Canadian Chapter Newsletter · Hard to believe that I accepted Joe Frey's invitation to be interim-Regional Chair, British Columbia and Yukon six years ago. ... Spring Symposium has

________________________________________________________________________ The Explorers Club - Canadian Chapter www.explorersclub.ca

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NEWS FOR THE CANADIAN CHAPTER

Upper entrance to Deer Cave, Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak courtesy of John Pollack

Vol.1, No. 3 Winter 2009


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Message from the Chair – Amanda Glickman FI’05 Incredible to believe that we’re almost into a new year! Our Canadian members have been incredibly busy in 2009, making contributions to field science, research and exploration. I encourage all of you who are out in the field to please share with us what you’ve been doing by sending a page to Far Afield. You never know where it will go and what collaborations may be formed! I look forward to a very busy and productive year as your “official” Chapter Chair. We continue to work on the newsletter – thanks to the terrific work of Wilson West FI’08, and contributions from members and directors. I am currently working with HQ (headquarters) in New York on two committees, the Youth Initiative and IT. Our fearless leader, Lorie Karnath, has been forging the way and we are seeing incredible improvements in communications. Thanks to our former leader and new VP Chapters, Joseph Frey FI’02, the Chapters are in better contact than ever before, and some incredible ideas have been coming out during our regular telephone conference calls. This upcoming year should be an exciting one! Be wowed by the revamping of site from our Pacific Northwest neighbours (www.nwexplorers.org) and Great Britain (www.britishexplorers.org/). Barry and I did make it to Lowell Thomas this year, after a week of meetings in NY… photos can be found at http://ltad2009.shutterfly.com/pictures/8?size=All&startIndex=0. It was spectacular and we quite accidentally found ourselves on a trip to Antarctica in January, all to the benefit of the Explorers Club. It should be an adventure to remember as we will be accompanied by Kristen Larson and Anne Doubilet! This issue we have a wonderful article about filmmaker Peter Rowe FI’08, who has been very busy this year going from the crystal caves of Mexico to the jungles of Venezuela. Our up and coming BC/Yukon Director, John Pollack FI’06 has just returned from the wilds of Borneo, mapping cave systems. We must congratulate Steve McGehee FI’07 on the successful completion of his Master’s thesis. He was supervised by Barry Glickman FI’05, and Rob Butler FI’08 served as external on his committee. Steve, being a glutton for punishment as so many explorers are, is continuing on with his PhD in collaboration with Tom Reimchen FI’04. Cory Trépanier MI’09 and his wife Janet have launched the new website www.visionsofourland.com, showcasing some of his beautiful artwork. I encourage everyone to check out this beautiful site. Andrew Gregg FI’07 and Elaine Wyatt MI’05 are both gearing up for the 2010 Explorers Club Film Festival, slated for March 5-6, 2010. Get ready for an incredible experience! Please stay posted on our homepage, www.explorersclub.ca. Our students here on the West Coast have been very busy, meeting almost weekly. Maeva Gauthier SM’08 just returned from her trip across the Arctic. Branden Beatty SM’08 is launching into a new project that should see him traveling to foreign lands. We need help with the Student’s Interview project… a need for access to audiovisual equipment. Please contact me if you have any ideas or leads.

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My goals as Chapter Chair of Canada will be to continue working on ways to bring Canadian members together, and to bring our Chapter closer to the activities at Headquarters in NY. By way of the Canadian Chapter website and our newsletter, Far Afield, I hope to get more member profiles and interviews so we can have a better idea of who we all are and what we all do. Please contact me to volunteer for an interview or to write a profile about yourself or another member. Happy New Year to one and all, and may our exploration and research be a great success for 2010! …Amanda…

Issue Month Deadline Summer June May 15 Fall September August 15 Winter December November 15 Spring March February 15


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Communications Director – Jason Schoonover FI’86

The Passion of the ComCzar II by Jason Schoonover FI’86 In the last two instalments of Buck Schoonover ComCzar, we saw how our spaced out and one time debauched anti-hero focuses on: 1) disseminating necessary information, and; 2) promoting communication within the chapter. In this thrilling chapterette, you learn that his third passion is promoting the Club.

