Jesse Dufton has climbed Scottish sea stacks and Arctic peaks without being able to see the rock face in front of him. We talked to him about the experience of climbing sightless. Plus:

The Blind Climber Pushing His Sport to New Heights

Jesse Dufton is one of the most remarkable athletes you’ve never heard of. A member of Great Britain’s paraclimbing team, his climbing career is a testament to what’s possible within the sport: Due to a genetic condition, Dufton’s eyesight has gradually deteriorated from 20% central vision at birth to just 1% today.

He hasn’t let it slow him down. Best known as the first blind person to lead-climb the Old Man of Hoy, a famous Scottish sea stack, in 2019 — which was the subject of the award-winning documentary Climbing Blind — he’s also the first blind person to claim first ascents in the Arctic, having completed his first E2-graded climb in 2020.

Dufton spoke to us about his formative routes and his hopes of becoming the first blind person to nail a first ascent in Antarctica.

The YouTube Guide to Whiskey

BY KIRK MILLER

I write a lot about whiskey. Until recently, that meant the last thing I wanted to do was consume more media about brown spirits. My iPad/YouTube time was for movie trailers and endless examinations of the Alien sequels.

It was actually my editor Mike who got me into the whiskey subculture on YouTube. I was afraid it was going to be a lot of old white dudes sitting around and nerding out on bourbon for 20 minutes in a basement, and, well, there’s a lot of that. But I also found a treasure trove of whiskey explainers, buying guides and interviews with distillers that offered a different perspective from the print world. Some, dare I say, were actually fun to watch.

There’s plenty of whiskey talk on social media, but I feel like a spirit that requires patience to create deserves a slower, more nuanced discussion — ideal for YouTube (minus the endless ads, but I will not go premium, Google). So sit down, take a sip and pull up a clip from these whiskey hosts.

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How to Spend a Perfect Weekend in New River Gorge, America’s Newest National Park

For travelers to the newly minted national park, the New River Gorge, Fayetteville, West Virginia is one of several gateway towns to base yourself. Not only is it easily accessible, around two hours’ drive from the Charleston airport in the capital city, but it’s also a destination in its own right, populated with outdoors lovers and creatives.