ED ABBEY’S 1975 eco-fantasy The Monkey Wrench Gang centered on a plot to use four explosives-rigged houseboats and one black bikini (a distraction) to blow up Glen Canyon Dam. It was the classic, unsurprising conflict between wilderness lovers and the Man. But in recent years, dismantling dams has gotten paddlers, curmudgeons, biologists, and utility companies—wait for it—agreeing. Starting in late July, the removal of 47-foot-high Marmot Dam, on Oregon’s Sandy River, will renew 11.5 miles of quality Class IV whitewater and 100 miles of steelhead habitat. The project will kick off eight takedowns in the next five years in the Pacific Northwest—including Glines Canyon Dam, on the Elwha, the tallest U.S. dam ever demolished.

Illustration

Why, with such high energy costs, the change of heart? In short, an even scarier price tag. A 1986 change to the Federal Power Act made it illegal to keep ignoring the environmental degradation; now, with many of the country’s 76,000-plus dams approaching retirement age, it’s cheaper to scrap one than bring it in line with federal regulations. As a result, more than 200 dams have been removed across the country since 1999. Fifty-eight came down last year alone. “You look long and hard at it and ask, ‘Is [breaching] sane, given that we’re trying to deal with climate change?’ ” says John Esler, acting director of hydrolicensing for Marmot Dam owner Portland General Electric. “But our customers really want us to do it. They would be shocked if we had an opportunity to do this and didn’t take it.”

Here are 16 other breaches in the works.

WASHINGTON

Glines Canyon Dam, Elwha River: In a few decades, the hundreds of thousands of salmon that once swam the Elwha could return, along with fishing access via a hiking route in Olympic National Park.
Condit Dam, White Salmon River: Removal of the 125-foot Condit Dam would give this steep river five more miles to kayak and likely bring back historic runs of salmon and steelhead.
Snake River: Salmon recovery on the Snake and Idaho’s Salmon River got a boost from a recent appeals-court ruling that requires federal agencies to reconsider their plan of action. Among the options is American Rivers’ proposal to breach four behemoth dams downstream of Clarkston.

CALIFORNIA
Klamath River: Owner PacifiCorp is negotiating with stakeholders while the feds work on a final environmental-impact statement. The 350 new miles of running river would boost chinook and coho salmon runs and sustain fishing communities in California and Oregon.

MAINE
Veazie Dam and Great Works Dam, Penobscot River: Two removals will restore 11 sea-run fish species (including Atlantic salmon) and open 12 miles for paddling, from the base of the Milford Dam to the tidewater.

PENNSYLVANIA
Wittlinger Dam, Yellow Breeches Creek: Removal this year of the Wittlinger Dam will expand a popular trout fishery by 35 miles and create a water trail for paddlers on the Yellow Breeches.

NORTH CAROLINA
Dillsboro Dam, Tuckasegee River: A breach will mean the possibility of a whitewater park in the town of Dillsboro and provide more freshwater for the endangered Appalachian elktoe mussel. The dam should come down in the next year.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Woodside I and II dams, Twelvemile Creek: Two of three dams are slated for removal. Whitewater connoisseurs say the bedrock bodes well for a lower-gradient version of Georgia’s classic Tallulah Gorge.

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APRÈ;S-SKI DRINKS ARE as much a part of a day on the slopes as snow, but hangovers can kill plans for fresh tracks. So what’s a sociable shredder’s best bet? Sake. With few congeners—hangover-inducing by-products of fermentation—and no histamines or sulfites, sake may be the cleanest-burning fuel on the market. “I think it’s purer than other alcoholic beverages,” says alternative-health guru Dr. Andrew Weil. “It’s freer from the chemical compounds that cause the negative effects.” A study last year in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry even suggests that organic acids in sake can protect the skin against UVB rays. And with imports up 30 percent between 2003 and 2004, American drinkers have more options than ever before, including 11 varieties from Oregon’s SakeOne, the first American-owned sake brewery. A word of advice: Serve chilled. “The fruity, floral complexities get bludgeoned out of existence when it’s heated,” says American sake sommelier John Gauntner, the only non-Japanese person to have won the Kikizake Meijin award for “accomplished sake taster.”

Four can’t-go-wrong bottles from Beau Timken, owner of the San Francisco store True Sake ().

Let loose with a big kampai! at one of these ski-town sushi dens. » Mamasake, Olympic Valley, California In the base village at Squaw Valley, with ski and snowboard flicks on the big screen. 530-584-0110, » Nikai Sushi, Jackson Hole, Wyoming Wyoming’s largest sake selection, plus late-night, DJ-fueled crowds on weekends. 307-734-6490, » Shabu, Park City, Utah Everything from top-shelf bottles like Shuzuku Divine Droplets ($110) to unsolemn creations like chocolate saketinis. Live music nightly. 435-645-7253 » Kenichi, Aspen, Colorado A downtown Aspen favorite. Manager Scott Brasington offers impromptu sake primers for the uninitiated. 970-920-2212,

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In the old days, trying to live with an environmental conscience could be tricky, if not downright unpleasant—filled with hard-to-find organic bulgur salads, tiresome carpools, and scratchy hemp ponchos. But there’s good news for greenies everywhere: You no longer have to live like John the Baptist to contribute to a healthier planet. Being kind to the earth has never been more hip, luxe, delicious, and deprivation-free. Simply put, a growing commitment to do no harm is transforming culture and commerce, making it possible to play hard and live well while living responsibly.


“It’s a lot easier being green now than it was ten years ago,” says David Gottfried, author of Greed to Green—a 2004 memoir about his transformation from grasping real estate developer to green do-gooder—and founder of the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit that certifies and promotes eco-friendly design. Today, green cred is a status symbol being sought by builders worldwide, including architects of such landmarks as the Freedom Tower, at the World Trade Center site, where wind turbines will help power the building. In fact, green is so red-hot that corporate America is getting the picture, creating nontoxic, recycled, and energy-efficient products, from skateboards to motherboards. “Being green spurs corporate innovation,” says Michael Porter, the pioneering professor who heads Harvard University’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.


The result? Today you can choose green when you ski, drive, buy a dishwasher, or drink a beer. You can savor transcendent, sustainably produced chocolate, swig organic coffee, and heft a solar-paneled backpack on your way to hanging ten on a green surfboard (but first use natural sunscreen). The fashionista in you can enjoy eco-jeans or plush socks made from recycled polyester. And in 34 states, select utility companies will let you check a box on your electric bill and buy renewable energy, like wind power.


“When we look at nature, we do not see a glass half empty,” says renowned architect William McDonough, a guru of the green-design movement, whose buildings are famed for their “ecological intelligence.” “We don’t even see a glass half full,” says McDonough. “We see a world postively brimming with abundance.”


Take off that hair shirt, read our 13 hot trends—and let your glass runneth over.

Harmony House

Architecture

“The term ‘ecological building’ is sort of an oxymoron,” says David Hertz, a leading green architect who designs spectacularly sustainable eco-manors (and mere houses) for everyone from Hollywood stars like Julia Louis-Dreyfus to, well, his own family. The irony, he says, is that the greenest structures are no structures at all—or tiny, movable ones. Still, this 44-year-old surfer and father of three constructed a beautiful 2,700-square-foot family residence near the ocean in Venice, California, using the latest planet-friendly technologies and materials, including one he invented himself. Syndecrete—a smooth concrete made from recycled fly ash (the byproduct of incinerated coal) and post-consumer industrial products like electronics, glass, and carpet fibers—graces his floors, counters, sinks, tubs, and planters. Sliding doors open to three inner courtyards, including one with a solar-heated, chlorine-free lap pool. Après surfing or beachgoing, the family can wash sand off in a solar-heated outdoor shower, then dry wet stuff on their bathroom’s solar-heated radiant floor. “For L.A., this place is modest in scale and large in inventiveness,” says Hertz of his multi-pavilioned home, which is sited to catch prevailing sea breezes and cloud views. “I can tell which way the wind is blowing from inside.”


1. For ventilation and natural indoor temperature control, the windows and skylights are “climate responsive”—programmed to open and close automatically by sensing atmospheric temperature and moisture.


2. Outfitted with photovoltaic panels, the rooftop maximizes solar gain via parabolic oxygen-free glass tubes that concentrate the energy from rays. The solar power runs the water heater.


3. Inside the upstairs master bedroom, and in bathrooms throughout the house, bidet-like paperless toilets offer a rear and front wash-and-dry option, with a push button that blows water and then warm air.


4. Beds and chairs on sleeping porches are made from sustainable teak and organic cotton batting and fabric.


5. Embedded with radiant tubes for circulating solar-heated hot water, the carpet-less floors offer a clean and efficient closed-loop heating system—and provide thermal mass to warm the house.


6. On most days, Hertz’s house creates “nega-watts”: It makes enough solar-powered electricity to sell some back to the utility company. On foggy days and at night, it draws from the grid.


7. Made of stucco, concrete, glass, and remilled timber such as Douglas fir, the house’s exterior echoes its interior, adding to the flow of indoor-outdoor living space. The stucco is pigment-integrated—free of paint and volatile organic compounds.


8. Made of rammed earth—the soil excavated from the site—the wall alleviated the need to buy soil or use wood to fence the property.


9. Hardy, drought-tolerant plants thrive in the open areas, keeping the foliage as eco-positive as possible.

Low-Carb Living

Greenhouse Gases

Modern life—from driving to jetting—has unavoidable enviro costs. How high are yours? Go online and check out your “carbon-dioxide footprint,” a calculation of the amount of greenhouse gases that your existence generates. Then shrink your footprint with simple lifestyle tweaks (see the “Green Light On” boxes on these pages). Or, for as little as $15, let groups like Future Forests (), Climate Care (), or Trees for the Future () offset your CO2 by planting trees or supporting clean-energy projects. Read up—and erase your trace.

Eco-Chic

Gear

Board Certified
Making surfboards is so toxic that glassers don respirators to protect themselves from pollutants. But Patagonia Surfboards—started by Fletcher Chouinard, son of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard—aims to change all that. The company has switched to low-polluting foam, chromium-free fiberglass treatments, and epoxy resin, which is lighter and more ding-resistant than the widely used noxious polyester resin. $495; 805-641-9428

Soul Boots
Jade Planet’s casual hiking boots for urbanites have evolved from the company’s first recycled-material shoe—developed by founder Julie Lewis with input from Bill Bowerman, of Nike fame—to the Pachira, a durable stomper with artificial leather derived from plastic soda bottles, a hemp-and-cotton-blend upper, and a sole made from 40 percent tire rubber. When you’ve worn them down, simply return the boots to Jade Planet and they’ll turn them into stuffing for dog beds. $75; 503-297-2093,
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Recyclable Razors
Who knew the green bug could find space in your dopp kit? It will if you use Recycline’s toothbrushes and razors, which are made from 100 percent recycled plastic, chiefly from discarded Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. When you’re finished with a brush or razor, mail it back to Recycline in the included postage-paid envelope. It’ll be turned into plastic lumber. $7, four razors; $4, toothbrush; 888-354-7296,

Sustainable Socks
Sure, Teko’s line of toe cozies may be knitted for competitive sports, but its earth-friendly fabrics belie a softer edge: nontoxic dyes, Swiss-grown organic cotton, chlorine-free merino wool, and recycled polyester (a process that turns No. 2 plastics into fiber). Wear ’em once and you’ll be soled. $10–$23, depending on fabric; 800-450-5784,

Barrier Chief
Sensitive-skin types can try Jason Natural’s 30+ SPF, a chemical-free sunscreen that uses zinc oxide and titanium dioxide instead of petroleum-based protection. $19; 877-527-6601,

Green Jeans
New York fashion company Rogan has collaborated with U2 frontman Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, to create Edun (read it backwards), a rock-star-worthy full-fashion collection made in eco-friendly, sweatshop-free factories in Africa and South America. Available at Saks Fifth Avenue, from $163;

Rocky Mountain Maestro

Ski Resorts

Auden Schendler

SKIING’S LEADING EDGE: Auden Schendler and recycables at Aspen

After decades of wiping trees off mountains, plunking down swanky high-rise condos in alpine paradises, and spewing diesel fumes into the air, the ski industry is finally starting to wake up and smell the CO2 . Surprisingly, they’re being led by one of the ritziest players out there: Aspen Skiing Company. In 1997, prompted by growing concerns about climate change, ASC president and CEO Pat O’Donnell, 66, created the resort’s Environmental Affairs Department, the American ski industry’s first. Two years later, Aspen hired superstar enviro Auden Schendler, 34, a former corporate-sustainability researcher at energy-conservation nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, as its environmental-affairs director. Under Schendler’s guidance, ASC (which operates Ajax, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass) started recycling everything from bottles to building materials, and implemented guidelines that call for all new construction to incorporate improved insulation, sustainably harvested wood, recycled carpeting, and more efficient cooling and heating systems. Aspen now has an on-slope, no-impact microhydroelectric plant, which uses snowmaking runoff to power a turbine, and an employee foundation that in seven years has raised nearly $700,000 for conservation projects. Need more? Ajax’s Cirque chairlift runs on wind power, and 5 percent of Ajax’s energy purchase comes from renewable sources—more than any other ski resort in the country. Even the snowcats and snowmobiles at all four ASC mountains run on biodiesel. Schendler’s efforts have garnered the resort numerous awards—including certification from Switzerland’s International Organization for Standardization, which evaluates operating standards of everything from shoe manufacturers to ski areas. It was the first of its kind awarded to a U.S. ski resort. “In the green-business world, that designation is the Nobel prize of environmental responsibility,” says Schendler. “We’re in the big leagues now.”

The Wheel Deal

Automobiles

Smart Car

Smart Car

Revolutions have a way of mixing things up, as the auto world surely knows. Veggie oil is the new diesel. Green is the new black. What’s a driver to believe? Well, here’s one turn signal you can trust: In 2004, sales of hybrid vehicles, featuring gas-and-electric engines, shot up 80 percent over 2003, to more than 85,000. And hefty haulers like the 2004 Ford Escape—the world’s first hybrid SUV—are selling faster than dealers can say “great gas mileage.” But small is also the new green, especially when it comes to a hyperefficient gas-only import that’s so puny it’ll fit in an SUV. Here’s what’s under the hood in 2005:

Smart Car
This two-seat Euro buggy (pictured above) looks like a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe—and gets a whopping 60 mpg. While DaimlerChrysler, Smart’s corporate parent, weighs whether to make the metallic pod in the U.S. or not, Zap ()—a California-based electric-car-and-scooter manufacturer—has been buying Smart Cars in Europe, floating them across the pond, reengineering them to meet U.S. standards, and selling them for a base price of $19,800. “They’re four feet shorter in length than the Mini Cooper,” says Zap CEO Steve Schneider, “and just as fun.”

Mercury Mariner
To help meet demand, Ford plans to launch this hybrid SUV in late 2005—a year early. A cousin to the Ford Escape, the Mariner will offer up to 33 mpg in a new body surrounding Ford’s 155-horsepower drivetrain, with luxury trim and a smoother ride.

Toyota Highlander
Due to debut in June, the Highlander will be the first seven-passenger, four-wheel-drive hybrid. Its V6 gas engine and 50-watt electric motors (one in front, one in back) create 270 hp and zero-to-60 acceleration in less than eight seconds—while getting 28 mpg.

That’s Eco-tainment!

Hollywood

Before Gary Pearl, executive producer of the 2004 NBC miniseries 10.5, set out to cinematically destroy the environment with a massive earthquake, he wanted to make sure the set didn’t contribute to, um, destroying the environment. To that end, his production company, Pearl Pictures, used only sustainably harvested wood, ditched Styrofoam for reusable dishes, and required workers to refill their water bottles, among other major changes.

By the looks of it, filming on environmentally friendly sets seems to be a growing Hollywood trend. Once known for its apathetic attitude, the industry is now doing everything from printing scripts on recycled paper to leasing hybrid cars. Last fall, the Environmental Media Association (EMA) awarded its first-ever Green Seal Awards, honoring productions that take initiatives such as using nontoxic building materials, clean diesel fuel, and low-emissions transportation. In addition to 10.5, winners included the feature films A Cinderella Story and Garden State and the sitcom According to Jim, which goes so far as to use tablet PCs instead of paper scripts. “In the third season of According to Jim,” says Jeffrey Hodes, an executive producer, “we used nearly 300,000 sheets of paper. We’ve easily cut that in half.”

Still, making a film set green can come with a price. For his 2004 adventure thriller The Day After Tomorrow, director Roland Emmerich shelled out $200,000 of his own money to ensure that the set would live up to his environmental standards. Pearl, who is sticking to his eco-friendly ways with the sequel to 10.5, currently in production, believes the practice will continue. “It’s not hard to do this at all,” he says. “Nobody is going to say, ‘I want to pollute more.’ “

“We’re on a mission to make all of Hollywood green,” says Debbie Levin, president of the EMA, which teams producers with groups like Future Forests that help companies reduce or “neutralize” CO2 emissions and take other environmental steps. Next year, Baldwin Entertainment Group is expected to release a film based on tree squatter Julia Butterfly Hill’s best-selling book The Legacy of Luna, which co-producer Paul Bassis predicts will be shot on “the greenest set ever.” One thing he’s planning on: complete carbon neutrality. Stay tuned.

