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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 Muskegon—there are quality rivers…
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 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.
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.
Whitewater's brightest stars are launching bigger drops than ever. But it'll take more than sweet photos to right this fading sport.
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
Paris is romantic, cultured, and sophisticated—and teeming with rollerblading fanatics? An investigation into France's most mysterious obsession.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Exclusive galleries from two new books by Jan Heine: "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles" and "The Competition Bicycle."
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.
I will be going up to 23,000 feet and need to do a documentary film there. Which camera and battery set do you recommend for HD shooting. Huma Beg Islamabad
Every year, we receive hundreds of subÂÂmissions from our readers. Some make us laugh. Some make us wince. Some make it into the magazine. (So don’t give up.) Recently, we dove into a teetering pile of stories and found a few moments in which our readers’ gusto and/or narrative prowess…
India's Shark's Fin is a 6,500-foot rock route that's twice as long and just as steep as anything on El Capitan, and once left me defeated. When I took it on for the second time, at 45, a blizzard promptly pinned our team to the wall like insects. Which made me wonder: was the mountain telling me something?
Having constructed the greatest flotation device mankind has ever known, our fearless writer embarks on an ill-conceived, possibly insane crossing of alligator-infested North Florida via a string of seriously imperiled and incredibly beautiful rivers. (Yeah, it's a tube.)
It was supposed to be a dream trip: a week along one of Europe's last empty coastlines, riding waves, drinking wine, and sleeping on the beach. And it (mostly) was.
They say you can't go home again—to the strange, remote, threatened South American jungle where your larger-than-life, field-scientist dad discovered an extremely rare, weird-looking species called Lophostoma schulzi. They're probably right. But we did it anyway.
If a shark doesn't kill you, shallow-water blackout or a giant propeller might. But the spearfishermen freediving the oil rigs off Louisiana's coast don't let that get in the way of the hunt for fresh tuna.
I want to take up cross-country skiing again after a 20-year layoff. What's the latest in gear, not necessarily top of the line but not entry level, that will get me back there again? I'm a classic skier with a passing interest in skate skiing. Can both be done with two sets of skis and the se boots and poles? I remember waxing as something tedious to be avoided at all costs but the waxless skis back then were useless in some conditions—have they improved? Mike Wheaton, IL
Contrary to what the recycled-sandal wing of the environmental movement might think, greening the world takes sacrifice, hard work, and a lot of cash. At least that’s the impression you get from reading Edward Humes’s Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet ($26, Ecco). Humes,…
Times are tough, but growing and killing your own food isn't the answer.
Each winter, more than 2,500 teams from across Japan compete for one of 155 coveted slots in the annual Showa-Shinzan International Yukigassen, the world's de facto snowball Super Bowl. The February 21–22 tournament, on the northern island of Hokkaido, is also open to international teams, but don't think you can just round up some softball buddies
With its SoCal sun and NoCal sensibility, Santa Barbara is about the best place in the lower 48 for an early-spring mix of surfing and cycling—and for anyone in pursuit of a good glass of wine. While last November's fires scoured 1,940 acres in Santa Barbara County, the flames spared the city center and the majority of the recreational trails surroundi
I searching for a light, packable garment to be layered under a shell when I take a break from high-output winter sport like cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. I planning a hut-to-hut ski in Quebec’s Gaspesie and would like to have some "warmth insurance" in case it's necessary (e.g. accident, lunch break, etc.). I considering a light-weight down or synthetic jacket instead of more fleece. David Wesmount, Quebec
Ray Zahab and Kevin Vallely talk about the importance of butter, bacon, and iPods on their record-setting South Pole expedition.
He snuck a parachute up the Empire State Building under a fat suit. He says he knows how to fly. Crazy? Maybe. But Jeb Corliss is sure fun to watch.
...makes you stronger, smarter, healthier, and—let's face it—more interesting. Just ask research editor Ryan Krogh, who volunteered for a cage fight.