Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Anker and Aldrin on the Mend; Ranulph is Fiennes After Climb

EXPEDITION UPDATE


Ulyana N. Horodyskyj (second from left) and her HERA crew hold The Explorers Club flag.

From HERA to Mars

Ulyana N. Horodyskyj, Ph.D., a 30-year-old Boulder, Colo., scientist and entrepreneur, traveled to the Canadian Arctic last spring to study the difference between satellite images of Baffin Island glaciers, and the so-called "ground truth" research (see EN, July 2016). Now she has her sights set a lot further afield.

This fall she climbed inside a windowless 636-square-foot pod housed in a warehouse at NASA's Johnson Space Center, switched off her phone, high-fived the three strangers she'd be spending the next 30 days inside with, and watched the doors shut tight.

Horodyskyj served as commander of the Mission XII crew of NASA's Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) project, a multi-year endeavor to study just what happens to people's bodies, brains and psyches when they're isolated inside a confined space for long durations with other adults.

During the HERA project, mission control informed her that out of 18,300 applicants, she was one of 120 being considered for NASA's Astronaut Candidate program.

Read the story in CU Boulder Today:

http://www.colorado.edu/today/2016/12/08/adventurous-alum-serves-test-subject-30-day-nasa-isolation-project.

Her company, Science in the Wild, LLC, takes ordinary citizens on science expeditions to selected locations around the world.


Artist conception of crew rescued from the sinking scow-sloop Black Duck (Sketch by Mark Peckham)

Black Duck Discovered

The Explorers Club held its annual Sea Stories last month, a conference focused on underwater exploration and conservation. Speakers included Chris Fischer of Ocearch who reviewed his numerous global expeditions to research and protect white sharks; Susan Casey, best-selling author discussed the mysterious world of dolphins and their complex relationship to humanity; Joe Mazraani and Jennifer Sellitti shared their efforts to discover and explore the wreck of the Pan Pennsylvania sunk by U-550 during WWII's Battle for the Atlantic; and Dr. Ian Walker, of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo described his efforts to rehabilitate an injured sea turtle that was successfully released from Bermuda and swam to Florida.

Shipwreck explorer Jim Kennard discussed the discoveries of several shipwrecks including the oldest wreck found in the Great Lakes. Kennard announced that a rare sailing craft identified as a scow-sloop has been located in deep water off Oswego, N.Y.

In August 1872, the scow-sloop Black Duck was enroute from Oswego to Sackets Harbor, N.Y., when it foundered in a northwest gale. Only a small number of these shallow draft flat bow sailing craft existed around the Great Lakes and were typically utilized on rivers or for short lake crossings. They were not constructed to withstand the high winds and waves on the open lake.

The Black Duck may be the only fully intact scow-sloop to exist in the Great Lakes. Kennard and Roger Pawlowski made the identification in September 2016 after their initial visit to the wreck over three years ago which failed to identify the ship.

For more information: kennard@rochester.rr.com, www.shipwreckworld.com

EXPEDITION NOTES


Fiennes summits Antarctica's tallest peak (Photo courtesy Marie Curie)

Ranulph is Fiennes After Antarctic Summit

Veteran British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica. The Dec. 6 feat forms part of his pledge to climb the highest mountain on every continent between August 2016 and May 2017.

The 72-year-old faced minus 40 degree F. temperatures and severe winds to summit the 16,050 ft. (4892 m) peak.

The explorer from Exmoor, Somerset, is halfway to completing the Global Reach Challenge in aid of the Marie Curie charity which he has been raising funds for since the death of his first wife Ginny in 2004.

He has already crossed both polar ice caps and climbed Mount Everest in Asia, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mount Elbrus in Europe. To complete the challenge, he still needs to summit Aconcagua in South America, Mount Carstensz in the continent of Australia, and Denali, the highest peak in North America.

Sir Ranulph has had two heart attacks, a double heart bypass, has vertigo and a breathing condition called Cheyne-Stokes while climbing, according to the BBC.

Speedy Recovery to Anker and Aldrin

Best wishes to famed climber Conrad Anker and space legend Buzz Aldrin.

Anker, 54, who suffered a heart attack at nearly 20,000 feet, and is currently on the mend, writes, "On the morning of the 16th of November 2016 while climbing on Lunag-Ri, a peak in the Khumbu Himalaya of Nepal, I experienced an acute coronary syndrome. My climbing partner David Lama of Austria and I were six pitches up the climb when I experienced severe chest pain. Having never experienced anything of this nature I immediately understood this as a time critical health situation.


Hard to keep a good man down.

"We called for a helicopter and with the help of our Sherpa friends I was evacuated to Kathmandu. Within 9 hours of the incident I was in the cardiac care unit of Norvic International Hospital. Dr. Bhutta performed an angioplasty and removed the obstruction."

Anker has since returned to his home in Bozeman, Mont., and is limiting further travel for the time being.

See his Dec. 5 Facebook post at:

https://www.facebook.com/ConradAnkerOfficial/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Earlier this month, former American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, was evacuated by plane from the South Pole for medical reasons. Aldrin, 86, was visiting the South Pole as part of a private tourist group when his health deteriorated, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators said on its website. It said he was transported as a precaution on a ski-equipped LC-130 cargo plane to McMurdo Station, a U.S. research center on the Antarctic coast.

Having been cleared by doctors previously, Buzz took the trip to Antarctica to add to his exploration achievements.


Buzz Aldrin resting in a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand with some congestion in his lungs.

Despite the unexpected evacuation, Aldrin is reportedly the oldest man to reach the South Pole. At presstime on Dec. 9 Aldrin was flying home, promising to someday return to New Zealand, "for vacation and not evacuation," he posted to Facebook.

Read more at:

http://buzzaldrin.com/south-pole-news

FEATS


Colorado skater thinks outside the rink (Photo courtesy Marisa Jarae, www.mountainwander.com)

Skating Beyond the Rink

The Colorado Rocky Mountains in winter have a special allure for 31-year-old Laura Kottlowski, a creative/art director from Golden. Where others see backcountry ski runs, ice climbs, and hiking trails, she also sees pristine alpine lakes ready for spins, double jumps and just pure skating.

Kottlowski, who began figure skating at age six, was a former competitor at Penn State University, and teaches skating weekly, now calls herself a skate-explorer who thinks beyond the rink. Way beyond. To high alpine lakes close to 12,000 feet. It's here, close to treeline, where her passions for mountaineering, figure skating and artistry align.

"If you're a skater and you see ice as smooth as a mirror, you just want to skate it, especially in such an epic settling," says Kottlowski, who started alpine lake skating in 2009 and has since skated at 11,900 feet.

"Skating in the elements is definitely a different feeling with the wind and the changing light. It is definitely more liberating than skating in an indoor rink. It's incredibly challenging. The surface up high can be smoother than Zamboni ice, or it can be sculpted by the wind into ripples far too rough to skate. I never know until I get there.

"But when you have the wind to your back and smooth ice in front of you and the wind propels you forward, the difficulties of climbing non-stop in sub-freezing weather fade away. It's exhilarating, and the realization that there is nothing else like it makes it all the more special," she says.


