Search

On the 'easy' climbs up Mexico's volcanoes, ignorance and arrogance can be deadly. A classic story from the Backpacker archives. This classic story originally ran in the February 1996 issue [...]

Editor's Note: With a September heat wave subjecting the western U.S. to record temperatures, we're making this subscriber-only story from our print archive available to everyone. Support more great skills [...]

Mike Moe, 37, Dan Moe, 36, Sharon Kava, 37, and Brad Humphrey, 32, died of hypothermia in Baffin Bay on September 1, 1995. As Mike called out for Dan, Jushua put Mike's hand on his brother, floating facedown in the water. MEMBERS OF THE Wyoming Alpine Club - which at the time numbered around 15 - had a full slate of expeditions planned for 1995, including one that struck me as alarming: Mike had talked Dan, Sharon Kava, and Brad Humphrey into heading for the Arctic. The club expedition to Baffin Island, from left: DAN MOE, BRAD HUMPHREY, MIKE MOE, AND SHARON KAVA Mike Moe's eldest son came by the house yesterday. [Extracted from the article]

When you start a phone call by blurting out a cheery 'Congratulations!' you run the high risk of being mistaken for one of those irritating telemarketers who calls at dinner [...]

We overestimated. The trail was longer than we thought, the air thinner, and our packs heavier. An hour before sundown, Sue and I realized we weren't going to make it [...]

AFTER PUMPING MORE THAN 660 GALLONS OF WILDERNESS WATER THROUGH THE LATEST CROP OF FILTERING DEVICES, OUR 51 TESTERS FOUND OUT WHICH ONES STAND UP TO THE WILD, WET BACKCOUNTRY. [...]

SOMETIMES, FILTERING THE TRUTH FROM ALL THE HYPE IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT SAFE BACKCOUNTRY DRINKING. water. It's the fundamental ingredient of life. Nothing else on the planet compares. Sex, [...]

I grew up on the high plains of Wyoming where the wind howled. I don't mean this as a figure of speech. The wind, literally, howled. I remember as a [...]

Features Outside Magazine June/July 2020 HO AND HSI WERE THE COURT ASTROLOGERS FOR CHINESE EMPEROR CHUNG KANG IN 2136 B.C. THROUGHOUT HISTORY, CHINESE RULERS - WHO WERE SOMETIMES PARANOID MEGALOMANIACS- USED ASTRONOMICAL DIVINATION TO JUSTIFY THEIR OFTE N ECCE NTRIC DECISIONS, AND A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE WAS BELIEVED TO BE A BAD OMEN. Did you know that eclipses are - " And with that he was off, launching into a lecture about their indescribable spiritual power and how this power is intimately connected to ancient horoscopes and how seeing an eclipse can change your life even more than crystals or pyramids or ayahuasca or Burning Man. Large found him both entertaining and annoying. If an eclipse occurs when the moon is close to Earth and the sun is far from Earth, the moon appears to fully block out the sun, causing a total solar eclipse. Matt "Large" Hebard (left) with the author on the summit of Colorado's Mount Harvard in fall 2019 The total solar eclipse of July 2, 2019, as seen from Chile's Atacama Desert SOME LIKE IT DARK A total solar eclipse is the perfect excuse for an epic adventure. [Extracted from the article]

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of mountaineering expedition on Nyambo Konka peak in China.

I have a friend whose two favorite activities are fishing and cross-country skiing. The last time he went fishing was 9 months ago. The last time he went skiing was [...]

If something goes wrong, just burrow into the snow and spend the night.' I hear this all the time from hunters, backpackers, skiers, and people who work at outdoor retail [...]

Just a few generations ago a true outdoorsman--sailor, scout, woodsman, muleskinner, or mountain man--couldn't survive in the wilds without an extensive repertoire of knots. There was a knot for every [...]

If you were hiking the trails before Gore-Tex, polypropylene, and Pearl Jam hit the scene, you've probably heard of Stephenson. For three decades it has been a backcountry name with [...]

The article presents a personal narrative which explores the author's experience of mountain climbing with college student at the University of Wyoming Caleb Owen who was almost half the age of the author.

