October 2024 – Volume Thirty, Number Ten

Our 30th anniversary commemorative issue!

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.

30 YEARS, 360 EDITIONS, 1.18 MILLION WORDS

This month Expedition News celebrates its 30th anniversary covering the exploration and adventure community, with a focus on the more unusual and creative projects in the field. Projects, as we’ve explained from Day One, that “stimulate, motivate and educate.”

Three decades ago this month, Expedition News started as a simple idea: create a forum for explorers and adventurers to post their activities so that sponsors, the media, and potential team members could participate. At the time, email was still in its infancy; we used MCI Mail, faxes, even the U.S. Postal Service for distribution (back when the cost of a letter was only 29 cents, versus 73 cents today – sigh).

Currently, between ExpeditionNews.com, email, and quarterly excerpts in the Explorers Club Explorers Journal, approximately 10,000 people worldwide dote on every word.

It’s easy to understand why: once you’ve been on an expedition, the experience gets in your blood. It can be among the most challenging days of your life, filled with hardship, sensory deprivation, and periods of, well, rather poor personal hygiene, akin to Humphrey Bogart’s character in The African Queen (1951). Yet we’ve seen where many team members start planning their next expedition even before their current trek ends.

For 360 consecutive editions, we never missed a beat, through wars, pandemics, and a kidney transplant. An estimated 1.18 million words later (Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace is “only” 560,000 words – just saying), we pause to look back at our most memorable stories covered over the past 30 years.

These weren’t necessarily the largest, nor the most scientific, but they had an interesting story to tell. Ever since Homo sapiens gathered around the campfire, one thing explorers and adventurers know how to do is tell stories.

EN’s Most Memorable Stories, 1994-2024

Norman D. Vaughan (center) summits Mt. Vaughan in 1994. His wife Carolyn Muegge-Vaughan is on the left, guide Vernon Tejas is far right.

The cake commemorates his 88th birthday.

Think Big and Dare to Fail – Norman D. Vaughan led a storied life of adventure, capped by his summit of a mountain in Antarctica named for himself by expedition leader Richard E. Byrd in the early 1930s. In 1994, he was first to summit the 10,302-ft. peak, doing so at age 88, despite a fused ankle, hip replacement, and pacemaker. Vaughan passed in 2005 at 100 years and five days old, still dreaming about returning to his namesake peak once again. (www.normanvaughan.com)

Erik Weihenmayer appears on Time cover, June 18, 2001

No Barriers: First Ascent of Everest by a Blind Climber – On May 25, 2001, Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest – a feat that certainly takes an abundance of testicular fortitude. He would later go on to ascend Carstensz Pyramid on the island of Papua New Guinea, completing the Seven Summits, the highest point on every continent. 

Weihenmayer was honored with a Time magazine cover story, and authored multiple books, including his memoir, Touch the Top of the World (Penguin, 2002). He later would take the lessons he learned in the mountains to help others shatter barriers in their lives, founding a nonprofit movement called No Barriers. (www.nobarriersusa.org)

Soanya Ahmad, Reid Stowe, and their son,

Darshen, who was born on land, in 2010. (Photo: Gillian Laub)

Stowe Away: 1000 Days at Sea – Talk about self-depravation. In April 2007, Reid Stowe, an artist and mariner, went for a sail on a 70-ft. gaff-rigged schooner and didn’t come back for 1,152 days – a nonstop journey without resupply or stepping on land. One goal was to study how long-term isolation was relevant to future Mars missions.

Upon landing at Pier 81 in Manhattan in June 2010, he was met by family and friends, including his girlfriend Soanya Ahmad who left the voyage early due to the impeding birth of their son Darshen.

Today, Stowe, 72, runs Mars Ocean Analog, a training program that teaches aspiring Mars astronauts how to cope with isolation. (www.marsoceananalogs.org)

Barry Clifford hopes to return to Haiti for

further study of the Santa Maria wreck site.

Discovery of the Santa Maria – At a packed press conference at The Explorers Club headquarters in May 2014, American underwater archaeological explorer Barry Clifford announced finding the wreck of the Santa Maria, flagship of Christopher Columbus, lost near Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, on Christmas Day 1492.

