0000

Cruising’s cutting edge: The

Pelagic Australis, arguably the

world’s finest high-latitude

charter yacht, sleeps 12.

Rock star:

Italian climbing

guide Michele

Maggioni in

Songfjorden,

on Spitsbergen’s

northeast coast.

I ’ M WA L K I N G D OW N A N E M P T Y S T R E E T I N A C I T Y I ’ V E never seen before. Or, rather, I’m trying to walk. Every few steps, some giant unseen hand begins to push against me until, strain as I might, I eventually grind to a halt. Then, a moment later, the hand releases me and I go reeling forward, barely able to keep my feet.

It’s strangely exhilarating, this lurching promenade, but as soon as I start to enjoy it, I wake up—not in an alien city but in a narrow bunk in a

Polar bears, ice fields, forbidding cliffs. Welcome to Arctic Circle

yachting. Rob Buchanan sets sail for the island of Spitsbergen,

the North Pole’s nearest neighbor

Extreme NorthN o r w a y

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Phot

ogra

phs

by R

ob B

ucha

nan

I ’ M WA L K I N G D OW N A N E M P T Y S T R E E T I N A C I T Y I ’ V Enever seen before. Or, rather, I’m trying to walk. Every few steps, some giant unseen hand begins to push against me until, strain as I might, I eventually grind to a halt. Then, a moment later, the hand releases me and I go reeling forward, barely able to keep my feet.

It’s strangely exhilarating, this lurching promenade, but as soon as I

C o n dE n a s t t r av E l E r / c n t r a v e l e r. c o m

S k i & S t a yin north america

readers’poll

The ski industry continues to shine. A stagger-ing 60.1 million lift tickets were issued in the United States last winter, an increase of almost ten percent over the previous year. As a new season gets under way, ski areas are respond-ing by offering better-quality rentals, a greater

Our readers point you toward the best on and off the slopes—from virgin powder begging to be carved to hotels that elevate après-ski to new heights

t choice of groomed trails, and, in these eco-nomically challenging times, packages priced more competitively than ever before. And since the overall scores have been climbing each year for the mountains and properties re-viewed on these pages, prepare to be dazzled.

2 0 0 8 B e S t P l a c e S t o

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