One for the Books
Ever dreamed of taking adventure travel to the next level? An actual record—or at least turbocharged bragging rights—could be in reach.
There was a time when trekking to the South Pole or surfing the world’s largest wave was a newsmaking challenge. These days, even rowing across the Atlantic has become passé. But intrepid travellers have not relented: the hunger to be first remains a powerful driver.
“We are constantly getting feedback: what is extraordinary? What is different?” says Jimmy Carroll, co-founder of Pelorus, which specialises in extreme and experiential travel. “How do you do something that no one else has done?”
Carroll and others in this adrenaline-fuelled segment of the industry have seen a rise in clients seeking to embark on boundary-busting adventures that could earn them a place in history. “The main reason is bragging rights,” says Larry Olmsted, author of Getting Into Guinness: One Man’s Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World’s Most Famous Record Book. “[People] like to accomplish something and be a record-breaker.”
Feats that were once inconceivable are now entirely feasible. “Climbing, BASE jumping—sports that didn’t exist—are pushing the envelope of what’s possible,” says Olmsted.
Luxury operators are responding with access to unprecedented—or at minimum, exceedingly rare—excursions in far-flung corners of the Earth, along with the expertise to pull them off. Guinness might not be there to make it official on the 10 expedition concepts that follow, but that shouldn’t diminish your sense of accomplishment—or your ability to dine out on your tales of risk and triumph for years to come.
Perhaps more importantly, these journeys are designed to add value to your life—especially if you already have the car, the yacht and the plane. “They’re saying human connection and experience is the stuff that actually de-stresses us, gives us a longer, happier life,” says Henry Cookson, a record-breaking polar explorer and founder of Cookson Adventures. “Just trying to keep up on material things—that’s only gonna wear you down, because you can never win. So, we’re in the making-happy business.”
Camp in the World’s Largest Cave
FEAT: Be one of the select few to explore all 8.9 km of Vietnam’s Son Doong cave.
PRIME CANDIDATE: As a kid, you probably enjoyed digging as deep as possible, hoping to reach the other side of Earth.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: After trekking through remote Vietnamese villages, you’ll arrive at Hang En cave, which is smaller than Son Doong but still the third-largest known cave on the planet. You’ll spend one night there at a private camp next to a subterranean river before hiking over to Son Doong. After short-roping down into the cave system, you’ll spend four days exploring its chambers and rainforests. “It’s like nothing else on this planet,” Cookson says. “Just the scale of it, you really do feel dwarfed… This is something which is just such a departure from your day-to-day existence.” On the last day, you’ll cross a lake to arrive at the so-called Great Wall of Vietnam, which you’ll scale to exit the cave.
SKILL SET: You don’t need any special training to conquer Son Doong, but you should be a confident hiker. Technically, you’ll be underground the entire time, but the immensity of the cave and several places where sunlight filters in through gaps in the ceiling alleviate the sense of claustrophobia. At the same time, the vastness may be unsettling for an agoraphobe.
LUXURY COMPONENT: Cookson Adventures will set up an open-air cinema in one of the exposed parts of the cave, so that you can watch your favourite film on the big screen. The sonic experience may beat that of a real theatre or even your best at-home audio set-up.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: While others have hiked Son Doong, Cookson was the first company to do it and claims to know the cave system better than anyone else.
PRICE: Around $239,000 for a week for four people.
Cross Antarctica
FEAT: No one has ever traversed Antarctica from east to west during the winter season. “This is one of the last frontiers,” says Sune Tamm, director of operations at Arctic Trucks Polar.
PRIME CANDIDATE: You consider yourself the next Ernest Shackleton—seeking out a journey in the world’s most inhospitable place in the depths of winter, when not even a ray of light touches the continent for months.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: Training will start in Iceland, where you can develop your winter camping skills and try your hand at driving in icy conditions. Then it’s off to New Zealand, where you’ll hop on a cruise bound for the Ross Ice Shelf on the white continent. Because the ice shelf becomes inaccessible a few weeks before the start of winter, you’ll have to leave a week or two early and wait on the shelf for the season to officially kick off. Once winter begins, a helicopter will immediately zip you to the kitted-out Arctic Trucks, which will be your home for the next three weeks. The days and nights (who knows, because there’s no sun) will be spent travelling east toward Dronning Maud Land. A highlight will be stargazing at the dazzling night sky, an activity comparable only to seeing the stars from space. Once you’ve reached the destination, a charter will fly you up to Cape Town.
