By
its very definition, exploration is dependent upon travel. Explorers
have a desire to make sense of the unknown, to see what is over the
other side of the hill. During the worldwide COVID-19 crisis, travel has
been severely restricted, at worse banned.
As the world turns to science and technology for a solution to the coronavirus, explorers are adapting accordingly:
As the world turns to science and technology for a solution to the coronavirus, explorers are adapting accordingly:
*
Everest is now closed. Following an announcement from China that it
would restrict climbing on its half of the mountain due to coronavirus
concerns, Nepal followed suit with a full shutdown of the mountain's
southern side, completely closing off the peak to climbers hoping to
summit this spring.
The
decision to close Everest largely concerns the nature of the virus
itself, which affects respiratory function in affected individuals. In a
low-oxygen environment like Everest, respiratory impairment would prove
doubly dangerous. The communal nature of Everest base camps, where
climbers live in close quarters, also played a part in China and Nepal's
decision to close the mountain, according to the outdoor trade
publication SNEWS.
Alpenglow
Expeditions and other guide companies planning ascents on the Tibetan
side of the mountain have already cancelled spring trips. As of Mar. 12,
Nepal still had no overt signs of the health crisis. That could change
on a dime.
Read more here:
*
The Explorers Club Monday night public lectures have usually been
streamed online. Now plans call for this to continue, albeit without an
audience. The Club's annual dinner was postponed until Oct. 10, 2020.
For more information: www.explorers.org
*
Companies in the outdoor industry throughout the world are asking
employees to work from home indefinitely. Petzl America, for instance,
manufacturer of life safety equipment, asked all employees with the
ability to telecommute to do so.
Patagonia has
taken the unprecedented step of temporarily closing all stores,
shutting down ordering on its website, and suspending all orders.
REI
is temporarily closing its 162 retail stores nationwide starting March
16, until March 27. "I believe that is the right thing for our
community. In fact, I believe it is our duty-to do all we can to help
keep one another safe in this unprecedented moment," announces Eric
Artz, President & CEO, REI Co-op. All orders through REI.com will get free shipping while stores are closed.
"The outdoors remains a vital part of all our lives, especially in moments like this," says Artz.
*
Some of the industry's biggest warm-season shows, like the Outdoor
Retailer Summer Market, scheduled for June 23-25 in Denver, are
proceeding uninterrupted for now, according to SNEWS.
Organizers are undoubtedly hoping that we'll have weathered this storm by then.
Demonstrating
incredible resiliency, otherwise homebound Italians literally shouted
from the rooftops and balconies this month, singing arias, the national
anthem and pop songs. These impromptu songs show the resilience of the
human spirit as millions of residents in Italy experience lockdown. Be
sure to watch to the end of this viral video for a heartwarming
rendition of Puccini's Nessun Dorma. It brought tears to our eyes.
In
many of our lifetimes we've persevered through the Cold War, Y2K, 9/11,
the Vietnam and Gulf wars, and other world crises. Together we'll get
through this, of that we are sure.
EXPEDITION UPDATE
Explorers Club Inks Deal With Discovery Channel
These
are uncertain times for any nonprofit, thus it was heartening to learn
that The Explorers Club successfully inked a groundbreaking multiyear
deal with Discovery Channel. It is the largest brand partnership in the Club's 116-year history.
The
Club has been working on the agreement since Fall 2018. Since then it
was presented to Chapter Chairs and unanimously approved by the Board of
Directors.
According
to TEC board member Richard Garriott, who helped negotiate the deal,
Club officials engaged in more than 12 months of negotiations to arrive
at a 3-to-10 year deal.
"This
agreement likely represents between $6 million and $20 million to the
club, which is nothing short of transformative to the future of our
organization," he said in a Mar. 15 email to membership. The exclusive
media partnership includes:
* Infrastructure
- Two million dollars for improvements to the headquarters building on
Manhattan's Upper East Side. The punch list includes replacing the
electrical and plumbing systems (which have not been updated since the
building was built in 1910); overhaul of IT and media infrastructure;
adding climate control to preserve and protect collections and archives;
and repair or replacement of the building's aging elevator, thought to
be one of the oldest in New York City, according to Garriott.
