Sommaire pour January - February 2017 de Outside

TEN MILES FROM the Dutch coast, near the top of a concrete high-rise in downtown Delft, is a palatial glasswalled office better suited to Silicon Valley than a 13th- century city. The building is home to the Ocean Cleanup, a foundation created in 2013 that is hoping to deploy a giant 62-milewide filtration device in the Pacific Ocean, the initial step in an effort to rid the seas of plastic. When I visited the Netherlands last June for thelaunch of a scaled-down prototype, I found the CEO, 22-year-old Boyan Slat, slumped in a cubicle. His shaggy hair gave him the look of either a boy-band star or an eccentric genius, depending on your opinion of him— and these days there are a few. Slat is a new breed of environmentalist:…

a. Smith Vantage helmet $220 The Vantage is a standout performer, with a protective honeycomb polymer and a low profile. b. Kastle BMX 105 HP skis $1,249 At 105 millimeters underfoot, this is a solid daily driver for western skiers. A silver fir core and hollow tips keep it relatively playful. c. Giro Contact goggles $240 We could rave about the superfast lens-swap system or the insanely wide field of view through top-notch glass. But we really love the Contact for its bigmountain steeze. d. Truck M2 gloves $65 The M2’s check both the durability and warmth boxes, with tough four-waystretch nylon and goat leather built around PrimaLoft Gold synthetic fill. e. Nordica Speed Machine 130 boots $799 These stiff, 130- degree-flex boots are ideal for hard chargers who want…

CALVIN ZARA bought this 20-acre estate, built in 1898 in the small California town of Ojai (population 7,600), in 2010, and he spent the next five years renovating it. Now guests can stay in one of three Craftsmanstyle cottages, a new two-bedroom house, or a room in the spacious main house, which looksout on the Los Padres mountains. There are any number of beautiful hikes nearby—try the tree-lined, five-mile Horn Canyon Trail, which starts just up the road—or bike the 15-mile paved path to the coastal town of Ventura. The Mob Shop in Ojai provides rentals, in addition to good intel on mountain biking in thearea (rentals, from $29; themobshop.com). Of course, this presumes that you can drag yourself off Zara’s stunning property. Born in Iraq, where his father was…

The call that came over the police radio on that May 26, 2015 afternoon said that a vehicle had struck a tree along a two-lane road hugging the coastline. Smith’s hunch proved true. When he arrived, he found a white Toyota Hilux pickup wrapped around a gum tree as thick as a sumo wrestler. By some miracle bystanders had found a dog, an aging bichon frise, inside the truck, dazed but alive. But the driver had no chance. Officers traced the registration to Dennis “Lee” Lafferty, age 75. Everybody knew Lee. Or at least knew of him. He was an American but had spent decades in nearby Daintree, where he operated one of the area’s oldest and most respected tour companies,running boat trips along the crocodile-filled Daintree River. The river…

Remember not too long ago, maybe 2012, the slew of blogs and Tumblrs and films that heralded not just a new type of house but a movement, a post-collapse quest for simplicity and freedom, a rejection of waste and “stuff” and, just like Thoreau in his cabin of yore, a crusade to chomp life’s essence and suck its marrow? Museum-quality photo books showed how to stick it to the man in 400 square feet or less—with the clean lines and blond oak that made us drool onto the pages of Dwell magazine. Of all the earthy trends to emerge since the crash—local food, urban farms, permaculture—none have captured adoration like tiny houses, spawning no fewer than seven reality shows. You won’t find a series about cloth diapers. ¶ It appealed…

Outside Turns 40 “Each person is born into a wilderness, and I believe instinctively returns to it for peace of mind, challenge, and reward.” Those are the words of our founder, Lawrence J. Burke, taken from his editor’s letter in the debut issue of Mariah, a “quarterly journal of wilderness expedition” that would eventually merge with another recently launched adventure title, Outside, to become the magazine you hold in your hands today. Or perhaps it’s a phone you’re reading this on. Since premiering in 1977, our mission to inspire active participation in the world outside hasn’t changed, but the media landscape we operate in has been anything but static. Back then we delivered print stories four times a year to your mailbox; now you can find our ever expanding offerings—stories,…

AUTHOR MARK SUNDEEN was anguished about the sacrifices of modern life, from marriage— prioritizing someone else’s interests, living in just one place instead of dirt-bagging around the West—to the challenge of choosing between far too many brands of butter at the supermarket. So he sought out people who’d chosen paths of radical simplicity and integrity, those who held true to their principles even when it made life just plain difficult. The resulting book, The Unset tlers ($26, Riverhead), profiles three couples in fastmoving detail, starting with the deci sion to reject mainstream life and bearing witness to their struggles along the way, in each case ending on a moment when that idealism is put to the test. We first meet Ethan and Sarah, founders of a self-sufficient community in rural…

YOU MAY NOT think of Jimmy Chin as the absolute greatest photographer, cinematographer, or even mountaineer who ever lived. But name one other guy who can do all three at his level. He’s shot a National Geographic cover, completed a first ascent of Mount Meru, and produced an award-winning documentary about that climb with codirector Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, his wife. His career began in 1999, when he grabbed fellow Yosemite big-wall rat Brady Robinson’s camera as he slept atop El Capitan and shot a picture of Robinson that was quickly featured in a gear catalog. Since then, I’ve written about both his successes (like skiing the Southeast Ridge route down Mount Everest with Kit DesLauriers in 2006) and his failures (like an attempt to document snowboarder Steven Koch’s abortive 2003…

a. POC Fornix Backcountry MIPS helmet $210 POC has taken the brain-protecting MIPS system and put it in a backcountry-specific helmet that weighs just shy of a pound. Adjustable vents en sure you don’t get too clammy. b. La Sportiva Vapor Float skis $1,299 At just three pounds per ski, the carbon Vapor Floats are nearly a third lighter than similar lollipopshaped powder planks, meaning you work less on the way up and fly more on the way down. c. Elevenate Bec de Rosses pants $1,500 Named for the famed freeride mountain in Verbier, these top-end bottoms from Swedish outerwear upstart Elevenate feature three-layer Gore-Tex and a look that’s pure athleticism. d. G3 Ion LT bindings $549 Yes, they’re featherweight (a svelte 1.5 pounds each), but G3’s lightest bindings drive…