SKILL SET: You’re willing to forgo seeing the sun for about three weeks and exist in temperatures that hover around –80 degrees Celsius. You’re also happy to do so while living in a truck (albeit a comfy one) with no access to a shower—only wet wipes. Expert drivers will be available to take the wheel and/or supervise you, but an interest in driving is recommended.
LUXURY COMPONENT: Arctic Trucks AT44 6×6 vehicles built on Ford F-350 platforms, equipped with heating and memory-foam mattresses. Pre-arranged search-and-rescue team (including medics, airplanes and helicopters), just in case.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Arctic Trucks, which has 30-plus years of experience engineering vehicles that can withstand these harsh conditions. Most recently, the company has added technology that enables guests to travel during the winter across Antarctica—something many people have tried but failed to do.
PRICE: From around $10.8 million for six people.
Discover a Lost Ruin
FEAT: You could be the first human in modern times to set eyes on a centuries- or millennia-old ruin. “It also has the romance of being in the middle of nowhere,” says Christopher Wilmot-Sitwell, co-founder and director of Cazenove+Loyd.
WHERE: Peru, Cambodia, Guatemala or Mexico.
PRIME CANDIDATE: You want to channel the Indiana Jones inside of you—or maybe just be able to say you discovered the “undiscoverable”. Better still, you might fund the excavation of the ruin.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: The expedition will be largely contingent on which country you choose to explore. Wilmot-Sitwell knows of pockets in a few countries in Asia and the Americas where ruins, which have been swallowed up by jungle, are almost certain to be found if you scour enough. Either the team can zero in on an area before you join for the recce, or Cazenove+Loyd can send a researcher in advance to pinpoint the exact coordinates and ensure a helicopter can land safely. Then you’ll stay on the site of the ancient settlement for a few nights.
SKILL SET: For the hardcore option, patience and stamina—you may be trekking for a while before uncovering anything. For the fly-in itinerary, all you need is the willingness to camp out in the middle of a rainforest.
LUXURY COMPONENT: Once you’re done marvelling at the ancient ruin, it’s straight to a well-appointed lodge, such as one of the Family Coppola Hideaways in Guatemala. Most importantly, though, you’ll have the expertise of a highly qualified researcher and/or archaeologist.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Cazenove+Loyd, a company that has previously helped a client uncover a lost Mayan ruin.
PRICE: From around $154,000 for two people.
Climb Tower Butte
FEAT: Not even members of the Navajo Nation, on whose land it stands, have climbed the sacred 1,611 m sandstone formation; only brief helicopter tours have been allowed. “Nobody has slept up there,” says Kevin Jackson, founder of EXP Journeys.
WHERE: The Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona.
PRIME CANDIDATE: Someone seeking the sound of silence—and whose idea of camping is sleeping in an expedition tent (not checking into a glamping hotel). Bonus: you’re curious about the Navajo Nation and its heritage.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: Following a night on a houseboat on Lake Powell, your group will begin the journey with a 4 km hike along a sandy path through the narrow Antelope Canyon. Then, the proper challenge will commence: you’ll spend three to four hours ascending Tower Butte, using a fixed rope (a.k.a. the jumaring technique) to propel upward. At the top of the empty flat-topped rock, a fancified mobile tented camp will await. While the sun sets, you’ll soak up uninterrupted views of the Moon-like landscape and Lake Powell. “There aren’t many places on the planet where you can feel this type of isolation,” says Jackson. The following morning, a helicopter will shuttle your party to Amangiri in Utah.
SKILL SET: At the very most, you’re fit, strong and extremely capable. At the very least, you don’t mind being hoisted by a rope system for a couple hours, because—if need be—the team can also haul you up. Most importantly, you aren’t afraid of heights.
LUXURY COMPONENT: A chef will prepare food that riffs on Navajo cuisine, and the team can engage a massage therapist, an astronomer for maximum stargazing, or even a Navajo storyteller to share tales about the land.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: EXP Journeys, a company that collaborated with the Navajo Nation to gain unprecedented access to the landmark.
PRICE: Around $61,500 per person for a group of six, including a one-night stay at Amangiri with the option to extend.
