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TREVOR LAWRENCE’S 50-50 SHOT AT SUPERSTARDOM

JULY/AUGUST 2021 Vol. 30, No. 4

POWER WORKOUTS

MORE MUSCLE, LESS JOINT PAIN EATS STEAK, DRIVES FAST, WALKS THE EARTH

DISCOVER

MEMPHIS BLUES UTAH WHITEWATER FLORIDA SHIPWRECKS

¡OYE!

4 KILLER MEZCALS

DISASTER ON THE K2 SUMMIT, p.52

THE SHADY WORLD OF CRYPTO, p.46 I I I I I I I I I OLYMPIC I I I I I I I I I PERFORMANCE TECH

p.18

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Building knowledge and support of our public lands Our public lands should be enjoyed responsibly and preserved unequivocally. Introducing Lands Uncompromised, a cause-marketing campaign driving awareness, support, pride and passion for our public lands.

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VOLUME 30 NUMBER 4

Leader of the Pack Hollywood warrior Jason Momoa is just as busy making movies as he is living his life.

Crypto Heist If you ever thought digital dollars could be just a gigantic economic bubble, then you don’t know the half of it.

The Final Summit How a race to the top of K2 in the winter quickly turned into a race for survival.

Trevor Lawrence He’s got the stats, he’s got the talent, he’s got the poise and he’s got the hair. But if NFL past is prologue, he’s just a rookie.

Adventure Is Back! Got a car, a long weekend and some friends? Then we’ve got your destinations. 4

JUL/AUG 2021

MEN’S JOURNAL

Feel the summer breeze?

Mind the sharks!

24 Live to ride, ride to live.

96 Talent is his game.

NOTEBOOK

12 Opener Meet the oldest living Beaver.

GEAR L AB

24 Biking Equipment How to get way over yonder faster, easier and safer.

BLUEPRINT

88 Insight Greg Norman’s secrets for staying fit and focused.

14 Adventure The sound of silence is just a quick plane ride away.

15 Auto

26 Oﬀ-Road The best kitchen gear when you’re in the middle of nowhere and don’t really feel like roughing it.

90 Fitness If you’re in shape and over 45, then you’ll welcome this strength workout that’s easy on the joints.

Hold on tight, it’s Formula DRIFT!

28 Camp Minibar 16 Competition How to escape from Alcatraz.

18 Drinks

You’re gonna need something to wash down all the venison.

You don’t have to miss out on all the BBQ fun this summer thanks to these plant-based meats.

30 Fishing

’Tis the season for tasty mezcal.

The latest tech to outsmart bass— and look cool doing it.

20 Media Peter Jackson’s new documentary on the Fab Four is, well, fabulous.

22 We’re With Her Leslie Grace puts on her dancing shoes for In the Heights. 8

92 Feast

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94 Wellness Simple tips and suggestions for staying mentally fit.

32 Olympic Kit What’s giving athletes the edge.

36 Kayaks Four new ones to fit any need and experience level. MEN’S JOURNAL

L AST WORD

96 Don Cheadle When he’s not beating LeBron at hoops, he’s beating Barack at golf!

Letter From the Editor N ONE END of the drinking establishment spectrum, you’ve got your dive bars. As a rule, these places have hardrockin’ jukeboxes, cold yellow jackets and at least one guy in the corner who’s a dead ringer for Merle Haggard. Then over there you’ve got the grand bars, sumptuous combinations of marble, expensive Scotch and glitterati hubbub. The best grand bars have been stoked by history, like the three-sided gem found in the lobby of the famous Peabody hotel in Memphis, the reputed fountainhead of the Mississippi Delta. The Peabody dates to 1869, and depending on what bartender is on duty, you can become an instant expert on the hotel and downtown Memphis in a few drinks’ time. For instance, the original hotel, which was demolished in the 1920s, had been a celebrated hangout for Confederate generals who are no longer celebrated these days. The current 13-story, Italian Renaissance structure opened for business in 1923 and quickly became known as “the South’s Grand Hotel.” Dignitaries, celebrities and musicians flocked to the see-andbe-seen destination, including the likes of Louis Armstrong. In 1931, the jazz great and his orchestra played “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You” in the lobby. Legend has it he dedicated the song to the Memphis Police Department because he had been arrested the night before for breaking a Jim Crow law.

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By the mid-1950s, decay had begun to grip downtown Memphis. The Peabody went into bankruptcy and sputtered along, opening and closing and going into foreclosure. But outside its shuttered doors, the civil rights movement was catching fire. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. attended a sanitation strike in the city where he gave his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, only to be gunned down the next day, nine blocks away from the Peabody. The hotel continued to personify the city’s struggles and upheaval until 1981 when it was reopened after an extensive $25 million facelift. A revitalization of the surrounding area, including hell-yeah! blues paradise Beale Street, slowly followed. The Peabody is suggested as a road-trip starting point in our “Adventure Is Back” feature on page 67. If you’ve never been to the Lobby Bar, then you need to add it to the list. And if there’s a chance you can make it this summer, head up to the roof for the Sunset Social Hour and look south—the Mississippi Delta ends 250 miles away, at any decent catfish joint in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

JAMES HEIDENRY Editorial Director MEN’S JOURNAL

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MEN’S JOURNAL

by C H U C K TH O M PSO N

M E N’S J O U R N A L

THE WORLD’S OLDEST LIVING BEAVER In Canada, you can still experience the bush classic named after the North’s hardest-working animal. he sound of a Beaver ﬂying away after you’ve been dropped in the bush has been called the loneliest sound in the world. “There’s no sound like it,” says pilot Ian Shipmaker. “It means, ‘Now I’m really alone.’” From the cockpit of the Beaver operated by Tweedsmuir Air Services out of Nimpo Lake, British Columbia,

Shipmaker has given that anxious thrill to countless adventurers. Founded in 1953 by bush pilot Bob Stewart, Stewart’s Lodge and adjunct Tweedsmuir Air operate what owner Duncan Stewart (Bob’s son) believes may be the oldest Beaver in regular service and the one with the most ﬂight hours. Built in 1949, and with more than 41,000 hours of service, its serial number is 55, meaning it was the 55th ever constructed.

NEXT PAGE: Fantastic fly-ins from Maine to Alaska!

Bush pilots love the oversize cargo doors and controls when flying with mittens in cold temps.

MEN’S JOURNAL

JUL/AUG 2021

ADVENTURE

Between 1947 and ’67, de Havilland Canada built 1,692 Beavers, called “the airplane that opened the North.” There are competing claims to any “oldest Beaver” assertion. On permanent display at the Canadian Bush Plane Heritage Centre, restored Beaver CF-OBS (serial number 2) is “the oldest production Beaver in flying condition.” But at Stewart’s Lodge, some 250 miles north of Vancouver, you can still charter a Beaver for fishing, hunting or hiking excursions, or a scenic flight over

wilderness so rugged it stood in for the Himalayas in the film Seven Years in Tibet. Beavers gained cult status for being designed around the needs of pilots, not engineers or marketing suits. After World War II, de Havilland solicited bush flyers’ feedback for its new plane. The result was features unique to the Beaver, including oversize controls making it easier to fly while wearing mittens; cargo doors large enough to accommodate dogsleds and 55-gallon oil drums; ability to land on

wheels, floats or skis; and enhanced short takeoff and landing (STOL) power. Pairing a Pratt & Whitney 450-horsepower engine with an impressive 48-foot wingspan, de Havilland created a powerful beast that isn’t fast or nimble but can get in and out of remote lakes and primitive landing strips in almost any weather. Can’t make it to Nimpo Lake? Operators like Bent Prop Flying Service in Idaho and Alaska, and Crystal Creek Lodge in Alaska, also fly Beavers.

SMALL PLANES, BIG TRIPS Life is a highway? Not with these fantastic airborne adventures.

Middle Fork Salmon River, Idaho

Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska

Brassua Lake, Maine

To reach the best of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, you need to fly. From a put-in at Indian Creek, whitewater paddlers ride 100 rapids in as many miles during a week floating one of the most remote areas in the Lower 48. The finale features 3,000-foot granite cliffs in Impassable Canyon. Middle Fork River Expeditions gets you there in a Cessna 205. From $2,499

Many Alaska destinations involve picking across glaciers or bushwhacking—the Talkeetnas demand neither. Hikers here cruise across open tundra surrounded by toothy peaks, forging a trail-less route through rivers and berry bogs where grizzlies graze. After a week in this treeless place, roads seem foreign. Chulengo Expeditions accesses it in a Cessna 185. From $2,200

In forested northern Maine, Birches Resort flies paddlers to Brassua Lake, a remote, 9,454-acre paradise reached with owner John Willard’s 1947 Piper Super Cruiser PA 12. Day-trippers use kayaks and canoes he has hidden along the shoreline to explore open water framed by the Canadian Appalachians and plumb narrow tributaries where deer, moose and bear roam. From $200

JUL/AUG 2021

MEN’S JOURNAL

by KE LLY BASTO N E

CHUCK THOMPSON (PRECEDING PAGE); MIDDLE FORK RIVER EXPEDITIONS (MIDDLE FORK SALMON); NADINE LEHNER/CHULENGO EXPEDITIONS (TALKEETNAS); ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (BRASSUA LAKE)

Fly away (clockwise from top left): Maine’s Brassua Lake, Idaho’s Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains.

AUTO

SMOKE ’EM IF YOU GOT ’EM Formula DRIFT may be auto racing’s hottest new property.

VEHICLE SLIDING sideways into a corner at 100 mph enveloped in the smoke of burning tires is a far from ideal situation for most drivers. In the sport of Formula DRIFT, it could make you a champion. Claiming to be the fastest-growing motorsport in America, Formula DRIFT is back for its 2021 season. Based on the drifting that originated in 1970s Japan, each Formula DRIFT event features drivers facing off in a series of intense head-to-head duels. The lead driver tries to hit the best line at the highest speeds, getting close to “clipping points” (trackside markers or designated areas) while maintaining the highest DRIFT angles. Meanwhile, the chase driver is using that lead driver as a moving clipping point and trying to match them turn-by-turn without trading too much paint. The only motorsport based on judging, the winning drivers are ones chosen as most consistent, aggressive and dominant. And unlike other domestic motorsports, when it rains, they run. In fact, a wet track is just another variable for drivers. The first event of the 2021 season was held at the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta

It’s not always easy to tell which is the lead and which is the chase car.

PHOTOS BY LARRY CHEN

in May. With an elevation change of nearly six stories and a 1,000-foot entry into the first turn, allowing for lots of acceleration, the course is a favorite of fans and drivers. In addition to the racing, the Atlanta Formula DRIFT event is becoming legendary for its tailgating scene. After a series of hard-fought runs, Aurima “Odi” Bakchis of Lithuania, at the wheel of a Nissan S15, became the first winner of the season. Bakchis edged out U.S. teammate Matt Field in a Chevrolet Corvette. “I’m stoked to win, but it was a tough

“WE GOT BUMPED A LOT, BUT THE TEAM GOT ME BACK OUT.” by DAVE J O H N STO N

MEN’S JOURNAL

one,” said Bakchis after the race. “We got bumped a lot and had to go through some really tough drivers to get here, but we did it thanks to hard work from the team to get me back out after each tussle.” With the eight-round season still gearing up, a number of drivers have a legit shot at the October Title Fight in Irwindale, CA. Contenders include last year’s champ, American Vaughn Gittin Jr., driving a Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D, who placed third in Atlanta. Formula DRIFT’s 2020 season was shortened by COVID restrictions, so organizers are looking forward to more fans back in the grandstands cheering on favorite drivers and getting a whiff of burning tires. For the 2021 Formula DRIFT schedule and livestreaming info, check out formulad.com. JUL/AUG 2021

COMPETITION

GOLDEN GREAT The Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon is among the world’s most grueling and gorgeous races.

The Center for Cold Water Safety calls the bay’s water temp “very dangerous.”

NY RACE on the pro triathlon circuit can be expected to test the outer limits of human endurance, self-induced punishment, and nutritional supplement sponsorship. But only one has a starting line that would’ve made Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly pee their Speedos. On Aug. 14–15, the annual Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon (EFAT) turns 40—fully afloat in the wake of 2020’s canceled event, due to the pandemic, and still the scariest three-part race named after a former maximum-security prison. “That first jump is a pretty shocking jolt every time,” says professional triathlete Ben Kanute, EFAT’s reigning three-time champion, about the start of the race. That infamous start has competitors leap into San Francisco Bay from a passenger ferry parked near Alcatraz Island. That’s followed by a breathless 1.5-mile swim to the deceivingly distant Marina District shore of San Francisco through dark, choppy, 55- to 60-degree water with treacherous currents and the odd laughing sea lion. “You really have to mentally prepare yourself for

JUL/AUG 2021

Ben Kanute will compete this year for his record fourth consecutive win.

that swim,” says Kanute. “It’s sort of a free-for-all out there at first. Then things start to settle down and just go kind of numb—including your hands and face.” During the famously “escape-proof” MEN’S JOURNAL

offshore prison’s years of operation (1934–63), numerous Alcatraz inmates graciously pretested this first leg of the triathlon course during over a dozen breakout bids from the Rock. All were unsuccessful (many fatal), except possibly by J O R DAN R AN E

“THINGS JUST GO KIND OF NUMB, INCLUDING YOUR HANDS AND FACE.”

Postcard views are little consolation on the misery-inducing Sand Ladder.

for one 1962 attempt by three inmates who either made it all the way across the bay without a trace. Or didn’t. “We do not recommend this to be a participant’s first triathlon,” says Jennifer Lau, VP of Action Sports for event-runner IMG, which will also be launching its inaugural Escape Aquathlon race (Aug. 14) that same weekend, consisting of an abbreviated 750-meter bay swim and 5K run. “The open-water swim is like no other in the world, and one of the most difficult in the sport,” says Lau. “It’s like crossing a rapid racing river with millions of gallons of water flowing out under the Golden Gate Bridge.” BRANDON MEANS (SWIMMERS, TOP LEFT); ROCKY ARROYO (RUNNERS)

OFF THE ROCK The remaining two-thirds of the triathlon include touring some of the prettiest corners of San Francisco’s Presidio and Golden Gate National Recreation Area at top speed on an 18-mile bike course full of brutal hills and turns, and running a punishing eight-mile multiterrain course on pavement, grass, dirt, beach and a nasty set of cliff stairs called the Sand Ladder. “At the Sand Ladder, you’re basically running up a steep, giant dune,” says

Kanute of the 200-plus primitive wooden slat steps awaiting wobbly triathletes at Baker Beach. “It’s another part of this race where you just have to accept that it’s gonna hurt.” Conceived during the early years of triathlon competition as a shorter, meaner alternative to Hawaii’s Iron-

man slog, the first Escape race was held in 1981 with zero fanfare. A small pack of neoprene-less first-generation triathletes knocked out a swim from Alcatraz, followed by a former version of the course that sent cyclists across the Golden Gate Bridge into the grueling hills of Marin County and a run on the notorious Double Dipsea trail leading up and down Mount Tamalpais, the region’s highest peak. Now entirely based in San Francisco, EFAT’s cycling and running courses have changed over the years. So have the number of participants, ballooning from an original 200 mainly local competitors to 2,000 triathletes from more than 50 countries. A random draw system was put in place to handle the triathlon’s 10,000-plus applicants, who may have as low as a 30 percent chance of getting in. This year’s inaugural Aquathlon lead-up race is meant to appease some of the overflow. What hasn’t changed about the triathlon in its historic 40 seasons? “I think probably just the whole feel of it—the incredible challenge, the unpredictable conditions, the amazing setting and vibe, and obviously that swim. It’s really one of the last classics in the triathlon world,” says Kanute, a Rio Olympian who’s aiming for a men’s record fourth-consecutive EFAT title in a winner’s circle that includes many of the biggest names in the sport over the past four decades. “Whether you’re going for first or 500th place,” the top-seeded triathlete adds, “it is still one tough race.”