Proof of its authenticity was a 15th-century cannon on the wreck site, which is directly offshore from the site of Columbus' fort, precisely as Columbus wrote in his diary. Clifford hopes to return for further study once the troubled Caribbean country calms down. (www.discoverpirates.com)

(Photo credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust / National Geographic)

Discovery of the Endurance ­– Arguably, the second-most historic exploration vessel in history was the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship lost in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica in November 1915. The wreck of Endurance was discovered in March 2022, nearly 107 years after she sank, by the search team Endurance22 some 3,008 meters/9,869 ft. below the surface in "a brilliant state of preservation.” The wreck is now designated as a protected historic site and monument under the Antarctic Treaty System. (www.endurance22.org)

George Frandsen and Barnum, the largest coprolite ever found.

It measures almost three feet long.

George Frandsen is No. 1 Among Dinosaur No. 2 Collectors –

George Frandsen, 45, has heard all the jokes from people amused about his full-time passion for collecting coprolites - fossilized dinosaur excrement. He holds of coprolites, the scientific name for fossilized excrement. 

He and his wife have been known to dig for rock-hard feces in Utah and recently opened a dinosaur poo museum called simply, “The Poozeum” (of course it is), showcasing his 8,000-piece collection in Williams, Arizona. It’s the world's largest such collection according to the Guinness World Record. 

"Find a dinosaur bone, it doesn't tell you much,” he’s told EN. “Find a (dinosaur) turd with inclusions, it'll tell us what it ate, how it chewed, it can tell us about digestion, and the shape of their intestines.”

Learn about his new Poozeum at:

www.poozeum.com

Fransden is yet another unforgettable example of passionate, dedicated explorers profiled within these pages over the past three decades.   

EXPEDITION UPDATE

VSS Unity after release from the mothership.

Release! Release! Release! Want a Travel Upgrade? Book Outer Space

Last November, EN filed an exclusive report about a visit to Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico. At the time, we reported that a ticket on the Virgin Galactic VSS Unity flight to just below the Karmen Line (62 miles/100 km) was an astronomical $450,000 per seat.

You had your chance. According to an October Town & Country magazine story by Klara Glowczewska, the cost for the 70 min. flight is now $600,000 … and there’s a waiting list.

Now that Virgin Galactic has proven that it can take people safely to space and back, it faces a supply-and-demand problem. As Mike Moses, a former director of NASA’s space shuttle program and Virgin Galactic’s spaceline president, says, “There are currently more than 700 people in our pipeline, across 60 countries,” meaning people who have purchased tickets and are waiting to be assigned a flight date.

Virgin Galactic is devoting all its resources to developing new Delta class ships; there will be two initially, four eventually. Test flights and bookings for future flights will begin in 2025, commercial flights in 2026. Unity can take only four passengers at a time, plus two pilots. Delta will carry six passengers.

The mood after a landing is celebratory. Virgin Galactic’s CEO, Michael Colglazier, was on hand last June: “Most people only get to read about history. It’s super-rare to be part of an exclusive group that is actually making history.”

Read the story here:

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a62020177/virgin-galactic-private-civilian-space-travel-club/

EXPEDITION NOTES

“Expedition News es una lectura muy inteligente”

The EN staff is somewhat late to the Duolingo party, but for the past 92 consecutive days (more on that later), we’ve been brushing up on our sixth grade Spanish in anticipation of future travel.

For explorers or adventurers, Duolingo won’t necessarily make you fluent, but is a good head start on key phrases for when you arrive in remote Türkiye and need to find the taxi stand (“Affedersiniz, taksi duragini nerede bulabilirim?”)

Spanish is by far the most popular language on the app with 48.5 million learners, followed by French, Japanese and German. There’s Zulu, Welsh, Navajo and even, lord help us, Klingon (424,000 learners) – about three dozen in all.

The secret sauce that makes this the world’s most popular app for learning another language are its so-called “streaks,” a count of consecutive days of lessons. Then there are the constant notifications which, like texts from your mother, can bug the hell out of you.

The app’s goofy cartoon owl named Duo reminds users they could lose their streaks, enforcing the need for daily practice. The company says that more than 70% of the product’s more than 30 million daily active users have weeklong streaks. Five million people have streaks of a year. The record is 4,100 days, according to Ben Cohen’s story in the Wall Street Journal (June 14).

“Just ask James Clark. He managed to extend his 471-day streak this year from a Mount Everest Base Camp trek,” writes Cohen. 

“He was so exhausted every night of his trip that he could barely think straight, much less speak Spanish. ‘I didn’t really want to do Duolingo,’” Clark tells the WSJ.

