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In the sixties and seventies it was the hippie trail that brought foreigners to Afghanistan. Two decades of war and terror later, Kabul is a nonstop rave of C-130s, NGOs, soldiers, and spooky nation-builders. The freaks are back on Chicken Street—where everything old is new again.
Two rival British teams launch a tenacious race to find Shackleton's long-lost ship
Philip Smethurst is training young adventurers to spread Christianity to the planet's wildest corners
In 国产吃瓜黑料‘s 2004 Traveler issue, we bring you “The Sporty Forty,” a compendium of great destinations in Mexico and Central America. But this isn’t the first time we’ve explored that gloriously sun-soaked neck of the woods. Here, we present a complete anthology of our favorite south-of-the-border getaways. Taking the plunge…
Thirty years after losing his brother on a Himalayan peak, Reinhold Messner battles ugly accusations that he abandoned him at the top.
With his slick new ms1 helmet, gear guru Thomas Meyerhoffer continues to reinvent technical style
David Hempleman-Adams, 46, is a glue salesman, father of three, and Britain’s most accomplished living adventurer. The first to hike solo and unsupported to the geomagnetic North Pole (a goal he attainted last April), he was also the first to pilot a hot-air balloon over the North…
Once the pleasure of a few professional masochists, grueling adventure sports are suddenly a national rage
Just five months after amputating his own arm when it was crushed by an 800-pound boulder, Ralston resumed his career as an outdoor athlete by competing in last weekend's six-sport 国产吃瓜黑料 Duluth race.
War, terror, and SARS are keeping millions of travelers at home. Sounds like it's time to plan an adventure.
Last year was a low point for Search-and-Rescue helicopters. Could this year be even more dangerous?
DARK STAR SAFARI BY OUR CONTRIBUTORS “Being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship,” Mary Roach writes in Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (W.W. Norton, ), her mordantly witty history of the scientific contributions made by the no-longer-living. “Most…
America's favorite ramble is getting a few extensions, but the traditionalists are not amused
A forum on ecotourism, the evils of travel, and a hopeful movement to keep our two favorite things—adventure in wild places and a healthy environment—alive and kicking.
THE BIG ONE A Dangerous Place California’s Unsettling Fate BY MARC REISNER (Pantheon, $22) MARC REISNER died with paper in his typewriter. When cancer claimed him three years ago (he was only 51), the author of Cadillac Desert, the classic 1986 history…
Cinematographer Howard Hall captures coral reefs, swarming sharks, and life below 300 feet
DROP CITY From Our Pages FIRST, A LITTLE CHEE-CHEE Then Some Other Weird Sports BY BILL VAUGHN (Arrowgraphics, ) IN HIS “ULTIMATE instructional manual for anyone who’s sick and tired of trying to do the right thing,” contributing editor Vaughn holds forth on sabotaging…
The world's best tracker of new primate species shares secrets for finding fuzzy little guys in the woods
More than 20 years after the guerrilla war that forged Zimbabwe from Rhodesia, fear and violence are once again convulsing that African nation—this time, with a black government pitted against white landowners. The author, who grew up on a farm in Rhodesia, recalls her child's-eye view of a world where even nature knew that luck had run out.
With $100,000 for the winners, the world's most relentless teams, and a 138,000-vertical-foot Rocky Mountain course, the Subaru Primal Quest seemed poised to give big-time adventure racing a smashing return to U.S. soil. But then the race began—and all hell broke loose. A front-line report from the wildest, bumpiest game in the wilderness.
Gordon Giesbrecht didn't become the world's leading authority on hypothermia by sitting around the campfire. He got there by leaping into frozen lakes, injecting ice water into his veins, and taking lots of very, very cold baths.
The process is the point. But just try telling that to your younger, untutored, world-conquering self.
THAT OLD ACE IN THE HOLE By Annie Proulx (Scribner, $26) WHEN ANNIE PROULX wrote about Newfoundland in her 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Shipping News, and her adopted home state of Wyoming in the story collection Close Range, she described those places so indelibly that her…
Women's surfing is riding a new pop-culture tsunami. So why can't the pros make it with a tour of their own?
A spiffy new generator turns wood into watts. Could be just the thing for getting waaay off the grid.
What are those chubby things? Shane McConkey unveils his freaky new powder skis.
In the January 2003 issue, 国产吃瓜黑料 editors announced our picks for the 25 best adventure books of the last 100 years. The arduous selection process required hundreds of hours of reading, conversation, and debate, involving a wide circle of writers, explorers, scholars, and friends. Along the way we suffered our…
IN THE MARKET FOR AN INTERNET COACH? Then you’ll need to decide between a virtual coach (costs range from $0-$20 per month; no personal interaction included) and a bona fide online coach (costs range from $60 and up per month; live coach at the other end of the line). A…
Dreaming of Oceania's island paradise? Here's how to feed your fantasy.
Drawn to the backcountry? With the new wave of alpine touring gear, freedom is just beyond the ropes
Hoping to snag high-rolling adventurers, Nepal green-lights its first full-time heli-skiing operation
Occupy your off-season with the successes, failures, and bemusements of fellow adventurers. Plus: author picks and ten underappreciated books.
