Since January 1, 2010, Greg Hill, a 35-year-old Revelstoke, British Columbia–based athlete and guide, has hiked and skied an average of 5,480 vertical feet per day, including the four months he spent in Chile and Argentina during the austral winter. His goal: to become the first person to hike and ski two million backcountry vertical feet in a year, all of it under his own power. RILEY BLANTON caught up with him in November, 1.65 million feet into his mission.

OUTSIDE: Ever take a day off?
HILL: I’ve got a wife and two kids, so I try to take at least two days off every week. But over the other five days, I have to do an extra 10,000 feet to make my average.

So you’re looking forward to a break?
Definitely. I’ll enjoy waking up and not feeling like my watch is burning my wrist.

Why two million?
The number is totally arbitrary, but it represents a lot of adventure and great times. I also have a successful brother—Graham Hill, founder of —and he has made his millions. Some people make their millions; I hike mine.

Skiing that many backcountry lines has to be dangerous.
Right before my family left to go back to North America, my three-year-old son said to me, “You’re staying here for three more weeks to ski, and then you’re going to die.” About two and half weeks later I was skiing my wildest line of the entire trip, and all I could hear was his words echoing in my head.

Any injuries?
At one point I was doing a late-night lap because I’d done a family day and still wanted to get in some vertical. I hit a cable and cracked some ribs.

And you kept skiing?
Yeah. My ribs were just partially cracked, really.

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Electric bicycles aren't known for high performance, but that's changing. The BlackTrail, from Germany's PG-Bikes and UB Composites, tops out at 62 miles per hour, making it the world's fastest e-bike. To hit that speed, its frame was built using Formula One–grade carbon fiber, and the high-torque motor was wired to convert seven kilowatts—enough to power your entire house for about six hours—into forward thrust. Amazingly, the BlackTrail still weighs just under 44 pounds and can go more than 120 miles on a single charge. The $80,000 price tag and 667-unit production run mean you probably won't see one locked to a parking meter near you, but the point has been made. By the end of the decade, e-bikes will be out-scooting mopeds and Vespas in both price and performance.

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WESTERN MAINE
America’s most luxurious hut-to-hut ski route is not in the Rockies. Or the Sierra. It’s in … Maine. Yeah, you read that correctly. The nonprofit Maine Huts and Trails’ () new system of huts—three of 12 are finished—takes backcountry comfort to a new level. I skied the huts last winter, unsure what to expect—visions of lobster-themed decor came to mind. Then I glided on perfectly groomed cross-country trails between state-of-the-art, solar- and hydropowered full-service huts dropped 10 to 12 miles apart in the north woods. (The latest, the Grand Falls Hut, was completed in October.) The “huts” are more like lodges, housing 32 to 42 skiers in bunks and serving meals in a separate dining room. Hutkeepers (there are four at each lodge) shuttled my gear by snowmobile, so I could travel fast and light on cross-country skis, free of my heavy-duty boots and boards; dinner was pesto pasta and blueberry pie. Is this the future of backcountry skiing? Is it even backcountry skiing? Does it matter? I didn’t think so as I flew through the Bigelow Mountain Range and around the bright-white canvas of Flagstaff Lake, fortified by hot showers and pie. $65 per person per night, breakfast and dinner included; $80 for Saturday nights; multi-night packages start at $99.

Hoppy Trails

Santa Rosa, California

Russian River Brewing Co.

Russian River Brewing Co.

You go to Sonoma County just for wine, right? Nope. Santa Rosa, the county seat, has some of the best beer (five award-winning breweries within a 35-mile radius) and mountain biking (some 40 miles of spectacular single- and doubletrack) on the West Coast. Set up base camp at the Hotel La Rose (doubles from $119; ), a few minutes’ walk from downtown, and rent a ride at NorCal Bike Sport ($75 per day; ). Then set out on the 4.5-mile ride to the west side of Annadel State Park. Starting on the Canyon Trail, wind up and over the park on a 20-mile maze of singletrack trails and fire roads (maps are available from NorCal Bike Sport, but getting lost is fun, too). Back in Santa Rosa, quench your thirst with a Pliny the Elder Double IPA at the Russian River Brewing Co. (). For dinner, cruise to Zazu (), which serves veggies grown on the farm next door. January is warm and wet here—which means rich green hills, 50-degree temps, and the occasional downpour (pack Gore-Tex). The trails should be fine unless there’s a huge rainstorm. In that case, head to nearby Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve to hike amid the ferns under the cover of old-growth trees—or just wait out the rain at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa (deep-tissue massage, $179; ).

Cat Trick

Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Idaho

Ripping Schweitzer's South Bowl

Ripping Schweitzer's South Bowl

Propped at 6,400 feet, above Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille, this sleeper resort sits on the cusp of Idaho’s maritime weather systems and consistently produces some of the best snow in the country. And because there’s a heavy, stable snowpack, avalanche conditions rarely shut down the fun. This winter’s predicted La Niña cycle should only improve the effect: during the 2007–08 event, 325 inches fell, the most in a century. The best way to experience Schweitzer? Bring a crew: Selkirk Powder Company runs a ten-skier cat operation off the top of the Great Escape quad, offering access to an additional 3,000 acres of everything from novice slopes to old-growth spruce glades to the steep pillow lines that make the Selkirks famous ($350 per person per day or $2,000 total if you fill the cat; ). Off the slopes, grab a beer and garlic fries in Sandpoint, at locals’ favorite Eichardt’s (208-263-4005). Then crash back up the hill at one of the roomy Big Timber condos ($800 per night—that’s $80 a head).