You can’t see Alcatraz from the finish chute, but you sure as hell can feel it.

MEN’S JOURNAL

JUL/AUG 2021

DRINKS

MEZCAL NEEDS YOU! Doña Vega founder Sonya Vega Auvray.

Your chance to make a difference by making a cocktail.

Doña Vega Mezcal, Espadín

Doused with praise from Oprah to Forbes, this mezcal brand was founded by and predominantly produced by women. $50 NTEREST IN mezcal has grown in the United States with the emergence of celebrity brands like Dos Hombres (from Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston) and the nascent “Mezcalifornia” movement, which has produced California renditions of mezcal. Customarily sipped neat, mezcal’s versatility has made it an increasingly popular stand-in for gin in a Negroni, whiskey in an old-fashioned, and tequila in a margarita. Mezcal—a smoky, roasted agave-based liquor—traditionally comes from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and that’s still where the best stuff is found. “Most mezcals we love are very small-batch productions made in Oaxaca and hard to find elsewhere,” says Fausto Zapata, co-founder of El Silencio, a Mexican-American brand. But the coronavirus hit Mexico exceptionally hard, meaning it hit the mezcal industry hard. The tourism tumble has been devastating to small mezcal producers in Oaxaca. This is where you enter the picture. Until you can make it to Mexico, you can stock your bar with small yet exceptional brands, helping you both savor and support the mezcal tradition.

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Real Minero, Espadín Largo

Traditional mezcal is distilled in clay pot stills and usually softened in glass for months before bottling. This one is a Fausto Zapata smallbatch favorite. $145 MEN’S JOURNAL

El Silencio, Ensamble

Lalocura, Pechuga

This artisanal mezcal emphasizes heritage. “Opening a bottle of Silencio feels like taking a mini-trip to the agave fields of Oaxaca,” says co-founder Vincente Cisneros. $80

The 15-year-old agave in Lalocura mezcal is cooked in an underground pit, mashed by hand with wooden mallets and fermented with open-air yeasts in cypress tanks. $160 by S E AN CU N N I N G HAM

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MEDIA

Career change: Peter Jackson continues to defy expectations. The Beatles: Get Back is his second documentary after the WWI doc They Shall Not Grow Old.

PETER JACKSON ENDS THE BEATLES (PROPERLY) The Lord of the Rings director takes on the Fab Four’s ﬂameout. OR FIVE DECADES, fans

have wondered that if the Beatles had to end, did they have to end like that? They broke up in 1970, with the Let It Be album and documentary still to come. Neither was an ideal note to go out on. Phil Spector’s record production was controversial before his murder conviction. The film is best remembered for a miserable-looking George Harrison pleading with Paul McCartney to leave him alone: “Whatever it is that will please you, I’ll do it.”

JACKSON WON OVER EVEN THE HARSHEST LET IT BE CRITIC: PAUL. It came to be accepted the closing stretch was bitter, with four burned-out Beatles desperate to shut it down as they endured a musical midlife crisis (even if at the time of the split none had reached 30). It was easy to regret that their final chapter was such a downer. Enter Peter

Jackson, whose new documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, lets in some sun. For his 2018 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, Jackson restored 100-yearold film to create an utterly original look at World War I. Reviewing 56 hours of Let It Be footage from 1969 seems comparatively simple and, as expected, Jackson’s cleaned-up audio and video rise to a magnificent quality. But the real transformation comes in tone. Jackson confirms what we’ve long suspected: Being in the world’s most successful band didn’t totally suck, after all. As Jackson puts it, “It’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together.” Jackson’s efforts even won over the harshest Let It Be critic: Paul. He wasn’t positive about the original documentary, saying, “It was a very sad time,” and telling Jackson the archival footage was bound to be “boring.” But he’s praised Get Back: “It just reminds me of—even though we had arguments like any family—we loved each other, you know, and it shows in the film.” Maybe George genuinely wanted to please Paul, after all. The Beatles: Get Back theater release: Aug. 27

WISH GRANTED: DAVE RETURNS Lil Dicky stars in Season 2 of the saga of an extremely candid rapper. IN 2013, DAVE BURD posted a YouTube

video that went viral. He put out a Kickstarter-funded debut album in 2015: Professional Rapper. He hasn’t bothered to release another, nor has he needed to since he has a hit comedy. The semi-autobiographical tale is his unlikely quest to be a rap great. At its best, Dave is ridiculously profane and oddly grounded: Deeply unhealthy

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fixations with milking tables and consensual prison sex are helped by the fact that he actually can flow. With upcoming appearances by celebs—including Lil Nas X, Kendall Jenner and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—Lil Dicky (Burd) promises: “Without a shadow of a doubt, Season 2 is going to shit on Season 1.” Dave Season 2 premiere: June 4 on FXX

MEN’S JOURNAL

by S E AN CU N N I N G HAM

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INTERVIEW

Leslie says starring in her first movie was an “out-of-body experience.”

WE’RE WITH HER

LESLIE GRACE Latin Grammy nominee and Bronx native talks gravity-defying dance numbers, frozen desserts and starring as Nina in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical-turned-ﬁlm, In the Heights.

When you first met Lin-Manuel, were you more Billboard-charting singer or theater nerd? Nerd all the way. I didn’t want to start a conversation with him because I didn’t know if I’d be able to hold my end up. Then I met Lin, and he’s as equally warm as he is brilliant. A nd we f ilmed in his Washing ton Heights neighborhood, so he brought all the homie vibes to the set. The local bodega is at the heart of this story. What’s your corner store go-to? All the candy. I want the Blow Pop, the Ring Pop. I’ll add Fritos. And a lotto ticket for Grandma. What In the Heights lyric do strangers randomly sing at you the most? “Piragua, piragua.” Anyone who really knows the Heights will start singing that song. There’s a pivotal scene where Lin, who plays “Piragua Guy,” ﬁghts with Mr. Softee. But, fess up, do you get shaved ice or a cone? I’m not going to lie. I love me some piragua. But sometimes I’ll cheat and have a Mr. Softee. One day after we f inished shooting the number “Breathe,” my co-stars and I took the long way around the block to get back to our trailers. This woman

recognized me…and there was an ice cream truck. She treated and we all had ice cream w it h sprink les. But if Lin was there, he’d wouldn’t be happy.

THE BASICS Age

26 Lottery ticket or scratch-oﬀ?

Scratch-off! Favorite workout?

community of dancers of different shades and origins celebrating their nationality. Their roots. We exploded out of that energy. All the pride you see in that number is real. We kept on shouting for 20 minutes after the director, John Chu, yelled cut.

Steal anything from My mom loves some the set? Zumba. She always You know, I did. I took drags me to class. a little bead necklace Songs to get t hat Nina wore. My There’s a pretty great pumped? Straightmom has it saved. Dominican food porn up Marc Anthony. And an ear cuff that sequence, too. was stuck to my ear Oh man, I love me some for the “When the Sun mangú. I love mofongo. Goes Down” number. A nd I k now t here’s I couldn’t have earrings that didn’t debate whether it’s Dominican or look gravity-less when we’re dancing Puerto Rican. But my favorite is on the side of a building. the classic rice, beans, and chicken. That’s my comfort food, and now That illusion is nuts. I’m getting hungry. There were no harnesses, just us dancing. We held position for a You moved to Florida when you were certain amount of time so you don’t young. So…Yankees or Marlins fan? notice that the side of the building, Yankees girl all the way. My grandthe set, was actually tilting. ma’s f irst apartment was at 161st Street and Walton Avenue in the Looks like you took over the Heights Bronx. We would watch the games with hundreds of dancers every day. at the old Yankee Stadium from the The energy was incredible. Espefire escape. cially the “Carnaval del Barrio” scene. It was one of the proudest How do you keep your Leslie-Fromdays of my life. There’s this moment the-Block attitude? when Lin’s up on the fire escape. He’s My mom gives it to me straight. looking down like a proud dad at this The cast and I have all been saying that we couldn’t have even dreamt of being in this f ilm. My parents have no idea what it means yet. They’re like, “Oh, you’re dancing and singing in a movie? OK. Why is it taking so long to come out?!”

WE WATCHED GAMES AT THE OLD YANKEE STADIUM FROM THE FIRE ESCAPE. by MAG G I E R E YN O LD S I Photog ra ph by MARK AD RIAN E/N OX M E D IA

MEN’S JOURNAL

JUL/AUG 2021

ES SE NTIAL S FOR THE WE LL- EQUIPPE D MAN

TECHNICAL SPEED

BIG WHEELS The advent of 29-inch-wheel mountain bikes is nothing new. But as manufacturers reﬁne geometry and suspension perks, larger-wheel rides are now the new norm. The latest crop of 29ers cut weight, carry speed, and add control—leaving no reason not to go big. p h ot og ra ph by CH R IS WE LLHAU S E N

JUL/AUG 2021

MEN’S JOURNAL

by DAVE S H IVE LY, B E RN E B ROU DY, a nd G R AHAM AVE RI LL

BEST: RUGGED DISTANCE The Transition Spur’s long and relaxed geometry, with 120mm front and rear travel, makes it a rowdy rig despite its more conservative suspension numbers. It’s a Transition, so it crushes descents, as expected. But the Spur does it without sucking on climbs. It’s all-day-epic capable, though not the top choice for the Lycra-clad racer crowd. From $4,499; transitionbikes.com

BEST: HARDTAIL REEB Cycles ReDikyelous, built for technical steeps and all-day romps, proves that hardtails are no longer for beginners and ounce-counting XC nerds. Long and slack, with a low center of gravity, its whopping 150mm of travel and hand-built steel frame—nimble enough for pump tracks, stout enough for bikepacking bags—shred any terrain. From $4,099; reebcycles.com

BEST: VALUE Snappy and playful, fast and light, Ibis’ short-travel Ripley 29er rings in under $3K when you opt for the aluminum “AF” frame. Designed for demanding riding, and adept in technical terrain, the all-mountain ripper has a more aggressive shape than its carbon cousin, with the same modern trail-bike geometry and ultraefﬁcient DW-link suspension. $2,999; ibiscycles.com

BEST: ALL-AROUND You can make the highly tunable Stumpjumper Evo Expert an even more aggressive enduro-machine with off-trail adjustments (to ﬂip chip and headset). With 150mm rear travel (160mm front), it’s the best-pedaling Stumpy that Specialized has made: precise, agile, and bob-free on climbs. Bonus: Internal-frame “SWAT” storage can hold a 22-ounce reservoir. $5,000; specialized.com

RIG AND RIP

The safest MTB helmet for aggressive riders—with rotational force-absorbing MIPS, an adjustable breakaway visor, and a chip to store your medical info— the Kortal Race MIPS is also POC’s most comfortable. $250; pocsports.com

Extremely grippy rubber connects feet, and the shock-absorbing D30 underfoot ﬁghts fatigue: Ride Concepts’ Hellion Elite is the ultimate ﬂat-pedal shoe for newbies or experts. It dries fast and is also anti-stink. $140; rideconcepts.com

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The Fix DynaPlug Wheelie Wrench Pro, Hans Rey Edition is a matchbox-size kit with a chain breaker, tire plugger, and other critical trail tools. For leverage wrenching, it splits then snaps together long. $75; ﬁxmfg.com

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O F F- R O A D

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GO DEEP, EAT WELL A capable 4x4 overland rig has plenty of room. Fill it with kitchen gear to make cooking in the wild a well-appointed affair.

2. Camp Chef’s lightweight aluminum Mountaineer Stove beats basic Colemans with two 20,000-Btu burners across a huge cooking area. Appliance-like controls allow ﬁne ﬂame mastery, and optional legs civilize primitive camping. $310; campchef.com 26

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3. The Finex contemporary take on the classic Cast Iron Dutch Oven is octagonal for easier pouring of soups and stews, while the stay-cool stainless steel, springlike handles make it painless to wow your crew with hot cobbler. $300; ﬁnexusa.com 4. LED lanterns sip electricity, but often glow a sickly white. Ledlenser’s ML6 Connect (appcontrollable) comforts with muted yellow light and is simple to position with integrated rubber hook and magnet. $120; ledlenserusa.com MEN’S JOURNAL

5. Ditch expensive 1-pound green propane bottles; they cost about the same as topping off Ignik’s 5-pound Gas Growler Deluxe, plus you’re legally allowed to transport it in a vehicle once reﬁlled, unlike the ubiquitous (and hard-to-recycle) greenies. $130; ignik.com 6. Electric coolers are key for extended trips. Dometic’s new WiFi-enabled, 25-liter CFX3 25 cuts the usual bulk with a small footprint (2 square feet) that still has an interior roomy enough for a few days’ worth

7. Organize with Blue Ridge Overland Gear’s clever clamshell Cooking Kit Bag & Utensils Bundle, which mounts simply and comes with silicone serving and cooking essentials. Two modular, zippered pouches store smaller stuffables. $97; blueridgeoverlandgear.com 8. The cook scores the best seat—in this case, GCI Outdoor’s strong, lightweight Comfort Pro Chair, which unfolds in one motion so there’s no fumbling with cords or the confusing setups of smaller packing options. $40; gcioutdoor.com

SAN DIEGO-BASED TOPOTERRA’S 2020 TOYOTA TUNDRA TRD OFF-ROAD WITH FSR HIGH COUNTRY 63” PREMIUM ROOFTOP TENT

1. SylvanSport’s fast-tofold Dine O Mite cook station includes a sturdy bamboo countertop with removable windscreen, plus four zippered, hard-bottom cubby shelves and stash pockets on the sides. $200; sylvansport.com

of bacon, eggs, milk, and more bacon. $840; dometic.com

p ho t og ra ph by C H R IS WE LLHAU S E N | by ADAM B I B LE

CANCER DOESN’T STOP. NEITHER DO WE. FOR ONE NIGHT. WE STAND TOGETHER.

