News in this edition:

28-01. Adventure Network Purchased By New U.S. Travel Conglomerate.
28-02. ANI's Unique Operation Key To Inland Tourism, Adventure Activities.
28-03. Polar Logistics To Remain Separate Entity From ANI.
28-04. Port Lockroy Again Tops List Of Visitor Sites.
28-05. Sasquatch Cancel DML Traverse, Revise Traverse Plans.
28-06. McClintock Proposal Faces Funding Challenges.
28-07. Holtanna Climb Involves Difficult Ascent, Ski-Based Traverses.
28-08. Another Chance For Iridium But Availability In Antarctica Doubtful.
28-09. 'Polar Star' Conversion Work Expected To Commencement By October.
28-10. 'SHW' Enroute For Australia And Proposed Antarctic Operations.
28-11. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.

IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is being produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic community. Inclusion of information in it should not be taken to imply endorsement, by the publishers of ANAN News, of any company, program or associated activity that is listed, nor that the activity has necessarily completed all environmental impact assessments required under the legislation of the 'home' nation.

Commercial air operator Adventure Network International (ANI), which since its founding in 1985 has provided the only viable means by which tourists and adventurers are able to reach the interior of Antarctica, was purchased by the new, rapidly growing, U.S. travel conglomerate Grand Expeditions Incorporated late last month in what is a significant move. While ANI is to retain its name, senior managers and travel programs (see ANAN-28/02 following), its sister company Polar Logistics was not involved in last month's sale and is to remain a separate operational entity which will service the government sector (see ANAN-28/03 following).

Grand Expeditions Incorporated (GEI) was established in the U.S. in 1998 as the Luxury Travel Company (LTC) by two experienced travel industry executives, Terry Robertson and Dwain Wall. Formed as a holding company, LTC's aim was to acquire suitable existing operations with the aim of becoming, in its words, "the pre-emminent supplier of unique, high quality vacation experiences to up-scale travellers around the world". LTC changed its name to Grand Expeditions in July 1999 and shortly afterwards commenced a busy program of acquiring, or merging with, the seven companies, including ANI, that now make up the group.

GEI's targeting of small-scale, up market, tour companies over the past twelve months is a reflection of a view in the U.S. that there is significant potential for growth in tourism from North America to all parts of the world as the so-called 'baby boomer' generation reaches retirement age over the next decade. A number of tourism companies in the U.S. are currently engaged in expanding their industry holdings via acquisitions, however they have tended not to be as focussed as GEI in the type of companies they have purchased.

Some analysts believe that the 'baby boomer' fuelled growth predicted will be particularly strong in the area of small-scale, remote region, operations which offer natural 'experiences' with less crowding and high 'exclusivity', a sector into which ANI neatly fits. GEI's strategy reflects that of the Swiss group Kuoni Travel which last September purchased, for similar reasons, INTRAV the U.S. based parent company of Clipper Cruise Lines, operators of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic tour vessels 'Clipper Adventurer' and 'Clipper Odyssey' (ANAN-6/02, 13 October 1999).

The strategy used by GEI executives over the past year to build their holdings was to first identify destinations around the world they felt were likely to be of interest to their target cliental. The companies which were already working in those areas were then examined and moves were made to acquire those which met the required specifications. GEI executives have apparently placed no limit on how large their company will grow, and it appears likely other suitable companies will be added to its holdings in the future.

Apart from ANI, which has its head office in the U.K., all other current GEI businesses are based in the U.S. and largely service a North American cliental. They are: TCS Expeditions who work in the private jet expeditions and similar areas; Country Walkers organisers of walking tours; Park East which conducts safaris in Africa; International Expeditions who specialise in "nature and environmental travel"; Voyagers International a "natural history and photographic destinations" company; and Travcoa who supply "escorted luxury tours". Between them those Grand Expeditions companies sell holiday products on all seven continents, specialising in the type of small group "luxury" travel their new parent has targeted.