Ski Off-Piste in Seven Countries in Seven Days
FEAT: There’s no record of anyone having completed this globetrotting challenge.
WHERE: US, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Spain, India and Japan.
PRIME CANDIDATE: The word “slow” doesn’t exist in your vocabulary. You’re an ER doctor, an advertising executive or someone who can party until the wee hours. Because for this trip, you’ll need buckets of stamina. “There’s little rest,” says Jimmy Carroll, co-founder of Pelorus. “You’ve got to be pumped up to the max.”
WHAT’S INVOLVED: The journey will begin with ski runs in Alaska before you hop on a private jet bound for the glaciated peaks of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia to shred a few more. Then it’s over the Arctic Circle to Iceland, where you’ll hit the Troll Peninsula and overnight at Eleven Deplar Farm, an uber-luxe lodge in the Fljót Valley. The next leg is continental Europe—Sweden and Spain—to slide down the slopes of Riksgränsen (around 200 km north of the Arctic Circle) and the Pyrenees. Finally, it’s on to Kashmir in India and then Hokkaido in Japan, where travellers can finally take an extended break with sushi, sake and onsens.
SKILL SET: You don’t have to be a rebel skier, but an intermediate level is required. Experience in powder—so you can take advantage of the remote locations accessible only by helicopter—is also advisable. More than anything, you have enough energy to power through seven days while sleeping most nights on the plane, zipping across time zones, and dipping into foreign cultures.
LUXURY COMPONENT: A private jet, customs staff awaiting your arrival, and helicopters that shuttle you to the slopes upon landing. Top-notch ski guides and the option of additional
Trek Uncharted Bhutan
FEAT: Explore parts of the country, including sections of Royal Manas National Park, that have never been seen by the public before.
PRIME CANDIDATE: Someone who’s in touch with their spiritual side and doesn’t mind slowing down for a bit. Think of it as an abbreviated version of Eat, Pray, Love for the hardcore set.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: The main highlight is that you’ll have access to areas of the country’s oldest national park that are off-limits to the general public. Here, alongside a guide, you can keep an eye out for endangered royal Bengal tigers and Asian elephants. Elsewhere, though summiting the tallest peaks in Bhutan is forbidden (locals believe that spirits live up there), you can spend the night in a luxury tented camp on the side of a mountain, getting as close as possible to the very top. Other potential activities include meeting the royal family, visiting the Yeti Wildlife Sanctuary and exploring Laya Village—the country’s northernmost settlement. Bhutan is “that sort of mysterious kingdom in a world which is becoming more and more open and revealed to everyone”, Cookson says, noting that it remains an enigma even in our age of Instagram travel one-upmanship.
SKILL SET: You’ll be at altitude for much of the trip, so kick your aerobic and strength training into gear now. Be sure to break in your hiking boots ahead of time, too.
LUXURY COMPONENT: Using trees that have fallen in the forest, Cookson Adventures is able to build hot-stone baths that can be set up in any location. After a long day of hiking, you can lie back and relax while enjoying the breathtaking views of Tiger’s Nest monastery, which hangs on the side of a cliff beside a waterfall.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Cookson Adventures, which through its prior work in Bhutan has established strong contacts with those who know which areas of the country are still largely untouched.
PRICE: From around $500,000 for 10 days for six to eight people.
Climb Four Volcanoes in 24 Hours
FEAT: To the best of our knowledge, no one has ever tried it. “There are few places where you can do this,” says Carroll.
WHERE: Nicaragua.
PRIME CANDIDATE: You never take the elevator, only the stairs—even to your corner office on the 26th floor—and live by the saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
WHAT’S INVOLVED: You’ll begin with the mildest challenge: a one-hour hike up Cerro Negro, which has an elevation of about 728 m. After a quick descent (on foot or sliding on a board), you’ll hop a helicopter and whiz over to Telica, which takes about three hours to summit and half that long to get down. A 30-minute helicopter ride will flit you over to San Cristóbal, a 1,745 m volcano, where it’s about six hours to the peak, followed by a three-hour descent. The final climb is up Concepción, which requires another six hours to ascend. All in all, the quartet and transfers should clock in between 22 and 24 hours.