Sun Sports

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Ojo Caliente

Ojo Caliente

When I leave Santa Fe this winter after eight and a half years, I won’t miss the phony feel-good spirituality, the Texans and their passion for driving slow in front of me, or being the only person in town who doesn’t telemark. Here’s what I will miss about the winters here: The clean, crisp air. The open spaces, where you can strap on snowshoes or cross-country skis and wander through aspen glades to above tree line. (Take the two-mile hike from Taos Ski Valley, 90 minutes north of Santa Fe, to your own private yurt, Bull of the Woods; a group of four to six can sleep comfortably for $125 total; .) I’ll miss the views. (The 660-foot-high Rio Grande Gorge Bridge spreads across a plunging canyon on the rim road just north of Taos.) The stress-obliterating feeling of soaking in naturally superheated water as the steam rises around you. (The water at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa has a combination of minerals found nowhere else in the world; private pools, $40; ). The spicy, gooey chiles rellenos (Tune-Up Café; ). And the ability to cap off a weekend with world-class comfort. (I’m not a splurger, but I’ll do it again at the two-year-old Encantado Resort & Spa, an Auberge property with an organic restaurant and an amazing spa; casitas from $280; .) For all those things, plus the smell of piñon smoke wafting through town, I’ll be back.

Bone Deep

Andros Island, Bahamas

Andros is the largest of the Bahamian islands—at 2,300 square miles, it’s nearly four times the size of Oahu—but with just 7,600 locals, it’s also the wildest. Off the eastern shore sits the third-largest barrier reef on earth; on the west, world-class bonefishing flats. But here’s the thing: Andros is one of the most accessible islands in the Caribbean. After a three-hour flight from New York (or an hour from Miami) and a 15-minute puddle-jumper from Nassau on Flamingo Air (), your feet will be dangling in blue water. Set up shop at Swain’s Cay Bonefish Resort, a new Bahamian-owned joint on the east coast. It has local fishing guides and kayaks and snorkel gear aplenty (packages from $300 per night for two; ). Book Mangrove Villa 1—you can practically cast for bones from the patio. Then paddle among mangroves, snorkel with bottlenose dolphins on the Andros Barrier Reef, or take a fishing trip on the island’s west side with fourth-generation guide Ralph Moxey. No matter which adventure you choose, dinner is Swain’s Cay’s lobster-grouper-and-conch platter.

Lonesome Valley

Yosemite National Park, California

There are two seasons in Yosemite. One is people season—82 percent of the park’s 3.7 million visitors arrive between April and October, bearing maps and cameras. In November, that changes. Roads through the high country close. Waterfalls slow to a trickle. Low clouds shroud the walls of El Capitan and Half Dome. Traffic is slim on the groomed nordic and snowshoe trails through the famous Mariposa Grove and on the marked ski-touring routes fingering off the 10.5-mile groomed road to Glacier Point (snowshoe, nordic, and telemark rentals available at Badger Pass Ski Area; from $23; ). Reserving one of the 25 beds in the two-story, stone-and-timber Ostrander Ski Hut, set at the foot of a glacial cirque ten cross-country miles from the Badger Pass Ski Area, is never an issue on weekdays (from $32; ). If you’re going on a Friday, when Ostrander fills up, book at the Victorian-style Wawona Hotel, a short drive from the prime Glacier Point Road trailheads (doubles, $218; ), or at the simple Yosemite Lodge at the Falls (doubles from $179; ). From there it’s a 3.5-mile hike (bring good boots or snowshoes) to the top of spectacular Upper Yosemite Falls, where you probably won’t see any people, or a five-minute drive to the classic Ahwahnee Hotel, where the bartender makes a mean “Firefall”—hot chocolate crème with chile powder and tequila.

Outback Oasis

Summer Lake Hot Springs, Oregon

Once you drive east of Bend, you’re in what we Oregonians call the Outback: an immense desert that’s home to a half-dozen mountain ranges, surreal hot springs, towns named after salt flats, and little else. Set up shop at the Ranch House at the Summer Lake Hot Springs, two hours southeast of Bend (doubles, $150; ). By day, explore the surrounding landscape—Fort Rock, a 4,430-foot volcanic formation 70 miles north of the springs, makes for a great day trip. (Bring down: it probably won’t snow, but temps hover near freezing.) Then head for the Cowboy Dinner Tree, a woodstove-heated joint 30 minutes south of the Rock. Your meal options consist of a whole roast chicken or a 30-ounce steak ($24, prix fixe; reservations required; 541-576-2426). By night it’s all about the hot springs—mineral-fed artesian waters that the lodge has captured in a barn-covered pool and private rock tubs. Bring some Oregon pinot. And your favorite travel partner.

Frosty Oddities

'Tis the season for spam carving, ice fishing, and worshipping frozen corpses. Presenting winter's wildest festivals.

Frozen Dead Guy Days
NEDERLAND, COLORADO, MARCH 4–6
In 1989, Norwegian Bredo Morstoel’s body was frozen at a cryonics lab in California, and his sarcophagus ended up propped in the shed of his grandson Trygve Bauge, in the mountain town of Nederland. The city caught wind, a legal battle ensued over the keeping of corpses within city limits, and Morstoel became the strangest of local icons. Now he’s the strangest of party inspirations. Since 2002, hordes of the absurdly costumed have raced coffins, thrown frozen fish, paraded around in hearses, and taken pilgrimages to see Bredo, who’s still on ice in that shed.

Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza
BRAINERD, MINNESOTA, JANUARY 22
The cannon sounds at noon, and contest fishing officially begins. More than 10,000 people will be huddled around twice as many holes in the ice, trying to land a prize walleye or pike. The top 150 fishermen end up with prizes ranging from new tackle to a new car. Onlookers sample fried cheese nuggets and catch football games in some of the swankier icehouses.

Snowdown
DURANGO, COLORADO, FEBRUARY 2–6
Snowdown is essentially a five-day-long theme party. In the past, Durango has been overrun with pirates, clowns, and flappers. This year it’ll be monsters. Official events—of which there are more than 80—include Spam carving and stuffing as many humans as possible into an outhouse.

