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The best new adventure sports to try

Matador Network is always on the lookout for the newest trends in sports and outdoor activities. In years past, we looked at sports like fat biking, coasteering, and foil surfing. This year, the sports we looked into ran the gamut from scrambling down canyons to hiking in the dead of night to an unusually named sport that gives back to the environment. Some of these sports are brand new inventions, some of them are just new to us or slowly starting to take off in the United States. Here are our favorite outdoor pursuits we tried in 2019 that you should try in 2020.

1. Canyoning

Photo: gabryfusetto/Shutterstock

Canyoning, also called canyoneering or gorge walking, involves getting from one part of a canyon to another using a number of methods. The techniques involved can include hiking, rappelling, down-climbing, scrambling, and even, when necessary, cliff jumping or swimming. You’ll need the same gear as you use for rock climbing. If you’ll be spending a lot of time in the water, you’ll also require a wetsuit, and perhaps neoprene socks, gloves, and grippy shoes designed for the slippery environment. You can go canyoning pretty much anywhere you can find a gorge or canyon to traverse. Three places we recommend are Australia’s Blue Mountains, Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano, and Ouray, Colorado.

2. Swimrunning

Photo: Digoarpi/Shutterstock

Swimruns may sound like triathlons without the cycling, but there’s a reason the words “swim” and “run” have been sandwiched together. Unlike triathlons, where you do one activity and then the other, in swimrun races you continuously switch between these two endurance sports. It’s no surprise that swimrun races originated in a place with a lot of islands: the Swedish archipelago. At a bar there, four friends challenged each other to race in two teams from one island to another 46 miles away. Today swimruns are still competed in teams of two, but most race distances are 25 miles or less. They’ve been held everywhere from Germany to New Zealand, with the first North American swimrun to take place on California’s Catalina Island this February.

3. Plogging

Photo: David Pereiras/Shutterstock

Plogging adds a new twist to the cherished pastimes of walking, hiking, and running: proactively caring for the environment. It was started by Erik Ahlstrom, a Swede who wondered why no one was picking up the litter in his country’s capital city of Stockholm. Combining the Swedish words “plocka up,” meaning “pick up,” with the word “jogging,” Ahlstrom encouraged others to bring plastic bags — and a pair of gloves — along with them on their usual excursions through town or the forest. Plogging was born, and has become a fitness craze well outside of Sweden, with its practitioners often posting about their activities to inspire others. You can now join plogging events all over Europe, North America, and even in São Paulo, Brazil, or Tokyo, Japan.

4. Night hiking

Photo: Pierluigi.Palazzi/Shutterstock

Last year we wrote about midnight running. This year we explored night hiking, which offers a lot of the same benefits as night running. Whereas in midnight running, you might get city streets to yourself, in night hiking you don’t have to share well-worn trails with dozens of other hikers. Night hiking allows you to fit healthy time outdoors into your busy schedule, and gives you a new perspective on paths that you may have trod many times. We don’t get to spend enough time admiring the night sky, and that’s another bonus of time on the trails after dark. Confronting your fears and trekking at night can be an empowering experience, too. Just be sure to always hike with a buddy, let others know of your plans, wear a headlamp, dress warmly, and wear sturdy hiking shoes.

5. Electric mountain biking

Photo: PR_DE/Shutterstock

E-bikes have exploded on urban streets, so it’s no surprise that electric motors have been added to mountain bikes as well. We looked at the controversy surrounding this new trend, since some say mountain biking should be about exercise and motorized vehicles don’t belong in wilderness areas. The International Mountain Biking Association has now accepted Class 1 mountain bikes, where top speed is capped at 20 mph, and in August the US Department of the Interior stated that electric mountain bikes allow more people to access public lands. Don’t forget that in summer, many ski resorts open chairlifts to mountain bikers, which is to say that a little bit of motorized assistance doesn’t mean you aren’t getting a workout. In fact, if electric mountain bikes can get more people out of their cars and into the outdoors, we’re all for them.

6. Unusual ice sports

Photo: simonovstas/Shutterstock

We also looked into water sports you can do after the temperature drops below freezing. It turns out there are a lot of them, if you have the fortitude. Ice boating looks like sailing, but the boats are actually on blades skimming over the ice. In much the same way, ice surfing is similar to wind surfing but the ice surfers actually sail across frozen surfaces on long, thin ski-like boards. Snow kayaking is as crazy as it sounds: paddling a kayak across the snow, usually in a downhill direction, and sometimes ending up in a frigid body of water. You can also go ice swimming or ice fishing, both of which we’ve written on before, and even scuba dive under the ice.

7. Freshwater snorkeling

Photo: Eric Carlander/Shutterstock

Snorkeling usually seems the purview of beach and islands located on the ocean. But in Bonito, Brazil, throughout the waterways south of the Amazon region, you’ll find some of the cleanest, clearest water in South America. Add pale sand bottoms, and you are in for a fantastic snorkeling experience rich in underwater plants and animals. We looked at freshwater snorkeling just in Brazil, but it’s a great thing to do in Florida, Australia, and plenty of other spots — and you can expect to read more about it from us in the coming year.


More like this: New sports we tried this year and loved

The post The best new sports we tried in 2019, that you should try in 2020 appeared first on Matador Network.

What is Coquito and how to make it

There’s something to be said for the fact that I can’t pinpoint a specific moment in which Coquito started to appear in my life. The drink was always there, a constant throughout the years. As a kid, I would open my refrigerator around the holiday season and see various containers like mason jars, water bottles, and milk jugs, full of Coquito. I was always curious about it, wondering what it tasted like and why it suddenly appeared around a specific time, but I was never allowed to have a cup of my own until I was a teenager.

Not being allowed to drink Coquito during my childhood only furthered my curiosity about the beverage. I wanted to know why my family was so head over heels for it, why the first thing they did upon arriving to any household during the holidays was grab a cup of the stuff. One year on Christmas Eve, while the adults were all trading family gossip in the living room, I slipped into the kitchen and found a cup with a little Coquito remaining — just enough for a sip or two. I tried a single sip to be safe, a little worried about getting in trouble, and the sweetness that exploded in my mouth was unlike anything I’d ever had before. At first, I thought the taste was great but then my throat suddenly burned, and I scrunched my nose in distaste — the alcohol had hit.

In case you aren’t familiar, Coquito is a rich alcoholic drink similar to eggnog. Traditional ingredients include evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut cream, and, of course, the proverbial cherry on top — rum.

The flavor of Coquito relies on how much of each ingredient is used, which varies not just from country to country but household to household. It has a few consistent characteristics, however: Coquito is white in color and typically tastes very sweet. The texture, on the other hand, can vary. It can either be thick and creamy or slightly watery, depending on how much evaporated and condensed milk you use. A generous pour of rum is usually always incorporated, lending Coquito a strong boozy flavor. It’s served cold, either taken like a shot or served in a cup like a mixed drink.