I first read about The Explorers Club as a skinny 12-year-old in the mud, muskeg and mosquito infested frontier town of Carrot River,

Saskatchewan, in the summer of 1958. I think it was in Reader’s Digest. I was so galvanized that I vowed then and there to live the most adventurous life I could—and, “That’s the kind of Club I want to belong to!”

That a geek kid from the bush who loved nature and hated school but played a mean shortstop can learn about The Explorers Club in the greasy ‘50s is an indication of how high our profile flew in the culture. Adventure was everywhere. Thor Heyerdahl’s masts still cast long, thin shadows across the times. Don Walsh—another early hero of mine and now a friend and a contributor to my Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives book—and Jacques Piccard (and his son is in my book too) rode the Trieste to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. National Geographic was still National Geographic back when it had bare breasts and was an adolescent boy’s dream.

Some years before that, I was a slip of a boy in shorts, white shirt and bow tie in Grade One in Barrie, Ontario, dutifully grasping a Union Jack in a parade honoring Queen Liz’s coronation, whoever and whatever in hell that was all about. The news blaring from our cheap plastic radio was almost as big—an Edward Hillory somebody and someone else with a weird name had “knocked the bastard off”—words that must have blanched the very tantric-Buddhist Tenzing Norgay, but that’s another story as the bartender in Irma La Duce would say, and Tenzing was too much of a Sherpa gentleman to make an issue of it. And it didn’t really come out of the radio like that, not in 1953. But The Explorers Club flag flew and flapped high above the culture.

Throughout the sixties it continued to snap in the wind. Weren’t the astronauts all members? Wasn’t the name Piccard connected with the Ben Franklin drift? Didn’t the great Jacques Cousteau rule everything below the waves? He who galvanized a generation of adventurers and explorers. Next I’ll tell you how the flag began an almost imperceptible descent in the ‘70s. It had nothing to do with flagging membership, either quantitive or qualative: the Club still attracted the crème-de-la-crème of the exploration world and it was still filled, as it is today, with all the illustrious international stars of exploration. Just our visibility in the culture began to fade. And I’ll tell you what we, in our small way, can do about it. If we want to.


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Regional Director: B.C./Yukon – Rosemarie Keough FI’02

Hard to believe that I accepted Joe Frey's invitation to be interim-Regional Chair, British Columbia and Yukon six years ago. Several terms later, I am very proud of our membership - in particular the spirit of camaraderie, and the depth of the passion each explorer has for his/her area of expertise. We're a great group of accomplished explorers and we do have such fun together. I wish to thank my husband Pat Keough for his tremendous support through these years.

Also, I wish to thank Tony Dalton who was Regional Chair prior to me. Tony laid the foundations, and I have added structure along with embellishments. Our annual Salt Spring Symposium has grown from the initial 20 explorers who met at our home for two days of fellowship, to the current four-day retreat capped at 60 participants. This symposium has inspired people on the individual level, and also other chapters of our club who have seen how beneficial such a gathering can be. Our other major activity, the mid-year event, has been flexible as to date and location. This event drew upon our resourceful members: Jim and Jean Allan invited us aboard their spacious sloop for sailing and hiking in the San Juan Islands, this outing also made possible thanks to Cathy Hickson and Glenn Helmlinger who contributed their time and organizational skills despite having their home nearly destroyed by flood; another year Kim Conway and Robie MacDonald opened the treasures of the Institute of Ocean Sciences followed by an enjoyable afternoon planned by Amanda and Barry Glickman; and this past June, Verena Tunnicliffe ably assisted by Arielle Garrett hosted our group for a most informative and interesting morning at the Bob Wright Center for Earth, Atmospheric, and Ocean Sciences, the afternoon having been aboard M/V THE WORLD thanks to Emilio Freeman. I have found that six years has given me the opportunity to vicariously be involved with a wide variety of expeditions from initial concept through fieldwork. I am also delighted over the course of these years to have seen our student members mature in confidence and abilities. Duncan McNicoll and Jade Kingsley come immediately to mind! Best of all, I am honoured to have so many close friends whom I have come to know through the fellowship of The Explorers Club. The success of an organization is in its people, and their willingness to contribute of themselves. I welcome John Pollack as the new Director, British Columbia-Yukon Region for 2010-12 (and possibly longer). John has tremendous vision and energy, and he is so politically astute. John is the perfect leader to whom to pass the baton at this time as our BC/Yukon membership continues to grow in leaps and bounds. For the next two years, I am honoured to continue to serve the club in the new capacity as BC/Yukon Director-at-Large; and yes, Pat and I will be hosting the Salt Spring Symposium.


