Vermont Sports 2024 March/April Issue

Get back to it. All of it.

A knee that works for ice hockey

Hips that works for hitting the slopes

A shoulder that works for the next Nor’easter

All of the above

Feeling better isn’t just about minimizing pain. It’s about getting back to what you love. Dartmouth Health offers the most advanced, personalized treatment plans developed by providers you can trust. Some patients may even be able to go home the same day as their surgery.

Wherever you are, Dartmouth Health’s expert orthopaedic care is there for you.

The best, where it matters most.

VERMONT SPORTS

NEW ENGLAND’S OUTDOOR MAGAZINE

PUBLISHER

ON THE COVER:

Bondurant

Angelo Lynn - publisher@vtsports.com

EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - editor@vtsports.com

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Shawn Braley

MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Nathan Endres, Dr. David Lisle, Dr. James Slauterbeck —University of Vermont Robert Larner College of Medicine; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation; Jamie Sheahan, M.S., R.D.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

David Goodman, Brian Mohr, Phyl Newbeck, Leath Tonino, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

CIRCULATION

Harris Gerner | (802) 388-4944 frontdesk@addisonindependent.com

ADVERTISING

Lisa Lynn | (802) 388-4944 lisa.lynn@vtsports.com

ADVERTISING SALES

Greg Meulemans | (802) 366-0689 greg@vtsports.com

Wilkie Bushby | (646) 831-5647 wilkie@vtskiandride.com

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VERMONT SPORTS IS A PROUD MEMBER OF

5 The Start Climate Adaptation Vermont just saw the warmest winter on record. What does that mean for spring?

6 News

The Best Ways to Watch the Eclipse Here are some of our picks for the best viewing spots, from parks to mountains.

11 Health

A New Runners’ High?

A new study may validate reports that cannabis can make exercise more enjoyable. But how does it impact performance?

14 Feature Wild Comedy

See who’s laughing at us—and with us—in outdoor sports.

16 Feature

Reviving the Triathlon

Multi-sport races are back, and embracing everything from skiing to paddling.

20 Feature

Rescues on a Rise?

New technology is making it easier to be found in the backcountry. And perhaps easier to get lost as well.

ADVERTISERS!

25 Gear

Mud Season Essentials

Waterproof trail shoes, muck boots, windbreakers and the most versatile poles ever.

27 Reader Athlete

The Pickleball Champ Meet Gurudham Singh Khalsa

30 Calendar Race & Event Guide

34 Endgame

Setting an SKT

Ready to set a Slowest Known Time?

The deadline for the May issue of Vermont Sports is April 16. Contact lisa.lynn@vtsports.com today to reserve your space.

Nick

pops The Toaster at the 2023 New Haven Ledges Race in Bristol, Vt. Photo by Lisa Lynn

Ten years ago, two friends decided that the best way to celebrate mud season was to embrace it and Rasputitsa Dirt was born. This year it’s April 20 at Jay Peak. Photo Rasputitsa/Meg McMahon

THE START CLIMATE ADAPTATION

IT WAS OFFICIALLY VERMONT’S WARMEST WINTER ON RECORD. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR SPRING?

T.S. Eliot may have nominated April as the cruelest month, but we’d like to suggest March is as well. This year, March may well be the new May. By late February, though snow still covered the mountains, shoots of ramps were already spiking in valley floors. Some sugarers saw sap from their tapped maples flow in December. Road bike season started when the temperatures hit 50 degrees regularly in February.

Vermont officially had its warmest winter on record. Meterological winter, defined as December through February, saw Burlington’s average temperature come in at 30.7 degrees. Four of the five warmest winters on record there have happened in the last 10 years.

Such a shift (and yes, we call it climate change) has broad impacts on our environment, agriculture, and our way of life. It is changing our sports as well. Skiing and snowboarding, ice fishing, skating, snowmobiling – all saw shortened seasons this year, some drastically so. On March 3 when more than 700 young skiers showed up at the Rikert Outdoor Center in Ripton for the Bill Koch Youth Ski League festival, it was only thanks to mobile snowmaking guns that there was enough snow on the race loop that snakes through the woods to hold the event.

That lack of snow stoked a hunger for backcountry skiing. And when it came, large numbers of skiers got lost trying to enjoy it. That also meant there were some unprecedented search and rescue missions, as we write about in “Rescues on the Rise?”

“I think there was just a lot of pent-up demand,” said state Search and Rescue

Coordinator, Drew Clymer. Those who did savor the goods while they lasted also noticed the snowpack at the stake on Mount Mansfield drop down to the 50-inch mark (what many view as the minimum for safe sidecountry or backcountry forays) by early March.

The one bit of good news? Historically, April has always had the highest snowpack. Winter may not yet be over, as Matthew Parilla’s graphic of snow coverage on Mount Mansfield (above) shows.

As we put together this issue, there’s always a conundrum: do we cover skiing or gravel riding? The weather could dictate either.

Fortunately, New Englanders not only know how to deal with the vagaries of the weather, but how to embrace them. This season multi-sport events that involve both skiing (fingers crossed) and paddling are back, from the Mad River Valley to the Berkshires as we write about in “Reviving the Triathlon.”

The New Haven Ledges Race is too. On April 6, it sends some of the East’s top whitewater kayakers over the falls near Bristol. With Route 117 bordering the river and its infamous Toaster drop (see cover), it’s also one of the best spectator sports in the state.

One thing is certain: we can’t change the weather (though our habits have changed our climate.) But we can laugh at it —and in this issue’s article “Wild Comedy” we bring you four people who help us keep a sense of humor. —Lisa Lynn, Editor

The Best Places to Watch the Eclipse

FAR FROM AMBIENT LIGHT AND, IF POSSIBLE, HIGH ON A HILL WILL GIVE YOU THE VIEWS OF A LIFETIME FOR THE APRIL 8 ECLIPSE.

When a total solar eclipse happened over Columbia, S.C. in 2017, a group of scientists noted some strange things at Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo. Of the 17 species of birds, mammals and reptiles they observed, 75% showed some unusual response as the moon began to block out the sun.

Eight of the 17 started their nighttime routines. Five — including baboons, gorillas and giraffes — exhibited signs of anxiety. A Komodo dragon began to move more than usual, heading for its den. Sedentary Galapagos tortoises also perked up, huddling together and repeatedly gazing up at the sky. One pair, during the eclipse’s totality, even began mating.

According to the study, published in 2020, this backs up findings noted after the 1932 solar eclipse in northern New England, which formed the most comprehensive historical study. As the authors wrote of the 1932 event; “[Animals] began participating in “nighttime” behaviors, such as returning to their nests and hives… These data strongly suggest the ability

of this event—despite its brief nature—to disrupt the circadian rhythms of a broad diversity of animals, from insects to birds and mammals.”

On April 8, 2024 at 3:26 p.m. the moon moves across the sun blocking it entirely from view across much of northern Vermont, humans will be exhibiting another kind of behavior.

Northern Vermont (drawing a line roughly from Middlebury to West Fairlee) offers prime viewing of the totality— though all of the state will see some darkness as the moon passes across the sun.

The state could see its population increase by nearly 30 percent as an estimated 200,000 visitors are expected. Hotel rooms and short term rentals are already booked. Viewing parties have been planned for months and for many events tickets have already sold out.

While it may be tempting to head for The Long Trail or one of the spur trails that lead to ridgelines, The Green Mountain Club is asking people to be mindful of mud season trail closures.

“We have to keep safety and stewardship top of mind,” said Green Mountain Club Executive Director Mike

DeBonis. “We urge visitors and locals alike to seek out eclipse viewing events in cities and towns and avoid the backcountry during this transitional time. Luckily, anywhere you can see the sun, you can see the eclipse — and flat, wide areas may provide the best view.”

So where should you go to watch?

The good news, pretty much anywhere that has an open view of the sky to the south and west should provide good viewing. Watching from a hill or mountaintop also offers a chance to see the moonshadow sweep across the landscape below.

But for the best views, look for areas where there is little ambient light from towns or cities.

THE VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAINS

Ski areas, especially those with a western and southern exposure, are among the best places to view the eclipse but keep in mind that lifts and skiing will be paused as the eclipse happens and you may need a ticket to access some of the activities. Also, be prepared for temperatures to drop by as much as 10 degrees as the sun fades.

At Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center in Goshen, the outdoor pond-side woodfired pizza oven will be going at noon and visitors are invited to set up chairs and blankets in the Outdoor Center’s field which has big views to the west.

Bolton Valley Resort, with views that extend to Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks, will be a prime viewing spot. The ski area plans to run lifts until 7 p.m. that day with a 60-90 minute pause Monday afternoon where you can either stay at the top of the lift or ski down. The ski resort will close and sweep the trails during the eclipse.

Smugglers’ Notch Resort has a weekend planned around the event with Cirque de Fuego fire performers, the Jeh Kulu drum theater and fireworks on Sunday and a Winter Eclipse Carnival (viewing glasses provided) from noon to 4 p.m. on Monday.

As the ski area most directly in the path of the eclipse, Jay Peak Resort will have the longest viewing time, with totality expected between 3:26 and 3:31 p.m. Meteorologist Christopher Kurdek will do a talk on the eclipse on Sunday, followed by a sold out concert by Pink Talking Fish. Then on Monday, skiing

The only time you can look directly at the sun is during the totality of the eclipse, a moment that will last around 3 minutes in much of northern Vermont. Here Baily’s Beads as they are called, sparkle like diamonds on a ring. Photo Adobe Stock

and snowboarding will stop at 2 p.m.

The eclipse will begin at 2:15 and Pink Talking Fish will perform Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon outdoors by the tram from 2:30 to 3:15.

Burke Mountain Resort’s Eclipse package with a viewing party, Cosmic breakfast and signature cocktails is sold out but you can still ride the lifts for the last time of the season on April 8.

PARKING AND PARKS

While it is too early in the season for state parks to be officially open, the state has designated a number of them as viewing spots and will have limited parking and some facilities such as composting toilets.

In Rutland County, south of line where you will see a total eclipse, the state parks at Lake Bomoseen, Lake St. Catherine, Lake Shaftsbury and Emerald Lake are designated spots.

In Addison County, Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore and the DAR State Park on Lake Champlain will also be open for parking.

But if you want to be sure to see the totality of the eclipse, head north.

In Charlotte, Mount Philo’s trails

will be closed for mud season but the paved road to the top will be open with spectacular views out across the Champlain Valley and Adirondacks.

WATCHING THE ECLIPSE

Near Waterbury, Little River State Park and Waterbury Center State Park on the eastern shore of the Waterbury Reservoir are good places to

While solar eclipses are visible from some point on the planet every 18 months or so, April 8 may be the only time many Vermonters will have a chance to see a total eclipse in their lifetime. Not since 1932 has a total solar eclipse been visible in Vermont and the next one won’t happen until 2106.

Be prepared by making sure you have a good viewing spot and the right gear: including warm clothes (the temperatures can drop 10 degrees), a flashlight (yes, it will get dark) and viewing glasses or lenses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard. These are 1,000 times darker than ordinary sunglasses and block harmful ultraviolet rays and radiation. There is no third-party verification, though, so you may want to stick with glasses recommended by the American Astronomical Society (https://eclipse.aas.org/ eye-safety/viewers-filters) or welding glasses with a #14 shade. While the sun’s rays are not any stronger or more harmful during an eclipse, your eyes will get more exposure to it than normal.

Start wearing the glasses at around 2:14, as the moon begins to move across the sun. At first, it will look like it is taking bites out of a cookie. Around 3:26, the moon should have completely blocked the sun. A corona of light will be visible behind it. This is the only time it is safe to remove your glasses. The length of the total eclipse will be from 2 minutes to around 3 minutes, 30 seconds farther north. During this time it will be as dark as night but flashes of light – called Baily’s beads for the astronomer who discovered them – may appear on the edges, like a diamond on a ring. Make sure glasses are on while viewing these, and as the moon continues on its path. By 3:30, the sun should begin to grow again and by 4:35 be fully visible.

view from as is Elmore State Park. Keep in mind that trails up Elmore Mountain are likely to be closed.

In the Champlain Islands, Knight Point State Park has views across the water. Bike out to the first part of the Colchester Causeway or to Niquette Bay State Park for good views as well.

Much of the Northeast Kingdom will be directly in the path of totality with nearly 3 minutes and 30 seconds of darkness at Crystal Lake State Park in Barton, or at the lakefront in Newport. There will be, of course, plenty of other viewing options. The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury will be hosting a series of events on site and meteorologist Mark Breen will be a guest on a special broadcast of Jane Lindholm’s syndicated “But Why?” radio show.

On Burlington’s waterfront, the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain and The Vermont Astronomical society will host a viewing with a variety of glasses, telescope projections and a livestream of the event as it moves across the U.S.

The town of St. Albans, which is directly in the path of the total eclipse, will host “In the Dark at St. Albans Bay Park,” with live music and food vendors.

And one of the biggest parties will be at the Burlington Sen. Patrick Leahy Airport with food trucks, music a beverage shack and games for those who get tickets ($100).

Of course, some of the strangest things about the eclipse, you can see for free if you focus on what the birds and other wildlife around you are doing. You won’t see Galapagos tortoises mating but you may witness some other strange behaviors.

Photo courtesy GreatAmericanEclipse.com

THE WORLD CHAMPION

On March 3, a day before her son’s first birthday, Vermonter Elle Purrier St. Pierre ran 8:20.87, to win the 3,000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Ivan, her son, was there watching with his father Jamie St. Pierre as his mother kicked her way across the finish line in what was a new North American record for that distance.

