Far Afield - Explorers Club · 2013-02-10 · service include the orientation of young people toward careers in field science and engineering, ... sumptuous gourmet dinner that could

The Explorers Club – Canadian Chapter 1 www.explorersclub.ca

News for the CaNadiaN Chapter

Vol. 4 No. 2 Winter 2013

Cresting the divideSee page 14

Far Afield


This summer I attended events in three of our four regions, and managed to talk with many of you. I am pleased to report that our Chapter is flourishing thanks to the hard work of our volunteer Directors and members. We are the largest international Chapter within The Explorers Club, and our ranks may exceed 200 members by late 2013. Canadian members – both explorers and field scientists - are running or participating in major expeditions around the globe, and we have organized a large number of successful, high profile Chapter events across the country. On top of all of this progress, two Canadian members garnered major awards at ECAD, including The Explorers Medal. This progress was possible because of participation and interest. An increasingly large group of members are stepping forward to make these events happen, and to help the Chapter work. There are many opportunities to enrich your year via attending local events, posting your expeditions in Far Afield and on our website, and above all, helping our student and other members make some connections. Please consider doing what you can, and engage. The efforts we make in these areas are being returned to us many times over.

2012 AGM Report / Canadian Chapter of The Explorers ClubApproved: October 10, 2012 at the AGM in Toronto, Canada1. Purpose: The Explorers Club is a multi-disciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, resource conservation, and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. The Club’s goals in research, education and public service include the orientation of young people toward careers in field science and engineering, and the encouragement of scientific exploration of air, sea and space with the emphasis on the field and natural sciences. The Club serves as a common bond and meeting point for explorers and field scientists worldwide, thus continuing the early goals laid down by its founders in 1904. The Canadian chapter is one of 19 US and 6 international chapters of The Explorers Club. 2. Officers of the Canadian Chapter Executive:Chapter Chair ...................John Pollack FI’06BC/Yukon Director ............ Mary Morris FI’10Prairies/NWT Director ....... Murray Larson FI’05Ontario/Nunavut Director .. Elaine Wyatt MI’05Atlantic/Quebec Director... vacant (Editor’s note: subsequently filled by Dale Dunlop MI’08)3. Directors of the Canadian Chapter:Communications ............... Jason Schoonover FE’85Awards & Honours ............ Denis St-Onge FI’05, Lee Treolar MI’09, Simon Donato FI’09Recruitment ...................... Denis St-Onge FI’05Membership ...................... Murray Larson FI’05Student Representative .... Maeva Gauthier SM’08Webmaster ....................... Rogier Gruys MI‘10Far Afield Editor ................ Wilson West FI’08

Message from the Chapter Chair John Pollack FI’06


Directors at Large ............. Simon Donato FI’09 (Ex-Chair) , Amanda Glickman FI’05 (Ex-Chair), Rosemarie Keough FI’02, Nat Rutter EF’78

4. Membership: Current membership is 192 and comprises of 22 in Atlantic - Quebec, 72 in Ontario - Nunavut, 27 in the Prairies - NWT, and 62 in BC-Yukon. A further 9 members reside outside Canada.

5. Financial Report: No funds transferred to date to the Canadian Chapter. Our events, awards and operating costs are covered by participants and directors. This situation is expected to change in the fall of 2012.

6. Incorporation status: The Canadian Chapter is currently unincorporated.

7. A Synopsis of Activities for 2012: 2012 was a very successful year for the Canadian Chapter. Major events included:• Two issues of Far Afield• Launch of a new website• The West Coast Symposium held at Montague Harbour, British Columbia• A program of dinner lectures sponsored by Kensington Travel in Toronto• A program of student pot luck lectures held in Victoria by the Student Representative • A major film festival in Toronto• A program of informal lectures held in Calgary• Canoe brigades led by Jason Schoonover in western Canada• Annual field weekend in Crowsnest Pass by the Prairies - NWT Chapter.

8. Awards: Two Canadians received major TEC awards - Dr. Philip Nuytten FI‘85 received the BeeBe Award for his pioneering efforts in the development of underwater technology, and Dr. Philip Currie FI’02 received The Explorers Club Medal for his years of outstanding research contributions in paleontology. The Canadian Chapter also recognizes its outstanding members annually with several awards. This year’s Stefansson Medal recipient is Dr. James P. Delgado FI’97 for his years of outstanding research contributions and outreach efforts in nautical Archaeology. Citations of Merit were presented to Murray Larson FI’05 and Simon Donato FI’09 for their long-standing and exemplary leadership in Alberta and nationally. Certificates of Appreciation were delivered to Dr. Barry Glickman FI’05 and Dr. George Burden MI’03 for dedicated service.

9. Progress and Outlook: • Our Board of Directors is stable. Three of four regions have continuing Regional Directors or

volunteers to be confirmed by the membership this fall. • We are seeking a competent Regional Director for Atlantic/Quebec. • Our webmaster (Rogier Gruys MI‘10) and e-publication Far Afield (Dr. Wilson West FI‘08)

are continuing.• Continuing major and minor events are planned three of the four regions for 2013. • Canadian Membership was been stable despite a very public NY board conflict this spring. • Our focus in 2013 will be continued recruitment and expansion of services to members in

the form of local events, filling the Atlantic/Quebec Directorship, and the continuation of the website and Far Afield.