Worth the climb (Photo courtesy of Laura Kottlowski)

Kottlowski's skate-exploration is motivated by the desire to skate as many stunning and wild locations as she can, despite the obvious dangers of unstable snow, ice and weather. She and her friend, photographer and fellow hiker Marisa Jarae, 31, from Denver, use microspikes and crampons for ascents, adding ice axes when steeper and icier terrain stands in the way of an alpine lake with foot-thick ice.

To mitigate the risk, she analyzes the weather and geography to study the conditions that form the smoothest ice. Below 10,000 feet, ice is more protected from wind, but is covered by snow. Higher elevations have more wind, although less snow to shovel clear.

Why aren't more skaters tackling high alpine frozen lakes?

"The ice is sometimes as corrugated as a washboard. The risk of falling and becoming injured is not only more likely, but the consequences are similar to any mountaineering accident: potentially having to hike back down difficult terrain four, five or nine-plus miles back to transportation and then sometimes drive for hours to the nearest town for help," she tells EN.

As a freelancer, Kottlowski has the flexibility to avoid crowded trails by skating midweek, while also planning longer trips. She dreams of setting an altitude skating record on the highest named lake in the U.S. The trailhead near Breckenridge is an easy drive from her home, but the ascent to frozen ice at 13,400-ft. will require sheer determination and outdoor skills.

"It will be a pure mountaineering attempt of the unknown. We don't know if the ice will be clear enough to skate once we get there, how intense the avalanche danger will be, and how we will feel after hauling so much gear."

Her mind skates off as she contemplates returning again to the Canadian Rockies with its endless miles of frozen rivers with trees dotting the surface, locked in winter's icy grip. She's skated in ice caves inside Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia icefield of Jasper National Park, and shallower lakes, where, when the ice is crystal clear, she can often see fish swimming beneath her blades.

Future plans call for skate-explorations around the world, especially the high alpine lakes of Asia and South America, anywhere, in fact with smooth surfaces that she can affordably. Dazzling lakes awaiting for the first time in history the sound of steel blades carving a perfect turn.

For more information: laura@laurakottlowski.com, www.laurakottlowski.com

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Exploring is another way of saying 'curiosity in action,' and if you think about it, there haven't been any advances made in civilization without someone being curious about what's out there - what's around the next bend in the road, or over the next hill, or beyond that forest over there... and so on.

"This kind of curiosity is far more than just wanting to go and look at some new scenery someplace - it's an attitude...

"Back in the days of the old maps, that showed the known world - off on the edges, it showed boiling pots of oil, and dragons, and so on.

"Our whole history has been one of dragon pushing. Pushing dragons back off the edge and filling in those gaps on the maps."


- The late Senator John Glenn, speaking March 16th, 2013, upon receipt of The Explorers Club Legendary Explorers Medal. Glenn passed away at the age of 95 on Dec. 8, 2016.

EXPEDITION FOCUS

Exploring the Kennedy Space Center


A recent trade show in Orlando presented the opportunity to visit the House of the Mouse. But the thought of paying $101 for a ticket to Disney World's Epcot Center, then untold more cash for country-themed trinkets and fast food, paled in comparison to another attraction 50 miles away on the Florida coast.


A visit to the Kennedy Space Center appeals to the inner space geek in all of us. Having grown up with the space program in the 1960s, the original seven were our heroes. The concept of exploration, and the importance to explore, was evident as NASA used original artifacts, advanced audiovisual techniques, spacesuits and a moon rock to tell the epic story of the U.S. space program.

The trip was especially poignant in light of the recent passing of astronaut John Glenn. It felt, in a way, that we were just with him.

Some highlights of the visit:



Our heroes

* When you first enter the newly-opened Heores and Legends building, featuring the U.S. Astronauts Hall of Fame, one of the first displays credits the famous Ernest Shackleton hiring advertisement from 1914 - the one about "Hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness..." Elsewhere, another poster proclaims, "Explorers Wanted."

In fact, the theme for the park, proudly proclaimed on the cover of KSC tourist brochures distributed in literature racks throughout Florida is simply, "Always Exploring."


Sign Us Up

* For an extra fee which we gladly paid, we had lunch with an astronaut. Joseph R. "Joe" Tanner, 66, who flew four times on the Shuttle and conducted seven space walks, hosted a buffet luncheon that included, yup, Tang, the syrupy orange mix that reached new heights when it was chosen to fly with John Glenn on Friendship 7, and on later Gemini Program missions.


One visitor with a seasons pass to KSC chugs a glass of Tang, the iconic space beverage.

Tanner's favorite food in space was peanut butter on a tortilla. Horseradish was also big during his missions; they'd eat it on shrimp to clear their sinuses and restore their sense of smell and taste.

M & Ms were also popular, although they had to refer to it as "candy coated chocolates" because to use a brand name would infer government endorsement which was not allowed.

When asked about the presence of UFOs, Tanner said, "We're not instructed to hide anything. I've spoken to over 300 astronauts and cosmonauts and none of us have seen UFOs."

Later he said, "When I first got into space I was overwhelmed by the sight of the Earth. Don't let anyone convince you the Earth isn't round. Columbus was right."

* Our favorite infographic explained that the average Apollo astronaut was 32.5 years of age, weighed 164 lbs., stood 5 ft. 10 in., was married with two children and owned one dog and one Corvette.

For more information: www.kennedyspacecenter.com

MEDIA MATTERS


Fuel efficient cookstoves can reduce indoor air pollution 90 percent with 75 percent less biomass fuel.

Efforts to Deliver Clean Cookstoves Praised by Costco Magazine

In the December 2016 issue of Costco Connection, the magazine published by the multi-billion dollar global retailer, Himalayan Stove Project (HSP) founder George Basch was recognized as part of its "Changing the World" feature. Basch talks about the lack of ventilation in Nepali homes. "It's a miserable environment," he says, which the magazine concludes is an "environment unsuitable for human inhalation."

Costco Connection has a circulation of 12 million. The HSP has shipped almost 4,000 fuel-efficient Envirofit stoves since it began shipments in 2011. Recent publicity in mainstream media brings hope of further nearing its goals. The story can be viewed at www.costcoconnection.com (page 112) or http://tinyurl.com/georgebasch

EXPEDITION INK


Comrades on the Colca: A Race for Adventure and Incan Treasure in One of the World's Last Unexplored Canyons

by Eugene Buchanan (Conundrum Press, 2016)
Reviewed by Robert F. Wells

Five hundred years of civilization marching on has very little effect on taming a raging river replete with Class V/VI rapids. And in the case of Peru's Colca, the damn thing just rips, and has been doing so for centuries, accomplishing a vertical drop of 2,750 feet over the Canyon's 12 miles. The author, armed with an Explorers Club flag and a collection of crazy Polish adventurers, take off to become the first to descend this stretch of the river.

So how does Incan treasure factor into this tale? The upper Colca Canyon was basically unexplored - not to mention inaccessible. Seemingly, it stood as a perfect place for the Incas to hide their riches from marauding Spanish conquistadors in the 1500's. Ah, legends! Anyway, for Buchanan and his merry band, why just run rivers when you can also run ragged looking for loot?