As in the case with all of the companies GEI has brought under its umbrella in the last year, there are, according to a company spokesperson, no plans to change ANI's products or its current management team. While GEI executives had considerable expertise in the travel sector, ANI and the other company businesses are each involved in highly specialist services, and the conglomerate considers it very important that those who are intimately familiar with the operational and other realities of each business continue to be in charge of day to day activities.

In addition to the six companies GEI has bought into in the last year, it has also established its own internet company. Because of the specialist nature of its tour products GEI does not intend to utilise the web site for direct selling in the short term, rather it will be used to maximise the availability of information about the group's products. The direct selling capability may be introduced in the future however. Given the type of cliental the group is focussed on there appears considerable scope to make ANI and its services even more widely known than at present, particularly in the "up-scale" market. ANI President Mike McDowell was quoted in a GEI press release late last month as saying that he believes Grand Expeditions has the potential to encourage more people to visit Antarctica with ANI.

The first phase of the company's web site is expected to be on line by the end of this year. Currently visitors to the site see a static information page with links to GEI's operating company home pages.

No details have been released on the price GEI paid to acquire ANI or any other of its subsidiaries. GEI was formed and currently operates as a private company and says that while listing on the stock exchange is a possibility in the future, it has no plans to do so at this time.

[ANAN-28/01]

TO THE TOP

Adventure Network International (ANI), which was acquired late last month by new U.S. travel conglomerate Grand Expeditions Incorporated (GEI), operates Antarctica's only private, commercial air operation and provides a key and so far unique service, without which non-governmental tourism and adventure activities in the interior of the continent could not be undertaken. Despite the sale, GEI intends that ANI will continue to be managed by its former owners, Managing Director Anne Kershaw and President Mike McDowell (see ANAN-28/01 proceeding).

During each summer over the past decade ANI has maintained a field camp adjacent to the Patriot Hills in Ellsworth Land, servicing this facility direct by air from Punta Arenas, Chile. It has also operated intercontinental flights from Cape Town, South Africa, to the natural blue ice runway 'Blue 1' in Dronning Maud Land (ANAN-27/06, 2 August 2000).

Since its establishment in the mid 1980s Adventure Network's primary activities have included flying tourists and adventurers to the Patriot Hills in Ellsworth Land, transporting them from there to either Antarctica's highest mountain Vinson Massif, the South Geographic Pole (SGP), Emperor penguin colonies on the coast of Coates Land, and to a variety of locations in the region from which ski-based traverses to the SGP or across Antarctica can be undertaken (ANAN-9/01, 24 November 1999). Private expedition personnel flown into 'Blue 1' have undertaken a range of ventures, including mountaineering in the Dronning Maud Land region and traverses from there to the SGP and beyond (see ANAN-28/06 and 28/07 following plus ANAN-27/06, 2 August 2000 respectively). The company also provides search and rescue cover for the operations it supports.

Estimates put the number of passengers that ANI has flown to Antarctica over the past fifteen years as close to 1000, the company's busiest operation being in 1995-96 when 155 were carried, while last season 139 people utilised ANI air services. Since 1985 almost 500 people have used ANI support to climb Vinson Massif (ANAN-19/06, 12 April 2000), while sixty or more small expedition groups conducting traverse, mountaineering and other activities in the interior of Antarctica have obtained air support from the U.K. based company. In addition to its Antarctic work ANI also offers similar support services in the Arctic during the northern summer.

ANI has used a range of aircraft for its inter and intra-continental operations over the last few Antarctic seasons. In 1999-2000 these included the large C-130 'Hercules', medium-sized Basler 67 and Twin Otter aircraft, and a small Cessna 185.

