The summer before his senior year at Duke University, Andrew Skurka thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, his first ever backpacking trip, alone and in only 95 days (that’s 23 miles a day). He had caught the bug.
We talk with Fabian Cousteau as he preps for Mission 31, an endeavor to live underwater in the Aquarius habitat for 31 days.
Jim Wilson may not be a household name, but his resume speaks for itself. As the producer behind films like Dances with Wolves and The Bodyguard, he developed a reputation for making films whose cultural impacts belied their modest budgets.
When we think of influential people, we often default to Time 100 types — Oprah, President Obama, Steve Jobs. But what about the guy making your bike commute more comfortable, creating fabrics and garments that can replace your typical urban attire with performance-oriented equivalents while keeping your crotch area breathable?
Jimmy Carbonetti, Caveman band member and the proprietor of Carbonetti Guitars located on New York’s Lower East Side, still has plenty of life to live before he churns out the next self-help best seller. But if a Carbonetti’s Rules for Success ever does surface, the lessons should seem familiar: do what you love and find mentors.
Stephen Gordon: a man with a dog and a boat that he rows in lakes. That’s really all it takes for us to like a guy, but Gordon has a story that obliges further explanation.
Giles Ellis is a man obsessed with details. Though his pet project, Schofield Watch Company, has won high praise from watch connoisseurs, Ellis is still wary of being pigeonholed.
Sasha DiGiulian is the best female climber in the world. In 2012, she became the first American woman (and only the third woman of all time) to climb grade 5.14d, only three steps below where the scale tops out.
Trevor Groth first visited the Sundance Film Festival in 1989 at the age of 17. The experience changed his life, eventually leading him to a job as Director of Programming at Sundance, presiding over the strategic planning and selection process of the now-iconic film festival.
Hugh Acheson is a familiar face by now, with plenty of magazine appearances after his Food & Wine Best New Chef award and a recurring role as a judge on Top Chef. But it’s the Ottawa-born chef’s enthusiasm for Southern cuisine that has buoyed his reputation.
Beats, turntables, peanut butter and extreme conviction have helped fuel Rapha-Focus cyclocross pro Jeremy Powers to a national championship. Through his web video franchise “Behind THE Barriers TV”, Powers has also sought the broader goal of elevating the profile of his sport.
Stories follow Michael Kobold everywhere. The founder of Kobold Watches, which declares that its watches are “conceived, designed, assembled and tested in USA from domestic and imported components”, has turned his immodest passion for timepieces into a successful business and made relationships with great men — Ranulph Fiennes, Gerd-Ruediger Lang, the late James Gandolfini — along the way.
If you’re looking for a lesson in the good life, look no further than Robert August. At 18 he starred in The Endless Summer, the first great surfing film, taking him on a seven-month world tour of uncharted breaks.
On December 3, Parker Liautaud and decorated polar guide Douglas Stoup will depart from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica on a 397-mile journey to the South Pole — an adventure that, if successful, will make Liautaud the youngest and fastest man to trek from coast-to-pole. Not bad for a 19-year-old college sophomore.
It’s hard to imagine a more accomplished and well-rounded distance runner than Michael Wardian. In 1996 he ran the Marine Corps Marathon, his first, in a swift 3:08.
In 1997, Chris Lieto saw the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championship on TV and decided to start training. Three years later, he became a professional triathlete.
At age 12, Anton Krupicka ran his first marathon. He’s been running ever since.
Growing up in the suburbs of New York City in a large Italian family, Chris Diminno learned the importance of food pretty quickly. After honing his resume and skills at several fine establishments, Diminno moved to Portland — where ever since he’s been a lead chef at the extremely popular Euro-style gastropub Clyde Common.
While his contemporaries were putting on puppet shows and learning to play catch, Aaron Gwin was racing BMX in national competitions. He was eight.
Sometimes an outsider’s perspective is just what’s needed to achieve unique excellence. Frank Muytjens is the Holland-born head of men’s design at J.Crew, a proudly American company.