EVERY year we try to bring readers a cross-section of high-adventure tours around the world. These are offered by an ever-growing number of outfitters whose expertise is the unusual.Just when you think they've covered almost every corner of the world in every imaginable way, something totally new and unexpected appears.

Name your most off-the-wall, far-out dream trip and chances are good someone has organised a trip there.

We're not talking ordinary dream destinations, but back-of-the-beyond ones reached by hiking, biking, kayaking, mountaineering, camping, rafting . . . you get the idea. Name a place from the High Arctic to Zambia and there's a tempting list of exploration activity scheduled there.

Although this writer has never travelled with Mountain Travel Sobek, our paths have crossed in some far-flung remarkable places. It's considered one of the pioneering leaders trekking into once inaccessible areas since 1969.

Outdoor enthusiasts find it hard to resist its beautifully illustrated 164- page catalogue. Open to almost any page and be dazzled by the view — a camel trek across Morocco . . . an ambitious circling of Kailas, the Sacred Mountain of Tibet . . . discovering the isolated Kingdom of Mustang. And that's just for starters.

How about trekking across Dhauladhar Mountains in India's Himachal Pradesh, then visit Dharamsala, home of the Dali Lama and headquarters of the Tibetan Government in exile. Dates of that one are October 8-19. Land cost is $3,290 per person for nine to 15 participants or $3,690 for five to eight.ONCE again, Jamling Tenzing Norquay, son of the famed Sherpas who guided New Zealander Edmund Hillary up Everest, will lead a nine-day trek labelled "strenuous" in Sikkim. Schedules are April 1-15, April 15-29, October 21-November 4 and November 4-November 18. Land cost is $3,690 per person for 11 to 15 climbers or $3,890 for five to ten. Internal airfare is $525.I would have taken his father's picture at our Himalayan tented camp, except for the fact it was just after an unusually late monsoon season and the entire slope was awash and light so dim and veiled it was hopeless. See www.mtsobek.com.

Perhaps something less challenging at a lower altitude is on your agenda.>Backroads has spent almost three decades focusing on multi-sport tours. Imagine its Belize biking, canoeing, walking and snorkelling adventure along La Ruta Maya and Belize's Barrier Reef.

With some 200 islands offshore, it also offers heady doses of Mayan culture . . . especially visiting remote Caracol which was the highlight of my most recent cruise stop in Belize.ACCOMMODATIONS are definitely not roughing it. Two nights are at Hidden Valley Inn and three at Roberts Grove. Rates are $2,998 to $3,498 per person double occupancy. Internal airfare is $355. It's available from February to April and again in December; www.Backroads.comAnother of its unusual offerings not only focuses on the Tour de France, but has participants cycling sections of the route just hours ahead of the pros, then stopping to cheer them on.

For 13 years we arrived in France just after the famous event started. By the time it ended, everywhere one drove, no matter how steep the mountain road, French cyclists were there imitating their heroes. Being on the road in a car got to be a challenge.

Until one has spent time in France, one often doesn't realise the celebrity status of winning cycling competitors. Interestingly, this year's Tour de France will begin in London and you may want to ask your travel agent about some of the special hotel packages being offered in connection with the event.

How many times have you watched a documentary chronicling the race of Amundsen and Scott for the South Pole? This traveller has lost count . . . every time it appears on TV, for surB>

Quark Expeditions, long a leader in providing exciting itineraries to the most remote Arctic regions, has some especially notable adventures set for this year.

For just the third time in 125 years, scientists and explorers will come together from around the world to focus on the polar regions. Beginning this March and continuing for 24 months, the International Polar Year will undoubtedly be making headlines.

Quark's adventures are always conversation-stoppers and this year even more will focus on the North Pole. To say the itineraries capture the imagination is an understatement.

A century ago last August, Roald Amundsen completed transiting the Northwest Passage, reaching the Bering Sea and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. Much of his itinerary will be repeated in reverse from July 16 to August 3 on a 19-day voyage which twice crosses the International Dateline.

You'll sail past Point Barrow where I once stood on Barrow's bleak and unimaginably frigid beach one early autumn day wrapped mummy-like in layers of warm clothes.

Local Inuit also provided me with one of their ultra-warm, native-made parkas. As someone who skis, ice-skates and snowmobiles,Iwas used to cold.

Yet I still felt frozen to the bone as though wearing a bathing suit immersed in an ice cube in the penetrating cold.

Days later you'll see the remains of Amundsen's three-masted schooner Maud, that he sailed here in 1922-24. The route will be following the itinerary of Frobisher and the ill-fated Franklin expedition.

A photo-journalist friend of mine, Dan Guravich, was one of the first to take this challenging, much sought after route in modern times. He made a name for himself being among the earliest professionals photographing polar bears and the frozen north before his deaTHE trip begins in Anchorage, Alaska, proceeds to Providenia, Russia where you board the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. It has 54 first-class outside cabins and suites, all with private facilities. It has diesel electric engines and 24,000 total horsepower.Rates vary from $17,000 for a twin cabin to $20,000 for a suite. It includes charter air between Anchorage and Providenia and from Resolute to Ottawa. Also included are one pre-expedition overnight and the last night at Fairmont Chateau-Laurier, one of Canada's famed railroad hotels.

For the even more adventurous, there's a trip to the North Pole unlike anything most travellers have ever experienced. For starters, it's via a Russian nuclear icebreakYamal. The ship's two nuclear reactors are encased in 160 tons of steel, high-density concrete and water. With 75,000 horsepower, it can cut through ice as few ships can. There are 50 outside cabins and suites.

This exciting expedition begins in Helsinki, Finland, followed by a charter flight to Murmansk. I was told this mammoth icebreaker can crash through dense ice with force of a nine-point earthquake. That should be enough to get anyone's adrenaline racing.RATES per person on this 16-day trip for a twin cabin are $21,000 and a suite $27,000. Departures are on June 25, July 8 and July 21. You can learn more about Quark Expeditions on www.quarkexpeditions.com.Onboard, you'll obviously be surrounded by some very interesting fellow passengers. Experts along to help explain what you are seeing range from members of the Explorers Club and Antarctica Club to the National Geographic Society and Arctic Club.

Be assured not all adventure tours seek out the far corners of the earth. More this year than ever are exploring familiar North American and Canadian beauty spots in an active way. Whether cycling in Yellowstone, kayaking Vancouver Island's dramatic shoreline or hiking through beautiful Nova Scotia, there's something to fascinate any adventure-seeking traveller.

Interestingly, there's been a new trend towards the more luxurious in accommodations. While many participants are willing to rough it during the day, some are insisting on more comfortable overnights.

There's definitely still a hard-core outdoor type who prefers something rustic. Others, who perhaps never thought of doing anything that required physical exertion, are willing to try it if they don't have to unroll a sleeping bag to do it!