explorers Club

Avenue Magazine tells some tales of The Explorers Club in a story by Angela M.H. Schuster (April 1). She writes, "Commissioned in 1910 as a family home for Singer Sewing Machine magnate and art collector Stephen C. Clark, the (Explorers Club's) five-story townhouse exudes an Old-World grandeur, appointed with stained glass windows and stone statues and columns plucked from medieval monasteries throughout the Low Countries and France.

"Among the latter is a formidable statue of Joan of Arc on horseback, which graces a massive mantel in the second-floor lecture hall. Many of the club's members find it ironic that St. Joan had presided over decades' worth of club meetings before women were admitted in 1981."

Schuster continues, "Among the other notable curiosities are a stuffed cheetah from Teddy Roosevelt's 1909 Smithsonian expedition; a globe upon which Thor Heyerdahl plotted the route for his 1947 voyage aboard Kon-Tiki; and the cartilage of a whale's penis, its size serving to keep a certain amount of club members' braggadocio in check."

She says Club membership rolls stand at 3,500 worldwide, with 600 members based in the New York area, and the rest belonging to some 33 chapters, including the most recent addition, an outpost in Bhutan. Over the past decade, the club has seen a demographic shift downward in terms of the age of its members, with a number of young scientists and adventurers joining the fold.

Read the story here:

https://avenuemagazine.com/tales-from-the-explorers-club/

Marabar by Elyn Zimmerman would be removed from a plaza in Washington as part of a plan by National Geographic to expand its headquarters. (Photo: Elyn Zimmerman Studio)

Critics Want NatGeo Stone Left Unturned

Explorers affiliated with the National Geographic Society have a long history of surmounting stone in places like Mount Everest. But the 130-year-old organization has decided that more than a million pounds of artfully placed granite are in the way of plans to expand its headquarters in Washington, according to a New York Times story by Rebecca J. Ritzel (May 9).

The boulders, part of a sculpture called Marabar, by Elyn Zimmerman, were installed by the society almost four decades ago in an outdoor plaza at its four-building campus.

But now, to make room for a new entrance pavilion and a rentable rooftop garden, National Geographic plans on dismantling the sculpture after Zimmerman was unable to find a new home for it.

The decision has drawn letters of complaint from architects, art critics, museum leaders and others who say they fear the loss of an important work.

Zimmerman said National Geographic had to take elaborate measures to prepare the site for the weight of the granite stones. "The largest of those boulders weighs a quarter of a million pounds," she said. "They're going to have to dynamite the thing out of there. "

Read the story here:

https://tinyurl.com/natgeostones

Byrd's oil-burning stove emitted toxic fumes. It also looks like he could use a haircut - like many of us these days.

How Did Richard E. Byrd Self-Quarantine? (Hint: Not Well)

None of our days of self-quarantine approaches what Adm. Richard E. Byrd, the American arctic explorer, endured in 1934, when he spent five months alone in a one-room shack in Antarctica, wintering over the long night, writes Dennis Overbye in the New York Times (May 5).

Byrd's account of his 1934 ordeal, Alone, published in 1938, was written once Byrd was already famous for having been the first person to fly over the North Pole (although some researchers have disputed that claim) and, later, over the South Pole. He had received three ticker tape parades on Broadway.

"On his second expedition to Antarctica, from 1933 to 1935, Byrd, accompanied by a crew of more than four dozen men, sled dogs and a cow, hoped to increase the scope of his efforts from his established base on the coast, called Little America, into the interior of the continent, where the weather dynamics were unknown.

"He hit on the idea of wintering over through the entire dark Antarctic night, from April to October, to make meteorological and other scientific measurements. The Advance Base that Byrd and his crew eventually established was 178 miles away - a treacherous, crevasse-laden journey across the Ross Ice Shelf," Overbye writes in the Times.

In the book, Byrd conceded that he hungered for the ultimate solitude. There were all those books he wanted to read. He brought a windup record player with him, so he could listen to classical music.

Much of Alone is a testament to the idea that you should be careful what you wish for. A month in, he realized that he was being poisoned by the fumes from his oil-burning stove. "What I had not counted on was discovering how closely a man could come to dying and still not die, or want to die," he wrote in the opening pages of his memoir.

Every day he had to decide: run the stove to stay warm, and possibly suffocate because of the fumes, or breathe safely and risk freezing. He later claimed that the ordeal had humbled him such that he handed over command of his next adventure flight to a younger colleague, according to Overbye's story.

Read it here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/science/antarctica-byrd-distancing-expedition.html

Alex Honnold is Prudent

When asked about his thoughts on "Prudence," professional rock star rock climber Alex Honnold tells WSJ Magazine (May 2020): "The constant reflection on mortality (that comes from climbing) encourages you to live your life as fully and as completely as possible. Part of being a professional climber is to know the right tool for the right situation and to minimize risk as you can."

Read more of his comments here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/carey-mulligan-stiff-lip-11580330268

EXPEDITION FUNDING

Explorers Club Member Victor Vescovo and the Five Deeps Expedition Team Launching the Limiting Factor on its way to the Mariana Trench - which will be featured on Discovery (Photo by Tamara Stubbs)

Explorers Club Discovery Grants Open to All

Applications are being accepted for the $1 million "Explorers Club Discovery Expedition Grant" program to further advance significant exploration and scientific discovery. Final candidates for the grants will be selected by an independent panel of accomplished explorers, researchers, and academic scholars, including six renowned Ph.D. scientists, in conjunction with both The Explorers Club and Discovery. Explorers and adventurers anywhere can apply; they need not be a member of the Club, as was previously communicated to membership. However, applicants are welcome and encouraged to apply for membership.

The Grant program will allow explorers to share their findings on Discovery Channel television and digital platforms, in addition to explorers sharing their findings and discoveries in an array of scientific journals highlighting their accomplishments.

For more information:

https://tinyurl.com/Discoverygrants, grants@explorers.org

WEB WATCH

"Explore" the Weather In Your Backyard

Explorers chomping at the bit to resume field research, and weather nerds everywhere, are invited to become citizen scientists. The NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory is collecting public weather reports through a free app available for smart phones or mobile devices. The app is called "mPING," for Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground.

mPING reports are immediately archived into a database at The University of Oklahoma, and are displayed on a map accessible to anyone.

To use the app, reporters select the type of weather that is occurring, and tap "submit," which seems to us a lot more interesting than piecing together yet another COVID-era jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table. The anonymous reports can be submitted as often as every minute.

Weather radars cannot "see" at the ground, so mPING reports are used by the NOAA National Weather Service to fine-tune their forecasts. NSSL uses the data in a variety of ways, including to develop new radar and forecasting technologies and techniques.
The mPING app was developed through a partnership between NSSL, the University of Oklahoma and the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies and was included in Scientific American's list of "8 Apps That Turn Citizens into Scientists."

Learn more:

https://mping.nssl.noaa.gov/

Everest without the altitude: Dr. Arun Nayak in his Mumbai stairwell

Lockdown Madness: Everest By Staircase

Climbers on lockdown worldwide have started to go stir crazy, as evidenced by Mumbai orthodontist Arun Nayak who decided to climb Everest's height within his 47-story apartment house - all 2,950 floors accomplished without breaking self-quarantine guidelines.

In a video posted by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, you can see how Nayak, an amateur mountaineer and long distance runner, monitored his progress. He enlisted his wife during the final ascent. He reports the 20-1/2 hour, three-day effort was - no surprise here - hot, humid, boring and monotonous.

See the video here:

https://tinyurl.com/lockdownmadness

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism

Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com payable to Blumassoc@aol.com.

Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

EXPEDITION NOTES

Kathryn D. Sullivan is a record-setter. She's seen holding the Explorers Club flag which was awarded by TEC's Flag and Honors Committee, to be presented back to the Club at a later date.

First in Space, First Under the Sea

Explorers Club honorary chairperson Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan, 68, has become the first woman to dive the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench - at 35,810-ft., the deepest point in the ocean, about 200 miles southwest of Guam. Sullivan is also the first American woman to walk in space (1984), making her the first person to both walk in space, and descend to the deepest point in the ocean.

Her co-pilot aboard the DSV Limiting Factor was fellow Explorers Club Medal winner Victor L. Vescovo, as part of Caladan Oceanic's ongoing "Ring of Fire Expedition."

Read about the feat in the New York Times:

https://tinyurl.com/NYTSullivan

In a related story, on January 23, 1960, U.S. Navy lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard set a record for the deepest descent below the ocean's surface. Their submarine, a 150-ton steel bathyscaph called Trieste, descended at a fast clip, four feet per second, taking five hours to complete the journey. The Trieste ultimately reached a record-setting depth over 35,800 feet in the seabed of the Mariana Trench.

In honor of the 60th anniversary, The Explorers Club is selling a limited-edition, Mariana Trench Commemorative Coin for $100 available at:

https://store.explorers.org/products/limited-edition-commemorative-trieste-coin

Polar explorer Matthew Henson speaking to Explorers Club members in this picture from the 1947 Ebony Magazine article about Henson. The article was written to highlight the achievements of Henson and his contribution to the discovery of the North Pole. This coincided with the release of Henson's biography, Dark Companion, co-authored by Bradley Robinson (National Travel Club, 1947).

Explorers Club Addresses Diversity and Inclusion

As systemic, oppressive institutional racism has rocked the nation at all levels of society, The Explorers Club on June 9 issued a statement that addresses the 115-year-old organization's stance on diversity and inclusion.

In a letter to members, Club president Richard Wiese points out that TEC was among the
first to recognize Matthew Henson, an African American, for his historic accomplishment in reaching the North Pole in 1909. For years the honor had been given to Robert Peary alone.

"But simply having a bust of Matthew Henson is not enough," Wiese writes. "We must continuously work at making our Club more inclusive to those who may not feel it is welcoming or affordable, more diverse and more representative of different nationalities and cultures."

Wiese reports the board has created a "diversity fund" (working title) that can help recruit qualified candidates from around the world and throughout the U.S. who also reflect the diversity of the world's - and our country's - population.

"The fund will also help us offset costs that may be prohibitive for communities that have been historically under-represented in science and/or disadvantaged by systemic socio-economic issues."

Wiese also reports Discovery, the Club's new sponsor, has agreed to provide a $100,000 grant to better help qualified individuals of color, indigenous people, and those residents of developing countries who could not otherwise afford it, become members of The Explorers Club.

"As explorers, we need to lead this Diversity and Inclusion Initiative with the same determination of effort that we put into venturing into new frontiers. We know better than most that the world is woven together in a delicate balance, and that the fabric that binds it are the cultures and the diversity of its inhabitants," Wiese says.

Writes Alexander Bailey Martin on the Explorers Club's Next Generation Explorers Network (NGEN) Facebook page: "... the world of exploration has a moral debt to pay that is compounding daily ... the Club has a key role to play in the world, and that world is being remade - right now. We risk fading into irrelevance if we don't state an actively anti-racist stance and then act, every day, to live up to it."

Definitely cringeworthy is voice over work by famed broadcaster and Club Explorers Medal recipient Lowell Thomas, for a 1931 film called Blonde Captive which can still be seen on YouTube. The documentary takes place in Australia among the Aboriginal tribe people. When viewed through 21st Century goggles, it's embarrassing to say the least.

It played a few years ago at Sydney, Australia's Kings Cinema - Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in an exhibit called "Evidence." The narration was so offensive, they were asked to turn the sound off.

The current national discussion about racism, and the changes already seen within the exploration and adventure community, will hopefully increase participation by communities of color.

Read the Club announcement here:

https://tinyurl.com/TECDiversity

Cruising in space

Ground Control to Major Tom

Actor Tom Cruise and Elon Musk's Space X are working on a project with NASA that would be the first narrative feature film - an action adventure - to be shot in outer space. It's not a Mission: Impossible film and no studio is in the mix at this stage. Cruise is expected to reach the International Space Station (ISS) for the project within the next two years.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the plans to go all Hollywood, "We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA's ambitious plans a reality."

Predictably, Twitter almost lost its mind over the news.

One anonymous writer posts, "Tom Cruise is the last true movie star. Who else would even think to do this? He actually has all the qualities that are poured into the fictional characters we all love... Ethan Hunt, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Han Solo... Tom Cruise is that guy in real life. Gotta love and respect it."

According to Deadline.com, there has never been a leading man (Jackie Chan might dispute this) who puts himself at risk as often as does Cruise, in the name of the most realistic action sequences possible. If he is successful shooting a project in Musk's space ship, he will be alone in the Hollywood record books.

Currently, the ticket price to travel to the ISS for a week, which includes 15 weeks of training, is $55 million, according to the Associated Press.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."

- John Burroughs (1837-1921), American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the U.S. conservation movement.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

Sailors need to keep it clean when mom is on board.

Bombs Away

When The New Yorker in its May 18 issue launched into a 13,000-word essay by Ben Taub on the Five Deeps Expedition, a historic journey around the world and to both poles, to reach the deepest point in each ocean, it was the F-bombs that struck us the most.

We counted 19 references to the well-known - but rarely uttered in polite society - sexual activity. Including this gem attributed to Alan Jamieson, the expedition's chief scientist. Referencing referencing the early days of Mother Earth, he's quoted, "...billions of years ago, when the earth was 'one giant, f*cked-up, steaming geological mass, being bombarded with meteorites.'"

There was a time when four-letter words were shunned in mainstream media. Ah, but these are harsh, challenging times and apparently, the generally accepted prohibition against the use of curse words in print is a thing of the past, including a salty one attributed to President Trump when referencing Third World countries.

The New Yorker's Taub joined the expedition last summer, after meeting Victor Vescovo, who financed the trip and piloted its submarine, at the Global Exploration Summit, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Of his epic reporting assignment, Taub delves into the backstory, "For several weeks, in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, my primary objective was to win the trust of the crew, so that I could learn not only how they did what they did but also everything that had happened before I came on board. Sometimes this meant coiling ropes, jumping in and out of a Zodiac boat, and hauling equipment on the aft deck.

"At other times it meant poring through submarine dive logs and learning the names and functions of each major component that made up the machine. Most nights it meant drinking with sailors on the top deck, and waking up roiled by rough seas.

"By the end of the trip, I had interviewed every crew member, and those who kept a diary had let me photograph each page."

This got us to wondering. Sailors are known for swearing. Remember Popeye and his famous, albeit tame, catchphrases: "Well blow me down,""Shiver me timbers!" and "Oh my gorshk!"

But explorers have always been a more gentile bunch.

What happens when you combine the two, sailors and explorers? In the case of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' 2013 expedition to recover the Apollo 11 Saturn V F-1 rocket engines, the entire team was on their best behavior, according to expedition leader and attorney David Concannon, 54, of Sun Valley, Idaho.

"Sailors, who normally would think nothing of referring to 'friggin' in the riggin,' and worse, behaved themselves because Jeff Bezos' mother was on board," Concannon tells EN.

