News in this edition:

29-01. Society Cancels 2000-01 Antarctic Tour Operations.
29-02. Another Attempt On Shackleton's South Georgia Traverse Proposed.
29-03. Call For 2001-02 Macquarie Island Visit Applications.
29-04. Final Shutdown Of Iridium Services Imminent.
29-05. Private Flight Operated To Marambio.
29-06. Second Edition of Antarctic Guide Book Released.
29-07. 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.

Antarctic tour operator Society Expeditions, which lost its vessel 'World Discoverer' following an incident in the Solomon Islands last April, has cancelled the tour operations it planned to conduct in the Antarctic in 2000-01 season as it has been unable to secure a replacement vessel. Despite this decision Society says it believes that a vessel will be acquired in time for it to resume its world-wide program of voyages by May 2001 and that Antarctic operations by the company will resume in 2001-02.

Society indicated two months ago that it planned to acquire a replacement for 'World Discoverer' and was confident at the time that a suitable vessel had been found and that its purchase was imminent (ANAN-25/05, 5 July 2000). Michael Lomax, Society's President, told ANAN yesterday however that while that ship's owners had agreed to a sale in June, they had subsequently rescinded their offer only a few days before an agreement was to be finalised. The name of the ship involved, which is said to be currently operating in the small cruise ship market, has not been disclosed.

It is understood that since then another vessel capable of conducting Society's Antarctic and other operations has been identified. The company says that it expects that it will have to undergo a brief period of renovation prior to them commencing operations with it in Alaskan waters in May 2001. The ship, which has yet to be identified publicly, is to be renamed the 'New World Discoverer' on purchase and Society says that it expects it to commence Antarctic operations from Punta Arenas, Chile, on 19 November 2001.

Society normally carries between 700 and 800 tourists to Antarctica eachaustral summer and bookings made with it to date for the six planned 2000-01 voyages are likely to number in the hundreds. The company says that following the decision to cancel the season many of its passengers had simply rebooked with it for 2001-02. Those wishing to travel in 2000-01 however have been transferred by Society to the Clipper Cruise Line vessel 'Clipper Adventurer' or Linblad Special Expeditions' ship 'Caledonian Star'.

At publication time Society was still listing 'World Discoverer' as its company vessel on its web site however Michael Lomax says that a new site has already been designed to reflect the 'New World Discoverer' and the revised operational schedule, and that it will be put 'on line' once arrangements to acquire the ship have been finalised.

Indications are that following Society's withdrawal some fifteen small to medium scale tour vessels, and six or more yachts are now expected to conduct commercial tour operations in the Antarctic Peninsula region in 2000-01. This is down slightly on the 1999-2000 season figure of seventeen ships but is similar to that of 1998-99 (ANAN-25/02, 5 July 2000). This plus the absence of ships capable of carrying between 600-900 passengers in the coming season points to overall tourist numbers in 2000-01 being slightly lower than was achieved in the record 1999-2000 season (ANAN-17/01, 15 March 2000).

Meanwhile the fate of the 'World Discoverer', which is now the property of its insurers and the company involved in the salvage operation, remains uncertain. Salvage crews were forced to abandon the vessel shortly after she was refloated in early June when a militia group from one of the factions in the Solomon Island's civil war boarded her. On-going unrest in the south-west Pacific nation since then has meant that no further work on the ship has been possible and it appears that she remains close to where she went aground on 29 April.

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Greg Mortimer, head of the Australian company Aurora Expeditions and an accomplished mountaineer, proposes to lead a small group of experienced climbers on a trek to retrace Shackleton's 1916 crossing of South Georgia next March according to a story in the company's September newsletter. If successful Mortimer and his colleagues will become the third group to have followed the historic route in a period of twelve months.

Support for the traverse will be provided by the vessel 'Professor Molchanov' which will be conducting the last of three tourist visits Aurora has scheduled to South Georgia in 2000-01. 'Molchanov' is currently expected to be at the island over six days from 10-15 March, a schedule that allows two days longer there than on the first two visits.

The climbing group will have to be deployed at King Haakon Bay on the south coast early in the visit if sufficient time is to be available for the crossing. During the time the climbers are en route 'Molchanov' is to conduct a standard tour visit program prior to picking the trekkers up from Stromness on the northern coast at the end of their journey. Aurora says that their application to conduct the traverse forwarded to The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands includes a number of alternative exit routes to cover for the eventuality of bad weather.

The crossing of South Georgia along a route close to Shackleton's 1916 journey was made twice in less than two months earlier this year. The four members of the 'Shackleton 2000' expedition took seven days for the trek in February following their reenactment of Shackleton's open boat journey from the Antarctic Peninsula (ANAN-16/03, 1 March 2000). Three mountaineers, who were part of an expedition to make films on Shackleton's 'Endurance' expedition, made the crossing in three days in April (ANAN-20/02, 26 April 2000). Those who took part in both treks reported that the glaciers along the Shackleton route are far more broken up than was the case in 1916, and long detours were frequently needed from it to pass around the most dangerous areas.

