Adventure
ArchiveOutside magazine, November 1996 Fat Men Can’t Jump He’s scaled back on Big Macs–a bit–and poured on the training. Can Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards be serious? By Todd Balf Eddie wants respect. as…
Outside magazine, December 1997 Power Plays: Hold It Right There, Officer It’s cop-versus-cop as embittered westerners look to further tweak the feds By Tristram Korten Who Cares If It Works — We’ve…
Outside magazine, April 1998 Unfrozen Caveman Camper Tells All In the beginning, there was fire. And it was good. Later came KOAs and solar showers and freeze-dried. And they were bad. So let’s go back. Way back. By Hampton Sides…
Fitness ’97, February 1997 The Guru Speaks. You Should Listen. How to get from chump to champ in a few measly months. It took more than a decade for Mark Allen to perfect the routines that made him the fittest man on earth.
Outside magazine, April 1995 Books: Evils of the Junket By Miles Harvey Errant Journeys: Adventure Travel in a Modern Age, by David Zurick (University of Texas Press, $30). Everywhere David Zurick looks, he finds the world “on a path toward conformity.” Yet it…
Outside magazine, May 1999 LONG WEEKENDS Just Like Clockwork Celebrating Canada’s Swiss-guide centennial with an efficient assault of your own If you fancy yourself an old-school mountaineer, this summer is an especially good time to honor…
Outside magazine, June 1994 Anthropology: Quest for Roadkill By Amy Goldwasser These days the zeitgeist cauldron is bubbling with all things Cave Man. The discovery of a “missing link” skull in Ethiopia. The Flintstones movie, and, of course, the enduring popularity of Fabio.
Outside magazine, August 1996 The Gizmos: Better Olympians through Science Can Technology help score medals? Consider the $5 million superbike By Andew Tilin Strength, stamina, agility. They’re only part of the equation. In some sports, your gear had better be as…
Vacation Special, August 1997 T U B I N G T H E I C H E T U C K N E E Blissful Indolence Made Simple A Florida stream, an inner tube, and no ambition in sight.
Outside magazine, October 1995 Caveat Emptorium A user’s guide to a very iffy marketplace By Amanda Stuermer Aaron Bacon’s death has prompted new demands for oversight of the wilderness-therapy industry, but for now, parents seeking reliable information won’t find a one-stop source.
Dispatches, November 1998 A Murder in the Karakoram One of the most successful adventurers of his era, Ned Gillette spent a lifetime courting the edge of risk and disaster. The thing he never expected, however, was to die in his sleeping bag.
Out Front, Fall 1998 Science “I Have to Be … Fiorella” First, there was Copernicus. Then, Galileo. Eventually Madonna. Now comes Dr. Terenzi: astronomer, pop star, visionary. By Amy Goldwasser “We are not communicating with celestial objects,” says Dr.
 Outside Magazine, January 1999 Blackbeard Doesn’t Come Here Anymore And for that matter, neither do the Bahamian picnickers, or the drug runners, or the gentle eccentrics who once made Gorda Cay their home. Of course, that was…
Equipage: Rush Slept Here Jerry Wigutow has just the bag for your right-leaning dreamer By Wendy Marston “It’s the best sleeping bag ever made for a mediocre and ungrateful world,” boasts Jerry Wigutow, the Brooklyn-born founder and CEO of Wiggy’s Bags, a ten-year-old…
Dispatches, February 1998 SPORT Attention, Boy Scouts In one adventure race, manners come first and butt-kicking a distant second By Paul Scott ‘A couple years ago, one of our racers had a tremendous bike crash and broke the fork…
Outside magazine, March 1994 A Few Good Gatormen Beating the swamps for mythological survivors By Randy Wayne White I’m no admirer of tabloid newspapers, but last November, while standing in line at the grocery, I noticed a startling headline on the…
Outside magazine, June 1994 Videos: Remembering Abbey By Gregory McNamee Edward Abbey has been dead for five years now, a fact that, as you might imagine, has spawned a sizable wave of anniversary remembrances. A new “spiritual biography” of Abbey has just appeared…
Outside magazine, August 1999 Going to the Source Guides. Mentors. Teachers. The dedicated ones who showed us the way, who showed us how, who did it right, and who shared their passionate devotion to the wild world.
