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Norway’s Svalbard Islands are looking to hire a polar bear spotter this summer
DestinationsWant to work in the great outdoors? Comfortable around bears? Norway may have the job for you. The governor’s office on The Svalbard Islands –located in the Arctic Ocean, halfway between Norway and the North Pole – is looking for a polar bear spotter. The role involves standing guard and warning research teams working on [...]
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Nepal promises Everest security after fight between sherpas and climbers
DestinationsNepal officials vowed on Monday to ensure the safety of climbers seeking to scale Mount Everest after three European climbers were involved in a fight with sherpa guides on their way to the peak of the world’s highest mountain. Three experienced climbers from Britain, Italy and Switzerland were on route to camp three at 7,000 [...]
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Denver’s marijuana holiday celebration: High expectations, tight security
DestinationsAs tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate and smoke marijuana in Denver, police will be out in full force. But it’s not the pot smoking they’re concerned about at the yearly event, billed as the nation’s largest April 20 celebration. Instead, police say they’re focused on crowd security in light of attacks that [...]
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Las Vegas casino to create a public park on the Strip
DestinationsLas Vegas is trying to beat its reputation as a shut-in. MGM Resorts International announced Thursday that it will sink $100 million into building a park and public promenade outside of its New York-New York and Monte Carlo casinos. The project runs counter to casinos’ long-held strategy of trying to keep people inside, losing track [...]
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The rise of trekathon tourism
DestinationsWelcome to a new kind of endurance challenge. Trekathons cover the same distance as a marathon, but with a lot more sightseeing in between. Part city break, part adventure weekend, the idea is to hike 26 miles around one of Europe’s most vibrant cities – Barcelona, Paris, London or Amsterdam – in a single day. [...]
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U.S. federal judge tosses challenges to roadless national forests in Alaska
DestinationsA federal judge ruled Monday that the Parnell administration was more than four years too late in filing its 2011 lawsuit challenging the Forest Service’s roadless policy. “The plaintiffs’ case must be dismissed as untimely,” said U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, in Washington, D.C., in tossing Alaska’s claims. The roadless rule challenged in the lawsuit [...]
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Michigan posed to lose millions in tourism profits as lake levels plummet
DestinationsMichigan’s coastal communities could lose millions of dollars this year, after water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron hit record lows over the winter. Whether via slip fees, shipping, commercial fishing, licenses, real estate or tourism, the state’s $7-billion boating economy, which includes about 800,000 licensed boats and about 500,000 jobs, is bracing to take [...]
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The battle over the future of Yosemite National Park is just beginning
DestinationsWith the onset of spring, visitors are returning to see the waterfalls, granite cliffs and snow-capped peaks of Yosemite National Park. But a 14-year-old lawsuit could soon force sweeping changes and eliminate popular activities in one of America’s most beloved national parks. In the name of restoring the park’s natural setting, a new proposal by [...]
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National parks and museums decry the impact of Washington’s sequester
DestinationsAndy Foyil, a fifth-grade social studies teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is taking 30 students on a field trip to Washington this month. A White House tour was to be the highlight. “Their faces just dropped,” Foyil said as he described the reaction of 11-year-olds being told federal spending cuts will keep them out of America’s [...]
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The New York hedge fund manager imposing his will on a Swiss skiing village
DestinationsSince hotelier Tobias Zurbriggen can remember, the business of running Saas-Fee has been a local affair. Now, the Swiss ski resort neighboring the Matterhorn is feeling the heat from a New York-based financier. Edmond Offermann, a nuclear scientist turned millionaire working for hedge fund Renaissance Technologies LLC, invested 15 million Swiss francs ($16.4 million) in [...]
