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THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland BIKING TO THE LOST CITY Cycling to Petra offers a new perspective INTO INDONESIA In search of dragons and lonely islands PLUS: Glamping in Mexico Summiting a Colorado fourteener FALL 2017 THE BEST OF EXPERIENTIAL TRAVEL DEEP Today’s top experiential properties are much more than places for simply catching some zzz’s HOTELS THAT GO
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THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland · THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland BIKING TO THE LOST CITY Cycling to Petra offers a new perspective

Jul 28, 2020

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Page 1: THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland · THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland BIKING TO THE LOST CITY Cycling to Petra offers a new perspective

THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar

plunge in Greenland

BIKING TO THE LOST CITY

Cycling to Petra offers a new perspective

INTO INDONESIA

In search of dragons and lonely islands

PLUS: Glamping in Mexico

Summiting a Colorado fourteener

FALL 2017

THE BEST OF EXPERIENTIAL TRAVEL

DEEPToday’s top experiential properties are much more than places for simply catching some zzz’s

HOTELS THAT

GO

Page 2: THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland · THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Taking the polar plunge in Greenland BIKING TO THE LOST CITY Cycling to Petra offers a new perspective

EXPLORER - FALL 201706

Iinhaled a few short puffs from my recre-

ational oxygen canister and took a long

sip of my electrolyte-powder-laced water.

As I leaned against my trekking poles and

caught my breath, a marmot ran by, scrambling up

a nearly vertical wall of jagged rocks and causing

scree to careen downward. I readjusted my helmet,

tightened my harness, glanced backward into the

valley that was now far below me, and trudged on.

This wasn’t a distant planet I was traversing,

but it may as well have been. I had begun hiking

Wilson Peak, located just outside Telluride, Colo.,

when the sky was still pitch-black and the Milky

Way was out in full force — a rare sighting for an

Angeleno. Now, it was sunny and warm, and

my hiking group was making its way to the

14,017-foot summit.

As one of Colorado’s 58 mountain peaks that

06

NO

MA

D

PerformerColorado’s iconic 14,017-foot Wilson Peak is an uphill battle that’s worth the epic views

DOWN AND

DIRTY

MIC

HE

LL

E J

UE

RG

EN

Wilson Peak is featured on the Coors LIght and

Coors Banquet cans.

Peak

exceed 14,000 feet — known as fourteeners —

Wilson Peak is popular with “peak baggers,”

mountaineer types who aim to summit a

collection of peaks. While I can’t name myself

among them, I was determined to make it to at

least this one apex — altitude, fatigue and risk of

injury be damned.

What I didn’t count on was my escalating anxi-

ety as we scrambled over loose, sharp rocks that

clattered down startlingly vertical drops. Thank-

fully, I had an expert leader to quell my unease: the

calm and ever-patient Josh Butson, owner of San

Juan Outdoor Adventures.

In addition to their everyday guiding, Butson

and his staff lead novice and expert hikers up the

mountain each summer as part of The Hotel

Telluride’s “Crack a Coors on Wilson Peak”

package. The offering includes a three-night

stay, breakfast, a guided tour to the summit and

much-needed post-hike spa services. (Rates begin

at $2,159, based on double occupancy.) And, of

course, to celebrate their journey, clients sip on

a Coors Banquet or a Coors Light — both beers

feature the iconic peak on their labels.

The annual package is available from July 1 to

Sept. 15 (dates are weather-dependent), but it’s

never too early to start booking. As the trek en-

compasses Class 3 and 4 climbing grades — which

means scrambling and lots of exposure — clients

must be in good physical (and mental) shape.

Indeed, the hike benched some members of

our group at various points before the summit

(myself included thanks to my fear of heights). But

after enjoying hours of stunning panoramas at

nearly every turn, I still felt as though I had finished

on a high note. - Michelle Juergen

The routes on fourteeners have been

classified by difficulty level.

The Wilson trek entails Class 3 and Class 4 hiking and climbing.

daniellevernelson
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