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Regional Director: Ontario/Nunavut – Elaine Wyatt MI’05 This is a report of extraordinary accomplishments, about-to-be-accomplishments, obsessions and passions of the members in Ontario Nunavut. Katherine Harris ’04 has won the 2010 Women of Discovery Award from WINGS WorldQuest. Wings awards only five women every year, each working in a different field. Katherine won Field Research in recognition of her work exploring the relationship between transboundary conservation and conflict resolution, focusing on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir. Wings celebrates and supports extraordinary women explorers and promotes scientific exploration, education and conservation to inspire future generations. Katherine will be honored at a gala event on April 15, 2010. For more information: http://www.wingsworldquest.org/2010. EC Ontario celebrated Halloween at the extraordinary home of Bill Jamieson MI’97. We had two speakers. Major (Ret'd) Tim Leslie, CD FI’93 flew through dozens of photos as he described the breadth of aerospace research now underway in Ottawa. Tim is a former Canadian Air Force pilot who flew in Bosnia; today he is the Director of Operations at the National Research Council Institute for Aerospace Research. For more information: www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/ibp/iar.html. Prof. Louis Fortier, OC, OQ, FI'07 described the work of the polar scientific research vessel CCGS Amundsen, formerly the CCGS Radisson. Louis had spearheaded the raising of public and private funds to convert the CCGS for deployment in Canada’s north. Louis is a professor at Laval University in Quebec City, a noted polar scientist and explorer. More information: http://www.arcticnet.ulaval.ca/. During the evening, the Stefansson Medal, the Canadian Chapter's highest honour, was awarded to Dr. Fortier and John Geiger, FI' 04. I was very honoured to receive the Citation of Merit. Meagan McGrath is heading off to the South Pole to solo ski from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole. If all goes well, she’ll be back in civilization at the end of January ready to report to us in the next issue of Far Afield. You can follow Meagan on her expedition through Science North, her primary sponsor (www.sciencenorth.ca/meagan). Her goal is to share the experience – the good and the bad – with folks, especially kids, to give them some insight into what an expedition is really like. Meagan’s South Pole solo ski is part of a year long sabbatical that will include big mountain climbing in the Himalayas. For more information: www.meaganmcgrathadventurer.com The Nov/Dec issue (#72) of Outpost features an article by Jeff Fuchs on the origins of tea and his exploration of the most ancient tea forests on the globe in Yunnan's southwest. It’s a look into the minority cultures that grow and have grown the tea trees for over two thousand years and into his obsessive need to get to tea's roots. Jeff has received a grant from The Banff Centre to continue documenting the nomadic tribes of eastern Tibet. The grant was awarded in part due to Jeff’s previous photographic and written work on the subject as well as his book The Ancient Tea Horse Road released last year by Penguin-Viking. Jeff is on his way back to the eastern Himalayas to check on the construction of his “house.” Kenn M. Feigelman, Director of Operations at Deep Quest//Quest 2 Expeditions, will

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soon start filming a series of 13 half-hour episodes for PBS TV tentatively titled Deep/Quest: Exploring our Water Planet. The series is to be shot in high-definition across Canada, including Lake Ontario and the St.-Lawrence River, the U.S., Mexico, and Central America.

