Leslie Gaynor, 68, loves survival shows. After she finishes her dayā€™s work as a therapist, she makes herself some tea and puts on an episode of Naked and Afraid. By the time the showā€™s over, itā€™s dark out. Her dog has to pee, but she doesnā€™t like to go outside at night. What if there are wild animals in the yard? One time last year, her dog ran out and saw a possum, and the possum flopped over dead, and when she went out a few minutes later it was gone. So it wasnā€™t really dead, but the whole thing was traumatic anyway. Not for the possum. But for her.

Leslieā€™s my aunt, and my husband and I were both on Naked and Afraid; weā€™re outdoor folk by trade, and when we were invited to apply for the show, we couldnā€™t resist the opportunity to step into a ready-made adventure. Thatā€™s not why my aunt watches it, though. She was a fan first. ā€œI canā€™t really explain it,ā€ she told me after we watched a scene together of a proud, hungry woman plucking a grouse for stew. ā€œI just think itā€™s relaxing!ā€

Leslieā€™s not the only one who finds survival shows addictive. Ever since Survivor premiered in 2000, and promptly became one of the highest-rated shows on network television, survival-themed reality shows and their spinoffs have reproduced like rabbits. In addition to Naked and Afraid, thereā€™s Alone, Survivor, Dual Survival, Survivorman, Ultimate Survival, Man vs. Wild,, Race to Survive, Outlast, and Celebrity Bear Hunt, not to mention numerous spinoffs and international versions. (My personal favorite title? Naked and Afraidā€™s Shark Week special, Naked and Afraid of Sharks.) Sure, some of their viewers are outdoorsy, but the shows arenā€™t just made for survivalists any more than shows about serial killers are made for, well, other serial killers. No: what makes survival shows so popular is that, while they depict extreme situations, the feelings they tap into are damn near universal.

Thereā€™s pleasure in seeing someone succeed despite hardshipā€”and thereā€™s also pleasure (maybe more) in watching someone fail spectacularly, particularly if they went in cocky. Whenever a survivalistā€™s intro includes them sayingany version of the phrase ā€œmaking nature my bitch,ā€ you know theyā€™re gonna get their ass handed to them. Itā€™s just a matter of when and how.

ā€œSome guyā€™s hungry, or cut himself with his knife, and itā€™s time to tap,ā€ says my husband, Quince Mountain, who survived 21 daysā€”mostly aloneā€”in the Honduran jungle. (We were on the show at the same time, but were sent to different locations.) ā€œHeā€™s crying because he misses his wife and kids too much, but he says it like, ā€˜Itā€™s really unfair to them, me being out hereā€¦ā€™ Is that his epiphany about how his wife does massive amounts of invisible labor to keep his life comfortable, and now heā€™s going home a changed man, a grateful, devoted, humble partnerā€”or is it his excuse because heā€™s hungry and lonely and doesnā€™t know how to take care of himself? You decide!ā€

In one of the most popular survival shows, Alone, participants film themselves in complete isolation without knowing how many of the other contestants are still out there. The show premiered in 2015, but viewership soared in 2020 when select seasons became available on Netflix and Hulu. ā€œWith COVID, there was a lot of interest because of the isolation aspect,ā€ recalls Juan Pablo QuiƱonez, author of the survival book , who won Aloneā€™s season 9 after surviving 78 days in Labrador with a strategy of fasting, drinking unboiled water, and hunkering down to rest. ā€œThere arenā€™t many shows that are really truly unscripted, and where you can see real emotions, like craving for fish, or craving to be with a loved one. How often do we get to see someone catch a fish after five days without food? These moments are super powerful.ā€

He believes that weā€™re all hunter-gatherers at heart, and that survival showsā€”and wilderness survival in generalā€”connect us to an ancestral legacy that feels both vital and familiar. ā€œThere might be strong feelings on The Bachelor, but itā€™s definitely not as real.ā€

As much as skeptics in online forums might debate the authenticity of their favorite shows (a common theory centers around the idea that when people are getting too weak, production will leave a dead animal in one of their traps), itā€™s hard for viewers to dismiss the fact that at least something real is happening onscreen. People donā€™t lose 20 pounds in three weeks without going awfully hungry, and a lot of the effects of survivalā€”sunburn, frostbite, open woundsā€”are physically undeniable. There are even ways that being on a show can be harder than plain old survival. Camera crews inadvertantly scare away game, and interrupt survivors for interviews, even when theyā€™re beyond exhausted. Plus, the survivors are usually limited by geographic barriers that have little to do with whatā€™s actually practical or effective. Youā€™re ravenous, searching for any darn calories, and finally spot some berries in a clearing thatā€™s off-limits? Too bad, so sad. This isnā€™t just survival, itā€™s a show, and you gotta perform for both.