Respectfully submitted,John C. Pollack FI’06Chair Canadian Chapter


The Explorers Club Annual Dinner is our La grande fete—and it’s an unbelievable experience. I’m attending (I break my annual collecting season in Southeast Asia every four years or so to do so) and putting together Canadian tables. I want to tell you a bit about it, if you haven’t already attended this incredible black tie event at the Waldorf-Astoria, being held March 16.There’s always a special group high whenever Explorers Club members get together, which those who have experienced Rosemarie and Pat Keough’s Salt Spring Symposiums or my own canoe brigades will attest to. Well, imagine being at a venue where—around the Exotics Table, with its mouth-watering selection of goat’s eyes and worms—you glance over and next to you is Buzz Aldrin with Scott Carpenter. Further in the distance you spot Bob Ballard and—when Ed Hillary was still alive—see the tall Kiwi who was the summit experience itself. Everywhere is the crème-de-la-crème of exploration and adventure, famous and not so famous. And everyone’s happy and relaxed and friendly and smiling and being themselves and having a great time.Because we’re amongst our own. Birds of a feather. Honeyed tarantula in hand, you check out the silent auction before a Scottish piper leads the assembly into the Grand Ballroom—where our dinner has been held for over a century—for a sumptuous gourmet dinner that could stuff a hummingbird. Then begins the program—from the stage, with huge screens, and a parade of fascinating people and features. Each year there’s a theme.And it’s not over when that’s over. Sunday everyone meets at the Club again for brunch. It’s packed like sardines. For those inclined, the lecture rooms feature speakers. It doesn’t matter which way you turn, you can’t have a boring conversation.

I’m inviting you to join The Dragon Lady, Madame Su, and I. So far we have one table filled, which contains a few Honourary Canucks. George Kourounis, PNW Chairette Capt. Lynn Danaher, Chapters VP & Atlanta Chair Alex and Julie Wallace, BOD member Capt. Norm Baker, Bjorn Mikkelsen, and Peter and Carolyn Rowe.

Let me know. Here’s ECAD photos from last year:

http://www.explorers.org/index.php/news/news_detail/ecad_2012_photos_now_online

If you’re a member of this Club, you will want to attend ECAD at least once, such is the experience. Make it this one.

Communications DirectorJason Schoonover FE’86


West Coast Symposium 2012The Explorers Club at Galiano IslandIn the first week of September, the Explorers Club BC/Yukon chapter co-sponsored a wonderful outdoor gathering with The Galiano Conservancy. The event was centered at the beautiful Montague Harbour Provincial Park, on Galiano Island in the southern Gulf Islands, a short ferry trip about half way across the Salish Sea between Victoria and Vancouver. Mary Morris FI’10, Maeva Gauthier SM’09 and John Harper FI’10 organized the Explorers side of the event.Meeting tents were setup near the entrance to the park in a small field ringed by old apple trees, which had been a turn-of-the-century homestead built on the site of a much more ancient Coast Salish village, where people had been living for thousands of years. Reading the story on the landscape, from traces left by those long-ago peoples, of how their villages may have looked at that place and how the shoreline and landscapes have changed, was the reason for the Explorers Club gathering at Montague. The Galiano Conservancy hosted our first group dinner. The association’s coordinator, Ken Millard

Eric McLay and outdoor theatre.

Colin Grier at the shell midden.

Regional Director BC / YukonMary Morris FI’10


Mark Atherton and sonar demonstration.

Ken and Linda Millard with Florence James and Rob Butler

elegantly introduced us to their work on conserving lands on Galiano and providing nurturing space for people to reconnect with the natural surroundings. The weekend events were organized to give participants the chance to spend time at Montague Harbour with Penelekut First Nation elder Florence James and archeologists Eric McLay, Daryl Fedje and Colin Grier, who have studying the archeological history in the southern Gulf Islands. Florence opened our outdoor talks on the first morning with a prayer and blessing (including “take your shoes off so you can connect with the place”). She told us that the place name for Montague Harbour in the Salish language was ‘Sum’Nuw’ which means ‘echo sound inside a cave’.Eric and Florence led walking tours around the campsite to tell stories from the oral history of Montague region and to describe the richness of the cultural history. Eric told us how traditional knowledge from today’s elders is so important to helping understand his research findings. Colin explained how archeologists see evidence of former habitation at cultural sites, in part from charcoal, shell and fire cracked rocks left from cooking. Out on the water, a team led by Mark Atherton and Maeva Gauthier near midden.


Brian Abbott, international experts in underwater sonar from Vancouver, setup their instruments to show how they search for man-made underwater features on the sea floor (check out Mark’s book – Echoes and Images). Showing his artistic side, Rob Butler FI’08 showed us how he captures the spirit of the places he visits by making field sketches. He explained how his drawings in his travelling sketchbook help him remember the place better than snapping a quick photograph. On Saturday afternoon, the group convened at the Galiano Community Hall where talks were given by several Explorers. Susan Eaton MI’11 spoke on a recent expedition to Antarctica. Rob Butler spoke about the birds of the Gulf Islands and described the fauna found in middens dating back many thousands of years were very similar to the bird species observed today. Maeva Gauthier SM’09 spoke about filmmaking and traditional knowledge on the North Slope of Alaska and how she worked with Inuit young people and elders on her recent trip to the Arctic to make videos in their communities. Mark Atherton and Brian Abbott presented about their international work on underwater surveying, including recent discovery of unusual rock formations

Explorers with Colin Grier on beach site.

Group photo.

Florence James leading storytelling.


Rob Butler doing sketches.

Mark Atherton and Brian Abbott with sonar demonstration.

in the shallow underwater of Lake Michigan that appear to be made by humans thousands of years ago. Lynn Danaher MN’05 described the restoration of moai by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Cathy Hickson FI’05 spoke about volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest explaining many examples in BC where large volcanoes formed under glacial ice sheets, creating lava beds and flattened ‘tuya’ shaped mountains . A special public lecture was held on Saturday evening, where over 70 Galiano residents joined the meeting to hear a different perspective of Galiano Island from elder Florence, and archaeologists Eric McLay and Colin Grier, who described thousands of years of cultural history of humans living on the changing shorelines of the Salish Sea. In a magical conclusion to the event, Explorers and friends found themselves around the late summer campfire exchanging “campfire” stories (you had to have been there!), including a riveting tale about a close encounter with a Siberian tiger, told by Erin Latham one of our University of Victoria students.


