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September 2025 – Volume Thirty-One, Number Nine
Celebrating our 31th year!
EXPEDITION NEWS, founded in 1994, is the monthly review of significant expeditions, research projects, and newsworthy adventures. It is distributed online to media representatives, corporate sponsors, educators, research librarians, explorers, environmentalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. This forum on exploration covers projects that stimulate, motivate, and educate.
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EXPEDITION UPDATE
Lofty Prize for Snail-Paced Race
The World Sky Race 2028–2029, originally scheduled for 2010, and then 2024, will be a 17-race global series of airship rallies circling the planet and flying over the homes of more than two billion people… if all goes well. The winner will claim a $5 million prize – secured and safeguarded by AIC Title Service. (See EN, June 2008 and July 2022.)
Protecting the funding partners and sponsors of the World Sky Race, the prize monies will be held in escrow, safeguarded by AIC, until the race champion claims their crown and trophy, according to a recent announcement. For the World Sky Race, AIC will serve as the neutral stakeholder, releasing the prize to the rightful winner and registering the title of World Sky Champion.
The World Air League is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of explorers, innovators, and problem-solvers through high-profile global events that showcase sustainable aviation technologies.
For more information:
https://worldskyrace.com/
EXPEDITION NOTES
| | This can’t be fun. (Photo: Alpenglow Expeditions) | | |
Nepal Waives Fees on 100 Peaks to Reduce Pressure on Everest
The government of Nepal is waiving climbing permit fees for 97 peaks in the remote Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces to encourage mountaineers to explore beyond Mount Everest, according to the Royal Geographical Society’s August 2025 newsletter.
The move comes as permit fees for Everest are set to increase from $11,000 to $15,000. Officials hope that opening up peaks between 5,870m and 7,132m will create jobs and improve the local economy in some of the country’s least developed areas.
Learn more:
https://www.the-independent.com/asia/south-asia/nepal-everest-free-peaks-karnali-sudurpaschim-b2805900.html
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Eclipse 2026: The Countdown Begins for August 12, 2026
A total solar eclipse will sweep over parts of Spain, Iceland and Greenland on Aug. 12, 2026, offering millions a chance to witness one of nature's greatest spectacles. This will be Europe's first total solar eclipse in 27 years.
The path of totality begins in the Arctic and crosses Iceland before reaching Spain during the early evening hours of Aug. 12, 2026.
In cities such as Valencia, Zaragoza, and Palma de Mallorca, eclipse viewers can expect up to two minutes of totality. The likelihood of clear skies and warm weather makes Spain a top pick for many eclipse chasers.
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The global path of the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026.
(Credit: Jamie Carter using MapHub.net)
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Accommodations are starting to fill at many eclipse hotspots. With most of the eclipse occurring over the ocean, a cruise may offer the best seat in the house, advises Space.com, assuming you’re ready to tap into those retirement savings. …. some of these cruises are a bit pricey.
HX Expeditions, for instance, has scheduled a host of expert speakers for its 2026 Solar Eclipse Expedition that will transport monied umbraphiles to Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard to witness totality from Greenland's Scoresby Sund, the world’s largest fjord system.
Better hope it’s not cloudy: the eclipse cruise starts at $23,000 per person.
For more information:
www.space.com
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“If you’re lucky enough to be alive, you need to be of service to the world.”
– Geoff C. Tabin, MD, (1956-), ophthalmologist and co-founder of the Himalayan Cataract Project.
A corollary quote comes from the late motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar (1926-2012), “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
EXPEDITION FOCUS
| | Saturn V and Lunar Module pose for selfies at Space Camp | | |
Adult Space Cadets Head to Summer Camp in Huntsville
Those boomers among us will fondly remember building Revell models of the X -15 and Mercury space capsules to hang from our childhood ceilings. Then in 1966 when Star Trek premiered on NBC in 1966, we added a USS Enterprise model our collection.
If we were told at the age of 14 that someday we could go to a summer camp that allowed us to simulate one-sixth atmosphere on the moon and spin in a gut-busting multi-axis trainer, well, that would have been like finding Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket.
Determined that a space dream shall not be denied, last month we enrolled in the three-day adult Space Camp at the 43-year-old U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Since 1982, over a million space fanatics from 50 states and 150 countries, including 10 attendees who went on to become NASA astronauts, have trekked to northern Alabama.
