Outside Podcast

He was born to a herd of wild horses on an island off Virginia and found his way into the heart of a little girl on the dusty trails of the Southwest. Legend was a descendant of fabled swimming ponies: every year, cowboys lead them across a quarter-mile crossing between the islands of Assateague and Chincoteague, where 60 of them are put up for auction. In this episode of our Weekend Read series, we hear how Legend’s journey took him thousands of miles West, and eventually to a child that would return him to the sand and waves at the end of his days.

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As Ukraine prepares for months of frigid conflict with Russia, its troops might look to another nation that held its own against the Red Army in the cold: Finland. During the winter of 1939-1940, Finnish soldiers, many on skis and using snow caves as shelters, weaponized the freezing conditions, fending off the much larger Soviet Union army for 105 days and ultimately conceding only a small amount of their borderlands. Today, Finland’s soldiers are some of the most advanced winter warfare specialists anywhere. In this episode from our archives, we head into the snow with the storied Jaeger Brigade for combat training and hear remarkable tales of how the Finns pushed back against Stalin’s forces.

Richard Carr was halfway across the Pacific, alone on a 36-foot yacht, when he began sending frantic alerts that he was being kidnapped by pirates. The retired psychologist had set off from Mexico 26 days earlier and was bound for the Marquesas Islands on the first leg of a lifelong dream: sailing around the world. But when his family woke up to a series of frightening and confusing messages, it became their nightmare. In this episode of our Weekend Read series, Carr’s daughter, Alicia Carr-Troxell tells the mysterious story of his final voyage.

People encounter all kinds of threats in the natural world, but a virus presents an especially ominous challenge, as Outside contributing editor David Quammen can attest after decades of research on the topic. Quammen forecast a COVID-19–like pandemic in his 2012 book, Spillover, and beginning in the 1980s, he wrote a column for Outside called Natural Acts that had him pursuing fascinating scientific questions around the planet. He eventually took a special interest in zoonotic diseases, traveling to remote jungles and villages where contagions like HIV and Ebola had crossed over from animals to humans. Now he’s back with Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus, a gripping investigation of our battle against COVID. In this episode, Quammen describes why the disease will be with us for a long time and what we can do reduce the risk of future pandemics.

Kurt Steiner has spent his life skipping stones, developing a technique to produce throws that defy the laws of physics. Ask him why he’s committed his entire adulthood to this lost art and he’ll say he has no choice. This is the first episode in another Weekend Read series, offering you exceptional Outside features—both new articles and gems from our archives.

The exuberant king of survival TV insists that our wild adventures are about more than just chasing fun—they can help get us through the struggles of our everyday lives. And that’s the undercurrent of his new book, Mind Fuel: Simple Ways to Build Mental Resilience Every Day, which contains a year’s worth of daily, bite-size prompts to explore our relationship to things like joy, trust, and courage. Sound corny? It might. But this is no puffy celebrity self-help tome: informed by input from psychiatrists and psychologists, Mind Fuel offers a very approachable practice to better mental health. In this episode, Grylls talks about his own battles with confidence and self-doubt, and the healing and restorative energy he’s always found in nature.

Alone in the wilderness, facing a grizzly that was determined to kill him, Colin Dowler had only one option: fight for his life. The 44-year-old had been on a solo hike to scout routes up a coastal mountain in British Columbia when the animal attacked. Without bear spray, and miles from the nearest help, he thought he was as good as dead. It wasn’t until the grizzly was tearing into his abdomen that he remembered his pocketknife. In this remarkable tale from our archives, we hear about one man’s desperate bid to survive, and learn what experts say is the right way to defend yourself from a bear.

It began in the waters off Antarctica: a crew of eco-vigilantes found the illegal fishing ship they’d been hunting. It wouldn’t end for some 10,000 miles, when one of the vessels sank. So went the longest law-enforcement chase in nautical history. In this episode from the new series The Outlaw Ocean, investigative journalist Ian Urbina chronicles the pursuit of one of the world’s most notorious scofflaw fishing ships through deadly ice floes and into the heart of a massive storm in the Southern Ocean—before taking us to the coast of North Korea, where he discovers the planet’s largest illegal fishing fleet.

