January 2021 – Volume Twenty-Seven, Number One
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.
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Robert DeLaurentis (Photo: Costco Connection) |
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Citizen of the World Returns Home
In January 2020, EN covered news of an aircraft titled Citizen of the World embarking on a mission of global peace. “Peace Pilot” Robert DeLaurentis, who has twice flown solo around the Earth, recently completed his record-setting nine-month, 22-country, pole-to-pole global peace mission, One Planet, One People, One Plane: Oneness for Humanity, according to Costco Connection magazine (January 2021).
The Costco member tells the magazine, "Flying above the Earth at 35,000 feet, where there are no boundaries, allows us to see our common humanity. Every interaction proves there are more similarities than differences among us. These connections are opportunities to shape a more peaceful and innovative future for people and our planet."
This was a great PR “hit” for project sponsors Avidyne, Gleim, Lightspeed and others visible in the publicity. The buying club publication, America’s fourth most popular magazine, has an impressive circulation of 14.3 million. That’s a lot of toilet paper, paper towels, and 24-bar packs of Irish Spring.
Read the article:
Learn more about the project and watch the sizzle reel here:
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View of climbing tents made from waterproof acrylic material. Climbers make their way to the summit wearing plastic-based waterproof outdoor gear. |
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“Forever Chemicals” in Outdoor Gear are Polluting Everest
“Forever chemicals” used in water-repellant outdoor gear have been found in snow from the top of Mount Everest.
These human-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – which have been linked to birth defects, high cholesterol and increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer – could eventually pose a risk for trekkers, climbers and residents who drink the meltwater, according to Kimberly Miner, a research assistant professor at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute.
The PFAS pollution identified on Everest shows that humans are shedding these chemicals wherever they go. Companies that make outdoor gear have indicated they have, or soon will be, phasing out use of these chemicals.
The chemicals were found in snow and meltwater collected from the Khumbu Glacier at Base Camp, Camp I, Camp II, and the Everest Balcony during the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition.
This marks the first time that Everest snow and meltwater has been analyzed for PFAS, Miner says. She says risks inherent to climbing Everest are likely to increase in coming years with growing glacier melt, precipitation changes, geologic shifts, and chemical pollution.
“The impacts the climbing and tourism industry have in the region should be characterized and understood to protect the residents in the watershed below,” she says.
Read the story here:
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Markus Raschke is looking to collaborate with other explorers and researchers in China. |
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Conducting Field Work in Western Sichuan? Team Up with University of Colorado Physics Professor
Markus Raschke, a professor in the Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry, and JILA at the University of Colorado Boulder, is performing field work in geology and natural history in Western Sichuan now through March 2021, and is seeking partners.
His team will be based out of Chengdu with trips into the mountains south from Minya Konga to the Minshan in the north.
During multiday backpacking and horse packing trips into remote areas, at elevations up to 18,000 feet, he will take advantage of dry weather outside the monsoon season. Raschke is looking to team up and share resources with others who may already be working in the same area. Contact: markus.raschke@colorado.edu, 720 315 9705
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Sir George Everest. How’s that again? |
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Eave-Rest? How’d They Get That Wrong?
Not sure how this happened, but we’ve been pronouncing the world’s highest mountain all wrong. Everest takes its name from Sir George Everest, the geographer largely responsible for the success of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which he led from 1829. According to Wade Davis' astounding, fact-filled book, Into the Silence (Vintage Books, 2011), his family name was pronounced Eave-Rest. “It is ironic that his legacy was to have a mountain named in his honor yet mispronounced for all time," Davis writes.
“Though the discovery of the mountain’s height was published in 1858, it was not until 1865, a year before his death, that the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted the name.”
Speaking of mountain names, here in Colorado there’s a campaign underway to rename one of the state’s Fourteener’s (58 peaks over 14,000 feet) known as Mt. Evans (14,271-ft.), because it currently honors John Evans, Colorado’s second territorial governor – and the man who created the climate that made the San Creek Massacre possible, one of the darkest days in state history.
It may go back to Mount Rosalie, the name that was given the peak back in 1863.
Learn more about that effort here:
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“A venturesome minority will always be eager to set off on their own, and no obstacles should be placed in their path; let them take risks, for godsake, let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned, eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches - that is the right and privilege of any free American.”
– Edward Abbey (1927-1989) – American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies.
EXPEDITION FOCUS
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Don’t Kill the Lawyers – We Need Them for Space Exploration
If exploration of the Titanic has been mired in lawsuits for decades, imagine what’s going to happen when space exploration returns to the Moon and reaches for Mars? Apparently, NASA is setting important precedents, according to an Explorers Club Zoom talk on Jan. 4, 2021, titled, Explorers and the Law.
