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Posts Tagged ‘Outside’

I published a heap of new work in the early months of 2018! Some highlights:

For Outside, I traveled to Nunavut to complete a two-week boot camp in polar travel and survival. I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of memorable trips for work, but this one was something special. I wrote about learning the secret to success on the ice.

Though it was published in 2018, that story was based on a trip I did in March 2017. The confidence I got from my time in Nunavut allowed me to enter the 100-mile Yukon Arctic Ultra here at home this past winter, and I wrote about my experience in the race for the Globe and Mail: I Would Walk 100 Miles. I also wrote a short item for Outside about the catastrophic injuries sustained by one racer during this year’s event.

Moving away from my cold-and-snow beat, I wrote a feature for WIRED’s Life Issue about the evolving science of saving extreme preemies: Saving Baby Boy Green. I really poured everything I had into that one, and I hope you’ll check it out!

For Longreads, I followed up on the Freelancers’ Roundtable that I put together a couple years ago. This time, I moderated a panel of smart folks talking about writing on both sides of the fiction-nonfiction divide.

For Seattle Met, I wrote about the mysterious disappearance of a crab boat in the Bering Sea, and the Coast Guard investigation that followed: The Boat at the Bottom of the Sea.

And most recently, Hakai published my dispatch from the westernmost village in Alaska, where a newly formed polar bear patrol aims to protect humans from bears – and bears from humans.

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Oops! Somehow the year got away from me, and now it’s December 1 and I haven’t posted an update here since 2016… So, without further ado, here’s everything I wrote this year.

Back in January, The Walrus published the last in my series of short dispatches from Nunavut: Running the Road to Nowhere. Sticking with the northern theme, in February I wrote a quick hit for Hakai about a new study of Arctic shipping patterns, and for Pacific Standard I interviewed Alethea Arnaquq-Baril about her excellent and important documentary, Angry Inuk. I also wrote a short, fun dispatch for Up Here about life on Arctic Internet Time.

In late winter I had a traffic jam of features coming out all in a row. For Longreads, I profiled an elite birder and explored our need to classify and categorize the world around us: Bird Man. For Esquire, I attempted to cure my fear of heights by learning to rock climb: Exposure Therapy and the Fine Art of Scaring the Shit Out of Yourself On Purpose. For Seattle Met, I looked back at the aftermath of the Tunnel Creek avalanche (of “Snow Fall” fame) five years later: After the Fall. And for Outside, I wrote about a wild endurance climbing competition in the Ozarks: Headbangers Wall.

I also reviewed Dan Egan’s new book, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, for the Globe and Mail. (You should read it, it’s great!) And I really enjoyed writing this short dispatch for Pacific Standard about a communal sunset in Arches National Park.

In the summer, Up Here published my short profile of a woman who built an Arctic archive on Baffin Island: The Accidental Archivist. Outside dispatched me to the Kenai Peninsula to cover another extremely rugged event: Mount Marathon is the Toughest 5K on the Planet. And Amazon published my Kindle Single about a disastrous 1928 Arctic airship expedition – it’s available for purchase for just a couple of bucks, and I’d be thrilled if you checked it out: Mussolini’s Arctic Airship. (That’s the U.S. Amazon site. And here’s the link for Canadians.)

That’s it! Roughly 38,000 words, less than half my usual output in the last few years, but my goal has been to get to a place where I can write less and still pay the bills. (I’ve got a few things slated to come out in January that I’ve already written as well. Stay tuned.)

Still a month to go, but happy almost-New Year!

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Since I last updated the website (I know, I know) I’ve had a heap of new stuff published. In July, I had three magazine pieces appear: In Canadian Geographic, I wrote a short feature about my experience riding with the bike couriers of Montreal. (The story’s not online, but there’s a short accompanying blog post.) For Outside, I reviewed Blair Braverman’s wonderful new memoir, Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube. And for Southwest: The Magazine’s national parks issue, I wrote about scattering my mom’s ashes in Canyonland National Park. (The story starts on page 74.)

For Hakai, a new-ish Canadian online magazine based on Vancouver Island, and dedicated to “coastal science and society,” I wrote a quick thing about coastal horror movies, and something longer about a Nunavut community’s fight against oil and gas development – and how Greenpeace got involved.