Where to Surf, Hike, Dive, Fish, Shop, Eat, Drink, Dance, Sleep, and Kick Back
Santa’s little climber: one move from the top on Hitchcock Pinnacle at Arizona’s Mount Lemmon. Q: A few of us from Virginia want to take a rock-climbing trip somewhere warm during the Christmas holidays. We’re considering Red Rocks in Nevada and California’s Joshua Tree National Park, among…
Need a daily powder fix? Chase epic snow through the calendar with our guide to the best places to ski and snowboard each month.
This September, speed climber Dean potter flashed Half Dome and El Capitan in a continuous 23-hour, 23-minute blitz that left his competition eating chalk. The 30-year-old Zen king of Yosemite is the first ever to free-climb—that is, use ropes and protection only as backup in case he falls, but otherwise…
Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, the world’s leading authority on freezing to death, believes the best way to study the effects of cold on the human body is to get intimate with the elements. Along the way to claiming numerous research firsts, the 45-year-old physiologist and director of the University of Manitoba’s…
In the dark of winter, monsters lurk near the glow of Seattle. And man, that's when the jigging's good.
Is paradise drowning? The serene South Pacific archipelago of Tuvalu wants the world to know it will soon be the first nation to sink beneath the rising waters of global warming—an early warning of biblical inundations to come. And guess what? It's your fault.
For a faster, stronger you, take it slow (with a grain of salt)
Rama the cama—the world's first llama/camel hybrid— meets Kamilah, his camalicious bride-to-be
With his supreme skills on rock, hypercompetitive intensity, and new-age bag of tricks, Dean Potter scrambles up big walls faster than any man alive. So what's the trajectory of all this velocity?
Amped by a new Colorado superstore, Mont-Bell hopes to sell the USA on its streamlined swagstreamlined swag
In the January 2003 issue, 国产吃瓜黑料 editors announced our picks for the 25 best adventure books of the last 100 years. The arduous selection process required hundreds of hours of reading, conversation, and debate, involving a wide circle of writers, explorers, scholars, and friends. Along the way we suffered…
Mount Everest becomes a prize on TV's Global Extremes. Is this a Good Thing?
One score and five years ago, this magazine burst onto the scene with a bold idea and a mission. The idea was that, against all odds, adventure is alive and well—and a force to reckon with and celebrate. The mission was to find new heroes, phenomenal athletes and explorers, the…
A generation ago, mounting an expedition meant drafting a herd of porters, slogging loads of gear to a rocky base camp, and laying siege to a Himalayan peak. These days, light, fast, and self-supported expeditions are in, and multisport explorers like Mike Libecki, Mark Synnott, and Brad Ludden are showing us how to do it. Here, our preview of the hottest adven
Majoring in steeps at New Mexico’s Taos Q: I’m getting older and I’d like to learn to ski better. Even if you’ve never been to my home state of Illinois, you probably know there aren’t many ski slopes nearby. I’d like to spend a week to ten…
From technical clothes for sport to chic outfits for dinner, here's how to dress like a local
With western drought lowering Lake Powell daily, Glenn Canyon fans dream of going all the way
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE For more photos and an audio interview with Andrew McLean, CLICK HERE EXPEDITION: ARCS OVER THE ARCTIC TEAM: ANDREW MCLEAN, BRAD BARLAGE LOCATION: BAFFIN ISLAND, NUNAVUT, CANADA OBJECTIVE: TO EXPLORE FJORDS AND VALLEYS BY KITE IN SEARCH OF…
Every adventurer knows those magical moments when it all flows—and those wretched times when it won't
Trek the Bay of Fires and soak in Tasmania's wild northeastern shores
Who would want a $100 million theme park devoted to the belching drama of volcanoes? The French, that's who—if they can ever stop arguing about it.
High over Hemingway's Africa, our hero discovered a last epic feat somehow still undone. Going where no man has ever bothered to go before, he vowed to become the first person to descend Mount Kilimanjaro on a pair of stubby Kneissel Big Foot snowboards. Never mind that it was illegal, and basically insane.
True fitness follows the adage "Use it or lose it." Turns out the brain follows the same rule.
After its triumphant coming-out party in Salt Lake City, American snowboarding faces a bright future. Is that a good thing?
A vetern journalist argues that the ski industry has sold its soul to Wall Street, turning too many mountain towns into overbuilt Disneyfied retail hubs. But don't despair: All over snow country, a back-to-basics counterrevolution is under way.
Sierra palms on the slopes of the Caribbean National Forest Q: I’m heading to Puerto Rico soon and want to learn more about the bioluminescent bays/lagoons there. Can I visit any of them from San Juan in one night? Or would it require a sleepover nearby? I…
In the company of coral: a diver fins past a school of grunts off Florida’s Tavernier Key Q: I’m a bloated son-of-a-gun with a physique like a manatee who’d like to try scuba diving. I have no experience at all outside of watching Sea Hunt and a…
For years, an annual ball in tiny Talkeetna celebrated the immeasurable role of Carhartt clothing. We sent a writer to cover the event, where devotees regaled stories of heroic trousers and death-defying coveralls.