Indholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2016 i The Explorers Journal

subscribe to THE EXPLORERS JOURNAL online today! WWW.EXPLORERS.ORG AVAILABLE IN PRINT AND AS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION From vast ocean depths to the frontiers of outer space, THE EXPLORERS JOURNAL offers firsthand reporting from those pushing the limits of knowledge and human endurance. Founded in 1904 to promote exploration “by all means possible,” The Explorers Club is an international organization dedicated to the advancement of field exploration and scientific inquiry. Among our members are leading pioneers in oceanography, mountaineering, archaeology, and the planetary and environmental sciences.…

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,…

232 PP • BERKELEY: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, 2016 • ISBN-10: 0520285689 • ISBN-13: 978-0520285682 • $29.95 One hundred and sixty years ago a Czech father and son, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, famed for their 3,000 glass flowers housed at Harvard University, created more than 3,500 extraordinary lifelike glass representations of octopuses, jellyfish, and other ocean invertebrates. The Blaschkas had numerous marine animals sent from a marine lab so they could observe, sketch, and finally create the figures. They were inspired by the appearance of the creatures and their vivid coloring, which could be so well rendered in glass. More than a century later, broken pieces of a glass octopus were found by marine biologist Drew Harvell, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. She restored the…

532 PP • NEW YORK: WILLIAM MORROW, 2016 • ISBN-10: 0062407392 • ISBN-13: 978-0062407399 • $28.99 William Carlsen’s new book, Jungle of Stone, recounts the 1839–1841 adventures and discoveries of American diplomat and explorer John Lloyd Stephens and British artist and architect Frederick Catherwood in the land of the ancient Maya in the jungles of Mexico and Central America. The Maya, whose culture flourished from circa 2000 b.c. to around a.d. 1000, are known for the vast urban centers with temples and palaces built of stone; complex written language; and capacity for astronomical observation. By the time of Catherwood and Stephens’ arrival, the jungle had reclaimed much of what remained of many Classic period sites. The duo began their travels in present-day Belize, visiting the site of Copán, which Stephens…

SEN. JOHN GLENN HAS SAID THAT EXPLORATION IS “CURIOSITY IN ACTION.” AS A KID GROWING UP NEAR BUFFALO, NEW YORK, DAREDEVIL STEVE TROTTER, 54, WAS CURIOUS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO GO OVER NIAGARA FALLS IN A BARREL. SO IN 1985, THE THEN 22-YEAR-OLD PUT HIS DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF MECHANICS TO USE, DESIGNING A CRAFT EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE TASK. ON AUGUST 18 OF THAT YEAR, HE WENT OVER THE FALLS, BECOMING THE YOUNGEST PERSON TO DO SO. NOT ONE TO REST ON HIS LAURELS, TROTTER PUT HIS CURIOSITY TO WORK A SECOND TIME (IN 1995) RIDING OVER THE FALLS IN A VEHICLE BUILT FOR TWO. JC: Describe the feeling going over Niagara Falls your first time. ST: I’m strapped in [the barrel] with a fivepoint drag-racing harness. With 50 feet…

In June, two extraordinary “ships”—Solar Impulse 2 and Hokule‘a— crossed paths in New York, each on their way to completing a circumnavigation of our planet. One came by air, the other by sea. One is powered by the sun, the other by the wind and waves. One was constructed using extraordinary modern technology, the other, through reimagining a sailing vessel that until several decades ago had not been built for more than 600 years. As might be expected, at the helm of these voyages are remarkable individuals with great vision, passion, and endurance— Explorers Club fellows Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, the pilots of Solar Impulse 2, and Nainoa Thompson, Pwo navigator of Hokule‘a—who have invested years in their respective missions, assembling dynamic teams and partnerships to make their lofty…

“THE OCEAN IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE EXHIBITION SPACE ONE COULD EVER WISH FOR,” SAYS BRITISH ARTIST JASON DECAIRES TAYLOR, WHO IS CURRENTLY MIDWAY THROUGH THE INSTALLATION OF MORE THAN 300 SCULPTURES SOME 14 METERS DOWN ON THE SEAFLOOR AT THE NEW MUSEO ATLÁNTICO, THE FIRST UNDERWATER CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM IN EUROPE. YET THIS LATEST ENDEAVOR, SLATED FOR COMPLETION IN JANUARY 2017, IS FAR MORE THAN AN EXTREME ART PROJECT: IN TIME, THE SCULPTURES—SITED IN CLEAR, BLUE WATERS OFF THE COAST OF LANZAROTE IN THE CANARY ISLANDS—WILL BE TRANSFORMED INTO AN ARTIFICIAL CORAL REEF TEEMING WITH MARINE LIFE. OVER THE PAST DECADE, TAYLOR, A GRADUATE OF THE LONDON INSTITUTE OF ARTS, HAS UNDERTAKEN THREE SUCH AMBITIOUS REEF RESTORATION PROJECTS—IN THE WATERS OFF GRENADA IN THE WEST INDIES; THE RESORT CITY OF…

292 PP • NEW YORK: FLATIRON BOOKS, 2016 • 978-1-250-05268 (HARDCOVER) • ISBN 978-250-05389-3 (E-BOOK) • $16.65/$12.99 • REVIEWED BY CARL G. SCHUSTER For his latest book, George Michelsen Foy draws on a dark moment in family history, when, in 1844, his great-great-grandfather, Halvor Michelsen, captain of a Norwegian cargo ship, perished at sea after getting lost in a snowstorm off the coast of Norway. The author embarks on a retrace of his ancestor’s trip using only period instruments. Initially, his hope is to provide a modicum of emotional closure to a century-old family mystery by gaining a grasp of the complexities of navigating that treacherous stretch of the North Atlantic. Yet, in the process, Foy accomplishes far more. Using the tragic event as a touchstone, he crafts an elegant…

