Adventure
ArchiveMechanic Scott Haupert shows you what to pack before you hit the black top on your racer. Frankie Flats Repair Service, Santa Fe, NM…
Outside editor Grayson Schaffer explores a secret stash of backcountry powder in the mountains above Santa Fe. Music by Stayton Bonner…
Billy Meyer of Ancient Pathways shows you how to start a friction fire.
Science be damned, a band of surfers and celebrities fight to save an iconic break
A treasure trove of unpublished letters and never seen photos offers a fresh perspective on the adventures of Christopher McCandless
Outside’s Micah Cratty shows you how to instantly freeze a beer.
Go behind the scenes with photographer Robert Maxwell as he shoots the 10-time champ for our March issue.
Tyler Hamilton, the Olympic gold medalist who recently confessed to doping and accused Lance Armstrong of using performance-enhancing drugs, spent the weekend leading bike rides for Outside in Aspen, an annual summit we host. Last night, Hamilton went to dinner with friends at Cache Cache [pronounced…
Of all the great travel narratives the most epic are set at sea—tossed in the waves, lost in fog, pounded by storms. They traverse a world populated by leviathans and ghost ships and bizarre natural forces, the landscape itself so moving and alive it becomes a character in the book.
Earlier today, Outside obtained via e-mail a statement from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office containing the official autopsy and toxicology reports for deceased surfer Andy Irons, whose body was discovered last November in a hotel room at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Accompanying the full autopsy report was a press…
I'm thinking of buying the Koflach Arctis Expe for trekking and general mountaineering (some technical sections) in the Garhwal Himalayas. But I saw some comments about these being tough to wear when trekking for long distances. Is there another boot I could use for these mixed activities? John New York, New York
Which tent should we bring on a Grand Canyon rafting trip in August? And should we include a sun shade? Lindsay Durango, Colorado
A gaunt Refsnider at the finish of the 2009 Tour Divide in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. If you think the Tour de France is the hardest bike race on earth, consider the Tour Divide. On this…
Whenever adventure goes wrong, more than 5,000 everyday heroes stand ready for wilderness search and rescue. Meet six of the best in the business: unsung pioneers, backcountry veterans, and saviors of last resort who will risk everything to bring you back alive.
The climbing scene at the Teva Mountain Games As a general rule, adventure-sports athletes and dogs get along famously. That wasn’t the case last Friday evening at the Antlers hotel in Vail, Colorado. Nicky de Leeuw of the Dutch National Climbing Team was one of the 2,500 athletes…
Outside magazine is accepting applications for an Editorial Fellowship. The fellowship is a six-month, paid position in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Duties include fact-checking, reporting, research, proofreading, and assorted support chores for the editorial department. Fellows occasionally have the opportunity to write short pieces for the magazine and website, and…
Over the last few weeks we've updated our blog with some of the gnarliest whitewater videos on the web. It's time to switch up the paddling footage, just a bit. Here's a highlight from a freestyle canoeing festival, straight out of the…
“Old Man” Chris Horner decimates the field atop Sierra Road. via Flickr The 2011 Amgen Tour of California was one for the old men, and I’m not only talking about the GC. Yes, 39-year-old…
Alexandra Cousteau, Photo by Bll Zelman If Alexandra Cousteau could impart just one piece of wisdom, it would be this: Get to know your water source. Like her grandfather, Jacques, the legendary explorer whose 1956 film “…
The fallout from the latest round of doping accusations against Lance Armstrong continues this week as key players publicly stake out their positions and investigations spin ahead. At issue is the tell-all interview with Tyler Hamilton that aired on CBS’s…
Alan on the summit of Everest, 5:00AM May 21, 2011 I am back in Lukla on our 3rd of 3 days trek from Everest Base Camp. This is an important time for me to process any Himalaya experience. I love walking the Khumbu trails, sharing…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AV6NgCLWKdU%3Frel%3D0%C2%A0 Leading Dutch mountaineer Ronald Naar died on Sunday while descending Cho Oyu, Radio Netherlands has reported. Naar had given up his summit bid and was heading down with his team when he reported feeling unwell and collapsed unexpectedly at 26,200 feet. Naar, 56,…
Photo from ilkerender on Flickr Irish climber John Delaney died yesterday on Everest, according to 7Summits-Club, the team with whom he was climbing. The club's…
