Everything
The Cadence of Grass by Thomas McGuane (Knopf, $24) A HEARTY WELCOME-HOME: After a decadelong foray into nonfiction, Thomas McGuane returns to Storyville with a tale of familial strife and kidney theft played out against Montana’s sweetgrass valleys. The Cadence of Grass, McGuane’s first…
Island R&R: a sandy spit off the coast of Grenada Q: How can I book a windsurfing trip to Grenada? — Marilyn Adam, Redding, California Adventure Advisor: A: No need to book in advance; Grand Anse Beach is littered with…
Have boat, will paddle: coastal cruising off Vancouver Island Q: Four of us are planning to fish, canoe, and camp for two weeks in June. We’re considering Canada but have been warned of the black flies. How can we avoid them? Thank you, — Patti Hansen,…
Slickrock style: taking the high road near Moab Q: Five of us are looking to take a mountain biking trip in the western United States. We have thought about Moab in Utah but wanted to know if there are any alternatives we should consider. Thanks,…
Horsepower: Berber riders in Marrakech Q: If you wanted a little culture, a little nature, and a little adventure but only had a week, where in Morocco would you go? I would like to cover a lot of territory. — Sally Bentley, Portland, Oregon…
To film Valhalla, the cinemaniacs at Teton Gravity research went to great lengths—of rope, that is
CHERRY Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Phillip Whalen and Jack Kerouac in the Cascades, by Jon Suiter (Counterpoint Press, ) illuminates these beats’ little-documented time tending fire lookouts in the north Cascades—summer pockets of productive A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard BY SARA WHEELER (Random…
At the First Church of What Happens Next—MIT— a NASA-trained engineer and his stable of whiz kids are jump-starting the future of outdoor gear
Hop on (HUH?), rev up (WHAT?!), and take a trip (I can't HEAR YOU!) deep into the hillbilly heart of West Virginia, where gas-huffin' ATV motorheads churn through the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Area—a private preserve devoted to the joys and sorrows of four-wheeling. (ARRRRGHHH!)
In our lifetime, the outdoors has been reinvented by visionaries who opened new worlds for explorers, athletes, travelers, and dreamers. And the adventure is just getting under way—so take a closer look at the bright minds creating the next frontier. Jake Burton, son Timmy, and Ruby the retriever at…
Diving on lost ships is one thing. Exploring the boat that shadowed your life is a murkier adventure entirely.
ONCE THERE WAS A WORLD WITHOUT SNOWBOARDING. A world where mountain biking was a strange and obscure cult, kayaking fiendishly inaccessible. A world without fleece vests, single-walled mountaineering tents, down sleeping bags, or GPS. In fact, until the late seventies—around the time this magazine was born—the universe of outdoor recreation…
Ten lodges where you can take it all in, and then launch an expedition out the back door
Camp overnight or camp all week. We've got the gear to let you go fast and light under blue skies or gray.
Stymied by the dark side of sport? Don't panic. Mastering fear, fatigue, and pain is easier than you think.
As lawmakers accuse seven government biologists of fraud, the truth is drowned out by the headlines
After a dark year, Nepal offers up a trove of glittering new prizes: 103 peaks and miles of virgin terrain
When the weather turns ugly and conditions get rough, every mountaineer must make the ultimate choice: storm the summit, or call it quits.
The road less pedaled: storm clouds approaching in the English countryside Q: My son and I are planning to cycle the length of the UK in June, 2002, including Wales and Ireland if possible. I need to find out who might help me in planning the route.
When outfitting yourself for desert or tropics, you no longer need to choose between protecting your epidermis and sweltering or going skimpy and inviting melanoma. New togs of tightly woven, highly sun-protective fabrics combined with built-in screen doors now reconcile coverage and comfort. RailRider’s Eco-Mesh Shirt Pants, and…
Exploring the back of beyond in Bolivia's Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado
Eight daredevil surfers head to the Amazon for a shot at the longest, wildest white-knuckle ride in the world
EVER SINCE RED BULL charged into the United States beverage market in 1997, stimulant-laden sodas from a host of different companies have been generating big buzz. In the last five years, domestic sales generated by these power-gulps have grown from $10 million to nearly $300 million. That’s in part because…
THE SNOW GEESE Art Brewer (The Surfer’s Journal, ), The second volume in the Masters of Surf Photography series, collects more than 30 years of this camera Kahuna’s Ultrasoulful Work—from action shots like this one of Dennis Pang, Marvin Foster, and the late Mar A Story…
Beyond Kenya's endless plains lie the mythic Loita Hills, home to one of East Africa's last great swaths of wilderness. To a young Masai who gave up his birthright for the hustle and blare of Nairobi, a journey to the pure heart of Masailand offers a vision of what he left behind—and a glimpse of his people's fearful future.
We’ve learned a lot in a quarter-century of roaming the planet. This month, to kick off Outside‘s silver anniversary, we’ve chosen 25 bold, epic, soul-nourishing experiences that every true adventurer must seek out—from the relatively plush and classic to the cutting-edge and hard-core. All that’s left for you is the…
Are your workouts an exercise in solitary refinement? Supercharge your performance with a little help from your friends.
It sounded like a good idea at the time: Journey to the sopping epicenter of the wettest place on earth, bag the peak, and get back in time for supper. But that was before the clouds clamped down on Mount Waialeale. Before the jungle closed in and the map became irrelevant. Before the machete-wielding, pig-hunting swamp guide said, "Would be so easy to get lost
Family outing: mom and the kids head downstream Q: I’m looking to take 30 to 40 people to Alaska for a two-week fishing/fun adventure starting in mid-June, 2002. The group will consist of some experienced Alaska fishermen, some city folks, and kids of all ages. Are there…
Follow your nose: elephants fall into line in Kenya Q: We are planning a three- to four-week backpacking journey through Africa in March. Any thoughts on where to go to get a good general impression of Africa? What about destinations preferred by typical backpackers?…
Twenty-seven specks of coral, lost in the Indian Ocean, 1,620 miles from Perth. And you thought Australia's interior was remote.