SKILL SET: You’d better be tough—physically and mentally. To meet the 24-hour deadline, you’ll have to climb through the night. Your only respite will be the brief moments in the helicopter.
LUXURY COMPONENT: While in the air, the team will have Theraguns to ease sore muscles and Therabody compression boots to boost recovery and performance. Energy-dense meals formulated by a nutritionist will be at the ready. A medic will be on hand, too. Other add-ons include a volcanologist. As the perfect wind-down, you can recover with a week at the private Calala Island.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Pelorus, a luxury travel company that excels in adventure travel.
PRICE: Around $146,000 per person for four people.
See the World’s Big Cats in One Expedition
FEAT: “We know for sure that no one has gone around the world to every single big-cat ecosystem,” says Behzad Larry, founder of Voygr. You’ll travel across four countries on three continents over the course of 40 days to find them.
WHERE: Brazil, Chile, India and South Africa.
PRIME CANDIDATE: Your idea of a vacation is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve also been on many safaris before—seeing wildlife isn’t about ticking animals off a list but really understanding their behaviour.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: India’s Pench National Park—the setting for The Jungle Book—is where the mission will begin, tracking tigers. From there, a private charter will deliver you to Suján Jawai, a luxury tented camp in Rajasthan, where leopards crawl across granite boulders and through acacia scrub. Then it’s back to Delhi to board a commercial flight (due to landing conditions) bound north to Leh in Ladakh to seek out the infamous snow leopard in the Himalayas. Next, it’s down to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa, an area renowned for leopards, lions and cheetahs. The plane will then head west to the Pantanal in Brazil to look for jaguars, followed by Torres del Paine in Chile, to search for pumas in the dramatic snow-capped mountains.
SKILL SET: Patience. Anyone can go on safari, but few people are willing to work like Sherlock Holmes to find specific animals.
LUXURY COMPONENT: The best accommodations possible in each location (Suján in Rajasthan, Lungmar—Larry’s camp in Hemis National Park—and Londolozi in South Africa) and expert guides with incomparable knowledge and tracking skills. Also, top-range scopes to view the animals, including your own personalised Swarovski binoculars.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Voygr, a travel company with expertise in spotting cats, namely elusive snow leopards and tigers. For this journey, Larry will team up with another guide and conservationist. Together, they’ll search for the seven species of cats. The nearly impossible-to-find clouded leopard in Borneo can be added on.
PRICE: From around $531,000 per person based on double occupancy.
Skydive to Dinner in the North Pole
FEAT: No one has attempted it, as far as we know.
PRIME CANDIDATE: You want what no one else can have. “In a world where everyone’s got the big boat, everyone can go and buy out a restaurant or take the biggest villa in the most expensive resort. That doesn’t really differentiate you anymore,” says Cookson. “If you really want to impress friends or colleagues or family and have that unique, F-you-type experience, dinner at the North Pole and skydiving into that—that certainly gives you bragging rights.”
WHAT’S INVOLVED: After boarding a Twin Otter jump plane at the northern tip of Canada, you’ll fly to the North Pole. Once there, you’ll parachute down to the ice, where a heated dining tent will await you, with all the cooking equipment having been air-dropped to the site a few days prior. The celebrity or Michelin-starred chef of your choosing (pending availability) will cook your dinner in the most epic of settings before you fall asleep in one of the world’s hardest-to-reach locations. The next day, you’ll get on the plane and return to Canada, where you can call up all your friends (or enemies) and take advantage of those bragging rights Cookson mentioned.
SKILL SET: As long as you’re willing to jump out of a plane, you’ll be fine. Experienced skydivers can go solo, but even if you’ve never mustered the courage before, you can train ahead of time or do a tandem dive with an expert.
LUXURY COMPONENT: Cookson Adventures will set up a sauna on the ice for a quick shvitz or a natural plunge pool to help you wake up in the morning.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Henry Cookson has a background in polar expeditions—plus a Guinness World Record earned at the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility—so this sort of trip is Cookson Adventures’ bread and butter.
PRICE: Around $1.85 million for up to four people.
Sleep in the World’s Highest Treetop Camp
FEAT: Documentarians or scientists may have slept in these towering arbors before, but from what we understand, no guests have ever spent the night there.
WHERE: Borneo.
PRIME CANDIDATE: Your childhood tree house remains your favourite home—and maybe some days you find yourself speaking more words to your pet than to humans.
