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Extreme ResearcherStory by Gregory ReidPhotographs used with permission of Bill Yeo
Ice climbing on Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro. Exploring Mayan ruins. Skiing across arctic Canada's Baffin Island. For 20 years, Bill Yeo has traveled the far reaches of the Earth for a physical challenge. These days, those challenges are testing his intellect as well, as Yeo incorporates his studies as a USM environmental sciences major into his adventures. Take his latest trip, a six-week quest in spring 2006 to climb Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain. Yeo, an accomplished adventure photographer and sought-after lecturer, and his friend John Bagnulo, a nutritionist from the University of Maine at Farmington, set out for the 29,035-foot summit. Yeo brought along plastic canisters into which he scooped samples of soil and snow. Why collect samples? To test for pollution from coal-burning power plants and factories upwind in southern China. “He was making the trip, and he wanted to make it a bit more meaningful by collecting data for a study,” said Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh, a USM associate professor of environmental science. “The snow samples are of particular interest to the climbing community. Climbers melt snow for drinking water.”
In fact, in the months leading up to his trip, Yeo was surprised to find no studies had been conducted on the presence of airborne soil pollutants on Everest. His methodology was clear: Collect a few grams of soil and snow every 1,000 vertical feet, in all about 25 of each, and bring them back to USM for study. He hopes to complete the analysis of the samples he collected this semester. It's worthwhile to note this was no tourist trip, where fees of up to $65,000 buy climbers professional guides, bands of Sherpas to hump gear and set up tents, and cooks to prepare meals. Bagnulo and Yeo were essentially on their own. Sponsors, including Yeo's employer, L.L. Bean, provided equipment and supplies. But the Mainers did all their own work, some days hauling gear up 17 miles and 4,000 vertical feet, only to turn around and return to base camp for the night. And they were trying to make the trip without supplemental oxygen, though in the end they donned masks. It was a grueling experience, made more difficult in the later stages by extreme cold and sleep deprivation brought on by the high altitude. At 27,500 feet, Yeo felt symptoms of what might have been altitude sickness, and he decided to turn back. He's sure he made the right decision. He explains that he believes he has what world-renowned climber Reinhold Messner calls a sixth-sense, intuition that tells him to turn around if something doesn't feel right. “Life's too precious,” Yeo says. “Why risk it?”
When Yeo turned back, Bagnulo continued on with another climber, Dave Watson of Vermont. On the morning of his 36th birthday, Bagnulo became the first Mainer to reach the summit. He and Yeo returned to Maine exhausted but healthy. And, in Yeo's case, with work to do. His research on the Mount Everest samples is similar to the work he'd done in late 2005 as part of Langley-Turnbaugh's study of the presence of lead on the Portland peninsula. “Bill's one of those people who shows up and starts banging on doors to get involved in research,” Langley-Turnbaugh says. “He knew what he wanted when he got here, and he's getting the most out of his time here.” Yeo's goal is simple: “I want to do more research. I want to see what I can do to help curtail global warming.” He's well aware that not everyone believes global warming to be a problem, or that the burning of fossil fuels may be in part responsible for it. But the outdoorsman in Yeo believes he's seen evidence of both. And the budding scientist in him intends to study that evidence, and, when possible, establish a causal relationship. “I've been on glaciers on every continent,” he says. “I've looked at maps and charts, then when I get to the glaciers, I see they've receded so much. Kilimanjaro's not going to have a glacier by 2010, that's the estimate. We have all these problems, I want to do what I can to help.” To conduct and publish the research he's interested in, of course, Yeo needs academic credentials. USM, and its “best environmental program in the state,” was a natural first step. He expects to complete a B.S. in environmental science in a year or so. Graduate school is on the horizon. “On all these expeditions, you're learning about yourself, your interests, your limits,” he says. “You learn to set goals. Climbing a mountain is sort of like setting to the process of finishing your degree. I'm really focused on getting that done.” Which is not to say expeditions are on hold. Yeo is already considering a trip across arctic Bylot Island, north of Baffin Island, with another sample collection for a pollution study built in. “I just love being outside,” he says with a shrug. “I do love a physical challenge. And I can't be out on a hike or paddling a river without saying, ‘I got to find out what's around the next bend.' ” And, from here on out, he's taking the scientific community along with him. To learn more about Bill Yeo's adventures, multimedia lecture series, and how to bring his shows to your school, civic, or business function, or to lend support to his expeditions, visit www.billyeo.com
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