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GRIT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY DISCOVER THE TARGEE COLLECTION
A road trip worth pulling over for. When it comes to road trips, getting there is half the fun, and the scenic routes in Martin County, Florida offer plenty to look at along the way. Picture canopies of shady trees welcoming you, bright tropical colors, scenic vistas, beautiful sand beaches brimming with photo-ops, and the most bio-diverse ecosystem in the Northern Hemisphere. So go ahead and stretch your legs a bit. You’ll be glad you did.
Plan your trip at discovermartin.com
SKI MORE... SAVE MORE!
LESS THAN 3 HOURS FROM DC!
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Beautiful, friendly, family is what West Virginia skiing and snowboarding is all about. This winter, we are making it even more affordable to enjoy the fabulous skiing in Tucker County, West Virginia at our two resorts – Canaan Valley Resort and Timberline Resort.
Canaanvalley.org | 888-975-SNOW 4
18-TUC-13538 2018 vf.indd B LU E R BRO I D G- EDecember OUTD OO R S /1 D E C E M B E R
2018
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Now taking reservations for summer 2019.
DECEMBER 2018 PHOTO BY STEVE YOCOM
D E PA R T M E N T S 8
QUICK HITS
Ski racing in the South * Bikes for Refugees • Q&A with paddling phenom Rashid Clifton • ShutIn and Green Race champs crowned • Andrew Skurka’s winter gear advice. 19
FLASHPOINT
Groups file suit over a proposed spaceport beside a beloved national park. 48
THE GOODS
Ski coach Chris Shepard’s favorite gear for Southern Appalachian slopes. 50
TRAIL MIX
Top Southern spins: Best albums of 2018.
F E AT U R E S 21
THE SOUTH'S BEST KEPT SECRETS
24
SUPER PLUNGE
26
OUT COLD: WINTER SURVIVAL
31
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
37
THE OTHER JOHN MUIR TRAIL
The most spectacular ice climbing crags and frozen falls are known to only a trusted few. Polar Plunges are too chill for these coldhearted masochists who wade into the frigid Chesapeake 24 times in 24 hours. Cold and wet conditions are the biggest killers, especially in Southern Appalachia. Backcountry Search and Rescue leader and winter survivalist Andrew Herrington can help you save yourself. Catch up with three of the Blue Ridge’s best athletes from yesteryear: mountain biker Sue Haywood, ultra runner Anne Riddle, and paddler Lecky Haller. Most imagine California’s High Sierra, but Southern Appalachia also boasts a John Muir Trail that retraces the legendary conservationist’s epic journey through Appalachia. Our JMT is not quite as wellknown (or well-groomed).
NEKO’S BIG COMEBACK How did downhill biking phenom Neko Mullaly rediscover his mountain biking mojo? He built a bike park. 40
800-933-PARK (7275) | www.virginiastateparks.gov
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BACKTALK PRESIDENT
BLAKE DEMASO
E D I TO R I N C H I E F W I L L H A R L A N will@blueridgeoutdoors.com P U B L I S H E R L E A H W O O DY leah@blueridgeoutdoors.com C R E AT I V E D I R E C TO R L AU R E N W O R T H lauren@blueridgeoutdoors.com E D I TO R I A L & P R O D U C T I O N S E N I O R E D I TO R J E D D F E R R I S jedd@blueridgeoutdoors.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER AMELIA MCCONNELL amelia@blueridgeoutdoors.com T R AV E L E D I TO R E L L E N K A N Z I N G E R ellen@blueridgeoutdoors.com C O N T R I B U TO R S M A S O N A DA M S G R A H A M AV E R I L L A.K. CLEMMONS DA N I E L D E W I T T KIM DINAN
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FUTURE OF THE FLORIDA PANTHER Many cities and towns in the East have learned to live with bears and coyotes in their backyards. L.A. has cougars roaming Beverly Hills. Surely Floridians can carve out a few remaining wild corridors for panthers to stick around a while longer. —Hunter Tyson BRANDS TO BELIEVE IN It's always difficult to assess which brands are just jumping on the sustainability bandwagon and which ones are sincere. Of course, Patagonia is the gold standard; any company using organic cotton back in 1995 is an iconoclast. But thanks for highlighting other brands I wasn’t aware of. It’s interesting that so many are based in North Carolina. I wish I could have been at that last Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City