The field of 16 included six of the fastest women in the world. Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, the world indoor champion in the 1500 meter and the world outdoor champion in the 10,000 meters led the pack for nearly the entire race. She was followed by Beatrice Chepkoech, the world steeplechase record holder and Australia’s Jessica Hull. On the last lap, Purrier St. Pierre turned on the afterburners and flew past the three ahead of her to take the gold.

“I think having a baby has only made me stronger,” she said at the finish. Purrier St. Pierre has only raced a handful of times since giving birth. But in February at the Millrose Games in New York she broke her own record for the indoor mile, running a 4:16:41. When asked what her next goals were then she responded: “Be a World Champion… and also the Olympics.”

The Olympic Trials for track and field will be held in Eugene, Ore., this June 21-30. Four years ago, Purrier St. Pierre handily won the trials in the 1,500 – setting a course record at the time – and was 10th in the Tokyo Olympics at that distance.

After taking a year off to give birth, Purrier St. Pierre has not just jumped back into racing right where she left off, she's leaped into it with gusto.

HELP PLAN THE FUTURE OF OUTDOOR RECREATION

Should Vermont have more trails, more swimming pools, or more pickleball courts? What’s the best use of state lands? How do we make our current facilities more accessible? These are some of the questions that state agencies are asking as they work to develop a statewide outdoor recreation plan (SCORP). And they want the public to weigh in. The Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation and the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative wants to hear from you. Take a 15-minute survey, available at https://fpr.vermont.gov/move-forward-together-vermont and let the state know what you think the priorities should be for building a more sustainable future for outdoor recreation.

Elle Purrier St. Pierre winning the 2024 World Championship in the 3000 meters. Photo World Athletic

At the Woodstock Inn & Resort, creating true connection is at the heart of everything we do. We invite you to lean in. To come closer. And to feel the experience of every moment.

HEALTH

A NEW RUNNERS’ HIGH

A NEW STUDY MAY VALIDATE REPORTS THAT CANNABIS MAKES EXERCISE MORE ENJOYABLE. BUT DOES WEED IMPACT PERFORMANCE?

BY ABAGAEL GILES. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LISA LYNN

Many studies have documented the effects of a “runners’ high” but until recently, there were few laboratory tests that looked at what it meant to run or exercise while under the influence of cannabis.

In December, 2023, the journal Sports Medicine published the findings from the first known laboratory study of the effects of cannabis on exercise.

Ten years ago, Colorado became the first state in the nation to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use. As recreational use grew, users were often mixing cannabis with exercise.

So a group of researchers at the University of Colorado’ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience in Boulder set out to study the effects of “legal-market cannabis on regular users’ subjective responses to exercise in a controlled laboratory environment.

In other words, they wanted to see what impact getting high might have.

The researchers assembled 42 runners ages 21 to 39 who were regular cannabis users. They brought the runners into a lab to do baseline testing, taking heart rate and other measurements as the participants ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes.

Subjects were asked questions as they ran about how hard the workout was, how much they were enjoying themselves and what their pain levels were.

The runners were then asked to use a designated flower strain that contained mostly cannabidiol (CBD) or a Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)dominant strain. They were picked up in what researchers called a “CannaVan” – and brought to the lab to be tested again on the treadmill (this time wearing safety belts).

More than 90% of the runners reported enjoying the workout more and 69% claimed it decreased pain.

More than half the runners said it increased their focus and motivation.

However, participants also reported it made the running feel harder (THC can increase your heart rate), and only 28.6% said it improved their performance.

In fact, some of the Colorado researchers had found in a previous study (conducted remotely) that while runners said they enjoyed their runs more, they ran, on average 31 seconds per mile slower.

“The bottom-line finding is that cannabis before exercise seems to increase positive mood and enjoyment during exercise, whether you use THC or CBD. But THC products specifically may make exercise feel more effortful,” first author Laurel Gibson, a research fellow with CU’s Center for Health and Addiction: Neuroscience, Genes and Environment (CU Change), told CU Boulder Today.

CAN CANNABIS HELP?

Anecdotally, Vermont athletes have been finding similar results. “Sometimes it helps me get in the groove of a run, [and] sometimes it makes it harder,” said Prem Linskey, an ultra and endurance runner from Chittenden County.

Linskey, now 35, has finished fourth in The Endurance Society’s Infinitus 250-miler – a rugged multiday trail race through the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area. He has also raced the Catamount 50K and the Jay Peak Trail Running Festival 50K and competed in a handful of other ultra distance trail races around the state..

Linskey tries not to use cannabis during races unless he feels he needs to. For instance, after a bout with food poisoning, a few puffs from a vape pen helped him recover his appetite during the 250-miler.

Linskey takes small doses so he

doesn’t get high when he exercises. “I smoke a vape pen or use edibles. When I take CBD, I take it in capsules,” he says. He doesn’t consider it to be performance-enhancing. “It’s medicine, like I would take ginger for a stomach ache, or turmeric for inflammation.”

Another local athlete, an avid backcountry skier, uses cannabis three to four days a week. In his early forties, he describes himself as a former competitive cross-country mountain bike racer who goes on hard rides three to four days a week in the summer and ski tours just as frequently in the winter. He’s smoked pot regularly for 20 years. “I use it after I exercise, along with CBD oil for inflammation,” he says. He says he wouldn’t smoke before a race, but that 9 of the 10 people he backcountry skis with smoke cannabis when they ski tour.

One of Vermont’s top mountain bike racers, who also asked to remain anonymous, used to smoke pot before racing to calm his nerves. “I would wait and get warmed up sober to remind my muscles what we were about to do, then have a couple of hits before my race to calm my fears and focus,” he says. “I found it way easier to focus on my line, body position and what was ahead.”

When asked if he thought cannabis was a performance-enhancer, he said, “I’m not really sure it was an advantage because I think three quarters of the field was doing the same thing.”

HIGH PERFORMANCE

Recreational cannabis became legal in Vermont in 2018 and as of October 2022, it could be sold legally. Twentyfour other states have also legalized recreational use.

And in September 2023, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports recommended removing marijuana from its list of banned substances for all three collegiate divisions.

According to a 2016 study from The American Journal of Addictions, marijuana is the second most widelyused drug among athletes in the United States—after alcohol.

Some athletes, such as professional ultra-runner Avery Collins of Colorado and world-class age-group triathlete and personal trainer Clifford Drusinsky, have talked openly about using cannabis edibles to train for endurance events in interviews with Men’s Journal and The New York Times.

In a guest editorial for The LA Times, former National Football League tight end Nate Jackson wrote

in 2017: “The truth is that NFL players have been proving the viability of cannabis as a pain medication for decades,” touting it as a safer alternative to opioids in treating both chronic and short-term pain.

For better or worse, the World Anti-Doping Agency still bans the use of natural and synthetic cannabinoids in competition. The agency decided to allow CBD, the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis, in 2018.

WADA’s reasoning for banning marijuana includes cannabis’ illegal status in most countries, the potential for smoking to negatively affect respiratory, cardiac and mental health and its potential to enhance performance.

The agency’s website reads “a common misconception of marijuana is that its use impairs physical activity, including exercise performance… there are…effects that than can be

performance-enhancing for some athletes.” WADA lists the substance’s potential to reduce anxiety and muscle tension and increase focus and risktaking behaviors as performanceenhancing qualities.

There’s also evidence that runner’s high, the euphoria associated with endurance running, is caused by the same system of chemical interactions as the high from smoking or ingesting cannabis products.

In 2015, a group of German researchers discovered that mice who ran on wheels had higher levels of naturally-occurring endocannabinoids in their blood stream, which appeared to reduce their anxiety and sensation of pain.

Their study, which was published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the endocannabinoid system plays a “crucial role in runner’s high.”

THC vs. CBD

Dr. Karen Lounsbury is a professor of pharmacology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine who teaches courses on cannabis and studies the way that cells use chemicals to communicate within the body.

The two most prominent compounds in female marijuana plants are THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, and CBD, cannabidiol. The former gets you high and the latter doesn’t.

As Dr. Lounsbury explains, THC affects the body by binding to cannabinoid receptors that are located in nerve cells that regulate pain, and in cells in the brain that regulate higher processing like hunger and decision-making. When it binds to the cannabinoid receptors, it has the effect of “shutting off” pain. By the same mechanism, it also changes the way we experience hunger, nausea and executive decision making.

According to a 2006 study published by the National Institutes of Health, THC essentially functions as an off switch for pain, by mimicking the naturally occurring substance anandamide, an endocannabinoid which tells your neurons to stop telling your brain you’re in pain.

The same study found that CBD does not bind to these same receptors, and little is known about its chemical behavior within the body.

Additionally, a 1991 study in Planta Medica reported that THC has 20 times the anti-inflammatory power of aspirin and twice that of hydrocortisone. Similarly, a study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 1998 concluded that CBD is a more powerful antioxidant than vitamin C or vitamin E, and a 2006 study published found that CBD also exhibits anti-inflammatory properties.

Still, those studies are few and far between since marijuana’s status as a schedule 1 drug under federal law makes it difficult for researchers to secure funding to study it.

A 2017 review in The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport found only 15 published studies that looked at the effects of THC on exercise performance. For CBD, there are so few studies that no one knows for sure how the chemical affects the body.

“CBD doesn’t seem to bind to the cannabinoid receptors, and yet it has similar effects as THC on pain signaling and nausea,” says Dr. Lounsbury. “What gets people excited about CBD is that it seems to give you the same benefits as THC without getting you high.”

U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson winning the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Richardson lost her spot in the 2020 Olympics when THC metabolites showed up in a drug test. Photo by Alamy

Marijuana plants are cultivated for both their THC and CBD. Photo Adobe Stock.

According to Shayne Lynn, who ran some of Vermont’s first medical marijuana dispensaries, most of the people who frequented his businesses use cannabis for health reasons and didn’t want to feel stoned. “CBD could be a larger market across the board than THC,” predicted Lynn. He sees a growing market for CBD oil that does not contain THC, which athletes concerned about a drug test could use.

Another perk of CBD? Dr. Lounsbury says it seems to reduce anxiety and counteract the high created by THC. However, she cautions: “At this point, there just aren’t enough studies to say clinically that we know what it is doing in your body.”

VAPING, SMOKING OR EDIBLES?

The way you ingest cannabis also changes the way it affects your body.

“When you smoke cannabis, it gets into the brain very quickly, so that the effects of the drug in your brain set in really fast and are intense,” says Dr. Lounsbury. “If getting high is the goal, smoking is the fastest way to do it.”

Both Collins and Drusinsky reported that eating edibles before setting out on a long run helped them maintain focus and push through pain. “If your goal is to treat pain, you might be better off taking an edible because the effects will last longer, be less intense and take longer to kick in,” Dr. Lounsbury says.

Edibles also allow users to bypass smoking the plant. “To be clear, there are carcinogens in joint smoke, and there are many fewer in the vapor from vaping cannabis,” she continues. “Cannabis is volatile, so they don’t have to put additive chemicals in the cartridges like they do for nicotine.”

A 2014 review of studies about cannabis and health risks published in Current Pharmaceutical Design states that there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that cannabis is carcinogenic when smoked. However, “all the right pieces are there to suggest that if you smoked enough, it could contribute to you being at a higher risk for cancer,” says Dr. Lounsbury.

A 2014 study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research found that vapor from certain e-cigarettes contains formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. No comparably conclusive study has been carried out with the cartridges associated with cannabis vaping.

Lynn, who is not a medical professional, said that his staff recommend that those looking to try cannabis should start with small doses, whether experimenting with CBD or

with THC. He and Dr. Lounsbury both warned that taking too much of the substances can cause the drug to have the opposite of its intended effect. Too much THC can make a person anxious, and it seems that large doses of CBD can be less effective at treating pain than smaller doses.

MEMORY LOSS, ADDICTION AND WHAT OTHER RISKS?

Cannabis appears to be less addictive than alcohol. However, according to a study published in the medical journal Lancet in 2009, one in six people who start using marijuana as teenagers will become addicted, as opposed to about one in ten who start using as adults. The same study reported that 25 to 50 percent of people (adult or otherwise) who use marijuana daily will become addicted.

A study published in 2014 in The New England Journal of Medicine drove this home: “There is… a bona fide cannabis withdrawal syndrome (with symptoms that include irritability, sleeping difficulties, dysphoria, craving and anxiety) which makes cessation difficult,” wrote the authors, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

However, unlike withdrawal from alcohol or other drugs, withdrawal from cannabis won’t kill you.

Since doctors don’t prescribe cannabis, they don’t have the chance to cater dosage to a patient’s metabolism and other drug regimen like they would any other prescription drug. “In high doses, THC and CBD do have the potential to interact with other drugs, and the research isn’t there yet to know for certain what that would look like,” Dr. Lounsbury warns.

All parties interviewed said kids and adolescents should not be smoking or ingesting pot. A 2012 study from Brain: A Journal of Neurology found that adults who smoked marijuana regularly during adolescence (up to age 21) had fewer axonal fibers, structures that facilitate communication between different parts of the brain, than nonpot-smokers.

The areas of the brain that were most affected were those responsible for tasks that require alertness, selfawareness, memory, learning and inhibition. The study said it is possible that the damage could be reversed once a person stops using cannabis, but that further research is needed to determine if this is the case.

According to Dr. Lounsbury and a 1975 study published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, THC has also been proven to suppress a person’s rapid eye-movement, or deep sleep cycle. “It makes you sleepy, which is great if you’re an athlete, but you don’t actually get a full night’s sleep,” she said. It also inhibits dreaming.