The weekend of June 15, 16 and 17 was the time of the Prairie/NWT region’s annual field trip. This year we went to the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta. We were a group of 18 – 8 members (including John Pollack FI’06, our Canadian Chairman) and 10 family members and friends.On Friday night we all gathered at the motel in Blairmore for a social hour and dinner. On Saturday morning we drove a couple of miles east to the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre where we were given a guided tour. After the tour we had a picnic lunch on the grounds of the FSIC. After lunch we drove another 2 miles east to the site of the Leitch Colleries, now abandoned but still retaining remnants of the surface workings. We had a guided tour here and the retraced our path back a mile or so to the Bellevue Coal Mine (1929-1961) Here, along with our guide, we progressed inside the mine tunnel 1000 feet( 300m) wearing miners helmets and battery packs. This mine still has significant reserves of coal but with the demise of the steam engine it has not produced since 1961. After the mine tour we adjourned to a bar in the nearby town of Coleman for a social hour and supper. The bar had a private meeting/dining room and we availed ourselves of said room. The next morning we left Blairmore and proceeded north up the “Cowboy Trail” Hwy 22 back to Calgary. En route we stopped at the historic Bar U Ranch (now a Parks Canada facility), had a guided tour, lunch and the proceeded homewards.

Dale Dunlop MI’08 and his wife Alison Scott are co-authors of Exploring Nova Scotia, the most definitive guide to the province ever published. First released in 1995 it is now in its 6th edition. Dale is a frequent contributor to many magazines and newspapers and has written articles about his explorations on five continents. Dale has practiced law in Halifax for over 36 years and provides pro bono services to a number of environmental groups. He is currently engaged in writing Islands of Nova Scotia for Nimbus Publishing.

Regional Director Prairie / NWTMurray Larson FI’05

Regional Director Atlantic CanadaDale Dunlop MI’08


Regional Director Ontario / NunavutElaine Wyatt MI’05

reception to

follow

This event has been organized by The Explorers Club and the Uof T Archaeology Centre.

In August 2010, a coalition of government and private partners conducted a comprehensive scientific mapping of the entire Titanic wreck site — every scattered artifact and section of hull that rests on the seabed more than 4,000 m beneath the surface of the North Atlantic. The result: a massive high-definition picture in which every thing has been precisely gridded and geo-referenced. Dr. Delgado was the chief scientist and principal archaeologist on the expedition. He’ll share his intimate knowledge of the ship, research and technology. Just as important, he’ll discuss the critical question: Is Titanic archaeology?

After nearly four decades in underwater exploration, Dr. Delgado is a veteran of more than 100 After nearly four decades in underwater exploration, Dr. Delgado is a veteran of more than 100 shipwreck investigations. He was President and CEO of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University from 2006-2010; host and team archaeologist on the popular National Geographic documentary series The Sea Hunters from 2001-2006; and Executive Director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum from 1991-2006. He is a Fellow of The Explorers Club and the Royal Geographic Society.

Dr. James DelgadoDirector of Maritime HeritageNational Marine SanctuariesNational Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

Thursday October 11, 2012 | 6-8 pmRoom 1180 Bahen Centre, 40 St. George Street

St. George Campus, University of Toronto This event is open to the public. We encourage you to bring friends and colleagues.

EVERY BOLLARD, EVERY DAVIT, EVERY BOILER, EVERY SHOE

TITANIC

Delgado FI’97 asks a rapt audience: Is Titanic archaeology?Jim Delgado FI‘97 spoke with passion and eloquence about the coalition of government and private partners that conducted a comprehensive scientific mapping of the entire Titanic wreck site – every scattered artifact and section of hull that rests on the seabed more than 4,000 m beneath the surface of the North Atlantic. He dazzled the audience of about 85 at

The image on the poster used to advertise Jim Delgado’s lecture at the University of Toronto Archaeology Centre on October 11.

the University of Toronto Archaeology Centre with the result: a massive high-definition picture in which every thing has been precisely gridded and geo-referenced. He shared his intimate knowledge of the ship, research and technology. Just as important, he discussed the critical question: Is Titanic archaeology?

We didn’t skip a beat during the second half of 2012. We held seven events in six months, July 13: Shawn Phelps MI’05 shared his experiences providing care to the world’s poorest through Remote Area Medical. August 10: Jeff Fuchs FI’08 spoke about his eight-month journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, the ancient tea horse route. Sept. 14: Peter Rowe FI’08 used two films to introduce our members to British Columbia members Phil Nuytten and Chris Harvey-Clark.Oct. 10: Our National AGM rose to the standards established in New York: on the menu were crickets and worms. John Pollack FI’06 took us on several of his National Geographic Society supported expeditions in Laos and the Yukon. John – and his talk – attracted close to 65 members and friends of the Explorers Club to an evening made special in true Explorers Club traditions by our host Jeff Willner MI’01. Nov. 9: Fred Gaskin FI’81 and Jack Purchase FI’81 kept the group amazed and amused as they described their Soviet / North American canoe expedition in the Soviet Arctic.Dec. 14: Michael Gregg gave us a taste of his 13-week course on the history of exploration taught to second year Earth Science students at McMaster University.


Hello all! A few events happened in partnership with fellow members in the Vancouver/Victoria region this Fall. Most recently, an informal gathering on a boat in downtown Victoria (December) and the Galiano Annual Symposium in September (see regional update). I took a road trip to Portland to say hello to our neighbour explorers at their Pacific Northwest annual gathering in October. It is always great to meet new members and keep in touch with the community. We are hoping that more members from Seattle and Portland will come to our events in Vancouver and Victoria. We are not that far away! The most recent gathering on December 6, ‘Coastal Tribute’, was held on John Harper FI’10 and Mary Morris’ FI’10 boat Golden Dawn. We had a talk from oilmanandthesea on awareness and voice for BC’s threatened coast (for more information go to www.stuffthatdoesntsuck.ca). Recently returned from exploring the coast for three months aboard their sailboat, Ilja Herb and Arno Kopecky recounted stories and shared photos from their journey. Mary Morris FI‘10 presented her impressions after flying the coast of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska this summer for the coastal mapping program called ShoreZone. At that last gathering, a PhD student from the University of Victoria who was invited to a gathering for the first time left full of inspiration with these words: “I want to become a member!”. It made me think of how I felt the first time I went to the Saltspring Island symposium in 2008. Actually, I am still feeling the exact same way. It is a very special community rich with knowledge, passion, and connection. Let’s keep the energy alive! This is the reason why we are organizing frequent informal gatherings, because we enjoy spending time together and sharing our latest adventures. You will find a few student reports in this edition. We have a small group of students in Canada (about 25) that are quite spread out with a few recent graduates, including me. It is hard to know each other, but let’s use Far Afield to actually know a bit more about what everybody is doing. I am transitioning from student membership to regular membership this year and I have no doubts that I want to continue to be part of this club.