Another factor in their proliferation is that survival showsā€”and reality shows in generalā€”are economical to produce. ā€œThe reason that unscripted TV came out of the gate so strongly is that itā€™s cheaper,ā€ says Rachel Maguire, whoā€™s been an international showrunner and executive producer for Naked and Afraid and Dual Survival. ā€œYou donā€™t have high-paid actors. There are no writers. The cast is generally not union.ā€ Although, she adds upon reflection, Naked and Afraid does have awfully pricey accidental death and dismemberment insurance.

Her theory as to why the genreā€™s so popular? People are increasingly aware of instability in the worldā€”including a steep increase in natural disasters due to climate changeā€”and watching survival shows helps them feel prepared.

I agree with QuiƱonez and Maguire, but I also think thereā€™s another instinctive appeal. We worry about extraordinary disasters, but we worry about problems in our lives just as much, and usually more. Survival shows are addictive because much of our daily life is also about struggling to meet our basic needs, and we feel that stress even when we canā€™t name it. Negotiating jobs, health insurance, child and elder care, housing? Thatā€™s all survival, viscerally so. And so watching people get shelter by building it from scratch, and food by catching it in a handmade trap, isnā€™t about watching them go through challenges that are completely disconnected from our own. Itā€™s about watching our everyday adversity reflected back to us, but distilled into a pure form. We empathize when TV survivalists want to tap out; we cheer when they succeed. Itā€™s relatable. Itā€™s therapeutic. We knowā€”deep downā€”that weā€™re all just trying to survive.

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Some of the biggest names in the outdoor industry will convene in Denver for the 2025 ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Summit, a multi-day networking and thought leadership event that begins in late May and rolls into the , a massive celebration of outdoor culture and community.

Featured speakers at the Summit include a diverse range of celebrated pioneers and rising stars. Among them are Co-Founder of and CEO of Reed Hastings, Global Brand President ofCaroline Brown, National Geographic and TV Host Albert Lin, Founder of Alyssa Ravasio, President and CEO of Carrie Besnette Hauser, President of the Kent Ebersole, Multidisciplinary Designer , Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, and Founder of Joey Montoya. The full lineup, which will continue to expand in the coming weeks, can be explored at .

The Summit brings together key stakeholders, career veterans, and emerging talents to set a vision for the future of the industry. Programming begins on Thursday, May 29, with a job fair hosted in partnership with , along with networking opportunities, then continues on Friday with a full day of talks, panels, and workshops, followed by evening festivities.

Over the weekend, Summit badge holders will have ticket holder access to the ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Festival presented by and , which takes place in Denverā€™s Civic Center Park and features musical performances by and among other major national acts, an adventure film series co-curated by Mountainfilm, conversations with iconic athletes, and an eclectic mix of outdoor experiences. Summit badge holders will also be invited to join exclusive Saturday and Sunday activities and gatherings, and gain entry to an ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Summit lounge on the Festival grounds.

Last yearā€™s ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Summit saw 35 speakers, 27 panel discussions, and a sold-out gathering of more than 500 attendees. In 2025, the program will expand to a dedicated campus adjacent to Civic Center Park, with sessions taking place at the Denver Art Museum and newly renovated spaces within the Denver Public Library. The program will focus on entrepreneurship, storytelling, access, and sustainability, and will include a pitch competition for industry startups.

ā€œThe Summit is an embodiment of our mission at ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų and serves the larger vision behind the ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Festival,ā€ said Robin Thurston, founder & CEO of ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Interactive Inc., who will also be speaking at the Summit. ā€œLast yearā€™s inaugural Summit brought together changemakers from across the outdoor industry to spark important conversations about the future of our businesses. Our 2025 speaker lineup will continue building on last year’s success with an inspiring group of individuals who will empower more people to enjoy, discover, and protect the outdoors. I’m eager to hear their valuable insights.ā€

The complete schedule will be released early in the spring. Industry professionals interested in attending are encouraged to secure their spot today. A limited number of for students, those who work in education and government, nonprofits, and smaller brands or startups. ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų+ members receive a special discount on Summit badges, and group discounts are also available.

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If you grew up on any one of the Great Lakes, like I did, you may have heard of the sea lampreyā€”a vampiric creature that literally sucks the life out of a lake trout. As a kid, I thought they were a myth, a horror story that parents liked to tell kids on fishing trips. I wasnā€™t aware of the havoc this parasitic fish wrought on the entire region when it first wiggled its way from the Atlantic Ocean into the largest freshwater ecosystem on earth.

