Burma or Bust A half-mad dash to Hkakabo Razi seemed like a good idea at the time. And hey, how tough can it be to sneak past the Chinese Army? Source: Outside
Rain of Shadows Accompanying Outsides behind-the-lines special report on Nepals Maoist insurgents (The Last Days of the Mountain Kingdom, by Patrick Symmes, September) is this haunting photograph by longtime Kathmandu photojournalist Thomas Laird. Here, in an exclusive account, Laird offers an equally haunting first-person look at the most extraordinary 24 hours in Nepals recent historyand his own thoughts for what this storm-wracked kingdom has in store. Source: Outside
Mountain Madness Remember the lessons of Everest 1996? Nobody else seems to. The world's highest peak is more crowded than everand ripe for a deadly reckoning. Source: Outside
He Ain't Your Sherpa There's nobody more qualified to drag you to the top of the world than Babu Chiri Sherpa. And he'll gladly do it. But when he's through, he's got some business of his own to attend to. Namely, obliterating every last climbing record on Everest, shattering the myth of his people as high-altitude baggage handlers, and taking the Sherpa brand global. Source: Outside
Base Camp CONFIDENTIAL An oral history of Everest's endearingly dysfunctional village Source: Outside
Dead Weight When our man dons a tumpline and dhoko for a five-day trek in the Himalayas, he discovers two things: Nepali porters may be the toughest workers in the universe, and there's simply no way he can measure up Source: Outside
Shouldering the Load Out of Bounds columnist Eric Hansen found out firsthand what it takes to be a Himalayan porter in the June feature story, "Dead Weight." Here, listen to Hansen read his story and see a gallery of his photos from the trip. Source: Outside
Pax Himalaya A tourism industry hobbled by years of civil war and political instability looks to rebound as Nepal makes moves toward a lasting peace. Is it finally safe to go back? Source: Outside
The Light of Seven Mountain Suns Surrounded by the beauty of the world's highest range, thousands of people live without sight. The Himalayan Cataract Project is curing blindnessliterally overnightin the most remote villages of Nepal and India. And, hey, as long as you're performing mass miracles, why not run up a 21,000-foot peak? Source: Outside
Facing the Fall Line When Stephen Koch set out to snowboard the insanely steep Hornbein Couloir on Everest, he knew he might die trying. He chose life. Source: Outside
Ultimate Downer Maegan Carney wants to be the first woman to ski Everest Source: Outside
Base Camp Breakdown Running the numbers on the world's tallest mountain Source: Outside
Solid-Gold Everest In honor of the 50th anniversary of Hillary and Tenzing's historic first Everest summit, we're opening the vaults to bring you the best stories ever written about the planet's tallest mountain. From Jon Krakauer's groundbreaking article, "Into Thin Air," to Brad Wetzler's account of sex, death and bad behavior at Base Camp, a collection of Outside's exclusive Everest coverage throughout the years. Source: Outside
Everest a Year Later: False Summit After a lifetime of wanting, Jon Krakauer made it to the world's highest point. What he and the other survivors would discover in the months to come, however, is that it's even more difficult to get back down. Source: Outside
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer Everest deals with trespassers harshly: the dead vanish beneath the snows. While the living struggle to explain what happened. And why. A survivor of the mountain's worst disaster examines the business of Mount Everest and the steep price of ambition. Source: Outside
Righteous Journeys Twelve trips to change your lifeand make a difference Source: Outside
On The Beaten Track We came, we saw and every so often we left entire landscapes worse for the wear. Outside grades the good and the bad of five classic destinations. Source: Outside
White Lightning Sean Glaccum discusses fast water and first descents in the Himalayas Source: Outside
Star Power Let the pros be your guides Source: Outside
Kingdoms in the Air This is the story of a man from the West who came seeking the heart of the East. In 1991, photographer Thomas Laird became the first foreigner to live in Nepal's kingdom of MUSTANG as the forbidden Shangri-la prepared to open its borders to trekkers and trade. But when the prodigal son returned to see what ten years of the West had done to his beloved East, he found that everythingand nothinghad changed. Source: Outside