NAVIS
Luxury Yachts Magazine
Mountains, open water, deep snow and distant places ask different things of what we carry. This season, NAVIS Beyond looks at the new equipment, apparel and objects created for environments where design must do more than look good. From technical outerwear and alpine equipment to skis, boards, tools and accessories, these are some of the most interesting releases arriving for winter 2026/27.
At 9,200 feet in New Mexico, expectations need adjusting. Taos Ski Valley begins at an elevation higher than the summits of many ski areas, then keeps climbing into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains until Kachina Peak tops out above 12,000 feet. Up here, the New Mexico of desert horizons gives way to spruce and fir, steep bowls, narrow chutes and exposed ridgelines. It is serious terrain, and for generations it has given accomplished skiers a very good reason to make the journey to this remote corner of the Southwest.
Altitude also plays a defining role in what every skier ultimately comes looking for: snow. Taos sits unusually far south for a major American ski mountain, yet its high elevation brings the colder conditions capable of preserving the dry powder for which the resort is known. Storms climbing into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains lose moisture as they rise, while New Mexico’s generally dry climate helps keep that snow from carrying the heavier moisture content encountered in more maritime mountain regions. The result, when conditions align, is the kind of light snow that makes a steep mountain considerably more interesting.
In December 1973, a gondola and three chairlifts began carrying skiers onto the flanks of Lone Mountain.
One of the people responsible was Chet Huntley, a Montana native better known to millions of Americans as the co-anchor of NBC’s Huntley-Brinkley Report. Huntley had left television three years earlier and returned west with an improbable second act in mind: helping create a ski resort beneath an 11,000-foot mountain in southwest Montana.
He lived only long enough to see its first winter.
Big Sky continued without him, growing across terrain Huntley could only have imagined accessing. Boyne Resorts acquired the property in 1976. New lifts reached farther around Lone Mountain. The original Lone Peak Tram arrived in 1995. Moonlight Basin’s terrain joined Big Sky two decades later.
Then, on December 20, 2025, another piece of the original resort disappeared. The Explorer chair, operating since Big Sky’s opening year, was replaced by a 10-passenger gondola.
There is something fitting about that exchange. Fifty-two years separate Huntley’s first lifts from Explorer Gondola, yet Big Sky has spent much of that time working on the same problem: how to make more of Lone Mountain accessible. For the 2026–27 winter, that idea reaches its most complete form yet.
It began with ten barrels of aviation fuel, eight skiers and a Bell Jet Ranger pointed toward a range few people had explored on skis. There was no lodge waiting at the other end. The plan was to fly into Alaska’s Tordrillo Mountains, ski under the long light of June and fish for king salmon when the snow softened beyond its best hour.
By the end of that first week, the possibilities had become difficult to ignore.
The group returned the following year with an A-Star helicopter and began pushing farther across the range. Over six seasons, they explored north and south of Finger Lake and cataloged more than 50 descents. Among them were Olympic downhill champion Tommy Moe and Alaska heli-ski pioneer Mike Overcast, whose early expeditions would eventually lead to Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.
What started as an improvised journey into unmapped ski terrain gradually became one of Alaska’s most private winter operations. The fuel barrels have given way to dedicated aircraft, two small lodges, and a carefully developed hospitality program. However, the essential proposition remains unchanged: to enter this landscape, one must still leave the road system behind.
In April 1965, placing a group of skiers at the top of a run in British Columbia’s Bugaboos could take almost an hour. The Bell helicopter had only two passenger seats, so pilot Jim Davies carried the guests upward in stages while mountain guide Hans Gmoser organized them on the snow. On the first ski day, a rack attached to the helicopter’s landing gear came loose and had to be recovered and repaired. Then they continued.
Six guests had arrived for that first week of paid, guided helicopter skiing, beginning on April 4. Their base was a vacant lumber camp below the Bugaboo Spires, reached by car, truck, and snowmobile over approximately 45 kilometers of logging road. One rain-soaked transfer took nine hours. A guest eventually suggested charging an additional $30 to fly people into camp instead. An inconvenience had revealed the future.
The original advertisement promised seven to twelve helicopter lifts, each opening a descent of three to five miles. The price was $203 per person for a group of fifteen or $266 for a group of ten. The terrain included North Post Spire, Mount Conrad and Pigeon Spire, names that still convey the scale of the landscape Gmoser had chosen.
Snow was falling lightly over Ambri when our chauffeur arrived. It was just before eleven in the morning, the temperature hovering above freezing, and we had a four o’clock appointment waiting for us several hours away in Engelberg.