“’But what I really didn’t want to do was lose my streak.’ So the video editor from Britain bought a Wi-Fi card to call his girlfriend and keep his streak.”

The app is free; an enhanced paid version is also available.

Para más información:

www.duolingo.com

Artist conception of New Nuuk Airport opening Nov. 28, 2024.

(Photo courtesy Greenland Airports)

Greenland Opens New Airport to Attract Explorers, Visitors

Iceland, which has a population of around 383,000 – expects to receive 2.3 million visitors in 2024, nearly 2.4 million in 2025 and as many as 2.5 million in 2026, according to CNBC.

Now its neighbor to the west wants in on the action. Greenland’s new international airport, opening November 28, will transform the Arctic tourism landscape, says its boosters, making the country more accessible than ever before. The opening of Nuuk International Airport will offer direct international flights to the capital for the first time in the country’s history.

Then by 2026, additional airports in Ilulissat and Qaqortoq will further enhance Greenland’s accessibility, allowing travelers and explorers to visit even more of the country, according to a statement by the tourism group Visit Greenland. 

EN remembers when we flew there in the 1990s from JFK; we first had to fly past the country, transfer in Denmark, then fly back.

Learn more:

https://visitgreenland.com/articles/new-flight-schedule-makes-greenland-more-accessible/

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Loneliness is the penalty of leadership, but the man who has to make the decisions is assisted greatly if he feels that there is no uncertainty in the minds of those who follow him, and that his orders will be carried out confidently and in expectation of success.”

Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), author, South: The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton and the Endurance (Lyons Press, 1998)

MEDIA MATTERS

Snorkeling in Palau, where nearly 80% the country's ocean territory is

protected from extractive activity like fishing.

Sylvia Earle Identifies "Hope Spots"

For world-renowned marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle, ocean exploration and conservation go hand in hand, says Hannah Towey writing for CNTraveler.com (July 18).

“… limiting our travels to the coastline excludes 70% of the world that’s covered in saltwater – and according to world-renowned oceanographer and marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle, traveling deeper is a vital part to understanding the planet we call home.”

Earle, 88, says, “Travel is education … I have lived through the greatest era of exploration, ever. But the cool thing is we're right on the cusp of an even greater time of getting to know who we are, where we've come from, and where we could be going – if we really take this moment in time and apply this extraordinary knowledge that we've acquired to safeguard the future."

Towey writes, “At the foundation of Earle’s vast conservation efforts is a grassroots network of marine habitats scientifically recognized as critical to the health of the ocean. Known as ‘Hope Spots,’ these places are researched and protected by local conservationists called ‘Champions.’

“Through its partnership with Rolex, Earle’s Mission Blue has been able to designate 163 Hope Spots covering nearly 36 million square miles of ocean. They include the Florida Keys, the Maldives’ Laamu Atoll, the Indonesian archipelago Raja Ampat, Palau, Panama’s Bocas del Toro archipelago, and Northeast Iceland.

Learn more:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/sylvia-earle-mission-blue-hope-spots

Polaris Dawn mission specialist Sarah Gillis during spacwalk. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Polaris Dawn is a Throwback to the Golden Age of Scientific Research

SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission last month successfully completed the first spacewalk in history by privately trained astronauts ­– and the mission could also mark a landmark in scientific research, according to Marta Biino of Semafor (Sept. 13).  

The four-person crew flew in an elliptic orbit that took them 1,400 km (870 mi.) away from Earth, the farthest anyone has been since NASA's Apollo program. Among experiments were tests of commercial devices to examine how exposure to space conditions affects astronauts’ bodies like the impact of microgravity in causing bone loss and kidney stones.

These tests could have a significant impact on future missions in space, and even on medical research back on Earth, according to Biino.

The Polaris Dawn efforts mirror those of the 19th century, when British Royal Navy vessels were modified into floating laboratories. HMS Challenger, which discovered the ocean’s deepest point, is considered “the beginning of modern oceanography,” a scientific historian told JSTOR.org. Similar to Polaris Dawn and other spacecraft, Challenger marked a change from the ship as an instrument, simply mapping new regions, to the “ship as laboratory.”

More private astronauts than government astronauts have flown to space since 2021, the Wall Street Journal noted last year.

