Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i Outside

It’s Personal Generally speaking, a U-shaped curve on a graph that tracks fatalities over time is a sign of an emerging public-health issue that warrants serious concern. That’s exactly what you find when looking at cycling deaths in the U.S. over the past three decades. From 1988 until 2010, fatalities dropped 32 percent, from 911 to 623. From 2010 to 2018, they increased 38 percent, to 857, the highest number since, well, 1988. After 30 years, despite an uptick in helmet use and improvements in infrastructure, the grim totals are virtually the same. Of course, statistics can be misleading. There are more people riding bikes now than there were in the late eighties, so a rise in fatalities doesn’t conclusively mean that cycling is more dangerous. But we do know…

FLYING BACK TO Oregon from the 2007 New York City marathon on a Nike corporate jet, Kara Goucher could picture her future perfectly. At 29 years old, the Minnesota native had just surprised the track world with a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the World Championships in Osaka—the first medal for an American in 15 years. She was a star, and Nike let her know it. There were banners with her face splashed across them on the company’s sprawling campus in Beaverton. There were full-page ads in national newspapers before her races. More important, she felt she was part of the Nike family. Goucher imagined that someday, when she retired, her kids would play with the grandchildren of Alberto Salazar, her coach at the Nike Oregon Project, the…

A. La Sportiva Saber GTX $169 Full ankle support and running-shoe-inspired midsole cushioning made this medium-duty boot our top choice for long days exploring, even with a heavy pack. The suede-reinforced mesh upper breathed well on sticky Adirondack treks. The aggressive sole was durable but grippy: it held fast on both loose and slabby rock when we put the brakes on. B. Vans UltraRange Hi DL MTE $105 The look is classic Vans, but don’t be fooled—it’s not for the halfpipe. The UltraRange is well suited to the trail, with features like a supportive leather and synthetic upper, thick waffle-patterned lugs, and a seamless liner that creates a no-blister fit. Don’t wear it backpacking, but do wear it up your favorite mountain or down to your favorite hidden surf break.…

KARI FRASER WAS out for a trail run on Mount Sanitas, in Boulder, Colorado, in the winter of 2015 when she slipped on some ice and knocked her head. The impact resulted in a black eye, a severe headache, and a concussion. Fraser, who was 53 at the time, went to the ER and was told she’d be OK, but she didn’t know what to expect when she left the hospital. For months after her visit, she had an extreme sensitivity to loud noises that made her “almost violently irritable,” she told me, and she couldn’t run downhill without feeling a painful shaking sensation in her brain. “I wasn’t given any information about what my recovery might look like,” she says. Fraser’s experience isn’t unique. Most people who crack their…

THERE ARE WORSE vices than nut butter. Calorically dense, it makes a great snack for athletes, thanks to ample protein and fat content. The only downside? A 16-ounce jar can cost upwards of $10. Fortunately, you can make it for around half that cost. Almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds are all great bases for your nut butter. Don’t be afraid to mix different nuts and seeds, and be sure to get them raw and unsalted. Roasting at home makes them easier to grind, draws out beneficial oils, and deepens the flavor. Rachael Hartley, a dietitian from Columbia, South Carolina, likes to blend walnuts with maple syrup, macadamia nuts with coconut flakes, and pecans with pumpkin-pie spice. Here, Hartley shares her foolproof recipe for a classic nut or seed spread. Ingredients…

2010 December About 39.9 million Americans—roughly 13 percent of the population—went camping this year. 2011 October At 23, Foster Huntington quits his Manhattan job as a designer at Ralph Lauren and moves into a 1987 Volkswagen Vanagon. He drives to the West Coast, where he surfs, shoots for brands like Patagonia, and pioneers the hashtag #Vanlife. April and May Online shop Huckberry and indie gear company Poler launch with marketing that emphasizes the outdoorsy lifestyle over hardcore expeditions, earning hipster cred. 2013 May President Obama mandates that more federal data be open to the public, including campsite-booking information that was previously provided only through the clunky Recreation.gov and Reserve America sites. (Alas, it will take six years for campers to reap the benefits, due to bureaucratic loopholes—see March 2019.) June…