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The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (TPWS) in Australia, which has responsibility for the management of sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, is presently calling for expressions of interest for visits by non-government operators to the island during the 2001-02 season. Companies or groups that have previously indicated their preferences for 2001-02 are also required by TPWS to confirm their interest in operating to the island in that season.

Those proposing visits to Macquarie for the first time in 2001-02, or any others who have not already done so, are encouraged to provide their submissions against a set of visit criteria. TPWS says that in the event that there are more applicants than places, as is the case for the coming 2000-01 season, the information contained in applications will be critical in deciding just which companies and groups receive actual visit offers. TPWS currently limits the number of tourists who can visit the island each season to 750 and charges a fee of $US100 for each passenger who lands on the island.

Persons interested in finding out further information, including details of the visit criteria, should contact Peter Grant of TPWS via e-mail at: peterg@dpiwe.tas.gov.au. Requests for 2001-02 visits must be submitted to Peter by 15 September 2000. TPWS says that visit allocations will be made by the end of this year.

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Preparations are being made to commence the deorbiting of Iridium's 70 satellite constellation following the failure of a final attempt last week to find a buyer for the bankrupt satellite telephone company (ANAN-28/08, 16 August 2000).

Motorola, the communications giant that has assumed responsibility for maintaining the system, said last week that it plans to shut down a gateway that allows users to make and receive calls from non-Iridium phones at 0000 UTC on Friday, 1 September. After then a restricted service will still be available however the company says that this will be of limited scope and that users should be aware that it "could end at any time without any advance notice".

No schedule for deorbiting the satellites has yet been released, however the operation is expected to cost Motorola between $US30-50M and take up to two years to complete.

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Four tourists in a single-engined Cessna Caravan aircraft, conducted a flight from Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego to Argentina's Marambio station off the north-east Antarctic Peninsula and back over two days from 20-21 November last year. The 2,500 km round-trip, which was part of a six week return journey down the Americas from the northern United States, was one of two private flights known to have been made to the region in the 1999-2000 season (ANAN-14/07, 2 February 2000).

For the flight southwards from Ushuaia on 20 November the planned cruising altitude was set at just over 3,500 m, however cloud conditions which produced aircraft icing forced a climb to close to 5,700 m and both pilots were on oxygen for several hours. The flight route was reported to have been direct from Ushuaia to overhead King George Island in the South Shetlands then on into Marambio. Publicity for the operation indicates that Elephant Island was seen from the air en route, although this seems improbable given that it is some 300 km to the east of the direct Ushuaia-Marambio track.

Due to the muddy condition of the runway difficulty was reported to have been experienced on landing at Marambio and in maneuvering the aircraft on the ground. Station personnel eventually refueled the aircraft for the return journey however and the four visitors then spent the night at the Argentinean facility.

The aircraft departed from Marambio in the early hours of 21 November, a time chosen because the muddy runway was frozen, a tactic that is apparently used by Argentinian pilots who operate from the station. Given that the Caravan was heavy with fuel, and that while frozen the runway was heavily rutted, the take off was described by the pilot in command as difficult. The flight back to Ushuaia, which was made at around 4,000 m, was straightforward however, and took six and a quarter hours.

The four who undertook the flight were pilots 'Buzz' Kaplan and Jim Hanson, and their wives Betty and Maryalice, all of whom reside in Minnesota in the U.S. Four Australian tourists also conducted a private flight to the Antarctic Peninsula area last austral summer (ANAN-14/07, 2 February 2000). Over three days in January they visited Marambio and stayed for two nights at Chile's Marsh station on King George Island (ANAN-17/03, 15 March 2000).

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The second edition of "Antarctica: A Travel Survival Kit" was released worldwide by publisher Lonely Planet last week. The guide, which was first published in 1996 and is believed to have been the best selling guide to the continent, has been revised and updated by author Jeff Rubin.

Lonely Planet says that the new edition lists every major Antarctic tour operator, provides contact information and sample itineraries and fares for them as well as detailing their IAATO membership status. In a move that reflects the rise in the number of commercial yacht operations in the region it lists contact details for some twenty yachts, as well as sample itineraries and prices.

The chapter on the Antarctic Peninsula is more than double the size of that of the first printing, as is appropriate given the area's importance as the major tourist destination in Antarctica (ANAN-26/01, 19 July 2000). Several new maps which highlight the most visited landing sites in the Peninsula region, as well as other heavily visited sites in the South Shetland Islands, have also been included.

Information is provided on how to visit Antarctica as a tourist aboard Chilean and French government resupply vessels (ANAN-7/05, 27 October 1999); on overflights of the continent (ANAN-24/03, 21 June 2000); and on flights made by Chilean regional airline Aerovías DAP to Chile's Frei station on King George Island (ANAN-17/03, 15 March 2000). There are also new contributions by experts on a number of matters, including Antarctic paleontology, scuba diving, volcanoes, icebergs, philately and meteorites, which aim at giving readers improved insights into aspects of the continent's natural and human history.

The guide sells for around $US20. Its ISBN code is 0 86442 772 7.

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YEAR 2000

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

4-6 October (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 (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fourth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

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

20-24 August (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
COMNAP XIII (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).

YEAR 2002

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

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

13-18 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).

YEAR 2003

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

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