My family’s Coquito is thick and heavy on the cinnamon. We add plenty of rum, but it’s so well hidden that you don’t notice how much you’ve had until it hits you.

Coquito recipes are sacred, guarded more heavily than England’s crown jewels, and only to be shared among family or trusted friends. As my family told me, and as I saw my friends’ families tell them, it’s never to be written down on a physical paper, something that can be easily accessed by any random person. Instead, it’s passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth or by watching it being made when the next person to learn it is deemed “ready.” Even I only just learned the recipe at 24 years old.

While its exact origins are shrouded in mystery, the origins of Coquito — which means “little coconut” — can be traced back to Puerto Rico. It has since spread to other countries, particularly throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including my family’s home country of Nicaragua.

Each country has put its own spin on the original recipe. In the Caribbean, Coquito gets the majority of its coconut flavor from fresh coconut juice. In Spain, the drink is typically accompanied by turrón, a sweet candy made with honey, egg whites, and nuts that’s served around Christmastime. And in Cuba, coconut ice cream is served alongside Coquito.

One major similarity between Coquito across cultures is that it typically only appears around the holiday season. Coconuts grow in abundance in Latin America and the Caribbean, and rum is a key staple liquor. From a Western, Euro-centric perspective, coconut and rum are telltale signs of a summery drink. However, in the year-round tropical climate of Latin America and the Caribbean, hot alcoholic beverages with ingredients like apples and whiskey concocted to throw off winter’s chill are not popular during holidays. Christmas in a tropical climate tastes like a day at the beach, with a touch of seasonal spice.

People stock up on ingredients for Coquito year-round, but the earliest it usually shows up in fridges around the world is from the middle of November, around Thanksgiving, to early January, just after Christmas. In a Latin household, not having the drink at Thanksgiving time would prompt some shade from loved ones, but to not have it at Christmas festivities would be downright sinful.

Another constant is that making Coquito is a labor of love. More than just honoring tradition, it’s a drink you make because you want to share it with the people you love.

I recently made a batch of Coquito that I planned to share with friends. I prepared a batch of Coquito at home, packed all the bottles into bags, and hopped on the subway, determined to deliver the homemade drink to friends who live around Manhattan. Even though I shouldered multiple bags of heavy bottles around the city, was unable to sit down on the subway, and had people push and shove past me as I stood by the doors, I didn’t feel bothered by stress. The excitement of sharing Coquito with others gave me energy.

I served my friends Coquito not because I wanted praise over its taste but because I wanted to share a part of myself — a part of my culture — with the people I care about. Coquito is something so utterly simple in concept, but once executed, it bridges the gap between people of different cultures and strengthens their connections.

The notion of Coquito being a labor of love also applies to the process of learning how to make it. Many people have fond memories of making it with a relative and how doing so reinforced a special connection.

Christopher Tirado, of Mama Hilda’s Coquito, created his own brand of Coquito as an ode to his grandmother, Mama Hilda. Mama in Spanish translates to “mom,” but in Latin cultures, the term of endearment is frequently used for grandmothers. He first learned to make the drink with his grandmother when he was a kid, as he was always in the kitchen cooking with her.

“I remember she would always let me try it, before she added the alcohol to it, until I got older and then she would let me try the alcoholic version. It’s such a fond memory that I hold on to,” he recalls.

Photo: Mama Hilda’s Coquito/Facebook

While fortunately still in their lives, Tirado’s grandmother can no longer spend time in the kitchen, so Tirado himself has taken up the Coquito mantle and plans to one day pass it along to his daughter.

“My time with [my grandmother] has definitely inspired my desire to cook and to continue her legacy in our family. Out of five grandchildren, I am the only one with her Coquito recipe — which means the world to me,” he says. “I like to play music as I make it, because even to this day, anytime you walk into my grandmother’s house, you immediately hear music playing. It creates that same sentiment for me.”

Every culture is different, especially from one Latin American country to the next, but these sentiments of family, love, and culture, are something we can all relate to. And of course, if there’s one thing people will come together around, it’s a good holiday drink.


More like this: Why a small Puerto Rican town’s whole identity is tied to unusual ice cream flavors

The post Coquito is the cross-cultural holiday drink that ties people together appeared first on Matador Network.

The best winter activities in Banff

In the social circles of powderhounds around the world, Banff and Lake Louise are discussed with near-religious reverence. The Canadian Rockies are collectively a world-renowned ski destination, and the Ski Big 3 ski resorts in Banff National Park — Lake Louise Ski Resort, Banff Sunshine Village, and Mt. Norquay — are in a league of their own and have the devout fan base to prove it. But the snow dumped here every winter is manna from heaven for more than just powderhounds. There are many ways to enjoy this area in the winter that don’t require a lift pass and allow you to experience the national park in a different light. From traditional winter pastimes like ice skating or tobogganing to unexpected thrills like descending into the icy heart of the Canadian Rockies, these are the best winter activities you can do in Banff — that aren’t skiing.

1. Snowshoeing

Photo: Sebastien Burel/Shutterstock

Snowshoeing is a wonderful way to explore Banff’s trails and backcountry. With the snowshoe evenly distributing your weight over a larger surface area, you don’t sink as far into the snow and can cover more ground faster. Wildlife abounds in winter here, including elk, deer, and moose. There are tons of great trails to choose from, but start with the Johnston Canyon to Ink Pots trail, 3.6 miles from trailhead to the Ink Pots, an idyllic grouping of colorful mineral springs. The trails around Lake Louise, such as the Lake Agnes Teahouse trail or the lakeshore walk, add stunning mountain views to the mix, right along the crystal-blue lake. Alpine Social, inside Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, is an excellent spot for a warm apres-snowshoe drink.

2. Dog sledding

Photo: BlueOrange Studio/Shutterstock

Dogsledding is one of those activities that, unless you’re from a snowy and remote area keen on the breeding of malamutes, is more of an Iditarod-inspired dream than something that is actually doable. Not here. Banff’s early settlers initially used dog sledding teams to transport goods through the untamed mountain wilderness, so the practice has a long history in the area. Now, it’s just done for fun, both for you and the dogs. Using traditional sleds and well-trained teams of energetic, powder-loving huskies, all you have to do is dress warm, hop into the sled, and watch the snow-covered forest and mountain peaks glide by. Some tours even allow you to step into the driver’s seat for a while. Discover Banff Tours offers some of the best dog sledding tour options in the area, including taking in the scenic environs around Lake Louise and another that ascends to a pass along the Continental Divide.

3. Forest bathing

Photo: Marina Poushkina/Shutterstock

Forest bathing is a form of outdoor meditation that gained popularity in Japan in the 1980s. Known as shinrin-yoku, or “taking in the atmosphere of the forest,” it’s partly based on forestry science and partly on the age-old knowledge that spending time in nature is good for you. Japanese scientists discovered that trees give off organic compounds called phytoncides that offer humans a host of health benefits, like boosting our immune systems and decreasing stress and anxiety. Banff is a perfect place to practice this style of meditation, home as it is to ancient forests full of quiet paths and hidden places to reconnect with nature.