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park A smattering of 34 islands and peninsulas just off the coast, this park has no shortage of activities, including swimming. We recommend Lovells Island, one of four that offer camping, for its hiking and views of the harbor. Seven primitive sites (from $8) are tucked into the woods and walkable from the beach. While most visitors take the ferry from Boston, those looking for a challenge can kayak an hour to reach the island. PHOENIX, ARIZONA Lost Dutchman State Park Lost Dutchman has the same dramatic landscape as the region’s Joshua Tree and Saguaro National Parks—think classic Sonoran Desert full of majestic cactus—but without the crowds. Forty miles east of downtown Phoenix, the 320-acre park serves as a well-appointed trailhead for…

I’ve heard many strange things from Uber drivers. But this was a new one. “Are you sure?” she asked, questioning my destination as I hopped into her car at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport one night last fall. “I’ve been driving Uber to and from the airport for five years now, and I’ve only taken someone south twice.” North is the city proper and Atlanta’s endless suburban expanse. South is deep country. The crickets get louder and the sidewalks vanish. Tucked into Georgia’s remote Chattahoochee Hills, a mere 30 miles from one of America’s biggest urban centers, is Serenbe (pronounced “saren-be”), a 750-resident, 1,400-acre “agrihood” founded in the early 2000s. Billed as a premium-living paradise—in its own literature and in Architectural Digest and O, the Oprah Magazine, among others—it allows residents to…

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In 2019, Danish photographer Martin Johansen traveled from his home in France to Nagaland, a northeastern Indian state on the Myanmar border. He was headed to the remote Mimi village to document members of the Yimchunger tribe, who scale the region’s cliffs on homemade bamboo ladders to gather honey and wax from giant honey bees. But when he arrived, there was a problem: Mimi’s cliffs, usually a beekeeping hotspot, were all but barren. “I began to stress,” says the 49-year-old. The Yimchunger have always left a large part of the honeycomb intact so that the bees don’t need to rebuild from scratch. Even so, the area’s bee population has been falling steadily for years, a possible consequence of deforestation and climate change. “Yimchunger elders told me that in the old…

Outdoor Research Helium Rain $159 Outdoor Research amped up everything about its iconic Helium jacket this spring: it’s significantly lighter (now just over six ounces), and the brand claims it’s seven times more tearproof and 50 percent more waterproof. Credit the new 30-denier fabric made of nylon filaments that resist abrasion and raindrops. With an adjustable hood and a chest-pocket stuffsack, it’s a long-distance hiker’s dream. 6.4 oz (men’s) / 5.5 oz (women’s, pictured) Simms Women’s G3 Guide Wading $450 This three-layer Gore-Tex jacket got a makeover from female anglers who wanted svelte gear storage. Two chest pockets hold fly boxes, and the fleece-lined hand-warmer pockets double as access to a huge game pouch across the back. Velcro tabs cinch the stretchy inner gaiter to the wrists, so you stay…

CRACKED HEELS, scaly limbs, and chapped lips—on the river, boaters know the pain of weather-beaten skin. Fortunately, there are skin-care options to help combat sun and water exposure that go beyond chalky mineral sunblock, dehydrating natural soap, and products that leave toxic deposits in our waterways. Here’s what you need to stay clean, moisturized, and protected, from put-in to take-out. A. Weleda Skin Food Body Butter lotion $19 Before you crawl into your sleeping bag, slather cracked fingers and crusty knees with this extra-thick balm. Glycerin, sunflower-seed oil, and cocoa-seed butter seal in moisture and reinforce your skin’s natural barrier. The subtle chamomile scent is basically raft-guide perfume. B. Jack Black Intense Therapy SPF 25 lip balm $8 We love a high-SPF balm that doesn’t taste like Coppertone. This one,…

