Indholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2017 - 2018 i The Explorers Journal

This past November I went to Antarctica for the first time, and it was all I had imagined: majestic, immense, inspiring. If you haven’t been, you must find a way to go—words and images cannot convey what it’s like to be there. The Explorers Club has a long and deep connection with this frozen continent. Roald Amundsen (“famously first” to the South Pole) was a member, as was Admiral Richard Byrd (first flight to the Pole), and Sir Ernest Shackleton, the latter continuing to inspire lectures, Broadway shows, and museum exhibitions. Science has always been profoundly interwoven with exploration here, with the ill-fated Scott Polar Party carrying geologic samples to the bitter end, serving as a poignant example. In a very real sense, Antarctica itself is an enormous laboratory, with…

THE EXPLORERS JOURNAL: You’re in your eighty-fourth year and still climbing. What’s your secret? CHRIS BONINGTON: I just love doing it. As I got into my seventies I started to stiffen up a bit and I noticed I didn’t have the stamina I used to have. Right the way through my seventies I went trekking and climbing in Morocco every year. But I was choosing slightly gentler things to do. I’ve always climbed with close friends, but I also seem to climb with people who tend to be 20 years younger than me. So when I was in my forties, we were about level pegging. These days my climbing companions are happy to drop their standard a bit to accommodate me, and I tend to “second” the harder pitches now.…

JOIN THE “EXPLORERS IMMORTALS” AND ENGRAVE YOUR NAME OR DEDICATION IN STONE ON NEW PAVERS FOR THE LEFRAK TERRACE AT EXPLORERS CLUB HEADQUARTERS. ADORN OUR LANDMARK OUTDOOR SPACE AND HELP PAY FOR URGENT WORK FOR PHASE II RENOVATIONS BY MAKING A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION OF $2,500 PER DEDICATED PAVER TO OUR LOWELL THOMAS BUILDING FUND. THE EXPLORERS CLUB WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING WHO HAVE PURCHASED A PAVER: Robert Ashton, James H. Alexander, John G. Alexander, Darlene T. Anderson, Jeanne D. Andlinger, Barbara Annan, Robert J. Aresty, Atlanta Chapter, Robert J. Atwater, Norman L. Baker, Andreas Bender, Josh Bernstein, John Bierley, Bruce Blanchard, John R. Bockstoce, Brian M. Boom, John R. Boreske Jr., Gary W. Bowersox, Lawson W. Brigham, Diane Britz-Lotti, Julianne M. Chase, James M. Clash, Allen S. Counter,…

In the wake of what some have called the Golden Age of Exploration, technology has advanced at an ever-increasing pace—from the heady days of Harrison’s pioneering work on the development of a reliable marine chronometer in the mid-eighteenth century to the satellite communications and remote sensing devices upon which explorers are reliant today. Yet, as this edition’s authors know, technology alone cannot solve all problems encountered in exploration, particularly when it comes to overcoming political and mental obstacles. In recounting his recent attempt to retrace T.E. Lawrence’s legendary 49-hour journey from Aqaba in present-day Jordan to Egypt’s Port Suez a century ago, Steve Pigott regales us with the beauty and wonder that has become synonymous with the desert landscape of the Sinai Peninsula. Yet as he soon found out, the…

RETURN OF FLAG Nº97 FLAG Nº97 WAS FIRST CARRIED INTO THE FIELD IN 1939, WHEN IT ACCOMPANIED JOHN E. WILLIAMSON ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE BAHAMAS. IT WOULD BE NEARLY 50 YEARS BEFORE IT RETURNED TO THE FIELD, CARRIED TO ANNAPURNA II, IN THE EASTERN ANNAPURNA RANGE WITH EXPLORER STEVE BRIMMER IN 1990. SINCE THEN, FLAG Nº97 HAS FLOWN IN THE FIELD ON 17 EXPEDITIONS, FROM THE FABLED RUB’ AL KHALI (“EMPTY QUARTER”) OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA TO THE JUNGLES OF BELIZE AND PERU. I first learned of Caño Cristales, the “crystal river,” nearly a decade ago, following a screening of one of my films about extreme forces of nature. One of the audience members told me of a magical river in the Serranía de la Macarena, deep in the…

