Outside magazine, January 1996 The River Made Wild By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta (with Brooke DeNisco, Martin Forstenzer, and Eileen Hansen) A year ago, kayaker Scott Shipley was none too impressed when he surveyed the then-under-construction Olympic whitewater course on Tennessee’s Ocoee River.

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Progressive Machines: Mountain Bikes By Bob Howells and Gordon Black Performance in reserve — that’s the theme for this year’s mountain bikes, and you don’t have to deplete your finances to get it. Examples: Stiff, lightweight aluminum…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: …And Manage the Pressure By Alan Cote The easiest yet most profound way to change a bike’s performance involves nothing more than a pump and a valve. A difference of as little as ten pounds per square…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Access & Resources: Tripping the White Continent By Miles Harvey Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest, driest, loneliest, and arguably deadliest continent on earth. Thus, only about 8,000 visitors brave their way each year to one of the earth’s wildest…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Road Bike Skills: Take It From Mr. Persistence Steve Bauer’s tips from a lifetime on the road By Scott Sutherland In a tip of the helmet to cycling Darwinism, Motorola Cycling Team’s Steve Bauer, 35,…

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, January 1996 Up, Up, and…Ach! By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta (with Brooke DeNisco, Martin Forstenzer, and Eileen Hansen) “Party pollution!” exclaims Jim DeForge, decrying the thousands of helium balloons that revelers will unleash this New Year’s Eve. In a pointed attack,…

Outside magazine, March 1995 True Hawaii No luaus. No leis. Just a springtime ramble through the promised land. By Jonathan Runge Most people plan on getting their Hawaii fix in the dead of winter, which ironically is rainy season…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Rid Yourself of Pain Shock absorbers: the next generation By Alan Cote Suspension technology isn’t going to stop bouncing rapidly forward, so you’ll need to invest in it with a certain mindset: Worry less…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Careful, Buster Urban attitude advice from an honest cop By Sara Corbett City cyclists have an attitude problem,” says Sergeant Richard Green, a bicycle patrol officer in Santa Barbara, California. “They think, ‘Look at us,…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Keep Your Chin Up …and your day job. A racer’s life is far from glamorous. By Alan Cote Sooner or later, be it on an organized group ride or at a bike shop, you’re going…

Outside magazine, January 1996 Silly Yanks, Tricks Are for Losers By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta (with Brooke DeNisco, Martin Forstenzer, and Eileen Hansen) At the World Surf Kayak Championships last September in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, tempers flared when an eve-of-the-race rules meeting evolved…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Dr. Pavlov, I Presume? In a world that’s going to the hogs, this little Piggy will have none of it. By Randy Wayne White There was much to recommend the rainforest coast of northeastern Australia, many curios and…

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, March 1995 Buying Right: Technical Day-Packs for Neophyte Climbers By Duane Raleigh Well, it seems the climbing bug has bitten you, and now you’ve got a growing pile of equipment and a yearning to get out on the rock. The question is,…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Swimming: In our ongoing search for masochists… By Todd Balf (with Jim Kelly, Martin Dugard, and Alison Osius) Call Guy Delage a dreamer, but on December 16 the 42-year-old Frenchman left the Cape Verde Islands in a heroic bid to…

Destinations, April 1997 The Suburban Jungle In praise of the East Coast’s most unfiltered wilderness experience, the Adirondack High Peaks By Thurston Clarke It’s This or Bivouac High Peaks inns range from rustic to luxe The high peaks region,…

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, 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…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Sport Climbing: Tres Bon, Robyn By Todd Balf (with Jim Kelly, Martin Dugard, and Alison Osius) Robyn Erbesfield has no peer in sport climbing. Period. At the World Cup finale last December in Birmingham, England, she out-jousted France’s Natalie Richer…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Progressive Machines: Road Bikes By John Lehrer For inveterate roadies, the picture is not a pretty one: In 1994, road-bike sales declined for the third straight year, and this year the ten most prolific road-bike manufacturers will…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Expeditions: Vaughan on Vaughan By Todd Balf (with Jim Kelly, Martin Dugard, and Alison Osius) It took him 65 years, but last December 16, at 8 A.M., Norman Vaughan stood atop Mount Vaughan, the previously unclimbed 10,302-foot Antarctic peak named…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Diving: Next stop…real deep By Todd Balf (with Jim Kelly, Martin Dugard, and Alison Osius) About to attempt a world-record 416-foot breath-hold dive off Key Largo last December, Francisco “Pipin” Ferreras assumed the lotus position on the edge of his…

