Cross country skiing through the Green Mountain State

Sarah Tuff has a nice article at NYTimes.com about cross country skiing from the bottom of Vermont up to the top. Using old logging roads, snaking from Massachusetts to Canada, the Catamount trail is 300 miles of gorgeous Vermont scenery. Though some dedicate a month to take a long-haul trek, many enjoy simply biting off one of the 31 sections as a way to enjoy some nature. (Photo courtesy of NYtimes.com/Caleb Kenna)

"“The trip was absolutely wonderful,” said Mr. Bushey, who is now a cartographer in Portland, Me. “Skiing the length of Vermont from ski center to ski center and inn to inn was a memorable life experience for me.”

Becoming an “end-to-ender” on the Catamount Trail is also an unusual accomplishment. Mr. Rose is now the executive director of the Green Mountain Club and said some 3,500 people had completed the Long Trail.

Mr. Fredericks, meanwhile, said he knew of around 60 association members who had skied the entire Catamount, with more and more on the way. “A lot of people just like to do a section here, a section there,” Mr. Fredericks said, “until they have the whole trail done.”"

The Revival of Lowell, Massachusetts

In the early '90s, the Massachusetts city of Lowell had a reputation for drug and gang issues. It has since seen a cultural revival with the inception of the annual Lowell Folk Festival and a vibrant art scene. GoNOMAD editorial assistant Kaitlyn Silva describes some of Lowell's best attractions, including the historic mills museum. Enjoy the excerpt below:



Between roughly 1840 and 1870, Lowell’s textile mills made the city a veritable hot spot for young immigrants who traveled to America in search of work. The young generation of mostly Irish settlers struggled to make a living in what was then known as the town of East Chelmsford, living on mere pennies a day. For $6 per adult and $4 per child, the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in downtown Lowell allows visitors experience the immigrants’ work and trials on location. The pulse-pounding noise of the fully functional weaving room is enough to make your heart reach out to the women who worked there for roughly 12 hours a day, but the museum is more than that.

Photography and video documentaries show children with dirty faces and hard-working young women surrounded by the city‘s original backdrop of cobblestone streets and brick buildings.

Through a prop-filled, interactive boarding house, the museum tells a story of the immigrant’s path and the human condition that many native citizens take for granted.

If you’ve got a flair for textiles, downtown Lowell is also home to the American Textile History Museum and the New England Quilt Museum, both of which offer a look into the evolution of the art. Each museum also offers specialized classes that vary in price, usually ranging between $30 and $100.

Hiking the Alps outside Torino

In a new article from GoNOMAD.com, editor Max Hartshorne hikes up a mountain in the Alps outside Torino, Italy to a remote cabin called the Refugio Pontessi. The hike begins at the dam in the Gran Paradis National Park and continues past a turquoise lake created by the structure.
Enjoy an excerpt from the story below.



Up above the lake were dramatic snowy peaks, and a set of mountains ringing the water. We were heading way, way up there, to that hut with the yellow roof. Wow it was far up!

Settling into our own paces, we took the increasingly steeper climb to the top and grabbed hold of rocks and branches to keep us moving ahead. Looking back I saw that we all were getting a little winded, but it felt so great on this blinding sunny day to be there. Our prize awaited us in an hour or so up at the top, where steaming cauldrons held bubbling risotto with beef.

An hour of hard hiking, using rocks as stairs and walking through soft forests and then, hiking above the tree line on broad flat rocks. "No one said it was going to be easy," I laughed, and indeed, it was one of those hikes that makes you feel great because it was tough.

Looking down on that steep path and this light blue water when we reached the Refugio Pontessi, it all felt just right. Inside, a feast cooked on the mountain awaited. Everything comes up to this remote hut via a cable car that's strung all the way from the bottom. No way you can pack that much up here!

