|
May 2026 – Volume Thirty-Two, Number Five
Celebrating our 32th year!
EXPEDITION NEWS, founded in 1994, is the monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects, and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate, and educate.
EXPEDITION UPDATE
| | Sir Ernest Shackleton would appreciate sailing on this. | | |
ATLANTIC SHACKLETON LAUNCHES SPIRIT OF SHACKLETON
What Would Shackleton Sail?
If Sir Ernest Shackleton were alive today, what sort of vessel do you suppose might encourage him to undertake a modern-day voyage of exploration? A nonprofit in Ireland believes they have the answer with plans to build Endurance 2, a next generation exploration vessel purpose built for science, education, leadership and global storytelling.
| |
The ship is inspired by Shackleton’s Endurance, which sank in the Weddell Sea in November 1915 and was discovered in March 2022 by British maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound, the Atlantic Shackleton Global Foundation’s founding co-president.
First phase, launching this month in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland, is the Spirit of Shackleton, a 70-ft. clipper racing yacht (not pictured) built to serve as the floating platform for exploration, adventure and youth development.
Spirit will support research and create seagoing opportunities for youth. It reflects a simple idea – that Shackleton’s legacy is not something to admire from a distance, but something to actively continue, according to Bound who appeared at a press conference in New York last month.
Each voyage will carry a crew of 15 to 16 people, including experienced volunteer sailors and a dozen trainees tasked with scientific research at sea.
The team includes founding co-president Enda O’Coineen, Irish entrepreneur, ocean racer, philanthropist and founder of the Atlantic Youth Trust, a sailing charity in Ireland.
Also on board is Bob Beggs, skipper of multiple round-the-world yacht races, including winning skipper of the 2023/24 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
Partners are being sought to support this effort in skills development and STEM education, and help increase ocean research, environmental monitoring and awareness of marine and climate challenges.
The need is great to inspire future environmental leaders. “It’s horrific beyond words how we’ve brutalized this planet,” Bound said.
Watch the sizzle reel here:
https://atlanticshackleton.org/endurance-2/
For more information:
www.atlanticshackleton.org, naomh@atlanticshackleton.org
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“You’re making this long arduous journey and when you get there, kind of by definition, there’s nothing.”
– British entrepreneur Chris Brown (1962 – ), recognized for becoming the first person to reach seven of the world's most remote locations, known as the Poles of Inaccessibility, the places on each continent that lie the farthest from the sea or, in one case, land. (Source: Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2026).
EXPEDITION FOCUS
| | Step and repeat at ECAD 2026 (Photo: PeterDomorak.com) | | |
Explorers Club ECAD 2026 is a 122-Year-Old Schmooze Fest
The 1912 Jacobean Revival townhome at 46 East 70th Street in Manhattan has often been called “Hogwarts for adults,” for there at The Explorers Club headquarters lie millions of dollars’ worth of explorabilia within its 50-ft. wide, five-floor space.
Animal heads, ivory tusks, Club flags that have flown to space on Apollo 8, 11, 13, and 15. A piece of rope from the Kon-Tiki, Roy Chapman Andrew’s bullwhip, even a whale penis.
The Upper East Side building is never busier than on Explorers Club Annual Dinner (ECAD) weekend when it’s packed shoulder-to-shoulder with explorers from around the world who fly in for the occasion.
Behind you in line is Mensun Bound, the British maritime archaeologist who located the sunken Endurance (see related story); across the room is American paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovera, discoverer of Dreadnoughtus, the largest known land animal by body mass; and there is marine scientist Sally Dowd who studies how young dolphin near Perth, Australia, play with pufferfish (presumably at the expense of the ball-sized blowfish).
| | Ben Lovatt dresses for success in the oddity business. | | |
And then there was Ben Lovatt who runs Toronto’s SkullStore and the Prehistoria Natural History Centre, who attended the weekend with a copy of rocket engineer Wernher von Braun’s Explorers Club membership card. Similar copies of the rocket scientist’s membership cards have appeared at auction on a few occasions, generally selling in the range of $950 to $1,700. (www.skullstore.ca).