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Ryan Levinson knew something was going wrong with his body. In 1990, he was 18 and a promising cyclist—competing on an elite development squad with the likes of George Hincapie and Jonas Carney. But his performances began falling off, and one of his calf muscles seemed to be shriveling. “I thought it was an imbalance in my training,” he says.

Ryan Levinson

Ryan Levinson

It took six years of doctors' appointments and tests before Levinson was diagnosed with an incurable and progressive form of muscular dystrophy called FSHD (facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy). The most prevalent type of muscular dystrophy, FSHD slowly weakens and destroys muscle cells and tissue. Doctors told Levinson to stop strenuous exercise, believing the physical effort would speed the deterioration. Levinson chose to prove them wrong. He postponed working toward his degree in outdoor recreation at San Diego State University and continued a binge of sports and adventures—including surfing, kiteboarding, diving, kayaking, and sailing—that has now lasted 15 years.

“You can't choose what happens to you, but you can choose how you respond to it,” says the San Diego–based 38-year-old. “I thought, if I'm going to lose these muscles, and all I risk is losing them faster, then I'm not going to quit doing what I love.”

In 2006, Levinson, an Emergency Medical Technician with San Diego Medical Services, completed the grueling off-road triathlon course at the Xterra World Championship in Hawaii, which entailed a one-mile open-water swim, a trail ride up and down 10,023-foot Haleakala, and a seven-mile trail run. This year alone, he won the stand-up paddleboard division for challenged athletes in the Hanohano-Huki Ocean Challenge in San Diego; took third place in the challenged-athlete division of the Long Beach to Catalina and Back personal-watercraft race; made the semifinals in his age group in the World Bodysurfing Championships; and was a first-place finisher in the highly competitive challenged-athlete surf contest at Duke's OceanFest at Waikiki Beach. “People think 'challenged' means slow guys who get a hug afterward,” Levinson says. “These are guys who broke their neck at Pipeline or got their arm bitten off by a tiger shark. They rip.”

His accomplishments are all the more impressive when you consider that his biceps are as thin as his forearms. (His shoulder muscles have grown larger to compensate.) He has almost no muscle in his chest, and his belly bulges out because there is little remaining of his abs. His legs are thinning, and his pelvis jostles around after he runs a quarter-mile, lacking the muscles to stabilize it. He can't lift his right arm over his shoulder, do a push-up, sit-up, or pull-up, and it hurts to hold the phone to his ear.

But that hasn't stopped him. Despite failing several times to qualify for the San Diego Lifeguard Academy—his swim times on flatwater couldn't meet academy standards—Levinson performed the grueling physical challenges and completed the 39th academy last spring, after being voted Most Inspirational Recruit. He's been on the prestigious water-safety patrol for California's Mavericks Surf contest and Mexico's Todos Santos Big Wave Event.

Along the way, he's opened doors to tri­athlons and other races for physically challenged athletes. “When I was diagnosed, I looked around the Internet for resources for people like me, and all I saw was atrophy and sorrow. So I decided I would be that guy.” Here's more, in his own words:

“DOCTORS TOLD ME I would accelerate my muscle loss by being active, but it turns out being active didn't increase muscle loss any more than if I just sat around. That was pivotal, because that changed how a lot of doctors tell people with FSHD how to live their lives. It's a good feeling, knowing my efforts give people hope.

PEOPLE GET STUCK thinking there's only one way to do something, but it's incredible what can be accomplished simply by modifying equipment or technique, whether or not you have a disability. When I'm operating a rescue watercraft for an event, or I'm on the ambulance at work, the people I help don't know I have FSHD; they're just glad someone is there.

ANYONE WHO OVERTRAINS, under-rests, eats poorly, or overstresses will physically break down. With me it's just hyperexaggerated. I train hard, but I train smart. I do yogalike stretches for an hour every morning to help mitigate pain that muscle imbalances put on my joints and connective tissue, and I continuously have to adapt to ongoing muscle loss. Certain movements can cause intense pain no matter what I do. Staying active and loose helps a lot, as does meditation.

A COMBINATION OF THINGS drive me: a sense of duty, love for my wife, being able to help other people, the fact that even pain is an experience in itself.

My FSHD ISN'T something I need to outrun. It's a part of me, and I own it. Yeah, I'd be stoked if there were a cure, but that hasn't happened yet, so I live every day with a deep passion that comes from loving what I do and knowing that it will be increasingly challenging to do it. When you think about it, that's true for everyone. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is life.

Mike Coots

AGE: 31
HOMETOWN: KILAUEA, KAUAI, HAWAII
MISSION: SAVE THE SHARKS

THE SHARK CAME UP vertically and latched on to both my legs. I instinctively stuck my right hand into its mouth to try and get my legs out. With my other hand I punched it in its head and it let go. I looked at the finger I had stuck in its mouth and it was peeled open like a potato. I looked at the guy next to me and his eyes were out of his head like silver dollars. He was like, ‘Shark! Go in!’ And I was like, ‘I know!’

FOR MOST FOLKS, having a leg bitten off by a tiger shark would be a debilitating setback. Photographer Coots is not most folks. On October 28, 1997, when Coots’s right leg was bitten off below the knee while he was bodyboarding at Waiokapua Bay, Kauai, it jump-started his life. The bite caused a nearly perfect amputation, and a quick tourniquet applied by a friend slowed the bleeding enough for Coots to make it to the hospital. Five weeks later, as soon as his staples and stitches were out, Coots went bodyboarding—at the same beach where he’d been attacked. “The waves were really good that day,” he says. It took about a year before he was comfortable on his prosthetic leg. In the meantime, he developed a passion for photography and, in 2002, enrolled in the Santa Barbara, California–based Brooks Institute, graduating four years later. His clients now include American Express, Surfer magazine, and Quiksilver. In early 2009, the public-policy group Pew persuaded Coots to use his story to bring attention to the need for greater protection for sharks. He was shocked to learn that in 2000 roughly 73 million sharks had been killed for use in shark-fin soup, so he signed up to be a spokesman for Pew. “Shark fishermen are doing this killing and finning for something that’s not a staple,” Coots says. “It’s a delicacy for restaurants in China for the really rich. Maybe losing my leg will help save a species that’s been surviving for millions of years in our oceans.” His work has since helped create the law to stop shark-finning in Hawaii. Then there’s his surfing habit: Coots took up the sport after the attack, while at school in Santa Barbara, where the waves were too slow for bodyboarding. He now surfs daily and tows in whenever the winter swell is big enough. Did we mention that he rips?