Regional Director: Atlantic/Quebec - George Burden MI’03 It has been an enjoyable and at times challenging five years in my position as Regional Director for Atlantic Canada (and later for Quebec). When I started we had four members officially listed in the Atlantic provinces. Judge Rupert Bartlett, a nephew of the very prominent explorer Captain Bob Bartlett, passed away before I was able to make contact. He was our sole Newfoundland member. Petr Vanicek and Sherman Hines were both still alive and kicking but I never

was able to track down a fourth member listed as residing in Hubbards, Nova Scotia. Fortunately we were able to swell our ranks from three Atlantic Canadian members to 14. I later took on the Quebec region where a similar number of members reside. It's unfortunate that the geographical separation from Quebec has prevented me from being as active with its members, and I'm hoping that someone in that province might be able to take over and get things moving in "La Belle Province". Sherman Hines and Martin Karlsen have both been of immense help in providing interesting enjoyable venues for our annual meetings. Martin made a valiant effort to arrange our last meeting on Sable Island, hosted by EC member and Sable Island resident Zoe Lucas. Alas this was not to happen due to government bureaucracy and red tape. I am looking forward to assuming the duties of Director-at-Large and helping new Regional Director, David Sawatzky in any way possible.

Regional Director: Prairie/NWT – Nat Rutter FI‘78 Nothing to Report


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Student Representatives:

Maeva GauthierSM’08 Denise Gabriel SM’09

Nothing to Report

Awards & Honours – Joseph Frey FI’02 and Denis St-Onge FI’05 The Awards and Honours committee is chaired by Joseph Frey with Denis St-Onge and George Burden as members. At the EC Canadian Chapter National Fete, October 31, 2009, the following awards were presented: Elaine Wyatt, MI' 05 - Citation of Merit, "Exceptional contributions to the Canadian Chapter of the Club" for organizing the Chapter's film festival.


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John Geiger, FI' 04 - Stefansson Medal, "For an outstanding contribution to the Canadian Chapter and to the history of exploration in Arctic Canada".

Prof. Louis Fortier, O.C., FI' 08 - Stefansson Medal - "For outstanding contributions to the cause of scientific investigation in Arctic Canada".

Congratulations Elaine, John and Louis!!


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News from the VP Chapters – Joseph Frey FI’02 January 1, 2010 will be a historic occasion for the Canadian Chapter. It will be the first time since January 8, 2003 that the Chapter's entire Executive will be replaced. The incoming Executive will consist of Canadian Chapter Chair, Amanda Glickman FI'05 along with Region Directors, John Pollack FI'06, BC-Yukon Region, Murray Larson FI'05, Prairie-NWT Region, Elaine Wyatt MI'05 Ontario-Nunavut Region and David Sawatzky FI'07, Atlantic-Quebec Region. I have worked with all of these talented Club members who will not only maintain what the Canadian Chapter has achieved since 2003 but will take our Chapter even further, keeping it the best chapter in The Explorers Club. It all began on January 8, 2003 at a meeting in Toronto at the residence of Billy Jamieson MN'97. At the meeting were Norman Elder, FI' 79, Colonel Peter Lewin MD FI'79, Billy and I. Norm and Peter were co-founders of the Club's Canadian Chapter in 1979. Peter strongly felt that our Chapter had to be rejuvenated after a decade of dormancy, so during December 2002 he approached both Billy and I to join with him in rebuilding the Canadian Chapter. Unfortunately both Norm and Peter have passed onto higher exploration, both dying far too soon, but they'll never be forgotten www.explorersclub.ca/_memoriam.htm. With an outdated, mistake-laden Canadian Chapter membership list provided to me by the Club it took me six months to sort out who the active members of our Chapter were. I eventually narrowed the list down to 54 members. During this process I came across individuals such as Anthony Dalton FI'85 of Vancouver who volunteered several months of his time to help me follow up with BC members. I also got in touch with Nat Rutter FI'78. Nat quickly volunteered to set up the Prairie-NWT Region and his annual three day field events are amazing. Both my son Jonathan Frey SM'06 and I fondly remember Nat's 2005 palaeontology field event, in fact it's the fete that I've enjoyed the most since joining the Club. Eduard Reinhardt FI'04 and John Geiger FI'04 assisted with the running of the Ontario-Nunavut Region. John went on and spent a great deal of time on developing the Stefansson Medal. George Burden MI'03, during the early stages of 2003 stepped up to the plate to oversee the Atlantic-Quebec Region for which I am forever grateful. What can I say about Rosemarie FI'02 and Pat Keough FI’02, firstly Rosemarie has done a marvellous job running the BC-Yukon Region and together they've developed the best Explorers Club event outside of ECAD. Their organizing and hosting of the annual 3-day Salt Spring Symposium is brilliant and has attracted participants from across North America, Europe and Australia. Rosemarie also organizes an annual top notch Spring event on Vancouver Island. I first met Rosemarie and Pat at the 2003 ECAD and I was impressed by their enthusiasm for the Club and since that evening they've put their all into the Canadian Chapter. While I intended to limit my comments to Executive members of the Canadian Chapter, I must mention Jason Schoonover FI'86 our Communications Director who volunteered for the position during the very early stages of 2003. His dedication to the Club and the Canadian Chapter has been selfless and he remains a close friend, as do the other appointed Directors with whom I have worked closely with.