SATURDAY 8/21 8 ET/7 CENTRAL

American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE, Amgen, Cless Family Foundation, Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, Farrah Fawcett Foundation, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Laura Ziskin Family Trust, Legacy Circle, LUNGevity Foundation, Mirati Therapeutics, Pancreatic Cancer Canada, Sara Schottenstein Foundation, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, Lew, Jean, and Kari Wolff Stand Up To Cancer is a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

CAMP MINIBAR

ON THE ROCKS Cocktail hour at the campsite doesn’t have to mean settling for cans from a cooler or swigs from a passed bottle. A few key pieces turn the outdoors into an open-air speakeasy.

4 6

3 7

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p hot og ra p h by C H R I S WE LLHAU S E N | by ADAM B I B LE

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FISHING

CAST PARTY Anglers earn their access to the best honey holes—whether hooﬁng trails to remote streams, muscling a kayak to prime waters, or diving deep for the perfect shot.

For a light, strong reel to match a packable rod, Orvis updated its workhorse to this lighter, narrower Mirage LT II, which retains the drag system that goes from zero to full in one knob rotation. Though milled from aluminum, its titanium shaft reduces weight and adds strength. From $349; orvis.com

LAND

Consider a capable, weather-resistant trail runner to get you conﬁdently to the most isolated spots. Then, instead of changing into bulky wading clunkers, the slim and svelte 40-ounce Simms Flyweight Wading Boot provides full wading function with a sticky Vibram outer sole (stud-compatible), a tough upper, and a springy midsole for all-day comfort. $200; simmsﬁshing.com

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At 17 inches broken down, there’s no excuse not to pack this hand-built rod from the Maine Fly Company on every hike. The seven-piece, 9-foot Tumbledown weighs only 3.6 ounces—made from a carbon blank, local-birch reel seat and with bio-based epoxies. $340; maineﬂyco.com MEN’S JOURNAL

COURTESY ORVIS

You’ll be astonished at how compactly Patagonia’s truly ultralight (36-ounce) Swiftcurrent Packable Waders ﬁt into the included stuff sack. Moving away from bulky neoprene booties to thin but tough synthetic rubber means that toting waders to far-ﬂung locales is no longer a hassle. $399; patagonia.com

by ADAM B I B LE

BY Polarized shades are a ﬁshing must. Don’t worry about dropping the Dragon Shore X LL Polar Sunglasses, featuring ﬂoatable tech, in the drink. Just snag the light and comfortable frames (with rubber nose pads and temple tips) before they drift away. $239; dragonalliance.com

Cover more miles ﬁshing in the pedal-driven Old Town BigWater PDL 132. It maneuvers precisely, forward and backward, without having to put down your rod (though it includes three built-in rod holders). The 13-foot-long hull cruises smoothly in open water while providing the stability to stand. And for those long days, sealed bow storage and a bungeed stern allow for a cooler or bait bucket. $2,599; oldtowncanoe.com

SEA

Toss your ratty life jacket. Astral’s V-Eight Fisher offers D-rings for attaching tools and side pockets for other angling essentials. The cool, mostly mesh back with higher padding works well with kayak seats. $130; astraldesigns.com

New to spearﬁshing? If you struggle with a traditional (often shaky) pistol grip, pick up Headhunter’s Gorilla Sling 3.0. The unique design puts all of the force on your forearm, increasing stability and making tough shots in deep water a cinch—a nice boost if you’re working on underwater comfort and breath control. From $220; headhunterspearﬁshing.com

Improve mobility, speed, and stealth by leveling up to stronger, lighter carbon ﬁns like Moana’s Euro Fins. A multiaxial design reduces twisting, which leads to much-improved efﬁciency underwater. The shorter, 74cm length also allows for powerful surface swimming and turning in tight quarters while pursuing prey in deep grottoes. $560; moanawaterman.com

Remove any ﬁshing-rig guesswork with Abu Garcia’s stellar Zata Spinning Combo. You get an innovative reel for smooth casts and retrieves mated to a tough, light graphite rod ideal for a wide range of target species—salt or fresh. From $210; abugarcia.com MEN’S JOURNAL

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O LY M P I C K I T

LEAD/SPEED CLIMBING

GEAR OF THE GAMES Reap the performance beneﬁts from innovative equipment that the world’s best athletes use to gain milliseconds on their competition—and torch your own outdoor endurance goals.

The BLACK DIAMOND AIRNET is a contradiction: comfortable because it’s lightweight. Developed with Czech phenom Adam Ondra, one of climbing’s top medal contenders, the belt is a thin chain of Dynex ﬁber wrapped in mesh, so the exceptionally light, soft, and breathable construction spreads the load across the entire harness, reducing pinch points. $160; blackdiamondequipment.com

SWIMMING

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These shoes are made to break records—speciﬁcally, the speed climbing event’s 5-second barrier up a 15-meter wall. LA SPORTIVA removed half the sticky rubber sole of the COBRA 4:99, ideal for vertical sprinters pushing off their toes. The most time-saving feature? They’re 5.6 ounces. $150; lasportiva.com

PETR CHODURA, COURTESY ADAM ONDRA

SPEEDO’S LZR PURE INTENT is the result of feedback from more than 300 swimmers—and shark research. Three new fabrics add ﬂexibility for unimpeded movement and compression to promote blood ﬂow. Sharkskin-mimicking texture on the butt reduces drag, too. The combo has real results, with recent world records set in this suit. From $281; speedo.com

SPEED CLIMBING

by RYAN STUART

Your Guide to

ALL-DAY ADVENTURE 5 OF THE BEST FULL-DAY HIKES IN THE U.S. Brought to you by Founders Brewing Co.

e’re all for multi-week, life-changing forays into the wild, but there’s plenty to be said for the Big Day—the self-contained adventure that doesn’t dominate the calendar but sticks with you for days after it’s done. These ﬁve hikes do just that: provide just enough challenge to make you feel a sense of accomplishment while overdelivering on scenery, vibes, and general epic-ness. Put a few on your bucket list and bag one on your next personal day.

1. Mount Lafayette and Franconia Ridge Trail Loop, NH If you can’t find an inspiring memory from hiking this New England classic, featuring plenty of ridgeline traverses—well, we can’t help you. On the 8.6-mile loop you’ll touch the sky via the summits of Mount Lincoln, Haystack Mountain, and Mount Lafayette. The loop is an all-day affair, and few would call it easy, but the payoffs—mainly, those 360-degree panoramas—are worth the effort. Grab a few minutes rest at one of numerous waterfalls—or at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Greenleaf Hut, which overlooks Eagle Lake and is near the Franconia Ridgeline.

2. Three Dunes Challenge, Indiana Dunes National Park, IN Sure, you might have notched a few 14,000-footers in your time, but how about summiting three peaks in the sub-200-foot range? That’s the task at hand on the “Three Dunes Challenge,” a 1.5-mile path that summits Mount Holden, Mount Jackson, and Mount Tom, the tallest of the three, at 192 feet. On a clear day you’ll see the Chicago skyline. Though the mission won’t take you all day, upon completion you can enjoy the recently minted national park’s 15 miles of pristine shoreline, featuring a biodiverse array of vegetated dunes studded with black oak groves.

3. Lost Palms Oasis, Joshua Tree National Park, CA There are plenty of highlights on this 7.4-mile out-and-back jaunt through the southern part of Joshua Tree National Park—ocotillo cacti, yucca, the changing desert panorama—but the payoff comes midway, when you arrive at an oasis. (A real one, not in a cartoon.) There you’ll find a strand of California Fan Palm trees—the only palm native to California. With only modest elevation gain over the gently rolling trail (at 649 feet), you can soak in the slow-changing desert light.

4. Breakneck Ridge, NY Breakneck Ridge—a classic New York hike if there ever was one—is definitely worth the 80-minute drive from Midtown. One of this outing’s perks? No drive. The Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line stops here on weekends and holidays. But be prepared: Once that train stops, you’re in for some work. The Taurus Loop gains 2,500 feet in its six reasonably difficult miles, with plenty of scrambling over and around boulders. The finishing payoff is a windswept vista with a full panorama: hawks above, the swirling Hudson below.

5. Black Balsam Knob and Tennent Mountain Loop, NC Here’s an alpine experience to remember long after your head has left the clouds. This loop traverses roughly five miles in the sky atop grassy balds, with 360-degree views of the surrounding time-softened peaks. Located on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the loop combines the Art Loeb and Ivestor Gap trails to summit both Black Balsam Knob (6,214-foot) and Tennent Mountain (6,040-foot) with plenty of blueberries, blackberries, and balsam in between.

A Beer Built for Adventure When we’re out adventuring from morning ‘til night - we’re clearing room in our packs for Founders All Day IPA. At only 4.7% ABV, All Day IPA boasts a complex array of malt, grain and crisp hop flavor with pine and citrus aromatics that provide a light and uplifting drinking experience suitable for any trail. Better yet; it’s widely available in several formats, making it the perfect IPA for any occasion. Foundersbrewing.com

O LY M P I C K I T

More stable than a time-trial bucket, faster than a vented road-racing lid, the GAMECHANGER is cycling’s new standard: an aero-helmet. ABUS combined aviation science and feedback from top pro racers at Movistar Team to develop a shape that slices headwinds and cross-breezes while vents suck in head-cooling air with minimal drag. $250; abus.com

CYCLING

To make it more aerodynamic, SCOTT integrated the FOIL’S handlebar, stem and fork—routing cables through the frame to cut drag. Variable carbon ﬁber ups speed— stiffer in key energy-transfer spots and supple elsewhere to provide more road contact. From $4,000; scott-sports.com

NIKE’S AEROSWIFT fabric will help athletes survive Tokyo’s notorious summer heat. The 75 percent-recycled yarn wicks and dries faster than Nike’s previous top fabric. Knit corduroy-like waves create ridges that move air along the skin (and add tons of stretch). In track shorts and soccer jerseys, it’s body-mapped to ventilate sweaty zones. From $84; nike.com

MARATHON

OUTDOOR EVENTS

OAKLEY developed a new lensmanufacturing process to shape the masquerade-like KATO, plus a threeposition, arm-angle adjustment to ensure it will proﬁle any athlete’s face. The nose contouring and the oversize and frameless design will improve sight lines and vision clarity for athletes in everything from baseball to volleyball. $291; oakley.com

TRACK/ SOCCER

Representative of the flat-to-fat transition in marathon race shoes, BROOKS uses nitrogen (instead of the usual chemicals or CO2) to inject a higher concentration of air pockets into the HYPERION ELITE 2’S EVA foam. The result: more responsive cushioning for less weight. With a carbon propulsion plate and high rockered shape, they weigh only 7.6 ounces. $250; brooksrunning.com ARENA’S POWERSKIN CARBON leaves triathletes fresher for the race ahead, with carbon fibers that add compression for better blood flow plus stability to reduce core fatigue. And the body-mapped neoprene is ultrathin over the shoulders and arms to encourage optimal swimming position. $590; arenasport.com 34

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TRIATHLON

K AYA K S

PADDLE READY Advances in materials and outﬁtting mean added performance for every kind of double-bladed boater. Enjoy extra miles and more efﬁcient output—plus a little color boost for your next on-water escape.

BEST FOR

EASY STORAGE/ TOURING

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BEST FOR

ALL-AROUND WHITEWATER

STEEP CREEKS

SHOULDERING THE LOAD

One kayak to rule them all. That’s the Jackson Kayak Antix 2.0, a revamped quiver-killer blending play, river-running, and creeking. Its new planing hull surfs and squirts while staying stable in rapids. Three sizes of this reﬁned “half slice” (featuring a slender stern) ﬁt the whole Goldilocks gamut. $1,349; jacksonadventures.com MEN’S JOURNAL

The secret is out about the Dagger Code: With a flatter, planing hull for rough-water agility, wide stern for stability, and high-rise bow rocker for punching holes, it’ll help unlock your downriver game. Add multiple safety features, plus Contour Ergo Creek outfitting for comfort, and Class V will no longer be classified. $1,259; dagger.com

Want to hike to a remote lake or river? Put hernias in the rearview with Alpacka Raft’s Expedition. The 8.1-pound packraft also includes thighstrap and foot-brace attachments for whitewater, making it the perfect lightweight backcountry adventurer. Bonus: Stern zipper access for storing gear in the tubes. $1,500; alpackaraft.com

SESSION STUDIOS

The key to hard-shell-like performance in a kayak that deflates to fit in your closet is high-pressure drop-stitch layers on its floor and sides (the same tech that makes inflatable SUPs so rigid). An open deck and loungeworthy seat on Advanced Elements AirVolution up the comfort for longer miles. $1,199; advancedelements.com

BEST FOR

by E UG E N E BUCHANAN

LEADER of the PACK

JASON MOMOA is Hollywood’s apex badass. Operating from his home away from home, there’s a lot more than motorcycles, red meat and marquee projects fueling his creative vision. by E RI C H E N D RI K X I photog ra phy by BOA Z KROO N

“YOU EAT MEAT, RIGHT?” Jason Momoa asks as we pass through his interim Toronto residence—a three-story Victorian—into the backyard, where two massive tomahawk rib-eyes hiss and smoke over a glowing grill. “Here, grab one,” he says, snatching up the hunk of meat, childlike grin smeared across his signaturely hirsute face. The intense greeting seems medieval, classic Momoa—downright Dothraki—so I do as Khal Drogo instructs, holding up a smoldering, frenched rib bone just long enough for a selfie. Checking the photo, Momoa issues the next directive. “We can’t post these,” he says poignantly. “You can see the houses behind us.” It’s odd to hear a man who embodies nomadic warlords and towering superheroes concede to such 38

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“When the door to making films began to slowly open, I kicked it in and brought all my friends with me.”

precaution. But inadvertently revealing your exact location to 16 million Instagram followers is a no-no, whether he’s hanging here or at his actual home in Los Angeles’ Topanga Canyon. There are other pics that he’s more eager to share, namely of an antique Land Rover just secured in a swap for two vintage Harley-Davidson choppers, a rare trade from his collection. “I usually just hoard everything when it comes to bikes and trucks and cars.” One might guess as much from the

ocean health, he’s making the shift to electric. “A lot of my trucks have been converted into e-vehicles,” he says. “I run solar power, and I love Harley’s electric LiveWire. You twist the throttle and jump to 100 miles an hour in three or four seconds. It’s a whole different sport, and there ain’t nothin’ about it except—bravo!” This sort of full-throttle enthusiasm is Momoa’s true superpower, demonstrating that he’s got more than physical DNA to sustain his rapidly multiplying

FULL-THROTTLE ENTHUSIASM IS MOMOA’S TRUE SUPERPOWER TO SUSTAIN MULTIPLYING PURSUITS. ’36, ’37, and ’39 Harley knuckleheads parked on the grounds. “Those are just my choppers. My other bikes are on the way here,” he admits. “I love them all—knuckles, pans, shovels. They’re all different, they all sound great, and they’re all fucking awesome.” And though he craves the sound “when you kick-start the bike and the motor growls right back at you,” the self-proclaimed “gas and oil guy” knows it’s a guilty pleasure. As a fierce advocate for 40

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pursuits. Beyond his most visible presence as an actor, now he’s producing documentary passion projects and even parlaying his ongoing relationship with Harley-Davidson into directing a six-part series spotlighting real riders around the country. Resplendent in pink shoes and purple pants, Momoa opens his Army-style sweater to reveal the pattern of V-twin motors on a Hawaiian silk shirt—part of a new apparel collaboration with MEN’S JOURNAL

Harley-Davidson. “This is the motor from my first motorcycle, a ’56 panhead with a ’48 springer front end,” he says, noting that he named the bike after his grandmother Mabel. Then, with a jovial turn, he tugs the fly of his pants, also part of the collection. “Not to flash my crotch here, but look, right behind the zipper.” Yep, the lettering on the thin strip of fabric reads, “Aloha.” With a belly laugh, he zips back up. THE TORONTO HOUSE is also currently home to Pride of Gypsies, the production company founded by Momoa and director Brian Andrew Mendoza. It’s a semi-bohemian collective of artists and filmmakers with a shared sense of storytelling. “Brian is my best friend in the whole word, the DP of everything I’ve shot, and my producing partner,” says Momoa. The two have been making films together since Momoa’s 2014 directorial debut, Road to Paloma. And with the full slate of projects they’re undertaking, a burgeoning camp is required to keep up. All under the same roof: a special-effects makeup designer, costume and wardrobe designers, videographers, photographers, personal driver, personal trainer and healer, personal makeup artist, personal assistant, and stunt double.

