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Ho-hum Is Fossett's fifth failure really news?
This just in: Adventurer Steve Fossett has abandoned his latest attempt to become the first solo balloonist to circumnavigate the globe. After 12 1/2 days and 12,687 miles aloft, Fossett has safely touched down near the Brazil-Uruguay border, having completed about half the trip. My e-mail inbox will never be the same. It's my own fault. I could have cancelled the endlessly tedious updates at any time, but I was determined to stay abreast of Fossett's latest adventure so, if called upon, I could capsulize it for our readers' enjoyment. I had met Fossett in late June, at his home in Beaver Creek, Colo., where for an afternoon he regaled me with stories of his past adventures and details of his current one. It was a pleasant, but odd, experience, since Fossett looks about as adventurous as a tax accountant. I kept thinking he bore a strong facial resemblance to Truman Capote, who even on his best days looked as if he was dying. It was difficult to picture this softspoken man driving a race car at Le Mans, or swimming the English Channel, or completing the Ironman triathlon, or running the Iditarod, or climbing mountains, or breaking speed records in sailboats and airplanes, all of which Fossett has done. He was like a real-life Walter Mitty. Anyway, on Aug. 4, after more than a month of delays, Fossett finally launched his immense helium/hot-air balloon, Solo Spirit, from Australia. He'd told me he hoped to make the trip in 9-14 days, and my e-mail updates started immediately. Fossett was travelling 50 miles per hour at 26,000 feet. Fossett had a cold, which was slowing his altitude acclimatization. Fossett was travelling 46 mph at 24,000 feet. Fossett's cold was better. Fossett was reading a book. Fossett was traveling 38 mph at 25,500 feet. Fossett was (finally) over the Pacific Ocean. Fossett had a sore on his nose, caused by chafing from his oxygen mask. Fossett had a good night's sleep. Fossett had finished his book and hoped to start reading something more substantive, like The History of the Human Race, as long as he had some time on his hands. Fossett could see the lights of Easter Island. This went on for 10 days or so, detailed e-mails of unmentionable tedium that cluttered my mornings. Every day at my computer was Groundhog Day. Finally, Fossett approached the Andes on the west coast of South America, and I had reason to hope that some adventure might creep into his quest. His balloon slowed to about 20 mph and he started to get bounced around a little by the wind currents. Fossett put on his parachute. It all sounded very promising. But his support team, based in St. Louis, was more worried about his oxygen supply, his water supply and his fuel supply, all of which were running low because the trip was taking so long. Frankly, I was more concerned the 57-year-old adventurer might die of old age before he made it back to the land Down Under. Mercifully, a turbulent Thursday night dodging thunderstorms took the starch out of him, and he wisely decided to ditch his effort before heading out over the Atlantic. So, after many millions of dollars and many thousands of man-hours invested, we humans are still left with an unconquered frontier. That's nice. Whether, in an age of interplanetary space travel, this particular frontier is worthy of our attention or of being called a challenge is another question. Any romantic vision one might have had of a balloonist bursting with charisma, scarf whipping behind, brushing the treetops and scaring the cows as thousands cheered from the ground was surely dispelled by Fossett's effort. Until he landed, he never got below 18,000 feet. What he attempted has been completed by two men in a pressurized capsule, and it's routinely done by unmanned weather balloons. Put a balloon in the atmosphere and, if it doesn't spring a leak, it will eventually go around the world. So we know it's possible, given the resources and a little luck. What we don't know is whether the human spirit can survive three weeks of reading about such monotony. My guess is no. Sports Illustrated senior writer E.M. Swift is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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