Chris Rutgers

Chris Rutgers

Chris Rutgers

AGE: 36
HOMETOWN: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
MISSION: TRANSFORM THE LIVES OF AT-RISK KIDS THROUGH ADVENTURE

IN NOVEMBER 1992, at age 18, Rutgers left behind an abusive childhood in California and moved to Alta, Utah. He became a dishwasher and later started freeskiing competitively, an experience that changed his life. After seven years, Rutgers left the mountains for San Diego, to start a nonprofit called Outdoor Outreach. His goal? To transform the lives of at-risk kids by introducing them to positive experiences in the outdoors. Now 11 years old, the program, which works with underprivileged youth from inner-city schools, teen homeless shelters, foster-care facilities, and drug-rehabilitation programs, has taken more than 5,000 kids on 1,500 trips throughout California—all for free. One of the organization’s biggest achievements is its ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Clubs, set up at inner-city San Diego high schools, where graduation rates and performance scores are well below the national average. Students meet weekly to plan outdoor trips, and all of last year’s participants graduated and went on to college (except one student, who joined the military). “I was the original case study for my organization,” says Rutgers. “In the end, skiing saved my life”

Erika Vohman

Erika Vohman

Erika Vohman

AGE: 45
HOMETOWN: CRESTED BUTTE, COLORADO
MISSION: EMPOWER WOMEN TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT

VOHMAN SKIS 80 days a year, has kayaked the Grand Canyon six times, slings from a catalog of hundreds of dirty jokes, and is a five-time winner of the costume contest at Crested Butte’s Al Johnson telemark race (thanks to variations on her flesh-colored “naked suit” leotard.) Classic ski-bum stuff, but underestimate her at your peril. The agronomist’s Maya Nut Institute combats hunger and tropical deforestation by teaching women in places like Mexico, Honduras, and Haiti to cook the Maya nut, a forgotten traditional food source littering the forest floor in the New World tropics. “The Maya nut is an important food source for wildlife,” Vohman says, “but people living near these forests have never heard of it, despite sometimes being able to afford only one meal a day.” Since 2001, Vohman’s workshops, led by local staff, have taught more than 14,500 women in 800 rural communities to turn the protein-rich nut into pancakes, soups, and drinks. Some 3,000 graduates now use their skills with micro-enterprises, and more than a million Maya nut trees have been planted as a result of her efforts.

Charlie Wittmack

Charlie Wittmack

Charlie Wittmack

AGE: 33
HOMETOWN: DES MOINES, IOWA
MISSION: THE WORLD TRIATHLON

THIS YEAR, Wittmack ditched his job as a trial lawyer and sold his home and two cars to attempt to become the first person to swim, bike, run, and climb the roughly 10,000 miles between England and the top of Mount Everest. We admire his commitment. “I’ve been obsessed with this idea for 20 years. It’s a perfect line, a perfect expedition,” says Wittmack, who swam 230 miles down the River Thames before crossing the 21-mile English Channel on August 8. Three days later, he forced his waterlogged feet into bike shoes and began the 8,544-mile ride between France and India. As of press time, Wittmack had pedaled 4,500 miles and was in the midst of crossing southern Kazakhstan with an armed escort. If all goes as planned, he’ll complete the ride in Calcutta on December 1 and begin the 1,086-mile run from Calcutta to Everest Base Camp, summiting sometime before June 1. Inspired by a Nepalese midwife’s stories about the lack of care for Nepalese women, Wittmack is using his triathlon’s novelty to partner with the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and Des Moines University to create a $500,000 maternal-health program to teach Nepalese midwives and doctors up-to-date obstetric practices. “There’s too much riding on this,” he says. “I have to continue on.”

Loyal Mehnert

AGE: 33
HOMETOWN: MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
MISSION: TRAVELANTHROPY

IN 2007, MEHNERT was working as a media spokesman for Habitat for Humanity, but he wanted to move from advocacy to action. So he conceived of Travelanthropy. “You hear about people running marathons for charity; I wanted to go bigger,” Mehnert says. The following year, he reinvented himself as an adventuring fundraiser for Habitat and began securing per-mile pledges for endurance endeavors. Since then, he’s driven a road rally from London to Banjul, Gambia; hiked the southern half of the Appalachian Trail; and traversed 500 miles of the Pyrenees. The next big thing on his list? Driving the entire Pan-American Highway in 2011, by the end of which he hopes to have raised $100,000. Here’s more, by the numbers.

$13,000
MONEY RAISED SO FAR FOR GAMBIAN PROJECTS AND HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’S MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST PROJECT

6,000+
CHARITY MILES MEHNERT TRAVERSED TO RAISE IT

one
MARRIAGE PROPOSALS HE’S DELIVERED WHILE TRAVELING (SHE SAID YES)

16,000
MILES MEHNERT PLANS TO DRIVE FROM ARGENTINA TO ALASKA NEXT YEAR

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A great meal in a mountain town used to mean a decent burger. But now top chefs—like these five masters from Colorado—are realizing that there's no better pairing than fine cuisine and high-altitude fun.

Locavore
Mark Fischer has ridden the Leadville 100 on a single-speed (twice), skied from Crested Butte to Aspen in the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse, and finished two Ironman triathlons. But he's received the most recognition in the kitchen. Not only has the James Beard Foundation Award–nominated chef founded two of Carbondale's most beloved restaurants, Six89 and Phat Thai; he's also largely credited for energizing the eat-local movement in the Roaring Fork Valley, thanks to Six89's weekly “100-mile” (as in radius) dinners. “Nine times out of ten, what we can buy right here is gonna taste better than that which comes freighted from some other time zone,” says the 52-year-old Fischer. Next up: This December, Fischer plans to open an American eatery, the Pullman, in Glenwood Springs.

