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| The millionaire pilot was the first to circle the globe solo and nonstop in a balloon. Charlie Riedel/AP |
Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett opens the path to amateur exploration
The missing adventurer has inspired new risk-taker boom.
from the September 7, 2007 edition
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Fossett's fame reflects revitalized interest in exploration, say observers.
But many new discoveries still go on beneath the public radar, argues Mr. Zimmerman, who has no patience with notions that an age of exploration is coming to a close.
"Did Fossett complete the last final first? I would say hogwash. That is not to denigrate him, by the way," says Zimmerman.
In a strictly geographic sense, the unknowns on Earth are getting limited, he concedes. However, he points to spelunkers who just last week set a new depth record, descending more than a mile down a cave. Meanwhile, extraterrestrial geography remains wide open, as do scientific questions of all stripes.
Goldin agrees that vast frontiers of knowledge remain, suggesting that even in aviation humanity has only scratched the surface.
Nor are the remaining adventures just scientific pursuits for knowledge. At the annual meetings of the Explorers Club in New York City, he hears tales seemingly from Shackleton's day, including a story of an expedition to northern Russia above the Article Circle in the winter, where the husband's nose froze and broke off. Other people, he says, are diving out of balloons, exploring the ocean depths, and searching out new means of circumnavigation.
At the same time, there's a democratization of adventure going on among those of lesser means who are going where only the most outfitted expedition once dared to tread. Half of US adults have taken an "adventure trip" in the past five years, including some 31 million who tackled more rugged activities like whitewater rafting, scuba diving, and mountain biking, according to the Travel Industry Association. International tourist arrivals are reaching all time highs, with 800 million in 2005, according to the World Tourism Organization.
"Adventure is no longer just reserved for the very few," says Charles Bethea, associate editor at Outside's Go, a travel magazine for active and affluent men. "Middle-class mountaineers with relatively modest alpine experience are now tackling mountains perceived as insurmountable by most just 20 years ago."
Even in the rarified air of scientific endeavor, amateurs are taking part in the exploration, whether it's sifting through photos of distant galaxies for anomalies or volunteering on scientific expeditions through groups like EarthWatch.
Yet Goldin worries that US culture has become more risk averse, curbing the ability of the bravest to push the envelope.
"You cannot open the frontiers if you want 100 percent probability that nothing is going to go wrong," says Goldin. "That's the message of Steve Fossett."
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