Outside January 2013

Think Small It’s been more than two years since Austrian BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner unveiled his ambitious Red Bull Stratos mission, a plan to free-fall from a height of 128,000 feet and become the first human to break the sound barrier without the aid of jet propulsion. That announcement gained considerable worldwide attention, including an August 2010 cover story in Outside. Not only was Baumgartner challenging a record that had stood for more than 40 years, but he was trying to execute a NASA-scale project while relying on a sponsor known more for kitschy stunts—like landing a motor cycle atop the Arc de Triomphe replica in Las Vegas—than for pioneering science. When Stratos was delayed, many observers assumed that Red Bull had bitten off more than it could chew. As…

As Scott Keneally reported in “Playing Dirty” (November), nearly 1.5 million people participated in an obstacle race in 2012, and the sport’s popularity has inspired some pretty cutthroat business tactics among its Big Three: Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, and Warrior Dash. “I’m not bothered by the competitive spirit that would naturally be associated with the promotion of these events,” wrote Douglas Young, of Portales, New Mexico. “But I am troubled by the juvenile behavior reflected in that promotion. The shenanigans cited in Keneally’s article took me back to junior high.” Karen Latchford, from Palo Alto, California, wrote, “It was an in-depth, very well written article about some people I found pretty repulsive.” On Twitter, PatsHoppedUp wrote, “And here I thought people who humblebragged about obstacle races were the worst. Turns…

photographs by BALAZS GARDI “THE WHOLE WORLD is watching now. I wish you could see what I can see. Sometimes you have to get up really high to see how small you are. I’m coming home now.” Thus spoke Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner as he stood outside the open hatch of the red Bull Stratos capsule on the morning of October 14. You know what happened next. Looking remarkably composed, the 43-year-old Baumgartner leaned forward and plunged to earth from a height of 128,100 feet, some 24 miles up. During a free fall that lasted 4 minutes, 20 seconds and featured 30 terrifying seconds of dangerous spinning and tumbling, Baumgartner broke the sound barrier, hitting a top speed of 833.9 miles per hour, or Mach 1.24. Eight million people watched…

A team of adventurers plays a risky game of dress-up to re-create Shackleton’s legendary survival epic BY NICK DAVIDSON IN 1916, BRITISH explorer Ernest Shackleton, stranded in the Antarctic on remote Elephant island with his crew from the shipwrecked Endurance, led five men on a desperate crossing of the Southern Ocean in a lifeboat. It took them 17 days to reach South Georgia island, some 800 miles to the northeast. Then it was another day and a half of nonstop overland trekking across glaciers to reach a whaling station, from which Shackleton would eventually mount a successful rescue of the rest of his crew. Among the greatest survival epics of all time, it’s not the kind of journey anyone would want to repeat. Or so you’d think. This month, Tim…

Tim Jarvis’s bid to challenge the Antarctic in vintage wool apparel comes as the original technical fiber is experiencing a renaissance. Even today, no other textile—natural or synthetic—is as useful or trustworthy. 1. Because wool is both plush and naturally fire-resistant, merino sheepskin is a luxurious choice for airplane-seat covers made by boutique brands like AeroSheep ($225; aerosheep.com). 2. Employing a new method to compress short and long fibers into batting, Ibex uses wool in puffy jackets like the Aire sweater ($295; ibex.com). The filling maintains loft longer than down and insulates better when wet. 3. Wool felt is soft to the touch and fends off spills, making it a good choice for gadget sleeves. Nau uses recycled fibers in its Pad Stash ($45; nau.com). 4. Wool is an ideal…

For two years, downhill skiers have been in a froth over a proposed gondola that would connect Utah’s Canyons Resort to nearby Solitude Mountain, linking up 6,250 acres of terrain. Though the project has been slowed by concerns about environmental impacts, odds are that it will eventually get federal approval. Meanwhile, other Utah resort managers have been quietly discussing additional lifts and boundary openings that would bridge seven mountains throughout the Wasatch Range, creating a European-style network offering single-pass access to 17,000 acres. Here’s a look at how and when this ambitious project could all come together. 1. SNOWBIRD ALTA Since 2001, the AltaBird ticket ($99) has allowed skiers to swipe passes at boundary turnstiles. 2. ALTA SOLITUDE PROPOSAL: A lift from Alta’s base up to a cat-ski area known…