A new documentary, The Fish Thief: A Great Lakes Mystery, unpacks the ecological crisis created by the lamprey, and the extraordinary effort to contain it. ā€œThe sea lamprey is what put invasive species on the map in the Great Lakes,ā€ says director Lindsey Haskin. ā€œFor many people, it was the first time they become aware of the scale of damage thatā€™s possible.ā€

The Great Lakesā€”Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superiorā€”straddle the border between Canada and the U.S. Five million people fish them every year, reeling in tasty catches like yellow perch and walleye, and even coho salmon, which was introduced for sport fishing in the late 1960s. Recreational and commercial fishing in the Great Lakes region is a $7 billion industry. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie, my earliest outdoor memory is fishing with my dad from the Neff Road breakwall.

Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons narrates The Fish Thief. Simmons describes how sea lampreys worked their way into the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway to Lake Ontario. For most of history, Niagara Falls prevented them from spreading any further.

That changed in the early 1900s, with improvements to the Welland Canal, which bypasses Niagara Falls to create a shipping channel between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The first sea lamprey was found in Lake Erie in 1921. By 1938, sea lampreys had infiltrated the rest of the lakes, all the way to the farthest corners of Lake Superior.

Sea lampreys resemble eels with their long tubular shape. But their mouths are unmistakable: a suction cup lined with concentric circles of fangs, spiraling down to a toothed tongue. They latch onto other fish, create a wound with their razor-sharp teeth and tongue, and suck out blood and other fluids.

In the Atlantic Ocean, where sea lampreys have lived for more than 340 million years, they are mere parasites, attaching themselves most often to sharks and other sea mammals. But in the Great Lakes, very few fish are large enough to escape unscathed from a sea lamprey encounter. By the 1940s, the blood-suckers were killing their hostsā€”lake trout, lake whitefish, and ciscoesā€”in droves.

The regionā€™s fishing industry began to collapse in the 1950s, paralyzing towns and Indigenous communities on every shoreline. By 1960, the annual Great Lakes catch, once around 15 million pounds of fish, had plummeted by 98 percent to a mere 300,000 pounds.

The Fish Thief, which has won awards on the environmental film festival circuit in North America and Europe, is the first to tell the story of the lamprey in its entirety, from the initial mystery of droves of dead fish, to the resulting ecological crisis, to the efforts to find a solution. It was eight years in the making.

Haskin, who grew up in the region, near Detroit, says they filmed in a variety of regions, ā€œfrom the far east extremes of Lake Ontario all the way to Duluth, Minnesota, and down to Chicago.ā€

What stood out most for Haskin about the project was the tenacity of the people involved devising a solution to the lakesā€™ ecological collapse. ā€œThe original title for the film was Relentless, which applied to the sea lamprey, but also to the people that did battle with it,ā€ Haskin says. ā€œTheir original ideas failed, but they just stuck to it and kept going and kept going and kept going and eventually found a solution that has been workable for almost 70 years now.ā€

Part of the challenge was the cross-border cooperation required to study, test, and, eventually, implement processes to bring the ecosystem back into balance. It required federal government oversight, which most of the fishing industry, and many of the states and provinces bordering the Great Lakes, were hesitant at first to enlist. But eventually, they ran out of options. There was nothing left to do but trust that the government (and science) could find a solution. In 1955, the U.S. and Canada formed the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the first joint agency of its kind.

The commission confirmed that it was impossible to eradicate sea lampreys from the Great Lakes. But scientists could greatly reduce the invasive speciesā€™ numbers by attacking them during their larval stage, when they live as filter-feeders in lake tributaries. Some 6,000 compounds were tested to find the best ā€œlampricide,ā€ a pesticide capable of destroying lamprey larvae without significantly impacting other organisms, or causing long-term damage to the ecosystem.

Administering the pesticide to larvae in tributaries, as well as using barriers and traps to prohibit full-grown sea lampreys from making it out of the tributaries into the Great Lakes, cut the ā€œvampire fishā€ population by 90 percent. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission, in partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has been working to keep sea lampreys at that benign level ever since.

The sea monster of my youth is real. The next time someone from back home brings up sea lampreys, Iā€™m going to have a whole lot more to add to the story.

The Fish Thief: A Great Lakes Mystery is set to release on January 31, 2025 in the U.S. and Canada, where it will be available to stream, download, or rent on platforms including Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon, Google/YouTube, and Tubi.