WHAT’S INVOLVED: Prior to the trip, rope riggers will have climbed up the over 30-m-tall trees to build you a camp in the forest canopy. You’ll remain up there for three or four days and nights, observing the birds and primates who share your temporary home. Expert researchers will accompany you, providing insight into their scientific and conservation efforts. “We tend to get distracted by day-in, day-out politics and things, but if we don’t have a livable planet, it doesn’t matter who’s in power or who’s trying to invade whoever else,” Cookson says. “It’s game over.” After you return to the ground, guides will lead the way through the jungle, where you can forage for food that will be prepared by a private chef.
SKILL SET: If you can climb a ladder, you can partake. That said, you will be spending up to 96 hours 30 m above the ground, so those with a fear of heights might want to rethink their vacation plans.
LUXURY COMPONENT: A comfy double bed with prime bedding and mosquito nets will be brought up to the camp, so you can get a good night’s sleep in the treetops. It’s “Rock-a-Bye Baby” taken to the extreme.
WHO CAN MASTERMIND IT: Cookson Adventures has a great relationship with expert rope riggers who often work on nature documentaries doing this sort of project in trees and other extreme locations.
PRICE: Around $400,000 for seven nights for four people.
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Omega Just Unveiled 9 Watches in Its New Constellation Observatory Collection
The line-up shows up a bevy of metals and colours, too, as well as two new calibres.
Omega’s latest watch is in a universe of its own.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?
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In Search of White Gold
Colorado’s barely known San Juan Mountains do a fine line in bespoke skiing experiences, luring alpine-sports cognoscenti and billionaire thrill-seekers alike.
“Though no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, billionaire actor Tom Cruise is a very average heli-snowboarder. But although no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—the world’s second richest human—makes up for Cruise’s inability with his off-piste prowess. The pair have been clients of Telluride Helitrax, a heli-skiing outfit operating in the backcountry behind Telluride Mountain Resort, in remote south-west Colorado, since 1982. My source, a former guide who prefers to remain anonymous, admits he’s entertained a host of household-name One Percenters over the years.”
“Power billionaires aren’t going to the popular resorts any more,” he reveals over a happy-hour drink at a Telluride bar. “Luxury skiing these days, it’s all about exclusivity. No one with any clout shares snow, and at every resort, no matter how fancy, you have to share the slopes. But nowhere is more exclusive than the backcountry. That’s your billionaire’s playground. And no backcountry is more exclusive than San Juan backcountry.”
Which is precisely why I am here. Australia’s considerable brigade of free-spending, snow-crazed executives may jet off to Vail and Aspen each northern winter for thrills, but it turns out some of the world’s most choicest ski experiences have been right under their noses—only a short helicopter ride, car journey or private jet flight from said resorts.
Packed into the ultra-rugged southern end of the Rocky Mountains, the San Juans are a little chunk of the Swiss Alps in the US—young, ridiculously spectacular formations known for their steep slopes, deep powder snow and Disney-esque triangular peaks, all bathed in 300-plus days of sunshine a year. And the region is augmented by unique, and select, backcountry options that rival anything currently in the upscale ski orbit.
Case in point: North America’s highest skiing setting, Silverton Mountain. Located in the heart of the San Juans, outside the tiny town of Silverton, the 4,111 m peak boasts 736 hectares of chair-accessible terrain set among what is reputedly the deepest, steepest snow in the nation. It also offers a further 10,000 hectares of private terrain, serviced by heli-ski operation Heli Adventures. This is the Shangri-La of skiing: every slope connoisseur has heard of it, though most wonder if it actually exists.
We arrive via the treacherous Million Dollar Highway, where a disturbing lack of guard rails sometimes causes travellers to plummet into the valley floor (the death toll, grimly, averages eight people per year). Silverton Mountain was bought in 2023 by Heli Adventures’ young co-founders Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger. While private punters can book the hill in its entirety, starting from around $14,000 per day, plus extra for single heli-skiing runs, the destination is also open to the public from Thursdays to Saturdays through winter.
“Silverton is a bastion for the pure ski experience,” Culp says. “All that corporate consolidation that happened when ski resorts all over the world developed condos and real estate and got super-busy… well, it never happened here. You’re able to access Alaska-like terrain from an old rickety chairlift, but you’re an hour’s drive from a pretty major airport [Montrose]. And you can access snow that’s even better than most heli-skiing straight off your lift.”
