Here are excerpts from our May 2000 issue. For a complete copy of the next 12 issues, see subscription information below. - The Editors
May 2000 - Volume Seven, Number Five
is a monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online and by mail to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate.
A herd of wild African elephants in Zimbabwe are slowly starving to death and no one knows why. A condition called somewhat humorously Floppy Trunk Syndrome (FTS), is nonetheless deadly serious. FTS causes trunk paralysis, which in turn leads to starvation as an afflicted elephant can no longer lift food to its mouth. An expedition aimed at finding the cause of the disease will depart this August for Zimbabwe.
Where is it written that an expedition requires great physical hardships? Must all explorers face frostbite?
deep crevasses? avalanches? Apparently not. At least not for a renowned Connecticut author and artist documenting
the physical diversity of the world's trout along the 41 degrees north latitude. If this is an expedition, you
might ask, where can we all sign up?
The answer lies with James Prosek, 24, of Easton, Conn., a tall, lanky master of the flyrod and reel who the New
York Times calls the Audubon of fish. Prosek is on a mission to study trout along the line that extends from his
New England home and continues through Spain, Italy, the Balkans, China, North Korea, northern Japan, California,
Colorado, and back again.
- Exhausted, indebted and having lost eight toes, a Frenchman who tried to row across the south Pacific was
flown home Apr. 21. Jo Le Guen, 53, had to abandon his boat, the 30-ft. Keepitblue, on April 3, two months and
one-third of the way into his 5,600-mile row from New Zealand to Cape Horn.
- Antarctica's tallest peak, 16,066-ft. (4897 m) Vinson Massif, a must for anyone attempting a Seven Summits expedition, is expected to lure its 500th summiteer early in the 2000-01 summer season, according to the Antarctic Non-Government Activity News (ANAN).
- The cold world of polar exploration has become one of the hottest areas for collectors. Interest in exploration
has traditionally been confined to book lovers, but the auction houses have discovered a new type of memorabilia
- sleds, harnesses, flags, photographs, even biscuits left over from adventurers' rations. A small square biscuit
from Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole in 1907-09 was sold for 4,935 ($7,649) in London last
month.
- Antarctica has been crossed by dog sled, cross country ski, snow tractor, on foot, by plane, and with the
assistance of parasails. It's only a matter of time before we read about the first crossing by bicycle. Design
students at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh are testing a new bicycle called the Ice Prowler as one way to make
life better for those working on the continent.
National Geographic Ventures joined forces with Eddie Bauer in a multi-media, multi-million-dollar alliance
that includes the corporate sponsorship of a new giant screen film on Lewis and Clark.
New York Times columnist John Tierney's creation of the word "explornography" is so yesterday.
English is a dynamic, linguistic beast that struggles to define new experiences, and no less so than in the world
of expeditions. This month's edition includes:
- Climbs undertaken by people motivated by the publicity mountaineering has received and are consumed by reaching
the top and nothing else. (Source: RMI guide Joe Horiskey quoted in Sports Afield).
Climbers Reinhold Messner, Conrad Anker, and Stephen Venables, last month retraced Antarctic explorer Ernest
Shackleton's historic steps across glacier-clad South Georgia Island. Their expedition was filmed in IMAX for "The
Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Journey."
- These may be simple enough instructions when circumnavigating the Australian continent, but easier said than
done. Eric Stiller, a New York kayak instructor and fitness trainer, recounts a hair-raising 12,000-mi. attempted
circumnavigation of Australia in a two-man kayak in his book, "Keep Australia on Your Left" (A Forge
Hardcover).
Former Outside magazine marketer Kim Gattone, 38, of Santa Fe, N.M., is profiled in the Apr. 3 People magazine.
The story reveals that Gattone, a teacher, received $40,000 for an upcoming guided Everest climb from Joe Poletto,
a vice president of Microsoft Web TV's network media group.
- Babu Chiri Sherpa, the man who slept - or at least tried to sleep - atop Everest without supplemental O's, is one of the featured speakers at Mountainfilm 2000 in Telluride, Colo., May 26-29. Other speakers include Shackleton author Caroline Alexander; adventurer Arlene Chester Burns; pioneering mountaineer Peter Habeler; Everest 1996 survivor Beck Weathers; and Mallory discoverer Conrad Anker. (For more information: 970 728 4123; www.mountainfilm.org).
- Kilimanjaro hike. Mt. Kenya rock climb. Safaris. Low cost. Well organized. mazur@cybernet2.com, www.cybernet2.com/africa_explore; tel. 406 363 7747.EXPEDITION MARKETING
- This summer, join ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS/ DEEPSEA VOYAGES on our Northwest "SUBMARINE SAFARI" expeditions, using the revolutionary new DUAL DEEPWORKER SUBMERSIBLE. Dive 500 feet in the 2-passenger Dual Deepworker (and 3-passenger Aquarius sub) to see alien-like marine creatures, including the rare SIXGILL SHARK. The submersible's viewing spheres and multiple lights are ideal for photographers. Small groups led by experts; 5 and 6-day programs July-August, 2000. For reservations/information: ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS, 192 Nickerson St., #200, Seattle, WA 98109. Phone: 800-628-8747 or 206-285-4000; Fax: 206-285-5037; Web site: www.zeco.com; E-mail: zoe@zeco.com.
is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc., 28 Center Street, Darien, CT 06820 USA. Tel. 203 855 9400, fax 203 855 9433, blumassoc@aol.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. 2000 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr.; international postal rate US$46/yr. Highlights from EXPEDITION NEWS can be found at www.expeditionnews.com; credit cards accepted through www.mountainzone.com/news/expedition. Layout and design by Nextwave Design, Seattle.