And ragged this group runs. Super-sucking sieves lure kayaks and rafts like jaws of death. Colossal cataracts hide behind blind corners - thundering through the mist. Canyon heights reach upwards to 13,696 feet ... while the Colca's depth bottoms out at nearly 10,500 feet. Pull-outs are barely existent. While, if lucky enough to find a spot to land, bullet ants, bot flies and "skin-bubbling" plants can't wait to greet you.

You as a reader won't get your feet wet - or bounce off any boulders. But you will experience twists and turns as the Colca cascades downward. You'll meet a competing party intent on becoming the first to navigate this inhospitable stretch of river. And you'll get a better appreciation for the value of teamwork - even among rivals.

Does the expedition find Incan treasure? You'll just have to read the book. And as a pleasant sidelight, when you do, you'll gain a Peruvian history lesson (sans kayak skirts and paddles), understand why Poles have a penchant for Peru, as well as possibly develop an itch to down some coca tea and get up into the Andes to see it for yourself.

Robert Wells, a member of The Explorers Club since 1991, is a resident of South Londonderry, Vt., and a retired executive of the Young & Rubicam ad agency. Wells is also the director of a non-profit steel band (see www.blueflamessteelband.com).

National Outdoor Book Awards Winners Announced

A woman's thousand-mile journey across Alaska in a dogsled. A scientist's quest to find primitive creatures under the seas. The saga of the first ascent of one of the world's most dangerous mountains.

These are some of the themes among this year's winners of the 2016 National Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA). The annual awards program recognizes the best in outdoor writing and publishing.


Among this year's winners is a moving account written by Debbie Clarke Moderow about her experiences competing in Alaska's famous dogsled race, the Iditarod. Entitled Fast Into the Night, Moderow's book portrays all the excitement and adventure that occurs during this most rigorous of races.

Moderow's book won the Outdoor Literature category, one of ten categories making up the awards program. Overall this year, the judges bestowed honors on 17 books.

Sponsors of the program include the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education.

Complete reviews of all 2016 winners may be found at the National Outdoor Book Awards website at: www.noba-web.org.

WEB WATCH


Krystle Wright relentlessly pursues the perfect shot.

Canon Video Profiles Adventure Photographer Krystle Wright

The career of Canon Master and adventure photographer Krystle Wright is profiled in an eight-minute sponsored video directed by Skip Armstrong. The Mysteries - In Pursuit Of The Perfect Shot, follows a tenacious, and perhaps crazy, quest to chase down an elusive image and provides a glimpse into the kind of singular passion that drives people to reach their goals, regardless of what stands in the way. Wright finds herself harnessed to a helicopter skid to photograph BASE jumpers, a project that has consumed her for 4-1/2 years.

Wright, 29, is originally from Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

View it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtIYJvqpu0

It's a great example of so-called sponsored content. Other companies using this marketing tactic effectively are Yeti and Outdoor Research.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS


The stubble should have been our first clue.

What's in a Name?

Last month we incorrectly identified Kelly Cordes as a female climber. Readers pointed out that Kelly is indeed a male. Our Eagle Eyed Award goes to Gaelin Rosenwaks, and Jim Davidson.

Learn more about Cordes' extraordinary career, including his first ascent of the Azeem Ridge on Pakistan's Great Trango Tower at:

http://www.patagonia.com/ambassadors/climbing/kelly-cordes.html

EN HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Once again, in a thinly veiled attempt to scam free product from unsuspecting manufacturers, we offer our favorite gift-giving suggestions for the explorer or adventurer in your life.

Maybe Not the Kind of Rock She Had in Mind


Rock on

Ok, so maybe a $10,000 meteorite is not the kind of rock your partner had in mind for the holidays, but still, they can be first on the block to own one. A meteorite is the only thing they can possess that is not originally from this planet, so it's a good bet it won't be returned like some soap-on-a-rope or a pair of bunny slippers. Membership in the International Meteorite Collectors Association, a real group - yes, we checked - is optional. Just don't call them meteors, the membership gets testy about that.

This 25 pounder is an iron meteorite first discovered in 1971 in Argentina and thought to have fallen 4,000-6,000 years ago. ($7,500 - $10,000, www.thespaceshop.com/meteorite.html)


Why get dressed when you can wear Sospendo all day?

Please Make Them Stop

This is the perfect gift for unselfconscious friends or loved ones who can't bear to be without a screen staring them in the face. We know who you are.

Sospendo is a handsfree smartphone tablet stand that goes where you go thanks to a flexible aluminum band that wraps around your body. We can't stand the sight of it, but who are we to say? We're still wearing ripped jeans from high school. ($49, www.sospendo.com)


Watch the Birdie

Poor Man's Drone

Maybe this is how the cave man captured HD video. Make your GoPro fly, well, like a Birdie with this new device modeled loosely around a shuttlecock.

Toss the device high in the air. Once it reaches peak altitude, the spring-loaded wings unfold making the weight of the GoPro point the Birdie towards earth.

If you fail to catch the Birdie, the base has a built in bumper to protect it from harm or scratched lenses. It also floats which should make it fun at the beach. Unless of course it sinks. That would not be so much fun. ($59, http://birdiepic.com).


A Frank Zappa mustache will make you look faster.

Take a Load Off

Travel is stressful enough without having to walk through airports or train stations. That's why the savvy explorer or adventurer needs Modobag, the world's first motorized, smart and connected carry-on that gets savvy travelers, tech enthusiasts and urban day-trippers to their destination up to three times faster than walking. It's luggage you can ride. Looking like a dork comes at no extra price. ($1,095, www.modobag.com)

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

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: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Seeking the Most Inaccessible Places on Earth


IRISH ADVENTURER SEEKS POLES OF INACCESSIBILITY

Study maps long enough and you're bound to identify a challenge not yet met. Such was the case of the late businessman Dick Bass in 1985 who targeted climbs to the tallest peaks on each continent, the so-called Seven Summits.

Now 46-year old Mike O'Shea, an Irish adventurer and public speaker from Dingle, is set to reach the Poles of Inaccessibility on each landmass on the planet.


Mike O'Shea is going to be rather inaccessible this fall.

A pole of inaccessibility (POI) is a geographical point that represents the most remote place to reach in a given area, often based on distance from the nearest coastline. A geographic concept, the location of a pole of inaccessibility is not necessarily an actual physical feature. Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) was the first to introduce this concept in 1920 to differentiate between the location of the North Pole and the most remote and difficult location to reach in the Arctic.

These locations include some of the most remote and difficult places to reach in the world and although several of them are located near human settlements, reportedly, no one has ever reached all six Poles of Inaccessibility ­- perhaps until now when O'Shea will travel across each full continent via the POI's (coast to pole to coast), beginning this December in North America.

O'Shea will depart for New York in mid-November. To reach each POI, he will proceed by Jeep, on foot, on horseback, motorbike, and in the case of Antarctica, by ski and kite. First stop is the hilly wilderness between the towns of Allen and Kyle in southwestern South Dakota where the North American POI is located. He will then arrive in Los Angeles by the 25th, having traveled 3,380 miles coast-to-coast.

The South American POI, in Brazil, surrounded by lush vegetation, canyons, and waterfalls is next on the schedule.


As part of The Ice Project, O' Shea has crossed Lake Baikal in Northern Russia, Chile's North Patagonian Icecap, the Southern Icecap on Kilimanjaro and a full Greenland crossing. The summer of 2013 also saw Mike guide seven Irish groups up Kilimanjaro. While in Africa Mike also successfully managed to raise funds for and build an orphanage for local children whose parents died of HIV.