There’s no radio-frequency lift passes when I arrive. In fact, I don’t get a lift pass at all. A discarded school bus doubles as the “second chairlift”; it picks me up and returns me to a yurt which serves as a restaurant and bar. “There’s a time and a place to hang out at The Little Nell [Aspen’s legendary après-ski bar] and the world doesn’t need more of that,” Culp says. “This is the new luxury. We also run a heli-ski business out of Aspen [Aspen Heli-Skiing] but this is where we come. You can’t put a price tag on what we have here.”
I drive away from the mountain, back along the perilous Million Dollar Highway, park my car and disappear into the San Juan National Forest with guide Kaylee Walden. This white-coated outback between Silverton and Ouray, dubbed “the Switzerland of America”, offers swathes of primo backcountry skiing terrain. The ski touring here is often likened to Europe’s iconic Haute Route—an emblematic trail between Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
The operator Mountain Trip offers a Colorado version of that feted circuit, on a multi-day traverse between secluded huts. All in all, there’s nearly 8,000 km² of national forest and 2,500 hectares of wilderness to explore, frequented only by the occasional intrepid enthusiast.
A wood-burning sauna is being prepared as I arrive at Thelma Hut, 4,500 m above sea level. Traditionally, US Forest Service huts were humble affairs, with rudimentary bunks, self-service kitchens, and food supplies brought in by skiers. This evening, however, a chef is preparing local bison across from an open fireplace as the sun sets through a floor-to-ceiling window against a horizon of white mountains. As he works, I walk out into the snow to study the twilight sky; beaming planets shine down on me, necklaces of tiny stars sparkle.
Back down to earth, upon my return to “civilisation”, we take a two-hour car ride to Telluride, probing through the San Juans. The small town is picture-postcard pretty, wedged at the end of a box canyon surrounded by Colorado’s tallest waterfalls, and hosts the highest concentration of 4,000-m-plus peaks in the state. Most of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including a bank that was robbed in 1889 by the outlaw Butch Cassidy.
While the locale offers everything from luxurious on-mountain dining options to 7-km-long runs, it’s the heli-ski enterprise that’s lured me. Telluride Helitrax holds sole rights to over 500 km² of completely deserted ski terrain, a few minutes’ flying time from town. The company runs a range of Eurocopters which guests can charter into Colorado’s best alpine basins, cirques and couloirs. “The range mightn’t be as expansive as Alaska,” says Telluride Helitrax program director Joseph Shults. “But the views, the terrain, the snow depth and quality is as good.”
I’m staying in a privately owned three-bedroom penthouse apartment, where a helicopter takes off each morning for convenience (when I’m done carving clouds, I move a kilometre up the mountain to the seven-bedroom, three-storey mountain retreat Hood Park Haven, valued at around $42 million). Telluride Helitrax uses an abundance of drop-off locations, all above the tree line, meaning everyone from intermediates to experts can be catered for.
During my three-day odyssey, I don’t cross a single other ski track, but it’s the peace that is most startling. In this pocket of montane paradise, there is, literally, not a single sound—a stark contrast to the whirling fury of the chopper that transports me. My experienced guide Bill Allen won’t reveal who’s come before Robb Report. “You’d know their names,” he says, grinning.
And so the San Juans remain a secret to all but a fortunate few. Of all the luxuries the ultra-wealthy enjoy in the skiing ecosphere, the promise of untouched snow is by far the most enviable. Here in Colorado is where the white gold truly lies.
Photography: Kane Scheidegger (heli-skiing); Patrick Coulie (hut); Courtesy of Colorado Tourism Office (Hood Park Haven).
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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Best Combustion Supercar: Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider
A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.
In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.
As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.
Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.
For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.
In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.
The Numbers
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Power: 610kW
Torque: 678 Nm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100 km/h: 2.95 seconds
Top speed: 340 km/h
Price: From $886,800
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High and Low
At Le Bernardin, Aldo Sohm oversees one of the most formidable cellars in fine dining. But on the beach, he’ll happily drink a cheap rosé. The world-class sommelier explains why taste—and humility—matter more than price.
