Episodes

  • Why Raw Cookie Dough is Worse Than Cooked Possum, with Andrew Zimmern

    Why Raw Cookie Dough is Worse Than Cooked Possum, with Andrew Zimmern
    Jun 24 2026
      If you’re a fan of food TV, you’ve probably seen chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern, whose hit show “Bizarre Foods” ran for 13 seasons and had him eating everything from guinea pigs to clotted cow’s blood. Andrew has made a career following the rumble in his belly—and a love of fishing and hunting—on way-out-there adventures in places like Madagascar and Colombia. Before his big break on TV,  Andrew was one of the hottest young chefs in New York City. Then drug  addiction and alcoholism derailed his career, his outdoor pursuits, and nearly his life itself. When Andrew uprooted to Minnesota to get sober, he learned two things that saved him: You’ve got to ask for help in order to get it and when you don’t believe in anything, go outside to find something. Which, of course, led him to the opinion that possum tastes better than raw cookie dough, and gas station pizza may just be the best post adventure food of all time.
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    51 mins
  • BONUS! I Traced an Anthropologist's Deadly Obsession with the Dark World of Kanaima

    BONUS! I Traced an Anthropologist's Deadly Obsession with the Dark World of Kanaima
    Jun 13 2026
    Do you have opinions about our use of automated voices on the Long Reads episodes? Tell us! https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8881338/11781bd91e29 Every now and then, the writers at Outside discover a story that is set in the outdoors, but is about something much, much larger—sometimes these stories are about universal truths or paradigm-shifting discoveries. And sometimes, they cross into areas that escape our comprehension altogether. Today’s tale is one of those, and, after listening, you’ll never look at a moving leaf in the woods the same way. Join Frank Bures as he retraces the journey of an anthropologist named Neal Whitehead through the forests and indigenous communities of Guyana. Whitehead begins looking for evidence of the societies that gave rise to the legend of El Dorado, but stumbles instead upon an ancient tradition of witchcraft known as “kanaima.” (kah-knee-muh) What follows is a story of curiosity turned to obsession, and several brushes with apparently supernatural forces that are anything but benign—and that’s before Bures arrives in Guyana nearly twenty years after Whitehead, after which it just gets weirder. Please enjoy “I Traced an Anthropologist's Deadly Obsession with the Dark World of Kanaima” by Frank Bures … unless you don’t like ghost stories, in which case, maybe sit this one out?
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    43 mins
  • All Gas No Brakes Adventure, with Comedian Brooks Wheelan

    All Gas No Brakes Adventure, with Comedian Brooks Wheelan
    Jun 10 2026
    Sandbagging is a right of passage in adventure. When a pal or significant other deliberately undersells the difficulty or intensity of an adventure in order to convince you to join, despite the fact that you’re either new to the sport in question or woefully under-trained slash unprepared for the outing, has a special way of pushing you out of your comfort zone and revealing that we are pretty tough after all.  Sandbagging always involves two people: the ass kicker and the ass kick-ee. Unless of course you’re stand up comedian Brooks Wheelan and you enjoy kicking the crap outta your own ass. Brooks is a devoted outdoorsman who has deployed an “all gas, no brakes” attitude when it comes to both adventure and his career. Never been rafting before? No problemo, Brooks will boat the Grand Canyon. Get hired on Saturday Night Live without ever being on TV? Pssh, piece of cake. Turns out there is immense value in getting pushed beyond your limits, even when—or maybe especially when—you’re the one doing the pushing.
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    48 mins
  • BONUS! Death on Shishapangma

    BONUS! Death on Shishapangma
    Jun 6 2026
    Howdy pals. It’s Saturday, which means it’s time for another Long Read podcast from the Outside Archive. Tragic endings are all too common in the Himalaya, but the 2024 deaths of Anna Gutu and Gina Rzucidlo on the relatively obscure Tibetan mountain Shishapangma resonated beyond the cloistered world of 8,000-meter climbing. The two women died in separate avalanches on the same day, raising troubling questions about how accessible these peaks have become and how the business of guiding has evolved. Outside always covers these incidents with empathy, authority, and exacting attention to detail, and journalist Gloria Liu’s comprehensive reconstruction of both women’s journeys to Shishapangma—as well as her breathless hour-by-hour account of the final day—is no different. She tells the story of two women who were accomplished and driven but not elite level climbers, who both set out to become the first American woman to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks. Coincidence found them trying to claim that prize on the same mountain, on the same day; competition had them each making decisions that everyone on the mountain that day would come to regret. This is “Death on Shishapangma”, by Gloria Liu, read by a friendly robot.
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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Vermonters are Tough; Adaptive Vermonters are Even Tougher, With Allie Bianchi

