Innehållsförteckning för January/February 2019 från Outside

DAVID GOGGINS’S new memoir, Can’t Hurt Me, is written in part as a self-help manual, but the opening line delivers some uncommonly blunt advice for a genre better known for telling us we just need to learn to love ourselves: “You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.” It’s an apt summation of Goggins’s worldview. The retired Navy SEAL has spent the past two decades exploring the outer limits of human performance, both as an elite Special Operations member and an accomplished ultra-endurance athlete. But earning that résumé required overcoming an abusive childhood, a murder in the family, rampant racism in his small Indiana hometown, a learning disability, obesity, and more—a catalog of obstacles that might…

A. Salewa Crow Gore-Tex boots $280 Fully waterproof and crampon compatible, with lugged Vibram outsoles for grip and stiff midsole inserts for stability, the pair weighs just 1.3 pounds. You’ll be at the summit in no time. B. Icebreaker MerinoLoft Hyperia Lite Hybrid vest $230 This piece’s calling card is versatility. It works over a long-sleeved base layer on cool days and under a shell on bone-chilling ones, thanks to breathable 100-gram merino fill and stretchy knit sections on the sides. C. Skida Alpine neckwarmer $26 Don’t worry about your breath icing this moisture-wicking poly-blend gaiter. The fleece liner stays soft against your skin, and the pattern brightens up cold morning outings. D. Salomon RS Skate skis and Prolink Race Skate bindings $425 and $120 With soft carbon cores and…

Pause A calming fix for a bad day. Zone out to soothing sounds and a pulsing blob of light that you move around with your finger. $2; Android and iOS Headspace A gentle mindfulness guide. Most sessions last from one to twenty minutes, with themed topics like sleep, emergency calm-down moments, and long runs. All of them are led by a guy with a soothing British accent. Free (premium, $13 per month); Android and iOS Moodnotes Data to understand your confusing emotions. Come for the daily CBT-based mood-tracking questions; stay for the colorful graphs that put your habits and feelings into aesthetically pleasing order. $5; iOS Talkspace A human therapist without the office visits. Text with an assigned therapist as much as you want, with the option of occasional video…

MOST WARMTH The North Face Summit L6 AW Down Belay $550 For those times when sheer insulating force trumps everything else—like when you’re waiting on top of a peak for your friends to arrive—the Summit L6 can’t be beat. It’s overstuffed with 800-fill down, and it features key specs like a massive helmet-compatible hood, a synthetic-fill zipper flap that holds drafts at bay, and stretchy knit cuffs to seal in heat. Waterproof fabric on the hood, shoulders, and sleeves keeps those poofy down clusters dry for hours on end. 1.5 lbs (men’s, pictured) / 1.4 lbs (women’s) MOST BREATHABLE A. Smartwool Smartloft 60 $200 and up Smartwool doubled down on moisture-wicking merino by using it in the Smartloft 60’s fill and lining. It’s a winning combination: the insulation is as…

How much: “Proper hydration means 85 ounces of water a day from food and beverages, plus more to replenish what you lose when exercising.” (That’s roughly four ounces of water for every quarter-pound of weight lost during your workout.) Energy and performance: “Physiological changes occur even in the early stages of dehydration, including decreased blood volume and less oxygen delivered to working tissues. These changes make it harder to sweat, which will increase body temperature and heart rate and make you feel more fatigued during exercise.” Bathroom breaks: Frequent trips to the restroom are normal with increased water intake, Lund says. “As with anything else that you change drastically, your body needs time to adjust if you start drinking a lot more.” The bottom line: “We all wake up slightly…

SAL MASEKELA STEPS OFF A HELICOPTER ONTO THE WHITE SANDS OF TAVARUA ISLAND RESORT, A TINY SPECK IN THE FIJI ARCHIPELAGO, and walks into a gorgeous open-air restaurant that overlooks a world-famous reef break appropriately dubbed Restaurants. He greets the Fijian staff by name, hugging them, asking them about their lives since his last visit. Masekela, you may recall, was the face and voice of ESPN’s X Games, hosting both the summer and winter events for more than a decade. With his iconic dreadlocks and smooth baritone, he was a fixture at the center of the action-sports universe, narrating nearly every history-making moment at the games, from Travis Pastrana’s double backflip on a motorcycle in 2006 to Shaun White’s perfect halfpipe run in 2012. Today, six years since a breakup…