We proved that one is never too old to attend Space Camp. Fellow adult campers included a nurse, lawyer, spine specialist, footbed manufacturer, Ohio state lobbyist, a retired truck driver who first attended 40 years ago, and an awestruck adventure newsletter editor.
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Never too late: space camper Steve Cohen, 70, of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.,
displays his first model rocket.
| | There was some serious nerd stuff going on as 60 adult “astro-nots,” ages ranging from mid-20s to 70s, built Estes Loadstar II model rockets and shot them off. (Land in the woods and the joke is you’ve entered the Rocket-tree Hall of Fame.) | | Astronaut Capt. Michael Foreman, Ret., is a proud Buckeye. | | Instructors, a few barely in their mid-twenties, instructed us to mimic gravity on the moon in a baby-bouncer-in-a-door-frame-type device; try to remain lucid in the gimbal-rigged multi-axis trainer without losing lunch; and heard from two-time NASA Shuttle astronaut Captain Michael Foreman, Ret., (STS 123 and 129), who bragged that his home state of Ohio is the “birthplace of astronauts.” | | Testing student-made heat shields. | | |
We had lunch with a retired NASA engineer; saw the original Apollo 16 Command Module (1972); a 16 oz. moon rock; built small ablative heat shields to protect chicken eggs a.k.a. “eggstronauts;” built oversized tinker toys in a pretend spacesuit; and learned how the U.S. space program owes its origins to Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), a former member of the Nazi Party who surrendered to U.S. Army Forces in 1945.
All the while many of us were stuffed into bright blue NASA flight suits with engraved name tags that we’ll probably never wear again, save for Halloween or the occasional home painting project.
The program ended Sunday morning which was fine lest our heads explode from information overload. We were severely sleep deprived from our faux orbital missions; starting at 7 a.m. sharp on Saturday and Sunday, they made us wish Space Camp included a Nap Simulator for weary adult space cadets.
Then it was off to the nearby Unclaimed Baggage outlet in Scottsboro, a cavernous store built upon the dismay of thousands of air travelers who lost their AirPods, laptops, Bose headphones and Kindles. Leave your stuff in a seat pocket and it might as well be lost in space.
A typical three-day adult Space Camp weekend is $899 and includes all meals (but sadly, no Tang), and bunk style lodging in make believe “habs.”
For more information:
www.rocketcenter.com/SpaceCamp
MEDIA MATTERS
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American Alpine Journal Wants Your News
Have you climbed or skied a long new route in Alaska, Greenland, Peru, Bolivia, or Pakistan this year? Share your news with the AAC Journal. The prestigious publication also seeks reports from anywhere else in the world.
The AAJ documents new alpine and mountaineering routes, big walls, long rock climbs, and ski mountaineering routes worldwide, along with exploratory expeditions and attempts. Frequent updates and the complete AAJ archive can be searched at www.publications.americanalpineclub.org.
The deadline for photos and information about spring and summer climbs is September 30, 2025.
Contact: Dougald MacDonald, editor in chief, The American Alpine Journal, dmacdonald@americanalpineclub.org
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Documentary Examines Impact of The Thing Horror Movie Franchise
In the 1950s, the glamor of Arctic exploration was questionable after premiere of the 1951 horror flick The Thing From Another World. ("Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!"). The polar exploration-themed American black-and-white sci-fi horror film was directed by Christian Nyby. James Arness, later of Gunsmoke TV fame, plays The Thing.
The film's story line concerns a U.S. Air Force crew and scientists who find a crashed flying saucer frozen in the Arctic ice and a humanoid body nearby. Returning to their research outpost with the body still in a block of ice, they are forced to defend themselves against the still alive and malevolent plant-based alien when it is accidentally thawed out.
The 1982 version, the John Carpenter movie masterpiece The Thing, staring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, and Keith David, focuses on a research team in Antarctica hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
There was also a 2011 prequel, also titled The Thing, that tells the story of a team of scientists at a Norwegian Antarctic research station who discover a parasitic alien buried deep in the ice.