We are looking for a new student representative. Please write to [email protected] if you are interested in becoming more involved with the Club.

Student RepresentativeMaeva Gauthier SM’08


Ronald E. Craven ME‘91 is an extraordinary Member of our Canadian Chapter. He is 93 (he might not like me telling you this) and doing well. There are two distinct but connected facets in his life. One is his Second World War experience and the other is his interest in the history of northern Canada.As a flying Warrant Officer in the Royal Canadian Air force during the Second World War, Ron flew mostly four engine Halifax bombers, and some Lancasters. His Halifax bomber was named Vicky (the vicious Virgin) and he was affectionately named “Dirty Old Man”. When I talked to him, he never made it clear why they called him this. I will assume that he must have been a bit older than his comrades. Stationed in England, from 1941 to 1944, he flew 28 bombing

Ronald Craven ME’91

missions over Germany. He was never shot down, partly he says, because the Canadians flew in disorderly “gaggles, not in American-like formations, which made them easier targets for the Germans to spot.” At the end of the war, he flew a Lancaster, along with 300 other Lancasters from England to Canada in two days, the largest migration of aircraft ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He spent the next 55 years as a commercial pilot mainly in the Arctic and more specifically in the area of Hudson Bay. In 1967, Ron bought National Aviation based in Kitchener, Ontario, where he remained until his retirement in 1984. He still has his log book that records that he has flown 27,000 hours in 52 different aircraft !Ron’s flying record certainly qualifies him for the Explorers Club, but it is his investigation as an “exploration historian” (my term) where he has made valuable contributions to the motivation and exploration of Henry Hudson (born between 1565 and 1570 and died in 1611). Flying in remote spots in the Hudson Bay area, such as Povungnituk, Cabbage Willows, Ruperts House, Moose Factory, Churchill, Albany, and Rankin Inlet, he met many First Nations people. Commonly while waiting for clients, he would ask about how long they had lived in their area, about their ancestors, and Ron learned the stories that they have passed on to generation after generation. Through these conversations in a number of settlements, and with the interest and knowledge of Father Steinman, who ran a school in Povungnituk.Ron was able to conclude the true motivation of Henry Hudson’s travels. In his 1610-11 sail to Hudson Bay, it appears that instead of trying to discover the Northwest Passage, he was making an inventory of the area’s resources for a wealthy group of English merchants who financed his trip (Hudson was not wealthy) and were afraid the Dutch would beat them in exploration of Hudson Bay. These same merchants later formed the Hudson’s Bay Company.Ron’s conclusions were based in part on the fact that Hudson stopped in too many places in Hudson Bay to be exploring for a Northwest Passage. He never went past Southampton Island, which is the starting point for the Northwest Passage and asked many questions at the places where he stopped about their resources and not about the route of the Northwest Passage. Ron lives comfortably in Strafford, Ontario with Kathleen, his wife of 70 years.

Outstanding Canadian Members – Ronald Craven ME‘91By Nat Rutter EF’78


Expedition to BC’s Northern Rockies: Wilderness at its BestBy Wayne Sawchuk FI‘09Twenty head of horses, eight friends, a little dog named Chancey, and a couple of hundred miles of mountain trail are a potent combination. These were some of the elements that combined to make the 2012 Muskwa-Kechika Expedition a galloping success. Since 1990 when the campaign to protect BC’s Muskwa-Kechika got underway it has been my pleasure and mission to lead exploration pack trips deep into the mountains. One of the goals of this apparently mad enterprise is to introduce people to the wonders of this magnificent area, with the hope that they will then act as ambassadors for its conservation. It isn’t a tough sell, as this is the largest wilderness in the Rocky Mountains, teeming with wildlife. Over the years a core of experienced riders has developed, many of whom come back again and again, acting as mentors for new riders, and making the expedition more of a family affair than a commercial enterprise. Another goal of course, no less important from my point of view, is to get Wayne out into the mountains with his horses. Our 2012 ride was no exception. Beginning June 21 at Stone Mountain on the Alaska Highway, folks from throughout the world joined me and my wife Donna for two week stints as we followed little traveled trails south across the Tetsa, Henry, and Chisca valleys, then up to the Rocky Mountain Divide past the ice-blue waters of the Tuchodi Lakes. From the roof of the Rockies we travelled west down the Gataga River to our base camp at Mayfield Lake. Here we were joined by groups of youths for one-week or 10-day camps. It was a pleasure to see the young riders from the Remuda Program from Stoney Plain Alberta, and keen students from the Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Program from the University of Northern BC in Prince George, blossom under the combined influence of the wilderness landscape, camp camaraderie, and a friendly packstring. Dr. Rob Butler FI’08, rode with us once again gathering information for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas. This added to data gathered in 2011 when we were honoured to carry Flag 76

into the headwaters of the Prophet River in the southern reaches of the Muskwa-Kechika.Finally in September we packed up the packhorses, saddled up our mounts, and headed north over the high passes that define the Rocky Mountain Divide separating the Gataga and Toad River watersheds, reaching the Alaska Highway at Mile 442 on September 16. Over the course of the summer we had seen most of the iconic large mammals

Trail lunch. Photo by Wayne Sawchuk FI‘09

Explorer Reports & Updates


that are identified with unspoiled Rocky Mountain habitat, including moose, elk, Stone’s Sheep, caribou, mountain goats, grizzly bear and wolves. We had faced high water and swimming crossings, snow covered passes, and downpours, but we had also enjoyed weeks of brilliant, sunny weather. We had made new friends and renewed old friendships, and perhaps most importantly, had supported, in a small way, the continued protection of the most important wildlife area on the North American continent. And that’s a nice bonus to add to a summer on the wilderness trails of the Northern Rockies of BC.To learn more, see go2mk.caOn the front page: Lone Oddermose braves a September snowstorm at the crest of Steeple Pass.