Switch Stance

Skateboarding

It’s no surprise that skateboarding—which is responsible for the existence of several hundred wooden-ramp-filled skate parks in America and the production of more than 200,000 wooden decks every month—is tough on forests. Enter Bob Burnquist, 28, a Brazilian-born, California-based pro skateboarder who cofounded the Action Sports Environmental Coalition (ASEC) in 2002. The nonprofit uses its street cred to convince board and park builders to choose sustainably grown materials surfaced with eco-friendly composites of water, recycled paper, and cashew oil.


In August 2002, Burnquist raised his effort to the international level with a Greenpeace benefit and skating competition in Manaus, Brazil. (Burnquist, who grew up in São Paulo, is one of Brazil’s top skaters.) The event featured a ramp endorsed by the Bonn, Germany–based Forest Stewardship Council, an international agency that certifies sustainable forestry. This year, ASEC hopes to green up the Gravity Games and NBC’s Action Sports Tour. It also plans to construct 20 new eco-friendly skate parks and adjacent organic gardens in at-risk communities. ASEC executive director Frank Scura says a key to continued success is leveraging its athletes’ grom appeal. With 82 percent of America’s nearly 12 million skaters 17 years old or younger, in an industry generating $5.2 billion annually, that could mean big bucks for the ASEC cause. “Everyone votes every day with their dollars, and we have a lot of influence on the youth,” says Burnquist. “It’s hard to change older people set in their ways, but these kids are going to be the leaders and CEOs of the future.”

Inn Sync

Lodging

Lodging

REST ASSURED: Suite living at El Monte Sagrado

Hotel Triton
San Francisco, CA
From biodegradable cleaning products to office documents printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink, earth-saving attention to detail is high at this downtown boutique hotel. Rooms on the Eco Floor have organic linens and towels, energy-efficient light bulbs, and water-saving fixtures. Or book one of the Celebrity Suites, designed by the likes of Woody Harrelson and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Doubles, $149–$219; 800-800-1299,

El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa
Taos, NM
The designers of this two-year-old high-desert sanctuary seamlessly wove conservation elements into a luxurious environment. As you soak in the private hot tub outside your Morocco-themed suite, you may not notice that it’s chlorine-free, or that the tropical gardens are living on recycled water, or that the wrought-iron tree sculptures actually integrate solar panels. Doubles, $255–$1,095; 800-828-8267,

The Lenox Hotel
Boston, MA
When the first guests at this posh 1900 hotel rolled up in their horse-drawn buggies, saving the planet was not yet in vogue. Now there’s at least one environmental upgrade in place for each year of its existence. Highlights include infrared motion sensors that help cut energy consumption, double-paned windows, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Doubles from $189; 800-225-7676,

Basic Green

FAQ

FAQ

I have a “friend” who swears it’s better to drive his ’78 Gremlin than to buy new wheels, since manufacturing cars is so toxic. Is he wack?

The next time you pass your pal’s heap, feel free to chuck your mochaccino at it. The increased fuel efficiency and decreased emissions of a new (post-1996) car more than compensate for the energy used to produce all of its steel, aluminum, and rich Corinthian leather. On average, driving a car consumes ten times more energy over its lifetime than building one.



Is there any defense for a lush lawn?

Sorry, Mr. Cleaver, but a typical lawn is the environmental equivalent of fertilized asphalt—or worse, if you use phenoxy herbicides and other weed killers and pesticides, 102 million pounds of which are dumped on 17 million acres of residential turf each year. On average, 30 to 60 percent of city water goes to lawn care, and more than half of it evaporates or pours down storm drains, toxic chemicals and all—polluting creeks, rivers, and water everywhere. The only way to redeem your soul is to use drought-resistant, slow-growing turf varieties, like zoysia grass, which need less H2O. Better yet, try native prairie grasses, wildflowers, or whatever grows naturally in your eco-zone. And, please, forgo the Roundup.


Paper or plastic?

Ah, a question for the ages. The answer? Neither. The real solution is to use that cloth tote bag the Sierra Club sent with your last renewal. Barring that, you should opt for (drumroll, please) plastic—which wins by a narrow, subjective margin. Plastic is more energy-efficient to produce than paper and takes a bit less juice to recycle. Then again, thanks to double-bagging, the average shopper uses more plastic bags than paper, negating plastic’s advantages. So ask yourself this: Would you rather waste oil or trees? Plastic comes from unrenewable petroleum. Paper sacks involve mowing down millions of trees a year—although, theoretically, they’ll grow back by the time your great-grandchildren visit Last Living Trees National Park. Mr. Green votes for the tote.



Do green household cleansers actually do the job?

It’s impossible to vouch for every phosphate-free soy-‘n’-aardvark-saliva product, since consumer eco-cleansers (unlike commercial ones) aren’t subject to standardized tests. But thanks to naturally derived (non-petroleum-based) cleaning agents and nonchlorine bleach, major brands like Seventh Generation and Simple Green are dandy sanitizers. Plus they come in recyclable packaging.



I’m on the fence: What’s better—electric or gas?
Electricity (usually produced from coal or by Homer Simpson) is so inefficient, 80 percent of it is lost to the ether during production, transport, and usage. Gas is 90 percent energy-efficient. So the gas is greener, no matter what side of the fence you’re on.

Revel Without a Pause

Vices

vices

Gorge without guilt on Ithaca Fine Chocolates’ Art Bars (named for the recycled-paper “art cards” inside, featuring works by American artists and children from around the world). They’re processed in an energy-efficient plant in Switzerland, and with every bite you’re helping support Bolivia’s organic-cocoa farmers. 607-257-7954,

Grounds for Change, based near Seattle, uses only organic, shade-grown, and Fair Trade– certified beans, then ships them in recycled-content boxes—letting you be a java snob without promoting pesticides, clear-cutting, paper waste, or low wages for coffee workers. 800-796-6820,

Fort Collins, Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing Company, which puts out the cult Fat Tire brew, employs a full-time sustainability coordinator, recaptures and reuses water, relies on wind power, and turns old keg caps into tabletops. 888-622-4044,

If the roads in Salem, Oregon, smell like French fries, thank Kettle Foods—a snack-food biz whose company cars run on biodiesel made from safflower and sunflower cooking oils. The potato-chip maker uses only solar power and donates nearly 90 tons of potatoes each year to local food banks. 503-364-0399,

Lest you think Ben & Jerry’s has cornered the market, meet Northern California’s Straus Family Creamery, whose organic ice creams are just as tasty and eco-friendly. The dairy is powered by a methane digester that converts cow poop into electricity, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and creating enough energy to keep it mostly off the public power teat. 415-663-5464,

The E-viator

Celebrities

His year kicked off with a Golden Globe for best actor, he’s made nearly 20 films (for which he now rakes in a rumored $20 million a pop), and he’s only 30 years old. Could life get any better for Leonardo DiCaprio? Yeah, he’ll tell you: The world could be a lot cleaner. Few stars push the green message as hard as DiCaprio—and he doesn’t just roll up to the red carpet in a Prius (the only kind of car he owns) to do it.

DiCaprio didn’t always live the life of e‘s. In 1998, a gorgeous beach on Thailand’s Phi Phi Leh Island got bulldozed during the making of his movie The Beach. But that year he also launched an enviro foundation in his name. Its Web site () is a cyber-bullhorn, packed with news and “take action” tips about global warming, biodiversity, and sustainability. He supports groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Green USA. And, along with Global Green and Tree Media Group, he’s also writing and narrating movie shorts about conservation. Leila Corners-Peterson—Tree Media’s president and one of DiCaprio’s co-writers for the films—says the star never lets his green work slip. “Even in the midst of the Golden Globes,” she told ���ϳԹ���, “he e-mailed me and asked me where we were with everything. I think that speaks a lot to who he is.”

Get a Load of This

Appliances

Appliances

From your HDTV monitor to that other reigning rectangle, the fridge, it’s now possible to buy nature-nurturing appliances everywhere. To find great green goods—like those below—look for the Energy Star (), the government-backed energy-efficiency label.

Fisher & Paykel DD603 Dishwasher
F&P knows your dirty secret: You run the dishwasher half empty. No problem. The DD603 (pictured above) uses 57 percent less electricity than standard models and has two independent washing drawers. Half a load uses just 2.4 gallons of water, six less than old-school units. $1,419; 888-936-7872,
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Sun Frost RF-16 Refrigerator
The way-cool RF-16 runs up to five times more efficiently than a standard fridge, one of your home’s biggest energy hogs. $2,497; 707-822-9095,

Bosch Nexxt Premium WFMC 6400 Washing Machine
The 6400 uses 76 percent less electricity and 72 percent less H2O than traditional washers—and can save more than 70 gallons of water a week. From $1,199; 800-921-9622,

Panasonic
From a 50-inch HDTV monitor ($3,300) to a progressive-scan DVD/VCR combo ($170), Panasonic, an eco-innovator, sells 400-plus energy-efficient items. 800-211-7262,

Out of the Box

Mobile Homes

Jennifer Siegal

METAL WINNER: Architect Jennifer Siegal puts the fab in prefab.

Living in a heap of metal is suddenly ultrahip, thanks to a new breed of talented prefab designers. Take 39-year-old Jennifer Siegal: The founder and principal of the Venice, California–based Office of Mobile Design (), she builds kinetic, affordable, wheelless homes that tread lightly and travel well—so you can take them with you when you move.

A hot-dog-cart operator while in graduate school, Siegal—whose own home in Los Angeles is part bungalow, part shipping container—admires all things easily disassembled. “Portable structures,” she says, “are dynamic, accessible, and sustainable.” Her Portable House—which starts at $79,000 for 480 square feet—is fully constructed, then trucked to your site. Her modular, endlessly reconfigurable Swell House gets assembled like Legos at your dream spot and features Biofiber (a recycled cabinet composite made from sunflower seeds), finishing material made from recycled newspapers, and “ply-boo” (renewable bamboo) flooring—for $200 per square foot. And if you’re picturing your uncle’s cheap vinyl double-wide—with its propensity to blow across the plains in tornado season—think again. Siegal’s sleek, modern models sit on solid foundations, with optional multistories and annexes. The dwellings in EcoVille, her 40-unit live-work development for artists, in downtown Los Angeles, are 60-by-12-foot boxes, stacked two high. She’s even designed a (not-yet-built) pod of neoprene-skinned, solar-powered, floating Hydra Houses, for a future of rising oceans. Homes, as she sees it, should be more like computer chips and less like immutable castles. “We have our iPods, our cell phones, our laptops. Mobility is integrated seamlessly into our lives, yet our residences are stale,” she says. “If we want to be lighter and more compact, why shouldn’t our buildings be, too?”

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While carbon fiber and titanium are today’s much-hyped materials of choice for everything from sunglasses to F1 race cars, bamboo is emerging as nature’s own sustainable performance material. The supergrass is nearly as strong as steel and can be woven as soft as silk for one-twentieth the cost. It also grows pesticide-free, self-regenerates when cut down, and can reach 100-foot maturity in three years. In the mid-nineties, flooring manufacturers became the first modern companies to take advantage of bamboo—Asians have used it in construction for centuries—but, as these products demonstrate, you can now find it in everything from bikes to underwear.

bamboo

1.) There’s a five-year wait for the handcrafted split-cane fly rods made by Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts–based Per Brandin. But in return, patient anglers get unequaled feel and aesthetics. $3,500; 413-625-6259,

2.) Bamboo’s dense cellular structure makes this 48-inch skateboard, from Bambusa, strong yet responsive. $209; 858-350-8103,

3.) Active-wear designers now weave antimicrobial bamboo into fabrics that mimic silk, cashmere, fleece, and cotton, like this T-shirt from Bamboo Textiles. $10; 714-469-1483,

4.) Custom bike builder Craig Calfee has created a 3.5-pound, vibration-damping bamboo road frame that can withstand the toughest pedal masher. $2,500 (frame only); 800-965-2171,

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COLORADO :: ASPEN & ASPEN HIGHLANDS

FORGET THE FURS AND THE FENDI. Beyond the bling, Aspen is still America’s quintessential ski village, a funky cosmos where World Cup steeps belong to the fearless.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Where else can you sit next to Kurt and Goldie while wolfing lunchtime bratwurst, then follow the sun around Bell Mountain’s bumps for the rest of the afternoon?
NUMBER-ONE RUN: The finest float in Colorado? Atop Aspen Highlands is the 40-degree, 1,500-vertical-foot Highland Bowl. After the hike up, and before the glorious, seemingly endless descent, rest your bones in the summit swing and feast on high-octane views of fourteeners Pyramid Peak and Maroon Bells.
HOT LODGE: Chichi yet cool, luxe yet Lab-friendly, the St. Regis Aspen features s’mores in its cozy après-ski lounge, beds for beloved canines, and a spanking-new 15,000-square-foot spa-complete with a little something called the Confluence, artificial hot springs where more than the waters mingle. (Doubles from $385; 888-454-9005, )
SOUL PATCH: Tucked in the trees on Aspen Mountain are shrines to Elvis, Jerry Garcia, Marilyn Monroe, and, of course, Liberace. But Walsh’s Run, one of the steepest drops on Ajax, is where you’ll find sacred ground: The Raoul Wille shrine, a tiny shack festooned with prayer flags and elk bones, honors a longtime local who died climbing in Nepal.

NEW MEXICO :: TAOS

Taos Ski Resort

A GROOVY CONVERGENCE of Native American culture, ski-hard style, and the freest of spirits, Taos is the black diamond in New Mexico’s high-desert crown, offering steep transcendence (and lots of green chile) in the wild, wild West.
WHY WE LOVE IT: ¡Viva variedad! Park your journeyman Subaru wagon or beat Jeep CJ right next to that limited-edition Mercedes with the Texas plates—they’ll appreciate the contrast. Then look heavenward and feast your begoggled eyes on runs so close to vertical they’ll steal your heart (or sink it, if you’re toting a prohibited snowboard).
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Longhorn, a lengthy and snaky double black, shoots between palisades of tall pines, dropping 1,900 vertical feet to a catwalk that spits you out at the base. Masochists should save it for the end of the day, when the bumps are the size of small igloos.
HOT LODGE: In the heart of town is a grand adobe abode called the Fechin Inn, built beside Russian artist Nicolai Fechin’s former home, a 1927 structure listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The elegant, Jacuzzi-equipped 84-room hotel is just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Adobe Bar, current home of wicked margaritas. (Doubles, $114-$208; 800-746-2761, )
SOUL PATCH: Dog-tired and depleted? Stop off at art-infested Taos Pizza Outback, where the cooks spin tasty sesame-sprinkled crusts, blank canvases just waiting for your own creative topping conglomerations.

WYOMING :: JACKSON HOLE

DUDE, IT’S LIKE MECCA. If you take sliding around on snow seriously, you’ll eventually make a pilgrimage to the Hole. Hardcore types rightfully revere the sick Wyoming vertical, heavy powder showers, and Euro-style open backcountry. Yep, this is the place . . . to pack a shovel, transceiver, probe, and change of underwear.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Rip, rip, rip all you want: The harder and stronger you ride, the more these Tetons throw at you. And once you think you’re the master, listen for the laughter coming from the lines that have yet to see a descent.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: You’ll find the finest fall-line skiing in the country here, so steel yourself for the best run of the bunch: The Hobacks is 3,000 vertical feet of crazy steeps. Enjoy.
HOT LODGE: When legendary ski mountaineer and cinematographer Rob DesLauriers got sick of living out of his van, he built the new Teton Mountain Lodge, a premium slopeside property with rustic Wyoming written all over it. Just don’t let the high-end accommodations and dining fool you; Rob’s still a ski bum at heart. (Doubles, $149-$329; 800-801-6615, )
SOUL PATCH: The Mangy Moose remains Jackson Hole’s must-hit saloon. The bleary-eyed crew from Teton Gravity Research, pros decked out in next year’s wares, and perma-tan instructors call this place home. But don’t fear the locals; just get what they’re having.

UTAH :: PARK CITY

LIKE ST. MORITZ WITH MORMONS, Park City is not only a vast powdery playground; it’s a true ski-in/ski-out town with big-city swank. After you’ve zonked your mortal coil dropping off cornices and carving down chutes, head to town and knock back an espresso: You have to be awake to enjoy the finer things.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Oh, the mountain comes off as harmless at first—what with those rolling hills flush with cruisers—but it drops the hammer a couple lifts in, making for delighted schussers, from expert on down. There’s terrain-park action, and the superior lift service (14 chairs, including four high-speed six-packs) can move more than 27,000 butts an hour.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Not for the timid or the kamikaze, O-zone drops 1,000 feet off the lip of Pinyon Ridge, down a 30- to 40-degree face, before delivering you into forgiving tree trails that lead to a high-speed six heading right back up.
HOT LODGE: Right on chic Main Street is the Treasure Mountain Inn, a locals-owned lodge with a great little café. This eco-minded pad has a range of homey accommodations, from simple studios to decked-out apartments, as well as a Jacuzzi and heated pool beneath the stars. (Studios, $125-$300; 800-344-2460, )
SOUL PATCH: Once a wild silver town, Park City’s gone all civilized. The high-end gastronomic fusion served up at 350 Main will have you double-checking your coordinates—and for boozophobic Utah, the cocktails are mighty sinful.

