Radical Retreats.

Taking it outside with one-of-a-kind company retreats

Planning your corporate retreat? How about taking it outside? Utah offers one-of-a-kind locations and opportunities to impress and influence co-workers and associates.

Secluded in Stillwater Canyon, north of Duchesne, Falcon's Ledge provides the highest quality mix of outdoor opportunities. According to owners Jim Bills and Howard Brinkerhoff, what's not there is what really appeals to people.

No noise, no people, no television, no phones. But, make no mistake, this isn't just a sagebrush canyon with a "guests welcome" sign on it. Falcon's Ledge maintains state-of-the-art A/V and communications equipment, including fax and modem. It's just well hidden. Discuss next year's marketing strategy on the balcony overlooking beautiful ponds, then hike into the red rock to view Freemont Indian ruins. Return to a five-star dinner and an evening of trophy still-water fly-fishing. Jim and Howard can help you choose from dozens of activities ranging from golf to gold panning, dinosaur hikes to mountain bikes. Don't forget to include the lodge's namesake -- falconry. Few places in the world provide guests a chance to learn about and participate in the sport of kings.

Often, in the scheme of retreat, it's as important to get your co-workers away from business as it is to deal with business. You can follow the lead of Linda Bearman, co-owner of Salt Lake City-based Talent Management Group. TMG wanted to provide an opportunity to increase the camaraderie, communication and morale at the company. Says Bearman, "High-stress work environment, coupled with increasing technology developments, creates a lack of human interaction. [A retreat] allows us to be human again." To that end, Bearman, and co-owner Vickie Panek, put together an afternoon for their employees that included lunch at the Wasatch Broiler, browsing and window shopping, and massages at Breathe Day Spa. Breathe can provide the usual massages and body wraps but also shiatsu, a salt glow, or their signature Herbal Goddess Facial and Le Stone Massage. TMG finalized the day with the ultimate sign of employee appreciation ... bonus checks!

Instead of relaxation, you want a challenge to see what you're really made of? Call Isaac Wilson and his sister, Anne, at Sol Adventures. Specializing in adventure racing, Sol Adventures will take your company places it's never been before: mentally, emotionally and physically. You and your co-workers can learn about trust, risk, team work, cooperation and overcoming fears while rappelling, mountain biking, kayaking, horseback riding, and hiking in the heart of Utah's red rock environs. Camp in the wilds or stay in comfortable Moab lodgings; design your own retreat content or let Isaac and Anne provide speakers and activities designed for your specific needs.

Sound a little too adventuresome? Activities are designed so that you can take them at your own pace -- slow and steady or vigorous. Most importantly, your guides are the people who made adventure racing what it is today. Imagine this conversation with friends after a few days with Sol Adventures:

"What did you do this weekend?"

"Not much. Learned cooperation from a guy who's run the Eco Challenge and won the Southern Traverse race, rappelled with the top female climber in the country, biked with a woman who does the Raid Gauloises, and did a little cross-training with a Navy SEAL."

Look to the Homestead Resort in Midway for perhaps a less-intense retreat venue. Less intense doesn't mean less effective. One of Conde Nast's top 25 ski destinations and an AAA Four Diamond resort, the Homestead is famous for a folksy, neighborhood atmosphere combined with first-rate service. With more than 150 lodging rooms in original, turn of the century style or modern condos, the Homestead can accommodate groups of up to 300 in their elegant and fully equipped conference facilities. Recently, the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce relied on Britt Mathwich and his Homestead staff to create a "corporate games" themed retreat. For example: On the putting green, one team member is blindfolded. The other must verbally direct their teammate's strokes to put the ball in the hole, creating an unforgettable communication experience. Nancy Volmer, SLACC director of marketing and communications, reports that through creative and fun activities, "(The Homestead) created a closer team that works better together." R eady for a challenge? Try scuba diving in the famous Homestead crater.

Close to the Wasatch Front, but less well-known, is Westminster College. Most colleges and universities have conference rooms, theaters and halls that make for an unusual retreat. Westminster Campus Scheduling Director Claudia Marques says, "We love to have outside groups on campus." Marques suggests Nunemaker Place, with a secluded, peaceful patio, designed to be a spiritual and cultural center on campus. Thirty guests can enjoy work sessions catered by Sodexho Marriott at Nunemaker Place, or a group can choose the beautiful, fully equipped Watson Board Room in the new Giovale Library. Concludes Marques, "People drive right by for years and years and never set foot here, but when they do they really enjoy the atmosphere."

If budget, distance and time are not critical factors, then grab your fly rod and camera and get ready for a 200-mile flight out of Whitehorse, Alaska in the Yukon Territories. Sound far-fetched? Warren LeFave's Inconnu Lodge will host over 100 guests from Utah this season. A regular is Steve Haslam with Paragon Press.

