Adventure
ArchiveLast week, Outside's John McCauley and Will Palmer (based in Santa Fe) and Jeremy Spencer (based in Portland) participated in the third annual Portland Oyster Race, part of Merrell's 2009 urban-adventure-race series, which moved on from Portland to San Francisco last weekend and concludes in Austin (Oct.
According to The Ski Blog, the Municipality of Whistler has pledged to go carbon neutral by 2010, just in time to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. This will include cutting down on direct emission as well as purchasing carbon credits. Whistler…
On September 30th Chris Waddell became the first paraplegic to summit Mount Killimanjaro. Videos of Waddell and the One Revolution Team will be made available on the One Revolution blog. Waddell is the most decorated paralympic skier in history. Read more about Waddell's…
The kayaking community is gearing up to participate in the international day of climate action on Oct. 24. Kayakers will form the number 350 in the water in Portland to show their support for the UN Climate Change Conference in December. Watch…
The easiest way to build fun and adventure into every day? Lose the car keys and ride your bike to work—and everywhere else. Herein you’ll find the knowledge, tips, bicycles, duds, and gear to pull it off in style. Saddle up!
Ottawa has a troubling air pollution problem, but it's not caused by the normal suspects. A crematorium from Hope Cemetery is blanketing the air daily with fumes from the cremation of dead bodies, the CBC reports. “We've all smelt it, we've…
When feet started floating into the dark, coastal bays of British Columbia, it wasn’t hard to imagine the worst, especially when the Mounties went silent. Even paradise has an underbelly.
Congratulations to Laurin Weisenthal of Huntington Beach, CA, who just swam the English Channel in one of the fastest times in history. Weisenthal, 25, made the swim from England to France in just 8 hours and 33 minutes; many of the 1,000 people who have completed the swim take well…
In our October issue, we mention 350.org and their mission to make October 24, 2009 a day of activism to promote the signing of a new climate-change treaty at the UN Summit in Copenhagen this December. All over the world, people plan to make the message…
I want to upgrade my 1994 Kona Hei Hei 1994 (Titanium fre). I would like to convert to disc brakes on the front with new suspension forks and upgrade the canti to v-brake on the rear. Is this possible? What make/model would you recommend buying groupset wise, wheels, forks, etc., to keep the bike light but the cost of the upgrade low? Catherine Macclesfield, UK
First Descents, founded by kayaker Brad Ludden, sponsors whitewater kayaking camps for young adults with cancer. Since it's start about 10 years ago, it has sent more than 600 cancer patients to these adventure camps, with this year proving to be the most…
This is very cool. The video needs to be edited down to about 25 percent of its current length. But the contest and the result are great. (Found via Lance Armstrong's Twitter feed) —John Bradley Twitter: johnwbradley…
In honor of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, Google and the Danish government are presenting interactive maps that will show what the Earth will look like in various stages of global warming. Check out the first climate tour…
Alex Puccio has won the first event in the Spot Series Bouldering Competitions, Rock and Ice reports. Adam Markert won the men's comp for this event, called “The Gun Show.” The series is held at The Spot, a…
The Klamath River in California, which was dammed up between 1908 and 1962, will have four dams removed beginning in 2020. The dams were erected by PacifiCorp, and their removal will supposedly allow for the revival of salmon and steelhead spawning and bolster fishing, tribal, and farming communities along the…
Charlie Houston, who was part of the first ascent team at 25,643-foot Nanda Devi in 1936, has died, Climbing reports. He was 96. Houston was a pioneer in altitude research. He wrote influential works on the process of acclimatization for climbers and the health…
I'm writing from 18,000 feet on what promises to be a pretty chilly evening. Left at 6 A.M. with a variety of expectations. Consensus had us staying at Hans-Meyer, and that looked optimistic after our first adventure on the winch. The first quarter mile took about…
You can enter to win a chance to climb Mt. Rainier with Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker on a five-day expedition. First Ascent is sponsoring the contest and will outfit the winner with gear. See details here, and check out Viesturs's Outside…
Ouch. Long day: 10.5 hours. Technical from start to finish, and unrelenting. I did a series of about 1,000 three-to-four-second sprints at 12,000 feet and 3,300 vertical. I didn't use the winch. We're saving it for the upper mountain. The Harken winch is a great mechanism. We're still…
Bode Miller announced this past Thursday that he will be rejoining the US Ski Team this coming season with the goal of reaching the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. The former Olympic and World Cup Champ has been skiing independently…
When you're crossing to Florida the hard way–across 800 miles of water, with six people and no motor, in a 21-foot handmade open boat–it's a long, long way from Haiti to Miami.