BRITISH COLUMBIA :: WHISTLER BLACKCOMB

DOUBLY HEINOUS STEEPS mean twice the fun at Whistler Blackcomb, home to the biggest vertical in North America and an astounding variety of snow conditions. Sister peaks, these British Columbia bad girls practically flaunt their grand vert, true glacier skiing, and leg-burner runs up to seven miles long.
WHY WE LOVE IT: By virtue of the vast and varied terrain (larger than Vail and Aspen combined), this resort has always drawn a cosmopolitan crowd. The number of rowdy young immigrants will surely redouble as opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics approaches. And the village is at only 2,140 feet, so sea-level folk can let loose without fearing hypoxia-empowered hangovers.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: These peaks have long been a favorite stop on the World Cup circuit, thanks in part to the exhilarating 1.5-mile highway known as the Dave Murray Downhill, which rolls off the south shoulder to Whistler’s base.
HOT LODGE: The Fairmont Chateau Whistler is a wonderland of sprawling penthouses and romantic turrets at the foot of Blackcomb Mountain. Luckily, there are more than two dozen bistros and nightclubs nearby to tempt you out of your mountain-view room on the stormier nights. (Doubles, $256-$446; 800-606-8244, )
SOUL PATCH: From the top of Horstman Glacier, traverse under the summit cliffs and cross the ridgeline via Spanky’s Ladder. This brings you to a trove of hidden chutes plunging through a cliff band down to Blackcomb Glacier.

CALIFORNIA :: MAMMOTH

THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VIBE dominates Mammoth, reflecting surf culture at its most authentic. Witness the resort’s massive superpipe and meticulously sculpted terrain parks, home turf of snowboard phenoms like Tara Dakides, Shaun White, and Olympic silver medalist Danny Kass.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Rising high in the eastern Sierra, this hill is surrounded by the Ansel Adams and John Muir wilderness areas, and Yosemite’s just a few valleys north. The volcanic terrain, nice and steep everywhere you look, gets layers of prime frosting from Pacific storms that drop up to four feet of snow at a time. Otherwise, it’s clear blue skies.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: From the summit, drop off the back side and hike to fantastic Hemlock Bowl: Ski left and follow the signs (or locals), then enjoy Mammoth’s deepest shots. Afterwards, hop on Chair 14 and rest up for another hike. Repeat.
HOT LODGE: If cookie-cutter condos don’t do it for you, check out Mammoth Country Inn, a Bavarian-style bed-and-breakfast. The seven rooms feature bedding worthy of royalty, and two have Jacuzzis. Your hosts, the Weinerts, serve up home-style breakfasts, and it’s just a short scamper to the bus. (Doubles, $145-$185; 866-934-2710, )
SOUL PATCH: Geothermal springs with panoramic mountain vistas, anyone? South of town, just east of Highway 395, Hot Creek gloriously blends a f-f-freezing stream and feverish springs. (Stay out of the scalding stuff.) Sadly, panties are mandatory here. But you can drop your drawers at wilder hot spots like Hilltop and Crab Cooker.

COLORADO :: STEAMBOAT

SOMETIMES COLORADO’S I-70 is a bit, well, constipated, so head for secluded Steamboat, some two hours north. We’re talking relentless powder, some of the West’s best tree skiing, and a chill ambience—on the slopes and back at the lodge.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Located in the Park Range—where Pacific-born storms usually hit first in Colorado—Steamboat soaks up heavy snow dumps that often skip peaks to the south and east. And many of the aspens are perfectly spaced, as if a gift from God. From the mountain, take a free shuttle the three miles to tiny, colorful Steamboat Springs, where you’ll find a surprising slew of kick-back bars and upscale eats.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Step into the Closet, a forested roller coaster spilling down the west side of Storm Peak, and shake off the dust. Just make sure you’ve got your turns dialed—and wear a helmet.
HOT LODGE: Across from the gondola, the plush 327-room Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel serves up a deluxe spa, a fitness center with steam bath, an elegant steak-and-chop house, quiet rooms replete with hardwood furniture, and a cavernous stone lobby with, yep, a stream running through it. (Doubles from $159; 877-269-2628, )
SOUL PATCH: On the Grand’s spacious deck, which looks out on 8,239-foot Emerald Mountain, two truly giant Jacuzzis and a heated outdoor pool offer some of the most luxuriant après-ski lounging in the Rockies.

MONTANA :: BIG SKY

Big Sky Ski Resort

LONE MOUNTAIN ERUPTS from the Madison Range like an 11,194-foot catcher’s mitt, nabbing storms swollen with dry Rocky Mountain powder. The utter lack of lines just sweetens the pot. With almost twice as many acres as skiers, Big Sky virtually guarantees instant lift access all day long.
WHY WE LOVE IT: You can dress like a cowboy—unironically—and then snorkel through the fresh, pausing to ogle the remote 10,000-foot summits of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Come night, it gets so dark you can see the band of the Milky Way splitting the sky.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Off Lone Mountain’s south face, roar almost 3,000 vertical feet down the ridiculously wide Liberty Bowl and through the Bavarian Forest, where you can bob and weave through spruce and fir.
HOT LODGE: Want quintessential Montana? Rent a log cabin with a hot tub on the deck: The Powder Ridge Cabins have woodstoves, vaulted ceilings, and a lift nearby. (Cabin with three doubles, $525-$772; 800-548-4486, )
SOUL PATCH: See what “big sky” really means: The tram up to the peak offers an eagle’s view of the resort’s most daring lines, plus thousands of square miles of wilderness. Watch a local work the Big Couloir—a 50-by-1,500-foot lick of 48-degree terror—and it won’t be just the views stealing your breath.

UTAH :: ALTA & SNOWBIRD

Snowbird Ski Resort

THESE PEAKS ARE THE ODD COUPLE of mountain resorts—think hardcore Alta dudes and snazzy Snowbird debs—but their souls are united by heavenly powder.
WHY WE LOVE IT: In a word, the white stuff. At Little Cottonwood Canyon, the light-and-dry goods are nonpareil. The evidence? When the Ringling Bros. circus sued Utah for using the slogan “The Greatest Snow on Earth,” the case went all the way to the Supreme Court—and Utah won.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: A long, technical traverse perches you atop Alf’s High Rustler, a 40-degree, 2,000-foot pitch aimed straight at the Alta parking lot. Legend has it that veteran ski-school director Alf Engen once bombed the whole run, with nothing but nipple-deep powder to slow his mad descent.
HOT LODGE: Snowbird’s Iron Blosam threads the ski-lodge needle: It’s got all the perks of a high-end hotel—two-story windows, private decks, full kitchens, and an outdoor hot tub-but it’s steeped in a laid-back atmosphere that reminds you of a family cabin in the mountains. (Doubles, $249-$539; 800-453-3000, )
SOUL PATCH: After Snowbird’s last tram heads down for the day, don’t be afraid to join the contingent of ski-crazy locals who gather at the top of Lone Pine for what is usually a low-key party, then take in the sublime view of the spectacular, canyon-framed sunset.

VERMONT :: STOWE

IT’S THE BARNS AND COVERED BRIDGES draped with snow that tip you off: You’re in classic Vermont. This historic resort hails from the hungry thirties, but you’ll be plenty satisfied. With just 4,000 or so permanent residents, Stowe’s got small-town soul galore, and the mountain tempts with wild, winding expert runs—and a slew of less challenging ones.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Time has made Stowe a giant on the eastern ski scene, with the help of 4,393-foot Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak. You can’t beat it for nordic action: The Touring Center at Trapp Family Lodge (owned by a member of the singing von Trapp clan, of The Sound of Music fame) features excellent trails. And where would snowboarding be without a certain resident named Jake Burton?
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Test your mettle on the famous Front Four—National, Lift Line, Starr, and Goat—the mountain’s snaking double-black centerpieces. Prepare to be humbled.
HOT LODGE: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the sumptuously restored Green Mountain Inn pumps up the luxe with modern accoutrements like gas fireplaces, marble bathrooms, Jacuzzis, and a heated outdoor pool. Forget fatigue with a Swedish deep-tissue massage—or have hot cider and homemade cookies by the blazing fire. (Doubles from $125; 800-253-7302, )
SOUL PATCH: Get a little wacky with the locals during the Stowe Winter Carnival, in late January: Among other fun, there’s off-season volleyball, a snow-golf tournament (costume required, natch), and the chilly Wintermeister triathlon.

COLORADO :: VAIL & BEAVER CREEK

TALK ABOUT HIGH CONTRAST: These resorts may be virtually side by side, but they don’t see eye to eye. Vail is the gold standard for manicured pistes and big bowls, regularly making it one of the country’s most popular destinations, while Beaver Creek is more of a sedate escape with a profusion of secret stashes.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Via the combo of dry snow and friendly terrain, intermediates feel advanced—and experts feel untouchable (if they didn’t already). Roughly half of the resorts’ vast terrain is taken up by the famous Back Bowls, at Vail, and Beaver Creek’s long, challenging Talons, many of which cut through the trees.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: On Vail’s Ledges, the steep bits run 300 feet, then level out and let you regain your wind, then drop another 300, and so on—descending for more than a mile, all the way home. At Beaver Creek, Harrier rolls off the west shoulder of Spruce Saddle, becoming a wide, hilly cruiseway perfectly pitched for GS turns.
HOT LODGE: The Austrian-style Hotel Gasthof Gramshammer has been au courant for 40 years. The 38 rooms are arrayed with knee-deep down comforters and traditional woodwork, game dishes are served up in the cozy Antlers dining room, and high indulgence awaits at the steam room, sauna, and two indoor hot tubs. (Doubles, $195-$245; 800-610-7374, )
SOUL PATCH: Don’t miss the Colorado Ski Museum: Dig the roots of modern snow sports and revisit such luminaries as World War II heroes/powder hounds the Tenth Mountain Division, among others.

CALIFORNIA & NEVADA :: HEAVENLY

CAN YOU SAY GIGANTIC? Good, because that’s what Heavenly is. Plus it can claim some of the most ravishing views of any American ski hill: It rests in the limbo between the supernatural blue of Lake Tahoe and the scorched Nevada desert far below.

WHY WE LOVE IT: Nobody skis off-piste on this mountain! A private wonderland awaits those who venture into the trees or take a little hike, but if you want to stay on track, you’ll find that the sheer immensity (almost 5,000 acres) spreads out the skiers nicely. Besides, the groomers are like boulevards—and just as smooth—so you can really dig your turns here.

NUMBER-ONE RUN: The Milky Way Bowl, a ten-minute hike up the Skyline Trail, has a steady vertical drop and an utter dearth of other souls. Continue down the chutes of Mott Canyon and have a chuckle at the expense of all the schnooks who ever turned their noses up at this peak.

HOT LODGE: Heavenly’s speedy gondola is two minutes from Lake Tahoe’s Embassy Suites Hotel, very cushy digs with a dizzying nine-story atrium, glass roof, flourishing gardens, and 400 two-room suites. (Suites from $200; 877-497-8483, )

SOUL PATCH: The spectacle of Caesars Tahoe is Disneyland for the savvy gambler. A nonstop bacchanal revolves around slot machines, top-notch shows, and the ubiquitous gaming tables—but without that Vegas overkill. When in Rome . . .

ALBERTA :: LAKE LOUISE

JAW-DROPPING vistas of Banff National Park greet the lucky folks up top of Canada’s biggest ski area, and world-class terrain awaits below.
WHY WE LOVE IT: This place splits styles: At the south side’s terrain park, huck junkies can air their grievances with gravity while fans of pure carving hit the quieter north face to ride the bowls.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Take the SUMMIT Platter up 8,765-foot Mount Whitehorn and cruise Brown Shirt, taking in views of the Bow Valley. Or head out from the Larch area, locate Lookout Chute, and disappear into the trees—just make sure you reappear.
HOT LODGE: From the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, gaze out at the glacier-fed namesake lake. To fight off the Canadian chill, try steaming truffle fondue at the hotel’s Walliser Stube; wash that fungus down with some ice wine, made from grapes frozen on the vine. (Doubles, $344; 800-441-1414, www .fairmont.com/lakelouise)
SOUL PATCH: With faraway Victoria Glacier as backdrop, a spin on Lake Louise’s skating rink makes for high entertainment. During January’s ice-carving competition, you can see frozen stars like Winnie the Pooh, then toast marshmallows at the braziers nearby. (Appropriately enough, the silly old bear has been quoted as saying, “Fight fire with marshmallows.”)

COLORADO :: TELLURIDE

A TRUE COWBOY TOWN where down jackets thankfully outnumber mink stoles, Telluride still caters to the glamorous. Spot a hot starlet living it up in one of downtown’s ritzy establishments? Big whoop—unless she was thrashing her guide in the steep and deep earlier.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Due to its remote setting—there’s just one road leading into this southwestern Colorado box canyon-the mountain always gets far fewer folks than it’s designed to handle. So the queues are quick, the runs pretty much empty, and the midmountain bartenders not too busy. NUMBER ONE RUN: As you float, fly, or surf down the three ridgeline miles of See Forever, looking 100 or so miles west toward Utah’s La Sal Mountains, you are permitted, though not really encouraged, to holler corny lines from Titanic, like “I’m on top of the wooorld!”
HOT LODGE: Live it up at Wyndham Peaks Resort & Golden Door Spa: Think king-size beds, homemade cookies on your pillow (if you ask nicely), and the San Juan Mountains out your window. Head to the spa and baby your fried quads by soaking them in the 102-degree mineral pool—perfect prep for a 50-minute Skier Salvation massage. (Doubles from $229; 970-728-6800, )
SOUL PATCH: Melt into an overstuffed leather chair, order a horseradishy bloody mary, and toast tomorrow in Wyndham Peaks’ high-ceilinged great room. That’s good medicine.

MONTANA :: BIG MOUNTAIN

CRAVE A COCKTAIL of wide-open groomers, perfectly spaced trees, and backcountryesque meadows? Look no further than crowdless Big Mountain. And with lots of off-piste powder stashes just waiting, it’s no wonder so many of the snow junkies here sport free heels.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Monster storms transform the mountain’s evergreens into “snow ghosts,” and locals—suited up in polyester straight out of the Carter era—love to rip through this hoary host. And it doesn’t hurt that the skyline’s fraught with the lofty peaks of the Canadian Rockies, Glacier National Park, and the Great Bear Wilderness.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: East of North Bowl, you’ll find hundreds of feet of superb vertical, starting with the Nose, then continuing down two shots known as Performance and the Chin. Don’t look for these last two on the map, though: After hogging all that fluffy stuff, you won’t want to tell anyone, either.
HOT LODGE: The ski-in/ski-out Kandahar lodge, right off the mountain, just screams Montana. Think wooden beams, a river-rock fireplace, and rustic rooms with lofts and a bunch of primo down sleeping gear. (Doubles, $109-$309; 800-862-6094, )
SOUL PATCH: When the lifts shut down, the planks and boards stack up outside the Bierstube, where you’ll find local folks swilling pints of Moose Drool beside Seattle techniks escaping the city for the weekend. Be sure to ask your barkeep for one of the ‘Stube’s mysterious souvenir rings—it’s a surprise—then tip at least 20 percent. But you knew that.

CALIFORNIA :: ALPINE MEADOWS

ALL MOUNTAIN AND NO ATTITUDE, Northern California’s Alpine Meadows is designed to take maximum advantage of the spectacular terrain. Though it’s got that laid-back, down-to-earth vibe the West is known for, it’s certainly no bore; far from it. It simply lacks the attendant aggression of resorts with similarly radical steeps.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Chutes and rock bands line this High Sierra bowl, spilling out into gentle grades—so there’s something here for all skill levels. The hike-to skiing and open-boundary policy (not found at neighboring Squaw Valley) equal acres and acres of untouched snow, and the hill’s south side is enormous, wide-open, and drenched with sunshine in the morning.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Palisades, a classic double black diamond off the Alpine Bowl lift, looks skyscraper-steep once you’re staring down it, but fear not: Since it’s north-facing, the snow’s way silky.
HOT LODGE: From the lifts, it’s just a quick ten minutes to the unbeatable Resort at Squaw Creek, with its 403 fine rooms, four restaurants (ranging from diner fare to haute cuisine), outdoor swimming pool, Jacuzzis, and nearby recreation like dogsledding and sleigh rides. (Doubles, $229-$349; 800-403-4434, )
SOUL PATCH: The northern ridge, beyond Estelle Bowl, may take a quarter of an hour to hike and traverse to, but the sweet silence and enormous cedars you’ll find will make you forget the trip. As will the powder.