To paraphrase a famous beer ad, these are clearly the Most Interesting People in the World.
We wouldn’t attempt to summarize the entire 122-year-old schmooze fest, but here’s what impressed us most.
By the Numbers
Club officials provided an update on the health of the Club during its annual meeting at headquarters on April 19, 2026. TEC has an operating revenue $5.9 million, funded through fundraising campaigns, member dues, events, sponsorships and rentals. The 2026 annual dinner is projected to net $1.2 million, up $200,000 over the previous dinner.
Total assets are $21.1 million; the building itself is assessed at $31.2 million, not counting its contents. In FY 2025 it distributed endowment funds of $298,000 for exploration, youth and education, and its library.
Membership stands at 4,010, with ages 61 to 70 the largest demographic, although growth among younger members is increasing, in part thanks to the subgroup NGEN (explorers.org/ngen). The Club skews 69 percent male, and 31% female (up from 24% in 2020, a fact applauded by many at the SRO annual meeting).
There are 37 chapters including the two newest: Benelux and Spain.
| | American explorer Louise Arner Boyd was first woman over the North Pole. | | |
Not Forgotten
The Society of Forgotten Explorers, led by J. Robert “J.R.” Harris, chair of the Club’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, honored Russian and Soviet marine geologist Maria Klenova (1898-1976), the “Mother of Marine Geology;” Isobel Wylie Hutchinson (1889-1982), Scottish Arctic traveler, filmmaker and botanist; American explorer and “Queen of the Arctic” Louise Arner Boyd (1887-1972), the first woman to fly over the North Pole (1955); and Ingrid Christensen (1891-1976), among the first women to view and land on the Antarctic mainland (1931-37). (https://www.explorers.org/the-society-of-forgotten-explorers/)
Quotable Quotes
| | Joe Rodhe (Photo: PeterDomorak.com) | | |
• “We are driven by a compulsion to explore. We crave this experience. There are only so many people who feel good waking up freezing cold.”
– Joe Rodhe, Explorers Club EC50 judge. The EC50 program each year recognizes 50 explorers “changing the world that the world needs to know about.”
| | Kristine McDivitt Tompkins received the Club’s Explorers Medal, its highest award. (Photo: PeterDoromak.com) | | |
• “The first step in repairing the damage we’ve done (to the environment) is seeing it through new eyes … I feel responsible to defend the places we’ve come to love … Landscape without wildlife is just scenery … If you’re fed by wilderness, you must protect it.”
– Explorers Club Medalist Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation which has devoted decades to creating national parks, restoring biodiversity and ecosystems across Chile and Argentina.
| | Morad Tahbaz survived on pure animal instinct. (Photo: PeterDormorak.com) | | • “It was just pure animal survival instinct,” said Morad Tahbaz, co-founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, and winner of the President’s Award for Courage in Exploration. He was incarcerated for over five years in Iran, much of it in solitary confinement over accusations that he was a spy. His artwork is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org) | | James P. Delgado, Ph.D. decried the failure of diplomacy. (Photo: PeterDormorak.com) | | |
• Marine archaeologist James P. Delgado, Ph.D., in accepting the William Beebe Award for Underwater Exploration, believes the Battle of Midway, where his team studied both American and Japanese wrecks, emphasizes the importance of “studying the past to understand the failure of diplomacy.” He said of viewing wrecks remotely from the surface in real time, “It’s more than a book. It’s more than a movie. It’s there.”
Editor’s note: For a complete list of ECAD 2026 honorees, see EN, February 2026.
| | |
American Alpine Club Launches American Climbing Journal
Building off the reputation of the American Alpine Journal, which has documented the cutting-edge of alpine climbing for 97 years, the new American Climbing Journal tells the stories of groundbreaking bouldering, sport climbing, single-pitch trad, and performance big-wall ascents – almost entirely from the first-person POV of the climbers themselves, supplemented by deeply researched and reported writing.
