🏔️ Spring fever is here. Ski-BASE off the Sphinx?!
A newsletter for people who’d rather be outside!
Shout out to my StokedAF crew!
Last week I had the opportunity to get my daughter on her first desert tower, the much loved and very solid, Owl Rock, in Arches NP.
Now on to this week’s send… you’re gonna see some wild shiiiiiizzzz. From ski-BASE to speed records on Rainier, secret surf in India, and jazz-inspired freeriding in B.C., this week’s sends are all about style under pressure.
Spring is fully awake now, and people everywhere are getting creative with the terrain.
All Heart!
Nico in Moab
🪂 Ski-BASE off the Sphinx
📍 Montana, USA
There’s being stoked and then there’s standing on top of a 10,840-foot peak debating whether to ski into a ginormous BASE jump. That’s exactly what Van “legend” Ledger just pulled off on Sphinx Mountain, linking turns into what he says is likely the first-ever ski-BASE exit off the face.
Between swirling winds, exposure, and commitment butterflies, he spent longer on this exit than any other jump of his life.
The result? One of the wildest hybrid mountain sends we’ve seen this spring.
Keep your eyes on Van. He’s pushing limits.
⏱️ 2 minutes
🎷 Free riding is like a jazz solo
📍 Mt Seymour, B.C. , Canada
This week’s MTN bike banger is set to jazz riffs and soaked in BC weather vibes. Stripped down to rhythm, improvisation, and flow, Bas van Steenbergen heads into the forests of Vancouver’s North Shore—the birthplace of freeride—to ride the loam.
The comparison to jazz works wonders for this short cut, fast sections explode into chaos, mistakes become style, and every trail feature feels like a riff instead of a script.
Don’t skip this one.
⏱️ 2 minutes
🏃 Mount Rainier’s FKT gets 30 mins faster
📍 Mount Rainier, Washington, USA
3:43:50… on foot… round trip.
After abandoning plans for a ski descent because of terrible snow conditions, this all mountain crusher Simon Kearns pivoted to the foot-speed record on Mount Rainier, and absolutely detonated it. The summit push alone took just 2 hours and 34 minutes.
His post is a victory lap and a tribute, shouting out previous record holders and the tight-knit world of speed mountaineering.
Still… moving that fast on Rainier is deeply difficult to comprehend.
🌊 The “secret” surf wave in India
📍 Secret spot, India
Nothing stays secret in surfing anymore.
Nole Cossart and Anna Gudauskas head to India chasing a remote wave that was once whispered about among traveling surfers. Add a cameo from Chris Burkard and a film crew, and yeah… safe to say the secret’s out.
The real draw here is the atmosphere: fishing villages, warm water, chaotic roads, and the feeling that surfing’s frontier spirit still exists if you’re willing to travel far enough.
⏱️ 7 minutes
🥵 The Grand Canyon’s scariest hikes ranked
📍 Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Millions visit the Grand Canyon every year. A much smaller number decide it would be fun to descend into it during triple-digit heat, exposed cliffs, sketchy water access, and trails with consequences.
This ranking breaks down the canyon’s most dangerous hikes—from famous sufferfests like Rim-to-Rim to lesser-known routes where route-finding, dehydration, and exposure are for real.
Planing a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon? Make sure you surival skills are on lock.
⚡ Bonus News ⚡
🧗 Adam Ondra climbed 5.14b in Saxony ground-up, with no chalk—following the region’s old-school ethics. See more below in Long Reads about his trip to Der Sächsische Schweiz!
🐻 Hiker killed by a grizzly in Glacier National Park on a day hike in dense terrain. The first bear attack fatality in the park since 1998.
🌏 Desertification right before our eyes. Western Australia is edging toward desertification as climate change, land clearing, and declining rainfall push ecosystems past their limits.
🏔️ Sherpa teams reached the summit of Mount Everest yesterday, finally opening the route after unprecedented delays this season. With ropes fixed, the climbing masses are expected to begin summit pushes.
🎿 Brundage Mountain Resort in Idaho launched childcare program to make ski life a little more realistic for families and traveling parents.
🐩 In southern Utah, a man and his poodle survived a rappelling accident while canyoneering and were rescued.