A Refreshing Tour through Champagne

Kent St John, Senior Travel Editor at GoNOMAD.com, takes readers through some of the less frequently toured places in France’s historic Champagne producing region. Sampling some of his favorite bubbly, scoping out the vineyards and chateaus, and enjoying some French cuisine, Kent gets a taste for the region’s hidden treasures:

Essoyes is picture perfect and not only by my standards: Pierre-Auguste Renior himself moved to the village and painted it often. He also stated often that the bread and wine was much better than in Paris.

Memories of the painter are found not just in his remaining studio and home. Throughout the village huge poster size replicas of his paintings stand right where he would have painted them. It was awe inspiring to stand and see just what Renoir saw; little has changed to the eye in Essoyes.

That itself is a recurring blessing of traveling through lesser- known Champagne. Though the region has all the modern day accoutrements, it is off the beaten track that Champagne’s subtle magic bubbles up, as from the bottom of a glass of its best known wine -- sure to whet an appetite for further exploration.

The Earth's Overwhelming Polar Underside

Bruce Northam gives a detailed account of his experiences camping and hiking the Antarctic in an article for GoNOMAD.com, where he describes both the awe-inspiring landscapes and the local penguin population of the continent. Traveling with the Russian tour company Quark Expeditions, Northam also experiences the realities of global warming first hand.

Here, there are birds that can’t fly (penguins) and mammals that can’t walk (seals); a pollution-free environment where the wildlife returns your ogle. There’s no native population, so any environmental degradation is caused solely by outsiders. With limited history of abuse – excepting whalers and seal clubbers active until the mid 1900’s – animals don’t fear humans.

Wildlife endures unimaginably harsh climate conditions. Only two percent of its land is not covered by permanent ice, and that’s where 16 of the 17 species of extremely tolerant, upright ducks colonize and nest during their short summer vacation. (Penguin species number seventeen claimed the Galapagos).

The UN-sponsored, 1959 Antarctic treaty mandated that everything south of 60-degree southern latitude may only be explored for peaceful purposes: no hunting, fishing, industry, exporting, oil drilling, or weapons testing. Mingling with penguins, however, penguins willing, is permissible.

Floating into this winter wonderland of crystal glacier palaces is a powerful sensory overload. Amazingly, Antarctica’s February daytime temperatures were warmer than New York’s, with mercury rising above freezing and sometimes into the 50s.

Lower Prices on the High Seas (but they still need to lower their footprint)

Suppose you build an outrageously large and opulent boat:

 

Your entire business model involves the manufacture of grandeur. You’re in the service industry, and your customers are served a taste of posh affluence.

  

Perhaps your company’s name even subtly hints towards the regal (Royal Caribbean; Princess), or alludes to festivals and escape and the unbridling of inhibitions (Carnival), or—maybe—simply and bluntly appeals to a culturally universal yearning towards popularity (Celebrity). 

 

Now suppose the floor falls out from under that market.

 

Though decidedly harsh (and possibly a tad caustic), this equivocation is pretty much descriptive of the big cruise lines’ current positions.

 

By now, the phrase “another victim of the economic downturn” has become a bit trite. But, in truth, that’s the exact boat [sorry] these companies are in.

 

The downturn[/recession/depression/collapse/pick-your-favorite-descriptive-noun]has emasculated nearly all luxury segments, and cruise lines aren’t unique in that respect. But, unlike Fendi, and Bergdorf Goodman (who can stop making so many conspicuously unnecessary luxury goods, and stocking absurd $600 hats respectively), cruise lines are in a bit of a pickle, in that they can’t exactly stop owning 1100ft. boats. (Currently—according to a recent poll asking dudes named Steve who happen to be writing blogs about cruise lines and fur hats—there’s even less of a market for 1100ft. boats than there is for “Silver Fox Fur Hats,” which, though impressive, illustrates the corner these companies have painted themselves into.)

Two articles on the New York Times deal with cruise vacations.

One of them discusses the fact that now just might be the best time to book a cruise. The other might (if you happen to be particularly susceptible overreactions when reading about carbon footprints) blow your mind.

