The Explorers Club, Northern California Chapter
Paul Perreault, FN-97: "Taking the Measure of Everest"
At our September meeting, Paul Perreault will recount his experiences on Everest in 1995. He trekked to Everest Basecamp to aid and train climbers on the new GPS equipment they were carrying to the summit of Everest - see the recent IMAX movie. He was part of scientific teams with two goals: Dr. Bradford Washburn led an effort to refine the coordinates of the summit, while Dr. Roger Bilham of Colorado University, Boulder was collecting data to determine just how fast and how far the mountain was moving. During that season they established a station on the South Col and obtained many survey measurements. They measured how fast the ice was moving under the Basecamp, below the Khumbu Icefall. However, they did not succeed in climbing and recording from the summit.
Dr. Perreault has worked in geophysics and global positioning systems for over 20 years. He earned his Ph.D. in geophysics at the University of Alaska studying solar and ionospheric disturbances. He continued this work under the aegis of SRI, using the Incoherent Scatter Radar Facility in Chatanika, Alaska.
Paul began to work with GPS at Stanford Telecomm, and continued at Lockheed Missiles and Space, where he pursued GPS navigation and timing applications for the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. He initiated a corporate relationship with UCAR's University NAVSTAR Consortium in Boulder, CO (UNAVCO), which led to the sales of thousands of highly accurate GPS receivers for geophysics research. In 1985 he joined Trimble Navigation's Surveying and Mapping Division, where he provided high-level technical marketing and support in the early emerging GPS market.
As a private pilot, Paul has flown from California to Maine, down the Baja and up to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. After climbing Mt. Whitney, he stayed overnight to photograph the dawn.
Time and place
Date: Friday, September 29, 2000
Place: St. Francis Yacht Club, The Marina, San Francisco
Time: 6:30 PM cocktails, 7:30 PM dinner, 8:30 PM lecture
Cost: $35 ($40 if received after September 19th)
Call Lesley: at 510-527-7899 by Sept 22 if you mail your check after Sept 19
Paul and Jeff
Living Legends/Archiving Photographic Images, ASMP October 26
Mort Beebe forwarded this announcement of an ASMP (American Society for Media Photographers) meeting on October 26th 6:30-8:30 PM at the Oakland Museum of California:
Finding a home and a haven for your photographic archives is a challenge all photographers face at some point in our lives. Just as important, what measures should you take at any point in your career to guarantee that your images will be around long after you have gone to the great photographic seminar in the sky?
Mort Beebe, Wayne Miller, Joe Munroe, Jon Brenneis, Ernest Braun, Paul Karlstrom of the Smithsonian, Jackvan Euw of the Bancroft Library and Peter Bunnell, Curator of Photography at the Art Museum of Princeton University will present some of their images and talk about those issues. Some of the topics covered will include current and future technologies, living trusts, what institutions might be selected, and why and how to archive your images. Also, ASMP will honor Ruth Bernhard on her 95th birthday.
The auditorium will open at 6 PM with the program starting promptly at 6:30 PM and ending at 8:30. Parking is available in the Oakland Museum of California garage.
Reservations are requested as space is limited, please call (510) 238-3005 for reserved seating.
Tickets: Members of the Museum and ASMP members $5.00. Others $7.50.
Scythian Gold
Joint Meeting of the Explorers Club and American Research Center in Egypt, September 16 in Los Angeles
Please join us for a joint meeting of The Explorers Club and American Research Center in Egypt (Southern California Branch) to be held on Saturday Sept 16. This meeting will focus on the exhibit "Gold of the Nomads: Scythian Treasures" which is currently at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Dr. Alexander Leskov will give Explorers Club and Research Center members a tour of the exhibit at 1PM on Saturday.
At 5:00 PM the American Research Center in Egypt (Southern California Branch) has invited the Explorers Club chapters to join them for dinner and a lecture to be given by Dr. Leskov. Dr. Leskov is one of the archaeologists who discovered the magnificent art works which are currently on display. The location of the dinner will be announced. Please contact Eve Iversen of the Northern California Chapter after Sept 1 if you are interested. Her phone number is (510) 232-2817. Her email is: eveiversen@hotmail.com
Eve Iversen in Cairo
I will be leaving for Cairo to begin my Fulbright Grant at Cairo University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine on 1 October. I wanted to give you the URLs of the web sites I'll be running. For now they only have the frameworks in place but I hope to have some material on them by November. Here are the addresses:
The web site in which I will report my year at the Veterinary Faculty will be through the
University of California, Davis-Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
The web site in which I will report my research at the Veterinary Faculty will be through the
University of California, Irvine-School of Medicine
--Eve Iversen, CO-86
Project P-MAN
Patrick J. Scannon, MD, PhD, FN '96: Summary of Project P-MAN
The purpose of the Project P-MAN was to search for and document crash sites of US airplanes shot down by Japanese military forces over Palau during WWII. The team found, both on land and in the ocean, 4 planes (2 F4U Corsairs (US Marines), 1 TBF Avenger (US Navy) and 1 Japanese Jake seaplane). While scuba diving, we incidentally found two sunken Japanese boats from that era as well. To date one of the F4U Corsairs has been identified; the other two US aircraft are in progress of being identified. While the team was not successful in finding other wrecks that were included in the original plan, through a combination of physical exploration and interviewing of Palauan locals during this expedition, we are closer on finding those as well. Click here to see the details of this project.
