When veteran climber Mark Jenkins came up with a plan to witness a solar spectacle from the summit of a 20,000-foot peak, he had little idea what he was getting himself into. The fact that the obscure mountain in Argentina he’d targeted was extremely difficult to access was just the start of his challenges. After recruiting an old climbing buddy to join him, and arriving safely in South America, the duo ran into trouble at every stage of their mission. And yet their bold and bumbling quest deliv...
Jun 21, 2023•28 min
Working the front lines of America’s wildfires is a difficult and dangerous job, but that doesn’t mean everyone who signs up is chasing adventure. While physical and mental challenges are part of the attraction, what draws many to the field is the camaraderie that comes with working in an unpredictable environment alongside a committed crew. And what makes a great firefighter isn’t a high tolerance for risk so much as the ability to be calm and assertive no matter what the day brings. In this ep...
Jun 14, 2023•32 min
As America continues to grapple with political uncertainty and an uneasy relationship with the planet, the author and environmentalist makes the case for an expansive and inclusive grassroots movement. McKibben, who wrote the first book on climate change for a general audience in 1989 and later founded the international climate campaign 350.org with a small group of college students, has lately been focused on growing Third Act, a nonprofit that organizes people over the age of 60 to take action...
Jun 07, 2023•46 min
Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s new film, ‘Wild Life,’ captures the saga of Doug and Kristine Tompkins, whose devotion to conservation and each other led to the creation of extraordinary national parks in Chile and Argentina. For Chin, the origins of the documentary go back more than 20 years, when he was first welcomed into a group of climbers who were friends of the Tompkinses, including Rick Ridgeway and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. Eventually, Chin met the Tompkinses and lear...
May 31, 2023•27 min
Among the world’s harrowing marine survival stories, the strangest might be a crew’s escape from one of the earliest submarines. It was 1851, and the 26-foot-long sub, designed and captained by a Prussian carpenter, was powered by a couple sailors spinning treadwheels. When the vessel floundered during a trial run and began sinking to the bottom of a German harbor, there was only one very frightening way to get out alive—which is why the crew got into what was almost certainly the first-ever und...
May 24, 2023•20 min
You don’t have to be an astrology buff to believe that the moon and stars have a special kind of power in our lives. Talk to almost anyone who’s spent time in the wilderness, and they’ll tell you that there’s a connection between celestial bodies and our own. In this episode, an astrology skeptic explores how our adventures can sync us up with otherworldly cycles and forces in ways that we don’t yet understand. The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many be...
May 17, 2023•30 min
When the largest tornado ever recorded touched down in central Oklahoma, amateur storm chasers, professional meteorologists, and thrill seekers were expecting a show. What they got was a deadly lesson in the unpredictable power of nature. On May 31, 2013, forecasters warned that the approaching system posed extreme danger, but that didn’t do much to scare away anyone willing to risk it all to get close to a Category 5 tornado. For them, the fact that science couldn’t fully explain how a twister ...
May 10, 2023•37 min
How have these indoor spaces have become hubs for the outdoor community? Over the last four decades, climbing has gone from a countercultural activity that took place entirely on natural rock walls to a highly competitive sport that, for the most part, happens inside. And yet, the scene a climbing gym very different than what you find in a yoga studio or spinning class. There’s something special about roping up, even if there’s a ceiling over your head. We dispatched our intrepid producer, Maren...
May 03, 2023•29 min
When a BASE jumper slammed into a red-rock tower and his parachute snagged on a ledge, there was only one way to save his life: go up and get him. That’s how climber River Barry ended up getting suddenly pulled into a daring rescue operation in Utah. In this episode from the team at the Out Alive podcast, we hear how Barry snapped into action and took charge during a perilous moment. With no formal rescue training, she had to improvise—and put all her skills to the test. The Outside Podcast is m...
Apr 26, 2023•34 min
Some experiences are unforgettable for both very bad and very good reasons. A violent car wreck that ends up putting you on a path to the summit of Mount Everest, for example. Or an injury that ends your Olympic dreams but introduces you to the love of your life. Or a bike crash that leaves you literally naked on the trail—but with a reminder of your great luck. Because sometimes it’s the hard left turn that makes everything go right. The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers....