Farmers aren’t supposed to get emotionally attached to their livestock. But when you suddenly find yourself caring for two newborn sheep, these things happen. Outside contributing editor A.C. Shilton had long dreamed of becoming a farmer when she and her husband purchased a plot of land in Tennessee and began managing chickens and horses and cows. Then she added a few sheep with the idea of slowly raising a flock—and very unexpectedly came face-to-face with what she was really missing in her life.

When a rafter was stung by a scorpion, she assumed she’d be fine. Within hours she lost her ability to see or speak clearly. It was the beginning of a nightmare that nobody in her group of experienced adventurers saw coming. After all, there aren’t supposed to be deadly scorpions in the United States. But as her condition grew more frightening, they began to believe they had a serious emergency on their hands. In this episode, a collaboration with the Out Alive podcast, we investigate how an unfortunate backcountry incident turned into a medical and scientific mystery.

John John Florence has remarkable physical talents, but his greatest asset as an athlete might be his enduring positive attitude. The 29-year-old is often his happiest when things go sideways and he’s forced to adapt. This explains why, after suffering a major knee injury earlier this year during a competition, the two-time world champion surfer decided to spend his rehab sailing from his home in Hawaii to Fiji, a 3,000-mile open-ocean crossing that was loaded with unpredictable weather, high stress, and some truly scary moments. We connected with Florence at the end of his voyage to find out how he’s always able to handle whatever comes his way.

There’s a reason that reality shows set in wild places hold our attention: we can’t help but imagine that it’s us out there. This is especially true when we watch Alone, the hit series on the History Channel that has contestants truly by themselves in all kinds of brutal environments, doing their best to both survive while also filming themselves. This raw approach to voyeuristic entertainment ultimately make us empathize with these hungry, tired, and frightened people—so much that we just can’t stop watching.

Spoiler alert: It’s not because you’re a wuss. Adults rarely cry because of pain or physical discomfort, so why do so many of us cry during outdoor sports? It happens to almost everyone, of all genders, including professional athletes like skier Cody Townsend and climber Emily Harrington. Writer and athlete Gloria Liu investigated this phenomenon, which she calls the Sports Cry, to figure out what causes us to get teary out there and whether it helps or hinders us.

There’s a reason a strenuous outing makes you desire a greasy mound of meat: it has a lot of what your body needs. This we learned from talking to six Outside writers and editors about their greatest aprés-adventure burgers, and by unpacking their stories with the help of two registered dietitians. As it turns out, most of us are underfed when we head into the wild, and the result is a deep hunger for carbs, protein, and fat. Which means that, physiological speaking, a burger delivers.

Eric and Pam Bealer were living in a cabin in rugged coastal Alaska when they made a dramatic decision: they would exit the world together. Pam was suffering from multiple sclerosis and did not want to see her disease through; Eric did not plan to live without his wife. When they set off into the wild for the last time, they left behind instructions for whoever entered the cabin first. For the final episode of our Summer Read series, author Eva Holland explores the mystery and meaning of a frontier couple who charted their own way out.

When retired art dealer Forrest Fenn hid a million dollars’ worth of gold in the Rocky Mountains, he sent thousands of people on a desperate journey. One of them, an ex-cop from Seattle named Darrell Seyler, risked everything on his search. In this first episode of the new series Missed Fortune, created by former Outside Podcast host Peter Frick-Wright and inspired by his magazine story for Outside, we join Seyler at the start of his obsessive quest.

Missed Fortune is an Apple Original Podcast produced by High Five Content in association with 30 Minutes West and Outside magazine.

For Caitlin Giddings, leading cross-country bike tours was supposed to be the ultimate escape from the monotony of normal life. Instead it was a kind of torture. Giddings was in her twenties when she was seduced by the idea of turning her passion for cycling into a paycheck. She wanted freedom and adventure! What she got, however, was a lot of whining and grief from troublemaking clients, including a deranged madman and a guy who kept peeing on another rider’s tent. In this episode of our Summer Read series, she describes how her fantasy went so, so wrong.

