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Norwegians Rune Gjeldnes and Torry Larsen held a press conference in Boston on June 20 to describe the Sector G2 Greenland Unsupported Expedition, reportedly the longest unsupported skiing expedition ever -- a 86-day crossing of Greenland.
EVEREST AFTERMATH
It's been two months since the tragic loss of 11 lives on Mount Everest. Memorial services have been held, Scott Fischer's business partner vows to continue, and magazines and TV news programs are planning in-depth coverage of exactly what happened in the Everest death zone.
* Fischer's Mountain Madness Carries On
Despite Scott's death, co-owner and general manager Karen Dickinson, along with all Mountain Madness personnel, vow to continue offering high altitude guiding services, a business that Scott started in 1984 after informally guiding for the previous five years.
* In-depth Coverage Planned
In its August cover story, LIFE magazine will reveal new information about the climbers, and run exclusive photography from Scott Fischer's own camera, including images from his last roll of film. The article is by writer Claudia Dowling who reached 21,500 feet on Everest while researching a story for LIFE in 1991.
IMG EXPEDITION 8000 SUMMITS CHO OYU
An American team has successfully ascended Cho Oyu, the world's sixth highest mountain. The American team members, led by Eric Simonson of Ashford, Wash., summited in two groups from the Tibet side on May 13 and 14.
Jean Ellis, a 49-year-old emergency room physician, is the first African-American to summit one of the world's fourteen 8,000 meter peaks.
"Going on an expedition to the North Pole, then taking a plane out is like climbing Mount Everest and getting helicoptered off the top."
So says Canadian explorer Richard Weber, 37, in describing the first roundtrip, unsupported North Pole expedition of modern times.
We may never know what went terribly wrong for Peter Bird, 49, a lone British rower attempting for the fourth time to cross the Pacific Ocean from Russia to the U.S. Bird is presumed dead after his 29-ft. custom-built craft was discovered abandoned 1,100 miles off the east coast of Japan by a passing vessel.
Bermuda Plans Underwater Institute
Spring 1997 will mark the opening of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, a 40,000-sq. ft. marine institute on Bermuda's Hamilton Harbor that will focus on historic and scientific exploration and discovery in the waters off Bermuda.
Polartec Performance Challenge Accepting Applications
Expedition projects from around the world are being solicited for Malden Mills' annual sponsorship program, the Polartec Performance Challenge.
American Alpine Club Awards Grants
The American Alpine Club has awarded its Spring 1996 Mountaineering Fellowship Fund Grants to American expeditions to Baffin Island's Polar Sun Spire and Peru's Torre de Paron.