One presenter was David G. Concannon of Concannon & Charles, Sun Valley, Idaho, an attorney who specializes in exploration law. Concannon has nearly 40 years of experience in the field and 30 years of trial experience in courtrooms around the U.S. He led the expeditions to find and recover the Apollo F-1 engines that launched men to the moon, and he was General Counsel to the X-Prize Foundation when the first private space flights took place in 2004.
According to Concannon, in May 2020, NASA announced that the U.S. and a handful of countries had advanced cooperation of exploration of the Moon with the first signings of the “Artemis Accords.”
The Artemis Accords reinforced and implemented the 1967 “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” otherwise known as the “Outer Space Treaty.”
The “Outer Space Treaty” deals primarily with the return of astronauts and space vehicles, not necessarily with exploration of the Moon, and it does not address the legal needs of today’s space explorers. However, the Artemis Accords provide a legal framework to resolve a host of modern and thorny legal issues, such as transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, preserving heritage, safe disposal of orbital debris, and deconfliction of activities. Numerous countries are signatories of the agreement, including Canada, the U.S. and U.K.
However, various countries and organizations have not signed the accords, including China, the European Space Agency, France, Germany, India, Russia, calling them too “U.S.-centric.” Nonetheless, according to Concannon, the Artemis Program has successfully created a legal regime for exploration of the Moon by private entities, the for-profit businesses most likely to actually conduct exploration of the Moon and beyond.
In 2020, NASA announced that three U.S. companies will develop the human landers that will as part of the Artemis Program: Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics. Boeing is already part of the Artemis Program due to its development of the super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS).
“As a condition of participating in the Artemis Program and receiving federal funding, each of these companies had to contractually agree to adhere to the Artemis Accords,” Concannon said.
“Even if the Artemis Program never flies, the contractual commitments will live on, and that means NASA just imposed a legal regime for exploration of the Moon even if the U.S. Government never sends another astronaut to the Moon,” Concannon said putting in a sincere plug for lawyers.
“Who but attorneys will get the private entities who are most likely to go to the Moon to agree to a set of legal standards for exploration of a place where the U.S. has no jurisdiction?
“Who do you think just secured full employment for themselves as explorers venture into the next decade and beyond? That’s right, lawyers.”
Watch a recording of the Zoom presentation here:
Learn more about Concannon’s Explorer Consulting services at:
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An eleven-foot wooden sled used on explorer Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition sits on a table at Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre, London. |
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Shackleton Expedition Artifacts to Be Donated to U.K. Museums
A sled and flag used in one of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s famed expeditions to the South Pole have been bought by a British government-funded body to keep the treasured artifacts in the U.K. The National Heritage Memorial Fund said last month it paid 204,000 pounds ($274,000) to help purchase the items, which will be donated to two English museums – the sled to London’s Thames-side National Maritime Museum, and the flag to Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute.
The artifacts were used in the first of three British Antarctic expeditions led by Shackleton in the early 1900s.
Despite ultimately ending in failure, the expedition is considered the greatest advance to the pole in history, and set the stage for Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen’s successful trek just two years later.
The 11-foot wooden sled was one of four used to haul supplies and equipment across the Antarctic tundra. The flag, which features a red unicorn head and golden anchor, appears in many grainy photographs from the journey.
Shackleton never reached the South Pole and died of a heart attack in 1922 off South Georgia, a British overseas territory, during a fourth Antarctic expedition.
The sled and flag were owned by Eric Marshall, a surgeon and polar explorer who accompanied Shackleton on expedition ship Nimrod’s “sledge march” to the South Pole.
Marshall brought the items back to Britain and in the 1950s donated them to his former school.
Read the original Associated Press story:
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The price for this Jane Goodall-inspired Lemar Large Nod Chair starts at $114. |
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Goodall Goods
Dr. Jane Goodall is on a mission to excite children about nature through home décor, evidenced by her new collaboration with the Crate and Barrel brand Crate and Kids, according to a story by Rachel Wolfe in the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 7-8, 2020).
“If we don’t understand nature then we won’t want to protect it, so it’s very, very important that children get to learn about the natural world and animals as soon as possible,” she said.
The Jane Goodall Institute and Crate and Kids line of children’s furniture and accessories includes: a playhouse modeled after Dr. Goodall’s 1960 base camp in Gombe, Tanzania; a lemur-adorned chair designed to familiarize kids with the endangered species; and a snake-shaped pillow based on a close encounter she had with a reptile. “Hopefully the collaboration will educate parents as well as encourage children to learn about the outdoors,” Dr. Goodall said.
Crate and Kids burnishes its “greenness” with this collection, thanks to Dr. Goodall’s naturalist cred. A cast of Dr. Goodall’s favorite animals are featured within the designs: chimpanzee, cheetah, giraffe, lion, zebra, ring-tailed lemur, tropical birds and undersea creatures.