Climbers Ueli Steck and Don Bowie have given up their Mt. Everest summit bid after encountering cold and windy conditions high on the south side of the mountain. The pair began their final push from their camp at 25,250 feet at approximately 11:30 pm. According to a text message posted to…
RMI Guide and First Ascent Climber Dave Hahn summited Everest for the 13th time this weekend, adding another climb to his own record of the most summits by a non-Sherpa. Hahn posted an account of the summit on the…
2011 Whitewater Grand Prix from Tribe Rider on Vimeo. The inaugural Whitewater Grand Prix is over. For two weeks, 25 top kayakers competed on Quebec's biggest whitewater–and survived. Dane Jackson, the 17-year-old phenom and son of whitewater patriarch Eric Jackson, took…
The route I took from the Balcony to the summit as seen from Lhotse on the same day I summited. I stood on the summit of Mount Everest at 5:00 AM, May 21, 2011. To say this event had a personal meaning is…
The family of Andy Irons has released a statement acknowledging that drugs played a role in the late surf champion’s November 2 death in a Grand Hyatt hotel room in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. In the press release issued Saturday, the family said, “We know that Andy's life and death…
Everest and Nuptse by Stevehicks on Flickr Nepali tandem paraglider pilot Babu Sunuwar, 29, and climber Lakpa Tshering Sherpa, 35, summited Everest on Saturday and descended via paraglider, according to flying magazine…
Texas court grants unusual request: Irons’s family and lawyers will get 30 days to review autopsy results, prior to their public release next month–Brad Melekian On May 19th in Dallas, state district judge Donald J. Cosby granted extension of a motion blocking the release of autopsy results for…
Well, we have slipped our summit day by one day to May 21st. We receive our weather report around 8:00 PM daily and once again after most of us had gone to bed, the report showed very high winds localized at Camp 3 for the time we would be there.
The New York Times reported Friday that former professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton has surrendered his 2004 Olympic gold medal after admitting to doping during his cycling career. The article states that the International Olympic Committee has been in touch with the United…
Today's reports that George Hincapie has flipped on Lance Armstrong don't bode well for the seven-time Tour de France winner (and frequent Outside cover subject). Unlike previous Armstrong accusers Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, Hincapie didn't go public with his accusations—he reportedly told federal investigators, not a…
The family of Andy Irons filed court documents Thursday afternoon to further delay the release of the toxicology report that will reveal the cause of death for the three-time world champion surfer. According to an email sent by the courthouse clerk… “The family requested a day extension, which was granted…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=klkduuguvbs%3Frel%3D0%C2%A0 American Alpine Club Executive Director Phil Powers is in stable condition after sustaining severe injuries in a rock climbing accident in Colorado. The accident occurred on Tuesday afternoon while Powers was sport climbing with a group in the Highwire…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=rGA1vI2HxTs%C2%A0 This Hulk has nothing to do with angry green superheros. It's the second installment of Big UP Productions and Sender Films' Origins series, where young climbers tackle famous routes with the pioneers who did them first. In this…
Willow Koerber (Photo by Gary Perkin) In 2010, all eyes were on Trek World Racing pro Willow Koerber. She finished second overall in the World Cup, won bronze at the World Championships, and made a sexy…
A mountaineer died on Friday while climbing Alaska's 20,327-foot Denali. The Italian climber, Luciano Colombo, 67, died of traumatic injuries after falling 1,000 feet during a traverse between Denali Pass and a camp at 17,200 feet. Colombo’s death is the second on Denali in…
The intro is a little long, but this video of Adam Ondra on the first ascent of Chaxi Raxi (5.15b) is worth a look. Ondra sent the project–a 160-foot line bolted by Chris Sharma in Oliana–late last month. He called it “probably my hardest route I have ever done” and…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=S72gB0pWiUc%C2%A0 Australians Bri Moreau and Chris Vogelzang are revolutionizing surf films one remote control helicopter at a time. In 2010, the duo created Extreme Aerials, a company that uses 19-inch, four-rotored helicopters to capture otherwise costly aerial footage of surf events. The team packs…
Filmmaker Chuck Fryberger has made a name for himself creating visually arresting climbing flicks with some of the sport's strongest athletes. But high-def sparkle isn't enough to satisfy Fryberger, whose film Core last year became the first rock climbing movie to be released on Blu-Ray.