Apr 19, 2023•38 min
In her podcast, FOGO: Fear of Going Outside, Ivy Le takes on the great outdoors—very, very reluctantly. The result is a lot of jokes about poop, icky things in nature, and why people choose to sleep on the ground. But FOGO also offers a refreshing take on a nature show: Ivy is the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants and she presents an alternative approach to the “reckless white men” that she says have dominated this space. In her first season, Ivy learned to camp. This year, she upped the ante an...
Apr 12, 2023•30 min
Chasing the elusive permit fish is an exhausting endeavor for the most seasoned anglers. So why would a total newbie even try? That was the question facing Paddy O’Connell, who was invited to fish for permit at the spectacular Blue Horizon lodge in Belize with a legendary guide. Paddy had always embraced adventure, but like a lot of outdoor athletes, he hated being terrible at new sports in front of other people…which meant that this trip would be a radical—and likely painful—learning experience...
Apr 06, 2023•38 min
Challenging solo trips can be immensely rewarding. Just ask competitive bikepackers, who ride grueling courses through the backcountry carrying everything they need to survive. Completing these multiday journeys requires embracing solitude; in fact, for many riders, that’s the appeal. This week we present an episode from the talented team at Radiolab that features one of the stars of the sport, Lael Wilcox, plus an everyday athlete who latched onto bikepacking at what was already the loneliest m...
Mar 29, 2023•46 min
There’s no more difficult or uncomfortable physical challenge than holding your breath underwater for an extended period. Which is why the Air Force has long made breath holds part of its training programs for parajumpers, or parachute rescue specialists. If your duty is to pull downed military personnel from waters all over the world, you need to prove your ability to perform in the most hostile and unforgiving conditions. In this classic episode from our archives, we join a parajumper candidat...
Mar 22, 2023•45 min
When Scott Pirsig’s close friend Bob Sturtz suffered a stroke deep in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, Pirsig had no choice but to leave him in the wilderness and make a desperate sprint to get help. The two men had been on an early-spring canoeing adventure when Sturtz started acting strangely: it started with a headache, then he became disoriented, lost control of his hands, and stopped speaking. Pirsig’s only choice was zip him into a sleeping bag and beg him to stay put while he raced off into t...
Mar 15, 2023•44 min
Why do we keep skiing, despite the crowds, the cost, and the unpredictable conditions? Spend an entire day on a chairlift and you’ll find out. Outside contributing editor Gloria Liu rode up and down (and up and down…) a lift at Truckee’s Northstar California Resort, talking to fellow skiers and snowboarders about the many hassles and challenges to enjoying a day in the mountains—and what makes all the effort worth it, at least some of the time. The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ su...
Mar 08, 2023•28 min
In Aspen, Colorado, and other alpine communities, the future depends on making sure the weirdos and oddballs are still welcome. That’s what gets concerned locals the most animated: any suggestion that their neighborhoods are becoming exclusive playgrounds for the rich, forcing out the gonzo characters that help make them so special. What’s needed, according to planning experts and many longtime residents, are smarter growth strategies that include affordable housing, increased transportation opt...
Mar 01, 2023•31 min
She was one of the world’s best big-mountain freeskiers—and then, suddenly, she decided she was done. Angel Collinson’s announcement shocked the sport and left fans wondering what was going on. The fact that she’d started living full-time on a sailboat with her partner, and without and solid plans for what was next, only made people more curious. As Collinson, 29, tells it, after more than a decade of ripping down insanely steep slopes, trying to “make friends" with her fear, she began to questi...
Feb 22, 2023•29 min
For an episode of our new podcast, The Daily Rally, the professional skier talks about learning to get out of his own way while on an expedition in Alaska. He was on Denali, struggling mightily to keep up with his extremely fit teammates as they climbed towards the summit. At first, he tried to convince them to slow down. When they ignored him, he was furious. Then he took a moment to look at himself—and realized that what was really making him angry was his own bruised ego. That realization fre...
Feb 15, 2023•13 min
Emily Pennington wanted to see it all. But life on the road was fiercer than she ever imagined. After almost half a decade of planning a cross-country expedition to see every one of America’s National Parks, she quit her job, left her home and her boyfriend in Los Angeles, and set off in her van to find herself in January of 2020. Almost right away, a pandemic, a string of natural disasters, and a breakup sent her veering way off her roadmap—and searching for healing in the unforgiving magnifice...