Bodywork, April 1997 Regiments: The Painful Truth is Intervals Are Good By Ken McAlpine “The name of the game is who can hold off the lactic-acid onslaught,” says Matt Giusto, 30, who last year coached himself to the season’s fastest American road…

Outside magazine, April 1996 Where to See It Through April 16 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art September 1 to December 29 at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota January 1997 at the Museum of Canadian Art and Design in Toronto…

Bodywork, April 1997 Routines: Get Shipshape in Five Weeks By Lolly Merrell “Most paddlers concentrate on building up their big arm muscles over the winter,” says two-time World Cup champion kayaker Scott Shipley. “Trouble is, they don’t realize that the neck, shoulders,…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Big Weather: Tornadoes Greenness, hail, air pressure flattening your skull. Hide the children, save the banjo. By Jane Smiley By the time I was 25 and living in Iowa City, my fear of tornadoes was a significant fact…

Destinations, April 1997 City guide: Glissading? That’s on Level Two. San Franciscans have perfected the art of bringing the Great Outdoors in By Dana Sullivan San Franciscans tend to believe in looking sleek and in being outdoors. Unfortunately, springtime…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Big Weather: Lightening No place to escape the white sizzle, coming in at 200,000 amps per bolt By E. Annie Proulx What a fiery summer, no rain, the well gone dry. I was trying to finish the house.

Outside magazine, April 1996 Essentials: Boot Gear Basics By Douglas Gantenbein Leather, alone or combined with synthetic fabric, remains the best footwear material known–durable, breathable, and comfortable. But it absorbs water, and water dries leather out and leaves damaging salt and grit behind. So…

 Outside magazine, March 1995 Trouble in the Land of Muy Verde Deep in Mexico’s Sierra Madre, Tarahumara Indians are being murdered and their ancient forest destroyed by drug lords and loggers. A report from the Mother Range, where the pistoleros rule, the natives…

Destinations, April 1997 Foreign Travel: See the South Pacific. Bunk with a Chicken. A new hut-to-hut system makes for memorable island overnights By Tony Perrottet B u l l e t i n s Creature…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: Shop Talk: A Phrase Book for the Bike Bazaar By Scott Sutherland CNC: Computer numerical control, as applied to hunks of raw aluminum, is the hot way to machine weight from components — and to put…

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, April 1996 Camping: Guardian Plus Purifier By Glen Randall Sometimes you just need a water filter; sometimes you need a full-blown purification system. Now, SweetWater’s Guardian Plus lets you decide on the fly. The Guardian Plus comes in two parts: the Guardian…

Bodywork, April 1997 The Creed for Speed How to break through your performance firewall By Ken McAlpine Calculations Testing Your Limits Intervals wouldn’t be useful without a credible figure for your anaerobic threshold heart rate, the level of exertion…

Outside magazine, April 1996 Cycling: BikeE By Bob Howells That the BikeE semirecumbent bike looks something like a chopper with pedals is not entirely ironic. Sure, one is about staid utilitarianism, the other mostly about outlaw showiness. But chopper riders, beneath their bearded-and-tattooed…

Outside magazine, March 1995 Ride With Pride: The Spin Doctor Says: Pair Up Wisely By Dr. Ruth Westheimer “The most important consideration is that your partner really likes that wind blowing and seeing new vistas — and does not only ride to please the…

Bodywork, April 1997 Strategies: Lactic Acid Loopholes By Ken McAlpine Pain may be the unfortunate constant when coping with lactic acid, but there are a few salvations. Say you find yourself suffering on an ambitious outing–quads burning, lungs heaving, mind wishing you…