Lee Treloar MI’09 hosted a private tour of Cuba Nov. 1 to 11, 2012. Lee says “Cuba is one of the most interesting destinations in the world whose colonial past has often been overshadowed by its turbulent and controversial political history.”Mark Angelo FI’09 was awarded Flag #25 for an ambitious river-related project. Over the next two years he’ll visit many of the world’s great rivers, from the Zambezi to the Ganges to the Fraser, highlighting their attractions and threats. Shot in high definition, The Last Paddle should be ready for the film festival circuit in 2014. New member Johann Sigurdson MI’12 wasted no time making waves, sailing into Hudson Bay in search of evidence that his Viking ancestors once entered the Bay. The late Bill Jamieson MI’97 was one of the world’s leading tribal arts dealers and his flamboyant, eccentric lifestyle segued into the riveting Treasure Trader with fiancée Jessica Phillips MI’12. It was in production when Bill died. The result is eight episodes about ethnology and curiosities from guillotines to shrunken heads (he had the world’s largest collection). Jeff Whiting FI’11 invited members to a special Explorer’s Club weekend October 19 to 21, 2012 during the Artists for Conservation Festival atop Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. The weekend was packed with fascinating lectures, film screenings and a conservation-themed exhibit of art by Explorers Club members. The weekend culminated in a gourmet feast in a traditional First Nations longhouse (Hiwus Feasthouse). Cory Trepanier MI’09 published an article about his Arctic travels for The Toronto Star. China’s Modern Weekly wrote an article about extreme tourism that featured Cory and his Into The Arctic project. You can read it on line at http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/1232380--canada-travel-caledon-artist-spends-six-years-exploring-wonders-of-the-arctic. Cory was also on Canada AM on July 3, 2012, sharing more about our north. You can watch the interview on homepage of his website here: http://www.trepanieroriginals.com. Cory also went to Whitehorse, Yukon as a guest of Parks Canada to be the keynote speaker at GoMedia 2012 Marketplace. Cory talked about his Arctic travels, with an emphasis on the five Arctic National Parks that he explored, painted and filmed. A short video from the trip and presentation can be viewed online at http://www.intothearctic.com.As a member of European Commission’s Conservation Committee, Mark Terry FI’08 will be attending a conference in Cabo, Mexico in February 2013 to present his films and speak about new climate change discoveries. He will also be writing the first Conservation Corner column for the Commission’s website.

(continued on page 24)

In Other News


“It’s a new road,” he said. “They made a reservoir, and a new road to the reservoir.”He showed us on our map where the road should be. What the legend said were “trails,” ran up the valleys to a few villages, but the map showed just white between valleys. I looked at our car, a small rental sedan. Hannah took a deep breath. We were already at an elevation where the air was thin enough to notice.Beaming with what we took as pleasure at the chance to introduce his country to strangers, the hotelier said, “It’s paved all the way.”It was not. After ascending for an hour through dry hills, the paved road turned off to the reservoir. Coming to a ford where a creek flowed across the gravel road, we stopped and got out. The sky had grown cloudy and threatened snow.Hannah said, “Let’s go back.” Three locals walked

An Imaginary Road in MoroccoBy Lee Harding FI’12“If you want to see the real Morocco,” said our hotelier, “don’t follow the highway. Go up there.” He pointed west to a snow-covered range of jagged mountains. Hannah and I had already left Marrakech and Fes behind. We had crossed the Moyen Atlas and stopped for the night at a village between the Moyen and High Atlas ranges. Our planned route led south towards the Sahara Desert.“We’d have to skip the camel trek in the sand dunes,” I said to Hannah.“Been there; done that.” she said. “I rode camels in Jordan, and saw enough sand dunes in Namibia for a lifetime.”Our map did not show a road where the hotelier indicated.

The village of Agefgau. Photo by Hannah Diamond.

The village of Anemz. Photo by Hannah Diamond.

Explorer Reports & Updates


by leading mules. In a mixture of Hannah’s meagre French and my few words of Arabic, we tried to ask about the road ahead; but they spoke only Berber. Hannah took another deep breath and we crossed the ford. The scenery was as breathtakingly beautiful as the road was scary. There were more fords. Sections ran along cliffs where mountain streams had eroded the road bed so that water actually flowed inside of the rip-rapping. As the right-side mirror grazed the cliff, I hoped the wheels on the driver side would find gravel and not air. No other vehicles appeared, even in the tiny, mud-brick villages – no stores, hotels or gas stations either. We slowed for flocks of sheep, and for locals leading mules laden with produce from their fields. When we came into view, villagers ran to the car, excited at seeing strangers. We shared our emergency rations of nuts and dried fruit with them; they laughed and let us take photographs.After crossing several passes far above treeline, we came to a paved road still high enough that the air was thin, puddles had ice, and snow lay in the shadows. We stopped for the night in a village with a gas station, cafes, shops and guest house. Its owner seemed surprised to find guests knocking on his locked door, but let us in and made us the best tagine and bread of our trip. The place had no heat or hot water for showers but we slept well, huddled under layers of hand-woven blankets. In the morning we lucked into a livestock auction.After descending seemingly forever through switchbacks and canyons we again gained the highway. From there our path would follow more usual routes south to the Sahara, east to the coast and back to Marrakech, but crossing the High Atlas on an imaginary road remains the highlight.

The livestock auction in Imilchil. Hannah diamond is in the red fleece. Photo by Lee Harding.

The town of Timariyne showing traditional Moroccan Kasbah architecture. Photo by Lee Harding.