The C-130 'Hercules' are used for ANI's inter-continental flight operations between Punta Arenas, Chile, and the Patriot Hills in Ellsworth Land, and from Cape Town, South Africa, to the 'Blue 1' ice runway in Dronning Maud Land. This aircraft is chartered each austral summer from SAFAIR, a South African company which specialises in providing passenger and cargo aircraft to operators around the world. Up to fifteen round trip flights from Punta Arenas to the Patriot Hills are believed to be scheduled for the 2000-01 season, with one proposed to 'Blue 1' from Cape Town. The one way flight time from Punta Arenas is eight hours, and from Cape Town around ten hours.

The Twin Otters are also chartered by ANI each season, usually from Canadian companies with considerable experience and expertise in Arctic flight operations such as Ken Borek Air and First Air. The Basler 67 which is a modernised version of the Douglas DC3 (ANAN-1/6, 4 August 1999) is not owned by ANI, however the Cessna 185 is.

All the medium-sized aircraft fly to and from Antarctica at the start and end of each season, often utilising en route national program airstrips adjacent to Chile's Presidente Eduardo Frei station, Argentina's Marambio station, and Rothera, which is operated by the U.K. All of these facilities are located in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The Cessna spends the Antarctic winter at the Patriot Hills in a snow cave, and is dug out and certified for flight at the beginning of each four month summer season.

To support its operations ANI faces the challenging task of establishing and maintaining field facilities and fuel depots at the Patriot Hills and a range of other locations around the continent. A number of the Hercules flights into the Patriot Hills each season are assigned solely to deliver food, general supplies and aircraft fuel that is critical for maintaining the operations of the company's smaller aircraft further afield. Other fuel depots such as those in the Theil Mountains of Ellsworth Land and at the South Geographic Pole are maintained by air from the Patriot Hills. The Basler 67, which was used by ANI for the first time in Antarctica in 1999-2000, provides good capacity for depoting flights.

ANI was a founding member of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) in 1991 and played an important role in the development of the industry body and its approach to environmental management issues. The air operator withdrew from IAATO membership in mid-1999 however as it felt that IAATO's focus was primarily on ship-based tour activities. Despite that ANI and IAATO have continued working closely together on matters of mutual interest, and ANI continues to be well regarded for its approach to environmental issues.

[ANAN-28/02]

TO THE TOP

Polar Logistics, which was established in 1991 as a separate arm to Adventure Network International (ANI) specifically to provide air support to national program operations in Antarctica, was not included in last month's sale of ANI to Grand Expeditions Incorporated (see ANAN-28/01 proceeding), and remains a separate entity owned and managed by former ANI owners Anne Kershaw and Mike McDowell.

Polar Logistics (PL) plans to continue its work of recent years to build the services it provides to government operators, its main activities over the next few years being likely to be in the Dronning Maud Land region where national program stations of Germany, India, Norway, Russia, South Africa and the U.K. are located. Inter-continental flight operations involved will probably centre on the route from Cape Town to 'Blue 1', although medium sized aircraft used for regional operations from the blue ice runway will have to be flown into Antarctica each season from South America via the Antarctic Peninsula.

Further to the east the Australian national program is examining the possibility of introducing inter-continental flights from Australia to its three stations in East Antarctica sometime in the future (ANAN-25/07, 5 July 2000). PL was contracted by the Australians in the 1999-2000 to provide aircraft to support some of the studies involved, and is likely to be interested in future developments should the decision eventually be taken to actually proceed with flights to Casey, Davis and Mawson stations.

[ANAN-28/03]

TO THE TOP

Port Lockroy, the historic U.K. station in the north-western part of the Antarctic Peninsula, was again the most heavily visited site in the Antarctic region, just over 7,800 people being estimated by the recently released IAATO/NSF data set to have visited there in the 1999-2000 season. This is the third straight season Lockroy, which is operated over summer by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust with support from the British national program, has topped the list of visit sites with last season's numbers representing a jump of twenty per cent or 1300, over the 1998-99 season (ANAN-6/07, 13 October 1999)