By Ray Jardine. AdventureLore Press, Box 804, LaPine, OR 97739; $18.95. 8.95. Web site: http://members.aol.com/ advenlore/alpweb.htm. Once every two or three decades a book comes along that fundamentally reshapes how [...]

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experiences related to acquiring outdoor recreation accidents and taking a wilderness medicine course.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of traveling to Norway's Hardangervidda Plateau to commemorate the 100th anniversary of explorer Roald Amundsen's adventure to the South Pole.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of participating in the Death Race in Pittsfield, Vermont.

The article discusses the author's experience in life and his mountain climbing adventures with his best friend named Mike Moe. The author and his friend Mike made an adventure to climb the Diamond on a cold weather of June in Wyoming. He notes that he and Mike have been climbing the Diamond for 20 years. He recalls that they both did big expeditions, after college. He also mentions when they both moved back to Wyoming in 1990, bought houses, and started families.

The article investigates the disappearance of American climbers Sue Nott and Karen McNeill on Mount Foraker in Alaska. It has been found out that McNeill and Nott had initially considered going to Foraker with just one sleeping bag to save weight. Somewhere between May 15 and 20, 2006, the weather was still good and the two women were climbing in the sun and on pace. It was speculated that both were blown off or they tried to burrow into the snow and froze to death in 50-below windchill.

This article presents an interview with mountaineers Neal Beidleman, Guy Cotter, Dave Hahn and Ed Viesturs. When asked on whether Mount Everest can be guided safely, they all answered that it takes over two summit days. They added that mountaineers should be always expect weather changes when climbing the mountain.

The article narrates the author's family beach vacation experience with his family in the tourism industry. The author experienced mental fatigue that he became easily irritated by little things before he decided for a vacation. The author chose to spend their family vacation in El Salvador for its promising beach accommodations and potential rock climbing.

The article relates to the author's experience in climbing Nyambo Konka mountain in Tibet, China. The two-man expedition, due to the unclear terrain, managed to climb right up beneath a dangerously, quarter-mile-long hanging glacier. The two man team experience an avalanche which has partially flattened their tiny tent. The author has failed to reach their goals but the challenge is still there.

Recounts the experience of the author and companions in their journey in Vakhan Corridor, Afghanistan after the successful ascent on Koh-i-Bardar mountain. Historical background and description of the place; Identification of the people they met on their way to Tajikistan while passing the Vakhan Corridor; Fearful situations that they have encountered in their journey; Lifestyle and condition of the villagers in the particular place.

Relates the experience of the author about forging a friendship in adventure. Connection between the cyclists; Independence of Lithuania; Fragility of friendship.

Focuses on the need for radical changes in high-altitude mountaineering. Mountaineering experiences of the author; 1924 Third British Everest Expedition; Description of climbing as a game by climber Lito Tejada-Flores; Rules in mountaineering; Use of science in mountaineering.

Discusses common misconceptions and miscalculations about risks in outdoor sports and recreation. Knowing the difference between legitimate danger and irrational fear in modern adventure; Experiencing near-fatal accidents; Danger of underestimating risk and overestimating one's ability and unproductiveness of overestimating risk and underestimating one's ability; Appreciation of and preparation for real risks.

Relates the author's adventures during a search for the swamp gum, the tallest hardwood tree in the world, inside a mixed old-growth forest in Styx Valley, Tasmania. Background information about Tasmania; Efforts by environmentalists to save Tasmania's wilderness; Description of the trees that the author encountered while inside the forest.

Relates the author's experiences during a climbing experience on Dead Cholla Wall in New Mexico where he encountered an accident and committed some injuries. Experiences before and after the exploration; Hospitalization; Personal realizations.

Relates the author's experiences during his travel to Africa with the Mountain Club of Uganda. Mountaineering and scientific expeditions; Rock and mountain climbing; Prevalence of adventure sports; Trekking activities; Exploration of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park.

Explores the rarest and most ephemeral morphological features of glacier ice caves in Iceland. Geography of the country; Types of glacial caves; Scenery in the ice cavern.