His mountaineering experience has allowed him to work on numerous projects such as Red Bull Cliff Diving and Crashed Ice events and international films such as Star Wars. His impressive resume includes 30 years rope access experience, in the Alps, Himalayas, Africa, New Zealand and Iran Jaya; 10 years mountain rescue; 15 years Coast Guard rescue; occupational first aid; and search rescue management.

The €350,000 (approx. $387,000) project is currently self-funded, although sponsors are being sought; their support will help speed-up his estimated 18 to 24-month timeframe.

Learn more about O'Shea's background at www.mikeoshea.ie

The POI project website is: www.thepolesproject.com

To see the list of POI's, view:

http://apl.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ce19bec7a3c541d0b95c449df9bb8eb5

EXPEDITION UPDATE

UNESCO Blocks Effort to Study Columbus' Santa Maria Wreck Site


Evidence continues of possible looting of the Santa Maria shipwreck off Haiti, according to marine archaeologist Barry Clifford who made worldwide news in May 2014 when he presented evidence that the iconic Columbus flagship had been located (see EN, June 2014).

"We have overwhelming evidence regarding the Santa Maria, but UNESCO refuses to review any of our research, or to speak with Professor Charles D. Beeker, Ph.D., or myself," he tells EN. Beeker is the director of Underwater Science at Indiana University Bloomington, and a renowned Columbus scholar.

"Efforts continue to preserve what's left of our important discovery off Cap-Haitian. Professor Beeker, one of the leading lombard (cannon) experts at the Mary Rose Trust, positively identified the round object (we saw) as a section of a lombard - the same artillery pieces Columbus mentions in his Dario."

Clifford, from Provincetown, Mass., continues, "As we have the exact Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) coordinates of our discovery, someday, someone will positively identify the wreck site. Unfortunately, the site is being pulled to pieces by local salvors after UNESCO dismissed our project ... and soon, there will be nothing left of the vessel."

Clifford offers as proof of looting, a video taken by Professor Beeker of a discarded 15th century wrought iron artillery piece suspected to be the Columbus lombard discovered outside the Haitian dive shop and hotel from where UNESCO conducted their investigation of Clifford's discovery.

"The artillery piece was originally observed and noted in-situ by Edwin Link on an expedition to locate the remains of the Santa Maria in 1960, and then again by myself and my associates on an expedition endorsed and made possible by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy."


Lombard discovered and photographed in-situ off Cap-Haitian. (Photo courtesy Brandon Clifford).

Clifford adds, "The lombard is the eighth such 'cannon' discovered in the Western Hemisphere and presumed to be from one of only 20 shipwrecks of this period in the entire world. The lombard was discovered 1.5 nautical miles offshore, the exact distance Columbus stated the Santa Maria wrecked from the fort he built, in part, with the remains of that vessel .... approximately 300 to 400 feet from the 'Columbus anchor' which Edwin Link discovered and donated to the Smithsonian.

"Yet, UNESCO ignored the presence of the looted lombard, which had obviously been illegally taken from our protected wreck site, and broken to pieces along with many other ancient artifacts. They also refused to speak with me or Professor Beeker in the face of our valid permit and my having been appointed by the Prime Minister of Haiti to a Special Commission to protect the Santa Maria," Clifford says.

"UNESCO also refused to review any of our many years of remote sensing survey records, underwater videos and photography."

Beeker dismisses the UNESCO study as inconclusive, and says it didn't analyze the wreck's wood, ballast or datable ceramics. According to Beeker, politics were behind the decision to reject his proposal. He claims UNESCO wouldn't let him back on the wreck if he was working with Clifford. UNESCO denies the decision was political, according to a story in New Scientist (June 11, 2016), by Michael Bawaya.

See a profile of Beeker's work here:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030770-400-shipwreck-archaeologist-versus-treasure-hunters-of-the-caribbean/ (subscription required)

Heard Island Expedition Studies Lagoon,
Communicates with 75K Hams Worldwide


The 2016 Cordell Expedition to Heard Island was the first scientific expedition to this extreme and extremely remote island in the Territory of Australia, in the Southern Ocean, in almost 15 years (see EN, June 2015). The two-month, half-million-dollar project took nearly four years to plan and prepare.

The actual voyage started in March 2016, in Cape Town, South Africa. After a 12-day sail, the expedition reached Heard Island at 53°S 73°E. The onsite team of 14 spent three weeks on the island, documenting significant changes in the two-mile-high volcano, glaciers, lagoons, and wildlife that have occurred over the past decade, and exploring areas not previously visited by anyone.


The Heard Island base camp with its sea of amateur radio antennas.

They were the first to enter and document a two-mile-wide lagoon created in the past ten years by the melting of a major glacier, and collected samples of rocks, sediment, and water. They also carried out an amateur radio operation that logged 75,000 contacts worldwide, and included a number of innovations in radio technology. The return voyage ended in late April in Fremantle, Western Australia.

In addition to the onsite scientific work, the project implemented a large number of infotech innovations, including a live online help desk, the first remote radio operation, the real-time web radio log display, and live Skype interviews with journalists and schools.

It was led by Dr. Robert Schmieder who has been organizing and leading scientific expeditions for 35 years. He is the founder of the nonprofit oceanic research organization Cordell Expeditions, which has to its credit more than 1,000 discoveries, including new species, range and depth extensions, and first observations.

Through the website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, newsletter, and numerous interviews and presentations, this expedition significantly raised the standard for outreach and interactivity for remote scientific projects, according to Schmieder.

For more information: www.heardisland.org

EXPEDITION NOTES

Good Luck Avoiding the Internet Out There


Swedish outdoor brand Haglöfs now offers trekkers on the northern Swedish trail Kungsleden, in the middle of the Swedish wilderness, free Wi-Fi. But there's a catch - it only works when it rains.


Now you can watch cat videos, even in the wilds of Sweden.

The weather in Northern Sweden can get pretty rough, and Haglöfs has helped people endure the weather since 1914. But today people seem to believe that being online is just as important as staying dry when the rain is pouring down. According to a 2014 survey, a good Wi-Fi connection is one on the things people value the most when we are traveling.

A Wi-Fi placed along the trail Kungsleden in northern Sweden gives trekkers the opportunity to go online in places where there normally is no connectivity at all.

Starting last month, anyone planning on heading out for Kungsleden can check out www.haglofsweather.fi to get the latest forecast for the region and to see whether the weather-fi will be up and running.

The free Wi-Fi connection is driven by solar panels, and is linked to a local weather station acting as an on/off switch. The worse the downpour, the better the signal.

Thanks Haglofs. Cue the eye roll. Obviously, there's no exit off the Information Highway.

Read the official announcement here:

http://www.mynewsdesk.com/haglofs/pressreleases/when-it-rains-it-streams-1591232

Watch the video here:

http://www.haglofs.com/se/sv


"Blurring Effect" Can Be Deadly During Himalayan Expeditions

Five decades of Himalayan treks show how collectivism operates in diverse groups.
By studying climbers summiting Mount Everest, Professor Jennifer Chatman of UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, learned when collectivism works, and when it can be deadly.