GLAMPING IS CAMPING CAN A LIFELONG TENT PITCHER WITH A PENCHANT FOR ROUGHING IT LEARN TO APPRECIATE HIGH-THREAD-COUNT SHEETS AND TEAK-FLOORED SHOWERS IN THE MIDST OF NATURE? CHRISTOPHER KEYES AGREED TO SUFFER IN THE NAME OF RESEARCH TO FIND OUT. “Daddy?” The single whispered word was almost inaudible—just loud enough to get a few parental synapses firing somewhere inside my amygdala and pull me out of a deep sleep. I forced my eyes open, but it was still dark and I was disoriented. To my right, my wife, Kelly, was sound asleep on our plush king-size bed, her face barely exposed to the pre-dawn light filtering through our canvas tent, the rest of her buried beneath two white down comforters. Just beyond, at her bedside, our 23-month-old daughter, Zevi, was…

A. L.L. Bean Men’s Fleece-Lined Flannel shirt $84 You no longer have to choose between your favorite hoodie, flannel, and fleece: they’ve been wrapped into one shirt that’s as good for chopping wood as for reading by the fire. B. Big Agnes Camp Robber bedroll $300 Tired of your partner stealing the covers under the stars? The Camp Robber blanket zips into its own fitted double-pad cover that, besides preventing hogging, has a pair of slots to keep your pillows from coming loose at night. C. Smartwool Mountaineering Extra Heavy Crew socks $25 Arch and ankle support keep these socks in place on your foot and calf, and extra-heavy cushioning makes them thick and warm. They’re peerless for camp lounging. D. Haflinger Classic Grizzly slippers $125 These slippers tick all…

Cypress Valley, Texas Like to make a dramatic entrance? Try walking a suspension bridge to a tree-house suite hovering over a creek ravine. Located near Austin, this family-owned ranch has five chic tree houses tucked into a canopy of 100-foot-tall cypress trees that light up with fireflies in summer. It’s a great launchpad for watersports on nearby Lake Travis, hikes at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, and trips to Texas wine country. From $200 BearCamp, Alaska To reach BearCamp, a bush plane flies you from Soldotna in southwestern Alaska, by active volcanoes and blue glaciers, and to the shore of Lake Clark National Park. There, brown bears cruise for clams and fish the rivers that surround the former homestead. From the deck of your canvas tent or the property’s viewing…

It reboots your internal clock. When it comes to feeling awake or sleepy when you’re supposed to, it’s all about natural-light exposure, says Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University. The sun provides the short-wave blue light that rouses us in the morning and the long-wave reddish or orange light that signals the approach of bedtime. A 2017 study showed that a weekend of camping can shift your internal clock nearly an hour and a half closer to where your sleep-wake cycle should be. Fresh air, fresh brain. Carbon-dioxide levels outdoors are generally in the 400-parts-per-million range, about a third of what’s in a stuffy room. In a 2016 study, participants who slept in a bedroom with low levels of CO2 reported more restful sleep and showed better…

“ARE YOU WATCHING PORN?” It’s the middle of the night. My wife lifts the edge of her sleep mask and looks at me, my face lit by a glowing iPhone. Caught in the act. Luckily, she’s open-minded about this sort of thing. “So what are you into?” she asks, leaning over to take a look. I show her. There’s a bearded man in a plaid shirt pan-frying trout fillets over a small wood-burning camp stove. Behind him, a serene mountain lake reflects the surrounding peaks. He is not alone. There is a dog. She seems disappointed but unsurprised. She already knows the guy on the screen, because lately he’s been an obsession of mine. To be honest, most outdoor videos don’t do it for me. Too many hairy bushcrafters, grim-visaged…