* Expedition Grants - One million dollars per year for TEC expeditions, including media and educational dissemination opportunities. Both TEC and Discovery must approve of any "Discovery" grant. "Discovery
gets de facto 'media rights' to any expedition which accepts the
grants, but no one is required to take the money, and each expedition
can negotiate directly with Discovery if there are important issues," Garriott says.
* Naming and Archive Rights - Discovery will pay a few hundred thousand dollars per year to The Explorers Club. In return, Discovery
will have usage of two rental offices, some archives access, and for
the term of the agreement, temporarily rename the building to a mutually
agreeable name yet to be determined.
Naming
rights to the building, currently honoring broadcaster Lowell Thomas,
have appeared to be the most contentious part of the agreement among
membership, but is a fairly typical request, dating to well before Sir
Ernest Shackleton named one of his 23-foot whalers, the James Caird,
after a rich benefactor. There are numerous examples of nonprofits in
New York offering naming rights; Avery Fisher Hall, NYU Langone Medical
Center, and The Julliard School immediately come to mind.
Discovery Channel
will have access to the full historical archives of The Explorers Club,
including 13,000 books, 1,000 museum objects, 5,000 maps and 500 films.
This vast catalog will serve as the foundation of additional
educational content creation.
Scenes from the Apollo 50th anniversary reunion during the 2019 Explorers Club Annual Dinner appeared in a Discovery Channel documentary last year.
* Marketing Support - Discovery will also provide millions of dollars in value through "in kind" advertising of the TEC brand. Last year, Discovery collaborated with the Club to produce Confessions From Space: Apollo, which included interviews with members who were recognized at the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing.
"Exploration
as an endeavor has always relied on outside funding, as well as media.
We feel strongly that our brand, our ability to communicate our mission,
and our capacity to bring explorers together, will be greatly
enhanced," said Club president Richard Wiese.
Read the Discovery announcement here:
EXPEDITION NOTES
Gregg Treinish honored.
Gregg Treinish Honored by World Economic Forum
Gregg Treinish, 30, founder of AdventureScientists.org, has been named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (YGL) for
2020 - joining an illustrious network of influential people aiming to
improve the planet. He joins an international community under age 40 -
including Pete Buttigieg, Amal Clooney, Megan Rapinoe, and Juan Guaidó -
recognized for driving positive change.
"It's
not enough to be just an explorer any more, it's 'been there, done
that,'" says Treinish, who recruits today's adventurers to conduct
scientific research in some of the world's most inaccessible places.
Over
the last decade, Treinish's organization has co-opted thousands of
adventure travelers to do the field research that lab-based researchers
could not. One of the first projects was getting Everest mountaineers to
obtain samples of plants growing at almost impossibly high altitudes.
U.S. researchers were able to determine how that moss could survive in
such extreme conditions and used the results to develop methods of
increasing yields and protecting crops from adverse weather events.
On
the sea, Adventure Scientists has used a network of 6,000 citizen
researchers to build what it believes is the world's biggest database on
microplastics in oceans around the world.
The 115 Young Global Leaders for the Class of 2020 includes a decorated Olympian and World Cup winner, the youngest Prime Minister of Finland, an accomplished and pioneering digital journalist in Africa, an advocate of social justice and reform in Nepal and a human rights lawyer fighting for an inclusive society in Ethiopia and beyond.
For more information: www.younggloballeaders.org, www.adventurescientists.org
Citizen astronaut Richard Garriott on board the International Space Station (2008).