New Crewneck by Gap ($17; ); Fjord Flannel Shirt by Patagonia ($85; ); Cord Sherpa Trucker Jacket by Levi's ($90; ); Rugger jeans by Gant ($148; ); 8131 Classic Mocs by Red Wing ($230; ); Madison sunglasses by Bollé ($110; )

Rahm Fama

Rising Star

Rahm Fama

Rahm Fama

Rahm Fama has always had a “fascination with meat.” At nine, his grand­father taught him how to slaughter a lamb, on his family’s ranch in Chama, New Mexico. Today, Fama wants to teach the rest of us to savor our food. “We eat because we have to,” says the 36-year-old. “But how many meals do you actually remember? That’s why I became a chef.” For the past four years, Fama crafted unforgettable elk, antelope, and even rattle­snake dishes as the executive chef of the Wildflower, the restaurant at the Lodge at Vail. But you can now experience his cooking in your own home: In September, he debuted his show Meat & Potatoes on the Food Network.

Plaid 100 percent cotton button-down ($260) and Military Goggle Jacket ($1,345) by C.P. Company (); Howelsen Half Zip Sweater by SmartWool ($110; ); Rugger corduroys by Gant ($125; ); Caribou boots by Sorel ($110; )

Clint Ketchum

High Rider

“My parents never approved of me being a chef,” says Denver native Clint Ketchum, “but food was my passion, and I did what I wanted.” After working his way up the line in some of Colo­rado’s swankiest eateries, including Denver’s award-winning Papillon Cafe, Ketchum is now the chef de cuisine at Breckenridge’s Relish. And while he manages to snowboard some 120 days a year, his biggest rush still comes from serving up locally sourced buffalo, lamb, and trout to diners at this upscale but unpretentious joint. “We have an open kitchen,” the 31-year-old says. “It’s one of the best feelings, to see a table that’s really loud and having a good time go dead quiet when the food arrives.”

Rugger poplin plaid shirt ($125) and Rugger wool argyle sweater ($175) by Gant (); Well-Worn Denim Jacket by Gap ($80; ); Nuptse Vest by the North Face ($125; ); Jack Waxed Cotton Pant by Billy Reid ($255; ); Boggart boots by Børn ($145; born­shoes.com); Dispatch sunglasses by Oakley ($120; )

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1. 1980s Origin of the Species: Legend has it the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks are the first to use the term cougar to refer to an older woman who beds a younger man. Thanks, neighbor.

Cougars

Cougars

2. 1993
Ascendancy:
Aspen Extreme sees midwesterner T.J. Burke parlay maestro-ski-instructor status into warm nights with a woman his mother’s age. More impressive still, he makes it look like a win.

3. 2001 Arrival: Valerie Gibson’s unintentionally mysogynistic
Cougar: A Guide for Older Women Dating Younger Men hits shelves.

4. 2004 Web Migration:
is unveiled. It celebrates “cougar women and the cubs that adore them.”

5. 2009 Sedation: Courteney Cox’s Cougar Town, on ABC, makes her ilk look desperate—in a bad way.

6. 2010 Exploitation: VH1 airs the unscripted Secrets of Aspen, about the sex lives of six youngish women. “Cougar” gets another definition in the OED.

2010 Endangered Species: On November 1, the comedy Cougar Hunting, set in Aspen and starring Lara Flynn Boyle, squeezes the last ounce of dignity from the mutually beneficial arrangement. We hereby condemn all non-feline use of the word cougar.

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Easy Does It

What a tough guy can learn from an island off Belize

EXACTLY 12 HOURS after walking out the front door of our Brooklyn apartment into a snowstorm, my wife and I stood on the dock at St. George's Caye Resort, in Belize. I was holding my fly rod while she sipped a fruity cocktail and teased me about my bombastic claim that commercial flights do not count as real travel. Any self-respecting adventure traveler, I often say, needs to follow his flight with a couple of days on a train or the top of a bus in order to feel as though he's actually gotten somewhere.

My perspective on the issue was not well supported by St. George's Caye. It's only a 20-minute boat ride from Belize City, yet it feels like a place that should take a couple of days to reach by outrigger canoe. The two-mile-long island is sandwiched between the Belize Barrier Reef and hundreds of square miles of mangrove swamps and bonefish flats that support raucous colonies of seafaring birds and a few local manatees. You could count the permanent human population on your fingers and toes. But my wife didn't need to mention any of this or cite the relevant statistics. Instead, she simply pointed to the school of tarpon lolling in the shallows 30 feet away.

For the rest of the trip I continued to eat my words—along with immense amounts of spectacular food, such as spiny lobster delivered directly to the kitchen by local fishermen. Between meals—served communal style, on the beach, by a smiling crew in flip-flops—we joined a few planned expeditions. There was snorkeling and diving on the reef; a night cruise in search of crocodiles; and fishing for bonefish and permit with a private guide. But, mostly, we took off on our own makeshift adventures. The resort provides plenty of kayaks and sailboats without the fees, rules, and boundaries that too often turn island getaways into chaperoned walks on the beach. We discovered secluded sand, secret swimming holes, hungry schools of fish, and a curious manatee. At night, we kicked back in one of a dozen thatch-roofed cabanas. We could hear the Caribbean roll in just beyond our front porch. Beyond that, nothing. This self-respecting adventure traveler slept well.

GET THERE: St. George's Caye Resort (om) provides guest transport from Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport. Cabanas for two from $218, including meals and local rum punch. One-tank dives, $60; half-day fishing trips, $325.

