September 2004 – Volume Eleven, Number Nine –

EXPEDITION NEWS is the 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.

The following are highlights of our September issue, but this is only part of the story. Click here to subscribe to the full edition. or e-mail us for a free sample copy at editor@ExpeditionNews.com

Arctic Coring Expedition Seeks Record of Earth Climate

Scientists believe a 50-million-year record of the Earth's climate lies in an underwater mountain chain in the ice-clogged waters near the North Pole.

An international team is drilling deep into the Arctic Ocean ridge for the first time, in a technically complex effort to extract sediment that will provide a climatic history, and may help explain how humans are changing the planet.

"Think of it as a book," said Kate Moran, an associate professor in the ocean engineering department at the University of Rhode Island and a co-chair of the Arctic Coring Expedition. "We're turning back the pages of time."

Scientists have wanted to make this trip for decades, but have never had the combination of icebreaking ships and advanced drilling equipment used by the oil industry to pull it off.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS SEARCH FOR SLAVE SHIP IN CARIBBEAN

Archaeologists are leading an expedition in hopes of finding a Spanish ship that wrecked along the jagged reefs off the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1841 carrying a cargo of African slaves.

The story of the Trouvadore is unusual because all 193 slaves made it to shore, and all but one survived to see their freedom granted by a British government that had just outlawed slavery. Most settled in the arid, low-lying islands and began new lives working its salt ponds and raising families.

The shipwreck holds particular significance for the British territory of 25,000 people because researchers believe virtually all native islanders have ties by blood or marriage to the survivors.

EXPEDITION NOTES

North Face Climbers Say: "Eye Care" – The North Face athletes Pete Athans, Abby Watkins, Kevin Thaw, and Jimmy Chin will travel to Nepal in November to climb as many unnamed peaks as they can to benefit the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) through The North Face partnership with Global Giving (every 1000 feet climbed, TNF will donate $100 dollars to the HCP). The Himalayan Cataract Project is dedicated to establishing a sustainable eye care infrastructure in the Himalaya that empowers local doctors to provide high-quality ophthalmic care through skills-transfer and education. The high Tibetan plateau has one of the highest rates of cataract blindness in the world. (For more information: www.CureBlindness.org).

First All-Women Team Reaches Denali Via Cassin Ridge – Mountain Hardwear athletes Sue Nott and Karen McNeill, have once again pushed themselves beyond ‘normal’ physical and psychological limits while pursuing their passion in the outdoors. On June 2, they became the first all-women team to reach the summit of Denali after climbing the Cassin Ridge, a 9,000 ft. route which is the only direct line to the summit.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"How can we protect nature if we don’t understand it? When it comes to the ocean, we know practically nothing. In fact, we know more about the backside of the moon and the seas on Mars. … Unfortunately we’re still using the oceans as a garbage can, a universal sewer operating under the theory of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’" – Explorer-environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau, who says he’s recently found debris dumped 20-30 years ago on some of the most remote islands in the world. He spoke Aug. 2 on behalf of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, on the island located off the Massachusetts coast. He’s the son of the late ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

RGS Artifacts Move to New Home

There's Charles Darwin's sextant, Edmund Hillary's oxygen canister and Dr. Livingstone's hat. They are among artifacts, available to the public for the first time, from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, the 174-year-old British institution that sent explorers to the South Pole, up Mount Everest and in search of the source of the Nile – and amassed one of the world's largest geographical archives.

The London-based society has opened an airy extension to its Victorian headquarters housing some two million records – maps, charts, books and photographs. Society director Rita Gardner said that the six-year, $13 million project had moved the documents from "Dickensian conditions" in the building's basement to climate-controlled rooms in the new wing.

EXPEDITION MARKETING

Arctic Team to Carry New Emergency Beacon – One reason companies sponsor expeditions with cash and gear donations is to demonstrate product performance in dire conditions. Next year the first summer crossing of the Arctic Ocean – a planned 1,240-mi. journey – by 43-year-old Lonnie Dupre of Minnesota, will serve as a proving ground for the new TerraFix 406 GPS Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) from ACR Electronics, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The TerraFix 406 is a satellite-detectable beacon that broadcasts critical GPS coordinates. It can increase emergency response speed by pinpointing positions within 100 m.

"Lonnie is a perfect example of a PLB user," said ACR’s Paul Hardin, executive vice president. "He spends years preparing for an epic adventure to assure his success and survival. Though he never plans to use a PLB, it is an essential part of his contingency plan.

"Should he ever need Search and Rescue (SAR) assistance, the use of a PLB minimizes the cost of rescue and risk to SAR personnel as the technology takes the "search" out of Search and Rescue," Hardin says. (For more information: www.OneWorldExpedition.com, www.ACRelectronics.com).

ON THE HORIZON

Time in a Bottle – In a forlorn location by a busy highway in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, N.Y., lie buried 50 feet underground two missile-shaped time capsules from the 1939-40 and 1964-65 World’s Fairs. Jammed with memorabilia, the two capsules were intended to survive 5,000 years of rot and oxidation and then be opened by God-Knows-Who-or-What in the Year of Our Lord 6939.

A bit more realistic time frame is planned for the Explorers Club time capsule which will be filled with artifacts and memorabilia that represent the past 100 years of exploration. For $150, those who contribute will have their name on a roll enclosed in the sealed capsule. The closing ceremony is planned for Dec. 17 during the Club’s Centennial Ball in New York. (For more information: www.Explorers.org).

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Not that Climbing Magazine, the Other One – Our headline last month was a bit misleading. Outward Bound USA has partnered with Urban Climber magazine, not Climbing magazine.

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

Expedition Public Relations – Alex Foley & Associates specializes in international public relations for explorers, expeditions and adventure challenges creating maximum value for title sponsors.

Alexandra Foley is a dual British-American citizen, Honorary Secretary of the British Chapter of the Explorers Club and a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society. Her firm has executed PR programmes for numerous expeditions including the Titanic 1996 Expedition, The Ice Challenger Bering Strait Expedition, Will Cross’s Novolog Ultimate Trek to Cure Diabetes, David Hempleman Adams’s Chase de Vere, Bank of Ireland and Uniq Atlantic Balloon Challenges, and his solo and unsupported trek to the Geomagnetic North Pole, and Rosie Stancer’s Snickers South Pole Solo Challenge.

Alex Foley & Associates Ltd.
London, UK
alexfoley@btinternet.com
www.AlexFoleyPR.com
Tel: (+44) 207-352-3144
Mobile: (+44) 797-671-3478.