Post Glacial Sea Levels, Central BC CoastBy Dan Shugar SM’08At the last glacial maximum on Canada’s west coast, sea levels were very different from today. Around Vancouver and in the fjordlands of north coastal BC, the sea was up to 200 m higher, relative to the present, due to depression of the crust under several kilometers of glacial ice. Just like a squashed balloon, this “isostatic depression” caused areas offshore to be raised. On Haida Gwaii, this crustal forebulge resulted in relative sea levels up to 150 m lower than present. Not much is known however, of sea level fluctuations on BC’s central coast over the past 16,000 years. This geographic data gap is vitally important to our understanding of the landscape and paleoclimate of the BC coast, the initial peopling of the Americas, and implications of current and future sea level rise.Together with Professors Ian Walker (University of Victoria, Geography) and Olav Lian (University of Fraser Valley, Geography), and graduate student Jordan Eamer (UVic), I am trying to unravel the post-glacial sea level oscillations on BC’s central coast. Past sea levels can be determined by studying former shorelines and associated landforms, such as sand dunes. In summer 2012, we spent several weeks at the Hakai Beach Institute on Calvert Island, collecting samples of sand, wood and shells to date, and mapping the post-glacial sediments. We are combing these data with high-resolution airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) maps of the island to relate relict sand dunes to former sea level positions. Although the project is still very young, we are excited with our initial radiocarbon ages and expect to reconstruct an interesting story of the recent geologic history of this part of BC’s central coast.

Graduate student Jordan Eamer (foreground) measures the depth to a sample site while Professor Olav Lian makes notes. West Beach on Calvert Island.

The research team explores 3-Mile-Beach on Calvert Island on BC’s rugged coast.

The research team studies air photos of the beaches on Calvert Island.


Connecting Youth and Elders through a Sense of Place: A North Slope PerspectiveBy Maeva Gauthier SM’08It’s early morning in Fairbanks and I need to run to catch my 3rd flight after a short overnight on my way to Kaktovik, a village of 300 people on the North Slope of Alaska. We have a film workshop starting soon with youth so they can document their traditional knowledge of the coast. I meet my new friends, Marie Acemah and Heather Craig, at the airport. We are so happy to finally meet each other! They started a non-profit called Media Action (http://mediactionproject.org/) a few years ago to empower and bring capacity to youth and communities using media as a tool. I brought them on board in this project just a few weeks earlier as I didn’t know if I would get funding to pay for ‘real’ film facilitators! You see, I studied marine ecology and took some film classes, but I’ve never facilitated a film workshop myself. I was happy that funding went through to have them on board! We arrive in Kaktovik, at the edge of the Arctic with the Brooks Mountains in the background. It is daylight almost 24 hours a day at the beginning of August and the cotton grass blooms are everywhere. We meet with our ‘Kaktovik Rep’, Tracy Burns, 18 years old, who promoted the film workshop in the community. We would be there for a week to teach the basics of film and support their own film productions. The goal is also to help connect youth and elders, so interviewing elders is important in the process. Our ShoreZone coastal mapping (www.shorezone.org) is happening in parallel too, so some students can fly by helicopter around their village and film the coast. Tracy is participating in the film workshop because she wants to become a filmmaker. She had a strong opinion about climate change: “We calculate at school how long it might take before our house disappears. I don’t understand why there are still people who don’t believe in climate change. It’s happening to us!”.

Tracy Burns gathering footage for her film ‘Weather or Not’ in Kaktovik, AK.


So she made a movie with the help of her sister Brittany Burns about erosion called ‘Weather or Not’, where she interviewed elders about their observations of change. 8-15 youth were also involved in the workshop and at the end of the week, four films were screened in front of 60 people in the village. During the week, I got a call from the Arctic Slope Community Foundation who supported the project. “Funding is confirmed for Point Lay!”. We changed our flights to be able to give another film workshop in this village on the other side of the North Slope. Point Lay community was interested in having a media project like this too, as there are only three elders left in the village. There is so much knowledge to share and so much change is happening: physical change in the landscape and cultural change as well. Point Lay was magical too, with over 20 kids from 5-22 years old following us in the streets and wanting to try the cameras and the microphone. We had another successful film screening with 50 people attending and many people who wanted DVDs to share to their family. The more I spend time up North, the more I realize the vulnerability of its people in regards to climate change and the rapidity of the change happening. I want to put words on it, I want to share it to bring awareness, but I still don’t know what form it will take. I enjoy being involved in these projects to build capacity, to connect more youth with elders, and to see more smiles from the kids when they play with cameras or when they show their movies to their family. Tracy Burns submitted her film to the International Anchorage Film Festival this Fall. It was selected and shown three times

Our team! Heather Craig & Marie Acemah from Media Action and myself.

in December in “a real theater with lots of people watching”, she told me. She wants to make more films and I’m hoping to create more opportunities for her and other youth from the North next summer. To watch Tracy’s film online and some of the other student films, go to: https://vimeo.com/shorezone. Thanks to the Arctic Slope Community Foundation, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and the North Slope Borough for their support.

Nora Itta, an elder interviewed in Point Lay, AK.


Quantifying the Glacier Contributions to Stream Flow in the Upper Columbia River BasinBy Jocelyn Hirose SM’10The Columbia River Basin is the 6th largest river basin in North America, covering 671,000 sq. km. While only 15% of it lies in Canada, a disproportionate amount of runoff is derived from Canada’s portion of the basin; in fact, Canada contributes 30-40% to the basin’s total runoff. How much of that runoff is from glaciers? Unfortunately, this is relatively unknown. Though most of the annual runoff comes from snowpack, glaciers buffer stream flow and stream temperatures – especially during drought periods – in the late summer and early fall. This makes glaciers an extremely important source of freshwater for local ecosystems, hydro-electricity generation, irrigation, and municipalities. I recently completed research in the Illecillewaet River Basin in the Columbia Mountains, which lies in the upper portion of the Columbia River Basin between Revelstoke and Golden. The study characterized the main meteorological parameters influencing glacier snow- and ice-melt and quantifies recent glacier contributions to stream flow in the Illecillewaet basin, which has extensive glacier cover (4.9% of the basin) for such low latitude. Meteorological and mass balance in situ measurements were collected on Illecillewaet Glacier and used to develop and constrain a distributed model for glacier melt that improves future predictions of the glacier’s runoff. This study advances our current understanding of the climate sensitivity to the glacierized regions of the basin and its impact on stream flow. All of the field work was conducted on Illecillewaet Glacier in Rogers Pass, where I lived for 6 months. My field work consisted of camping out on the glacier for weeks at a time and skiing,