"So let's keep it clean out there, especially when sponsors and media are around."

Read The New Yorker story, F-bombs and all, here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/thirty-six-thousand-feet-under-the-sea

MEDIA MATTERS

A telegraph straight key like this Marconi type 48200 was thought to be used on the Titanic, but according to a detailed paper by Douglas A. Kerr (December 2019), there's no way to tell for sure. Only one grainy, double-exposed photo of the telegraph room is known to exist and is not particularly helpful.

CQD: Judge Approves Plan to Retrieve Titanic Telegraph Key

It was history's most famous distress call: CQD (pronounced in Morse code: dahditdahdit dahdahditdah dahditdit).

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a salvage firm can retrieve the Marconi wireless radio that broadcast distress calls from the sinking Titanic. The order is a big win for RMS Titanic, the court-recognized salvor, or steward, of artifacts from the doomed ocean liner.

Photo courtesy University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, Illinois

RMS Titanic, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, has said it plans to exhibit the telegraph key with stories of the men who tapped out distress calls to nearby ships, "until seawater was literally lapping at their feet.

"The brief transmissions sent among those ships' wireless operators, staccato bursts of information and emotion, tell the story of Titanic's desperate fate that night: the confusion, chaos, panic, futility and fear," the company wrote in court filings.

The radio transmitter could unlock some of the secrets about a missed warning message and distress calls sent from the ship, said the company, which obtained the salvage rights to the wreckage in the 1980s.

The radio is believed to still sit in a deck house near the doomed ocean liner's grand staircase.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which represents the public's interest in the wreck site, fiercely opposes the mission. It argued in court documents the telegraph is likely to be surrounded "by the mortal remains of more than 1,500 people," and should be left alone.

The telegraph key is different than the docking bridge telegraph recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic and is displayed at the Nauticus National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Virginia.

While the commonly known SOS distress signal preceded CQD in 1908, Marconi operators rarely used it. It became standard only after the sinking of the Titanic. A 14-year-old boy from Cape Race, Newfoundland, was first to receive the Titanic's distress signal.

Read the story here:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/19/titanic-judge-approves-plan-retrieve-telegraph-broadcast-distress-signals

What kind of telegraph key was actually used that fateful night? Hard to tell. Read what researcher Douglas A. Kerr has to say:

http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Titanic_wireless_key.pdf

EXPEDITION FUNDING

Carlos Buhler is on the mend

Help Carlos Get Back on His Feet

Renowned alpinist Carlos Buhler, 65, recently suffered a serious mountain biking accident near his home in Canmore, Alberta. Buhler was in a hospital in Calgary where he was being treated for multiple head, neck, and spinal injuries that was a consequence of his crash. He's currently back in Canmore; ongoing physical therapy and support is planned over the next few months.

Buhler is one of America's leading high altitude mountaineers. Buhler's specialty is high-standard mountaineering characterized by small teams, no oxygen, minimal gear and equipment, and relatively low amounts of funding - yielding first ascents of difficult routes in challenging conditions, such as the Himalayan winter season. He has been keynote speaker and juror at leading mountain and wilderness film festivals, and won numerous Mugs Stump Awards.

Support his GoFundMe campaign here:

https://tinyurl.com/CarlosBuhler

EXPEDITION INK

Tips on Returning From Isolation

by Rachael Robertson, author, Leading on the Edge: Extraordinary Stories and Leadership Insights from the World's Most Extreme Workplace (Wiley, 2013)

Australian Rachael Robertson, 51, from Williamstown, Victoria, was the youngest and only second female expedition leader at Davis Station, Antarctica. Her comments about coming out of weeks of social distancing and isolation in November 2005 are illustrative today as a lockdowned society begins to slowly open up.

She writes in Leading on the Edge: Extraordinary Stories and Leadership Insights from the World's Most Extreme Workplace (Wiley, 2013) about having to adjust to a new normal and not seeing her family and friends for months to having to live in very close quarters with people you can't take a break from and having to lead in an extreme work environment.

What she wrote then, is just as relevant now in a COVID-19 world:

"I've been in extended isolation before. A year of freezing temperatures, blizzards, months of darkness and you can't get in or out. The lack of privacy, the mundane nature of the days and the interpersonal pressure of living with 17 other people was extraordinary. Antarctica is a brutal workplace, but I was well prepared for most of it.

"What I wasn't prepared for however, was coming home. I truly believed we'd slip right back into normal mode.... Things I had not planned for included:

Sensory overload - After spending extended periods indoors the noise and smells outside are really strong. The simple noise of a city was a huge cacophony for me - car horns, sirens, trains.

Choice - When you've had considerable time in a personal world that's shrunk, things become simpler because you have limited choice. But suddenly the doors of choice are thrown open and it's startling. I recall on my return, standing in the breakfast cereal aisle of a supermarket overwhelmed with choice.

Expectations - In total we were away from home for 18 months, and to some extent I was thrilled to be back and over the moon to see my family and friends. Today, people will have different expectations about how we respond on the other side - some will be thrilled to be back to a new normal, others will be scared, some will be ambivalent. There will be a spectrum of responses.

Physical contact - A year without so much as a hug is difficult, but you do get used to it. For many people we have faced a similar challenge now. For single people living alone, and not being able to visit family and friends, it may be months without even a handshake.

Overwhelm -One tool I used which held me in good stead when I returned to Australia was No Triangles - which simply means, I don't speak to you, about him. You don't speak to me, about her. We already have enough to deal with, the last thing you need is to listen to someone complaining about someone else.

Rachael Robertson has delivered over 1,500 keynote presentations, remotely and in person, around the world on the topics of leadership and teamwork. Her latest book, Respect Trumps Harmony, is out now. For more information: www.rachaelrobertson.com.au.

WEB WATCH

Take a Virtual Tour of Grand Central Terminal's Ceiling

We're thinking you've streamed most of what you want to see on Netflix and Hulu by now. Time to go back to the plain old internet. Here's an idea: take a tour of Grand Central's soaring celestial ceiling depicting a section of the heavens as seen during October through March, or from Aquarius to Cancer. Learn about its seven constellations or what the two bands of gold symbolize, and how a wire stabilizing a rocket in 1957 left a hole in Grand Central's ceiling.

Then there's the mysterious dark patch in the northwest corner left there by restorers when the ceiling was meticulously scrubbed of two inches of grime and dust. It remains an homage to the 1996-98 restoration.

Take a virtual tour at:

https://poly.google.com/view/6DFk14fajtv

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Discounted Face Masks

Snowsports insole maker Masterfit Enterprises, Briarcliff Manor, New York, has added protective face masks to its product line during the pandemic. Readers of Expedition News receive a 10% discount on the company's triple-ply surgical style protective face masks and KN95 respirator masks. Use the below link and coupon code FOMCOVID1910 when checking out. These are already in the U.S. and ship within 24 hours of receipt of the order. Credit cards accepted. Limited to 100 surgical style masks.

Go to: https://masterfitinc.com/personal-protection-equipment/ref/19

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism

Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Get Sponsored!

Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called: Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com payable to Blumassoc@aol.com.

Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

EXPEDITION UPDATE

Erin Parisi plans Everest attempt in Spring 2021

Erin Parisi Sets Sights on Becoming First Known
Transgender Person to Climb Everest

Erin Parisi is setting out to make history as the first known transgender person to climb Mt. Everest. Following COVID-19 setbacks impacting her training and plans, Parisi is ready to emerge from the shadows and make history for the trans community by scaling the world's highest peak. (See EN, September 2019).

Parisi, 43, a real estate manager for a network communications company, is executive director of TranSending, founded in 2018, a non-profit dedicated promoting athletics as a platform of transgender awareness and inclusion.

She has already completed four of the Seven Summits. Mount Everest will be number five in her journey to become the first known trans person to climb all the seven summits.

Parisi is self-funding what she can for this expedition, but needs support raising an
additional $30,000 by July 15, 2020, in order to summit in Spring 2021. Some of the key
expenses this will cover is a permit for "Permission to Climb" ($11,000), Oxygen ($6,500), Food ($5,000), Climbing Sherpa Support (4,000), Gear ($3,000), Transport Sherpa/Yaks ($1,000), Icefall Doctors ($1,000), and O2 Mask and Regulator ($1,000).

At press time, she was almost halfway to her $29,029 fund-raising goal.

Learn more at:

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/transending-everest-push

EXPEDITION NOTES

"That's one small family home for man."

Neil Armstrong's Home for Sale

Now's your chance to own a piece of NASA history. The family home of Neil Armstrong is on the market for $375,000. The Armstrong family lived in the 2,560 s.f. El Lago, Texas, home for most of the 1960's, during NASA's Apollo and Gemini missions, leading all the way up to 1971, when Armstrong retired and left NASA.

This seems like a bargain considering that a postcard-sized Explorers Club flag that flew on the moon is valued in the five-figures.

The film First Man was not shot at the home, Armstrong's son Mark tells EN. Instead, the home was meticulously recreated in an Atlanta suburb.

The historic 4-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom property features high ceilings, a recently replaced 5-tab roof and luxury vinyl plank flooring, wrought iron spindles, a dining room, and decked attic.

The real estate listing is suitably breathless: "Just imagine the conversations that took place in this stunning great room with a stone façade, beamed vaulted ceiling, and tile flooring. Equipped with quartz countertops, a mosaic backsplash, glass-fronted cabinets, a 5-burner commercial gas range, a water purifier, and breakfast bar, the stunning kitchen will be a delight to any chef."

Featuring a pool, pergola patio, and storage shed, the backyard is perfect for soaking in the sun by day or admiring the moon at night.

Mark Armstrong adds, "There have been some murmurings on social media about the idea of someone purchasing the home for the purposes of turning it into a landmark, but I have no idea if they are serious.

"However, there have been some discussions about turning my father's birthplace (outside of Wapakoneta, Ohio) into a landmark as well. I would be supportive of either, particularly if it were structured in such a way so that any fund raised went to STEAM initiatives," the younger Armstrong tells EN.

See the listing here:

https://tinyurl.com/armstronghome

Turns seawater into drinking water

Portable Desalinator Could be a Game Changer

Currently posted to Indiegogo is a portable desalinator that's affordable and weighs less than a bag of sugar. The handheld device can strap to a backpack and be used on outdoor adventures. Quench Sea, priced at $60 for pre-orders, combines a hydraulic system, triple pre-filtration and a small reverse osmosis membrane to desalinate seawater into freshwater using manual human power.

Produced by Hydro Wind Energy in London, it's capable of making up to two liters of palatable water per hour, all through a manual handle-powered unit that fits into a small bag.

The campaign, which ends July 16, has already raised more than six times its goal, enough to go into production, ensuring the device will become commercially available in February 2021, at which time it will be priced at $70 per unit.

Watch how it works here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Vjf_3yHK8&feature=youtu.be

See the campaign:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/quenchsea-turn-seawater-into-freshwater#/

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"The man wants to wander, and he must do so, or he shall die."

- Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890), British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

George Frandsen is No. 1 in Dinosaur No. 2 Research

George Frandsen has heard all the jokes from people amused by his passion for collecting fossilized dinosaur excrement - ancient poo if you will. The 41-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, who started collecting at age 19, holds the Guinness World Record for the world's largest collection of coprolites, the scientific name for fossilized poo. The word comes from the Greek Kopros Lithos, meaning "dung stone."

George Frandsen and Barnum, the largest coprolite ever found.

Frandsen makes a point to emphasize, "It's all fossilized. Doesn't smell. I don't collect fresh poo." That's actually a good thing since he keeps much of his 7000+ piece collection in a poo safe at home.

His proudest specimen, a Guinness record-breaker, is a T.rex trophy turd, 20.47 lbs., called Barnum, found in South Dakota in 2019. Frandsen places its value in the tens of thousands of dollars. It helps prove T. rex consumed large quantities of bones that it was incapable of completely digesting. Incredible finds like this landed him on the TV show Ripley's Believe It or Not! and numerous other guest broadcast appearances.

"Corprolites tend to be the butt of a lot of fossil jokes, however they are an incredibly important and underrated part of our fossil records."

Experts agree.

"Dinosaur coprolites are these amazing poo-y time capsules that give us direct behavioral evidence about the mysterious lives of long-dead creatures. Fossil teeth tell us what the dinosaurs could eat, but coprolites tell us what they did eat!" says Kenneth Lacovera, American paleontologist and geologist at Rowan University, and author of Why Dinosaurs Matter (Simon & Schuster/TED, 2017)

In case you're wondering, fossilized crocodile poop is more common because the poop didn't have too far to fall and was almost immediately encased in mud.

Interest soared when the South Florida Museum (Bishop Museum of Science and Nature) became the first museum with a dedicated coprolite exhibit. It received worldwide publicity in 2015-16 and put fossilized poop on the map.

Frandsen, an avocational paleontologist and an executive at a health care solutions company, continues, "Knowing what kind of creature made a specific coprolite helps us piece together what prehistoric ecosystems looked like during a certain time and place."

"They can tell paleoscatologists - people who study very old poop - about animal diets, physiology, anatomy and behaviors."

He's recently married to Melanie Williams, who is apparently a perfect match. They eloped to Monument Valley in southern Utah where the two went fossil hunting and actually found a previously unknown cache of bones eroding from a hillside that they reported to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

"Sadly, we found no fossilized poop, but the BLM was pretty excited," said the collector who the Miami Herald called "King of Fossilized Feces."

Frandsen is passionate about public education about the importance of coprolites, despite its somewhat icky original source.

"Find a dinosaur bone, it doesn't tell you much. Find a turd with inclusions, it'll tell us what it ate, how it chewed, it can tell us about digestion, and the shape of their intestines. In fact, some poops are spiral and come out like a twisted ice cream cone."

Clearly, once you view a specimen that looks like a Mister Softee, well that's hard to ever unsee.

His Guinness video has been seen 83,000 times. Watch it here:

https://youtu.be/AOtSL8XePic

Learn about his online Poozeum at:

www.poozeum.com

There's also a Poozeum Facebook page and Poozeum Instagram page.

Tom Holzel uses a magic wand when sharing a detailed map of Everest at home.

Search for Sandy Irvine and 1924 Everest Camera Examines Narrow Rock Slot

By Tom Holzel
Litchfield, Connecticut
Exclusive to Expedition News

As described in the National Geographic video Lost on Everest which aired last month, big wall climber and guide Mark Synnett of Jackson, N.H., led a group of climbers up Everest's North route toward the summit. Among them was Thom Pollard of North Conway, and drone photographer Renan Ozturk.

A central aspect of the expedition was to examine the "Irvine Crevice," a narrow rock slot that I had determined by aerial photography probably contained the body of George Mallory's climbing companion, Andrew Irvine. Did he have the famous Kodak camera which, if the two had reached the summit, might contain a history-altering photo from the top of the world?