Outside magazine, July 1996 Sand, Sun, and Acrimony At the Jose Cuervo Gold Crown event last April in Clearwater, Florida, all was right with beach volleyball. The world’s best players were all there, with Karch Kiraly (below) and Kent Steffes taking their eighth-straight tournament. Which…
Outside magazine, December 1991 Unhappy Birthday The National Park Service gets older, but no wiser By Alston Chase Last October the National Park Service threw a birthday party for itself. It was a posh event, held in Vail, Colorado, featuring speakers representing the inner…
Outside magazine, August 2000 The Life Worth Living I couldn’t put down Rob Buchanan’s haunting, thought-provoking article on Guy Waterman (“A Natural Death,” June). As the mother of nine, all grown, and a resident of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, I…
 Outside magazine, February 1998 We Won’t Let Him Hurt You Everlasting fitness through the painless Socratic method, with help from our favorite answer man By Paul Keegan Mark Allen sits in the dining room…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Well, It Won’t Fix Itself: Part 2 Be stronger than your weakest chain link By Scott Sutherland Even if you’ve got a surgeon’s hands and a frame-builder’s knowledge of bike anatomy, a chain tool is…
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: The Road to Wetville “After my husband’s lecture on the colon, our guests can’t wait to get cleaned out,” says Wendy Pope, the perky founder of the Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat & Health Spa, a British Columbia wilderness lodge…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Hard Parts A skeletal view of trilobites and other objets d’art By David Quammen Let me pose an intrusive but well-meant question: When you pass from this life, what will you leave behind? And don’t try to tell…
Outside magazine, April 1997 Continued Cool, with Occasional Tsunamis Is it us, or do things seem to be getting a little less pleasant out there? By Debra Shore Golly, it was a super year, wasn’t it? We’re speaking of…
Outside magazine, June 1995 Books: The Dumbo Complex By Miles Harvey When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy (Delacorte Press, $23.95). In what might be considered a most idiosyncratic book, controversial Freud scholar Masson teams…
Outside magazine, June 1996 The Little Freshman Who Could Living up to preseason predictions declaring her American sport climbing’s next great hope, 15-year-old Katie Brown won the season-opening U.S. competition last March in Tucson, Arizona. Brown’s victory, her first in adult competition, was impressive, particularly since…
Outside magazine, October 1996 Be Like Sri By Lolly Merrell Hey, kids, try this at home. If you want to start your own mystical, spiritual movement, consider Sri Chinmoy. In order to carve out his particular niche–especially after his knees grew sore from running–he…
Outside Magazine, April 1999 Would You Be, Could You Be, Won’t You Be, (And Why in the Hell Does Anyone Want to Be) My Neighbor? What happens when cabin fever sets in and the whole town lives…
Outside magazine, January 1997 A Watery Grave Life sprang abundant from the Philippines’ Boac River. Then something killed it. By James Hamilton-Paterson The Philippine province of Marinduque is a heart-shaped island roughly 30 miles by 20. It lies in the middle…
Dispatches, July 1997 C A R E E R S A Not-So-Golden Parachute Your humble tour guides: former cycling greats By Andrew Tilin Whither the retired professional cyclist? Times were tough enough while carving out a spot in the…
Outside magazine, October 1996 Deeper To the peerless Moles, practitioners of the gloomily claustrophobic sport of freshwater spelunking, the ultimate accomplishment is finding a virgin cave By Bucky McMahon It’s a horror hole, just a depression full of springwater with a…
Out Front, October 1997 To Do: Hang Out at Mall, Torture Little Brother, Save World A few young go-getters who’ll soon be making headlines By Brad Wetzler Don’t worry, we know your type. sure, you’re interested in what happened during…
Dispatches, October 1998 Public Relations No Wonder the Reception’s So Good at the Statue of Liberty A few modest proposals for ways the cell-phone industry might dress up its towers By Bruce McCall The purveyors of cellular communications,…
Outside magazine, December 1997 Sport: From Tabula Rasa to Pipeline Masters Shaping a few winning boards with the North Shore’s humble Picasso-of-the-planer By William Finnegan E A R T O T H E G R O U N…
