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December 2025 – Volume Thirty-One, Number Twelve
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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Goddard 100th Anniversary Seeks Volunteers
Join the 100th anniversary celebration of the launch of the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket by Dr. Robert Goddard (1882-1945), March 13-16, 2026, at Pakachoag Golf Course in Auburn, Massachusetts.
The American physicist, inventor, and engineer proved that rocket thrust would work in space despite the lack of an atmosphere to push against. Two of Goddard's 214 patented inventions, a multi-stage rocket (1914), and a liquid-fuel rocket (1914), were important milestones toward spaceflight. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was named in Goddard's honor in 1959.
For more information:
www.goddard100th.org
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“The greatest adventure is what lies ahead. Each day brings new possibilities for exploration and discovery.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
EXPEDITION FOCUS
| | Ashley Pullen atop Carstensz Pyramid. | | |
Are Explorers Inhaling Microplastics?
In October 2025, American mountaineer Ashley Pullen, 41, from New York completed a self-supported scientific expedition to the Sudirman Range of Papua Province, Indonesia – one of the most remote and extreme alpine environments on Earth.
The Peak Pollution: Uncovering Hidden Threats in the Sudirman Range Expedition targeted Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya, 16,024-ft.) – the highest island peak in the world and the most technically challenging of the Seven Summits – as well as Sumantri (15,978-ft.), the largest glaciated and second-highest peak in Oceania. This field campaign marked the first-ever collection of glaciological and microplastic samples from this isolated region.
In collaboration with Dr. Dimitri Deheyn of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UC San Diego), Pullen, an alternative investment industry executive, collected meltwater samples from the region, including samples from high-altitude glaciers. These samples will undergo detailed analysis for microplastics, microfibers, and mineral dust – pollutants that darken glaciers, accelerate melt, and threaten fragile alpine ecosystems.
The expedition also included a pilot study on textile-based microplastic inhalation at high altitude, investigating how fibers shed from technical clothing and mountaineering gear can be inhaled or deposited in the body under extreme environmental conditions. This research provides a novel perspective on human exposure to microplastics in extreme alpine environments.
| | Pullen collecting samples from a high-Alpine glacier lake – (4,295 m / 14,050 ft.) | |
Located near the equator, the Sudirman Range experiences rapidly shifting weather, and its extreme remoteness compounded the expedition’s challenges, including a demanding summit day that involved more than 2,000 feet of vertical elevation gain on sharp limestone rock.
In addition, decades of political instability and restricted access have kept climbers and scientists away since the 1990s, with only brief periods of reopening. Pullen’s expedition was conducted within a short, government-approved window, providing a rare opportunity to access glaciers that may vanish within her lifetime.
Amid these harsh conditions, Pullen became the youngest American woman to double-summit Carstensz Pyramid and Sumantri; she also flew Explorers Club flag 114 – reportedly the first time in the Club’s history that it has been flown on Sumantri.
“Explorers Club Flag 114 on this climb made me feel part of a long line of explorers who never backed down,” she tells EN.
This multi-year partnership with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography includes planned ascents of Denali and Mont Blanc in 2026, where the pilot study on microplastic inhalation in high-altitude mountaineers will continue.
The samples she collected will contribute to a growing global dataset on microplastic and dust deposition in remote alpine environments, improving understanding of how human activity reaches even the highest, most isolated mountains, and informing strategies to protect tropical glaciers and freshwater resources threatened by climate change.
Learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pullenashley
MEDIA MATTERS
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Third Man Syndrome
… Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you …
– The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot (1888 –1965)
People who’ve found themselves in life-or-death situations with their endurance at its limit have reported sensing another presence with them, urging them to continue and survive. That’s the subject of an 11-min. episode of the podcast Stuff You Should Know – Short Stuff: Third Man Syndrome with Charles (Chuck) Bryant and Josh Clark (Nov. 11).
