Adventure
ArchiveOutside magazine, September 1995 Mountaineering: Get Thee Back to Thy Sloop By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard) In mountaineering’s answer to professional golf’s seniors tour, legendary American climbers John Roskelley, Jim Wickwire, and Charlie Porter, ages hovering around 50, joined last spring to attempt…
Destinations, October 1996 Smart Traveler: Where to Sweat Like an Olympian A guide to gold-medal workouts in Atlanta Paul Kvinta The good news about post-Olympics Atlanta is that you, Joe Public, can actually work out at some of those sparkling facilities you…
Outside magazine, April 1996 Can’t We All Just Shred Along By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta At the first world snowboarding championships–or at least the first to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee–last January, it was clear the sport had come a long…
Outside magazine, January 1997 Alone Again, Naturally Bingeing on butter and propelled by acid rock, B°rge Ousland nears the end of his second (and hopefully more successful) attempt to cross Antarctica By Jack Barth A year…
Outside magazine, March 1996 Books: Fire and Brimstone Reviews by Miles Harvey Archangel, by Paul Watkins (Random House, $24), and Earth First!: Environmental Apocalypse, by Martha F. Lee (Syracuse University Press, $34.95). Edward Abbey’s 1975 novel The…
Outside magazine, June 1996 In Search of the Beaver Within Plunging through the nation’s most civilized wilderness, even the staunchest of urbanites can J-stroke back to the Pleistocene By Philip Weiss My life as an outdoorsman began when my wife bought an…
Dispatches, July 1998 Bear Essentials Pepper Spray: Oooh, Hit Me Again, Baby! By Paul Scott Pepper spray, which sprang from research conducted by Carrie Hunt, has become the defense of choice in bear country. Recently, however, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher…
 Outside magazine, October 1997 Where the Deer and the Zillionaires Play A little door-to-door canvassing among America’s modern homesteaders By Jack Hitt Lewis and Shepherd, Sotheby’s hired guns Chad Budge is driving as cautiously as…
Outside magazine, October 1998 Moments Past Then he saw the bear. It did not emerge, appear: it was just there, immobile, fixed in the green and windless noon’s hot dappling, not as big as he had dreamed it but as big as he had…
The Downhill Report, December 1996 Best Spot to View the Carnage Bear Mountain Lodge, Killington, Vermont Located at the base of Outer Limits, one of the East’s most challenging mogul runs, the deck at Bear Mountain Lodge can be like a front-row seat…
 Outside magazine, June 1994 Richard Leakey’s Fall from Grace His will and ego made him the most powerful, respected man in African conservation. In the end, they’re what brought him down. By Joshua Hammer At half past nine in the…
Outside magazine, January 1998 Science: Check It Out, Beavis: They Said “Appendage” Because one man’s harbinger of doom is another’s prurient thrill By Sarah Horowitz Certainly, what with an entire episode of Nightline and untold column inches devoted…
Outside Magazine, February 1995 Elegy for the Tiger By Larry Burke One of the ironies brought to light by the crumbling of the Soviet Union was that, in its own way, totalitarianism could be unexpectedly kind to wildlife. Over the past few years, broad…
Outside magazine, June 1996 Well, if Nice Guys Finish Last… A late-night incident in Florence last March put the close on Alberto Tomba’s remarkable statline for the ’95-’96 ski season: three World Cup slalom victories, two world championship gold medals, and two clobbered photographers. This time,…
Outside magazine, July 1999 So You Want to be a Superstar? With a touch of hard work and a whole lot of pizzazz, you can master the ten coolest moves of the season. Dive right into the…
Outside magazine, July 1999 Walk Softly, and Spoil Yourself Rotten Who says traveling light is right when it comes to car camping? By Donovan Webster Gimme Shelter |…
Outside magazine, September 1996 That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger John Stamstad is his own weird science project, a 135-pound, mountain-bike-based experiment in the limits of human endurance By Todd Balf A wintry sun is setting on the Kentucky…
Majoring in business administration, with graduate studies in the theory and practice of booty shaking
Outside magazine, March 1997 Oh, Brothers When trouble came to the happy but peculiar Isle of Sark, it took the form of twins By Richard Todd Although, as it turned out, there are far better reasons for going to the…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Comebacks: The Big 4:00 Miler Steve Scott’s post-op dreams of one more for the record books By Todd Balf After doctors diagnosed U.S. mile record holder Steve Scott with testicular cancer in May 1994, he was given two…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Reality Bites The honeymoon for Yellowstone National Park’s new gray wolf population appears to be over. In February alone, a string of incidents reminded federal officials just how tough predator reintroduction can be: On February 5, officials were forced to destroy…
Outside magazine, June 1999 Wave Good-bye to the Fiberglass Moose Beyond the yacht clubs and the outlet malls, you’ll find the Maine that’s worth stopping for My Delta, Myself |…
Outside magazine, August 1995 Voice Part for a Duet The biology and mystery of monogamy By David Quammen Two intriguing statistics recently grabbed my attention. They concern that remarkable form of social behavior known as monogamy. Roughly 92 percent of all bird…
Outside magazine, September 1997 Onward, Fluffy Soldiers Getting down and dirty with Swampy and his mates in an untidy but very British war By Bruce Schoenfeld At the edge of a rolling meadow in England’s Bollin Valley, on a bright…
News from the Field, February 1997 Snowboarding: No, Seriously…I Am the World Champ Jeff Greenwood’s Olympic-size struggle to prove he’s the best By Mike Finkel It was snowy mayhem: a pack of boisterous, red-cheeked boys, Jeff Greenwood’s teammates on the U.S.