Jocelyn Hirose SM’10 navigating around a crevasse on Illecillewaet Glacier. Photo by Will Mcinnes.


hiking, and mountaineering up and down the 1300 m from the valley bottom to the icefield’s névé (multi-year snow), which proved to be dangerous with isothermal snowpack and snow bridges thinning throughout the melt-season. Luckily, Illecillewaet Glacier research has been considered important and the glacier was established as a long-term monitoring site after my initial setup in 2009. Federal agencies saw the local and regional importance of this glacier and all the glaciers it represents. This long-term monitoring will help develop our understanding of glacier contributions to stream flow in time for the decision on whether or not Canada and United States will renegotiate the Columbia Basin Treaty, which is slated for 2014. The treaty was originally ratified in 1964—when glaciers in the basin were larger and thicker than they are today.Upcoming projects are to establish more long-term monitoring sites in the upper Columbia River Basin north and south of Illecillewaet Glacier, as well as conduct comparative research on the Columbia Icefields in the Canadian Rocky Mountains with the Glaciology Group of Canada.

Weather station setup on Illecillewaet Glacier. Photo by Jocelyn Hirose.

Research camp on Illecillewaet Glacier. Photo by Barb Read.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road The Ancient Tea Horse Road by Jeff Fuchs FI’08 is now available in eBook. Go to: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ancient-Horse-Road-ebook/dp/B008T8P7S0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344786875&sr=8-2&keywords=jeff+fuchs


The Awards & Honours Committee encourages members to nominate worthy individuals for the Stefansson medal and the Citation of merit. Nomination forms are available on our website at www.explorersclub.ca/pages/forms. The deadline is May 1, 2013.The Stefansson MedalThe purpose of The Stefansson Medal is to honour outstanding contributions to the cause of exploration and/or field sciences in Canada or internationally by exceptionally meritorious Canadian members of the Explorers Club.

Up to two medals may be awarded each year to provide an opportunity for the Canadian Chapter of The Explorers Club to recognize:• Members who have given outstanding service to the

Canadian Chapter of The Explorers Club • Members who have distinguish themselves by feats of exploration and/or field sciences of

national or international significance.La Médaille StefanssonLa médaille Stefansson reconnaît des contributions exceptionnelles dans les domaines de l’exploration et|ou des travaux de terrain au Canada ou à l’international par des membres canadiens particulièrement méritants de l’Explorers Club.Jusqu’à deux médailles peuvent être attribuées à des membres chaque années pour permettre au chapitre canadien de l’Explorers Club d’honorer:• Des membres qui ont contribué de façon exceptionnelle au chapitre canadien de l’Explorers

Club;• Des membres qui se sont distinguées par des contributions d’envergure nationale ou

internationale dans les domaines de l’exploration et|ou des sciences de terrain.The Citation of MeritThe Citation of Merit is awarded annually to recognize an outstanding feat of exploration or services to the Canadian Chapter of The Explorers Club.

Le Certificat d’ExcellenceLe Certificat d’Excellence est décerné annuellement pour reconnaître une contribution exceptionnelle à l’exploration ou pour les services rendus au chapitre canadien de l’Explorers Club.

The Canadian Committee also has a third Award, The Certificate – Le Certificat, which is awarded to a person who has done something special such as organize a field trip, given a noteworthy talk at a function, or return an expedition flag. Nominations should be sent to Denis St-Onge.

For a list of 2012 awards please see the Chapter Chair’s AGM Report on page 2 and 3.

Awards & HonoursCommittee Chair Denis A. St-Onge, O.C. FI’05


James Delgado FN’97 received the Stefansson Medal from Chapter Chair John Pollack FI’06 at the October Canadian Chapter AGM. Citations of Merit were also awarded to Membership and Prairie/NWT Director Murray Larson FI’05, Past Chapter and National chair Simon Donato FI’09 and Donnie Reid FI’11.

Photo by Peter Rowe

Congratulations to our MembersRon Zuber, a close friend of the Canadian Chapter, was awarded the Pacific Northwest Chapter’s highest honour – the Vancouver Award – from Chapter Chair Lynn Danaher “because of your service to the PNW Chapter and BC/Yukon, dedication to The Explorers Club and your valuable ongoing research in remote cave environments.” Ron has attended many of Rosemarie and Pat Keough’s Saltspring Symposiums, is a multi-decade spelunking partner of John Pollack FI’06 and the late Jim Chester.Bone hunter Philip Currie FI’02 added gold to his pile of silver when the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) awarded him a Gold Medal. The award was presented by Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon Aykroyd, a fellow of The Explorers Club, at the Society’s College of Fellows annual dinner at the Museum of Civilization. Wade Davis HM’87 was awarded Britain’s leading non-fiction book prize, the Samuel Johnson Prize for Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest. David Willetts, a British Conservative MP who chaired the judging panel, said the book is “an exciting story of human endeavour imbued with deep historical significance.”Mark Terry FI’08, Gordon Laco MI’07 and Jonathan Frey SM’06 have been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Mark received his medal for his humanitarian contributions on an international scale. Gord received his medal for work commemorating the Canadian Naval Centennial and Canadian history, and career achievements in youth development programs using seamanship to teach self-confidence and leadership. Jonathan was honoured for his dedication to advancing knowledge in field sciences and biodiversity in Canada and internationally. Jonathan has also received the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards.