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The ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Festival is back.

A year after the inaugural gathering brought some 18,000 people together for a rousing weekend of music and joy in the outdoors, the with presenting sponsors and will return to downtown Denverā€™s Civic Center Park, May 31-June 1, 2025. The just-announced lineup of musical headliners includes , , , , , , , and .

The two-day event will also feature conversations with iconic athletes, renowned storytellers, and inspiring changemakers, plus an adventure films series and a diverse mix of outdoor experiences.

The ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Summit, a precursor to the Festival and the outdoor industryā€™s premier networking event, which was attended by over 500 influential leaders in its first year, will return on Thursday, May 29. The Summit includes a full day of programming on Friday, May 30, plus exclusive gatherings during the Festival weekend.

The 2024 ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Festival and Summit was hailed as that created a new model for a national outdoor community gathering. Building off that momentum, organizers have expanded the Festival grounds to include Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park in order to accommodate an anticipated 25,000-plus attendees. Activities include climbing experiences, yoga classes, skills workshops, gear demos, a kidsā€™ zone, exciting food options, and a variety of immersive brand engagements. Films and talks will take place at spaces inside the Denver Art Museum and the newly renovated Denver Public Library.

ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Festival presenting sponsor Capital One is running an exclusive Capital One cardholder presale, giving eligible cardholdersā€”including Ā customersā€”48-hour early access to tickets beginning Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. MT, and ending at 10 a.m. MT on Friday, Dec. 13, or until the last ticket is sold. Supplies are limited. Those trying to access the Capital One Cardholder Presale must use an eligible Capital One Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card to purchase presale tickets. Excludes Capital One issued private label cards. Tickets start at $99 for the full weekend.

Immediately following the Capital One cardholder presale, all tickets will be released to the general public at 10 a.m. MT on Friday, December 13. VIP packages will start at $150 for a single day and $275 for the full weekend, with access to a premium VIP viewing area, exclusive food vendors, private bar access, expedited entry, and more.

ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų+ members have access to early-bird pricing throughout the entire sales window on single-day general admission tickets and all VIP ticket types, plus members have the opportunity to purchase GA+ tier tickets at general admission pricing. Two-day GA+ tickets start at $175 and include perks like express entry, private bathrooms, additional food and beverage options, and access to the ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų+ Lounge. Children ages 12 and under enter free.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the .

The post Khruangbin and Lord Huron to Headline the 2025 ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Festival Presented by Capital One and REI appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

The camp chairs are set up. A cracked clipboard rests under my arm. Iā€™m stuffed into my mom jeans. Itā€™s showtime.

June gloom blankets Encinal Canyon in a lush mist. I could be in Narnia instead of Malibu, but I barely notice. My body stands in front of a marooned Airstream, waiting. But my mind is back home, wondering if my 14-month-old is napping as I review the research on my clipboard. Tonight Iā€™ll camp in this patch of Eden with Shailene Woodley, the 33-year-old actor and environmentalist known for her lead roles in The Fault in Our Stars, the Divergent trilogy, and the series Big Little Lies, instead of sleeping at home with my daughter. Itā€™s the first time Iā€™ve been away from her overnight.

ā€œThere she is,ā€ a member of our six-woman crew says. An electric sedan with a mint green surfboard on top crunches to a stop. A luminous creature in a pastel silk shirt emerges and wraps me in a hug. My mind freezes. My clipboard is blank on basic human greetings.

ā€œI had to stop at REI and get a new sleeping pad,ā€ Woodley says, rolling her eyes. ā€œI left my old one with my ex.ā€ The actress is no stranger to camping, and remarkably at home in the outdoors. From a young age, sheā€™s felt a kinship with and responsibility toward the natural world. Her lifelong commitment to environmental work started when, as a freshman at Simi Valley High School, she rallied her fellow students to petition for a recycling program. Since then sheā€™s become an outspoken advocate for the climate, working with various nonprofits and NGOs and participating in the Standing Rock protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

We sit under an ancient oak tree in collapsible chairs. If Woodley has a phone, I donā€™t see it. When I ask about it she says, ā€œI guess Iā€™m addicted to real interaction.ā€ She glimpses mine and coos at the wallpaper photo of my baby. When I tell her I met the love of my life at 39 she says, ā€œYou give me hope!ā€

Woodley radiates something I canā€™t place. Youth and beauty? Sure. But thatā€™s everywhere in Hollywood. Later, when I play back the recording of our conversation, I hear how rushed I sound, so determined to ask all the questions, to get somewhere. But sheā€™s in no hurry. Sheā€™s right here.