Whalers Bay, Deception Island, was the only site other than Port Lockroy to receive more than 7000 visitors according to IAATO/NSF data, 7333 being reported. The next was Pendulum Cove which is also on Deception Island with 5300, while four locations recorded in excess of 4000 visitors, Cuverville Island (4908), Neko Harbour (4794), Paulet Island (4195), and Petermann Island (4159). Argentina's summer station Admiralte Brown, and the nearby Chilean summer facility Gonzalaz Vildea, both of which are located in Paradise Bay, were the next busiest sites with 3369 and 2871 people going ashore there respectively. Increases at each of these locations were between 12 and 32 per cent above the visitor numbers reported in the 1998-99 season.

All these places are located in the Antarctic Peninsula region which has long been the prime tourist visitor location in Antarctica due to its proximity to South America. Data indicates that the 1999-2000 season was the busiest on record for the Antarctic Peninsula (ANAN-26/01, 19 July 2000), however information currently being collated suggests that visitor numbers will fall slightly in the coming 2000-01 season (ANAN-25/02, 5 July 2000).

Site visit data is collected by tour operators affiliated with the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and collated annually by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), information for the 1999-2000 season being released at IAATO's year 2000 meeting which was held in Hobart, Australia, in late June (ANAN-25/01, 5 July 2000). The IAATO/NSF data is providing key information on the location and development over time of site visits made by ship-borne tourists to coastal regions of Antarctica (ANAN-23/02, 7 June 2000).

Port Lockroy is to be staffed by Ken Back and Jim Fox in the 2000-2001 season. Both have considerable Antarctic experience, Back first going south in 1963 with the then Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, spending Christmas Day that year at Lockroy. Fox has recently returned from a two and a half year stint at Halley station on the coast of Coates Land, where he was Winter Base Commander. Current planning calls for Lockroy to be opened on 2 December, which is slightly later than last year. Back and Fox are expected to arrive there on the British national program vessel RRS 'James Clark Ross' (JCR).

Last season Dave Burkitt and Norman Cobley were deployed by the JCR on 14 November 1999. Rod Downie took over from Cobley on 16 December 1999, the changeover carried out with the assistance of Canadian company Marine Expedition's tour ship 'Luybov Orlova'. Apart from managing the record number of vessel visits to Lockroy, routine maintenance work was carried out on the base, and the ongoing gentoo penguin monitoring study was continued. Recent research carried out there suggests that disturbance from tourists appears not to have had a major influence on breeding populations of Gentoo penguins in the area (ANAN-3/09 of 1 September 1999). Trevor Robertson, solo Antarctic wintering yachtsman, remained at nearby Alice Creek until mid February, providing considerable assistance with the penguin monitoring study (ANAN-15/02, 16 February 2000). Port Lockroy was closed for the season on 13 March when Burkitt and Downie were picked up by another British vessel the RRS 'Ernest Shackleton'.

Data collected by the three men indicate that 7289 people visited Lockroy in 1999-2000 which is slightly less that the IAATO/NSF figures. According to the Lockroy data there were 96 tour ship, 34 yacht, and 3 "other" visits by vessels to the station, overall visitor numbers being up 1507 on the 1998-99 season. Lockroy data also indicates that 7215 visitors went ashore on nearby Jougla Point on Wiencke Island.

[ANAN-27/04]

TO THE TOP

The traverse from Dronning Maud Land (DML) proposed by Sasquatch Expeditions for later this year has been cancelled due to funding difficulties, however the group still hopes to attract sufficient sponsorship to undertake a trek from the Patriot Hills in Ellsworth Land to the Pole and back. Sasquatch's original plan involved a 3000 km traverse from 'Blue 1' in DML to the Patriot Hills via the South Geographic Pole (ANAN-21/08, 10 May 2000).