UTAH :: THE CANYONS

A DECADE BACK, the resort that would become the Canyons was a pretty shabby, and not too popular, locals hill. Now it’s the biggest, most unabashedly go-go resort in Utah-and, miraculously, it’s crowd-free.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Besides the sharp new base village, it’s got the real goods: Days after other Wasatch resorts are all skied out, you’ll still be finding powder stashes hidden among the—count ’em—eight peaks.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Take the hike up Murdock Peak right off the Super Condor Express Lift, then choose from among seven tempting lines. You’re bound to find your favorite flavor: steep glade, wide-open bowl, or gnarly chute?
HOT LODGE: When NBC’s Katie Couric and Matt Lauer wanted posh digs for their two-week Olympics gig, they picked the deluxe Grand Summit Resort Hotel—for good reason. After a soak in your jetted tub, survey the scene at the heated outdoor pool below, and the rest of Summit County, from the bay windows flanking your fireplace. And, of course, there’s the supreme access: If the gondola were any closer, it would be inside. (Doubles, $279; 888-226-9667, )
SOUL PATCH: Take a snowcat-drawn sleigh to midmountain, cross-country or snowshoe it through the woods, and hit the resort’s secluded Viking Yurt for a delectable five-course Scandinavian feast. Go ahead and carbo-load—afterwards, the snowcat will drag you right back down to base.

OREGON :: MT. BACHELOR

THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE gave top skier Bill Healy, of the Army’s Tenth Mountain Division, permission to put three rope tows up the face of central Oregon’s Bachelor Butte way back in 1958. Since then, his dream come true, now known as Mt. Bachelor, has grown to 71 runs serviced by ten lifts. And for those seeking big air, there are three terrain parks.
WHY WE LOVE IT: With as much as 30 feet of snow piling up annually in the mountains of Deschutes National Forest, Mt. Bachelor is one of the Pacific Northwest’s treasures, and an agreement with the Forest Service has spurned commercial development, preserving its wild side.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Head for the Northwest Express chair and exit, if you dare, to Devil’s Backbone, a mettle-testing black diamond. Though steeper up top, it’s good and bumpy almost all the way down its nefarious spine.
HOT LODGE: The Inn of the Seventh Mountain, between Bend and Mt. Bachelor, is the place to sleep if you want first chair the next morning. The lodge-style decor—wooden beams, fireplaces, leather recliners—just oozes cozy, and with the Cascades so close by, grand views are there for the feasting. (Doubles, $135-$195; 800-452-6810, )
SOUL PATCH: Hit the Lodge, in Bend, for pints of local 20″ Brown Ale and scrumptious buffalo burgers. Then make good and sure you patronize the McMenamins folks—God love ’em—renovators of, among others, the old St. Francis school in downtown Bend, home to a hotel with Turkish baths, a pub restaurant, and a throwback cinema.

IDAHO :: SUN VALLEY

HOLLYWOOD HOTTIES, Olympic skiers, and John Kerry may flock to sexy Sun Valley these days, but America’s first ski resort has been drawing us hoi polloi since ’36. Swaths of immaculate corduroy run for miles here, so pray your legs last. No sweat if they don’t: French chefs and other fanciness await below.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Fantastic snow- making gear, five-star base facilities, and runs so fast and long you can attempt to break the sound barrier—after stuffing your face with beignets, of course.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: Crank the bindings and launch down Warm Springs. After a continuous 3,100-foot vertical loss on a blue groomer, your quads will glow like an Apollo capsule on reentry.
HOT LODGE: Stay in Ketchum, Sun Valley’s neighbor and the epicenter of the après action. The Best Western Kentwood Lodge, situated right in the mix, has an airy stone-and-wood lobby, big rooms, a hot tub, and a pool. (Doubles, $159-$179; 800-805-1001, )
SOUL PATCH: Clomp into Apple’s Bar and Grill, at the base of Greyhawk, and mingle with folks who packed it in after logging 30,000 feet of vert—by lunchtime. Notice all the passes tacked to the wall? You could once trade yours for a pitcher of suds. Talk about priorities.

VERMONT :: KILLINGTON

KILLINGTON’S legendarily long season stretches from October through May (sometimes into June), and with seven mountains, the resort has more acreage than any place in the East. Lately, though, Killington’s known as the town that tried to secede—from Vermont, not the Union—a tribute to residents’ fiery, tax-evading Yankee spirit.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Behold the Beast’s 200 runs—including high-altitude bumps, endless cruisers, terrain parks, and a halfpipe—which keep legions of devotees coming back thirsty.
NUMBER-ONE RUN: You don’t have to be an ace to experience the hair-raisingly steep moguls of Outer Limits, on Bear Mountain—just grab a pint and watch the wipeouts from the deck of Bear Mountain Base Lodge.
HOT LODGE: Nab yourself some comfy slopeside digs: The Killington Grand Resort Hotel is well worth the substantial change you’ll drop. This 200-roomer offers studios and suites—all with kitchens, many with fireplaces—and the views from the outdoor Jacuzzis and pool are unbeatable. (Doubles from $150; 877-458-4637, )
SOUL PATCH: It may have turned 40 last year, but the Wobbly Barn still parties like a teenager. This steakhouse-cum-nightclub has a hoppin’ happy hour, live music, and a serious boogie jones.

MONTANA :: MOONLIGHT BASIN

Moonlight Basin Ski Resort

EVERY GOOD SKI AREA has a split personality—part nurturer, part dominatrix. But no resort behaves more like Jekyll and Hyde than Moonlight Basin, the one-year-old resort 45 miles south of Bozeman that shares a boundary with Big Sky. First it lulls you, then it tries to kill you.

The lull part: Moonlight is a real estate venture, and the kindly blue and black pistes that meander down the north face of 11,194-foot Lone Mountain are tailored to those looking for vacation homes. The new Lone Tree lift will fill out those offerings this winter, adding more than 500 acres of open glades and unintimidating expert runs.

Moonlight’s sadistic side? Just look up: The Headwaters is a forbidding wall striped with nine chutes pinched by bands of sharp shale and scree. Three Forks is the boast-in-the-bar run, a 1,200-foot plummet into Stillwater Bowl that nudges 50 degrees in spots. (Until a lift is built, reaching such lines requires a 25-to-45-minute hike.)

Moonlight Basin can’t yet keep you occupied for a week—the base area’s swanky lodge doesn’t even have a gear shop or ski school—but it’s one more reason to book that trip to Big Sky.

IDAHO :: TAMARACK RESORT

THE VIEWS RECALL TAHOE. And the terrain? Call it Steamboat West. That’s the early line on Tamarack Resort, 90 miles north of Boise, which opens in December. The Tahoe analogy is plain from a 7,700-foot spot on West Mountain’s ridge: Far below, 22-mile-long Lake Cascade glistens in Long Valley. What’s more, the resort sits far enough west to rack up 300 annual inches of snow (100 more than Sun Valley), yet it’s east of Oregon’s high desert, ensuring that the bounty arrives talcum-dry.

Don’t expect Tamarack to max out your Pocket Rockets. The tree skiing in glades of aspen and subalpine fir, and the languorous blue runs that unspool down the mountain’s 2,800 vertical feet, summon Steamboat—diverting, if not exactly heart-stopping. Snowcat skiing will be offered this year on 500 acres to be made lift-accessible in the next few years. It’s all part of a $1.5 billion plan to make Tamarack a year-round resort with some 2,000 chalets, condos, and hotel rooms. (At press time, just 60 chalets and cottages were available.) For the best après-ski, head to the old logging town of McCall, 17 miles north.

:: SKI EMOTIONALLY NAKED!

STUCK IN INTERMEDIATEVILLE and dreaming of a transfer to the friendlier slopes of Advanced City? I sure was, so last winter I gambled on a four-day ski clinic in Utah’s Wasatch Range. I was up for anything that would get me closer to black-diamond bliss.

Ski to Live—launched in 2003 by extreme queen Kristen Ulmer, at Alta and Snowbird resorts—takes a uniquely cerebral, holistic approach to improving performance on the slopes, promising nothing less than self-transformation via a cogent blend of hard carving, refreshing yoga, and an intriguing flavor of Zen known as Big Mind. No $200-an-hour therapist ever promised so much.

The 38-year-old Ulmer, veteran of countless ski flicks and former U.S. Freestyle Ski Team member, is a sensitive but sure coach, possessing an infectious buoyancy of spirit that makes every powder acolyte under her wing believe a camera’s rolling just for them over the next mogul. She says conventional instruction is too heavy on mechanics, virtually ignoring mental outlook: “Understanding yourself translates into your skiing in a big way. It’ll catapult you into a whole new level of learning.” So she does it her way. During my Ski to Live weekend, my 13 fellow pupils and I spent about as much time contemplating life in intensely reflective Big Mind sessions as we did tackling Snowbird runs like the steep straitjacket of Wilbere Bowl.

The first night, we shared our hopes (huck big air!) and fears (hairy chutes, sharks). Next morning, we fell into a pleasant rhythm: wake-up yoga; a fat breakfast; lots and lots of skiing in small groups with Ulmer or another instructor; evening sessions with Genpo Roshi, 60, who heads up Salt Lake City’s Kanzeon Zen Center and developed Big Mind; a to-die-for dinner; then profound slumber at the Lodge at Snowbird.

Under Ulmer’s tutelage, skiers and snowboarders employ mantras, which can improve focus, and learn to execute proper form, like correctly positioning shoulders through turns. (Chanting Charge! in one’s head at each turn actually does have a way of refining performance.) Throwing Roshi in the mix proves to be even more radical: He uses challenging discussions and role-playing exercises intended to help you harmoniously integrate the sometimes conflicting aspects of your personality, thus allowing you to dig out from the solipsistic center of your own little universe. It’s pretty cool.

But my defining moment came not when I face-planted right in front of the video camera (hello, embarrassing playback!) nor when I carved some relatively pretty turns in Mineral Basin; it came in a whiteout, during a three-below-zero cruise along the Cirque Traverse, at nearly 11,000 feet. Suddenly I felt fearless joy-not joyless fear-in anticipation of the double black on deck.

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Strel, 49, doesn’t look like Aquaman: At five foot 11 and 230 pounds, he’s a potbellied fireplug. But for 58 days on central Europe’s Danube, in 2000, 68 days on the Mississippi, in 2002, and 24 days on Argentina’s Paraná, in 2003, Strel—wearing a wetsuit and goggles, swimming freestyle, and escorted by a support team in kayaks and a motorboat—stroked an average of 12 hours and 40 miles a day. Along the way, he racked up world records for the longest nonstop swim (313 miles over 84 hours, set on the Danube) and the longest continous swim (the 2,360 miles he stroked down the Mississippi).

On all three rivers, Strel allowed himself just one daily creature comfort: a bottle of Slovenian wine called Cvicek, half of which he drank during onshore lunches to wash down his energy bars, the other half with dinner at a hotel. “I like it,” he says, “because it doesn’t get me drunk right away.”

Even with a buzz, marathon swimming is rough. One dark morning on the Danube, Strel collided with a barge and was trapped underwater for more than a minute. On day 41 of the Mississippi swim, lightning struck a buoy three feet from Strel, blasting him halfway out of the water. (He kept going.) Two weeks later, a stomach infection forced him to switch to the backstroke so he could roll to one side and barf.

Strel says he first began dreaming of epic swims as a young boy. At 23, he quit teaching guitar and began racing in open-water swimming events, but didn’t feel “psychologically mature” enough to take on extreme distances until 1997, when, at 42, he raised $50,000 to make a 48-mile crawl from Cape Bon, Tunisia, to the Italian island of Pantelleria.

Thousands of miles and millions of dollars in sponsorships later, Strel says the swimming will continue until his body falls apart. “It’s taken me over like a drug,” he admits. He’ll get his next fix this summer in China, where he plans to swim 2,610 miles of the Yangtze—and down ten gallons of Cvicek along the way.

Walking the Seven Seas

Rémy Bricka: Stalking the 7 Seas

RÉMY BRICKA FIRST CROSSED the Atlantic Ocean in 1972, sailing luxury-class aboard France, a 1,035-foot passenger steamer. For his second trip, he decided to walk.


The French-born Bricka, then 38, left the Canary Islands on April 2, 1988, with his feet lashed to a pair of 14-foot fiberglass pontoons. Behind him, he towed a raft outfitted with a coffin-size sleeping compartment and carrying fishing tackle, compass, sextant, and three portable water desalinators. Walking 50 miles a day with a precarious upright rowing technique that made him look like a drunk nordic skier, Bricka aimed for the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, subsisting on fish and plankton he scooped up from drifting schools.


Strange as it seems, given these foolproof preparations, there were problems. Two of Bricka’s desalinators bonked halfway through his stroll, so he supplemented his hydration with a daily quart of seawater. Two months in, a Japanese trawler plucked him from the Caribbean near Trinidad. Emaciated and hallucinating (“I saw trolls attack my legs!” he recalls), he’d dwindled from 160 pounds to 110.


The feat—a 3,502-mile hike over open ocean—earned Bricka a Guinness world record but grabbed few headlines in France, where he’s famous for another form of performance art. Clad entirely in white, Bricka tours the country with two dozen instruments strapped to his body and a pet dove and rabbit riding shotgun on his shoulders. He’s known to one and all as L’homme Orchestre, or the One-Man Band.


So far, the only person to challenge Bricka’s water-walking record is Bricka himself. In April 2000, he left Los Angeles, planning to walk the Pacific and arrive in Sydney in time to crash the Summer Olympics. Stoeffler, a French deli-foods company, donated an 11-pound tub of sauerkraut and put up $100,000 for equipment, including freeze-dried meals, an Iridium satellite phone, and a GPS unit.


En route, Bricka ran out of food and his Iridium service shut down. A cyclone packing 50-foot swells thrashed his raft. Using a handheld messaging device, he e-mailed a plea to his wife, in Paris: “Come pick me up now or I’ll have to hitchhike.”


Ten days later, an American tuna boat found Bricka 500 miles south of Hawaii. He’d failed, but it was a grand failure: The oompah man of the sea had covered 4,847 miles in 153 days.

Jogging for 27,705 Miles

Genshin Fujinami Ajari: Jogging for Buddha

“THE ONLY ADVICE I GOT before setting out was to keep my feet warm,” says Genshin Fujinami Ajari, a 46-year-old Buddhist monk in Japan. “Of course, the day before I started, it snowed. I thought to myself, Oh, this is going to be tough.”


Well, nobody ever said enlightenment was easy. Last September, Fujinami, a member of Japan’s devout Tendai sect, finished the ultimate ceremonial slog: a seven-year, 27,705-mile series of laps around the five peaks northeast of Kyoto. He’s only the 49th monk since 1585 to complete the Hieizan Sennichi Kaihogyo, or “Mount Hiei Thousand-Day Circumambulation Practice”—and when you break down what he did, it’s easy to see why so few have triumphed.


For 100 consecutive days in each of his first three years as a pilgrim, Fujinami rose at midnight, prayed, ran and walked 18 miles (stopping 250 times to pray), did chores back at the monastery, ate, and hit the sack. In years four and five, he upped his total to 200 consecutive days. Year six saw him complete a 37-mile course every day for 100 consecutive days, then endure the doiri—seven days without food, water, or sleep while sitting upright and chanting 100,000 mantras. In year seven, he trekked 52 miles a day for 100 straight days, usually from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m., then 18 miles a day for 100 consecutive days.


Fujinami looped Mount Hiei through sweltering humidity, typhoons, and snowstorms, wearing only white cotton layers, straw sandals, and (when needed) a straw raincoat. He also carried a rope and a knife—so he could hang or stab himself if he failed on his quest. (Records don’t indicate whether a Tendai runner has ever killed himself, but you’re required to be ready to take this step.)


“The fourth, fifth, and seventh years were the toughest times,” says Fujinami, who hasn’t visited his family since 1996 and won’t for another five years. “No. The sixth year was the toughest, actually, because of the doiri. But also the seventh year: The distance was extended, so that was the hardest part, also.” Pause. “Actually, there was no year that was easy.”


“But,” chirps the saintly master of the severe practice, “I’m thinking of going back to walking the 100 days this year. Why? Because it’s so beneficial to my appreciation.”

Running Seven Marathons in Seven Days on Seven Continents

Sir Ranulph Fiennes & Dr. Michael Stroud: Marathon Madmen

ON JUNE 7, 2003, famed British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 59, suffered a heart attack so severe that he underwent immediate double-bypass surgery and didn’t come to for three days. And yet on October 21, 2003, with only two and a half months of training under his belt—and post-op wires still in place to keep his chest cavity shut—Fiennes and his longtime comrade-in-extremes, Dr. Michael Stroud, 48, stashed a defibrillator in a duffel, flew to Chilean Patagonia, and set out to complete seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.


