Out There
Presenting the most practical guide to survival Spanish ever published, the product of a lifetime of Latin American travel and eight grueling days of torture by conjugation in a Costa Rican classroom.
By Randy Wayne White

The Wild File
Do eagles really mate midair, with occasionally disastrous consequences? Why is the pain greater two or three days after an athletic effort? When snow melts, where does the white go?

Destinations
Special Edition: Adventure Travel 1996. If you're looking for a far-flung holiday, this two-part guide is just the advance scout you need. Our annual Outside Trip-Finder offers a rundown of 180 of the year's finest adventures--by foot, bike, boat, horse, raft, jeep, and ski--offered by 106 outfitters, to 50 places around the globe. Plus: What to know about all those trip costs before you sign the check.

Bodywork
Bringing fat to your training table: Surprising evidence suggests that a healthy dollop of lard will take you farther than mere carbo-loading. A look at a controversial new nutrition plan. Plus: Intake: Even if you buy into the more-fat menu, you still need carbohydrates. Our index tells you which to embrace and which to avoid. Fine Print: The nutritional lowdown on the new breed of fat-rich energy bars.

Review
Intelligent luggage for the travel-savvy: bombproof duffels, pocket-laden gear bags, and clever convertible packs that let you take it all with you. Useful gizmos to help you refine your travel routine. K2's new alpine ski with an electronic damper that does the thinking for you. Plus: Solid bug-making instruction from the Hooked on Fly Tying video series; Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer's look at the bizarre life and death of Chris McCandless; Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings, by Virginia Morell; and more.

Between the Lines

Letters

Stargazing

Features

The Fast Track to Dharma: 60 Degrees Straight Down, Mind the Boulders and Avalanches
For those who make the pilgrimage to La Grave, France, alpinism's unheralded new mecca, the focal point is a mesmerizing 13,081-foot spire of the Alps known as La Meije, where they go to worship, to play, and most of all to find a way down the mountain where no way seems to exist.
By Michael Paterniti

Mr. Huge Stuff
Why is this behemoth smiling? Because it's not hard to be happy when your daily grind consists of training, sleeping, and shoveling in ungodly amounts of grub. An uplifting dialogue with 410-pound clean-and-jerk specialist Mark Henry, well on his way to becoming the strongest man who ever lived.
By John Tayman

>Who Says They're Losers?
At an age when most boys are concerned with nothing but girls, parties, and acne, the wispy adolescents of the U.S. Ski Jumping Team have a little bit more on their minds--like girls, parties, acne, and the quest to someday be the guys with the gold medals dangling from their necks.
By Sara Corbett

Survivor
After a heli-skiing crash that killed his wife and three others and left him with fractures from head to toe, Oscar-winning outdoor filmmaker Mike Hoover has tried to resume life at full tilt. Some friends say he's in denial; Hoover begs to differ. "Maybe I have the right perspective," he says, "and everybody else has been hiding from death."
By Trip Gabriel