Exploration & Survival
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In the wake of a 22-year-old’s death on a prominent sandstone arch near Moab, Utah, it's inevitable that authorities will reexamine regulation of high-risk recreation. Outside's adventure ethicist looks into how public lands accommodate the "World's Largest Rope Swing."
Huston just left the country for his expedition to Ellesmere Island
A team of explorers aims to conquer one of the last polar firsts: crossing Antarctica in winter
Greg and Julie Welch thought they were taking their regular, annual trip, paddling through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. Then the fire came.
Seven years after Hurricane Katrina, animal advocates faced their greatest challenge yet—but a combination of technological advances, coordination, and legislation made all the difference
The Abominable Snowman is just a legend. Or is it? We break down the history of the Himalayas' most famous monster, from ancient legends to Russia's yeti museum.
On Monday, January 21, ThoseCrazyTexans uploaded a 19-second clip of aerial stunt pilot Jason Newburg flying a plane at roughly 200 miles per hour just a few feet above the ground and a few feet to the side…
A conversation with Tim Jarvis as he prepares to set out with a crew of five men to repeat Ernest Shackleton's 800-mile open-boat crossing of the South Atlantic
A team of adventurers plays a risky game of dress-up
Yes. Here are the real-life stories and training advice to prove it.
There's no pipeline—or anything even resembling a trail or infrastructure—yet. And that's precisely why Ken Ilgunas decided to head out in September on a 1,700-mile hike tracing the planned route for the Keystone XL Pipeline—from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada, to Houston, Texas. He wanted to…
FalconGuides just announced the first 12 titles in a new line of interactive outdoor guides the company developed in partnership with Inkling, a platform for interactive learning. For the price of the download, readers get expert content optimized for iPhone, iPad, and Web, with…
Lightning. Photo: Shutterstock On Wednesday January 2, 42-year-old Irish adventurer Ian McKeever was leading a group of more than 20 people through the lunar landscape section of Mount Kilimanjaro when…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zph835YAK7M This is what reducing chance looks like on the Australian coast: thousands of beachgoers scurrying to the water's edge of Bondi Beach in New South Wales after a siren warns of a shark sighting. The alarm was sounded on New Year's…
It's unlikely that Robert Frost could have imagined such a choice when he wrote “The Road Not Taken,” but in 2012 slackliner Andy Lewis was at a crossroads. You may remember Lewis from Madonna's Super Bowl…
There are a lot of firsts nowadays, and Erden Eruc's voyage was the first thing to inspire Jonah Ogles in a while
Shark Net. Photo: Kip Evans Tagging technology now allows anyone with a computer or mobile device to follow the movements of great white sharks. Along the East Coast, people are tracking Mary Lee and Genie, two great whites. A group named…
The surfer was able to escape after the shark bit through his board and the side of his torso, pulling him beneath the water
Kayaking in Palau. Photo: Mark Downey Since 2006, Berkeley-based non-profit Ethical Traveler has compiled an annual list of the 10 best ethical vacation destinations for the coming year, and it just released its 2013 list this week.
Regenold enjoying the paddle on a riverboard. Photo: Chris Radcliffe This year, Team Gear Junkie/WEDALI became the first team in the history of adventure racing to win both U.S. National Championship races. In September, they nabbed the title in the…
What happens when you turn the world’s deadliest sport into a competition? Welcome to the World Wingsuit League.
On his YouTube channel, BASE jumper Alexander Polli said he has completed the “first-ever successful wingsuit target strike.” In the video above, Polli rockets down a slalom course, shatters a foam marker with his left arm, and continues flying forward on his projected path.
When astronaut Donald Pettit heads into space with his 10 cameras, his goal is to collect data about the earth and the stars. Often, his images end up as art. Anyone with a computer can download the photos he takes from the cupola—the glass turret…
In late August, adventurer Davey du Plessis was two months into a 4,000-mile source-to-sea expedition down the Amazon when he was shot several times. He was hit in the back, face, neck, and leg. The men who…
The ideal flight path. Photo: clusterballoon.com This past weekend at the Leon International Balloon Festival, Jonathan Trappe lifted a fake house off the ground using a cluster of balloons. The stunt, inspired by…
Jason Diamond looks back at Courtney Letts: style inspiration, socialite, and outdoorswoman extraordinaire
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NbI4vEiPmxo There are two reasons I want to see the new film Crossing The Ice, a 44-minute-long documentary that chronicles the 89-day, 1,400-mile journey of James Castrission and Justin Jones from Antarctica's Hercules Inlet to the South Pole and back. Number one, the movie…
A German Shepherd is found at 13,000 feet, and rescued after surviving seven nights in the cold. How did she get there, and what happened to her owner?