“Originally, I’d rung Mike up to see if he might have any interest in climbing Everest,” says Fiennes, a gallant gent who insists you call him “Ran.” “But when he learned you can’t do it in under three months, he proposed the marathons instead, to keep it short and sweet.”


Short and sweet? Only for a pair who in 1993 spent 95 days dragging 500-pound sleds across Antarctica. On the marathon trip, air transport alone would have crushed most mortals: 11 flights, 45,000 miles, and 75 hours in the sky.


British Airways helped by comping the men with first-class seats, but Fiennes and Stroud still had to make their flights if they were going to stay on track. Twice, they had only six hours to land, get through customs, run a marathon, and catch their next plane. Their itinerary took them on an east-north-west horseshoe, from Tierra del Fuego, in Chile, out and back to the Falkland Islands (a last-minute substitute for Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands, where a storm had halted flights), then on to Sydney, Singapore, London, Cairo, and, finally, New York, for the only formal, everyone-else-is-doing-it marathon of the lot. They ran their first marathon in 3:45; they crossed the finish line in Central Park in 5:25. Both men nearly quit after the heat and humidity of Singapore, where Stroud started passing “brown muck” in his urine.


“Myoglobin,” he recalls. “My muscle-tissue destruction had reached 500 times the normal rate.” A gastroenterologist, Stroud is one of the world’s leading experts on physical responses to extreme conditions. He says he and Ran made fine guinea pigs for his research, which, he points out, suggests that some runners may not require extended periods of recovery.


“The day after we returned, I went straight back to work,” he says. “Not a problem.”

Heinz Stücke: Pedaling the Planet

Heinz Stucke: Pedaling the Planet

IN 1962, 22-YEAR-OLD tool and die maker Heinz Stücke rode out of Hövelhof, Germany, on a three-speed bicycle, with $300 in his pocket and a plan to see the world. After 42 years and 300,000 miles, there’s still more he wants to see. Sometime in the early eighties, after two decades with no fixed address, Stücke decided to extend his trip to every country on the globe.


“It was clear that I wasn’t going to stop,” he says. “One day I said, ‘I am going to drop dead on my bicycle.’ ” So in 1996, when he notched his last country—the Seychelles—he just kept going.


At first, he pedaled simply to “see around the next corner.” But as the years piled up, he was driven as much by not wanting to return home, citing “the fear of going back to the factory, and to the very small-minded people in my village.”


Stücke, a compact man with a friendly smile, says he averages 68 miles a day, lugging 80-plus pounds of gear. He’s spent around $130,000 in all, funding his travels with sales of an autobiographical booklet and photographs, and occasional donations—including, in 1963, $500 from Ethiopia’s emperor at the time, Haile Selassie. Along the way, he’s been hit by a truck in Chile’s Atacama Desert, chased by an angry Haitian mob, beaten unconscious by Egyptian soldiers, detained by Cameroon’s military for “slandering the state” (“I have no idea what I did wrong,” says Stücke), and attacked by bees while bathing in a river in Mozambique. But even when Zimbabwean rebels shot him in the foot, in 1980, Stücke never considered quitting. “In the middle of Africa, you don’t have a choice, anyway,” he says. “You don’t go to the nearest airport and fly home.”


Now 64, Stücke has set up temporary shop in Paris to sort through souvenirs, photos, and letters he accumulated during his days on the road. Since 2001, finances have limited his travels to half the year, but he’s chasing the 22 or so remaining territories—like Greenland and Christmas Island—that he needs to capture the title of world’s most traveled person.


“It is not my real ambition, but it is something to keep your eyes on,” he says of the record. “Which is what we all need, isn’t it?”

Hiking Britain Naked

Steve Gough: Go Nude

“THERE’S A PART OF ME that says, Don’t be stupid,” Steve Gough confided to a reporter from the Glasgow-based Sunday Herald shortly before he strode into the hamlet of John o’Groat’s, at the northern tip of Scotland, this past January 22. “Just sort of go home and sort of be normal. But part of me thinks, Go on, Steve, go on.”


Seven months earlier, in June 2003, the rangy ex–Royal Marine turned New Ager, then 44, had departed Land’s End, Cornwall, on a bold mission—to walk the 900-mile length of Britain wearing naught but boots, a hat, and a rucksack, regardless of weather—and John o’Groat’s was the end of the road. The man Fleet Street calls “the Naked Rambler” had been arrested 14 times, spent nearly five months behind bars, had his nose broken by a gang of thugs, and suffered public excoriation at the hands of his estranged common-law wife, Alison Ward, for deserting their two children, ages six and seven. (Her tart assessment in the Scottish Daily Record: “I think he was struggling with the anonymity of his life.”)


There’s no law in the UK against public nudity (Gough was arrested for breaching the peace, among other charges), but in recent years emboldened nudists—including one who chained himself to a gate at Prime Minister Tony Blair’s London residence—have adopted the language of the American civil rights movement, aiming to “stop the segregation” of people who prefer to let it all hang out. In line with this loosely knit group, the soft-spoken, occasionally stuttering Gough insists he’s neither streaker nor naturist but an advocate of “the freedom to be yourself.”


“If there was a catalyst, it was one summer when I was looking after my children,” says Gough, speaking by telephone from his girlfriend’s London flat. “They’d strip off and run around naked, and I thought it was great. But I started to notice how often other adults would suggest, in subtle ways, that they put their clothes back on. It really galvanized me. I realized that most of us are damaged in that way from childhood—taught to feel shame.”


What’s next for Gough? A documentary, a book deal, and, no doubt, ongoing legal hassles. “The walk hasn’t ended,” he insists. “The question—do I want to be me or what others want me to be?—didn’t end at John o’Groat’s. It continues.”

Vacation in War-Time Iraq

Derick Williams & Harvey Gough: “Baghdad Sounded Like Fun”

“THERE I WAS, OUTSIDE the Palestine Hotel, sitting in front of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and sipping an Amstel tall boy,” recalls 35-year-old Texan Derick Williams of his first hours cruising wartime Baghdad, in April 2003. “Then somebody started shooting at us. It was a little surreal.”


Probably so. At the time, Baghdad had just fallen and was rife with looting and potshots. Some 135 U.S. soldiers had been killed and another 495 reportedly wounded. Williams wasn’t in town as an aid worker, journalist, or human shield—he was a freelance risk enthusiast, making him a prime candidate to be shot or arrested. But Williams, a burly Dallas home restorer, didn’t mind at all. “I went for the adventure,” he says, “and I just felt like everything would be OK.”


Williams was traveling with a partner, a 65-year-old Army vet, superpatriot, and burger-joint tycoon named Harvey Gough, who was on a quest to find a Saddam Hussein statue to match the one of Vladimir Lenin perched outside his Dallas restaurant. (“I went because Tommy Franks said I couldn’t,” scowls Gough. He served with the original leader of Operation Iraqi Freedom during the first Gulf war, when Franks was an assistant division commander in the First Cavalry.) After flying to Jordan, the two hired a driver and a Chevy Suburban and bluffed their way into Iraq, claiming to be from a Texas food bank. Their first stop was an isolated airstrip called H3, which was guarded by U.S. Special Forces in tricked-out dune buggies.


“They were big, buff guys in caps and sunglasses, and their guns were drawn,” Williams says. “They were really edgy.”


Other highlights from the five-day tour included browsing for AK-47s at the Baghdad souk and whistling their way into the heavily guarded HQ of the Army’s V Corps. Their hairiest moment came during a day trip to Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, when Gough tried to swipe a flag from an abandoned police station. A pissed-off mob chased him away. “That was Harvey’s thing,” sighs Williams. “These guys thought he was being disrespectful, and I thought they were right.”


In the end, Gough didn’t find his statue, but Williams certainly scored a lifetime of adventure. “I’d do it again,” he says. “In a second.”

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There’s more than one way to take in the adventure and splendor of America’s national parks. So we’re serving up a prize package of SECRET TRIPS—locals’ no-tell favorites, from Acadia to Yellowstone to wildest Alaska—along with a roundup of DREAM TOWNS nearby, the places to eat, drink, and dance after a day or three in backcountry heaven. Throw away the guidebook: These trips are just between us

national parks

Bass Harbor lighthouse, in Maine’s Acadia National Park

Slide into Utah’s Canyon Wonderland




Trek Alaska’s Monster Backcountry




Splash in St. John’s Wide-Open Waters




Ride Tall in Washington’s Wildest Range




Paddle Wyoming’s Secret Sea




Wheel Through Endless Texas Backlands




Set Sail on Maine’s Rocky Coast




Crawl and Canoe in Kentucky’s Multisport ���ϳԹ���land




Hike to Sweet Solitude in the Sierra


PLUS: Josh Shaffer—a man hell-bent on exploring every one of America’s national parks— and eight great guides who .

Capitol Reef National Park

Slide into Utah’s Canyon Wonderland

National Park: Capitol Reef National Park

Acres: 241,904 Contact: 435-425-3791



CAPITOL REEF is the perfect place to find the type of free-form adventures that abound in U.S. national parks. Slickrock junkies will love the Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile-long lopsided wrinkle of earth that offers one of the best backcountry playscapes in the Southwest. Satisfy your cravings on the park’s south end, where canyons have sliced the Fold with narrows that require swimming through blackwater holes, scrambling over chockstones, and negotiating the odd rappel.


This trip’s main event is a 21.9-mile backpacking loop that takes you from Halls Creek Overlook to Halls Creek Narrows. From the Brimhall Bridge trailhead at the Halls Creek Overlook, off Notom-Bullfrog Road, descend 800 feet to Halls Creek. Flanked by the Fold’s red- and buff-colored cliffs, you’ll hike seven and a half miles down a dry wash to the narrows, where you can set up base camp on a grassy bench.

Spend day two snaking through the three-mile-long slot canyon, whose tight walls will funnel you through pretzel twists and perpetually shaded pools. Head back to camp by going up Halls Divide, east of the narrows. The next day, retrace your footprints to Halls Creek Overlook. Throw your pack in the car and drive north on Notom-Bullfrog Road; crash at the park’s Cedar Mesa Campground or sleep roadside near the mouth of Burro Wash, your destination for day four.

Burro is one of several drainages that penetrate the Fold, and—depending on how far you scramble—it may require technical canyoneering skills. Burro offers two sets of narrows with deep pools sandwiched between smooth, fluted walls that almost touch in some places. After four miles you’ll come to an impossible pour-over. Turn around and head for more slots in nearby Five Mile and Cottonwood washes before calling it a day.


GETTING THERE: For guided trips in Capitol Reef, contact Wild Hare Expeditions (888-304-4273, ). A free permit is required for backcountry camping, and even when it’s hot, bring a wetsuit for the canyons’ cold pools.


WHEN TO GO: Anytime but winter; and beware of summer flash floods.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Trek Alaska’s Monster Backcountry

National Park: Wrangell-St. Elias

Acres: 13,175,901 Contact: 907-822-5234



PLANNING AN ALASKA WILDERNESS trip can be daunting—especially if you’re heading into the vast glacier- and grizzly-filled Wrangell–St. Elias. But this park is surprisingly user-friendly, compared with some parts of big, bad Alaska. It’s home to St. Elias Alpine Guides, one of the most experienced outfitters in the state, and it’s relatively accessible via a 60-mile gravel road—no bush plane required. At road’s end you’ll find the town of McCarthy—and, four miles beyond that, Kennicott, your stepping-off point for a four-day expedition to Wrangell’s Donoho Peak.


To get started, you’ll hoist your pack and hike toward Donoho and the Root Glacier. St. Elias Alpine Guides’ trips are small (no more than six people), and they’re tailored to fit your group’s skill level, with instruction available on everything from ice climbing to alpine mountaineering. Because Wrangell is one of the most glaciated parks in the U.S., the Donoho trek is the perfect setting for learning the rudiments of glacier exploration. Before breaking camp at the base of the Root, your guide will give you pointers on crampon use and safe route-finding. Then you’ll start the traverse, planting your feet on an undulating sea of ice. Once you arrive at the west side of the glacier, you’ll set up camp and mull your many options. You could make the nontechnical scramble up 6,698-foot Donoho for views of 16,390-foot Mount Blackburn and 18,008-foot Mount St. Elias, the second-tallest peak in the U.S. You could rope up and go ice climbing on the Kennicott or Root glaciers, or hike across the tundra to an alpine lake. Or you could just do it all.


GETTING THERE: St. Elias Alpine Guides’ four-day Donoho Peak Trek is $699 per person, assuming a group of six. A variety of other options are also available, including custom expeditions and first ascents (888-933-5427, ).


WHEN TO GO: July through September.

Virgin Islands National Park

Splash in St. John’s Wide-Open Waters

National parks: Virgin Islands National Park

Acres: 14,689 Contact: 340-776-6201



VIRGIN ISLANDS IS ONE of the tiniest parks in the system, located entirely on and around St. John, the smallest of the three major U.S. Virgin Islands. But if idyllic Caribbean beaches are what you’re after, this park—which occupies approximately 30 square miles of land and sea—is plenty big. St. John is home to some 40 sheltered bays, each with its own fluffy carpet of sand and many with a coral reef not far offshore. You can hit them all by circumnavigating the island in a sea kayak, covering roughly 35 miles in five days.

From Cruz Bay, paddle two miles to Henley Cay (a good snorkeling spot), and then on for two more miles to Cinnamon Bay and the park’s only official campground. Several hiking trails lead from the camp to 18th-century sugar-factory ruins and into a tropical forest. On day two, a leisurely one-and-a-half-mile voyage takes you to the Maho Bay Camps, a managed eco-resort with cabin-tents perched on a hillside, a dive shop, and snorkeling. Start early the next morning for the island’s primitive East End, paddling upwind along the north shore, eventually reaching Hansen Bay and a private beachfront campground run by Violet “Vie” Mahabir. Collapse in the sand beneath 100-year-old palm trees, or you can amble over to Vie’s Snack Shack to refuel on fried chicken.


On day four you’ll paddle five and a half miles to Ram Head peninsula and the island’s wild, roadless southeastern coast. Hike to the top of the Head for crow’s-nest views of the ocean. You’ll spend your final night in Little Lameshur Bay at the nonprofit Virgin Islands Environmental Resource Station (888-647-2501, ), home to rustic cabins, hiking trails, and more great beaches. Complete the circle on day five, stroking four and a half miles back to Cruz Bay—it’s downwind all the way.


GETTING THERE: For an outfitted loop around St. John, contact Arawak Expeditions (from $995 per person; 800-238-8687, ). Experienced open-water kayakers can rent from Crabby’s Watersports, in Coral Bay (340-714-2415, ).


WHEN TO GO: Year-round. But beware: Hurricane season runs from June through November.

North Cascades National Park

Ride Tall in Washington’s Wildest Range

national park: North Cascades National Park

Acres: 684,302 Contact: 360-856-5700

THE NORTH CASCADES LOOK A LOT LIKE the Alps, with razorback peaks, alpine meadows, and plenty of glaciers. But the similarities to Europe end there: The park is almost all wilderness, and there are few roads in. Since backpacking on this steep terrain can be slow going at best, the smart way to see it is on horseback. The Courtney family, based in the hamlet of Stehekin, has been running pack trips in the region for two generations, with a low-key style that emphasizes good food, minimal impact, and stunning scenery.

Just getting to the Courtneys’ Cascade Corrals is an adventure. As a private inholding in the park, Stehekin has no road access and must be reached by ferry—a 50-mile trip up Lake Chelan, through a glacial trough that’s more than 8,500 feet deep. Once you’ve hooked up with the Courtneys, you’ll ride on a surefooted Norwegian fjord horse, heading up the Stehekin River Valley to your base camp at Bridge Creek.

Your routine each day will be blessedly simple: Wake up; stuff yourself with pancakes, eggs, and bacon; ride the park trail of your choice; then go on a hike to burn off the grub. You’ll travel to amazing spots like Buckner Meadows, Mount Logan, and McAlester Lake; while you’re soaking in the views, don’t be surprised if you feel the urge to yodel.

GETTING THERE: Cascade Corrals (509-682-7742, ) offers scheduled horsepacking trips ($995, six days) and custom outings for a minimum of six riders. There’s also a hiking option: You carry a daypack; the horse carries the rest ($750, six days).

WHEN TO GO: July through September.

Yellowstone National Park

Paddle Wyoming’s Secret Sea

national park: Yellowstone National Park

Acres: 2,219,791 Contact: 307-344-7381

COVERING 137 SQUARE MILES and perched above 7,700 feet, Yellowstone Lake is a formidable barrier between the tourist circus on the lake’s north shore and the roadless expanse to the south. To get to this wild heart of the park, you can hike for days carrying a heavy pack, or you can take a wet shortcut and arrive in a few hours without breaking a sweat. The easy way starts at Bridge Bay Marina, on the lake’s north end. Load your sea kayak on the Yellowstone Lake Shuttle ($124; 307-344-7311), hitch a ride to the top of Yellowstone LakeÂ’s southeast arm, unload, and drift into a huge no-motors zone.

