A Year Later — The Queen Maud Land Expedition
Details Finally Emerge a Year After Historic Climb
Monday, February 9, 1998

Long-awaited details of the star-studded 1997 climbing expedition to Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, finally will emerge when climbers Alex Lowe and Gordon Wiltsie hold a slide show (already sold out) in Seattle, Washington, on February 20. There is real pent-up demand among climbers who want to know more about the Queen Maud Land expedition, but a virtual gag by sponsors has effectively prevented information from getting out until now.

The Seattle slide show is billed as part of the "Live from National Geographic" lecture series (National Geographic also underwrote the expedition to Antarctica). Writer Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, will introduce Lowe and Wiltsie at the event.

"Exasperated climbers even raised the issue of 'expedition ownership' ..."

The entire expedition became an issue of sorts in mountaineering and journalism circles when expedition members were "embargoed" from releasing details of the trip before publication of the story by National Geographic. Climbers everywhere slowly became aware of last winter's Antarctic expedition through word of mouth or recent North Face advertising flyers (which featured tantalizing images of the climbing action), but they and the rest of the mountaineering public have been kept in the dark about the climbing in Queen Maud Land until now.

Rigid sponsor control over the release of news and anecdotes from a major climbing expedition is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past, details of even heavily sponsored climbs have often appeared fairly quickly in magazines, alpine journals or web sites while the "official accounts" grind on toward completion.

But in this instance, the news embargo was so tight that those seeking to learn more about the Antarctic expedition were frustrated. Exasperated climbers even raised the issue of "expedition ownership" at last January's American Alpine Club's "Climbing and Media" panel in Seattle. The climbers said, "The world wants to know, how dare they keep this secret?" No representative from National Geographic was at the conference, but a spokesperson from another major sponsor of climbing expeditions countered with, "If we pay for the whole climb, we believe we're within our rights to control the media after it's over."

This tempest in a teapot will probably be revived as the magazine story, lectures and television show (March 15) finally get out to a hungry audience. But another misconception regarding Krakauer's role in the "lectures" may take precedence. The Mountain Zone has been getting dozens of email requests asking about "Jon Krakauer's lecture" in Seattle. In fact, the best-selling author, who only agreed to introduce Alex Lowe and Gordon Wiltsie, now finds himself the main attraction.

"I made the mistake of getting talked into introducing Alex and Gordon before the slide show," Krakauer told The Mountain Zone. "The next thing I know, I get a flyer in the mail advertising me as the headliner for the lecture. People have been on my case about it ever since."

For the record: Those lucky enough to have tickets to the Meany Hall show on Feb 20 should see a great slide show-and enjoy finding out if Jon Krakauer will do more than make introductions. The National Geographic Society will present Alex Lowe and Gordon Wiltsie doing the same lecture in Washington, DC on February 25 at National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium. The number to call for tickets for the Washington DC show is 202-857-7700.— Peter Potterfield, Mountain Zone Staff