the explorers journal the global adventure issue - The Explorers Club

12Fossett Searchcontinuesmissing planes of the past foundIf it’s possible that somegood could come out of thepresumed death of missingadventurer Steve Fossett, 63,it’s this: searchers have spotteda half-dozen unchartedcrash sites that, once they’reinvestigated, might bringsome solace to families offliers who disappeared decadesago. According to theReno Gazette-Journal, some15 to 20 private planes havevanished in the wildernes areasince 1950. Searchers combinga 53,000-square-kilometerarea have yet to find signsof Fossett, who is thoughtto have crashed in northernNevada on September 3 as hewas scouting out locations forhis next adventure—an attemptat the land-speed record.M o n e y o n t h e M o o n ?private robot companies wantedInternet giant Google said itwill give $20 million to the firstprivate group to land a rovingrobot on the lunar surface.The purse is being offeredby the X Prize Foundation,which awarded $10 million in2005 to a group that includedMicrosoft co-founder PaulAllen for launching a humaninto space. In the 1970s, theSoviets launched the onlyrobotic rovers to have negotiatedthe Moon. Budget woesforced NASA this spring tocancel its lunar-rover plan. Towin the $20 million, a vehiclemust ramble a quarter-mileand send video back to Earth.EXPLORATION NEWSThe goals are “incrediblyfeasible,” said Peter Worden,director of NASA’s AmesResearch Center. “Most ofthe components could be purchasedoff the shelf.” NASAplans to send astronautsback to the Moon by 2020and establish a lunar researchcamp, but Worden said thecontest doesn’t threaten theagency. Such private spaceexploration “is exactly whatwe hoped would happen,” hesaid. “NASA is pretty excitedabout this.”Young Climbers at Riskstudy warns against hard trainingA review of the scientificliterature on young climbers—recently published by AudryMorrison and Volker Schöffl inthe British Journal of SportsScience and posted to theAmerican Alpine Journal websiteby Dougald MacDonald(www.americanalpineclub.org)—suggests they maybe at risk for serious injury.Morrison and Schöffl defineyoung climbers as those betweenages 7 and 17. Theylooked at 50 climbing studiesand large-scale physiologicalstudies of the development ofyoungsters, and although theauthors point out that thereis a “paucity” of research onyoung climbers, their reviewallowed them to draw someconclusions:• Climbers under 16 should not dointensive finger strength training.• A young person’s final growth spurt(usually around age 14 or 15) is associatedwith increased risk of injury.Growth charts (height and shoe size)may help in identifying spurts.• A force producing a torn ligamentin an adult is likely to produce moredamage in a growing youngster.• Up to around age 12, children havea limited capacity to benefit fromintensive strength training, but possessan accelerated capability formotor development. This suggeststraining at this age should focuson volume and diversity of climbingroutes to improve technique andmovement skills, rather than purestrength.• Wearing excessively tight climbingshoes is not recommended in growingfeet to help prevent foot injuriesand deformities.• Climbers should be educated inthe importance of appropriate dietand timing of meals for health andperformance.• Knowledgeable and qualified personnelshould monitor young climbers’training. When training intensityis increased, it should employ safeand effective exercises for a givengender and biological age, independentof any competition calendar.According to two UK-basedwebsites, www.ukclimbing.comand www.thebmc.co.uk, theInternational Federation ofSport Climbing implicitlyincorporates some of theseguidelines in its rules, whichprohibit international competitionat the adult level forclimbers under 16. But asthe popularity of competitionclimbing grows—and as more14- and 15-year-olds performat an adult level—the pressureon talented young climbersto train harder is likely to increase,according to the AAC.Its abstract, titled Review ofthe Physiological Responsesto Rock Climbing in YoungClimbers, sellsfor $12.