"First class all the way. Inconnu gets in your blood," he says. On the shores of McEvoy Lake, Inconnu Lodge sits in the middle of some of the world's most spectacular, unspoiled and remote country. You'll have access to a float plane and helicopter everyday to take you to mountain peaks never before climbed, lakes and rivers never before fished, and wildlife that has never seen a human before. After your day of discovery, relax in the hot tub reflecting on a perfect gourmet meal in this wilderness paradise. The exclusive resort can luxuriously accommodate 16 guests who can gather around oak conference tables made right here in North Salt Lake. Big screens, VCRs, overheads, and flipcharts are all ready, "They try to make it look like business but it's too much fun," says LeFave.

How about conducting business after an adrenaline-charged, white-water river run and a gourmet Dutch oven dinner under the stars? You'll want to contact Marty Mathis at Grand Canyon Expeditions Company. GCEC delivers eight- or 14-day trips. Other companies offer shorter trips, but they aren't giving you the same exposure to one of the true natural wonders of the world - the Grand Canyon. You can charter one or both of the 14-passenger boats and have the trip all to yourself,or sign on to go with whomever else is a guest (maybe your competition?). Charge through world-famous rapids, then enjoy hikes into the remote river canyons, fishing, spying ancient Indian ruins, or catching a glimpse of a golden eagle. You can request early camp times on certain days in order to get in a little company business, but these trips are better for wet and wild, good-time bonding.

Would you rather do more than float or raft through a national park? Why not plan your retreat at one of Utah's many national parks, monuments and recreation areas? "The key," according to Denny Davies, public information officer at Zion National Park, "is advance planning." As with most national parks, between Easter and Labor Day, facilities are booked well in advance. However, in the shoulder seasons, "We can accommodate pretty much anything," says Gordon Taylor, who coordinates the workings of licensed lodges and facilities at Bryce, Zion, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Shuttles to golf courses, buffets, sit-down dinners, cook-outs and regularly scheduled park activities are all available to your company. With advance planning, you can reserve camping spaces for a "roughing it" retreat, stay at park lodges, or use one of the many hotels and motels found adjacent to the parks as your base of operations. "And remember," says Davies, "'Zions' is the bank, 'Zion' is the park."

If you live in the West, at least once you ought to try being a cowboy. The Pack Creek Ranch can give you the full experience even if you are a city slicker who's "all hat, no cattle."

Ken and Jane Sleight have restored 10 historic cabins and other buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s that make up the ranch and have enhanced it with other "necessities" such as a swimming pool. Office Manager Lynn Benson says, "You can be much more creative in the fresh air with the sounds of the hummingbirds and the creek than stuck in between four walls." Karen Winnefeld, executive secretary of the Las Vegas-based William H. and Mattie Wattis Harris Foundation reports, "We were completely relaxed, compared to a typical hotel retreat that seems so frantic." Foundation participants were also encouraged to bring their families so the spouses and kids could enjoy "home on the range" at the foot of the La Sal Mountains. "The kids weren't bored for a second ... they weren't prisoners in a hotel," says Winnefeld.

Rent the whole ranch and host 55 people, or rent single cabins or the ranch house. Combine your company meetings with horseback riding, cross-country skiing, Jeep tours, and a licensed massage therapist and hot tub to smooth out the rough spots.

Passage to Utah owners Mike Matheson and Bob Helmes take pride in accommodating the extraordinary. The company specializes in fly-fishing trips, walk-abouts, and custom outdoor travel between Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. If you can take it outside, Passage to Utah will find a way to do it first class. A rafting trip downriver, then a short hike brings you to a bluff overlooking the Tetons where filet mignon and halibut await you complete with silver service, crystal, linen and fresh-cut flowers.

Passage to Utah draws from over 200 different options to give your company a memorable and effective experience. "Getting away from fluorescent lights and pagers is expensive and worth it. It's tough to have a big ego staring at the Tetons," says Matheson. Client John Lefferts agrees. President of the Texas Region of AXA Advisors, Lefferts relates his first project with Passage to Utah -- a trip.for 50 company reps wanting to learn how to fly-fish. "Mike and Bob developed a value-added strategy that was worth every cent," he remembers. Since then, Matheson and Helmes turned AXA away from Vail, Colo. and to the Wasatch Front for subsequent ski retreats.

So, does all the planning and paying really amount to anything tangible for your company? Maybe not. But according to Talent Management's Vickie Panek, "Retreats develop a stronger unity that increases productivity." Lefferts sums it up well: "(Retreats) build relationships and lock an individual into a company. They make them feel good about their place of work."

We haven't even scratched the surface of Utah's offerings. What about a houseboat on Lake Powell? A yurt in the Tushar Mountains? A weekend of culture at the Capitol Theatre or Abravanel Hall? The retreat opportunities for Utah companies are limited only by the imagination.

Alan Peterson is a freelance writer living in Centerville and can be reached at [e-mail].