And if you’re worried about a drug test, keep in mind THC typically stays in the brain for about a half hour to an hour when smoked, and two to four hours when ingested.

At that point, the liver starts to metabolize it with special cannabinoideating enzymes. A standard drug test that uses urine or a blood sample tests for the presence of those enzymes. A standard anti-doping drug test will not detect CBD.

However, there is no strict rule about how long cannabis stays in the body. “For someone who has smoked once in a month or a week, it will probably leave the body in a couple of days,” she says. “If you’re a regular user? Like every day? That metabolite starts to build up and it could take up to two weeks to leave your system.”

So if you’re planning on going pro, you might think twice before lighting up.

Studies have shown that THC has as much as 20 times the antiinflammatory power as aspirin and that CBD is a more powerful antioxidant than vitamin C or vitamin E. Photo Adobe Stock

WILD COMEDY

SOME PEOPLE GET OVERLY SERIOUS ABOUT THEIR OUTDOOR SPORTS.

FOR THESE FOUR NEW ENGLANDERS IT'S ALL IN GOOD FUN.

Aformer Olympic mogul skier. A data analyst with an MBA from Harvard Business school. A middle school science teacher. A ski coach and former UVM ski racer. What all of these people have in common is not just expertise in their respective sports. but, more importantly, an innate ability to make fun of themselves. Check out the four New Englanders who have created some of the funniest content and commentary on outdoor sports and what they are up to now.

Name: Matt “Schmutz” Lyons

A.k.a.: Vertex, Macchiato, Caviar Instagram: @mattslyon

Other careers: Middle school science teacher, camp counselor and outdoor educator

Alma mater: Roger Williams University Lives in: Boston “but frequently in Vermont”

Where you might find Schmutz: Snowboarding at Okemo or hiking the Appalachian Trail

Hey, what’s up? My name is Clavicle,” Matt Lyons says earnestly in “Every Person who Rides a Mountain Bike,” one of the videos he posts to multiple social media channels. “You know it’s an expensive hobby when the bike on the roof rack costs more than the car… Those people who say money can’t buy happiness? They clearly have never full sent it down a chute with the boys…If I see another rig with a bike on it, I’m gonna make that car pull over and we’re going to talk about tires for two hours.”

Clavicle is just one name. There’s “Champlain,” in “Your New Roommate

at University of Vermont” who says “My senior motto was Reduce, Reuse, Recycle which I think sealed the deal on my acceptance.”

Lyons delivers most of his monologues with the sincere intensity of a dude totally grounded in the outdoors and a bro who is the master of his microenvironment – be that Every Person Who Cold Plunges or Every Person Who Only Skis the East Coast.

For most of his topics, Lyons comes across as hilariously legit as he nails the foibles and passions of those who are slightly obsessive/compulsive about their outdoor sports. “I think it’s funny because

everyone knows someone like that. I don’t have to reach a wide audience but if just a few people watch these and send it to someone they think that skit embodies, it tends to spread pretty quickly.”

One of the reasons Lyons comes across as legit is that he is: “It all started when I was thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2019 and I started making a compilation video,” he said. He’s since hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Then in 2020 as Covid set in, he began posting to TikTok. While some of his early posts were instructional and serious, he noticed that his send ups of people who live in sports towns (see "Every Person Who Moves to Burlington") went viral.

Most of the material he knows inherently or picks up quickly. “My girlfriend went to UVM so I know Burlington. I taught at a camp in New Hampshire for a while and I spend a lot of time in Vermont,” he says. However, sometimes if a sport is new to him, he has to do research.

The one thing he vows not to do, though? “Even though I taught school for many years, I can’t do stand-up in front of a crowd.” So for now, follow him on social media.

Maine's finest athlete, Donny Pelletier sending it. The former Olympic mogul skier who also goes by the name Troy Murphy is one of the funniest people on skis.

Name: Colton Hardy

A.k.a: Jerry, Chief Executive Jerry

Instagram: @JerryoftheDay

Other careers: account executive, ski coach

Alma mater: University of Vermont

Lives in: Burlington

Where you might find Jerry: Skiing Mad River Glen

As a ski racer at Burke Mountain Academy, Ian Macomber was taught many of the same things about skiing gates that propelled Mikaela Shiffrin. But it was the gates he missed that have earned him his biggest following in the ski racing world. After posting a video of his own ski crash with a self-deprecating commentary, Macomber began to get dozens of videos from others of their crashes. He started Slalom Tokyo Drift as a way to capture “the best and the worst of ski racing,” a nod to the 2006 film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

STD, as it goes by, has earned a following of 170,000 on Instagram and is a favorite among pro racers. It famously earned Macomber a gondola date with Swiss racer Lara Gut-Bahrami during an early Killington World Cup.

With an MBA from Harvard Business School and a role as head of analytics engineering at the financial platform

Name: Troy Murphy

A.k.a: Donny Pelletier, Maine’s Finest

Athlete

Instagram: @DonnyPelletier207

Other careers: financial analyst, sales, board member of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, pro skier.

Alma mater: University of Utah

Lives in: San Francisco, CA; Bethel Maine

Where you might find Donny: Ripping bumps at Sunday River, Me.

Inever really had a plan from the beginning,” says Colton Hardy, whose LinkedIn profile proudly states he is the Chief Executive Jerry, @Jerryofthe Day. The website and line of clothing started off as a joke. Hardy was ski racing for the University of Vermont’s alpine team when teammate Tim Kelley (of the Cochran-Kelly ski racing dynasty) brought four pairs of boots to test one day but forgot his shin guards.

Hardy took a photo and uploaded it to Facebook with the caption “Jerry of the Day.” That was in 2012. Since then, Hardy and now with his wife and business partner Lindsay, has made a practice of uploading anything that strikes them as goofy (football jerseys on the slopes, fur and most anything with an animal print), reckless, inept, or simply funny to jerryoftheday.net and its social media. Usually, it’s with a killer caption as a punchline.

There are photos of people in onepiece ski suits with goggles on upside

down, videos of skiers crashing into liftlines at high speed, an avalanche pack exploding in a gondola car full of German skiers and plenty of big sends… that don’t quite make it as a skier planned.

One of the most popular videos this year was captioned “The battle of Jerrysburg #SavingPrivateJerry.”

“It’s a POV video of someone snowboarding down a crowded slope on a deep powder day and it literally looks like a battlefield. People are stuck every 10 feet, digging themselves out of powder trenches and reaching for a savior,” says Hardy.

@JerryoftheDay now has 2.1 million followers on Instagram and Hardy gets nearly 300 to 420 submissions a week that he pores over, waiting for the right caption to come to mind.

Early on, Hardy started selling t-shirts with the motto Respect the Send. That’s morphed into a whole line of ironically goofy gear. “It’s joke gear that you would get as a gift,” says Hardy—things like a

RAMP in New York City, Macomber isn’t trying to make a career off STD. In fact, he turned it into a non-profit and donates to the Kelly Brush Foundation, which helps provide safety netting and other gear to ski races.

While most of STD’s images are

With a Maine accent as thick as the fog in Bah Hahbah, a red plaid jacket, jeans and straight skis, Donny Pelletier has become a poster child for the Downeast Skier. His videos show him flailing down bump runs, wildly out of control, legs splayed, sitting so far back he could be a dragging taillight. It’s a type of skiing that only a seasoned pro – or a guy who has his orthopedic surgeon on speed dial—could master.

Pelletier, of course, is the former. Troy Murphy (Pelletier’s real name.) He grew

purple fanny pack with skiers all over it, a sweatshirt designed to look like an ugly Christmas sweater and Send-o-Vision mirror glasses. “It’s almost become this meta thing: people are ordering things like the Send-o-Vision glasses, then wearing them in photos and videos and doing something stupid just so they can be featured as Jerry of the Day.” He’s shipped orders as far as Azerbaijan.

Behind all of this funny business, Hardy has managed to make enough to create a full-time job for himself and Lindsay, who helped design the first t-shirts. A team of designers now churns out more than 40 items.

What’s Jerry’s secret to success?

“I think one of the main things that makes JOTD funny is how relatable it is since we’ve all been there – everybody messes up. And if you haven’t I highly recommend trying it out! “ says Hardy. “Skiing is very gear heavy, so there are plenty of opportunities to get something completely backwards."

Name: Ian Macomber

A.k.a: Slalom Tokyo Drifter

Instagram: @Slalom Tokyo Drift

Other careers: Data scientist, alpine ski racing coach

Alma mater: Dartmouth

Lives in: Boston, Ma.

Where you might find

Macomber: At the Kelly Brush Ride in Middlebury.

“agony of defeat” worthy and the captions often hilarious, there’s a serious side that came out after Norwegian Alexander Aamodt Kilde’s season-ending crash at a World Cup downhill in Wengen.

Macomber wrote: “At @ slalomtokyodrift, we share videos of ski

up competing in moguls and went to Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine before joining the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team. In 2014, Murphy started competing on the World Cup in moguls. In 2015 he won the national championships and in 2018 Murphy competed in the Olympics. After retiring from competition, he’s served as an athlete ambassador for Protect Our Winters and a board member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

Now 31, Murphy is working in San Francisco as a financial analyst at

racing crashes not to make light of these incidents but to highlight an inherent aspect of the sport. The skill, the speed, the danger, and the adrenaline are what make ski racing exhilarating, yet they also bring risks that every racer bravely faces. These moments are not about failure or ridicule, they are about the shared respect for the courage and commitment of ski racers.”

Yes, but sometimes laughter is also the best medicine.

Goldman Sachs, which is why you might see him at Palisades Tahoe “puttin the absolute screws ta sum guy with a midair pass like Bubba Stewart.” Translation: flailing down a mogul run and then throwing a fully extended back flip over a kicker, passing another skier mid-air.

But Murphy still comes home to Maine. On March 29-31 he’ll serve as the Bust N’ Burn Master of Ceremonies (or “Master of friggin’ point-em,”) on the slopes where he learned his craft: Sunday River’s White Heat bump run.

Reviving the

TRIATHLON

WHETHER IT’S A RUN-PADDLE-BIKE-SKI OR A MORE CLASSIC, SWIM-BIKE-RUN, LOCAL MULTI-SPORT RACES ARE BUCKING TRIATHLON’S TRENDS. BY

LISA LYNN

Misha Golfman remembers his first Mad River Triathlon well. It was in 2000. He had emigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union just a decade earlier. “It was my first time in the Mad River Valley and I came over the Roxbury Gap on this beautiful April morning. I remember stopping at the top of the gap with my boys and looking out over the valley and thinking “Wow, this is really beautiful.”

Golfman, the outdoor educator who founded Kroka Expeditions in southern Vermont, came with two of his sons. “Miron was maybe in 8th grade at the time and he and I paddled. His brother Peter ran, then Miron biked and then Peter was supposed to do the ski portion but there was no snow so instead racers had to run up these muddy slopes on the Inverness trail at Mount Ellen and then run back down.”

“It was just so much fun,” Golfman continues. “I remember the guy who won the whole thing

was running barefoot and wearing a skirt.” The Golfmans won the family division.

Flash forward two decades: In 2023, Miron Golfman, now 30, won the Alaska Iditarod on a fat bike, and won the Super 8 gravel endurance gravel ride in Vermont. “I think that early Mad River Triathlon probably had something to do with what Miron is doing now,” his father says with a laugh.

Two years ago, Misha Golfman and his wife Lynne sold Kroka, the educational organization that took high school students on semesterlong human powered expeditions such as one that circumnavigated Vermont by skiing the length of the Catamount Trail, rowing the length of Lake Champlain and then biking back to Kroka’s base near Brattleboro. Students camped along the way and learned to be selfsufficient.

Not long after, the couple moved to the Mad River Valley. Golfman became the executive director of

the Mad River Path, a communitysupported organization whose mission is to build, maintain, and conserve a system of continuous public pathways and trails connecting Warren, Waitsfield, Fayston, and Moretown.

“The first thing I asked was ‘What happened to the Mad River Triathlon?

The race which began life in 1979 as the Tucker Hill Triathlon, went through a few iterations but by 2014 it had fizzled out. This year, thanks to Golfman, and a collaboration of groups including the Mad River Path, Mad River Riders, Friends of the Mad River, Mad Valley Sports, Sugarbush and volunteers, the race is back.

“Triathlon” is a bit of a misnomer here – as is true for many other events that go by that name. There are actually four legs: Run, paddle, bike, ski.

Individuals and teams of racers start out with a 5-mile run from the Warren School to the Lareau

Swimming Hole, just across from American Flatbread. Then it’s a 6-mile paddle downriver (on anything that floats, Golfman notes) through Class I and Class II rapids to Meadow Road. From there, cyclists ride 10 miles of gravel, singletrack and pavement up to the base of Mount Ellen. The final leg involves skiing up Mount Ellen and then skiing down to the finish.

MODERN “PENTATHLONS”

Multi-sport challenges have been a mainstay of mountain town culture for decades. In places where it’s not unusual to see roof racks piled high with kayaks, bikes and skis –all on the same day, the chance to compete in several sports in one race or to form a team and traverse the landscape, has a unique appeal.

One of the most famous has been the Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon. The name “Inferno” was a nod to the American Inferno, a top-to-bottom ski race on Mount Washington made famous by Toni Matt’s 1939 schuss

Skiers compete in the Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon. The race was put on hold for 2024 but will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. Skiers needn't worry though: two other April 2024 races, the Mad River Triathlon and the Berkshire Pentathlon, have ski legs planned. Courtesy photo. ,

down the headwall. In 2001 “Son of Inferno” was born and has been run every year since, as a five-event adventure relay race.