Only a few badges—Lifesaving, Dog Care, and the impossible Seven-Minute Mile among them—stood between this lapsed Scout and his boyhood dream of earning Scouting's highest honor
Innovations in synthetic insulation and a glut of high-quality down are making bags lighter and warmer than ever. We burrow into six of the best.
A paddle-perfect day on the Maine coast Q: I’m planning a kayaking trip to the Maine islands for a group of seven people. We would like to camp on one of the public islands for one night and paddle back the next day. Some of us have…
End of the road: Machu Picchu, terminus of the Inca Trail Q: I’ve heard that the Inca Trail in Peru will be closed starting in February for repairs. Despite the fact that this is a world-renowned destination, I can’t find out if this is true. Is it?…
Bergelicious: ice soup off Chile’s Patagonian coast Q: Where are the best places to sea kayak in Chilean Patagonia? Also, do you know of any outfitters in Punta Arenas that provide good equipment without international prices? Thanks, — Patrick, Lima, Peru Adventure Advisor:…
Last spring, 41-year-old Andrew McLean and 29-year-old Brad Barlage set out into the arctic wilderness of northern Canada ‘s Baffin Island for a month-long expedition in which they would complete 19 first ski-descents on runs as long as 5,100 feet. The key to the journey was an arsenal of giant…
Clip in and hang on for the 31st America's Cup—a game of skill, guile, wealth, power, pettiness, paranoia, espionage, and egomania. And the sailing's not bad, either.
Accompanying Outside‘s inside report on the battle for the 2003 America’s Cup are graphically stunning images by New York-based photographer Jeff Riedel. The 34-year-old found his way into the profession in the 1990s after his grandfather gave him an old camera and he ventured down to Virginia shoot a rally…
THE FOUNDING FISH Eric Swanson Eric Swanson BY JOHN MCPHEE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25) MCPHEE ON SHAD—what could be better? Famous for luring readers deep into surprising and esoteric subjects, from Florida citrus (Oranges, 1967) to the Swiss Army (La Place de la Concorde Suisse,…
An assault by Frodo, one of Jane Goodall's big-screen chimps, results in the death of an African child
Be the first to bag the Seven Plummets—the deepest spots in each of the Seven Seas
By Marshall Sella BEFORE HE VANISHED in Mexico in 1914, never to be heard from again, the formidable writer Ambrose Bierce, whose short stories often explored themes of horror and death, cobbled together his Devil’s Dictionary. It was a fiercely satirical work, filled with definitions such as “fidelity…
“I don’t even think of Tony as an adult,” said Phil Jennings, a 12-year-old I met at the HuckJam. “He doesn’t act like the big man. He’s one of us.”
The scientists were clinging to the side of the ice they’d been standing on, 50 feet above the waterline. In a few seconds, the berg had gone over on top of them.
“I want to get off my pills someday,” Roger says. “I think that if I stay around regular people a lot, maybe that will help me.”
A Wyoming mountain guide sounds off on a famous Teton toilet and the politics of packing it all out
Optional take-it-out policies are cropping up in our parks—but will anyone volunteer?
A Florida cemetery offers die-hard greens the ultimate in recycling—no coffins, no pickling, just a home in the loam
On Truthquest—a spirited version of MTV's Road Rules—teens go wild, but without the pagan excess
BLUE LATITUDES From Our Pages Outside adventure laureate Tim Cahill journeys from Sahara salt mines to a Jamaica yoga retreat in his new collection, Hold the Enlightenment: More Travel, Less Bliss (Villard, ). Pairing lively history with nearly 30 years of vintage photos, Jocko Weyland’s The Answer…
br NAME: LISA RANDS AGE: 26 GIG: BOULDERING SPECIALTY: TECHNICAL OUTDOOR CLIMBS HOMETOWN: BISHOP, CALIFORNIA HEIGHT: 5′ 4″ WEIGHT: 115 POUNDS SEEN NEXT: September 14 and 15 in Rovereto,…
There are easy ways to reach the North Pole—by plane, helicopter, or icebreaker. And then there's the Børge Ousland way. A super-tough son of Norway and the greatest living Arctic explorer, he likes fellow adventurers who ski hard, pull their own weight, and can take a touch of frostbite—no whimpering allowed.
Accompanying Tim Cahill’s tale of adventure among the ancient castles of the Assassins in Iran’s rugged backcountry (“Everybody Loves the Assassins“, October 2002) are images by Manhattan-based photographer Rob Howard. The journey marked the fifth collaboration between the two friends, and Howard’s second visit to Iran. Howard, whom Cahill…
For over 20 years, 47-year-old Grant Brittain has captured images of Tony Hawk pulling off tricks on a skateboard that defy human anatomy, common sense, and the laws of physics. Brittain first photographed The Birdman in the early 1980s while managing the Del Mar Skate Ranch and continues to do…
One of climbing’s most famous survival sagas began on the night of July 13, 1977, after British mountaineers CHRISTIAN BONINGTON and Doug Scott completed the first ascent of Pakistan’s 23,900-foot Baintha Brakk—a beastly massif known as The Ogre. During his rappel down, Scott swung wildly across the face and broke…
Thirteen otherwise courageous writers reveal their deepest, darkest fears in our homage to the creepy, crawly, menacing world of phobias. Prepare to squirm.
"You never know. After this summer, my whole next album could be about kayaking."