Dispatches, June 1997 Diversions: Because It’s…Absurd and Illegal The latest sport to take London by storm: sewer canoeing By Denise Dowling Given that most British celebrities — David Bowie, Brenda Blethyn, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales — tend…
Outside magazine, March 1996 The Virtuoso: Front-Suspension Symbiont, Meet Ms. Controlled Abandon Cross-country world champ Alison Sydor shows how you and your bike can achieve that elusive two-part harmony By Ken McAlpine When it comes to bike handling, there are…
Outside magazine, June 1996 O My Preppy Soul! Hours from anywhere but on the edge of nowhere, the rough Down East passages welcome the well heeled and unpedigreed alike By John Skow We had rounded schoodic point some hours before, or so…
Dispatches, June 1997 Science: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, De-Clone ‘Em A revealing look into a future clouded by double vision By Bruce McCall For The Record Just Smush It…
Outside magazine, August 1995 Solitude on the High Seas By Lawrence Burke There are few sporting events on earth more taxing of mind and body than the BOC Challenge, the around-the-world solo sailing marathon that ended late last spring in Charleston, South Carolina. During…
Outside Magazine, November 1994 Citius, Altius, Picabo On her way to downhill glory and a country and western singing career, Picabo Street, force of nature, brakes for no one By Lynn Snowden Picabo Street, the 23-year-old downhill skier who won a silver…
The Downhill Report, December 1996 Ski Like Picabo, Dress Like a Partridge Seventies style is back–and it’s groovier than ever By Katie Arnold Pea green matched with deep mustard rust. Mile-wide stripes. The dare-me look of animal print on nylon. Welcome…
March 1996 Features: The Highly Civilized Fat-Tire Primer Front-Suspension Symbiont, Meet Ms. Controlled Abandon Cross-country world champ Alison Sydor demonstrates the essential riding skills. By Andrew Tilin More Bike for the Buck…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Gone Reading By Larry Burke Few genres of writing can match the world of outdoor literature for richness, exuberance, or sheer eclecticism. Whether it’s the novels of Herman Melville or the travel epics of Paul Theroux, the Boy Scout Handbook…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Mastering the Finer Points For Robyn Erbesfield, precision is the surest route to perfection in any discipline. “Think of the best athlete in your sport,” she says. “It’s the precision that defines the distance between our level and his.” What she…
 Outside magazine, June 1999 A Long and Brutal Assault First fiction 93 years ago, Frederick Cook became the first person to reach the difficult summit of Mount McKinley. Presumed fact Actually, he faked it. Second fiction…
Outside magazine, June 1999 Lifestyle Home on the Range—for Just $5 Million a Pop America’s newest haven for the ultrarich prepares to say, “Howdy, neighbor. Can I see your wallet?” The massive stone-and-lodgepole…
Outside magazine, August 1995 The Marvelous, Manic Drive of Juli Furtado What fuels the world’s most dominant mountain-bike racer? Doom and gloom and a steady flow of French roast. By Sara Corbett “On my god,” Juli…
Outside magazine, December 1996 Better Get a Big Sleigh Not even the Grinch could make off with this season’s bounty By Bob Howells Harley-Davidson Limited Edition by GTSettle into the soft leather saddle, grab those swept-back bars, strap a…
Shwoosh! All You Need is Dirt The Hysterical Parent A medical emergency You would be a fool to venture into the wilderness without someone in your party being certified in first aid. Call your pediatrician or hospital for information…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Mountaineering: Who, Moi? A year after Alison Hargreave’s tragic death on K2, Chantal Mauduit stakes claim as the sport’s newest star By Lolly Merrell “I admired her, but you see, we are very different,” says French alpinist Chantal…
 Outside magazine, April 1995 In Hunza They Live Forever Is it the water? The apricots? The sublime mountain scenery? Is it all in their heads? High in the Himalayas, looking for a prodigal son who might have the answer. By Rob…
Why does Miguel Indurain keep winning the Tour de France? In Spain, at the start of the season that could bring an unprecedented fifth straight victory, only one answer makes sense.
