Denali, Alaska

Located in south central Alaska Denali towers 6,194 meters or 20,320 feet above sea level. It is the pinnacle of the gigantic Alaska Range with one of the highest vertical rises in the world. The surrounding terrain is only around 600-800 meters or 2000-2600 feet above sea level. No wonder the native Athabaskans called it Denali "The high One". Because of the high latitude Denali feels approximately 2000 feet higher than the real elevation due to the sloping atmosphere towards the poles. Because of the extreme rise above the surrounding terrain it often creates its own climate. Intercepting moist airflows from the North Pacific Ocean and is often well into the jet stream. The weather can change without notice with rapidly dropping barometric pressure and winds well in access of 100 kilometers an hour. It creates a potentially difficult and dangerous climate for anyone attempting to summit unprepared. Temperatures may easily drop to 40C/F below zero almost any time of the year and frostbite is the most common injury among climbers.

In 1979, Joe Redington (founder of the modern day Iditarod) and Susan Butcher (three-time winner of the Iditarod) were fresh from their ninth and 10th place finishes of the 1979 Iditarod. The two decided to take a team of dogs up Denali (Mt McKinley). After finishing the 1100-mile dog race they thought climbing Denali with a dog sled team could be achieved. But neither of them had climbing experience. So, with the help pf expedition guide Ray Genet and photographer Robert Stapleton, seven huskies, 800 pounds of dog food and 800 pouds of people, Joe and Susan headed up the mountain. Veterinarians said the dogs could not survive, but probably not many vets think a team of dogs could survive the 1100-mile sled race in -20 degree fahrenheit weather either. As it turned out, the dogs were done going not too slow but too fast. Why was that a problem? Simply because the climbers could not keep up. Areas that could take four hours to climb were done by dogs in 45 minutes. The weather of the climb was horrible, thirty days out of the 44 day expedition it was below zero fahrenheit. Down glacial areas, sleds would sometimes overtake the dogs. During the final ascent, Joe and Susan found that seven dogs were too many, so they left three with a woman who had altitude sickness and camped below at 14,000 feet. Once the team reached the summit they were blessed with a clear, windless dat at -8 degrees and incredible panorama view of the Alaska Range.

At the same time there was unfolding a tragedy of a Korean Expedtition from who three summited but plunged down on their descent. Diane Gay, Ray Genet, and Joe Redington witnessed the fall from their camp at 14,000 feet on the West Buttress. A rescue party, consisting of Ray Genet and Brian Okonek, plowed up to the victims in a roaring blizzard. At about 11:30 p.m. they found Ko, Park and Lee lying upside-down in the snow, tangled in their ropes.

Ko was dead, but Park and Lee were alive and badly injured. Park appeared to have the best chance for survival, so they put Lee in a sleeping bag in a snow cave. They lowered Park down the mountain. Susan Butcher and Joe Redington were summoned to use their dog sled and dog team to rescue Lee and recover the body of Ko Sang Don. However upon returning to the snow cave, they found Lee had died. The rescue team recovered both bodies.

High on our wishlist is seeing the Aurora Borealis in real life!

Bacardi

Bacardi drinks are not found in Cuba today. The main brand of rum in Cuba is called Havana Club, a formerly private company nationalised by the government. Drinks now made in the former Bacardi distillery are sold in Cuba under the name Caney.

Bacardi, despite having no business ties (in terms of production) to Cuba today, has decided to re-emphasise its Cuban heritage in recent years. This is mainly due to commercial reasons. Facing increased competition in the rum market from the now international brand Havana Club, the company concluded that it was important for sales to associate its rum with Cuba. TV advertisements with slogans of 'Welcome to the Latin Quarter' are but one example of this. In 1998, under the distinctive bat logo, the phrase "company founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1862" was added.

Bacardi has faced criticism and legal problems for supposedly attempting to falsely convince consumers it were purchasing rum made in Cuba rather than just marking its heritage. Bacardi adverts in Spain, since 1966, had described a popular combination of rum and coke as "rum and coke". However, after 1998, it began to describe the drink as Cuba Libre – literally translated as "free Cuba" which is the original name of the drink and how it's mostly called in Latin America. In this instance, Bacardi faced a legal ruling from the Spanish Association of Advertising Users which forced the company to stop the advert. They concluded that it could "mislead the viewer as to the true nature of the product" as the advert contained so many pieces of Caribbean imagery, one might conclude it came from Cuba (Ospina p. 79).

Bacardi continues to fight a war in the courts attempting to legalise their own Havana Club trademark outside of the United States. Havana Club is owned by the Cuban government and has a business joint venture with the french company Pernod Ricard.[14]

The Bacardi legacy lives on in Santiago and Havana through its grand buildings and its historic significance. The Bacardi Building (Edificio Bacardi) in Old Havana is regarded as one of the finest art deco buildings in Latin America

Bacardi company broke all ties with Cuba after the Revolution of 1959, when its cronies in the hated Batista dictatorship were overthrown by a popular guerrilla movement led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. Since then the Bacardi company has backed illegal and violent attempts to undermine the Cuban Revolution, including funding the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), a virulently anti-Castro right-wing exile organisation based in Miami, which has been responsible for systematic acts of terrorism against Cuba. Bacardi’s lawyers also helped draft the US Helms-Burton Act, which extends the United States’ blockade of Cuba to third countries, in breach of international trade law. So central was the role of Bacardi’s lawyer, Ignacio E Sanchez (a CANF member) in establishing Helms-Burton that US Senator William Dengue said the law should be renamed the Helms-Bacardi Protection Act.

The Helms-Burton Act was designed to tighten still further the United States blockade of Cuba. The blockade prevents the sale of food, medicines and other essential supplies to Cuba and threatens other countries (including Britain) if they trade with Cuba. It has been estimated that the blockade has cost Cuba over $40 billion in lost production and trade. Every year the US blockade is overwhelmingly condemned by the United Nations.