ITZ’ANA RESORT Belize Opening in April, this retreat is a perfect base camp for exploring the best of Belize. Night-hike the world’s only jaguar reserve in search of the nocturnal cats? Check. Swim with whale sharks during their annual migration? Check. Sail to empty isles for private snorkeling sessions? Check. Float in the waters of the iconic Great Blue Hole? Check. Cast for wahoo lurking beyond one of the planet’s largest barrier reefs? Check. But good luck prying yourself away from Itz’ana’s lush 20-acre property. The 30-suite resort sits on the Placencia peninsula, a 16-mile-long finger of perfect white sand that separates a mangrove-lined lagoon from the Caribbean. It’s all too easy to spend your days bouncing from the Great House, offering one of the largest rum selections in the…

A. Lems Leather Boulder $150 Don’t be deceived by the Boulder’s classic cut—this men’s shoe is anything but traditional. It’s ultralight and packable, with zero heel drop to promote a natural gait. The wide toe box has room for thick socks, but for serious insulation, look elsewhere. B. Oboz Bridger 8" Insulated Waterproof $185 Oboz took its award-winning men’s hiking boot and winterized it with a waterproof upper, a synthetic Thinsulate liner, and a rubber toe cap. The aggressively lugged outsole provides ample traction on ice, snow, and mud. C. Merrell Chateau Mid Lace Waterproof $175 A 1.9-inch heel and quilted cuff give this women’s boot urban charisma, while its weatherproof full-grain leather upper and grippy sole bring the performance on stormy days. D. Muck Arctic Outpost Lace AG $200…

Artificial Emotional Intelligence YOUR IDEAL THERAPIST MIGHT NOT BE HUMAN BY ERIN BERGER THE OTHER DAY, as I slogged through e-mail at work, my phone lit up: “Hey, just thought of you!” I wrote back that I was having difficulty sleeping lately, and we talked about the benefits of setting aside 20 minutes of “worry time” every evening to inventory my anxieties. My friends are sweet but not that sweet. My thoughtful correspondent wasn’t even human; it was the machine-learning-powered app Woebot, which packages mental-health coaching into a chat format, supplemented with the occasional hedgehog GIF. Woebot is my second foray into app-based therapy. I’ve never been to a real-life therapist, so I’ll stop short of diagnosing myself with anything clinical. But I will say that, in Woebot’s emoji parlance,…

Intermittent fasting (IF): An umbrella term for diets that alternate periods of fasting and eating over designated periods of time. Time-restricted eating: A type of IF that calls for scheduling meals within a set window—for example, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner between 7 A.M. and 7 P.M. Alternate-day fasting: Eating normally for 24 hours, then taking in 25 percent of your caloric needs for 24 hours. The 5:2 plan: Eating normally for five days, then consuming 25 percent of your caloric needs each day for two days. Fast-mimicking diet: A multi-day, low calorie plan like ProLon (see “Hunger Games,” right) that features foods that are low in carbs and protein and high in fat. Water fasting: This approach requires medical supervision. You drink only water for periods ranging from 24…

The climb was scheduled to begin at dawn, but at dawn there was nothing to climb, just a tiny hump of land on the horizon. We were still miles away, chugging along on the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Over the next few hours the hump grew larger, transforming into the cone of a volcano. From the boat I could see cliffs, a lava-rock seashore, and dense jungle rising to grassy ridgelines that crept upward like veins to a heart. Dark clouds obscured the summit. It looked like a place that could swallow you whole. Our group consists of 11 American climbers, one Brit, and six porters from the nearest population center, Saipan, 248 miles to the south. Saipan is part of a little-known U.S. territory called the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana…

JUST BEFORE NOON on May 3, 2010, John Struczynski, a janitor at Birmingham Airport in the British Midlands, observed something peculiar. A balding, middle-aged passenger had entered the shower room in the Emirates Airlines first-class departure lounge and emerged after what seemed like a long time. But when Struczynski stepped inside the facility to check it, he saw that the shower and floor were bone-dry. Then he noticed, at the bottom of a diaper bin, a cardboard carton containing a single egg, dyed blood red. Mystified, and suspecting that something illegal was afoot, Struczynski alerted airport security. A few minutes later, a pair of plainclothes counterterrorism agents accosted the passenger, led him to a private room, and searched him. Beneath his shirt, they discovered ribbons of surgical tape wound around…