Crazy for Adventure Travel

Make Tracks

Insane: Heli-skiing
It's the ultimate ski lift: A helicopter drops you on a remote mountain peak for thrill-packed runs on pristine, people-free snow. " You can ski more powder in a week than the average skier encounters in a lifetime," says Andy Epstein, 56. Epstein enjoyed his first sky-high ski excursion in 1977 and travels from New Jersey to British Columbia for heli-skiing every winter. His favorite run: the aptly named Steep and Deep in Canada's Monashees. He describes the "unbelievable feeling of exhilaration" when skiing through five feet of fresh snow.

Interested? Canadian Mountain Holidays invented helicopter mountain trekking back in 1965. Its Bell 212 twin-turbine choppers ferry guests from 11 lodges in western Canada.

Sane: Bunny-Run Skiing
Some of the most scenic green (easy) ski runs in the country are at Steamboat Springs in Colorado; ambitious beginners can choose from about two dozen trails. Our pick: Take the gondola 2,200 feet to the summit, then ski Why Not, a long, fun, wide-open run to the bottom.

Tame: Ice-skating
The Rockefeller Center rink is where the tourists go; real New Yorkers head to the one in Bryant Park, behind the Public Library. It's free if you bring skates. Or skate beneath palm trees at Pershing Square in Los Angeles.

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