As it turns out, when you're saddled with a boat the size of a small city and interest goes down in expensive vacations, you have to cut prices. This fact is nicely summed up in the second sentence of the first article: "Practically all cruise lines are offering significant discounts to just about anywhere they sail."

They're literally giving away vacations (if you're an accompanied child):

"MSC Cruises, which already allows children ages 17 and under to sail free, has savings of up to 50 percent for baby boomers at least 50 years old and seniors on Caribbean sailings with rates from $499 a person for seven nights, and 60 percent off European cruises for seniors. And Norwegian Cruise Line has just introduced rates for kids, or any third guest or more sharing a cabin, as low as $99, down from $499 normally, and will offer up to $250 in on-board credit good toward shore excursions, specialty dinners, spa treatments or other extras on bookings made by March 15."

Before you click, call, or pack to jump on a great deal, you should read the second article--especially if you're concerned with the other type of green. 

Those who assumed that sailing was the eco-friendly choice should know that cruise ships, "emit nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as airplanes." Worse yet,

"According to environmentalists, carbon dioxide emissions are just a drop in the ocean when it comes to eco problems on luxury liners. Most ships run on so-called bunker fuel, the cheapest and dirtiest fuel oil, which not only powers the vessel, but also all the amenities on board: restaurants, swimming pools and nightclubs among them. Royal Caribbean will launch its largest ship yet this year, the Oasis of the Seas with a capacity of 5,400 passengers, and its amenities will include a microclimate-controlled Central Park, with irrigation and drainage systems, as well as trees that will tower more than two and a half decks high."

Despite all the cause for alarm, the  Cruise Line International Association remains hopeful:

"Terry Dale, chief executive officer of the association, said, “Even in these tough economic times, we are forecasting that in 2009 a record 13.5 million people will take a cruise,” adding that last year the industry was worth $38 billion, employing roughly 350,000 United States workers. “As a leader in travel we feel we have to be industry stewards of the environment,” he said. “We are not sitting back, but rather trying hard to be proactive and meet the challenges.”"

Beyond Borat

In an article for GoNOMAD.com, David Rich describes the Kazakhstan city of Almaty, where he encountered cheerful locals who proved the buffoon-like character of Borat to be nothing more than a figment of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's imagination. Enjoy an excerpt from the story below.



Almaty in late summer could easily be likened to trudging Saharan wastes in the noon-day sun, fortunately alleviated by unending legions of trees that have transformed Almaty into a city disguised as a forest.

Without trees Almaty would be uninhabitable in summer. Perhaps that’s one reason the current dictator, democratically elected similar to other countries, arbitrarily carted the capital to Astana, a then minor town in the far north near the Russian border, far cooler than Almaty.

Because Kazakhstan is the size of Western Europe, Astana is extremely far from anywhere except Russia. The pervasive Russian influence is reflected on the shelves of the average Kazakh supermarket, approximately 34% of which are stocked with 8217 distinct brands of vodka, a traditional inspiration for comedians whose names begin with the letter B, like Boris Yeltsin.

Highways outside all cities are jammed with impromptu kiosks stacked with fruit, offering chartreuse and green pinstriped watermelon the size of VWs, truly tasty tomatoes and pearly grapes, complemented by fish ranging from large, red and floppy, to desiccated.

A Day at the Beach in India

GoNOMAD Blogger Mridula Dwivedi writes about a day at the beach in India. She and her husband took the train from Delhi to a fantastic beach which she described in a new article on GoNOMAD.

We landed up at the Mangalore Central Railway Station at 9:15 in the morning (our train was late by 45 minutes) and the first task was breakfast. We saw a sign saying ‘canteen’ on the right hand side as soon as we walked out of the railway station ignoring all the auto-rickshaw drivers.

It looked like a worker’s canteen and they served three dosas to a plate with sambhar and another curry all for 14 rupees. We told them we need only one plate between the two of us and they were somewhat surprised.

Sesha did all the conversation as he is from South India and can speak Tamil and a little bit of Kannada. Stomachs full, it was time to figure out how to reach Surathkal.