Approximately seven miles long, the southeast arm deserves at least four days of exploration. You’re likely to see grizzly bears, moose, and elk, and hear wolves howling at night. From your drop-off point, set up camp at Columbine Creek or paddle down to Terrace Point, where you can hike up to stunning views of the upper Yellowstone River valley. The next day, continue to the bottom of the arm, camping at Trail Point or Trail Bay along the headwaters of the Yellowstone River. Grab your fly rod and head upriver or hike a network of remote trails (like Thorofare and Two Oceans Plateau) to overlooks and wildflower-filled meadows. Eventually, make your way back to the top of the arm, completing a horseshoe-shaped, 18-mile route. The ferry will return you to civilization.

GETTING THERE: Snake River Kayak and Canoe, in Jackson, Wyoming, rents sea kayaks and offers guided four-day trips into the Yellowstone Lake arms ($755 per person; 800-529-2501, ). Advance reservations for backcountry campsites are recommended. Buy them at the park’s trip-planner page.

WHEN TO GO: August and September. Early summer camping is restricted because of bear activity.

Big Bend National Park

Wheel Through Endless Texas Badlands

national park: Big Bend National Park

Acres: 801,000 Contact: 432-477-2251

NATIONAL PARKS AND MOUNTAIN BIKES usually don’t mix—bikes are illegal on most park trails, and designated bike paths are often a bore. But there’s one major exception: Big Bend. This West Texas park’s desert terrain is laced with 160 miles of dirt roads, where mountain bikes are not only allowed but welcomed. Since Big Bend receives just 300,000 visitors a year, many of whom arrive in lumbering RVs, riding the ghost roads that once served turn-of-the-century mining and river towns is a cool and private way to experience this sprawling Chihuahuan Desert landscape.

To cover the most territory, hire Desert Sports (contact below) to shuttle your vehicle from site to site. (On some parts of this trip, you’ll want four-wheel drive to carry your bikes from place to place.) Begin your ramble with a one-way, 35-mile downhill bike ride on the Old Ore Road from Dagger Flat to the Rio Grande. You’ll start atop an alluvial plain, with jagged Mexican mountains rippling on the southern horizon. Flanked by ocotillo and prickly pear, you’ll make an easy half-day ride to the Telephone Canyon backcountry campsite. If you have enough oomph and water, take a sunset hike on the first few miles of the 17-mile Telephone Canyon Trail up into the Deadhorse Mountains.

The next day, head down steep grades through Ernst Basin to the Rio Grande and the U.S.-Mexico border, soaking at Langford Hot Springs. Now it’s time for your next big roll: a two-day, 29-mile ride combining the Glenn Spring, Black Gap, and River roads. To get started, drive north on the paved park highway from Rio Grande Village to the Glenn Spring turnoff, just beyond Dugout Wells; keep going approximately 13 bumpy miles to Glenn Spring, where you’ll pitch your tent next to a village that was raided by Pancho Villa’s men in 1916. From the ruins, pedal south on Black Gap Road, and then east at the fork, past the Mariscal Mine site on River Road down to the river. Get your feet wet and head northeast on River Road, then take a left on Glenn Spring Road to complete the loop.

GETTING THERE: Desert Sports, in Terlingua, rents mountain bikes, provides shuttles, and offers guided rides (888-989-6900, ). Free backcountry camping permits are available at the park’s Panther Junction visitor center. There’s no reliable water along these routes, so carry plenty or cache it in advance.

WHEN TO GO: October through mid-April.

Acadia National Park

Set Sail on Maine’s Rocky Coast

national park: Acadia National Park

Acres: 47,000 Contact: 207-288-3338

WITH ITS GRANITE-DOMED MOUNTAINS and sea-sprayed coastline, Acadia attracts summertime tourists like a backwater pond draws blackflies. Luckily, the park’s modest acreage is spread out over several islands along Maine’s northern coast, which means you can avoid human swarms simply by sailing around them—giving you a chance to explore the park’s more remote spots.

For this two- to three-day voyage, experienced sailors can rent a boat in the Deer Isle boating hub of Stonington. Newbies can charter a 37-foot cutter with Captain Bill Baker, of Old Quarry Ocean ���ϳԹ���s; pushing off from Stonington, you’ll sail eight miles to Acadia’s isolated Isle au Haut. Once you hit land, unload your mountain bike and stretch your legs with a 12-mile ride around the island, stopping to gorge on blueberries and watch golden eagles soar past cliffs overhead.

The next day you’ll venture deeper into the mostly uninhabited Deer Isle archipelago and catch wind toward Mount Desert Island, where most of the park is situated. Follow the Maine Island Trail—a marked route connecting dozens of coastal islands—or chart a 20-mile course around rocky inlets where seals, puffins, and ospreys will be your only company. You’ll find a quiet anchorage spot on Mount Desert Island at the village of Northeast Harbor. Break out the bike and pedal a 57-mile network of carriage roads, or hike to the top of 1,373-foot Sargent Mountain for ocean views. Back at the dock, load up on lobster and crash on the boat; the next day you can sail the 15 or so miles back to Stonington via a different route.

GETTING THERE: A two-day sailboat charter with Old Quarry costs $1,200 for four. You can also rent mountain bikes, sea kayaks, and 14-foot sailboats (207-367-8977, ). Other sailboat outlets include Downeast Friendship Sloop Charters (207-266-5210, www.downeastfriendshipsloop.com) and Hinckley Crewed Charters (207-244-0122, ).

WHEN TO GO: June through September.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Crawl and Canoe in Kentucky’s Multisport ���ϳԹ���land

national park: Mammoth Cave National Park

Darkness Illuminated: Shedding light on Mammoth Cave National Park

national park: Mammoth Cave National Park

Acres: 52,830 Contact: 270-758-2180

YOU PROBABLY KNOW MAMMOTH CAVE for what lies beneath. This park, tucked away in the hills and hollows of central Kentucky, protects the longest cave system in the world, a five-level labyrinth with more than 365 miles of tunnels. Up where the sun shines, the park is home to a 70-mile network of hiking trails, biking paths, camping spots, and 27 miles of prime canoeing river.

Begin your four-day Mammoth marathon with the ranger-led Wild Cave Tour. This six-hour, five-mile crawl is not for the claustrophobic—or anyone with a chest or hip measurement greater than 42 inches. You’ll free-climb cave walls and shine your headlamp on bizarre limestone formations like Rainbow Dome and Cathedral Dome.Take it up top the next morning, renting a canoe and paddling the gentle, scenic Green River. Put in at Dennison Ferry, on the park’s eastern boundary, and snake your way ten miles past forested bluffs, islands, and sandbars to circuitous Turnhole Bend. There’s good backcountry beach camping along the north bank and easy access to the park’s most isolated hiking paths via Turnhole Bend Trail.

Start day three with a ramble through terrain that hasn’t changed much since it was first seen by American explorers in the 18th century. Then paddle nine miles to Houchins Ferry, just inside the park’s western boundary, your take-out spot and campground for the night. The next morning, give your legs a workout with a ten-mile hike on the hilly, oak-forested McCoy Hollow loop.

GETTING THERE: The Wild Cave Tour costs $45; reserve through the park. For canoe rentals, contact Green River Canoeing (800-651-9909, ) or Mammoth Cave Canoe and Kayak (877-592-2663, ).

WHEN TO GO: March through November.

Yosemite National Park

Hike to Sweet Solitude in the Sierra

national park: Yosemite National Park

Acres: 761,266 Contact: 209-372-0200

YOSEMITE IS FAMOUSLY crowded—it draws 3.5 million visitors a year, more than the population of Mississippi—but it’s easy to shake the mob if you walk in the right direction. This five-day, 45-mile loop offers premium Sierra scenery (meadows, waterfalls, lakes, and peaks) but few people. Best of all, you can get permits the same day you start your trip, even in the height of summer.

Your trek begins at the Mono Meadow Trailhead, near the end of Glacier Point Road. Hike down to Illilouette Creek, wade the stream, and continue up the Illilouette drainage through an old burn area. After about nine miles, you’ll reach smooth granite slabs that make for excellent waterslides, and there’s good camping and classic views of Yosemite’s rock domes nearby. The next day, continue up the drainage toward the Clark Range and Red Peak Pass. Climb the pass and then drop down to a natural array of tarns and rock benches that create a rustically furnished campsite.

On day three, follow the switchbacking trail down the Triple Peak Fork drainage and make a steep two-mile climb to an alpine meadow just below Post Peak and Isberg Peak. Press on to the granite slabs tucked under the wall at the top of the canyon. From this campsite, you’ll have a front-row seat for some of the best panoramic views in Yosemite. The wow factor continues the next day as you trek four miles across the high country, gazing at the Minarets and other famous Sierra peaks. Tag a walk-up before descending through the forested valley of Post Creek and climbing Fernandez Pass.

Your last full day of hiking is an easy six-mile jaunt through forests and meadows and a gentle climb over Merced Pass. In short order you’ll rejoin the Illilouette drainage. Spend the night a few miles from the trailhead, where the path crosses the stream. You’ll be out the next morning in time for coffee and doughnuts in Yosemite Village.

GETTING THERE: A wilderness permit is required. You can reserve in advance, for $5 a day, through Yosemite’s Wilderness Center (209-372-0740, ).

WHEN TO GO: July through September.

Been There, Seen That

Josh Shaffer is a man with a mission: to explore every one of America’s national parks. (To date, it’s 20 down, 37 to go.) The 34-year-old from Wilmington, North Carolina, talks about the best places he’s seen so far.

Elephant Canyon

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK, UTAH
Getting there requires a tough hike, about 11 miles round-trip from the Squaw Flat trailhead, in the Needles section of the park. But it’s worth the effort: Elephant Canyon is a harsh, beautiful landscape with a forest of 200-foot sandstone spires and no other people for miles.


Brown Mountain Trail

SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, VIRGINIA
When the tourists pour in to see the autumn leaves, traffic on Skyline Drive can be a bit much. This 11-mile out-and-back trail from Skyline into Big Run Valley scares most people away, so hikers have the deep forest of oaks, hickories, and maples all to themselves.


Box Canyon Campsite

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO
Getting here requires about a six-mile hike on the Colorado River Trail. It’s fairly gentle until the last mile, when it goes almost straight up. I topped out at 10,480 feet, in the middle of a meadow, where I camped among elk and could look up to see bighorn sheep on the 12,000-foot peaks above.


Riley Creek

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA
I didn’t want to see the park by bus, so I hiked south from the Denali visitor center and spent two days bushwhacking along deep, fast Riley Creek. I camped in a small clearing, where the ground was covered with moss so thick and spongy that I could hardly walk.


Guadalupe Peak

GUADALUPE PEAK NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS
The four-mile hike up 8,749-foot Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, can be brutal in winter. It was about 35 degrees, and the winds were unreal. But at the top, I had uninterrupted views for more than 100 miles in every direction.

Lead On Me

Want to know where the pros go? Meet eight great guides who will take you to the heart of their favorite parks.

CHRIS CONWAY
Founder, Wild Basin Outfitters
Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
Conway is a crack high-country fishing guide who learned his craft as a kid growing up on Alaska’s Kenai River. The 45-year-old mountain man will plop you on a horse and lead you six miles to Lawn Lake, at 10,789-feet, in search of the elusive greenback cutthroat trout. Come dinnertime, he’ll also dish up a tasty tortellini and pour the chardonnay.
CONTACT: 877-525-7373, chris@wildbasinoutfitters.com
PRICE: $150 per person per half-day

RORY WEST
Island Guide
National Park of American Samoa
West came to Samoa’s five-island archipelago 24 years ago to start a plant nursery, met a Samoan woman, and never left. Bunk with the West family, in their cozy home on the island of Tutuila, and you’ll snorkel among 200 coral species in the 9,000-acre park, take an octopus-spearing lesson, and learn from the master as he rattles off amazing facts about local flora.
CONTACT: 011-684-258-3527, rorywest@yahoo.com
Price: from $35 per person for snorkeling and kayaking, $25 per person for a rental house with kitchen

ROLF PETERSON
Wildlife Biologist
Isle Royale National Park, MI
A self-described “old moose,” Peterson works at Michigan Technical University, where for more than 30 years he’s studied wolves and their impact on moose populations in the 850-square-mile park. Earthwatch, a field-research institute, offers guided multi-day backpacking trips with the 55-year-old biologist, who will take you moose watching on rugged trails like Minong Ridge.
CONTACT: Earthwatch, 800-776-0188,
PRICE: $895 per person per week

MARK BOWLING,
Founder, Joshua Tree Rock Climbing School
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Bowling, 45, has been monkeying around on J-Tree’s Flintstones-esque mounds of quartz monzonite for nearly three decades and can guide you up any kind of route you care to tackle. One of his favorites: the labyrinthine Wonderland of Rocks—with routes like 5.11b Poodle Smasher. “Seeing people learn to climb,” he says, “rekindles my own love of the sport.”
CONTACT: Joshua Tree Rock Climbing School, 800-890-4745, climb@telis.org
PRICE: $110 per person per day

RANDY GAYNER
Founder, Glacier Wilderness Guides
Glacier National Park, MT
Gayner founded Glacier’s only hiking-guide service 21 years ago, so the former backcountry ranger is plenty intimate with the 700-mile trail network, the grizzlies that ply it, and other dangers, like a falling apartment-size ice slab that Gayner saw crash into a lake back in 1989. Gayner’s favorite march: the eight-mile hike through Many Glacier Valley.
CONTACT: Glacier Wilderness Guides, 800-521-7238,
PRICE: $487 for the three-day hut trip; $70 for a custom day hike

DAN OBERLATZ
Co-Owner, Alaska Alpine ���ϳԹ���s
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, AK
Instead of flaunting his feats on big peaks like Denali, 35-year-old Oberlatz would rather show you around the backcountry: You’ll spend five days hiking and kayaking in the remote Twin Lakes basin, where you’ll paddle beneath the snowcapped Chigmit Mountains. “That moment when the plane leaves you and there’s total silence—that’s what it’s all about,” he says. CONTACT: Alaska Alpine ���ϳԹ���s, 877-525-2577,
PRICE: from $2,900 per week per person

JIM CAMERON
Head Guide, Olympic Mountaineering
Olympic National Park, WA
Cameron has topped out on 7,965-foot Mount Olympus a mere 88 times. This summer he’s shooting for his 100th summit. Meet up with the gangly 47-year-old guide at Glacier Meadows base camp and he’ll help you cross crevasse- littered Blue Glacier en route to views of Rainier, Baker, and the Pacific.
CONTACT: Olympic Mountaineering, 360-452-0240,
PRICE: $295 per person

TIM AND DIANNE SHEW Owners, Balch Park Pack Station
Sequoia National Park, CA
These two Tennessee-born wranglers have spent the past 20 years riding the southern Sierra. Travel with them and their steeds to the deer-filled alpine meadows of Hockett Plateau, where 46-year-old Dianne, a published photographer, will drawl instructions on how best to capture the alpenglow off Vandever Mountain’s 11,947-foot summit.
CONTACT: Balch Park Pack Station, 559-539-2227,
PRICE: from $175 per person per day

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SURVIVAL

Tom Brown’s Tracker Shool
Ashbury, New Jersey
For 26 years, Tom Brown has been teaching backcountry self-sufficiency to students—including a Survivor cast member—at his farm in northern New Jersey. In his Seven-Day Standard Course, you and 12 other campers will learn to forage for edible violets, make tools from stone, navigate by starlight, and build shelters from mud and animal hides. “After this class,” says Brown, “you’ll be able to survive in any condition, track a mouse across a driveway, and no longer be an alien in your own environment.”
End Game: Living comfortably—without matches, food, or a compass—in uncomfortable conditions.
Info: $800 (all-inclusive), April to September; 908-479-4681,
Or Try: Boulder Outdoor Survival School, in Boulder, Utah, where you’ll learn to explore in desert conditions with little more than the clothes on your back; seven-day field course, $985; 303-444-9779,


WILDERNESS SKILLS

National Outdoor Leadership School
Lander, Wyoming
NOLS’s leave-no-trace philosophy and leadership training have set the standard in outdoor education since 1965. Who better to show you the backcountry ropes? Sign on for its 30-day Wind River Wilderness Course and trek up to ten miles a day, setting up minimum-impact camps and learning to lead your teammates and two instructors. Lessons in route finding and GPS navigation, plus three days of climbing instruction, will help even those without prior backcountry experience get around (and over) the 12,000-foot peaks. Culinary perk: You’ll be catching and cooking your own cutthroat trout and baking campfire pizzas in no time.
End Game: Planning, leading, and cleaning up after yourself on an extended wilderness trip.
Info: $3,150 (all-inclusive), June to September; 800-710-6657,
Or Try: REI ���ϳԹ���s’ seven-day Rainier Backpacking Trip, combining instruction with a 40-mile trek on the Northern Loop and Wonderland trails; $1,095; 800-622-2236,