Listen here:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/short-stuff-third-man-syndrome-306508282/
EXPEDITION FUNDING
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Apply for the LOWA Matterhorn Adventure Summit Scholarship
The Summit Scholarship Foundation, which aims to break down barriers for women in alpine climbing, has launched its Matterhorn Adventure Summit Scholarship, sponsored by LOWA Boots. The program will provide two qualified women with the opportunity to join an all-female guided ascent of the Matterhorn (14,692-ft.) from August 30 to September 3, 2026.
Women candidates must be in excellent physical condition, prepared for a long summit push and demanding alpine environments. Applicants must have prior technical climbing experience and be comfortable climbing up to 5.7 in mountain boots as well as on 50-degree snow and ice. Efficiency on 4th and low 5th class terrain is essential, as summit day involves more than 4,000 feet of sustained technical climbing.
The $5,000+ scholarship includes a guided 5-day adventure in Zermatt that centers around a day of preparatory climbing followed by a two-day guided ascent of the Matterhorn, a $1,000 travel stipend to help offset the cost of travel to/from Zermatt, mountaineering footwear from LOWA Boots, mountain attire from Fjällräven, and other kit.
For more details:
https://www.summitscholarship.org/lowa-matterhorn-summit-scholarship-2026
| | The Explorers Club 2025 Teaching Fellows: (l-r) Ben Walker, Alejandro Mundo, Andrés Ruzo (expedition leader), Julie Klipfel, and Jonathan Fallas. | | |
Deadline Nears for Explorers Club Teaching Fellowship
The Explorers Club Teaching Fellowship will send teachers on an immersive expedition in summer 2026. It’s open to all current K-12 classroom teachers based in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
TEC Teaching Fellows will spend about two weeks on expedition as full-fledged expedition team members – working alongside local and international scientists, conservationists, and other professionals from various fields.
Upon their return, Teaching Fellows will serve as ambassadors for The Explorers Club and exploration in the classroom, by hosting local explorers at their schools and creating lesson plans for The Explorers Club based on their experiences. Applications close on January 7, 2026, with the Teaching Fellows decided by early April.
To apply:
https://tinyurl.com/TECTeachers
EXPEDITION INK
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2025 National Outdoor Book Awards Announced
A married couple are cast adrift in the Pacific. A twelve-year old boy faces off with bear spray against a lion on a Kenyan game preserve. A woman researching wolves struggles to make her mark in the Montana backcountry.
These are some of the story threads running through this year’s crop of winners of the 2025 National Outdoor Book Awards, a non-profit, educational program not associated with any publisher or publishing interest.
A total of 17 books were chosen as winners in this year's program which is now in its 29th year. Sponsors of the program include the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education.
The winner of the Outdoor Literature category is A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House, 2025). Elmhirst recounts the true story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey’s attempt to survive the open Pacific after their sailboat sank.
Their life raft was four-and-half feet in diameter, barely enough room for them to sit, much less sleep. They had no radio. The days passed into weeks. Weeks passed into months. To survive they needed all of what little resources they had - and they needed one another.
For a complete list of winners see:
https://www.noba-web.org/books25.htm
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Murder on the Trail
By Michelle Kaminsky
(Ulysses Press, 2025)
Wild places don’t play by human rules. The picturesque facade of the most protected lands in the U.S. conceals a curious and disturbing juxtaposition: this same rugged and breathtaking wilderness is also capable of generating – and hiding – danger, crime, and violence. In national parks, potentially dangerous wild animals and unpredictable weather elements are inherent risks, as are human monsters walking among us.
Author Michelle Kaminsky reports National Park Service (NPS) law enforcement rangers face some of the highest risks of any federal officers. Department of Justice statistics reveal more NPS law enforcement rangers are victims of violent crime than all federal law enforcement officers.
Since 1913, forty-one law enforcement rangers have died in the line of duty. These sobering statistics reflect the unique dangers of policing vast, remote areas, where backup may be hours away and communication with headquarters can be impossible.
