Posted: Jan 02, 2006 09:17 pm EST
2005 was a dramatic year in the world of exploration. In addition to the top expeditions listed in the ExWeb 2005 awards, much more was going on. Here goes a quick review of last year's main events, including a sneak preview of a promising 2006.

Jannu climber lost, Nepal hijacked

The year began with a tragedy: He survived Jannu, but a car crash took the life of Russian climber Serguey Borissov. In an instant, we had lost one of our top favorites of 2004.

Soon after, Nepal’s king Gyanendra announced he was taking control of the country and a state of emergency was declared.

Soldiers surrounded the houses of the Prime Minister and other government leaders, while armored vehicles with mounted machine guns patrolled the streets of Kathmandu. Flights in and out of the capital were cancelled and communication lines were cut. It was the beginning of a difficult year in Himalayan climbing.

Kashmir buried, Torres on fire

An avalanche killed 154 in Kashmir and a large amount of people were trapped on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, 300 in the three-kilometer-long Jawahar tunnel. 45 trekkers were airlifted out. It was the beginning of a very difficult year for Pakistan.

In Chile, Torres del Paine went on fire. Shortly after Cerro Torre’s first all-women ascent by Slovenians Monika Kambic Mali and Tanja Grmovsek , Torres del Paine National Park in Chile caught fire when a Czech camper's stove turned over. The fire burned more than 14,000 acres (5,500 hectares) in four days. Two climbers in the area died.

Contact 3.0 Editors Choice, Live positioning on altitude

Back home, there were good news for ExWeb. Contact 3.0 was awarded Editors choice by Backpacker magazine.

One of the biggest Sat phone events was the huge prize drop on RBGAN. ExWeb immediately put the Gans to work, bringing live positioning to Everest. The Everest map was created from classic Everest pictures by the legendary Bradford Washburn. Contact 3.0 brought it all together with instant positioning systems, including personal climbing data such as max altitude reached and average altitude during the expedition. Next up: Real time satellite layers!

Ocean record, bear attack, space tax fraud

On the oceans, Ellen MacArthur crossed the finish line off Ushant, setting a new solo, non-stop round the world record of 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds. In the Arctic, explorers shot a Polar bear as it clawed its way into their tent.

The Pythom expedition list came up, a one stop shop for the major Space events in 2005: Ongoing Search for Life, Un-manned Missions, Available Private Expeditions, Upcoming Private Expeditions, Government Expeditions, Private Organizations, Money, Advertising, Ticket Sales, Prizes, Risks, Statistics and New Technology. Only one week later, the list had to be revised when Space tourism entrepreneur Walt Anderson was arrested on tax fraud charges.

North Pole cold war

Now the North Pole thriller kicked off. Teams were grounded in a logistic cold war, battled out between French and Russian tour organizers. Officials and polar veterans met to discuss the severe delays and how to put an end to the situation once and for all. Cerpolex lacked permits and put their teams on the ice without rescue arrangements. Soon, the Russians had enough. In an official letter, authorities called for regulations of the NP tourism industry, and for Bernard Buigues - the chief of Cerpolex - to be banned from the area altogether. Cerpolex finally took all their teams off the ice, in spite of the Russians' offer to care for them without charge. The Borneo Base completed the season without further problems.

Dead sat phones and Rules of Adventure

Trouble instead hit expeditions using Iridium: All the new 9505A handsets had to be recalled due to a software bug, causing the new phones to flash “Invalid Battery”, and resulting in a useless phone. The sneaky part was that the handsets could work up to months before the error occurred, failing explorers when out on expeditions.

Back in New York, we thought it would make rocks come flying through our windows; instead "The rules of Adventure" story about cheating vs. fair play became one of last year's biggest hits.

Everest: Maoist bombs and ExWeb newscasts

Everest kicked off. Internet connections and phone lines were cut, curfews kept some climbers hostage in hotel rooms. On their way to the Tibetan border, two Russian Everest climbers were caught up by Maoists who threw bombs at the car. One of the bombs made it into the car and blasted away the whole floor, and the gas line. The guys barely escaped, pushing the car the last bit to safety while being charged by the Maoists. A second team who had planned to be airlifted by a chopper saw their copter confiscated by the Nepal army - instead, the expedition traveled to the Friendship Bridge with an army escort in a tank "searching and looking around for possible Maoists".

ExWeb launched crude newscasts, anchored by visiting explorers or regular NY staff. The very simple feature became our most visited link right from the start, with around 10.000 viewers each day! Stay tuned...

