ϳԹ Magazine, Mar 2006
Stories
POSTs
Whether you and your posse are catching the train out of Santa Fe or heading into the Australian outback this spring, you owe it to yourself�and your fellow passengers�to ride with style
Naysayers claim the age of adventure is over. On an unclimbed peak in Tibet, our man declares that it has just begun.
YOU KNOW HOW SOME STARS get all the attention, when it’s really the supporting characters who carry the show? In the quest for better health, strength, and vitality, calcium is one nutrient that’s been hogging the spotlight, but the fact is, vitamin D does most of calcium’s heavy lifting. Vitamin…
New reports from global-warming hot spots explore a chilling reality: Life as we know it is changing fast
A daring upriver expedition gets back on the water after a deadly attack
Twenty-four-hour mountain-bike champion Monique Sawicki catches an entire sport by surprise
[A] Ski Atomic Janak: Light and fast gives way to light and fat. The Janak is perfect for opening it up in steep powder fields or resort crud. $628; www.atomicski.com [B] BOOT Scarpa Tornado: With interchangeable, flex-adjusting tongues, the Tornado is ready to tour or tackle the…
All it takes is one trip to change your life - and we've got 40 of 'em. Dreaming of close encounters with cheetahs or penguins? Want to climb a mountain in Peru? Experience an epic trek in China? One trip, one world - that's all it takes.
There's no substitute for the natural world, but engineers are catching up. Ten years ago, an indoor climbing wall turned heads; now developers are mimicking mountains, rivers, and oceans. As urban centers swell, so do the latest man-made achievements.
The new road-warrior electronics embrace the adventurer's creed: Do more with less. From a pocket cinema to an MP3 watch, these ten ultra-portable gadgets let you get lost in style.
You're gonna get hurt—count on it. Here are the new smart fixes for those inevitable breaks, tears, and strains.
Is it a bird or a haunting memory? Wells Tower tracks an uncertain resurrection of the ivory-billed woodpecker in the big woods of Arkansas.
Don't let the info revolution leave you dazed and confused. Here's how to boot up the best of the new and classic travel media so you can filter, focus, and get out the door.
Oxygen chambers allow you to simulate the world's altitude extremes. But should you? Depends on what you're after.
Most resorts never develop the cachet of Aspen, and many go bust. According to the National Ski Areas Association, more than 400 hills have shut down across the country in the past 30 years. But though the lifts may be gone, the cleared runs remain—untracked and there for the taking…
Who rules the freeskiing world of big air and deadly steeps—The technical European perfectionists or the up-all-night American hot-doggers? We brought Micah Black and Dominique Perret, the stars of each continent, to British Columbia for some head-to-head competition. No excuses. No exceptions. No slowing down. And the winner is...
F E A T U R E S
BEST TRIPS 2006
THE WANDERLIST
Feeling restless? Dive in to one of these 40 wild, mind-bending journeys, both rugged and refined. From ancient-trail walking in Utah to jaguar tracking in the Yucatá;n to elephant trekking in Botswana, there’s a trip of a lifetime here for you.
MEDIA
THE OUTSIDE EXPLORER’S GUIDE TO THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF TRIP PLANNING
Don’t let the dizzying deluge of travel resources out there keep you homebound. Our experts bring a laser focus to the mess, setting you free to roam where you want to.
REVIEW SPECIAL
POWER TRAVEL
The next digital revolution fits in your hand, thanks to adventure travel gadgets that combine GPS, cell-phone, video, and MP3 technology in sleek, travel-friendly packages. We test the best.
SHOWDOWN
HUCK YOU! NO, HUCK YOU! THE GREAT YANK-EURO-SKI-OFF
Who rules ski-dude-dom—the precise Swissman Dominique Perret or Wyoming ski-porn star Micah Black? We hit the slopes of Whistler for an unprecedented battle for freeskiing gold—and (natch) the adoration of ski-bar babes.
BY ROB STORY
NATURAL ACTS
THE THING WITH FEATHERS
Two years ago, an ivory-billed woodpecker—a species presumed extinct for the past half-century—was spotted in an Arkansas swamp. In the biggest conservation story of the 21st century, seekers of every stripe are proving that hope is the thing that never dies.
BY WELLS TOWER
D E P A R T M E N T S
D I S P A T C H E S
» Hawaiian enduro mountain biker MONIQUE SAWICKI is the fastest thing on knobby tires, with two national titles in her rookie year. But can she make the switch to Ironman Triathlons?
» Grab your backcountry planks and head to the wide-open runs of America’s BYGONE SKI RESORTS. The only things missing are the lifts and crowds.
» We examine the origins of SPECIES NAMES, including slime mold beetles Agathidium bushi, A. cheneyi, and A. rumsfeldi. Even Han Solo gets a fossil. PLUS: Disaster workers make an impact much faster with sun- and wind-charged mobile command centers.
» Thirteen-year-old PIPELINE PRODIGY John John Florence rips with the big dogs at surfing’s deadliest break.
» Nature’s got competition, from a perpetual river to a ski resort in the Arabian Desert. Check out the audacious frontier of ADVENTURE ENGINEERING.
» Three waylaid explorers relaunch their quest for THE TRUE SOURCE OF THE NILE. PLUS: Chris Carmichael shines the spotlight on calcium’s unsung sidekick, VITAMIN D.
» CLIMATE CHANGE is in the air in Elizabeth Kolbert’s Field Notes from a Catastrophe; The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery; and Eugene Linden’s The Winds of Change. PLUS: Steven Rinella’s The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine.
» With hypoxic and hyperbaric chambers, altitude training’s HIGH-LOW MIX no longer requires mountains and valleys.
» THE WILD FILE ponders falling bullets, the athletic benefits of a well-stocked iPod, and earth’s fastest procreators. PLUS: Can you survive on leather?
BODYWORK
Let the healing begin. Our team of expert docs and trainers dip into their bag of rehab tricks for fixing sport’s six MOST COMMON INJURIES, from scrapes to stress fractures.
STYLE
We take to the rails in hot spring travel wear, riding into the green season with first-class threads.
THE HARD WAY
On a climbing trip to the Tibetan Himalayas, Mark Jenkins gets Zen about THE FUTURE OF ADVENTURE. Don’t go thinking the age of exploration is over. It’s a great big world out there, and—21st-century ennui and unprecedented mobility notwithstanding—it’ll still kick your ass.