Adventure
ArchiveOutside magazine, April 1996 Environment: Lock and Load! Industry Goon at 12 o’clock! Meet Rick Valois, commander-in-chief of the first eco-militia By Bill Donahue He’s probably the only environmentalist in the United States with camo-clad, gun-toting foot soldiers at his command, and…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Practice Rolling Acts of Kindness Harmonious trail riding in five friendly steps By Sara Corbett As anyone with a set of knobbies knows, there can be trouble out in the hills, as mountain bikers are…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Running: Hey! You! Get offa my singlet! By Todd Balf (with Jim Kelly, Martin Dugard, and Alison Osius) As the unusually large five-man pack jockeyed for the final sprint at the 10,000-meter U.S. cross-country national championships last December in Portland,…
Outside magazine, April 1997 Another Herbal Wrap, O Immortal One? Should fortune, fame, and flabby acolytes be your heart’s desire, the first American sumo champion suggests thinking really, really big By Brad Wetzler When he…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Paddling: Mission Uncomfortable Mark Robbin’s lonely quest for the other side of the continent By Bill Donahue The setting is bleak–a Motel 6 in the middle of nowhere–and Mark Robbins is weary. “This isn’t fun,” he laments, sprawled…
Outside magazine, October 1996 Sport: From Wurst to First Propelled by Eastern Bloc training methods and a zest for junk food, a trio of Germans looks to sweep the Ironman By Lolly Merrell It’s midnight in Worms, Germany, and European Ironman champion…
Outside magazine, May 1995 Little Rascal A harmless pleasure cruise this was not By Randy Wayne White When my friend G.M. asked me to crew from Colombia to Panama and through the canal aboard his 35-foot Morgan sloop, I grudgingly consented–though I…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Movies: Legends of the Fall By Michael Paterniti As a minor literary movement unto himself, writer Jim Harrison has invented a cult of brazen heroes who live for the roar of fanged animals in wild places. To date, film versions…
Outside magazine, May 1995 Ballooning: The Legend of Steve the Adventurer By Todd Balf On the surrealness scale, it was off the charts: a 50-year-old Chicago securities dealer in the gondola of a hot-air balloon that he’d flown only once before, readying for takeoff…
Outside magazine, June 1996 Politics: Do Unto Endangered Species… With the environment up for grabs, God send in a green army By Bill Donahue And on the eighth day, after he had created Gingrich, Dole, and other democratically elected foes of the…
Dispatches, July 1997 S P O R T Where No One Has Gone Before? Mehgan Heaney-Grier’s precocious quest to become the world’s deepest free diver By Paul Kvinta The most peaceful part of Mehgan Heaney-Grier’s life begins at 40…
Dyn-O-Mite!, October 1997 The Illustrated History of Hat Head By Andrew Tilin and Mike Grudowski Who could have guessed, way back at that family reunion when your cousin Larry snuffled down one Schlitz too many and ended up with a Styrofoam cooler…
Outside Magazine, October 1998 Inspriation Enlighten My Load Sometimes you find yourself in the most predictable places By Pico Iyer I am sitting on a high hill above the dusty passageways of Ganden Monastery in Tibet. The sky…
News from the Field, December 1996 Sport: Why Is This Kid Grinning? Because 15-year-old Chris Sharma is the future of American sport climbing By Todd Balf “I think most people are past the age thing,” says Chris Sharma, 15, after another…
Outside magazine, December 1997 Enterprise: Eureka? Above the din of doubters, a prospector swears a filthy Canadian river will make him filthy rich By Trevor Curwin ‘Oh, it’s down there, all right. that gold is definitely there, as we speak,”…
Outside magazine, June 1996 Wildlife: Marty Stouffer’s Apocryphal America After a raft of allegations, his peers ask: Has the popular PBS filmmaker gone too far? By John Tayman When 50 filmmakers settled into missoula, Montana, last March for the 19th annual International…
