Winter Festivals for Adventure

Wrapping a winter vacation around a winter festival gives you the heart of a terrific trip to resorts or regions that love to party when there's snow on the ground. All of these annual festivals are chock-full of activities and events that are equal fun for spectators and participants. They have a common denominator, too: the festivals are in resorts and locales where there's lots to do outdoors, whether it's dog sledding, alpine or cross country skiing, ice climbing, sledding or other winter sports. The links to festival sites will lead you to annual dates and more details about the festivals.

1. Furs Not Required at the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage, Alaska

Don't let race names like "Frostbite Footrace" mislead you. The annual Fur Rendezvous Festival, February 24-March 4, 2012 takes place in Anchorage, where the weather is surprisingly mild that time of year and daylight lasts for more than 10 hours. The city is protected by the Chugach Mountains and warmed by Japanese currents, so the average high in late February is 25 degrees and the average low is 9 degrees. Activities include dog-sled races, coed snowshoe softball and creating snow sculptures. For the less active, there are melodramas, native arts & crafts shows and fireworks. Photo credit: Al Grillo

2. Aspen, Colorado, Rocks During the ESPN Winter X Games

When the ESPN Winter X Games came to Aspen, Colorado, several years ago they attracted an entirely new audience: a young, cool and not necessarily rich crowd that loves winter sports games with a decided edge. Skier X, SuperPipe, Snowboard Best Trick Showdown, Snowmobile Freestyle and Snowmobile Snowcross are just sampling of the extreme sports you can watch. Expect non-stop partying, music bands and crowds during Winter X Games 15, Jan. 26-29, 2012. If you don't make it, watch the live programming on ESPN and ABC and you'll book early for next year.?

3. Carnaval de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada

Help Quebec City celebrate its 400th anniversary during this year's three-week long Carnaval de Quebec, Jan. 27-Feb. 12, 2012 You could watch (or participate in) the canoe race on the icy St. Lawrence River, or cheer for the dog sleds racing on snow-covered street in the Old Quebec sector of this city, with its distinctly French flair. Around the races this year there are night parades with extravagantly designed floats, outdoor dance parties and lots of other activities.

4. Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler, Canada

Pushing the boundaries is what the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival at Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, is all about. Mascot Mayhem, Whistler Dogfest and World Backcountry Freeride Jam are clues to the action during this spring party, April 13-22, 2012. Expect non-stop activities during the day, lot of demos and dozens of live concerts when the lifts shut down. To learn more, visit the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival

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5. The International Hot Air Balloon Meeting in the Swiss Alps

Image yourself drifting over the Swiss Alps in a hot air balloon. Or, looking up as some 100 balloons from 20 countries fill the sky during the 29th Annual International Hot Air Balloon Meeting, Jan. 2-29, 2012. During the week there will dirigibles in the sky, parachuting and paragliding demonstrations, tethered balloon flights and much more.

6. The Saranac Winter Carnival in New York is 124 Years Old

Rebecca Steffan

The two-week-long Saranac Lake Winter Carnival celebrates all things winter. One of the most humorous events is the annual? Lawn Chair Ladies choreographed dance routine. During the festival, a fireworks display is set against the background of the massive Ice Palace (designed anew every year and built using two ton blocks carved from Lake Flower) and participatory events include such oddball activities as the Ladies’ Fry Pan Toss. The theme for this year's festival, February 3-12, 2012, is? “Medieval Times”.

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Portable Stereo Speakers for iPhone & iPod

Want to take a portable speaker with you on a trip or an overnight hike, so you can share those tunes with others? The Memorex PurePlay portable speaker for iPhone and iPod fits the bill, with the added bonus that you can charge your iPhone or iPod while listening to the music.? It's durable enough to be knocked around a bit in a suitcase or a back pack, and only weighs a pound. Here's a review.

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Inbounds Backcountry Ski&Ride

Expert skiers and snowboarders are always seeking new challenges -- and inbounds backcountry-style experiences are tops on their lists. Some North American resorts have nicknamed this type of extreme terrain "backcountry lite," but don't venture into these steeps and glades unless you're sure you have the skills to handle the terrain. Many resorts offer clinics to teach adventurous snow sliders ways to handle ungroomed terrain.

Local expert skiers at some of these resorts volunteered inside tips to ski these extreme chunks of inbound terrain.

Photo credit: Dan Bayer

1. Highland Bowl in Aspen Highlands, Colorado, is the Benchmark

Highland Bowl's glades and chutes -- many 40- to 45-degrees or steeper -- are just a portion of the extreme terrain that expert skiers and riders gravitate to while exploring Aspen Highlands. The Temerity lift accesses 1,700 vertical feet of equally steep terrain including South Castle, Kessler Bowl and Soddbuster. Aspen Highlands is just one of four mountains owned by the Aspen Skiing Company and the same lift pass also lets you also explore Aspen Mountain, Snowmass and Buttermilk.

2. Inbounds Extreme Skiing at Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia, Canada

Get the scoop on some of the steepest inbounds terrain in North America from a Canadian guide whose skills you can see in Warren Millers film "Children of Winter."

3. Inbounds Backcountry Style Extreme Terrain at Steamboat, Colorado

Colorado's Steamboat Resort is famous for its champagne powder, and for skiing in the glades and tightly treed areas. Johnny Sawyer, the Ski Patrol’s supervisor who has worked at the mountain for more than 30 years, offers his take and tips for skiing in the inbounds extreme and treed terrain at Steamboat.

4. Mott and Killebrew Canyons Boast Some of the Steepest Terrain in the West

You can look down some of the long groomed runs at Heavenly Resort, which encompasses 4,800 acres of terrain in Nevada and California, and see Lake Tahoe far below. But looking into Mott Canyon or Killebrew Canyon you'll only see tight trees and chutes so steep that an advanced skier would hesitate to lean over the edge to take a look. To quote the resort's website about Killebrew: "Only venture here if you have a change of underwear."

