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Take a hydrogen atom, comprised of one proton and one electron. Strip the electron and run a car. That’s the basic premise behind the energy efficiency crowd’s latest craze, the fuel cell—a unit that facilitates the chemical reaction described above using compressed hydrogen gas and oxygen, and creates electricity for…
“Do you want to push it?” 33-year-old Kathy NiKeefe asks from the driver’s seat of her 2001 VW Golf TDi. I lift my hand toward a button on the dash labeled “veggie switch” in cut-out letters. Once the button is pressed, the car’s engine switches from diesel to used vegetable…
Journey with us through the watery heart of the largest subtropical wetlands in America: the Everglades. Why? Because it's there—or used to be.
Wet, wonderful H2O ain't just the cure for the summertime blues. It's life itself—a priceless treasure that we've got to stop squandering.
Why jet to exotic reefs when home waters boast spectacularly diverse diving?
“River Impossible,” an August 2003 feature story by Patrick Symmes, incorrectly reported on a newspaper article by author and investigator Barry R. Clausen in the Yreka, California-based Siskiyou Daily News in February. It was wrongly implied in “River Impossible” that Mr. Clausen was an interview subject in the newspaper article,…
Pure, abundant agua is getting harder to find. Feeling thirsty?
AMERICANS ENJOY SOME OF THE SAFEST DRINKING WATER IN THE WORLD, but quality varies widely, and it’s surprisingly tough to find out definitively which cities serve the good stuff and which do not. Some 54,000 community water systems are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but no government body…
SPLASH FIGHTS: Water issues chronically become water wars. Here are some collisions in progress—from bang-ups over how to divide spoils to clashes over big cleanups—that need to be resolved in the years ahead.
What happens when a solitary day hike turns into the ultimate test of survival?
Immerse yourself in these eight close-to-home dive sites, where the water's world-class and your tent's just a splash away
Baja's Isla Espíritu Santo conjures up endless scuba sites and miles of sand for camping by
The August 2003 issue of ϳԹ is dedicated to reporting on the health of our nation’s water supplies, from the lakes and rivers we play in to the water we drink. But this isn’t the first time the magazine has reported on the water crisis—we have a long history of…
You better grab a lifeline and hold on tight when Steve Fossett decides to make another manic bid for glory
It sounds too good to be true: a star miler turned criminal goes to prison, links up with a legendary track coach, trains behind bars until his feet bleed, and earns a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Is the real world ready for Jon Gill's dream?
So you want to climb a mountain, but you’ve never done it before. No sweatthere’s a first time for everything. Even the world’s greatest climbers were once beginners like you, gearing up with ropes, carabiners and crampons and heading for the hills for their first technical ascents. To help fuel…
Three years after a notorious kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, new evidence and big changes emerge from Central Asia
Cut your alpinism chops on North America's best routes.
With their nifty new windmills, tidy techno-homes, and enviro-crusading queen, the Dutch are busy creating the cutest little ecotopia on earth—while stoking a booming hypercapitalist economy. What does tiny Holland know that America is too big and dumb to figure out?
Experience is the key to mountaineering prowess, but high-altitude fitness makes all the difference on summit day
Australian photographers Ian and Erick Regnard have followed surfing’s ASP World Tour for the past six years, shooting the planet’s most famous surf personalities on and off their boards. On days when the waves were too low for competition purposes, the Regnard brothers also shot contemporary musicians, models, and others…
Lance Armstrong in Girona, Spain “I don’t like to lose. I just despise it.” Armstrong in Girona, Spain, his spring training grounds for the 2003 Tour de France. Armstrong on a road ride in Spain, March 2003 SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, the warm air pungent with pollen,…
There’s a swoosh of heaven that runs from Hawaii through Mexico to Central America and the Caribbean. Don’t let it bask in the sun by itself. Our 43 sweet spots are waiting—surrender and go. TRAILING OFF ON KAUAI By James Glave THE INS & OUTBOARDS OF…
Last summer, U.S. wildfires cost $1.6 billion to stop and claimed the lives of 23 firefighters. The statistics were depressingly familiar, but the expense and sacrifice did nothing to solve the problems of overgrown forests, misguided government suppression policies, and misspent resources. Is there a way out? Maybe. But only if we get serious about rethinking
He's a loner, he's lethal, and he's got your scent. Feline phantom, ultimate predator, the cougar has ghosted back into the American wild and your backyard. (Hey, Marge, have you seen the poodle lately?)