How the location was arrived at can be seen in this video I prepared in 2017:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ucBrk2sx0&feature=youtu.be

On his return from an exhausting summit success, Mark unroped from the guide line to clamber down a steep, hundred feet of loose shale. Using his GPS, he arrived at the exact predicted spot only to find a dark rock streak within a very narrow slot. It was empty.

Speculation on this disappointing failure centered on two likely possibilities:

One, my prediction was wrong.

Or, two, the body, along with Mallory's, had been moved in a major Chinese clean-up operation around 2006-2008.

The Everest community is split over these finding: Half are saddened that now we will never solve this famous mystery, the other half aren't.

The expedition is beautifully covered in the July 2020 issue of the National Geographic magazine, which contains a massive Everest compendium and some of the most incredible mountain photography I've ever seen.

The National Geographic Lost on Everest documentary airs around the world this summer.

Learn more at:

www.nationalgeographic.com

Tom Holzel, 79, a researcher in Litchfield, Connecticut, spotted an article in the New Yorker in 1971 describing the sighting high on Mt Everest of two climbers closing in on the summit "going strong for the top." Did they make it? He's spent the last 50 years trying to find out. He's studied oxygen vs non-oxygen climb rate charts, the difficulty of the Second Step, and the search for the body of Andrew Irvine, and possibly, the camera both Irvine and Mallory were known to carry.

Mallory and Irvine's camera was actually a FPK, not a VPK.

In a related development, Holzel reports this month Todd Gustavson, curator of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, N.Y., and an expert on Kodak cameras, believes the sought-after device is an FPK (Folding Pocket Kodak) Model 1A, Series II (shown above), not a VPK (Vest Pocket Camera) as originally thought.

MEDIA MATTERS

Barnstormer Bessie "Queen Bess" Coleman (1892-1926) was awarded a pilot's license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale - the first African American woman, and woman of Native American descent to do so - on June 15, 1921, and returned to the United States where her race and sex still blocked her from finding gainful employment.

Black Explorers Depicted as Locals, Never Explorers

Explorers have been deified through history. They have shaped our modern understanding of what it means to move around and discover the world - and who is granted the privilege to do so. Yet while many intrepid travelers are - and have always been - Black, their stories remain sidelined.

All too often, whether it be in marketing materials, advertising, or journalism, Black people and other BIPOC communities are cast as the locals rather than the explorers, or simply left out of the conversation altogether, writes NNeya Richards in Conde Nast Traveler (June 17).

Richards continues, "Richard Wiese, the white president of The Explorers Club - ostensibly a bastion of the old guard of travel, where its members have historically been celebrated for 'discovering' indigenous populations - is aware that the traditional notion of who gets to be an 'explorer' needs to be expanded.

"He says that exploration is moving away from the idea of 'We discover these people, we want to study these people' to 'We want them to be part of us and tell us what they know about the experience.'

"He adds: 'You have to do more than just say we welcome everybody of all races. What is it that, if they walked into these doors, would not make them feel welcome, or feel like it's a place they should be,'" Richards quotes Wiese.

Read the story here:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/black-travelers-are-always-depicted-as-locals-never-the-explorers

"Use NASA as a Never-ending Lewis and Clark Expedition"

A new space economy could be the key to rebuilding after Covid-19 - and outsmarting China - says Michael V. Smith, a leading Air Force futurist, in a June 19 opinion piece appearing in Politico.

"It is far past time to use NASA as a never-ending Lewis and Clark expedition, to explore space expressly for the purpose of economic development and settlement. The fledgling U.S. Space Force must develop quickly into far more than mere support for terrestrial warfighters," he writes.

"It must move beyond the narrow vision of the Department of the Air Force to become a navy on the new ocean of space; protecting commerce, enforcing the rule of law, and providing safety of navigation services for all lawful and non-hostile users of space."

Smith is an assistant professor of strategic space studies at the Air Command and Staff College at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Read the story here:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/19/usa-nasa-smith-328987

WEB WATCH

A socially distant balloon circumnavigation.

Exploring Isolation: Inside the Minds of Legendary Explorers

In the time of quarantine, exploration legends Kathy Sullivan, Bertrand Piccard, and Børge Ousland know a thing or two about facing the challenges of isolation.

That's the take-away from an online discussion with the three explorers hosted by The Explorers Club and posted to Discovery.com.

Piccard says, "What I love with adventure and exploration is that you don't only explore the outer world - you explore the inner world. And you start to understand that when you accept the unknown - the doubts and the question marks become extremely powerful simulations for creativity."

Adds Ousland, "Not all isolation is bad - of course it's hard. Being solo - voluntarily or not - can also be good because you reach levels inside you that you never knew existed. You do get a deeper dialogue with yourself, and nature, when you don't have anyone else to lean on."

Sullivan says, "One of the things I keep in my mind as I'm working through something hard is 'Be Here Now.' Not where you hope you're [going to] be next, not what you're worried about tomorrow - be right here now. Look around you [and] be observant."

Read the May 20 post here:

https://www.discovery.com/exploration/exploring-isolation

The ISS appears brighter and higher than an airplane, and a whole lot higher. (Image courtesy of NASA).

Spot The Station

With a 90-minute orbit and a 24-hour day, the International Space Station (ISS) circles the Earth 16 times a day. But where to look for it in the sky? NASA says it's the third brightest object up there and easy to spot if you know when and where to gaze skyward. As certified space nerds, we've geeked out a few early mornings watching it overhead thanks to email notifications directly from NASA. It's an impressive sight.

Sign up here:

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

For a fascinating 25-minute tour of the ISS hosted by astronaut Sunita Lyn Williams see:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/doN4t5NKW-k

BUZZ WORDS

Everesting

A popular new form of cycling in which riders or runners repeatedly climb and descend a hill as many times as it takes to have ascended 8848 m - the equivalent height of Mount Everest. Complete the challenge on a bike, on foot, or online, and you'll find your name in the Everesting Hall of Fame. Lockdown life has sparked a biking boom, but social distancing rules means riders are usually alone while attempting this challenging twist on biking and running. (Source: www.everesting.cc)

K-Pg Boundary

Speaking of dinosaurs, the line of demarcation between the extinction event of 66 million years ago and the dinosaur-less world that followed. It's the point in between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. Below the line, dinosaur fossils, lots of coprolites. Above the line, nada. It can be found throughout the world in marine and terrestrial rocks. (Source: www.britannica.com).

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Writer's Comments Originally Appear in New Yorker Subscriber Letter

New Yorker writer Ben Taub, who composed a well-researched 13,000 word story about the Five Deeps Expedition, asked that we make clear his comments about the historic journey around the world and to both poles, to reach the deepest point in each ocean, were written in a letter to New Yorker subscribers (See EN, June 2020). It was sent to an email distribution list, part of a subscription drive for the magazine.

ON THE HORIZON

The scorpions, crickets and beetles get a reprieve until 2021. (Photo from ECAD 2018 courtesy Craig Chesek).

ECAD Postponed Until 2021

After extensive deliberations, it was decided that the Explorers Club's greatest gathering of the year, ECAD 2020, would be cancelled (previously re-scheduled for October 2020).

"October is right around the corner and we still have no indication from the government on whether or not large gatherings will be allowed in New York City," writes Club president Richard Wiese.

"We are truly devastated that we cannot provide you with the experience this year, but the health and safety of our members is our first priority."

Ticket buyers were urged to donate funds already paid to the Club for the event.

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism

Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Get Sponsored!

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com payable to Blumassoc@aol.com.

Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

EXPEDITION NOTES

Traffic jam on Everest, May 2019.

Everest Chronicler Decries Crowding and Lack of Government Management

Alan Arnette, 64, founder of the popular website AlanArnette.com told an Explorers Club Zoom presentation on July 20, that as the number of Everest attempts increase, the death rate is actually going down. It stands at about 3% of all summits versus a 27% death rate on Annapurna.

Arnette, who summited in 2011 at age 54 after three previous tries, reports that notwithstanding the slowdown in expeditions due to COVID-19, the mountain is changing.

"There are more inexperienced clients, and more unqualified guides. Sadly, it seems any person can put up a website and call themselves a guide. Nepali guides are offering expeditions for $20,000, versus a median price of $46,000, which, combined with a smaller climbing window due to weather, created scenes like Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja's famous 2019 photo of a conga line to the top."

Arnette continues, "Climbing season is a time for Silly Rules - regulations that are never enforced due to government instability. While well meaning, policies are mostly ignored.
The Nepalese government sets its restrictions, the media covers it, Nepal gets great PR, but in reality nothing changes."

He predicts another record summit year in 2021, with a corresponding 8 to 12 deaths.

Arnette holds a photo of his mother Ida on the summit of K2 on July 27, 2014, his 58th birthday.

Arnette is a professional speaker, climbing coach, mountaineer and Alzheimer's advocate. His consulting business, Summit Coach, helps aspiring climbers throughout the world achieve their goals - from climbing a Colorado 14er to Everest or even K2, through a personalized set of consulting products based on his 25 years of high altitude mountain experience and 30 years as a business executive.

For more information: AlanArnette.com

In a related story, Reuters (July 20) is reporting Nepal will reopen its Himalayan mountains including Mount Everest to climbers for the autumn season to boost the tourism-dependent economy despite rising coronavirus infections.

Nepal shut down climbing and trekking in March to stem the novel coronavirus, which as of late July has infected 19,547 people and caused 52 deaths in the country of 30 million.

Read the article at:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-nepal-idUSKCN24V2WN

Artist rendering of memorial climbing boulder in honor of Jess Roskelley

New Spokane Climbing Boulder Memorializes Jess Roskelley

After Jess Roskelley died at age 36 on Howse Peak in the Canadian Rockies in 2019 with Austrian climbers and fellow North Face athletes, David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, the Roskelley family created the Jess Roskelley Foundation to provide funding for local and state public park projects. The Foundation established a six-person board of family members and two of Jess's good friends.

An ideal location was found with the cooperation of the City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department - the iconic Riverfront Park Ice Age Floods Playground on the north bank of the Spokane River.

After several discussions with the City, the Foundation offered to buy and ship from Colorado a large artificial boulder specially designed by ID Sculpture, the company that was providing smaller climbing features and larger walls situated in the playground area. Funding for the $48,000 project was donated.

The inscription carved into the boulder will read, "Jess Roskelley, Alpinist 1982-2019, "By Endurance We Conquer" - Sir Ernest Shackleton."

"The Jess Roskelley Foundation exists to promote public projects and outdoor activities that will benefit generations to come and provide access to the wild places cherished by Jess, while preserving his legacy as a lifelong Spokane native and elite international alpinist," says Jess' father noted alpinist and author John Roskelley.

Nominations Accepted for the Explorers Club 50

The Explorers Club is seeking nominations from its members of an explorer who is making a meaningful difference in the world. For a new recognition program called Explorers Club 50, they're looking for people who are changing the way we look at the world, whether it be through spoken word, saving a language, field work, or in a lab, whether they work with the tiniest organisms or are helping to solve the world's biggest problems.

Criteria are purposely broad. Nomination should explain who or what defines exploration in the 21st-century. These are 50 people who are changing the world, regardless of whether they are a member or not, that the world needs to know about.

Winners (along with their nominators), will be announced in fall 2020, in publications, digital media and television. Deadline is Sept. 15, 2020.

Learn more here:

https://tinyurl.com/TEC50

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Fortune has shined on me throughout my life and has allowed me to enjoy exotic experiences and adventures. Many more talented people have stood on the sidelines watching me do cool stuff telling themselves that they couldn't.

"Opportunities are out there waiting for you to grab them. For every one you're able to grab you have to invest in nine others that don't pan out. If you're afraid of failing, you won't make that investment."

- Ed Sobey, Ph.D., author, Shipwreck Treasures, Incan Gold, and Living on Ice - Celebrating 50 Years of Adventure (self-published, 2020)

MEDIA MATTERS

Climbers Deal With Grief

In the short film, A Thousand Ways To Kiss The Ground, filmmaker Henna Taylor, of Boulder, Colorado, has you look into the eyes of climbers and their loved ones grappling with grief, mostly related to death in the mountains. It's heart-rending, hard-to-watch, yet also hopeful.

Taylor produced the film primarily to raise money for the Climbing Grief Fund (CGF), an organization which helps grieving climbers gain access to professional mental health resources.

CGF was started in 2018 by professional climber, Madaleine Sorkin, in collaboration with the American Alpine Club (AAC).

The previous year, 2017, had been particularly dark for both of them. Sorkin's loss centered around two tragedies: the death of Hayden Kennedy and the climbing accident that left Quinn Brett, of Estes Park, Colorado, paralyzed from the waist down.

In the 2019 AAC Guidebook to Membership, Sorkin wrote, "After (Kennedy's) memorial, many seemed lost in how to keep company with their own pain, let alone another's pain. We were feeling our helplessness and dragging the weight of accumulated loss in our community."

CGF supports mental health in several ways, including financial support. This year alone, CGF has awarded 15 grants, each worth $600, for grieving climbers, according to a Boulder Daily Camera story (July 22) by Chris Weidner.

See the film trailer here:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/1000ways/396003873

Read the Daily Camera story here:

https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/07/21/wicked-gravity-the-climbing-grief-fund/

High school students with StudentsonIce.com experience a life-changing adventure in Antarctica.

Adventures and Experiences are as Important as Wealth

Here's an idea we can fully embrace.

Bill Perkins writes in Robb Report (Aug. 2) that adventures and experiences are just as important as acquiring wealth.

"Due to compounding, your financial savings don't just add up - they snowball. And the same can happen with memory dividends: They'll compound as you share the memory with others," he writes.

"That's because whenever you interact with someone and share an experience you've had, that becomes an experience in itself. You're communicating, laughing, bonding, giving advice. You're doing the stuff of everyday life. By going out of office, you not only live a more engaged and interesting life but also have more of yourself to share with others."

He concludes, "Grow the richest life you can, one that's rich in experiences, adventures, memories - rich in all the reasons you acquire money in the first place."

It's clear that most Expedition News subscribers do just that.

Read it here:

https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/investing-in-adventures-and-experiences-2936769/

Accidental Climber

Jim Geiger is the accidental climber with an impressively neat garage.

Vision Films will release Accidental Climber from filmmaker Steven Oritt (My Name is Sara, American Native), a captivating documentary charting the journey of climber Jim Geiger summiting Everest - a grueling endeavor, much less for a 68-year-old retired forest worker who comes face-to-face with the worst disaster in mountaineering history. The film will be released in the U.S. and Canada across all VOD/Digital and DVD platforms beginning this month with international dates to follow.

Accidental Climber chronicles the summiting of Mount Everest by Geiger, a great-grandfather and amateur mountaineer from Sacramento, California, who attempts to become the oldest American to summit the peak; what ensued was the worst disaster in mountaineering history leaving 16 climbers dead in a tragic avalanche and forever changing his life.

