The Valdez School for Wayward Girls The first-ever all-women heli-skiing camp in Alaska’s central Chugach Range attracted a motley crew of diehard skiers. Valdez may never be the same. With the Alaskan sun still burning at 8 p.m., soft-spoken Karen, an actuary who works on retirement plans, assessing financial risk and calculating pensions, climbs up […]
The Great Rad North
October 18, 2012 By
Exploring Red and Fernie, British Columbia means radical skiing among snow ghosts and moss-covered pines. Even in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined such a place. Mountains where you ski among 20-foot ghosts and moss-covered pines on downy peaks high above a sea of clouds. A land where the moon shines brighter than […]
Living to Loaf
October 16, 2012 By
Why go West when you can ski bum in Sugarloaf, Maine? The top station of Sugarloaf’s ancient gondola has all the character of a meat locker. On one hoarfrosted, snow-splotched wall, a sign reads: If you go through this gate, you need to know: This terrain is unlike anything you have skied in the East. […]
Great Sand Dunes National Park
October 15, 2012 By
Bison, UFO’s, and Skiing on Sand The pile of gear laid out in our garage was incongruous: sand shovels and pails, skis, sun hats, a snow sled. We were packing for a trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado. Tucked in the curve where the Sangre de Cristo range meets […]
Floating the Niobrara
May 29, 2012 By
Nebraska, With a Paddle To the uninitiated, Nebraska conjures a certain image: a treeless prairie steamrolled pancake-flat, stretching to the horizon. But tucked in a north-central patch of the state is the Niobrara River Valley, filled with a surprising collection of conifers and hardwoods, 200-foot sandstone bluffs and spring-fed waterfalls. To the south are the […]
Camping is For Babies
December 12, 2011 By
Any mom will tell you it’s hell just mobilizing a trip to the grocery store when you have kids. But camping with a baby? How hard could it be? Crickets. Coyotes. Wind rustling through the trees. The snuffling of deer outside the tent. This is the symphony of sounds I relish when I’m tucked inside […]
Llama Trekking with Kids
November 4, 2011 By
Backpacking Near Silverton, CO, with Four-Footed Friends It was a sublime moment. Deep in the woods, the fire had burned down to glowing coals. Our sticky-faced children munched contentedly on perfect s’mores, the marshmallows uniformly toasted and gooey. Pine cones popped in the fire. And nearby, the llamas grazed quietly in the bushes. We were […]
Thrills, Chills, & Other Placid Moments
May 26, 2011 By
In the Olympics, people do insane things on snow. In Lake Placid, mere mortals can, too. “Welcome to the six-man bobsled,” said the brakeman. “Climb aboard.” Bobsleds look so high tech and shiny on TV, but when you’re sitting in one — this one in Lake Placid, anyway — they seem about as high tech […]