Fire on the Mountain

Playing in the shadow of a volcano in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea

New Britain's Tavurvur volcano gets feisty

IN 1994, a 2,257-foot volcano erupted on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, burying the city of Rabaul under seven feet of ash and prompting 30,000 people to evacuate. Only 3,000 returned, leaving the town essentially like Kauai pre–Captain Cook, only with more pyrotechnics: The island is populated mostly by members of some 50 indigenous tribes, and the resident volcanoes, Tavurvur and Vulcan, are still very much active. Go now and you can lounge on a black-sand beach and watch Tavurvur burp up lava and small columns of ash as many as four times an hour.

I arrived two years ago to find an ashy town—the swimming pools were gray—set on an active caldera with countless adventure options just beyond the city limits. One can scuba-dive at a reef wall that served as a berth for Japanese submarines in World War II; sample grilled crocodile at a sustainable farm in New Britain's jungle; or take a helicopter flight over inland waterfalls so remote, nobody has bothered to name them. But the highlight of New Britain is the paddling. On my third day in Rabaul, I drove five minutes south to Matupit Island and rented a dugout canoe with a guide from the Tolai tribe. We paddled across Simpson Harbor while a hot ash cloud boiled overhead. Afterwards, my guide brought me back to the Tolai village and served me bananas poached in coconut milk, which he said was a traditional feast commemorating the arrival of Fijian missionaries—whom the Tolai ate.

GET THERE: Air Niugini flies here at least twice daily from Port Moresby, on the south side of PNG's mainland (from $300; ). Lodging in Rabaul is limited to the Hamamas Hotel (doubles from $59; ). Ask the staff about tours of the OISCA farm ($18 with crocodile lunch; ) and rides to Matupit. The Tolai guides will find you; a day trip is $9.

Vieques Rising

Puerto Rico's Vieques has come a long way from when the Navy played war games on its beaches.

Back in 2001, the Navy was still using Puerto Rico's Vieques for war games on the beaches. There was just a handful of restaurants and hotels on the 21-mile-long, four-mile-wide Caribbean island, and it was the kind of place where guests didn't wear shoes. Today, the Navy is gone and the old bombing ranges have been designated a national wildlife refuge. Now, Vieques is exploding in a different way: New roads are being built; old ones are getting paved. One of the military's old bunkers is now a sports bar by day and a disco by night. Swanky hotels, like the W, which opened in March (doubles from $379; ), and restaurants, like El Quenepo (787-741-1215), are popping up.

But don't worry. While it's now possible to have the resort experience, Vieques is still funkier and more laid-back than most Caribbean islands. Book a ³¦²¹²ú²¹Ã±¾±³Ù²¹â€”one-room cottage—at La Finca (doubles from $125; ), a clean but rustic joint with outdoor showers and mismatched towels. Then head for the sand. There are more than 50 beaches—perfect for everything from kayaking (Green Beach) to snorkeling (the islet of Blue Beach) to paddling at night in one of the biggest bioluminescent bays in the world (Puerto Mosquito, a.k.a. “Bio Bay”). The best way to see the latter is in a clear canoe from the Vieques ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Company (two-hour rentals, $45; ), which, should you start getting antsy for more action, can also set you up with decent mountain bikes to explore all the old military roads ($25 per day) or take you kayak fly-fishing for tarpon ($150).

Twilight Zone

Happily lost on a Croatian island haunted by vampires.

Lustava

Northern Lustava

Dalmatian dinner, Croatia

Dalmatian dinner.

BY THE TIME we reached Lastovo, we were made of salt water and octopus. For a week, my family—14 of us, from age 78 down to 16—had sailed along Croatia's Dalmatian coast in a 100-foot Turkish gulet, gorging on grilled fish and pickling ourselves with local wine. We'd come far from the cruise ships of Dubrovnik and left the nightlife of Korcula behind. Lastovo (pop. 800) was the last and most remote island, one big national park with, from the look of the charts, great sheltered kayaking. But even our guide, adventure writer Maria Coffey, had never been.

We'd heard there were vampires on Lastovo—in the 1700s, the island had a little problem with vukodlaci, undead corpses that rose, as our guidebook said, “to visit the beds of bored wives and pleasure them in the night.” This sounded fine to some of our clan, but the island still emitted a creepy vibe. Even today, one of Lastovo's biggest celebrations involves the ritual humiliation of a straw puppet led through town on a donkey.

Sure enough, the crags showed little sign of life—just crying gulls and the colorful towels of naked Germans, the predominant pink-skinned species here, found sprawled along Dalmatia's rocky coast. But the little harbor of Skrivena Luka was a miracle, a still blue bay ringed with stone cottages. At the lone restaurant, Porto Russo, the proprietor brought out homemade verbena-infused Croatian grappa, then white wine (from his own grapes), home-cured olives, and local squid cooked for hours pod pekom—under a metal bell in a wood-fired outdoor oven. Later, in Lastovo Town, a 15th-century wonderland of vineyards and minaret-topped churches teetering on the island's summit, the local street sweeper—who still uses a broom—dragged us into his courtyard for thick, sweet coffee.

Did we come here by plane? Was the World Cup still going on? What was my name again? The Dalmatian islands aren't exactly off the beaten path, but in Lastovo you can feel like you sailed in and discovered them yourself.

GET THERE: Hidden Places owners Maria Coffey and Dag Goering guide ten-day kayaking-and-sailing trips along the Dalmatian coast for $4,550 per person ().

Sweet Bondage

There's no vacation quite like a Colombian-prison-island vacation.

BETWEEN 1960 AND 1984, visitors to Colombia's Isla Gorgona arrived shackled and blindfolded and slept behind barbed-wire fences, on wooden bunks without mattresses. The 2,500 inmates of Gorgona Prison were warned that, if they escaped, the venomous snakes on the tropical island would kill them and, if they braved the ocean, the sharks would get them instead.

