Adventure
ArchiveOutside magazine, July 1999 Walk Softly, and Spoil Yourself Rotten Who says traveling light is right when it comes to car camping? By Donovan Webster Gimme Shelter |…
Outside magazine, September 1996 That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger John Stamstad is his own weird science project, a 135-pound, mountain-bike-based experiment in the limits of human endurance By Todd Balf A wintry sun is setting on the Kentucky…
Majoring in business administration, with graduate studies in the theory and practice of booty shaking
Outside magazine, March 1997 Oh, Brothers When trouble came to the happy but peculiar Isle of Sark, it took the form of twins By Richard Todd Although, as it turned out, there are far better reasons for going to the…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Comebacks: The Big 4:00 Miler Steve Scott’s post-op dreams of one more for the record books By Todd Balf After doctors diagnosed U.S. mile record holder Steve Scott with testicular cancer in May 1994, he was given two…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Reality Bites The honeymoon for Yellowstone National Park’s new gray wolf population appears to be over. In February alone, a string of incidents reminded federal officials just how tough predator reintroduction can be: On February 5, officials were forced to destroy…
Outside magazine, June 1999 Wave Good-bye to the Fiberglass Moose Beyond the yacht clubs and the outlet malls, you’ll find the Maine that’s worth stopping for My Delta, Myself |…
Outside magazine, August 1995 Voice Part for a Duet The biology and mystery of monogamy By David Quammen Two intriguing statistics recently grabbed my attention. They concern that remarkable form of social behavior known as monogamy. Roughly 92 percent of all bird…
Outside magazine, September 1997 Onward, Fluffy Soldiers Getting down and dirty with Swampy and his mates in an untidy but very British war By Bruce Schoenfeld At the edge of a rolling meadow in England’s Bollin Valley, on a bright…
News from the Field, February 1997 Snowboarding: No, Seriously…I Am the World Champ Jeff Greenwood’s Olympic-size struggle to prove he’s the best By Mike Finkel It was snowy mayhem: a pack of boisterous, red-cheeked boys, Jeff Greenwood’s teammates on the U.S.
The Downhill Report, December 1996 Free Skiing! And a slew of other ways to hang on to your cash By Meg Lukens Noonan The next time you hear someone gripe about the high cost of skiing, speak up. You could say,…
 Outside magazine, October 1997 Roof of the World, Center of a Universe Jostling between the spiritual and the secular in Kathmandu, once and future base camp for all manner of quests By Bob Shacochis “And the wildest dreams…
 Outside magazine, December 1996 Come to Happyland Discover Burma, the dictators say, Southeast Asia’s most beautiful and friendly country. And so he did. A visit to an anesthetized state. By Michael Paterniti In the monsoon twilight, the clamor of Rangoon…
In the telecentric world of the X Games, only when it's not on the tube
Dispatches, September 1998 Law Blue Eyes, Medium Build. Last Seen Heading West on a Vintage Hartail. What does a mountain-biking pioneer do when his cocaine-smuggling past finally catches up with him? He rides like hell. By Hampton Sides There’s…
Outside magazine, November 1995 Ballooning: Let the Hot Air Begin By Todd Balf (with Joe Glickman) Get out your telescopes: No fewer than three international teams are scheduled to lift off this month in hopes of becoming the first to circumnavigate the world nonstop…
Outside magazine, June 2000 Peter Bray in the Drink: A play-by-play account of the plucky kayaker’s 30-hour attempt to keep his leaking boat afloat By David Friedland At about 8 PM on June 17th, Peter Bray…
Travel Guide, Winter 1995-1996 Just Don’t Call Us Shredders By Eric Blehm Snowboarders despise hearing people yell things from the lifts like “Dude, shred it up!” almost as much as they despise the snowless summer. Why? Because the terms are usually out of date.
Outside magazine, March 2001 Down with Ed THANK YOU FOR your enlightening profile of Ed Viesturs (“The Immovable Object Meets the Unstoppable Force,” December). As a novice mountaineer with a family of my own,…
Adventure Special, March 1999 The Alpha Class A few more unrivaled masters By David Roberts The Explorer: Borge Ûusland If any explorer deserves to inherit the mantle of Roald Amundsen ù regarded as the finest…
Outside magazine, May 1997 Letters: Island Life Tad Friend’s article “Lost at Sea” (March) speaks the truth about a would-be paradise. The Marshall Islands could attract tourists, but first the islanders need to be freed from the intoxicating effect of Uncle Sam.
