This newsletter is for our network of friends around the world who share our zeal for adventurous travel. You've received it because you're either a personal friend or you've made it known to us through friends that you're interested in hearing occasionally about little-known travel destinations and activities. If you'd rather not receive this newsletter ever again, click unsubscribe at the bottom.

We support small, entrepreneurial operators around the world -- those who provide guests with a genuine, personal experience; who believe in sustainable, environmentally sensitive travel; and who believe in incorporating the local people and traditions of the destinations where they operate.

The great companies you'll read about here are identified through our consulting practice and our friends who are guides or operators.

Off the Radar puts you directly in touch with the service provider and lets you do the rest. We're not funded by advertising and we don't feature every company we meet. We're simply a network of friends sharing information about great travel companies.

If you have a great company you'd like us to consider for Off the Radar, send an email to Christina@xolaconsulting.com.

4226 18th St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20011-4226

Did you know that approximately 30% of the fees you pay for an adventure trip through major U.S.-based tour operators support marketing? We want to raise awareness and promote small, entrepreneurial adventure travel businesses that don't have the budget or inclination to mass-market their trips. How can the passion-driven, entrepreneurial outfitter stay in business without selling out? By finding passionate adventure travelers like you -- smart professionals who don't require a glossy marketing brochure and who aren't afraid to try something a little bit...Off the Radar.

We highly recommend a winter visit to central Idaho . The McCall, Idaho, Winter Carnival is January 27- February 5. Bring your skis to enjoy the locals' ski area - Brundage Mountain, or the fancy new resort, Tamarack - and give Keven Truesdell at the Hartland Inn a call at 888-509-7400. Keven can lead you skiing or snowshoeing with an overnight in a backcountry hut and/or give you a great rate if you stay in the small hotel he and his wife Lisa own and manage.

Sue Fearon and Grant Johnson own and operate Escalante Canyon Outfitters (www.ecohike.com), out of Boulder, Utah. Put these guys on your list for spring 2006 if you're curious about high desert hiking and camping. We visited tiny Boulder, Utah in September 2005 and were amazed at what we found - a great community of people and fantastic wilderness, pretty much undiscovered despite its proximity to the well-known national parks of Bryce, Capitol Reef and Zion.

And since you're already in southern Utah, don't miss a couple of days in Zion, an easy drive from Boulder. For a unique trip through this famous national park, we recommend contacting Travis and Dean of Zion Rock and Mountain Guides. Ask them to take you canyoneering, and you won't regret it. Find them on the web at www.zionrockguides.com.

Many of you have heard from us already about the extraordinary trips offered by Relief Riders International. Join the growing ranks international "VolunTourists" as you travel on horseback through the astonishing beauty of northern India. You'll be part of a team delivering medical supplies, livestock and educational materials to schools in five Rajasthan villages. For more information about their February 2006 ride, visit www.reliefridersinternational.com.

Our January edition will put you directly in touch with superb entrepreneurs in WASHINGTON STATE, USA; BRAZIL; JORDAN and IRAN.