EXPEDITION NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Here are Highlights from the September 1999 issue of Expedition News. For a complete version of this and every issue for the next year, send $36 to the address below.September 1999 - Volume Six, Number Nine
Report From the Islands of Four Mountains -
After two grueling weeks traveling from the Lower 48, the
four members on the Island of Four Mountains Expedition reached the Aleutian
chain, the tiny group of five volcanic islands that sit where the Bering Sea and
the Pacific Ocean meet, 1,000 miles southwest of Anchorage (See EN, May 1999).
Reflecting upon the start of the 100-mi. kayak expedition last June,
expedition organizer Jon Bowermaster writes, "We spent many hours hiking and
climbing the five islands. What surprised us most was the incredible beauty and
mysteriousness of the islands. We'd come prepared for cold, fog, rain and wind
and we had plenty of that. But on many days we also had blue skies and billowing
white clouds. The mysteriousness came from our vision of what it must have been
like for the Aleuts to live and work here hundreds and thousands of years
before, plying these waters in their handmade baidarkas, or kayaks. Certainly,
we were the first since then to paddle these islands in kayaks, though ours -
made from fiberglass and Kevlar - were obviously more sturdy."
EXPEDITION NOTES
- How strong are those portable climbing walls that tool around
on trailers? Consider this: when a deadly F2 tornado decimated two temporary
exhibition pavilions at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake, 20
percent of the show's 860 manufacturers were left without exhibit space. Gear
and apparel were strewn over an entire city block, buried under shredded roofing
material and support beams twisted by winds estimated at 113 to 157 mph. Yet
still standing after the devastation was a 24-ft. Entre Prises Road Rock Extreme
climbing wall. The $23,250 structure was lifted at least an inch by the tornado
-- enough for bits of building material to be trapped beneath its wheels.
- Expedition leaders Arlene Blum and Supy Bullard
compared their experiences leading expeditions above 8000 meters during an
Outdoor Retailer trade show presentation last month. Blum, who in 1978 led the
first American all-women ascent of Annapurna I (26,545-ft. / 8091 m), commented,
"I think it's important for young women to grow up knowing that there are no
boundaries." Bullard, 31, who returned two months ago from a successful climb of
Cho-Oyu with five other women (See EN, May 1998), admitted that reading about
Blum's expedition several years ago gave her "permission" to pursue her dream of
climbing a Himalayan peak.
EXPEDITION MARKETING
Swiss Army Equipped Awards
- From the rain forests of Brazil to the mountains of the Himalaya, Swiss Army and Victorinox have been equipping expeditions for more than 100 years. But for those who meet challenges closer to home -- in schools, in local communities, and the workplace -- the company has launched a year-long national award program to recognize what it considers "the country's most equipped people."
- Veteran mountaineer Ed Viesturs, 40, just two peaks shy of his goal of being the first American to climb the world's fourteen 8000 meter peaks, has added JanSport to his team of corporate sponsors.
MEDIA MATTERS
Travel Channel Documents American Woman's Ascent -
On August 19, Christine Boskoff became the first North American woman to
successfully climb four of the world's highest peaks when she summited
Gasherbrum II (26,361-ft.
/ 8035m) in the Karakoram mountain range of
Pakistan. She had already scaled three of the world's highest peaks: Broad Peak
(26,401-ft. / 8047m), Cho Oyu (26,906-ft. / 8201m) and Lhotse (27,940-ft. /
8516m). The achievement by Boskoff, 31, president and owner of the Seattle-based
guiding company Mountain Madness, Inc., was documented by a television crew for
a film scheduled to air on the Travel Channel next year in more than 32.3
million homes.
The Riddle of Everest
- Vanity Fair examines the Mallory mystery in an extensive 16-page September feature. "The Riddle of Everest," by Bryan Burrough, reveals Newsweek paid only $5,000 (not $40,000 as previously reported) for the controversial photo of Mallory lying face-down in the snow.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
- When calamities occur on the high seas or Everest, readers can't wait for the grisly details. And publishers are happy to oblige, reads the Aug. 9 Newsweek story by Malcolm Jones titled, "Disaster Chronicles." Jones writes, "From the slopes of Everest to the troughs of 60-foot waves, journalists and adventurers have been busily grinding out accounts of frostbite and shipwreck, and readers can't get enough. Most of what's coming out now leans heavily on the disaster part of the adventure-disaster equation."
The trend in non-fiction adventure books continues this fall
with publication of "The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest" (Simon
& Schuster). Professional mountaineer Conrad Anker of Telluride, Colo., and
noted author David Roberts of Cambridge, Mass., join forces to explain why they
think Mallory and Irvine failed to make the summit.
- Join TOP EXPLORERS as ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS travels to Earth's remote and compelling places.
September finds us among MELANESIAN ISLANDS of Vanuatu & Fiji with oceanographer JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU.
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.
For reservations and more information:
ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS
1414 Dexter Avenue N. #327 Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: 800-628-8747 or 206-285-4000
Fax: 206-285-5037
Web: http://www.zeco.com
E-mail: zoe@zeco.com
EXPEDITION NEWS. is published by:
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Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld
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