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For the past two summers, TikToks of Paul Mescalā€™s training regimen for Ridley Scottā€™s Gladiator II have gone viral. Mescal, an Irish actor known for his breakout role in Huluā€™s adaptation of the Sally Rooney novel Normal People, looks ripped. , which has over 2 million views, Mescal does continuous upright rows with dumbbells for over 20 seconds. I canā€™t discern the weight heā€™s holding, but I can see from his strainedĀ face and measured breathing that it isnā€™t light.

5 stars

I have to be honest, though, when the internet started salivating over Mescalā€™s physique, I wondered, is thatā€”at allā€”what gladiators looked like? What do we actually know about gladiatorsā€™ diet, exercise, and appearance? Frankly, it all seems ripe for some real Hollywood inaccuracy.

To answer my questions, I talked to Alexander Mariotti, a.k.a ā€œ.ā€ Mariotti, who has been a historical consultant on numerous films and television series, including Gladiator II, also lives a bit like a gladiator, so he is a wealth of information on my Paul Mescal-focused queries andĀ the gladiator diet, exercise, and philosophy in a much broader sense.

OUTSIDE: Weā€™ve all seen the videos of Paul Mescal working out to play Lucius in Gladiator II. Does his physique align with what we know about real gladiators?
MARIOTTI: Well, [Mescalā€™s body] is built for a different reason. It’s a physique built for a short period of time and not to be an enduring athlete. So, the aesthetic is important for the movie, but it doesn’t actually have to perform. The Romans believed, above all, that the body should be functional. And certainly, I think for people like Mescal when you’re training, there is a level of functionality, too, because he’s got to perform all those scenes.

So the Romans werenā€™t into how fit they looked?
Thereā€™s a very interesting break in culture between the Romans and the Greeks (after the Romans conquered the Greeks), where the Greeks became obsessed with diets, and they wanted to look like statues (). If you look at modern gym culture, it’s very much the same. You’ve got some people who aesthetically look great, but they can’t do anything. They’re physically perfect, but they can’t run, can’t lift, can’t play. I see that in our culture as well, with what the Romans warned about: excessive obsession with the “look.”

Work Out Like a Gladiator

So, what do we actually know about how gladiators trained? Is there such a thing as a ā€œgladiator workout?ā€
I can give you a very good idea, because I use it, and I’ve used it now for probably 15 years. It’s a system called the Tetrad. It’s a four-day split, and it was originally devised by Greek trainers for the Olympics. But it was such a good system that it made its way into the Roman army.

The way it works is that the first day is a preparatory day. The second day they called ā€œan inescapable test of one’s limits.ā€ The third day is rest, because they believe that rest and recovery are very important. And the fourth day is a skills day.

What might using the Tetrad gladiator training system look like for a modern person?
Day 1: On the preparatory day, I tend to do rowing. Nothing’s more ancient than being in a galley on a ship. I’ll do maybe 2,000 meters of rowing and then put in something else aerobic, like a short circuit, but nothing that’s going to exhaust me.

Day 2: The next day is when I do a full workout. The Romans had medicine balls, so you can use a kettlebell, medicine balls, circuits, weights, whatever. But the point is to test the limits of your body, to do more than you can do, to do as much as you can do.

Day 3: The third day you rest; thatā€™s very important.

Day 4: The fourth day is skills. And skills, for me, is boxing training. So, I’ll do circuits on boxing, which are very similar to the movements they used in gladiator fighting.

Eat Like a Gladiator

And what about gladiatorsā€™ diets? Were they really the barley eaters that ancient texts describe?
Mike Tyson couldn’t survive off barley alone. The human body hasn’t evolved in the last 2,000 years. Our capabilities are what they are. If you took a heavyweight boxer and you started feeding him barley and ash, he wouldn’t be able to perform at the level he needed. So, yes, they were given sustenance.

They were given in the same way that sumo wrestlers are given stews to fatten them up. You had to, in a very economic way, feed your fighters. It’s findings in places like Herculaneum that are breaking these myths and giving us the understanding that they had very varied and balanced dietsā€”just like usā€”including meat, fish, and cheese.

Gladiators, theyā€™re just like us. Gladiators were people. Gladiators were high-performance athletes. Just like with modern fitness, their diet and exercise would have been honed and iterated upon by those who had a vested interest in their performance over the course of centuries.