But it’s not just about being outside: There are certain mental and physical exercises you incorporate to help guide the mediation, which is why it’s useful to go with a guide. Forest Fix offers both private or public forest bathing sessions around Banff, and after having learned the simple steps of forest bathing, you can practice it yourself wherever you go in the world. Science aside, who hasn’t felt better just taking the time to walk in the woods?

4. Ice skating

Photo:

Best food cities of the 2010s

Planning a vacation involves a complicated mental calculation. Before settling on a destination, you have to consider the beauty, the historical landmarks worth visiting, and what outdoor activities there are. For people who love to eat, however, one consideration takes precedence over all the others: the local cuisine. Travel doesn’t have to be all about food, but it’s often the best part of visiting a new city.

One of the biggest travel trends of the past decade — one that is sure to extend into the next — is visiting a region on the strength of its food and restaurant culture alone. New Orleans, Chicago, and Los Angeles are stalwarts, easily claiming the title of best food cities in the country year after year. But these well-trod cities just scratch the surface when it comes to the best places to eat.

Matador Network’s staff is on the road much of the year, hiking, boating, touring farms and distilleries, learning about cultures far beyond our doorstep — and yes, eating some life-changing meals, too. In the 2010s, we couldn’t help but fall head over heels in love with cities across America where the food is diverse, experimental, creative, and, most importantly, so unforgettably delicious.

We chose these cities based on what we personally value in food and restaurants: Some are home to award-winning chefs that transformed the culinary landscape, places where fresh, local, sustainable ingredients dominate the table. In others, a diverse set of chefs are making sure local culinary traditions survive and thrive. In all of them, chefs and diners alike are passionate about good food, pure and simple.

Not everyone will agree on our picks, but that’s the point: We all have our favorite food cities, places where we are fiercely loyal to certain dishes, chefs, and restaurants. But each of these cities left an imprint on our minds through exceptional food. These are our seven favorite food cities of the 2010s.

Editor’s Note: These entries were written by Food and Drink Editor Nickolaus Hines, Assistant Food and Drink Editor Elisabeth Sherman, and Senior Staff Writer Matthew Meltzer. Entries are in no particular order.

1. Atlanta

Photo: St. Cecilia/Facebook

Atlanta has long been the capital of the South. It wasn’t until relatively recently, however, that the restaurant and bar scene caught up with the city’s Southern-yet-international atmosphere. Perhaps it’s because it lacks a signature dish, like Nashville hot chicken, or because its position as a business center meant less of a focus on eating. Regardless of the reason, Atlanta is no longer an afterthought for food lovers. A long list of award-winning chefs moved to the city over the past decade, and local chefs are getting the respect they deserve as critics and the food media finally take Southern food seriously.

Plenty of firsthand experience sold me on Atlanta as an eating city years ago, but I’m not alone in realizing this has been the city’s decade to shine. In 2015, Atlanta made it on Travel & Leisure’s 38-location, crowd-sourced “America’s Best Cities for Foodies” list. Zagat named it among the 30 most exciting food cities in America in 2017 thanks to Atlanta chef Steven Satterfield’s James Beard Award for Best Chef and an award in the Best Restaurant Design category for St. Cecilia. Atlanta hit number eight on Southern Living’s best food city list in 2018 and number five the following year.

The reasons why are long. A constantly growing and well-respected community of breweries, for one. There’s the diverse array of options on Buford Highway, a growing number of quality food halls, and a rapidly growing craft beer scene that sees no end in sight. Atlanta is also home to an underrated barbecue culture that never seems to get the attention it deserves compared to places like Memphis and Kansas City. This last one is a sticking point for me. Where else can you eat true Southern smoked brisket with a side of pozole (King Barbecue), Korean-inspired Southern barbecue (Heirloom Market BBQ), and a “Whole Nine” platter of ribs, beef, Bologna, beef sausage, and sides (Thompson Brothers) — all in one day.

Then there are the things to do on the few off hours when you’re not stuffing your face and drinking craft beer, like the BeltLine greenspace that makes it more pleasant than ever to get from point A to point B and the seemingly endless amount of street art that has turned the city into an art gallery.

If you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on in Atlanta, there’s never been a better time than now to dig in. — Nickolaus Hines, food and drink editor

2. Charleston

Photo: Lewis Barbecue/Facebook

When I visited Charleston, I experienced something like an awakening of the senses: The smell of the ocean, the sight of the palm tree-lined sidewalks and colorful colonial-era homes, and the taste — oh my goodness, the taste — of the seafood, which hasn’t left me since. Charleston is paradise for people who get immense joy from food that’s allowed to shine by chefs who are deeply passionate about local ingredients and traditional Southern recipes.

I ate sublime barbecue at Lewis Barbecue and Rodney Scott’s. I leveled towers of briny oysters so fresh they still tasted like the ocean and sipped sparkling rosé at 167 Raw. I folded thinly sliced strips of smoked ham around grilled oysters at Husk. I ate so much I frequently returned to my Airbnb for a nap. The food here is simple and unfussy; the flavors are fresh, clean, bright. There’s a purity to the food in Charleston, and the very essence of each ingredient blooms on every plate. This praise might sound like the words of a religious fanatic, but that’s just the kind of loyalty Charleston inspires.

Anthony Bourdain helped Charleston along on its path to well-deserved culinary fame. In 2016, he aired an episode of his travel show Parts Unknown alongside Husk chef Sean Brock, and the two celebrated barbecue, Waffle House, and Charleston’s easy way of living.

That episode of Parts Unknown also featured chef Benjamin Dennis, who has been working tirelessly to preserve the recipes of the Gullah-Geechee people — ancestors of West Africans enslaved in South Carolina — who are largely responsible for shaping Southern cuisine as we know it. — Elisabeth Sherman, assistant food and drink editor

3. Greenville, South Carolina

Photo: The Nose Dive/Facebook

Greenville in the 2010s effectively redefined what it meant to have a small-city food scene. While this decade every city liked to boast about their “up-and-coming food scene,” Greenville was the place that showed you don’t have to have a population in the millions — or even six figures — to have world-class restaurants. As it rehabbed its charming downtown, once-abandoned storefronts began to fill with amazing southern restaurants like Roost, Soby’s, and the Nose Dive. But it’s not just high-end southern food that put Greenville on the culinary map: You’ll also find some of the best burgers in America at Grill Marks, and the state’s best pizza along the Swamp Rabbit trail at Sidewall. Now, this city of 68,000 gets mentioned in the same breath as major culinary cities, a testament to what a city can do when it makes an effort to attract creativity ahead of money.

