Exploration & Survival
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After getting yanked under the barricades by a Red Cross medic, our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival chats with Jesus Muniain, who has been helping runners for 30 years
Our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival remembers the time he ran with Jimeno Romero, who was gored to death in 2009 and memorialized by his family with a special monument of flowers this year
A collection of sights and quick observations from our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival, including a conversation with brothers Peter Milligan and Aryeh Deutsch
Meet the preppers, a rattled, robust survivalist movement whose members just hate being called survivalists. Emily Matchar investigates the 21st century's wildest new apocalyptic scene.
A collection of sights and quick observations from our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival, including a conversation with the medics that rescued him from a charging steer
For some of us, the human drive to explore, even though most of the earth's surface area has already been mapped, even though it's no longer necessary in order to obtain food and shelter, endures. And in an urban environment where many public spaces are not open for public use, this drive becomes the urban explorer's urge to infiltrate.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=hhwhkwE1nws Not long after launching himself off a 394-foot-tall power pylon near Konakova, Russia, a young BASE jumper's parachute failed to open properly. He fell at a speed of 105 miles per hour, according to the text below the YouTube clip, and crashed…
There is a moment in this wingsuit video that makes it play different than the rest. In it, Vincent Descols jumps off a cliff and pilots his wingsuit through turns, into a canyon, around spires, down a trail, and then over some evergreens. It's the moment between the trail and…
A collection of sights and quick observations from our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival, including a conversation with David Ubeda, who recovered from last year's broken arm to run the horns of the lead steers down Estafeta
A collection of sights and quick observations from our man on the ground at the 2012 San Fermin festival, including still photographs shot by Ernest Hemingway's great-grandson and a brief interview with bull-racing veteran "El Padre" Graeme Galloway
The things that cause ϳԹ employees to be late to work, or absent altogether, are the ones you might expect. In the winter, many of us are conspicuously tardy after a midnight snowstorm blows through. In the spring, when daylight pushes past 5 p.m. and Friday-night camping becomes a possibility,…
Alligators and crocodiles landed in the #10 spot in the CDC's database. Photo: Shutterstock Whether it's by stinging, crushing, biting, butting, kicking, or any other variety of accidental or nefarious means, animals injure millions and kill hundreds of people every year. The…
There are plenty of hungry predators roaming the USA. But the deadliest ones for humans may not be the those you expect.
If the team from the University of Maryland can get, and hold on to, just a bit more air, their Gamera II craft will win $250,000. To claim the AHS Sikorsky Prize, the pedal-powered helicopter needs to hover…
By Erica Lineberry When I got pregnant in the summer of 2009, I was shocked at how matter-of-fact people were with their “advice.” Most annoying to me were the comments around my husband’s and my recreational pursuits, specifically climbing: “Kiss all those crazy weekend climbing trips goodbye!” and “I guess…
In the end, the spectacle surrounding Nik Wallenda's high-wire walk over Niagara Falls forced him to change his original plans. He ended up performing the stunt while wearing a safety harness at the…
Riding down a winding mountain road at night obviously isn't something that should be tried by everyday longboarders, even if they do have Lupine lights, Contour helmetcams, and Globe boards. That said, the video…
In the stunning and remote wilderness along northern British Columbia’s Highway 16, at least 18 women—by some estimates, many more—have gone missing over the past four decades. After years of investigation, authorities still don’t know if it’s the work of a serial killer or multiple offenders. Bob Friel drives into the darkness for answers.
The legendary daredevil talks about recovering from the accident that almost killed him
CrossFitter Mel Soria puts his functional fitness training to the test in the backwoods of Georgia, chasing down prey that's as delicious as it is dangerous
Photo: Courtesy of NASA_JSC_Photo/Flickr By now, you've probably heard of NASA's Don Pettit. If you haven't, he's the Dragon-grabbing,…
Little ripper, going big: Alex Mason at the Teva Games. Photo: Teva Mountain Games Competitive slacklining. If that sounds like an oxymoron, you must not have been in Vail this past weekend, when the sport made its debut at the annual Teva Summer…
On Monday, January 17, BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot Jeb Corliss, 36, thought he was either seconds or hours away from death. He had just jumped off South Africa’s Table Mountain, misjudged a target, and flown into a granite outcropping at…
The newest professional sports league. Just five months ago, wingsuit pilot Jeb Corliss thought he was moments away from death after crashing into South Africa’s Table Mountain at 120 miles…
At least two thank yous should be given for the timelapse video above. The first goes to NASA, for sharing the images of earth taken from the International Space Station for free. The second goes to a man named Adonis Pulatus, who…
A Q&A with an ϳԹ in Aspen participant
Tantalizing new evidence prompts an ambitious search for Amelia Earhart by a group that can't seem to quit
Inskeep couldn’t find a map that covered his route, so he pasted two together. Photo: Nick Fountain/NPR When Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep started planning a 2,000-mile-long drive from Tunis, Tunisia, to Cairo, Egypt, he couldn’t find a map detailed enough to set…
One way to spend a summer evening: figuring out the most creative ways to open a bottle of beer. Another? Drinking good beer from cans. Read our picks of the best canned beer here.