Cooperation is valued as a key attribute of successful groups, encouraging cohesion among diverse members. But Chatman discovered that there can be a high cost when it comes to decision-making and performance because the tentative ties among diverse group members cause them to overemphasize their shared group identity and overlook the individual differences in skills and experience that can help the group succeed.

She calls this a "blurring effect," which is detailed in her new study, "Blurred Lines: How Collectivism Mutes the Disruptive and Elaborating Effects of Demographic Diversity on Group Performance in Himalayan Mountain Climbing."

"By simply asking people in a diverse group to focus on commonalities within the group, they appear to be unable to also focus on the attributes that differentiate group members from one another. It is like asking people to focus on the forest, which seems to preclude them from also focusing on the trees," says Chatman.

To study how collectivism fails, the researchers tapped the Himalayan Database, a compilation of all expeditions in the Nepalese Himalaya since 1950. Journalist Elizabeth Hawley began compiling this database in 1960, when she moved from the U.S. to Kathmandu, Nepal, and interviewed thousands of climbers who are required to register their expeditions with the Nepalese government.

Read the study here:

http://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research-news/how-himalayan-mountain-climbers-teach-us-work-better-together

High Altitude Remembrance

No matter what your opinion about crowding on Mount Everest, or its commercialization, the mountain still stands as a metaphor for high achievement. When members of the VOICES of September 11 organization, based in New Canaan, Conn., learned that its Flag of Honor was anonymously displayed at Everest base camp last month, the image was proudly shared with thousands via social media.


Everest base camp remembers 9/11 (Photo courtesy Michael W. Halstead, Yachtstore.com)

The photo was taken on Oct. 24 by Michael W. Halstead of Sun Valley, Idaho, and Vero Beach, Fla., during his guided trek to the 17,600-ft. base camp. The flag displays the names of the 2,977 lives lost on that tragic day. VOICES of Sept. 11 was founded by Mary Fetchet in 2001, a mother who lost her 24-year old son Brad on 9/11.

Now 15 years later, VOICES offers help to any community that suffers from an act of terrorism, mass violence or natural disasters. Its VOICES Center of Excellence for Community Resilience helps communities heal after tragedy.

Learn more at: www.voicesofsept11.org

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"


- From The Summer Day by American poet Mary Oliver (1935-)

Read the entire poem here:

https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html

EXPEDITION FOCUS

When You Need a Plumber


By Michael J. Manyak, MD, MED 92
Reprinted by permission from The Explorers Journal

One frequently worries about the local plumbing while in the field, but what if the plumbing of concern is yours? Urinary difficulties range from mildly irritating to exquisitely painful and potentially life-threatening processes. Some remain innocuous, others worsen, and some strike acutely with no warning. Urinary tract problems can occur in the kidney, ureter (tube between the kidney and bladder), bladder, urethra (tube from the bladder to the outside), and in the male genitalia.

Blood in the urine (hematuria) is one of the most common complaints and is disturbing but rarely life-threatening unless massive or if significant trauma has occurred in which case more than one organ system is usually involved. Many conditions can cause hematuria and a little bit of blood looks like a lot. Microscopic hematuria is not something you will notice but may be detected on urinalysis.

In either case of visible or microscopic hematuria, an evaluation by a urologist for the cause is important, though not an emergency. Hematuria can be a harbinger of serious problems like tumors of the urinary tract. Painless hematuria needs to be evaluated in a timely fashion but is rarely a cause for evacuation. Hematuria with pain can be caused by common conditions like urinary calculi (stones) and bladder infections.


Some medications can cause urine to look like it has blood in it. Certain strains of malaria and disorders like sickle cell may also have discolored urine suggestive of blood.

Passage of urinary calculi (stones) is a common, very painful urinary condition. Stone formation occurs with dehydration and in areas where there is a higher mineral concentration in the water. There are stone "belts" in various parts of the world with a high incidence of urinary stones due to increased water mineral content. You should remain well hydrated especially in dry or very hot climates and if you spend a long time in a location, find out whether urinary stones are common.

Stones often cause excruciating flank pain that may radiate to the lower abdomen or groin, waxes and wanes, and often causes nausea and vomiting. Small stones may pass but larger ones can cause complete obstruction.

Passage of a stone provides nearly immediate relief of pain. Obstruction is a medical emergency because the trapped urine can damage the kidney or lead to an infection which is potentially life-threatening. Any fever other than low grade with a suspected urinary stone is an emergency because of the potential for overwhelming infection. Therefore, victims may need to be evacuated for fever or pain control.

The development of acute urinary retention, the inability to pass urine, is a urinary tract emergency. It is accompanied by severe lower abdominal discomfort and distention. This is most often seen in males and commonly related to urethral scar tissue in younger males and prostatic obstruction in older males. This medical emergency is often preceded by difficulty with urination and any man with such issues should consult with a urologist before travel. Antihistamine use can be a cause of urinary retention in men.

Medical consultation is required to relieve acute urinary retention. This usually requires sterile placement of a urinary catheter into the bladder. Older cowboys used to carry a straw in their hatbands for relief but this type of instrumentation is not recommended in the field except in emergency because it may cause an infection. Anyone with this condition should be evacuated.

Bladder infection is another common urologic condition which more often affects women and certainly can occur while traveling. Bladder infection is characterized by frequent urination accompanied by burning and urine may have a foul smell or blood. Recent sexual activity may be related to the infection.

Treatment consists of appropriate antibiotics, hydration, pain medication in severe cases, and medical attention if accompanied by a high fever. Drinking cranberry juice helps prevent urinary tract infections in women.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) may be acquired while traveling. Both gonorrhea and non-specific urethritis from other organisms are prevalent throughout the world and occur within a few days of exposure. STDs can cause burning during urination and a urethral discharge. Broad spectrum antibiotics are required. Other sexually transmitted diseases include HIV/AIDS, syphilis, and other painful or ulcerating disorders that usually manifest from weeks to months after exposure. Do not treat sexually transmitted diseases with just any antibiotic - seek medical attention to assure prescription of the proper antibiotic in an adequate dose.


Michael J. Manyak

Michael J. Manyak, MD, FACS, is an explorer, author, urologist, and corporate medical executive. He serves as Physician Program Lead, Global Medical Director Urology, GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.; Adjunct Professor of Urology and Engineering, The George Washington University; Chief Medical Advisor for Crisis Response, Accenture; and Vice President, National Eagle Scout Association. He resides in Chevy Chase, Md.

MEDIA MATTERS

Pleasure and Pain of Climbing Life


Kelly Cordes in the New York Times (Oct. 28, 2016), writes about the pleasure and pain of the climbing life. She says, in part, "Those remote mountains inspire you, but they scare you, too. You take a deep breath and walk toward them, their stone and ice towering above as you try to quiet your swirling doubts.

"In those moments, I loved it. I hated it. I swore this was the last time. Then I would step off the ground and embrace the unknown, working with my fear in a world of indescribable beauty."

He was injured in a climbing accident at the age of 41 and goes on to recount the anguish of six surgeries over the next 13 months.