Deal with hurt pets like you would deal with a human emergency: use common sense. And if you’re heading into the woods for a day or longer, bring a first aid kit that will work for man and beast alike.
Make sure to bring these emergency items on your next camping or hiking trip
https://youtube.com/watch?v=MT1DhcQg0Os On Sunday, Felix Baumgartner successfully completed a jump from 24 miles above the earth, free falling at a speed of more than 700 miles per hour before landing safely on the ground. In case you missed the livestream of his feat, here are…
Leaves of three, leave it be. Photo: Shutterstock When I was in seventh grade, my parents took my six siblings and I out of school for a late spring vacation to the East Coast. We camped along the way and eventually…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=MrIxH6DToXQ UPDATE 2:30 EST: According to unofficial numbers from Red Bull Stratos, Felix Baumgartner broke the record for the highest manned balloon flight and the highest freefall on Sunday when he jumped from roughly 28,000 feet above the earth and fell for four minutes and 20 seconds before landing safely…
On solid ground. Photo: Red Bull On Sunday at 11:31 a.m. EST, 43-year-old Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner lifted off in a capsule attached to a 55-story balloon made of plastic one-tenth the…
On Tuesday, masked Taliban gunmen boarded a bus filled with schoolchildren in Pakistan and shot a 14-year-old girl in the head. Her name is Malala Yousafzai, and she is now in critical condition in a Peshawar hospital. She openly voiced her belief that…
On July 8, 25-year-old journalist Filipe Leite straddled one of his two horses and rode out of the Calgary Stampede under the escort of the Royal Mounted Police to start a 10,000-mile, two-year-long, 12-country journey that he hopes will end on his family’s ranch…
Photo: Joe Bell/Flickr On Thursday, Adventure Ethics published a story based on our investigation of the outcome of a solo fatbiking-packrafting expedition, launched this spring by Andrew Badenoch and based on a…
Ever wondered how to survive a volcanic eruption? Not sure what to do when zombies inevitably take over? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Andrew Badenoch raised nearly $10,500 via Kickstarter to fund his zero-fuel Arctic adventure, but he abandoned his trip and left his backers in the dark. Andrew Badenoch. Photo: Joe Bell Back in February, I wrote about Andrew Badenoch, an ambitious…
Katie Heaney walks into the longest cave in Wisconsin and, despite the bats, the darkness, and the bats, makes it out alive
Tips for surviving seven of the world's deadliest adventures
Outside readers love to lend a hand. Here, a longtime subscriber and former energy executive shows us how to take it to another level.
David Page gets a crash course in foraging and learns to appreciate nature's bounty (and the flavor of a good fire-roasted grasshopper) along the way
Here's one thing that will increase the attention paid to competitive longboarding: a deer crashing into a rider. During a run in the Buffalo Bill Downhill, near Golden, Colorado, a skateboarder flying down Lookout Mountain Road captured footage of a deer bounding into…
Odyssey Marine's archeological discoveries from the ocean floor
The route. Photo: The Coldest Journey “There is no colder part of the Earth than the surface of the Antarctic icecap in winter.” —AccuWeather.com expert senior meteorologist Jim Andrews No one has ever attempted to cross…
After more than 11 years and 1,000 jumps, Norwegian BASE jumper Espen Fadnes has had plenty of time to think about motivation. That's because most of his time has not been spent…
In 2010, Gareth Jones and Aaron Chervenak quit their day jobs and split for the Amazon with little more than a portable canoe, paddles, cameras, and camping gear. They paddled for weeks, ate piranha, drank coffee made from river water, set up their hammocks, and drifted off…
M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy. Photo: The Royal Observatory Photographer of the Year/Martin Pugh Australian Martin Pugh nabbed the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2012 award from…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
Normally, Kilian Martin's skateboarding videos feature tightly edited footage of spins, headstands, and ollies set to lilting or brooding music. The 25-year-old Spaniard's choreographed freestyle moves play like a ballet, with his board flying gracefully over concrete, off brick walls, and down metal rails. In…
Climber hanging. Photo: Rudall30/Shutterstock Scientist Daniel Lack used experience as a motivator for his study on climbing rescues, deaths, and accidents in Boulder County, Colorado. Lack started climbing at 24 at the Kangaroo Point…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=F7VghMbLiMA Last week, the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce posted a video of a bison charging children on its Facebook page—accompanied by a scolding: “This video is one that makes us angry, expecially at the irresponsible person behind the…
