ExplorersWeb featured athlete:  Doug Stoup

Part II:  Ice Axe Productions - Doug's use of technology and what he envisions for the future.

A couple of years ago, Doug started his own documentary film company, Ice Axe Productions.  The website component of this, Iceaxe.tv, is his connection to the world while on wild adventures.  This past Fall Doug and a group of athletes traveled by boat to South Georgia Island; a place made famous by Sir Ernest Shackleton in the early 1900’s.  While there they sent back photos and phoned in dispatches that were streamed live from the call.     

For this upcoming expedition, Doug is going to take that to a new level and make it interactive.  When he calls into the office from Cho Oyu, a person will be able to listen live on his website and write in questions via the Internet that Doug will answer on the spot.  ExplorersWeb will be following them along on the climb and supporting them with weather forecasts. 

While there are many upsides to Internet content, Doug admits that it is sometimes a Catch-22.  There isn’t much money in it and though prices have dropped considerably it is still expensive to communicate from the world’s most remote places.  You also don’t want the public to know all the time when you are suffering and in pain.   

It not only helps the person at home to see and realize how trying and difficult it is, but it also has the uncanny ability to help them visualize and feel moments of triumph – those times when the sky is blue, wind is still, the sun is shining in your face, and the Himalayas are all there, right at your feet.  There is a big attraction to it and expedition websites often attract a large following.  People can’t wait to see what the next day will bring the climbers.  Will they make it?  How will the weather hold up?  Is his amoebic dysentery cured yet? 

What Doug envisions for the future is a setup not unlike that of Formula 1 racecars.  A helmet cam and sensors on a climber’s body would be up linked to the web and people all around the world can log in to follow the climber along the route step by step, heartbeat by heartbeat, and breath by breath; seeing exactly what they are seeing.  The technology for this is here now and has been around for a long time.  There are a group of people in particular that used this technology as early as 60’s from a place way more distant than Cho Oyu; the Astronauts.  Unfortunately expedition budgets are usually tight and the exorbitant costs associated with this technology makes it prohibiting, for the time being at least.

More about Doug’s newest adventure on Cho Oyu and his dream of biking to the South Pole. . .    

DD - ExplorersWeb

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