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I would like to wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and a Healthy 2010. MEMBER PROFILE Interview with a Fellow Traveler – Peter Rowe FI’08 Amanda Glickman FI’05 Peter Rowe, FI’08, one of Canada’s premier documentary filmmakers with over 200 films under his belt, returned Explorers Club flag #74 at the Lowell Thomas Dinner, October 15, 2009 in New York. Rowe, along with George Kourounis, FI’09 took the flag deep into the Crystal Cave of Chihuahua, Mexico during one of his documentary film projects. This magnificent cave sports the biggest crystals in the world and extreme temperatures that required the use of special refrigerated suits. Peter, an active member of the Canadian Chapter, also worked together with Elaine Wyatt, MI’05, to bring us the first annual Explorers Club Canadian Film Festival this past spring. Peter was born in Winnipeg, starting his early explorations on Lake Winnipeg and the Red River. His father, formerly an airforce navigator during World War II, served as a newspaper reporter during the 50s, 60s and 70s, eventually becoming Travel Editor of the Toronto Sun. Most of his work was tourism based, and was sufficient to spawn the interest of travel and exploration in his young son’s mind. Peter was nine when his family moved to Toronto. Later he attended, and began film making, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. After living for several years in Los Angeles and South Africa, Peter has returned to call Toronto home. Peter laughs when asked why he chose filmmaking… “I was never very good at guitar, so rock bands were out”, but it’s his love of bringing people’s experiences into the home that fuelled the fire that has formed his career. He found the technology fascinating and ever changing, and growing up in the 60’s, became part of the new cinema-verite movement that grew up in the period in France, Canada and the US. Peter’s passion for sharing the personal experience of exploration is what has formed his career as a freelance documentary film maker, but it’s not all fun and games… a fair amount of business savvy lies behind the production of good film, and the profession is in constant flux. For Peter, it’s not just the visiting of places that peaks his interest, but the ability to capture it for others… to bring the experience home. Most of his exploration has been done as a filmmaker, with the exception of working as a charter boat skipper in the Caribbean for a few years. This experience can’t be taken too lightly either, as he spent time offshore between Toronto and the islands.