The food scene is best experienced at the annual Fall for Greenville festival where over 70 of the city’s best eateries sample their best stuff in a massive street party sprawling over downtown. That comes on the heels of another internationally renowned food festival, euphoria, where 39 gastronomic events cover a full weekend of food, wine, and music.

Either of those festivals would be an annual highlight in a city 10 times Greenville’s size, and the fact that the city can successfully host both events in the same season shows it’s reached the big leagues of food destinations. That’s probably why when I travel to other cities this size and investigate how they want to grow, nearly all of them mention Greenville as a role model. — Matt Meltzer, senior staff writer

4. Seattle

Photo: Salare Restaurant/Facebook

Seattle has always been home to a diverse food scene that welcomes complex flavors and unfamiliar ingredients. Growing up there, I ate pho, teriyaki, Westernized Indian curries, and Thai cuisine just as much as burgers and baked potatoes. Seattlites embrace complex and far-flung flavors and ingredients, and heartily welcome cuisine pioneered by people of color.

In this environment, chef Edouardo Jordan, a native of St. Petersburg, Florida, thrived. In 2015 he opened Salare in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood and forever changed the way Seattle eats. In 2016, Food & Wine crowned him one of its “Best New Chefs.” His momentum didn’t slow down from there.

In 2017, he opened JuneBaby. Eduardo crafted a menu celebrating Southern cuisine shaped by African-Americans while actively dispelling stereotypes that soul food is unhealthy or unsophisticated. The restaurant quickly racked up accolades: Three stars from New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells. A Food & Wine 2018 restaurant of the year. He also won two James Beard awards in 2017, solidifying his status as one of the most innovative, exciting chefs in the country.

Jourdan, though not originally from Seattle, represents everything admirable about the culinary landscape here: This city boasts an open-minded, youthful energy, and its residents are willing to take a chance on new faces. Seattle didn’t become a destination for some of the most glorious food on the planet — spicy noodles, spam sliders, creamy clam chowder — in the past decade. It’s always been that. But Jourdan proved that this city still has so much to say about what fine dining can look like, and who can make it. — ES

5. Portland, Maine

Photo: Austin Street Brewery/Facebook

Two of the most prominent food and beverage trends of the past decade must surely be lobster rolls and craft beer. Buttery, creamy, luscious chunks of lobster resting in golden toasted bun dominated Instagram feeds, and you couldn’t step into a bar almost anywhere in the country without being faced with endless IPA options. And there’s hardly anywhere else in the country that does lobster and beer better than Portland, Maine.

Today, there are around 90 breweries in the state, 20 of which are located in Portland. They serve beer, obviously, but also mead, cider, and kombucha. Portland doesn’t have the most breweries of any city in the country, but does have the most breweries per capita (that’s 18 breweries per 50,000 people).

Portland’s rise to beer destination started in the mid-1990s with Allagash Brewing Co. However, the beer boom arguably began in 2012, when Maine passed its tasting room law, which allowed breweries in the state to sell samples and flights in tasting rooms. Today, Portland’s Industrial Way is the city’s central beer neighborhood, where visitors can take all day brewery tours on foot (no designated driver required). You can visit the classic spots like Lone Pine and Austin Street breweries, but there are options for all kinds of drinkers: Blue Lobster Urban Winery offers wine tastings, while Urban Farm Fermentory dabbles in more adventurous fare, like cider, kombucha, and mead.

The proliferation of breweries has opened the door to a flood of food trucks and pop-ups in breweries, which serve small bites that pair perfectly with a flight of beer. Portland’s food-truck fleet serves falafel, doughnuts, cannoli, meatballs, sushi, crepes, and more. This mobile buffet hasn’t detracted from the popularity of the city’s brick-and-mortar establishments, though. Spots like Duckfat, home of legendary poutine and milkshakes, and farm-to-table innovator Fore Street, are worth a visit to Portland, alone.

Now about those buttery grilled lobsters. Maine’s lobster shacks didn’t appear in the past 10 years, of course, but these days you’ll find lines of tourists wrapped around dockside institutions like Portland Lobster Co., looking for the perfect sundown shot of a beer, a lobster roll, and the boats parked along the pier. — ES

6. Miami, Florida

Photo: Blue Collar Restaurant/Facebook

When I moved to Miami in the late 1990s, my dining options were more-or-less limited to $65-an-entrée celebrity hotspots, questionable cafeterias, and Tony Roma’s. And while you can still get an overpriced entrée with a side of D-lister and dollar croquetas all over Miami, we’ve also blossomed into one of the world’s most impressive culinary cities seemingly overnight. It feels like we have more Peruvian restaurants than actual Peru, with names like Gaston Acurio thinking enough of our fair city to sling ceviche here. We’ve also got outposts of some of the world’s biggest culinary names like Zuma, Novikov, Nobu, and Hakkasan, with a little Thomas Keller and Daniel Boloud thrown in.

But it’s not so much the big names that have made Miami such a culinary gem in the 2010s. It’s our local talent that’s used the world stage to show what they can do. Folks like Jose Mendin and his Pubbelly family of restaurants or Chopped champ Giorgio Rapicivoli putting stoner twists on Cuban food at Eating House and Spanglish. It’s Danny Serfer crafting artery-clogging entrees among the rehabbed neon lights of MiMo at Blue Collar, and food halls like The Citadel showcasing the best of it all. While Miami has long been a place outsiders came to make their fortunes, in terms of food, at least, the 2010s were the decade when we showed the world we can do it ourselves, and better. And as we’ve grown from retirement village to major world metropolis, so has our food scene grown with us. — MM

7. Denver

Photo: The Denver Central Market/Facebook

Denver has it all. It was one of the first cities in the US to dive headfirst into craft beer and has long been at the forefront of legal recreational cannabis. It recently became a leader in craft distilling, yet another vice. All of these could be the star on a trip to the Mile High City, but they became a sideshow in the 2010s thanks to the city’s chefs.

There are the marquee openings — Tavernetta from two James Beard Award winners, Ultreia from another — but even the lesser-hyped openings are worthy of attention. A constant flow of new chefs means a constant flow of competition, and competition breeds innovation. Slow Food Nations came to the city in 2017 to celebrate its bounty of food in the summer, adding a renowned food festival to Denver’s long list of others, including the Great American Beer Festival, which is the largest beer festival in the country.

I drank a beer fermented with bull testicles at Wynkoop Brewing on my first serious trip to Denver. It was a novelty, something you do when you’re in a city that defines the border between the Wild West and the Midwest. And by all means you should still consume some bull balls in the city, as it’s part of Denver’s culinary history (on a trip a year later, I also ate a heaping mound of Rocky Mountain oysters at Buckhorn Exchange, purportedly the oldest restaurant in Denver). Just don’t get too lost in the historical.