and to be inspired by the companies who put profits aside to march that day. —Lynn Moceri COMMON GROUND Big ups to Wally Smith for his story on restoring old coal mining sites with chestnut trees and wildlife habitat. Thanks to all of the visionary leaders in coal country who are transforming tragedies into triumph. —Noah Kelly MY YEAR ON THE STREETS I I struggled with his recommendation to donate to organizations rather than directly to homeless people. Yes, they may use the money for drugs or alcohol, but there’s also a chance they might actually be hungry. Most of us are only a few unlucky events away from the street corner. It seems like compassion shouldn’t have strings attached. —Jake Jolley
In the spring of 2013, I lost absolutely everything. Had I not been blessed with having an amazing mother, friends and a job, I would have been in his shoes. Before that, I never thought it would happen to me. For those that are in the midst of your darkest midnight, there is hope and a better tomorrow. —Kristi Parsons
If you want to help the homeless, give them food or bus tokens rather than money. I keep tokens, fast food gift certificates, and energy bars in my purse and glove box at all times for such encounters. —Melissa Hodge TA L K B AC K TO U S H E R E :
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QUICK HITS BY JEDD FERRIS + WILL HARLAN
WEST VIRGINIA ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALIST WINS GENIUS GRANT
Ken Ward Jr. has been tirelessly covering the coal and gas industries in West Virginia for two and a half decades, often exposing the human costs and environmental dangers of large-scale corporate practices in the energy sector. Earlier this fall, Ward, a staff writer for the Charleston GazetteMail, was recognized for his efforts by being named a 2018 MacArthur Fellow, awarded what’s commonly referred to as a “Genius Grant.” Among a field of 25 accomplished artists, scientists, civil rights advocates, and scholars, Ward was included in the annual honors as an investigative journalist for “revealing the human and environmental toll of natural resource extraction in West Virginia and spurring greater accountability among public and private stakeholders,” according to the MacArthur Foundation. Ward’s win highlights the importance of local journalism, especially in West Virginia, where his work has helped highlight the long-term environmental devastation of mountaintop removal mining and uncover a lack of government response to the scourge of black lung among coal miners. 8
COLLISION WITH DEER DOESN’T DETER RUNNER Christina Sanchez was running the Jersey Shore Half Marathon in Sandy Hook, N.J., when suddenly, at mile 10, she saw a "blur of brown and white fur." Sanchez was struck by a large deer that darted out of the nearby woods. Sanchez didn't let the collision stop her from finishing the race. After being examined by the event’s emergency medical team, she returned to the course and finished just 10 minutes slower than her goal time.
JUDGE SAVES WOLVES
U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle ruled last month that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by attempting to shrink the territory of the only red wolves in the wild and by authorizing private landowners to kill red wolves. Only 30 red wolves remain in the wild—all in eastern North Carolina.
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"I’m going to run the marathon, and I fly to do a show that night after the marathon, which is unheard of, but just makes an amazing story. That’s what I do.” – Comedian Kevin Hart to Chicagobased ABC 7. He wasn’t kidding. On October 7, Hart ran the Chicago Marathon in a time of four hours and 13 minutes. Then he jumped on a plane and performed at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., later that night. Chicago marked Hart’s second time running a 26.2-mile race. He completed the New York City Marathon in 2017.
800
miles cycled across South Carolina by Dr. Tim Hardee, president of the South Carolina Technical College System. He biked an 800mile route that connected all 16 of the state’s technical schools to raise scholarship funds for students. B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
Unsafe to Breathe?