Feb 08, 2023•27 min
After suffering a brutal accident while on a kite-skiing expedition in Patagonia, Jim Harris’s painstaking recovery took a sudden leap forward when he had an experience with magic mushrooms. The adventure photographer had been pushing hard with his rehabilitation efforts and making impressive progress, but when he took mushrooms while at a music festival to have some fun, something very unexpected happened: suddenly, muscle groups in his legs that had been unresponsive since his injury started f...
Feb 01, 2023•29 min
Endurance athlete Mallory Arnold was struggling with extreme fatigue when her coach made an unexpected suggestion: start eating meat again. Arnold, 26, had adopted a plant-based diet in high school and was initially reluctant to reincorporate to animal protein. But she was also desperate to avoid the post-training crashes that left her passed out on the floor. So she decided to give meat a try—and immediately realized that she had no clue how to cook even a simple chicken breast. Thus began a jo...
Jan 25, 2023•25 min
For a community of hardy souls in Maine, there’s no better way to feel fully alive in winter than immersing yourself in the frigid Atlantic. Yes, the entrance is jolting. But if you take it slow, you allow for what members of the group call “a conversation with the nervous system” that produces a sensation you can’t achieve any other way: a powerful, blossoming inner warmth that’s both delightful and grounding, leaving you with a lasting elevated mood and enhanced feelings of empathy and respons...
Jan 18, 2023•22 min
Figuring out how to get better sleep and more excise and is hard—which is why we tried out some new programs for you. Every year, Outside reporters put their bodies and minds on the line to test new routines designed to help us become healthier, happier, more productive human beings. Hear from three of this year’s subjects about what stuck, what didn’t, and how you can benefit from our mistakes.
Jan 11, 2023•31 min
If you’ve ever seen a skier pull a hot dog out of a jacket pocket while on a chairlift or devour a towering plate of nachos back at the lodge, you know that few athletes chase calories harder than skiers. And with good reason. Charging down a mountain in the cold empties your body’s glycogen stores—fail to refuel, and you’re going to get sore and sad very quickly. And when it comes to favorite power-up snacks, every skier has an opinion, from endless gummy worms to peanut butter straight from th...
Jan 04, 2023•26 min
Escaping the craziness of the season to head into the wild can sound amazing—right up until that overnight snowstorm crushes your tent. Because while the appeal of getting out there, away from the bustle of parties and gifts and eggnog, can inspire especially bold trips, there might be nothing more disappointing than a holiday mission that ends in disaster. For our final episode of 2022, we bring you a collection of tales from intrepid travelers who learned the hard way that eating dry turkey wh...
Dec 14, 2022•30 min
Witnessing the Aurora Borealis can feel like you’re glimpsing another world. For some people, that’s exactly what’s happening. Photographer Hugo Sanchez captured his first images of the spectacle accidentally, when he was taking shots of a meteor shower. But soon he became hooked, and then, when his young son died, the dancing lights took on a whole new meaning. In this replay of one our favorite episodes from our archives, we hear the story of a man who found a sense of purpose in the wintertim...
Dec 07, 2022•30 min
Talk to the victims of crashes and their families, and they’ll tell you: when a motor vehicle injures or kills a bicyclist, the American justice system lets drivers off the hook. The harsh truth is that our roads are frighteningly dangerous for cyclists, and our country has a high tolerance for traffic deaths. In this episode, part of Outside’s ongoing coverage of cycling crashes and deaths, we chronicle two incidents that reveal deep problems with our legal system and consider the work that nee...
Nov 30, 2022•29 min
Racing around a mountain resort to aid injured skiers sounds like the ultimate adventure job. But with housing and other costs soaring, getting paid in fun is no longer cutting it. Last year a battle over wages in the ski industry sparked conversations about what those workers—who frequently put their lives on the line—deserve. In the final episode of our fall Weekend Read series, we bring you the story of a Utah patroller who is doing everything he can to raise a family in the winter paradise h...
Nov 26, 2022•50 min
He was born to a herd of wild horses on an island off Virginia and found his way into the heart of a little girl on the dusty trails of the Southwest. Legend was a descendant of fabled swimming ponies: every year, cowboys lead them across a quarter-mile crossing between the islands of Assateague and Chincoteague, where 60 of them are put up for auction. In this episode of our Weekend Read series, we hear how Legend’s journey took him thousands of miles West, and eventually to a child that would ...
Nov 19, 2022•42 min