Read Cordes' opinion piece here:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/opinion/the-pleasure-and-pain-of-the-climbing-life.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0&referer=

IN PASSING


Dr. Fred Roots on the 2016 SOI Arctic Expedition (Photo by Martin Lipman)

Fred Roots (1923 to 2016), Polar Exploration Legend

Dr. Fred Roots, a Canadian geologist who made significant contributions to polar science and international environmental research and policy, died at the age of 93, unexpectedly and peacefully at his home beside the ocean in East Sooke, British Columbia. It was less than a year after he received The Explorers Club's highest award, The Explorers Club Medal at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, where he received two standing ovations.

A much-honored explorer with a mountain range named after him in Antarctica (the Roots Range),he was a mentor to hundreds of high school students who participated in the Students on Ice (SOI) program.

Geoff Green, founder of SOI says of Roots, "A true scientist and explorer. A founding father of Students on Ice, continuing his advisory and mentorship role right up to our most recent Arctic expedition. From pole to pole, he has touched so many lives, organizations, planetary processes, treaties, agreements, discoveries, and he truly made Canada and the World a better place."

Watch a three-minute video on Roots here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QCv1C6q1RU

Read his obituary in the Canadian Globe and Mail (Nov. 4):

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/fred-roots-was-modest-brilliant-and-a-legend-of-polar-exploration/article32686729/

ON THE HORIZON

Sea Stories Sail into New York Explorers Club, Nov. 12, 2016


On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, The Explorers Club will host its annual Sea Stories, a day focused on ocean exploration, scuba diving and marine life at its headquarters in Manhattan.


Chris Fischer of OCEARCH

Speakers include:

* Dr. Ian Walker - "Hooked: The Tragedy of By-Catch and One Sea Turtle's Story of Rescue and Rehabilitation at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo."

* Chris Fischer - "OCEARCH"

* Jim Kennard - "Discovering Lake Ontario's Historic Shipwrecks"

* Susan Casey - "Voices in the Ocean"

* Joe Mazraani and Anthony Tedeschi - "From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Merchant Mariner's Heroic Role in WWII's Battle for the Atlantic"

The $70 admission includes lunch and 5 p.m. reception. Student price: $35

For more information: https://explorers.org/events/detail/sea_stories_2016

American Alpine Club Annual Dinner, Feb. 24 to 25, 2017, Seattle

The AAC's Annual Benefit Dinner is the Club's largest event of the year where members and guests can rub shoulders with climbing legends, enjoy fine dining and socializing, and celebrate climbing's highest achievements.


Conrad Anker

Keynote speaker is Conrad Anker, billed as, "the man who embodies the new age of super technical explorers."

Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Location: Seattle's Mountaineers Clubhouse, Vertical World, and Seattle Marriott Waterfront. Tickets start at $175 for members.

For more information: www.americanalpineclub.org

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

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: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.

Seeking the Most Inaccessible Places on Earth


IRISH ADVENTURER SEEKS POLES OF INACCESSIBILITY

Study maps long enough and you're bound to identify a challenge not yet met. Such was the case of the late businessman Dick Bass in 1985 who targeted climbs to the tallest peaks on each continent, the so-called Seven Summits.

Now 46-year old Mike O'Shea, an Irish adventurer and public speaker from Dingle, is set to reach the Poles of Inaccessibility on each landmass on the planet.


Mike O'Shea is going to be rather inaccessible this fall.

A pole of inaccessibility (POI) is a geographical point that represents the most remote place to reach in a given area, often based on distance from the nearest coastline. A geographic concept, the location of a pole of inaccessibility is not necessarily an actual physical feature. Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) was the first to introduce this concept in 1920 to differentiate between the location of the North Pole and the most remote and difficult location to reach in the Arctic.

These locations include some of the most remote and difficult places to reach in the world and although several of them are located near human settlements, reportedly, no one has ever reached all six Poles of Inaccessibility ­- perhaps until now when O'Shea will travel across each full continent via the POI's (coast to pole to coast), beginning this December in North America.

O'Shea will depart for New York in mid-November. To reach each POI, he will proceed by Jeep, on foot, on horseback, motorbike, and in the case of Antarctica, by ski and kite. First stop is the hilly wilderness between the towns of Allen and Kyle in southwestern South Dakota where the North American POI is located. He will then arrive in Los Angeles by the 25th, having traveled 3,380 miles coast-to-coast.

The South American POI, in Brazil, surrounded by lush vegetation, canyons, and waterfalls is next on the schedule.


As part of The Ice Project, O' Shea has crossed Lake Baikal in Northern Russia, Chile's North Patagonian Icecap, the Southern Icecap on Kilimanjaro and a full Greenland crossing. The summer of 2013 also saw Mike guide seven Irish groups up Kilimanjaro. While in Africa Mike also successfully managed to raise funds for and build an orphanage for local children whose parents died of HIV.

His mountaineering experience has allowed him to work on numerous projects such as Red Bull Cliff Diving and Crashed Ice events and international films such as Star Wars. His impressive resume includes 30 years rope access experience, in the Alps, Himalayas, Africa, New Zealand and Iran Jaya; 10 years mountain rescue; 15 years Coast Guard rescue; occupational first aid; and search rescue management.

The €350,000 (approx. $387,000) project is currently self-funded, although sponsors are being sought; their support will help speed-up his estimated 18 to 24-month timeframe.

Learn more about O'Shea's background at www.mikeoshea.ie

The POI project website is: www.thepolesproject.com

To see the list of POI's, view:

http://apl.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ce19bec7a3c541d0b95c449df9bb8eb5

EXPEDITION UPDATE

UNESCO Blocks Effort to Study Columbus' Santa Maria Wreck Site


Evidence continues of possible looting of the Santa Maria shipwreck off Haiti, according to marine archaeologist Barry Clifford who made worldwide news in May 2014 when he presented evidence that the iconic Columbus flagship had been located (see EN, June 2014).

"We have overwhelming evidence regarding the Santa Maria, but UNESCO refuses to review any of our research, or to speak with Professor Charles D. Beeker, Ph.D., or myself," he tells EN. Beeker is the director of Underwater Science at Indiana University Bloomington, and a renowned Columbus scholar.

"Efforts continue to preserve what's left of our important discovery off Cap-Haitian. Professor Beeker, one of the leading lombard (cannon) experts at the Mary Rose Trust, positively identified the round object (we saw) as a section of a lombard - the same artillery pieces Columbus mentions in his Dario."

Clifford, from Provincetown, Mass., continues, "As we have the exact Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) coordinates of our discovery, someday, someone will positively identify the wreck site. Unfortunately, the site is being pulled to pieces by local salvors after UNESCO dismissed our project ... and soon, there will be nothing left of the vessel."

Clifford offers as proof of looting, a video taken by Professor Beeker of a discarded 15th century wrought iron artillery piece suspected to be the Columbus lombard discovered outside the Haitian dive shop and hotel from where UNESCO conducted their investigation of Clifford's discovery.

"The artillery piece was originally observed and noted in-situ by Edwin Link on an expedition to locate the remains of the Santa Maria in 1960, and then again by myself and my associates on an expedition endorsed and made possible by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy."


Lombard discovered and photographed in-situ off Cap-Haitian. (Photo courtesy Brandon Clifford).