The Downhill Report, December 1996 Free Skiing! And a slew of other ways to hang on to your cash By Meg Lukens Noonan The next time you hear someone gripe about the high cost of skiing, speak up. You could say,…
 Outside magazine, October 1997 Roof of the World, Center of a Universe Jostling between the spiritual and the secular in Kathmandu, once and future base camp for all manner of quests By Bob Shacochis “And the wildest dreams…
 Outside magazine, December 1996 Come to Happyland Discover Burma, the dictators say, Southeast Asia’s most beautiful and friendly country. And so he did. A visit to an anesthetized state. By Michael Paterniti In the monsoon twilight, the clamor of Rangoon…
In the telecentric world of the X Games, only when it's not on the tube
Dispatches, September 1998 Science Jim Will Now Subdue the Panda by Killing It To the relief of wildlife everywhere, animal darting cleans up its act By Steve Hendrix Last May, when California Fish and Game warden Dave Smith…
Outside magazine, September 1999 CULTURE Beyond the Cutting Edge An epic garden-tractor odyssey trumps the vision of David Lynch If next month’s premiere of the latest David Lynch film, The Straight Story, shocks your sensibilities and leaves you…
 Outside magazine, November 1995 Jack LaLanne Is Still an Animal Those biceps! That thorax! How, after all these years, does the godfather of fitness do it? By balancing the brain with the beast–and knowing the power of a…
Reaching the Untouched Wall: The Kok Shal Tau Climbing Expedition Summer 2000 8.17.00 Surprise Birthday Party Mike Libecki Celebration Time: Jerry and Doug’s birthday party after the climb up the Grand Pooh-Bah…
Outside magazine, October 1996 Gardening: It’s Not Just For Smokin’ Anymore Woody Harrelson goes on trial to defend his favorite crop By Bill Donahue The protest was pure Joan Baez, except for the cell phones. On a scorching day in June, Woody…
Outside magazine, February 1996 Intake: The Absorption Race By Andrew Tilin If you never warmed to rice cakes, rejoice! Almost nothing converts to sugar in your bloodstream faster, in turn spiking your insulin level and causing more of the food to be stored as…
Cycling Special, March 1999 Live to Ride The dedicated biker’s dream? Simple: a sweet bike, supple skills, and a very cool place to deploy them. By Florence Williams “Between the Idea / and the Reality…
Outside magazine, May 1997 So What Did You Do Today? Seven extraordinary reasons to start getting up a little earlier in the morning By Paul Kvinta You’ve trained 12 grueling months for your first…
T H E Â Â Â Â H O L I D A Y Â Â Â Â G I F T Â Â Â Â G U I D E For the BACKCOUNTRY For the COLD For the…
Outside magazine, September 1995 Mountaineering: Because It’s a Jolly Good Place to Twirl a Lariat What’s up on the world’s tallest mountain By Greg Child Mount Everest may lack some of the quiet, end-of-the-earth charm that it once had–this year 276 people…
Dispatches, August 1998 Science And You’ll Do What for a Herring? Biologists uncover a scurrilous sex trade on the most unlikely of continents By Rob Nixon “If they’re going to have a quickie with another guy, they have…
Outside magazine, April 1995 Cowboy Hit Parade “Home on the Range,” TRADITIONAL, CIRCA 1880 “When the Work’s All Done This Fall,” CARL T. SPRAGUE, 1925 “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” SONS OF THE PIONEERS, 1932 “Cattle Call,” TEX OWENS, 1934…
Outside magazine, July 1994 A Guide to the Guide By Debra Shore Mug Shot: What’s the nature of the criminal behavior? Why do deviants like this place so much? The Facts: Some numbers you should know, including how many acres each ranger must cover,…
Outside magazine, August 1996 The Book On: Whitewater Yes, Scott Shipley’s laid back–but he’s still too good to beat By Julian Rubinstein By the time the evacuation order was announced at tennessee’s Ocoee Whitewater Center on April 21, the afternoon sky…
Outside magazine, October 1994 Mountaineering: Himalayan Hat Trick By Todd Balf (with Greg Child and Dan Dickison) As climbing seasons go, New Zealander Rob Hall had a phenomenal summer. On May 9, with Seattle’s Ed Viesturs, he led an 11-member team, including six guided clients, to…
