Here is how a typical morning in Las Vegas begins: you take off your wedding ring and head out to the Panty Wall.In this case, though, the typicality also ends there. After all, Panty Wall is a climbing area in Red Rock Canyon, right outside Las Vegas but a couple of million lifestyles away. And …
Author: Mika LaVaque-Manty
I'm a professor of political science at the University of Michigan. I'm a philosopher by training, and I teach political theory.
Devils Tower, or the Coolest Thing I’ve Ever Done
A colleague who knows Wyoming's and South Dakota's Black Hills area well said Devils Tower gives off an edgy "not for humans" vibe. That is exactly right. This volcanic oddity rising about 800 feet above rolling hills of prairie grassland and Ponderosa pine forests had been regarded as sacred by Northern Plains tribes as sacred …
Continue reading Devils Tower, or the Coolest Thing I’ve Ever Done
Climbing Outdoors
The rock climbing bug has really bitten me. Not sure why it should: I'm not a great climber, I frustrate my belayers, I have other things I should focus on. But it has. I have been climbing for almost two years kind of continuously now, and I am reasonably comfortable on 5.10s, at least after …
The Cheerful Spring Fury
Saturday, May 7, 2011 2:55 a.m. Wake up without alarm, in anticipation of alarm about to go off at 3:00 a.m. Walk the dog, feed dog and self. Caffeinate self. Get ready to head out to Pinckney State Recreation Area for Infiterra Sports' Spring Fury 10-Hour Sprint Adventure Race. In adventure racing, anything short of …
Cold Water Doesn’t Really Feel So Bad
Exactly three hours and thirty minutes into this year’s December Chill adventure race, I had to wade through a creek, knee deep. This was a significant improvement over last year, when I went through ice on a swamp merely fifteen minutes into the race. And the weather was warmer today, too: about 30F and maybe …
Invasive Species, or the Summer Quest Adventure Race
We are fast running out of summer, which means the time for frivolities is running out, too. I did manage to have time for one more adventure race this summer. This was was the shortest I've done, a mere four-hour sprint called the Summer Quest. After the twenty-eight-hour race a month ago, I was wondering …
Continue reading Invasive Species, or the Summer Quest Adventure Race
Next, I’d Like to Thank the Frogs, or Adventure Rage 2010
“Most guys can’t do pink. You do it well, man.” This is a compliment to cherish, coming as it did from a member of the Eastern Mountain Sports adventure racing team, multi-year national champions and the eventual winners of Adventure Rage 2010, during which the comment was made. The occasion for it was my pink …
Continue reading Next, I’d Like to Thank the Frogs, or Adventure Rage 2010
March Madness adventure race
I almost hoped I hadn't signed up for this race in December because I have so much work I was feeling guilty and distracted about taking a whole day from work doing real work. But it was spring break, after all, so what the heck.March Madness is Infiterra Sports' fun early spring sprint adventure race: …
"Really? A pink kayak?" or The Chill, 2009
So I was an hour or so into the 2009 edition of the December Chill, Infiterra Sports' fun cold-weather race, when yet another person wanted to make a comment on my brand new fabulous pink kayak. I said, "Yeah. Santa got it at a great discount. And ain't nobody ever gonna steal it. Plus, if …
Into the Not So Wild 