Outside May 2019

Back in the spring of 2013, we learned about an American woman looking to train and empower a team of young Afghan women by taking them up the war-torn nation’s highest peak, 24,580-foot Mount Noshaq. Outside has spent 40-plus years covering the most significant expeditions in mountaineering, and while the route to the top of Noshaq isn’t considered particularly technical, only three Afghan men have ever stood on the summit. The fact that Afghan women would be attempting the climb, literally risking their lives by flouting the conservative Muslim country’s cultural norms, not only represented something significant in the mountaineering world, it promised a rare opportunity to tell a positive story in a place awash in horrifying news. This month we finally have our story on that historic expedition, led by…

Take Cover Early this year, we published the online feature “Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?” in which contributing editor Rowan Jacobsen wrote about researchers who claim that slathering on sunscreen anytime we head outdoors is unhealthy and possibly racist. As he reported, new studies suggest there are many benefits to sunlight, especially for people of color. The story triggered an avalanche of comments on social media and incited tart responses from Bloomberg Opinion (the piece “failed to convince me,” wrote Faye Flam) and Slate (Jacobsen’s thesis “ignores one underrated truth: People are bad at applying sunscreen.”). Now, as we enter high sun season, we decided to share some of our favorite reactions and also clear up a few misconceptions. Fascinating, instantly behavior-changing @outsidemagazine article about sunscreen, vitamin D, skin cancer, race, and…

RECENTLY, AN OLD friend of mine took an evening walk on a quiet road near his home in the Southwest. He was carrying a camping lantern. Near the end of his stroll, an outdoorsy couple we both know drove by, said a quick hello, then went on their way. The hazing came via e-mail a short time later. “Nice lantern, bro,” wrote the outdoorsy guy. The woman followed up, gearsplaining that “there are these things called headlamps.” My annoyed friend later griped to me that hardcore outdoor folks, who are supposed to be above base fashion concerns, are in fact the world’s most merciless fashion critics. To which I say, No duh, Lantern Boy. Sure, a lantern lights your way as effectively as a headlamp, but we have never judged gear purely…

ON APRIL 18, 2017, in front of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) road commission in Brussels, Iris Slappendel presented the findings from a survey of the women’s peloton. Slappendel, a 34-year-old retired professional road cyclist and former Dutch national champion, was in Brussels to educate the sport’s governing body about the realities of being a female bike racer. The findings from the survey of nearly 200 riders—roughly half the women’s peloton—were stark. One-third of respondents made $5,670 or less a year, and a majority reported working a second job in order to continue racing. Of those who made a salary, 51 percent paid some of it back to their team in order to compete—for mechanic fees, travel, race kit, event entry fees, and even gas money to get to the airport.…

In 1962, Fidel Castro banned professional boxing in Cuba, calling it exploitative and corrupt. But amateur boxing has continued to flourish—to the tune of 73 Olympic medals—thanks in large part to training facilities like the Rafael Trejo boxing gym, which is known for producing Olympic champions. “It’s an open-air facility in Havana that’s basically behind a wall,” says photographer Brendan Burden. “It’s pretty bare-bones.” When the 32-year-old Canadian traveled to Cuba in 2014, the gym was hosting a youth tournament, and a swarm of kids ages eight to 11 had descended on the city to compete. —EMILY REED…

IF YOU REPEAT a word too often, it loses all meaning; it becomes air on your tongue, without texture or a tie to anything real. Now say “the border.” In the past four years, we’ve heard about this place so often that it’s become nothing more than a line on a map, a division we are told needs a wall or doesn’t. What tends to get lost in the conversation is that the border is a wild place, teeming with life. This is what Ben Masters sets out to explore in his new documentary The River and the Wall, which will screen in theaters nationwide in early May. In his first feature-length film, Unbranded, Masters and three college buddies trained and rode a string of wild mustangs from Mexico to Canada.…