Today, there is a $30 million Lunar X-Prize for the first team to land a robot on the moon, a $10 million Genomics X-Prize for the first team to accurately sequence 100 human genomes, and a $10 million Tricorder X-Prize for a mobile device that can offer an electronic health…
It's hard to pick a specific moment to highlight from this video of Alexander Polli. He pilots his wingsuit dangerously close to several outcroppings at ridiculous speeds, winds through incredibly narrow canyons, and then zips through a waterfall. He said it felt as though the spray hit every part…
The staff of Outside has more than a passing interest in this year's 621-mile, 25-station Mongol Derby. That's because the man currently in 11th place is former Outside intern Will Grant, 31. The race started with 35 competitors who will ride roughly 1,000 semi-wild…
Outside correspondent Steven Rinella talks to his longtime editor, Mary Turner, about his new book (and TV show of the same name) Meat Eater, how he got started fishing and hunting, and why he’ll never stop
The Tamaroa on the way to help the crew of the sailboat Satori. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard, 1991 No ship has cut a path through history quite like the Zuni/Tamaroa. Soon after the Navy commissioned the 205-foot salvage…
Katie Heaney won't ever climb Mount Everest, but she's ready to step outside and try some things—like looking for a moose
World record vertical formation attempt. Photo: Brian Buckland By Brian Buckland On August 1, 2012, I joined more than 138 skydivers from…
GE recently built a pretty exhaustive interactive graphic showing the history of world records from August 29, 1900, to May 5, 2012. The data visualization displays the number of world records set by year, by country, and by sport. It also offers a…
On Monday morning at approximately 1:32 Eastern, the new rover Curiosity touched solid ground on Mars after a flight through the planet's atmosphere that NASA dubbed “seven minutes of terror.” The state-of-the-art exploratory vehicle will photograph and take samples to see if there…
Project Angel Thunder is the largest search-and-rescue exercise in the world, involving 1,700 pilots, commandos, and recovery specialists training in the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico to save your ass in some impossibly bad situations. Embed Brian Mockenhaupt discovers that while the scenarios are pure fiction, the game is deadly serious.
Earlier this week, video surfaced of 42-year-old French stuntman Jean-Yves Blondeau flying down Tianmen Mountain at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour in a 34-wheeled rollerblading suit. It took him just under 20 minutes to navigate 99 turns and…
3rd Place: Meandering Mississippi Landsat 7 Acquired 5/28/2003, Small, blocky shapes of towns, fields, and pastures surround the graceful swirls and whorls of the Mississippi River, the largest river system in North America. Countless oxbow lakes and cutoffs accompany the meandering river south of Memphis, Tennessee,…
Fabiola in smoke. Photo: Brian Nevins This past April, 33-year-old, Hampton, New Hampshire-based photographer Brian Nevins won the Telus Pro Photographer Showdown in Whistler, British Columbia. It’s one of…
Telluride Mountain School students explore the Needle Mountains. Photo: Jamie Salem By Emily Brendler Shoff The older kids get, the easier it is to take them into the backcountry. This is even true for teenagers, who, despite getting a bad rap for being addicted to all…
Maybe you've never heard of Lucky Chance—born Toby Benham—but the Australian climber, circus act, and all-around stunt monkey was testing the limits of BASE jumping in 2011 when he survived a horrible mountainside crash in France. What happens when a highflier falls to earth? He starts over—no matter how daunting the prospect.
The Arctic Row Team. Photo: Arctic Row On July 15, a team of four men will attempt to complete the first non-stop unsupported row across the Arctic Ocean by journeying from Inuvik, Canada, to Providenya, Russia. The men will row their 29-foot-long, 6-foot-wide boat in shifts…
From sharks and cougars to avalanches and frozen waters, four survivors share their stories in their own words. Plus: expert commentary.
When Robert Wood Jr. disappeared in a densely forested Virginia park, searchers faced the challenge of a lifetime. The eight-year-old boy was autistic and nonverbal, and from his perspective the largest manhunt in state history probably looked like something else: the ultimate game of hide-and-seek.
After getting yanked under the barricades by a Red Cross medic, our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival chats with Jesus Muniain, who has been helping runners for 30 years
Our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival remembers the time he ran with Jimeno Romero, who was gored to death in 2009 and memorialized by his family with a special monument of flowers this year