Watch the trailer here:

https://youtu.be/unOtB1RZ8xw

Pre-order here:

https://apple.co/2E7dKH1

Helping hand for man's best friend.

St. Bernard Rescued in England

Here's a switch.

St. Bernard dogs are the ones that traditionally have come to the rescue of human hikers and climbers. But in a reverse of circumstances, humans rescued a St. Bernard after she collapsed while coming down England's highest mountain, according to CNN (July 26).

With their great sense of direction and resistance to cold, St. Bernards have been saving people in the mountains since the 18th century, according to Smithsonian Magazine. They were first bred by monks living in St. Bernard Pass, a dangerous route through the Alps connecting Italy and Switzerland, to help them on rescue missions after heavy snowstorms. Over a span of nearly 200 years, the dogs saved about 2,000 people, according to the magazine.

Late last month a 121-pound St. Bernard named Daisy was rescued from Scafell Pike (3,209-ft.) in North West England after she showed signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move.

The rescue operation took a total of five hours and 16 team members of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team. No word about how much brandy was consumed.

Read the story here:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/26/world/st-bernard-rescue-england-scafell-pike-trnd/index.html

OUT THERE

Back home in Boulder, Colorado, McKenna flies this 1967 Beechcraft Bonanza, a four-seater, single engine plane with a classic V-tail design.

Pilot Marks 30 Years Searching for Amelia Earhart

Few people can claim to have their baby teeth in the American Museum of Natural History, but that's one of the advantages Boulder resident Andrew McKenna enjoyed growing up the son of Dr. Malcolm C. McKenna, a noted vertebrae paleontologist who needed a homo sapiens tooth.

Traveling with his father on fossil digs to Wyoming, Greenland and Egypt, McKenna honed his archaeological skills which these days are helping solve one of the greatest mysteries of all time: the disappearance of aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

Earhart has been honored worldwide ever since her disappearance, including this mural along Route 66 in Cuba, Missouri (photo courtesy of Viva Cuba).

The year was 1937, the tail end of the Great Depression, when Earhart, one of the most famous women of her day, disappeared at age 39 without a trace along with her navigator, Fred Noonan, and her aircraft, a Lockheed Electra 10E. It was an ill-fated attempt to be the first woman to fly around the world as close to the equator as possible.

Since then, Earhart has been honored with streets, airports, schools, a U.S. commemorative postage stamp, a Barbie doll, a theatrical film starring Hilary Swank, more than 50 books, and over a dozen songs, including one by American singer Kinky Friedman.

The search has continued for over 80 years, now focused on a tiny atoll called Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in Kiribati, about 2,100 miles from Honolulu, where Earhart and her navigator are believed to have crash landed and died as castaways. It's the grandfather of all cold cases.

McKenna, 61, a graduate of Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Science, is a certified SCUBA diver, commercial pilot and president of Journey's Aviation, the flight school and Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at Boulder Municipal Airport.

He has traveled to Nikumaroro six times over the past 30 years as a member of the nonprofit The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) that has been chasing clues for decades. McKenna and his teammates have worked with drones, ground-penetrating radar, forensic dogs, multibeam and side scan sonar, UV lamps, historic photos and film, radio reception patterns, and employed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

He seems right at home conducting field research in the worse conditions imaginable - traveling a 10-day roundtrip ocean voyage and rough seas to work in temperatures of 110 degrees F., high humidity, unrelenting sun, "and giant coconut crabs six inches across with a 1-1/2-ft. reach. They prefer not to wait for you to die before they try to eat you," he laughs.

Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, praised McKenna's role in the decades-long search: "As the son of a famous paleontologist, Andrew developed a special skill in observing objects in the ground, potential clues the rest of us might miss. Plus, as a pilot with experience in search and rescue, he is able to provide perspective on the efficacy of historical searches for missing aircraft."

McKenna adds, "My father taught me that when working a dig, look for manmade shapes. Something that doesn't belong."

This aluminum sheet discovered in 1991 could have been from Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E.

With every trip to the western Pacific Ocean, the team finds yet another clue to keep them occupied for years. The latest is a piece of aircraft aluminum that washed ashore and was found in 1991. As forensic experts study the rivet patterns compared to photos and 16mm film of the aircraft, McKenna reports that a piece of insulated copper antenna wire embedded in the recovered piece has been reliably traced to the Earhart era.

"Is it part of the Lockheed Electra? Every clue opens new doors and brings us closer to solving the mystery of her disappearance," says McKenna who grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and spent summers in Ward, Colorado.

McKenna and his wife Jacquie, who volunteers for a number of Boulder-area nonprofits, are the parents of two daughters enrolled in Boulder High School. In his spare time, McKenna flies his 1967 Beechcraft Bonanza, a four-seater, single engine plane with a classic V-tail design.

Every time he flies, he thinks back to the post-Depression era and that brave pilot and navigator. He's eager to return in 2021 to expand the deepwater search and continue to scour for clues buried on one of the most remote islands on earth.

"We're placing the puzzle pieces together with every expedition and following the research in a direction that makes the most sense. It would be tremendously gratifying to answer one of the last great unsolved mysteries of the 21st century."

Learn more about TIGHAR at www.TIGHAR.org

Read about another theory regarding Earhart's disappearance, one that focuses on Papua New Guinea, and the discovery by a World War II Australian Patrol, by viewing the research of Australian David Billings at: https://earhartsearchpng.com/

WEB WATCH

Lunar Rhapsody was Neil's Favorite

In honor of the late astronaut Neil Armstrong who would have turned 90 years of age this month, we link to the eerie space melody Lunar Rhapsody, the song he played on the Apollo 11 journey, and the song heard in the film First Man as Neil and his wife Janet dance in the biopic. It was a great example of the use of a Theremin, an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the thereminist (performer). It dates back to 1928 and was often used in horror films.

It's one track of Capitol Records' Music out of the Moon, the earliest popular release to feature an entirely electronic instrument. Released in 1947 it predicts a future in space.

Listen to it here courtesy of the Radio Science Orchestra:

https://www.radioscienceorchestra.com/music-out-of-the-moon

Exploring the Solar System

The New York Times on July 30 created one of the best interactive graphics yet of man's exploration of the Solar System and beyond.

The graphic includes spacecraft currently operating beyond Earth orbit, as well as many crashed or inactive spacecraft from recent decades. It omits the Apollo missions, most spacecraft launched before Pioneer 10 in 1972, many Soviet moon and Venus missions and some recent microsatellites.

Writes one commenter named DLessani from Half Moon Bay, California: "They summarized humanity (sic) best achievements. Voyager 1 left our Solar System 8 years ago and will continue its journey through interstellar space even after Solar System demise. Its message: we once existed."

See it here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/exploring-the-solar-system.html

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism

(Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld - How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey.

Read excerpts and "Look Inside" at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Get Sponsored!

Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called: Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.

Author Jeff Blumenfeld, an adventure marketing specialist who has represented 3M, Coleman, Du Pont, Lands' End and Orvis, among others, shares techniques for securing sponsors for expeditions and adventures.

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News - For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com payable to Blumassoc@aol.com.

Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

Elcano 500, Jimmy Cornell's new Outremer 4X catamaran. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Cornell.

ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CELEBRATES WORLD'S
FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION

Author, sailor and event organizer Jimmy Cornell has just launched his latest expedition sailboat, this time a fully electric 48-ft. Outremer 4X called Elcano 500, and next month he plans to set off from Seville, Spain, to celebrate and follow the route of the first circumnavigation, completed in 1522 by the Spanish sailor Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Elcano set off from Seville in 1519 with Ferdinand Magellan, taking command of the expedition when Magellan was killed in the Philippines, and completing the round-the-world voyage the following year.

According to CruisingWorld.com, Cornell is calling his latest adventure the Elcano Project. The boat's name, besides paying homage to the first circumnavigator, is a play on "Electricity. Carbon. No!"

The voyage will follow the original course, stopping in Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Puerto Julian and passing through the Magellan Strait. From there, Elcano will set off across the Pacific, visiting Puka Puka in the Cook Islands, Guam, and the Philippines, including the island of Mactan, where Magellan was killed.

From there, Elcano will visit several other Pacific islands, cross the South Indian Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope and return to Seville. The 30,000-mile voyage is expected to take less than a year.

Learn more about the project here:

www.cornellsailing.com

EXPEDITION NOTES

Members of the expedition play cards while Akademik Fedorov pushes deeper into the Arctic Ocean. Photo: Chelsea Harvey/E&E News

No "Hot Pants" Permitted on Arctic Expedition; Women Explorers Face Sexism

"No leggings. No crop tops. No 'hot pants.' Nothing too tight or too revealing." That was the warning women on an expedition ship faced last fall. Thermal underwear worn on the outside was also banned in common areas.

It was for their own safety, they were told. Most of the crew on board the Russian research vessel named Akademik Fedorov were men.

The MOSAiC expedition across the frozen Arctic Ocean, touted as the largest polar science expedition in history, revealed problems of gender inequality in scientific field missions, according to a Sept. 8 story by Chelsea Harvey of E & E News. MOSAiC is spearheaded by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Germany.

The rules prohibiting tight clothing were a "safety issue." Some of the men on board would be spending months at sea. The implication seemed clear to four female reporters. Women should dress modestly or risk being harassed - or worse - by men on the ship.

In the following weeks, the new rules would breed an undercurrent of resentment, according to Harvey.

Expedition leaders denied the rules were meant to single out women. But many MOSAiC participants felt they perpetuated an insidious form of sexism: the idea that women's bodies are a distraction in the workplace and that women are responsible for managing the behavior of men.

The ship's mission: to assist the MOSAiC expedition's flagship vessel, the German icebreaker Polarstern, in setting up a network of drifting research stations on the Arctic sea ice. At the end of the six-week voyage, Akademik Fedorov returned to Norway. Polarstern stayed behind, freezing itself into the sea ice for a yearlong drift across the central Arctic. The mission will conclude this fall, when the Polarstern returns from its voyage.

"It seems like in particular the women were being targeted because of this whole tight yoga pants, hot pants, whatever they were actually called," said Jessie Creamean, a researcher at Colorado State University and one of the only female senior scientists on board.

Experts say these issues illustrate wider challenges women still face in polar science and field research across the board.

A 2018 study, commissioned by the National Science Foundation, investigated the prevalence of sexual harassment in academic science, engineering and medicine. The report listed isolating environments, such as remote field sites, as among the key risk factors.
The same study found the two biggest predictors of harassment in science are settings in which men outnumber women - common in polar expeditions - and environments that suggest a tolerance for bad behavior, with leaders who fail to take complaints seriously or punish perpetrators or who don't protect victims from retaliation.

See the study here:

https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic

Read the E & E News story here:

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063713099

One bra = three vodka shots at Vernadsky base. Photo taken in 2010. Ten years later the offer still stands.

EN can recall visiting the Vernadsky Research Base, a Ukrainian Antarctic Station, in 2010. Many of the women on the trip were uncomfortable to learn that the all-male base had a standing offer of three vodka shots to any woman who donated their bra to the Faraday bar, promoted as the southernmost bar in the world. Men on the base saw it as harmless fun; we viewed it as somewhat cringey.

A treasure trove of 1,200 rolls of undeveloped film.

Rescuing the World's Unseen Photos

While the Kodak FPK camera known to be in the possession of legendary climbers Mallory and Irvine on Mt. Everest in 1924 is most likely lost to history (see EN, July 2020), some believe that if it's ever found, there's a chance undeveloped images could still be processed. Meanwhile, two photographers have made a name for themselves rescuing other lost and undeveloped images that provide valuable insight on how the world lived decades ago.

For many of us, a time capsule is simply a shoe box filled with memorable items. The photographic time capsule that Boise, Idaho, photographer Levi Bettwieser uncovered was approximately 1,200 rolls of unprocessed film from the 1950's, shot by a mysterious photographer named "Paul."

As the creator of The Rescued Film Project, Bettwieser has been finding and recovering rolls of "lost and forgotten" film for years.

"Knowing I am the first person in history to see these images leaves me humbled," he says. "When I process them I have no idea what I am going to get."

See the BBC feature about rescued images here:

https://www.facebook.com/bbc/videos/561181921160370

See many of "Paul's" lost images here:

www.rescuedfilm.com

Ron Haviv, an American photojournalist who covers conflicts and is co-founder of VII Photo Agency in New York, is another photographer passionate about uncovering undeveloped rolls of film. His work has led to creation of a national archive of images from the public's lost rolls, and can be seen in his book The Lost Rolls (Blurb Publishing, 2015).

Learn more here:

http://thelostrolls.com/

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"What did the mountains care about our plan to climb them, rafting the waters that divided them? They had eternity before us, and eternity after us. We were nothing to them."

- Erica Ferencik, Massachusetts-based novelist, screenwriter and stand-up comic. She is author of Into the Jungle (Gallery/Scout Press, 2019), and The River at Night (Gallery/Scout Press, 2017) where this quote originated.

MEDIA MATTERS

A new building in Antarctica breaks ground at the Rothera Research Station. Designed by Hugh Broughton Architects, the project aims to facilitate the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) ongoing climate-related research.

Can Antarctica Stay Free of Coronavirus?

At this very moment a vast world exists that's free of the coronavirus, where people can mingle without masks and watch the pandemic unfold from thousands of miles away.
That world is Antarctica, the only continent without COVID-19. Now, as nearly 1,000 scientists and others who wintered over on the ice are seeing the sun for the first time in weeks or months, a global effort wants to make sure incoming colleagues don't bring the virus with them, according to Cara Anna and Nick Perry writing for Associated Press (Sept. 13).

Good internet connections mean researchers at the U.K.'s Rothera Research Station have watched closely as the pandemic circled the rest of the planet.

New Zealand's Scott Base will be able to test for the virus once colleagues start arriving this month, weeks late because a huge storm dumped 20-foot snowdrifts. Any virus case will spark a "red response level" with activities stripped down to providing heating, water, power and food, according to AP.

While COVID-19 has rattled some diplomatic ties, the 30 countries that make up the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) teamed up early to keep the virus out. Officials cited unique teamwork among the United States, China, Russia and others.

As a frightened world was locking down in March, the Antarctic programs agreed the pandemic could become a major disaster. With the world's strongest winds and coldest temperatures, the continent roughly the size of the United States and Mexico is already dangerous for workers at 40 year-round bases.

"A highly infectious novel virus with significant mortality and morbidity in the extreme and austere environment of Antarctica with limited sophistication of medical care and public health responses is High Risk with potential catastrophic consequences," according to a COMNAP document seen by AP.

Since Antarctica can only be reached through a few air gateways or via ship, "the attempt to prevent the virus from reaching the continent should be undertaken IMMEDIATELY," it said.

No more contact with tourists, COMNAP warned. "No cruise ships should be disembarking." And for Antarctic teams located near each other, "mutual visits and social events between stations/facilities should be ceased."

