Whenever Land Rover invites me to drive its vehicles off-road, I drop everything. I love driving off-road, and I especially enjoy driving off-road with Land Rover.
In addition to building and selling vehicles, Land Rover also markets opportunities for owners to drive their vehicles off-road.
Some events are staged at local dealerships, with small off-road courses designed for potential buyers and current owners to explore the vehicles' capabilities in a controlled setting.
Land Rover has four Land Rover Experience Driving Schools in North America: one in Carmel, California, one near Montreal, Canada, one in Manchester, Vermont and one in Asheville, North Carolina. Each school is at a luxury resort, and combines a lifestyle experience with one-on-one off-road driving instruction.
In addition to the local events and the Land Rover Experience Driving Schools, Land Rover also stages at least one Land Rover Adventure every year. The Land Rover Adventure is a weekend-long off-roading vacation, with deluxe accommodations, dining and Land Rover/Range Rover driving through a great location.
Land Rover employs a team of driving instructors who are all expert outdoorsmen and drivers in their own right. The driving instructors help to set up driving events at dealerships. They also teach at the three Land Rover Driving Schools in North America, and act as guides and instructors on the Land Rover Adventures.
This year, Land Rover held a Land Rover Adventure for automotive journalists in order to show off its 2011 Land Rover LR4 and Range Rover models. The event began in Telluride, Colorado, and included two days of spectacular trail driving, along with a few fun stops along the way.
After a night at Lumiere Hotel in Mountain Village above Telluride, it was time to drive. Our trail ride began with a climb over Imogene Pass, which peaks at 13,114 feet above sea level. Imogene Pass was blazed by miners, who worked the area throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. The trail up to Imogene is actually a public road, though it would not be wise to attempt driving without a four-wheel drive vehicle with healthy ground clearance. Even during the summer months, there's usually some snow on the ground above 13,000 feet, but amazingly, trail runners and bicyclists often share the road with off-road vehicles. Just walking around at that altitude caused my heart to beat rapidly. The air is so thin that altitude sickness is always a real possibility.
We descended down from Imogene, along Imogene Creek and through Camp Bird. We followed Camp Bird Road along Canyon Creek to the town of Ouray, where we spent the night at the Beaumont Hotel, a magnificent 120 year-old building that has been restored to its original Victorian elegance.
The next morning, we switched into the LR4 for the day's trail ride. We headed out of Ouray on the Million Dollar Highway (an actual, modern road) for a few miles until we picked up the Alpine Loop, another mining road. We drove through Engineer's Pass (13,218 feet), past the village of Animas Forks and into the town of Silverton for lunch at Handlebars Restaurant and Saloon, a great place with lots of taxidermied animals on the wall. From Silverton, we headed out for the final push back to Telluride along the most challenging trails of the whole trip, Black Bear Pass. Black Bear is famous for its steep descent and sharp changes of direction as it approaches Bridal Veil Falls. A big vehicle like an LR4 uses most of the available trail width to accomplish the hairpin turns, which means that parts of the vehicle seem to hang over the edge of some very steep drops at various points during the descent. It was very comforting to have an expert Land Rover driving instructor in the vehicle with me while I negotiated some of the most challenging trails I've ever encountered.
We returned to the Lumiere Hotel, then took the gondola over the mountain into Telluride proper, where we met up for dinner at Cosmopolitan. After sharing wine, dinner and plenty of road tales, we hopped on the gondola and returned to the hotel for a good night's rest before our flights out the next morning.
Every time I drive off-road with Land Rover, I come home with new insight into vehicle dynamics. This trip, I worked on my smoothness, keeping all of my brake, throttle and steering inputs as controlled and smooth as possible. While descending Black Bear Pass, I learned more about transmission control than ever before, and finally comprehended why it's important to confirm that your transmission has engaged in the right direction (forward or reverse) before committing to the throttle. Two days of driving with Land Rover instructors can improve anyone's driving, and there are plenty of lessons from off-roading that translate immediately to the street.
Spending some time with the 2011 LR4 and Range Rover was great as well. There haven't been a lot of big changes in the 2011 Land Rover lineup, just more refinements. The big news on LR4 is the addition of Hill Start Assist and Gradient Acceleration Control, both of which came in handy in Colorado. Range Rover returns for 2011 basically unchanged, with a new Vision Assist Package of options ($1,800) available that includes Adaptive Front Lighting, Automatic High Beam Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring and a Surround Camera System. Three new limited edition Range Rovers are being produced for 2011: The Range Rover Autobiography Black, the Range Rover Supercharged Westminster and the Range Rover Sport GT.
I also returned from my Land Rover Adventure with a camera full of images, and a head full of great memories. I can't upload the memories, but I can share a few of the images in this Land Rover Colorado Adventure Photo Gallery.
If you are considering buying a Land Rover, but you're not sure if you will enjoy off-road driving, it could be a very good investment to participate in a Land Rover Adventure first. If you already own a Land Rover, or another off-road capable SUV, and want to learn how to drive it better and more safely, a Land Rover Adventure might be for you. If you just love driving off-road, and want a unique, luxurious weekend vacation, a Land Rover Adventure is usually priced around $3,000 per couple/$2,000 per individual, plus airfare to and from the location. Check the Land Rover website for information about upcoming events.