Pet Projects A weekend ski trip can turn into a fullblown nightmare if you want to bring your dog. In response to skier complaints about restrictions at hotels in their favorite resort capitals, a number of hospitality groups are making serious changes. “The logistics of a ski vacation can be difficult,” says Caitlin Martz, of Utah’s Waldorf Astoria Park City. “Hotels are going beyond just allowing pets to accompany their owners on their trip and are beginning to treat dogs as guests.” Here’s a rundown of some of the amenities. —ERIC KILLELEA In Beaver Creek, Colorado, the Ritz- Carlton, Bachelor Gulch indulges dogs with a Bachelor Pack, including bath treatments, toys, and treats available from room service. In Vermont, guests at Stowe Mountain Lodge can avail themselves of grooming and…

KEYES: It’s now nine days after the election. What’s the mood like at Interior? JEWELL: Well, let’s say it was a reflective day for all of us. Back in 2008, when I was at REI, the worst quarter I had was when President Obama won the election. Our sales were down 20 percent. I ended up laying off 800 people. At the Department of the Interior, we had a minerals-management service that was accused, rightfully, of illegal activity with the oil and gas industry. About a year into his presidency, we had the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I think that there’s certainly disappointment about the election, but when I reflect on what we inherited eight years ago, I feel good about what we’re handing over to the next administration. In…

“ARE YOU FEELING the plants?” Pluma Blanco whispered. It was nearly midnight, in the darkened great room of a mansion in a nice neighborhood overlooking San Francisco. I was kneeling behind a makeshift altar arrayed with objects of spiritual significance set out by the twenty or so other houseguests lying prone on blankets and camping pads on the floor. Beneath the entire slumber party stretched a large canvas drop cloth that was soiled, like a cage- fighting mat, with mahogany stains from the previous night’s bodily expulsions. “No,” I told the shaman, feeling a little ashamed. When the Uber driver dropped my girlfriend, Emma, and me off, it was a beautiful summer Saturday. The cars parked along the shady lane suggested a barbecue or dinner party. But inside the open…

WHEN THEY CAPTURED HER OFF COHEN ISLAND IN THE SUMMER OF 2007, SHE WEIGHED 58 POUNDS AND WAS THE SIZE OF A COLLIE. The growth rings in a tooth they pulled revealed her age—eight years, a mature female sea otter. They anesthetized her and placed tags on her flippers. They assigned her a number: LCI013, or 13 for short. They installed a transmitter in her belly and gave her a VHF radio frequency: 165.155 megahertz. Then they released her. The otter was now, in effect, her own small-wattage Alaskan radio station. If you had the right kind of antenna and a receiver, you could launch a skiff into Kachemak Bay, lift the antenna, and hunt the air for the music of her existence: an occasional ping in high C that…

Peter Godlewski, inventor of the RUNGU ELECTRIC JUGGERNAUT, has gotten used to the befuddled grins he gets from other riders when he rolls up on his ridiculous-looking e-trike, with its massive—dare we say goofy?—4.8-inch front tires. “This is not a bicycle,” he tells them. “This is an ATV.” Our testing backs that up. Designed for rumbling over sand and snow, the 90-pound beast had us charging up steep hills like we were redlining a monster truck. Cruising fire roads full of rocks and pumice in Mammoth Lakes, Califor nia, was pure fun. Those double fatties up front offer a trifecta of performance advantages, providing float on gravel and in powdery glades, making crashing almost impossible, and enabling enormous GS turns on Mammoth’s Main Street. On dry pavement, leaning into a…

Myanmar Eat Your Way Through Yangon Myanmar’s culinary scene is getting a shot in the arm with repatriated entrepreneurs and expat chefs. Anchoring Yangon’s food renaissance is Rangoon Tea House, a downtown eatery in a minimalist, turn-of-the-century building known for its duck empanadas and a tasty soup called mohinga, a regional spec ialty. At Rau Ram, the Hawaiian-born, Harvardgrad chef Kevin Ching serves Bun Cha Feast—a smat tering of spring rolls, porchetta, lemongrass pork meatballs, and rice noodles—in a luxurious bistro. Beat the city’s smoldering heat with a crisp Hoegaarden at Port Autonomy, hidden away in a leafy oasis near Shwedagon Pagoda. Thailand Embrace Your Inner Beach Bum Three hours south of Bangkok, the Gulf of Thailand’s three-milelong Thung Mamao beach is one of the least crowded white-sand havens in…

I’d like to ask that you not judge me for what I’m about to say. Though I know you probably will. Two years ago, I made an important discovery—that Thin Lizzy, specifically the Jailbreak album recorded by those star-crossed Irish legends, actually enhanced the experience of hiking in Central Oregon’s Mount Jefferson Wilderness. It happened by accident, more or less. All I knew that morning, with eight miles and lots of elevation gain lying ahead, was that I needed a few classic jams to help push me through. So I brought my iPod and earbuds, just like I do when I’m out for a run in my neighborhood. What I didn’t know was that I’d taken the first strides into a thicket of backwoods recrimination and guiltinducing moral ambiguities. Do…