This year's Himalayan climbing season is in full swing, which to most people means one thing: Everest. Already this season the world's highest mountain has seen the first cellphone call from the summit, a record number of…
Which current survival TV host has the most wilderness cred? The Editors Santa Fe, NM
Apa Sherpa summited Everest on Wednesday for the 21st time, breaking his own world record of 20 summits, the Alpinist reports. The 51 year old first reached the summit in 1990 and has stood atop the…
I'm ready to head away from the resort. What's the best way to work out for ski mountaineering? The Editors Santa Fe, NM
Summer adventure is nigh so arm your pack with a good first aid kit like one from Adventure Medical Kits. And learn how to use it. Here's the scoop on wilderness medicine courses. CPR is a vital 3-4 hour class, endorsed by American Red Cross or American…
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JJFqRcvq3rw English mountaineer Kenton Cool summited Everest for the ninth time on Thursday, an accomplishment he celebrated by calling his wife on his cell phone—from the summit. It was the first cell call made from the top of the world's highest mountain, Wired…
This film looks stunning, but be warned, the trailer contains graphic content. An Australian pilot left a surfboard in a village on Papua New Guinea's coast. Thirty years later, PNG's holding a national surfing championship. We picked up the story of how one surfboard changed a village…
South Africa native Ursula Grobler is out to prove she is the best lightweight rower on the planet.
Pummeled by gastric illness and facing an incoming bad weather front, Ueli Steck and Don Bowie pulled off an ascent of Cho Oyu (8,201m) last week, knocking off the sixth-highest peak on Earth and ticking another of their expedition's objective. Cho Oyu is the…
Canada’s Ellesmere Island, a 75,000-square-mile chunk of ice and rock off Greenland’s southwest coast, has never been circumnavigated. Two men hope to change that fact. Three days ago, 26-year-old photographer Erik Boomer and 65-year-old writer John Turk kicked off…
Outside's best writers share their thoughts on fatherhood and nature-bonding with Dad.
Weylandt winning Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia, May 10, 2010 viaFlickr Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt died on Monday following a crash on a technical descent during stage three of the…
What should I carry in my car in case I break down in the backcountry or have to survive on the road during a blizzard? The Editors Santa Fe, NM
Cho Oyu Alpinists Ueli Steck and Don Bowie of the Himalaya Speed project have summited the world's sixth-highest peak, according to Bowie's ground team. Bowie reported in a satellite phone dispatch that he and Steck made it to the…
Rick Hitch, a 55-year-old California man, died Sunday on Everest, according to the Folsom (California) Telegraph. Hitch's wife, Loretta, told the Telegraph that he was climbing to Camp 3 with six other climbers and two guides when he collapsed…
The Quebec, Canada-based Whitewater Grand Prix is to kayaking what Quicksilver’s In Memory of Eddie Aikau is to surfing: an invitation only event that brings the sport’s top athletes to a premier venue. There’s no cash purse but the…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NJo7to7KXrU%3Frel%3D0%C2%A0 By his own admission, Ueli Steck is one of the most Swiss climbers out there. He's well-prepared, precise, and functions reliably–“like a Swiss watch,” as Steck himself has said. So it makes sense on some level that Steck would get his own…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vVXdC-PY-nw%3Frel%3D0%C2%A0 With his 30th birthday now two weeks behind him, Chris Sharma doesn't seem to have slowed down at all. On Thursday, the climber successfully linked two 5.15 routes–one of them a 5.15b first ascent–in a single day. The takedown began after Sharma had already warmed up and unsuccessfully attempted…
Here’s a cool behind the scenes video from Murray Fredericks on shooting timelapses in Greenland. Picked up from a Renan Ozturk tweet. –Joe Spring@joespring…
He's got the genes and the track record (literally). Can Taylor Phinney become America's next cycling superstar?
