Everything
I’ve never tried fly fishing, and it's hard to find a buddy who's willing to show me the ropes. What’s the best way to get started?
As an avid hiker, I often stay in huts. I’m kind of freaked out about the recent outbreak of the hantavirus at Yosemite. How much should I really worry, and what can I do to avoid it?
Conservationists try to protect shrinking population
As parents, it’s easy to get caught up in the saga of our own children. Their all-consuming schedules, school, sports, our own fraught expectations. We want them to be smart, kind, and game. We want them to play outside and be healthy. We want them to remember their manners, read…
The Cascade Flyer. Photo: Erin Berzel My work commute consists of 10 steps through my house, to my home office. Plus, I do not have children. Still, I find myself jonesing for the Cascade Flyer, a bike that is a commuter-cargo-tandem-kid-carrying hybrid and…
57,000 sign petition as police ready to meet protestors
Filmmaker Chris Tangey recorded the above video of a fire whirl whisking through the Australian Outback near Alice Springs on September 11. Since then, the clip has swerved from news sites to blogs to social media around the world. In its…
“I don’t think in any other sport do you have the license to get so closely involved with the subject at such a high risk factor as surf photography,” says Ted Grambeau in the film Fiberglass and Megapixels. “It would be…
This might be the longest series of unnecessary honks in the history of driver-versus-cyclist confrontations. An older male driver in a Ford SUV, license plate Colorado 893 EKG, slowed behind two bikers out for a Sunday ride near Longmont, Colorado, and laid on his horn for an awfully long…
Activist Tim DeChristopher, currently serving out a sentence for fraud in Littleton, Colorado, reacts to losing his appeal last Friday and responds to criticism generated by a post in which he suggested that environmentalists should not vote for Obama
I only put sunscreen on the uncovered parts of my body, but should I be using it under my clothes, too? How well do my clothes protect me against the sun?
We're pretty committed to covering the newest, most innovative gear here on The Gear Shed, but every now and then there is a product, out for a while, that has evolved over time to set the standard in its class that we feel is deserving of a mention. Such is…
Ranulph Fiennes hopes to beat Norwegians
“San Diego Surf.” Photo: Copyright, 2012, The Andy Warhol Museum In 1968, Andy Warhol and friends moved out to La Jolla, California, from New York to film a surf movie about an unhappy married couple. The footage…
For almost a century, the world's hottest temperature was believed to be a 136-degree Fahrenheit measurement recorded in El Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922. This month, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) threw that record out. They gave their reasons in…
Today at Interbike, North America's largest bicycle trade show, Thule, leading manufacturer of bike, ski and cargo carriers, announced two new bicycle fork roof-mount carriers—the Thule Sprint and Circuit. We’re most enamored with the Sprint because it has features designed specifically to…
Everyone experiences the occasional bad day at the office, and having an alternative career to fantasize about is a reliable coping strategy. Marine biologist. Fly-fishing guide. Ski patroller. A good friend and writer I've worked with on many stories over the years used to suffer from chronic bouts of…
The seventh edition of America's biggest climbing film show features sport climbing showdowns and high-altitude epics
The gear you need—and the perfect Scotch—for fall fly-fishing season.
Josh Tostado overtakes an unsuspecting rider in the early morning Vapor hours. Last weekend, I rode the Vapor Trail 125, an unsanctioned bike ride out of Salida, Colorado. It was my third time at the…
A pika in its talus home. Photo: Karunakar Rayker By Mary Ellen Hannibal When Chris Ray got started studying pika, she could not have anticipated that these small rabbit relatives would one day become a poster child…
“Frozen.” Photo: Mark Tipple, The Underwater Project There's a lot about Australian Mark Tipple's career as a photographer that appears backwards. Take, for example, his beginnings. The…
West Mata eruption. Photo: NSF/NOAA In 2009, scientists on a cruise in the Western Pacific sent a remotely operated vehicle 4,000 feet below the ocean surface and discovered a two-mile high volcano called West Mata erupting 2,200-degree Fahrenheit lava in bursts scattered over the area…
Winds were on the lighter side as the world’s best windsurfers began to battle on the first day of the KIA Cold Hawaii PWA World Cup.
In 9.79*, documentary filmmaker Daniel Gordon examines the 1988 Summer Olympics race that would set the stage for doping scandals to come
Is "running everywhere" a feasible replacement for biking, cabs, and the subway? Noah Davis spent a week trying to find out.
A former corporate lawyer whose back-of-the-napkin plan to kayak from Minnesota to Florida was so awesomely deranged, we decided to pay his way
After years of sounding the climate-change alarm, writer Bill McKibben realized that gentle persuasion wasn’t cutting it. So he got mad. Then he got busy: tweeting, organizing, protesting, getting arrested, and becoming Big Oil’s biggest threat.