Read the story:

https://www.semafor.com/article/09/13/2024/polaris-dawn-is-a-throwback-to-the-golden-age-of-scientific-research

EXPEDITION FUNDING

(Photo by Keith Fearnow, courtesy of Outdoor Retailer)

Sharpen Those Pitches; Outdoor Retailer is Down to One Show 

Twice a year for decades, in Reno, Salt Lake, Denver, and now back to Salt Lake, the Outdoor Retailer Winter and Summer Markets were pitch-a-thons for explorers and adventurers seeking funding. Last month, show producer Emerald Expositions said it would abandon its Winter show focusing instead on one summer show in June.

In an interview with The Daily – the show’s newsletter that broke the announcement – show director Sean Smith said OR will now combine into one, big, “more comprehensive show and enhanced experience” on June 18-20, 2025.

(See the announcement here: https://thedaily.outdoorretailer.com/news/show-news/outdoor-retailer-to-move-to-one-june-show-per-year/)

This summer, Outdoor Retailer also parted ways with partner Outdoor Industry Association, ending a 30-year partnership, according to Shannon Sollitt writing in the Salt Lake Tribune (Sept. 19). 

“The news that Outdoor Retailer is stepping away from the winter show to focus on summer marks the closing of a sad outdoor industry chapter,’ writes Lowa Boots General Manager Peter Sachs on LinkedIn last month. 

For those seeking sponsorships it’s best to secure appointments in advance – never just drop by, especially on the busy Day One of the show. Seek networking opportunities, learn more about the products and how they can benefit your project, and be open to serendipitous meetings in the halls, the restaurants and bars nearby.

Prepare a one-minute pitch and show it on an iPad you carry around. Also create a business card, and a printed leave-behind with full contact information, including a web site URL with more details. Focus on how sponsor support will help them create awareness and increase sales.

Wait two weeks and be sure to follow-up, once, twice, three times until you get a response, either way. Some joke it’s easier to climb Everest than chase down sponsors. When it comes down to it, no one owes you a fun trip.

ON THE HORIZON

RGS Explore Festival, Oct. 28 - Nov. 4, 2024, London

Looking for more advice on planning your next expedition? High tail it to the Big Smoke for lectures and events celebrating expeditions and field work. The festival culminates in an annual planning weekend (Nov. 1-3) called the Explore Symposium. Exhibitors and society staff will provide personalized advice and guidance. Non-member admission: £125. (www.rgs.org/explore)

Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award Dinner, Nov. 2, 2024, Austin

This annual award program is named for broadcast journalist and explorer Lowell Thomas and is given to outstanding explorers to recognize excellence in fields of exploration. It has previously been awarded to the likes of Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Kathy Sullivan, Sir Edmund Hillary, Kris Tompkins, E.O. Wilson.

2024 Honorees:

Dr. Carole Baldwin is a pioneer and accomplished scientist in the field of marine biology, underwater exploration, and ichthyology.

Dr. Ellen K. Pikitch has made groundbreaking contributions to marine science and ocean conservation. 

Dr. Sammy Ramsey, American entomologist and conservationist, whose enduring interest in entomology started more than 25 years ago.  

Andrés Ruzo, a geothermal scientist, conservationist, educator, and communicator, whose aim is to connect people with nature.

Tickets start at $400; Explorers Club membership is not required to attend.

For more information:

https://www.explorers.org/calendar-of-events/ltad-2024/

Dr. Gaëlle Roth

Explorers Club Hosts Sea Stories, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.,

November 9, 2024, New York Headquarters

On Saturday, November 9, 2024, the Explorers Club will host its annual Sea Stories, a day focused on ocean exploration, scuba diving and marine life at its headquarters in Manhattan, 46 East 70th Street. Speakers include:

Julien Fortin and Sam Meacham – “Exploring the Aquifer of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in the Digital Age.”

Dr. Gaëlle Roth – “Has the Bermuda Triangle Cast a Spell on its Sea Turtles?”

Jon Dodd – “Rhode Island’s Great White Sharks and What About the Seals?”

Brian Greene and Dr. Richard Pyle - “EXCORE: Harnessing Technology to Document Undersea Biodiversity.” 

Tickets are $95. For more information: 

https://www.explorers.org/calendar-of-events/sea-stories-2024/

Get Sponsored! – Need money for your next project? Read about proven techniques that will help you find both cash and in-kind sponsors. If the trip is bigger than you, and is designed to help others, well, that’s half the game right there. Read Jeff Blumenfeld’s "Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers." (Skyhorse Publishing).

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News – For more information:

blumassoc@aol.com

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. ©2024 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by email only. Credit card payments are accepted through www.paypal.com to blumassoc@aol.com