Photo by whileseated on Flickr The International Cycling Union (UCI) filed a defamation suit yesterday against cyclist and deposed 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, VeloNews…
Five days before the 2010 Olympic snowboarding trials, Kevin Pearce slammed his head on a rock-hard wall of halfpipe, suffering severe brain trauma that flipped the script of his life. A return to competition is out of the question--he's had to relearn how to walk and talk--but that's not enough to keep him off the mountain.
For those willing to experiment on a snowboard worth a few hundred dollars or more, get out your power tools. Timeline and Xavier de le Rue have a put together a pretty cool tutorial on how to build…
I bought a pair of beginner Evolv climbing shoes and they have fared well, but I'm getting better and need something with aggressive heel and toe. What's the next step for a shoe? Greg Freeport, ME
A South Carolina man died on Saturday after falling off a 125-foot waterfall while trying to rescue his dog. David Allan Lewis, 29, was hiking with his girlfriend and dog near Heritage Falls in Greenville County when the accident occurred. Deputy Coroner Kent Dill said Lewis was trying to grab…
Greg and Alan enjoing some rare sunshine outside the IMG communcations tent What a difference a day (or week) makes! I came down from C3 last Wednesday basically shattered. My upper repository lung infection was taking control and I was in a battle for the…
You would think kayakers all over would be chomping at the bit after watching record precipitation build up in California—58 feet of snow at Squaw Valley! The reality is, the summer of 2011 may be the worst for high Sierra paddling California has…
Angel Collinson joins the team from Backcountry.com on Vimeo. Freeskier Angel Collinson announced yesterday that she has signed with Team Backcountry.com, whose roster includes such big-name skiers as Jenn Berg,…
Niccolò Ceria flashes Jack's Broken Heart, one of the problems Alex Puccio climbed in Magic Wood. Alex Puccio sent two of the hardest boulders of her career this weekend, climbing Jack's Broken Heart (V12) and The Right Hand of Darkness (V11) in Magic Wood, Switzerland. Jack's Broken Heart is a…
The eleventh annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards, often lauded as the Oscars of big-wave surfing, took place Saturday in Anaheim, California. A panel of 400 surfers, photographers, and surf media editors reviewed more than…
The World Ski and Snowboard Festival wrapped up recently in Whistler, BC, in the usual nine-day riot of partying, skiing, and celebrating the newest, most talented, and most dedicated innovators, athletes, and individuals in the ski industry. The Olympus Pro Photographer Showdown is among the…
The Former Governor of New Mexico May Be The Most Unique Presidential Candidate in The Field. We Hereby Endorse His Campaign Trail. https://youtube.com/watch?v=GyBaWhBWqwU%C2%A0 Last week, I joined Gary Johnson, the 58-year-old former governor of New Mexico and aspiring Republican presidential nominee, for a…
Between presenting slideshows and speaking to audiences during a recent tour of Europe, Dean Potter found the time to take a leap from the previously unjumped Forcellino lookout near Lecco, Italy. Potter wrote on prAna's blog that Fabio Palma brought him to the…