Everest 2005 wrap-up

Described by some commercial expeditions as an easy climb, ExWeb warned that Pumori was anything but. As Everest climbers set their base camps by its shadow, Pumori killed 4 climbers in the spring of 2005.

Beyond the Maoists lines, Everest season was now full throttle. A storm flattened BC tents already on arrival, and climbers were met by bare walls on the mountain's south side, where an avalanche buried camp 1. Summit Oxygen defect bottles caused panic, and the first ever fixed rope contract was made up - with mixed results. The big commercial expeditions were reported to conceal their weather forecasts - same old news and the reason for Adventure Weather forecasts set up by ExWeb in 2002; among the most expensive and reliable in the world, yet free of charge to all.

Meanwhile, a massive space storm arrived. On May 15, a flare classified as an extreme event, measuring G-5 - the highest level - on the NOAA Space Weather Scales hit Earth. Storms raged also all over Everest and 4 people had died when the first, very late summit news arrived. On the south side, the icefall cut-off time was as late as June 5, and the season was finally closed with a MI-17 helicopter crash in BC.

The brightest news of the season perhaps was a wedding at the summit and Apa Sherpa's summit number 15.

On a funny note, Jane Reifert, President of Incredible Adventures, Inc pointed out a few things about the future space clients to the private rocket building engineers - a blue print in fact of many a commercial Everest expedition leader's reflection on some clients:

1) They aren’t rocket scientists.
2) They may be “super-sized”.
3) They won’t really care where you put your spaceport.
4) They shouldn’t be expected to meet stringent physical requirements.
5) They don’t like surprises and expect perfection.
6) They aren’t overly concerned with price or safety.
7) They’re short on time.
8) They’ll likely be men over 50.
9) They will come from around the globe.
10) They’re nothing like the tourists that show up at Disney parks.

Himalaya spring: New Rules for mountaineering records

In other Himalaya, questioned Korean summits on Dhaulagiri and Alan Hinkes claiming Kangchenjunga as his 14th 8000er, had Nepal issuing New Rules for mountaineering records: Inform in writing, make a plan, submit substantial evidence (pictures of important spots clearly specifying the date and time), call liaison officer at BC over sat phone, leave a mark at the summit, take photos of any climber you meet on the summit/mountains and get written proof from the latter.

On reaching the summit, take pictures and/or video from all four directions, clearly specifying the date and time while climbing up, if possible. Carry altimeters and (GPS) whenever possible, inform officials about spots reached including the altitude while contacting Base Camp. Submit a detail report containing all activities done and seen, eyewitnesses, pictures taken at the summit, weather situation, etc. to liaison officers at Base Camp. The Ministry will only announce the mountaineers' achievements after verifying the claims and evidence.

Titan landing, China's big loss

The Karakorum season was gearing up, while we dropped Cosmos 1 - the world's first solar sail. A rocket carrying the sail on a Russian submarine exploded on launch: The Russians had forgotten to update software. ESA instead, landed on Titan delivering some stunning pics of frigid coastlines and orange skies.

Pakistan had a difficult climbing season. China lost their beloved Tibetan climber Rena. China's all star team of Cering Doje, Rena and Bianba Zaxi had only G1 and BP left for the 14, 8000er list; and were most likely considered for the Everest Olympic torch in 2008.

Enroute to G1, the expedition of 11 people was caught by rockslides. Rena, 39, passed away when he was hit directly on his head by a rock that broke through the Jeep he shared with other 4 people. Bianba Zaxi was seriously injured: Hit on his neck; he was in a critical situation but made it through.

Nanga Parbat and charred bones

The past winters deep snow buried the Pakistan peaks, and summits were few and difficult on most. On Nanga Parbat Rupal face, two Americans planted a new route in Alpine Style, while two Koreans did an early traverse and a Slovenian was rescued in a dare-devil helicopter drama.

Meanwhile, Messner sneaked around camp, burning bones of a climber he claimed was his brother. That created a big controversy and confusion, when another climber contacted ExWeb and revealed he had found a second body in the area. In addition to the fact that burning is illegal, Messner risked to torch the wrong guy.

The incident caused ExWeb to take a closer look at the climber, resulting in a big article with the headline "Reinhold Messner: A Kingdom of burned bones and scorched friends"

High altitude robberies and discoveries

On K2, all climbers were forced back, including the Kazakh young guns who found their gear stolen on their last, lonely summit push. Similar stories of theft began to surface, all over Himalaya, the robbed usually independent climbers or small teams hit when most vulnerable - in high camps. On a brighter note, several great rescues took place, on Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak, by climbers saving other climbers' lives.