I wrote a handful of online pieces for The Walrus: dispatches from Pond Inlet and Cambridge Bay, in Nunavut, and a look at the Yukon’s recent territorial election.

I stepped down as a contributing editor for Up Here at the end of May, but I’m still writing for the magazine occasionally – including a profile of my old mining crew chief, a quick dispatch from the Royal Tour, and this short essay about going to survival school.

As always, I’ve got lots more coming soon…

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A heap of stuff just went online. First up, my travel story from Up Here’s July/August 2012 issue, ‘I Found the Sweet Life,’ is now online in honor of its nomination for a Western Magazine Award. Yay.

Second, I have two features in the May issue of Up Here Business: a profile, The Queen of Klondike Korner, and the cover story about the Yukon’s growing “knowledge sector”: Off the Grid But in the Know. I also wrote this sidebar to the cover story, profiling a Yukon-based talent manager.

Over at Outside, I’ve had four more “Adventure Adviser” columns go live: What are the best cheap boat trips?, Where’s the best hiking under the Midnight Sun?, Should I climb Denali? and What are the best hikes in Britain?

I’m keeping busy. More to come!

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I came home from the Aleutians to find all sorts of good news waiting.

Last week, we learned that Up Here and Up Here Business have been nominated for a combined five National Magazine Awards and nine Western Magazine Awards. At the WMAs, two of my Up Here features, The One Who Jumped and ‘I Found the Sweet Life,’ are nominated in the Human Experience and Travel and Leisure categories, and Up Here and UHB are both nominated for Magazine of the Year – Alberta/NWT. Up Here Business was nominated for a further five Kenneth R. Wilson Awards, including Magazine of the Year – Professional.

I’m also excited to be filling in for the next while as Outside’s online “Adventure Adviser” columnist. I’ll be writing two short pieces each week, answering questions about travel and outdoor adventure, and my first two columns are already up: Should I be worried about sinkholes? and Does beer attract bears? Send me a question if you’ve got one!

Meanwhile, the April/May issue of Up Here includes my feature about the current state of Yukon mushing: End of the Trail? And I have two features in the May issue of Up Here Business, including the cover story about the Yukon’s growing “knowledge sector.” They’re not online yet, but you can check out the cover.

Finally, check out my friend Sam’s story about the Yukon’s homegrown Filipino basketball league. The North just keeps getting more interesting the longer I stay here.

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I’ve got lots of news to kick off the New Year. Most importantly, my temporary position at Up Here / Up Here Business wrapped up on December 21 – so I’m back to full time freelance writing. I learned a ton during my ten months on staff at the magazines, and I’m looking forward to applying that knowledge as I jump back into the self-employment fray. (I also expect to continue working closely with my editors at Up Here and UHB as a freelancer.)

Earlier this week, my latest went live at Outside: It’s a big winter service package called 40 Frozen Experiences of a Lifetime. And in December, I was thrilled to contribute a short essay to the “Why’s This So Good?” series over at Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard: Why’s This So Good? No. 68: Jonathan Lethem and the Godfather of Soul.

I’ve got big plans and a busy travel schedule for 2013. First up, in February, a couple of assignments will take me back on the Yukon Quest trail again. Looking forward to it!

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I’ve got a short essay on Outside’s website about the ultimate river trip gone awry, and why the movie has endured for four decades.

Also: Tomorrow I fly to San Francisco for the annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference! I attended for the first time five years ago, as a brand-new aspiring writer with just a couple paid clips to my name. Looking forward to spending time with friends and colleagues there again this year.

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I had a hell of a time writing my Outside Online story, Before Cheryl Met Oprah: 5 Other Outdoor Adventure Memoirs by Women. When I pitched it, I’d had an idea of the books I wanted to include in the list, but I wanted to be sure I wasn’t overlooking anything crucial — and as I googled and cruised the library stacks and asked friends and colleagues for recommendations, the job got harder and harder. Turns out I was tapping into a seriously rich vein.

Here are some of the female-authored outdoor adventure books that didn’t wind up on the final Outside list, but which have definitely landed on my personal To-Read list:

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I had a lot of fun putting together this piece, my first for Outside‘s website.

Check it out!

Before Cheryl Met Oprah: 5 Other Outdoor Adventure Memoirs by Women

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