Space Adventures Agrees With SpaceX to
Launch Private Citizens on Crew Dragon Spacecraft
Building
on the success of Crew Dragon's first demonstration mission to the
International Space Station in March 2019 and the recent successful test
of the spacecraft's launch escape system, Space Adventures, Inc. has
entered into an agreement with SpaceX to fly private citizens on the
first Crew Dragon free-flyer mission. This will provide up to four
individuals with the opportunity to break the world altitude record for
private citizen spaceflight and see planet Earth the way no one has
since the Gemini program.
If
interested parties are secured, this mission will be the first orbital
space tourism experience provided entirely with American technology.
Private citizens will fly aboard SpaceX's fully autonomous Crew Dragon
spacecraft launched by the company's Falcon 9 rocket, the same
spacecraft and launch vehicle that SpaceX will use to transport NASA
astronauts to the International Space Station.
Said
Eric Anderson, Chairman, Space Adventures, "Creating unique and
previously impossible opportunities for private citizens to experience
space is why Space Adventures exists. From 2001-2009 our clients made
history by flying over 36 million miles in space on eight separate
missions to the ISS. Since its maiden mission in 2010, no engineering
achievement has consistently impressed the industry more than the
Dragon/Falcon 9 reusable system.
"Honoring
our combined histories, this Dragon mission will be a special
experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity - capable of reaching
twice the altitude of any prior civilian astronaut mission or space
station visitor," said Anderson.
Responding
to a question on Twitter about a possible price tag of $52 million per
seat, Anderson tweeted: "Per seat price for a full group of four not
quite that much (not dramatically less, but significant enough to note).
Definitive pricing confidential, and dependent on client specific
requests, etc."
The
company's orbital spaceflight clients include Dennis Tito, Mark
Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari, Charles Simonyi, Richard
Garriott (see related story), and Guy Laliberté.
For more information: www.spaceadventures.com
Read the full announcement here:
Watch the sizzle reel:
Mehgan Heany-Grier (Photo by kefskiphoto.com)
The Power Of Adventure
Mehgan
Heaney-Grier, a lifelong ocean adventurer with more than 20 years
experience working above and below the waterline, talked to the Rocky
Mountain chapter of The Explorers Club on Feb. 25, 2020, about "The
Power of Adventure." In 1996, at the age of 18, Heaney-Grier established
the first constant weight free-diving record in the U.S. with a dive to
155 feet (47.26 meters) on a single breath of air.
She's
an accomplished athlete, professional speaker, marine educator,
conservationist, expedition leader, stunt diver and television
personality.
In
1998 Heaney-Grier captained the first United States Freediving Team to
compete in the World Cup Freediving Championships held in Sardinia,
Italy. In 2000, Heaney-Grier was inducted as part of the inaugural
roster into the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
As
an ocean advocate, adventurer and storyteller across multiple media
platforms, Mehgan is dedicated to raising awareness and empowering the
next generation of ocean stewards to engage and tackle the critical
issues facing our oceans today.
Heaney-Grier
told the chapter, "Exploration is the older, wiser version of
adventure, but adventure is where we begin ... the underwater universe
is awe-inspiring. It's profound and humbling and reminds us we're a part
of something so much bigger than ourselves."
The Arctic Watch crew.
Will Work for Pemmican
Are
you hard working and adventurous? Think the Arctic is an inspiring
environment and wish to share it with others? Weber Arctic is looking to
hire new guides at two wilderness lodges in Canada's Arctic this summer
- the Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge and Arctic Haven Wilderness Lodge.
Assuming
the coronavirus crisis eases by then, Weber Arctic is looking to add
guides to its team of ambitious adventurers. The small family business's
two lodges in Canada's Nunavut territory provide guests a large variety
of experiences including: sea kayaking the Northwest Passage, fly
fishing, fat biking, hiking, quading, and the chance to see polar bears,
muskoxen, beluga whales, narwhals, arctic wolves, caribou and much
more.