46 EAST 70TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10021 I 212-628-8383 I WWW.EXPLORERS.ORG ALASKA L. Michelle Ridgway† Tel: 907-957-2277 mishridgway@gmail.com ATLANTA Steve Pigott Tel: 770-337-5450 jagter@msn.com AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND Todd Tai todd@mivision.com.au CANADA Ray Hyland chapterchair@explorersclub.ca CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA Jimmy McSparron jimmy@trekkingnut.com CHICAGO/GREAT LAKES Robert A. Shuchman, Ph.D. Tel: 734-649-0937 shuchman@mtu.edu EAST AND SOUTH ASIA Steven R. Schwankert Tel: 86-1350-116-3629 steven@sinoscuba.com FLORIDA Aida “Idee” Belau Tel: 321-243-8448 chair@floridaexplorersclub.org GEORGE ROGERS CLARK Leonard A. Weakley, Jr. Tel: 513-702-0725 lweakley@rendigs.com GREAT BRITAIN Eleuthera du Breuil Tel: 44-2036036974 eleutheradb@hotmail.com GREATER PIEDMONT David N. Brinkman dobrink@bellsouth.net HONG KONG Michael E. Barth mebarth@explorershk.org Tel: 852-9618-8850 NEW ENGLAND Gregory Deyermenjian Tel: 781-968-5174 paititi@alumni.clarku.edu NORTH PACIFIC ALASKA Mead Treadwell Tel: 907-258-7764 Fax:…

PRESIDENT Theodore P. Janulis HONORARY CHAIRMAN Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D. HONORARY PRESIDENT Don Walsh, Ph.D. HONORARY DIRECTORS Robert D. Ballard, Ph.D. Sylvia A. Earle, Ph.D. James M. Fowler Gilbert M. Grosvenor Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D. Richard E. Leakey, D.Sc. Frederik D.A. Paulsen, Ph.D. Roland R. Puton Johan Reinhard, Ph.D. Edward P. Roski, Jr. George B. Schaller, Ph.D. Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D. Don Walsh, Ph.D. HRH Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck BOARD OF DIRECTORS CLASS OF 2018 Robert J. Atwater Harry D. Brooks James M. Edwards, M.D. J. Mark Fowler Jr. Brian P. Hanson CLASS OF 2019 Aida “Idee” Belau Daniel A. Kobal, Ph.D. Damien Leloup Milbry C. Polk Synnøve Marie Kvam Strømsvåg CLASS OF 2020 Capt. Lynn D. Danaher Constance Difede Richard Garriott de Cayeux Theodore P. Janulis Alexander…

Sixty years ago, a team of men earned their place in polar history. The first crossing of Antarctica in the austral summer of 1957–58 was one of the twentieth century’s triumphs of exploration. It was a powerful expression of technological endeavor as much as a testament of sheer, bloody-minded human willpower. It was a journey long thought impossible, but after almost five years of effort, the dream was at last fulfilled. New Zealander George Lowe was a key member of this Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE). He proved to be both a master of ice and a very talented photographer, just as he had done a few years before on that other great expedition of the era: the first ascent of Everest. In celebration of the success of the TAE, we…

THE UN-DISCOVERED ISLANDS BY MALACHY TALLACK, ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATIE SCOTT 144 PP • NEW YORK: PICADOR, 2017 • ISBN-10: 1250148448 • ISBN-13: 978-1250148445 • $20 In his new book, The Un-discovered Islands: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes, author and songwriter Malachy Tallack examines historic maps of oceans and tells the stories of islands that at one time were believed to exist but after a time and several searches were quietly erased from maps. Tallack categorizes his lost islands into five types: islands of life and death, which lived mostly in myth; islands “found’ by early explorers; supposed sunken islands; and fraudulent islands invented for gain. Examples of the later include Admiral Peary and his Crocker Land. Tallack relates how the British Navy decided to “tidy up” their…

“The Explorers Club is a major international force promoting exploration of land, sea, air, and space. Our Club’s Legacy Society is an essential part of our continuing support of the spirit of exploration. Our Legacy Society is an essential part of our continuing support of the spirit of exploration. As a Fellow of our organization for more than 55 years, I urge you to join me as a member of the Legacy Society. This will help insure a robust future for the Club’s missions.”—Capt. Don Walsh, USN (Ret.). MED’61 John G. Alexander Alan B. Albright Robert J. Atwater Capt. Norman L. Baker* Barbara Ballard Robert D. Ballard, Ph.D. Samuel B. Ballen* Mark Gregory Bayuk Daniel A. Bennett Josh Bernstein Bruce Blanchard John R. Bockstoce, D.Phil. Jack Aaron Boggs Bjorn…

THE APOLLO 8 MISSION CHRISTMAS EVE 1968 WAS THE FIRST TIME MEN FLEW TO THE MOON. WHILE FRANK BORMAN, JIM LOVELL, AND BILL ANDERS DIDN’T LAND ON THE LUNAR SURFACE, THE CREW CAPTURED AWE-INSPIRING PHOTOS LOOKING BACK AT EARTH. ANDERS, NOW 84 BUT ALL OF 35 AT THE TIME, WAS AT THE “RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME,” AS HE DESCRIBES IT. HIS PHOTO WAS SELECTED BY NASA TO REPRESENT THE MISSION, AND LATER BECAME AN ICON OF THE 20TH CENTURY. JC: How did the Earthrise shot come about? BA: Up close, the Moon actually looks like a beat-up, sandblasted ball. Once we circularized orbit and ended up going forward for the first time, me, Lovell and Borman suddenly said at once, “Look at that”—this gorgeous, colorful, beautiful planet of ours coming…