In those hurried weeks of final flights, the U.S. "thankfully" augmented medical and other supplies for winter and beyond, said Stephanie Short, head of logistics for the U.S. Antarctic program.

"We re-planned an entire research season in a matter of weeks, facing the highest level of uncertainty I've seen in my 25-year government career," she said.

Read the story here:

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/09/12/antarctica-is-still-free-of-covid-19-can-it-stay-that-way/

OUT THERE

Horodyskyj has added polar guide to her list of accomplishments.

Ulyana N. Horodyskyj Lives a Life of Science and Adventure

In heavy seas off the coast of Antarctica, Ulyana N. Horodyskyj, Ph.D., 34, a field researcher and adventurer from Broomfield, Colorado, guides her 19-ft. inflatable Zodiac filled with cruiseship passengers back to their expedition ship. The ship is dangerously rising and falling like a pogo stick. Dumping paying customers into the sea would not be helpful, but she nails it. It is a final exam of sorts for her certification as a polar guide with the Polar Tourism Guides Association.

This is her second working trip to Antarctica and just the latest in a series of adventures for a scientist who by age 23 had conducted research on all seven continents. Men's Journal magazine named Horodyskyj (pronounced - horo-DIS-kee) one of the world's most adventurous women in 2019, one who is redefining the limits of what's humanly possible.

The journey of a landlocked Coloradan to Antarctica begins with an upbringing in an outdoorsy family in Rochester, New York, competing in high school science fairs, and eventually receiving a Masters in Planetary Geology from Brown University, and Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Her resume sits squarely at the intersection of adventure travel, citizen science and exploration. Horodyskyj has tested spacesuits in a Falcon 20 "vomit comet" and was once Maytagged in a human centrifuge at the National Aerospace Training and Research Center.

To study climate change, Horodyskyj traveled to the icefields of Mount Everest, the fjords of Baffin Island, the Svalbard archipelago near Norway, and the glaciers atop Mount Kilimanjaro - all wild and remote terrain where the effects of a changing planet are often most easily observed.

In 2016 she spent 30 days locked inside a three-story 636 sq. ft. habitat as part of the HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. She served as was commander of a team of two men and one other woman studying the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. There was no Internet, no email, but they were constantly monitored as the team tossed back vitamin D pills to counteract the lack of sunlight - the NASA version of the TV show Big Brother.

Today, as a member of the Fjallraven Local Guides program and a Fellow of The Explorers Club, she's passionate about teaching environmental science at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, while running Science in the Wild, which she founded in 2016 to host citizen-scientists on immersive international expeditions to the Himalayas, South America and the Arctic.

"These are not tourist trips. There's hard work to be conducted alongside researchers who will publish the work. It's my passion to make science accessible, fun and interesting so people will commit to join us," she says.

Ulyana is married to professional musician and expedition guide Ricardo Peña, who she accompanied this past July as he completed number 50 in his quest to summit the tallest peak in each state. The 60-mile roundtrip hike to Wyoming's Gannett Peak (13,810-ft.) while saddled with a grueling 42-pound backpack, was her 28th U.S. highpoint.

"I was drawn to geology and natural sciences - it was a career path that allowed me to pursue my passion for wild places which were imprinted upon me at an early age," she said while taking a break from her latest project: analyzing and interpreting climate data for the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Alaska Climate Research Center.

"Science provides answers and solutions to problems facing our planet. Science not only brings us modern conveniences such as air flight and smartphones and GPS, but it's our best chance to cure the most serious health issues facing the world today."

Learn more about Science in the Wild at:

www.scienceinthewild.com

Recently Horodyskyj won the Leif Erikson Award from the Iceland Exploration Museum along with fellow Coloradan Jeff Blumenfeld, editor of Expedition News, and Canadian explorer George Kourounis, who has documented many forms of severe weather.

Read the announcement here:

www.explorationmuseum.com/awards

In 2019, the red, white and blue, compass-adorned Explorers Club flag that was personally flown by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong on humanity's first moon landing mission was presented back to The Explorers Club in New York City, 50 years after the historic expedition. Neil's sons, Rick and Mark Armstrong, donated the flag to be hung in the Club's Apollo Room for posterity. Collectibles Authentication Guaranty (CAG) certified its authenticity and provenance.

Save Those Space Collectibles

A recent survey taken every year by the Asheford Institute of Antiques showed that space-related collectibles are the most wanted things on a list of 14, probably because various moon landings, rocket launchings and sales of item related to space exploration get so much publicity. In fact, a U.S. flag mounted to a card signed by the three Apollo 11 astronauts was sold at auction by NateDSanders.com Auction Company for $63,195.

According to Kovels newsletter for dealers, collectors and investors (May 2020), space exploration has been a fascinating subject since Buck Rogers and other famous characters appeared in comic strips, TV shows and movies.

Read about The Explorers Club flag that flew to the moon on Apollo 11:

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-052219a-armstrong-explorers-club-flag-apollo11.html

Goal Zero Promotes a Solar-Powered Archaeological Expedition to Peru

If you've ever wondered how expedition teams manage to keep their gear powered while traveling in remote locations, this short video is for you. It comes courtesy of Adventureblog.net and Goal Zero, makers of battery packs and solar chargers for use in rugged environments.

In this case, the manufacturer follows Preston Sowell and his team of archaeologists and filmmakers as they head to an isolated lake in the Peruvian Andes in search of a lost Inca temple.

The video tells the story about how power was provided in the field to capture footage for a full-length documentary for National Geographic. It explains how cameras, computers, drones, and other gear are kept functioning while exploring off the grid.

See it here:

https://adventureblog.net/2020/07/video-a-solar-powered-archaeological-expedition-to-peru.html

Enter the Digital Detox Challenge

Explorers and adventurers are used to being off the grid. Thus readers have a great chance at being selected for the Digital Detox Challenge sponsored by SatelliteInternet.com.

SatelliteInternet.com is an online resource aimed at helping people compare satellite and rural internet providers in their area. They are looking to hire someone to go off the grid and detox from day-to-day calls and screens for two nights, and then use a mobile hotspot connection to report on their experience.

Two nights? Seems easy enough to us. The winner receives up to $1,000 in an RV reimbursement, transport and food.

Apply here. Deadline is Sept. 23, 2020.

https://www.satelliteinternet.com/resources/dream-job-digital-detox/

WEB WATCH

Jenny Wordsworth knows what it's like to face death in pursuit of adventure.

Embracing Failure with Jenny Wordsworth
Free Webinar, Sept. 29, 2020

Locked down and masked up, we welcome any opportunity to stay in touch with explorers and adventurers around the world, even virtually. Jenny Wordsworth is a lawyer, professional endurance athlete, keynote speaker, brand ambassador for Atkins and a Polar Ambassador to the U.K. On Sept. 29 she's hosting a free talk online with the Scientific Exploration Society.

Wordsworth has traveled and raced some of the most arduous and renowned endurance events in the world and while enjoying major successes, she has also faced major failures as well. She will recount her attempt to break the world record for the fastest solo, unsupported and unassisted ski from the coastline of Antarctica to the South Pole in 2018. The expedition nearly ended her life.

In November 2019 she returned to Antarctica to finish what she started and she will explain more about lessons she learned along the way.

Register for the webinar free on Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ses-explorer-talk-jenny-wordsworth-embracing-failure-tickets-74831831021?aff=odeimcmailchimp&mc_cid=07b5ec3862&mc_eid=7c89269276

Voices on the Road

Deep in the remote Peruvian Amazon a road is quietly destroying a protected rainforest, causing conflict and fear. But for some indigenous communities, desperate for change, it also brings hope.

The road is cutting through a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the Manu Biosphere Reserve - and opening it up to the outside world.

Many indigenous communities are struggling to live in this "paradise" and the road brings the promise of a better life. But at what cost? An award-winning documentary created by filmmakers Eilidh Munro and Bethan John is now available to stream free online at https://www.voicesontheroadfilm.com/

Take 23 minutes out of your life to watch it. It has received rave reviews, including a special congratulatory message from Sir David Attenborough. The people of Manu deserve to be heard.

BUZZ WORDS

Polar Thigh

Rash-like non-frostbite injury characteristic of extended time in polar environments. It's a form of mechanical abrasion combined with air temperature fluctuations/variations in pockets of air trapped beneath clothing layers. It is generally only seen in polar environments, especially among skiers, due to frequent hip extension which stretches clothing covering the thigh. (Source: wikem.org)

For a particularly horrifying example, and you're not particularly squeamish, see Jenny Wordsworth's Instagram account. En route to the South Pole for a second time, she convinced herself her polar thigh was healing to get a free pass to continue. While she couldn't smell it personally in the cold, it's apparently quite odiferous.

October 2020 – Volume Twenty-Six, Number Ten Celebrating our 26th year this month! EXPEDITION NEWS, founded in 1994, is the monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate. EXPEDITION NOTES

Members of the Mount Everest expedition from fall 2019, including Madison Mountaineering guide Garrett Madison, far left in red, and climber client Zachary Bookman, third from right in orange. (Photo Courtesy of Francois Lebeau) Climbing Everest: There’s No Money Back Guarantee Seattle mountaineering guide Garrett Madison and Silicon Valley tech CEO Zachary Bookman were set to take on the world’s tallest mountain peak together. Instead, they’re mounting arguments against each other in court, according to a story by Kurt Schlosser in GeekWire.com (Oct. 5). The ongoing dispute, which has generated two lawsuits so far, stems from a trip to Mount Everest in which Madison, founder of Madison Mountaineering, contends that he was relying on his skills as an expedition leader when he cancelled any attempt to climb due to hazardous conditions. Bookman, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco cloud computing startup OpenGov, argues that the $69,500 trip he signed up for amounted to a scam, that he was essentially charged for a five-day walk to Base Camp, and that Madison promised to pay back some of his costs, according to Schlosser. Of Madison’s 13 Everest expeditions, 10 have reached the summit. He failed in the spring of 2014 when an ice avalanche killed 16 Sherpas in the mountain’s Khumbu Icefall. The following year, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal, killing 9,000 people, including 22 at Everest Base Camp. Madison’s third miss came last October, on the trip with Bookman, when a towering serac was hanging over the climbing route and he called off the expedition. Bookman signed a contract to make the trip with Madison Mountaineering in which he assumed the risk that weather and safety issues could cause problems with the expedition. The company’s no-refund policy is explicit in those documents. The same contract also recommended participants get trip-cancellation insurance, which Bookman declined to do. Read the story and see the legal complaints here: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/seattle-mountaineering-guide-legal-battle-tech-ceo-wants-refund-failed-everest-climb/ San Diego explorer Dave Dolan comments on Facebook: “There are too many spoiled brats doing mountain climbing and other extreme sports & endeavors. That guy bringing this suit ought to be embarrassed and ashamed for his behavior. Zachary Bookman reminds me of the character played by the late Bill Paxton in the movie Vertical Limit. That failed expedition to climb K2 was funded by a wealthy SOB industrialist named Elliot Vaughn played by Paxton. Hang in there Madison. As a wise person once said, illegitimi non carborundum.” (Editor’s note: mock Latin for "Don't let the bastards grind you down.") QUOTE OF THE MONTH “The natural world is the great equalizer. It doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, Black or white, young or old, gay or straight, male or female, liberal or conservative. When you spend time in nature, you begin to realize how insignificant you are. Being out there can teach you humility, and with humility comes mutual respect and tolerance. “You become less self-absorbed, less confrontational, and this, in turn, makes it easier to respect others and to work together for a common good.” – J. Robert Harris, chairman of The Explorers Club’s newly-created Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative. Source: Outdoor Retailer Magazine, July 15, 2020. A lifelong New York City resident, he has completed over 50 multi-week treks across the globe, all unsupported, most of them alone. Learn more about him and his adventures at www.jrinthewilderness.com MEDIA MATTERS

A comet strikes ancient Venus. (Illustration by Sam Cabot) Looking for Pieces of Venus? Try the Moon A growing body of research suggests the planet Venus may have had an Earth-like environment billions of years ago, with water and a thin atmosphere, writes Jim Shelton in YaleNews (Oct. 7, 2020). Yet testing such theories is difficult without geological samples to examine. The solution, according to Yale astronomers Samuel Cabot and Gregory Laughlin, may be closer than anyone realized. Sam Cabot at the Lowell Observatory Discovery Channel Telescope in Happy Jack, Ariz. Cabot and Laughlin say pieces of Venus – perhaps billions of them – are likely to have crashed on the moon. A new study explaining the theory has been accepted by the Planetary Science Journal. The researchers said asteroids and comets slamming into Venus may have dislodged as many as 10 billion rocks and sent them into an orbit that intersected with Earth and Earth’s moon. “Some of these rocks will eventually land on the moon as Venusian meteorites,” said Cabot, a Yale graduate student and lead author of the study. Cabot said catastrophic impacts such as these only happen every hundred million years or so – and occurred more frequently billions of years ago. “The moon offers safe keeping for these ancient rocks,” Cabot said. “Anything from Venus that landed on Earth is probably buried very deep, due to geological activity. These rocks would be much better preserved on the moon.” Upcoming missions to the moon could give Cabot and Laughlin their answer soon. The researchers said NASA’s Artemis program is the perfect opportunity to collect and analyze unprecedented amounts of lunar soil. Read the story here: https://news.yale.edu/2020/10/07/looking-pieces-venus-try-moon

Nate Menninger joined hard-working Sherpa on Everest The American Who Became a Porter on Everest Nate Menninger, 26, a young adventurer from Boston, decided to take a job as one of the first ever non-native Everest porters. That meant being paid $15 a day for hauling gigantic packs weighing up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms) along rugged, high altitude trails, huddling with fellow porters in freezing huts at night for rest and sharing their basic rations. Along the way, he made a film about his experiences, which he hopes will shine a light on the largely unsung work of Everest porters and the precarious way they eke out a living in one of the planet's toughest environments, according to CNN Travel writer Tamara Hardingham-Gill (Oct. 12, 2020). Fascinated by Everest, but unable to afford the tens of thousands of dollars needed to cover the cost of the permit and support needed to reach the summit, he hit upon an idea to climb it for free. "…I realized if I climbed Everest as a porter, I wouldn't have to pay $65,000. I would actually get paid to climb Everest. That was the only feasible way I could attempt the mountain at the age I was." Menninger eventually scaled back his original plan to reach the top of Everest, settling for making a film about his time among the porters on the still arduous 11-day hike from the town of Lukla, at 9,400 feet above sea level, to Everest Base Camp. Subsisting mainly on a diet of rice with lentils, he lost over 20 pounds over the course of the expedition and didn't shower for more than three weeks. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the region's mountaineering industry, which generates around $300 million for Nepal every year. Menninger's experiences on Everest are documented in the film The Porter. Read the CNN story here: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/american-porter-mount-everest/ It’s been called the hardest job on the planet. Watch The Porter: The Untold Story at Everest on Vimeo: www.theporterfilm.com