Initially, the race consisted of run, kayak, bike, hike, and ski legs, finishing with a giant slalom course on Mount Washington. After a one-year break during the COVID-19 pandemic, the race returned in 2021 as a winter pentathlon with fat bike, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, a mountain run, and ski mountaineering legs.

But in 2024 it will be paused so it can return for its 25th anniversary in 2025. That may be a very different event, though. Jacob Risch, a mountain guide and race director noted in a release: “We are working to align the next iteration of the Tuckerman Inferno closer with the original concept of an Inferno, an extended ski race from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley floor below.”

Risch continues: “We will pay homage to its namesakes - the historic American Inferno of the 1930s and the original ongoing Murren Inferno in Switzerland started in 1928, while retaining the fun, multi-sport, teambased relay format that has made the Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon so special for almost 25 years.” The race has been a fundraiser for the Mount Washington Avalanche Center Foundation.

Western Massachusetts has had its version of an Inferno as well: the Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon sends individuals (those competing as the ‘I-did-the-whole-thing’ Highlander Bravehearts) or Tam-o-Shanter teams of two to four, on a course around Charlemont.

The race starts with a 4.3-mile run, followed by an 18-mile bike, then two miles of largely Class I paddling. Then there’s an “adventure” run that includes some obstacles and ends at the base of Berkshire East. The final leg involves skinning up the mountain and skiing down through gates to the finish.

SWIM, BIKE, RUN.

In 1978 the first Hawaii Ironman was held, now perhaps the most famous of all multi-sport races. Put on by a couple of local athletes, it was based on three races: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Around Oahu bike race, and the Honolulu Marathon. The first event attracted 15 participants. After that, the sport of triathlon grew fast, reaching 4.1 million participants in 2015. In 2000, it became an Olympic sport.

“I was a body builder working out in a gym in San Diego in the early 1980s

and remember watching this super fit guy come in and ride a stationary bike and then run his heart out,” recalls Steve Hare, who owns the Vermont Sun fitness center in Middlebury and puts on an annual series of triathlons on Lake Dunmore. “I told him that if he put that energy into lifting he’d be huge. He said ‘yeah, but this is so much better for you.’ And that’s when I started training for triathlons, right then,” says Hare.

“The beauty of triathlons is that the sport literally involves training every single muscle in your body. Swimming works your whole core and your upper body. Cycling builds your quads and glutes and running, the hamstrings and, of course the rest of your body. And it’s an aerobic workout. It seemed perfect for me.”

After moving to Vermont, Hare launched his own triathlon – the first was a paddle, bike, run that he organized out of Camp Keewaydn on Lake Dunmore in 1986. “I wasn’t a very good swimmer back then,” he admits. Nearly 200 people showed up for that first race.

In the years since, he’s launched a summer triathlon series, held over three weekends (June, July, August) with a variety of distances and options for swimming or paddling.

“I’d say nearly 70 percent of our racers are newbies –people who just want to challenge themselves and have a good time,” Hare says. Still, the June 23 Olympic distance (.9 mile swim, 28-mile bike and 6.2 mile run) event is the state championship and winners

qualify for the national championship.

However, not there are few triathlons remaining in the state, among them Hare’s event, the July 4 Great Race in St. Albans (a run, paddle, bike event) and the informal Lake Elmore triathlon practice series that national age group champion and tri coach Donna Smyers has put on. The triathlon race put on by the Colchester Recreation Department for many years has disappeared.

“It’s harder and harder to run these races,” Hare says. “It used to be that I would call up the director of Branbury State Park and tell him the dates and he’d say ‘Great!.’ Now, I need four permits.” Insurance is one of the reasons that Hare has made his races USATF-sanctioned events.

Photos from the early days of the Mad River Triathlon show paddlers putting in, skiers waiting for their relay and racers at the finish. Photos by Bob Kogut.

Since 2015, triathlons nationwide have seen a decline. In 2014, there were 4,300 events in the U.S. By 2019, that had dropped to 3,500 and to 3,100 in 2022. “There’s gravel racing and OCR events and pickleball and so much competition now,” Hare notes.

And triathlons may have hurt themselves. Big events such as the Ironman became sold-out corporate money-makers, with entry fees ranging between $650 and $1000. Even amateur racers were often shelling out upwards of $10,000 for tri bikes, aero wheels, coaches and triathlon-specific helmets, wetsuits and bike kits. A recent State of the Sport survey showed that nationwide triathletes spend an average of $5467 on their sport and plan to do four races

each season. More than one in five have a coach at an average cost of $203 a month.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. At Hare’s events, many of the swimmers have only their regular swimsuit and a swim cap. They bike in running shoes and t-shirts. Finishing is the ultimate goal.

One of the oldest ongoing triathlons in the nation, the Josh Billings Runaground Triathlon – a bikepaddle-run event – was launched 47 years ago in Western Massachusetts’ Berkshires. .

As the events website recounts, “The first race, and for several more years, was won by Steve Blazejewski of Berkshire Outfitters with his paddle partner Paul Dyka, a kayak champion.

Steve was a big whitewater racer but with no experience with flatwater. His teammates were Bill Farrel (bike) and Mark Sisson (run). The second year a couple of National Canoe champions showed up, Tingley and Osborne. On the second lap Steve and Paul passed them and won their second race.”

The race is one of the biggest in the region and has seen as many as 500 teams enter. In 2022, there were nearly 300 teams (comprised of one to four people) with names such as the Vermont Vixens, Dad Bod Trio and DOOM Squad. “This is a great race for families and I’m really excited to see this grow and to bring in younger racers,” says Abby Chaput, 26 ,who took over as race director last year.

The 2023 event was cancelled due

to severe thunderstorms. But the date is set for the 2024 race. On Sept. 14, racers (both elite athletes and weekend warriors) head out on a 27-mile bike, then paddle a 5-mile sprint on Stockbridge’s Lake Mahkeenac before finishing with 6.4-mile run.

A fundraiser for the Berkshire United Way, the Josh (as everyone calls it) seems to live up to the person it was named for. Josh Billings was the pen name of a humorist named Henry Wheeler Shaw who was born in Lanesboro, Ma., 1812. At the time, he was as well known as Mark Twain for his one-liners and aphorisms. One was “the rarest thing a man ever duz iz the best he can,” and, another —appropriately for this and other triathlons— “To finish is to win.”

At the Vermont Sun triathlon summer series, swimmers head for the first buoy on Lake Dunmroe, then bike around the lake and return to the base at Branbury State Park for the run. . Photo by Pat Hendricks

RESCUES ON A RISE?

TECHNOLOGY MAY HAVE MADE EXPLORING THE BACKCOUNTRY SAFER, BUT IS IT ALSO LEADING TO MORE RESCUES?

BY LISA LYNN

It was after dark on Tuesday, February 20, as Jon Wehse, Chief of Stowe Mountain Rescue, and his team began navigating their way through a mess of krummholz, snow-crusted boulders and icy cliffs that spill from the ridgeline of Mount Mansfield toward the trails of Stowe Mountain Resort.

They found themselves postholing

in the snow and using crampons and ice axes to scale a 25-foot face. Many took a turn falling into pockets of snow that had filled in the gaps between boulders. “We knew we were in a dangerous terrain area when we started having to pull each other out,” Wehse said.

Around 5 p.m., Drew Clymer, the Deputy Chief of Stowe Mountain Rescue

(SMR) who also serves as the statewide Search and Rescue Coordinator, had notified SMR that a skier was missing, and they should prepare to stage a rescue.

“We often get these calls between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.,” Wehse said. “A lot of the time, we find the ‘missing’ skier at a bar like the Matterhorn.”

This time was different. The Stowe

police found the skier’s car still parked at the base of the Mount Mansfield ski trails. But figuring out just where to look for him on the mountain wasn’t that easy. “Normally, you can pinpoint a person’s location by triangulating between three cell towers to find where their cell phone signal was last used,” Wehse noted.

But with just one cell tower on

Mount Mansfield, the signal was less of a pinpoint and more of a long straight line. It suggested the skier could be anywhere along the continuum and most likely in a wooded area accessed off Stowe’s gondola. “That was the first place we thought to look,” Wehse said. But when the team checked in with Stowe Mountain Resort they learned the skier’s Epic Pass

was last scanned at the base of the Four Runner Quad, not the gondola. This put the area off the gondola as a mis-cue.

The team then learned that a family member had pinged the skier’s phone at 2:30, noting his location. When they had pinged him again at 4:30, he was in the same location, prompting them to make the call for help.

That location was where Wehse and his team of volunteers were headed that night, following ski tracks in the snow that lead off the ridgeline and then down into a maze of tight trees, cliffs and loose boulders, an area locals know as The Rock Garden.

“Rock Garden refers to the area on the Kitchen Wall where many rocks have

tumbled from the cliffs above, forming a massive boulder field. This area fills in better than you would expect, making for an incredible playground by mid-winter. The area is filled with cliffs, pillow lines and chutes. There are endless ways to hit it and you can go as big as you want,” one website write-up states.

On Feb. 20, Stowe Mountain Rescue began searching for a missing skier in a section of Mount Mansfield known as the Rock Garden.

Photo courtesy Stowe Mountain Rescue

After giving detailed directions to the area, the authors also give it a 3 out of 4 for both ‘Exposure’ and ‘Remoteness,’ with a sidebar warning:

“In case of a fall, death is highly likely” and “Little chance of being seen or helped in the case of an accident.”

“That type of write-up is not helpful,” said Wehse, adding that such descriptions often lure ‘wannabes’ in over their head. “It’s also sort of a silly place to ski. Locals know that for the same amount of hiking or skinning there are far better and far safer routes to ski.”

David Goodman, author of The Best Backcountry Routes in Vermont, knows the this well. “That area is very confusing and disorienting and some of the most technical terrain in Vermont,” he said. “I have been lost in that area, I have been scared in that area. My ski partner was caught upside down. I don’t know how someone would even end up there by themselves unless they were following a Strava route or looking for something they saw on Instagram.”

Goodman recognizes the temptations that social media can induce. “I was recently giving a talk at the Mount Washington and Backcountry Ski Festival and I asked my group how many of them follow a certain skier on Instagram. He’s an incredibly strong and experienced

mountaineer who probably skis the mountain 100 times a year and posts gorgeous video of himself doing so. They all nodded. Then I said, ‘Well, remember this: you’re not him.’”

Brooks Ralph, 27, was a former Ivy League rower with a 4.0 GPA who helped his Columbia University crew team compete at the IRA National Championships. He was also an experienced skier. In high school, Ralph

had raced at Canada’s Junior Nationals and earned FIS points in two other slalom races in 2014. He was working in New York City in finance when he took a midwinter break to ski Stowe.

As the night wore on, the search and rescue team reached the Rock Garden just above the location point provided by the family. “We found several sets of ski tracks and started working downhill. I tumbled, and then bumped into his skis,” Wehse said, noting that

they were less than 90 mm underfoot, not the wider or fat skis that most backcountry skiers use. “From their position, it appeared that the skier had double-ejected,” Wehse said.

Out west thick “pillows” form like mushroom caps over boulders, often providing a cushion of snow over rocks, making it relatively safe to “go as big as you want” in untracked snow that has not been compacted.

In Vermont, those conditions are rare. And though there had been a new snowfall, in a season pocked by rainstorms and a snow depth below average, what might in an extraordinary year be a soft pillow of snow was as likely to be a schmear of cream cheese over granite.

As a helicopter from the Air National Guard arrived, shining a spotlight on the Rock Garden to help illuminate the area, the searchers came upon Ralph. The 27-year-old banker from Cold Spring, New York was buried in the snow and had no pulse. Wehse did not want to speculate on the cause of death.

It fell on Clymer to speak with Ralph’s family, but the entire Stowe Mountain Rescue crew was shaken. “We know now these are things we have to work through and we have a system of checking in with each other and mental health professionals who

Stowe Mountain Rescue's Jon Wehse and Drew Clymer, training at Bolton Dome. The team had to use ice axes, ropes and climbing skills to reach the spot on Mt. Mansfield where a skier's body was found on Feb. 20 (bottom). Photo courtesy Stowe Mountain Rescue

can help us,” Wehse said.

Still, he was mad. “I was so mad I wrote a letter to myself just to help process this. I was mad because here was this young guy who had such a bright future ahead of him and it didn’t have to end this way,” Wehse said a week later, shaking his head quietly as he sat at Stowe Mountain Rescue headquarters in the village. “He broke the one cardinal rule: never ski the backcountry or sidecountry alone.”

Technology

may have been what helped Stowe Mountain Rescue find Brooks Ralph but it is, in part, what Wehse and many others partly blame for the rise in lost skiers and rescues in recent years.

“It used to be that if you went off trail, you were a backcountry skier— you had the gear, knew the risks and you were prepared,” said Clymer. “We rarely have to rescue hunters because they know the woods, they know how to read terrain and navigate with a map.” Today, sidecountry skiers often follow someone else’s tracks out of bounds or track a Strava route or attempt to find a stash they saw posted on Instagram.

It has been a busy season for Clymer and for rescue teams around the state. On January 20, just a month before Ralph’s accident, 23 skiers were reported lost on the backside of Killington Mountain in one day. “All the press was about the 23 who were found on Saturday. Keep in mind that they didn’t all start out together – there were three or four different groups of them,” Clymer said in an interview with VT Ski + Ride.