Clifford adds, "The lombard is the eighth such 'cannon' discovered in the Western Hemisphere and presumed to be from one of only 20 shipwrecks of this period in the entire world. The lombard was discovered 1.5 nautical miles offshore, the exact distance Columbus stated the Santa Maria wrecked from the fort he built, in part, with the remains of that vessel .... approximately 300 to 400 feet from the 'Columbus anchor' which Edwin Link discovered and donated to the Smithsonian.

"Yet, UNESCO ignored the presence of the looted lombard, which had obviously been illegally taken from our protected wreck site, and broken to pieces along with many other ancient artifacts. They also refused to speak with me or Professor Beeker in the face of our valid permit and my having been appointed by the Prime Minister of Haiti to a Special Commission to protect the Santa Maria," Clifford says.

"UNESCO also refused to review any of our many years of remote sensing survey records, underwater videos and photography."

Beeker dismisses the UNESCO study as inconclusive, and says it didn't analyze the wreck's wood, ballast or datable ceramics. According to Beeker, politics were behind the decision to reject his proposal. He claims UNESCO wouldn't let him back on the wreck if he was working with Clifford. UNESCO denies the decision was political, according to a story in New Scientist (June 11, 2016), by Michael Bawaya.

See a profile of Beeker's work here:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030770-400-shipwreck-archaeologist-versus-treasure-hunters-of-the-caribbean/ (subscription required)

Heard Island Expedition Studies Lagoon,
Communicates with 75K Hams Worldwide


The 2016 Cordell Expedition to Heard Island was the first scientific expedition to this extreme and extremely remote island in the Territory of Australia, in the Southern Ocean, in almost 15 years (see EN, June 2015). The two-month, half-million-dollar project took nearly four years to plan and prepare.

The actual voyage started in March 2016, in Cape Town, South Africa. After a 12-day sail, the expedition reached Heard Island at 53°S 73°E. The onsite team of 14 spent three weeks on the island, documenting significant changes in the two-mile-high volcano, glaciers, lagoons, and wildlife that have occurred over the past decade, and exploring areas not previously visited by anyone.


The Heard Island base camp with its sea of amateur radio antennas.

They were the first to enter and document a two-mile-wide lagoon created in the past ten years by the melting of a major glacier, and collected samples of rocks, sediment, and water. They also carried out an amateur radio operation that logged 75,000 contacts worldwide, and included a number of innovations in radio technology. The return voyage ended in late April in Fremantle, Western Australia.

In addition to the onsite scientific work, the project implemented a large number of infotech innovations, including a live online help desk, the first remote radio operation, the real-time web radio log display, and live Skype interviews with journalists and schools.

It was led by Dr. Robert Schmieder who has been organizing and leading scientific expeditions for 35 years. He is the founder of the nonprofit oceanic research organization Cordell Expeditions, which has to its credit more than 1,000 discoveries, including new species, range and depth extensions, and first observations.

Through the website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, newsletter, and numerous interviews and presentations, this expedition significantly raised the standard for outreach and interactivity for remote scientific projects, according to Schmieder.

For more information: www.heardisland.org

EXPEDITION NOTES

Good Luck Avoiding the Internet Out There


Swedish outdoor brand Haglöfs now offers trekkers on the northern Swedish trail Kungsleden, in the middle of the Swedish wilderness, free Wi-Fi. But there's a catch - it only works when it rains.


Now you can watch cat videos, even in the wilds of Sweden.

The weather in Northern Sweden can get pretty rough, and Haglöfs has helped people endure the weather since 1914. But today people seem to believe that being online is just as important as staying dry when the rain is pouring down. According to a 2014 survey, a good Wi-Fi connection is one on the things people value the most when we are traveling.

A Wi-Fi placed along the trail Kungsleden in northern Sweden gives trekkers the opportunity to go online in places where there normally is no connectivity at all.

Starting last month, anyone planning on heading out for Kungsleden can check out www.haglofsweather.fi to get the latest forecast for the region and to see whether the weather-fi will be up and running.

The free Wi-Fi connection is driven by solar panels, and is linked to a local weather station acting as an on/off switch. The worse the downpour, the better the signal.

Thanks Haglofs. Cue the eye roll. Obviously, there's no exit off the Information Highway.

Read the official announcement here:

http://www.mynewsdesk.com/haglofs/pressreleases/when-it-rains-it-streams-1591232

Watch the video here:

http://www.haglofs.com/se/sv


"Blurring Effect" Can Be Deadly During Himalayan Expeditions

Five decades of Himalayan treks show how collectivism operates in diverse groups.
By studying climbers summiting Mount Everest, Professor Jennifer Chatman of UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, learned when collectivism works, and when it can be deadly.

Cooperation is valued as a key attribute of successful groups, encouraging cohesion among diverse members. But Chatman discovered that there can be a high cost when it comes to decision-making and performance because the tentative ties among diverse group members cause them to overemphasize their shared group identity and overlook the individual differences in skills and experience that can help the group succeed.

She calls this a "blurring effect," which is detailed in her new study, "Blurred Lines: How Collectivism Mutes the Disruptive and Elaborating Effects of Demographic Diversity on Group Performance in Himalayan Mountain Climbing."

"By simply asking people in a diverse group to focus on commonalities within the group, they appear to be unable to also focus on the attributes that differentiate group members from one another. It is like asking people to focus on the forest, which seems to preclude them from also focusing on the trees," says Chatman.

To study how collectivism fails, the researchers tapped the Himalayan Database, a compilation of all expeditions in the Nepalese Himalaya since 1950. Journalist Elizabeth Hawley began compiling this database in 1960, when she moved from the U.S. to Kathmandu, Nepal, and interviewed thousands of climbers who are required to register their expeditions with the Nepalese government.

Read the study here:

http://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research-news/how-himalayan-mountain-climbers-teach-us-work-better-together

High Altitude Remembrance

No matter what your opinion about crowding on Mount Everest, or its commercialization, the mountain still stands as a metaphor for high achievement. When members of the VOICES of September 11 organization, based in New Canaan, Conn., learned that its Flag of Honor was anonymously displayed at Everest base camp last month, the image was proudly shared with thousands via social media.


Everest base camp remembers 9/11 (Photo courtesy Michael W. Halstead, Yachtstore.com)

The photo was taken on Oct. 24 by Michael W. Halstead of Sun Valley, Idaho, and Vero Beach, Fla., during his guided trek to the 17,600-ft. base camp. The flag displays the names of the 2,977 lives lost on that tragic day. VOICES of Sept. 11 was founded by Mary Fetchet in 2001, a mother who lost her 24-year old son Brad on 9/11.

Now 15 years later, VOICES offers help to any community that suffers from an act of terrorism, mass violence or natural disasters. Its VOICES Center of Excellence for Community Resilience helps communities heal after tragedy.

Learn more at: www.voicesofsept11.org

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"


- From The Summer Day by American poet Mary Oliver (1935-)

Read the entire poem here:

https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html

EXPEDITION FOCUS

When You Need a Plumber


By Michael J. Manyak, MD, MED 92
Reprinted by permission from The Explorers Journal

One frequently worries about the local plumbing while in the field, but what if the plumbing of concern is yours? Urinary difficulties range from mildly irritating to exquisitely painful and potentially life-threatening processes. Some remain innocuous, others worsen, and some strike acutely with no warning. Urinary tract problems can occur in the kidney, ureter (tube between the kidney and bladder), bladder, urethra (tube from the bladder to the outside), and in the male genitalia.