MOMOA’S MOTOS Favorites from a Harley collection that spans the early 1900s to modern electric models. 1916 MODEL J “I love the history of motorcycle racing. Riding at 100 miles an hour on a board tracker with a little bobbly frame—one fall and you’re getting impaled.”

1936 KNUCKLEHEAD “I appreciate the artists who build and work on them. Also, knuckleheads and panheads are pretty simple bikes—they’re not too difficult to work on.”

1956 PANHEAD “Mabel was the first bike I ever had. She was a ’56 panhead with a ’48 front end. I named her after my grandmother.”

2020 LIVEWIRE “I’ve put the most hardcore bikers on this electric motorcycle. Guys who are, like, no way—and they come back smiling like little kids.”

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2021 PAN AMERICA “I finally have a motorcycle that I can use to combine my passion for the outdoors with the freedom of riding and my favorite brand.”

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“I started out doing jobs I didn’t want to do in order to put food on the table,” Momoa says of his early career.

Their current mission is to complete the second season of See, concerning a tribal, postapocalyptic world in which humans have lost the power of sight, for Apple TV+. The pandemic shut down production in spring 2020, then the crew returned to Canada six months later to resume filming using extra precautions. So Momoa largely has been apart from

wife Lisa Bonet and their two children, Lola, 13, and Nakoa-Wolf, 12. “I’ve been locked in,” he says. “I haven’t been home in seven months. But the babies were out here for a long stint.” Momoa spends no time bemoaning the adjustment to uprooted life multiplied by pandemic protocols. Playing See’s lead character, Baba Voss, now

battling to rescue his miraculously sighted daughter from his estranged warlord brother (played by Dave Bautista), offers a new opportunity to learn. “I find myself not holding eye contact, so when I listen, rather than facing you directly, I face you with my ear. That’s how Baba hears—by pointing his ear toward the sound.” Momoa extends his arm and snaps his fingers toward a nearby wall, and then again toward open space, demonstrating the difference in sound. “You can actually feel your surroundings by listening. You can echolocate as the sound of the snap comes back at you off the walls. It’s beautiful to use it to build these awesome characters with full reliance on other senses.” Given the wardrobe and makeup requirements common to much of Momoa’s oeuvre, it might have been a relief to film a soon-to-air Netflix movie (and pal Mendoza’s directorial debut), Sweet Girl, in which he plays an average contemporary man seeking to avenge his wife’s death while also protecting his daughter. But that didn’t stop him from diving back into the fantastic for another big Netflix film. Before finishing the season of See, and with help from members of the Pride, he would transform daily from Baba to Flip, his character in Slumberland, slated for 2022. The new role is a psychedelic sidestep from Momoa’s barbaric warrior-hero bread and butter. He plays an eccentric, horn-headed outlaw who guides a young girl through fantastical dreamscapes in search of her missing

THE WARRIOR WORKOUT Momoa’s personal trainer and healer, Damian Viera, shares the secret sauce for shaping a superhero. ROCK CLIMBING We have a rockclimbing wall that serves as movement therapy. Jason is an excellent climber and constantly tests himself with hard problems and difficult routes. This helps keep his body pliable so that when we go into dynamic movements, injury is prevented. 42

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KETTLEBELLS We do ladder workouts using kettlebells to actively engage and strengthen muscle tissue. Jason will do a series of two-handed squats, two-handed deadlifts, two-handed swings, one-handed swings, and one-handed cleans.

WU TANG YOGA We dare not use the Y-word around here—there’s an element of softness that makes yoga a snore-fest for Jason. [Laughs] When I integrate postural medicine into his routine, I’ll call it “Wu Tang yoga” or “Slayer stretching!”

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BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUATS Jason might spend all day in a deep samurai stance while filming for a scene. These squats are great for conditioning the body to deal with that kind of stress, and for faster recovery. Our goal is to stay ahead of the stunts.

MEDICINE BALLS The Aquaman trident, much heavier than a sword, requires different movement. We do a lot of exercises using 10-, 15-, and 20-pound Dynamax medicine balls. We’ll mix up isolated chest passes, hammer rotations, bilateral passes, and other tosses.

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“I feel like I’m in a time capsule,” Momoa says of his draw to hundred-year-old bikes. “The artistry is so simple and clean.”

father. “Dude, he is my spirit animal,” says Momoa. “I’ve got horns, sharp teeth, and a fantastical pink wardrobe with purple boots that leave my claws coming out of them.” THIS BURST of projects and brand ambassadorships stands in fairly stark contrast to leaner days of not-so-long ago. In fact, just after exiting Game of Thrones in the show’s first season, Momoa was flat broke. “We were starving,” he recalls. “I couldn’t get work, and we were completely in debt.” Things turned around in 2016 when he first cameoed, somewhat against type, as a certain superhero who commands fish. Subsequently, he fleshed out the character in 2017’s Justice League and top-lined 2018’s Aquaman, which grossed more than $1 billion in worldwide box office, becoming the DC Extended Universe’s most successful film to date. Momoa shows off a special Batman Begins–inspired mask that special-effects makeup artist Matt Aebig is creating for his son. “Wolfie loves Batman. We made a cast of his face while he was here so Matt could make him this,” says Momoa. “He loves all the costumes and props. We watched the screening of Dune together, and then I gave him the prop swords from the movie—he already broke them.” Oh, yes, the pandemic-delayed Dune— the new, big-budget adaptation of what is often called the greatest science fiction novel of all time. Momoa takes on the role of Duncan Idaho, the sword master 44

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loyal to protagonist Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet. So, is Momoa’s inner geek genuine enough to be a true fan of the sprawling, futuristic saga? Yes, the stoke is definitely real. He leans back in unadulterated glee and howls: “Bro! Besides Game of Thrones, just to be in this world—it’s fucking beautiful!” As Momoa tells it, director Denis Villeneuve sent him a 60-page visual presentation as a way of asking if he’d consider the part. “Ha, you had me at fucking hello!” Momoa laughs. “The coolest thing about my character is that he’s the Han Solo—the swashbuckling

easier by the Lynch film not being part of his childhood. “I grew up with a single mother who raised me on Gone With the Wind,” says Momoa. “She never let me watch movies with people getting their heads lopped off or joining in orgies. My preparation was more about spending time with Denny and spending time in my imagination to find those places in myself where I could play Idaho’s character.” Having evolved from brawny Hollywood cog to the organizing force behind Pride of Gypsies, Momoa leans into the importance of pursuing what you love. “I just do the things I want to do and love to do,” he says. “I’ve had a pretty stable career of being an actor, but there are stories and things I want to do in filmmaking. With a great script, sound design, and imagery, you can change people’s viewpoints with cinema. That’s what I’m moved by. Filmmaking is the ultimate form of art for me. It’s what transported me out of small-town Iowa—to be able to see the world, become excited to inspire others, and make great stories. So, when that door began to slowly open, I kicked it in and brought all my friends with me. I love directing and producing. You get to tell more, you get to do more.” You also get to leverage fame into branded do-gooding. Inspired by the milieu of Aquaman, Momoa recently launched Mananalu, a sustainable canned water intended to help cut back on single-use plastic bottles. “There are a lot

“FILMMAKING IS THE ULTIMATE FORM OF ART—IT’S WHAT TRANSPORTED ME OUT OF SMALL-TOWN IOWA.” rebel who stirs the pot. And he’s really close to Timmy’s character.” Just considering the ensemble cast has Momoa beaming, starting with the “dream” of working alongside Javier Bardem. “So to work with Javier on this epic film and also with Josh Brolin—I love Brolin! And Rebecca Ferguson killed it, and Oscar Isaac is my new man-crush. I’m just so pumped for the world to see it.” How does he rate the fan-dividing 1984 version directed by David Lynch? As Momoa explains it, he doesn’t watch previous productions. Instead, he sticks to the books and scripts, a choice made MEN’S JOURNAL

of things I want to heal in the world by using my platform,” says Momoa. “It’s not always about producing a movie, it’s also about producing ways to help make the world a better place. That’s where my heart is.” Duly inspired, and a tad overwhelmed, I thank Momoa for the hospitality and, of course, the perfectly grilled tomahawk steak. He reaches out with a parting elbow bump and asks a sincere question, lowering his head to really hear the answer: “Was that the best dinner you’ve ever had during an interview?” Damn straight.

He Only Invented One Thing – and That Was a Flop! How Dick Fosbury’s Innovation Changed the High Jump Forever

t’s very likely you’ve seen iconic images from the 1968 Olympics, most notably American athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos raising their gloved fists on the medal podium in protest of the treatment of people of color in the United States. But there’s one lingering image you may not even be aware of, nor knew the origin of — until now. We’ve all seen the images of high jumpers contorting their bodies to arch their way over a high bar. Well, that is called the “Fosbury Flop,” immortalized by Dick Fosbury. Meet Dick Fosbury: Dick Fosbury was a civil engineering student at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, and after some early frustrations with high jumping, he began to slowly evolve his unique style, which departed radically from the standard jumping styles of the day. And despite discouragement from coaches, Fosbury intuitively knew that the mechanics of his new technique could carry him to more and more impressive heights. After scoring successive victories in the PAC-8 Championships (now the PAC-12), the NCAA Championships and the U.S. Olympic Trials, Dick found himself headed to the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The 21-year-old Fosbury, from Medford, Oregon, captured the hearts of the adoring fans – those attending in person and the millions more watching via international TV. And from his very first jump, the affection and the will of the crowd seemed to carry him over the bar. The Origins of ‘The Fosbury Flop’: Many sports writers and commentators at the time dismissed the style, dubbed the Fosbury Flop as an oddity. Some questioned whether that style of high jumping was even within the rules of the event, and it was derisively assumed that the Fosbury Flop would never be accepted. But as Fosbury stood on the podium to receive his Olympic Gold Medal, he felt sure that his success would encourage others to give his unorthodox style of jumping a try. He was right. Within a short time after the ’68 Games, the Fosbury Flop had been so universally adopted that it is now a matter of fact that no high jump event at any significant level of competition is won using any other style.

inquisitive engineering mindset led me to take a very analytical approach to all aspects of my competition, including nutrition.” Whereas he has not leapt over 7 feet in many years, he still rakes hay for his horses and enjoys snow shoeing in the winter. One thing that has helped Dick avoid muscle soreness, and something he recommends to the young athletes he mentors, is drinking 100% cherry juice as a regular part of his ﬁtness regimen. “I think CHERRiSH is a great product, so not only do I drink it as a part of my program, I send a case out each month to a friend or a student of mine to share the beneﬁts with them.” With the love and admiration of track fans everywhere, Fosbury created a legacy of having revolutionized his event and having left his indelible mark – and his name on his sport forever. Create your own legendary moments with CHERRiSH. Visit Cherrish.com for more details.

“I think CHERRiSH is a great product, so not only do I drink it as a part of my program, I send a case out each month to a friend or a student of mine to share

Meet Fosbury’s Go-To Recovery Drink: CHERRiSH Fosbury, now in his mid-seventies, has devoted a great deal of time to mentoring athletes at all levels of competition through track camps, and he maintains a great affection for the Olympics. As a former Gold Medal winning athlete, Fosbury understands and promotes the importance of good nutrition as an integral part of athletic training, even though that aspect of training was not stressed when he was in college. “I think my naturally

Even in the brazen new world of cryptocurrency, Tether stands out for its trail of shattered promises and shady deals. Too bad the entire system now depends upon it. by J E F F WI S E I i llust rat ion by TH E S PO RTI N G PRE S S

CAS PIANCEY could feel his heart pounding as the elevator doors slid open onto a tiled corridor of the eighth floor of the K Wah Centre. He was sweat-grimed and wrung out after a day of scouring Hong Kong for traces of a mysterious corporate entity. This was his final stop. Ahead lay a door marked “Proxy CPA Co. Ltd.” Piancey reached for the buzzer, then paused. What if the people he was chasing were really here—and understood what he was after?

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It was September 2018, and Piancey, a cryptocurrency journalist, had flown from Los Angeles on a hunch. (“Piancey” is a pseudonym; doxxing is an occupational hazard best conducted anonymously.) He suspected that a handful of very clever and not particularly scrupulous people had come up with a way to create money in any quantity at the stroke of a keyboard—artificial electronic dollar bills that could be swapped for the real stuff. If he was right, these people were pulling off the swindle of a lifetime, a scam that would dwarf Bernie Madoff ’s Ponzi scheme. If he was wrong, he owed some serious apologies. Piancey pressed the buzzer. A Chinese woman in her 40s appeared. “Hello, can I help you?” “I’m looking for Tether. This is the listed address. Is this Tether?” “No, no,” she shook her head. “I have never heard of Tether. Sorry.” She disappeared. And there it was. A company that

supposedly held $3 billion in assets didn’t have a real office.

P L AY M O N E Y

Former child actor Brock Pierce, the crypto guru who helped create the “stablecoin” that became Tether, seen here modeling kicks on the U.S. Supreme Court steps.

It all started with The Mighty Ducks, the 1992 Disney flick about a children’s underdog hockey team. One of the movie’s child stars was a big-eyed 12-year-old named Brock Pierce. A few more movies (Problem Child 3, First Kid) didn’t exactly launch him to stardom, but did provide a calling card. Pierce leveraged his stardust into a series of dot-com start-ups and was on the periphery of a bizarre Hollywood child-sex scandal before getting drawn into the latest tech trend: cryptocurrency. The buzz began in 2009 with the creation of Bitcoin, a digital token of exchange generated through a computerized algorithm and registered on a public database called a blockchain. Enthusiasts believed that because it was decentralized, and not under the control of any government, it had the potential to revolutionize global finance.