Ric Gillespie has spent the past three decades looking for what he calls an “any-idiot artifact”: a bombproof discovery that will persuade the world he’s found Earhart’s crash site. Here are TIGHAR’s greatest whiffs.
When 24-year-old Kilian Martin performs on a skateboard, some say he's dancing. The Spaniard's unique style is showcased in Kilian Martin: Altered Route, a new short by filmmaker Brett Novak. Martin began gymnastics at 10 years old, moved…
What would it be like to ride a rocket at super high speeds just above a really long road? That's the question Giacomo Miceli, a creative coder, computer scientist, and self-proclaimed entreprenerd from Rome, asked himself as a child. He decided to find out as…
There's no shortage of epic timelapse videos popping up on Vimeo, but few chronicle their shots in a way that allows you to learn something. Photographer Sean F. White gathered footage in 24 countries on all seven continents over the course of six years to…
A Q&A with an ϳԹ in Aspen participant
Sylvester Ayek survives by subsistence hunting and by turning his take into art. The Inupiat elder carves the ivory from walruses into jewelry and sculptures. In The Bone Carver, the Nome, Alaska, resident shares how he learned to hunt…
As astronauts spend more and more time in space, their bodies degenerate. Gravity doesn't exist as it does on earth, and so there isn't the same amount of resistance from weights. During space flight, astronauts experience a force of gravity one-millionth as strong as we experience on earth. In such…
Falcon 9 lauch. Photo: SpaceX Yesterday, the same man that sent a rocket into space also had his company announce the release date for one of the most efficient electric cars on the market. Elon Musk, the 224th richest…
https://video.sky.com/embed/external/16234036 Gary Connery became the first man to jump out of a helicopter in a wingsuit and land safely without the aid of a parachute. The 42-year-old jumped from an elevation of 2,400 feet and flew in the air for 50 seconds at a…
If you want to see the difference between night skies with and without light pollution, you can't do much better than the video above. The World at Night recently announced the winners of the…
Sarah Outen was rowing somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean in 2009 when she decided to go on a longer journey. “I wanted more of it,” she said in a recent email. “And I wanted to…
For 24 years, from 1986 until 2010, there were no mortal encounters with grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park. But four deadly incidents over the past two summers have hikers on edge, reigniting the fierce debate over bear management.
While many gun proponents remain adamant that firearms offer better protection against a charging bear than pepper spray, a growing body of scientific research suggests otherwise
If you're heading into bear country this summer, heed these important tips from Kerry Gunther, bear management program leader for Yellowstone National Park
Ever been out traveling or an a wild adventure when you felt, all of a sudden, like you were no longer at the top of the food chain? Here, experts explain how to avoid becoming lunch.
In March 2007, Gary Arndt sold his house and promptly called the road his home. Half a decade later, after bagging every continent and more than a hundred countries, he's no closer to dropping roots.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lUZ-e2SkeMI Six days ago, Laughing Squid posted the above highlight reel from a Danish TV Show called Dumt and Farligt (Stupid and Dangerous). It immediately went viral, and expectedly so. It features gratuitous hi-def shots in super slow mo…
Tim Hetherington in February 2011 A year ago today, Chris Hondros, a New York-based photographer on assignment for Getty Images, and Tim Hetherington were killed while covering battles in Libya between government forces and rebels. Many of the details surrounding the incident are fuzzy, but…
One year ago today, photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros died after a mortar shell exploded near them on Tripoli Street in the city of Misrata, Libya. They were embedded with rebels fighting the army of Colonel Qaddafi. Hondros died…
Jason Puracal with his sisters More than five years ago, in the small town of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, a 28-year-old American expat from Tennessee named Eric Volz was charged with the murder of his beautiful ex-girlfriend.
Australian adventure photographer Krystle Wright has toughed out a lot of assignments in her first six years of shooting. When the now 25-year-old showed up to the Elephant Polo Championships in Nepal, there weren’t enough teams, so she volunteered for a new squad, hopped on…
By the winter of 1854, the Advance crew had been trapped for almost two years, their ship frozen in ice just below the North Pole. Some had lost limbs to scurvy and frostbite; some had succumbed to Arctic hysteria; all of them were starving.
In the last decade, athletes have freeBASE'd the Eiger, paddled into 70-foot-plus waves, and dropped more than 100 feet off waterfalls. What’s next? And how will the stories be told? We asked the world's biggest adventure icons.
