October 2004 – Volume Eleven, Number Ten –

EXPEDITION NEWS, now in its 10th year, is the monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online and via snail 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 10th anniversary 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

HIGH TECH KON-TIKI INCLUDES HEYERDAHL GRANDSON

Nearly 60 years after Thor Heyerdahl sailed across the Pacific Ocean aboard the balsa raft Kon-Tiki, a team that includes his grandson hopes to repeat the feat next year – with a 21st-Century twist.

The new team, backed by Norway's Environment Ministry and endorsed by the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, said last month that they hope to follow the route of the epic voyage aboard a balsa raft named for Tangaroa, the Polynesian god of the ocean.

Although the Tangaroa will be primitive, expedition member Inge Meloey said it will showcase modern technology. The cabin roof will have solar panels to generate electricity, he said, and the raft will have satellite navigation and communications, and transmit Internet updates throughout the voyage, set to start April 2005.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

"Save the Glacier" – Restoring Adm. Byrd’s Icebreaker

During its prime, the USS Glacier, once the free world’s largest and most powerful icebreaker, was capable of penetrating ice 20 feet thick in places where no man had gone before. The "Mighty G," serving at the time with the U.S. Navy, made Antarctic history by becoming the first ship to penetrate the Bellinghausen Sea to make landfall on Thurston Island. The Glacier also rescued the beset Danish ship, Kista Dan, which was carrying veteran explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs in 1960. One Danish crewmember would later recall of the incident, "The situation was very critical, and our vessel was turned around by the drifting ice. Soon all the ice around was red from the paint of our vessel, and our hull was starting to give in."

The USS Glacier served as Adm. Richard E. Byrd’s flagship during Operation Deep Freeze (1955-56), and routinely broke through 20 miles of channel permitting cargo vessels to bring supplies to the American base at McMurdo Sound. In all it amassed over 32 years of expeditions to the North and South Poles.

Today, while it lies in mothballs at the Maritime Administration’s Defense Reserve Fleet Facility, hundreds of volunteers from across America have been gathering in Suisan Bay, Calif., in an ambitious program to restore the 310-ft. Glacier which was decommissioned in 1987.

The non-profit Glacier Society, based in Stratford, Conn., is restoring and preserving the ship as an operational oceanographic platform for marine and medical science, environmental education and the preservation of 250 years of polar history. It hopes to serve as a living museum for uniting polar interest around the globe.

EXPEDITION MARKETING

Lightweight Gear Guru Champions Alpine-Style Thru-Hiking

Demetri "Coup" Coupounas, a 38-year-old Boston native and co-founder and president of GoLite, a Colorado-based lightweight outdoor gear manufacturer, became the first known person to hike Vermont's 273-mi. Long Trail entirely un-resupplied when he reached the southern terminus of the Long Trail on Aug. 31. His total hike of 280 un-resupplied miles, including approach trails at either end, consumed a total elapsed time of 12 days, 19 hours, 53 minutes. When thru-hiked, the trail is normally completed in 20 to 30 days with several resupplies.

ON THE HORIZON

Stephanie Powers Among Lowell Thomas Honorees

Actress Stephanie Powers is one of the honorees at The Explorers Club 2004 Lowell Thomas Awards dinner, Oct. 22 in New York. The Lowell Thomas Award is presented by the president of the Club and Rolex Watch USA to groups of explorers who have distinguished themselves in a distinct way.

EN CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY

Where are they now?

Ten years ago this month, Expedition News started as a simple idea: create a forum for explorers to post their projects so that sponsors, the media, and other explorers could participate. At the time, e-mail was still in its relative infancy; most copies of EN were either mailed or sent by fax (remember fax machines?). Today, between the ExpeditionNews.com Web site, e-mail and snail mail subscriptions, and quarterly excerpts in the Explorers Club Explorers Journal, approximately 10,000 people each month read about projects that "stimulate, motivate and educate."

Once you’ve been on an expedition, the experience gets in your blood. It can be the most challenging days of your life, filled with hardship, sensory depravation, and periods of, well, rather poor personal hygiene. Yet it seems explorers start planning their next expeditions even before their current projects end. So we thought it would be enlightening to dig out our first October 1994 issue to see whether that spirit is still alive 10 years later. Here is a look at a few of our favorite Expedition News stories.