Now, CreatorVC, a documentary production company, is crowdsourcing funding for a deep inside look at the 1982 classic called The Thing Expanded. It promises new insights, stories, and revelations about the shape-shifting alien thriller. Supporters get to see their name in the credits when the doc comes out in September 2026.
| | Wayne has a perfect name for polar exploration. | | |
Besides Carpenter and other members of the cast, Antarctican Wayne L. White, author of Cold: Three Winters at the South Pole (Potomac Books, 2022), will appear in the doc (see EN, September 2024). White served at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station for three winters.
As Winter Station Manager, White reports online, “Shortly after the last aircraft has departed, by tradition South Pole winter crews meet in the gym and will watch the three versions. I can say with certainty that the majority of the crews find John Carpenter's version the best.”
Learn more:
www.thethingexpanded.com, https://www.creatorvc.com/thethingexpanded1
EXPEDITION FUNDING
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Apply for a Mount Everest Foundation Grant
If you're planning a mountaineering or scientific expedition that's set to take place between December 2025 and mid-April 2026, September 30 is the deadline to submit your funding application, says the Mount Everest Foundation (MEF).
The project must have exploration as its main purpose, and be comprised of members from the UK, New Zealand and/or Nepal. One grant named for British mountaineer Alison Chadwick (1942-1978) specifically targets female expeditioners.
The MEF has provided support to some of the most significant mountaineering and scientific expeditions of the last century. It’s focused on supporting those expeditions that endeavor to reach previously unclimbed peaks, unexplored regions and gather new knowledge – whether geographic or scientific.
Deadline: Sept. 30, 2025.
Learn more:
https://www.mef.org.uk
EXPEDITION MARKETING
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Kayla Lockhart, a fly angler, is one of the brand ambassadors for
Topo Designs. (Photo: Topo Designs)
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Brand Ambassadors Help Gear Makers Reach Consumers
You don’t have to be young, a famous athlete – or even an actual athlete in some instances – to qualify as a brand ambassador for an outdoor gear company.
Brand ambassadors might be out of their twenties, working full-time jobs while they pursue their outdoor recreation on weekends, campaigning for conservation, fulfilling their dreams as wilderness guides, or competing in lesser-known sports.
And the benefits vary across brands and ambassadors, from getting gear for testing out to a paycheck, writes Mindy Sink in the Denver Post (Aug. 7).
“We can’t always do the talking ourselves,” said Rick VanderLeek, senior manager of brand partnerships at Topo Designs, a Colorado-based company that makes outdoor packs, bags, clothing and accessories. “Honestly, that takes the fun out of it. Seeing the members on Team Topo and how they represent themselves, with Topo as an additive, just feels right. Everyone is unique. Everyone has a story to tell.”
Team Topo currently has three brand ambassadors (soon to be four): Will Bender, a bike builder; Sarah Sturm, a gravel and mountain bike racer; and Kayla Lockhart, a fly fisher.
Working with pack manufacturer Osprey is Nelson Holland, 33, known to his 162,000 Instagram followers as @fatblackandgettinit, where he posts about his Colorado adventures. He also has more than 154,000 followers on TikTok.
Exact numbers could not be obtained, but some ambassadors earn a paycheck while others might do a couple of posts to show current gear, Sink reports.
Holland says, “Figure out what your brand is, what partnership would make a lot of sense.”
Read the story (may be paywalled):
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/08/07/colorado-outdoor-brand-ambassadors/
EXPEDITION INK
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Dirtbag Billionaire
By David Gelles
Coming this month, New York Times reporter and bestselling author David Gelles reveals in Dirtbag Billionaire (Simon & Shuster, 2025) how Patagonia became a global leader in doing well by doing good and how other companies are adopting its principles.
It’s being hyped as the inside story of one of the most extraordinary brands in the corporate world, the rare company that is driven by environmental activism instead of cutthroat capitalism.
At the heart of the story is Patagonia’s founder, the legendary rock climber Yvon Chouinard. A perennial outsider who forged one of the most impressive resumes in the outdoor world, Chouinard started out as a self-professed dirtbag – a term affectionately bestowed on poor, itinerant outdoorsmen so uninterested in material possessions they are happy to sleep in the dirt – and he became a billionaire.
The term “dirtbag” doesn’t sit well with some. CEO Bill Amos at outdoor manufacturer Northwest Alpine, Salem, Oregon, sent an email blast last month to customers calling the term “slightly preposterous.