“We were lucky that most of them ended up in the same place, an area called Brewers Brook that’s 2.5 miles from the nearest road. But what most people don’t know is that on Friday of that week, in the same area, we had 15 people lost! On Thursday we had five. I don’t think we had any on Wednesday, but we had maybe four on Tuesday and two on Monday. So do the math –and that’s just one week! Then I had a couple of calls from lost skiers at other ski resorts amidst of all that.”

That group of skiers, which included some children who were as young as 5 years old, were lucky in that they had cell phone coverage and were able to call for help – never a given in the hills and hollows of Vermont. “These were sidecountry, not backcountry skiers,” Clymer emphasized. “They didn’t have skins for their skis, backpacks, safety gear or maps. They were resort skiers who skied out of bounds, ducked a rope and kept going. “

The reason so many skiers get lost

off the back side of Killington is, as Clymer notes: “It’s easy. You don’t have to hike or skin to get to someplace that looks good. The barriers to entry are low.” Yet the Killington backcountry, unlike Stowe’s, does not spill out onto other trails or a highway but into a vast roadless area. The 23 skiers were found by Dave Coppock and Joel Blumenthal, two very experienced backcountry skiers and former members of Killington Search and Rescue and now affiliated with Rescue Inc. It took more than two hours to guide the group out of the woods.

It didn’t used to be that easy. “Back in the day, if you skied off piste, you were most likely a teleskier. You knew how to make turns in deep snow, you had skins, and you had some training in backcountry conditions and safety,” said Wehse. “There was a backcountry ethic that you learned.”

That ethic was there to protect you as well as others. “For instance, you never ski before a snowpack of at least 45 inches has built up at the stake on Mount Mansfield,” Wehse said. “The problem now is we have so many skiers going in early, before that snowpack has been built up and solidified and now, suddenly, while there may be 45

inches at the stake, there’s only 5 inches of fresh on top of 4 inches of compacted snow lower on the mountain,” he said.

Another problem has been that as winters warm, the snowpack has become even more variable depending on elevation. “I can’t tell you how many times now we hike up the Notch road in the early season and pull out skiers and riders who have broken a leg – or even dislocated a hip in one instance — because when they started out up high, everything was covered but as they skied down, they didn’t realize there was just a thin layer of snow hiding stumps and fallen trees.”

Part of the ethic is also knowing the limitations of your party and skiing to the ability and strength of the weakest skier, not heading out late in the day, carrying food, water and extra gear, and always skiing with a buddy, or ideally, a group of three and not encouraging others. “Back then, often, you hired a guide or went with someone who could teach you how to navigate the terrain and watch for signs of things like avalanches, tree wells and stream beds,” Wehse said.

Yet, as Wehse also acknowledges, “Statistically speaking, the people who are most likely to get caught in an avalanche are people who have Level 1

avalanche training.”

In November 2023, Dominic Torro, a mountaineering and ski guide in New Hampshire’s White Mountains posted a video to Instagram of him skiing Mount Washington. “Skied a top to bottom run of breakable crust today. Things are starting to fill in up high. Definitely wouldn’t recommend taking the skis for a walk quite yet,” it read. Yet there was the video he just posted to his followers of him doing just that. There was an ironic dissonance between his message and the imagery he posted.

A few weeks later, on December 12, Torro was skiing Mount Washington’s Airplane Gully when an avalanche swept him down the steep chute. Friends who were behind and filming his descent saw it happen and called for help. Torro stayed above the snow but his injuries were bad enough that he had to be airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock hospital in Lebanon, N.H. As of late February, he was recovering from his fifth surgery, a bone graft to repair the tibia that shattered in the slide.

Torro was lucky. Ian Forgays, one of Vermont’s most experienced backcountry skiers was less so. On Jan. 21, 2021, Forgays went to the Whites to ski by himself. Forgays, who was known to friends as Lincoln Lynx for

A group of 24 skiers had to be guided out of the bacckountry after skiing off the backside of Killington in freezing temperatures in mid-January Photo courtesy Killington Police Department.

the stealthy way he moved solo through the backcountry near his home in Lincoln, was not one to post much on social media. But before dropping off the ridgeline, he sent selfies to some of his friends. Two days later, his body was found buried beneath 13 feet of avalanche debris in Ammonoosuc Ravine. His was the 17th death recorded on that mountain.

Ralph’s accident was the third death in the Stowe sidecountry in the past six years. In 2020, two brothers from Connecticut ventured off the top of the lifts at Stowe’s Spruce Peak looking for some widely touted backcountry terrain. In the previous few days, more than 35 inches of snow had fallen. Though the brothers had a topo map and were experienced skiers, the pair lost their way. At 5:30 pm one brother called a friend and said they were having trouble finding their way out. They ended up at the top of a 220-foot cliff above the Notch Road. One brother went to the edge to peer over, slipped and slid to his death. The other was rescued by a climbing team that was called in from the U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School which operates out of Jericho and trains on the cliffs of the Notch.

In 2017, a snowboarder from Massachusetts was found not far from the area that Ralph had skied. He had been skiing with friends, but they lost each other in the woods. It wasn’t until the friends reunited at the base that they realized their buddy was missing. He had augured headfirst into 8 feet of soft snow that filled a narrow streambed.

“That kid had struggled to free himself,” Wehse remembers. “If there had been someone around who had seen him go in, he might be here today,” he said with a sigh.

Thecliffs and to use ropes to safely lower a litter. It was part of the training they do regularly to ensure they are prepared when the call comes.

Clymer has also realized that a team’s chances of executing successful rescue can be improved by educating people who need rescuing. In the past year, he’s developed a presentation titled “Ready to Rescue.”

“One of the most important safety tools you can carry with you now is your phone. Before you go out, open up your compass app and turn on your “Precise Location” services. And the minute –and I mean the minute – you think you may be lost or in trouble is the time to call for help. Often if we get that call, we can look up where you are on our map and guide you out by talking with you or, if not, tell you to stay put and how to keep warm and help make the rescue easier.”

However, as he also notes a phone is not something you should rely on. “Never trust your life to something with a battery. It doesn’t eliminate the need for the basics.”

Clymer also recommends letting someone know what your plans are: where your car is parked, what trail you plan to use, what time you are leaving and when you plan to be back. “You should also let them know what to do if you are late.”

Should you make that call for help, be calm, and prepared to relay the information rescuers will need: your full name, date of birth, how many people in your party, your battery percentage and your location to the best of your knowledge.

“We’ll also want to know what condition each member of your party is in, if someone has an injury, and if you have food, extra clothing and a headlamp because it can take four hours or more for a team to reach you,” he said.

end of the ski season, when the snowpack has built up and stabilized, is often the safest for backcountry skiing. Yet as Wehse notes, the conditions this spring could be quite different.

“We’ve had so many rain events that many of the streams never froze over. You could be skiing along on what looks like flat terrain that’s covered in snow and then fall through where a stream has carved a tunnel beneath the snow.” It’s also a time when skiing Mount Washington and other high terrain becomes popular.

A week after Ralph’s accident, Wehse, Clymer and the team of Stowe Mountain Rescue volunteers were back out training again. On a Sunday morning they were scaling Bolton Dome, figuring out how to move up the

“We want people to explore, to go have fun in the backcountry but to be prepared. Anything can happen. The other day I had a backcountry skier at Bolton who was totally prepared but she grenaded one of her bindings. She was in three feet of snow and couldn’t move. But she was calm and able to take care of herself until help arrived. She was one of the good ones,” he notes.

Then he adds, “But then there are others who just go out with a wing and prayer and no headlamp and without really understanding that, as that sign at Killington’s resort border states, ‘These woods will be just as cold and lonely tonight as they were 200 years ago. Do not ski alone.’”

GEAR

MUD SEASON ESSENTIALS

BE READY FOR ANY TYPE OF WEATHER THIS SPRING – BE IT DEEP SNOW, LIGHT RUN OR MUCK.

ARCTRY’X VERTEX ALPINE GTX

There are waterproof hiking boots but few truly waterproof – and still fast and functional – trail runners. Now, Arctry’x had come out with the Vertex Alpine GTX ($210). The company, which has its roots in mountaineering, has a new line that was influenced by climbing athletes looking for a better shoe to get them to the crag. The Vertex Alpine GTX uses a sticky, Vibram outsole similar to what climbing shoes use to grip on wet rock and a deep-lugged sole that offers traction on muddy trails. The Gore-TEX liner and a knit collar around the ankle keep out mud, snow and debris, meaning your feet will stay protected and dryer. Some nice touches are the “lace garage,” which keeps them clean and tucked away and the heel pull. As for fit, this is a beefy and somewhat stiff shoe with a unisex last and sizing and an 18mm/10m stack height and 8mm drop. It weighs in at 11.7 oz for a men’s size 8.5 (UK). If you are a trail

runner, think of it more as a souped-up off-road SUV that will get you anywhere safely versus a sportscar. But they may be what you want for hiking or running dirt roads in mud season in Vermont. And you can’t fault them for being all black (also available in buff brown).

LEKI SHERPA FX CARBON MAX

If you want one versatile pair of fourseason poles that can do pretty much everything short of making you a martini, LEKI’s Sherpa FX Carbon Max ($259) may be the answer. Let’s start with the fact that they have carbon shafts (meaning light – they weigh in at 317 grams) and the three sections (attached with a cable system) fold down to 37 cm (14 inches). This makes them easy to pack whether you are going for a short splitboard tour or headed to the Rockies for a hiking vacation. Like many of LEKI’s poles, the Speed Lock 2 Plus lever flips open easily to let you adjust the height from anywhere from 120 to

140 cms. The Aergon Air handle has a good, comfortable grip and adjustable straps, though some may not like the angle of the head. The poles come with two basket options included (trekking or powder), long Carbide Flextips and even their own storage bag. These poles are not inexpensive but they may be the only ones you ever really need for hiking, skiing, snowboarding or any other use.

JACK WOLFSKIN PRE-LIGHT 3L

Come spring, you want something you can throw in your pack that’s going to be lightweight (a men’s medium is 170 grams), waterproof and windproof. Jack Wolfskin’s new Pre-Light 3L Jacket ($299.95) fits the bill. It is 100% waterproof and windproof but is still flexible and breatheable, thanks to the durable Texapore Pro Ripstop Lite 3L. Some of the things we like about it are elastic hems and sleeves, chest pocket and drawstring hood. The only

drawback? The jacket only comes in two colors (a salmony pink – in women’s only — and light gray).

ARCTIC II MUCK BOOTS

Farmers, skiers, loggers, and pretty much anyone who is out and about in March and April in Vermont has some variation on what are generically called “muck boots,” or what the British are found of calling Wellies (short for Wellingtons). For 25 years, The Muck Boot Company has been perfecting its take on tall, waterproof boots. For spring in Vermont, the Arctic II ($140) is 100 percent waterproof. It’s lined with neoprene and fleece for added warmth and the upper is neoprene for flexibility (though we did experience some chafing until they were worn in.) There’s an EVA footbed as well. The one thing we noticed is you don’t want to get the insides wet as they do take a while to dry out.

Arctic II Muck Boots

Arctry'x Vertex Alpine GTX

LEKI Sherpa FX Carbon Max

What makes it so sweet?

• BEAUTIFUL, SCENIC ROUTES with views of the Green Mountains and Adirondacks.

• A mix of TRAIL (10%), PAVED (45%), & DIRT roads (45%) for the half marathon; all paved for 3-mile fun run.

• USATF-CERTIFIED COURSE that is well supported, with rolling hills & foliage views.

• WELL ORGANIZED, GREAT SWAG, INSPIRING MUSIC ON COURSE

• POST-RACE BREAKFAST

• TOP FINISHERS RECEIVE VT MAPLE SYRUP!

Registration will open soon for this fall’s event!

THE PICKLEBALL CHAMP

Name: Gurudharm Singh Khalsa

Age: 72

Lives in: West Dummerston

Primary Sports: Pickleball, kayaking, hiking, cycling.

Occupation: Retired

Gurudharm Singh Khalsa moved to Vermont in 1999 to work at the School for International Training and later in commercial sales for Omega Optical in Brattleboro. He retired and in 2018 picked up playing pickleball. Four years later, he went undefeated in the men’s bracket to take home the gold medal in pickleball at the 2022 National Senior Games.

For Khalsa, pickleball is a kind of meditation and he has written a short treatise about his philosophy, The Spirit of Pickleball. In it he writes: “Pickleball can be a spiritual practice: waiting for the right moment to release the strike, pausing to remember your breath between points, considering your opponent’s abilities and concern for their safety on the court, focusing on the movement of the ball while releasing your thoughts and letting your body’s intuition hold sway. Making close calls fairly. Entering into a timeless zone.”

As a practicing Sikh, he asks that people not call him the “guru of pickleball” but admits that he’s fine with being referred to as a wizard of the sport. — Phyl Newbeck

How did you start playing pickleball and where do you play now?

A friend invited me to play, and not only did I have a lot of fun, I found that I really enjoyed improving. I play now in Brattleboro, at Stratton, and also in Keene and Spofford, New Hampshire. During the summer we play on outdoor courts, but in the winter, we go to the gym. All you need is a portable net, and you can set up two or three courts in most gyms.

What drew you to the sport?

One, it’s a very social game because of the nature of the way it’s played at

the recreational level. You meet a lot of new people because players rotate every few games, so you shift teams and opponents for the two hours or so that you’re playing. I’ve made some good friends that way including people from other social circles.

There is also a joy in movement and the exercise involved. You’re not running great distances or doing weight training, but it has increased my agility and my hand-eye coordination. At a high level you can work on your conditioning. Although there may not be that much cardio at the recreational level, it’s still more of a workout than walking.