Outside magazine, March 1996 Communications: Talk Alien to Me An Everyman’s plan to mingle with the stars By Paul Kvinta “If that call comes and you don’t answer, you’ll regret it,” trumpets astronomer Paul Shuch, in a wobbly impression of Humphrey Bogart…
Outside magazine, May 1995 Night Calls It was the last of its kind. When the red-crested heron vanished deep in Africa’s outback, a girl and her father traced the lonely rise and fall of their lives by its fading song. By Lisa…
Dispatches, June 1997 Jurisprudence: Hey, Get Your Ropes Off My Cathedral! A Wyoming judge is left to answer a thorny question: To whom does Devils Tower belong? By Bill Donahue For The Record…
Outside magazine, July 1999 BUSINESS Wall-to-Walls Climbing gyms go high-tech, top-dollar, and mainstream I’ll Stick with the Miso Soup It sounds like a Zen riddle: When is a sumo wrestler too fat? Recently, sumotori who…
Outside magazine, September 1996 Books: A Lyrical Turn to the Epic By Miles Harvey Accordion Crimes, by E. Annie Proulx (Scribner, $25). From Homer’s Odyssey to Dante’s Divine Comedy, perhaps the purest genre of literature is the travel…
October 1999 F E A T U R E S Adventure at the End of the Century The sight of George Leigh Mallory’s well-preserved body on Everest confirms that adventure, like life, is not always pretty. It means risking all on a mountain—as…
Outside magazine, April 2000 Snows of Yesteryear Mckay Jenkins’s article about the avalanche tragedy that struck Mount Cleveland 30 years ago (“And None Came Back,” February) was spare, elegant, and riveting—so much so that I told my…
Cycling Special, March 1997 Surviving the Mean Streets You can’t outrun all the obstacles you encounter in the city. You have to outsmart them. By Alan Coté Your Tutor: Mike Downey, 29, commutes three miles six days…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Acoustic Camping The summer’s best outdoor music festivals By Peter Nelson Kerrville Folk Festival May 23-June 16 at 50-plus-acre Quiet Valley Ranch, nine miles south of Kerrville, Texas. Tunes: Scheduled headliners this year include…
Outside magazine, May 1996 You Got the Beat? “I got my first heart-rate monitor last year,” Kelly McCown says. “It was revolutionary.” She may have come late to the party, but the reason seemingly every elite athlete is bleating about using a monitor is that it’s…
Outside magazine, June 1998 Letters: The Lagging Response Bill Bryson’s story about his woeful friend Katz and their Appalachian Trail misadventures (“You Gotta Have Friends. Which Is Damned Unfortunate,” April) reminded me of a hike in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. My partner constantly trailed…
Outside magazine, July 1994 Environment: Rainbow Worriers The Forest Service tries, again, to corral a happy hippie jamboree By Ned Martel A sprawling campsite. Lentils simmer in iron cauldrons. Bota-squeezing women twirl in batik skirts. A sunburned longhair yowls that a U.S. Forest Service…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Decathlon: Odds That… Dan O’Brien will win the gold medal……..1-5 He will top the mythic 9,000-point barrier…..5-1 He will once again bonk in the pole vault……50-1…
Dispatches, March 1998 SPORT Lights, Action, Cameras? On the eve of defending his unlikely title, world champion Rob Evans insists that ice surfing’s a surefire hit. Now if only the cable honchos would listen. Oh, would that he’d ridden to…
Outside magazine, November 1995 Postnuptial Agreements Four resorts where you and your new-to-the-sport partner can find downhill harmony By Ron C. Judd You share private moments, swap toothbrushes, even exchange vows. Big deal. Agree on the perfect ski vacation, and people will…
 Outside magazine, June 1996 Balloonatics They’re swashbuckling billionaires and absent-minded dreamers, all chasing one of the last great adventures: 25,000 miles around the globe by jet stream and Icarian wing. No stopping, no sploshing. By Daniel…
The trail to some sort of personal peace seemed to wend high into the Himalayas. But where it led was back to an old friend.
So, you have to ask, when it comes to the great outdoors, is anything OK anymore?