Rules for Returning to the Moon Eight countries have signed on as founding member nations to NASA's Artemis Accords during the 71st International Astronautical Congress this month. Those nations include Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. NASA released the Artemis Accords in May to establish a framework of principles for safely and responsibly planning for humanity's return to the moon. "Artemis will be the broadest and most diverse international human space exploration program in history, and the Artemis Accords are the vehicle that will establish this singular global coalition," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement. Read the CNN story here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/14/world/artemis-accords-nations-sign-nasa-scn-trnd/ EXPEDITION FUNDING First Tranche of Discovery Grants Exceed $250,000 The Explorers Club announced the first tranche of Discovery grants exceeded $250,000, the largest amount of grant funding in its 116-year history. “These awards are a real milestone for the Club because it’s rare that we can fund entire expeditions,” says Trevor Wallace, Vice President, Education and Research. “And we have even more coming in the pipeline.” Recipients were six explorers, researchers and scientists: • Anggra Alfian, Celebica (Sulawesi, Indonesia) Expedition With the hope of developing conservation programs in the area, this expedition will document plant species, habitat conditions and the conservation status at Mt. Latimojong – the highest mountain in Sulawesi. The area boasts high endemic biodiversity; the exploration and sample collection will be carried out during both the dry and the rainy seasons by creating a herbarium. Andrej Gajic studies the effects of plastics on sharks. • Andrej Gajic, Center For Marine and Freshwater Biology Sharklab ADRIA (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) Expedition Studying the effects of ocean plastics on sharks, this expedition will set off into the Adriatic Sea on a scientific mission to study how human plastic waste works its way up the food chain and into the ocean’s top carnivores. • Dr. K. David Harrison, Swarthmore College (Redding, Connecticut) Expedition As the Arctic melts, and oil companies move in, the Nenets people of Russia, who for centuries have driven their reindeer along an annual, 800-mile migration, now must navigate new terrain. Their ancient odyssey, and the unique knowledge of nature it has provided, will survive only as long as there is snow and ice beneath their feet. This expedition will document and capture the stories and visuals of Nenets reindeer herding on the Siberian tundra, and includes a Nenets co-leader and anthropologist, Dr. Roza Laptander. Nina Lanza studies the chemistry of life in the Arctic.

• Dr. Nina Louise Lanza, Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, New Mexico) Expedition A largely female team of experts will use cutting-edge technology in Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada, a beautiful, Mars-like Arctic desert, to tell the story of how the search for the chemistry of life on Mars begins with field work on Earth near the Haughton crater in northern Canada. • Dr. Edgard David Mason, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and Autonomous University of Morelos State (UAEM) Expedition Bats have been vilified in the media due to links to Covid-19, but they are a fascinating group of species – key pollinators, insect population controllers and seed dispersers – that need our protection more than we need to be protected from them. This expedition will use state-of-the-art technology to peel back the darkness and learn about the lives of the thousands of bats that live in Mexico's El Salitre Cave. • Peter Tattersfield, in collaboration with Mexico’s Underwater Archaeology Office of the National Institute of Anthropology History (SAS-INAH) - (Polanco, Mexico) Expedition In 1853 the Steamship Independence hit rocks off Isla Margarita and went ablaze. Although the crew members heroically fought to save the passengers – including one Tom Sawyer, who served as inspiration for Mark Twain's book – 132 drowned. For decades, underwater archaeologists have been combing the waters off Baja Mexico for the wreck of the Steamship Independence, and now finally this international team of explorers is poised to uncover it. Read the entire announcement here: https://www.discovery.com/exploration/meet-the-first-six-awardees-of-the-explorers-club-discovery-expe To apply for future grants, click here: https://tinyurl.com/Discoverygrants

Apply for the AAC Partner In Adventure Outdoor Education Grant The Partner in Adventure Outdoor Education Grant, created in collaboration with Tincup Whiskey, will fund educational opportunities from local guide services for you and your partner to take your pursuit to the next level. Open to duos of all experience levels, the grant will award partners up to $1,000 for the educational opportunity of your choice. Apply now and take the next step in your climbing progression. Application deadline is October 29, 2020. To apply, click here: https://tinyurl.com/AACPartner EXPEDITION MARKETING

Does the ISS Need Space Heroes? A U.S. production company is planning to produce a reality TV show competition, where the winner will receive a trip to the International Space Station as the ultimate prize, Deadline reports. The plan is yet another way to capitalize on the newly developed private human spacecraft, from SpaceX and Boeing, that are opening up ways for non-government astronauts to reach space. Dubbed Space Hero Inc., the production company plans to put together a televised contest called Space Hero that would select contestants from around the world to train for space, according to Deadline. The winner of the contest would supposedly receive a 10-day trip to the space station that would be televised from launch to return to Earth. Space Hero is working with aerospace company Axiom Space, a startup that aims to build its own commercial space stations, according to Sept. 17 coverage in TheVerge.com by Loren Grush. Meanwhile, it’s not just reality TV stars that are trying to capitalize on these new private space vehicles and NASA’s new commercial-friendly polices. NASA revealed that it is working with actor Tom Cruise to fly to the space station to film a movie. Additionally, NASA astronauts will be filming their first ads in the coming months. New Space Act Agreements have revealed that Estée Lauder will be sending up creams to the ISS on a cargo flight in November, and the astronauts will spend time filming and taking pictures of the products, New Scientist reports. Read the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/17/21443768/nasa-iss-international-space-station-reality-tv-space-hero-axiom WEB WATCH

Fruit bats enjoy their 15 minutes of fame on Explore.org Watch the Animals on Explore.org Locked down? Well you can still travel through the animal kingdom by watching a variety of species, both in their natural habitats and living in conservation centers. Explore.org/livecams, founded by philanthropist Charles Annenberg Weingarten, features more than 170 different animal live cams. ?There are live views of the Channel Islands Kelp Forest, the West End Bald Eagle Cam on Catalina Island, the International Wolf Center in northern Minnesota, and Giant Flying Foxes in Gainesville, Florida (which is actually another name for a fruit bat, but bats are getting bad press these days). Take a Whipper In climbing a “whipper” is an especially hard or dynamic fall where the rope is weighed by a significant load. Now anyone can experience a whipper regardless of their skill level. A new thrill ride attraction being peddled to amusement parks or ski area adventure centers is called the ZipWhipper. Harnessed patrons have 20 seconds to climb as high up the wall as they can before time runs out, at which point the ZipWhipper takes over and pulls them to the top of the wall. The height climbed and time of each climber is recorded, allowing participants to compete against each other. At the top of the 50-ft. climbing wall, participants are given a second to look around and contemplate their height before the ZipWhipper drops them backwards into a breathtaking pendulum free fall, swinging them outward away from the wall. This part simulates a “lead fall” when rock climbing. It simulates the feeling of a drop that happens when you miss a clip rock climbing. No thanks. We prefer real climbing. See their promotional video here: https://zipwhipper.com/ BUZZ WORDS Antarctic Vocabulary If you are new to the ice, you’re a “Fingee,” which stands for “FNG,” which stands for “F*cking New Guy.” If you’re not a Fingee, if you have survived a winter down there, then you are an “OAE,” or “Old Antarctic Explorer.” If you are an OAE and you are finishing up another year on the ice, you are probably, in the eyes of a Fingee, a little “toasty,” based upon your appearance as someone who is ghastly pale, translucent even, plus grumpy and maladjusted. (Source: Sara Corbett, Out There: The Wildest Stories From Outside Magazine (Falcon, 2018) EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld – How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey. Read excerpts and “Look Inside” at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book Get Sponsored! – Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called: "Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers." Author Jeff Blumenfeld, an adventure marketing specialist who has represented 3M, Coleman, Du Pont, Lands' End and Orvis, among others, shares techniques for securing sponsors for expeditions and adventures. Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2 Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com. EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

November 2020 – Volume Twenty-Six, Number Eleven Celebrating our 26th year. EXPEDITION NEWS, founded in 1994, is the monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate. EXPEDITION NOTES

Everest will likely be more crowded in 2021 due to pent-up demand. Photo by Elia Saikaly Flights to Everest Region Resume; Pent-Up Demand Expected The flights to the Everest region that had been suspended on October 22, have been allowed to operate once again, according to The Himalayan Times (Oct. 26). The flights were halted when a Covid-19 case had been detected for the first time in Namche Bazar, the gateway to Everest region. Several areas in the region had been sealed following the emergence of the case. However, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Municipality has now decided that domestic and foreign tourists will now be allowed entry. Read the story here: https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/flights-to-everest-region-resume-amadablam-expedition-to-continue/ According to AlanArnette.com, “I expect 2021 to be a near-record year on both sides of Everest due to pent up demand. “Case in point, IMG sold out their Rainier 2021 schedule within hours of its posting date, also for Denali. With hundreds of people having to postpone their 2020 Everest, and other 8000ers, combined with operators hungry for business who will bargain on price, I anticipate near-record crowds. Arnette continues, “Nepal, also thirsty for tourism and permit revenue … I don’t anticipate price increases but do over the next few years, so 2021 may be the best time to climb Everest anticipating the future, albeit with crowds.” The Himalayan Database reports that through August 2020 there have been 10,271 summits on Everest by all routes by 5,790 different people. A total of 1,352 people, including 941 Sherpa, have summited multiple times. QUOTE OF THE MONTH “Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream.” – Peter McWilliams (1949-2000), American self-help author, poet, self-publisher, photographer, activist. EXPEDITION FOCUS

Ha Ling Peak near Cranmore, Alberta, was the official name given to a peak south of Canmore, and east of Whiteman’s Pass, Whiteman’s Pond and Whiteman’s Crag, in 1997 after having been previously named Chinaman’s Peak. Enough Already With Offensive Climbing Route Names A recent story in outdoor industry trade publication SNEWS asked readers just one question: Have you ever encountered a (climbing) route name that you consider to be racist, sexist, discriminatory, or otherwise offensive? Ninety-one percent of the voters responded with “yes, several times.” Only four percent answered “no, and I wasn’t aware of the problem.” The goal of the survey was to understand the opinions of those in the outdoor industry – explorers, adventurers and mountain guides alike – and bring attention to the issue. The study was conducted by 57Hours whose founder Viktor Marohnic said, “As a company that strongly supports the current racial justice movements, we were especially curious to understand how widespread this issue is, and whether people think these routes should be renamed.” The results speak for themselves. Future surveys will determine whether the prevalence of certain route names deter women and BIPOC from participating in adventure sports like climbing and mountain biking. Forty-three percent agreed that was the case. One survey responder commented, “When we enter the sport, they’re subtle reminders that add to a feeling of not really belonging.” Climbers are familiar with the frat boy, or really, middle school level of vulgarity. “Climbing culture is saturated with racist and colonialist names for mountains, trails, and individual climbs,” writes Chris Weidner in the Boulder, Colorado, Daily Camera (July 9). Brandon Pullan writing in Gripped (June 25) griped about names such as Squaw’s Tit, Whiteman’s Crag, and White Imperialist. There are worse names than that, but EN is a family magazine. “A big first step in our outdoor community is to acknowledge that the names of many of the peaks and places in Canada are based on an ugly history of racism and that those names need to change,” Pullan writes. Read the survey results here: https://57hours.com/blog/survey-discriminatory-climbing-route-names/ Read Pullan’s story here: https://gripped.com/news/ending-colonialist-and-racist-place-and-route-names/

Check the color of your urine while on expeditions.(Photo courtesy Ski Area Management, September 2020) Clear and Copious Those are the buzzwords for exploration when it comes to staying hydrated. Ideally, your urine should be copious and the color of a glass of famed Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) beer. A tip of the hat to the Sugarbush Ski Resort in Vermont which posted this handy guide in employee work areas to encourage its staff to drink at least 72 ounces of water daily. As fans of brew of all types, we can certainly relate to that. These so-called Armstrong charts can often be found in nearly all bathrooms in elite sports facilities. They’ve been spotted them in numerous bathrooms of just about every single NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, NCAA College, Premier League soccer and rugby team here and abroad. The Armstrong charts take their name from Dr. Lawrence E Armstrong, who studied the importance of taking a close interest in your urine output and he’s most famous for attempting to validate his chart’s accuracy, according to UK sport scientist Andy Blow writing on www.precisionhydration.com. In fact, according to the Royal Geographical Society Expedition Handbook edited by Shane Winser (Profile Books, 2004), it’s important to drink a lot of fluid on expeditions. If urine looks cloudy, dark or frankly bloodstained or may have a fishy or other strong unpleasant odor, it’s a possible sign of urinary tract infection. You don’t want urine to be any lighter than PBR. Clear urine indicates that you're drinking more than the daily recommended amount of water. While being hydrated is a good thing, drinking too much water can rob your body of electrolytes, says www.healthline.com. According to Michael J. Manyak, M.D., FACS, a urologist, explorer, and co-author of Lizard Bites & Street Riots: Travel Emergencies and Your Health, Safety & Security (WindRush Publishers, 2014), “If you’re anywhere there’s a chance of being dehydrated, the best gauge is how frequently you urinate and what the color looks like, which is a factor of its concentration. If you’re not peeing every few hours you’re down a few quarts. “You can drink PBR, but make sure you drink plenty of water as well.” Adds Kenneth Kamler, MD., author of Surviving The Extremes (Penguin Books, 2004), “You’ll get dehydrated on any expedition, especially at altitude. You don’t feel thirsty until you reach a loss of 3% body fluid. It’s serious, you can lose strength, endurance and get cloudy in the head even with the loss of one percent. “Thirst is not a good parameter to see if you need to drink. Checking urine color is more accurate. Don’t be reluctant to watch yourself pee,” Kamler says. Editor’s Note: Dr. Kamler’s recent work involves raising earthworms and selling their waste, called castings, to gardeners. Adding worm castings (aka vermicast) manure to the soil aerates and improves its overall structure while providing beneficial nutrients to plants. They are also effective for repelling many pests that feed on plants, such as aphids and spider mites. (Who knew?) He calls his basement set-up The Wiggle Room. Perhaps a story for another day. MEDIA MATTERS Build Mental Endurance Like a Pro; Have a Little in Reserve Athletes, including climbers, who have endured the most grueling tests have a lot to tell us about how to thrive in the pandemic. There’s a special kind of exhaustion that the world’s best endurance athletes embrace. Some call it masochistic, others may call it brave. When fatigue sends legs and lungs to their limits, they are able to push through to a gear beyond their pain threshold. These athletes approach fatigue not with fear but as a challenge, an opportunity,” writes Talya Minsberg in the New York Times (Nov. 7). “The drive to persevere is something some are born with, but it’s also a muscle everyone can learn to flex. In a way, everyone has become an endurance athlete of sorts during this pandemic, running a race with no finish line that tests the limits of their exhaustion.”