The more I spoke with chefs in the city over the years, the more I realized that Denver’s reasonable cost of living and openness to new ideas means you can pretty much make yourself whatever you want to be in Denver. That means you can find pretty much whatever you want to eat as well. There’s Rocky Mountain Mexican food at Hacienda Colorado, classic pizza at White Pie, and Vietnamese cuisine at Pho Lee (not to mention the many other quality Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese restaurants along Federal Boulevard). There are eight noteworthy food halls where you can eat from morning until night without leaving the building. To wash it all down, there are too many breweries to count along with a number of quality distilleries (Stranahan’s, Laws Whiskey House, Leopold Bros. to name a few) and cocktail bars (like Hearth & Dram, The Cruise Room, and Death & Co. Denver).

There’s a lot to get lost in in Denver, but perhaps the most fun one is all of the food that’s come in the past decade. — NH

8. Houston

Photo: The Original Ninfa’s/Facebook

It’s hard to call yourself “underrated” when you’re the fourth-largest city in America. But somehow in discussions of great food cities, Houston somehow isn’t the biggest name in its own state. While a Texas-sized hat tip to Austin is well-deserved, no city in the Lone Star State did more for its culinary reputation this decade than H-Town, which went from a kind of ambiguous sprawling mass of chains, barbecue, and Tex-Mex to a food city worthy of its massive population.

A lot of that growth is thanks to Hugo Ortega, who not only notched himself a James Beard award as Best Chef-Southwest in 2017, but he also opened one of the country’s best restaurants at Hugo’s. His follow-ups at Backstreet Cafe and Caracol were no slouches either, and if nothing else Ortega gave Houston’s unheralded food scene a recognizable face. He joined Chris Shepard of UB Preserv and the late Underbelly as a local Beard Winner, a list Justin Yu later joined in 2018. Those guys, along with a slew of others, led David Chang to pronounce Houston as the most exciting food city in America last year.

Amid the awards and celebrichef endorsements, Houston still plays the hits, though. You’ll still find a line at the birthplace of the fajita at Ninfa’s on Navigation and barbecue as good any in the state at Feges and its whole hog masterpiece. Houston’s Asian immigrant population is getting in on the barbecue action, too, with Kot Dae Ji-Flower Piggy bringing Korean-style barbecue to town. And lest we forget Brennan’s of Houston, a hall-of-fame American restaurant opened in 1967 that still tops Best of lists worldwide. — MM


More like this: The defining moments that changed the food industry every year of the 2010s

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How to travel sustainably

Earlier this month, climate activist Greta Thunberg became TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year, and we applaud her . At 16 years of age, Thunberg has communicated the urgency of our climate crisis more effectively than nearly anyone else on the planet.

Months earlier, Thunberg had sailed across the Atlantic to deliver a speech to the UN, rather than release heat-trapping carbon into the atmosphere by flying there. She has drawn attention to the environmental impact of air travel and inspired many to reconsider flying altogether. In her home country flysgskam, or flight shame, has changed not just attitudes but the practices of travel-loving Swedes.

But while flying has an undeniable carbon footprint, travel can in fact be beneficial to the environment. Paradoxically, the right kind of travel — thoughtfully planned and executed and, at times, requiring long distance flights — can help combat the warming of our planet.

The biggest carbon emitters

Photo: Frontpage/Shutterstock

Flights produce a lot of emissions. This is undeniably true. According to Statista, an estimated 4.6 billion seats will be filled on commercial planes in 2019, emitting over 918 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. However, the emissions from air travel account for only 2.4 percent of total fossil fuel emissions globally, and they fall far behind both automobiles and agriculture.

According to a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, global livestock production is responsible for over 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. That is equivalent to emissions from all of the transportation on the planet — cars, trains, ships, and planes — altogether.

At the same time, we know that forests are vital to absorbing carbon, with tropical forests being the biggest carbon absorbers of all. Yet these tropical forests are under threat and in some parts of the world that threat comes directly from cattle ranching. The loss of carbon-absorbing vegetation to greenhouse-gas-producing livestock is a double blow to the planet. Add in habitat destruction, species loss, and the threat to indigenous communities, and the impact is that much more destructive.

Other threats to the world’s natural lands come from mining and extractive industries. In each of these cases, you, the traveler, can play a positive role. Matador Network spoke to multiple people working in the areas of sustainability and sustainable travel, and all told us that travelers can have a positive role to play in preventing this habitat destruction.

Tourism as an economic asset

Photo: Larissa Chilanti/Shutterstock

Dan Sawyer is a senior advisor to the Institute for Society, Population, and Nature, a Brazilian NGO focused on preserving the livelihood of local communities threatened by development; in many cases, by the loss of their land to ranching. It’s estimated that 91 percent of destroyed Amazonian land has gone to livestock, with a similar pattern taking place in Brazil’s Cerrado area south of the Amazon.

“What we are trying to do at our institute is promote sustainable livelihood for these communities so they can stay on the land,” Sawyer says. Not only can tourism money offer an alternative to communities that would otherwise feel economically pressured to sell their land to cattle ranchers, but visits to these beautiful, wild areas also increases their visibility.

“It’s one thing if you go to Rio to see the beaches,” says Sawyer. “But visiting places in the interior may be a way of increasing consciousness about places that aren’t well known.”

Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid, which works to end the illegal trade in wildlife, says that tourism is an essential part of the effort to preserve many of the world’s wild areas. “Tourism gives nature a value,” he says.

Of course, Knights explains, we understand that nature has an intrinsic worth and is important to wider ecosystems, but sometimes poorer countries don’t have the “luxury” of protecting natural resources for their own sake. The money earned from tourism allows poor countries to justify spending their limited resources to preserve natural lands.

“Tourism is an asset, and it’s an asset that’s increasing,” in these countries, says Knights. “Extraction degrades that asset.”

Photo: Tetyana Dotsenko/Shutterstock

Knights holds up Rwanda as the best model of conservation in Africa. There, citizen-led conservation efforts have helped Rwanda nearly double its tourism rate in the past decade, with adventure travelers opening their wallets and giving the government and local residents added ammunition to take on the fight against poachers and developers.

Tourist visits doubled in 10 years to 1.5 million in 2017, with increased global interest in visiting — and protecting — the country’s lush rainforests, the growing art scene in its capital, Kigali, and its gorilla conservation efforts.

In Akagera National Park, nearly destroyed during the country’s civil war between 1990 and 1994, conservation efforts that reduce wildlife poaching and increase habitat — under the development of a group called African Parks and the Rwanda Development Board — are financed partly by visitor dollars. The park saw 44,000 visitors in 2018, up from 15,000 in 2010, according to a report in National Geographic.

The dollars these tourists bring go even further than the boundaries of the park. Part of the $2.2 million in tourist revenue the park generated last year has gone to education and health care services in the surrounding communities.