Sporting a Three Musketeers mustache and a Billy Jack hippie hat, Pierce proved a charismatic, if diminutive booster, exuding a vibe that John Oliver later described as “sleepy, creepy cowboy from the future.” By 2014, Pierce was convinced Bitcoin was “the biggest thing going on in the world today.” But it had a problem: Since it had little real-world use to anchor its value, its price swung wildly. What if there were a way to make a cryptocurrency that held steady value? Together, Pierce and his partners hit upon a solution—a digital “coin” that would be registered on the blockchain like any other crypto, but backed by actual U.S. dollars. The concept rested on three promises: First, the issuer would keep a reserve of actual dollars that would match onefor-one the digital coins it created (akin

THE CRYPTO TIMES 2008 Domain name bitcoin.org is ﬁrst registered. Two months later, a paper detailing a decentralized “peer-to-peer cash electronic cash system” is published by Satoshi Nakamoto, likely a pseudonym. 48

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2009 The ﬁrst Bitcoin transaction takes place when “Nakamoto” sends 10 bitcoins to a computer programmer.

Early adoptees begin “mining” bitcoins— using their own computers to securely record transactions (aka blockchain technology), with bitcoins as payment.

2010 Bitcoin is hacked for the ﬁrst time, making promoters and detractors alike face the considerable vulnerability of cryptocurrency.

The ﬁrst actual Bitcoin sale occurs when a user swaps 10,000 coins for two pizzas. Today’s value: More than $100 million.

CRYPTO HEIST to the old gold standard). Second, the issuer would offer a public and transparent account of these reserves. And, third, the issuer would allow anyone to swap the coins back for real dollars whenever they wanted. Functionally, the coins would be the equivalent of dollars, but with all the digital-world flexibility of crypto. The team dubbed their breakthrough RealCoin. At first, RealCoin was more of an idea than a functional currency. Then Brock and his partners sold their start-up to burgeoning cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, changing the name to Tether in the process. Among the new principals was 42-year-old Phil Potter, a former Morgan Stanley banker who’d enjoyed a flash of fame at age 25 when The New York Times profiled him as the face of young “uberconsumers.” Even as Wall Street rode the original tech boom, he came across

Here you can buy bitcoins and the like with U.S. dollars so long as you can prove your true identity. The other part of the market consists of “unbanked exchanges,” which don’t follow government regulations for dealing in securities. Legit banks don’t like to do business with such shady entities, since it could cause them to run afoul of money-laundering laws. Instead, most customers trade on unbanked exchanges by first buying crypto on a banked exchange and then transferring it over on the blockchain. It’s a pain in the ass, but unbanked exchanges are where rules are scarcer and you can trade anonymously, an appealing selling point for drug dealers, terrorists, extortionists and others looking to launder money. What made Tether so useful is that it offered a form of U.S. dollar that people could use anonymously on unbanked

TETHER HAD ALREADY VIOLATED ONE OF ITS THREE CORE PROMISES. as grotesquely materialistic and Morgan Stanley fired him. “He was done. Kaput. Finished,” wrote The New York Observer at the time. Now he was back. The new management released Tether onto the Bitfinex exchange. By March 2015, a quarter-million digital coins were in circulation, though scarcely used— sometimes only $1 a day traded hands. But, slowly, Tether caught on. Traders found it useful because of the way the cryptocurrency world is divided into two kinds of markets. The first, called “banked exchanges,” has access to traditional banking because it follows rules established by government regulators.

2011 With Bitcoin gaining buzz in ﬁnancial circles, rival cryptocurrencies (aka altcoins) Litecoin, Namecoin and Swiftcoin join the party.

exchanges—a convenient way to trade all the different brands of digital coin, as well as a place to park your profits when things got volatile. At first, Tether only sold on Bitfinex, but soon all the unbanked exchanges offered Tether trading. It’s worth noting that Tether’s business model has never been entirely clear. According to its own rules, Tether was obliged to sit on customers’ funds in the form of cash and not invest their deposits as a bank would. The only way it could make money was to charge fees for transactions. At the same time, it had to cover its own considerable expenses.

Soon after the price of one bitcoin ﬁrst reaches $1,000, the price plummets to around $300, demonstrating a basic cryptocurrency trait— volatility.

2013 The ﬁrst Bitcoin ATM appears at a coffeehouse in Vancouver, allowing users to exchange the digital currency for cash or open a new account.

UNTETHERED Tether had already violated one of its three core promises. It hadn’t released an audited account of its reserves (and never would), so there was no way to tell if Tether really was selling for hard cash kept in reserve for potential redemptions in the future or if it was issuing currency out of thin air, trading it for other crypto and pocketing the proceeds. Conveniently, it’s in the nature of crypto that there is no governing authority keeping watch. The amount of Tether in circulation continued to climb, topping $1 million by January 2016. And it was getting more widely used, with tens of thousands of tethers traded a day. Along the way, though, Tether also started to break its second promise, by declaring on its website: “We do not guarantee any right of redemption or exchange of tethers by us for money.” In other words, if you gave Tether cash for their digital coins, that cash was theirs to keep. Remarkably, crypto traders didn’t seem to give a shit. Tether kept registering new coins on the blockchain, and people kept accepting them at face value in crypto trades. By January 2017, the amount in circulation had passed 10 million coins. A 4,000 percent increase in less than two years looked like a stunning success, but Tether and Bitfinex were dogged by a persistent problem. It was hard for them to store funds because banks viewed them as potential money launderers. For a while, Bitfinex used a Taiwanese bank that then routed funds through Wells Fargo to clients in the United States, but then Wells Fargo pulled the plug. Potter told an interviewer: “We’ve had banking hiccups in the past. We’ve just always been able to route around it or deal with it, open up new accounts, or what have you...shift to a new corporate entity, lots of cat-and-mouse tricks.” This time, Tether had run out of tricks

Developers introduce Coinye West cryptocurrency, bearing the hip-hop icon’s likeness. After a cease-and-desist letter, it’s shortened to just Coinye and collapses into near worthlessness.

Thailand and China limit or ban Bitcoin, while Germany works on a system for taxing cryptocurrency transactions.

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temporarily. The company issued a statement that “…all incoming international wires to Tether have been blocked.... As such, we do not expect the supply of tethers to increase substantially until these constraints have been lifted.” In fact, the opposite happened. In the following eight months, the company registered more than a billion new tethers onto the blockchain. It was no longer an intriguing concept for a cryptocurrency; it now accounted for the majority of all crypto trades. “Tether wasn’t just in the crypto markets—Tether was the crypto markets,” the blogger Crypto Anonymous put it. Tether also had become the measure by which other digital currencies were valued. When newspapers breathlessly reported that the price of Bitcoin had hit $10,000, what they really meant was that it was trading for 10,000 Tether, a distinction that few readers appreciated. This tidal wave of newly minted artificial money caused crypto prices to soar. The mainstream financial media went googly-eyed as Bitcoin climbed from $1,000 to $18,000 over the course of the year. The idea that crypto could turn Joe Schmo investors into millionaires overnight excited journalists. “Meet Some People Getting Rich From Bitcoin,” trumpeted a Yahoo Finance headline. Revved-up newbies bought in and drove the market still higher. Like sharks drawn to the smell of chum, rogues and grifters swarmed. John McAfee, the tech guru who’d recently escaped murder accusations in Belize, declared, “I’ll eat my dick on national television” if Bitcoin wasn’t worth $500,000 within three years. (It wasn’t, but he recanted in the nick of time.) Propelled to crypto stardom by this vulgar boast, McAfee earned millions in illegal kickbacks by promoting various digital coins on Twitter. It was just one of the many games

Tether and Bitfinex principal Phil Potter rode the digital currency to the top even as watchdog agencies opened investigations.

being run in a market already rife with wash trading, pump-and-dumps, front-running and every imaginable form of chicanery. Then the bubble burst. A week before Christmas 2017, Bitcoin started to tumble, and within a year had lost 80 percent of its value. Investors started asking hard questions about the value of cryptocurrency in general—and the integrity of Tether in particular. If it really had cash to back its issuances, why wouldn’t it open its books? Even the infamous Wolf of Wall Street himself, convicted felon Jordan Belfort, said, “I strongly suspect it’s a massive fraud.” The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the SEC and the New York Attorney General’s office opened investigations. A group of investors filed a lawsuit against Tether seeking $1.4 trillion in damages. For skeptics like Berkeley computer scientist Nicholas

Weaver, Tether wasn’t just another crypto scam, it was a fraud big enough to threaten “a true bloodbath” across the entire crypto market if it collapsed. Even the high-flying Potter had had enough. He resigned in June 2018, leaving Jan Ludovicus van der Velde as CEO of Bitfinex and Tether and Giancarlo Devasini as CFO. Both are elusive figures. Van der Velde, born in Holland, attended college in Taiwan before becoming a Hong Kong–based tech entrepreneur. Devasini, an Italian, had practiced plastic surgery before switching careers to importing computer parts. They rarely spoke publicly, though during this time Devasini reportedly told a Chinese crypto investor that “the Tether team does not work for money” but out of “a sense of responsibility and mission to the industry.”

C RY P TO B O M B From these gathering storm clouds, eventually emerged—not much. Tether kept making more digital dollars, and the markets kept accepting them. Tether,

THE CRYPTO TIMES 2014 Tether, a “stablecoin” theoretically tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, is issued.

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Hackers attack major Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, swiping $450 million in bitcoins from owners— forever. Mt. Gox soon goes bankrupt.

2015 Ethereum and Coinbase join the cryptocurrency ranks, while European Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp is closed for several days by a security hack.

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2016 The SEC warns that the new cryptocurrency investment tool of Initial Coin Oﬀerings might be a Ponzi scheme in disguise.

2017 Japan allows Bitcoin as a legal payment method. Norwegian online bank Sbanken allows Bitcoin in customer accounts.

CRYPTO HEIST it seemed, had become too big to fail. Banking problems, however, persisted. By mid-2018, Bitfinex was moving its funds through a shadowy Panama-based company called Crypto Capital, whose backers included former NFL player and team owner Reggie Fowler. When Crypto Capital informed Bitfinex that $851 million of its funds had been seized by foreign governments, Bitfinex could no longer process customer requests for withdrawals. In an exchange of messages later obtained by the New York Attorney General’s investigation, Devasini pleaded with Crypto Capital to process its transfers: “Is there any way we can get money from you?… I need urgently some funds…the situation looks bad, we have more than 500 withdrawals pending…. We have to send them out quickly, people are enraged.” To provide liquidity, Bitfinex lent itself more than $600 million from Tether’s

tenets. Investors still turned a blind eye. “I thought everyone would run away,” says Piancey. “But it seems like at no point is the community going to say, ‘I don’t think this is a good thing.’ ” Instead, Tether had already resumed its rocket-fuel growth. On July 23, 2020, the value of all tethers in circulation topped $10 billion, and upwards of 90 percent of all crypto trades were taking place in Tether. That day, Tether originator Pierce appeared on Belfort’s podcast, where he responded to the host’s suggestion that Tether was a “total fraud.” Pierce, emphasizing that he hadn’t been involved in Tether since he’d sold out, said that while he didn’t know what was going on inside the company, he was disappointed in “the lack of transparency in an industry that is fundamentally, philosophically built around this concept of transparency.”

UPWARDS OF 90 PERCENT OF ALL CRYPTO TRADES WERE TAKING PLACE IN TETHER. holdings in return for an IOU. Effectively, a third of the cash ostensibly supporting its U.S. dollar backing had vanished into thin air. Amid panicky postings on cryptocurrency message boards speculating that Tether’s reserve fund had been plundered and the coin was no longer fully backed, investors pulled out more than $1 billion. But once again, Tether hung on, and the market gradually calmed down and went back to trading tethers at face value. In April 2019, Tether at last publicly admitted that its digital coins weren’t fully backed—thereby officially breaking the last of its three fundamental

2018 Goldman Sachs announces it is opening a Bitcoin trading desk while also stating it isn’t “sold” on cryptocurrency.

Tether kept issuing coins. Its outstanding balance topped $25 billion on Jan. 26, 2021. Three weeks later, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her investigation had found that the company had misled the public. “Bitfinex and Tether recklessly and unlawfully covered up massive financial losses to keep their scheme going and protect their bottom lines,” she declared. “Tether’s claims that its virtual currency was fully backed by U.S. dollars at all times was a lie.” But instead of shutting Tether down, she agreed to a settlement that included an $18.5 million fine and a ban on future dealings in New York State.

Samsung manufactures computer chips specialized for mining cryptocurrencies, while environmentalists estimate that mining-dedicated server farms are sucking more energy than Argentina or Ireland.

2019 Elon Musk begins tweeting his support of Dogecoin, which was founded in 2013 as a jokey extension of an internet meme featuring

In an alternate universe, official acknowledgment that Tether had broken its fundamental promise would have sent investors fleeing. In this one, Tether interpreted James’ slap on the wrist as a green light. It opened the fire hose and printed $10 billion a month. At that rate, it covered its fine in about 45 minutes. A fresh round of cryptomania followed. Coinbase, the most respected banked exchange in the United States, went public that month on the Nasdaq stock exchange, bringing crypto into the heart of America’s economic mainstream. Eight days later, Coinbase announced it would start listing Tether. Goldman Sachs, once skeptical of crypto, began trading Bitcoin futures for its clients. “We’re All Crypto People Now,” declared The New York Times. Not everyone has escaped crypto’s boom-crash cycle. McAfee is sitting in jail in Spain, awaiting extradition to the States on federal securities and tax evasion charges. Fowler is free on bail pending trial on federal wire fraud charges. But Tether’s principals remain elusive. Piancey has located a house in Hong Kong that Van der Velde owns, or owned, but has been unable to track their wealth otherwise. Given that they’re minting more than $10 billion a month, they’re presumably not shopping at discount stores. Meanwhile, it’s become conventional wisdom in crypto circles that Tether could, or must, eventually blow up. And when it does, says computer scientist Weaver, “the whole edifice will collapse.” Even Vitalik Buterin, billionaire founder of the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, calls Tether “a ticking time bomb.” That was back in March, mind you, when there were 37 billion tethers in circulation. As of this writing, there are more than 61 billion...and counting.

2021 Bitcoin-heavy exchange Coinbase becomes a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq.

The total market value of all cryptocurrency surpasses $2.5 trillion, then plummets $1 trillion in a week, sparking new fears of a “crypto bubble.”

breed.