Aldo Sohm is one of the most accomplished sommeliers in the world. The 54-year-old Austrian heads up an oenophile’s empire on New York City’s West 51st Street, where he both serves as wine director at Michelin three-star Le Bernardin and leads his namesake wine bar, just across the road from the fine-dining institution. (He spends his time literally running back and forth between the two.) So it may come as a surprise that this man, who sips prized varietals all day, admits to the joys of a glass of Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous rosé that retails at stateside Target stores for US$22.99 (around $30) a bottle.
The context here is important; the aptly named Sohm is quick to clarify that he’s not about to start serving Whispering Angel as one of the pairings with chef Eric Ripert’s US$530 (around $750) eight-course tasting menu. But during a trip to the Caribbean for the Cayman Cookout food festival, Sohm’s wife requested a glass of rosé on the beach. When he went to fetch it, she specified that she wanted a cheap drop, not the fancy stuff that he likely would have grabbed. “I felt kind of gobsmacked, right?”
Sohm says as we’re sitting in the tasting room at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar. “Now, rather than just criticising, I have to admit: I got out of the water, and I tried Whispering Angel, too. It was delicious.”
Unlikely as it may be, this humility is perhaps the key to Sohm’s success. His lack of self-seriousness makes him an anomaly in the oftentimes highfalutin world of fine wine. Rather than shaming you for your preferences, Sohm will indulge your desires. Maybe, as in the case of his wife, you’re going to be right. More likely than not, you’re going to be wrong. He won’t simply tell you that, though; he’ll use his encyclopedic knowledge of wine to subtly steer you in the right direction, allowing you to come to that conclusion on your own. “You just wake up from your dream—and mistake—and realise that, ‘Oh yeah, he’s right,’” says Ripert, who has worked with Sohm for almost two decades.
Sohm intended to move to New York for only 18 months. Growing up in Innsbruck, in the Austrian Alps, he wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Like many childhood fantasies, that didn’t come to fruition, and he settled on something more practical, becoming a teacher at a hospitality school. Having overcorrected—“That was way too boring for me,” he admits—he switched to the more public-facing side of the industry, getting a job as a restaurant server. It was then, when he was about 21, that Sohm fell in love with wine. (Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.)
After studying wine on his own time, he began his formal sommelier education in 1998. He rose quickly through the ranks and was named the best sommelier in Austria in 2002, a title he defended the following two years and reclaimed in 2006. Amid that stretch, he sojourned to New York in 2004 with the goal of improving his English to compete in international competitions. It paid off: four years later, he won the top prize from the World Sommelier Association. But more than the accolades, Sohm had discovered a career. By then, he had joined Le Bernardin after stints at Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans—all Austrian restaurants in Manhattan.
“Back then we had a very strong French sommelier community, and they controlled everything,” he says. “And it was an uproar because how come an Austrian sommelier came to one of the most French restaurants?” He proved his bona fides, and in 2013 Ripert and Maguy Le Coze, the co-owners of Le Bernardin, approached him with the idea of partnering with them in a wine bar. It was Ripert who suggested putting the connoisseur’s name on it.
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar debuted the following year, with a team that Sohm handpicked. Sarah Thomas was part of that opening crew, after meeting Sohm during a fateful dinner at Le Bernardin with her cousins. When her relatives divulged to him that she was a sommelier in Pittsburgh, he proceeded to serve a blind tasting to Thomas. “He didn’t say what I got right or wrong. He didn’t care about that,” she tells me. “He just wanted to hear me talk about wine, I guess. So I did.”
When he offered her a job at the end of the meal, she laughed. Sohm didn’t. Thomas promptly packed up and moved to New York. After she spent about nine months at the wine bar, Sohm promoted her to Le Bernardin, where she worked for another five years. When she decided to start her own business—Kalamata’s Kitchen, which aims to teach kids about other cultures through food—Sohm was one of her earliest investors. He may have found full-time teaching to be too banal, but it’s still a huge part of what he does now, identifying the next generation of stars and giving them the guidance to grow into their own—whether that takes them into the upper echelons of fine dining or beyond the white tablecloths altogether.