Outside Magazine, September 1999 OFF-ROADING Going Down? Brian Head’s 6,000-foot vertical red-rock relief should do the trick You can be forgiven for snubbing Brian Head during ski season. For while tiny Brian Head Resort does amass…
Outside magazine, September 1999 CONTENDERS The Wild Bunch, Cont. Why stop at 12? There’s plenty more where those came from. POLITICS | VIRGIN LAND: A HISTORY | FRONT…
Bulletins Grandparenting: Geriat-Tricks By Bob Howells Call it cross-generational bonding, old-fashioned mentoring, or just doing neat stuff with the grandkids–more and more outfits are bringing disparate generations together on outdoor jaunts. Not surprisingly, Elderhostel lurks behind many of them, such as Let’s…
Outside magazine, October 1995 You’re Looking a Little Ozoned-out When it comes to the air you breathe, what you can’t see will hurt you By Mark Jannot I have a friend who’s always complaining about the tribulations of running in his own…
Outside magazine, November 1995 Music: Wastin’ Away Again Down in Vacaville By Mike Steere And the award for the most shameless and unprecedentedly obscene use of the environment for marketing purposes goes to…White Devil Records of Seattle. Along with its recently released CD of…
Outside magazine, February 1996 She Who Laughs Last… By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta (with Debra Shore) Two days before the short-course triathlon world championships in Cancún, Mexico, last November, newly crowned Ironman champion Karen Smyers was neither training nor relaxing nor touring Mayan…
Outside magazine, March 1999 And the Placebo Costs Less, Too The results ù such as they are ù have come in on the latest wonder herb By Michael Kessler Before bustling off to the…
Outside Magazine, November 1994 Ultra: No, Thank You By Todd Balf (with Jim Hage) Perhaps Kawika Spaulding of Hawaii would have been in the running for the Huntington Beach-to-New York City Trans America Footrace had he chosen to stay away from whiskey at rest…
Outside magazine, July 1994 You Know How I Don’t Like Pesticides Sure, it’s a kinder crop. But is organic food really better for your body? By Ken McAlpine There are people who can resist strawberries. In fact, they bristle at eating strawberries–plain, or on…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Men’s Sprints: Odds That Michael Johnson will win both the 200 and 400…….1-1 Donovan Baileywill win gold in the 100………10-1 Carl Lewiswill medal in the 100……….15-1…
 Outside magazine, Family Vacation Guide Unsung Heroes Ten top-ranking parks you might not have heard of — but then, no one else has either TODDLERS…
Dispatches, May 1997 Treasure Hunting: Thank You, Fidel, May I Have Another Gold Ingot By Miro Cernetig “There could be billions in gold down there,” says Glenn Costello, practically chuckling as he thumbs through slides of sparkling silver coins and other booty…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Mountain Biking: Odds That… Alison Sydor will capture the gold medal……3-2 Tinker Juarez will medal……..3-1 Thomas Frischknecht will break something…….8-1…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Field Notes: The Last Wilderness Few places are left like British Columbia’s rainforest. But for how long? By Doug Peacock Early July on the central coast of British Columbia was cold and wet. Clouds hovered over indistinct shorelines.
Outside magazine, October 1994 Sailing: Incoming! By Todd Balf (with Greg Child and Dan Dickison) Last July, 24 hours after a surprise opening-day drubbing by millionaire skipper and fellow trash-talker Bill Koch, Dennis Conner did what he does best: He got even. When officials at the…
Outside magazine, November 1995 My Gelding, Myself How passion crosses the line into not-quite-respectable obsession: The complicated joys of horse ownership By Jane Smiley THE WORK Last weekend, when I went away for a two-night horse trials with my elderly…
Features: Election Preview ’96, November 1996 The Nature of the Beast In defense of the dandelion-pickin’, tree-lovin’ side of that environmental bogeyman, Bob Dole By Brad Wetzler Little-known fact: Bob Dole was once a demon on roller skates –the steel-wheeled, strap-on,…
 Outside magazine, November 1997 The Victim’s Wake When the body of a local man surfaced in the Grenadines, the wave of accusations that followed not only swept up the wealthy American couple suspected of his murder — it also exposed anew the uneasy symbiosis…
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…
 Outside magazine, April 1998 You Gotta Have Friends. Which is Damned Unfortunate. Tackling the Appalachian Trail on a whim would require a few essentials. I realized, foremost among them a boon companion. What I got was Katz. By Bill Bryson…
In the evolution of the species known as hockey players, those indoor patches of brine-cooled, milky-white, Zambonied ice have spawned some very good athletes. But the truly great ones arise from the dense, black freeze of the neighborhood skating pond, where weekend duffers and future stars happily collide.
Outside magazine, May 1998 A Lovely Sort of Lower Purpose In praise of doing nothing. To wit: No racing, no exceeding, no catch-and-releasing. Just time-tested fooling around. By Ian Frazier As kids, my friends and I spent a lot…
Outside magazine, May 1999 Expeditions Sledgepuller, P.I. Toting 300 pounds and a love of the arcane, a Canadian explorer attempts to unravel an Arctic mystery When Hans Kr’ger set out to explore a desolate stretch…
Outside magazine, June 1994 Mountain Biking: 150-kph Dreaming By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and Eric Hagerman) Funny things happen when you try to ride a mountain bike at 150 kph. Ask the new downhill speed record holder, Frenchman Christian Taillefer, who on…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Books: Time and Tide Caught Inside: A Surfer’s Year on the California Coast, by Daniel Duane (North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $21). Thoreau did it from the door of his cabin; Darwin, from the deck of the H.M.S. Beagle;…
Vacation Special, August 1997 F L Y – F I S H I N G T H E R O G U E Time Off the Grid In blissful isolation along the Rogue River, where it’s easier to find…
Outside magazine, October 1995 Books: Vengeance and Cactus By Miles Harvey Painted Desert, by Frederick Barthelme (Viking, $22.95). This vibrant novel has fascinating parallels with nature essayist Bill McKibben’s acclaimed 1992 nonfiction work, The Age of Missing Information. In that book, McKibben…
Destinations, November 1998 Ace is the Place A prime-season meander down South Carolina’s Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Rivers By Parke Puterbaugh If your mental image of coastal South Carolina consists mainly of Myrtle Beach’s six-lane…
Out Front, Fall 1998 Anthropology O.J., B.C. New and disheartening evidence that domestic abuse is prehistory By Cristina Opdahl It wasn’t So Fred Flintstone flirted with waitresses in Rockapulco. And frittered away too much time at the lodge.