Learn about the opportunity here:
To apply for this position, send your resume and cover letter to mail@WeberArctic.com
FEATS
Slackliners Featured in New Film
Slacklining is both an art and a sport that requires balance training, recreation and is also described as a moving meditation.
This
extreme sport is demonstrated in a new, inspiring short film called
Pathfinder. The documentary brings viewers on a cinematic journey
highlighting a never-before attempted milestone in the world of
slacklining, taking place under the Northern Lights in the Senja Island,
Norway.
A
rich and meaningful story, the 10-minute film explores the physical and
spiritual aspects in the world of six slack-liners with insights from
Norwegians on the folklore and mysticism surrounding the Northern
Lights, the nature of the setting, and the indigenous people of the
north: The Sámi.
See the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/390192829 (password 1234).
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
- T.S. Elliot (1888-1965), U.S. poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, and literary critic.
MEDIA MATTERS
Boulder Film Festival Provides Vicarious Thrills for a Troubled World
It was certainly a case of flop sweat.
EN's heart was racing and beads of perspiration formed on
our brows. Yet we were hardly moving. Instead we spent last weekend
watching a procession of outstanding films at the 16th annual Boulder
International Film Festival (BIFF), enjoying pulse quickening scenes of
"superpower dogs" lowered onto avalanche victims by helicopter; blind
athlete Lonnie Bedwell paddling the Colorado river through the Grand
Canyon; superfit Faroe Islands pastor Sverri Steinholm running along
knife-edge ridges; storm chasers playing tag with tornados; and the late
U.K. piano restorer Desmond O'Keeffe, delivering an upright to
14,000-ft. Lingshed in the Indian Himalayas.
If
the audience was nervous about the coronavirus, they didn't show it.
Funniest moment was when actor Ryan Gaul, during a talkback for the film Jack,
featuring a cat about to be euthanized (it's funnier than it sounds),
yelled "run!" and mockingly fell to the floor when the moderator
sneezed. It was a moment of comic relief we all needed along with
another shpritz of hand sanitizer.
BIFF
attracted 25,000 films, filmmakers and movie buffs from around the
world to Boulder for a four-day celebration of the art of cinema. This
year, the festival debuted the Adventure Film Pavilion at eTown Hall to
celebrate the most exciting new adventure films of the year.
Adventure
Pavilion moderator Isaac Savitz said his selection committee viewed 400
adventure films in three months to select 35 for the BIFF audience. If
you didn't like one, just wait a few minutes and another film was
screened that would drop your jaw to the floor.
The 2020 line-up included four shorts programs and three features, including Home, about UK Adventurer Sarah Outen who traversed the globe by bike, kayak, and rowboat; Climbing Blind,
about Jesse Dufton who attempts to be the first blind person to make a
gripping "non-sight" lead of the iconic Old Man of Hoy seat stack in
Scotland; and Lost Temple of the Inca, about Boulder scientist Preston
Sowell's journey to Peru where he discovers a lost temple of the Inca
Empire. It was a behind-the-scenes look inside a cutting edge expedition
at the headwaters of the Amazon river, a race against time as mining
companies seek to ruin the Peruvian Andes Lake Sibinacocha region.
Legendary grizzly expert, Green Beret medic, and eco-warrior Doug
Peacock, the real-life inspiration for the character George Hayduke in
Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, said in Grizzly Country,
"Saving habitat is the most satisfying expression of joy I know. If
you're down and depressed get outside. It's the best cure I know for the
metaphysical icky-poos."
Survivor's Guilt in the Mountains
The New Yorker
(Mar. 2), in a story profiling Bozeman, Montana, therapist Tim Tate,
provides an inside look at the North Face athletes program, revealing
that it does not offer health insurance or life insurance. The pay can
range from substantial six-figure annual salaries for the stars (who
have agents that typically handle the negotiations) to four-figure
stipends, or even just free gear, for up-and-coming "ambassadors,"
according to an examination of the risks inherent in climbing by Nick
Paumgarten (Feb. 24).