Is pollution outweighing the health benefits of cycling in urban areas? A five-year Columbia University study of cyclists in New York City is measuring how much particulate matter they breathe into their lungs each day. When soot penetrates deep into the lungs and bloodstream, it heightens the risk for respiratory illnesses like asthma and lung cancer. At rest, an average person breathes in eight liters of air per minute. While cycling, that increases to 70 liters per minute. Preliminary results have found that cycling behind cars increases pollution intake versus cycling beside traffic, so the study hopes to inspire more bike friendly paths. PAY TO PROTEST? In August, the National Park Service released proposed rules that would charge fees to protest and limit free speech in national parks around D.C.
Guv Luv North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order committing the state to the 2015 Paris Agreement, which involves cutting greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2025. G O O U TA N D P L AY
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QUICK HITS
SKURKA SAYS A SOUTHERNER’S GUIDE TO GEARING UP FOR WINTER BY DAN DEWITT
I’M NOT TOTALLY SURE I’D BE AROUND TO WRITE
this now if, before setting out on a backpacking trip last January, I hadn’t recently binge-listened to survival podcasts. The message repeated during each episode in ominous, Rod Serling-like tones: it’s seldom one poor choice that leads to wilderness tragedy but a whole series of compounding follies. Heading out underprepared had been my first bad decision. Continuing on by way of the steep, snowy, icy, boulder-strewn trail in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area looked a lot like bad decision #2, which would inevitably lead to #3 and #4 and the kind of fix that ends in hospitals or cemeteries. By contrast, admitting I’d been defeated by a winter storm in, of all places, South Carolina, didn’t seem like such a great tragedy. So I hiked to the nearest highway and hitched a ride, correctly trusting that drivers out in such weather would be proud enough of their vehicles and hardy spirit to gladly help a hiker in need. (Thank you, Seth, of Greenville.) Soon enough, I was home in front of a roasting-hot wood stove, leafing through a book I should have reviewed more thoroughly before I left—Andrew Skurka’s The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide—and trying to figure out what I did wrong. Skurka is the perfect advisor to help us efficiently and economically adjust for winter trips. He’s completed as many epic treks as any hiker in the country, and my well-thumbed copy has informed not only my equipment choices but my overall approach to backpacking. Not minimalist, exactly, but definitely no-nonsense. After rereading relevant passages of his book and taking in his emailed response to my questions, I saw how easily the trip I’d had could have become the trip I should have had. Footwear. Skurka is less about promoting stuff hikers need than about the expensive—and heavy—stuff they think they need but don’t. And no item 10
“IT’S SELDOM ONE POOR CHOICE THAT LEADS TO A WILDERNESS TRAGEDY BUT A WHOLE SERIES OF COMPOUNDING FOLLIES.” of conventional gear attracts more of Skurka’s scorn than the good old hiking boot. Trail running shoes dry quickly and provide plenty of support at half the weight. The claimed moisture protection of boots, either from leather treatments or socalled waterproof liners, is overstated and temporary. At least, for most of the year. But in winter, the freezing rain and thin blanket of snow that fell overnight on my trip was enough to soak my feet and benumb my toes. If I’d read my guide more carefully, I would have noticed that trail shoes are strictly a three-season recommendation. Skurka wrote me that in winter he wears ankle-height boots lined with GoreTex, which provides sufficient moisture protection from dry snow. Sleeping bag. The second-most glaring gear deficiency, my bag, is optimistically touted as suitable for three seasons. Three seasons where? I asked myself, looking at its alarming flatness on the floor of my tent. Florida, maybe. I bundled up in every layer of wool and synthetic fiber clothing I had brought—one of the few things I did right, Skurka wrote. This kept me warm enough, barely, and only because the temperatures didn’t really start to fall until after daybreak. But I lay awake most of the night worrying that they would, which gets to one of the real values of a good sleeping bag—security. It should be, along with
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a good shelter and a set of warm, dry sleeping clothes, a guaranteed refuge even in the coldest weather. In our part of the country, that means a “comfort” rating of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, Skurka wrote in an email, which typically translates to a standard temperature rating about a dozen degrees lower. It’s the most expensive upgrade; winter bags usually mean down, and ones meeting Skurka’s recommendations start at more than $200, while premium brands employing the highest loft down can cost twice that amount. But even that’s not so much, really, for comfort of body and mind. Shelter. Like Skurka, I prefer tarps, and my standard rig, including guy lines, weighs in at little more than a pound. But, like a lot of other backpackers, I couldn’t quite resist the idea that a tent would be a cozy winter alternative. Unfortunately, mine is an old three-person Kelty, bought when my kids were small. It wasn’t until I’d returned that I put it on a scale and realized the horrifying penalty it had extracted; it weighed in at nearly 8 pounds, or about three times as much as a good down bag. Go ahead and use tarps in winter, Skurka wrote in an email, though it’s “best to have a fullsided model, to minimize drafts.” If not, pitch it so the sides protect from the wind. And if you have a choice—which you don’t in places such as Mountain Bridge, which requires reserved B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