When did you start competing?

I started competing in 2020. Each state has its own Senior Games and I’ve competed in Vermont, New Hampshire,

Maine, and Connecticut. If you finish in the top three at state level, you can play at the national tournament which changes location every two years.

In 2022, I played at the National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale and that’s where I won the gold medal. In addition to the Senior Games, USA Pickleball hosts regional and national events with five-year age categories. I’ve won 20 medals with ten gold and the rest divided between silver and bronze.

Do you have a background in paddle sports?

I played tennis in high school. I suspect that tennis might inform some of my court sense and understanding of strategy, but tennis players bring some habits that don’t carry over to pickleball like the big backswing. You don’t have the time to do that, and you don’t need

that much power. Pickleball also uses an underhand serve. There is some net play in tennis, particularly in doubles, but in pickleball the idea is to get to the net as soon as possible, which gives you a better chance of scoring a point. The scoring is also different. Some tennis players take right to the game. Others pooh-pooh it at first because of the size of the court but then end up enjoying it.

Have you taken lessons or worked with a coach?

I went to a couple of pickleball camps. They were weekends or even a week where you have an instructor and do a lot of drills. Those really advanced my game. After I got those basic skills in place, I generally sought out better players so I could play up and I enjoyed the competition. When you play up a level, you get better.

Gurudharm Singh Khalsa wears a sport turban on the court and compares pickleball to meditation Courtesy photo.

How do you relate meditation and pickleball?

The big lesson for me is that both in pickleball and meditation you are starting over with each breath. You are beginning again, not dwelling in the past but being in the moment. In pickleball, the only moment is when the ball is in the air. You focus on that one point in time and space. That is critical both to good play and to meditation.

Also, there’s a lot of self-talk in pickleball and sometimes it means people degrading themselves. When people are trying to integrate what they’ve been taught they’ll tell themselves, “bend your knees” but really you should be thinking to yourself, “bend my knees.”

What other sports do you do?

Since I retired, I’ve been spending a lot of time doing outdoor recreation. I’m a pretty active guy. I like hiking and cycling, kayaking and camping. I also practice yoga. I think it is helpful because it adds to my resilience and capability. I practice at Village Yoga in Newfane and in my sadhana room at home.

As a practicing Sikh, is it hard to wear a turban while playing sports?

A full turban is pretty bulky for sports. I wear what I call a sports turban. It’s like a surgical cap that I tie on. What is important is keeping my hair covered, out of the way, and clean. I usually just wear the kirpan [a small sword] for ceremonies, but I occasionally carry it at other times. The purpose of the kirpan is to remind me to practice my Sikh faith fearlessly. There is no direct link between Sikhism and sporting activity. However, I remember God’s name during play, and it reminds me of the big picture.

Is there a Sikh community in Vermont?

There are only a few scattered households in Vermont and there are no gurdwaras (temples). There is a large Sikh community in Westborough, Massachusetts which is near Worcester and a smaller one in Millis, Massachusetts. There are also a few Sikhs who gather in Hanover, New Hampshire but they don’t have a standalone facility.

What is the spiritual side of pickleball?

I’ve always been a spiritual seeker and I do see some similarities between that search and the desire to improve myself at the sport. I had one peak experience during the finals at the National Senior Games. I felt like I was in the flow. It’s difficult to describe but during that game I was in an altered state, and I wasn’t thinking so much about the outcome or the referee or spectators.

My singular focus wasn’t even on my opponent, but on the ball. I felt it so keenly that I played the best match of my life at just the right time. What I take out of that is that when my ego and outcome-oriented mind got out of the way, there was a greater resource and that made all the difference. I wasn’t nervous and didn’t have anxiety about whether I would lose or how I looked. I just focused on the flight of the ball. You can’t get to that state by trying. All that mental stress just gets in the way. It’s all about letting go. If a mistake happens, it doesn’t stick. Go again. Let go. Don’t replay the last point. It’s a rare experience.

Spring is for Bikes

A state champion in his age group, Kalsa carried the Vermont flag at the National Senior Games in 2022. Courtesy photo.

RACE & EVENT GUIDE VERMONT SPORTS

LISTING YOUR EVENT IN THIS CALENDAR IS FREE AND EASY. VISIT VTSPORTS.COM/SUBMIT-AN-EVENT OR E-MAIL EDITOR@VTSPORTS.

COM. ALL AREA CODES ARE 802. ALL LOCATIONS ARE IN VERMONT, UNLESS NOTED. FEATURED EVENTS, IN YELLOW, PAY A NOMINAL FEE.

RUNNING/SNOWSHOEING

MARCH

16 | Freezy Cheeks 5K, Burlington

The last in the 3-race series held on Saturdays on different courses in the Burlington area. All races are chip-timed and have an openstart format; runners can start anytime from 11:00 AM to Noon. Hosted by Switchback. Racevermont.org

16 |Shiver Me Shamrocks 5k Run/ Walk, Rutland Kids will begin the day with the FREE Leprechaun Leap Fun Run down Center Street at 1pm. Prizes for overall first place men and women and first place in each age group. Best Costume will also be awarded so be sure to wear your green. active.com/rutland-vt/running/ distance-running-races/shiver-meshamrocks-5k-run-walk-2024

APRIL

6 | Rockingham 5K, Bellows Falls

Run two loops of the 2.5K course or do the 100-yard kids dash. Prizes for top male and female. ces.wnesu.org/

7 | Kaynor's Sap Run, Westford

This season opener for road running is a 10k on dirt roads and rolling hills in Westford. gmaa.run

13 | Paul Mailman 10-Miler and 5K, Montpelier

A race primarily on dirt roads, this race has been the Road Runners Club of America Vermont 10-Mile State Championship and part of the Central Vermont Runners race series. cvrunners.org

14 | IceBreaker Running Race, Lake Morey Resort Join the first annual Lake Morey IceBreaker Running Race. The 5-mile course follows a picturesque rolling loop around the lake, beginning and ending at the resort. runsignup.com/Race/VT/ Fairlee/LakeMorey5Miler

21 | 26th Mutt Strutt, Waterbury

A 3-mile race for dogs and their owners. Awards by gender, age and dog weight. cvrunners.org

MAY

5 | Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race, Cochran's Richmond

The 6.ish mile course starts at noon and finishes at the base of Cochran’s alpine trails. Runners will complete a long loop plus a short loop. Both loops start with a climb up the alpine ski trail, then enter forested single track. Part of the USATF-NE Mountain Running Series. sleepyhollow.com

5 | Shelburne 5K/10K/Half-Marathon, Half marathoners leaving Shelburne Field House, run south past the Shelburne Museum, Meach Cove, and through some gorgeous countryside before heading back north past Shelburne Farms to the Field House along the historic Ti Trail. The 5K/10K is an out-and-back along Harbor Road. Racevermont.com

7 | Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race, Richmond For its 10th running of this trail race, it moves (temporarily) to Cochran's Ski Area. Race is 6.4 to 7 miles of steep trails and is part of the USATF-NE Mountain Running Series. sleepyhollowmtnrace.com

10-11 | Vermont Overland Run, West Windsor

Race the Uphill Kilometer on Friday and stay for the Overland Run on Saturday -- a trail run of 5 or 15 miles that counts toward the Overland Trophy. Vermontoverland.com

8-11 | Peak Bloodroot Ultra, Pittsfield

Choose from distances of 200, 100 or 50 miles, a 50K or 10 miles to find the perfect trail race challenge for you. peakraces.com

11 | 46th Pump it Up 5 Miler, Jericho

Run a certified course, a gently- rolling 5 mile out and back on Old Pump Rd. --- a dirt road -- and a great tune-up race. gmaa.run

11 | Adamant Half Marathon, Adamant

A scenic figure 8 course on 90% dirt roads with ponds and hills through Calais and East Montpelier. Run the half or share the fun with a partner in the relay. The fifth event in the CVR/ORO Race Series. cvrunners.org

12 | Vermont Sun Half Marathon, Salisbury

A half-marathon, 5K or 10K that starts at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore. Amenities include digital photos, music, and post race food, Aid stations every 1.5 miles. Awards to top three overall, top

three in every five year age group, tech shirts, massage, finisher, medals and more. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

13 | 18th Half Marathon Unplugged, Burlington

Unplugged is an organized, basic services race -- in other words, No Frills, No Hills!. This is a perfect 'training race'. The race course is point-to-point, starting at Airport Park in Colchester and finishing near Switchback Brewing on Flynn Avenue in Burlington. runvermont.org

16-24 | Infinitus Trail Races, Ripton Infinitus is again at Silver Towers Camp. Start dates vary for this 8-mile, marathon, 88k, 100 Mile, 250 Mile, Penta, Deca, 888K relay, or 888k races held on trails. Races 8 miles to 88K held on Saturday, and longer races start earlier. Endurancesociety.org

18 | Dandelion Run, Derby

Come run this half-marathon (or a 10K, 4-mile. or 2 mile run AND bike option), on dirt roads through the world famous dandelion fields of Derby, Morgan and Holland, Vermont. The course is sprinkled with musicians to help celebrate the day. Selected as one of Vermont's most beautiful runs. It's May! It's Time to Run! Just for the Fun of It! Race fee includes a Dandy Pasta Dinner with music at the EastSide Restaurant the evening before the run and a light picnic lunch after the run. kingdomgames.co/ dandelion-run

18| Barre Town Spring Run 5K, Barre Central Vermont Runners hosts this race from the Barre Town Recreation facility. cvrunners.org

18 | Black Fly Bike or Run, Lake Willoughby Run a 5K trail run at Sentinel State Park, half marathon on private land and trails or bike 47.3 miles of gravel. Barn dance after party crosscycleadventures.com

26 | Vermont City Marathon, Burlington Moore than 7,500 runners, 20,000 spectators and 1,700 volunteers come to the second largest marathon in New England and the largest marathon relay in the nation. The course takes runners along the Adirondack and Green Mountain-framed shores of Lake Champlain. runvermont.org/

JUNE

2 | 3ath Covered Bridges Half Marathon, Woodstock Run 13.1 miles through scenic covered bridge, starting at Saskadena Six. Currently sold out. cbhm.com

8 | 45th Annual Capital City Stampede, Montpelier

Central Vermont Runners hosts this 10K road race out and back, half on paved roads and half on dirt. cvrunners.org

15 | Mt. Washington Auto Road Race, Pinkham Noth, N.H.

Elite runners and those who won their spots in the lottery compete on this sold-out 7.6 mile course up the Mt. Washington Auto Road sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental. mtwashington.com

22 | ORO Birdland 5K, Montpelier

Rain or shine, enjoy the beauty of Montpelier's North Branch Park as you travel across rolling singletrack, lush forested hills, and babbling brooks. The Birdland 5K will have two fully stocked aid stations and Altra running shoe demos available before or after. All ages and abilities welcome! onionriver. com/events/birdland5K

29 | Catamount Ultra, Stowe

Run a 25K or 50K trail race on wide, hardpacked dirt trails that roll through highland pastures and hardwood forest at Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center. The 50K course is two laps on the 25K course rolling through highland pastures and hardwood forest, complete with maple sugar tap lines in place and ready for the spring “run.” catamountultra.com

CYCLING

APRIL

20 | 10th Rasputitsa Dirt, Jay Peak

Celebrating 10 years of gravel racing through the Northeast Kingdom, Rasputitsa moves to Jay Peak this year but all the fun continues for the gravel ride and race over 53 miles. rasputitsadirt.com

27 | Muddy Onion Gravel Grinder, Montpelier

Come out of your winter hibernation for a fully supported gravel grinder covering (almost) all of the amazing dirt roads Central Vermont has to offer. It's not easy, but it's definitely worth it. This year we will have three loops: a Hibernator 19.4-mile loop for those who are just getting their bike legs under them, our "Classic" 40.6-mile long loop, and an even longer Sap Sucker 54.3-mil loop for those of you who just couldn't get enough of the mud last year. We promise all loops will give you. Onionriver.com

MAY

4 | Cranko de Mayo, Waitsfield

Come ride the Solo Bien (Just Fine): ~30 miles with >3,000 feet of happy climbing or the Demasiado (Too Much): ~45 miles with ~6,000 feet of even happier climbing on dirt roads through the Mad River Valley. madriverriders.org

5 | WATA Gravel Grinder, Waterbury

The Traditional Grinder route will be 28 miles with about 2800' of climbing and lots of dirt winding through the hills of Waterbury. The route will be the classic to keep nostalgia high. The Big Grind is a 47mile route with 4900' of climbing. Pre-ride breakfast, too. waterburytrails.com

11 | Onion River Outdoors Bike Swap, Montpelier

Find the perfect new-to-you bike, sell that old bike or better yet, do both! From kids bikes to road bikes, full suspension bikes and fat bikes, it’s all here and waiting for you! As always, our knowledgeable staff members will be on hand to answer any questions and to guide you toward the bike that is best suited for your riding. onionriver.com/pages/bike-swap

11 | Ride for Mo, East Burke

Two years after Moriah Wilson's tragic death, family and friends celebrate her spirit with a ride that's a fundraiser for the Moriah Wilson Foundation. Ride 52 miles on the Victory Lap or the 26-mile Kirby Route. Stay after for food trucks, Sip of Sunshine and music. moriahwilsonfoundation.org

JUNE

8-9 | The Moose, East Burke

A 103-mile “timed event” through Moose Country from Mike’s Tiki Bar in East Burke, VT, with a 66-mile Short Route starting at the Island Pond Historical Society. Wide open, car-hungry roads. The course is build for speed and beauty. We welcome teams and pelotons. It's also a great buddy ride kingdomgames.co/the-moose/

