I AM SCALING 1,000 vertical feet of purple sandstone in Colorado's Sneffels Range and, despite being a nonclimber, feeling weirdly relaxed about it. The steep route is laced with a via ferrata-the system, invented in the Dolomites, of metal handholds, footholds, and cables that climbers can clip into and follow all the way up. "Nose over toes," my guide instructs-in other words, not pressed up against the rocky slope, as anxious greenhorns often are. Near the top we scuttle through an old mining tunnel and traverse a 230-foot-long cable bridge before stopping to take in the scenery below: the 922-person town of Ouray, cozily enveloped in mountain peaks, and the butterscotch-colored Uncompahgre River.
This was exactly the kind of adventure I was seeking in Colorado's Western Slope. My visit to this region was targeted: I'd focus on the higher-elevation 70-mile stretch that runs between Durango and Ouray, one of the best (and still somewhat off-the-radar) outdoor recreation corridors in America. Diehards descend in the winter for ice climbing and backcountry skiing. In the summer, more casually outdoorsy types like me come for hiking, gravel biking, jeep touring, fly-fishing, and cable-assisted climbing and for the solitude that's become harder to find in Colorado's more accessible mountain towns since the COVID-era outdoors boom. The nearest big-name resort to this rugged part of the Western Slope is Telluride, an hour or so away even in the best travel conditions.
No one else was scaling the two-year-old Gold Mountain Via Ferrata my first morning in Ouray. After getting a ride down from the top, I headed to another of the town's new additions: the Western Hotel, where the stripped-down Old West decor had everything I'd hoped for (bearskin rugs, leather-upholstered headboards, freestanding tubs, exposed ceiling beams) and none of the Victorian overkill of many of the area's other historic hotels.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September - October 2024-Ausgabe von Condé Nast Traveler US.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September - October 2024-Ausgabe von Condé Nast Traveler US.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Sands of Time - Sculpted by millennia, Chad is a place of ancient geology and epic grandeur. Aminatta Forna finds her place in it all
The 15,000-square-mile Ennedi Massif, in north-eastern Chad, is a plateau the size of Switzerland. Between 350 million and 500 million years ago, this part of the globe was an ocean. Then the ocean disappeared, leaving the sandstone floor exposed. The climate shifted from rain-soaked to arid. Sun, wind, and water sculpted the sandstone into a dramatic, desolate, unearthly landscape of gorges and valleys, inselbergs and stacks, towering tassili and natural arches. In the desert the delicate threads of life become apparent in trails of tiny footprints scattered across the sands: here, the tear-shaped tracks of a lizard; there, the dimpled prints of a gerbil.
Antiques Road Show - After buying a second home, in France, the designer Claire Vivier called up fellow designer Kate Berry to go on the ultimate shopping spree
When Los Angeles-based designer Clare Vivier began decorating the 19th-century house she'd bought in her husband's hometown of Saint-Calais, in France's Loire Valley, she had a particular aesthetic in mind. I love color and patterns but wanted something peaceful, so the intention was to create a dialogue between those two things, she says. She wanted the house to have a blend of contemporary pieces, antiques, and textiles from heritage maisons to create a space that, much like her namesake handbag and fashion label, channeled both California fun and French sophistication. She also knew that she wanted her longtime friend Kate Berry, a designer and creative director, to help her make it happen.
The Slow Road - Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba
Rather than rush from Tokyo to Kyoto by train, as most visitors to Japan do, Tom Vanderbilt chose to bike - coasting down country roads, spying snow monkeys, and refueling with hearty bowls of soba. At the peak of the day's heat, I pulled into the tiny hamlet of Hirase, in Japan's Gifu Prefecture. I'd just climbed a twisting, waterfall-lined road several thousand feet through Hakusan National Park before descending into the shimmering fantasy landscape of Shirakawa-go, an almost Tolkien-esque village (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) comprising centuries-old farmhouses with peaked thatch roofs.
SHAILENE WOODLEY on FIJI
I was in Suva, the capital of Fiji, making a film, and our crew took over half of the Grand Pacific Hotel.
easy does it
Beyond the bubble of Queenstown, New Zealand's majestic Otago region offers the kinds of adventures you can truly appreciate only by slowing down
gather round
The secret ingredient in Philadelphia's lauded food scene? The empathy of the locals behind it
THE PAST IS PRESENT
Beguilingly complex Istanbul has done a lot of soul-searching in recent years. Lale Arikoglu digs into the city's modern identity - while tracing the roots of her own
Creation Story
Modern-day craftspeople are bringing back traditional Arabian arts in Jeddah's Old Town of Al-Balad
Continental Drift
For her first trip to Africa, aboard an HX Hurtigruten cruise ship, Sarah Greaves Gabbadon confronts her assumptions about what a homeland means
On the Rise
With new hotels, climbing routes, and biking trails, Colorado's low-key, high-elevation Western Slope is ripe for adventure