 Outside Magazine, November 1994 Bill Stone in the Abyss His life’s obsession has been to get to the bottom of the world’s deepest cave. Two team members have already died. How much farther is he prepared to go? By Craig Vetter…
Outside magazine, June 1999 Don’t Get Used to It. Get Good at It. Falling happens, but it doesn’t have to hurt Good balance is essential, sure, but as spectacularly demonstrated by the…
Dispatches, August 1998 Cuisine How ‘Bout We Just Nibble on Them a Bit? In Vietnam a scourge of rats puts the crimp on fine feline dining By Jonathan Birchall Ok, it’s now official: by formal government…
Outside magazine, April 1995 Cowboy Nation: King of the Yee-Hah He knows everything there is to know about life in the saddle. Catch him at a 100-mph gallop, and he’ll tell you all about it. By Tim Cahill Four or five…
Outside magazine, July 1994 Not As Bad, But Still Not Nice Seven other places where you can expect the unexpected By Debra Shore Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee This is a drive-through park, so it’s not surprising that…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Are you Ready for the Bubbalympics? With a skybox rife with sponsors and a slate of flashy new events–plus 10,000 supremely gifted athletes–the pinnacle of sports breaks from its past. By Paul Kvinta There’s a reason they…
Outside magazine, August 1996 Will Work for…Several Million Bucks With Lance Armstrong dominating the Tour DuPont last May, many wondered why his team’s sponsor, Motorola, chose the occasion to declare that it wouldn’t be backing the squad in ’97. Actually, the timing for the announcement…
Outside magazine, October 1994 Essentials: Dry-Land Precautions By John L Stein It’s not the wear that usually ruins dive gear–it’s the care, or rather the lack thereof. Some precautionary tips to keep things in good working order above the surface, so you’ll encounter no surprises below:…
Outside magazine, November 1995 Books: War of the Green Soothsayers By Miles Harvey In a Dark Wood: The Fight over Forests and the Rising Tyranny of Ecology, by Alston Chase (Houghton Mifflin Co., $29.95); The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals, Timeless…
News from the Field, December 1996 Equipage: It’s a Boat. It’s a Plane. It’s… …well, we were right the first time. On the leading edge of sailing technology, a futuristic hybrid is born By Anne Goodwin Sides Amid the sleek, blue-blooded…
Outside magazine, January 1999 This, in Fact, Will Hurt a Bit The champ’s plan to get you to the next level To hone your athletic prowess, Huffins suggests that you look inward — to your body’s…
Outside magazine, January 1993 Triathlon: The Souls of Two Machines It’s deja vu all over again at the Hawaii Ironman By Ken McAlpine Mark Allen and Paula Newby-Fraser measure about the same on the triathlon immortality meter: Between them they…
Outside magazine, April 1995 Cowboy Nation: The Song Man: Sagebrush Troubadour Every culture has its musical spokesman. For cowpeople, it’s Ian Tyson. By Tim Cahill A big damn hand came out of the sky and tapped Ian Tyson on the shoulder.