Local awareness and national pride

Photo: Maggiori Images/Shutterstock

Travel plays such a vital role in conservation that WildAid actively encourages it. Knights says that while sending a check to a conservation group is valuable, traveling to the threatened area shows governments that it is of value. In Zimbabwe, WildAid has also launched a campaign to encourage locals to visit their own national parks.

This is a way to promote a greater appreciation of their natural treasures and the desire to protect them. While local visitors pay a reduced rate to visit parks, their visits may support lodging options that are not only at the luxury level, can occur in seasons that see fewer international travelers, and — just like international visits — fuel local jobs.

“It’s a matter of national pride to have a national park that is admired by the rest of the world” says Knights. “Parks are the flagships to get people in.” After visiting the Galapagos, for example, travelers may tour Ecuador’s mainland and some of its other natural treasures.

Promoting natural lands at home

Photo: welcomia/Shutterstock

You don’t need to travel to South America or Africa to make a positive impact on the environment. In the United States, outdoor-related tourism can also provide a viable economic alternative to extractive industries like logging, mining, and oil and gas exploration.

While you may have to hop on a plane to go skiing in Utah, your presence becomes a voice for conservation. When people come to town, they spend money to experience the outdoors through activities such as guided bike rides and hikes, boat rentals, and camping permits. This money encourages conservation efforts and the protection of public lands.

According to Cilia Kohn, director of marketing and communications with the nonprofit Grand Junction Economic Partnership, this evolution is happening full-bore in the former oil and gas hub of Grand Junction, Colorado.

“Interestingly, after the energy bust of the 1980s, many fabricators and other suppliers in the Grand Valley were able to adapt their business models to support outdoor recreation manufacturers with the same skill set, techniques, and materials that had previously supported the energy industry,” Kohn told Matador via email.

Making good travel choices

Photo: motive56/Shutterstock

By visiting biodiverse places under attack from governments and industry, we show those same people who want to mine, log, or develop biodiverse habitats that the land is economically viable through protection, not alteration.

But we must also acknowledge the risks of excess tourism and travel in an environmentally positive way. Successful tourism depends on the visitor’s desire to be a good steward of the places they visit.

“If you’re interested in being a responsible traveler, next time you’re planning, you should do some serious research on the places you’ll visit and the companies you’ll hire,” says Saúl Blanco Sosa, a Guatemala-based consultant on sustainable tourism who has worked with organizations like the Rainforest Alliance. You should look into whether operators are locally-owned businesses and whether the money earned stays in-country.

Moreover, the tenets of zero-waste travel — leaving no trace and taking nothing but photos — are of the utmost importance in protected spaces. Respect wildlife boundaries and local people, particularly indigenous groups. Organizations like Deeper Africa and Sumak Travel offer philanthropic-based tours that involve local communities and the people who live there, making it easier for you as a visitor to be socially conscious.

The bigger picture

Photo: Janelle Lugge/Shutterstock

There’s still the matter of your carbon emissions when you do fly. If you’re an infrequent traveler, keep in mind your flying habits are nothing compared to those who fly multiple times per week for work, or worse, those who fly private. But there are still a few things you can do to offset your emissions.

The biggest step individual flyers can take is to donate to a carbon offset program. Most major airlines offer them and allow you to contribute when purchasing your ticket. If not, several options such as Carbon Fund exist for general offset donations.

The cost is generally between $3 and $15, depending on how far you’re flying and which carbon calculator you use. The “offset” happens when these dollars are used to pull carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce its use, be that by planting trees or investment in a renewable energy project.

Additionally, a United Nations initiative called the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation actually requires airlines operating internationally to offset added carbon production, though this doesn’t kick in until 2021.

So yes, we must acknowledge the emissions that travel creates and the impact visitors have on the places they visit. And yes, travelers should consider taking trains, busses, and boats if they have the time and resources to do so. But all travelers really need, more than being shamed for wanting to experience this vast and beautiful planet we live on, is a dose of mindfulness.

For every inch of change and growth that travel brings to the places that need it, the growth happens to the visitor as well. As Ken Chi Hou Lee, a spokesperson with the Macao Government Tourism Office, puts it, “When you travel, you see how small you are. You see that what happens outside of your country also matters.”


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Best live music venues in Boston

Bring up Boston, and everyone within earshot starts playing the word association game. Red Sox. Harvard. Cheers. The Boston Tea Party. Everyone knows the city for something.

It’s no secret that Boston’s also a music city. After all, it’s had more time than most American cities to cultivate a music scene. Yet in light of the Massachusetts capital’s many celebrated institutions, it’s easy to forget just how musical Boston really is, from the buskers on Newbury Street to the Berklee kids wearing guitars like backpacks up and down Back Bay.

Someone’s always on stage here. Superstars play TD Garden, home of the Celtics and Bruins, or the Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater and summer concert staple, on their world tours. Smaller venues are too many to count. From big clubs with character to perfect dives, here’s where to catch a live show in the Boston area.

1. Great Scott

Photo: Great Scott/Facebook

This punky, hole-in-the-wall venue in the student-run Allston neighborhood is a benchmark of Boston’s alternative rock scene. Big names, cult bands, and local legends have all played here, many before making it into the mainstream. The divey vibe is as much a reason to drop by as the artists themselves, who perform right on top of the 240-max-person crowd. Expect to get jostled by PBR-carrying college kids, and there’s no better venue in town to let off some steam.

Where: 1222 Commonwealth Avenue, Allston, MA 02134

2. House of Blues

Red Sox fans mob Lansdowne Street during baseball season, but crowds gather even after the players have hung up their cleats for the year. Across the street from Fenway Park is another landmark: the House of Blues. Boston’s not the only city with a House of Blues, but the original venue was built in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the bigger Boston location later taking its place. Live Nation runs things now, so expect major names leading the hip-hop, electronic, country, and pop charts. It’s large and often packed, but with multiple bars, a restaurant, and the members-only Founders Room lounge upstairs, there’s enough House of Blues to go around.

Where: 15 Lansdowne Street, Boston, MA 02215

3. Symphony Hall

Photo: Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock

Fans of classical music know all about Boston. To start, it’s home to one of the finest conservatories in the country, which sits just down the street from Symphony Hall, one of the most famous concert halls in the world. Home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, it’s known for its acoustics and the replica antiquities that decorate its interior. Come for the Boston Pops, the symphony minus the first four chairs, or the Handel and Haydn Society chorus and orchestra. Symphony Hall is also an excellent choice for holiday shows if you’re looking to get more cultural than rewatching Love Actually for the thousandth time this Christmas.

Where: 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

4. Wally’s

Hidden away behind a bright red door that somehow blends into the surrounding South End brownstones, Wally’s is a small bar and jazz club fit for music snobs, though there’s rarely a pretentious soul in sight. It’s where Berklee professors play impromptu sets on free evenings and students from the city’s many colleges and universities workshop new music in front of a casual, yet serious, audience. Wally’s was established in 1947 and is one of the surviving clubs of the era, proudly carrying on its live-music tradition every night of the year. Most nights begin with a jam session and then feature a particular style, from funk to Latin jazz salsa.