Climbing, Mountaineering, and Canyoneering

ROCK CLIMBING

American Alpine Institute
Bellingham, Washington
A 29-year-old outfit with some of the most rigorously trained guides in the industry, AAI offers dozens of camps in six states and 13 countries. The THREE-DAY INTRODUCTORY ROCK course at Red Rocks, Nevada, teaches proper footwork and technical skills like rigging and equalizing a top rope. More adventurous rock rats can lead on a trad climb up 1,500-foot, 5.6 Solar Slab.
End Game: Setting up and climbing top ropes with confidence.
Info: $470 (instruction only), October to April; 360-671-1505,

Or Try: International Mountain Climbing School, in North Conway, New Hampshire, for sport-, trad-, and ice-climbing instruction in the White Mountains; one- to three-day clinics, $95–$360; 603-356-7064,


MOUNTAINEERING

Rainier Mountaineering INC.
Ashford, Washington
The venerable Avalanche institute runs avalanche and backcountry ski seminars in five locations across Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado—including a three-day level 1 Course at Red Mountain Pass, in Colorado’s slide-prone San Juan Mountains. From the warm bunks inside the St. Paul Lodge, at 11,500 feet, you can talk surface hoar and slab avalanches with AAI’s wilderness pros. Then snowshoe or skin up to 12,500 feet on telemark or randonnée skis to assess real-time avalanche conditions and practice beacon-assisted rescues.
End Game: Developing a healthy respect for volatile winter terrain—and the smarts to travel safely.
Info: $470 (all-inclusive), December to April; 307-733-3315,
Or Try: Pro Guiding Service, in North Bend, Washington, for novice to expert snow-safety workshops in the Cascades; two- to four-day trips, $180–$340; 425-888-6397,

CANYONNEERING

American Canyoneering Association
Cedar City, Utah
ACA’s laid-back guides are masters at teaching safe travel in the narrow sandstone canyons outside Cedar City, Utah, and Globe, Arizona. On the Three-day Basic Canyoneering course, you’ll begin by practicing belay technique, rope deployment, and rigging. Explore area slots on succeeding days, learning to safely descend into and ascend out of canyons, swim in swiftwater, and prepare for—and avoid—flash floods.
End Game: Rappelling and splashing your way through a descent of three-mile-long Mystery Canyon in Zion National Park.
Info: $265 (instruction only), March to September; 435-590-8889,

Or Try: Zion ���ϳԹ��� Company, in Springdale, Utah, for a primer on pothole swimming and self-rescue; three-day beginner course, $495; 435-772-1001,

Snow Sports

SNOWBOARDING

Mount Hood Summer Ski Camps
Government Camp, Oregon
Twenty-year-old Mount Hood Summer Ski Camps draws the best coaches in the business to the only year-round ski hill (elevation 11,235 feet) in the country. In the mornings at the Six-Day Snowboard Camp, when the snow’s still firm, you’ll practice drills at 8,500 feet on the Palmer and Zig Zag glaciers and rail slides in the terrain park; later, when it warms up to 65 degrees, burn turns in Lower Cuervo Canyon. Back at the chalet-style Lodges at Salmon River Meadows, nurse your glacial sunburn—and a cold one.
End Game: Wowing your friends with a backside 540.
Info: $725–$925 (all-inclusive), May to September; 503-337-2230,
Or Try: Southshore Soldiers Ski and Snowboard Camp, in Heavenly, California, where coaches include X Games gold medalists Jimmy Halopoff and Shaun Palmer; six-day sessions, $599; 888-712-7772,


AVALANCHE SKILLS/BACKCOUNTRY SKIING

American Avalanche Institute
Wilson, Wyoming
The venerable Avalanche institute runs avalanche and backcountry ski seminars in five locations across Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado—including a three-day level 1 Course at Red Mountain Pass, in Colorado’s slide-prone San Juan Mountains. From the warm bunks inside the St. Paul Lodge, at 11,500 feet, you can talk surface hoar and slab avalanches with AAI’s wilderness pros. Then snowshoe or skin up to 12,500 feet on telemark or randonnée skis to assess real-time avalanche conditions and practice beacon-assisted rescues.
End Game: Developing a healthy respect for volatile winter terrain—and the smarts to travel safely.
Info: $470 (all-inclusive), December to April; 307-733-3315,
Or Try: Pro Guiding Service, in North Bend, Washington, for novice to expert snow-safety workshops in the Cascades; two- to four-day trips, $180–$340; 425-888-6397,

SKIING

North American Ski Training Center
Truckee, California
Every year, NASTC snaps up the country’s top alpine instructors to teach its total-immersion ski camps, held in Tahoe and La Grave, France, and 15 powder points in between. Its weeklong alaska heli-skiing and powder technique course addresses the irony of skiing off-piste steeps: You’re ready for another thousand feet, but your legs and form aren’t. Stay at the posh Alyeska Prince Hotel, 45 minutes south of Anchorage, and spend four days finessing your edging and pole plants in Alyeska Ski Resort’s steep chutes and powdery terrain. On day five, fly deep into the Chugach Mountains’ 750 square miles of heli-accessible backcountry, where your skills—and your strength—will surprise you.
End Game: Learning to carve thigh-deep powder.
Info: $4,450 (all-inclusive), April 2005; 530-582-4772,
Or Try: All Mountain Ski Pros, in Lake Tahoe, California, and ski with extreme-skiing film star Eric Deslauriers; three days, $495; 888-754-2201,

DOGSLEDDING

Yogageur Outward Bound
Ely, Minnesota
Realize your Call of the Wild fantasies while mushing through the maze of frozen lakes and boreal forests of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Voyageur Outward Bound’s 22-day Northwoods Dogsledding Course trains neophyte mushers in the care and feeding of their four- to six-dog teams, basic winter-camping and survival techniques, and winter navigation. At the end of the program, students are encouraged to try a night or two of solo camping with the hounds. But it’s not that brutal—the canvas expedition tents are warmed by wood-burning stoves.
End Game: Competently managing a dog team—and winter’s chill—in the backcountry.
Info: $2,795 (all-inclusive), January to March; 866-467-7640,
Or Try: Paws for ���ϳԹ���, in Fairbanks, Alaska, and embark on an instructional expedition in the wilds of the true north; three- to seven-day courses, $550–$3,300; 907-378-3630,

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Methow Valley Nordic
Winthrop, Washington
With its near-perfect conditions—dry snow and 124 miles of groomed trails through the ponderosa forests of the eastern Cascades—Methow Valley draws former Olympians and pro racers from the U.S. and Canada to teach its Three-Day Cross-Country Ski Camp. From your base at the swanky Sun Mountain Lodge, you’ll start with morning yoga, then hit the snow for instruction in classic and skate skiing. Evenings are filled with equipment demos and one-on-one video analysis.
End Game: No more flailing when you point those skinny sticks downhill.
Info: $300 (instruction and lunches only), December to February; 509-996-3152,
Or Try: Lone Mountain Ranch’s three-day Spring Ski Clinic in Big Sky, Montana, which ends with a nine-mile nordic tour in Yellowstone; $940; 800-514-4644,

Cycling and Horseback Riding

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Single Track Ranch Inc.
Seattle, Washington
You don’t need to be the best mountain biker, but you need to be serious about getting better. That’s the main advice eight-time Iditasport champion John Stamstad gives his campers as they kick off the Six-day Moab Singletrack camp, held on Utah’s world-famous trails. Each morning, sharpen basic bike-handling skills, like strategic braking and shifting, then bump up your singletrack technique: picking a line, doing wheelie drops, cornering at high speed, and getting restarted on the steeps. Accommodations are in condos near downtown Moab.
End Game: Skirting Porcupine Rim’s 300-foot drop-offs without losing your cool.
Info: $1,850 (all-inclusive), September; 888-310-1212,
Or Try: Dirt Camp’s singletrack Classics, in Utah and Vermont, for fat-tire tutelage from the oldest mountain-biking school in the country; seven days, $1,500; 800-711-3478,


ROAD CYCLING

Carmicheal Training Systems
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Open to all but geared toward speed freaks looking to better their performance, this Five-Day Colorado Climbing Camp, run by Chris Carmichael (Lance Armstrong’s coach of 14 years), starts with an equipment tune-up—then it’s all uphill from there. For the next three days, you’ll ride 10 to 70 miles each day (and spend one sprinting repeatedly up the same 1,200-foot hill) while CTS coaches critique and tweak your pedal stroke. Day five brings the Stinger, an 80-mile, 5,000-foot climb through the Front Range. (Altitude slowing you down? The sag wagon is always an option.) Massages and a hot tub await you nightly at the upscale Cheyenne Mountain Resort.
End Game: Hammering hills with Lance-like power.
Info: $2,400 (all-inclusive), May and June; 719-635-0645,
Or Try: Marty Jemison’s Cycling, in Park City, Utah, where you’ll ride with the pros as they train for the U.S. Championships; seven-day clinic, $750; 800-492-9159,

HORSEBACK RIDING

Bitterroot Ranch
Dubois, Wyoming
No nose-to-ass trail riding here. At the Bitterroot Ranch, you’ll get all levels of instruction from Donna Snyder-Smith, author of the revered horsey bible The Complete Guide to Endurance Riding and Competition. In her Seven-Day Riding Clinic, you’ll learn how to trot, canter, and gallop fluidly on the ranch’s more than 160 Arabians and quarter horses. Each day begins with morning instruction in the ring, followed by afternoon trail rides. Nights are spent in private cabins along the East Fork of the Wind River. And thanks to Snyder-Smith’s emphasis on equine psychology, your horse will respect you in the morning.
End Game: Heading out with wranglers for the annual weeklong cattle roundup in the Shoshone National Forest in September.
Info: $2,150 (all-inclusive), August; 800-545-0019,
Or Try: Hill Country Equestrian Lodge, in Bandera, Texas, for instruction on 6,000 acres of unspoiled Hill Country; five days, $1,195–$1,322; 830-796-7950,

Water Sports

SWIMMING
Peak Performance Swim Camp
Orlando, Florida
Peak Performance runs its Weeklong swim camp for all levels—from competitive high-schoolers to lap swimmers to masters-class racers—at the National Triathlon Training Center’s 50-meter pool, in Clermont, Florida. Led by 1996 Olympic coaches, you’ll spend four hours a day in the water, finessing your kick-and-pull technique in the four major strokes. Dry-land sessions include flexibility and strength training, as well as visualization and nutrition workshops. Underwater videotaping will reveal your bad habits—the first step toward breaking them.
End Game: Streamlined technique and faster times.
Info: $999 (all-inclusive), year-round; 407-872-0604,
Or Try: Doug Stern’s Open Water Swim Camps, in Yulan, New York, and learn straight-line swimming in open water; three-day sessions in New York, $300; ten-day camps in Curaçao, in the Netherlands Antilles, $1,595; 212-222-0720,


SCUBA DIVING
Ocean Enterprises
San Diego, California
Ocean enterprises boasts a PADI five-star rating and it’s one of the only career-development dive centers in the country. (This is where teachers come to learn.) Better yet, San Diego’s coastal waters offer shipwrecks, kelp beds, and ledge diving. Most of the school’s 30-plus instructors have logged more than 500 dives each and can handle the needs of beginners, as well as scuba vets looking for specialty training in wreck and nitrox diving. In its TWO-Weekend open-water beginner course, you’ll move at your own pace from a dry-land introduction to a pool session, and finally to four 20- to 40-foot dives in the open Pacific.
End Game: Earning your PADI open-water certification, and the ability to dive with a buddy, sans instructor.
Info: $230 (instruction only), year-round; 858-565-6054,
Or Try: Olympus Dive Center, in Morehead City, North Carolina, for basic scuba-certification courses and deep-diving clinics; $105 per day; 252-726-9432,

SURFING
Nancy Emerson School of Surfing
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
International surf professional Nancy Emerson and her golden retriever, Apache, welcome groms and shredders to a five-Day maui surf clinic in the warm waters off Lahaina, where gentle two- to four-foot waves can make standing up on your first day a snap. On days two and three, you’ll learn the nuances of reading reef breaks and timing waves. Stay in one of Maui’s nearby beachfront accommodations and you’ll have round-the-clock access to—and inspiration from—your Pacific classroom.
End Game: Walking the board—the first step to hanging ten.
Info: $780 (instruction and lunches only), year-round; 808-662-4445,
Or Try: SoCal-based Paskowitz Family Surf Camp’s newest campus, in Baja’s Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; seven-day sessions, $2,900; 949-728-1000,

FLY-FISHING
Andre Puyans Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Seminars
Island Park, Idaho
A member of the federation of Fly Fishing Hall of Fame since 1995, Andre Puyans, at age 12, could hit a pack of Lucky Strikes with a cast from 35 feet away. Now 68, he’s taught more than 4,000 students, from novice to expert. His seven-day seminar at the rustic Elk Creek Ranch covers casting, entomology, and fly presentation, followed by four days angling for 16- to 25-inch rainbow trout in Hemingway’s stomping grounds: Idaho’s Henry’s Fork and Buffalo rivers, Montana’s Madison River, and Wyoming’s Yellowstone River.
End Game: Reeling in a big one—on your own cast.
Info: $2,975 (all-inclusive), July; 925-939-3113,
Or Try: Dave and Emily Whitlock’s Fly Fishing School, near Mountain Home, Arkansas, for top-notch angling instruction on the White River; three-day clinic, $750; 888-962-4576,

SAILING
Annapolis Sailing School
Annapolis, Maryland
The Chesapeake Bay’s consistent winds and flatwater are ideal for sailing. No wonder the Annapolis Sailing School has been teaching there since 1959. On its five-day bay country cruising course, you and three other students will live and study aboard a 37-foot O’Day twin-sail—touring marinas, exploring islands, and overnighting in coves along Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Your Coast Guard–certified instructor emphasizes a learn-by-doing approach, which means he’ll look over your shoulder, but you’ll be in charge as you tack, jibe, weigh anchor, and navigate using nautical charts.
End Game: Sailing a sizable boat with confidence.
Info: $1,430–$1,490 (all-inclusive), April to October; 800-638-9192,
Or Try: The Modern Sailing Academy, in Sausalito, California, for a five-day basic cruising course in the big water of San Francisco Bay; $995; 800-995-1668,

KITEBOARDING
Real Kiteboarding
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
Imagine 70 miles of white sand, a steady wind, 80-degree, waist-deep ocean. This is Cape Hatteras, where six hours of daily instruction at the three-day zero to Hero camp will have you shredding the sunrise oil—that’s flatwater—in no time. You’ll practice rigging, flying on land, launching in Pamlico Sound, and bailing out when a sudden gust slingshots you toward a pier.
End Game: Touring downwind as your kite catches the breeze overhead.
Info: $895 (instruction only), March to November; 866-732-5548,
Or Try: New Wind Kiteboarding, in La Ventana, Mexico, for one-on-one coaching along Baja’s gulf coast; two days, $467; 541-387-2440,

Paddling

SEA KAYAKING
Maine Island Kayak Co.
Peaks Island, Maine
More than 2,000 islands—home to hundreds of protected coves and isolated pools—create the ultimate location for Maine Island Kayak Co.’s Five-Day Fast Track camp. For the first three days, hover in nearby coves to hone paddling technique, self-rescue, wet exits, route selection, and navigation. Spend the final two days in the open Atlantic, where seals trail the kayaks. Stay in one of the island’s three hotels, or set up tents in the grass behind the boathouse and steep in the briny sea mist.
End Game: Leading your own 21-mile circumnavigation of Isle au Haut, in nearby Acadia National Park.
Info: $750–$1,250 (all-inclusive), June to September; 800-796-2373,
Or Try: Body Boat Blade International’s five-day camp on Orcas Island, Washington, where you can learn to sea-kayak in the San Juan archipelago; $520; 360-376-5388,


ROWING
Craftsbury Sculling Center
Crafsbury Common, Vermont
Don’t get the wrong idea when you’re told you’re velvety, silky, or seamless—that’s how sculling coaches describe a smooth stroke. You’ll learn from Olympic and world-champion rowers at Craftsbury’s Weeklong Sculling Camp on the 320-acre campus of an old boarding school in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Practice synchronizing your catch, drive, and release as you row a 26-foot-long single scull across Great Hosmer Pond, then give yourself some well-deserved TLC with evening yoga classes and Craftsbury’s famous home-cooked meals.
End Game: Showing off your fluid form in the Head of the Hosmer, a two-mile race on the last day of camp.
Info: $795–$895 (all-inclusive), May to September; 802-586-7767,
Or Try: Lancaster, Virginia’s Calm Waters Rowing, for sculling fundamentals on 80-acre Camps Millpond; three to four days, $615–$960; 800-238-5578,