As all this unfolded, NASA sent Discovery on a successful mission to the Space Station, but not without mishaps. Pieces flew of the rocket and when it finally landed safe back home, the Astronauts jumped out and ran. "No more shuttle," said NASA in a press release.

A few months later, Sergei Krikalev, 46, became the human with the most cumulative time in space, passing the record of 748 days held by Sergei Avdeyev. In other 2005 Space events, NASA hit an Asteroid bull’s eye in their Deep Impact mission - good training for Apophis "the God of Destruction" at (small) risk for an Earth impact, on April 13, 2036.

Scientists at NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope used the telescope in a cool way: They removed everything they knew from the image, all the stars and galaxies both near and far. They were left with a picture with no stars or galaxies - but it infrared glow with giant blobs... probably the very first stars.

False Everest video, lost Ocean legend, Greenland kiting record

The Oceans lost a legend. French Alain Bombard died at age 80. In 1952, Alain proved that you can survive months on the ocean in a life raft without any supplies of fresh water or food. A hands-on man, the doctor decided to test his theory on a Zodiac inflatable boat - in a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The total trip was 4400km and took 64 days. Bombard brought no supplies but ate raw fish, drank rainwater and up to a pint-and-a-half of sea water a day on his trip.

Expedition fall season arrived with feature stories. An Everest climber was busted posting false summit video on his website, and was downgraded to "no summit".

Greenland saw a new speed record: 442,7 km kited in one single day!

Amazon river and polar reverse

ExplorersWeb now headed out on their own expedition, aboard the Amazon Queen, to check up on a Vietnam vet cybercasting over shortwave radio. Team members landed in a country suffering drug trade, and around 3000 kidnappings each year.

Crew returned with stories of draught, capsizes, swims with piranhas, campsites on sandbanks with crocodiles lurking nearby, and visits with the Peruvian Israelites - a religious movement resting on the idea that the end is near and only those who believe will be saved. That resulted in another ExWeb story - about solar storms and reversing poles.

Lonely women and space explorers

Junko Tabei the first woman to summit Everest, held a party in Kathmandu to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her ascent. Unfortunately, only 12 other Everest lady climbers showed up in the end, amounting to only 10% of the one hundred plus women Everest summiteers. Junko was carried by horse-driven-carriages and received a felicitation letter and a gift.

Up in Space, the lonely Voyager - our furthest probe out there - entered the final lap on its race to the edge of interstellar space, beginning to explore the solar system's final frontier.

Fall Himalaya tolls

Sad news struck Shisha Pangma BC. A climber died at Camp 1, while sleeping beside his brother. And right at the end of the expedition, tragedy struck the Italian team on Nanda Devi: Expedition leader Marco Dalla Longa passed away suddenly, probably of cerebral edema. A Russian climber went missing on Shisha North Face, last seen at Camp 3.

On Kang Guru, 18 climbers were lost October 20. Only 4 Sherpas survived, standing outside their tents when an avalanche triggered by the storm and recent heavy snow fall struck the camp. The survivors were stranded with the victims for four days in bad weather until helicopters could reach the area.

October 12, France had lost another climber, Lucien Berardini - the city boy who dared to climb higher. Born in Paris, Lucien and his climbing mate Robert Paragot inspired an entire generation of mountaineers in the fifties and sixties. The men climbed united for 20 more years and the so-called Paragot Ridge (or Makalu West Pillar) is still one of the most demanding and beautiful routes on a 8000er. Lucien Berardini passed away at home, 75 years old.

Fall summits, Pakistan disaster

In Himalaya fall season, 'Al Filo de lo Imposible' Spanish team on Shisha Pangma’s South Face reached the summit. The climbers set no fixed ropes, or higher camps. However, they didn't claim a pure alpine-style climb, as they had been previously acclimatizing on the route, and thus they already knew the first sections of the climb. On October 6, Evgeny Vinogradski and Alexei Bolotov summited Dhaulagiri.

A 7.6 earthquake with epicenter 100 km north of Islamabad struck Pakistan October 8, at 8:50 am local time. The quake would cost almost 100,000 people their lives, and set off one of the most intense aid missions ever made by climbers. The quake hit close to home; in a 2003 Berg Adventures Everest fall study Roger Bilham, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder concluded that more than 60% of the Himalaya may be ready for a great earthquake.

Over at Antarctica, 5 scientists died on two separate missions in Antarctic crevasse falls.