Today, the lush, 6.5-square-mile island, 30 miles off Colombia's Pacific coast, is a national park; the lodging here has been managed since 2006 by the winner of the Colombian version of the TV show The Apprentice. Which is to say, this is one strange escape. I arrived last September via speedboat from the coastal town of Guapí. Upon touchdown, military police searched my bags for alcohol (it interferes with the requisite antivenin) and weapons. The other guests—the island hosts 130 at a time—were mostly schoolchildren and besotted couples, enjoying king-size beds in the updated guard quarters by the beach.

I spent my days exploring: first, the grisly ruins of the mammoth stone penitentiary, said to be modeled after a Nazi concentration camp and now overrun with capuchin monkeys and foot-long basilisk lizards, then the dense tropical jungle that covers 85 percent of Gorgona, for which the island provides obligatory boots. There really are pit vipers and coral snakes here, as well as easier-to-spot (and mostly harmless) boa constrictors.

The trekking's good and the kayaking better—I spent a few afternoons dipping into the equatorial water as blue-footed boobies and frigates flew overhead—but the main activity on Gorgona is diving. The island has a fully equipped dive center, and I'd regularly see 20 to 30 moray eels at any site, many as thick as my thighs. Gorgona's nature preserve extends to a six-mile radius around the island, so fish and turtles are plentiful, intrepid, and big. But size is relative. From July to September, humpbacks come to Gorgona's banks to mate and calve, and to see them breach and slap the surface with their gargantuan tails is to forget that once this was a place no one ever, ever wanted to go.

GET THERE: Three-night packages, including three meals daily, island transfers, and flights from Cali to the coastal town of Guapí, in the Cauca department, from $463 (). Two-dive day trips from Gorgona's dive center, $90. Kayak rentals, $5 per hour.

King Kauai

Lush greenery, volcanoes and an endless supply of hidden beaches.

The Big Island has size on its side, not to mention fun volcanoes. Oahu has the storied North Shore. And Maui—well, let's just say that the honeymooners storming its beaches year after year don't come for nothing.

But little Kauai has it all: lush greenery, volcanoes, small towns not yet overrun, and a seemingly endless supply of hidden beaches for surfing, snorkeling, and sunbathing.

This year, all those options are more accessible than ever. On the island's north shore, the St. Regis Princeville opened its doors last October (doubles from $385; ); after taking over the historic Princeville Resort, St. Regis revamped the whole place with a classy retro look. (Think coconut palm floors and a new spa and restaurant by über-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.)

But you don't go to Kauai to lounge. Join the locals for stand-up paddleboarding in Hanalei Bay—there's a great SUP surf break by the Hanalei Pier—or along the flat calm of the Hanalei River. Kayak Kauai offers lessons and boards (rentals from $42 per day; ). In the nearby Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, a coastal wetlands teeming with endemic bird species, you'll find the Okolehao trail—a windy, two-mile path offering views of Hanalei Bay and the mind-blowing Na Pali coastline. If it's surf you're after, head 45 minutes south to Poipu, rent a board at Nukumoi Surf Co. ($6 per hour; ), and try the Poipu Beach surf break, one of the island's best. Afterwards, crash just 50 yards away at the year-old Koa Kea, the first and only boutique property here (doubles from $299; ).

Trippin' on Indo

Short-term memory loss in the South Pacific.

Indonesia

Shrines decorated for the Hindu Odalan festival.

Indonesia

Lembongan traffic

LEMBONGAN ISN'T EXACTLY out of the way—just seven miles southeast of tourist-clogged Bali—but it stays perfectly out of your way. Nothing about the place gets between you and your vacation. A three-square-mile speck of coral reefs, empty beaches, and hillside bungalows, the Indonesian island is what Henry Miller meant when he said of Big Sur, California, “There being nothing to improve on in the surroundings, the tendency is to set about improving oneself.”

The easy access from Bali—plus the presence of several consistent surf breaks and dive spots—has given Lembongan a small but steady tourism economy to supplement the traditional kelp farms. My wife and I thought it might be a nice change of pace during our 16-day honeymoon on Bali. It ended up being the highlight of our trip.

It's hard for either of us to say exactly why. I know we surfed and took a beginner scuba excursion. But mostly what we have are hazy recollections of long naps, afternoon strolls, and laughing over dinner about how we'd managed to fill another day doing … er, well, we were never quite sure. And still aren't. We barely even have any photos from our stay. That's Lembongan's gift: letting you let go.

I imagine this empty-mindedness is the sort of self-improvement people seek from meditation retreats. But this retreat has cold beer and a really hollow reef break—from what I can remember.

GET THERE: Island Explorer Cruises offers day trips to Lembongan for $85 per person, including food and activities, and beachside bungalows for two from $90 per night ().

Have Lots, Want Not

The curious challenge of living it up on a private island in Fiji.

Fiji

Three acres of paradise: Wadigi

Indonesia

Wadigi's open air suites

I HAD TWO WHITE-SAND beaches and an infinity pool that overlooked an endless sea. I had a boatman ready at a moment's notice to take me snorkeling, water-skiing, windsurfing, fishing, or paddling in a glass-bottom kayak. I had two chefs waiting to prepare any whim; an open-air villa; an on-call masseuse; and a statuesque hostess who greeted me with a fruity cocktail in a fresh-cut coconut. In other words, I had Wadigi, a tiny islet in Fiji's Mamanucas, at my command.

I'd been sent there by a dive magazine to experience the singular indulgence of a private island. And, as a chronically underpaid writer, I planned to soak up every last perk. But after a couple of days of diving among spiky lionfish at half a dozen world-class sites, dinners with too many courses to count, and enough gin-and-tonics to get me kicked out of any self-respecting American bar, a funny thing happened: I found myself doing absolutely nothing.

As it turns out, when you have everything you might want, your wants start to subside. OK, so I never did get bored with that glass-bottom kayak, but I spent most of my free hours simply lolling around and contemplating the preposterous views. On my last evening, instead of ordering extravagant cocktails and back-to-back massages, I ate all the home-baked cookies in the jar and then simply sat in the pool watching the sun dip below the horizon and the clouds sweep across the mirror-still sea.