To portray the hero of the Thai cave rescue in the new film Thirteen Lives, the Hollywood star had to go deep—literally. Mortensen plays the part of Rick Stanton, the legendary British cave diver who helped lead the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from the far reaches of a flooded cavern in northern Thailand. The actor’s preparation included months of conversations with Stanton and a harrowing cave-diving adventure of his own. In this episode, producer Paddy O’Connell talks with both men about what it takes to endure the mental and physical challenges of swimming through dark, tight spaces, where just one mistake can kill you.

A group of high school sophomores set off on what was supposed to be a grand climb. Instead, it became one of the deadliest alpine disasters in North American history. It was 1986, and the Oregon students were seeking to complete an adventure program with the support of professional guides. As they made their way toward the 11,235-foot summit, a vicious storm hit. In this episode of our Summer Read series, we revisit a feature by writer Pauls Toutonghi that chronicles the tragedy and its enduring impact on a community that it changed forever.

Greg and Julie Welch were relaxing at their campsite in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in August, 2011, when a tiny fire in a nearby bog suddenly exploded into a massive inferno that began racing toward them. At first they were confused: they knew there were small wildfires in the area, but all forecasts suggested there was nothing to worry about—it was humid and rain was on the way. However, an extremely rare convergence of atmospheric events had set in motion what would become known as the Pagami Creek Fire, consuming more than 92,000 acres over several months, making it the biggest wildfire in the state in more than a century. And now the Welches faced only one choice: jump in their kayaks and paddle for their lives.

Can a relationship survive a grand adventure? That was the big question hanging over two novice sailors as they set out on a voyage off the coast of New England. It all began when Claire Antoszewski had the idea to refurbish an old boat with her partner Will Grant, a man who is most comfortable on a horse. With dreams of a leisurely cruise, they got to work—and soon found themselves at the helm of the Lower Goose in high seas and nasty weather. Not surprisingly, they have different takes on what happened. In this episode of our Summer Read series, we hear both sides of the story and learn some lessons about how to carefully mix romance and risk.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Long-standing rules for how we do our business in the wilderness are changing in a very big way—and it’s about time. For decades we’ve been taught standardized methods to ensure proper disposal of our waste, most notably burying it in a cathole far away from water sources. But now, with exploding numbers of people recreating on public lands, those approaches aren’t viable. Simply put: the land can’t handle all our poop. This has scientists and land managers saying it’s time to take drastic measures that you might not like.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

When Cody Sheehy was six years old, he disappeared into the wilderness of northeast Oregon. Now, more than three decades later, he insists that the harrowing experience gave him an invaluable life lesson. In this second episode of our Summer Read series, we recount how he wandered into the forest and made his way back to safety some 18 hour later, all on his own. The story, written for Outside by environmental journalist Emma Marris, investigates what it takes to get through such an ordeal at a young age, and how it can stick with us forever.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Presenting three delightful tales of adventures gone very, very wrong. Because when the weather turns, your gear breaks, you get lost, or you simply realize that your foolproof plan was actually foolish—well, that’s when you learn the most, right? Join us by the campfire for three stories of misadventure from Outside writers and editors who suffered through pain, shame, and humiliation but still came out the other side with smiles.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

A father and son working a crab boat in Chesapeake Bay were caught in a rising storm when they realized that something was very wrong: water was coming up through the floor. They radioed for help and then did everything they could to save themselves, while the isolated community of Tangier Island quickly launched a desperate bid to rescue two of their own. So began the saga of the Henrietta C., a riveting story chronicled in Outside by Virginia-based writer Earl Swift. This is the first episode in a new six-episode summer weekend series for the podcast that presents reads of exceptional features, both new articles and gems from the Outside archives.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

For his new PBS show, America Outdoors, comedian and activist Baratunde Thurston connects us to our natural environments through the most interesting of creatures: humans. A former writer for political comedy outlets like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Onion, Thurston is also a prominent activist with a passion for teaching us about our culture and society. He authored a comedic memoir, How to Be Black, delivered a powerful TED Talk in 2018 titled "How to Deconstruct Racism," and hosts a podcast called How to Citizen. Growing up in Washington, D.C., he took regular camping and hiking adventures with his mom. In this episode, he talks about how the cross-country journey he took for America Outdoors helped him understand his motherland, its people, and the wild places we call home.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

