Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2021 i The Explorers Journal

When I joined The Explorers Club in 1989, I was thrilled to be accepted as a member, though intimidated by the stature of the explorers who had come before me and who were active in the Club. Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined one day leading the organization. I was very fortunate to have a strong mentor take me under his wing. Former president Fred McLaren had always been an inspiration for me. But he was equally a teacher, someone who helped me understand the Club more fully. And it is in this spirit that I welcome my successor, Richard Garriott de Cayeux—an astronaut and aquanaut, a person of tremendous accomplishment, and an explorer of immense vision. It is my great hope that all of you give…

Between February 1 and 3, Victor Vescovo and Clifford Kapono officially made the first “full ascent” of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea from its base some 5,116 meters down on the ocean floor to its summit 4,207 meters above sea level—for a total vertical gain of more than 9,300 meters—in one continuous journey. Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii and the highest point in the state. Most of the volcano is underwater, and when measured from its underwater base, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world. The feat was undertaken through a combination of submersible, paddling in an open-water canoe, bicycling, and hiking. Save for the minimal electrical power needed for the submersible’s descent and ascent, the ascent was achieved using only human power. For…

448 PP • VANCOUVER: UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS, 2020 • ISBN-10: 077486222X • ISBN-13: 978-0774862226 • $45 Explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, James Cook (1728–1799) is best remembered for his three major pioneering round-the-world expeditions in the ships Endeavour and Resolution, during which he sailed across thousands of nautical miles of largely uncharted seas. He circumnavigated and mapped lands across the Pacific Ocean, from New Zealand to Hawaii, in meticulous detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western navigators. It was in Hawaii, while on his third Pacific voyage, that he was killed in 1799, during a skirmish with the locals. While Cook’s Pacific exploits are well known, few are familiar with his polar voyages. David Nicandri, a former executive director of…

If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it is that even the slightest imbalance on our planet’s equilibrium can have enormous consequences. In short, the global health crisis has brought into sharp focus the need for a greater understanding of how we interact with others and the world around us. It has also instilled a heightened sense of awareness, wonder, and curiosity that is enabling us to return to the field with eyes anew. And for The Explorers Journal, this moment offers a welcome, mindful reset as we embark on our second century of publication. For this issue’s cover story, contributing editor Wade Davis has penned a “second installment” in a globe-spanning meditation on the meaning of exploration—one in which he focuses on what sets it apart from mere…

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 $3,750 PER DEDICATED PAVER TO OUR LOWELL THOMAS BUILDING FUND. THE EXPLORERS CLUB WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING WHO HAVE PURCHASED A PAVER: Mark Allio, Joanna Allman, James H. Alexander, John G. Alexander, Darlene T. Anderson, Jeanne D. Andlinger, Barbara Annan, Robert J. Aresty, Robert Ashton, 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., Jill Botway, Gary W. Bowersox, Lawson W. Brigham, Diane Britz-Lotti, Charles A. Burroughs,…

HANDS DOWN, HAL WHITEHEAD IS ONE OF THE GREAT WHALE RESEARCHERS OF OUR TIME. IN HIS YOUTH, HE SAILED ACROSS THE PACIFIC, RECORDING SPERM WHALE CLICKS THAT, WHEN ANALYZED MONTHS LATER, ENABLED HIM TO ASSEMBLE THE DATA NECESSARY TO PUT FORTH THE IDEA, CONSIDERED RADICAL AT THE TIME, THAT WHALES HAVE CULTURE. IT IS NOT ONLY GENETICS THAT DETERMINES HOW THEY BEHAVE, HE CONTENDS, BUT KNOWLEDGE THAT USUALLY MATRIARCHAL GROUPS OF ANIMALS TEACH THE NEXT GENERATION, CREATING TRADITIONS THAT CARRY ON FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. WHITEHEAD HAS WRITTEN ELOQUENTLY ABOUT THESE IDEAS IN RECENT YEARS, IN SPERM WHALES (2003) AND THE CULTURAL LIVES OF WHALES AND DOLPHINS (2014), BUT IT IS HIS RECENT PAPER, PUBLISHED IN BIOLOGY LETTERS, THAT IS MAKING THE MOST WAVES. HE HAS TAPPED HISTORICAL DATA FROM…

