EXPEDITION NEWS is a monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online and by mail to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate.

DANISH PRINCE CROSSES GREENLAND
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark headed for Greenland in early January for a 2,100m (3,500km) dog sled expedition expected to last four months in extreme Arctic weather conditions. Using three sleds, each pulled by 13 dogs, the six-man expedition plans to set off from Quaanaaq in the northwest this month, traveling on skis along the shore. Prince Frederik, 31, and his teammates hope to reach the east coast village of Mestersvig by mid-June. The Sirius 2000 Expedition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Sirius Patrol - a Danish military dog sled unit that oversees the region's unpopulated northeast. Greenland is the world's biggest island, 85 percent covered by ice, and part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"This is exactly the same as Mt. Everest, but in the opposite direction." – Kim McCoy
Kim McCoy, of Ocean Sensors, San Diego, manufacturer of the ocean depth recorder used by freediver Francisco "Pipin" Ferreras, 38, when he descended on a weighted sled to 531 feet (162m) on a single breath of air. Over 30 media from throughout the world witnessed the world record-breaking 3 min. 12 sec. feat on Jan. 18 off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico. Pipin, sponsored in the breath-hold attempt by Seiko and the Italian dive gear company Mares, lost consciousness briefly two days earlier in a deeper unofficial dive to 535 feet.

EXPEDITION NOTES
Lewis and Clark 200th Anniversary Planned - A "truly American celebration" will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, according to bicentennial planners. About 50 people turned out last month at Monticello, the Virginia estate of Thomas Jefferson, to discuss the plans. On Jan. 18, 1803, Jefferson asked Congress to appropriate $2,500 to finance the expedition, which was intended to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Instead, the expedition gathered vast amounts of scientific and geographic knowledge about the West and cultural information about the people who lived there.

David Borlaug, president of the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council, said the celebration is not only to commemorate the journey but to "rekindle its spirit of discovery and acclaim the contributions and goodwill of the native peoples." The actual journey of Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Lt. William Clark began May 14, 1804, on the Missouri River after a winter spent near St. Louis in training and gathering supplies. The explorers arrived back in St. Louis on Sept. 23, 1806.

ON THE HORIZON
Tastes Like Chicken
Explorers Club members have discovered the North and South Poles, the ocean's deepest trench, and circled the globe non-stop in a balloon. On March 25, 1,300 members of this prestigious 96-year-old international organization will explore the halls of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel during its Millennium Dinner.

This year's theme is "Time and Exploration" and will feature presentations by the last men to walk the moon, the Director of Time at the US Naval Observatory, and the discoverer of Peru's Inca Ice Mummies.

An exhibit of expedition suppliers will precede the dinner along with a particular favorite of the organization - a selection of exotic hors d'oeuvres which this year will feature edible insects.

Speakers for the Club's first annual dinner of the Millennium are: Captain Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon; Michael Finley, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park; Dennis McCarthy, Director of the Directorate of Time at the US Naval Observatory; Carolyn Porco, planetary scientist of the Cassini Mission to Saturn; Johan Reinhard, the world-renowned archaeologist who unwrapped the secrets of Peru's Inca Ice Mummies; former Astronaut and US Senator Harrison Schmitt, next-to-last man on the moon; and Neil De Grasse Tyson, an astronomer and director of New York's Hayden Planetarium.

And about those insects .... one favorite tradition of The Explorers Club annual dinner are servings of exotic hors d'oeuvres that are reminiscent of what explorers sometimes call food as they travel the world. "Tarantulas are on the menu and I understand they are particularly tasty," said dinner chairman and Club member Doc Hermalyn. "Let's face it, explorers have to be ready for anything when they travel to remote corners of the earth. They're not always going to be served Peking duck." (For more information: (212) 628-8383.)

MEDIA MATTERS
Dateline NBC Remembers the Life of Alex Lowe - Jennifer Lowe of Bozeman, Montana, wants to take her boys back to the mountainous places and people Alex Lowe loved so they will come to know him better, according to a poignant Dateline NBC segment on Jan. 21 about the late climber. Of the hundreds of letters received from strangers, TV anchor Tom Brokaw read one addressed to the Lowe's children, "I lost my father when I was 7. Do not let your father's accident hold you back from your dreams. We will all miss your father terribly." The Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation has been established to help people living in the remote regions of the world where Alex loved to climb.

What's Left to Explore? - A New Year's Day millennium special on CNN examined what's left to explore in an engaging conversation with Explorers Club members and extreme medicine pioneer Ken Kamler, M.D., oceanographer Sylvia Earle, archaeologist Angela Schuster, giant squid expert and author Richard Ellis, and EC President Fred McLaren. Says Sylvia Earle in the opening, "The really frustrating thing is to be at this turning point in history and have so many people not realize how much there is left to discover right here on earth. The greatest era of exploration is just beginning."

The CNN feature notes that Mt. Everest has been summitted hundreds of times, yet the deepest point of the world's oceans have been explored only once. Adds Kamler, who administered medical support on Everest in 1996, "We never before had the technology we have now to look around. The next challenge is to adapt the medical technology tested on Everest to practical, widespread use throughout the world." The Explorers Club segment was produced by CNN's Vickie Usher.

EXPEDITION NEWS is a monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online and by mail to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate and educate. EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc., 137 Rowayton Avenue, Suite 210, Rowayton, CT 06853 USA. Tel. 203-855-9400, fax 203-855-9433, blumassoc@aol.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. ©1999 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.