Asperger’s turns social interaction into a source of suffering. “It’s like everyone else has a bucket for dealing with people,” says Clay, “and I only got a cup.”
But beneath his foul language and outrageous antics, the Czech photographer is the greatest living observer of human suffering and spirit.
I'm going into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for a ten-day trip. On previous excursions I've taken too many clothes and too few clothes, but never found the perfect mix. How do you pack clothing for a long trip? Greg Flower Mound, TX
Is an expedition or burly mountaineering tent (such as The North Face Mountain 25 or Mountain Hardwear's Trango) needed for Aconcagua? Will a sturdy four-season tent suffice? Azad Los Angeles, CA
I need a good, fairly cheap walkie-talkie. My main use will probably be skiing, so where can I get one that will guarantee reception in the forest? Thanks! Mark Brooklyn, NY
In Michigan, you’re never more than 90 miles from a Great Lake, which is the reason, I suppose, it’s nicknamed the Great Lakes State. By those standards, it should also be dubbed the Unbelievably Sick Trout-Water State. The Au Sable, the “Big” and Little Manistee, the Muskegonthere are quality rivers…
The Single Speed World Championships is the wildest mountain-bike on earth, where Halloween comes early and sobriety is akin to doping. To infiltrate this derailleurless debacle, we would need a thoroughly mediocre racer who could stomach the sight of way too much beer-addled flesh and report back. So, naturally, we recruited Bike Snob NYC.
At a Bolivian animal-rehab center, volunteers can adopt a rescued jaguar and take it for daily walks on a leash. Brave and compassionate, or just plain stupid? THAYER WALKER discovers that it may be all three. And he's got the scratch marks to prove it.
Global warming isn't bad news for everybody. In Greenland, the big melt could mean a flood of new revenue from mineral and oil deposits— previously trapped under ice. Flush with prospects, the locals are talking about making a final break from their benevolent colonizer, Denmark. Call it the Thaw Revolution.
The musky is the alpha male of the aquatic world, feared by children and hunted compulsively by grown men. And, yes, catching one really is worth all the fuss.
Paris is romantic, cultured, and sophisticated—and teeming with rollerblading fanatics? An investigation into France's most mysterious obsession.
What do you think about the Lowa Mountain Expert GTX Mountaineering Boots? I used them on Mt. Rainier and they kept my feet plenty warm, but I was wondering if you thought they might be suitable for Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. It is about 4,000 feet higher than Rainier. I don't relish wearing double plastic mountaineering boots anywhere, and hey, the red color of the Lowa is, well, cool . . . Stan El Dorado Hills, CA
Putting off med school to train for the English Channel swimming record? Now that's a gap year. San Francisco-based Laurin Weisenthal, 25, who helped her Harvard swim team win an Ivy League championship and break into the NCAA's top 25, plans to make her attempt at the 25-mile, 58-degree crossing…
Whitewater's brightest stars are launching bigger drops than ever. But it'll take more than sweet photos to right this fading sport.
I'm headed to Maui in December and would like to do more than just sit on the beach. What are some things a serious athlete could do on the island over a week's time? Mark R. Madison, WI
In April, after 55 days on a mostly frozen Arctic Ocean, John Huston, 32, and Tyler Fish, 36, became the first Americans to ski unsupported to the North Pole. The duo dragged 300-pound sleds, donned drysuits to swim across open water, and consumed roughly 8,000 calories a day—mostly in the form of pemmican. In the end, they made a 66-hour dash to reach the
Douglas Brinkley's biography of Teddy Roosevelt proves we still have a lot to learn from the conservation giant.