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From these experiences he started specializing in films with a distinct “maritime” flare. His first exploration/adventure film was a drama about the famed sailor Donald Crowhurst, who during the course of the first Round the World Singlehanded Sailing race appeared to be in the lead, until communications ceased and his boat was found mysteriously floating about in the Atlantic with two log books… one real and the other contrived from a brilliant, but devious mathematical mind. Renowned actor Gordon Pinsent captured Crowhurst’s deceit and misadventure brilliantly in the film. Peter didn’t just jump right into his own filmmaking, but began as a projectionist and assistant editor. At some point he realized that you had to make the leap and start calling yourself a filmmaker. If you didn’t believe it, then how could anyone else? During the 70s he developed his skills, working primarily along the maritime theme including films about little-known early Canadian explorers. One of these stories was the tale of Margaret de Roberval, who sailed with Jacque Cartier in 1542 on one of his first exploratory voyages to Canada. Margaret was the niece of Cartier’s financer, but because of a relationship she had struck with one of the sailors, she was left marooned on Harrington Island in the St. Lawrence River, where she lived for 3 winters, mostly alone, before returning to Europe. Another maritime film of note produced by Peter is his award-winning documentary about the famed Canadian solo sailor, Joshua Slocum, an inspiration for many offshore sailors today. In 1985 Peter returned from his charter skippering stint in the Bahamas to make the feature film “Lost!” The film told the true story of three people who tried to sail from the Pacific Northwest to Costa Rica, where the boat’s owner was planning to become a missionary. Their trimaran was flipped in a huge storm off Oregon, and the missionary, convinced that they were being tested by God, threw away all of their supplies, thus, in effect, killing one of his crew. The two survivors drifted across the Pacific aboard the upturned hull for 85 days. In 1996, Peter wrote and directed a version of one of the greatest tales of adventure ever, “Treasure Island”, starring Jack Palance and Kevin Zegers. The film won a Gold Medal at the Worldfest Film Festival. Peter became fascinated by Africa – catching what fellow Canadian member Bristol Foster FI’05 calls Africanitis - and spent two years filming in South Africa. All of these interests came together 3 years ago when the idea struck to follow the adventures of storm chaser, George Kourounis, FI’09. This became the 39 part television series “Angry Planet”. The show plays across Canada on OLN, CITY-TV, and Canal Evasion. It’s Peter’s ability to go beyond the exploration itself, and to get inside the person, that has made his films unique. He has the ability to look at how people who go to extreme places are able to push the limits, and how the experience impacts the individual. He tries to bring adventurous exploration to the mass audience by way of popular television – a way of helping people to live vicariously through his and his subjects’ and hosts’ experiences, and to better understand what is involved when working on the edge of exploration. Peter just returned from filming in the jungles of Venezuela and shortly, he will be off to the Empty Quarter - the Arabian Desert. This vast area, which consists of almost the


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entire southern section of Saudi Arabia, plus the UAE, Oman, Yemen, and Qatar, was left unexplored until the 1940s. Still today, it is a region that is little explored, and largely unpopulated. After this, Peter will be working in British Columbia and Curacao with famous submariner Phil Nuyyten, FI’85, looking at deep-sea activities, such as the chemically rich deep-sea vents. Peter and his “Angry Planet” host George Kourounis were two of the first civilians to be taken down to depth in the Canadian Defence experimental diving chamber for their filming of this final episode of “Angry Planet”. Now, Peter is working on developing a new adventure show… one that promises to be intriguing. Peter does not regard himself as an explorer on the edge of any particular field, but as an explorer who has had an opportunity to work within a wide range of different modalities, from mountain climbing to deep sea diving. The experience of the generalist provides important cross-links across disciplines that provide unique insights. This comes out in “Angry Planet”. His comments for young explorers are to get out there and film your experience. The technology has never been more readily available, nor the tools more accessible. There are more markets to show film and a more eager audience for wilderness adventure film making than ever before. Training and experience helps, but there is much to be learned by getting out and doing it. Peter feels that the Explorers Club gives members a tremendous advantage by creating contacts and a resource/knowledge base. More information on Peter and a list of some of his films can be found at http://www.northernstars.ca/directorsmz/rowe_peter.html

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Explorer Reports BC Explorer’s Club Student Hike - October 18, 2009 by Steven McGehee FI’07 On Sunday October 18 Nine Graduate Students from the University of Victoria and four friends met at the parking lot of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park. This Park is 1,219 hectares and was opened in 1996. It is located along the east side of the Saanich Inlet just north of Victoria. This park contains part of the Gowlland Range, which is home to the rare dry coastal Douglas fir habitat. This ecosystem houses over 150 plant and animal species making it a hotspot of biodiversity. After a few days of rain, we woke up Sunday to sunshine and warm weather. Our group included EC student members Steven McGehee and Annie Bourbonnais along with students interested in learning more about the Explorer’s Club. Most of us had been in our university offices and classrooms for the last two months so we were very happy to be outdoors. Highlights included seeing 2 Cooper’s Hawks and a Townsend’s Warber. There were many spectacular views of the Saanich Islet. We enjoyed visiting a 150-year-old log home and hand feeding the deer local apples. Everyone agreed we will do this hike again in the spring.


