A night at The Explorer’s Club NYC with Dos Equis’ StayThirsty

Edelman

Thanks to the generous folks of Dos Equis and their Stay Thirsty Grant campaign, this week I was able to realize one of my lifelong dreams of visiting The Explorer’s Club in NYC. If you’re not familiar with The Explorer’s Club, it’s basically the most badass collection of expeditioners you could ever imagine. Their ranks include nearly every astronaut ever, Teddy Roosevelt, L. Ron Hubbard, to name a few. The history contained within their global headquarters in NYC is second to none, but we’ll get to that later.
So, how did lowly ‘ol me end up at The Explorer’s Club, sitting at the same seats as former US Presidents? Well, I was there as a guest of Dos Equis on a night in which they were screening a short documentary, Snows of the Nile, to both kick off the New York Wild Film Festival and celebrate the culmination of their Stay Thirsty Grant. The trailer of which can be seen below, and you can click through for more details.

The concept behind this being that fans are encouraged to submit a 3-minute video detailing their most intrepid adventures, in the hopes of being awarded one of their $25,000 Stay Thirsty Grants. Over the past year they’ve awarded two grants, the second going towards the creation of the film we were screening, Snows of the Nile. The short film documents the expedition of two biologist/photographers, Neal Losin and Nathan Dappen, who were attempting to replicated the Duke of Abruzzi’s legendary 1906 expedition to the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda. These equatorial mountains are renowned for their eco-diversity, and more importantly their glaciers.
Sadly, due to global warming these glaciers have been receding at a record pace. So, in order to document them and raise awareness before they disappear, Dos Equis’ Stay Thirsty campaign awarded their second grant to fund this film, the trailer of which is below.

Dos Equis is now in the process of giving away their third Stay Thirst Grant, and are encouraging anyone to apply. The timeline for application is as follows: entries accepted on January 22, entries closed on March 23, public voting from April 14 – May 2, and winners will be announced on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo).

Now, on to the rest of the night. The dreamy evening kicked off with the handling of some exotic birds of prey. Birds in attendance included a kestrel, the smallest of the North American falcons, a Eurasian Eagle Owl, and a Bard Owl.

Following the presentation of the Birds of Prey, we were treated to a tour of the headquarters. The tour was simply oozing in history. Every portrait accompanied by the most over the top adventure story you’d ever heard, only to be topped by the next story. The stories are too numerous to recount in their entirety, but I highly encourage you to read this one of Carl Akeley, the founder of modern taxidermy, and a member of the Explorer’s Club. To paraphrase: he was on expedition in Arica when he was attacked by a leopard, and instead of rolling over and dying, he made a fist and stuck it down the throat of the leopard, choking it to death like a straight up badass.

The man pictured in the portrait in the foreground of this photo is more of a man than you’ll ever be. Just come to accept that. That man had 3 wives die in avalanches, only to eventually be caught in one himself. While under 7 feet of snow, he remembered that when dogs pooped in the snow it would freeze. So he concocted the idea of pooping, freezing it into a chisel, and carving his way out of seven feet of snow. The only hiccup is that during this process he began to starve to death, so naturally he started eating his own leg to survive. Again, you’ll never be as badass as that man.

We were also treated to many delicacies throughout the night. I myself partook in the eating of scorpions and grubs, the latter of which tasted a bit like an onion while the scorpion tasted exactly what you might imagine it would: buggy.

All in all, it was one of the most memorable nights I’ve ever experienced and I was truly in awe of the history seeping out of every crack in The Explorer’s Club. I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE anyone with an adventurous spirit to consider applying to the Dos Equis Stay Thirsty campaign.