As an out-of-control blaze approached their home, a couple made what seems like a crazy choice: they ignored evacuation orders and stood their ground. Fire officials tell us that decisions like this puts lives at risk, including the lives of firefighters who may need to come to the rescue. In the U.S., authorities universally agree that escaping to safety is the only reasonable thing to do. And yet some people still insist on staying put to defend their own homes. In this replay of an episode from 2019, we tell the extraordinary story of Gari and Lori Lyon, who survived seemingly impossible odds during one of the world wildfires in California history.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

On his first album in five years, the singer-songwriter brings us a collection of heartfelt tracks that offer warmth and comfort when we really need it. Making folks feel good is, of course, what Johnson does best. For more than two decades, his music has served as the soundtrack to our fun times: hanging at the beach, taking a road trip, kicking back with friends after surfing or biking or skiing. But on Meet the Moonlight, which drops on Friday, June 24, he had to work a little harder than usual to find his optimism. In an extended conversation with Outside’s Michael Roberts, Johnson talks about finding himself stuck between hope and doubt, his overlooked competitive nature, and why a beer bottle is a legit musical instrument.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Amid all the noise surrounding Web3, something fascinating is emerging: a new kind of immersive adventure storytelling. An innovative effort is underway to leverage the same technologies that get gamers excited about buying an outfit for their avatar to instead reward people for engaging in real-world outdoor experiences. The shift is going to have an enormous impact on how writers, photographers, and filmmakers tell their stories—and equally as important, how they connect with you, their audience. In this episode, Outside Interactive CEO Robin Thurston and adventure photographer Chris Burkard share their hopes for the coming transformation.

After two young pilots crashed their small plane into the water off Hawaii, they realized their best hope for survival was to make it back to land on their own. Sydney Uetmoto and David McMahon had been on a regular route between Oahu and the island of Hawaii, but now they were just specks in the sea with no way to call for help. In this riveting tale from the Out Alive podcast, we hear about their remarkable endurance in the face of overwhelming odds.

Is there something about adventure and risk that opens our hearts? Absolutely. In this episode, created in concert with an Outside article about love in the wild, we bring you tales of romances that bloomed outdoors. You’ll hear about two ultrarunners who fell for each other during a 60-mile dash through the Alps, a high-altitude climber who led her wary date down iced-over ski runs (it all worked out eventually), a pair of whitewater kayakers whose attraction for one other caused them to ignore an approaching forest fire, and a cyclist who suffered a brutal accident that led him back to his soulmate.

Writer Amy McCulloch was a young adventurer looking to challenge herself when she set her sights on 26,781-foot Manaslu, in the Himalayas. On a guided expedition, she encountered the expected risks of high-altitude mountaineering, as well as a darker threat she’d never imagined: members of her own team harassing and sexually propositioning her in an environment where she was incredibly vulnerable. She returned home with a harrowing true tale of resilience—and an idea for an epic novel. Her resulting debut thriller, Breathless, is a chilling story of murder in the so-called Death Zone. In this episode, McCulloch shares her path into the world of climbing and the unsettling experiences that became the basis of her book.

Our furry friends are the best of adventure playmates. But they can also provide pure, unconditional love that gets us through the darkest times. A series of dogs have supported Colorado outdoor writer Annette McGivney since childhood, as she endured domestic abuse, the loss of family members, and a bitter divorce. She’s not alone: after McGivney published a pair of essays for Outside Online detailing her relationship with her dogs, she was flooded with responses and questions from readers. In this episode, she opens up about her long journey and details research showing just how special the bond between humans and animals can be.

There’s a distinct pleasure to eating wild foods that you forage yourself—unless you pick the wrong thing. Imagine the horror you’d feel upon realizing that the risotto you cooked for your dinner party was made with *Amanita phalloides*, a.k.a. the death cap. You’d found the fungi off a trail near your home, sure they were common meadow mushrooms. But you were mistaken. Now you and your friends are in the hospital, fighting for your lives. In this classic episode from our archives, we put you, the listener, in a survival scenario that will leave you forever mindful of what you harvest out there.