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: Don’t Condo Me In Sheep rancher Randy Campbell says he’s been backed against a wall. “All the spring range is being subdivided for golf courses,” sighs Campbell, who works land near Vail, Colorado. Such growth has forced him to…
Outside magazine, January 1996 A Bimonthly Bath, Penguin Porn, and Thou New Year’s greetings from Don and Margie McIntyre, wrapping up 365 long days of Antarctic togetherness By Jack Barth Last January, adventurers Don and Margie McIntyre left the warmth of Sydney,…
Outside magazine, February 1998 W I N T E R O L Y M P I C S P R E V I E W Nagano? Naga-Yes! Sure, this year’s Winter Olympics will have its foibles, including…
Outside magazine, September 1994 When the Whammy Strikes It’s 3 a.m. in a big, foreign city. Do you know where your running shoes are? By Randy Wayne White Maybe through influence, but probably through curse, the Temple of the Giant Jaguar was the shaper…
Outside magazine, April 1996 26.2 Legendary Miles Of Foot-Pounding, Heartbreaking, Endorphin-Inducing Huff America’s oldest, greatest marathon transformed distance running from lonely obsession to the mass promenade of a fitness nation. On the centennial of the grueling Yankee race that helped launch a revolution, a boisterous salute.
Outside magazine, August 1999 THE MOUNTAINEERS Line of Ascent On a breeding ground for greatness, wisdom comes one humble step at a time It only takes a few minutes to learn how to strap on…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Ride Like a Pack Mule What you really need before hitting the road By Bob Howells If your bike-touring burden consists of everything in your pockets, it matters little what bike you ride: Your mountain bike will do…
Travel Guide, Winter 1995-1996 The Outside Yenta Says… 1. If you migrated toward (a), you’re a PURIST. Crowds and glitz, say you, are the source of all evil. Take your Birkenstock-wearing, muesli-munching, powder-lusting self to Mount Baker, Washington–Mecca for laid-back thirtysomething free-riders. Please,…
Outside magazine, August 2000 CAMPAIGN 2000: GORE | GORE’S GREEN CORPS BUSH | BIG MAN ON CAMPUS ASSUME THE POSITIONS RALPH NADER All Bulworth, No…
News from the Field, January 1997 Politics: Voters? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Voters. As the new Congress rolls in, meet the environmental bigwigs who’ll be pulling the strings By Juliet Eilperin Sure, being a member of congress has its perks–but…
Dispatches, March 1997 Expeditions: I Was a Middle-Aged Amelia Earhart Linda Finch’s vintage attempt to finish a legend’s journey By Paul Kvinta For The Record This One’s Mine, Dammit! Denied two years…
Outside magazine, January 1996 Books: The Spirits of Science By Miles Harvey Ship Fever and Other Stories, by Andrea Barrett (W. W. Norton, $21). Barrett, an Outside contributor and noted novelist, has put together a soaring collection of stories about characters, some…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Surfing: With the Worlds on her lumbar By Todd Balf (with Jim Kelly, Martin Dugard, and Alison Osius) Lisa Andersen’s beachside entourage was the size of a Paia block party. There were trainers, coaches, friends, family, and sponsors on hand…
Dispatches, April 1997 Sport: Carving Toward Destiny? Chris Davenport tries to secure the top spot in extreme-skiing history–on his own terms By Michael Finkel E A R T O T H E G R O U N…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Aesthetics: Spare Not the Grace Notes By Bob Shacochis I prefer to think that the wilderness as we have it these days, however attenuated and besieged, is more than ever the last refuge of the raw sensualist, and that the…
Outside magazine, September 1995 No More Curse of the Sheepherders But why would such a wholesome nation want the America’s Cup? By Randy Wayne White All things considered, the best place for a journalist to watch the finals of America’s Cup XXIX…