EXPEDITION NEWS is a 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, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on the outdoors covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate.
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SMALL RUSSIAN-AMERICAN TEAM
ATTEMPTS NANGA PARBAT
Carlos Buhler, 42, an accomplished climber from Idaho, is organizing a trek to Pakistan's Nanga Parbat - ninth largest in the world at 26,660 feet (8,125 m). The 1997 Russian-American Nanga Parbat Expedition, co-led by Ivan Dusharin, 49, of Togliatti, Russia, leaves June 11 for a 60-day project that hopes to place the first American and the first Russian on the peak.
ROWING THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Experienced rower Charles Parks, 27, of Seattle, will shortly begin rowing 1,100 miles south through the Inside Passage from Skagway to Seattle. His fast and stable 17-ft. Whitehall rowboat is a replica of the classically-designed crafts used in the early 1900's to ferry passengers out to ships moored in harbors.
A YEAR WITHOUT TIME
Former TV news anchorman Bill Allen, 79, and his 52-year-old wife, Catherine, are about to depart on a paddling expedition from the head waters of the Missouri River in Three Forks, Mont., to St. Louis, then down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. During the year-long project, they will hand write their journal on pocket-sized Palm Pilot personal digital assistants (PDA's), then upload their observations to the Web at www.fcinet.com/riverlog.
The husband and wife team will be joined by Catherine's daughter, Jennifer Whiting, 30, and friend Donna Tatro, 36.
They Don't Make Reed Boats Like They Used To
The Mata Rangi, a primitive reed boat that had hoped to sail around the world, broke apart in a storm on May 25 (See EN, May 1997). The crew of 10 Polynesians, two Bolivian Indians, and Spanish skipper Kitin Munoz were all saved, thanks in part, to modern navigation equipment that transmitted a distress call and their precise location to maritime authorities.
Polar Expeditions Complete Treks
A solo Japanese explorer, Hyoichi Kohno, 39, arrived at the North Pole on May 2 with frostbite on his cheeks and slight eye damage due to UV radiation.
Another Japanese, solo explorer Mitsuro Ohba, 44, left Russia earlier this year on skis en route for the North Pole, and then Ward Hunt Island on the northern tip of Canada. He missed the Pole by six miles in mid-May when strong currents and broken pack ice swept him off course. At presstime, Ohba was using a small rubber inflatable boat less than 270 miles north of Ward Hunt.
The four-man Dutch team arrived at the North Pole the morning of May 20, using their small boats as often as three times a day. Their pick-up plane had trouble finding solid ice to land amidst the open leads of water. McVitie's Penguin Polar Relay's fifth and final relay team - Penguin Echo - reached the North Pole on May 26.
Triumph on Everest
* A Big Day in May
There were many winners in the Everest weather lottery. Nepal's Tourism Ministry said 22 mountaineers scaled Everest on May 23, the most to make it to the peak on any single day since 40 climbers reached the summit on May 10, 1993.
The May 23 crowd included Guy Cotter, Dave Carter, Ed Viesturs, Veikka Gustafsson, and Tashi Tenzing, the grandson of the late Tenzing Norgay who summited with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.
To make sure they could get back safely, some climbers left base Camp IV, at 26,400 feet, before midnight on May 22 and climbed all night, according to Freddy Blume, a scientist at Everest's base camp. This helped avoid some of the bottlenecks that delayed climbers and may have contributed to the deaths of those caught in a storm on the evening of May 10 last year.
Kili Climbing Tips
If you're daunted by ropes and crampons, but are healthy and fit, Mount Kilimanjaro may the ideal mountain, according to a story in the June 2 issue of Business Week titled, "Getting to the Roof of Africa."
1999 North Pole Tandem Skydiving Expedition
Leaves New York's JFK on April 12, 1999 bound for Moscow, then onto Khatanga, North Circle, Russia for staging to the Northern Geographical Pole. The trip is non-strenuous and no previous skydiving experience is necessary. Contact: Bob Christ, Forum Expeditions, Inc., 115B East Biddle Street, West Chester, PA 19380, tel. (610) 431-3237; fax (610) 431-3895; E-mail forum@chesco.com; Web site http://www.chesco.com/~forum/np.html
The Campers Pantry Free Catalog (USA)
AlpineAire, Chamy, Backpackers Pantry, Harvest Foods, Mountain House, Natural High, Richmoor, Traveling Light, Sqwincher, Milkman Milk, Pack liners, No Rinse Products, Campsuds, Grizzly Gear, Mud Coffee, Boyd Cider & Nog, Pouchmate. (612) 463-3765 phone/fax, Cpantry@aol.com, http://www.alcasoft.com/campers_pantry
Zegrahm Expeditions
Offers small group travel to unusual destinations in the company of the world's leading experts. Destinations include: Antarctica, South Georgia and The Falklands; Antarctica The Far Side, including Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands, and Heard Island; Seychelles, Madagascar, Comoros and Zanzibar; Australia's Kimberley; the first-ever circumnavigation of Baffin Island; Aleutian Islands, Kuril Islands, and Kamchatka Peninsula; snorkel and diving expeditions to Palau and Yap; and many more. Look for an announcement in summer 1997 regarding our TOURS TO SPACE. Address: 1414 Dexter Avenue N #327, Seattle WA 98109; Phone: (800) 628-8747; Fax: (206) 285-5037; E-mail: zoe@zeco.com; Web site: www.zeco.com. To be put on an interest list for our Tours to Space, call 1 (888) SPACE66.
EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc., 28 Center Street, Darien, CT 06820 USA. Tel. 203-656-3300, fax 203-655-7710. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Copyright © 1999 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscription rate: US $36/year. E-mail: editor@expeditionnews.com or CompuServe 76226,773. Highlights from EXPEDITION NEWS can be found on the World Wide Web at ExpeditionNews.com.