“Though I’ve lived out of a minivan, spent my 20s traveling and thinking about little other than climbing, I’ve never been a true dirtbag. I’ve always had the safety net that a middle-class upbringing afforded me,” Amos writes.
“A dirtbag is a special category of person. They cross the line from societally accepted pursuit of passion to vagrancy, not concerned with the norms most of us abide by. All in the singular pursuit of something greater. The dirtbag is a special, and perhaps dying, breed of human.”
BUZZ WORDS
| | Sea ice reflects as much as 85% of solar radiation hitting the surface, hence absorbing only 15%. Ocean water, by contrast, reflects only about 7% of solar radiation, absorbing 93%. (Courtesy Don Perovich, CRREL) | | |
Ice-Albedo Feedback
The ice-albedo feedback is an example of a positive feedback loop. A feedback loop is a cycle within a system that increases (positive) or decreases (negative) the effects on that system. In the Arctic, melting sea ice exposes darker ocean (lower albedo), which in turn absorbs more heat and causes more ice to melt...the cycle continues. Sources: MOSAiC International Arctic Drift Expedition and Dr. Ulyana H. Pena, Ph.D., Science in the Wild (scienceinthewild.com).
ON THE HORIZON
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Anchorage International Film Festival: “Films Worth Freezing For”
Anchorage, December 5-14, 2025
The 25th edition of the Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) will take place December 5-14, 2025, featuring ten days of bold, independent cinema set against the stunning backdrop of the 41,000 sq. mi. Denai’na land that includes modern-day Anchorage and the surrounding region. With screenings across four Anchorage venues, AIFF offers more than just films; it’s a creative adventure built by and for filmmakers.
In 2024, it screened 115 films from around the world, welcoming over 100 filmmakers.
The event’s sizzle reel featuring citizen-scientist Dr. Jill Heinerth (Diving Into the Darkness) is worth watching. She’s says, “If you’re willing to explore those places that make you scared, that’s a good thing. It tells you that you’re the cutting edge.”
Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwYuZh6ido
Learn more:
https://anchoragefilmfestival.org/
EXPEDITION CLASSIFIEDS
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Join a Tanzanian Safari, May 10-21, 2026
The African Conservation Centre-US (ACC-US) (https://accafrica-us.org) is sponsoring a safari to Tanzania on May 10-21, 2026, to serve as its major fundraiser. This safari is truly an incredible experience for photographers, birders, and those interested in seeing mammals in their natural environments.
Biodiversity in Kenya and Eastern Africa is under threat from unsustainable land-use practices, weakened community land governance, and growing pressures on natural resources. The African Conservation Centre is on a mission to change that.
The cost of the safari (not including airfare) is $8,950 pp (double occupancy). Historically, about $2,000 of this will be a contribution to ACC-US, a 501(c)(3).
For more information:
https://accafrica-us.org/tanzania-safaris
| Travel With Purpose, A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield) by Jeff Blumenfeld – People are traveling in record numbers and many include voluntourists. Be ready to lend a hand wherever you go. How to travel and make a difference while you see the world? Read excerpts and “Look Inside” at: tinyurl.com/voluntourismbook | | |
Get Sponsored! – Need money for your next project? Read about proven techniques that will help you find both cash and in-kind sponsors. If the trip is bigger than you, and is designed to help others, well, that’s half the game right there. Read Jeff Blumenfeld’s Get Sponsored: A Funding Guide for Explorers, Adventurers and Would Be World Travelers.(Skyhorse Publishing).
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
EXPEDITION NEWS is published by Blumenfeld and Associates, LLC, 290 Laramie Blvd., Boulder, CO 80304 USA. Tel. 203 326 1200, editor@expeditionnews.com. Editor/publisher: Jeff Blumenfeld. Research editor: Lee Kovel. ©2025 Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1526-8977. Subscriptions: US$36/yr. available by e-mail only. Credit card payments accepted through www.paypal.com. Read EXPEDITION NEWS at www.expeditionnews.com.
Research past issues of Expedition News dating back to May 1995 courtesy of the Utah State University Outdoor Recreation Archive. Access is free at: https://tinyurl.com/ENArchivesUSU
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