Blood in the urine (hematuria) is one of the most common complaints and is disturbing but rarely life-threatening unless massive or if significant trauma has occurred in which case more than one organ system is usually involved. Many conditions can cause hematuria and a little bit of blood looks like a lot. Microscopic hematuria is not something you will notice but may be detected on urinalysis.

In either case of visible or microscopic hematuria, an evaluation by a urologist for the cause is important, though not an emergency. Hematuria can be a harbinger of serious problems like tumors of the urinary tract. Painless hematuria needs to be evaluated in a timely fashion but is rarely a cause for evacuation. Hematuria with pain can be caused by common conditions like urinary calculi (stones) and bladder infections.


Some medications can cause urine to look like it has blood in it. Certain strains of malaria and disorders like sickle cell may also have discolored urine suggestive of blood.

Passage of urinary calculi (stones) is a common, very painful urinary condition. Stone formation occurs with dehydration and in areas where there is a higher mineral concentration in the water. There are stone "belts" in various parts of the world with a high incidence of urinary stones due to increased water mineral content. You should remain well hydrated especially in dry or very hot climates and if you spend a long time in a location, find out whether urinary stones are common.

Stones often cause excruciating flank pain that may radiate to the lower abdomen or groin, waxes and wanes, and often causes nausea and vomiting. Small stones may pass but larger ones can cause complete obstruction.

Passage of a stone provides nearly immediate relief of pain. Obstruction is a medical emergency because the trapped urine can damage the kidney or lead to an infection which is potentially life-threatening. Any fever other than low grade with a suspected urinary stone is an emergency because of the potential for overwhelming infection. Therefore, victims may need to be evacuated for fever or pain control.

The development of acute urinary retention, the inability to pass urine, is a urinary tract emergency. It is accompanied by severe lower abdominal discomfort and distention. This is most often seen in males and commonly related to urethral scar tissue in younger males and prostatic obstruction in older males. This medical emergency is often preceded by difficulty with urination and any man with such issues should consult with a urologist before travel. Antihistamine use can be a cause of urinary retention in men.

Medical consultation is required to relieve acute urinary retention. This usually requires sterile placement of a urinary catheter into the bladder. Older cowboys used to carry a straw in their hatbands for relief but this type of instrumentation is not recommended in the field except in emergency because it may cause an infection. Anyone with this condition should be evacuated.

Bladder infection is another common urologic condition which more often affects women and certainly can occur while traveling. Bladder infection is characterized by frequent urination accompanied by burning and urine may have a foul smell or blood. Recent sexual activity may be related to the infection.

Treatment consists of appropriate antibiotics, hydration, pain medication in severe cases, and medical attention if accompanied by a high fever. Drinking cranberry juice helps prevent urinary tract infections in women.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) may be acquired while traveling. Both gonorrhea and non-specific urethritis from other organisms are prevalent throughout the world and occur within a few days of exposure. STDs can cause burning during urination and a urethral discharge. Broad spectrum antibiotics are required. Other sexually transmitted diseases include HIV/AIDS, syphilis, and other painful or ulcerating disorders that usually manifest from weeks to months after exposure. Do not treat sexually transmitted diseases with just any antibiotic - seek medical attention to assure prescription of the proper antibiotic in an adequate dose.


Michael J. Manyak

Michael J. Manyak, MD, FACS, is an explorer, author, urologist, and corporate medical executive. He serves as Physician Program Lead, Global Medical Director Urology, GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.; Adjunct Professor of Urology and Engineering, The George Washington University; Chief Medical Advisor for Crisis Response, Accenture; and Vice President, National Eagle Scout Association. He resides in Chevy Chase, Md.

MEDIA MATTERS

Pleasure and Pain of Climbing Life


Kelly Cordes in the New York Times (Oct. 28, 2016), writes about the pleasure and pain of the climbing life. She says, in part, "Those remote mountains inspire you, but they scare you, too. You take a deep breath and walk toward them, their stone and ice towering above as you try to quiet your swirling doubts.

"In those moments, I loved it. I hated it. I swore this was the last time. Then I would step off the ground and embrace the unknown, working with my fear in a world of indescribable beauty."

He was injured in a climbing accident at the age of 41 and goes on to recount the anguish of six surgeries over the next 13 months.

Read Cordes' opinion piece here:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/opinion/the-pleasure-and-pain-of-the-climbing-life.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0&referer=

IN PASSING


Dr. Fred Roots on the 2016 SOI Arctic Expedition (Photo by Martin Lipman)

Fred Roots (1923 to 2016), Polar Exploration Legend

Dr. Fred Roots, a Canadian geologist who made significant contributions to polar science and international environmental research and policy, died at the age of 93, unexpectedly and peacefully at his home beside the ocean in East Sooke, British Columbia. It was less than a year after he received The Explorers Club's highest award, The Explorers Club Medal at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, where he received two standing ovations.

A much-honored explorer with a mountain range named after him in Antarctica (the Roots Range),he was a mentor to hundreds of high school students who participated in the Students on Ice (SOI) program.

Geoff Green, founder of SOI says of Roots, "A true scientist and explorer. A founding father of Students on Ice, continuing his advisory and mentorship role right up to our most recent Arctic expedition. From pole to pole, he has touched so many lives, organizations, planetary processes, treaties, agreements, discoveries, and he truly made Canada and the World a better place."

Watch a three-minute video on Roots here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QCv1C6q1RU

Read his obituary in the Canadian Globe and Mail (Nov. 4):

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/fred-roots-was-modest-brilliant-and-a-legend-of-polar-exploration/article32686729/

ON THE HORIZON

Sea Stories Sail into New York Explorers Club, Nov. 12, 2016


On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, The Explorers Club will host its annual Sea Stories, a day focused on ocean exploration, scuba diving and marine life at its headquarters in Manhattan.


Chris Fischer of OCEARCH

Speakers include:

* Dr. Ian Walker - "Hooked: The Tragedy of By-Catch and One Sea Turtle's Story of Rescue and Rehabilitation at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo."

* Chris Fischer - "OCEARCH"

* Jim Kennard - "Discovering Lake Ontario's Historic Shipwrecks"

* Susan Casey - "Voices in the Ocean"

* Joe Mazraani and Anthony Tedeschi - "From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Merchant Mariner's Heroic Role in WWII's Battle for the Atlantic"

The $70 admission includes lunch and 5 p.m. reception. Student price: $35

For more information: https://explorers.org/events/detail/sea_stories_2016

American Alpine Club Annual Dinner, Feb. 24 to 25, 2017, Seattle

The AAC's Annual Benefit Dinner is the Club's largest event of the year where members and guests can rub shoulders with climbing legends, enjoy fine dining and socializing, and celebrate climbing's highest achievements.


Conrad Anker

Keynote speaker is Conrad Anker, billed as, "the man who embodies the new age of super technical explorers."

Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Location: Seattle's Mountaineers Clubhouse, Vertical World, and Seattle Marriott Waterfront. Tickets start at $175 for members.

For more information: www.americanalpineclub.org

EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS

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: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Sponsored-Explorers-Adventurers-Travelers-ebook/dp/B00H12FLH2

Advertise in Expedition News – For more information: blumassoc@aol.com.