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This year’s race to be the ﬁrst-ever climbers to make a risky winter summit of K2 was ripe with ego and intrigue—and ended in both triumph and tragedy. by J E F F M OAG

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THE FINAL SUMMIT

T’S NEW YEAR’S EVE, 2020,

at K2 base camp, a tent village of about 100 souls on a patch of icy scree 16,300 feet above sea level and five days’ march from the nearest road. The world’s second-highest mountain looms even higher above, its 28,251-foot summit still untouched in winter. Outside it’s –20 degrees, but thankfully, the wind has tapered off. The hissing kerosene heaters in the Seven Summits Treks mess tent hold the mercury somewhere above freezing as Mike Posner, the U.S. singer-songwriter-turned-trekker, claps out a beat and launches into his 2015 signature party anthem, “I Took a Pill in Ibiza.” I’m a real big baller ’cause I made a million dollars And I spent it on girls and shoes

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Clockwise from top: Juan Pablo Mohr, Atanas Skatov and John Snorri were three of the more experienced climbers among the dozens pursuing Winter K2.

organized national expeditions and small elite teams, and none came within 3,000 feet of the top. As the highest peaks surrendered their winter summits one by one, Winter K2 emerged as alpinism’s last great first: the world’s toughest mountain in the most dangerous season. This past winter, more than 60 climbers constituting four teams of varying sizes came seeking the prize like so many Greek heroes scheming at the gates of Troy. The largest team was organized by Seven Summits Treks (SST), a guide MEN’S JOURNAL

company owned by Sherpas, the Himalayan ethnic group largely based in Nepal and renowned for their climbing knowledge and prowess. SST brought the first largescale commercial climbing operation to K2 in the summer of 2018. Following the pandemic shutdown of 2020, the company found an unexpectedly robust market for Winter K2, signing 26 clients of vastly different ambitions and abilities. Some were world-class alpinists; others had followed fixed ropes to marquee summits around the globe. Sergi Mingote, an accomplished 49-year-old from Spain, was there to advance his quest of summiting all 14 of the world’s 26,000-foot peaks without oxygen in

PREVIOUS PAGE, TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: OSWALD RODRIGO PEREIRA; BOTTOM LEFT: ELIA SAIKALY

Cellphone cameras pan climbers from around the world, their voices joining Posner in the chorus—all I know are sad songs—as he flashes a broad smile and raises his palms in encouragement, like some kind of puffy-coated orchestra conductor. Pop-up performances from Grammy-nominated hitmakers are not the norm in mountaineering base camps, but a lot has changed in the 68 years since Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary first set foot on the summit of Everest. All the world’s highest peaks were conquered decades ago, and their standard climbing routes repeated, refined and finally industrialized. With fixed ropes strung from bottom to top, Everest and other Himalayan giants have become assembly lines, converting orthodontists and heiresses into summiteers for $65,000 a head, less if they shop around. K2, topmost of the Himalayas-adjacent Karakoram Range and spanning a politically tenuous area of Kashmir administered by Pakistan and China, resisted this commercialization for decades, simply because it’s no place for amateurs. Though a couple of vertical football fields lower than Everest, K2 is far more difficult. Its slopes are relentlessly steep, fraught with technical cruxes and bombarded regularly by falling rock and ice. These challenges are amplified in winter, when temperatures often drop to –50 degrees and gale-force winds rake upper slopes for weeks at a stretch. The world’s best alpinists had been testing Winter K2 since 1987 in well-

The combined all-Nepali teams return from its historic summit battered but not broken, led by Mingma G (center) and Nirmal Purja (second from bottom left).

1,000 days. Bulgarian Atanas Skatov, who had once claimed to be the first vegan to ascend Everest, brought along his fiancée. American Colin O’Brady came with a résumé of record-setting endurance feats but just one major Himalayan summit. And former Polish Olympic sprinter-turned-mountaineer

gear for well-heeled clients since they were teenagers, continuing a tradition of serving as the flesh-and-blood engine driving every major Himalayan first of the last century. But now that just one great prize remained, these Sherpas were determined to take it for themselves. Astonishingly, considering the names and backgrounds involved, only one of the roughly 60 aspirants had ever stood atop a 26,000-foot peak in winter. Mountaineering pundits could hardly contain their scorn. “Are We Heading For Disaster

For that he needed John Snorri, a 47-year-old Icelandic father of six back for his second crack at Winter K2. Snorri’s previous attempt ended in rancor after his guide, the aforementioned Mingma G, contracted pneumonia and bailed. This season, Snorri enlisted Sadpara as his guide, along with Sadpara’s 22-yearold son Sajid, a soft-spoken young man who already showed great promise in the mountains. Sadpara took the job, but not for the money. He wanted the winter summit as badly as anyone.

THE RACE TO THE TOP

THE BLAIR PARTNERSHIP

THESE SHERPAS WERE DETERMINED TO TAKE THE GREAT PRIZE FOR THEMSELVES. Magdalena Gorzkowska arrived with a personal photographer in tow. Some seemed ready to risk everything. Others, including Posner, came merely to take in the scene or acclimate for other climbs, and had no intention of venturing above base camp. The two most formidable teams on the mountain were a six-man squad led by Nepali speed-climbing revelation Nirmal “Nims” Purja and a Sherpa trio headed by star guide Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, aka Mingma G. With the exception of Purja, who is ethnically Magar and climbed his first major peak at age 30, these men were Nepali Sherpas who had been breaking trail and humping

on Winter K2?” asked a headline on the influential website ExplorersWeb. That one high-altitude winter summiteer was Muhammad Ali Sadpara, from a nearby village, who started as a porter carrying 70-pound loads for $3 a day and became Pakistan’s foremost mountaineer by virtue of his strength and personality. “He succeeded because people appreciated his generosity of spirit,” says Amanda Padoan, who profiled him for Alpinist magazine after his 2016 first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest mountain in the world. That history-making feat fueled Sadpara’s fierce ambition to climb Winter K2, though it did not provide the means. MEN’S JOURNAL

As the Dec. 21 solstice kicked off the winter season, prior to most climbers even arriving at base camp, the Sherpa teams and guides began fixing ropes up the mountain, and as the route snaked past Camp 2 almost to Camp 3—at 23,300 feet, the last way station for a winter summit push—Mingma G’s independent Sherpa trio led the way. The small crew worked so fast they nearly ran out of rope, prompting Purja and one of his men to shoulder 30-pound coils up to the rival team above the Black Pyramid, a bulwark of rock and ice guarding the approach to the high camp. Purja was raised in Nepal and came of age in the British military, notching his first Himalayan peak while on leave from the war in Afghanistan. In 16 years with the famed Gurkhas and the Special Boat Service (an elite unit analogous to the U.S. Navy SEALs), Purja deployed to combat zones around the globe, getting shot in the face in the process. He first JUL/AUG 2021

SUMMIT: 28,251'

Abruzzi Spur route up K2’s southeast ridge

BOTTLENECK: 26,900' CAMP 4 SHOULDER: 26,200' CAMP 3: 23,300' BLACK PYRAMID

CAMP 2: 21,500'

CAMP 1: 20,000'

ADVANCED BASE CAMP: 17,400'

BASE CAMP: 16,300'

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Purja shared tea with Mingma G in a tent clinging to the mountainside and offered an alliance. Each saw the other as his most formidable rival, but recognized their teams’ complementary strengths and interests. Mingma G considered for a moment before extending his hand through a fog from their breath and the billowing cook pot. “That was the moment we became one team on one mission,” he says. The merger would later recruit another Sherpa guide from SST, bringing the combined Sherpa force to 10 men. The superteam sealed its pact with whiskey and rum on New Year’s Eve. The party lasted till 2 a.m., but Purja’s men were climbing again at dawn. They pre-positioned gear at Camp 2 before bad weather forced them to retreat to base camp. That storm blew the cache clean off the mountain. The crew lost tents, sleeping bags and a trick Purja had been keeping up his sleeve—a paragliding speed wing he’d planned to fly down from the summit. Though he had “backups for my backups,” he had no spare wing. He’d have to trudge back down the mountain with everyone else. After nearly two weeks hunkered in base camp, the weather finally cleared and climbers from all teams began their summit attempts, advancing up K2 according MEN’S JOURNAL

to their skills and ambitions. With most of the SST climbers still spread between base camp and Camp 2, the Sherpa team reached Camp 3 on Jan. 14. Forecasters in Pakistan and Europe were predicting the weather window would slam shut the next day, but Mingma G had his own meteorologist in Kathmandu who foresaw continued good conditions on Jan. 16, with winds less than 10 mph and the temperature a tolerable –40 degrees. As they waited to see whose forecast was correct, Mingma G and three other Sherpas fixed the ropes to Camp 4, which in this brutal season was an empty patch of flattish ground at 26,200 feet. Climbers typically rest there before launching their final summit push, but risking exposure by lingering at that altitude in winter is out of the question. That meant that climbers faced the monstrous challenge of starting from Camp 3 and climbing more than 5,000 vertical feet through the tight passage known as the Bottleneck and across the exposed summit ridge. And then all the way back. Standard practice for such a prolonged push is to start at 9 or 10 p.m. and climb through the night to reach the summit by midday. Purja and Mingma G instead decided to trust the speed of their combined team, starting at the relatively late

OSWALD RODRIGO PEREIRA

climbed Everest in 2016, skipping the usual acclimatization regime to summit in less than a month. The next year, he made the trip up Everest twice, once with an all-Gurkha team, then immediately climbed neighboring Lhotse and Makalu, confirming his otherworldly ability to string together big climbs with minimal recovery. In 2019, he sought to climb the world’s 14 highest mountains, each of which rises into the so-called “death zone,” above 26,267 feet. The record for doing so stood at a little over eight years. Purja did it in six months and six days. Purists groused that he was climbing standard routes using supplemental oxygen, a style not much different from that of tourists. The first objection collapsed when he cleared a logjam atop Summer K2 midway through his record run. Heavy snow had stopped everyone in their tracks until Purja arrived, quickly recruited a scratch team of four Sherpas, and made the summit through chest-deep drifts. After that tour de force, no one doubted Purja was a leading contender on Winter K2. But they still worried he’d claim the prize using oxygen—an affront to the spirit of winter alpinism, which, after all, is about doing things the hardest of the hard way. After fixing ropes nearly to Camp 3,

THE FINAL SUMMIT summit—that had shrugged off assaults by the word’s best alpinists for 34 years fell to the Sherpas in a mere 21 days.

SPLIT DECISIONS Reason tells us that a mountain can’t take offense. But in an environment where risk is thicker than the very air you breathe, reason doesn’t always count for much. On the same afternoon that the Nepalis

rocks and ice below. For all the talk of inexperienced climbers, it was Mingote, one of the most skilled and respected alpinists in the world, who was first to suffer a fatal blow. Word spread along the ropes, and as if on cue, the weather finally turned for the worse, forcing the climbers still on the mountain back down to base camp along with the conquering Sherpas. Still,

SUDDEN, HORRIFIC DEATH ON THE PLANET’S HIGHEST PEAKS IS STILL A GIVEN. approached the summit, Sergi Mingote, the Spanish climber on a personal quest to crest the world’s tallest peaks without supplemental oxygen in 1,000 days, was descending from Camp 3 to continue his acclimatization process before making his final push. Just below Camp 1, climbing alongside veteran Chilean mountaineer Juan Pablo “JP” Mohr in clear weather, Mingote fell nearly 2,000 feet onto the

sudden, horrific death on the planet’s highest peaks is a given, and most surviving climbers remained committed to giving the summit one more shot. Meanwhile, the Sherpa team was whisked via military helicopter to a photo op with Pakistan’s prime minister, and Purja soon revealed that he had indeed summited without oxygen. The host country was eager to co-opt their

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hour of 2 a.m. on Jan. 16—a strategy that would minimize exposure during the night but leave no margin for error. “These things have to be calculated very properly because if you don’t have the speed, you will be on the summit in the dark and there can be collateral damage,” Purja says. “People will probably die.” The wind rose before dawn, strafing the climbers. Frost hit like a blow. One Sherpa’s cheek swelled up as if he’d taken a right hook from a heavyweight fighter, and Mingma G began to lose feeling in his left foot. Luckily, Mingma G’s forecaster was correct. The wind settled with the rising sun, and the team climbed through the day in near-perfect conditions. Thirty feet below the summit, they huddled for their last team member to arrive, then linked arms. In a stunning show of pride, 10 men—Purja, Mingma G, Mingma David Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Pem Chhiri Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa, Kili Pemba Sherpa, Dawa Tenjing Sherpa and Sona Sherpa—stepped as one onto the world’s most elusive summit, rasping the Nepali national anthem into the cold. The winter fortress—the final

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THE FINAL SUMMIT

Determined to prove that his father, Ali Sadpara (left), summited K2 prior to his disappearance, Sajid Sadpara is returning to the mountain to find the evidence.

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THE ODDS RAPIDLY INCREASED THAT THE TRIO HAD SUCCUMBED TO EXHAUSTION, OR WORSE. mountain photographer Elia Saikaly. In his blog, Saikaly wrote that Skatov passed within “inches” of his guide Pasang Kaji and struck the slope below with such force he bounced out of his down bodysuit. His broken body came to rest on the glacier not far from the spot where Mingote had landed 20 days before, leaving the half-dozen climbers who witnessed the fall with a terrible sense of déjà vu. Skatov’s fiancée received the news while she awaited his return in base camp. About an hour later, Sajid Sadpara stopped just below the Bottleneck, about 1,350 vertical feet remaining to the summit. He’d been forced to use an emergency bottle of supplemental oxygen to fight off altitude sickness, and when MEN’S JOURNAL

on its summit bid, and Mingma G says he extended the same offer more than once. “We asked him because he was strong and he’s our brother, and he told us, ‘Look, Nims, I’m guiding here. It’s my job,’ ” Purja says from Kathmandu, with a rare note of melancholy. That fabled city is still bathed in the afterglow of the Nepali summit, as global media spread the historic account of a united Sherpa team shrugging off a longstanding mantle of servitude. Amid the calamity of K2 claiming five more souls, their summit represents hope for a future where Nepali climbers, and indeed their Pakistani brethren, cross once unbreakable barriers and continue reaching upward, ever upward.