Knowing they prized functionality over appearance gives me a critical eye for my own viewing of pop culture. That said, even if movies arenā€™t perfectly historically rendered, their role is to entertain and inspire. Theyā€™re allowed to deviate.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Prior to ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų, Ryleigh Nucilli was the Senior Manager of Ranker’s Weird History brand, where she spent lots of time investigating the historical accuracy of pop culture. Her work on gladiators’ diets can also be found in The New York Times bestseller .

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Pro snowboarder Kimmy Fasani seems to have only one speed: fast. I learn this at her tiny green clapboard cabin on Lake Mary, just 15 minutes up the road from her primary home in Mammoth Lakes, California. Soon after we arrive aboard a little e-powered dinghy, I turn around to gaze over the lake and its forested shores. Kimmy, meanwhile, has somehow already stripped down and pulled on a bikini, and is now leaping off a 20-foot cliff that fronts the frigid alpine water. For a moment, her body is silhouetted against the deep blue summer sky, and then she disappears beneath the glassy surface with a big splash followed by ripples of concentric waves. She surfaces with a whoop and a grin.

ā€œItā€™s a tradition,ā€ Kimmy says as she clambers back up the rocks. As long as the lake isnā€™t iced over, she and her husband, artist and pro skier Chris Benchetler, jump in at least once whenever theyā€™re here. Kimmy towels off, changes into shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, and before long is bounding into the thickets on the south side of the lake, following an overgrown trail. Along with her good friend Cara Williamson, a brand-marketing executive who flew in from Denver for a few days, I run panting behind her, ducking under branches, crawling over logs, and tiptoeing through moats of muck. This is prime bear habitat, she tells me as she wrestles a branch. ā€œTheyā€™re usually standing on the dock, sniffing, checking things out,ā€ she says with a laugh.

Soon we come to a better-trod trail, which switchbacks through shady conifer forests and past sparkling views of the lake to the top of Mammoth Crest. This trail is Kimmyā€™s sanity. Now that sheā€™s a mother of two boys, Koa and Zeppelin, aged six and three, she comes here to move around and drink in the mountain air and remember who she is amid all the motion and mundanity of motherhood.

As she breezes upslope, past ambling couples and vacationing families, I let her do most of the talking. Kimmy has been a professional athlete for 25 years, earning a reputation as a pioneer in womenā€™s snowboarding. Now sheā€™s finishing what may be her most challenging project yet. Six years ago, she and Chris invited their friend Tyler Hamlet, a Bellingham, Washington, cinematographer, to film what was supposed to be a lighthearted family documentary, a project that would soon evolve into something much different.

It started in 2017, when Kimmy was pregnant with Koa. With the bright-eyed optimism of people on the brink of parenthood, Kimmy and Chris planned to simply take him along whenever they traveled. They asked Tyler, who had worked with Chris on film projects in the past, if he would capture their joys and mishaps as Koa entered the world. ā€œI wanted to try to create a road map for other athletes who wanted to start a family,ā€ Kimmy told me as she huffed up the slope toward Mammoth Crest. ā€œI wanted to help them realize that this is possible.ā€

After Koa arrived, in 2018, Tyler accompanied the couple to New Zealand, where they filmed a short for GoPro (one of Chrisā€™s sponsors) and started capturing the challenges and hilarity of two pro athletes juggling life, work, and fun with an infant in tow. They surfed, skied, climbed, biked, and drove along the winding seaside roads of the South Island. It was a dream gig, and as veteran athletes Kimmy and Chris were accustomed to being in front of a camera.

But the balancing act turned out to be harder than any of them expected. Between New Zealand and the familyā€™s next big trip, to Japan, things shifted. Koa was now ten months old, and Kimmy was officially stepping back into work after maternity leave by appearing in a video for her sponsor Burton.

ā€œTyler started realizing, ā€˜Oh, I better start filming more than the happy moments,ā€™ā€‰ā€ Kimmy says. ā€œThis life has so much more dimension, and maybe we have a message that can help. But at the time, we didnā€™t know what it was.ā€

Over the coming years, the couple encountered more challenging plot twists than they could have foreseen: the unexpected ripple effects of childhood trauma, a career-hampering injury, an acute medical crisis for Koa, and, for Kimmy, an aggressive-breast-cancer diagnosis at 37, just months after her second child was born.

For years, Kimmy and Chris kept the documentary secret, not quite sure where it would lead. Tyler did other work for his clients, like Dakine and ESPN, but when he was with Kimmy and Chris, he kept the cameras rolling more than he otherwise would. He filmed them in the mountains, in formal interview settings, and during casual moments. The project became something much more real than any of them expected.