We had been staying with family near Airolo, in the Ticino region, and had arranged for SwissChauffeur to collect us from a house close to the chapel in Ambri, Quinto. By the time we stepped outside, five minutes before the agreed pickup, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class was already there.
There were four of us, each traveling with close to two large pieces of luggage, so space mattered. SwissChauffeur had asked about our baggage and equipment in advance, which is especially useful in winter when skis, snowboards, camera cases and oversized pieces can quickly complicate a transfer. The vehicle had been prepared for what we were carrying, and the chauffeur loaded everything without fuss.
Local legend says the intrepid monks who first climbed into this valley in 1120 ventured here because they heard angels singing over it. Whether or not one believes in celestial choirs, it is not hard to understand the impulse. Engelberg (literally, “Mountain of the Angels”) sits cradled at the foot of Titlis, the highest peak in the Uri Alps. This is a pocket of Central Switzerland that feels sealed off from the rest of the world despite being just over an hour from Zurich. In winter, that sense of enclosure deepens. Snow settles thickly on the chalet roofs, woodsmoke hangs over the rooftops in that blue hour before dusk, and the cowbells that once clanged placidly through the summer pastures have hushed, replaced by the crunch of boots on packed snow and the hum of cable cars gliding overhead.
The Benedictine Abbey at the valley’s heart — founded in that same year and still home to a working community of friars — is the reason Engelberg exists at all. The village grew up in its shadow, and some of that monastic quiet still lingers. Even now, with a world-class ski resort, an array of accommodations including a Grand Hotel, and a growing constellation of design-forward restaurants, Engelberg has resisted the posh glamour of some of its Alpine sisters. It remains, at its core, a real village: a few thousand year-round residents, a church bell still marking the hours, and a community whose co-existence with that mountain long predates the first chairlift.
The LM002 solved the problem of mass with displacement, ground clearance, and a V12 borrowed from the Countach. Four decades later, the Urus SE Performante attacks the same enemy with a denser arsenal: turbocharging, electrification, variable torque distribution, rear-wheel steering, predictive braking and air suspension capable of changing both spring stiffness and damper behavior.
The resemblance lies in Lamborghini’s stubborn refusal to build an ordinary SUV. Performante raises a question.
There is a moment on the road east from Innsbruck when the journey to Kitzbühel seems to change character. The highway falls behind, the road begins climbing through small Tyrolean villages, and the landscape opens into rolling white hills beneath mountains softened by the late-afternoon light. We had begun the day much farther west, travelling from St. Moritz with SwissChauffeur, before meeting our next companion in a central square in Innsbruck: a brand-new Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Series II waiting among the old city’s architecture. Soon Innsbruck was receding behind us.
There are certainly less memorable ways of entering the Kitzbühel Alps. The Cullinan has an uncanny ability to remove almost every sensation of effort from travel; mountain roads seem to unfold beneath rather than challenge it. As we climbed, villages appeared and disappeared through the windows while snow-covered pastures rolled toward the mountains beyond. It was March, late enough in the season for occasional patches of green to have begun breaking through the white at lower elevations, yet winter still held the landscape firmly. Inside, there was little indication of the cold beyond the glass. The effect was less that of driving through the Alps than floating quietly across them.
More than a yacht, Seawolf X represents Rossinavi’s vision of what the future of yachting can become. This 42.75-metre full-aluminium hybrid-electric catamaran introduces a new approach to luxury cruising, where innovation, sustainability and onboard comfort are conceived as a single integrated experience. Designed entirely as a bespoke project, Seawolf X combines the exterior architecture of Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design, the refined interiors by Meyer Davis Studio, and Rossinavi’s engineering expertise into a yacht that challenges conventional thinking without compromising elegance or performance. The project is the result of years of research into alternative propulsion systems, intelligent energy management and environmental responsibility, while remaining faithful to the shipyard’s philosophy of full-custom construction.
If it has been a while since wonder prompted wide-eyed amazement, and curiosity sparked new passion, it is time for a change. The Lürssen megayacht Octopus awakens the explorer within. Built for venturing beyond the charts to the far corners of the globe, Octopus reignites the spark of adventure, taking in iconic geography, fascinating wildlife, and exciting challenges.
An ice-classed explorer yacht with a 12,500 nautical mile range and suitable amenities, Octopus has been quietly delighting her private owner from the day her hull first touched water.
Her recent addition to the charter market offers the opportunity for those with a taste for adventure to indulge in a landmark voyage to some of the most pristine, remote destinations on the planet amid the luxury and innovation of a brilliantly designed Espen Øino yacht.
