Most quilts designed for the outdoors are created to be used as either throw blankets, or seriously ultralight insulation for backpacking. The former prioritize low prices over performance, while the latter sacrifice versatility in order to save a few ounces. But the traditional sleeping bag also brings limitations, mostly to your ability to spread out, get comfortable, and share a...

　　It’s often said that the national parks are America’s best idea. No argument here. And it all started with designating Yellowstone National Park, a particular stroke of genius. This remarkable landscape of hot springs, geysers, and incredible wildlife became the country’s first national park in 1872, starting a revolution in protecting special landscapes in the United States and around the...

　　Greg Long had it on good authority that a wave bigger than any hed ridden at Mexico’s Islas Todos Santos could arrive between 10:20 and 10:40 A.M. on January 6, 2023. The 40-year-old had been chasing swells down to the islands in northern Baja since he was a teenager in the 1990s, planning his trips using the crude surf forecasting...

　　I want to go somewhere warm for spring break, but the places I’ve been considering—Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Mexico—either have concerning travel-advisory reports or have been making headlines for recent crimes. I can’t stop thinking about the tourist who was shot and killed in Tulum. Now Im nervous. Is this just sensationalist news, or should I really avoid traveling to...

　　We sought out warmer weather in Arizona, climbed freezing pitches in northern New Mexico, and ski-toured in Rocky Mountain National Park this January. Heres the gear that helped us start the year out right. 　　Eastpak Transverz suitcase ($140) I gifted this to my brother for Christmas, after traveling with him to Japan and feeling sorry to see him hoofing it...

　　Welcome to Tough Love. We’re answering your questions about dating, breakups, and everything in between. Our advice giver is Blair Braverman, dogsled racer and author of Small Game and Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube. Have a question of your own? Write to us at [email protected]. 　　There’s a woman who I’ve been hiking with on and off for a few years....

　　Say it with me: pants are boring. Why wear two pieces when you can roll your whole outfit into one? I’ll admit I was once an overall skeptic—I don’t love the way workwear has become trendy lately. But what may present as an obnoxious lifestyle trend can be surprisingly practical (not to mention make life more fun). Ranging from impressively...

　　Today, I’m a 42-year-old dad with four kids. I work a 9-5 job, ski on the weekends, camp in the summer, drive a Tacoma…you get the picture. I’m essentially a cliched version of the middle-class outdoorsy American who’s floating along with the bunch. 　　But I promise I was much cooler when I was in my teens in the 1990s. I...

　　The next time I’m on a flight where someone reclines their airplane seat, I’m going to lose my shit. It seems like I’m always seated behind the person who feels no qualms about reducing my sliver of space to nil. Forget working on my laptop or eating a meal with their seat back crammed in my face. I think this...

　　Adventures can provide fuel for romance, but only if you know how to take what you learned in the mountains back home. Just ask Paddy O’Connell. Paddy loves two things: fresh pow, and his wife, Carly. On their one-year wedding anniversary, the cutest couple in all of the outdoors ventured to Portillo, Chile to contemplate their affection for skiing and...

　　Back in the 1980s, my left-leaning dad used to joke at the dinner table that if a certain right-leaning President were re-elected, we would be moving to Sweden. In his mind, the country of his forebears was an egalitarian society of hale and hearty outdoor people who lived among nature and cared deeply about the welfare of others. My dad...

　　Originally, I had a vision. It involved getting into a car with strangers. 　　The idea struck me a few weeks before I left for Colorado, where I was going to report on the state’s notorious Interstate 70 traffic. Each winter, I-70 makes headlines and stymies skiers attempting to drive from Denver and the urban Front Range to the dozen or...