Conrad Anker Conrad Anker knows something about that. The celebrated 57-year-old mountaineer, who has, among other things, ascended Meru Peak’s Shark’s Fin route in India, summited Mount Everest three times – once without supplemental oxygen – and survived a heart attack while climbing in the Himalayas, advised people to “always have a little in reserve.” Deplete your resources early and you’ll be in trouble. Focusing on day-to-day activities will pay off in the long run. If you burn out all your mental energy in one day or week, you may find it more difficult to adapt when things don’t return to normal as quickly as you would hope. There’s a pacing in living day to day, just as there’s pacing in climbing. “When you get to the summit and you use every single iota of energy and calories to get to the summit, and you don’t have the strength to get down, then you’re setting yourself up for an accident or for something to go wrong,” Anker tells the Times. “Don’t play all your cards at once and keep a little something in reserve.” Read the story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/well/mind/athletes-pandemic-advice.html

Dooley Intermed Gift of Sight medical mission to Nepal, 2017. Hopefully trips like these can resume in 2021. When Will It Be Safe to Travel Again? Sure, Zoom is the best we have right now. And the safest. But it fails to hold a candle to actually getting onto a plane and going somewhere beyond the confines of home. Christopher Elliott ask this question in the Washington Post (Oct. 7), reporting that Bill McIntyre, a spokesman for Global Rescue, a medical and security response service for travelers, says internal surveys of the organization’s members indicate a readiness to get back on the road. “Most travelers already have plans to go somewhere domestically by year’s end, and a majority say they’ll travel internationally sometime in 2021,” McIntyre says. “Talk to medical experts, and they will tell you to stay close to home,” Elliott writes. Manisha Juthani, an infectious-disease specialist at Yale University School of Medicine, says a person who wants to take one to two weeks off should make it a staycation or road trip, at least for now. “I personally do not recommend traveling far from home,” she says. Read the major benchmarks for travel safety: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/when-will-travel-be-safe/2020/10/07/5a7ac044-0719-11eb-859b-f9c27abe638d_story.html EXPEDITION FUNDING

Enter the 2021 SES Explorer Awards The nonprofit UK-based Scientific Exploration Society (SES) has seven 2021 Explorer Award grants available for funding scientific expeditions. SES seeks inspirational leaders and scientific trailblazers who are organizing expeditions that focus on discovery, research and conservation. The 2021 awardees must be prepared to take on monumental physical, logistical and global challenges and share the values of grit, curiosity, integrity and leadership that “Pioneers with Purpose” such as SES Founder Colonel John Blashford-Snell CBE exemplify. The awards are: • Sir Charles Blois Explorer Award for Science & Adventure (£5,000) • Elodie Sandford Explorer Award for Amateur Photography (£4,000-plus) • Gough Explorer Award for Medical Aid & Research (£4,000) • Judith Heath Explorer Award for Botany & Research (£5,250) • Neville Shulman Explorer Award for Expedition Filmmaking (£7,000) • Rivers Foundation Explorer Award for Health & Humanities (£5,000) • SES Explorer Award for Inspirational & Scientific Trailblazing (£5,000) Enter here by April 2, 2021: https://form.jotform.com/201832786373360?mc_cid=1abaa9ec18&mc_eid=7c89269276 EXPEDITION MARKETING

Exploring the rails. Are You a Rail Explorer? The ink-stained wretches at EN celebrate anything that promotes the concept of exploration, even amusement-type attractions. Last month we wrote about a ride that shares what it feels like to take a sudden “whipper” off a climbing wall. The Rail Explorer is an attraction that promises far less adrenaline, but lets you “explore” the rails. Get us that vaccine and we’re going to be all over this. A rail explorer is a pedal powered vehicle that rides on railroad tracks. They have four steel wheels, hydraulic disc brakes, pedals for each seat. Although the rail explorers require pedaling, steel wheels on steel rails makes the experience very different from riding a regular bicycle. There is no need to carefully watch the road ahead, there is no need to steer, and riding is hands free. We do assume, however, that you need to pick and choose your rails carefully. We don’t expect you’ll be able to ride on Amtrak rails to Boston. Pedal powered rail vehicles date back to at least the 1850’s, when maintenance workers used hand-cars and “rail bikes” to travel along the tracks. They were used to transport crew and materials for track inspection and repairs. The attraction is located in different regions of the U.S. Want to travel eight miles roundtrip in the New York State Catskills, the experience is $42.50 pp. Learn more and watch the videos here: https://www.railexplorers.net/ EXPEDITION INK

One of the winners of the 2020 NOBA competition 2020 National Outdoor Book Award Winners Announced The elusive and mysterious eel is a winner in this year’s National Outdoor Book Awards. The eel is the subject of the book which took top honors in the Natural History Literature category, one of ten highly competitive categories that make up the National Outdoor Book Awards. A total of 14 books were chosen as winners in this year's contest which is now in its 24th year. Sponsors of the program include the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education. The Book of the Eel by Patrick Svensson pieces together humankind's long quest for knowledge about the creature, a quest that, interestingly enough, starts with Aristotle. Parts are also played by Sigmund Freud and Rachel Carson, but the star of the show is Johannes Schmidt who spends much of his life searching the world's oceans to find where European and American eels are birthed. The winner of the History/Biography Category is The World Beneath Their Feet by Scott Ellsworth. Ellsworth covers mountaineering history from 1930 to 1953. “What separates this book from many other climbing histories is that Ellsworth approaches mountaineering from a cultural and political perspective,” said Ron Watters, chair of the National Outdoor Book Awards. “The British,” said Watters, “aware that the days of their great empire were numbered, sought to bolster national pride by attempting to climb the world's highest peaks. At the same time, the newly empowered Nazis looked to the Himalayas as a proving ground for Aryan superiority.” The judges also chose a second winner in the History/Biography category: Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy, focusing on the Greely polar expedition which was forced to make a desperate escape from the frozen north. “It is one of the most harrowing expeditions of polar history,” said Watters. “Author Buddy Levy tells this epic tale with finesse and intelligence.” Complete reviews of these and the other 2020 winners may be found at the National Outdoor Book Awards website at: www.noba-web.org WEB WATCH

Screen grab of Tulsa archaeologists and historian John Leader (top left), Phoebe Stubblefield, and Scott Ellsworth, speaking via Zoom on November 9, 2020. Uncovering the Tulsa Massacre: Searching for the Lost Victims of an American Tragedy Fascinating. That’s the best way to describe a two-hour-plus Zoom presentation that was part of The Explorers Club’s wildly successful Monday night lectures on Nov. 9, 2020. In 1921, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was torn apart in an unprecedented act of racial violence. Following a questionable “crime” by a young Black man, shots were exchanged by opposing groups, then white mobs attacked Black individuals, homes, and businesses, destroying the once prosperous community.

The opening scenes of HBO’s Watchmen depict the Tulsa Massacre, a catastrophic 1921 race riot in which machine guns, firebombs, and even airplanes were turned on the residents of the city’s black Greenwood district. Photo courtesy HBO. Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, an expert on discerning markers of identity and trauma on skeletal remains as well as a relative of a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor, detailed her work excavating mass graves where hidden victims may have been buried. Dr. Stubblefield appeared with historian Scott Ellsworth, who has written extensively about the Tulsa Race Massacre and explained why the massacre occurred, described the subsequent cover-up, and detailed current efforts to determine the facts. Archaeologist John Leader hosted the presentation. Watch it on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/TheExplorersClubNYC/videos/385663889544710 WEB WATCH

The late Carl Sagan was a memorable cab mate almost 30 years ago. The Pale Blue Dot is Where We Make Our Stand As the train wreck that is the year 2020 comes to a close, we seek solace in the famed commentary by noted American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and poet Carl Sagan (1934-1996) called Pale Blue Dot. In a video available on YouTube, the science communicator said, “the earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena … For the moment, the earth is where we make our stand.” Sagan continues, our planet is “the only home we’ve ever known …. There is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” Over 965,000 have viewed this short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO5FwsblpT8 In a side note, EN editor and publisher Jeff Blumenfeld remembers sharing a cab with Sagan in 1992. As he retells the encounter in Get Sponsored (Skyhorse, 2014): “My most memorable evening occurred while promoting the (Explorers) Club’s ‘Space Dinner’ in 1992. Afterward I shared a cab crosstown with the late astrophysicist Carl E. Sagan, Ph.D. “There I was, sitting next to one of the greatest minds of the late 1900s, and all I could think to ask was, ‘What’s up with that ‘billions and billions’ catchphrase?’ With a slightly amused look, Dr. Sagan told me he never said it; it was originally a Johnny Carson bit that over the years was accredited to Sagan himself.’”

Rainn Wilson is a self-professed climate idiot. It’s Rainning in the Arctic Comic actor Rainn Wilson from the hit TV show The Office, had no idea that a trip to Greenland would bring him to the brink of death, or so he says. He claims he narrowly escaped his demise. Hardly, we say. Watch him retell the story of risking death during a film shoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZrpsKjQ3NU Watch his series An Idiot's Guide to Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nIMQrpDgaQ&list=PLzvRx_johoA9fDngbRuMXM_Q7hYMXH_gw BUZZ WORDS

Duria Antiquior, a more ancient Dorset, was the first pictorial representation of a scene of prehistoric life based on evidence from fossil reconstructions, a genre now known as paleoart. The first version was a watercolor painted in 1830 by the English geologist Henry De la Beche based on fossils found in Lyme Regis, Dorset, mostly by the professional fossil collector Mary Anning. Regurgatilites Fossilized vomit, which falls within the category of bromalites – the fossilized remains of material sourced from the digestive system of organisms. While on the same subject, don’t forget Gastroliths (a swallowed stone to aid digestion), Cololites (fossilized intestinal contents), and Coprolites (fossilized excrement). Source: George Frandsen, Guinness World Records holder for the largest coprolite ever found (appraised at $15,000) and curator of the Poozeum (https://poozeum.com/). He likes to say that dino dung is “history left behind.” Watch his Nov. 10, 2020 presentation to the Rocky Mt. chapter of The Explorers Club here (starts at 16:00): https://www.facebook.com/groups/explorersrm/permalink/1273484923009077/ EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld ?– How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey. Read excerpts and “Look Inside” at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook @purpose_book

Get Sponsored! – Hundreds of explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book from Skyhorse Publishing called: "Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers." Author Jeff Blumenfeld, an adventure marketing specialist who has represented 3M, Coleman, Du Pont, Lands' End and Orvis, among others, shares techniques for securing sponsors for expeditions and adventures. Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2 Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com. EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2020 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.

EXPEDITION NOTES

Officials from Nepal's Survey Department measuring the height of Mount Everest. (Nepal Survey Department/Nepal Survey Department) World’s Tallest Peak is Even Higher After more than a decade of dispute and controversy, China and Nepal have finally agreed on how tall Mount Everest is. The world's highest peak, which sits at Nepal's border with Tibet in the Himalayas, stands at 8848.86 meters (about 29,032 feet), officials from both countries announced on December 8. This is less than a meter higher than the previously recognized height. The agreement marked the end to a long-running debate over the precise dimensions of the mountain, known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet. Over the years, the two countries – as well as other governments around the world – have offered up differing estimates of the mountain's height, according to CNN. Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mount-everest-height-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

The Unistellar eVscope at Meteor Crater Name the Asteroid Telescope maker Unistellar and SETI Institute have mobilized the world's largest citizen astronomer network to conduct valuable astronomical research on Near-Earth Asteroid 1999 AP10. Citizen astronomers observed 1999 AP10 in October and November of 2020 after being alerted by the SETI Institute team of researchers. The team used Unistellar eVscopes, a smart telescope that reveals the cosmos quickly and easily, to conduct the research. This worldwide effort led to a better understanding of this still-mysterious body. Even though 1999 AP10 is one of 20,000 known Near-Earth Asteroids, only 1,250 have a size estimate and, among these, only 68 have a shape estimate. Citizen astronomers across the planet are helping expand knowledge of this asteroid, so Unisteller and SETI are offering the world's astronomy lovers a chance to leave their mark on science. They are asking for suggested nicknames for the asteroid. To enter, submit your asteroid name with a short paragraph of justification. Finalists will be evaluated by a panel of judges. Deadline is Dec. 16. The top 10 names will be announced Dec. 21. One Winner shall receive one (1) 3D model of Asteroid NEA 1999 AP10, with an approximate retail value of $20. The winner shall also receive a lifetime of pride and bragging rights, which are priceless. NEA 1999 AP10 won’t be this close to the Earth again for another 11 years when Unistellar hopes to study it further but under a friendlier name. For more information: https://www.seti.org/citizen-astronomers-across-globe-partner-world-record-research-near-earth-asteroid FEATS

World’s Highest Bike Ride to Benefit The Starr Trust Charity The Guinness World Record for the highest bicycle ride is held by two Germans at 7211m (23,658 ft.) on Muztagata, China, in 2009. In fall 2021, a team of eight British adventurers, Nepalese Sherpas and a film crew will climb a currently undisclosed 7000m+ peak in Nepal. Members of the team will then cycle back down the mountain in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record. The expedition is being organized and led by the entrepreneur, explorer and Special Forces veteran Neil Laughton, who climbed Mt. Everest with Bear Grylls, has three cycling Guinness World Records and holds a number of altitude records.

The project will benefit The Starr Trust which supports individuals and community projects which enable young people, aged 10 to 18, to fulfill their potential in sport, art and education, by providing mentorship and financial assistance at a time when they need it most. During a November Zoom talk hosted by the Scientific Exploration Society, Laughton, 57, said, “Expeditioning is my drug. I love it. It forces you to focus on the here and now, not whether you fed the cat back home.” He also said that on expeditions he tries to be mentally prepared and think through the “what ifs” to get himself out of scrapes. The team of experienced mountaineers and record breaking cyclists are seeking expedition partners willing to financially assist this project in return for an opportunity to participate in the expedition by cycling and trekking with the team to Nepal and benefiting from other special events, talks, interviews, branding, PR and social media activity. Sponsorship ranges from £5,000 to £40,000 ($6,682 to $53,459). For more information: neil@neillaughton.com, +44 (0) 7973 289 552, www.neillaughton.com QUOTE OF THE MONTH “We all know that some level of risk is vital for success. We need to take risks to improve skills, go to new places, have fun, and, in the case of mountain rescue, help people in trouble and save lives. “In the outdoors we take risks to help us excel. We become skilled at an activity, physically fit, and mentally sharpened by taking risks. The more subtle but equally important benefit of risk is that we gain self-confidence and self-respect by taking positive risks. In short, taking risks builds character.” – Christopher Van Tilburg, MD, Search and Rescue: A Wilderness Doctor’s Life-and-Death Tales of Risk and Reward (Falcon Guides, 2017) MEDIA MATTERS

Selena Gomez Selena Gomez to Play Lesbian Mountaineer Selena Gomez will portray pioneering Peruvian mountaineer and social entrepreneur Silvia Vasquez-Lavado in a new film, based on Vasquez-Lavado's upcoming memoir In the Shadow of the Mountain. Vasquez-Lavado (born 1974) is a Peruvian-American explorer, mountaineer, social entrepreneur and technologist. According to Variety (Nov. 12), Vasquez-Lavado is the first gay woman to complete the Seven Summits. She is also the founder of Courageous Girls, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking, and has organized excursions for abuse survivors to the Mount Everest base camp. In the Shadow of the Mountain is expected to be published in 2022. Learn more here: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/selena-gomez-play-lesbian-mountaineer-silvia-vasquez-lavado-new-film-n1247454

U.S. explorers Robert Peary and Frederick Cook fight over the credit of discovering the North Pole in a 1909 illustration from the French newspaper Le Petit Journal Wade Davis on the Art of Exploring The true and original explorers, men and women who actually went where no humans had been, were those who walked out of Africa some 65,000 years ago, embarking on a journey that in 2,500 generations, roughly 40,000 years, carried the human spirit to every corner of the habitable world, writes Wade Davis in the Sept. 1, 2020, Financial Times. “Since then, terrestrial exploration has rarely been divorced from power and conquest.”