Outside magazine, September 1999 MARKETING Hakkalüugi Be Thy Name The etymological quest to conceive hot new taglines for the latest gear Yes, it’s that time of year again: the gear world’s annual silly season, when companies must conjure up…
Outside magazine, September 1999 FRONT LINES The Wild Bunch A dozen threatened Edens, peaceable kingdoms, and unspoiled Nirvanas: Outside’s roster of great places that deserve the ultimate protection—wilderness designation POLITICS |…
Horse Sense Cowboy vs. Dude By Ryan Underwood t h e f u n f i l e: Outback Boredom Busters Watch Birds Pack binoculars…
Outside magazine, October 1995 Scandal: Cook, Cook, He’s Our Man… By Laura Billings Fifty-five years have passed since Frederick Cook–polar explorer, former Leavenworth inmate–stepped onto that great ice floe in the sky, but a steadfast brotherhood is still working to thaw his reputation. This…
Outside magazine, November 1995 Cycling: Now He’s Won One By Todd Balf (with Joe Glickman) At the U.S. Cycling Federation’s glitzy Night of Champions last year in Hollywood, Lance Armstrong was introduced as the best one-day classics rider that America has ever produced. To…
Outside magazine, February 1996 Books: The Feral Sons By Miles Harvey Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer (Villard, $23). In the January 1993 issue of Outside, in an article that was nominated for a National Magazine Award, contributing editor Krakauer…
Outside magazine, March 1999 Review: Always in Touch (if, That Is, You Want to Be) The latest mobile electronics put the backcountry online By Brent Hurtig ELECTRONICS |…
Outside Magazine, December 1998 Winter? These Guys Made Winter. Seven Olympic venues, one charming Main Street, and a host of High Peaks — it all adds up to Lake Placid, America’s original snowbound resort By Bill McKibben Lake Not-So-Placid All…
Family Vacations, Summer 1996 Howdy, Dude Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys–but it’s okay to pretend By Nancy Debevoise Our Favorite Places | The Hysterical Parent | Inside…
Dispatches, July 1998 Rodent Rights Why Is Everybody Always Pickin’ on Me? They’re cute and furry, yet they get no respect. A look at the star-crossed plight of the American sod poodle. Yes, it’s now official: prairie dogs have become…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Sloth: Then Again, There’s Always Pop-Tarts By Adam Horowitz With apologies, I ask all you connoisseurs of fine food to hold the outrage. Blasphemous though it may be, someone has to stand up for the more practical-minded among us.
Dispatches, May 1997 Physics: Bloody Idiotic, As You Chaps Might Say The (possibly apocryphal) tale of British Rail’s chicken cannon misadventure By Shane Dubow By now, anyone who’s gone on-line knows the Internet is great at hatching all manner of…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Rowing: Odds That… The U.S. women’s eight will break six minutes…..3-1 The U.S. men’s eight will win a gold medal……..10-1 Redgrave and Pinsent will remain undefeated…….1-1…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Politics: Eat Your Heart Out, Al Gore Meet Sherry Boehlert, the man environmentalists can’t do without By John Galvin “He may well save the republicans in spite of themselves,” intones Mark Childress, vice-president of the Environmental Working Group,…
Outside magazine, October 1994 Endurance: Get With it, Guys By Todd Balf (with Greg Child and Dan Dickison) Last July, Ann Trason won her sixth straight Western States 100 women’s title, beat all but one of the men, and bettered her own course record by 37…
Outside magazine, October 1995 Mountain Biking: Eyes for Mammoth By Todd Balf (with John Alderman) Mountain-bike professionals are no strangers to tough conditions, but July’s World Cup stop on California’s Mammoth Mountain was in another realm: The course was buried in ten feet of…
Features: Election Preview ’96, November 1996 The Boy Scouts Find A Compass In the shrink-wrapped politics of the environment, it’s not how far you go, but in what direction By The Editors “Clinton knows that if he wins in ’92, he’ll…
Outside Magazine, 1999 Annual Travel Guide Doing the Wild Thing Eight bush camps and jungle lodges where the floor show is fierce Temple Tiger Jungle Lodge, Nepal Milk and musk: That’s what a Royal Bengal tiger smells like. So said…
T H E H O L I D A Y G I F T G U I D E Shop for THE JOCK Shop for THE WANDERER Shop for…
Dispatches, April 1998 RETAIL One Giant Leap for Suckerkind How to buy lunar real estate, and other “bargains” on the World Wide Web By Katie Arnold As though there weren’t already enough distractions on the Internet, virtual malls are…
News from the Field, February 1997 Tinseltown: Alas, Mr. Speilberg has declined to direct By Adam Horowitz OK, here’s the plot: A dream team of Hollywood titans–one an avowed environmentalist–announces plans to build a 1,000-acre studio atop some of L.A.’s last wetlands. Unbowed…
 Outside magazine, May 1998 The Jungle Took Her Twenty-seven years ago a young Canadian woman went to Borneo seeking a sort of paradise, a place where she could study the mysterious red ape, gather science, garner respect…
Outside magazine, May 1999 Epitaph for a Crusader Terry Freitas lived for a cause, a place, a people, but he died for no good reason at all. When Terence Freitas returned to the United States on…