Awards & Honours (continued)


In June 2012, Kevin Hall FI’04, Prince George, BC, was made a Fellow of the Society of South African Geographers for his 38 years of research in the Antarctic and 20 years of research on southern African rock art. He has published almost 200 peer-reviewed publications. This award, only the second to a non-South African and only the 25th awarded since 1975. Nat Rutter EF’78 and others have recently published an academic treatise titled Glaciations in North and South America from the Miocene to the Last Glacial Maximum: Comparisons, Linkages and Uncertainies. This is published as part of a series in Earth System Sciences by Springer. “Nat says it may not hit the best seller list.” Rosemarie and Pat Keough FI’02 were on top of the world August 17 to September 25, 2012 aboard MV The World. They embarked in Kotzebue, Alaska and completed the full transit of the Northwest Passage to Greenland in five weeks. At 196 metres in length, The World is the largest ship to complete the trip. The 306.4-metre oil tanker SS Manhattan has claimed this accomplishment since 1969 when it crossed the passage from east to west, but it never reached the Pacific. It went only to Barrow, where it picked up a symbolic barrel of oil. The World traveled from ocean to ocean, and did so unescorted and unassisted by ice breakers. Only once did satellite images and the on-board helicopter reconnaissance team confirm that multi-year pack ice stretching across Franklin Strait west of the Boothia Peninsula blocked the path. This obstruction soon shifted with the wind and current. Captain Dag Saevik is the first full-blooded Norwegian captain since Amundsen to have made this crossing. Bard Kolltveit, Director Emeritus of the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo, displayed an embroidered talisman carried by Amundsen on his crossing, such was the significance of our journey. Candace Wilson MI’96 exhibited her latest work entitled The PREMA in All Things from October 3 to 14, 2012 at Todmorden Mills in Toronto.Simon Donato FI’09 was interviewed on the Calgary CBC series, The Eye Opener, about his participation in eight endurance races around the world. The podcast is available at: http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/episode/2012/12/18/extreme-athlete-simon-donato/. You can also follow Simon and friend Paul Trebilcock on Simon’s 10-part Boundless series to be broadcast on the Travel and Escapes Network starting in February. The series follows the two adventurers around the world as they compete in endurance events including paddle races, ultra-running races, and cycling races. Josh Young has written a book about Philip Currie FI’02. Called Dino Gangs, Young argues that Dr. Currie’s work could change our understanding of dinosaurs forever. The book has its own website – www.dinogangs.com – and film. Canadian photographer/film maker Pat Morrow FI’83 has been working with author/mountaineer Sharon Wood on a coffee tablet iBook. Everest: High Expectations is a multimedia feast for playback on Apple’s iPad. It’s packed with 140 hi-resolution photographs, slide shows, archival video and audio clips, maps and resources. It was published on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Canada’s first expedition to Mount Everest, in which Pat participated. This is the untold story of how the combined efforts of the 1982 expedition and the Everest Light Expedition in 1986 placed Canada on the international mountaineering map. These expeditions were among the last to attempt ascents of Everest by fair means. In separate afterword chapters, Sharon and Pat make candid observations on how their lives were affected by the experience and offer frank assessments of the change in climbers’ attitudes and the plummet of standards on the mountain today.

In Other News (continued from page 14)


Parts of the late Bill Jamieson’s MI’97 collection was auctioned on November 18, 2012. According to Andrew Harris of Ritchies Auctioneers, 173 lots of approximately 320 lots sold with approximately 15 to 20 items selling in after-auction sales. The highest bids were for Native or Inuit artifacts. The Alaskan twisted-face mask sold for $15,000; an Inuit pipe that was expected to sell for $500 fetched $10,000; and the Bentwood Box sold for $3,200, beating its modest reserve of $550. The Polynesian Phantom shield sold for $5750. Other notable items sold were the Mark Ryden paintings, the 1996 Jaguar XJS, many small ancient Pre-Columbian and Ancient Egyptian miniatures, and the replica machine gun.Lee Harding’s FI’12 expeditions to study primates in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia led him and co-author Anne Innis Dagg to write a book about aggression in primates, including humans, entitled, Human Evolution and Male Aggression: Debunking the Myth of Man and Ape. The latest edition of Mark Terry’s FI’08 Youth Climate Report film series was screened every day at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) pavilion at the UN Climate Summit (COP18) in Doha, Qatar. Mark’s partner John Kelly presented the film in Doha while Mark presented it to UNEP officials at the UN in New York. The film series showcases interviews with climate researchers around the world as they report their latest findings to student reporters. The concept is to provide a voice to both the scientific community and young people the world over at the international policy making level. Susan Eaton MI’11 travelled to San Pedro de Atacama, a small hamlet located in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, where she dodged spitting llamas and explored the desert’s tremendous geological wealth: steaming volcanoes; collapsed calderas; spewing geysers; salt flats with pink flamingos; pre-Inca archaeological sites; and petroglyphs. She was on her way to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Western Antarctic Peninsula as part of the Jackson School of Geosciences expedition. She joined 70 earth scientists studying the interplay between plate tectonics, solid earth dynamics, glaciology, climate and life. She published the article in the December issue of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Explorer Magazine. It’s available at: http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2012/12dec/antarctica1212.cfm. You can follow her blogs on her website – www.susanreaton.com – while she is in the Southern Hemisphere. Her blogs are also going to the Calgary Herald and to the websites of all of the organizations who have sponsored her in this Antarctic expedition.

Welcome to the Club! David “Hap” Wilson MI’12, (sponsored by Jason Schoonover FE’86 and Les Stroud MI’05), Greg Marchildon MI’12 (sponsored by Jason Schoonover FE’86 and Nat Rutter FE’78), Ray Hyland MI’12 (sponsored by John Blashford-Snell and John Pollack FI’06), and Jessica Morden SM’12 (sponsored by Michael Manyak).

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 Wilson at [email protected].

Wanted: Expedition photos for the front cover of Far Afield. Please contact Wilson at [email protected].

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Far Afield Schedule

Issue Submission deadline Publication date Winter December 15 January Summer May 15 June

March 22 & 23, 2013: Documenting the Art of Exploration VOnce again, members of the Explorers Club of Canada and the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto will gather to screen their work. We want to invite members to submit one film each. The films can be new or old, short or feature length. And you don’t have to be the filmmaker to submit, it could be a film about you or your work. But it must be about exploration. The deadline for film submissions is February 26, 2013. All submissions must be made to Mark Terry FI’08 ([email protected]). Everyone else – write it in your calendar now. It will be another spectacular weekend of ideas, conversation, exploration and adventure.

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Far Afield - Explorers Club · 2013-02-10 · service include the orientation of young people toward careers in field science and engineering, ... sumptuous gourmet dinner that could