RAFTING
Destination, Wilderness
Sisters, Oregon
If you’ve ever dreamed of bossing your friends down a river, Destination Wilderness’s Seven-day Whitewater Rafting Workshop is the place for you. You’ll spend the first three days camping on Oregon’s North Fork of the Umpqua River, taking turns captaining your raft down Class III–IV rapids and stopping on the way for sandbar seminars on paddle technique, boat repair, and navigation. Then spend four days floating the Class III Rogue River, refining the skills you need to guide a private paddleboat or oar boat downstream. The training, which has a three-to-one student-teacher ratio, includes simulated rescues and addresses leadership issues—like how to deal with your rowdy cousin Tony on your next trip down the Rio Grande.
End Game: Rowing or paddling a Class III torrent.
Info: $1,150 (all-inclusive), April to May; 800-423-8868,
Or Try: Far Flung ���ϳԹ���s, of Taos, New Mexico, whose courses on New Mexico and Colorado rivers transform first-time rafters into Class IV boat captains; seven days, $900; 800-359-2627,

CANOEING
Nantahala Outdoor Center
Bryson City, North Carolina
Since 1972, the legendary NOC, tucked in the woods on the banks of the Class III Nantahala River, has been schooling people in proper paddling technique—from the basic J-stroke to peeling out, ferrying, and boofing drops. During the Four-day Rapid Progression Course, you’ll start out with a day of dry-land and flatwater paddling instruction before transferring those skills to Class I flatwater on day two. Days three and four are spent testing yourself on more challenging Class II sections of the Nantahala. Chow down on riverside picnic lunches and overnight in NOC’s woodsy cabins.
End Game: Planning your own trip down Maine’s Allagash and St. John rivers.
Info: $755 (all-inclusive), April and September; 800-232-7238,
Or Try: Tuckamor Trips, in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, for instructional adventures on Quebec’s Class I–II Dumoine River; six days, $890; 819-326-3602,

Racing

TRIATHLON

Total Immersion
New Paltz, New York
For those who have always wanted to try triathlon, Total Immersion’s six-day Tri Camp in Killington, Vermont, specializes in teaching proper technique (rather than beating you into the pavement) whether you’re a newbie or a repeat Ironman. Typical days start with stretching and core-strength exercises and progress to strategy sessions, where you’ll learn to draft in the open water, ride with the pack, and run faster using less energy.
End Game: Improving your mental toughness—and your time—in the Lake Dunmore Triathlon the day after camp ends.
Info: $1,095 (all-inclusive), August; 800-609-7946,
Or Try: Multisports.com, in Encinitas, California, and train with eight-time Ironman world champ Paula Newby-Fraser; three to five days, $599–$999; 760-635-1795,


ADVENTURE RACING

Odyssey ���ϳԹ��� Racing Academy
New River Gorge, West Virginia
Odyssey gets beginners race-ready in less than a week in its six-day adventure racing training camp, starting with Trailblazing 101—orienteering by way of map, compass, and stars in West Virginia’s rugged New River Gorge. The following days bring crash courses in river safety, kayaking, canoeing, and whitewater swimming on the Class II New River; climbing at the Endless Wall; and mountain-biking area trails. Evening classes at Camp Washington Carver cover basics from team dynamics to snacking.
End Game: Pounding through the Endorphin FIX, a 125-mile, 40-hour race with your course mates in the New River Gorge.
Info: $1,725 (all-inclusive), May; 757-645-3397,
Or Try: Gravity Play’s ���ϳԹ��� Racing Retreat, a 12-hour intensive in Moab, Utah; $75; 970-259-7771,

Running and Wellness

YOGA
Dharma Yoga Center
Miami Beach, Florida
Shri Dharma Mittra, 65, earned the nickname “The Teacher’s Teacher” in 1984, when he demonstrated 908 postures for the Master Yoga Chart, one of the most comprehensive yoga references in the world. Each December, the guru leaves his Manhattan studio to run a seven-Day miami beach yoga intensive for yogis of all levels. Attend up to five one- to two-and-a-half-hour sessions a day in open-air classrooms and spend your free time practicing downward dogs on South Beach.
End Game: Accepting, not perfecting, your half lotus.
Info: $710 (including accommodations and daily breakfasts), December; 212-253-1289,
Or Try: Shambhala Mountain Center, in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, for seven days of hatha yoga practice and meditation; $687–$1,219; 970-881-2184,


RUNNING
Coach Benson’s Smokey Mountain Running Camps
Asheville, North Carolina
After 32 years, former Olympic coach Roy Benson is still drawing all levels of runners to his Six-day Adult Running Camp on the UNC–Asheville campus. Using a videotaped deconstruction of your stride, you’ll learn how to correct pronation and other common problems with Benson’s biomechanic drills. Mornings, pace yourself on a spiderweb of trails through the Pisgah National Forest; after lunch, sit in on talks by Nike pros and carbo-load on fresh-baked bread in the dining hall.
End Game: Training for your next—or first—10K or marathon with a personalized, Benson-approved workout.
Info: $695 (all-inclusive), June; 770-457-9866,
Or Try: Beyond Running Trail Running Camps, in Sonoita, Arizona, to take your training off-road, compliments of Scott Jurek, five-time winner of the Western States 100; three- to six-day camps, $650–$1,350; 206-325-0064,

FITNESS
Seal Training Acadamy
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Founded in 2000 by 21-year Navy SEAL vet Don Mann, with a faculty of burly former Special Forces instructors, this hard-charging seven-day fitness camp for civilians is as close as you’ll get to an authentic SEALs Hell Week. After a 5 a.m. wake-up call at “barracks” (your tent at nearby First Landing State Park), you’ll be coached through killer sessions of sit-ups, push-ups, beach sprints, and endurance runs. You’ll also skydive from 12,500 feet and earn your scuba certification. “Some people train all year and then come to camp, others come looking to get in shape,” Mann says. “They get their asses kicked, but everyone enjoys it.”
End Game: Being tough enough to crank out another 12-mile lap while your Navy coach razzes you on.
Info: $2,450 (all-inclusive), May; 757-645-3397,
Or Try: Cycling and running sessions at Davis Mountain Fitness and Training Camp, in Fort Davis, Texas; seven days, $400–$750; 915-584-0227,

Skydiving and Paragliding

SKYDIVING

Perris Valley Skydiving
Perris, California
PVS, one of america’s largest skydiving centers, boasts its own bunkhouse (the IHOP: International House of Parachutists), full-service gear shop, and wind tunnel (to fine-tune free-fall technique). During the One-day Accelerated Freefall Training for neophytes, you’ll spend four to six hours on the ground learning hand signals and safety procedures before your first jump. (Lines in a tangle? Cut your chute and pull the reserve!) Perris’s 15 instructors have logged more than 7,000 jumps between them, so don’t panic as you prepare to hurl yourself out of the plane at 13,000 feet.
End Game: Notching your inaugural instructor-assisted jump—seven leaps away from your first solo skydive.
Info: $309 (instruction only), year-round; 800-832-8818,
Or Try: Skydive Arizona, in Eloy, Arizona, for a 14-day, 25-jump course that will earn you a Class A solo free-fall license; $2,940; 520-466-3753,


PARAGLIDING

Super Fly Paragliding Academy
Sandy, Utah
Point of the mountain, south of Salt Lake City, is considered one of the best paragliding training grounds in the world, thanks to a consistent 300-days-a-year updraft that keeps fliers aloft for hours. In Super Fly’s Two-day Introduction to Paragliding, you’ll start on the ground, boning up on basic wind and weather strategies, the physics of gliding, and maneuvering your canopy. Then it’s a solo jog off the “bunny hill,” where you’ll catch 100 feet of glide before touching down on the grass. Day two includes a tandem launch with an expert coach, then your first solo endeavor: a 300-foot-high, quarter-mile soar.
End Game: Earning a P1 rating—the first hurdle in obtaining your paragliding license.
Info: $395 (instruction only), year-round; 801-255-9595,
Or Try: Torrey Pines Gliderport, in La Jolla, California, one of the largest and oldest schools in the country; three-day beginner camp, $795; 858-452-9858,

Stick Together

Get cliquey at a specialty camp—a booming new trend in sports schools

It’s a Guy Thing
Big Mountain Resort, Whitefish, Montana. Ski the double-black Picture Chutes, then analyze your technique on video with expert coaches. Three-day men’s workshop, $250; 406-862-2909,
Real Men Cook, Annapolis, Maryland. Make like Mario Batali and learn to whip up a frutti di mare Mediterranean feast without looking like a sissy. Weekend courses for men from $695; 410-849-2517,

Let Her Rip
Las Olas Surf Safaris, Mexico. Discover your inner wahine on beginner-friendly waves in a sleepy Pacific surf town 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. After your morning session, siesta on the sand. Women’s six-day safaris from $1,995; 707-746-6435,
Alison Dunlap ���ϳԹ��� Camps, Moab, Utah. World-champion mountain biker Alison Dunlap will put you through the paces on 100 miles of slickrock and singletrack around Moab. Five-day women-only camps from $1,295; 800-845-2453, Â��
Singles-Minded
Club Med Turkoise, Providenciales Island, Turks and Caicos. Little kids are outlawed at this Caribbean watersports paradise, so the big kids have all the fun: windsurfing lessons on Grace Bay, scuba certification off coral-ringed West Caicos, or acrobatic trapeze practice overlooking the palms. One-week vacations from $1,595; 800-258-2633,
Singles Travel International, Moab, Utah. Spend a week getting chummy with your belayer on this multisport sampler. Raft the Colorado’s Class II–III Fisher Towers section, mountain-bike the Gemini Bridges Trail, and explore Medieval Canyon’s red rocks. One-week singles camps from $1,999; 877-765-6874,
We Are Family
Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center, Salida, Colorado. Dangle from a 5.9 route on Davis Face, near the Buffalo Peaks, while your daughter works her way up a beginner’s pitch (or vice versa). Five-day family course, $488 per person; 800-255-5784,
Durango Mountain Bike Camp, Durango, Colorado. Seven- to 14-year-olds tackle singletrack for two hours each morning, then build balance by popping wheelies and playing bike tag. Five-day family camp, $250; 970-385-0411,

Follow Through

Get a shot of confidence at camp, then sustain the commitment at home with these six strategies.

Join the Club
Like-minded enthusiasts can get you off your butt with organized events like group-training programs for a first marathon. Pete & Ed Books (800-793-7801, ), an online bookstore and clearinghouse of sports clubs, has links to about 1,000 outdoor organizations in the U.S. and abroad.

Get Tuned Up
Hook up with expert instructors for one-day refresher courses. Keep working on your weak points and sooner or later you’ll nail that stubborn crux move. Eastern Mountain Sports (888-463-6367, ) hosts climbing, camping, and kayaking clinics throughout the Northeast.
Local Motion
People who hit the neighborhood trails and local surf breaks know what’s best, and when. When you take your sport on the road, ask around at shops or scour the Web for advocacy groups. California Kayak Friends (818-885-6182, ) is a boaters’ network that shares event and condition information on hot spots at rivers, lakes, and oceans across the West.
Give Back
Volunteer to clean up your favorite play spot (and conscience). Meet your brethren, then hit that debris-free singletrack. Oregon’s Portland United Mountain Pedalers () hosts weekly “work parties” on nearby trails.
Push Yourself
Nothing gets you fired up to practice like a little healthy competition. The New York Road Runners (212-860-4455, ) hosts the New York City Marathon and some 75 shorter races throughout the year.
Cross-Training
Just because your sport is seasonal doesn’t mean your training should be. Minnesota’s North Star Ski Touring Club (952-924-9922, ) has been organizing cross-country-ski clinics and outings for more than 30 years. Come summer, members hike and bike together to stay in shape till the snow returns.

Start Me Up

At a school like Otter Bar, every beginner has a shot a greatness

I’M FINALLY HITTING MY ROLL.
A whitewater kayak is an unstable platform in the slippery grip of Old Man River—it will flip. Not maybe; will. And when you find yourself hurtling through a rapid upside down, with the lower half of your body entombed inside a plastic shell, you’d better know how to use your arms, your paddle, and a twist of your hips to roll the boat upright—a subtle, balletic move that takes you from an inverted, fishy kingdom of death to the bright realm of light, air, and gasping life.

Consistently hitting my roll is the high-water mark of my success after three weeks of kayak instruction over three summers at the Otter Bar Lodge Kayak School, way up in the attic of northern California. Otter Bar has a wild stretch of the Salmon River in its backyard and is probably the best whitewater school in the world, not least because it is the most decadently luxurious. Its proprietors, Kristy and Peter Sturges, are superb hosts, and the instructors are world-class boaters. But you don’t have to be a hardcore jock to gain something deeply rewarding by taking the uncharacteristic (for an adult) risk of signing up for summer camp.
Decades after leaving childhood and the classroom behind, it’s a humbling, revelatory experience to become a beginner again, to face down a primal fear of the difficult and the unknown. But once intermediate status is within reach, you open the door to the epic possibilities of real adventure.
At the moment, I’m dreaming about Otter Bar’s annual autumn trip down the Grand Canyon. I’d have to get serious about tuning up my paddling to handle the Class III–IV water, but places like Otter Bar specialize in making big dreams come true. Even for a slow learner like me.
Otter Bar Lodge Kayak School, Forks of Salmon, California; seven days, $1,605–$1,890 (all-inclusive), April to September; 14-day Grand Canyon trip, $2,900 (Class III+ paddling skills required), September 15–29; 530-462-4772,

Hold the Adrenaline

Learning anything new takes effort—but that doesn’t mean you have to work up a sweat

Camp Cooking Learn to churn out gourmet-on-the-go feasts, like breakfast quiche and Cornish game hen, from a Dutch oven and an open flame. Royal Tine guide & Packer School, Philipsburg, Montana; 800-400-1375,
Boat Building Wield a spokeshave to hew graceful curves in your very own northern white cedar kayak, skiff, dinghy, or canoe. If you’re good, your creation might even float. Wooden Boat School, Booklin, Maine; 207-359-4651, www.woodenboat.com
Wilderness Photography Join nature photographer Frans Lanting, who has eight acclaimed books to his name, to shoot the pastel wildflowers and jagged mountainscapes of the eastern Sierra. Mountain Light Photography, Bishop, California; 760-873-7700,

Green Architecture Help build a snug, eco-friendly structure using hand tools, mud, straw, and recovered forest timber—and start planning your dream home. Lama Foundation, San Cristobal, New Mexico; 505-586-1269,
Backcountry First Aid A Wilderness First Responder course in injury prevention, assessment, and treatment might save your life or that of a teammate someday. Wilderness Medical Associates, Bryant Pond, Maine; 888-945-3633,
Landscape Design Study permaculture (permanent agriculture) and create sustainable, organic gardens with water-catchment and gravity-fed irrigation systems. Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Occidental, California; 707-874-1557,
Escuela de Español Practicing Spanish while surrounded by the 500-year-old colonial churches, frescoes, and open-air markets of central Mexico will make you feel like you’re already fluent. Habla Hispaña Spanish Language School, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; 011-52-415-152-1535,
Star Trekking Experience weightlessness and learn to pilot your very own space shuttle . . . simulator. Space Camp, Huntsville, Alabama; 800-637-7223,
Meditation Vipassana is all the rage in inner peace. Enjoy (or endure) seven silent hours a day of sitting and walking meditation. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, California; 415-488-0164,
Fly-Rod Crafting Make your own bamboo rod just like Norman Maclean, then use it to pull trout from the fish-rich waters of Willowemoc Creek. The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum, Livingston Manor, New York; 845-439-4810,

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Rafting British Columbia
Spend seven days rafting British Columbia’s Class IV Chilko, Chilcotin, and Fraser rivers, and stretch those aching arms with a twice-daily riverside yoga class and a massage. PRICE: $2,795 per person. CONTACT: O.A.R.S., 800-346-6277,

Custom Spa Vacation in Hawaii
Shape your own island adventure with a spa service that books your hotel or beach house and arranges everything from surf lessons to fitness training and lomi lomi, a traditional Hawaiian massage. PRICE: One-week packages start at $2,350 per person. CONTACT: Pure Kauai, 866-457-7873, Yoga Retreat in Mexico
Los Angeles-based yoga instructor Christine Burke’s January retreat at Elixir de Careyes, a seaside hideaway about 150 miles south of Puerta Vallarta, mixes meditation and yoga on white-sand beaches. Stay in a luxurious villa; spend your free time snorkeling and hiking. PRICE: Burke’s retreat (January 22-25, 2004) starts at $190 per person per night. CONTACT: Christine Burke, 323-363-7573,

Trekking Peru
Imagine saluting the sun as it rises over the ruins of Machu Picchu. You’ll spend four to seven days trekking in the Sacred Valley en route to the ancient city, raft the Urubamba River, mingle with curanderos (native healers), and practice yoga daily on this 14-day trip in southern Peru. PRICE: Starting at $3,000 per person. CONTACT: Yoga ���ϳԹ���, 970-920-1872,

Hiking Italy
You can find healthy adventure in the birthplace of gelato: This eight-day stay on Lake Como sets you up in an elegant hotel overlooking the water and spoils you with yoga, mountain hikes, and low-carb cuisine. PRICE: $3,975 per person. CONTACT: Global Fitness ���ϳԹ���s, 800-488-8747,

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