Bodywork, April 1997 Intake: Puppy Uppers By Brad Wetzler Mocha-flavored Powerbars, orangeburst Gu, Thunder Bars–and don’t forget Super Mega Mass 4000. Clearly, real food isn’t in among endurance athletes these days. And if carbo-visionary Pat Meiering has his way, your dog will…

Outside magazine, April 1996 Buying Right: Satellite Navigation for Civilian Budgets By Jerry Gibbs Even when your hiking trips don’t call for serious orienteering, it can be comforting to have a guide with area-specific savvy. But then, a handheld global positioning system (GPS)…

Outside magazine, April 1999 Letters: Uncorked As a former commercial salmon fisherman now fighting to preserve the fish that once filled my nets, I appreciated your effort to reexamine the role of our nation’s dams (“Blow-Up,” February). As…

 Outside magazine, April 1997 Life Among the Swells By William Finnegan The professional surfing circuit ends each year at the Pipeline Masters. Here the would-be, the has-been, and the already-are hero boys of the sport come to be swallowed up–and possibly…

Outside magazine, April 1999 Good-bye, Guesswork The grounded new way to know how hard to go By Peter Lewis You’re probably well aware of the fact that you should divide your endurance regimen among long…

Dispatches, April 1997 Crusading: Hear the One About Draining Lake Powell? A straight-faced Sierra Club uncorks a questionable cause cëlêbre By Bill Donahue For The Record Hey, You’re Not Bullwinkle! “We tried slingshots,”…

Camping Special, April 1997 Play Wiffle Ball! Discuss Descartes! Swim Buck Naked! Because there are no boring camping trips, only boring campers By Brad Wetzler There’s always one in the crowd, the neophyte camper who, in a panic over leaving…

Outside magazine, April 1999 The Old Guard Do the big dogs still have bite? If the nineties have been good for grassroots groups, top-heavy national shops have languished on the vine. Greenpeace USA cut 85 percent…

Dispatches, April 1997 Environment: Come One, Come 1.4 Million A proposed new road to Prince William Sound raises the question: How many tourists is too many? By Tom Kizzia For The Record It Is a Small World, After…

Review, April 1997 Books: Lighting Out By Miles Harvey No Mercy: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo, by Redmond O’Hanlon (Knopf, $27.50). The author of Into the Heart of Borneo and In Trouble Again has built an…

Review, April 1997 Solo Shelters: Tents for the Compulsive Weight-Watcher By Doug Gantenbein Despite its dramaturgic lonely-guy feel, there are a few advantages to camping solo. First, you don’t have to bathe as often. And you can travel much more lightly; solo…

Dispatches, April 1999 Media Next Year We’ll Be Hosting the Downhill in Bosnia! Are the X Games sacrificing safety on the altar of “good” television? By Kimberly Lisagor (with John Bresee) “We’re still trying to figure out how to…

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, April 1999 Near to the Ground It hasn’t been a bad decade for the environment, all things considered. But before you send those huzzahs ù and your checks ù to those far-off groups in Washington,…

Camping Special, April 1997 The Dandelion Says Go Home Do-it-yourself meteorology, as taught by the flora and fauna By Steven M. Krauzer What’s the best way to predict the weather when you’re in the backcountry? “Carry a radio,” says Peter…

Destinations, April 1997 Eric Heiden Slept Here In Lake Placid, the locals have a hard time letting go By Katie Arnold As the road curves past malfunction Junction at the outskirts of town, you begin to notice the cutely gabled…

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…

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…

Dispatches, April 1999 Sport Spiked Almost Off the Map By Tim Zimmermann Let’s begin with a flashback. Atlanta, Georgia. July 1996. Beach volleyball is making its Olympic debut while serving as party central for a…

Review, April 1997 Buying Right: Bantam Binoculars By Gregory McNamee If you spend time in the backcountry, where there are specific advantages to being able to discern whether that distant lump on the trail is a fallen log or a hungry bear,…

Destinations, April 1997 Smart Traveler: Meet Me in Malaysia or Harare or… The best deals in around-the-world airfares By Everett Potter The next time some kid clutching a battered Lonely Planet guide brags about his cheap consolidator tickets to Hong…