Kaminsky pulls back the curtain on the all-too-real dangers that unfold where we least expect them as she traces chilling stories that happened far from city lights and closer to the edge of the map, cases that reveal how thin the line can be between adventure and catastrophe.
For more information:
https://tinyurl.com/murderontrail
WEB WATCH
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Photo on left (l-r): Seumas, the Chief of Clannfhearghuis of Strachur, Argyll, Scotland; Kon-Tiki crewmember Herman Watzinger along with Thor Heyerdahl; and Peter Freuchen. The globe was donated to the Club by the Chief in 1935; the photo was taken in 1947.
Photo on right: Grok's valiant attempt.
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AI Hallucinates on Peter Freuchen
Keith Cowling, editor of NASAWatch.com, likely consumed the better part of a 500-megawatt data center somewhere in West Texas when he instructed Grok Imagine to animate this historic image of explorers plotting their next caper alongside the cherished Explorers Club headquarters globe (left above).
Yet as many know from the portrait of Freuchen above the Trophy Room fireplace at Club HQ, the giant 6-ft. 7-in. bearded Danish explorer and author (1886-1957) lost his lower left leg to frostbite in 1926 after first self-amputating his gangrenous toes. Thus, he could hardly bend that leg as depicted.
When contacted about giving AI another shot at it, Cowling balked. “Grok would probably turn him into a peg-legged pirate.”
See the post here. Even the hippo was laughing at the gaff.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/802414009272236
BUZZ WORDS
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Thomas Cook originated the concept of packaged tours and
traveler’s checks which were called “circular notes.”
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Cook’s tour
We’ve heard the term, but where did it originate? Thomas Cook, a 19th century businessman and Baptist preacher in the English Midlands organized excursions along the country’s new railway system in 1841. By 1872, he led his first around-the-world tour. Reading a newspaper ad for the trip sparked Jules Verne to write Around the World in Eighty Days, although Cook’s 11-person excursion consumed 222 days. These “Cook’s tours” ushered in the concept of modern mass tourism.
Source: The Explorer’s Gene by Alex Hutchinson (Mariner Books, 2025)
Thigmotaxis
Another Buzz Word learned from Hutchinson’s book refers to sticking close to the edges or boundaries of terrain as explorers reconnoiter it. One example of thigmotaxis is the coastal pattern of early European exploration of Australia. “Once permanent settlements were established, the colonists inevitably wanted to know what lurked in the interior.”
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Mount Saint Elias (18,009-ft.) is the peakiest peak in
North America (Photo of south side: Richard Droker)
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Omnidirectional Relief and Steepness (ORS)
What’s North America’s peakiest peak of all? EN’s story about jut measurements (see EN, October 2025) revealed another subjective peak rating which measures and ranks mountains differently than from both height and prominence.
Some peak nerds use Omnidirectional Relief and Steepness (ORS), formerly known as spire measure, which measures a peak by height and steepness above local terrain. In addition, they cite reduced spire measure (RORS) – the independence of a peak from higher-ranking peaks, and refer to the ruggedness of a mountain region, called Domain Relief and Steepness (DRS). Got that?
The number one peak in North America with the greatest ORS is Mount Saint Elias (18,009-ft.), the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the U.S., towering over the Yukon and Alaska border.
Sources: www.peaklist.org/spire and reader Jimmy Petterson, a dual resident of Sweden and Austria, who knows a fair bit about mountains from a skier’s perspective, having skied in a record 75 countries. www.skiingaroundtheworldbook.com.
| | (Photo: AI generated. Ha, as if you didn't know). | | |
EN HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2025
It’s that time of year again, trying to decide what to get your favorite explorer or adventurer for the holidays. Puh-leeze, not another tent, parka or sleeping bag. That’s more ho-hum than ho ho ho.
That’s why thousands of our readers rely on EN’s handy gift suggestions for those in their lives who have everything. We take this responsibility seriously and daresay your recipient might be missing a few of these essential items in their kit.