Endowed with an enviable itinerary history, Octopus knows no bounds. This capable vessel owns a list of features that support journeys to every corner of the planet, from balmy to frigid, remote to busy coastline. Adaptable, versatile, well-equipped, and comfortable, Octopus was built to extraordinary standards for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. For a detailed look at the features of the yacht, see the March 2023 edition of NAVIS. Rigorous engineering and advanced design incorporate several layers of redundancy for all critical systems in a nod to durability, reliability, and self-sufficiency.
Future itineraries, like those already noted in the Octopus logbook, embrace balmy, secluded islands, frozen tundra, and dramatic geographic destinations. Octopus encourages big dreams and welcomes bespoke plans.
While there is hardly what one might call a “typical” day on board Octopus, Captain Thejs Pedersen offered his insight into how guests spend time on board, cruising along on an Antarctic summer voyage. The region is one of the few continents where less than 1 percent of the area has been explored.
Captain Pedersen allows that every day is influenced by what’s happening on the horizon and on the shore, not by a ticking clock. Here, thousands of miles from support, nature calls the shots. Sometimes that means plans change, but it always means there are engaging, thoughtfully considered lists of activities.
With that in mind, coffee in hand and the first cool, crisp breaths of sea and ice air refreshing every inch of mortal coil, the day holds the door open to discovery and awe. Captain Pedersen shared with us what a day might include while cruising with Octopus in the stunning Antarctic waters.
A soft start to the morning, guests awake and emerge from their cabins to survey the rugged line where ice and mountain meet the tranquil sea. Noting the change in position overnight to gain an edge over weather, guests gather in any of a dozen cushy common areas to attend an early briefing on plans, landings, routes, and options.
One route might point to shore on a tender for a short hike amid a colony of penguins, then trace the ridgeline to capture a once in a lifetime view from atop the crest. Another route might cruise aboard the yacht around icebergs and snowy edges, watching as nature plays with light and shadow, highlighting artistic vistas along the way. It would not be unusual to witness orcas or humpbacks in a display of power, either slapping loudly in a full breach, or barely surfacing before slipping quietly back into the sea. Seals are often casually draped across the ice in resting mode while seabirds draw circles in the sky.
Whether on shore or on the vessel, the Captain and crew share expertise about wildlife and habitat. They treat every wild thing with the utmost respect, helping guests understand the pristine environment they are privileged to enjoy. Guests and crew then humbly watch as birds and sea life go about their day, quietly observing while taking care not to disturb movement, activities, or habitat.
Guests awake and emerge from their cabins to survey the rugged line where ice and mountain meet the tranquil sea.
A return to the yacht for a rewarding lunch on board Octopus allows guests to continue observation of landscapes and wildlife from the comfort and convenience of the yacht as it moves through the sea. Perhaps there is time for a repositioning through the usually calm and protected Lemaire Channel, an 11-mile strait tucked between 1000-meter-high glacier-laden cliffs, should currents and winds allow.
Many days, a second afternoon outing navigates fragments of brash ice in a Zodiac tender, capturing a calving glacier. An afternoon might be spent observing playful dolphins as they jump, dive, and swim alongside. These moments happen in an instant, unscripted, changing as quickly as the conditions. Unique opportunities arise for breathtaking experiences that create enduring memories of this fabled land. Guests who come aboard with an open mind and flexible plans will be rewarded with the best shows nature allows.
With evening’s approach, the pace of the day slows. Guests often gather for reviews of the day, while the changing light shines blue and gold through the ice. Octopus invites all to enjoy a spa treatment, sauna, pool, or workout, followed by a chat at the bar, in the lounge, or one of the salons.
An informal briefing about the next day’s plans helps guests to prepare, while allowing the crew to apprise of any need for changes in the itinerary, guided by nature’s hand. Such flexibility is enabled by Octopus’s strength, beauty, and comfort, always ready to switch gears from one plan to another.
A casual dinner amid easy conversation provides an opportunity to share thoughts and observations collected throughout the day’s activities. Guests are often profoundly changed after experiencing this stunning, wildly dynamic part of the planet, immersing themselves in both the landscape and the wildlife.
Guests that come aboard with an open mind and flexible plans will be rewarded with the best shows nature allows.
When anchored in a remote cold region, whether it is one of the poles, northern Europe, South America, or any of the extreme regions, guests can take the tender to shore where they can roam the coastlines and ice fields at a pleasant pace. Taking time to notice the small details along a gentle trail or on a hike to dramatic overviews places guests in the moment, free to contemplate deeper questions and possibilities. Penguins, seals, whales, and seabirds are often sighted along with more regional species. Of course, all activities have appropriate safety measures to keep both guests and wildlife safe.
