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

Common medications that will—and won't—earn you a suspension

Watch Camp4Collective's award-winning documentary film about a 2008 attempt to climb the Shark's Fin that nearly killed Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, and Renan Ozturk

In cycling, we're not supposed to shave our legs the night before a race because it "Eats up energy." At this stage race I did as a junior none of the Euros would shave their legs because of this. Is it true?

Outside magazine, December 1995 Boots That Fight Cool-Guy Conformity A new pair of Sorels is for clomping and surviving and kicking stupid people, says our man from Minnesota By Garrison Keillor In my youth in Minnesota, it was definitely not cool to dress warmly. Guys who…

Twenty-one-year-old phenom David Lama represents a new breed of super-alpinist. He also has more detractors than Lebron James. When he took his talents to South America's iconic Cerro Torre last January, his bold free ascent highlighted an eventful season that will go down in history—and infamy.

Hiking, like most things, is just better in Sweden. And now with the annual Fjällräven Classics, hikers all over the world can join the fun.

Outside magazine, November 1997 A Slippery Slope The world’s first ice-climbing park goes up in Colorado By Pam Grout B U L L E T I N S Waves of Majesty A beach bum’s version of the Super Bowl, the Triple Crown of Surfing…

Introducing our 2011 READER OF THE YEAR, Ryan Levinson, an athlete who competes like a champ while fighting a savage form of muscular dystrophy. PLUS: SIX HONORABLE-MENTION HEROES

In which you mount a horse and follow a charismatic Iranian-American visionary into a Mongolian no-man's-land known as the Dark Heavens. Watch out for the bandits, don't give the shaman too much vodka, and hold on for dear life.