Wade Davis is professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia, former explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and winner of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He is the author of 23 books, the latest is Magdalena: River of Dreams (Bodley Head). He continues, “Searching for a passage to the Indies, the French explorer Jacques Cartier is said to have discovered the St. Lawrence River in 1534, though the valley was clearly settled at the time, and the waters offshore crowded with the Basque fleet, fishermen with no interest whatsoever in flaunting the location of their discoveries, a cod fishery that would feed Europe for three centuries.” The 20th century brought more of the same. Another example from Wade Davis: Hiram Bingham shot to international fame and a place in the U.S. Senate with his discovery of Machu Picchu, an Incan site well known at the time to local farmers, who told him where it was and how to get there. “Reaching the North Pole was less a journey of discovery than a quest for personal glory and fame. Men such as Frederick Cook and Robert Peary clung desperately to their claims, often demonstrably false, even as they branded their expeditions indelibly with themselves. “With endorsements, sponsorships, book deals and lecture tours in mind, Robert Peary did nothing to share the glory with his indispensable companion, Matthew Henson; the four Inuk men who accompanied them both to the pole remain little-known footnotes to the story,” Davis writes. Read the story here: https://www.ft.com/content/161dde1b-4c31-4001-9a74-48e7e42d66c5

Antarctica researcher David Knoff Isolate Like a Pro The New York Times turned to the pros – explorers – on how to successfully survive lockdowns, especially in late 2020 and early 2021 for what is expected to be a long, lonely winter due to Covid-19 restrictions. Times reporter Tim Herrera spoke with these people to get advice on coping with life in extended isolation – and how to deal with not quite being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. David Knoff, interviewed in the story, lives in Antarctica, perhaps the most remote place on the planet — and his most exciting evening lately involved penguins. Since November 2019, Knoff has led a team of 24 people at Davis Station, a permanent research outpost in Antarctica run by the Australian Antarctic Division. The yearly average high temperature there is around 19 degrees F., and during the darkest days of winter – typically from May to July – there are some weeks when there are zero hours of daylight. “The darkness had more of an impact on mood and energy than many of us expected, for a few months during the depths of winter the sun barely made it above the horizon (or not at all),” Knoff, 35, wrote in an email to the Times. To get through a bleak winter, Knoff said, it’s important to change with your surroundings and train yourself to learn to make the best of a tough situation. “It is surprising how well you adapt to your surroundings and conditions,” he said. “Not every day can be sunshine and penguins,” Knoff wrote in an email to the reporter. “You will have bad days/weeks/months, and the highs and lows will oscillate faster and higher as the months roll on, but stay focused on the positive and have a goal in sight.” He added: “Although not entirely accurate during an Antarctica winter, the sun will always come up tomorrow!” Read the story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/style/coronavirus-tips-for-quarantine-isolation.html

Borge Ousland with his daughter near their home in Oslo. Exploring Isolation“Isolation has been difficult for many people during the pandemic, but explorers face a special challenge. With international travel all but frozen they have had to suppress the urge to probe the world’s deepest caves and densest jungles or to brave polar bears or sharks and make do with ordinary life,” writes Paul Berger in the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 12) Borge Ousland skied and paddled for 87 days across almost 1,000 miles of ice and water at the North Pole before flying home to Oslo shortly before the new coronavirus pandemic interrupted life in Norway, according to Berger. Ousland spent the months that followed confined to the area around his suburban home in Fornebu exploring what he calls “the little world” around him, cycling, camping, kayaking and picking mushrooms with his 9-year-old daughter. During a live stream discussion with fellow adventurers in May called “Exploring Isolation,” the 58-year-old pointed out his newly circumscribed life has a bright side: “There is no polar bear going to eat me.” Bertrand Piccard, who circumnavigated the globe by balloon and by solar-powered plane, sat down to dinner in the third week of March with his wife, his three daughters and their three boyfriends and told them they had a choice: refuse to accept the crisis and suffer, or embrace it and develop new skills. The 62-year-old Mr. Piccard says that moment in their home on a vineyard outside Lausanne, Switzerland, was like the beginning of an expedition. “It’s a moment of rupture,” he says. “You leave behind what you know and you enter into the unknown.” Read the story here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/worlds-explorers-hemmed-in-by-pandemic-discover-ways-to-cope-with-lockdown-11605199630 WEB WATCH Dish Disaster The National Science Foundation released stunning video footage earlier this month capturing the exact dramatic moment the Arecibo Observatory's 900-ton platform fell into the 1,000-foot wide dish below. A drone happened to be performing an up-close investigation of the cables that still held the platform above the dish as the cables snapped. The video of the massive radio telescope shows both the drone footage and the view from a camera in the visitor center that shows the platform falling into the dish just above the jungle floor in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Two massive chunks of the cement towers that the cables were attached to can also be seen falling. Two of the cables had previously broken, one in August and another in November, destabilizing the telescope. It’s rather horrifying. https://www.cnet.com/news/see-unreal-drone-footage-of-arecibo-observatory-catastrophic-collapse-this-week/

The Enigma cipher machine found in the Baltic Sea was handed over to a German archaeological office by divers. XHJFUTRZ: German Enigma Cipher Machine Found After 75 years under the waves of the Baltic Sea, it looks kind of like a rusty lasagna, or a deep-fried typewriter. A rare Enigma cipher machine, used by the Nazis during World War II, has been retrieved from its watery home by German divers searching for discarded fishing nets. It's been donated to the Archaeological Museum Schloss Gottorf in Germany. The divers were working on behalf of the conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF (known as the World Wildlife Fund in the US and Canada) to retrieve abandoned fishing nets that posed dangers to marine life. Take two minutes and watch the c/net site’s video explaining how the enigma machine worked. Hint: it’s all in the cribs. Fascinating. https://www.cnet.com/news/divers-retrieve-enigma-code-machine-the-nazis-sank-in-baltic-sea-in-1945/ BUZZ WORDS Third Quarter Phenomenon When you’ve passed the halfway point of a project but not near the end, and you start to drag. It’s the decline in performance during the third quarter of missions in isolated, confined and extreme environments, regardless of actual mission duration. (Source: 2018 study published in The Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments). Moon Trees Next year is the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 14 mission. During that flight, the late Stuart A. Roosa, Command Module pilot, on his third crewed mission to the moon, carried a small canister holding 500 tree seeds aboard the Kitty Hawk orbiter. The seeds orbited the moon 34 times before being brought back to Earth for germination and became known as Moon Trees. Many were distributed across the country as part of the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976. For a list of Moon Trees see: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html Point of No Return (PNR) The point in the flight of an aircraft beyond which the remaining fuel will be insufficient for a return to the starting point with the result that the craft must proceed. (Source: Our thanks to UK explorer Neil Laughton for this reference. In a November Scientific Exploration Society presentation that included his quest for the Seven Summits he said, “You know you’re going to Antarctica at that point.” EN HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Locked down at home for 10 months, there are only so many times you can clean your sock drawer or watch The Crown on Netflix. But it won’t always be this way. And when the world opens up again, those on your holiday gift list will thank you for these, er, somewhat unusual gifts. After all, we’re guessing that for the people you know, a necktie just won’t do. Here’s our favorites this holiday season.

Can You Dig It? How did paleontologists get so smart? We’re guessing many of them started with Dig It Up Dinosaur Eggs. Each kit includes 12 individually-wrapped projects, each with its own chiseling tool and instructions. Scrape away at the egg to reveal the surprise dinosaur inside. It comes with a free excavation tool set so you don’t have to hide the family toothbrushes. (Mindware.com, $24.95)

Time for Adventure While we’re pretty sure a $50 Timex will tell time just as well, if your gift recipient is interested in celebrating the “Spirit of Mountain Exploration,” consider the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere inspired by the professional Minerva watches from the 1920s and 1930s, which were conceived for military use and exploration. This handy little timepiece is dedicated to the world’s Seven Summit mountaineering challenge, the holy grail of mountaineering adventures. It comes in a 42mm titanium case combined with blue and contrasting icy white design details (not just white, mind you, it’s “icy white”), finding inspiration in the colors of glaciers. It tells time in 24 time zones, which will be fun to visit once that vaccine kicks in. (Montblanc.com, $6,100)

Everest Explorers Jacket Protects Pooches When filling out your holiday gift list, lest us not forget the four-legged members of the team. The Everest Explorer Jacket from Canada Pooch is made of a rugged water-resistant shell to keep your expedition dog protected, with soft fleece lining and faux-down insulation for ultimate warmth. There’s also a faux-fur trim to keep a fleabag’s real fur warm and dry. (CanadaPooch.com, $44)

How’s Your Aim? In this social distancing era, bota bags, those wineskin sling pouches usually made of leather to carry martinis, cheap rotgut wine or some other alcoholic sustenance, are having a moment. In fact, no less a drinking authority than Ernest Hemingway explains in the 1926 novel The Sun Always Rises: “He was a young fellow and he held the wine bottle at full arms’ length and raised it high up, squeezing the leather bag with his hand so the stream of wine hissed into his mouth. He held the bag out there, the wine making a flat, hard trajectory into his mouth, and he kept on swallowing smoothly and regularly.” In this Covid-wary world, passing around hits of Jagermeister will give way to passing the bota bag like some Hemingway character, then simply taking aim. A perfect holiday gift for that explorer in your family who likes a tipple or two. (Campingsurvival.com, $9.95)

What a Doll! Don’t forget the youngsters on your holiday gift list ….. Mattel says polar marine biologists are curious explorers, learning about the animals, habitats and ecosystems in the chilly polar regions at the top and bottom of the Earth. Barbie doll is an adventurous spirit, always enthusiastic about exploring the world, and she's partnered with National Geographic to encourage imagination, expression and discovery through play. She wears a professional outfit with themed accessories that include a penguin. (barbie.mattel.com, $14.99)

Stuff Happens It’s a dangerous world out there and stuff happens on the road. Pepper spray has been used to deter four-legged animals like bears, but what about the two-legged kind? PepperBall, makers of non-lethal defense and a trusted supplier to the U.S. Army, over 5,000 law enforcement agencies, and consumers nationwide, offers its single-shot PepperBall launcher just in time for the holidays. PepperBall projectiles are made with a proprietary outer shell and food-grade irritant compound engineered to burst on impact into a temporarily incapacitating cloud with no permanent effects. While it doesn’t do much to foster that holiday spirit of peace on earth, it could prove handy in a pinch. (pepperball.com, $24.99)

Visit the Titanic This is the big one folks, only second to a trip to outer space. Why settle for soap on a rope when you can gift a trip to the legendary Titanic? If you want to explore the Titanic firsthand, planning ahead is key. You need to apply to be a Mission Specialist, OceanGate’s term for someone who is part of the submersible team. She wasn’t discovered until 1985, and now, 36 years later, the OceanGate Titanic Survey Expedition is making it possible for your gift recipient to see the Titanic with their own eyes. Starting in 2021, they can descend to the wreck site in a state-of-the-art submersible and explore the remains. It’s eight hours roundtrip and according to the site’s FAQ, there’s only a small portable toilet and privacy screen available. Guests need to reduce food and liquid consumption prior to, and during the dive to reduce the need to use the facilities as much as possible (ya think?). EN editor’s ancient bladder might not make it, so he’s out. But as the Western world’s first official Covid-19 vaccine recipient says, “Go for it.” (https://oceangateexpeditions.com/titanic, $125,000) DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS Red Wigglers Last month we misidentified the worms being grown by Ken Kamler for fun and profit. They were red wigglers, not earthworms. And Dr. Kamler hastens to add that it is his partner, Granis Stewart, not he, who runs the whole operation. In 2005, Stewart set the women's world record for the largest striped bass shot with a speargun while freediving (55.3 lbs.), so apparently she’s a woman of many talents.

Greenland Plane Discovery, Holiday Gift Guide

Antarctic "Crossing" Stirs Controversy; Queen Guitarist Composes Flyby Song

Search for Shackleton's Endurance was a Nice Try

World's Most Adventurous Women; Protecting Astronaut Poop

Explorers Club Dinner Sets Record; Aldrin's Socks Dazzle, Read Excerpt From "Travel With Purpose"

All Female Expedition to Study Plastic Pollution

The Everest Mess; Submersible Dive Sets World Record

SPECIAL EDITION: 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MOON LANDING

Bob Ballard Searches for Amelia, Seeking Young Explorers

Amelia's Plane Still Missing, Testing Mars Suit in Iceland, Transgender Woman Attempts Seven Summits

Our 25th Anniversary Issue!

12 Questions for Pluto Explorer; Wings Over Tanzania

Ten Questions for Underwater Explorer Barry Clifford

Researchers Find 2,600-Year-Old Brain; Explorers Club Explores Deal with Discovery

Titanic Struck by Submersible; NatGeo Examines O'Brady Antarctica Claims

COVID-19 Crisis Roils Exploration World

NO COVID-19 DEATHS IN NEPAL, BUT SHERPAS SUFFER ECONOMICALLY

TV Show Seeks Field Technician; Dog Sniffs Out Whale Poop

Cursing Like a Sailor; More Diversity Needed in Exploration

Collector is No. 1 in Dinosaur No. 2 Field

Record Year in 2021 Expected on Mt. Everest; Pilot Marks 30 Years Searching for Amelia Earhart

Women Explorers Face Sexism in the Arctic

Does Everest Come with a Money Back Guarantee? Explorers Club Discovery Grants Exceed $250K

Enough Already With Offensive Route Names; Flights to Everest Resume; What Color is Your Pee?

Socially Distance Yourself Like a Pro