Cruising the ice edges and narrow fjords in a Zodiac tender is an exciting outing, giving an up-close view that considers scale and perspective from a sea level view. Equally thrilling, viewing the icescapes flying overhead on a helicopter, stored on board the yacht, offers guests an incomparable view of sites that would otherwise prove unreachable.
Guests also have heli-skiing, snowmobiling, dogsledding, and diving as options with advance planning. Such expeditions are sometimes subject to environmental protections or logistical limitations, so flexibility in location, timing, and activity dictate the day. It is certain, however, whether through a micro or a macro lens anthropogenic view, these experiences invite guests to be present in the moment, reinforcing the connection to the planet’s most remote, pristine environments.
Greenland, Iceland, and Norway are all in the logbooks on Octopus, allowing guests rich cultural, as well as geographic and biological, experiences. From the colorful homes lining coastal Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, to the intense waterfalls around the fjords and the backdrop of Sermitsiaq Mountain, the scenery is captivating. The interior of this enormous, 2.16-million-kilometer island, covered by an ice sheet, makes for dramatic images and interesting coastal stops.
Icebergs abound, capturing the attention of Octopus guests observing from any of a dozen fabulous vantage points on the yacht. Bearing in mind that only 10 to 20 percent of an iceberg is visible above the waterline, a 300-foot-high iceberg sits atop a huge mass of ice below.
Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights, is always a treat on an Octopus voyage with the best viewing during the longest, darkest nights between November and March. Greenland, like Iceland, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, all sit beneath the auroral oval, experiencing some of the most frequent views with incredible hues. Add to that the views on board Octopus and the wow factor increases dramatically.
Geysers and waterfalls, glacial lagoons and rhyolite mountains, Iceland offers Octopus guests impressive options. Snorkeling the Silfra Fissure puts guests between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates in glacial water so pure it acts like a crystal to bend the light.
Backcountry and downhill skiing, boarding, or hiking the eastern edges of Greenland around Kulusuk test even the most able skiers with steep uphill skinning followed by thrilling downhill runs overlooking the fjord where Octopus awaits. Heliskiing and backcountry touring under the midnight sun in Iceland is also a popular choice, and with a commercial helipad on the aft deck plus a hangar on board, getting up the mountain proves an easy task.
Whether cruising, hiking, skiing, sightseeing or working to perform tasks, Octopus has proven she is up to the assignment. Hunting prehistoric Coelacanth fish, tracking marine species, studying coral reefs, diving to explore wrecks, or lending assistance and support for remote research stations, Octopus continues to serve as the vessel of choice. Not just a leisure and luxury expedition yacht, Octopus gives a thumbs up to challenging and technical work required of such missions.
In 2004, Octopus pointed to Gibraltar on an exploration of the WWII aircraft carrier lodged 1000 meters below. Veterans of the original crew were on board to view the underwater footage. In 2015, Octopus worked with the British Royal Navy, sending its submersibles to recover the ship’s bell from the HMS Hood, a British Battle cruiser sunk in the Battle of the Denmark Strait in 1941. In 2015, the Octopus guided the yacht’s autonomous underwater equipment and ROVs to find the wrecked Japanese battleship Musashi, 1000 meters below the Sibuyan Sea in the Philippines.
Not just a cold climate vessel, Octopus knows how to enjoy tropical climes as well. Frequenting warm weather destinations like Fiji, Australia, the Maldives, Costa Rica, Panama, South Africa, and South America, Octopus loves to treat guests to sunny beaches, rainforests, and tropical destinations. From icy fjords or basking in equatorial sun, Octopus proves equally at home in every corner of the globe.
Stocked with pools, fishing equipment, scuba and snorkel gear, paddleboards, dinghies, outdoor dining and lounging areas, and all the speedy tenders to facilitate water sports and sun worshipping, Octopus is ready to roam. She offers every comfort expected of a megayacht with all of the equipment and features needed to circumnavigate the globe.
The privilege extended to those exploring on a yacht like Octopus can be life changing. Spending time around such vast unexplored areas that are home to exotic and untamed species, untouched by human footprints, offers a realistic view that changes one’s perspective. Much like the marine life she is named for, Octopus helps guests to see that nature is both a humble teacher and an incredible master. Where would you like Octopus to take you, and what would you like to learn?
Written by Janine Devine - Photographed by M/Y Octopus, Camper & Nicholsons, Dave Le Roux, Thejs Pedersen & Big Blue Expeditions
384 pages featuring the best of the best from the last ten years in the luxury yachting world.
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