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In the last few years, women’s sports have been a highly visible arena for the broader cultural and political debate over the rights and inclusion of transgender people. As transgender athletes come out, pursue gender-affirming medical care like hormone therapies, and try to compete in the division that aligns with their gender identity, many sports’ governing bodies have developed policies restricting participation on the basis of sex assigned at birth or other biological markers. Sometimes, these policies amount to outright bans on transgender women competing in the women’s category. E ..read more

Eric Larsen had been waiting for ten days when his phone rang with bad news from Barneo Ice Camp. The veteran explorer and guide was set to lead the only American expedition to the North Pole in 2024. He and five clients had packed their gear, obtained travel visas, and traveled to Krasnoyarsk, a hub on Russia’s Trans-Siberian railway, and the official jumping-off city for the 2024 polar season. They had waited for the go-ahead to fly to Barneo, a temporary collection of huts and sleds that drifts on sheet ice 68 or so miles below the planet’s northernmost point. And then the call came in. Th ..read more

There are a lot of ways to experience the depth of a wild landscape: hiking, horseback riding, biking, off-roading. But none offer the same elegance and simplicity as paddling. Which is fortunate, because paddling also happens to be the best way to indulge in the vast solitude of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). With more than 1,200 miles of routes and 2,000-plus designated wilderness campsites, each trip itinerary is customizable to suit your experience level and outdoor interests. The bountiful adventure opportunities are part of what Cassidy Ritter of Voyageur Canoe Outfi ..read more

If the cab fare to the southern end of the Pacific Crest Trail cost $1,000, so be it: I was not going to spend an hour crowded into a van grousing about the world with a hiker named Honest Abe. Abe and I had met on the Appalachian Trail in 2019, and it did not take much conversation for us to intuit that we were opposites—not friends, perhaps even nemeses. I am a middle-class Southern nerd who went to college, then got paid to stroke his beard while tapping thoughts about music into a machine. Abe, meanwhile, had grown up in rural Missouri and joined the Marines before becoming an electric li ..read more

Ever come across an incredible hotel that stops you mid-scroll and makes you think, Wow, wouldn’t it be something to stay there? We do, too—all the time. Welcome to Friday Fantasy, where we highlight amazing hotels, lodges, cabins, tents, campsites, and other places perched in perfect outdoor settings. Read on for the intel you need to book an upcoming adventure here. Or at least dream about it. If Grand Canyon National Park is for the masses—and in 2023 it was America’s second most visited national park, with nearly five million visitors—then historic Phantom Ranch, an architectural marvel l ..read more

Sandra Aguirre didn’t mean to create a movement. At first, she was just trying to help herself and her family. In an effort to heal from her divorce, she began spending more time outside with her three kids, hiking and searching for waterfalls throughout the mountains of western North Carolina, especially in the scenic terrain around Asheville. “Going through the divorce felt like my whole world was falling apart,” Aguirre says. “I was married for almost 20 years, and I suddenly became a single mom of three. I was depressed. Then someone introduced me to the mountains. I started hiking to wat ..read more

I drove a 2024 Toyota Tacoma for the first time yesterday. That’s relevant to an article about the new 4Runner, because both it, the new Taco, and also the new Land Cruiser are all built on the same platform, with the same engines, axles, and suspension. And that creates a conundrum for shoppers, because prices between all those capable and mechanically-very-similar vehicles range from $33,000 all the way up to $75,000, and you’re left parsing very minor differences to try to decide how much money to spend. To be transparent, I own and absolutely love a Toyota Land Cruiser 200-series, which i ..read more

I drove a 2024 Toyota Tacoma for the first time yesterday. That’s relevant to an article about the new 4Runner, because both it, the new Taco, and also the new Land Cruiser are all built on the same platform, with the same engines, axles, and suspension. And that creates a conundrum for shoppers, because prices between those mechanically-very-similar vehicles range from $33,000 all the way up to $75,000, and you’re left parsing very minor differences to try to decide how much money to spend. This is my effort to simplify that for you as much as possible. What’s going on here is called platfor ..read more

The 2024 climbing season on Mount Everest is in full swing this week as some expedition teams are arriving at Base Camp and others have begun acclimatization rotations on the peak. As Outside recently reported, the official start on the mountain’s Nepalese side is delayed this year due to dangerous conditions in the Khumbu Icefall. The circuitous route through the glacier that precedes the easier climbing up to Camp I and Camp II is longer than the one used in previous years, due to an unusually dry winter and a lack of snowfall. The scheduling delay and new route aren’t the only dynamics imp ..read more