Project leader Marc Cornelissen, who has just returned from training in Greenland with Wilco van Rooijen, told ANAN early this week that if support is forthcoming, he and van Rooijen now aim to undertake the 2,200 km round-trip from the Patriot Hills to the Pole unsupported, with parasails being used extensively on the northward or down-wind leg of the journey. Current planning calls for a start to the traverse around 4 November with return to the Patriot Hills seen as close to mid-January.

Sasquatch's Antarctic venture is the last of a series of four expeditions organised by it, each of which was based on the four elements air, earth, fire and water, that has already taken its members to Peru, Australia, Ecuador and Papua New Guineau. The theme of the Antarctic project is water as the continent is the largest fresh water reserve on the planet.

Should the expedition's revised program proceed, commercial air operator Adventure Network International (ANI) would fly Cornelissen and van Rooijen to the Patriot Hills from Punta Arenas, Chile, for the traverse, and return them to Chile at the end of the expedition. While the plan calls for the traverse to be unsupported, ANI is also likely to be contracted to provide search and rescue cover for the pair when they are in Antarctica.

Sasquatch anticipates that Edmond Ofner, another of its expedition members, will visit the Antarctic Peninsula by yacht or ship in 2000-01 as a guide for two young members of the World Wildlife Fund.

Cancellation of Sasquatch's DML operation reduces the number of traverses proposed to the Pole from that region in 2000-01 to two (ANAN-27/06, 2 August 2000). Two men from the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, Rolf Bae and Eirik Sønneland, are to undertake an unsupported trek from Norway's Troll station (ANAN-27/02, 2 August 2000), while two women, Anne Bancroft and Liv Arnesen are proposing to cross Antarctica from the 'Blue 1' ice runway to Ross Island via the SGP (ANAN-22/03, 24 May 2000). Bae and Sønneland are currently wintering at Troll, while Bancroft and Arnesen are to be flown to 'Blue 1' from Cape Town, South Africa, by ANI in late October as weather allows.

ANAN reported last May that Sasquatch's DML traverse was to involved Cornelissen, Edmond Ofner and Joost Cohensius. This was incorrect however, Cornelissen and van Rooijen having always been the expedition's traverse team. Cancellation of the DML venture comes shortly after the announcement by the 'Trinity Expedition' that it is likely to postpone its proposed 2000-01 traverse to the Pole from Berkner Island (ANAN-27/08, 2 August 2000).

[ANAN-28/05]

TO THE TOP

Six Australians who plan to climb Mount McClintock in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains as the 'Australian Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition 2000' (AAME) later this year, face significant fund-raising challenges in the lead up to their attempt on the 3,490 m, unclimbed peak, in December. McClintock, the highest mountain in either Australia or its territorial claim in Antarctica, is being targeted by the group to mark the Centenary of Australia's Federation on 1 January 2001.

While planning for the McClintock venture has been underway for six months, details of it were only made public today. The AAME says that while some sponsorship had been secured, it is still seeking further funds, most of which will be required to transport the climbers some 4,700 km by air from South America to the vicinity of the mountain, and to retrieve them from there at the end of their venture.

Mount McClintock is one of the highest peaks in the Trans Antarctic Mountains and lies in the Britannia Range about 290 km south-west of Ross Island, the location of both U.S. and New Zealand stations and the terminus for inter-continental flights operated by the U.S. N.Z. and Italian national programs from New Zealand. To the west of the Britannia Range lies the ice dome of East Antarctica, and to the east the Ross Ice Shelf, while the Byrd, Darwin and Hatherton Glaciers run down from the plateau on either side of it.

In its early planning AAME considered the possibility of skiing from Ross Island to McClintock and back, access to the island being either via a national program flight similar to that obtained by the 'Icetrek' expedition in 1998-99 (ANAN-27/10, 2 August 2000), or via one of the tourist ships scheduled to travel there this season. Leader Damien Gildea told ANAN this week that after weighing up all the options his group felt that commercial air operator Adventure Network International (ANI), which is very experienced in such operations (see ANAN-28/02 proceeding), offers "more certainty" to the expedition, even though travel to and from mountain will involve very long over ice flights.