8-9 | The Ranger, Tunbridge

With multiple ride distances and a gravelenduro format, it’s not a race, buthere’s competition available for those seeking it. Sunday’s ride options include a 5-mile family/Junior Ranger; an 18-mile course with a community no-drop group-ride option; a 42-mile gravel enduro; and a 62-mile gravel century. Camping available onsite. therangervt.com

8 | Black River Grand Prix, Craftsbury

Fast racing, big loops, varied terrain, in the woods. The format is simple: a mass start on one 26-mile big lap. This is VT mountain biking - flow, tech, jank, doubletrack, and even a dirt road or two - there’s something for everyone. craftsbury.com

15 | Bike for the Lake, North Hero

The 13th annual bicycle ride through the Champlain Islands and along the Vermont and New York shores of Lake Champlain with routes from 30- to 100- mile options. Proceeds support the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain. friendsofnorthernlakechamplain.org

15 | VT Monster, Stratton

A challenging ride primarily on quiet gravel roads, with plenty of climbing, flowing descents and epic vistas. Monster is best attacked with a gravel bike (70% of the long course is gravel): 45, 78 or 100 miles of epic riding Vtmonster.com

29 | Vermont Gran Fondo, Bristol

Ride 42 miles and two gaps or do 145 miles and ride all six in the 10th anniverary of this timed classic ride. Vermontgranfondo.com

SKIING & RIDING

MARCH

16 | The Pig Race, Ripton

Get ready for the revival of the 'Pig Race'—a classic Nordic ski event at Blueberry Hill trails with a legacy dating back to the 1970s, founded by Tony Clark. The 2.5, 7.5 and 15km self-timed 'races' guarantee jumps, spills, singletrack challenges, agility obstacles, and maybe a touch of early spring mud. Rain or shine, snow or no, the race will go on! Postrace, indulge in wood-fired pizza topped with savory pork (or veggie options), sip on good Vermont beer, and anticipate prizes for standout vintage ski outfits, epic falls, and more! blueberryhilltrails.com

16 | 12th 24 Hours of Stratton, Stratton

A one-of-a-kind opportunity to ride Stratton at night under lighted trails into sunrise. See how much vertical you can rack up. Compete in the Vertical Uphill Challenge, the team costume contest, or on-hill scavenger hunt. There’s also a ski and snowboard flat boots race, an outdoor glow dance party and nighttime team trivia. New in 2024 is the #Shred4Nate alpine slalom race for mental health and suicide prevention. stratton.com

16-17 | Blauvelt Banks, Bolton Valley

Pro rider Jake Blauvelt designs a banked and bermed course that’s the blank palette for an expression session like no other. Benefits the Waterbury Skatepark. Boltonvalley.com

22-24 | Homesick, Stratton

Celebrate the history, tradition and progression of snowboarding, the sport that got its start at Stratton. Three days of events with legends, pros, and up-and-comers. Watch the events, peruse the WITNESS Photo Gallery, get nostalgic in the Vintage Board Room and Dawning Exhibit, ride demo snowboards. stratton.com

31 | Cochran's Nordic Cross, Richmond

A festive and competitive citizens Nordic Ski Cross Race for all ages. Hilarious, challenging and loads of fun! Uphill, downhill, slalom gates, jumps, and obstacles, all on one pair of skis. FREE pancake feast with hot Slopeside Syrup for all competitors. Interval start. 5 people start together every minute. Shorter course for kids, 12yr. and under. Prizes for top three in all age categories. cochranskiarea. com/nordic.

APRIL

6 | Bear Mountain Challenge, Killington

The annual mogul competition and springtime party heats up as amateur bumpers take to the slopes of Outer Limits to battle for a place in the finals. The top 32 men and 16 women compete in a head-to-head competition. Killington.com

MULTI SPORT & OTHER

MARCH

19 | Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, Burlington

Films and stories of exploration from around the world featuring a collection of the most exhilarating, provocative, and inspiring action, environmental, and adventure films. Brought to you by Skirack and Patagonia Burlington, each night will have a different collection of films and raffle prizes. skirack.com

APRIL

6| Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon, Berkshire East Resort, MA.

The first leg is a 4.3 mile run that starts on pavement through the town of Charlemont, then heads into a mix of woods roads and trails up around the Warfield House before descending to the Run-Bike transition at Zoar Outdoor. The bike leg is a rolling, outand-back, 18 mile road course. Next is a 2 mile down river paddle, 2 mile adventure run then a climb up ski down at Berkshire East. Compete solo or as a team, family teams discounted! berkshireeast.com

6 | New Haven Ledges Whitewater Race, Bristol

A race down the rapids of the New Haven in with some big prizes this year, thanks to Outdoor New England - ONE, NRS, Werner Paddles, Immersion Research, Vermont Paddlers Club Umiak Outdoors. creekvt.com

14 | Mad River Triathlon, Waitsfield

A four-sports event set in picturesque Mad River Valley, VT. The running race starts at the Warren School and follows the Mad River Path and VT 100 for 5 miles. The paddle is a 6-mile downstream on anything that floats. Then bike 10 miles to the base of Mt. Ellen. Final leg is a skin up/ski down. madriverpath.org

MAY

5 | 16th Otter Creek Classic Fly Fishing Tournament, Middlebury

This is a fly fishing, catch and release “paper tournament”. Money raised will be used for community outreach as well as conservation, including restoration and streamside improvement projects. .mmvt.com/fishing/ otter-creek-classic

JUNE

15 - 17 | Father's Day Fishing Derby, Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain International's flagship event. Fish for the following species: Lake Trout, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye, Yellow Perch, Sheepshead, Bowfin, Catfish, Brown Trout, Steelhead, Carp, and Landlocked Salmon. mychamplain.net/fathers-day-derby

22 - 23 | The Ditch Pickle Classic Fly Fishing Tournament, Swanton

The DPC is open to anglers of all ages and skill levels. You don't need a big fancy bass boat to fish the DPC either! Kayaks, canoes and motor boats are all permitted. The DPC is a team event catch and release (photos taken) and we make every effort to pair people up with teammates and fill empty seats in boats .fishthepickle.com/

23 | Vermont Sun Triathlon, Lake Dunmore, Salisbury

Race a 600-yard swim, then a 14-mile bike and a 3.1-mile run in this USAT State Championship Race. Race starts at Branbury State Park and course runs by beautiful Lake Dunmore. Awards for top 3, age group top 3 and relay teams, plus free photos and prizes. Event repeats on July 21 and Aug 18. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com.

BATTENKILL BICYCLES 1

99 Bonnet St.,  Manchester Ctr, VT 802-362-2734 | battenkillbicycles.com

IKE SHOPS

AROUND THE REGION

advertising section

Manchester's bicycle shop since 1972, Battenkill Bicycles is a Trek and Specialized dealer offering advice and sales to meet all your cycling needs. The service department offers tune-ups and repairs for all brands. Come rent a bike or get information about group rides. Battenkill Bicycles is the number one e-bike seller in southern Vermont and an authorized e-bike service center.

2

BERKSHIRE OUTFITTERS

RR 8, 169 Grove St., Adams, MA 413-743-5900 | berkout@bcn.net

A full-service bike shop at the base of the Mt. Greylock State Reservation. We also border a beautiful 12-mile paved rail trail. We carry Jamis, Rocky Mountain and G.T. We offer sales, repairs and rentals for the rail trail.

BOOTLEGGER BIKES 3

60 Main St. Jeffersonville, VT 802-6448370 & at 82 Main St., St. Albans. 802.782.8747 bootleggerbikes.com

A full-service shop near Smugglers' Notch and a new shop in St. Albans. We offer new, used and custom bikes as well as custom-built wheels for mountain, road, gravel, fat bikes, bikepacking and touring. Rentals offered at our Cambridge Junction shop on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Bikes are a passion here.

4 THE BOOT PRO

44 Pond St. Ludlow, VT 802-228-2776

thebootpro.net

A full-service bike and ski shop staffed for sales & service of mountain and gravel bikes, E-bikes, kid’s bikes. Rentals: Mountain & E-bikes. Guided rides: Mountain bike & gravel. Wide selection of clothing & accessories. Level-2 Specialized certified E-bike technicians. On the corner of the Okemo Access Rd.

BRADLEY’S PRO SHOP SKI & SPORT 5

2012 Depot St. Manchester Center, VT 05255 802-367-3118  | bradleysproshop.com

Bradley’s Pro Shop Ski & Bike is the premier bike shop in Southern Vermont! We are located in Manchester Center. Always known as your go-to ski shop we are now your go-to bike shop. We have one of the best bike mechanics in Vermont on staff, Dan Rhodes. Many of you know of his reputation as a master bike mechanic. Dan runs all aspects of our bicycle operations. We carry the full lineup of Cannondale and GT bikes—mountain bikes, gravel, e-bikes, BMX and hybrids. We are a full-service operation with sales, service, accessories and rentals including e-bikes. We offer a great bike tune-up price so be sure to bring your ride in. THINK DIRT!

8

EAST BURKE SPORTS

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215

eastburkesports.com

CHUCK’S BIKES

45 Bridge St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-7642 | chucksbikes802.com

40 years selling the best brands in all categories of bikes. Transition Norco Jamis KHS & Devinci. We have the largest inventory and best service in Northern VT. PS Be kind to trails and do trailwork Mon.-Wed, & Fri 10-5, Sat & Thurs 10-2. Be well by being smart.

EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS

2069 Williston Rd., So. Burlington, VT 802-864-9197 | earlsbikes.com

Earl’s Cyclery has been serving Vermont’s cycling and fitness needs for more than 65 years. With over 12,000 square feet, Earl’s has the largest selection of bikes from Trek, Norco, Giant, Electra, Bianchi, and more. The service center at Earl’s has professionally trained technicians who are certified to work on all makes and models of bicycles. Whether you need a flat tire fix, or a suspension rebuild, the service staff is ready to help. Estimates are free! Stop on by or give us a call!

Located in the heart of town, we pride ourselves in expert knowledge and friendly customer service. A full-service shop awaits you and your repair needs. We have 100 rental bikes with an enormous selection of clothing, parts, and accessories. Hours: 9 - 6 daily.

9

EQUIPE SPORT

8749 VT RT 30, Rawsonville, VT 21 S Access Rd, West Dover, VT 802-297-2846 | equipesport.com

Sales, Service and Rentals of mountain and gravel bikes. Carrying brands from GT, Rocky Mountain, Santa Cruz and Jamis. Stop in to either of our locations near Stratton and Mount Snow. Open 7 days.

10

FROG HOLLOW BIKES

74 Main St., Middlebury, VT 802-388-6666 | froghollowbikes.com

Take advantage of the most advanced and courteous service and sales in our region, with quick turnaround in our shop downstairs. Upstairs, we offer a variety of road, gravel, mountain, lifestyle, electric and children's bikes and gear. Brands include Trek, Cannondale, and Open that offer superior products that balance innovation and performance with reliability and value. We also offer bicycle rentals and weekly group rides. MondayFriday 10 -5, Sat. 10 - 4.

11

THE GEAR HOUSE

16 Pleasant St., Randolph

802-565-8139 gearhouseVT.com

A family-friendly shop located in the center of Vermont, we offer Rocky Mountain, Salsa, Bianchi, KHS, a rotating inventory of used outdoor gear, and full service repair shop. Randolph has newly revived mtb trails that combine classic old-school singletrack with machine built zones. Start the 12/12a loop from the shop for 38 miles of well maintained pavement, or map countless gravel rides from town. The shop is also home to ROC's trail hub featuring topographical and printed maps. Stop by and plan your next adventure!

12

GREEN MOUNTAIN BIKES

105 N. Main Rochester VT

800-767-7882 |

greenmountainbikes.com

Located in the heart of the Green Mountains, we are surrounded by terrain that calls to mountain and road bikers alike. Whether you ride twisting trails or back-to-back gaps, we service, sell, and rent all styles of bicycles, featuring Kona, Jamis, Juliana, Raleigh, Santa Cruz, Transition, and Hinderyckx bikeshand crafted by our own Rochester boy Zak Hinderyckx. So STOP READING and RIDE

7

HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY

2733 Main St., Lake Placid, NY 518-523-3764 | highpeakscyclery.com

The Adirondacks' source for cycling and outdoor gear and adventures since 1983.RIDE THE ADIRONDACK RAIL TRAIL. Lake Placid to Tupper Lake and Beyond. Paddle. Bike. Hike. Fish. E-Bikes. Guides. Shuttles. Tours Adventure.

HITCHHIKER

394 Mountain Road Ste. 6, Stowe, VT | 802-585-3344 hitchhikerbikes.com

We are Stowe's local bike shop. Located adjacent to the Cady Hill trails in the Baggy Knees shopping center. We are your source for all things MTB and gravel. We have you covered with everything from sales and service, to clothing, parts, and accessories! In store you'll find bikes from Rocky Mountain, Cervelo, Otso Forbidden, Chromag, and more!"

16

LAMOILLE VALLEY BIKE TOURS

19 Creamery St., Johnson, VT | 802-730-0161 | lamoillevalleybiketours.com

Located trailside on the 93-mile Lamoille Valley Rail Trail! Lamoille Valley Bike Tours has been getting riders out on the rail trail with local knowledge and friendly service since 2016. We offer E-bike and Bike tours, rentals and sales and a new Rail Trail Bike Shuttle service. We carry E-bikes, bikes and gravel bikes from Diamondback, Batch Bicycles, Cannondale, Izip and Surface 604 with a wide selection of used E-bikes available for sale. We offer private consultations and a try-before-youbuy customer experience. We service Bosch and Shimano E-bike systems. Come visit us at our fully stocked Trailside Bike Center at mile 55 on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail

OLD SPOKES HOME 18

331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 | oldspokeshome.com

Vermont’s best selection of professionally refurbished used bikes and new bikes for touring, bike packing, commuting, fat biking, and simply getting around town. A non-profit, Old Spokes Home uses 100% of its revenue to run programs creating access to bikes in the community.

