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Brad Wetzler


	Brad Wetzler

Brad Wetzler is a former Senior Editor at Outside and current contributing editor. Born in 1966, Wetzler attended the University of Kansas and received a Masters in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. He specializes in travel writing beyond the bounds of most adventurers, epitomized by his feature on Bohemian trekkers in Eastern Europe, "Is Just Like Amerika!" which was selected for the 2001 edition of The Best American Travel Writing. Wetzler also originated the idea to send Outside Editor-at-Large Jon Krakauer on his 1996 expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, the disastrous culmination of which spawned Krakauer's best-selling book, Into Thin Air. Wetzler authored a rare profile of alpine climbing legend Reinhold Messner for the October 2002 Silver Anniversary issue of Outside entitled "Reinhold Don't Care What You Think." He has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, since May 1994 with his wife Dianna, a Senior Editor at Outside, and their two dog, Laika.

Something Happened
Sending Jon Krakauer to Everest was my idea. After the news broke, I spent the better part of a day wondering if I'd put him in a frozen grave.

Jackpot
Nevada may be big and windswept, but don't dare call it empty. An adventure road trip through the Silver State turns up a secret-stash playland of backcountry splendor, high-end diversions, and a horizon that never stops beckoning.

Found At Sea
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's plane wreckage answers a 60-year-old riddle. Or does it?

Ski Naked
What do you get when you bus two dozen high school seniors from the Nebraska flatlands to the peaks of Colorado for their first winter trip to the Rockies? You get an all-American rite of passage, gangsta rap, and terror on the bunny slope. You get kissy-face, rough surf in the hot tub, flaming stogies, brazen thongs, and a blizzard of memories that will last forever.

Reinhold Don't Care What You Think
A quarter-century after he changed everything by summiting Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, Reinhold Messner is looking fit, feeling adventurous, and acting about as mellow as a snapping turtle. Ah, well: Great men aren't always sweethearts-and Messner is still the best there ever was.

True Everest—Base Camp Confidential
An oral history of Everest's endearingly dysfunctional village

Is Just Like Amerika!
Sleep on ground. Fight angry pigs. Eat very special sausage. Tramp across land without vowels. Go east, American friend, and discover why hordes of weekend hobos, lawmen, cowboys, and Indians are searching for the Wild and Crazy West in the woods of the Czech Republic.

Jocko's Rocket
Will the car of the future come screaming out of the Mojave desert?

One Small Step for Man. One Giant Leap for Middle-Aged Science Geeks and Chubby Real Estate Agents Everywhere
Three regular guys prepare to venture into orbit in a helium balloon. And thus is Amended the Grand Roll of Space Heroes: Shepard. Glenn. Armstrong - and Dave, John, and Bob

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Worrell
One kind of lunatic sails the Indy 500 of catamran racing. Another dreams it up.

To Do: Hang Out at Mall, Torture Little Brother, Save World
A few young go-getters who'll soon be making headlines

The Twilight Expedition
It's a bitter time to be a serious explorer. After all, Magellan circled the world centuries ago. Stanley hacked a path deep into the Congo back in the 1800s. And Tenzing and Hillary knocked off Everest two generations past. Which leaves history-book hopefuls like Lonnie Dupre in an awful bind. Yes he might become the very first person to circumnavigate Greenland. But will anyone give a damn?

Cheeky Bit of Ocean There, What?
Exactly why are two young Brits pedaling, pedal-boating, and cross-dressing their way around the globe? Splendid question. They're still trying to come up with a logical answer.?

Masters of the Sandlot
All recreational sport is really quite simple: You run. You jump. You throw. What's more, it's pretty easy to get good at these things.

Another Herbal Wrap, O Immortal One?
Should fortune, fame, and flabby acolytes be your heart's desire, the first American sumo champion suggests thinking really, really big

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