GET THERE: From $2,327 per day for two, including meals, most activities, and lodging; two-tank dives, $100;

New Outposts

Seven island getaways to fit every fantasy.

Anguilla

The Viceroy, Anguilla

FISH
Islas Secas, Panama
A group of 16 private islands, Islas Secas sits 25 miles off the Pacific coast, close to the wahoo, marlin, and grouper crowding Hannibal Bank. On land, the place is Gilligan's wildest dream, its seven solar oceanfront yurts holding only 14 guests. Go for the surfing or diving, but mainly go fish: Last winter, fishing director Carter Andrews helped a guest set seven world records here. In a week. Six nights, $6,600 per person;

SAIL
Scrub Island, British Virgin Islands
This 230-acre private island, which opened in February, is the first new resort in the BVIs in 15 years. At the heart is a 53-slip marina, the perfect base to launch a sailing excursion of the BVIs. Or stick around in one of the island's 52 rooms to enjoy day sailing, diving, hiking, and three restaurants. Doubles from $359;

DIVE
Shearwater Resort, Saba
Set some 2,000 feet atop Saba, a five-square-mile volcanic island in the Neth­erlands Antilles, Shearwater offers panoramic ocean views but is only a ten-minute drive from the docks. There, dive boats will take you out to some of the Caribbean's best snorkeling and scuba. (Ask Shearwater about custom packages.) The newly renovated rooms offer flatscreens, iPod docks, and wi-fi. Doubles from $175;

WATERSPORT
Viceroy Hotel and Resort, Anguilla
With three restaurants and three pools, you might be inclined never to leave the grounds of this year-old, 35-acre resort on the shores of both Barnes and Meads bays. But do: The 3,200 feet of coastline on the two bays offers spectacular sailing, snorkeling, and swimming. Doubles from $595;

SURF
The Atlantis Hotel, Barbados
Following a complete refurbishment in 2009, this swank, eight-room lodge on Barbados's east coast offers fast access to Sand Bank, a beginner-friendly beach break, and Soup Bowl, a tenacious reef break that Kelly Slater has called one of the best in the world. Doubles from $255;

MULTISPORT
The Landings, St. Lucia
A 19-acre waterfront resort on the northern tip of lush St. Lucia, the Landings offers complimentary 78-foot sailboats, snorkel gear, and sea kayaks . Pick up one of the latter and paddle 400 yards to little Pigeon Island for a hike to an 18th-century British fort. And don't forget to look inland: St. Lucia's Piton mountains offer some of the Caribbean's best hiking and vistas (you can see neighboring St. Vincent). Six nights, $1,755 per person, double occupancy;

INDULGE
Terre di Corleone and Portella della Ginestra, Sicily
Until recently, these properties were owned by mafia bosses Bernardo Brusca and Salvatore Riina. Thanks to a 1996 Italian law that uses government-seized mafia assets for social purposes, they've been converted into inns and cooperative farms producing fresh pasta, honey, legumes, and, of course, plentiful red and white wines. Doubles from $45;

Fresh Trips

Seven island getaways with the perfect balance of adventure and indulgence.

Belize

Off Ambergris Caye, Belize

PADDLE
Palau
Boundless Journeys' Oceania Odyssey starts with infinity-pool luxury at the Palau Pacific Resort, on Koror, before going rustic: For the next week, no more than ten guests camp on two smaller islands; snorkel over sunken World War II planes; sea-kayak the saltwater Black Tip Lake, accessed by marine tunnel; and dine on fresh-caught parrotfish. January–October; from $4,695 per person;

SAIL
Isle of Skye, Scotland
On the new seven-day Sailing & Walking Around Skye trip from Wilderness Scotland, local skipper Angus MacDonald Smith will ferry eight guests around Skye on his 67-foot yacht, Elinca, seeking out the old pirate anchorages, hailing passing fishermen to buy prawns, and cruising up inlets to launch guided hikes in the steep Cuillin Hills. Go in May or June for 20-hour days and peak seabird nesting. $1,400 per person;

MULTISPORT
Madagascar
Gap ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs' Madagascar Experience focuses on inland beauty. From the capital of Antananarivo, your crew will head south by minibus, stopping to hike in lush rainforests, bike around (and swim in) Lake Andraikiba, and explore the eroded sandstone Isalo Mountains. March–December; $1,449 per person;

FISH
Seychelles
On Frontiers Travel's new six-day Desroches Island Flyfishing ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, guests cast for hard-fighting bluefin trevally at offshore atolls by day and crash in private villas by night. Casting arm need a break? Explore the 3.5-mile-long island with kayaks, bikes, or snorkels and fins. $7,600 per person, double occupancy;

MULTISPORT
San Juan Islands
REI ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs' San Juan Islands trip is a six-day mash-up through Washington's Puget Sound, including a 50-mile road-biking spin around Orcas Island, sea kayaking with killer whales near Sentinel Island, and one night at a remote campsite. (The other four are spent at the Lakedale Resort's tent-cabins, which have real beds.) From $1,899 per person;

DIVE
Half Moon Caye, Belize
On the seven-day Lighthouse Reef trip from Island Expeditions, you'll kick back in safari-style tents and napping hammocks strung in coconut groves on 44-acre Half Moon Caye, some 50 miles off the mainland. Of course, you'll probably spend most of your time in or on the water, diving the Blue Hole—a famous, 400-foot-deep well—snorkeling in shallows, and exploring the reef by kayak. From $1,789 per person;

RIDE
Crete
Backroads' new six-day Crete cycling trip starts from Iráklion, on the northern coast, and ends, after 268 miles of pedaling, at Akrotiri Cape, in the west. In between, you'll spin past lush vineyards and olive groves and Venetian harbor towns, where fresh seafood and plush inns await. $3,598 per person, double occupancy;

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