5. Winter Park's Vasquez Cirque and the Trees Around the Eagle Wind Lift

Extreme skiers and snowboarders love Winter Park's above treeline chutes in the Vasquez Cirque and the tight glades around the Eagle Wind lift.

6. Park City Mountain Resort's Pinecone Ridge and Jupiter Bowl

At Park City Mountain Resort, in Park City, Utah, the East Face of Jupiter Peak, Pinecone Ridge, and all the terrain served by the Jupiter Chair are are rated entirely "double-black diamond" expert terrain. "There is no regular grooming up here aside from access and egress routes and certainly no "easy way down." says Mark Saurer, the resort's assistant safety supervisor. Some of these slopes are hike-to terrain. For his tips on skiing Pinecone and Jupiter visit Inbounds Extreme Terrain at Park City Mountain.

7. Seeking Gemstones at Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia, Canada

When you're willing (and able) to challenge double diamond steeps, hike to Ruby's, one of the Gemstone Bowls flanking the Blackcomb Glacier. You can reach it from the top of the Glacier Express Lift by traversing below the ridge to Spanky's Ladder, a steep slot you'll need to hike up. At the top traverse along the ridgeline until you reach the steep chute that flows into Ruby's seductive 2,000 vertical feet of steep terrain.

8. Locals Boast of Endless Inbounds Extreme Terrain at The Canyons, Utah

Salt Lake City resident Josh Madsen, a member of The Canyons Freeride Team who favors telemark skiing, says The Canyons, boasts 3,700 skiable acres including tons of great inbound lines that are steep, deep, and technical." If you want to learn how he explores the stashes around his local mountain visit Inbounds Extreme Terrain at The Canyons.

9. Jackson Hole's Hobacks and Cheyenne Bowl

The gates to the Hobacks in Jackson Hole, Wyo., aren't always open, but skiers and riders hustle to these long, steep and often moguled stretches of terrain when they get the word. Cheyenne Bowl is another choice for extreme terrain with a variety of challenges. Courbet's Couloir is arguably the most famous chute in the U.S. You have to jump 10-20 feet into the couloir before landing on the snow, which has a 50plus -degree pitch. Jackson Hole has a variety of multi-day Steep and Deep Camps to teach you how to handle extreme terrain.

10. Inbounds Backcountry Style Extreme Terrain at Keystone, Colorado

Independence Bowl tops out right near the Continental Divide, ensuring spectacular views of Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Here, you can hitch a ride up to the peak via snowcat, to explore the open fields and gladed terrain. Duke Bradford, head guide for Keystone Adventure Tours, which runs the snowcat tours, says that "Indy Bowl" is a powder trap.

11. Reservations Needed to Ski Silverton Mountain's Extreme Steeps

The hottest small ski area in the country is Silverton Mountain, climbing above a tiny historic mining town in southwestern Colorado. Expert skiers and riders vie for the limited number of spaces each day that let backcountry enthusiasts take the single chairlift up or join the groups, led by a guide, who are hiking to some of the steepest and most exciting powder terrain in the West.

12. Learn About Avalanche Dangers Before Going Off-Piste Skiing and Snowboarding

Backcountry skiing on ungroomed and unmarked terrain outside ski-area boundaries is only for people knowledgeable about avalanche dangers.

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Dig This Labeled # 1 Attraction in Las Vegas by TripAdvisor

Dig This has been ranked the No. 1 Attraction in Las Vegas, according to more than 400 positive TripAdvisor reviews for this unique (not a word used lightly) "theme park".

Kids play with toy bulldozers in sandboxes. At Dig This, you play with real bulldozers and excavators digging ditches and building roads in a massive adult playground.

I actually visited Dig This when it was located in Steamboat, before the operation was moved to Las Vegas. See why I loved moving massive rocks around to clear a road using an excavator.

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Voluntourism with i-to-i

i-to-i focuses on helping travelers make connections with other people in other cultures through volunteer projects. This company sends more than 5,000 people a year to volunteer on some 500 projects in 30 countries. Would you like to work with sea turtles in Costa Rica, help care for AIDS orphans in Kenya, coach soccer in Argentina or intern at the Terracotta Warriors Museum in China? These are just a sampling of the projects listed at i-to-i.

On the Web site there's a search box where you can type in the country, type of volunteer project that interests you, and your preferred length of trip, then see what pops up. The company also has several vacations in the Meaningful Trip category, trips that include a day or more volunteering at a local project and lots of more touristy activities.

Where to Learn More About i-i

Visit i-to-i.

Where to Find More Volunteer Vacations

VolunTourism - combining traditional travel with volunteer work - is a rapidly growing trend because combining a vacation or trip abroad with volunteering on local projects is one way you can immerse yourself in local cultures and make a difference. Are you among the one-quarter of the travelers queried in the Voice of the Traveler survey by the Travel Industry Association who said they were currently interested in taking a volunteer or service-based vacation? No matter whether you're in your 20s, a baby boomer (the group expressing the strongest interest), or parents who want to introduce their children to other cultures, there's a company offering volunteer vacations for you.

These trips and experiences are as close as building homes in New Orleans or a far away as helping in orphanages in Romania or elephant camps in Africa. To see a list of organizations that offer volunteer travel trips and vacations (where you spend a few days of a trip volunteering and explore a new country the rest) click on Top Sources for Volunteer Vacations.

Are You a Voluntourist?

Returning travelers say volunteer travel is a life-changing experience. If you are wondering if Voluntourism is right for you, here are suggestions for the route to helping you decide. Click on How to Decide if Voluntourism is for you.

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