Four Seasons of Travel Adventure:
U.S. Edition

Winter: Climb ice in Colorado

Squeeze the most action out of every season! These adventures will have you climbing, cheering, flying and zipping all year long and all across the United States. High-country Colorado sunshine ricochets off a ravine of ice at the world-famous Ouray Ice Park as you harness up and face a frozen waterfall, putting your ice axe, rope work and crampon training to the test. So culminates the San Juan Mountain Guides two-day ice climbing course in Ouray, Colorado (US$340 per person including instruction and all gear, must be 15 or older). The Ouray Ice Park, which is frozen from mid-December through March, attracts beginners and experts alike and is one of the most accessible and reliable ice climbing locations in the country.

Spring: Feel the excitement at the Indy 500

If you just want to watch the Indianapolis 500 turn on your television. If you want to feel, it you’ve got to be there in person. The cars are just a blur even if you turn your head and try to keep up with them as they circle the four-kilometer track 500 times in an attempt to whiz past the finish line first. It’s loud. Real loud. The ground shakes. At some point you’ll realize that your mouth is hanging open in awe of the sheer spectacle of speed. It’s one of the most adrenaline-packed activities you can do sitting down. The 97th Indy 500 will take place on May 26, 2013.

Summer: Fly like 007 in Florida

Hawks Cay, midway down the chain of islands known as the Florida Keys, is one of only two places in the world where you can unleash your inner 007 by “flying” in your own jet pack just like Bond did in Thunderball. Sundance Watersports offers courses and rides in the JetLev R200. Once you’re harnessed in, the JetLev is connected to a small boat that floats on the water’s surface feeding sea water into the contraption which propels the rider (you!) up to 30 metres into the air (US$249 per person for instruction and 20 minutes of guide-controlled flight or US$349 per person for instruction and 30 minutes of solo flight, must be 16 or older).

Fall: Try one of the longest, fastest ziplines

The most exciting way to view autumn colours is via one of the longest and fastest zip lines in the U.S. The Gravity Zip Line is 60 metres above the New River Gorge in West Virginia. Two 150-metre long “warm up” zips get the blood flowing, then a third zip spans 550 metres over the bowl of the mountain. The fourth and fifth zips measure 490 and 400 metres, respectively, but Gravity saves the best for last. The final stretch is a dual-racing zip called Adrena-Line that allows two riders to travel side by side. At 945 metres long, the Adrena-Line is one of the longest and fastest zips in the continental U.S. — riders can reach speeds of up to 80 kph ($109, must be 12 years or older).

Look for Karen Catchpole and Eric Mohl’s Just Add Adventure! series every Wednesday and Friday all summer long on Travel and Escape!

Karen Catchpole and Eric Mohl of the Trans-Americas Journey

In April of 2006, journalist Karen Catchpole and photographer Eric Mohl left their jobs and apartment in New York City and embarked on the Trans-Americas Journey , a 200,000-mile working road trip through all 23 countries in North, Central and South America. After many years on the road they are still nowhere near their goal of Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America where the road literally ends. Until then, their slow and steady overland exploration of The Americas continues.