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Historical Badass
Claude Kogan Led The First All-Female Team To Test A Himalayan Giant
In September 1959 a five-foot whisper of a woman, the French swimwear designer and alpinist Claude Kogan, set out for…
Alexander Von Humboldt, The Last Person Who Knew It All
In June 1802, midway through his five-year scientific exploration of Spanish America, Alexander von Humboldt set out to climb Chimborazo,…
The Nutso 1910 Attempt to Plant a Flag on Denali’s Summit—In Winter
The claim was an affront to Alaska and the frontier spirit. The mere idea that a certain Dr. Frederick Cook—of…
Eric Shipton’s Style and Whims Shaped Mountaineering History
In 1931, no one had climbed higher than Eric Shipton, a British coffee planter who cut his climbing teeth in…
Dervla Murphy, Lived, Traveled, and Wrote Full Tilt
Tired of being confused for a man and for the husband of her 20-something daughter she was traveling with throughout…
Norman Baker Steered Reed Rafts Clear Across the Atlantic—Twice
There’s an almost irresistible romance to it. Thor Heyerdahl’s theory that the fantastic civilizations and architectural wonders of Central and…
Shane McConkey Was More More than Just a Skier
“We learned so much from that one, silly boy.” Sherry McConkey delivers the hammer line at the close of McConkey,…
Hilary Lister Pulled Off Mindblowing Sailing Feats, Quadriplegia Be Damned
It is an interesting thing. For some, their biggest physical accomplishments in life, their grandest adventures, come after only immense…
Meet the Boundary-Smashing Climber Called The ‘Queen of The North Faces’
Born in 1908, Louise “Loulou” Boulaz reached her prime in the golden age of Swiss mountaineering, a time and place…
Conservation Legend Celia Hunter on Alaskan Development: To Hell With That
To those with restless, wandering souls, the promise of a frontier, a hazy zone marking the edge of the known…
Climbing Legend Charlie Porter Climbed Everything and Said Nothing
In a career full of superhuman stories, Charlie Porter’s 1975 climb on Baffin Island’s Mt. Asgard stands out: He took…
Dick Proenneke Lived Alone in Alaska For 30 Years—And Thrived
For thirty years, Dick Proenneke lived alone in the Alaskan wilderness. He lived in a cabin he built with his…
Matthew Henson, Peary’s Aide, Was 100% Polar Explorer Badass
As steam and rail shrunk the globe at the turn of the 20th Century the race was on to claim…
You Don’t Have To Justify Adventure
History’s greatest ocean rowing career started with a classified ad. It was 1972 and Peter Bird was selling velvet paintings door-to-door,…
Rower Peter Bird: It’s Just An Adventure. You Don’t Have To Justify It
On rowing around the world—and not thinking too deeply about what it means.
Dick Proenneke Lived Alone in Alaska For 30 Years—And Thrived
Wasn’t that life in workaday society was too much; it was too little.
49 Days Stranded in a Yukon Winter Living on Toothpaste and Imaginary Soup
No gear. No training. No experience. How Helen Klaben and Ralph Flores lived an impossible seven weeks lost in the…
Meet the Boundary-Smashing Climber Called The ‘Queen of The North Faces’
A a Swiss woman, Louise “Loulou” Boulaz couldn’t vote, but she sure as hell could climb.
Alexander Von Humboldt, The Last Person Who Knew It All
Alexander Von Humbolt was a meticulous scientist, intrepid explorer, and at one time had climbed higher than anyone else.
Surfer Mark Foo Died Doing What He Loved, Which He Thought No Great Tragedy
The first surfer to die at Mavericks was one of the most beloved.
Douglas Mawson, Antarctic Explorer, Refused to Die Out on the Ice
Amundsen, Scott, and…Mawson? This polar pioneer was overshadowed by brighter lights, but he was the real deal.
Ageless Rock Climbing Legend Marcel Rémy Kept Climbing at 99
The climbing pantheon gets another bronze bust.
Poppa Neutrino Jazzed His Way Across the Atlantic on a Raft Made of Trash
Imagine “The Dude” but with relentless ambition and courage and you’re halfway to understanding this remarkable man.
Hilary Lister Pulled Off Mindblowing Sailing Feats, Quadriplegia Be Damned
First she crossed the English Channel, then she sailed around Britain, solo, while paralyzed from the neck down.
Eric Shipton’s Style and Whims Shaped Mountaineering History
He gave Hillary and Norgay their shot at Everest, kickstarted the search for the Yeti, and created a style of…
The Nutso 1910 Attempt to Plant a Flag on Denali’s Summit—In Winter
None of them had climbed so high, let alone in winter. But the Alaskan frontier’s pride was at stake.
Conservation Legend Celia Hunter on Alaskan Development: To Hell With That
She flew bush planes, she built one of Alaska’s first backcountry huts, and then she worked tirelessly to protect the…
One-Eyed Wiley Post Broke Every Flight Record He Could Find
Flew solo around the world, built pressurized suits to fly higher than anyone, did it all with one eye.
Claude Kogan Led The First All-Female Team To Test A Himalayan Giant
The best swimwear-designing mountaineer in history.