Dispatches, May 1998 EXPEDITIONS Everest, the Really Hard Way Tom Whittaker, amputee mountaineer, sets his sights on the roof of the world By Jonathan Hanson You can talk to Tom Whittaker for hours and not once will he refer…
Outside magazine, May 1999 To Hell with Me Looking for answers in “a place of unquenchable fire,” where the blind seer is open for business but the gift shop closes at half past two By Mark…
Outside magazine, July 1995 Mountain Biking: Dear Juli, Wish We Could Spin Like You By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and Alison Osius) At April’s Hawaiian Mountain Tour, the first major mountain-bike stage race in the United States, the Hawaii Five-O theme played during…
Dispatches, August 1997 L A N D M A R K S Are You Sure the Kennedys Live Around Here? After 62 years of shelling on New England’s summer playground, the EPA orders the military to hold its fire By…
Dispatches, August 1998 Philanthropy An Unexpected Cash Flow How a grungy river rat’s $13 million bequest is changing the West By Mark Obmascik A respected if somewhat scruffy whitewater guide based in Moab, Utah, Steve Arrowsmith lived…
Outside magazine, November 1997 Remember, They Scoffed at Aspen, Too A Mexican developer’s enterprising plan to bring skiing south of the border By Chris Humphrey Allan Bard, 1952-1997 Of Allan Bard’s many trailblazing…
Women Outside, Fall 1998 You, Incorporated A portfolio of entrepreneurial successes shows that investing in your own dream is always, ahem, a capital idea By Susan Enfield Chances are you know your office PC’s start-up rumblings and I’m-saving-now hiccups…
Women Outside, Fall 1998 XOXO Bitch! An homage to those of us fortunate enough to have the upper hand By Mike Grudowski Everyone has heard of nature’s most notorious femmes fatales, the black widow and the praying mantis. Their habit of…
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: Dolores: Whole Lotta Illin’ Comin’ On Prognostications ’96 Dolores Cannon, a 64-year-old, Huntsville, Arkansas-based occultist whose friendly face is at odds with her terrifying predictions, is the author of the three-volume Conversations with Nostradamus. The books…
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: Apologizing Toward Bethlehem A few blocks from where the LAPD showed Rodney King that we can’t all get along, John Dawson is trying to prove that we can–if we say we’re sorry. A native New Zealander, Dawson, 43, is…
Outside magazine, March 1995 Skills: Getting an Early Hold on Climbing Season By Nancy Prichard An early-season climb can be a humbling experience: No matter how many moguls you mastered over the winter, that first afternoon at the crag can make you feel like…
Outside magazine, December 1995 Environment: Thank You, Sirs, May I Have Another? Bruce Babbitt braces for another whipping By Florence Williams Jayne Belnap spent much of last year watching a ten-foot-long plastic tube suck air in the Utah desert. Hitched to a…
Outside magazine, June 1994 Do Unto Smelt Thumpers The six commandments of fly-fishing humility By Randy Wayne White Fly-fishing, at its best, is a craft and so affords a studied, even serious approach, though that doesn’t mean that those who approach…
Outside magazine, August 1999 True Crimes While I bemoan changes in the Huichol Indians’ traditional way of life, I do not believe the murder of journalist Philip True last spring can be justified by the fact…
Outside magazine, September 1994 Triathlon: The Fugitives By Todd Balf (with Martin Dugard and John Alderman) In true hardball style, the International Triathlon Union flexed its muscle last May, and the result was a season-long suspension of the sport’s top stars, Americans Mark Allen, Scott Tinley,…
Outside magazine, December 1995 The Queen Has Left the Building By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta It wasn’t how Paula Newby-Fraser had envisioned her au revoir at the Hawaii Ironman. And for those packing the sidelines, it was hard to watch. But with just…
Outside magazine, January 1997 He’s Not Worthy A portrait of a millionaire at a crux. By Craig Vetter CONSIDER YVON CHOUINARD. To the world that once made him happy, he says: YOU’RE DOOMED. To the…
Outside magazine, March 1998 Darwin, Darwin, He’s our Man! Same old story: New guy moves into your ecosystem, invites a few buddies over, and the next thing you know they’ve naturally selected you out of house and home. Introducing your Invasive Species All-Stars.