Outside magazine, October 1994 Mountaineering: Down by Law A judge gives the boot to a team of Park Service-approved Mount McKinley guides By Douglas Gantenbein It’s a long hike in to the Enchantment Lakes, a gorgeous bowl of ice-carved granite high in Washington’s Cascades,…
Outside magazine, November 1995 The New World Border “What we have here is an incredibly devious plan,” says Don Kehoe, a Monroe, Washington, landscaper with a trained eye for conspiracy. “If we allow this to happen, we’re not going to have life as we presently know…
News from the Field, December 1996 Equipage: It’s a Boat. It’s a Plane. It’s… …well, we were right the first time. On the leading edge of sailing technology, a futuristic hybrid is born By Anne Goodwin Sides Amid the sleek, blue-blooded…
Outside magazine, January 1999 This, in Fact, Will Hurt a Bit The champ’s plan to get you to the next level To hone your athletic prowess, Huffins suggests that you look inward — to your body’s…
Outside magazine, January 1993 Triathlon: The Souls of Two Machines It’s deja vu all over again at the Hawaii Ironman By Ken McAlpine Mark Allen and Paula Newby-Fraser measure about the same on the triathlon immortality meter: Between them they…
Outside magazine, April 1995 Cowboy Nation: The Song Man: Sagebrush Troubadour Every culture has its musical spokesman. For cowpeople, it’s Ian Tyson. By Tim Cahill A big damn hand came out of the sky and tapped Ian Tyson on the shoulder.
Dispatches, May 1998 EXPEDITIONS Everest, the Really Hard Way Tom Whittaker, amputee mountaineer, sets his sights on the roof of the world By Jonathan Hanson You can talk to Tom Whittaker for hours and not once will he refer…
Outside magazine, May 1999 To Hell with Me Looking for answers in “a place of unquenchable fire,” where the blind seer is open for business but the gift shop closes at half past two By Mark…
Outside magazine, July 1995 Mountain Biking: Dear Juli, Wish We Could Spin Like You By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and Alison Osius) At April’s Hawaiian Mountain Tour, the first major mountain-bike stage race in the United States, the Hawaii Five-O theme played during…
Dispatches, August 1997 L A N D M A R K S Are You Sure the Kennedys Live Around Here? After 62 years of shelling on New England’s summer playground, the EPA orders the military to hold its fire By…
Dispatches, August 1998 Philanthropy An Unexpected Cash Flow How a grungy river rat’s $13 million bequest is changing the West By Mark Obmascik A respected if somewhat scruffy whitewater guide based in Moab, Utah, Steve Arrowsmith lived…
Outside magazine, November 1997 Remember, They Scoffed at Aspen, Too A Mexican developer’s enterprising plan to bring skiing south of the border By Chris Humphrey Allan Bard, 1952-1997 Of Allan Bard’s many trailblazing…
Women Outside, Fall 1998 You, Incorporated A portfolio of entrepreneurial successes shows that investing in your own dream is always, ahem, a capital idea By Susan Enfield Chances are you know your office PC’s start-up rumblings and I’m-saving-now hiccups…
Women Outside, Fall 1998 XOXO Bitch! An homage to those of us fortunate enough to have the upper hand By Mike Grudowski Everyone has heard of nature’s most notorious femmes fatales, the black widow and the praying mantis. Their habit of…
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: Dolores: Whole Lotta Illin’ Comin’ On Prognostications ’96 Dolores Cannon, a 64-year-old, Huntsville, Arkansas-based occultist whose friendly face is at odds with her terrifying predictions, is the author of the three-volume Conversations with Nostradamus. The books…
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: Apologizing Toward Bethlehem A few blocks from where the LAPD showed Rodney King that we can’t all get along, John Dawson is trying to prove that we can–if we say we’re sorry. A native New Zealander, Dawson, 43, is…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Skills: Getting an Early Hold on Climbing Season By Nancy Prichard An early-season climb can be a humbling experience: No matter how many moguls you mastered over the winter, that first afternoon at the crag can make you feel like…
Outside magazine, December 1995 Environment: Thank You, Sirs, May I Have Another? Bruce Babbitt braces for another whipping By Florence Williams Jayne Belnap spent much of last year watching a ten-foot-long plastic tube suck air in the Utah desert. Hitched to a…