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Lip Wigs
(left) Crushing on those impossibly mustachioed gents from the Golden Age of Exploration? Don’t forget the little trekkers on your gift list. These fake stick-on handlebar ’staches are a moust-have and perfect for any cosplay emergency. ($6.75, youngexplorersco.com).
Nothing Says “Getting Away From It All” Like a Giant Portable Screen
(right) For those who get antsy leaving their screens at home even during a hiking trip, Splay Max to the rescue. This 35- to 80-inch Ultimate Portable 2-in-1 Display and Projector from Arovia folds down to the size of a headphone case and allows your recipient to view video stored on their smartphones.
Perhaps Friday the 13th, Blair Witch Project, or if they’re into canoeing, maybe Deliverance? Give them a Splay Max and they’ll squeal like a pig with joy. ($799, arovia.com)
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Belt it Out: “We Are All Explorers”
(left) Your detectorist friends complain of getting side-eye when they beachcomb with their Minelab Equinox 900 metal detectors? Gift them this performance stretch Arcade Belt and those sand-covered busybodies will back off immediately. ($42.95, arcadebelts.com)
Cave Explorers: Carry Your Canaries in Style
(right) Your gift recipient can’t be too careful these days. If they’re exploring coal mines or visiting friends with one of those leaky Viking gas ranges, they need to bring a canary along. Or a parakeet, or cockatiel or whatever. That’s where this Bird Backpack Travel Cage with Perch comes in handy. ($128, Wayfair.com)
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How to Spot a Shark? Just Add Water
(left) Your family or friend afraid of sharks? Tell them to chillax. They should be more fearful of falling vending machines. These credit card-gobbling monsters kill two to three people a year in the U.S., higher than the zero to one U.S. shark deaths annually, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF).
But we humans kill 100 million sharks per year for fins and meat – sweet Jesus, it’s not a fair fight. No matter, this 14 oz. heat-changing mug from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto will help your gift recipient tell the difference between a machine loaded with sugary Vitamin J(unk) versus a toothsome maneater. Just add hot water. (CAD $28/ $19.95 USD, https://shop.rom.on.ca)
Haircut First, Then the Underwater Jetpack
(right) When Jeff Bezos on his 417-ft. Koru superyacht pays a visit to Sir Richard Branson’s 105-ft. super catamaran Necker Belle, he’s likely to use the world’s first underwater jetpack to get around. Why should your gift recipient be any different?
Get them the CudaJet which lasts for as long as your friend or loved one can hold their breath. However, they better get a haircut first lest their hair gets sucked into the battery-powered mechanism and their head explodes like a grenade. But what’s an adventure without some risk? Like, oh let’s say, drowning. ($30,600, cudajet.com).
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Across the Namib Documentary Premieres, Bryn Mawr, Pa., Feb. 4, 2026
George M. Leader, Ph.D., is an archaeologist who has been working in Africa for more than 20 years. In 2023, Leader led an arduous journey to achieve the first-ever crossing of the harshest part of the Namib Desert on foot. Leader and his team were accompanied by Swiss exploration filmmakers who documented their struggles during the grueling 12-day journey discovering archaeological sites from the desert’s eastern boundary to the coast.
Their expedition studied the terrain and documented potential archaeological sites that may shed light on this ancient region. But in a place where things can go wrong quickly, the risks were immense.
Turn on the a.c. and watch the trailer here:
https://tinyurl.com/NamibTrailer
In addition to being a professor and an explorer, Leader is also a firefighter in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. To raise funds for the Bryn Mawr Fire Company, and before the documentary is sold to a streamer, the live U.S. premiere is 7 p.m., February 4, 2026. Location: Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 Lancaster Avenue. All proceeds are earmarked for the firefighters.
To purchase premiere tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/across-the-namib-premiere-tickets-1967244765049?aff=oddtdtcreator
| | 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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