Resources

Hydrofoil curious? Unless you have a friend with a board, a good place to start is at Lift Foils, which has surf and kite demos across the United States. liftfoils.com. Here’s one tip: When you fall off, which you will, get as far from that sucker as you can. Not a device you want in your vicinity if you’re going over the falls.

Author Jamie Brisick is a former pro surfer and surf magazine editor, a Fulbright scholar, and a writer who contributes regularly to the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Surfer’s Journal. jamiebrisick.com, @jamiebrisick

Photos: Sylvain Cazenave, sylvaincazenave.com, @sylvanosurf; Ryan Craig, @chachfiles; Rodrigo Donoso, @rodrigosnaps

Shawnté Salabert is a frequent contributor to AJ online and these here pages, and she also pinky-swore she’d hike the Cactus to Clouds Trail with Team AJ—among the toughest day hikes in America, at 21 miles with more than 10,000 feet of elevation gain. Okay, it wasn’t a pinky swear. And it was over a beer. But, still. shawntesalabert.com, @shawntesalabert

Photos: Andrew Burr, andrewburr.com, @andrewburr; Nick LaVecchia, nicklavecchia.com, @nick_lavecchia; Scott Markewitz, scottmarkewitz.com, @scottmarkewitz; Ryan Creary, ryancreary.com, @ryancreary; Forest Woodward, forestwoodward.com, @forestwoodward

Writer Krista Langlois is a frequent contributor to Adventure Journal. Her last piece for AJ was “Hunting for Turtle,” in AJ06. kristaleelanglois.com, @cestmoilanglois

Of the Dawn Wall, Tommy Caldwell said, “When you stand at the base and look up at 3,000 feet of blankness, it looks like there’s no way you can climb it. That’s what you seek. You want to find something that looks absurd and figure out how to do it.” It took him seven years to crack that nut, and a crew from Sender Films was with him from start to finish. Their feature-length documentary, Dawn Wall, is available on Netflix. And, yes, it’s a must-watch.

Kelly Cordes is the author of The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre, a remarkable account of the history of what’s been called the world’s most beautiful peak and the half-century mystery surrounding its claimed first ascent. Our last bit of editing on “Unlocking” was conducted by text from Talkeetna, Alaska, as Cordes was about to fly into the Alaska Range to tackle the north buttress of Mt. Hunter. kellycordes.com

Photos: Bligh Gillies, blighgillies.com, @blighguy; Corey Rich, coreyrich.com, @coreyrichproductions

Sarah Uhl’s original paintings and prints are available at sarahuhl.com, where you can also sign up for her watercolor workshops. @sarahvirginiauhl

Leslie Hsu Oh writes for Alpinist, Sierra, Smithsonian, the Washington Post, and a bunch of other notable pubs. This is her first piece for AJ. lesliehsuoh.com, @lesliehsuoh

Photos: Forest Woodward, forestwoodward.com, @forestwoodward

Leath Tonino has written for Adventure Journal about scrambling, cold, and now the relationship between memory and gear. A Vermont native, his latest book, The Animal One Thousand Miles Long, explores his lifelong relationship with the Green Mountain State.

Photos: Benedict Tufnell, tufnellphotography.com, @benedict_tufnell

In 2018, author Heather “Anish” Anderson became the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and Pacific Crest Trail—the Triple Crown of backpacking—in a single calendar year. It took her 251 days, 20 hours, and 10 minutes. She has now completed the Triple Crown three times and speed-hiked more than 28,000 miles since 2013. Anderson’s book, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home, which is excerpted in this issue, was published by Mountaineers Books in January 2019. anishhikes.wordpress.com, @anishhikes

Heather Anderson is pretty darn dedicated to hiking, and so is Philip Kramer. He spent three years documenting the PCT, shooting 25,000 images in the process, and also wrote a guidebook to the northern California section of the trail. philipkramer.com, @boyfriday

Whether fish feel pain is a sensitive topic—and not just to the fish themselves. Looking closely at the issue forced author and AJ senior editor Justin Housman to confront some uncomfortable truths. “I once had to go to the emergency room because I’d hooked myself deeply. It was a gruesome injury. Yet even after that, I still didn’t look at my fish hooks as something designed to injure a living being. I simply didn’t want to see it, so I didn’t—until writing this piece. I doubt I’ll ever again look at my hooks without remembering my own pain.” @justinhousman, @hzahorseman

Photos: Adam Barker, adambarkerphotography.com, @adambarkerphotography; David Herasimtschuk, davidherasimtschuk.com, @davidherasimtschuk; Julien Pouille, julienpouille.com, @julien_pouille_photography; Tim Romano, timromano.com, @timromanophoto; Arian Stevens, arianstevens.com, @greenwoodimages

The couple that you know as Fresh Off the Grid and we know as Our Favorite Chefs are back on the road. Megan McDuffie and Michael van Vliet were posted up in Bend, Oregon, for a while—you know, like, indoors—but have returned to vanlife. freshoffthegrid.com, @freshoffthegrid

Carl Akeley is credited with creating the first diorama, which isn’t technically true—habitat displays date to the early 1800s—but he did popularize, perfect, and dedicate himself to the art of them. He also innovated the process of taxidermy, invented a sprayable concrete system for building construction, designed a lightweight motion picture camera for shooting wildlife, and conducted many expeditions to Africa to collect and kill animals in the name of conservation. Oh, and with his bare hands he fought to the death a leopard that attacked him.

So, yeah—there’s some crazy stuff behind those museum dioramas. It’s no wonder Diane Fox has been drawn to them for so long. Images from her UnNatural History series have appeared in shows in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Republic of Georgia, and the United States; when not traveling to museums, Fox teaches at the College of Architecture and Design at the University of Tennessee. dianefoxphotography.com