On the slopes above Lake Mary, Kimmy moves quickly up into the mountains, each footfall fast and confident, while Cara and I trail behind her. She tells me she has only just started to share the details of the film with people outside her immediate circle. ā€œItā€™s scary talking about our private life, because thereā€™s always room for criticism,ā€ she says. ā€œThereā€™s so much unknown as to how the movie will be received. I wanted it to be an honest, raw, vulnerable piece that tackles big topics.ā€ At once edgy and hopeful, Kimmy is finally ready to launch it into the world. Sheā€™s willing to be seen in a new way.

The post Kimmy Fasani Has Always Been Fearless. Motherhoodā€”and Breast Cancer ā€”Taught Her to Be Vulnerable. appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Itā€™s officially that very special time of year again.

The newest Warren Miller film is coming soon, and this year marks a major milestone: the feature filmā€™s 75th anniversary. The first movie produced by the iconic filmmaker debuted back in 1949 as the world was introduced to a whole new way to watch skiing. And today the first official trailer for ā€œ75ā€ is live.

ā€œThe film showcases a diverse mix of snowsports icons, Olympic hopefuls, and emerging talents,ā€ said Warren Miller Executive Producer Josh Haskins. ā€œItā€™s unlike anything weā€™ve crafted before and is poised to ignite excitement and winter stoke in theaters nationwide this fall.ā€

The official film premiere is Oct. 15 in Boulder, Colo.ā€”an especially meaningful day that would have marked Millerā€™s 100th birthday. () Celebrations will extend far off the silver screen with a festival-style street party. If you canā€™t make it to Boulder, the film is going on the road for an almost 100-city North American tour.

This yearā€™s film lineup features 10 all-new segments that will deliver 90 minutes of action and storytelling. The itinerary will take fans to powder stashes and iconic destinations worldwide, from Canada, Colorado, California, and Utah to Finland, Japan, Austria, and New Jersey.

The athlete lineup for Warren Millerā€™s ā€œ75ā€ is stacked, featuring skiers including Max Hitzig, Lexi duPont, Caite Zeliff, Aaron Blunck, Alex Ferreira, and Cassie Sharp, plus snowboarders Shaun White, Zeb Powell, Toby Miller, Danny Davis, and 15-year-old phenom LJ Henriquez.

Thereā€™s a 25 percent discount for all new and current ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų+ members who snag tickets before Sept. 19, and tickets for the general public are on sale now at full price.

For more information about the tour, including the schedule, visit .

The post Warren Millerā€™s ā€œ75ā€ Trailer Is Now Live. Watch It Here. appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Wildlife biologist and wilderness guide Brad Josephs shared an epic battle between two male grizzly bears with ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų in 2023. This year, he captured an equally intense skirmish between grizzlies while guiding at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

For this round, a much smaller mother bear fiercely defends her two cubs from an aggressive male brute. In this spellbinding video, the female stands up to the male and fends him off. In the melee, her two cubs dramatically topple off opposite sides of the slope. The footage is breathtaking. At one point, the male is inches from snatching up one of the cubs, only to be rebuffed by the determined female.

Momma Bear Fights Invading Male

In a , Josephs explains that the fate of the mom and cubs remains unknown but that the male was seen again wandering in an open field. While a somewhat rare occurrence, males will occasionally hunt cubs for the simple reason that they present an easy mealā€”in theory. Momma bears don’t take kindly to their cubs being threatened. This video shows just how courageous a female grizzly bear can be when protecting her young.

Brad generously shared images of the belligerent male and the female bear family with ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų.

The female and her cubs were on high alert before the male intruder made his move.

The post Momma Bear Fiercely Defends Cubs Against Giant Grizzly in Alaska appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Midway through Sasha DiGiulianā€™s new eighty-minute HBO sports documentary, Here to Climb, she expresses one of the filmā€™s major tensions: ā€œYou have to be selfish,ā€ she says. Early in her climbing, DiGiulianā€™s mom acted as her belayer so she could spend time on the wall and not waste time belaying other people. Thanks to support like thisā€”and personal dedicationā€”DiGiulian became one of Americaā€™s most accomplished sport climbers, sending some of the hardest sport routes around the world, and she recently ticked off her 50th 5.14 route. But when she shifted from short sport climbs to making first female ascents of longer, multi-pitch routes, she found that focusing on herself wasnā€™t enough. ā€œBig wall climbing is about teamwork and about partnership,ā€ professional climber Cedar Wright says in the film. DiGiulian, admittedly, needed to learn how to climb with others.