In forests across the planet, secretive hunters are searching for that rare and insanely expensive wild delicacy: the truffle. The organism, which grows underground, tethered to tree roots, can fetch thousands of dollars per pound from upscale restaurateurs. The only way to find these particular fungi are dogs specially trained to sniff them out. Not surprisingly, the truffle business is not unlike the illegal-drug business, with lots of sneaking around in the night and powerful characters vying for control over markets. Outside contributing editor Rowan Jacobsen took a journey deep into the underworld of truffle hunters that began in the in the ancient forests of Europe and ended up, very unexpectedly, in the hills of Appalachia.

Outdoor athlete and Outside contributing editor Gloria Liu very much wanted to be one those people with the confidence and carefree spirit to occasionally hike, bike, or ski in the nude. Unfortunately, the decade-old memory of an uncomfortable event at a backcountry hot spring kept her clinging to her knickers. So, like any good competitor, Liu underwent a three-step training plan designed to get her comfortable playing in her natural state while in the woods—not to mention grant her all the scientifically proven benefits of recreating in the buff.

When we open our ears to the marvels of natural soundscapes, we experience the energies of the world in a unique way—and begin to understand the mysteries behind them. But when we habitually ignore what we’re hearing, we both miss out on one of the best parts of being human and enable the loss of an enormous diversity of species on this planet. So argues biologist and acclaimed author David Haskell in his new book, Sounds Wild and Broken. Considered by many as the premier nature writer in America today, Haskell believes that one of the most important things we can do to heal the earth is remember how to listen. In this episode, Haskell walks us through the rich history of sound and offers a powerful lesson in sonic awareness.

Something surprising is happening on the video app best known for silly dance moves: users are finding inspiration for adventure. There are some fundamental differences in the way TikTok works that make it stand out from other social media platforms, and those differences may make it a space that’s more prone to bringing different kinds of people together to try new things. Camping. Hiking. International travel. It’s no utopia—like other social apps, TikTok has been called out for causing harm to younger users and spreading misinformation—but there’s a unique energy here that can be a force of good.

In the ten years since Cheryl Strayed published her memoir about grief, addiction, and hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, her life has changed dramatically. When the book came out in March 2012, she was a working mother of two, snatching whatever time she could to write. But within months, Wild was picked for Oprah’s Book Club and became a bestseller. Strayed has since published two more books and become a beloved advice columnist with a popular podcast, Dear Sugar. Meanwhile, the PCT has seen a dramatic surge of thru-hikers—the so-called “Wild effect.” We talk with Strayed about the impact all this has had on her and the outdoor community, and ask her to share her advice for aspiring adventurers.

What motivates someone to run more than 3,000 miles around a single city block? Transcendence. Just ask the entrants in the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, which takes place every year in Queens, New York. In order to get to the finish line ahead of the cutoff, competitors must complete the equivalent of two marathons a day for 52 days in a row. As physically grueling as that sounds, the greatest challenges are mental. In this replay from our Sweat Science series from a few years back, we investigate the surprising tools we use to convince our bodies to do the seemingly impossible.

An ex-punk and former train engineer who is self-taught in the sciences, Joey Santore does not fit the mold of the stereotypical botanist. He has lots of tattoos and no college degree and is known for illegal tree-planting projects. Then there’s his voice: a native Chicagoan, he can sound like he’s on an SNL skit about Da Bears. Maybe all this explains why his YouTube channel, Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't, has more than a quarter-million subscribers. We join Santore on a peyote hunt in the South Texas scrublands to try to understand how he’s getting so many different kinds of people to geek out on plants.

On the outside, Drew Petersen seemed like a guy who was living the dream. He is extremely fit with a powder-snow-catching beard, and he’s prone to hoots of joy when skiing down amazing mountains around the world. But on the inside, he was for many years hiding loneliness, anger, and a deep sadness. Only recently, in the wake of a near-death accident on Oregon’s Mount Hood, has he begun to face the mental health challenges that nearly drove him to oblivion. He’s also made the bold choice to be jarringly open about what he’s gone through—because he knows that he’s not the only one.

In recent years, research has demonstrated that spending time in nature can help with everything from anxiety to attention deficit disorder to high blood pressure. Florence Williams knows this as well as anyone: her celebrated 2017 book The Nature Fix, explained the science behind the many physiological and emotional benefits of being in natural environments. So when she went through a painful divorce from her husband of 25 years, she turned to the outdoors for healing—and chronicled her experiences in her latest book, Heartbreak. In this episode, we eavesdrop on a conversation between Williams and Outside contributing editor Elizabeth Hightower Allen to learn about broken-heart syndrome (a real medical condition), the chemical explanation for rebound relationships, and whether taking a solo river trip immediately after a breakup is the best idea.

