My wife keeps bugging me about getting a phone so I can keep in touch with her when I'm out backpacking for several days. Is there something light and somewhat affordable available? Peter San Carlos, CA

Outside magazine, July 1994 Long Weekends: Backyard Bavaria The best and wurst of Leavenworth, Washington, 100 miles east of Seattle By Johnny Dodd In the early 1960s, the townsfolk of Leavenworth, Washington, hoping to drum up a little commerce, acted on a hunch. They’d always heard…

In the winter of 2014, three friends set out on a self supported ride, looking for nothing more than a truly genuine experience. The goal: to circumnavigate one of the most wonderful and wicked mountain ranges in the world, the Huayhuash, by bicycle. An Official Selection from the 2014 5Point…

My son and I went backpacking with our brand-new down sleeping bags over the weekend to help us get in shape for a longer trip this spring. It had rained for several days earlier, so things were pretty wet and humid. During the day we stuffed our down bags into plastic zip-type bags in case it rained more, but I guess the bags were a little dp from all the moisture in the air. Anyway, when we got home and unpacked, our bags stank of mildew. I can't imagine what they would smell like after ten-days on the trail. Is this common for down bags, and is there a way to prevent this? Kevin Omaha, Nebraska

  Mike Dion's first feature-length film, Ride The Divide, followed three cyclists on the inaugural Tour Divide, a 2,700-mile self-supported bikepacking race along the Continental Divide from Banff, Canada to Antelopes Wells, New Mexico, a dusty crossing on the Mexico border. Even the most jaded couldn't watch the movie,…

Bouldering climbs are short, but they demand as much strength, agility, and puzzle solving as anything done on rock. Here are the fine points of a classic challenge—Paul Robinson’s V16 route Lucid Dreaming—to show how the game is played.

Trailer bliss in the big empty. Photo: Pablo H Caridad/Shutterstock Earlier this month we drove our vintage Airstream to Marfa, Texas, for its maiden voyage. We knew zilch about driving or camping with a travel trailer before we left, so it was trial-by-fire from the get-go. Despite a few train…

Last August, climbers Abbey Smith, Pete Takeda, Jason Kehl, and Mick Follari went to northern India on a unique bouldering trip. For two months, the quartet traveled through the Himalayas, establishing dozens of new problems on often-overlooked blocks at the feet of some of the world's most iconic mountains. To…

Filmmakers and writers from around the world will showcase their work during this year’s Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Remember the lessons of Everest 1996? Nobody else seems to. The world's highest peak is more crowded than ever—and ripe for a deadly reckoning.