sites—camp low in breezy conditions and high when the air is still and cold settles. Stoves. Another thing I almost did right: I chose my butane canister stove over the homemade cat food can alcohol burner that I’d adopted as my go-to heat source on Skurka’s recommendation. The relatively lux meal I thought I’d need at the end of a long day of winter hiking, Kraft Velveeta & Shells, required longer cooking time than standard backpacking fare. And I couldn’t imagine morning without coffee, which meant boiling not one but two pots of water. Skurka makes the same concession, but reminded me of a lesson I’d already learned from my trouble firing up my stove in the morning: because gas stays liquid in cold weather, you need to sleep with it in the foot of your bag. Route. This has nothing to do with gear and everything to do with common sense. No matter how smart you pack, your burden will be heavier in winter than in summer. Stream crossings will take longer because of the care needed to prevent soaking boots and socks. Sections of trail that you normally cruise through can bring you almost to standstill. So, pick shorter routes, especially because in winter you will likely have even welltraveled trails all to yourself. Lessons learned—the hard way. G O O U TA N D P L AY
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No Pipelines in Pisgah BY JUSTIN FORREST
IN VIRGINIA, SWATHS OF FOREST HUNDREDS
of miles long are being clearcut for pipeline corridors, drawing protests from Virginians across the political spectrum. Pipeline construction crews are bulldozing a path across Jefferson National Forest and blasting under the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail. Could similar pipelines be routed through North Carolina’s PisgahNantahala National Forest in the coming years? The Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest is finalizing a 30-year forest plan this winter. No pipeline restrictions currently exist in the forest plan. I HEART PISGAH—a coalition of over 100 organizations and thousands of individuals—is hoping to change that. They and other outdoor groups are encouraging the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit pipelines and other rights of way from passing through the Pisgah-Nantahala. “We are seeing the damage and destruction caused by pipelines in the Jefferson National Forest,” says Hannah Furgiuele, organizer for I HEART PISGAH. “We want to make sure the Pisgah-Nantahala avoids a similar fate. The Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Plan is our best opportunity to prevent pipelines from bulldozing through our Blue Ridge backyards.” Already, a gas pipeline has been proposed to run through Pisgah National Forest from the Duke power plant in Asheville to Canton. Other gas and infrastructure rights-of-way through the Pisgah-Nanthala may also be proposed over the 30-year lifespan of the forest plan. P H O T O C O U R T E S Y: DOMINION PIPELINE MONITORING COALITION
SUPREME COURT WEIGHS URANIUM MINING BAN IN VIRGINIA BY MASON ADAMS
FOR DECADES, URANIUM MINING HAS BEEN
banned by state law in Virginia. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the state has authority to ban mining, or whether that power resides instead with the federal government. The case centers on the estimated 119 million pounds of uranium ore beneath Coles Hill, a private estate in the rural landscape outside Chatham, Virginia. The cache is the largest natural deposit of uranium in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Virginia lawmakers asked a state commission in 1981 to conduct a feasibility study on uranium mining and milling. A year later, they enacted a law that permitted uranium exploration but imposed a one-year moratorium on uranium mining. The moratorium was extended indefinitely in 1983. The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 effectively closed the door on uranium mining by stoking fears and driving down the price of uranium. All remained quiet at Coles Hill until the early 2000s, when Walter Coles returned to his ancestral home after a 33-year career as a military and foreign service officer. By then, the price of uranium had risen enough that he fielded a steady stream of inquiries from international investors. In late 2006, Coles and the neighboring Bowen family, whose farm land encompasses a portion of the deposit, formed Virginia Uranium Inc. and revived the idea of mining the land. Over the next seven years, the company tried unsuccessfully to convince Virginia legislators to lift the moratorium on uranium mining, eventually challenging the mining ban in state and federal court. The state-
T H E L A R G E S T U N TA P P E D U R A N I U M D E P O S I T I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S L I E S B E N E AT H T H I S PA S T U R E I N P I T T S Y L VA N I A C O U N T Y, VA .