A new Expedition tech store is launched

Just in time for the launch of ExWeb's new online tech store, Iridium went busted. Expeditions around the Globe tried desperately to connect - to no avail. All systems were down in the exact same hour. Globalstar, Thuraya and Inmarsat were unaffected. This time however, Iridium was faster on the response. ExplorersWeb and Iridium tracked the problem to changes in the Iridium network affecting the signal. One day later, Iridium had corrected the situation and dispatches from all over arrived.

The New HumanEdgeTech.com was launched. Shop from anywhere, go everywhere - and travel light! Created by explorers for explorers, user-friendly, no-hassle pricing, expedition-tested gear, expedition-ready hardware, fast delivery and payments are all key in the new virtual expedition tech warehouse. A stand-alone secure web-shop, HumanEdgeTech.com accepts most international credit cards, and delivers worldwide within 72 hours.

The store offers a unique detailed view of all products - check connections and ports as you would in a physical store. Choose shipping direct online, select time of delivery and cost for any location. As for the unique software products, well, Rune put it this way, live from Antarctica: “This has revolutionized the expeditions’ communications. It's just so cool to have the opportunity to send pics and receive mail. Thank you very much from a slow walker, but heading in the right direction.”

Russian spy charged with selling space tech to China

China blasted off on a 5 day manned Space trek, broadcast live on Chinese TV, but that's where the open policy ended. No foreign media was allowed to attend the launch, and an unnamed Chinese military attaché at the Chinese embassy in Canberra held a secret key to the rocket should it come crashing down in Australia. China feared others would nose into their space tech secrets - based on a re-engineered version of Russia's Soyuz including a complete Russian space gear package on the flight. That's when a possible second explanation arrived: Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, charged three senior executives with illegal sale of secret space technology to China.

Highest death lab in the world and the ExWeb factor

The year ended with the promised ExWeb series: Oxygen on Everest - The highest death lab in the world. The latest is that Henry Todd is in a UK court charged with manslaughter - the news arrived December 22.

Finally, we chose the top expeditions of the year - using the usual ExWeb factor: The spirit we identify with, an inner force in each of us that inspires us to battle our fears and endure pain in pursuit of our dreams.

So there you have it, the biggest headlines in the world of adventure last year. So what about 2006? Well, only 2 days have passed and already it's pedal to the metal:

2006

The European Space Agency has entered a project with ExplorersWeb and British Sat com company Vexcel. The project involves ESA's EO "Earth observation products." ExplorersWeb are commissioned to create three different models of maps: 2D for the Arctic, and 3D for Antarctica and Himalaya. The models will be overlapped with various layers of satellite images: Terrain (fixed), snow/ice (seasonal), and weather (daily). Finally, the interactive maps will be connected to expedition data (position, dispatches, pictures, stats etc).

Pakistan's climbing sale has been extended. Fees are drastically reduced through 2006 - it's crucial that climbers keep on climbing in spite of the tragedy - tourism is an important source of income in the hard hit country.

The Russian Everest North wall dream team is back, this time headed for K2 West Face - hopefully with Pavel Shabaline onboard; a climb up the center of Khan Tengri’s North face has left him severely frostbitten. The British Army is headed for the Everest West ridge. Gerlinde and Ralf are out for Kangchenjunga - she touching the female world record of 8000ers, and all without oxygen! Carlos Pauner’s goal is to open a new line right by the middle of the West face of Manaslu. Australian-based Field Touring Alpine (FTA) is to launch a massive commercial double-header: Broad Peak + K2.

October 28, Adrian Flanagan set off on a solo non-stop longitudinal circumnavigation attempt via Bering Strait. The voyage will take approximately 300 days and cover 35,000 miles.
Italian mountain guide Ario Sciolari is already out on a solo trip across Alaska, in full darkness of the Arctic night. And Korean Park Young-Seok plans to cross the Bering Strait (between Siberia and Alaska) on skis.

The North Pole will have some prominent expeditions starting out already in January. A number of the world's greatest veterans will try some really cool stuff on the ice this year.

Yet the coolest expedition in a long time is kicking off at this exact moment: Colin Yeates left just today. The first to row alone and unsupported non-stop around Antarctica, Colin will neither touch land nor take onboard additional provisions during the ten and a half months at sea. Colin's voyage heads straight out into Antarctic winter and perpetual night. The journey begins and ends in the Falkland Islands, and covers a distance of 21,630km, 11,300 in actual miles, the equivalent of traveling the Atlantic Ocean more than three times.

Happy New 2006!

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