The 2026 edition will feature stories from or about Seb Berthe, Sasha DiGiulian, Mary Eden, Michaela Kiersch, Sungsu Lee, Quinn Mason, Hamish McArthur, Jonathan Siegrist, Noah Wheeler, in addition to many local contributors who wrote about rock climbs and areas of regional and global significance.
Take a sneak “peak” here:
https://tinyurl.com/AACACJ
EXPEDITION FUNDING
| | |
Enter the NOMIS & Science Young Explorer Award –
But Don’t Use AI
The NOMIS & Science Young Explorer Award is a prestigious international prize that recognizes early-career researchers who conduct pioneering, interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the life and social sciences. It is a collaboration between the NOMIS Foundation and the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The annual award – $15,000 – is presented to two young scientists based on outstanding research conducted during the previous three years. Entrants must be early career scientists who hold an M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D. at the time of entry and have received their degree in the last 10 years. Each winner will have their essays published in Science.
Grammarly is permitted, but don’t you dare submit text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools, judges warn. During submission, entrants will be required to declare they have not used AI.
Score another point for humanity.
Submission deadline: May 15, 2026
For more details:
https://www.science.org/content/page/how-enter-nomis-science-young-explorer-award
nomisscienceawards@aaas.org
EXPEDITION MARKETING
| | Nutella travels weightlessly in this NASA screengrab from the Artemis II mission. | | |
Marketers are Over the Moon After Artemis II Mission
Two companies whose products accompanied the recent Artemis II mission are over the moon with the worldwide coverage they received. Almost immediately after launch on April 1, 2026, eagle-eyed marketers were humblebragging about their role in the mission, no matter how small.
On April 6, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover (above), and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft, became the farthest humans from Earth since Apollo 13.
They broke a 56-year-old distance record; flew behind the far side of the Moon in a total communications blackout; and witnessed a solar eclipse from lunar orbit. Less than four minutes before any of that history happened, a jar of Nutella stole the worldwide livestream.
The trip to the far side of the moon for the sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread, manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero, was the best product placement money can’t buy. A tub of the gooey spread drifted out of the Orion spacecraft’s kitchen area, rotated lazily in the cabin, and settled label-forward in perfect framing and perfect lighting, according to Fortune.com (April 9). Label forward. Perfectly lit.
While NASA officially remains neutral and does not endorse products, Nutella was included as part of the 189 unique food items tailored to the crew's personal preferences.
The internet was eating it up. On social media, Nutella went nutty over all the excitement surrounding the brand. “Honored to have traveled further than any spread in history. Taking spreading smiles to new heights,” wrote the company on Instagram along with a rocket and heart emoji.
| | Look closely at Victor Glover’s left shoulder. A Nite Ize S-biner anchors Rise, the mission’s kid-designed zero-gravity device. | | |
If you watched the mission unfold, you may have seen Rise, their zero-gravity indicator mascot, floating around the Orion spacecraft to show the astronauts when they were in microgravity, anchored by a tiny stainless steel Nite Ize S-Biner.
In a cabin where a floating tool can become a dangerous projectile, these basic consumer-grade clips are critical for organization. “It’s humbling to know that one of our relatively simple inventions joined one of humanity’s greatest achievements,” posts Nite Ize publicist Chris Goddard.
The gravity indicator Rise was designed by Lucas Ye, a second grader from California. It was chosen from over 2,600 submitted designs from 50 countries, was custom made by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab, and contained over 5 million names on the SD card inside.
No surprise that Omega also tooted its own horn. Continuing a 60-year legacy that began with Apollo 11, Omega is back at the forefront. All four astronauts were spotted wearing the Omega Speedmaster X-33 Skywalker over their flight suits during launch. For the earthbound, it retails for $6,500.
