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