News

A Quick and Dangerous Surf Guide to Mexico’s Southern Baja
A Quick and Dangerous Surf Guide to Mexico’s Southern Baja

Heading for the villa at one of the many breaks along the southern coast of Baja, Mexico. Photo: David Moran.. Operating on a tip that surfing in Mexico is better than surfing in California, I booked a two-hour flight from Los Angeles to check it out for myself.. It’s true. The water is warmer, the...

Jan 22, 2021
A New England canoe trail comes of age
A New England canoe trail comes of age

They thought they’d packed everything.. Nicole Grohoski and the brother and sister she’d teamed up with, Tom and Pam Perkins, had carefully assembled the food, clothing and shelter for an epic canoe trip.. Tent? Check. Camp stove? Check. Fuel? Check.. “We should have double checked,” Nicole recalled. “The first night we camped on an island....

Jan 22, 2021
Top mountain adventure books from the Banff Festival
Top mountain adventure books from the Banff Festival

There are SO many books out there — how’s a reader to choose? Well, literary competitions aren’t a bad place start, and if your looking for outdoor adventure reads, the annual Banff Festival offers up some good suggestions.. This year’s grand prize went to Freedom Climbers by Bernadette Mcdonald, a “passionate and literary tale of...

Jan 22, 2021
Pioneering South African whitewater kayaker killed by crocodile
Pioneering South African whitewater kayaker killed by crocodile

Hendrik Coetzee, a pioneering South Africa whitewater kayaker and river explorer, was killed by a crocodile while paddling last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo.. Coetzee, 35, was on an Eddie Bauer-sponsored expedition down the Lukugu River in the Central Congo with American kayakers Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic.. The three paddlers were in...

Jan 22, 2021
Seen on the river: snake eating fish
Seen on the river: snake eating fish

This cannot stand. I’m paddling in the Delaware River a couple of weeks ago, and a snake swims by me with a big fish in its mouth. Amazing. Weird.. I ran to my car to get my camera and ran back to the river to get a photo of the snake trying to swallow the...

Jan 22, 2021
A Long Fling with Montana Fly Fishing
A Long Fling with Montana Fly Fishing

I’ve been traveling to fly fish on the Missouri River near Craig, Montana, for eight years now.. My father, brother and I do this for the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, the art of the sport and the camaraderie that comes with spending a long day in the wild.. It’s an amazing place with...

Jan 22, 2021
Powder snob perfects the science of snow
Powder snob perfects the science of snow

Most outdoors enthusiasts dabble in weather forecasting, but Jim Steenburgh takes it to a whole new level.. An avid backcountry skier, Steenburgh also happens to chair the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah, and has developed a better way to predict whether he’ll get to ski deep, fluffy powder or be stuck plowing mash...

Jan 22, 2021
She Jumps encourages women to take the leap outdoors
She Jumps encourages women to take the leap outdoors

A group of women snow camping in the mountains as part of a She Jumps trip. Photo: Re Wikstrom. Lidia Mejia was holding up the other skiers. Perched above a small cliff in Utah’s Alta ski area, she doubted her ability to make the drop.. But her friend, who’d just gone over the edge,...

Jan 22, 2021
Petzl Nao Headlamp automatically adjusts beam strength and spread
Petzl Nao Headlamp automatically adjusts beam strength and spread

Petzl recently unveiled its new Nao Headlamp, with a self-adjusting beam that reacts to light conditions. This means that the beam dims and narrows when your working up close and brightens and widens when your looking at something in the distance.. Pretty cool idea. So cool, it’s surprising somebody didn’t think of it sooner. Maybe...

Jan 22, 2021
Tuckerman’s Ravine Redux
Tuckerman’s Ravine Redux

It’s foggy and windy, my feet are soaked through and I’m cold to the bone.. Jeff Hofer, Johnny Poole and I have been hiking up the trail for three miles. The Appalachian Mountain Club calls it a trail, yet it feels more like a waterfall of rocks. The weather was sunny then cloudy, changed to...

Jan 22, 2021
Six adventure film festivals for fall 2010
Six adventure film festivals for fall 2010

A scene from In Nansen’s Footsteps, a film featured in the 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival.. Spring and fall seem to be the times for adventure film festivals. Maybe the festival organizers know that during the warm summer months the audience for movies about adventure, travel and the outdoors would rather be doing than watching.....

Jan 22, 2021
Only the best pictures of snowflakes ever
Only the best pictures of snowflakes ever

Surfers get pretty nerdy when it comes to predicting waves. And powder hounds will endlessly debate which mountain range produces the best snow for skiing or snowboarding. But no one geeks out about snow like a scientist. . Kenneth Libbrecht, a professor of physics at Caltech, is so enamored with the delicate beauty of snowflakes,...

Jan 22, 2021
Obama proposes expanding offshore US oil drilling
Obama proposes expanding offshore US oil drilling

Offshore oil rigs as seen from Huntington Beach California.. President Obama is expected to propose today that areas off the southern US Atlantic coastline, in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska be opened to oil drilling, according to news reports.. The new Interior Department rules would end a longtime ban on East Coast oil...

Jan 22, 2021
National park visits boom in recession
National park visits boom in recession

With the economy in the hole, seems people are seeking solace in nature. About 10 million more Americans and foreign tourists visited U.S. national parks last year than in 2008, according to statistics release last month by the Department of the Interior. That’s around a four percent increase and ranked 2009 as the five busiest...

Jan 22, 2021
New smartphone offers satellite service for wilderness travel
New smartphone offers satellite service for wilderness travel

The new GENUS is the first smartphone to offer dual terrestrial/satellite calling ability.. AT&T has teamed up with satellite phone service provider TerreStar to produce a smartphone that offers both terrestrial cellular capability and satellite connectivity for remote wilderness travel.. Called the GENUS, the phone costs $799, and will be available in retail stores later...

Jan 22, 2021
New York to close dozens of state parks
New York to close dozens of state parks

It’s a sad state of affairs when you can’t even escape into nature for some respite from the bad economic news. . Last week, officials in New York began contacting people who had reservations to camp in state parks to tell them that the parks would be closed, according to the New York Times.. The...

Jan 22, 2021
Mountaineers oppose $500 park service climbing fee for Denali
Mountaineers oppose $500 park service climbing fee for Denali

A mountaineer taking in the scenery of Denali National Park, where the park service proposes to raise climbing fees.. The U.S. National Park Service is proposing to raise mountaineering fees by 150 percent in Denali National Park, Alaska, the location of North America’s tallest mountain, Mt. McKinley.. If approved, the cost for climbing in the...

Jan 22, 2021