Adventure Kayak Magazine

by Erik Olsen on

Avid paddlers have some great online resources to get their fill of what’s happening in the kayaking world, and I do my best to bring some of them to your attention. One of my favorite sites is that of Canoe and Kayak Magazine, pretty much the grand daddy of paddling mags. But lately, I’ve also been checking out the site of Rapid Media’s Adventure Kayaker, a Canadian-based paddling pub that offers its issues online. And i mean the actual issues. Which is a good and bad thing.

The magazine’s Web site posts the actual pages, ads and all, that you can click through to your heart’s content. But because they are images, it’s not really searchable and you do have to navigate through all those ads.

They just posted their Fall issue for 2006. Yes, it’s a bit dated, but the stories are, for the most part, evergreen, and very much worth your perusal. The issue has got articles on the first woman to circumnavigate Newfoundland (dear to my heart since I was there last summer), as well as some absolutely mind-blowing paddle pictures (it is the Photo Issue, after all). If you’re not familiar with this publication and are a paddle fan, I urge you to take a look.

Valentine’s Idea: Keep Each Other Warm in Quebec’s Ice Hotel

by Willy Volk on

For people whose idea of The Perfect Valentine’s Day involves lots and lots of cuddling, you might want to check into Quebec’s Ice Hotel. Fashioned from 4-foot-thick blocks of ice, the hotel’s walls insulate against the frigid outdoor temperatures and keep guests inside enjoying comparatively balmy 23°-28°F rooms. Think of it as sleeping inside a giant Thermos.

Open from January to April, the Ice Hotel is made from 500 tons of ice and 15,000 tons of snow. In addition to heated bathrooms, the hotel features a wedding chapel, igloo-building classes, and the Ice Lounge — for when you want to chill. Many of the rooms feature themes; some have fire places; and one even has private hot tub with waterfront views.

The hotel is currently running a cool Romantic Shivers promotion: $159 gets you a drink in an ice tumbler (that you can keep as a souvenir!); one night in the hotel; access to the public hot tubs and sauna (that’s where I’ll be); and more. If you need a little nudge before you’re willing to plop down some of your cold, hard cash on a night in a glorified igloo, check out the trip reports by Lisa Shea or Andrea Granahan. Also, be sure to swing by Etolane’s Ice Hotel images on Flickr, in which she lovingly, dotingly, joyously photo-documents the hotel. What amazing colors! It’s like sleeping inside a prism.

Snow tubing: winter time action that packs a thrill

by Jamie Rhein on

According to an article in today’s New York Times, Punxsutawney Phil and Charles G. Hogg of the Staten Island Zoo have predicted an early spring. With that said, here’s a winter time action option while there’s snow to enjoy.

For anyone who wants the thrill of whizzing and spinning down a hill without the hike back up, tubing is it. Instead of strapping on a pair of downhill skis and forking over the price of a lift ticket, pay to tube instead. It’s cheaper, and you can do it as a group activity. Last weekend, when my five year old and I headed to Snow Trails near Mansfield, Ohio for a tubing outing, I was delighted to see the conveyor belt contraption that transported people back to the top. I had no idea. I also didn’t expect the various lanes with built up edges to keep tubers from crashing to each other. I expected a free-for-all.

First, we started out with him in one lane in his child-size inner tube and me in my adult version in another. Next thing I knew, there he was hanging on to one of the tubes of a group of older boys. They good-naturedly let him join their pack. Group tubing is allowed in certain lanes. I saw groups of four people barreling towards the bottom.

While Ohio’s hills are–well–hills, there are other places where the terrain might be steeper. Steep or not, if there’s a way you can get up the hill without walking, go for it. Also, because tubing hills are connected to ski resorts, you can enjoy the comfort of their lodges. Here are 10 of the tubing places I found. There are more.

Quebec Ice Climbing Competition

by Neil Woodburn on

Ice climbing is a relatively new sport, but that doesn’t detract from its exciting appeal. Imagine working your way up a frozen waterfall with just crampons, an ice pick, and a prayer that the frozen sliver you’re clinging to doesn’t suddenly turn into 10,000 ice cubes.

Interested? If this perks your competitive, adventurous spirit, head on up to Quebec this February (16-18th) to check out the annual Festiglace du Quebec. The “largest ice climbing event in North America” features an international pool of ice monkeys all clamoring to get to the top better and faster than anyone else.

In addition to the international competition, Festiglace will also feature a number of seminars such as “The Mountain Sleepwalkers: A summer without sleep in Alaska and Pakistan” by Louis-Philippe Ménard and Maxime Turgeon. There will also be clinics for beginners who would like to try their hand at scaling the ice.

Sounds pretty cool to me, but I’m going to wait to see if it shows up on ESPN.

Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney isn’t the only option

by Jamie Rhein on

Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania has competition. Stiff competition. Phil may have been a star in the movie Groundhog Day but there are other woodchucks who have a following.

There’s Jimmy the Groundhog in Sun Prairie, WI; General Beauregard Lee in Lilburn, GA; Smith Lake Jake in Birmingham, AL; and Sir Walter Wally in Raleigh, N.C. And that’s just for starters. What I discovered when I went poking around is that Groundhog Day is indeed a tourist draw. You have to love the fun of loving a groundhog. Punxsutawney has the festivities down pat. They’ve been going on all week. In Canada, though, Wiarton Willie is the famous one. In 2002, The Wiarton Willie Festival won the distinction as the Greatest Festival on Earth by Festivals.com. One year, when one of the Willies died before the event, a stuffed replica was used as a funeral stand-in. You have to read the story.

All of the groundhogs mentioned are making appearances on February 2 to let us know how long winter will last. For more groundhog fun, check out 123.Holiday.net. There are even some songs to learn. And here are some more groundhog events in other parts of the U.S. to give you more travel options.