The main narrative of Here to Climb, which debuts June 18 on HBO, uses DiGiulian and Lynn Hillā€™s 2023 ascent of the three-pitch route called “Queen Line” on the Flatironā€™s Maiden to demonstrate DiGiulianā€™s development as a climber and teammate.

DiGiulian grew up with a poster hanging on her wall of Hill making the first free ascent of the Nose of El Capitan with the caption, ā€œIt Goes Boys!ā€ And, in the film, Hill assumes the role of mentor and DiGiulianā€™s foil. Though they both stand at the forefront of climbing in their respective eras, the two women developed vastly different understandings of what it means to be an elite climber. Hill came from a time before social media, where even groundbreaking ascents, like Hillā€™s first free ascent of the Nose, were understated. Digiulian, meanwhile, a late-generation millennial, discusses her focus on monetization and hyping her ascents. ā€œI took a very business-forward approach to my career,ā€ DiGiulian says, which allowed her to move from a skilled climber to a professional who capitalized on her social media reach.

ā€œSheā€™s the OG millennial influencer pro climber,ā€ Wright says.

But social media work comes at a price. The film discusses her struggles with her body while operating both as a performance athlete and as an influencer. DiGiulian describes her experience of being an 18-year-old 94-pound comp climber with body dysmorphia and then, gradually, finding comfort in her own skin. She talks about the criticism she received from an Agent Provocateur campaign, where she climbed in lingerie to show a correlation between strength and femininity. The film also examines the fat shaming she experienced online, though the film avoids naming Joe Kinder and the specifics of the event.

Though DiGiulian does note that this ā€œwas an incredibly traumatizing period,ā€ the fact that the cyberbullying occupies a mere three minutes of the film might leave some viewers might be left to wonder just how much these things have affected her. Lynn Hill, however, notes that, DiGiulian is ā€œreally good at compartmentalizing her emotions,ā€ saying that she was shocked to observe a calm, young DiGiulian giving a slide show not long after the death of her father in 2014.

The film delves a little into the negative impacts of DiGiulianā€™s relentless drive, however. During one of her attempts on Pico Cao Grande, a volcanic plug on Sao Tome, an island south of Nigeria, DiGiulian rips off a large section of rock, which nearly hits her photographer. After that, the team questions her motives and her acceptance of risk for others. After nonstop rain, DiGiulian and her partner, Angela VanWiemeersch, reassess their objective and bail, one of the few retreats in DiGiulianā€™s long career.

As with her struggles with social media and body image, her climbing failures and difficulties are only briefly portrayed, but candor leaks into the film.

ā€œI feel like with every big thing sheā€™s done, thereā€™s always a weird asterisk,ā€ Alex Honnold notes early in the film, referring to the significant scrutiny that DiGiulianā€™s ascents have seen from the climbing community.

After her 2021 ascent of Logical Progression, a long multi-pitch bolted route in Chihuahua, Mexico, DiGiulian that her partner didnā€™t successfully free one of the crux pitches and that DiGiulian top roped it, which adds a small asterisk to the ascent. Drama has also surrounded DiGiulianā€™s first female ascents, as with a public tiff in 2014 (detailed in an ) she had with Nina Caprez over which one of them should have the right to rig and film the first female ascent of Orbayu, a 5.14 big wall on Spainā€™s Naranjo de Bulnes. While the film alludes to another controversy on the Eiger, it glosses over the details.

In addition to the Lynn Hill partnership, the film also focuses on DiGiulianā€™s experience with chronic hip dysplasia, for which she underwent five surgeries in 2020. She had planned for Logical Progression to be a last hurrah before the surgeries, but before she could arrive, Nolan Smythe, one of the film crew riggers, died while fixing ropes for DiGiulianā€™s team. The death caused DiGiulian to retreat from the climb and instead push forward with her hip surgery. She struggled through her recovery, fixating on getting back on rock and . ā€œShe needs something thatā€™s just on the ragged edge of insanity,ā€ her partner Erik Osterholm said of DiGiulianā€™s drive to get back to her pre-surgery objective. Her dedication saw her back to Mexico and up the route.

Here to Climbā€™s arc moves quickly through DiGiulianā€™s problems, offering a superficial glimpse into what drives her. Thatā€™s easy criticism, though. It both minimizes the filmā€™s breathtaking climbing footage and doesnā€™t do justice to the fact that DiGiulian speaks with vulnerability about her career. All in all, itā€™s an enlightening look at professional climbing.

Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg directed the HBO sports documentary Here to Climb from Red Bull Media House. The film debuts Tuesday, June 18 at 9pm ET/PT on HBO.

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