Other companies involved in the flight include Florida-based Simply Stamps which engineered a custom, lightweight rubber stamp included in the Official Flight Kit. The crew uses it to mark "flown-to-the-moon" documents and mementos, which will be distributed to schools and museums once the mission returns.
S.C. Johnson supplied Ziploc bags for food storage and organization for the 10-day trip, and the crew wrote in their logbooks with a classic AG7 Original Astronaut Space Pen from Fisher Space Pen (see EN, May 2024).
While these companies are celebrating their space-flown status, NASA strictly classifies these items as "Government Furnished Equipment" or "Personal Preference" items to avoid the appearance of official commercial endorsement.
One small step for man, and one giant leap for marketing.
| | |
Explorers Club Announces Collab with Banana Republic
Coming on the heels of a new licensing deal with American fashion designer Tory Burch (see EN, April 2026), The Explorers Club has announced a collab with retailer Banana Republic. The brand’s “Archive Reissue" reimagines some of its best styles from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The 20-piece vintage capsule is being launched exclusively at 29 stores in the U.S. and Japan, and on the website.
The collection features trekking jumpsuits ($160), utility jackets ($350), T-shirts ($60), field backpacks ($180), cargo shorts ($100), and a reissued Fireman’s jacket ($1,000), that, frankly we’d be inclined to leave home lest it get trashed on our next dig.
The campaign features actor Joshua Jackson, known for his role in Dawson's Creek, and soon to be seen in an upcoming movie, Happy Hours.
Meena Anvary, chief marketing officer at Banana Republic, posts that the campaign will also celebrate the impact of explorers including biochemist Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza; marine biologist Daniel Cáceres Barta; and geoscientist and astronaut Sian Proctor. All are recent Explorers Club 50 honorees.
The word from insiders is that the deal promises substantially increased awareness for the Club, which in turn, could lead to a boost in qualified membership, and attention from corporate sponsors from outside the fashion world.
Watch the sizzle reel:
https://tinyurl.com/TECBanana
View the collection:
https://tinyurl.com/TECBananaRepublic
WEB WATCH
| | Dr. Sammy Ramsey introduces Secrets of the Bees | | |
The Hive is Alive
Honeybees can waggle dance, play with balls, and view the world with oversized eyes. Who knew?
Dr. Sammy Ramsey knows. He is the kind of witty, engaging science communicator you wished you had in college. Ramsey is an Endowed Professor of Entomology at University of Colorado Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Last month in Boulder, Colorado, Ramsey shared an episode of National Geographic’s Secrets of the Bees, and how he is trying to save these important pollinators from parasites.
The two-part Disney+/Hulu online documentary, hosted by Bertie Gregory and created by executive producer James Cameron, features Ramsey revealing the complex, intelligent, and social lives of bees, among the planet's most important animals. It showcases their advanced communication (waggle dance), intelligent decision-making, and unique behaviors like playing with wooden balls.
More than 20,000 bee species pollinate one-third of the world's food, according to the documentary which explains the diverse roles of bees, including queens, foragers, and male drones, which have specialized, large eyes to find queens. A medical endoscope, familiar to those of us who have undergone the indignity of a colonoscopy, was used to film inside hives. (Editor’s note: But oh so important. Get yourself scoped.)
The esteemed entomologist’s nonprofit, The Ramsey Research Foundation, works to remove barriers that slow the progress of science by developing novel pathways for scientific funding, and by removing paywalls that keep the public from engaging with published scientific work.
Watch the trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mej2usrRCl0
Consider donation to his foundation here:
https://www.ramseyresearchfoundation.org/
BUZZ WORDS
Alpine Divorce
A disturbing situation wherein one romantic partner leaves another stranded while hiking.
Hiking guides and mountain rescue workers report they would often have to rescue women left behind on remote and often dangerous trails. Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist in New York, said that being on the receiving side of an Alpine divorce can be a wake-up call for people in dysfunctional romantic relationships. (Source: Valeriya Safronova reporting for the New York Times, April 12, 2026.)