Five years ago, Brad van Liew, a 29-year-old commercial pilot and flight instructor from Southern California, took a bit of a flier by entering the 1998-1999 Around Alone, the single-handed around-the-world yacht race generally considered to be the longest event in sports. Despite a lack of experience and an old…
In 24-hour mountain-bike races, riders bond over singletrack and sleep deprivation. What's not to like?
ϳԹ TV is proud to announce the May 5 premier of its two newest film productions on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN): Into the Thunder Dragon In this enchanting film—which recently won the Moscow Film Festival’s award for Best Cinematography in Extreme Conditions—Sean White…
Noted ski mountaineer Andrew McLean, named one of the planet’s finest athletes by ϳԹ in December 2001, departed his home in Salt Lake City with an ambitious goal in his sites: to be the first to complete a continuous ski descent of Alaska’s 14,573-foot Mt. Hunter. With first descents already…
Ten years ago, extreme snowboarder Stephen Koch cooked up a media-savvy plan to become the first to climb and ride down the Seven Summits. Now there's only one mountain left to conquer: Everest. And for his grand finale, Koch is determined to fling himself down the most dangerous descent possible.
Lodges at base camp? Tourists on oxygen? Everyone seems to have a vision for the next 50 years on the world's highest mountain.
Rocky cliffs of the Italian Dolomites Q: Can you tell me anything about renting bikes in the Dolomites? My boyfriend and I love road biking, but we only want to spend 3-4 days on our bikes… any brilliant ideas as to specific areas to ride through?…
Who says you can't take your children mountaineering? The trick is to choose the right summit—then watch as they amaze themselves by scaling it. These five peaks, in order from easiest to hardest, are handpicked to bring out your kid's inner Messner.
Going to the beach without the latest sunglasses is like walking when you could fly. You'll have it made in the shade with these six new designs.
A thousand miles from anywhere, the Azores are a natural layover for voyaging sailors and adventurous pilgrims. But beware: the island group's hydrangea-drenched hillsides and mist-shrouded volcanoes may capture your heart forever.
“No one knows where I am, for the simple reason that I don't know exactly where I'm going. Not knowing is a key ingredient in this game.”
During two deadly weeks this winter, avalanches swept away 14 lives in the heart of British Columbia's remote backcountry. Were these simply unpredictable, unstoppable acts of nature with a brutal cost? Or did somebody make crucial mistakes? An exclusive report details what really happened—and unfolds the agony of a grieving guide who led his clients to th
There's nothing like surf school to put parents in their place. At the end of the day, just like your eight-year-old, you may feel as mighty as Laird Hamilton—or like you've survived the spin cycle. We tracked down three top-notch schools that are perfect for parents and kids.
Low's Gully is a 6,000-foot chasm that gets deadly when it rains. This month, a team of top canyoneers take it on, with only one way out.
In Bhutan's pristine alpine sanctuary, even a heathen climber can see the light
As the political controversy over the future of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge reignites, a journey across ANWR's disputed territory explores the realities of a place where wildlife, native traditions, and the search for oil converge in fateful proximity
Canoeing the jungles of South America, where freedom is a family affair
He's got a three-week Greyhound Discovery Pass, a map of mom-and-pop ski hills, and a yen to see the west from the vantage of a pungent window seat. From Utah's Beaver Mountain to Idaho's Bogus Basin, our telemark-toting reporter logs 5,000 miles in search of the answer to the immortal question: where's the fresh?
When it comes to winter sports, there are skills, and there are skillz. We're talking about catching big air off the halfpipe, making like Apolo Ohno on skate-skis, building a perfect snow ramp for launchpad jumps, and climbing a frozen waterfall. Ready to get with it? Then listen to the mad wisdom of pros who know.
Bahamas Island Out-ϳԹs (www.bahamasadventures.com; 242-333-3282) arranges trips by the day and includes all transportation, meals, activities, and equipment. One-day adventures cost $99 per person. Overnight trips start at $299 per person for two days, $399 for three days, and $499 for four days. The company can also…
Fresh off an empty island in the tropical Atlantic, our intrepid travel expert gives the inside scoop on the Bahamian adventures you never knew were possible.
Now independent and arms-free, East Timor is emerging as Southeast Asia's new jewel
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
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…
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 ϳԹ Duluth race.
War, terror, and SARS are keeping millions of travelers at home. Sounds like it's time to plan an adventure.
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
Last year was a low point for Search-and-Rescue helicopters. Could this year be even more dangerous?
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…
The world's best tracker of new primate species shares secrets for finding fuzzy little guys in the woods