⏱️ Look back at a strange mtb bike record for the world’s longest wooden mountain bike trail, Top Chief Trail, in Scotland.
🧠 Long Reads & Opinions
Heads up, take your time with these ones…
🚐 When the #vanlife is mandatory
Every winter, tens of thousands of people migrate to public lands in the Arizona desert. For some it’s adventure and freedom—but for a growing number of Americans, it’s also their best option for housing. Josh Jackson writes for Re:Public, exploring the strange and increasingly important world of long-term desert camping, where a $180 permit can legally provide seven months of living on public land.
At places like La Posa near Quartzsite, that permit includes trash collection, vault toilets, and a dump station. The math is true: less than the price of one hotel night in many U.S. cities buys an entire season of survival, community, and mobility in the desert.
🔗 https://www.republic.land/a-new-kind-of-van-life/
⏱️ 20 minute read
🧗 Ondra vs. Saxon sandstone ethics
No chalk. No rehearsal. Massive runouts. In Saxony climbing is all about composure under pressure, and you better not get sweaty hands lol. Adam Ondra steps into that world attempting Die Vertreibung der letzten Idealisten (8c/XIIa), battling sweaty hands, sketchy protection, and a climbing culture that honors age old ethics.
What makes this film so good is that Ondra—usually portrayed as nearly superhuman—looks genuinely rattled. The route forces him to slow down, adapt, and respect a tradition far older than modern sport climbing.
⏱️ 31 minutes
The first boulderers?
Before crash pads, climbing gyms, and V-grades, there was Oscar Eckenstein: eccentric alpinist, gear innovator, and possibly the first person to argue that climbing on boulders was worthwhile on its own. Even stranger? One of his protégés was everyone’s favorite occultist, Aleister Crowley.
This deep dive into climbing history explores how modern bouldering may have started with a group of oddball intellectuals scrambling around rocks in the late 1800s—and how ideas that seemed ridiculous at the time eventually reshaped climbing forever.
⏱️ 36 minutes
🏔️ Big walls and wet cracks on Fitz Roy
If you’ve been craving more Patagonia climbing films, this one absolutely delivers. A team of local climbers takes on Royal Flush on Fitz Roy’s east face: 1,250 meters of vertical climbing, 43 pitches, difficulties up to 7b/A0, and endless crack systems split by running water, storms, and classic Patagonian uncertainty.
What stands out most is how real the expedition feels. Long approaches, logistical chaos, hanging belays, and soaked gear.
Turn subtitles on for English—the storytelling is worth it.
⏱️ 38 minutes
🌍 Suffering the FOMO?
(Pssst, this is where you should be right now!)
🥾 Backpacking across the Pyrenees?
If you’ve been dreaming about a long-distance trek this year, put the Pyrenees high on your list.
The Haute Route des Pyrénées (HRP) stretches from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic through rugged alpine terrain, remote huts, wild camping zones, and tiny mountain villages split between France and Spain. Expect huge elevation days, dramatic weather swings, and endless ridge walking.
The prime season runs from late June through September, but now is the perfect time to start planning permits, huts, and logistics. You can commit to the full crossing or just tackle a section for a week or two. Either way, this is one of Europe’s great mountain journeys.
Check out how this intrepid hiker, Mathieu, did the 730km hike in 27 days and still managed to make a cool 12 minute vid.
Respect and inspiration!
🧗 Sea cliff trad climbing in Wales
If you want a climbing trip that feels adventurous from the moment you leave the parking lot, look to the sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire.
The limestone walls rise straight out of the Atlantic, with routes that begin by rappelling into hidden coves, traversing above crashing waves, or timing approaches with the tides. The climbing itself ranges from friendly classics to seriously bold trad, but the real draw is the atmosphere: salty air, huge exposure, and the feeling that every pitch is a little expedition.
Finish the day in tiny coastal pubs instead of crowded climbing camps.
May is prime season: longer days, cooler temps, and more stable weather before summer tourism ramps up.
💥 Stay Stoked. Stay Wild. See you on the next send!
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❤️🔥 Your StokedAF fam 🤘
“Look mom, I just skied off that cliff”