Sesha is quite reluctant to ask for directions. So, I said to the canteen owner just two words, “Surathkal bus?” He said the bus number is 45, and then Sesha asked in Kannada the directions to the bus stop.
One of the many roads leading to the Surathkal Beach One of the many roads leading to the Surathkal Beach

We were told to take a right and keep walking. We saw a bus stopping near the road with number 45 written on it a little ahead and we hopped in.

Spring Snow on the Alps

Val d'Isere and Chamonix are two ski towns at the base of the Alps that offer visitors challenging courses and beautiful icy landscapes well into the spring months. Val d'Isere is known as one of the most beautiful and largest ski areas in the world, and is currently host to the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, which began today and run until February 15, 2009.

Chamonix (see image), about two hours north of Val d'Isere, is also known for great skiing, as well as being the "death-sport capital of the world"-- during summer months, mountain climbers flock to the town which lies at the base of Mount Blanc, the highest European mountain west of Russia. GoNomad Senior Travel Editor Kent St. John paid a visit to the two ski villages in late April, finding the scenery and the skiing to be still in full swing. Enjoy an excerpt of the story below:

Booting Up in Val d’Isere

On my arrival in Val d’Isere I noticed immediately that one is there to ski and as much as possible. True there are restaurants, bars and shops galore, but it is the slopes that rule. In fact there are twelve slope-side restaurants alone, but diners are decked in ski gear, a sure sign.

The clop of ski boots can be heard just about everywhere, even in a disco. The resort is actually two as Tignes can be reached and skied on the same pass. The whole package is named L’ Espace Killy, after French skiing superstar Jean-Claude Killy.

Speed is king in Val d’Isere, and the face of Bellevarde seen from the lifts is a constant reminder; many important downhill and giant slalom races have been won and lost on the B.

In fact the 2009 World Alpine Championships will be held in Val d’Isere, fitting since over the last forty years some of the World Cup’s fastest races have been held there.

The beauty of skiing the Val is the amount of terrain available — more than 300 km (186 mi) of piste (slopes) and ninety lifts will keep you busy and if off-piste skiing is your bag, Val has the most options in the Alps.

Val d’ Isere Day Off

It is said that you could ski everyday at Val d’ Isere for two weeks and not repeat your runs. For those who get burning calves and fatigued feet, there are other options in this ski capital, no boots needed.

A car isn’t necessary in the town as a free bus system called the Train Rouge runs the length of the valley. I enjoyed taking it to the nearby village of Le Fornet with its old stone homes built to withstand the over abundant snow fall.

If you want to take a chance, there is a casino in Val. On Mondays a village market takes place and is perfect to stock up on local cheeses, white sausages and wines.

Still, as I could tell by the lines at the Ecole de Ski Francais or the National French Ski School, skiing is king. Still a little hidden time in a hot tub is possible for all.

Chamonix, Steep Adventure

Chamonix is one of the oldest Alpine resort areas in Europe and is situated beneath the Alp’s largest mountain, Mt. Blanc.

While skiing is big, mountaineering also is a key sport. In fact it was climbing the valley’s steep peaks that drew early visitors to the area. Even today tragic fatalities can happen as risk takers are drawn to the surrounding challenges.

That said, Chamonix itself is a most civilized city and also draws well-heeled visitors that like the challenge of good shopping and finishing a huge Savoie style lunch. It has attracted travelers since the 18th century, and in fact the climbing guides set up a guide bureau, Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix in 1821.

There are more than half a dozen peaks that surround Chamonix but the main connection to the slopes, piste and non-piste is the gondola, Auiguille du Midi, a thrilling ride in itself.

The second stage of the lift will take you just 328 feet from the peak of Mont Blanc. Even if not skiing down, the views are stunning.

Skier and day tripper both have the option of heading down into Italy for a lunch. Chamonix’s other ski thrill is the Vallee Blanche, a twelve mile long run. When delving into the more off-beat runs use the vast well trained guides that are well known in the area.