Maurice Herzog Led the Brutal First Ascent of an 8,000-Meter Giant
He left a checkered legacy but nobody can question the dashing and courage of the first ascent of Annapurna, the…
Norman Baker Steered Reed Rafts Clear Across the Atlantic—Twice
You’ve heard of Thor Heyerdahl’s famous transoceanic voyages? Well, meet his mountain climbing, plane flying, gold mining navigator.
Dervla Murphy, Lived, Traveled, and Wrote Full Tilt
Independent, curious, fearless, Dervla Murphy was the travel writer’s travel writer.
Meet the Amateur Geologist Who Put the Arch in Arches National Park
Back in the 1970s, rangers knew only some of Arches National Park’s many thousands of sandstone arches. Then came Reuben…
Climber Vera Komarkova and the First Women’s Summit of Annapurna
Vera Komarkova was a badass climber when she wasn’t being a badass ecologist.
Jackie Ronne Hurdled Gender Roles to Save Her Husband’s Polar Expedition
The first American woman in Antarctica helped her husband—and the bickering all-male crew—establish the fist American base in Antarctica.
Climbing Legend Charlie Porter Climbed Everything and Said Nothing
In a career full of superhuman stories, Charlie Porter’s 1975 climb on Baffin Island’s Mt. Asgard stands out: He took…
Let’s Raise a Glass to Rachel Carson, ‘Silent Spring’ Author, and Badass
It doesn’t get a whole lot more badass than changing the world with the stroke of a pen.
Sanmao, Desert Explorer, Inspired Millions of Asian Women to Adventure
Sanmao made good on her lifelong dream to travel the Sahara and in so doing inspired millions of Asian women…
Climber Lily Bristow Risked Scandal to Pioneer New Ground
In the late 1800s, she sent it and then some.
Alpinist and WWII Saboteur Freddie S. Chapman Was All Kinds of Badass
Alpine pioneer, Arctic explorer, feared WWII saboteur, Chapman survived everything but himself.
The First Woman to Sail Around the World Was a Cross-Dressing Botanist
Women weren’t allowed to sail on French naval vessels at the time, so Jeanne Baret improvised her way on board…
Duke Kahanamoku, Gracefully Paddled Surfing Into the Modern World
“The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun.” – Duke Kahanamoku There’s a reason why a…
I Can’t Find My Grocery Store As Well As Frank Worsley Guided Shackleton
Endurance captain Frank Worsley, Shackleton’s gifted navigator, knew how to stay the course.
Al Faussett Never Met a 100-Foot Falls He Wouldn’t Run in a Dugout Log
He plunged down any thundering mass of whitewater he could find, all in early 20th-century handmade boats.
Pioneering (and Obsessive) Grand Canyon Explorer Harvey Butchart
Generations of Canyon rats owe their beta to this tireless, curious, radical man.
Pioneering Photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis
Before gaining fame as a documentarian of Native Americans, he was an early expedition shooter.
Lionel Terray, Mountaineering’s Conqueror of the Impossible
Cut his teeth around Chamonix, then went on to scale everything.
The Single Mom Who Became An Arctic Robinson Crusoe
Meet the tough-as-nails woman who survived an incredible polar stranding.
Anne LaBastille May Have Out-Thoreau’d Thoreau
The blonde Daisy Duke-wearing, tough-as-nails mountain woman charmed and inspired.
Norman Dyhrenfurth Made First American Ascent of Everest a Smashing Success
Norman Dyhrenfurth’s planning and drive got the U.S. on top of the world.
Galen Rowell, the Light Bringer
The pioneering climber and groundbreaking photographer was a man of the Sierra.
This Forgotten Japanese Dreamer Raced Scott and Amundsen To The South Pole
One hundred and ten years ago this month, an extraordinary drama was playing out at the bottom of the world.…
Louise Boyd, the ‘Ice Queen’ of Greenland, Spent Her Fortune on Adventure
The inheritor of a fabulous fortune, Louise Boyd could have spent her days as a genteel California socialite—instead, she became…
Snowshoe Thompson Had to be the Most Badass Backcountry Skiing Mailman Ever
We’re off this week, spending time with our (growing) families. That in mind, we’ll be posting some of our fave…
Rell Sunn, Surfing’s Graceful Queen, Was as Tough They Come
One of history’s finest surfers, and the embodiment of the aloha spirit.
Ron “Canoe” Drummond Was A Bodysurfer, Big-Wave Canoeist and Pro Wrestler
The prototypical ‘waterman.’
Climber Todd Skinner, a Big Wall Pacesetter in the 1980s and 1990s
Twenty-seven years before the Dawn Wall captured the attention of millions and five years before Lynn Hill freed The Nose,…
Jack Dalton Was a Fighter, Roustabout, and Alaska’s Most Famous Pathfinder
A man tough enough for whatever 19th century Alaska could throw at him, Jack Dalton blazed a famed trail from…
Alpinist Wanda Rutkiewicz, the First Woman On K2, Got There On Crutches
One of the most badass of all historical badasses.
Men? Mountaineer Miriam O’Brien Underhill Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Men
She pioneered and argued for “manless” climbing in a hugely influential 1934 essay.