30 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2009
WA R M G E T AWA Y S
I should loAthE skIINg.
First im-
pressions beingwhat they are, it’s amazing
I didn’t swear off the sport completely af-
ter one ofmy initial attempts to ski during
an
Odyssey
-like journey (minus the Sirens,
sea monsters, and any other cool stuff)
to Killington, Vermont, when I was 15. I
coaxed a friend who had recently gotten
his driver’s license into beingmy chauffeur,
andweheadedoff onwhat turnedout tobe
oneof the coldest days of a frigidNewEng-
landwinter; thiswas themid-1980s, a time
when another ice age seemed completely
plausible.
Iwasasunpreparedas itwascold,decked
out in the thinnest, most worthless cotton
garb my older brothers could pawn off on
me. Every tumble (and there were a lot)
felt like a fresh initiation into the Minsk,
Belarus, Polar Bear Club. Like most teen-
age boys, we operated under an unspoken
code of stubbornness and stupidity. I was
miserable — every ride up on the chairlift
seemed like an interminable Siberian exile
— but I repeatedly insisted I was having a
blast. By the end of the day, we were both
exhausted, borderline frostbitten, and
soaked. Inanobleactof friendship, Ivowed
to keepmy buddy company and awake on
the longdrive home toNewHampshire. In
five minutes, I slept like the dead, waking
periodically tofindmy friend tryingdesper-
ate tricks to stay awake: blasting the radio;
singing; and,my favorite: stickinghis head
out thewindow intoablizzardashedrove.
Nostalgia has not painted that day in
cheery hues; it stunk. I do still like cross-
country skiing, but I get why spending a
day basically doing calisthenics in a freezer
is utterly unappealing to so many people.
And let’s face it: There are so many other
things todo— someof themwarm, someof
them cold— if Donald Trump is your idea
ofamogul and
blackdiamond
sounds likea
precious gem.Here’s a selectionof nonwin-
terywinter activities andplaces to gowhile
your foolish friends tumble down a frosty
mountain.Goahead— (don’t) breaka leg.
Board in nicaragua
I know, I know: It’s dangerous territory to
dis skiing and then turn around and pro-
mote boarding. But this isn’t snowboard-
ing, the bane of somany skiers; it’s volcano
boarding. And this isn’t just any vacation
spot, either — it’s Nicaragua, the quickly
emergingdestination foradventure-seeking
travelers. Over the past few years, popular
tours led by a guide fromBigfootHostel in
the colonial city of León have been taking
eager adrenaline junkies up the 2,388-foot
Cerro Negro for a very fast, very hot, and
very dusty jaunt down the still-active vol-
cano. Boarders aredeckedout inprotective
jumpsuits, gloves, and goggles, and they
can hit speeds as fast as 50miles per hour.
Expect to fall and get dirty; just hope that
it doesn’t happenwhenCerroNegroblows,
which it hasdone20 times since 1850.
Info
golf in hell
Even the most anticold, antiwinter zealot
would probably have a tough time stom-
achingDeathValley,California, in the sum-
mer, where the average July temperature is
just a shade below 116 degrees Fahrenheit
snowdoubt
aboutIt
Warmup towinterwitha trip toadestinationwhere the
only icewill be the cubes inyour cocktail.
ByChrisWarren
left
Volcanoboarding inNicaragua
Right
SouthbySouthwestMusic Festival in
Austin, Texas
Below
TheRolexSydneyHobart Yacht Race