Profiles French pilot, poet, and adventure writer Antoine de Saint-Exupépery, whose plane went missing in July 1944 while he was flying across the Ligurian Sea en route to Corsica, France. His account of a night flight over the Sahara Desert in the 1930s during which his plane almost got lost; Description of his character and physical appearance; Discovery of his plane off the southern coast of France in 2003; Details of his writing career.

Profiles Tim Severin, an explorer. Voyage experience aboard the Brendan, a twin-masted Irish curragh; Recipient of the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society; Advice to individuals planning for an expedition; Writing of a book about his expedition experiences.

Describes the experience of piloting near Saint George, Utah an ultralight, a three-wheeled go-cart powered by an oversize lawn-mower engine and hung by cords from a parachute. Flight controls on Powrachute Rascal ultralight; Chance to have a bird's-eye view of the earth; Success in preventing the ultralight from smashing into a barbed wire fence; Background on the development of ultralight; Unique ability of ultralight to fly low and slow; Categories of modern ultralights; Learning how to fly; Common mistakes in ultralight flying.

Reports on the transportation system in Ghana. Economic feasibility and reliability of bicycling; Status symbol in the African country; Business of local bike dealers.

Recounts the author's and his family's experience during and following their relocation from the U.S. to Malaga, Spain. Description of the community to which they moved; Reasons for the move to Spain; Children's schooling; Adjustment to the Spanish way of life.

Documents an experience in climbing the snow mountains of Eiger, Switzerland. Details on the route of the trip; Complexities encountered in ascending the mountain slopes; Changes in the area's terrain.

Shares personal thoughts of hiking alone up an alpine, the highest peak, in New Zealand. Sleeping problem; Recollection of the day's activities before sleeping; Visions of possible accidents; Characteristics which make alpinists suited to the task; Hiking tools; Activities at various huts situated in the different valleys of New Zealand; Descriptions of the mountains traversed during the journey; Postclimb debriefings; Finding a partner to climb the rest of the mountains.

Narrates the author's experience in traveling through the Burma Road connecting Burma and China. Visit at the Namsai Buddhist Vihara monastery for boys; Length of the road; Desire of the author to discover what happened to the Stillwell Road which is part of the unfinished Burma Road.

Details how solitary day hiker Aron Ralston survived an ordeal at the Horseshoe Canyon Wilderness in Utah by cutting off his hand to free himself from a fallen boulder. Circumstances that led to the accident; Several attempts made by Ralston to free himself from the boulder; Ralston's decision to break his arm near the wrist to extricate himself.

Relates the expeditions of Robert Burke and William Willis, the first white men to cross Australia. Implication of Australia's discovery on communication and commerce; Mystery of Australia's frontier; Details of the expeditions.

Presents the author's reflections on his travel to Suriname, the homeland of the Saramaka people. Saramaka people's maintenance of a remote wilderness civilization in the country's jungle interior; History of slavery in the country; Government's sale of logging concessions to the land of the Saramaka.

Describes six places in Mexico which are most suitable for outdoor games and adventures. Todos Santos; San Sebastian Hacienda; Bicycle routes in Parras de la Fuente.

Recounts the author's experience of taking an enchainment adventure in the French Alps. Background on the concept of enchainment or the scaling of several mountains or walls in succession; Perils of the activity; Popular enchainment spots in the U.S.

Comments on mountaineers who get lost. Experience of a mountaineer who was lost in the Himalayas; Application of GPS in navigation; Importance of a paper maps.

Presents an article on climbing the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. Efforts in locating the mountain; Background of Todd Skinner, one of the climbers of the mountain; Difficulties encountered in climbing the mountain.

Profiles several ocean rowers. Debra Veal; Tori Murden; Rob Hamill.

Presents an article about a biking adventure in the mountains of Colorado.

Focuses on the winter and mountain warfare training of United States (U.S.) Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. Relevance of the training given at the Center in the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan; Overview of the skills training and drill activities in the program; Details on an instructor's training program in Alaska.