ELIA SAIKALY

triumph, but in the thorny politics of this region, there also existed palpable disappointment that Nepalis had claimed the historic winter summit of K2 instead of a Pakistani climber. Back on K2, if Ali Sadpara felt that pressure from his country, he didn’t let on. His job now was to get his client, John Snorri, to the summit, a task that aligned with the ambition he held for himself and his son. After two weeks of atrocious weather, forecasters announced a precarious window in early February, and almost every climber still in base camp launched a summit bid. O’Brady, the American, was first to reach the end of the fixed ropes a couple of hundred yards below Camp 3 on Feb. 4. Judging the last pitch too technical to attempt alone, he waited nearly two hours for SST Sherpa guides Lakpa Temba and Ming Temba before free-climbing to the camp, where they discovered that wind had blasted all tents off the mountainside. They set up the one tent they carried with them, and as more climbers arrived, there were just four small tents for more than 20 people. Anyone left outside overnight would freeze to death, so they all crowded inside. O’Brady’s feet had become dangerously cold waiting at the end of the rope. Now, with seven people packed into a three-man tent, he couldn’t even change his socks. Though he’d fairly flown up the mountain, attempting the summit without proper rest was more risk than

he was willing to accept. “Sometimes the hardest call is the easiest call,” his wife posted on his Instagram. Others made the same calculation and headed back. By first light on Feb. 5, only JP Mohr, John Snorri, Ali Sadpara and Sajid Sadpara were still climbing higher. At 10 a.m., spotters in base camp saw the quartet below the Bottleneck, headed up. As a queue of climbers descended from Camp 3 at that hour, Atanas Skatov, the gregarious Bulgarian, was switching his safety clip between ropes when he slipped off the mountain and tumbled soundlessly over the head of Canadian

the regulator failed, Ali turned his son back to Camp 3 while he forged on with Snorri and Mohr, moving at a strong pace. Waiting alone at Camp 3 as the sun set, Sajid brewed tea and left a light burning in the tent to help his father find his way. But as the interminably long night turned again to morning, the odds rapidly increased that the trio had succumbed to exhaustion or altitude sickness, or been swallowed by an avalanche. The temperature near the summit was falling to about –50 degrees, the razor-edge wind rising. On the radio from base camp, SST expedition chief co-leader Arnold Coster pleaded with Sajid to descend. “Because Sajid is a climber, he understands those things,” Coster said. “But I can only imagine what this boy, because he’s just a boy, was thinking on the way down.” Sajid’s return was a somber feat unto itself, down-climbing solo through 60mph winds. Transported to the regional capital, Sajid faced a scrum of Pakistani reporters who badgered him for some declaration of hope. “No one can survive three nights on K2 in winter,” he said. This summer, he will return to search for the bodies and perhaps evidence of what he firmly believes transpired—that his father, Snorri and Mohr touched the summit of K2 before they perished. The conquering hero, Purja, reveals that he invited Ali to join the Sherpa team

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TREVOR LAWRENCE IS GOING TO BE SOMEBODY

The Jaguars quarterback arrives in Jacksonville already looking like a Hollywood creation. The former Clemson University star is now inviting comparisons to NFL greats that point to a Super Bowl destiny. by S E AN CU N N I N G HAM

H E A R T : K U R T WA R N E R Super Bowl title and MVP St. Louis Rams (2000)

L E G S : PAT R I C K M A H O M E S Super Bowl title and MVP Kansas City Chiefs (2020) Over his Clemson career, Lawrence legged out 943 yards, averaging 314 a season. Mahomes ran for 308 yards in 2020. Although Lawrence didn’t run a 40-yard dash at his NFL pro day, he was clocked at 4.78 coming out of high school, around the same time Mahomes posted a 4.8 in the 40 at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine.

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MEN’S JOURNAL

LAWRENCE: JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS; WARNER: GETTY IMAGES; MAHOMES: HAHN LIONEL/ABACA/INSTAR; NAMATH/FAWCETT: GETTY IMAGES; FLACCO: NICK WASS/AP/REX; SUNSHINE: TRACY BENNETT/WALT DISNEY/BRUCKHEIMER/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK

Lawrence and retired QB Kurt Warner are both open about the importance of their Christian faith. Both entered the league as married men—Lawrence wed his high school girlfriend this year. Warner was an obscure college QB and, like Lawrence, often credits his success to deep religious conviction.

C H A R I S M A : J O E N A M AT H Super Bowl title and MVP New York Jets (1969) Like Broadway Joe, selected No. 1 overall in the AFL draft of 1965, Lawrence has a rare mix of athleticism, arm strength, sex appeal and Southern pedigree. (Namath led Alabama to a national title in 1964.) Neither shies away from bold opinions. Both are renowned for possessing generationally great hair.

H E I G H T: J O E F L AC C O Super Bowl title and MVP Baltimore Ravens (2013) At 6’6”, Lawrence stands above most NFL QBs, virtually all of whom are between 6’2” and 6’5”—seriously, check. The exceptions—Drew Brees, Russell Wilson—tend to be shorter. The best Lawrence Super comp is Flacco, also 6’6”. Ditto 2020 Rookie of the Year Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert.

X - FA C T O R : “ S U N S H I N E ” Lawrence’s “Sunshine” moniker recalls ‘70s high school QB Ronnie “Sunshine” Bass, played by Kip Pardue in Remember the Titans. Like Pardue’s performance, Lawrence’s preternatural football instincts and cool-breeze demeanor make him a perfect teammate—empathetic, laidback, supportive—who can float above the drama that infects every locker room.

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JUL/AUG 2021

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

When it comes to a No. 1 draft pick, there’s no such thing as a sure thing.

THE MEYER FACTOR A QB’s fate depends on his head coach. Jacksonville’s is a rookie. “A good football coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback—but not necessarily in that order,” declared Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant. It works both ways. Great QBs invariably have a Canton-caliber coach. In Jacksonville, Lawrence will be playing for Urban Meyer, who’s never been an NFL head coach. Meyer is a college coaching legend, but that means zilch at the pro

level. Will he play Jimmy Johnson to Lawrence’s Troy Aikman? Johnson became the ﬁrst coach to win a college title and then a Super Bowl with the Aikman-led Dallas Cowboys in 1993. Or will his pro tenure resemble Nick Saban’s? Probably the greatest college coach of all time, Saban left the NFL after two drab seasons in Miami, posting a 15–17 record with zero playoﬀ appearances.

SACK ATTACK Nothing blows up a can’t-miss career faster than a steady diet of turf. Wunderkind Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck was so damaged by sacks (lacerated kidney, anyone?) he retired at 29. If the Jags don’t get better at pass protection, and fast, dealing with London jet lag will be the least of Lawrence’s worries.

Sacks endured by Jacksonville QBs in 2020

Sacks taken by all Tiger QBs over Lawrence’s three years at Clemson

PICKED APART Lawrence’s INT record might not be as impressive as it appears.

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opponents’ lack of it—yo, Citadel!—you’d like that second ﬁgure to be smaller. It equals the combined total by Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones (three MEN’S JOURNAL

QBs selected behind Lawrence in this year’s draft) during their entire college careers. NFL defenses have brought down an army of college legends.

PHOTO JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

Lawrence’s passing in three years at Clemson was incredible: 90 touchdowns, just 17 interceptions. But considering Clemson’s talent and many of its

BOOBY TRAP The Jags franchise puts Lawrence in a perilous place—London.

From 2013 to 2019, Jacksonville played a series of “home games” in London, an arrangement that will continue in 2021. The U.K. is a great place for a pint, but a wicked weekend getaway. For the Jags, playing “at home” in the British capital requires a nearly 5,000-mile flight with a ﬁve-hour time change. It’s a unique challenge, which may explain why the Jags are 3–4 in their London home. An even bigger issue would arise if, as has been

speculated, team owner Shahid Khan—who also owns Premier League team Fulham F.C. and has explored buying London’s Wembley Stadium—relocates the Jags overseas. COVID halted most overseas travel, but it didn’t end the NFL’s dream of having a cash cow franchise in London. Should the Jags want an easy way to mess with Lawrence’s career, a bunch of transatlantic flights each season would be a good way to start.

“THERE’S SOMETHING OF AN ART TO IT, BUT ALL ATTEMPTS AT SCIENCE HAVE FAILED.” —Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick on evaluating quarterbacks

BRAIN TRUST? When drafting QBs, NFL GMs are brilliant … 13.5% of the time.*

37 QBs selected No. 1 overall in NFL/AFL drafts

7 Who won a Super Bowl/ title as starting QB

5 Who won an MVP award

5* Who reached the Hall of Fame *Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning

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YOU DON’T JUST NEED A VACATION. YOU NEED AN RV.

GO ON A REAL VACATION

IS BACK! A restless nation seeks to get outside and stretch its legs again. The amazing destinations? Right here in the U.S.A. The time? Right damn now!

DIVE A SHIPWRECK Key Largo

FLORIDA

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When Spiegel Grove was scuttled in 2002, it came to rest on its side. But a 2005 hurricane pushed it upright, to the delight of divers.

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JUL/AUG 2021

RIDE BIG SKY COUNTRY The Ranch at Rock Creek

MONTANA

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The Ranch at Rock Creek tops out at 75 guests, attracting the likes of Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton—and anyone else who wants celebrity treatment.

A DV E N T U R E I S BAC K !

Copper and iron color the sandstone shoreline. Intrepid kayakers can also access several sea caves.

PADDLE A GREAT LAKE Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

MICHIGAN IF ALL YOU KNOW about Lake Superior is from “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” set the GPS for the town of Munising on the Upper Peninsula’s southern shore and prepare to have 70

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preconceptions scrambled. Launch a sea kayak from Pictured Rocks Kayaking’s ferry-style boat, and paddle clear aqua-green waters up close to towering, arching shoreline sandstone formations with local names like Chapel Rock, Rainbow Cave and Miners Castle. Bragging rights: For a change of equally awesome scenery, hike the shore’s east end to the Grand Sable Banks and Dunes, left dramatically perched 300 feet above Superior by the last Ice Age. MEN’S JOURNAL

ROAD-TRIP THE BLUES Highway 61

PHOTO: AUSTIN BRITT

MISSISSIPPI

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UTAH OK, IT’S NOT REALLY surﬁng, but nothing

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J-Rig rafts. When not thrashing through rapids dubbed Little Niagara and Satan’s Gut, glide calmer waters sandwiched between the region’s famous red rock canyon walls and explore ancient Native American ruins. And at camp each night, refuel on steaks and salmon whipped up by the crew. (Excursions of two or four days are available.) Bragging rights: For big whitewater, straddle a pontoon at the raft’s bow. And then hold the hell on!

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PHOTO: WESTERN RIVER EXPEDITIONS

You might want to pocket the phone and hold on for this one. And, yes, you’re going to get very, very wet.

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A DV E N T U R E I S BAC K !

Though many old trains in West Virginia hauled coal, the Durbin Rocket primarily supplied logging camps and brought back lumber.

The Durbin Rocket WEST VIRGINIA

IF YOU’RE A RAIL BUFF, it’s a thrill just to

hop a 100-year-old steam locomotive that belches cinders while climbing (and climbing) from the tiny town of Durbin, WV, 74

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MEN’S JOURNAL

PHOTOS: DURBIN & GREENBRIER VALLEY RAILROAD

CAMP IN A CABOOSE

into the Monongahela National Forest. But it’s also the only train in the country that will uncouple its camping-outﬁtted caboose at the literal end of the line, the engineer waving as he chugs off and leaves you miles away from civilization (and cell service) for one to three nights. Bragging rights: Before the engine returns, while away the hours hiking and ﬁshing the beautiful Greenbrier River. Don’t forget bear spray.

GO WHERE THE ROAD TAKES YOU. AND THEN SOME.

GO ON A REAL VACATION

“FITNESS IS MORE THAN JUST A BIG BICEPS, IT’S ABOUT THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESS YOU CAN’T SEE.”

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MEN’S JOURNAL

The Big Comeback Trainer Troy Perez on how to rethink your local gym post-quarantine. by J E S S E WI LL I photog ra phy by MARI U S BUG G E

ost 14-year-olds see lifting weights as a launchpad to escape an awkward teenage body. Troy Perez saw the practice as something else: a bridge to connect with his dad, who had been struck with a brain aneurysm. “He was a man’s man—he built everything—and when the whole right side of his body became paralyzed, so much was taken from him physically,” says Perez. The high schooler spent hours daily training his father, noticing his joy as his strength improved, even slightly and incrementally. “I realized then that if you’re not moving, you’re not living,” says Perez. Now 50 years old, Perez is part of a new wave of personal trainers who emphasize that “gains” can be more than just a bigger bicep measurement and who preach that the gym is not just a place to get swole. “Physical fitness is more than getting buff—it’s about other physiological processes you can’t see, and the mind as well.” Perez espouses the philosophy in personal training sessions and at Club Metro USA, his gym in Franklin Park, NJ, where he’s helping clientele get back in shape after the long COVID layoff away from the gym. Perez points to the fact that America was hit so hard by the pandemic in part because so many people here are over-

weight. The CDC’s figures show obesity booming and link it to an increased rate of hospitalization and death. Though the COVID vaccines are providing relief from the worst outcomes, they are not the answer alone. “We all wanted the vaccine, and that’s great,” says Perez. “But now everybody thinks they’re fixed. That’s wrong. You need to get to a local gym and put yourself on a program so that your life is

was the curveball that came for us all. Here’s how to reengage with the gym after that lapsed membership—and get your health back on track:

1. SWITCH IT UP Over a year in quarantine, you might have leaned in on one exercise routine that works for you, like Peloton or your neighborhood run. But now it’s time to branch out. “Switch it up. Hit cardio, weights and flexibility over the course of a week. Stimulate your body in multiple ways and you’ll improve your functional strength.”

2. TAKE THAT FREE SESSION

Perez knows that being physically fit leads to long-term mental health.

more sustainable, with less injury, less sickness, and with a stronger immune system. That’s how you will be fixed.” To anyone who will listen, Perez preaches that as we return to the gym, we should see it as a holistic place to grow both physically and mentally. “Curveballs get thrown in everybody’s life,” says Perez, who says he found his life’s calling when his father fell ill. COVID, he continues, MEN’S JOURNAL

Join (or rejoin) your nearby fitness center and they’ll probably offer you one free personal training session. “Most people don’t take it, and that’s a huge mistake. Nine out of 10 times you’ll hear someone say, ‘I never knew I was doing that wrong.’ ” Use the session to fix your form on your favorite equipment.

3. DON’T CHOOSE A GYM ON PRICE ALONE Some corporate gyms have raced to the bottom, price-wise, with the intention of signing up as many people as possible, then hoping they don’t come back. “Shop around. A few bucks more a month at a local, more personal gym might just be worth it. JUL/AUG 2021

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FOR A LONGER, STRONGER LIFE

W H AT W O R K S F O R M E

SWIM WITH THE SHARK During his career, Greg Norman racked up 91 professional wins and spent 331 weeks atop the Ofﬁcial World Golf Ranking. On the green and in the boardroom, the Hall of Famer lives up to his nickname: The Shark. Here’s how he stays razor sharp. as told to JACK HAWORTH

Stay in the Moment

Supplement Mindfully

Every player wants to win every tournament they tee up in. But when it comes down to the last six or nine holes, they’re not thinking about winning or losing, whether it’s the Masters, the Players Championship or the Dell Match Play. They think about how to play the next shot. And if it turns out they win—get the green jacket on their shoulders or pick up the trophy—then that’s what they trained for. Just focus on how you’re going to apply the best of your abilities, not what event you’re playing in, to give yourself a chance to win.

I’m not the type of guy who just takes a bunch of different vitamins or supplements, but I started taking Novex Biotech supplements in October 2020, and it helped me big-time in the gym. When I take the Oxydrene supplement [for energy and endurance] before workouts, I can feel the difference in my oxygen and performance levels. My recovery time between reps is really quick. I definitely notice better sleep with GF-9 [a natural growth hormone booster]. From an overall wellness standpoint, the benefits have been a pleasant surprise, and it’s really increased my enthusiasm to be more involved with health and wellness.