Overseeing two teams, at two very different spaces, feeds Sohm’s prodigious ambition. He’s on a mission to completely reshape the world of wine, from what’s in your glass to the glass itself to what you enjoy it with—say, Champagne with eggs. Along with his day jobs, he has partnered with the Austrian brand Zalto to create his own wineglasses. “As a sommelier, you criticise only, but you make nothing,” Sohm says. So, he also now wears the winemaker hat, producing a Grüner Veltliner under the Sohm & Kracher label, a relatively accessible quaff that’s a collaboration with his fellow countryman Gerhard Kracher. And in 2019 he added author to his résumé, releasing Wine Simple, a “totally approachable guide”, as the book’s subtitle puts it. He followed that up with Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings, to help you pick the right bottle for the right meal and the right moment.
“In wine pairings, you have three possible combinations,” Sohm says. “There’s the perfect pairing. Then sometimes you have flavours just going along… it’s like humans—they talk, they interact, but they never connect. And then there’s conflict.” It’s that first one he’s after every time.
“Sohm fell in love with wine when he was about 21. Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.”
Outside of the restaurant, the wine bar and the cellar, Sohm is an avid cyclist who owns six bikes, a number he admits is excessive—especially in New York City. Riding is what he credits with keeping him healthy, when so much of his time is spent eating and drinking—and drinking some more.
Still, despite the 18-year career at one of the world’s best restaurants, despite the top honours from his peers, despite the wine and the wineglasses and the wine books, Sohm doesn’t consider himself successful. Every day, he’s trying to figure out how he can self-correct. “I like what I do, so I go back home that night, think of things which I can improve,” he says. “I get annoyed when I make a mistake, but I improve the next day.”
His quest for perfection may never be over, but Sohm does concede that he’s happy—its own type of success. Sometimes he finds that happiness while sipping a glass of 1980 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, a bottle now so rare and coveted that he calls it “unattainable”. And sometimes, if to his chagrin, he finds it while drinking a mass-produced rosé on the beach.
Photography by Tori Latham
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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19/05/2026
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Going For Gold
Available in a range of shades and intensities, this metallic tone is still a first-place choice.
Above: Awakening 02, Sebastien Durelli Designed exclusively for StudioTwentySeven, Sebastien Durelli’s Awakening 02 floor lamp is available in a limited run of eight examples. Handcrafted in Italy from cast patinaed bronze, the striking piece takes inspiration from the naturally sculpted landscapes of Iceland, specifically the country’s glacial lagoons. The organic boulder-esque shade is rugged and elemental—like an exploded rock wrenched apart by seismic activity—while the base is sleek and symmetrical, providing visual balance in a deep bronze finish. From around $65,300
Above: Orion, De La Espada When it comes to the Orion dining table, the draw is in the details. Designed by Anthony Guerrée for De La Espada, this piece features a central base crafted from a series of overlapping wood slats—a textured moment that creates visual equilibrium with its smooth, curved-brass counterpart. A bona fide visual anchor, the Orion can be paired with thin-framed chairs for a sneak-peek view or heftier seats that provide a surprising reveal when guests sit down to dinner. From around $20,870
Above: LS35A, Luca Stefano This showstopper by Milan-based designer Luca Stefano is all curves. A sexy lounge sofa, seen here upholstered in Pierre Frey mohair with canaletto walnut details, the LS35A is available for customisation, but we think that this mossy-gold hue is incredibly chic, evoking the muted desert tones popular during the ’60s and ’70s. Around $66,280, as shown
Above: Jazz, Tom Bensari Part of master woodworker Tom Bensari’s Manhattan collection for StudioTwentySeven, the Jazz bookcase is an ode to the designer’s love of music. With edges that curve like brass instruments and shelves that skip like riffs, this unit is meticulously hand-built in Poland from oak and olive wood, with custom veneered interiors according to the client’s preference and a glowing finish that takes on a golden tint in just the right light. Around $29,320
Above: Sleeper, Lucas Simões Last September at Christie’s in Los Angeles, Brazilian artist Lucas Simões unveiled his first furniture collection, Colendra. Presented in Lightness & Tension, an exhibition curated by roving gallerist Ulysses de Santi, Simões’s work is rooted in material exploration, as seen in the Sleeper chair, a curving steel form that suggests Brazilian midcentury modernism. A unique patina—which imparts the shimmery, rainbow-esque look of an oil slick—gives the piece a contemporary, artistic feel. Around $22,440
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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19/05/2026
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