EXPEDITION NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Here's a sample of the June 1999 issue of Expedition News. To subscribe to the complete version each month - either by postal or e-mail - see the subscription information below.June 1999 - Volume Six, Number Six - Highlights
In a small town two hours' drive from Austin, Tex., a French swimmer trains 2-3 times a week at the Kerrville Family Center Sports Club. With every lap he takes in the American heartland, he becomes increasingly determined to achieve a goal more daunting than summitting Mount Everest. In fact, over 1,000 people have summited Everest, but not once in the history of mankind, has a swimmer crossed the Pacific Ocean. For Benoit "Ben" Lecomte, 31, swimming the Pacific represents the logical next step for someone who has already swum the Atlantic.
Raising $1 million by summer 2001 - and finding a crew of three to man a 50-ft. support vessel for four months straight - would seem an almost impossible task had the Paris-born swimmer not already achieved the impossible last summer when he swam 3,400 miles in 72 days across the North Atlantic from Cape Cod, Mass. to Brittany, France.
Climbers are virtually loving the mountains to death. Human waste presents the most serious problem in the mountains, according to John Young, 29, adjunct instructor in the Department of Biology of Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. Young, with the help of Brent Bishop and others, will travel to the Yukon Territory July 27-Aug. 3 to conduct a feasibility study at the Cirque of the Unclimbables, a cluster of granite peaks located in the southwest corner of the Canadian Northwest Territories, in the heart of the Mackenzie Mountains. This area includes classic climbing destinations like the Proboscis, Lotus Flower Tower, and Mt. Harrison Smith.
This month we examine the criticism over the sale of a photo of George Leigh Mallory's corpse by the Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition.
The Seattle-based 10-member team was riding high until the climbing world learned the team sold their particularly gruesome photo of Mallory's body to news media.
In response to the criticism, Simonson told a room full of journalists at a press conference in Kathmandu on May 25 that proceeds from the sale of images will go to Himalayan charities to be determined later. "We're climbers, not treasure hunters," he said. "It is not, and never was, our intention to enrich ourselves from this expedition."
Says Robert Sullivan, assistant managing editor of Life magazine, "Let's face it, when you're looking for Mallory's body and you find it, you have to take a photograph. It's a record of the goal. This is 1999 - once a picture like that exists, it's going to be shown.
"You can't keep an historical photo like this under wraps," he told EN. "They probably could have made more money by approaching a less reputable publication than Newsweek."
In December, adventurer WILL STEGER is aboard in ANTARCTICA exploring the Peninsula, South Georgia & the Falklands.
Oceanographer SYLVIA EARLE leads first-ever submarine expeditions observing SIXGILL SHARKS in July, 2000.
Best-selling author CAROLINE ALEXANDER tells the story of Shackleton during a CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF SOUTH GEORGIA, November, 2000.
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EXPEDITION NEWS. is published by:
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Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld
Copyright © 1999 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Highlights from Expedition News are located at http://expeditionnews.com.
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