Today it is time to award the Best Magazine of the Year award to what I think is the best magazine of the year (but really the century). It was not a hard decision to make — the clear winner is Outside Magazine. Here is why.
First of all, it is where the best ethnographoreporter in the nation, Jon Krakauer, cut his teeth. Reading Into Thin Air/The Wild for the 19th and 14th consecutive times, respectively, I still cannot believe they exist, and that he fucking climbed Mt. Everest for a magazine article. Unbelievable. Unbelievable!
Second, I have learned most everything I know from Outside. Like what it feels like to freeze to death, which is fun to talk about with people, and which $100 ski gloves are the warmest (doesn’t only apply to skiing; my gloves have worked very well in Brooklyn!). Third, the commenters are fun. As one commenter wrote on an article by famed mountaineer Conrad Anker about climbing India’s Shark’s Fin in a blizzard: “Now that’s what I call a JOURNEY. Inspires me to live my life more OUTLOUD. Rock on, Anker!”
I love it. Every time I read Outside I start to foam testosterone at the mouth. It’s great! Keep it up, people who write and edit it.
*Oh! And if you want to see what I deemed the Best New Blog of 2010 — along with the best line drawing of me in history — check out the Bygone Bureau.