PIANO TO ZANSKAR “Making pianos is the most boring thing that you could possibly ever do,” says piano tuner Sir Desmond Gentle at the beginning of Piano to Zanskar. We then follow him as he travels 5,000 miles from his London shop to hand-deliver a 176-pound instrument to a remote village in the Himalayas. His goal is to enable music lessons at a local school, and if Gentle completes his expedition, he’ll have placed the highest-altitude piano in the world. Dry humor and charming musical breaks accompany terrifying scenes of a Sherpa team chasing piano parts down scree-filled mountainsides. The film, which won the grand prize at the 2019 Banff Mountain Film Festival, is a meditation on worthwhile tedium, the spirituality of music, and hard-to-reach places. —Erin Berger REBUILDING PARADISE…

There are watches you wear on days you’re juggling meetings and race training, and watches you wear to the boardroom and then to cocktails. The former are built to quantify, assist, and remind; the latter are beautiful objects that hew to exacting standards of engineering and craftsmanship. TAG Heuer combines the two with the Connected SBGA10. The GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, and heart-rate monitor provide detailed tracking on the trail and in the pool, and you can check stats with the TAG Heuer Sports app or sync with Strava and other fitness platforms. It offers text and e-mail notifications, music and weather apps, and Google Assistant, which makes use of the built-in mic. All that tech comes wrapped in classic TAG Heuer elegance. The steel case has a black ceramic bezel…

WHEN IT comes to muscles, small can be mighty. Glutes and quads may seem like the MVPs of running, skiing, and cycling, but stabilizers—the tiny muscles that support your joints—play an important role, too. According to Chris Dellasega, strength coach for the USA Cycling men’s track program, treating them as an afterthought can increase your chance of injury. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and many times that weak link is a stabilizer,” he says. Here, Dellasega shares a five-move routine that targets these underappreciated workers. 1. External Rotation Why: To correct shoulder-muscle imbalances and prevent rotator-cuff injury, important for climbers and swimmers. How: Lie on your side with one arm folded under your head, knees bent 90 degrees, shoulders and hips stacked. Holding a light…

I grew up in California, which means I spent my childhood learning to put fires out. Any campfires I encountered—when conditions were just right, after our once-yearly week of drizzle—were anxious affairs, requiring a constant inventory of grass and wind and access to water. My family mostly stayed inside, put a Duraflame in the fireplace, and called it a day. Then I moved to the Arctic, and suddenly everything depended on starting fires and keeping them burning. I saw ten-year-olds build them in snowbanks like they were tying their shoes, and there I was puffing my cheeks at crumpled newspaper, willing damp twigs to catch. The dance of heat, the layers of kindling, the precise line between too much and too little air—none of it was intuitive. I practiced every…

A. MSR Thru Link Inline water filter $40 Compact and simple, this device clicks into any hydration reservoir to turn it into a filtration system. B. Hydro Flask Trail Series Ultralight Titanium bottle $100 This 21-ounce insulated bottle is backcountry light but still keeps beverages cold or hot for hours. C. Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork poles $180 With a full-carbon shaft, an ergonomic grip, and updated aluminum locks, each of these poles weighs just 8.6 ounces. D. Sierra Designs Granby pad $100 Synthetic insulation makes the Granby a light three-season pad, and it packs down to the size of a burrito. E. Helinox Chair Zero $120 In terms of comfort to weight, it’s impossible to top this one-pound chair. F. Big Agnes Copper Spur HVU L2 tent with Mtnglo…

WHY THE HELL AM I STANDING HERE, SHIVERING ON A REMOTE MOUNTAIN TRAIL IN THE APPALACHIANS? The answer can be found in my dreams. Starting in 2006, I spent 13 violent months serving as an infantry officer in Iraq. Thankfully, I rarely revisit that experience while I sleep. But hardly a month goes by when I don’t wake up with a jolt, my heart racing. Each dream is different, but the basic plot is the same: I have to go back to Army Ranger School, which I graduated from in 2004. And so I do. In late February of 2019, I join 363 soldiers and officers comprising Ranger Class 05-19 at Camp Rogers, which occupies a remote corner of Fort Benning, just outside Columbus, Georgia. These young men, and a…