Here we go #StokedAF
The Southwest has been getting hammered by rain, and it feels like El Niño is here to stay. The desert is soaked, the rock is unclimbable, and camping season just got a whole lot colder.
That didn’t stop us from packing up the family and heading to Capitol Reef National Park for the epic Muley Canyon hike. There’s something magical about the desert after a good soaking, even if you’re freezing your ass off at night.
Meanwhile, we’ve got plenty to keep you stoked: first descents in Patagonia, giant granite walls in Mozambique, wild whitewater in New Zealand, and a dog outrunning all the bikes. Plus, we’re introducing Destination Unknown—places you didn’t know you needed to go.
Stay dry, stay warm, and stay stoked!
All heart, Nico ❤️
🌊 Primates on the Zambezi!
📍 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe 🇿🇼
River wizard Sam Bradford catches a beautiful river wave on the mighty Zambezi, just below Victoria Falls, while a baboon watches the action from a rock on the shore. World-class river surfing, one of Africa’s wildest rivers, and a front-row seat for the local wildlife. Does it get any better than this?
🎿 Home where the boys play
📍 Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Imagine growing up with Jackson Hole as your backyard and your best friends as your ski crew. This group of shredders have been together since they were kids, and now they’re all grown up and still sending it. This one will make you look back at your teenage years and wish you’d spent every damn day skiing.
⏱️ 8 min
🌊 Heli drop into class v rapids
📍 Kokatahi River, West Coast, New Zealand 🇳🇿
Heli-kayaking in New Zealand!? Remote wilderness and a full day of Class V whitewater and a short portage around some seriously gnarly river. The Kokatahi River is no place for the fainthearted. Big water, big consequences, and one hell of an adventure.
⏱️ 8 min
⚖️ 24hr on a slackline?
Some people run marathons. Others climb mountains. Davis Hermes decided he’d try to spend 24 hours straight on a slackline. Day and night balancing, exhaustion, and figuring out what to do when nature calls. He’s even prepared to shit his pants if that’s what it takes. Glad someone’s out there pushing the limits of human endurance. Glad it’s not me.
⏱️ 11 min
💥 Break yo neck!
📍 Alaska, USA
Sometimes a title says enough to make you stop scrolling. The Crash is one of those. Let Canadian pro freerider, Reece Wallace, and the footage do the talking.
⏱️ 16 min
🐕 A hella fast dog!
📍 Roswell, Georgia, USA 🇺🇸
Meet Sammy, a four-legged speed demon who can outrun even the e-bikes! Her owner, Joseph Karpus, isn't your average mountain biker either. He's a competitive bikejoring racer—a sport where dogs pull cyclists—and represented the USA at the 2025 Dryland World Championships.
Check out how Sammy's does all the work. Good boy, Sammy!
🗞️ Bonus News
🎿 $20 lift tickets? Utah’s newest ski area keeps it real. Snowland is bringing affordable skiing back. The resurrected ski hill in central Utah, originally opened in 1967, has unveiled a new trail map, plans to expand to 107 acres, and will charge just $20 for adults this winter. Kids 12 and under ski free!
🌵 Strong winds toppled a massive saguaro onto a woman hiker near Scottsdale, knocking her unconscious and leaving her with multiple injuries. Another hiker helped lift the several-hundred-pound cactus off her. Talk about a freak accident.
🎿 No-show at Alta? That’ll be $100. Alta is cracking down on skiers who reserve parking spots and never show up. Miss your weekend or holiday reservation and you’ll get a warning the first time, then a $100 fine for subsequent no-shows. Cancel before 8 a.m. and you’re in the clear.
🛶 He ran Twin Cities marathon carrying a canoe, finishing in just under six hours. His mission? Raise awareness about protecting the Boundary Waters from copper-nickel mining. Race organizers disqualified him, but Travis Meier is not stopping and plans to run a canoe-carrying marathon every week for a year. See more from Travis below on the nightly news!
(and btw, F·ck Trump for what his administration has done to threaten protections for the Boundary Waters Wilderness.) The Boundary Waters is especially vulnerable because its lakes, rivers, and streams are interconnected. Pollution originating upstream could travel through the watershed, potentially damaging aquatic ecosystems for generations.
🧠 Long Reads & Watches
….take your time with these ones (reading is fun!)
🌡️ Heat storms: today’s climate monsters
📍 Worldwide 🌍
The phrase heat wave no longer applies. Read about the ongoing enormous heat events that can engulf entire continents and last for months. In the 1960s, there were roughly five a year. Today, we’re averaging more than 100. One monster, dubbed Vera, lasted 367 days and affected 85% of the planet! This extraordinary investigation uses decades of climate data and powerful visuals to reveal an invisible threat that’s already reshaping our world.
📖 Read it on Reuters: The Age of Heat Storms
🌊 A first descent in 2026? Patagonia’s Río Cuervo
📍 Chilean Patagonia 🇨🇱
You don’t hear many first descents in 2026. Most of the world’s major whitewater rivers have already been paddled. But deep in Patagonia, the Río Cuervo remained unconquered—20 kilometers of steep, massive whitewater, monstrous rapids, and nearly impossible access. Last winter was unusually dry for Chile opening a window, and if anyone was going to pull this off, it was kayaking legend Dane Jackson and his crew. Five days on the river, rapids stretching three kilometers, and portages that look like expeditions in themselves.
This is exploration at its finest!
⏱️ 1hr 45mn
🐻 A Dead Hiker, an Aggressive Bear, and a National Park That Won’t Talk
📍 Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Human remains were discovered deep in Shenandoah’s backcountry. Days later, a black bear terrorizes three backpackers, slashing their tent and repeatedly charging them. But here’s the disturbing part: the National Park Service waits three weeks to tell the public about the body and refuses to explain what happened. Was it a bear attack? Nobody knows. Journalist Earl Swift investigates the mystery, the park’s silence, and a troubling new federal policy restricting information about deaths and injuries on public lands.
📖 Read it on RePublic.Land: What Happened in Shenandoah?
Destination Unknown
“Places you didn't know you needed to go.”
🧗 A big adventure on Mozambique’s sky islands
📍 Nampula, Mozambique 🇲🇿
Northern Mozambique is home to some of the world's most spectacular granite inselbergs—massive rock islands rising hundreds of meters above the African plains. And hardly anyone climbs them!
Spanish climber Bosco Bonilla and American partners Dakota Waltz and Owen McGinness headed deep into Mozambique to establish a new route on a remote big wall that hadn’t seen climbers in over a decade. First came 10 days of negotiating with politicians, police, and tribal chiefs, who suspected the trio might be after mining riches. Then came the real adventure: opening Capulana (725m, 6c obligatory) on the striking Mt. Malema 1.
Endless train rides, guns, jungle camps, big-wall hauling, beautiful beaches, and plenty of beer. Now that’s a climbing trip!
🎶 Straight out of New Zealand, comes a little cinematic magic featuring the sounds of Austrian indie duo Cari Cari. Snow, mountains, music, and some creative filmmaking. A pretty sweet way to close out this week’s StokedAF.