Take Ownership You’ve got to be aware of your body and what you put into it, as well as what you get out of it. It’s like being the CEO of a company: Your inflow needs to be better than your outflow. At the end of the day, you’ve got to manage the whole process. I think a lot of people shove whatever they can find in their mouths and don’t understand the consequences.

My health—and not having any preexisting conditions—was a big benefactor for me getting through COVID-19 the way I did. Until you have it, you don’t realize what happens, because it’s a different virus than you’ve ever had. I was in a world of hurt—severe aches and pains down to my L4 and L5 vertebrae, which I’ve never experienced before. It wasn’t easy. You’ve just got to grin and bear it.

Research & Prepare

I have an Oura Ring sleep and activity tracker I got when I started taking GF-9—just to see what would happen. The consistency of my sleep has gotten so much better with the GF-9 supplement. I used to be a five-hour guy, but last night I slept for seven hours and

I host a radio show on the SiriusXM PGA Tour channel that has gone very well. So once Sirius became the exclusive radio of the Masters, they approached me to see if I was interested in being lead analyst for this year’s live broadcast. I didn’t make an immediate decision. I had to do my due diligence to understand what’s necessary. I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest. It was like stepping into a dark room and not knowing where you’re going to stub your toe. Obviously, I have a history at the Masters from an emotional standpoint, and for tying the course record at Augusta. The only thing I haven’t got there is a green jacket.

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LEFT: GARY LAND

JUL/AUG 2021

Prioritize Health

Hack Your Sleep

IN THE LAST STRETCH, STAY IN THE MOMENT AND FOCUS ON YOUR GAME. 88

46 minutes. Sometimes I fall asleep in one to three minutes. That’s a testament to working your ass off all day, but also the fact that my body is in a good place.

INSIGHT

To date, the athlete-turnedentrepreneur has designed 70 golf courses. MEN’S JOURNAL

JUL/AUG 2021

FITNESS

WORKOUT OF THE MONTH

SUPER SHREDDER High-octane compound moves to forge your ﬁttest physique yet.

HIIT is effective for melting body fat, but burpeeing to oblivion can be a soul-sucking means to a sculpted end. Instead of reverting to autopilot and blasting through the usual rotation of mountain climbers and jump squats, try this sport-speciﬁc power endurance workout, courtesy of Lululemon’s newest brand ambassador and bootcamp maestro, Akin Akman. “These exercises strengthen neuromuscular pathways and unlock fast-twitch muscle ﬁbers to help you move freely across all planes of motion,” Akman says. Rather than aggravating knees and ankles, these moves strengthen joints and tendons while improving bone density. “You’ll move and react sharper, becoming more receptive, focused and alert,” says Akman. Plus, all this single-leg work promotes longevity and peak performance.

DIRECTIONS Exercises 1 and 2 are AMRAP supersets: Do as many reps as possible in 1 minute, then immediately begin second move without rest. Repeat superset on opposite side; that’s 1 round. Rest 45 seconds between supersets and 2 minutes between rounds. Perform 3 to 5 rounds.

JUL/AUG 2021

1A. Side Lunge Pivot Reach With Row Hold dumbbells at sides with a neutral grip, feet hip-width apart. Take a big lateral step out with left leg, pivoting foot and torso to face forward, as you descend MEN’S JOURNAL

into a lunge and reach arms to frame front leg. Engage lats and draw elbows back to row weights. Drive through left foot to pivot back to start. Go immediately to 1B.

by B RIT TANY S M ITH I photog ra phy by MARI U S BUGG E

1B. Skater With High Pull and Lateral Hops Stand on left leg with soft bend in knee and right hand holding a dumbbell, palm facing you. Lean forward as you raise right leg behind you, and draw left arm back for counterbalance. Jump left foot to the left. Stabilize, then immediately jump back to the right, landing on right foot as you explosively perform a high pull, bringing weight to shoulder. Stay on right foot and hop laterally (side to side) 4 times. Go back to 1A; switch sides.

2A. Single-leg Oblique Dip Stand on left leg with right leg bent at 90 degrees, foot flexed, holding a heavy dumbbell in left hand. Don’t rush: Keep obliques and glutes engaged as you dip toward the left. Go immediately to 2B.

2B. V-formation Tennis Drill Stand in a split stance, right foot forward, left foot back, holding a medicine ball with both hands. Rotate your torso

3. BOSU Ball Side Plank to Snatch Plant right hand on BOSU ball, then come into a side plank, shoulder stacked over wrist and feet staggered with bottom foot behind, top foot in front, hips off the ground. Hold a dumbbell in your left hand, palm facing you. Engage core and snatch weight overhead, then lower and repeat. Note: You can do a high pull instead of a snatch. Make it easier by coming into a forearm plank or removing the BOSU altogether. Perform as straight set AMRAP: 1 minute each side.

and hips, drawing med ball to left hip. Shuffle forward at a diagonal, plant your feet, then wood-chop the med ball from

right hip to above left shoulder keeping arms mostly straight. Shuffle back and repeat. Go back to 2A; switch sides.

FEAST

BONELESS BBQ

Sink your teeth into marbled rib-eyes and brats bursting with meaty ﬂavor. The catch? These “meats” are made from plants.

BEYOND MEAT BRAT ORIGINAL SAUSAGE

IMPOSSIBLE BURGER PATTIES

NASOYA EXTRA FIRM ORGANIC TOFU

A wizardly amalgamation of peas, fava beans and rice protein is emulsiﬁed with potato starch and apple ﬁber to achieve the texture of pork sausage without soy or gluten binders. Beet juice provides color, and an algae-derived casing lends a satisfying sizzle. These links hold up beautifully on the grill, so you can get a full-on char. For a plot twist, slice them up for a killer addition to grilled pizza. Compared to pork brats, each link has 43 percent less fat and 2 more grams of protein (16g).

It looks, cooks and tastes like beef—but this juicy impostor has no antibiotics or animal hormones, no cholesterol and 19g protein (same as 80/20 chopped meat) from soy. Impossible ferments genetically engineered yeast (more sustainable than the traditional method of harvesting soy plants) to create heme, an iron-rich, crimson-colored molecule that makes the patty “bleed.” These quarter-pounders also generate 89 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than cows do.

With just four ingredients (mainly water and soybeans) and very little sodium, tofu brings the greatest versatility to your grill. Stack cubes with vegetables and even fruit (think bell peppers, zucchini and pineapple), then play with marinades (marinate overnight to maximize ﬂavor), sauces and glazes for knockout kebabs. Thai peanut, pineapple teriyaki or classic BBQ brings this low-fat, cholesterol-free food to new heights. While it’s lower in protein (9g), it has all nine essential amino acids.

JUL/AUG 2021

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FIELD ROAST CLASSIC SMOKED FRANKFURTER A little smoky with that signature snap when you sink your teeth in, these hearty franks pack 20g of protein. They’re made by forming a “dough” of water, wheat gluten and plant oils with traditional flavorings: fresh onion and garlic, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, spices like paprika and celery seed and hickory smoke. They’re steamed in an oven and come fully cooked. Just get these babies fire-licked, then load ’em up with all the fixings for a classic ballpark dog.

THE HERBIVOROUS BUTCHER RIB-EYE Seitan is wheat gluten flour mixed with water. When seared, boiled, baked and steamed, the fibrous texture builds to mimic the mouthfeel of steak, then vegan fat is folded in to create marbling. This rib-eye gets its iron-rich flavor from tomato paste. And while it’s flavored with soy, Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard, you can still use your favorite marinades and dry rubs. A 4-oz serving has 26g protein, less than 1g sugar, just over 300mg sodium and 280 calories.

By MALLO RY CREVE LI N G I Phot o by CH RI S WE LLHAU S E N

Get your drive back with

I feel better, I have leaner muscle mass, my endurance is better, my performance is better. It’s incredible.* – Greg ‘The Shark’ Norman

6 Greg age 6

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*#"ĲĐŉ yÌŉ μŉÌ ºâμŉ¡μŉyŉ ºÖ ® Ĳ ®¡μ ĝŉÅ®y ºĲ ºμÒÈº®® ŉ ®¡μ¡ y®ŉÒÈ¡y®ŉÒºŉ¡μ È yÌ ŉ´ yμĝŉÌ ÈÖ´ŉĬ ®ºº ĭŉ ÈºâÒ ŉ ºÈ´ºμ ŉ® á ®Ìŉ èŉčďĉŮĜŉ ®®ŉºÒ Èŉ μ ĂÒÌĩ ÒÌŉμºÒ ŉ¡μŉÒ Ì ŉÒ ÌÒ¡´ºμ¡y®Ìĩ reviews are the individuals' personal opinions and have not been studied in relation to the GF-9 compound. Greg Norman achieved his results while taking GF-9, TestroVax, and Oxydrene, and following a diet and exercise program. Individual results will vary. †These

statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

WELLNESS

Low-Volume HIIT, High Rewards Love boot-camp classes but in a time crunch? Less than 20 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can reap just as many beneﬁts as the usual 30 minutes a day, per research published in the Journal of Physiology. Along with strong quads and a six-pack, “HIIT improves the heart’s ability to pump blood and circulate oxygen and nutrients to organs and muscles,” says study author Angelo Sabag, Ph.D. Give it a shot with 10 x 60 seconds of running or cycling at 80 to 90 percent of max effort with 60 seconds active recovery (i.e., walking) at 30 percent effort.

Health News A roundup of discoveries, updates and advice to keep you living and feeling your best. by JULIA SAVACOOL

DON’T CRACK UNDER PRESSURE Forget psyching out your competition. Instead, get an edge in your next race or game by psyching yourself up with pressure training—a technique that during practice simulates the stress of high-stakes competition. Athletes who undergo some form of it consistently outperform peers, new research shows. A coach might put up a leaderboard in the locker room where everyone’s practice times are ranked. Or an athlete might post daily weightlifting goals on Instagram, then force himself to report results. Utilize visualization and positive self-talk during pressure training months before the big event to become immune to game-day anxiety.

GET A LOAD OF GREENS If you’re wavering between carrots, tomatoes and kale to accompany your next meal, go for the greens. Researchers at the University of Vienna discovered that when green vegetables break down, they release something called sulfoquinovose (SQ), a plant-derived sugar that provides essential food for your gut bacteria to feast on. It also supports myriad body functions. Prioritize spinach, which has the highest amount of SQ of greens.

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JUL/AUG 2021

MEN’S JOURNAL

LUCAS ZAREBINSKI; ANDREW CUTRARO

MEN’S JOURNAL (ISSN 1063-4651), is published 6 times a year in Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/Jun, Jul/Aug, Sep/Oct, Nov/Dec by a360 Media, LLC., 4 New York Plaza, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10004. Periodical Rates Postage Paid

is the real deal In the first week of taking GF-9 my energy came back. Then the muscle. Then my clothes started fitting better.** – Shaquille O’Neal

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Your growth hormone (GH) levels start declining in your 20s. But it's not your fault. It's just a normal part of the male aging process. Low energy, poor sleep, increased body fat, and reduced drive have all been associated with declining GH levels. GF-9™ production of GH, so you can start feeling like yourself again.*

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ħħ#"ĲĐŉ yÌŉ μŉÌ ºâμŉ¡μŉyŉ ºÖ ® Ĳ ®¡μ ĝŉÅ®y ºĲ ºμÒÈº®® ŉ ®¡μ¡ y®ŉÒÈ¡y®ŉÒºŉ¡μ È yÌ ŉ´ yμĝŉÌ ÈÖ´ŉĬ ®ºº ĭŉ ÈºâÒ ŉ ºÈ´ºμ ŉ® á ®Ìŉ èŉčďĉŮĜŉ ®®ŉºÒ Èŉ μ ĂÒÌĩ ÒÌŉμºÒ ŉ¡μŉÒ Ì ŉÒ ÌÒ¡´ºμ¡y®ÌĩÈ á¡ âÌŉ are the individuals' personal opinions and have not been studied in relation to the GF-9 compound. During his 4-month transformation, Shaquille worked with a personal trainer, followed a diet and exercise program and used GF-9, TestroVax, OxyDrene and other vitamins. Results may not be typical and individual results will vary. *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. ©2021 All Rights Reserved. BR17488-1

The Last Word

DON CHEADLE A baller from way back, the can’t-be-pigeonholed actor sheds his superhero status to play the villain in Space Jam 2: A New Legacy. Word on the street is you can play hoops—did you grow up playing? We played in the driveway, but I never played organized ball. It wasn’t until I graduated from CalArts and got the job on Fame that I started playing with Jesse Borrego. He was a huge basketball freak and the one who reinstituted it back into my life. My love for it never died until my knees took care of that. Game over? It happened not too long after I played with 44. We had a nice, spirited game, and the next day it was hard to get off the couch. It’s different now. I miss it. Greatly. Did you get to ball with LeBron? We never played officially. He was on the IR at the time and trying to work back into it. He was also practicing at night with the team. We tried to make sure we didn’t risk him having an even greater injury, other than the acting he had to do in Space Jam. So we’d just play horse during takes. If you could, what professional sport would you play? I’d play basketball because I love it. And I’m a single-digit golfer. I imagine if I concentrated on it, and put in the time, I could be a good amateur golfer. But that’s probably not going to happen.

What’s your favorite thing about yourself right now? I’d have to say my shoes. It seems kind of 96

JUL/AUG 2021

You seem pretty stylish. That’s because I take the clothes that are used to dress my character from the sets. I don’t know if I’ve bought clothes in 15 years, other than underwear and socks.

RE AL QUICK I cook the best…

when my wife cooks. Favorite quote

When you’re wrong, apologize. When you’re right, say nothing. I feel at home in...

California.

100%. I don’t know that they would choose to be my kids and come up under me, but I love being a parent. I love being a dad. I love being a husband. I love my family. I would do it all over again. I was the dude who, as soon as I could, I took my kids with me everywhere. I took them to all the meetings. I’d ask the receptionist, “Can they just be here and draw?” I brought them into a meeting with Michael Mann. They tore up everything. I was like, “Is that cool?” and he was like, “I have five daughters. They can tear up everything.”

Let’s try that again: Humble brag? What’s your favorite I played golf with thing about yourself Obama recently. We right now? bet. One of us won, I’m happiest that my kids, and one of us lost. who are 26 and 24, are still cool with being around my wife and me. When we ask This summer will look a lot different them if they want to go out to dinner together from last year. What’s next? and they say yes, we’re like, damn, they Hawaii. I’m working for part of the summer still want to hang out with us. That’s dope. and traveling for a little of it. We have a place If you had to do it over again, would in Hawaii, and that’s where we like to chill you still choose to be a parent? when we have time off. MEN’S JOURNAL

ANDREAS LASZLO KONRATH

You are good at speaking out against injustice. Why is it a risk worth taking? As actors, we have a platform and the ability to raise the din on issues that need and crave attention. It would be a waste of the platform if you didn’t use it to bring awareness to things that often get pushed to the side or drowned out.

shallow when I say it out loud. My shoe game is really not on point.

By DAN NY BO NVI S S UTO