ANI's main feeder route into Antarctica is from South America on the opposite side of the continent to Mount McClintock, and travel to and from it will involve flights from Punta Arenas, Chile, to the ANI field camp in the Patriot Hills of Ellsworth Land, then on to McClintock via a fuel depot ANI maintains at the South Geographic Pole. The cost of air support required for the AAME is believed to be in excess of $US350,000.

Given the nature of inland Antarctic flight operations, with weather sometimes holding up flights for weeks at a time, deployment and retrieval of the climbers may not be straight forward. Sufficient food and other supplies will therefore have to be taken to the mountain by the group to cover the potentially significant delays that might occur in their return flight to the Patriot Hills.

Following their deployment by air, possibly on to the Bryd Glacier, the climbers propose to establish a base camp below Mount McClintock with the ascent from there being undertaken in "lighweight style". Information available suggests that the actual climb is not technically difficult by modern standards, though it is very long and involves an ascent of over 3000 m from the Byrd Glacier and weather conditions could potentially present significant challenges at times. AAME's expedition brochure says that once the ascent of Mount McClintock is accomplished there may be opportunities for other ascents in the area, or for snowboarding and skiing. Four other Britannia Range peaks above 3,000 metres lie within ten kilometres of McClintock, and a fifth, Mount Aldrich, lies fifteen kilometres away.

Apart from leader Gildea, the other AAME members are Ian Brown, Robyn Fellowes, Matt Godbold, Chris White and Tonia Oswald-Sealy. The six have between them considerable climbing experience, although only Brown and Godbold have been to Antarctica previously. Brown was a member of a three-man group which manhauled to the South Geographic Pole from Berkner Island in 1997-98 (ANAN-14/09, 2 February 2000), while Godbold has spent four summers on the continent as a Field Training Officer with the Australian national program. Gildea is the author of the 1998 publication 'The Antarctic Mountaineering Chronology'.

The AAME is required under Australian legislation to undertake an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of its planned operation and it is expected that this will be forwarded to the Australian Antarctic Division in early September. While Mount McClintock is the highest mountain in the sector that Australia claims on the continent, that area's highest point is in fact Dome 'A' in the interior of East Antarctica in Latitude 81° South, Longitude 75° East, and is over 4,000 m above sea level.

[ANAN-28/06]

TO THE TOP

The multinational group of mountaineers who are to attempt the climb of Holtanna Peak in the Orvin Mountains of Dronning Maud Land (DML) late this year face a challenging ascent of an almost sheer wall of difficult rock that rises some 800 m above the surrounding ice. The venture also includes ski-based traverses both before and after the planned climb, the last one involving a journey of around 450 km from Holtanna to the vicinity of the South African national program station SANAE on the DML coast.

This season's venture follows a reconnaissance expedition conducted to the area last January by Alain Hubert of Belgium and Frenchman Daniel Mercier (ANAN-19/09, 12 April 2000), both of whom are members of this season's climbing party. Up to nine people are expected to be involved, five climbers, three film crew and a communications and base camp manager. They and their equipment are currently scheduled to fly to the blue ice runway 'Blue 1' in DML in late October on an Adventure Network International (ANI) inter-continental flight from Cape Town, South Africa, in the lead up to their attempt on the peak.

Holtanna, which in Norwegian means 'the hollow tooth', was first climbed in February 1993 by a Norwegian group and actually consists of two peaks, the higher and more northerly which reaches 2650 m being separated from the other by a long, sharp ridge. Expedition plans involve climbing the sheer face of the main summit, which has what the expedition describes as some 'interesting' overhangs, crossing the intervening rock ridge, then descending via the lower peak.

The mountain lies about 50 km south-south-east of the 'Blue 1', and after their arrival from Cape Town it is proposed that seven of the group will ski to the mountain with the aid of parasails, while an ANI Twin Otter flies the others and expedition supplies to Holtanna to establish a base camp.