OMER & BOB’S 19

20 Hanover St. Lebanon, NH 603-448-3522 | omerandbobs.com

The Upper Valley's bike shop since 1964. Offering mountain, hybrid, road, gravel, electrics, and kids bikes from Electra, Norco, Specialized and Trek. Featuring a full service department, bike fitting, bike rentals, mountain and e-bikes demos, and a kids trade-in, trade-up program. Hours: Mon.-Friday, 9am-5:30pm, Sat., 9am-5pm

20

ONION RIVER OUTDOORS

89 Main St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736 | onionriver.com

Vermont's premier bike, car rack and outdoor gear shop. Friendly and knowledgeable sales and service. We carry Specialized, Rocky Mountain, Salsa, Surly, and Seven Cycles and a large variety of clothing and accessories including Giro, Smith, Club Ride, Patagonia, Pearl Izumi and more. Visit our website to learn about our clinics, events and bike rentals.

OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE 21

37 Church St., Burlington, VT 888-547-4327

|gearx.com

MOUNTAINOPS

4081 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-4531 mountainopsvt. com

POWERPLAY SPORTS 22

35 Portland St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-6557

powerplaysports.com

North Central Vermont's Trek and Giant Dealer nestled in the heart of bike country. Selling new and used bikes for every budget and every type of rider from beginner to expert. We service all manner of bike and sell tons of accessories and apparel. Bike rentals for the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail just 200 yards down the road.

RANCH CAMP 23

311 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-2753 | ranchcampvt.com

Ranch Camp is Vermont's MTB base lodge and your hub for bikes, gear, food, and apres! Ranch Camp offers a full service trailside bike shop, tap room, and freshcasual eatery all under one roof. We're proud to work with some of the best brands in the business and carry bikes from Ibis, Yeti, Revel, Norco, and Trek. Located at the foot of Stowe's Cady Hill Forest we've got a demo fleet of pedal assist and analog bikes so you can try before you buy.

SKIRACK 24

85 Main St. Burlington 802-6583313 | skirack.com

Locally owned and operated since 1969, Skirack provides the best selection of outdoor gear for running, downhill & cross country skiing and snowboarding. We specialize in all things bike and e-bike: service, rentals, car racks, expert fitting and knowledge. Head to Skirack.com for updated hours and more information.

TYGART

57 Pond St. STE 1, Ludlow, VT (802) 228-5440

Info@tygartmountainsports.com, Tygartmountainsports.com

We are a full service bicycle sales and service center offering a variety of bikes from Cannondale, Scott, and Kona. We also offer a full line of tools, clothing, and accessories. We have 4 Park Tool School Certified technicians with a combined 52 years of industry experience offering a full range of services including in-house suspension work and full build-outs.

VILLAGE SPORT SHOP 27

Trailside, 2099 Darling Hill Rd. East Burke, VT 802-626-8444|

villagesportshop.com

Established in 1978, we are a family-owned, passion-driven sporting goods store serving customers for four seasons of adventure. Strongly focused on bike and ski, we have highly skilled knowledgeable technicians and sales staff to assist in all needs of purchase, rental and service. With a location trailside on the world-renowned Kingdom Trails, we’re here to make your adventures happen!

WATERBURY SPORTS 28

46 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT 802-882-8595 | waterburysportsvt.com

A full service bike shop selling Trek and Giant bikes in one of Vermont's most convenient locations. Nestled in downtown Waterbury a short distance from the Perry Hill MTB trails, WBS services all bikes and can handle any repair you might have. We also have a fleet of demo bikes and an excellent selection of parts and accessories. Open 7 days a week!

WEST HILL SHOP 29

We offer bikes along with fast, friendly service. Dealers of Niner, Scott, Devinci and Jamis, we carry a large assortment of mountain and gravel bikes including a 60bike demo fleet. Our techs have years of experience and our local trail knowledge is second to none. Our converted 1893 barnturned-bike-shop houses a huge selection of bike and lifestyle clothing and parts and accessories. Looking for a more mellow ride? Rent one of our cruisers for a trip down the Stowe Rec Path right from our parking lot!

Voted Best Bike Shop 2021 by MTBVT, OGE is an award-winning, premier bike shop with knowledgeable, friendly, and honest staff. We offer a wide range of gravel grinders from Marin, BMC, and Niner. Our selection of mountain bikes from Marin, BMC, Niner, Pivot, Rocky Mountain, Transition, SCOR, and Yeti will blow you away. Plus, we offer super affordable kids' bikes, commuters from Batch Bicycles, and fat bikes. We also have consignment bikes as well as a demo fleet. Our efficient service department is capable of everything from tuning your vintage road bike to servicing your new mountain bike and offers full Fox shock service. Browse our gear shop to get fully outfitted for bike packing, touring, or fat biking to the slopes for a multi-sport day—indeed any conceivable adventure—while you're here. Come see us downtown on Church St!

STARK MOUNTAIN 25

9 RTE 17, unit b   Waitsfield, VT 802-496-4800

Find us on Facebook

Located at the lowest spot in the Mad River Valley so you can coast in when you break your bike on a ride! 21 years of advice,directions and fixing anything that pedals. Thinking about a Yeti? Come ride one of ours,we have been selling Yeti since 2006! Hours: Tues-Fri 9-6*, Sat 9-4, and Sunday 10-2. *Closes at 5 on Thursdays for the Shop Ride.

49 Brickyard Lane, Putney, VT 802-387-5718

westhillshop.com

Right off I-91

Northbound! Proud to be a tier-1 Specialized shop, and one of the longest-standing independent shops in the region, with bikes also from Banshee, Cannonade, Devinci, Evil, Transition, and Salsa. Our curated garment selection from Patagonia, POC, and Specialized is based on what we have chosen for our own use in all of Vermont’s glorious conditions. The WHS service department is widely recognized as one of the best in the region. Call about walkin service availability on Fridays and Saturdays. Ask us about custom wheels, suspension service, and set-up.

ENDGAME

I’m not a fan of bragging, especially about so-called accomplishments in the outdoors. Smashing records, claiming titles, putting my name down in the books for posterity—it strikes me as utterly ridiculous.

Just this once, though, I feel compelled to toot the badass horn. You see, recently, just before mud season set in, I finished a project—a bold, visionary, paradigm-shifting expedition (ahem)—on Camel’s Hump.

I first climbed the Hump at age four, partially riding on my father’s shoulders, partially scrambling on my own pale, pudgy legs. We followed the Burrows Trail: 2.4 miles, elevation gain of 2,200 feet. That early encounter with braided roots, black mud, lichen-splotched schist, and a dizzying 360-degree view was impactful, formative. Since then, I’ve returned in all seasons and conditions. I’ve jogged amid October’s swirling rainbow leaves and bivvied in January’s blizzards. I’ve sledded powdery troughs and strung hammocks between hardwoods. I’ve tiptoed barefoot and tiptoed in crampons. Basically, I’ve exhausted myself by approaching the inexhaustible Hump from a thousand angles.

But my recent outing? Damn, it broke new ground on this familiar peak.

Sixteen hours, twenty-three minutes, nine seconds: yours truly set the slowest known time!

It wasn’t easy. My body wanted to fly up the miserable hill, to spread its wings and soar, while my blathering mind, accustomed to caffeine abuse and rapid-fire internet stimulation, fought nonstop, undermining my confidence, attacking my resolve with insults and ultimatums: You idiot, who cares, this is boring… I’m gonna crack like an egg and land you in the psych ward… drop the hammer or else.

By the tenth hour, I’d sat on enough rocks and gazed at enough mottled birch bark to last a lifetime. Ditto chewing twigs and caressing moss. Day slipped into night. Fingers went cold and ankles hurt. Treeline proved elusive. The Hump—the itsy-bitsy Hump, the knockit-off-after-work Hump—morphed beneath my boots, expanding in every direction, stretching to fill the universe.

THE ANTI-FKT

I write the above in response to an increasingly popular outdoor hobby (or is it a sport, a practice, a philosophy, a

SETTING AN SKT

WHAT IF INSTEAD OF SPEEDING ALONG A TRAIL, WE PURSUED A SLOWEST KNOWN TIME? BY LEATH TONINO

value system, a recreation cult, a mass Kool-Aid binge?) referred to by the acronym FKT, short for fastest known time. If you haven’t heard of FKT, well, presumably the cave you reside in is a comfortable, happy domicile. Very simply: Self-propelled endurance freaks—primarily runners, though also cyclists and ski-mountaineering devotees and gonzo alpinists—push themselves on established routes, racing against the clock, the terrain, previous FKT holders, future FKT aspirants, and their own impending meltdowns.

According to the guidelines on the site Fastest Known Time, the official FKT clearinghouse, archive, and stoke repository launched as a web forum in the mid-2000s, a route has to be notable, distinct, and repeatable to merit inclusion. Examples include the 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail, or Japan’s 272-mile Shiga Round Trail, or South Africa’s 24-mile Otter Trail.

A lady named Catherine Weiner apparently dashed to the summit of Camel’s Hump via the Burrows Trail in 49 minutes and 36 seconds, a staggering 15 and a half hours quicker than my slomo ascent.

Folks have likely chased speed for countless millennia. John Muir was hardly the first fuddy-duddy to criticize the speedy folks when he said, with contempt in his voice, “People ought to saunter in the mountains—not hike!” It’s a hoary refrain, cast many ways: Stop and smell the roses. How gross to reduce nature to your ego’s Indy 500. This behavior is symptomatic of a sickness at the heart of our species, a sickness exacerbated by mechanized industrial society’s infatuation with

Peninsula’s Hoh Valley—it would take forever to tell.

SETTING A NEW PACE

Now picture this gestating future, this SKT culture waiting patiently to be born. “Loafer” is now a compliment. “Slowpoke” is now a brand of technical outerwear. The North Face’s elite team dangles from El Cap for 15 months, and the anti-race across Antarctica’s blank wasteland remains neck and neck.

efficiency, busyness, competition, measurement, Fitbits, blah, blah, blah.

I wish to avoid that entire rat’s nest, er, debate and limit my comments to the genuine challenge and delight of going slime-mold slow.

Pace is a key chain with dozens of unique keys, each of which opens a secret door in the land. Pedal to the metal? Dragging ass? Who could ever choose one over the other?

My recent trip up Camel’s Hump wasn’t fiction. I really did spend 16-plus hours covering minus-three miles, and it really did bring me to the physicalmental edge, and I really am pleased with myself. The fundamental elements of classic burly wilderness adventure were present: The SKT demanded a bunch of energy and effort and calories. It was a test of my fortitude,.

The outcome wasn’t a foregone conclusion, i.e., failing to summit remained a possibility to the end. Style mattered, both ethic and aesthetic. And most important, primal shivering contact with the environment was mandatory. Key in lock—click—the door swung open, revealing raptors, fungi, an emptiness of blue sky, a knife cut of starlight, frigid gusts, sudden stillness. Sensory overload.

Camel’s Hump isn’t the only place where the key has clicked. From Atlantic beaches to southwestern deserts— from the Cascades to the Tetons to the Adirondacks—I’ve experimented with extreme slowness, notching SKTs along the way. My Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon was molasses. My GraysTorreys traverse in Colorado was honey oozing from the jar. Don’t even ask for the story of my trek in the Olympic

SKTs fall constantly under innumerable plodding feet: Germany’s Burgensteig Bergstrasse, Malaysia’s Penang Island circumnavigation, Ireland’s Twelve Bens of Connemara. Databases are swamped. Servers are crashing. So many people are traveling so slowly on so many routes that keeping tabs is pointless.

And thus we swerve away from pace (the S) to epistemology (the K). Slowest known time. Uncertainty is baked into the enterprise, the phrase a nod to anonymous heroes toiling in obscurity. Did a monkish introvert refuse to document her end to end of the Arizona Trail? Did a shabby vagabond, rambling for private reasons, for a glory that vanishes the instant it is shared, circumambulate the Swiss Alps sans a GPS tracking device? How many slugs are slogging out SKTs right now?

Black mud, braided roots, lichensplotched schist, and a dizzying 360-degree view: I return in my imagination to the Burrows Trail. A ponytailed adolescent nears the summit, tired and calm and dazed by the beauty of the scene. Thirty-nine hours deep, she’s almost there. Within spitting distance. So close.

This driven, dedicated, super-fit, super-composed youth shatters my record on the Hump and raises the bar higher, opening invisible doors with the key of her slowness.

Channeling her idol, the Buddhist master Xuyun, who in the 1880s made a 3,000-mile pilgrimage in China, prostrating himself after each third step, she circles the globe, taking her time, her sweet time, this time separating cradle and grave. The ponytail grows. The ponytail grays. The route—her life—reaches to the horizon and beyond, notable and distinct, but unrepeatable. It’s random, idiosyncratic, an absurd quest, a whispered conversation between the balls of her toes and the 4.54-billion-year-old earth.

How slow can you go? Well, quite slowly in fact—but it's not easy. Photo Adobe Stock

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Mirna Valerio

Kimber Cross

Lea Davison

Cyril Derreumaux