Photo: Flikr/tkd540 With their commercial use permits on hold, horse pack operators in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks aren’t taking trip reservations and are nervously awaiting a May 23 hearing at which U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg will outline…
Meet the men and women on the knife's edge of exploration
He was a proud Marine who survived three brutal tours in Iraq and had plans to redeploy with the national guard. But when 30-year-old Noah Pippin vanished inside Montana’s remote Bob Marshall Wilderness, he left behind a trail of haunting secrets—and a mystery that may never be solved.
Veronika Scott's initial coat design, with Tyvec shell. Photo: Brittany Thomasson In 2010, while pursuing her degree in product design at Detroit's College for Creative Studies, a single idea changed the course of Veronika Scott's life. She decided to make a coat. Not just any…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tbjzZHuGTng%C2%A0 Twelve-year old Tom Schaar has been skating since he was four, but only started attempting the 1080 a couple weeks ago. The Malibu-based prodigy made four attempts on March 26—and nailed it on his fifth try, landing three complete mid-air rotations off a 70-foot tall mega ramp at Woodward…
The nation's four best wilderness first aid courses
Some might say this is the perfect telescope for the star-searching newbie. If you can't hone in on the galaxy you're looking for on your own power, Celestron's Prodigy 6 robotic self-aligning telescope will find it for you. Using electronic motors, an intelligent on-board computer, a…
Kathy Willens/ Associated Press The rancorous feud at New York’s 108-year-old Explorers Club has finally drawn to a close. Yesterday, the board of directors gathered at the club’s Manhattan headquarters and voted to oust controversial president Lorie Karnath in favor of Alan Nichols, a San Francisco-based…
Photo: Young Hoon Oh Young Hoon Oh, South Korean PhD candidate in anthropology at UC Riverside, is headed to Nepal at the end of the month to attempt his second Everest summit. But his itinerary extends well beyond the days he'll try to reach the top…
In the heart of New York City, a power struggle is under way at the century-old Explorers Club—with claims of tyranny aimed at Lorie Karnath, the current president. She says her detractors are mired in the past, and in a fight this rough, somebody isn’t coming back alive.
In 2009, ϳԹ readers met Colton Harris-Moore, a smart, slippery teenager who became notorious for stealing cars, boats, and planes in the Pacific Northwest. The climax came a year later, when Harris-Moore swiped a small plane in Indiana, landed in the Bahamas, and vanished.
In this teaser for HBO’s Real Sports, BASE jumper Jeb Corliss crashes into Table Mountain. The show airs this Sunday at 10 Eastern.
Some of us are scoring powder days, while others are getting skunked. Either way, it’s shaping up to be a weird and dangerous winter all across the country—and nowhere is this truer than the backcountry. So far, 8 skiers and boarders and four snowmobilers have…
Badenoch, training. Photo: Joe Bell This spring, Andrew Badenoch plans to launch a 7,000-mile trip from Bellingham, Wash., up to the southern coast of the Arctic Ocean, before looping back. His locomotion will…
The husband and wife team perform their Wingsuit versus Edge 540 stunt in the video above. Read more in “As Long as They Both Shall Live.”…
Facial Landscapes, By Cory Richards By now, you've heard all about Cory Richards and his film Cold, which won big awards at Banff Mountain Film, Telluride…
In November, 2010, slackliner Andy Lewis rigged a 130-foot length of webbing between two sandstone cliffs outside of Moab, Utah, and walked it—out and back—with no safety harness or net. The line, dubbed Shakes McCoy, was the longest anyone had ever free-soloed. Lewis has soloed 44 highlines—swaying, bouncing…
BASE stands for “buildings, antennae, spans, and earth,” and jumpers parachute from these and other fixed objects—an incredibly risky pursuit that has claimed at least 180 lives since 1981. The world’s deadliest sport has no governing body, but the online magazine Blinc maintains the official BASE jumping fatality list (BFL), which assigns each dead jumper a B
Professional daredevils Rex and Melissa Pemberton were drawn together by a mutual passion for risk and adrenaline. Now they have a marriage based on love, trust, and the strange, stoic acceptance that their life partner could die at any moment.
The sign read, “Tenaya Canyon is extremely dangerous. Many have lost their lives in the attempt.” Thus warned, my 78-year-old dad was set to hike and rappel through it. And I had agreed to join him.
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On December 20, actor Gerard Butler was held down by a set of 10-12 foot waves at Maverick's. He was out surfing the break with Greg Long, Peter Mel, and Zach Wormhoudt…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=q72uhQeTCmM Here's a survival story to wake you up on a Monday morning. On December 31, 22-year-old Australian tourist Erin Langworthy jumped from a bridge over the Zambezi River attached to a bungee cord. The cord broke and Langworthy briefly blacked out…