Expedition organisers estimate that once the climb begins it will take up to two weeks to set up fixed ropes to the 200 m level, with both free climbing and artificial climbing techniques being used; those on the mountain bivouacking in tents suspended from the rock face. Once at the 200 m level the expedition says that it will be committed to completing the remaining 600 m to the top, and weather conditions during this period will be critical in ensuring good progress is made. From there the ridge will be crossed to the lower peak, the 400 m descent from there involving abseiling.

The five climbers involved are Hubert, Mercier, André Georges (Switzerland), Fabrizzio Zangrilli (U.S.), and Ralph Dujmovita (Germany), each of whom have extensive climbing backgrounds; Hubert, Mercier and Dujmovita all having previous Antarctic experience. Dujmovita will be in charge of a film crew who are to make a 35 mm feature on the expedition to be titled 'The Wall'.

Ronald Ross (U.S.), who has visited Antarctica twice previously, will remain at the expedition's base camp at the foot of Holtanna, his main task being to relay progress reports, film and videos of the climb to expedition headquarters in Belgium for use on it's web site. If appropriate communication links can be maintained, it is planned to provide schools around the world with access to expedition activities in near real time via the world wide web, as well as general educational material about Antarctica.

On completion of the climb "some of the expedition", most probably the five climbers, plan to ski overland to the vicinity of the South African national program station SANAE. SANAE lies some 450 km north-west of Holtanna and parasails are to be used during the journey. The remaining members of the expedition and the bulk of their equipment will be flown from Holtanna, although it is not clear at this stage whether they too will travel to the SANAE area or whether an ANI aircraft will be used.

No details are available as to how expedition members will leave Antarctica. A South African national program representative told ANAN last Monday that it was unaware of the Holtanna venture and had not had any requests to carry expedition members from Antarctica.

[ANAN-28/07]

TO THE TOP

Reports from the U.S. indicate that a court in New York late last month scheduled a hearing on 23 August to discuss possible bids for the sale of the bankrupt satellite telephone company Iridium, however there still seems little prospect that the service will be available in the Antarctic region again.

The highly portable, efficient, Iridium system was used by many non-government and government expeditions to Antarctica last season, providing reliable communications with little infrastructure (ANAN-18/01, 29 March 2000), however a number of users experienced considerable difficulties when the system ran into trouble in March (ANAN-19/04, 12 April 2000).

Iridium, which was backed by the large communications company Motorola, has been searching for a buyer since March, when a U.S. based cellular phone group scrapped a $US600 million rescue plan. Merchant bank Castle Harlan dropped a $US50 million bid to buy Iridium last month because after analysis it doubted that Iridium, which once promised a 24 hour global communications service, would be able to produce steady revenues.

A lawyer for Motorola, which has operated the satellites, told a news agency last week that his company was in discussions with the U.S. government about a plan to de-orbit the seventy satellites involved. Motorola said last March that it would take up to nine months to rewrite software and fire the thrusters for the initial orbit-lowering manoeuvre, and up to two years for all the satellites to be deorbited. The total cost of the deorbiting manoeuvre is expected to be between $US30 and $US50 million, and is likely to be shouldered by Motorola.

Around the same time that the 23 August Iridium hearing was announced, a report in the latest edition of SpaceViews News an internet based newsletter said that solar scientists have reported that the current solar maximum was about 30 percent less active than the previous two 11-year activity cycle. Loss of Iridium near the peak of the solar cycle was a potentially additional problem for small expedition groups. Just days after scientists said the current solar maximum was not that active however, the Sun responded with a major solar storm.

[ANAN-28/08]

TO THE TOP

Conversion work on the ship 'Polar Star', purchased earlier this year by Canada's Karlsen Shipping Company for use in Antarctic tour operations, is expected to commence on time in October. 'Polar Star', which was built as the 'Njord' in 1969 and was operated for thirty years by the Swedish government, arrived at Karlsen's Halifax facilities on 14 May after a voyage from Sweden, and remains there awaiting a decision by the company on the ship yard at which the six month conversion program will be undertaken.