"The
athletes would pursue these activities with or without us," Arne Arens,
the president of the North Face, tells Paumgarten. "We know the
inherent risks. We try to limit them as much as we can. They choose the
objectives. Our role is to make it as safe as possible."
According
to the story, generally, the athletes develop their own projects and
pitch them to the company, which in turn shapes them not only to market
the brand but also to road test new technology and gear. "If it weren't
for the athletes, we wouldn't be able to push the limits ourselves,"
Arens said.
The New Yorker
story shares a page from Conrad Anker's journal which recounts about
three dozen names handwritten on it - friends and partners who'd died.
The list begins with Anker's mentor, Mugs Stump, who fell into a
crevasse while descending Denali, in 1992. Scott Adamson, Justin
Griffin, Hans Saari, Doug Coombs, Ned Gillette, Mira Smid, Hari Berger,
Todd Skinner, Walt Shipley, Ang Kaji Sherpa, Ueli Steck, Dean Potter.
"Martyrs without a cause, except perhaps that of their own fulfillment,"
Paumgarten writes.
"Mountain
climbing is a modern curiosity, a bourgeois indulgence. It consists
mostly of relatively well-to-do white people manufacturing danger for
themselves."
Read the entire 9,700 word story here:
WEB WATCH
Still from Michael Churton's Bound to Everest
Witness to a Tragedy
Adventure filmmaker Michael Churton's camera was rolling on the
deadliest avalanche in Everest history. His new feature-length
documentary, Bound to Everest, recounts that fateful day in
April 2015 when a 7.8 earthquake hit the mountain. At Everest Base Camp,
the violent vibrations trigger an immense avalanche. Snow, rock and ice
catapult by at savage speeds, blasting Churton into the rocks. The
camera is rolling as a bright member of Churton's expedition team
vanishes next to him in a fury of white.
The
death toll at base camp rises to 19 and surpasses the 2014 avalanche
tragedy to become the deadliest day in Everest history. Bound to Everest
is an examination of the adventure of a lifetime gone wrong and a
survivor's search for closure.
Still in rough cut form, it promises to be both horrifying and inspiring when it comes out in October.
Watch the trailer here:
BUZZ WORDS
Sawanobori
The Japanese art of climbing up flowing streams and waterfalls. (Source: The New Yorker, Mar. 2, 2020)
(Earth photo courtesy of NASA.gov)
Overview Effect
A
cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts
during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from outer space. It
is the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space,
which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life,
"hanging in the void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin
atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that
divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary
society with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes
both obvious and imperative.
Michael
Collins of Apollo 11 says, "The thing that really surprised me was that
it (Earth) projected an air of fragility. And why, I don't know. I
don't know to this day. I had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, it's
beautiful, it's home, and it's fragile."
EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS
Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism
(Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld - How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey.
(Rowman & Littlefield, April 2019) by Jeff Blumenfeld - How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? These are stories of inspiration from everyday voluntourists, all of whom have advice about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation, from Las Vegas to Nepal, lending a hand in nonprofits ranging from health care facilities, animal shelters and orphanages to impoverished schools. Case studies are ripped from the pages of Expedition News, including the volunteer work of Dooley Intermed, Himalayan Stove Project, and even a volunteer dinosaur dig in New Jersey.
Get Sponsored! - Hundreds of
explorers and adventurers raise money each month to travel on world
class expeditions to Mt. Everest, Nepal, Antarctica and elsewhere. Now
the techniques they use to pay for their journeys are available to
anyone who has a dream adventure project in mind, according to the book
from Skyhorse Publishing called: Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.
Author
Jeff Blumenfeld, an adventure marketing specialist who has represented
3M, Coleman, Du Pont, Lands' End and Orvis, among others, shares
techniques for securing sponsors for expeditions and adventures.
Buy it here:
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. ©2020
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. Enjoy the EN blog at www.expeditionnews.blogspot.com.
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