Where: 427 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118

5. Paradise Rock Club

Photo: Paradise Rock Club/Facebook

You know what you’re signing up for at this legendary venue around the corner from West Campus, one of Boston University’s biggest freshman dorms: a sea of questionably sober, mostly well-behaved college kids in a classic, compact space that makes every concertgoer feel like they’re one-on-one with the artist. Performers like U2 and Phish have played Paradise, as have newer hitmakers like the Kings of Leon and Haim, but its bread and butter are indie bands a few shows away from the big time. Don’t be afraid to take a chance on someone new here. If nothing else, the bar’s never more than a few feet away.

Where: 967 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

6. Club Passim

Cambridge’s Club Passim is the closest thing the Boston area has to NYC’s Cafe Wha?, where icons of the US’ 1960s music scene like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Jimi Hendrix all played. Dylan also made an appearance at Club Passim, an esteemed American folk music venue in Harvard Square, Cambridge, back when it was called Club 47. As did Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Muddy Waters, and more. Beloved for its no-fuss, bohemian cafe vibe, Club Passim is still the best place around for folk and other acoustic shows.

Where: 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

7. Brighton Music Hall

Photo: Brighton Music Hall/Facebook

Brighton Music Hall is another Allston-Brighton stomping ground for the students who occupy most of the neighborhood’s available housing. Inside, it feels like a shrunk-down House of Blues. That is, it’s a quintessential rock club, only Brighton Music Hall sticks more closely to the genre, trading in House of Blues’ bigger names for lesser-known indie and alternative rock bands. A solid selection of beer and other reasonably priced drinks make it a safe bet for a good time. Plus, if the music doesn’t get you on your feet, the standing-room-only space will.

Where: 158 Brighton Avenue, Allston MA 02134

8. The Middle East

Once a modest Lebanese restaurant, The Middle East is now a powerhouse of Cambridge’s nightlife scene. Today it’s a hybrid restaurant, bar, and club complex with three dedicated concert spaces. Upstairs and Downstairs are the main music venues, hosting the coolest indie artists across genres. Downstairs is larger and accordingly books bigger acts. A sister space, Sonia, also hosts live shows, as well as events like dance parties and World Cup screenings. To cap it off, restaurant-bars ZuZu and The Corner regularly host live music and open mics.

Where: 472-480 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

9. The Sinclair

Photo: The Sinclair/Facebook

Before The Sinclair came along, Cambridge’s live music options were either intimate and eclectic or bigger but clubby. Harvard Square now has its very own mid-sized music venue, a magnet for indie mainstays like M. Ward and Deer Tick. The Bowery Presents handles the bookings, so you know the acts will be solid. For a proper night out, do dinner and a show at The Sinclair, which also has a restaurant that serves surprisingly elevated gastropub fare and a balcony section up top where you might be able to snag a quiet corner with your date.

Where: 52 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138


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White Sands is the newest US park

This year is ending strong with the unveiling of a brand new national park. White Sands National Monument in New Mexico has just been officially designated as a national park. White Sands is the largest dune field in the world, and was first named a national monument in 1933. Since then, it’s proven to be the most popular National Parks Service (NPS) site in New Mexico.

The new designation means that the 275-square-mile dunes, which previously served as a US military weapons testing area, will now be free from such tests, so visitors can hike the dunes in peace. As part of the new legislation, the military was awarded 2,826 acres of land within the monument’s former boundaries for missile testing, and the NPS was given 5,766 acres of formerly military-owned land. This means the park is expanding by 2,030 acres, and your visit won’t be interrupted by testing drills.

The already popular site should also expect a bump in visitor numbers. According to a 2018 study by Headwaters Economics, turning monuments into national parks can increase visitation by as much as 21 percent in the first five years, and bring in $7.5 million to the local economy.


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Alcohol is the perfect travel gift

This is the Travel Take, where Matador’s writers and editors make the case for their favorite travel hacks, tips, and personal tics.

In 2015, President Barack Obama received 15 bottles of liquor from the president of the Philippines and 12 bottles of Champagne from the president of Benin. Fourteen senators were gifted bottles of Chivas Scotch whisky from the Pakistan ambassador to the United States. The president of Moldova gave a senator six bottles of wine and some vintage Cognac, while former Secretary of State John Kerry received “various bottles of local alcohol” from Kazakhstan’s minister of foreign affairs.

Members of the United States government aren’t allowed to accept gifts from foreign governments exceeding around $300, so all of the alcohol was tragically dumped. Still, it’s the thought that counts, and all of these dignitaries from different parts of the world had one thought right: If you want a reliable gift that’s respectful, exciting, and evokes a sense of place, then grab a bottle of alcohol.

“So much of gifting isn’t just about giving somebody something to drink,” Christopher Krogstad, founder and distiller of Westward Whiskey, tells me over the phone. “You’re giving an experience.”

No one wants the figurine you picked up on your travels as a gift. For a moment, you might think it’s a cute idea, but now that person has a souvenir from a place they didn’t go to or have any memories from. A bottle of alcohol, however, is something that people can enjoy with a group and spark conversation or even inspire travel of their own.

“People get stuck in their ways, and they buy what they like,” Krogstad says, “but you get to try something new when you get it as a gift.”

New experiences are the whole point of travel. It’s not always possible to just get up and go, but it is usually possible to go somewhere through the tastes of a place. A bottle of local wine or liquor is a taste that travels well and can be shared multiple times. Also, at the risk of sounding selfish, creating a shared experience through a nice bottle often ends up being a double plus because the giver gets to partake as well. Often, this shared experience and the conversations it sparks is the best gift of all. Last Thanksgiving, my mom and I sat at the table with no other distractions but a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch and talked about road trips, traveling through Kentucky, and all the different distillers that’ve popped up near her home in Spearfish, South Dakota.

Americans are far from alone in giving the gift of drink. China has a strong tradition of gifting liquor, especially high-end bottles of whiskey or baiju (the most popular brand, Kweichow Moutai, built a profitable business as a go-to expensive gift). Bottles of wine and spirits are regularly gifted across Europe (and, as the list of gifts to governmental officials shows, European-made wine and spirits are regularly gifted elsewhere, too).

“European countries have the strongest tradition of gifting alcohol, due to their long tradition of winemaking and distilling,” says Conrad Hunter, the owner of Foxcroft Wine Co and co-owner of Charlotte cocktail bar Dot Dot Dot. “America has lived under a puritanical cloud regarding alcohol, of which it is only now coming out of.”

That said, while a bottle is a widely loved gift, it’s not completely universal. There’s religion to take into account, as well as personal taste. It might also be important to make sure the recipient drinks before giving the gift of alcohol. But for the right person, gifting a bottle of something local from your travels is one of the best ways to share an experience and give them something they’ll actually appreciate.