Before the seven Tour victories and the yellow bracelets. Before Sheryl Crow, the bestselling books, and the doping allegations. Before the comeback, there was a comeback. Ten years ago this month, Lance Armstrong was a little-known cancer survivor who showed up at the Tour de France. And no one had any idea what would happen next.
When Greg Carr decided to help restore the greatest wildlife park in Mozambique, he didn't just send a check. He traded his suits for shorts and Boston for the savanna. And what he's accomplished in just four years at Gorongosa is one of the unlikeliest—and most hopeful—stories in Africa.
Make your next fishing trip to Alaska memorable with a stay at one of these resorts.
In July, one of the deepest Tour de France fields in years will see several riders not named Lance staking their claim for yellow. Here are the ones to watch.
Shane McConkey was already one of the most influential skiers in the world, changing everything from the shape of our boards to the way we ski powder. But when he learned to fly—combining skiing, BASE jumping, and wingsuits with spectacular results—he found his true obsession. Then one jump went horribly wrong.
If you're in a boat on the Atlantic this summer and a dolphin with "56" branded on his dorsal fin swims up and starts doing tricks...well, just sit back and enjoy. You're about to witness the greatest show on surf.
Climbing K2 is the next biggest thing. We refuse to whine about it.
Exclusive galleries from two new books by Jan Heine: "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles" and "The Competition Bicycle."
I going on an eight-day ski touring trip in Patagonia requiring a pack with at least 65 liters. Which packs are designed for this use? Devin San Francisco, CA
On a vintage steed, over vertiginous hills of white gravel, suitcase overloaded with courage, BUCKY McMAHON battles through Italy's infamous Eroica—a grueling, 127-mile "period cyclotouristic rally"—in hopes of dying just this side of glory
In one corner of Alaska's Bristol Bay, the sockeye salmon, a $300 million resource that's sustained fishermen like 29-year-old captain Lindsey Bloom for more than 100 years. In the other, the Pebble Mine, with its projected hundreds of billions in copper and gold. Get ready for the fiercest wilderness rumble since ANWR.
The next great employment wave? Enviro jobs. Now all I gotta do is land one.
In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 31-year-old Asheville, North Carolina-based mountain biker Willow Koerber was among the country's best shots at a medal. But after ranking sixth in the World Cup, and first among Americans, in 2007, she went into an inexplicable slump early last year and failed to make the team. This summer, look for the Subaru/Gary F
Quotes from Stranded (now out on DVD; $30, zeitgeistfilms.com), a gripping new documentary about the survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash depicted in the film Alive.
Those people who say that? They're annoying. But, as our man eventually discovers, that doesn't mean they're not on to something.
Our favorite banking scion's latest adventure puts all eyes on the soiled seas.
Luanne Freer talks about saving lives in the world's highest emergency room.
I purchased a pair of Scarpa Summit GTX mountaineer boots, kind of on a whim (I'm a gear nut). I plan on climbing Rainier and some other smaller peaks in the northwest, and I'm wondering: Do people trek in these boots all the way to the top, or do they change in to larger mountaineering boots on summit day? David Seattle, WA
I went to a school and was promised I would be able to track a mouse across a cement floor after a week. I couldn't. Is it possible to get that good, that fast?
For almost 70 years, former ski patroller and local legend Jim Blanning rode Aspen’s evolution from broken mining outpost to chic mountain playground. But when his hometown spit him out, he came back with a vengeance. And bombs.
Seventy percent of the planet is water, but only 1.17 percent—1.63 million square miles—of that is protected. Compare that with the eight million square miles of land set aside and it's clear we have a long way to go. Here's where we should start.
What kind of masochist does it take to swim alongside the man who conquered the Arctic in a Speedo? Our kind.
Ben Sherwood talks about the secrets and science that can save your life.