Spring 2021 marks the centennial of the first British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, whose members likely gave little thought to their environmental impact on a sacred peak, revered by Tibetans as Chomolungma (“Goddess Mother of the World”), and known to Nepalis as Sagarmatha (“Head in the Great Blue Sky”). But then again, in those early years, human presence on the mountain remained minimal, with only eight expeditions journeying to the mountain in the first two decades following that first British foray—and only a dozen or so prior to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s historic first ascent on May 29, 1953. Since then, however, there has been an exponential growth in the number of climbers in search of a summit bid—with more than 5,100 individuals having successfully touched the top…

WHILE SHOOTING AN EPISODE ON THE BANKS OF THE ATHABASCA RIVER, WE HAD AMPLE OPPORTUNITY TO FIND A VARIETY OF WILD EDIBLES EVEN THOUGH IT WAS THE OFF SEASON—A BENEFIT OF FORAGING BY A WATERWAY. THE ADDED BONUS WAS BAGGING A RUFFED GROUSE—WHICH PRESENTED A DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE AND CULINARY CHALLENGE FOR PAUL. FOR THIS DISH, YOU WILL NEED A STURDY GRILL THAT IS STRONG ENOUGH TO HANDLE WEIGHT AND A STABLE, FIREPROOF TRIPOD. FICELLED RUFFED GROUSE 2 ruffed grouse, cleaned1 pinch of salt2 small spruce bough tips2 tbs Labrador tea leaves2 meters paracord5 green willow branches SPRUCE-INFUSED GREEN PEPPERCORN SAUCE 1 tbs butter1 large shallot, chopped1 cup red wine2 tbs green peppercorns in brine1 cup poultry stock1 small spruce bough1 cup heavy cream1 pinch of salt CHARRED LABRADOR TEA-GRILLED ZUCCHINI…

416 PP • NEW YORK: ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, 2021 • ISBN-13: 978-1250272300 • $29.99 • REVIEWED BY JEFF BLUMENFELD On April 25, 2015, geologist and climber Jim Davidson and his team were ascending Mt. Everest when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake released avalanches all around them, destroying their only escape route and trapping them at nearly 6,100 meters. The quake was the largest in Nepal in 81 years and it killed nearly 8,900 people. That day also became the deadliest in the history of Everest, with 19 people losing their lives on the mountain. The Next Everest: Surviving the Mountain’s Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again shares a harrowing tale about those deadly earthquakes and avalanches and his return to the mountain to reach its summit. In his book,…

120 PP • SEATTLE: LUCIA MARQUAND, 2020 • ISBN-10: 1646570111 • ISBN-13: 978-1646570119 • $50 Dorothy Kerper Monnelly is a fine example for our restricted times of how one can discover another world just outside one’s back door. For more than 40 years, Monnelly has lived next to and photographed the vast tidal wetlands known as the Great Marsh in Ipswich, Massachusetts—one of the few unspoiled wilderness areas of the American Northeast. As Jeanne Falk Adams writes in her preface to Between Land and Sea: The Great Marsh, Monnelly’s “art is more than beautiful black-and-white photographs…it moves me to care, to learn more about the area, and appreciate my own environment with greater connection.” In her poignant introduction to the volume, Terry Tempest Williams goes further, calling Monnelly’s photographs “a…