“The most significant thing for me is that it’s so much about discovery and sharing discovery,” Krogstad says.


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Carnival ships collide in Mexico

One passenger is injured after the Carnival Glory and Carnival Legend collided on Friday morning in Cozumel, Mexico. According to video filmed by eyewitnesses, part of the Carnival Glory’s deck was crushed during the crash with Carnival Legend, which was docked at the time of the incident. Carnival is calling the crash an “allision” between the two cruise ships, which is a nautical term that describes the collision of a moving ship with a stationary object — or in this case, a docked boat. The crash occurred when the Carnival Glory was maneuvering to the dock.

Carnival Glory just crashed into Carnival Legend and almost crashed into Oasis of the Seas at the Cozumel cruise port. #FoxNews #RoyalCaribbean #CarnivalLegend #CarnivalGlory #OasisoftheSeas pic.twitter.com/5ITBCfz99L

— Matthew Bruin (@BruinMatthew) 20 décembre 2019

In a statement, Carnival Cruises said, “We are assessing the damage but there are no issues that impact the seaworthiness of either ship.” As of right now, neither ship’s itinerary will be affected by the crash.

One passenger did sustain minor injuries, however, while guests were being evacuated.


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Aspen Snowmass leads ski industry

In February of 2019, Gian-Franco Kasper, president of the International Ski Federation (FIS) went on the record denying climate science, outraging the global ski community. Kasper had long delivered a message of resistance to basic climate science, but this time was different. He was blunt, direct, and condescending in the pages of a major media outlet.

“There is no proof for it. We have snow, in part even a lot of it,” he told Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger. “I was in Pyeongchang for the Olympiad. We had minus 35 degrees C. Everybody who came to me shivering I welcomed with: welcome to global warming.”

Then came the letters. Nine thousand of them.

They came from skiers and snowboarders, both professional and amateur. They came from activists and politicians. But equally important, they came from leading companies in the ski sector, groups that support FIS and the ski industry on a global scale. Many letters had the same message: the FIS must sign on to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action, and Kasper should step down as the FIS’ president.

In September, the FIS did sign on to the UN agreement, signifying one of 2019’s biggest about-faces in the climate movement. While Kasper did not resign, he did call the FIS’ UN move an “important and clear step” in helping the ski industry fight climate change.

Aspen makes its voice heard

Photo: action sports/Shutterstock

Providing a corporate voice to the effort to have FIS change its position was Aspen Skiing Company, which has hosted multiple FIS events and is better known to most as Aspen Snowmass.

Auden Schendler, Aspen Skiing Company’s vice president of sustainability, and his team worked directly with Alterra Mountain Company, Burton Snowboards, and other groups — including Protect Our Winters, an environmental nonprofit founded by snowboarder Jeremy Jones — to lead a public attack on the ski industry’s most vocal climate change denier. For the company, the move seemed only natural.

“Our goal is to stay in business forever, and when you look at that, it only makes sense that we would be vocal in protecting the things we need,” Schendler says.

Earlier this year Matador reported on Jackson Hole’s transition to wind power. While other ski resorts in the US get some power from wind or solar, no major ski resort operator has gone near as far as Aspen Ski Co, which operates four ski areas. Here’s how Aspen Skiing Company became the ski industry’s biggest force for good in the fight for sustainability.

Making a financial commitment

Photo: Aspen Snowmass

Aspen Skiing Company filed its first sustainability report in 1999. Two years prior, it became the first ski resort to purchase wind power to run one of its lifts. The business is currently invested in a local effort to capture methane waste from a nearby coal mine and convert it into carbon-negative energy, which will eventually produce enough power to run the entirety of resort operations.

In the meantime, the company continues its wind power usage, coupled with locally-sourced hydroelectric and solar power. Also on the local scale, Schendler and the company have led an environmental speaker series at the Limelight Hotel, just a few minutes’ walk from Aspen’s Silver Queen Gondola.

“Part of what Aspen is, is that you come here and it takes you in and gives you what you need to go back and change the world,” Schendler says. For the company’s employees, that means education on how to talk about climate science, an especially important skill given that they each bear the Protect Our Winters logo on their company jacket.

In 2018, the company launched its Give A Flake campaign, committing to donate revenue from ticket sales and other endeavors to their lobbying efforts and to environmental groups. This effort also provides guests and visitors to its website with the ability to send email campaigns to local and national government reps.

All of this action comes at the risk of alienating some of Aspen’s wealthy, conservative clientele, many of whom spend hefty amounts of money both on the mountain and in town. But the company believes that any risk posed by putting off that part of its client base is worth it.

“What it costs, financially, for us, is the cheapest thing,” says Schendler. “It actually takes sending our CEO to trade groups and saying, ‘We’re going to pull our money if you don’t make climate a top priority.’ We’re also not afraid to say that by choosing to come here, you’re supporting a business that tills some of the revenue to radical action.”

Indeed, Aspen has been, since the latter part of the 20th century, a vocally progressive community. That remains true today, with celebrities active in the climate fight — like Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger — regularly popping up around town.

Lobbying locally and beyond

Photo: Aspen Snowmass

In November, Pitkin County, which encompasses Aspen, approved a new solar plan, which Aspen Skiing Company vocally supported.

“This is a big deal and represents a sea change in public opinion,” Schendler says. “(We’ve gone) from NIMBY to YIMBY on clean power solutions. We were early supporters of this, testified at the hearing, and wrote an op-ed about the need for this. It passed 7-0.”

In addition to local efforts, “Ski Co” — as it’s known around town — has used its corporate and financial prowess as a lobbying tool. Schendler and other Aspen staffers joined local and national environmental boards, taking their efforts to the state capitol building in Denver and eventually straight to Washington, DC, to lobby Congress directly, using their big-name industry help shape climate policy.

Leveraging their influence

Photo: Andrew Zarivny/Shutterstock

Hannah Berman, Aspen’s manager of sustainability and philanthropy, is working alongside Schendler to direct funds toward local and national nonprofit groups through its Environment Foundation. The foundation is a partnership between the company’s Family Fund and the local Aspen Community Foundation.

“We want to fund programs that specifically fight climate change or fund environmental stewardship,” she says of the foundation’s purpose. “We’re looking at everything from permaculture and sustainable food systems all the way down to planting trees at a local school.”

The company’s efforts have been largely well received in the ski industry, but the brand knows the fight is far from over.

“We’re also not delusional,” Schendler says. “One thing I tried and failed at was filing a nuisance lawsuit against Exxon for burying climate silence. There’s a lot of waste and hypocrisy. But Aspen seems like a place that has the capacity to lead, and should lead.”

The ski industry’s outspoken leader on combating climate change is armed and ready to lead the call for change into the new decade. The eyes now shift to the rest of the industry.


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