According to the story, Dr. Goodall weighed in forcefully when negotiating Crate and Kids’s side of the bargain. The company agreed to make an undisclosed donation to the Goodall Institute, and to integrate a “Pledge to make a difference” option into its website, which links to the website of Roots & Shoots, the youth activism arm of the Jane Goodall Institute.
Learn more:
See the line here:
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On the Right Foot
Italian boot manufacturer Garmont announced last month a partnership with the non-profit Shoes for Sherpas, an organization dedicated to providing footwear to Nepali porters and villagers. The Italian shoe manufacturer will create a co-branded outdoor boot with the Shoes for Sherpas logo (above). The organization will then receive royalties for each boot sold.
The Shoes for Sherpas program, a project of the Colorado Nepal Alliance, provides “used but still usable” footwear to Nepali porters and villagers. To date, it has collected, inspected, transported, and fit over 3,000 pairs of shoes to Nepal.
Learn more:
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“I Climb to Seek Awe”
On April 25, 2015, geologist and climber Jim Davison and his team were climbing Mt. Everest when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake released avalanches all around them, destroying their only escape route and trapping them at nearly 20,000 feet. The quake was the largest in Nepal in 81 years, and it killed nearly 8,900 people. That day also became the deadliest in the history of Everest, with 18 people losing their lives on the mountain.
The Next Everest – Surviving the Mountain’s Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again (St. Martin’s Press, April 2021) shares a harrowing tale about deadly earthquakes and avalanches on Mount Everest – and a return to reach the summit.
In it, he explains why explorers seek high and remote places:
“In Himalayan teahouses and noisy mountain taverns, I’ve had deep conversations with fellow climbers about what drives us. We often speak reverently about peacefulness, spirituality, and connection with the earth. Long alpine days bring satisfying exhaustion to my body and quietness to my mind. Mountaineering is a form of moving meditation.”
Elsewhere Davidson writes, “Climbing not only allows me to nurture those meaningful aspects of life, but it also lets me experience personal growth while traveling through some of the most magnificent wild places on the planet. The high mountains exemplify immensity, intensity, and inspiration. In essence, I climb to seek awe.”
WEB WATCH
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Even frozen waterfalls are safer than this. |
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Go Climb an Iceberg: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Any Arctic explorer knows icebergs command proper respect. What happens when you try to climb one? This footage taken last year near Svalbard shows how things can go impossibly wrong in an instant. Probably not the best idea. “It’s safer to see ice cubes in your gin and tonic,” admits explorer Mike Horn in this viral video viewed over 4 million times.
BUZZ WORDS
Gorpcore
Named for the trail-mix acronym that’s short for “good ol’ raisins and peanuts,” Gorpcore represents the convergence of outdoorsy gear and more quotidian men’s fashion. Think of the technical parkas and backpacks you’d wear while nibbling on nuts and dried fruit during a hike up a mountain. Now transfer that same gear to city streets.
Urban men and women are wearing technical outdoor gear from brands like Patagonia, And Wander and the North Face. They look like they could summit Everest – but they’re probably just running to Starbucks. Luckily for readers of EN, we all possess a closet full of now trendy outdoor gear. (Source: Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2, 2021)
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
The Sun Also Rises
It was a senior moment last month when we misnamed the popular 1926 Hemingway book about American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls. While the sun, indeed, always rises, Hemingway preferred to use the term “also” in his title.
Little known fact: The Sun Also Rises was banned in Boston, in 1930, in Ireland in 1953, and in Riverside, California, in 1960 because of its use of profanity, and its central focus on sex, promiscuity and the overall decadence of its characters.
ON THE HORIZON
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Mark Jenkins (photo: UWYO.edu) |
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Journalist Mark Jenkins Presents The Future of Water in Wyoming: Global Warming, Drought and How Wyoming Can Protect Its Water, Casper College Humanities Festival, Feb. 19, 2021
The 36th annual Casper College Humanities Festival and Demorest Lecture will be held February 17-19, 2021 and will focus on the theme “Celebration / Milestones.” Invited presenters in various disciplines from social sciences, such as anthropology and history, to the fine arts, such as music performance, will explore the theme and encourage a dialogue with attendees.
One keynoter is explorer, critically acclaimed author and international journalist Mark Jenkins, the Resident Scholar for Wyoming Humanities. A critically acclaimed author and internationally recognized journalist, he has written about climbing Mt. Everest in Nepal. The Hard Way columnist for Outside magazine during the first decade of this century, for the past dozen years Jenkins has been a contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine.
Festival sessions are free and open to the public.
To register:
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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.
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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.
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. ©2021 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.
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