Oxymoron of the day: Glamorous camping

aka 'glamping'

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 1:55 PM on 21 Aug 2007

Read more about: green living | wilderness

I'm not sure how I feel about glamorous camping -- aka "glamping" -- a growing trend in North America among "affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can't fathom using a smelly outhouse." (Really? Me neither!)

On the one hand, I wanted to start this post off with some comment about how this is the kind of "roughing it" I'm all about. But really? Not the case. Especially this:

[The family profiled in the story] shelled out $595 a night -- plus an additional $110 per person per day for food ... perks include a camp butler to build their fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter at nightfall and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye for dinner and French toast topped with huckleberries for breakfast.

Are you kidding me? I don't even live like that at home. And isn't part of camping the whole "I'm surviving in the wilderness on my own, man v. nature, back to the land" thing? How much nature can you really enjoy if you're worrying about getting all that nature on your fancy duds?

On the other hand, this family is out in the wilderness, perhaps learning to appreciate it and developing a desire to protect it. That I'm on board with -- people need to spend more time outside. And if it takes a "Four Seasons with a tarp over it" to make that happen ... well, go for it.

On the other other hand, this:

Most visitors to Paws Up [in Montana] hail from California, New York and Florida. Just about every week, someone arrives on a private jet.

Cringing at that last bit. Maybe just stay home and watch a nature program on your giant plasma TV?

For story: Oxymoron of the day: Glamorous camping
5 Comments | Post a Comment

Extravagance breeds insularity.

You get what you pay for.

A friend of mine worked for the Park Service for a while as a nature guide in Glacier Bay Nat'l Park, in Southeast Alaska. Every day she'd board one of the ~~giant floating casinos~~ cruise ships and give nature talks as it spent the day touring the bay. At the end of the day, she'd disembark as the boat was leaving to continue on up or down the Inside Passage. Sometimes she'd have passengers come and lament to her as she was packing up her guidebooks that they'd missed the park. She'd ask how that was possible since they were in Glacier Bay all day, and they'd respond, "I had my stateroom TV on the wrong channel."

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by Corey McKrill at 3:20 PM on 21 Aug 2007

Is That How Bowie Got Famous?

Is Glamping a cousin of Glamrock?

Somehow, I think of 38 year old English guys from the band "Sweet" in vinyl boots with six inch heals, lots of spandex, long hair and Kiss makeup, trying to set up a tent and cook an otter for lunch.

J. Bailo Participant Texeme.Construct()

by jabailo at 3:32 PM on 21 Aug 2007

Like the Vagabond Trips

This is great. Nothing sparks a concern for the loss of natural areas more than getting out into them. These people are the most likely to leave an endowment to their local land trusts, or other conservation organization. It reminds me of the Vagabond trips that Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs would take that did so much to poularized land conservation and outdoor recreation. Even the Trust for Public Lands has started using "Glamping" trips to attract new donors.

Land_Man

by LandMan at 10:26 AM on 22 Aug 2007

better than building a new marriott!

Glamping uses less resources than building a resort to house these folks. I think it's wimpy & a huge waste of money, but if it's helping conserve land from development--fine by me.

by eram at 1:44 PM on 24 Aug 2007

Ugh.

I am a wilderness canoe tripper, even though I only get to do real authentic tripping only about once a year.

Now a canoe can haul all the comforts you need, up to 500lbs of gear, which is a hell of a lot. But still you have to simplify, and I think that is a high environmental value that should be defended, and not just discarded under the rubric of "Oh, if only we let the rich snots live like Maharajas on a tiger hunt, maybe they will tell their fellow plutocrats to stop raping the earth. Or throw a few pennies the way of my 501 c 3." Pllllllllllllllllllease!

I value the old rustic ways. I think they have inherent values to them that will do a lot more to save the earth, than sucking up to the Masters of the Universe ever will.

Randy Cunningham

Randy Cunningham

by randino at 6:36 PM on 28 Aug 2007

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