level lawsuit is on hold, awaiting the outcome of the federal lawsuit, now before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court is taking up the case as the country’s nuclear industry faces an uncertain future. Plant Vogle, a Georgia project that is the only nuclear plant under construction in the country, has been plagued by delays and cost overruns, but continues to move forward. A May 2018 study by Center for Climate and Energy Solutions found that although nuclear provides about 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation, plants are being retired because of “low wholesale electricity prices resulting from low natural gas prices, excess power generation capacity, declining renewable energy costs, and low growth in electricity demand.” Coles Hill is located in a county at an economic crossroads, too. Pittsylvania County once was a powerhouse of tobacco production, as well as home to thriving milling, textile and furniture industries. All of those legacy industries have cratered as manufacturers moved and mechanized, and tobacco use has declined to less than half of what it was in the mid-‘60s. The county has largely diversified its economy around outdoor recreation and technology-based businesses. “The community has worked really hard to rebuild a vibrant, diverse economy, and a mining operation like this is incompatible with what they’re trying to accomplish,” said Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. Coles argued that uranium mining would be an economic boon for the county, pointing to a 2011 economic impact study that predicted 1,000 jobs, $135 million in economic impact, and
$3.1 million in annual state and local taxes over the projected 35-year life of the mining operation. Charles Miller, member of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, grew up in the area. Miller said that since the mid-2000s, when Virginia Uranium began its push to allow mining, “overwhelmingly the people have indicated they do not want that to take place.” For him, it’s about public health, not in Pittsylvania County but in the watershed downstream. “If the moratorium is lifted, and down the road there was a generation or two or three of children that had birth defects that could be positively linked back to uranium mining, I have children, grandchildren, a great grandchild that would have to bear that burden. I’m not willing to be a party to that.” Opposition to uranium mining has been echoed by regional environmental advocacy groups including the Dan River Basin Association, the Roanoke River Basin Association, and the Piedmont Environmental Council. Beyond local concerns, there are huge potential impacts for people living downstream. The city of Virginia Beach, home to nearly a half-million people, draws its drinking water from Lake Gaston, a reservoir on the Roanoke River. A decision is expected by the summer of 2019. Mason Adams writes from Floyd County, Va. A longer version of this story was originally published by Energy News Network.