Plans announced to date call for 'Polar Star' to be used by a Svalbard-based tour company to conduct eight to ten day voyages from Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Antarctic Peninsula commencing in November 2001 (ANAN-22/01, 24 May 2000). She would also carry tourists in the Arctic during the Antarctic winter with the first voyages there being scheduled for May-June 2001.

Major modifications are proposed to the ship which are designed to enable it to carry 100 passengers and a crew of 30. Planned work on the ship includes adding three-decks to it's stern section for 50 new self-contained double passenger cabins, a panoramic lounge, lecture facilities, redesign and refurbishment of the dining room and galley, and other general alterations.

Company President Martin Karlsen told ANAN last Monday that his organisation has completed conversion specifications and drawings for the work involved on 'Polar Star' and had received preliminary approval for the work from the classification society involved.

The company President went on to say that bids and comments on the planned conversion work had been received from most ship yards approached, although due to summer holidays in the northern hemisphere proposals were still awaited from a "couple of yards". It is not known which yards are involved in the current bidding process although Mr Karlsen was quoted as saying last May that he was hoping that firms in the Halifax area would be able to undertake the work involved. Karlsen concluded his remarks to ANAN last Monday by saying that he is confident that that May-June timetable for commencement of Arctic operations will be met.

Svalbard Polar Travel of Longyearbyen has signed an agreement to charter 'Polar Star' for tourist operations. A new marketing company called Polar Star Expeditions has been incorporated in Oslo, Norway, to manage these operations.

[ANAN-28/09]

TO THE TOP

The 37 m vessel 'Sir Hubert Wilkins' (SHW), which Australian company Ocean Frontiers plans to use for operations in Antarctica from 2000-01 onwards, left Finland on 16 July bound for Australia in the lead up to its first season of planned operations. SHW recently underwent a preliminary refit in a Finnish shipyard (ANAN-27/07, 2 August 2000).

Don McIntyre of Ocean Frontiers told ANAN yesterday that his company's vessel currently expects to refuel in the British Virgin Islands in the next few days and transit the Panama Canal sometime next week. Arrival in Sydney is scheduled for early November. Plans announced to date call for the SHW, which was originally operated as the 'Tutka', to be used for two voyages to the George V and Oates Lands areas of East Antarctica from Hobart, Australia, in the coming December-February period (ANAN-21/01, 10 May 2000).

Preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment and other evaluations required by Australian authorities in the lead up to the ship's Antarctic operations is currently underway.

[ANAN-28/10]

TO THE TOP

YEAR 2000

11-15 September 2000 (The Hague, Netherlands)
Special Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection.

4-6 October 2000 (Boulder, United States)
American Polar Society Bi-Annual Meeting.
Contact: mckie@cires.colarado.edu (Julie McKie)

11 October (Sydney, Australia)
16 October (Canberra, Australia)
19 October (Newcastle, Australia)
25 October (Brisbane, Australia)
1 November 2000 (Melbourne, Australia)
3 November 2000 (Hobart, Australia)
7 November 2000 (Adelaide, Australia)
14 November 2000 (Perth, Australia)
Presentations by Peter Treseder on his 1999-2000 cross-Antarctica attempt.
Contact: jodyh@yhansw.org.au (Jody Hoffman)

YEAR 2001

5 February 2001 (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fourth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

July 2001 [Dates to be set] (Washington, D.C., United States).
IAATO year 2001 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

YEAR 2002

February 2002 [Date to be set](King George Island, Antarctica)
Fifth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

July 2002 [Dates/location to be set] (Europe).
IAATO year 2002 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

YEAR 2003

July 2003 [Dates to be set] (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

[ANAN-28/11]

TO THE TOP