I was about halfway through a 17-mile run in preparation for a marathon. I was wearing a hydration belt that contained a cell phone, mace, endurance beans and two 10-ounce water bottles. During the run, a man on a bike pulled up to me and told me that I was going to "ruin my back" carrying that much weight. While I haven't done 100 marathons, this isn't my first time. I have been working hard to keep my core strong, and I try to position the weight so I carry it on my hips. Is he right?
Dealing with your climbing rope at the crag is often a tangley affair. Most rope bags are some sort of sack that holds a detached tarp. While you’re climbing, the tarp is out of the bag with the rope piled on top of it, protecting the rope…
Dog, kids, river fun. Photo: Katie Arnold Before we had kids, my husband, Steve, and I swore that we’d never be the kind of parent that neglects their dog when a baby comes along. We’d heard stories of people giving away their pets because of the…
Sentence necessary to 'promote respect for the law'
Forty-eight of the world’s best male windsurfers prepare to compete for the title of world champion in wave performance.
It's hard enough learning to surf. Just try it when you can't see and your instructor is deaf.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=TfCb33_nPe0 For more than 10 years, Survivorman Les Stroud has ventured into the backcountry alone and recorded his wilderness experiences. He’s traveled to more than 25 locations, racked up 200 days of solitude, and…
https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtY8DpA_XNEPresenting 131 years of temperature data in 26 seconds. (Things get hotter.) The articles, videos, and photos I didn't post this week—until now. If you have time to read only one article from this list, read “Obama's Way,” by Michael Lewis…
In this weekly roundup, we scour the Web for our favorite long-form magazine and newspaper articles, collecting them here and on Longreads and Twitter. This installment focuses on the animals we punish, the sports we can't play, and the fickle thing that is public opinio
The world of surfing meets the age of 3-D cinema in Justin McMillian and Chris Nelius' new film
Fall is here, and the temps are dropping—time to pick a fresh new adventure in the American Southwest
I've been looking into the new Garmin Fenix. Is it any good?
I’m planning a getaway weekend to Asheville, North Carolina, sometime in the next couple of months. What should I do while I’m there?
In 1994, Steve Sullivan (Sully) and Brian Cousins (Cuz) had an idea for a line of technical clothing, one that wasn’t just about bagging peaks and extreme expeditions. They founded Jackson Hole, Wyoming-based Cloudveil, a company that made technical clothing with heavy western cowboy-style influences and…
EPSON DSC picture Larry Gibson, keeper of Kayford Mountain. Photo: Vivian Stockman The Appalachian Mountains lost a hero on Sunday, September 10. Larry Gibson, the face of the fight against mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia, died of a heart attack while…
There has been no better series about the making of an adventure movie than Sweetgrass Productions' 12-episode collection On the Road. The Colorado-based crew chronicled all the stink, snow, and blood that went into making the ski flick…
Yosemite National Park confirmed on Thursday that a ninth person had contracted hantavirus, according to Reuters. The park visitor, from California, has recovered. The notice came a day after the park notified roughly 230,000 people about the outbreak by email, according to the…
With evidence piling up that Armstrong cheated to win, should he confess and ask his fans, enemies, and cancer-fighting supporters to forgive him? As Brian Alexander explains, that would be the worst move he could make.
In a last-ditch attempt to preserve some of the only green spaces left on the eastern edge of Jerusalem, the city plans to build a series of national parks with an extensive network of trails. Is this an honest effort to encourage tourism, or a political attempt to keep Arab neighborhoods from expanding?
Alexander Chee went to the Fifth Annual Coney Island Beard and Mustache Competition. He came back with some kind of unified theory of facial hair.
What’s the deal with Bluetooth? My phone supposedly has it. Can I connect camping and workout gadgets with Bluetooth to my phone—and will they work?
Michael Lewis, President Barack Obama. Photo: Official White House Photograph/Pete Souza Reporter Michael Lewis followed President Barack Obama for six months in order to write the profile “Obama's Way.” At its core, the Vanity Fair story is a…
Entering the cave. Photo: Rechitan Soran/Shutterstock Not long before Thanksgiving in 2009, 26-year-old University of Virginia medical student John Jones, his wife Emily, and their 13-month-old daughter flew home to Utah. Emily was pregnant, and the couple…
“57 Feet and Rising,” by W. Hodding Carter, won gold for U.S./Canada Travel Article. Photo: Christopher LaMarca If you're looking for a great longread, the Society of American Travel Writers just announced the winners of their annual…
An adventure into the world of big wave surfing with Aussie legend Ross Clarke-Jones and two-time World Champion Tom Carroll. Read our Q&A with the filmmakers.
It started as a bluebird New Year's Day in Mount Rainier National Park. But when a gunman murdered a ranger and then fled back into the park's frozen backcountry, every climber, skier, and camper became a suspect—and a potential victim.
A protein-rich, paleo-inspired meal adapted for the modern athlete
The best blenders for whipping up recovery smoothies.