352 PP • SURREY: MEDINA PUBLISHING, 2015 • ISBN-10: 1909339539 • ISBN-13: 978-1909339538 • £22.95 • REVIEWED BY NICK SMITH Harvard University lecturer Jenny Balfour Paul has spent much of her life sailing the seven seas in search of that magical dyestuff, indigo. The acknowledged world expert on the subject, her seminal Indigo, first published nearly two decades ago, is rightly held up as the final court of appeal in these matters. But if her international band of loyal readers are anything like me, they always wanted to know more about not just indigo but about the intrepid author behind the bestseller. With Deeper than Indigo, we not only get both thirsts quenched, but a rare treat in forensic biography. Balfour Paul’s latest is also a quest in search of…

“I know if my ice ax has made a safe strike in the ice and if it is going to hold my weight simply by the sound it makes…I also listen to the sound of space—the sound of open space versus the sound of closed space—so I know just where the drop-offs are,” says Seven Summits climber Erik Weihenmayer, who lost his sight at age 13. Weihenmayer contends that many of us have been so blinded by the gift of sight that we rarely exploit the full capacity of our remaining senses—particularly that of audioception, which provides a wealth of information about our surrounding environment. And it is precisely this information that may hold the key to preserving what remains of the natural world, according to renowned bioacoustician Bernie Krause,…

A FELLOW OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB SINCE 2008, MICHAEL AW IS A SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA-BASED WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER, PHOTO JOURNALIST, EXPLORER, AND AUTHOR WHOSE ESSAYS AND IMAGES HAVE APPEARED IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, SMITHSONIAN, NATURE, AND OCEAN GEOGRAPHIC. NAMED ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS BY OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY, HE HAS RECEIVED FOUR WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS FROM THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN LONDON SINCE 2000. AW IS THE AUTHOR OF 35 BOOKS ON THE SEA, OF WHICH HEART OF THE OCEAN AND INDONESIA’S GLOBAL TREASURE WON THE PALME D’OR AT THE WORLD UNDERWATER PICTURES FESTIVAL IN MARSEILLE, FRANCE, IN 2010 AND 2013, RESPECTIVELY. It has often been said that some of the best ideas have emerged over drinks. Such was the case with our recent Elysium Artists for the…

A TEXAS-BASED KAYAKER, WEST HANSEN WAS THE LEADER OF THE 2012 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AMAZON EXPRESS AND THE 2014 VOLGA RIVER EXPEDITIONS. HE HAS SET SEVERAL SPEED RECORDS ON THE MISSOURI RIVER 340 AND THE 260-MILE TEXAS WATER SAFARI. THIS JULY HE IS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK THE SPEED RECORD CIRCUMNAVIGATING VANCOUVER ISLAND, SELF-SUPPORTED IN A SEA KAYAK. In his article “Elusive Origins of the Amazon,” which appeared in the Winter 2015 edition of THE EXPLORERS JOURNAL, noted Polish explorer and kayaker Piotr Chmielinski wrote, “According to the widely accepted definition, the source of a river is a point where its most distant and continually (year-round and uninterrupted) running tributary rises.” Chmielinski then went on to make a case for Lake Ticlla Cocha, which feeds the Carhuasanta Creek, one of a number…

288 PP • BOULDER: SHAMBALA PRESS, 2015 • ISBN-10: 1611801257 • ISBN-13: 978-1611801255 • $16.95 Well-respected translator of samurai texts, and prolific author, William Scott Wilson writes about multiple journeys in his new book, Walking the Kiso Road: A Modern-Day Exploration of Old Japan. The 775-kilometer-long Kiso Road runs through the Japanese Alps, a particularly remote and beautiful part of the country that retains much of its medieval character. Inns, shrines, and post towns still dot the route, a highway once used by war lords to reach Edo, modern-day Tokyo. Much of the road is still paved with cobbled stones laid down in the early seventeenth century, although the path itself is far more ancient and, as Wilson says, has been in use for millennia. The road winds through cedar…

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 Elaine Wyatt chapterchair@explorersclub.ca CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA Prof. Claudio Cristino Tel: 562-458-3736 cristino@uchile.cl 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 AND WESTERN EUROPE Seb Coulthard Tel: 44-7960-479485 sebcoulthard@hotmail.com GREATER PIEDMONT David N. Brinkman dobrink@bellsouth.net HONG KONG Michael E. Barth mebarth@explorershk.org Sharon Kwok Pong sharonkwokpong@gmail.com NEW ENGLAND Gregory Deyermenjian Tel: 781-968-5174 paititi@alumni.clarku.edu NORTH PACIFIC ALASKA Mead Treadwell Tel: 907-258-7764 Fax: 907-258-7768 meadwell@alaska.net NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Joan…

John G. Alexander 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. Bjorn G. Bolstad* Capt. Bruce M. Bongar, Ph.D. Brian M. Boom, Ph.D. Garrett R. Bowden Capt. Lawson W. Brigham, Ph.D., USCG (ret.) Harry Davis Brooks Lt. Col. Jewell Richard Browder* August “Augie” Brown John C.D. Bruno Lee R. Bynum* Virginia Castagnola Hunter Julianne M. Chase, Ph.D. James M. Chester* Maj. Gen. Arthur W. Clark, USAF (Ret.) Capt. William Clark* Steven Cohen, Ph.D. (hon.) Leslie E. Colby* Jonathan M. Conrad Catherine Nixon Cooke S. Allen Counter, Ph.D., D.M.Sc. Lynn D. Danaher Constance Difede David A. Dolan Mr. & Mrs. James Donovan Col. William H. Dribben, USA (Ret.)* Amelia…