Outside magazine, June 1994 Do Unto Smelt Thumpers The six commandments of fly-fishing humility By Randy Wayne White Fly-fishing, at its best, is a craft and so affords a studied, even serious approach, though that doesn’t mean that those who approach…
Outside magazine, August 1999 True Crimes While I bemoan changes in the Huichol Indians’ traditional way of life, I do not believe the murder of journalist Philip True last spring can be justified by the fact…
Outside magazine, September 1994 Triathlon: The Fugitives By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and John Alderman) In true hardball style, the International Triathlon Union flexed its muscle last May, and the result was a season-long suspension of the sport’s top stars, Americans Mark Allen, Scott Tinley,…
Outside magazine, December 1995 The Queen Has Left the Building By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta It wasn’t how Paula Newby-Fraser had envisioned her au revoir at the Hawaii Ironman. And for those packing the sidelines, it was hard to watch. But with just…
Outside magazine, January 1997 He’s Not Worthy A portrait of a millionaire at a crux. By Craig Vetter CONSIDER YVON CHOUINARD. To the world that once made him happy, he says: YOU’RE DOOMED. To the…
Outside magazine, March 1998 Darwin, Darwin, He’s our Man! Same old story: New guy moves into your ecosystem, invites a few buddies over, and the next thing you know they’ve naturally selected you out of house and home. Introducing your Invasive Species All-Stars.
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: On Your Mark…Get Set…Strike A Pose Ever notice how many outdoor athletes are spiking their hair, piercing their noses, getting mad, getting whimsical, or otherwise trademarking a “unique” attitude? Below, a sampler of gimmicks that work, circa 1996. Because…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: The Dirt Dictionary BOING: A suspension fork or stem; a dual-suspension bike is a boing-boing. “Mark’s not going to feel much pain with his new boing-boing.” BONK: Cycling’s classic term for blowing up, hitting the…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Big Weather: The Gale Riding a thousand-ton surge of furious Pacific, waiting…waiting…for the ship to roll back over By Robert Stone For weeks we had been heading south through azure tropical waters a thousand miles west of South…
Outside magazine, June 1995 Tomato Wars High noon in the garden of good and evil By Randy Wayne White I don’t need a newspaper to tell me that life is a predicament. I can look out my back door and suffer the…
Outside magazine, September 1995 Expeditions: The Iceman Conquereth Richard Weber and Misha Malakhov skied to the top of the world and then skied home, without help of any kind. Can anyone top that? By Jon Bowermaster It must have been quite a…
Outside magazine, October 1996 Recreation:Warning: Trail Closures Next 3,000 Miles The Park Service settles out of court, and an ominous new era looms By Florence Williams Upon learning that two government agencies had agreed to pay him and his fellow plaintiffs…
Outside magazine, April 1996 Kiss, Kiss, It’s Uta Pippig! The fastest woman who ever ran Boston, on foes, fears, and the perils of German cheesecake By John Tayman When Hollywood makes the movie of Uta Pippig’s life, Meg Ryan will get the…
Outside magazine, January 1997 Man Overboard An unconventional eulogy for a most unconventional friend By Randy Wayne White On a moonless night some years ago, my friend Bobby Fizer jumped without warning from a speeding boat into a dark saltwater…
Review: Hardware and Software, January 1997 Scarpa T3 Telemark Boot By Andrew Tilin Telemark skiers tend to be purists. no matter how warm, waterproof, supportive, and durable boots made of plastic may be, the hard core scoff that they just don’t flex like…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Books: The Smug and the Homey By Miles Harvey Notes from a Small Island: An Affectionate Portrait of Britain, by Bill Bryson (William Morrow, $25). As his previous works, such as The Lost Continent, have so delightfully demonstrated,…