Gold of the Nomads Exhibit Schedule:
Alexander Leskov's presentation about Scythian gold at our April meeting aroused a lot of interest among the audience. This is the schedule for the exhibit schedule; make plans to see the remarkable and decorative millennia-old metalwork in the city of your choice.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 2 to Sept. 24, 2000
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Oct. 29, 2000 to Jan. 21, 2001
Royal Ontario Museum of Art, Toronto, Feb. 18 to Apr. 29, 2001
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, May 27 to Aug. 11, 2001
Grand Palis, Paris, Sept. 25 to Dec. 31, 2001
British Chapter's Millennium Awards for Exploration dinner
I have posted website links with all of the Explorers Club chapters. I should be grateful if those Chapters with websites would reciprocate the link to our website at http://www.british-explorers.org
I should also be grateful if you would also pass on our website address to all of your Chapter members who may wish to know about the British Chapter's Millennium Awards for Exploration dinner to be held on 9 November in London.
With best personal regards,
Barry Moss, Chairman, British Chapter
Great White Sharks
Please visit my website ( http://www.rex-passion.com) to view the much delayed (my apologies) section on research on Great White Sharks. It is the first of a series of articles which will keep up with on-going research to discover more about the habits of these fierce predators. I will be working in Drakes Bay, Point Reyes, California this fall, tagging and tracking sharks and will keep you up to date on the website on the progress of this research. Also visit the website of the New England Chapter of The Explorers Club (http://www.neexplorersclub.org) to keep track of this expedition and other exciting exploration by members of our chapter.
--Rex Passion, New England Chapter
Message from the Chair
As we begin a new season of activities for the Northern California Chapter of The Explorers Club, I look forward to your participation in what appears to be a grand year of programs and activities. We have so many talented members with interesting stories to tell that we try to enlist speakers from our own ranks, and from potential new members in our region, as our first priority. This year's programs will include a wide spectrum of exploratory activities, based on the broadest definition of "exploration".
Many of you have new stories to be told, and all of us will enjoy hearing them. If you have had a project that you believe suitable as the topic of one of our evening programs, please contact Lesley Ewing, our Vice Chair and program scheduler.
We are especially interested in reaching potential members in the Northern California and Eastern Nevada area who may be unaware of The Explorers Club and our activities. You are encouraged to invite guests to any of our programs, and we will gladly add prospective members to our mailing list for a reasonable period of time. If you know of someone who deserves a special invitation from our Chapter who should become an Explorers Club member or program speaker, pass the relevant information to me and I will personally follow up.
Because of the general success of our Friday evening dinner and program format, we will continue this as our basic format. However, we will continue to try new meeting formats and locations. Suggestions are always welcome.
Your Executive Committee is in the early stages of planning for a "Golden GateAway" in October of 2001. This activity will take a lot of work from a large group of volunteers and recruits. We particularly welcome your comments and help as the planning begins. At this stage we are open to suggestions for principal speakers, venues, formats, and names of possible co-sponsors and potential corporate sponsors.
This is your organization. We welcome and need your active participation.
-Bill Isherwood, FN-70
Spirit of Exploration October 16 in Reno
The Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club's 12th Annual "Spirit of Exploration" Awards Dinner will be held October 16th at the Silver Baron Ballroom "C", Silver Legacy Resort Casino in Reno NV. Tickets are $125 per person, $1,000 per table. It will be an evening of dining, dancing and an annual report from Gene Savoy. For further information or to RSVP, contact the Andean Explorers Foundation and Ocean Sailing Club, P.O. Box 3279, Reno, NV 89505.
Thank You!
Thank you, Danielle Chavanon, for all your help with the roster.
Thank you, Jerry Hughes, for maintaining the member information.
Thank you, Bob and Martha Schmieder, for ferrying us to Angel Island on R/V Cordell Explorer.
Thank you, Lesley Ewing, for the countless logistical arrangements that make all our meetings possible.
Thank you, Mike Diggles, for maintaining and promoting our website.
Directions to the St. Francis Yacht Club
The club is on the waterfront in northern San Francisco. From downtown or the east bay, find your way to Marina Blvd and follow it west past Fort Mason. Turn right just past the yacht harbor.
From the Peninsula or Marin County, take Doyle Drive east to Marina Blvd. You cannot turn left into the road to the club, so take a tight turn just before Marina Blvd and come back under the freeway, or go a few blocks past and come back along the marina green.
Reservations forms
Please reserve ______ spaces for the Paul Perreault talk on September 29 at the St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco.
Name: _______________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________
Guests: _______________________________________________________
Mail this form with your check to Lesley Ewing
1679 Tacoma Ave
Berkeley, CA 94707
$35 per person or $40 if postmarked after September 19.
If reserving late, call Lesley at 510-527-7899 to confirm your reservation.
Please make your check out to The Explorers Club, Northern California Chapter.
Date created: 08/23/2000
Last modified: 09/22/2000
Content from Bill Isherwood, Sue Estey, Lesley Ewing, and Mike Diggles, Northern California Chapter of The Explorers Club; email to Sue
Web page by: Mike Diggles, Webmaster. email to Mike
c/o U.S. Geological Survey, MS-951, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025. (650) 329-5404
Back to The Explorers Club, Northern California Chapter Home Page