    Vermonters are Tough; Adaptive Vermonters are Even Tougher, With Allie Bianchi
    Jun 3 2026
    We will look for all sorts of things to fuel our adventures: the new electrolyte drink mix, the fancy sport goo, any and every type of futuristic gear. But mostly the best thing to get us outside is already inside of us in the form of a good old fashioned eff this attitude. Allie Bianchi grew up in the gritty Vermont outdoor community. A skier, hiker, mountain biker, no matter the weather or circumstance, Allie was always outside. So even after a life-altering mountain bike crash forced her to relearn everything from a wheelchair, Allie was determined to remain active in her pursuits. But doctors told her that she had to accept a sedentary wheelchair-bound life, needing round the clock assistance. Allie said, “F*ck that! I’m going outside.” She has set her sights on The Driving Range, the nation’s first fully adaptive mountain bike trail network in the US. Located in Bolton, Vermont. With the help of adaptive sports organizations like the Kelly Brush Foundation and Vermont Adaptive, as well as the devoted outdoor community she comes from, Allie is indeed still out there, getting after it.
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    49 mins
  • Bonus! Want to Climb Mount Everest? The Training May Leave You Breathless

    Bonus! Want to Climb Mount Everest? The Training May Leave You Breathless
    May 30 2026
    Howdy pals. It’s Saturday, which means it’s time for another Long Read podcast from the Outside Archive. We assume, dear listener, that you find Mount Everest interesting. We assume that because, over the decades, many of our most popular articles and podcasts have been about the world’s tallest mountain, and the fascination it inspires in climbers and non-climbers alike. And today’s Long Read podcast is a story that connects the dots between both kinds of people. Over the last twenty years, climbing Everest has evolved from something only attempted by elite mountaineers to the apex of adventure tourism. And this evolution has had all kinds of interesting impacts on how these climbers train for their attempts. So our Long Reads editor, Fred Drier, went deep into training mode with two very different amateur Everest aspirants, to learn how you train to get to twenty nine thousand feet if you only live at five thousand feet. Or zero thousand feet. Depending on your personal disposition, this story will either convince you that you have what it takes to climb the world’s tallest mountain, or make you perfectly comfortable in the knowledge that you’re never going to try. Either way, you’re going to be entertained. Please enjoy “Want to Climb Mount Everest? The Training May Leave You Breathless” by Fred Drier, read by a friendly robot. f your favorite way to read is with your ears, I encourage you to join Outside Plus. It gives you unlimited access to everything in the Outside Network, including more audio stories from Outside, Backpacker, Climbing, SKI, and more. Plus mapping apps like Trailforks, Gaia GPS, and MapMyFitness. And for our podcast listeners, we have a special offer for 25% off. Head to outside.watch/listen to learn more.
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    38 mins
  • Cracking Open the Outdoors (And Maybe Spacetime) Through Sculpture, with Cannupa Hanska Luger

    Cracking Open the Outdoors (And Maybe Spacetime) Through Sculpture, with Cannupa Hanska Luger
    May 27 2026
    Unless you grew up inside a tumbleweed, chances are you remember your outdoorsy firsts. The first time your dad took you hiking, the time your mom helped you reel in your first fish, the first big family camp out or ski trip or the road trip to your first National Park. But there are those special few  whose connection to the outdoors predates every single memory, folks like artist Cannupa Hanksa Luger. Cannupa is a  sculptor, painter, author, and performer, and his work   and worldview is rooted in an understanding he developed as a kid working, playing, and living on his family’s ranch on the Standing Rock Reservation. Cannupa’s art  defies genre, but he is always playing with a multidimensional concept of time and memory and uses the natural world to shape his pieces. If that sounds pretty out there, well, it is. But it’s because Cannupa and his art exist in a world where the past and future are always present, and there’s no such thing as “inside” at all.
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    51 mins