EXPEDITION NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Here are highlights from our latest issue. For a complete copy of this and every issue, see subscription information below.
December 1999 - Volume Six, Number Twelve
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, explorers, environmentalists,
and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate.
Peter Bray, 42, a self-employed teacher from South Wales, plans to kayak for three months from St. John's
Newfoundland to the coast of Ireland. Bray's solo North Atlantic Kayak Challenge 2000 will involve crossing supertanker-infested
waters this June in a 24-ft. carbon-fiber Kevlar kayak.
In February, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 56, will attempt to become the first person to reach the North Pole
solo and unsupported from the Canadian side. His Exel Logistics Northpole Expedition will travel 700 miles (1,130
km) from Canada's Ellesmere Island to the Pole. Fiennes, a former SAS soldier who made the first unsupported crossing
of the Antarctic Continent in 1993, said he expected his trek to take up to 80 days.
Adventure Charities Inc., a non-profit fund raising organization based in Marietta, Ga., will organize
several mountaineering expeditions in 2000 to benefit charities dealing with breathing-related illnesses. The first
major event, The Climb For Clean Air 2000, benefits the American Lung Association and is an expedition to climb
North America's highest peak, 20,320-ft. Mount McKinley in Alaska.
- With large, looping numbers written on a flip chart, cartographer and climbing legend Brad Washburn announced
to the world the results of a scientific expedition last spring to Mt. Everest. New measurements revealed the mountain
is seven feet taller than originally thought, bringing its new height to 29,035-ft. / 8850 m.
By William Michael
Special correspondent
Rob Thompson, a 41-year-old osteopath from Sarasota, Fla., is an adventurous soul, make no mistake about it. He's
taken the opportunity to practice medicine in remote areas, including an island off the coast of Alaska.
But nothing prepared him for the call he received a number of weeks ago from Antarctic Support Associates, the
Englewood, Colo., firm that provides personnel for the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station, operated by
the National Science Foundation. Subscribe to Expedition News to read how Thompson is coping at the bottom of the
world.
More than 40 expedition leaders converged on the world
headquarters of The Explorers Club (EC) recently for an intense two-day
Symposium on the future of funding field exploration and the latest
strategies and tactics for securing long-term financial support and media
exposure.
"Into the Field II: Strategies for Funding Field Exploration" was
organized by explorer and EC Director Peter Hess, Esq., perhaps best known for his work on maritime law and historic
shipwrecks and diving the U.S.S. Monitor. The Symposium drew participants from the U.S. and Canada representing
a broad range of scientific endeavors including shark research, Egyptology, civil war shipwrecks, Mars exploration,
and mountaineering.
"Into the Field II" was an outgrowth of the 1996 Symposium organized by
the Philadelphia Chapter of The Explorers Club and held at Drexel University.
Limited copies of the 1996 published "Proceedings" may be purchased for $50
directly from the Chapter by contacting Peter Hess at hessians@aol.com.
- Blind climber Erik Weihenmayer, 31, of Denver reveals in a Parade magazine cover story that he was led up
Aconcagua last February with sleigh bells connected to his climbing partner's ice axe. When the wind grew so fierce
that he couldn't hear the bells, his partner began whistling. A former middle school teacher, he is now devoted
to climbing, supporting himself through public speaking, according to the Oct. 31 story. Focused now on reaching
the Seven Summits, he has just four peaks to go, including an attempt on Everest planned for 2001.
- Space.com has debuted www.SpaceKids.com, the kids' channel to what is fast becoming the definitive space site
on the Web.
Struggling to decide what to get your favorite explorer for the Holidays? Does it seem like everyone from the corner
grocer to the neighborhood dog wash is begging you to shop their Web site? Well, we're here to help. Here's our
top picks for adventure gifts of the season:
- Hard to believe, but there are some naysayers out there who treat the Goddess Mother of the World somewhat
irreverently. You've read Krakauer, now comes "Everest: The Ultimate Hump" by cartoonist Tami Knight.
There are 240 Everest books on Amazon.com and the most politically incorrect of them all is this scathing, hilarious,
sometimes rude satire of mountaineering's crowning obsessive-compulsive disorder. The book heralds the first pogostick
ascent of the mountain; there's a climber planning to ascend in a hamster suit so everyone will be nice to animals;
and another lunatic is on a quest to climb all the summits on earth whose name starts with the letter "E."
There's even an ad for the Everest Hair Restoration Clinic for those who are "Into Thin Hair." It's the
Big E like you've never seen it. $10.36. (Menasha Ridge Press, 800 247 9437).
- Everest is a movie, a book, a gum, and now - tah dah - it's a game. For those who just can't get enough, get
them this Trivial Pursuit-like board game that comes in a pouch. Can Sherpa women have more than one husband? You'd
know if you played Everest (they can). $34.99. (www.adventuroustraveler.com)
- Join ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS and the world's TOP EXPLORERS as we travel to the most remote and remarkable places on earth. Underwater archeologist JAMES DELGADO leads submersible expeditions to the wreck of the legendary Titanic. Explorers FRED McLAREN and DON WALSH dive deep under the Arctic ice in high-tech subs to a 19th-century shipwreck. In July, oceanographer SYLVIA EARLE and nature photographer ART WOLFE delve deep underwater to observe six gill sharks. And in November 2000, best-selling author CAROLINE ALEXANDER tells the story of explorer par excellence, Sir Ernest Shackleton, during our Circumnavigation of South Georgia.
For reservations/information: ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS, 1414 Dexter Avenue N. #327, Seattle, WA 98109. Phone:
800 628 8747, 206 285 4000; Fax: 206 285 5037; Web site: www.zeco.com; E-mail:
zoe@zeco.com
- Membership is now available to join Global Research and Discovery's Year 2000 Archaeological Expeditions to these two, until now, closed countries. Join us as we return on our second expedition to Mongolia, working with the leading scientists from the University of Ulan Bataar ...or make history along with us as we undertake a first of its kind archaeological exploration within the People's Republic of China, working actively and in cooperation with professors from the University of Peking. Expeditions are scheduled for late Spring / early Summer 2000.
For more information contact Global Research and Discovery Network, 24 Orchard St., Ridgefield Park,
New Jersey 07660; 201 641 7212; henkellang@aol.com .
EXPEDITION NEWS. is published by:
BLUMENFELD & ASSOCIATES, INC.
28 Center Street, Darien, CT 06820
USA
Tel: 203 855 9400
Fax: 203 855 9433
E-mail: editor@expeditionnews.com
Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld
Copyright © 1999 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977.
Subscriptions: US$36 /yr.; international postal rate US$46/yr. Highlights from EXPEDITION NEWS can be found at www.expeditionnews.com; credit cards accepted through www.mountainzone.com/news/expedition.