THE EXPLORERS CLUB 46 EAST 70TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10021 WWW.EXPLORERS.ORG | 212-628-8383 AFRICA Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka gladys@ctph.org ALASKA Mead Treadwell meadwell@alaska.net ATLANTA Steve Pigott jagter@msn.com AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND Todd Tai todd@mivision.com.au BHUTAN Matthew DeSantis matt@mybhutan.com CANADA George Kourounis chapterchair@explorersclub.ca CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA Acting Chair: Synnøve Marie Kvam Strømsvåg sstromsvag@explorers.org CHICAGO/GREAT LAKES Robert A. Shuchman, PhD shuchman@mtu.edu EAST & SOUTH ASIA Steven R. Schwankert steven@sinoscuba.com FLORIDA Joseph Dituri, PhD joe@gallantaquatic.com GEORGE ROGERS CLARK Cindy Irvin cirvin100@yahoo.com GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND Mark Wood, Chair mark@markwoodexplorer.com Rory Golden, Vice Chair rgolden@eircom.net GREATER PIEDMONT James Borton asiareview@yahoo.com HAWAII Mark Blackburn mblackburn@aol.com HONG KONG Angélica Anglés aangles@explorershk.org NEW ENGLAND Gregory Deyermenjian paititi@alumni.clarku.edu NORTH PACIFIC ALASKA Joshua C. Lewis & Victoria M. Becwar-Lewis npac1@me.com NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Lesley Ewing…

“A HEALTHY ENDOWMENT IS THE SIGN OF A STRONG AND SUSTAINABLE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. PARTICIPATION IN THE EXPLORERS CLUB’S LEGACY PROGRAM IS A MEANS BY WHICH WE ALL CAN ENSURE THAT OUR CLUB IS HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE FOR ALL FUTURE EXPLORERS!”—NANCY L. NENOW, MN’04 Mark R. Allio • John G. Alexander • Alan B. Albright • Robert J. Atwater • Capt. Norman L. Baker* • Barbara Ballard • Robert D. Ballard, PhD • Samuel B. Ballen* • Mark Gregory Bayuk • Daniel A. Bennett • Josh Bernstein • Bruce Blanchard • John R. Bockstoce, DPhil • Jack Aaron Boggs* • Bjorn G. Bolstad* • Capt. Bruce M. Bongar, PhD • Brian M. Boom, PhD • Jill Botway • Garrett R. Bowden • Capt. Lawson W. Brigham, PhD, USCG (ret.) • Harry…

NIRMAL “NIMS” PURJA, 37, STUNNED THE MOUNTAINEERING WORLD IN 2019 WHEN HE SUMMITED ALL 14 OF THE WORLD’S 8,000-METER PEAKS IN JUST SIX MONTHS AND SIX DAYS. IT WAS A SPEED-CLIMBING FEAT ALMOST UNIMAGINABLE, AND ONE THAT MAY NEVER BE DUPLICATED. THEN, ON JANUARY 16 OF THIS YEAR, NIMS ONE-UPPED HIMSELF, LEADING THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL WINTER ASCENT OF K2 AND CLIMBING WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTAL OXYGEN. FIVE OTHER CLIMBERS PERISHED ON THE MOUNTAIN. WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH NIMS TO DISCUSS HIS K2 SUCCESS AND THE LIVES WE LOST. JC: When you knew the K2 summit was within reach, what did you do? NP: My mission was to make all ten team members stand on the summit at the same time. With a few steps to go, I told them to turn…

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.…

384 PP • NEW YORK: PEGASUS BOOKS, 2020 • ISBN-10: 1643136763 • ISBN-13: 978-1643136769 • $27.95 In Expedition Deep Ocean, Josh Young chronicles the fascinating story of recent dives to the deepest places in all of the world’s oceans—challenging expeditions, conceived and led by Explorers Club fellow Victor Vescovo, a businessman with a scientific and naval background. Critical to the mission was to design and build a submersible capable of withstanding an external pressure of 8 kilograms per square centimeter, for the tiniest leak would spell a swift and dramatic end. Young describes how Vescovo and a team of engineers and scientists at Florida-based Triton Submarines took on the technical challenges that led to a revolutionary sub design. The resulting craft, DSV Limiting Factor, supported by its mothership, the research…