It has been almost 10 years since the REI Co-op first announced that it would close all of its stores on Thanksgiving and Black Friday for its Opt Outside campaign. The brand said it wanted to encourage customers and employees to spend more time in nature doing what they love. 　　In the years since, millions of people have participated, many...

　　Few things go together quite so well as Mystery Ranch and SITKA. It only makes sense that the two Bozeman brands would team up, yet again, for the release of a much-needed upgrade to soft bow cases. 　　Ive had a few soft bow cases, and Ive never been impressed with any of them. Theyre oversized, offer odd, inconvenient storage, and...

　　The theory that human endurance evolved out of our need to outrun our prey has intrigued runners for four decades. After all, the idea of “persistence hunting” presents a much more romantic explanation for our otherwise pathological obsession with slogging through the Trial of Miles. According to the original endurance hunting theory laid out in a 1984 paper by David...

　　Woniya Thibeault, the first female winner of the History Channel’s reality competition show Alone, always wanted to be a mother. But after she turned 46, having already experienced a miscarriage in her late thirties, she accepted the possibility that she may never have children. In June of last year, Thibeault spoke about this difficult realization during a storytelling event hosted by storytelling...

　　Leading figures in the worlds of international mountaineering and Nepali politics are weighing in on celebrity climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja in the wake of bombshell allegations of sexual assault and harassment. 　　On May 31, the New York Times published the accounts of two women who allege that Purja, 40, sexually harassed and assaulted them on separate occasions. In one account, Finnish...

　　If a surfboard is a paintbrush and a wave is a canvas, then surfers today have thousands of different tools to make art. Are you a traditionalist, like the Old Masters? Take out a classic longboard. Are you more keen on surrealist style, channeling your inner Salvador Dali? Go for an asymmetrical shape. What about contemporary, akin to Yayoi Kusama?...

　　The original version of this story was published on iRunFar. 　　Spring Energy’sAwesome Sauce gel was a product that seemed too good to be true. 　　A staple in many ultrarunners’ nutrition plans, it promised to deliver high carbohydrates and calories in a small package of easy-to-digest applesauce-like gel. The 180-calorie gel offered nearly double that of its competition, with 45 g...

　　Dads are notoriously hard to buy gifts for. They’re usually not great about communicating what they want, and anything they want they just buy for themselves when the urge strikes. To help those scratching their heads about what to get dad for Father’s Day, we badgered the dads on the Outside staff to tell us what’s on their wish list,...

　　When YETI reached out a week ago to pitch its newest product, I took a moment to consider that it didnt already exist. YETI didnt already have a flask? Really? 　　Well, now it does, and its everything that makes YETI an icon. 　　Heavy-duty? Yep. Functional? Absolutely. And yes, its a little more expensive than similar-quality products. But as its not...

　　A universal oddity of any hobby: justifying the gear prices to those on the outside. Mountain bikers get to explain why their dream downhill bike costs more than a motorcycle. Ultralighters get to explain to casual hikers why a pack that taps out at 15 pounds costs several hundred dollars. For knife aficionados, there’s justifying a sharpener that starts at...

　　A recent study about microplastics may make you squirm in your seat. Scientists tested 70 testicles (23 from humans and 47 from dogs) and found the tiny bits of plastic in every single sample. The study, published on May 15, 2024 in Toxicological Sciences, raises concerns about the potential impact of microplastics on the human reproductive system and suggests that the presence...

　　While some folks are content listening to whatever the gym is playing during their workouts, I just cant do it — unless somebody is playing Wu-Tang. Ive got to be able to change it up to suit the moment — heavy lifting calls for heavy metal. On cardio days, I like to match the BPM of the music to my...