Professional skier Markus Eder had a fantasy of an impossible descent that would take him across glaciers, through frozen tunnels, into a terrain park, even out of the back of a pickup truck. It made no sense. And yet somehow, over eight years, he found a way to make it happen by thinking more like an artist than an athlete. The result is [The Ultimate Run](http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbqHK8i-HdA), a wildly creative stoke film that’s loaded with gnarly stunts and stands out thanks to the pure, contagious joy emanating from every frame. Somehow, we get to be inside Eder’s fantasy right along with him—which, as he tells it, is exactly what he intended.

In 1999, Alex Lowe was a star climber and father to three young boys when he died on Tibet’s 26,335-foot Shishapangma along with expedition cameraman David Bridges. The lone survivor of the accident was Conrad Anker, Alex’s climbing partner and best friend. A year after the tragedy, Anker married Jennifer Lowe, Alex's widow and mother to their three young boys, Max, Sam, and Isaac. Ever since, storytellers have been captivated by this tale, but now a powerful new documentary by Max Lowe, Torn, reveals how grief can evolve over decades—and how love can heal even the deepest emotional wounds. In this episode, Lowe shares what it’s been like to tell his family’s story and what he hopes we can all learn from it.

This episode is brought to you by Fat Tire, maker of delicious, easy-drinking beers and a company that’s taking action to address climate change. Join Fat Tire in calling on the International Olympic Committee to require all future sponsors of the Games to be be climate leaders at pointofsnowreturn.com

The most dominant ski racer on the planet is constantly questioning her talents—which may be the secret of her greatness. Mikaela Shiffrin has won two Olympic gold medals and more than 70 World Cup races, but unlike fellow American skiing stars Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller, she isn’t known for her speed-demon recklessness. Instead, she’s lauded for her perfect form, tactical brilliance, and workaholic approach to training. In this episode, based on excerpts from an exclusive extended interview with Outside for our five-part docuseries, Mikaela Shiffrin: Passion and Purpose, she reveals how underneath all that there’s a burning doubt she has learned to embrace.

Over two decades of ambitious adventures, elite skier and climber Zahan Billimoria has had some very close calls in the mountains. That doesn’t make him unique. What does is his passionate belief that we all have a lot to learn about the true meaning of risk. As the founder of Samsara Experience, a training program for outdoor athletes, he’s developed an approach to safety that instills a crucial caveat: danger is inevitable, and it's ultimately up to each individual to decide how much exposure they can handle.

For more than 60 years, the Hawaiian island of Oahu has beckoned surfers hoping to drop into some of the world’s biggest waves. The result has been many epic rides, all kinds of brutal wipeouts, and the occasional harrowing rescue. In each case, the experience and skills of those involved can make all the difference. And of course, there’s sheer luck. In this replay of one of our favorite episodes from a couple winters ago, we hear the story of a young lifeguard who set out to prove himself in the legendary swells of Sunset Beach, followed by the tale of a hard-charging North Shore local who started training surfers to save each other, only to find himself in desperate need of a rescue.

Outside reviews editor Jeremy Rellosa needed something—anything—to cure his winter COVID blues. Then he remembered the rather dank steam room in the magazine’s office, which had briefly become a sanctuary for him before the pandemic. Digging into research on heat therapies, he learned that the popular Finnish wellness routine of going back and forth between hot and cold could dispel seasonal depression. Thus began a purposely discomforting journey, one that offers lessons for all of us on how to build fortitude, resilience, and even happiness in dark times.

It’s been one of the most enduring archetypes in mountain sports: that great wintry countercultural hero, who will work any job and live in squalor so long as they can ski 100-plus days a season. But now, after decades of inspiring people everywhere to chase their powder dreams, the ski bum has at last been extinguished by… well, that’s the question. Was it the crazy cost of mountain-town housing? The corporatization of the ski industry? No, wait! Of course—it was the Man. Or, just maybe, has the ski bum actually survived it all and taken on a surprising new form?