EDITOR’S NOTE: Here are highlights of our August issue. If you’d like to receive the complete version of Expedition News each and every month, please see subscription information below. Free samples are available. Just send us a long, self-addressed stamped envelope with 34 cents U.S. postage; international readers can request a free sample issue by e-mail. – Jeff Blumenfeld
EXPEDITION NEWS 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.
They call it the “Mount Everest of Scuba Diving.” Descending to the Italian
luxury liner Andrea Doria, 235 feet deep and 85 miles southeast of the island
of Nantucket, is generally considered one of the toughest feats in diving,
the ultimate goal of the sport’s elite.
For Cecelia Connelly of Allentown,
Pa., the wreck never really got out of her system. One of the 100 members of
the newly-created Women Divers Hall of Fame, she became the oldest woman to
dive the wreck when she descended in 1984 at the age of 54.
The record still
stands, but the retired mother of 11 isn’t taking any chances. The YMCA’s
oldest woman diving instructor, she hopes to return within one year to
further cement her place in the history books by diving the wreck at the age
of 71, despite two knee replacements and a bad shoulder.
The American-Canadian Mount Everest Expedition begins its ten-week journey to the summit of the world's highest mountain in early August. What makes this $200,000 expedition unique is expedition organizer Ed Hommer, a double amputee from Duluth, Minn. Hommer, a pilot for American Airlines, would be the first double amputee to summit Everest.
EXPEDITION UPDATE
Two More to Go - Seattle climber Ed Viesturs, 42, summited 26,400-ft. Shishapangma in Tibet on May 1, making him just two peaks shy of summitting the world's 14 highest peaks over 8000m, a feat no American has yet achieved.
EXPEDITION NOTES
Washburns Honored - When scientist Bradford Washburn stood atop North
America’s tallest peak 50 years ago, he forged a path for thousands of future
climbers and helped turn the tiny Alaska hamlet of Talkeenta into a
mountaineering mecca. Washburn, who conducted the first detailed mapping of
Mount McKinley, led the party that made the first ascent up the mountain's
West Buttress route.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the ascent, Washburn, 91, and his wife
Barbara -- who became the first woman to scale McKinley during an expedition
with her husband in 1947 – were feted last month in Talkeetna, and Denali
National Park.
So That’s How They Do It – A recent exhibit at the National Museum of
Copenhagen reveals the secret behind National Geographic magazine’s arduous
photo selection process. According to an exhibition celebrating the first
Danish edition of the world famous monthly, regardless of the assignment,
National Geographic photographers return home with 600-800 rolls of film
containing 20,000-30,000 transparencies. Photographers then anticipate the
competition for space by self-editing their images down to a single tray of
80 slides which is then submitted for final selection.
Many photographers claim that they shoot for this tray. They aim to put
together a tray of slides so perfect that the picture editor at the magazine
will find it almost impossible to cull the 80 pictures down to the 30 that
will normally be selected for publication.
Cool Cats – The Chicago Sun-Times covered the formation of the Chicago
chapter of The Explorers Club in its July 22 edition. According to a story by
Jim Ritter, a Michigan chapter was founded in 1975 and renamed the Great
Lakes chapter in 1983. But the chapter became dormant and was dissolved in
1999. Now, a new generation of explorers is resurrecting the chapter.
“I joined because it is a cool group of cats to be with from time to time,”
said Paul Sereno, a University of Chicago paleontologist who hunts dinosaur
fossils in the 120-degree heat of the Sahara desert. Sereno said the club
“has a big role to play in educating people regarding exploration - the drive
to know, to learn, to be challenged by the unexpected - rather than to be
happy with the routine of a mass culture as the endpoint on the human
trajectory.''
Honoring Sir Edmund – The Explorers Club’s Lowell Thomas Award
Dinner this year will honor the field of mountaineering, bestowing the
prestigious Lowell Award on Sir Edmund Hillary, Brad Washburn, and Ed
Viesturs.
At the age of 82, Sir Edmund’s travel is somewhat curtailed and
many Club members see this as a rare opportunity to meet him personally. The
black tie dinner is Oct. 29 at the Essex House in New York.
The awards are
named in honor of Lowell Thomas (1892 -1981), the famed war correspondent and
radio and TV newscaster who was an active member of the Explorers Club for
over 50 years. The Club’s headquarters building at 46 East 70th Street in New
York is also named in his honor. (For more information:
events@explorers.org, www.explorers.org).
Africa and Himalaya with Daniel Mazur
Kanchenjunga, Ama Dablam, plus trekking peaks. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kenya Rock Climb. Low Prices. All Abilities. E-mail: africa_inc@cybernet1.com, himalaya_inc@cybernet1.com Web: www.himalayaclimb.com, www.kilitrek.com, www.kenyaclimb.com, www.nojintangla.com tel: 406-363-7747
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. ©2001 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.