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Join the Atlas!

Anyone can participate in the Atlas. All you need is a pair of binoculars and some bird watching experience or the desire to learn about birds. You need to be able to identify birds correctly but you do not need to be expert – all records are welcome. All data are entered on-line and the results will appear on this web site.

After you register to the Atlas, you will receive the instructions and forms necessary. You should also get in touch with the regional coordinator in the area(s) that you

are interested.

The coordinator will recommend an area (10x10 km square) where you should plan to spend at least 20 hours over the 5 years of the project. You are also strongly encouraged to report observations done outside of your square, anywhere else in B.C.

2009 Saltspring Island Symposium participants

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Announcements

The Explorers’ Club Annual Dinner (ECAD) is one of the more memorable events that you are likely to experience and I am sure that this year’s event will be most stunning. If you have never attended an ECAD, you should consider making it a priority. We are again intent on organizing a Canadian Table. We are a strong Chapter and it is an extra pleasure sharing the event with other Canadian members. In addition to sitting together at the dinner on Saturday evening, we also organize a guiding tour of the American Museum of Natural History. We also are open to dinner or drinks out of Friday evening. We will be looking at less expensive accommodations near the Waldorf and as well, we will try to arrange for local EC members to host Canadian guests when desired. Dinner is open to members and non-members alike. If you wish to join a Canadian Table at ECAD, contact Barry or Amanda Glickman (Barry or Amanda at paparumba.org). This year it will be the 106th ECAD and its focus will be “On the Cusp of Infinity: Exploring the Universes out there”. For more information visit www.explorers.org. Note that seating is limited.

_________ EXPLORERS CLUB FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 5-6 2010: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Hello Explorers Club Film Makers: Last year's EC Film fest was such a success that we are planning to do it again. The dates are set -- March 5 and 6 -- at the venerable Arts and Letters Club in Toronto. Once again, the idea is for members of both the Explorers Club and the Arts and Letters Club to gather for a weekend, screen each other's work and see what new stories we can discover by sharing ideas. We want to invite members of the EC to submit one film each. The films can be new or old, short or feature length. And you don't have to be a film maker to submit--it can be a film you were involved with or a film made about you. Each film will be screened in the

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fabulous Great Hall of the Arts and Letters Club. We are also planning a dinner, guest speakers and other events--stay tuned. Last year we had a few premieres, including Mark Terry's film on "The Antarctica Challenge: A Global Warning," which was selected by the UN to be screened at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. This year we are already planning to screen a few more premieres and we are eager to see what other films you, the membership, have in store for us. And as a special bonus, Canadian writer and explorer Wade Davis is tentatively scheduled to screen one of his latest films and be the keynote speaker on the Saturday night. Admission is open to members and their families. As before, due to space, 120 tickets will be available. Information on purchasing tickets will be posted soon. The deadline for film submissions is February 26, 2010. Please send DVDs to me: Andrew Gregg 257 Humberside Avenue, Toronto, Ontario CANADA M6P 1L2 Please do not send incomplete films or rough cuts. Standard definition DVDs are best. There will be no film competition at the festival. This is simply a chance to share each other's work. And one more thing, for all you photographers: we are looking for an image for this year's festival poster. It should be a production still taken on location, provocative and exotic and should be framed to provide space for text to be laid over top. A copy of last year's poster is attached or reference. Thanks in advance and we're looking forward to receiving your movies... All the best, Andrew


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The Lowell Thomas Building Capital Campaign Preserve a Brick Initiative