Outside magazine, January 1996 The Outside Prognosticator: On Your Mark…Get Set…Strike A Pose Ever notice how many outdoor athletes are spiking their hair, piercing their noses, getting mad, getting whimsical, or otherwise trademarking a “unique” attitude? Below, a sampler of gimmicks that work, circa 1996. Because…
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, 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, 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, September 1995 Expeditions: The Iceman Conquereth Richard Weber and Misha Malakhov skied to the top of the world and then skied home, without help of any kind. Can anyone top that? By Jon Bowermaster It must have been quite a…
Travel Guide, Winter 1995-1996 Islands You’ve Never Heard Of By Jonathan Runge Culebra Just 17 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico, Culebra has been bypassed by the tourists crowding its parent island. This 11-square-mile, wishbone-shaped islet is defined as much by what…
Outside magazine, October 1996 Recreation:Warning: Trail Closures Next 3,000 Miles The Park Service settles out of court, and an ominous new era looms By Florence Williams Upon learning that two government agencies had agreed to pay him and his fellow plaintiffs…
Outside magazine, April 1996 Kiss, Kiss, It’s Uta Pippig! The fastest woman who ever ran Boston, on foes, fears, and the perils of German cheesecake By John Tayman When Hollywood makes the movie of Uta Pippig’s life, Meg Ryan will get the…
Outside magazine, January 1997 Man Overboard An unconventional eulogy for a most unconventional friend By Randy Wayne White On a moonless night some years ago, my friend Bobby Fizer jumped without warning from a speeding boat into a dark saltwater…
Review: Hardware and Software, January 1997 Scarpa T3 Telemark Boot By Andrew Tilin Telemark skiers tend to be purists. no matter how warm, waterproof, supportive, and durable boots made of plastic may be, the hard core scoff that they just don’t flex like…
Outside magazine, July 1996 Books: The Smug and the Homey By Miles Harvey Notes from a Small Island: An Affectionate Portrait of Britain, by Bill Bryson (William Morrow, $25). As his previous works, such as The Lost Continent, have so delightfully demonstrated,…
Gone Summering, July 1998 Avast Ye, Matey – Find Your Own Damn Cove The Maine coast has more landmarks than names. Much to the delight of possessive types. By Tracy Kidder TŠte-€-TŠte with Penobscot Bay…
Dispatches, July 1998 Sport A Man Among Prettyboys Mitch Kahn, venerable dean of an unsung sport, prepares once more to defend his title By Bill Donahue There’s something Mitch Kahn wants you to know: He’s nothing like Mitch Buchanan,…
 Out Front, October 1997 Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot … Together again: the noble, the menacing, the triumphant, the pratfalling, and other unforgettable elements of the outdoor universe GEORGE WILLIG ———————- The Human Fly has been grounded…
Out Front, October 1997 Sorry, No Can Do Five athletic achievements you might as well give up on now By Todd Balf In the last two decades, all manner of lofty athletic goals have fallen by the wayside. Miguel Indurain…
The Downhill Report, December 1996 My Type of Gomorrah, Aspen Is Yes, all you naysayers, skiing and caviar do mix By Craig Vetter Aspen Mountain, the red-hot center of schuss-n-glitz, celebrates the golden anniversary of Lift 1 this year, and despite…
Dispatches, May 1997 Art: Let’s Just Say It’s Not Whistler’s Mother By Peter Von Ziegesar “You can compare his work to the grueling physicality of climbing a mountain or negotiating a whitewater stream,” enthuses Robert Riley, curator of media arts at the…
Outside magazine, January 1998 The 1998 Outside Prognosticator Curious events to unfold in the coming year throughout the worlds of outdoor endeavor, environment, amphibians By David Rakoff Gotham Embraces Gator Reintroduction Scheme; Rats say “Rats” Remember the good old…
Outside magazine, March 1996 Equipage: Watch Your Backside, Fido… But fear for your life, O woolly mammoth By Michael Finkel “I’m the first person in a couple thousand years to bring home the bacon using this weapon,” says William “Atlatl Bob” Perkins.
Outside magazine, June 1996 Sniff the Granite, Grasshopper Summiting America’s Matterhorn may not be easy, but that lingering smell alone is worth the effort By Chip Brown The night before the climb we turned in early, wasted and footsore. We had hiked…
Outside magazine, September 1996 Sport: Did Not. Did Too. Did Not… After a semi-successful Cuba–U.S. swim attempt, a feud is born By Paul Kvinta Susie Maroney has had better mornings. At 6 a.m. on June 8, just two hours after leaving Havana…
Outside magazine, September 1996 Out There: The Big Queasy Feeling a touch of seasickness? Try giving conventional wisdom a heave. By Randy Wayne White Recently I was forced to notify the Human Movement and Balance Unit of the United Kingdom’s Medical…
He rescued some of the West's hallowed lands. He became one of the most influential environmental leaders of the century. In the process, he sacrificed friends, family, and anyone who couldn't keep up. Now, alone in the twilight, how does the archdruid make peace with it all?
 Outside magazine, March 1997 Lost At Sea Tragic are the people of the lovely Marshall Islands. When America exploded the A-bomb it took their homes, and when it gave comfort it took their ambition, and when it offered only craven solutions it…
Outside magazine, May 1996 Great Openings “As a former academic and a natural history book reviewer I was astonished to discover, on being threatened with a two-month exile to the primary jungles of Borneo, just how fast a man can read. Powerful as your scholarly instincts…