Review, April 1997 All the Tent You Need For most people, most of the time, a super-light shelter for two is just enough By Doug Gantenbein Essentials: Tent Pampering Backcountry truism: Your tent is only as good as…

Outside magazine, April 1999 Go West, and Preferably at Race Pace The training secrets of the athletes on the Old Frontier? Play often, work seldom, and always remember that the good guys wear white. Fashion by…

Dispatches, April 1999 Environment Sprawl? Smog? The New California Says No. Only in la-la land could the same By Melba Newsome Only in La-La Land could the same society that embraced bumper-to-bumper traffic and…

Camping Special, April 1997 The Right Duff Are you sure you know what it takes to pick the perfect campsite? By Brad Wetzler In Plato’s realm of ideals, you’d find the perfect campsite floating in the ether, next to a…

Camping Special, April 1997 Freeze-Dried Is for Losers A guide to culinary success alfresco By Brad Wetzler Anybody can scarf pb&j while perched on a mountain rock, but one might argue that you’re not really camping till you dirty a…

Outside magazine, April 1997 The Horse-Eater, I Presume? In the blue holes of the Bahamas, a hungry leviathan lurks. Our man aimed to find it. By Randy Wayne White Having lived most of his life on Cat Island in the…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Guide to Summer: The Seamless Escape Butter up the boss and grab your pack–it’s never too late to split for the weekend By Elizabeth Royte Jack (not his real name) is between jobs. This has allowed him to…

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, June 1995 Guide to Summer: Flatwater Is for Sissies Fear not the aerated froth–canoes can handle whitewater, too By Marni Jackson If you’ve never canoed whitewater before, by all means cut this out, tape it to your paddle, and have…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Reluctant Provider Why bamboo waits so long between incarnations By David Quammen The novelist Louise Erdrich recently published a lapidary one-paragraph essay, excerpted from something longer, that begins, “I would be converted to a religion of grass.” The…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Milestones: Fabien Mazuer, 1976-1995 By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and Alison Osius) French sport climber Fabien Mazuer was an athlete you could love: smart, playful with the press, and immensely talented. While still a teenager, he pulled off some…

Outside magazine, June 1995 What Are You Whining About? Enough with the war stories about your scrapes and tweaks. Meet the people who really give it all to their sport–again and again and again. By Paul Kvinta So, you’ve taken a bad…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Heat-Savvy Training: Heed the Internal Thermometer By Sara Corbett “You have to plan to suffer out there,” says 1995 national Championship Marathon winner Keith Brantly of training in the stifling humidity of his hometown, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “The heat just…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Buying Right: Polarized Sunglasses By Bob Howells Shading against the beach sun means dark specs, a broad-brimmed hat, and a frill-edged umbrella. Shielding against that sun, however, means polarized glasses. There’s a big difference between polarized lenses and all…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Marathon: In Favor of the Draft By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and Alison Osius) By recruiting the best American men’s marathon field likely to be seen anywhere this year, race president Bill Burke hoped to inspire the fastest times…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Guide to Summer: Strike That Confident Pose Your knees are bent. Your arms are dangling. Your board is long. Now for the soul-arch bottom-turn… By Bucky McMahan This year, in large part because of the momentous, contemplative event…

Outside magazine, May 1995 Politics: …And Drilling Rights for All Can you blame Senator Ted Stevens for putting our land to good use? By Ned Martel Effigy manufacturers should expect brisk sales during this summer’s bonanza of species-protection hearings on Capitol Hill.

Outside magazine, June 1995 Smooth-Sailing Crafts, By Land or By Sea On the car or in the water, boards and boats that are a breeze to handle By Nancy K. Crowell God does not deduct from a man’s life the hours spent…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Guide to Summer: Location, Location, Direction For summer-rental perfection, WNW marks the spot By Lawrence Shames If you don’t already have a hand-held compass, get one. String it onto a lanyard, hang it around your neck, and wear…

Outside magazine, June 1995 Strategic Packing: Weigh Your Options By Sara Corbett “When you don’t have time to plan, the easiest thing to do is to overpack,” says Bethel, Maine-based Outward Bound instructor Jim Dowd. “And a backbreaking load of life’s little unnecessities can…