Zoopharmacognosy
The study of how animals self-medicate by consuming or applying specific plants, insects, or soils to treat illnesses and parasites. Explorers Club New Explorer Award recipient Elodie Freymann, Ph.D., said during ECAD 2026 weekend, “Our planet is full of powerful medicines … When we bulldoze the forest, we not only destroy animals living there, but the natural medicines they need to survive.” (www.drelodiefreymann.com)
IN PASSING
| | |
Jim Whittaker (1929-2026)
Jim Whittaker, the legendary Seattle-born mountaineer who became the first American to summit Mount Everest in 1963, died April 7, 2026, in Port Townsend, Washington. He was 97.
Six-foot-five “Big Jim” was a member of the American Mount Everest Expedition led by Norman Dyhrenfurth, alongside Sherpa Nawang Gombu, a nephew of Tenzing Norgay, They ran out of oxygen, but managed to reach the summit.
Whittaker, whose twin brother Lou predeceased him by two years, was REI's first full-time paid employee, and its second CEO. He eventually succeeded in opening stores across the country, numbering 195 at the time of this death.
In 1978, Whittaker led the first successful U.S. expedition to K2, the world’s second-tallest peak, and set a record as leader of the largest successful Everest expedition in 1990.
| | |
Eddie Bauer parka worn by Jim Whittaker on the summit of Mount Everest in 1963. Considered the most iconic in the history of outdoor sports,
according to GearJunkie.com.
| | |
For his 1963 Everest climb he commissioned the much-revered Mt. Everest Parka Style #088 with wolverine fur from Eddie Bauer. It became one of the first civilian uses of Velcro, popularized by NASA in the early 1960s. For years the iconic red parka was on display at the now temporarily closed American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, Colorado.
Ed Viesturs posted to Facebook, “The opportunity that he gave to me I will never forget. He truly lived a life well lived.”
Remembers Jeremy Westphal posting to the Jefferson County, Washington, website, “When Jim spoke you knew the world had something special in store for you if you were willing to keep pushing past the discomfort, the pain, and your own fears.”
Read his obituary in The Seattle Times (April 8, 2026):
https://tinyurl.com/WhittakerObit
ON THE HORIZON
| | |
World Oceans Week at The Explorers Club,
June 1-5, 2026, 46 East 70th Street, New York
The 10th annual World Oceans Week (WOW) is a full week of ocean related programming and is the second largest fundraiser on the Explorers Club’s calendar. It begins June 1, with an evening program at the nearby Asia Society honoring Ocean Legends, followed by a week of ocean lectures, films, art installations and auctions.
Event highlights include talks by Dr. Sylvia Earle; the grandchildren of oceanographer, filmmaker and author Jacque Cousteau; and marine and environmental conservation advocate Wendy Benchley, widow of Peter Benchley whose screenplay for Jaws petrified audiences over 50 years ago.
WOW closely coincides with World Oceans Day, celebrated annually on June 8 – a global UN-recognized event dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans.
For more information:
www.explorers.org/
EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS
| | Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield) by Jeff Blumenfeld – People are traveling in record numbers and many include voluntourists. Be ready to lend a hand wherever you go. How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? Read excerpts and “Look Inside” at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook | | |
Get Sponsored! – Need money for your next project? Read about proven techniques that will help you find both cash and in-kind sponsors. If the trip is bigger than you, and is designed to help others, well, that’s half the game right there. Read Jeff Blumenfeld’s Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.(Skyhorse Publishing).
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2
Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com
EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2026 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com.
Research past issues of Expedition News dating back to May 1995 courtesy of the Utah State University Outdoor Recreation Archive. Access is free at: https://tinyurl.com/ENArchivesUSU
Add your comments to the new Expedition News Facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/ExpedNewsFB
| | | | |