Each fifty dollars donated will help to preserve one brick from the Club's current facade. Your contributions both large and small are important in helping us restore The Explorers Club historic Lowell Thomas building brick by brick The Lowell Thomas Building Capital Campaign Preserve a Brick Initiative Each fifty dollars donated will help to preserve one brick from the Club's current facade. Your contributions both large and small are important in helping us restore the Explorers Club historic Lowell Thomas building brick by brick CAN YOU PLACE THE GRAPHIC HERE OF THE FRONT FACADE OF THE CLUBHOUSE, ALONG WITH THE SCALE OF DOLLAR AMOUNTS? Upcoming Explorations Les Stroud and Jason Schoonover FI’86 will be working together on two expeditions for Les' new show, Stroud's Vanishing World, in which he takes part in dying anthro-type of rituals around the world. January they and a 10-person film crew will be in Sri Lanka where Jason is setting Les up with the Resplendent Isle's Devil Dancers to be exorcised of the demon causing his fear of heights. They'll test to see if the cure worked by having Les attempt to rappel the 600-foot vertical ramparts of Sigiriya rock fortress in the northern central part of the country. Jason is also the fixer on another shoot in May in The Golden Triangle, exploring the vanishing and colourful hill tribes. Jason has done flag expeditions to study both the Devil Dancers and the hill tribes in recent years. Les' new show launches on Discovery International in September.


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Membership Report: John Pollack FI’06 Samuel Stime MI’07 and John Pollack FI’06 are preparing the third annual Canadian Members' Roster for release in January 2010. This important document is issued in two parts. The first half of the Roster provides the reader a thorough review of the organization, international chapters, officers and contacts within The Explorers Club. The second half of the Roster gives contact and biographical information for our 180 +/- Canadian members. The document is a searchable pdf that does not contain any personal information that you do not want posted. The Canadian Roster will be available via secure download through our Canadian website in the very near future.

Explorer Resources Recommended resources, information, granting sites, websites or other materials helpful to exploration and field research. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) Did you know that The Explorers Club and The Explorers Club Canadian Chapter Students both have Facebook pages? There’s also a Student Members of The Explorers Club. Gribs USA (http://www.grib.us/) Useful for finding global weather grib files for expedition planning on the ocean. Yahoo Listserver (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/explorersclubcdn) Jason Schoonover long ago organized a Yahoo group for discussions within the Canadian Chapter. To join, please follow the instructions below:

a) Click on: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/explorersclubcdn b) Join This Group (top rightish, blue bar). c) Sign into Yahoo (Sign Up). Type in a Yahoo email address and create a password. d) Edit Messages (top middle - if this page doesn't automatically open) e) Edit Messages: on this page you can create your profile so others have an idea who you are; put in whatever email address you want delivery to; and, under Message Delivery, set the level of emails you want to receive.

When you want to send an email to the group, use this email address: [email protected]. When you want to respond to an email from the list-serv, you can either reply to the group or the individual, whichever is most appropriate. Please be aware of this as we want to avoid spam.

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Calendar of Events Please remember that there is a complete Calendar of Events on The Explorers Club’s main website: http://www.explorers.org/calendar/month.php

March 5 & 6, 2010: Explorers Club Film Festival at the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto – please check the homepage for more information (www.explorersclub.ca). March 20, 2010: Explorers Club Annual Dinner, The Waldorf-Astoria, NY. “On The Cusp of Infinity; Exploring the Universes Out There”. For tickets, please go to: http://explorers.org/dinner/. April 22, 23 & 24 2010: The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Explorers Club presents their 3rd Annual “Compass” Symposium at Lakedale Lodge, San Juan Island, Washington. For more information contact Lynn at [email protected]. June 19, 2010 (Starting): Canoeing the Churchill River with Jason Schoonover. Please contact Jason at [email protected] for more information.

Classifieds Classified ads are limited to 50 words and are free for Explorers Club members. These classifieds are limited to NON COMMERCIAL usage and are aimed at helping TEC members share resources, communications and contacts. Wanted: Contributors to “Far Afield”. We’re looking for keen and interested volunteers to help edit and write columns. Please contact Amanda at [email protected]

Wanted: Expedition photos for the front cover of Far Afield. Please contact Amanda ([email protected]) or Wilson ([email protected]).

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Documents

Canadian Chapter Newsletter · Hard to believe that I accepted Joe Frey's invitation to be interim-Regional Chair, British Columbia and Yukon six years ago. ... Spring Symposium has