Adventure

I’m back home after a week away in the tropics of Belize, where I explored the cayes offshore and the Cayo District inland. . .

John Huston and Tyler Fish, respectively of Chicago and Ely, Minn., form a two-man team trying this March to become the first Americans to ski unsupported to the North Pole. . .

Common cardiovascular wisdom says running can do only good for the heart. But a study at a German clinic has linked marathon runners to the phenomenon of artery-clogging plaques that can cause a heart attack. . .

Last month, on a quick two-day ascent, I climbed Utah’s Kings Peak, the state’s highest mountain at 13,528 feet. Here’s a run down on the gear I used on the way up, some of which worked much better than the rest. . .

The Gear Junkie is back from Utah, where a weekend of crazy adventures climaxed at the summit of Utah’s Kings Peak, the state’s high point. Here’s a quick trip report. . .

Night orienteering requires racers to read a map and compass while tracking vegetation boundaries, bouncing along lakeshores, hiking gullies — all by the paltry glow of a headlamp beam. This is a short feature story on the nocturnal Nordic sport. . .

Ever dreamed of writing gear reviews for a living? Or at least scribbling your thoughts for the chance to play with a lot of cool new outdoors toys? In this column I offer eight quick tips for the aspiring gear writer. . .

Goldsprint racing, a rising offseason cycling activity, melds a stationary bike trainer with a videogame. Riders put their pedals to the metal to spin in front of a crowd. . .

Jim Hammond was born in 1914. He’s aiming for a world running record at the Senior Olympics in 2009. . .

The monthly Critical Mass ride blocks traffic and emboldens bikers who might otherwise stay off city streets. But does it hurt or harm the cause for workaday bike commuters? This is my first-person account on the social phenomenon. . .

Cyclocross is an up and coming discipline where off-road courses with tight turns, muddy slopes, steep banks, sand pits and manmade obstacles make up the medium of the sport. This is my feature story on a CX event last fall. .

Beyond aerobic sports, in no other part of mainstream Western society does the male species commonly take wax or blade to leg hair. But among the Lycra set smooth legs are touted as a rite of passage and a performance-enhancing procedure. This feature story investigates the clean-shaven phenomenon . . .

A growing subset of runners are shedding their shoes and putting bare feet to the ground — and footwear companies are starting to take note. This is my profile on a 30-year veteran of the barefoot movement and his attempt to drag me along for a shoe-less run. . .

Stand-up paddling, or SUP, is among the biggest trends this year in board sports, even in landlocked locales like Minnesota. This feature story highlights the burgeoning SUP scene near downtown Minneapolis, where surfers stand up and dig in on the City of Lakes’ most famous body of water. . .

I rode in my first Critical Mass last month, a 200-rider strong showing in downtown Minneapolis on July 25. We rode with 28 police on bicycles and squad cars circling the entire time. At least that was until the whole event evolved into a benign parade of sorts through the city. . .

This feature story profiles Andy Knapp of Minneapolis, a 59-year-old adventurer who’s climbed Denali, biked solo to Alaska, kayaked alone across Lake Superior, and is now fighting kidney cancer with the same resolve he’s applied to challenges in the outdoors his whole life. . .

The Hash House Harriers are a “drinking club with a running problem.” This tradition, started nearly 70 years ago in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has its roots in a group of British expatriates who wanted to exercise and imbibe after work once a week. This is my story of a run with a local HHH club, exercise, competition and imbibing included. . .

Run with your dog. Let him pull. That’s the premise behind canicross, a dog-sledding derivative that milks maximum propulsion via a canine-connected cord to rocket human-dog teams down the trail. . .

Jordan Romero. Age 11. On his way to becoming the youngest person ever to climb the Seven Summits. Last week: Denali. Five summits down, two to go. That’s right, and he’s not even yet in junior high school. . .

I went in for a physical assessment. I got crystals and magic instead. This is my story on Chris Frykman, a chiropractor who cracks backs, wields crystals and sends thought energy in his customized version of an alternative medicine called applied kinesiology. . .

Just got back from an odd one. This weekend I traveled to northern Minnesota and the Red Lake Peatlands, a spongy, hard-to-access wilderness that is the lower 48 states’ largest bog.

Just got back from Wyoming and Devils Tower, a 1,000-foot-high thumb of rock in the northeastern part of the state and my favorite rock climbing area in the country. Here’s a quick trip report on the route we went up, “El Cracko Diablo,” and a few images from our climb. . .

Unbeknownst to many American mountaineers, the highest point of elevation east of the Rocky Mountains is not in New Hampshire. That title belongs to Harney Peak in South Dakota, a 7,242-foot mountain I hiked last weekend . . .