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QUICK HITS
BIKES FOR REFUGEES
A SMALL BUILDING ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF HARRISONBURG IS BUILDING BIKES FOR MORE THAN RECREATION. BY JESS DADDIO
IN 2015, A PHOTO OF THE LIFELESS BODY
of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who drowned while he and his family were attempting to cross from Turkey to Greece, went viral, sparking a heated international debate about the refugee crisis. Millions of people suddenly had a very real, very personal glimpse inside an issue that, for many, felt so far removed from their daily lives. bicycles in the refugee community. Ritchie Vaughan, a realtor and “Harrisonburg isn’t a large city,” cyclist in Harrisonburg, Va., was Sprague says. “We don’t have a lot of one of those galvanized by the public transportation. Some of these image. Looking for ways to help, refugees have been living in refugee she reached out to Harrisonburg’s camps for 30 years without access to refugee resettlement organization, electricity or cars, so when they get run by Church World Service (CWS). here and the driving manual is only That initial phone call landed her at a available in English or Spanish, it often women’s only tea group, where she takes some populations longer to surveyed participants about the city’s learn to drive. The bicycle has been public transportation system. really important for those In short, the people. It gives them overwhelming response more independence and was it sucked—there “THE BICYCLE confidence and I think weren’t enough bus HAS BEEN REALLY helps them integrate stops or routes or buses, IMPORTANT FOR more quickly.” causing many of the REFUGEES WHO Thus, Bikes For women to be late for HAVE BEEN LIVING Refugees was born. important appointments IN CAMPS FOR Initially, the demand or work. Vaughan, a daily YEARS. IT GIVES was greater than the bike commuter, asked if THEM MORE resources Vaughan could any of the women had a INDEPENDENCE provide. Harrisonburg bike. AND CONFIDENCE has a long history of “Most of them were AND HELPS THEM resettling refugees in the from the Middle East. INTEGRATE MORE area, thanks in large part They all turned to each QUICKLY.” to the Mennonite Church other and laughed and REBECCA SPRAGUE and the Church of the giggled,” Vaughan says. Brethren. Long before “They told me it was the modern refugee basically illegal for a resettlement program woman to ride a bike was established by Ronald Reagan over there.” in the 1980s, both churches were The next meeting, Vaughan welcoming refugees displaced by showed up with a handful of bikes and World War II. taught the women how to ride. The In recent years, Harrisonburg sense of freedom and empowerment was resettling an average of 100 to the women felt was so powerful 250 refugees every year, with about that Rebecca Sprague, Community one-fifth of those coming to Bikes Program Coordinator for CWS, felt For Refugees. Vaughan and the certain there was a larger need for
program’s few volunteers pulled long hours sourcing and repairing bicycles, organizing safety training sessions, and acquiring essentials like helmets and pumps to give to each new bike owner. Rewarding as it was, the work had its challenges. Sometimes it took Vaughan over a month to get a refugee a bicycle that was in good working order. Given the lengthy list of tasks—such as finding employment and applying for social security— required of each refugee within the first 90 days of resettlement, one month is a long time to go without reliable transportation. But within the past year, the influx of refugees has slowed to a mere trickle. At the end of September 2018, Harrisonburg had resettled only 60 refugees, as opposed to the previous year’s 260. Nationwide, the United States approved just 20,000 refugees, which is 25,000 fewer than the official Presidential Determination of 45,000 (in and of itself, a historic low—former administrations maintained the
TOP—HARRISONBURG CYCLIST RITCHIE VA U G H A N F O U N D E D T H E B I K E S F O R R E F U G E E S PROGRAM. BOTTOM—THE BIKES FOR REFUGEES PROGRAM HELPED RODRIGUE MAKELELE FIND INDEPENDENCE IN HIS NEW LIFE AFTER FLEEING THE CORRUPTION AND VIOLENCE OF THE CONGO. / PHOTOS BY JESS DADDIO
Presidential Determination around 75,000). “It’s heartbreaking,” says Sprague. “We have clients come to our office every day saying their family is still ‘over there,’ in places like Pakistan or other Muslim majority countries, and there’s nothing we can do. There are a lot of places that are really unsafe right now. The need for refugee resettlement is greater than it’s ever been.” Despite the decrease in refugees, CWS and Bikes For Refugees are expanding their reach to help other immigrant populations like secondary migrants and asylum seekers. Rodrigue Makelele, 27, is one of the latter. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Makelele came to Harrisonburg in the spring of 2017 through the Eastern
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Jan 4-6
Jan 25-27
Burton Women’s Snowboard
Head Women’s Ski Camp
Jan 12-13
January 12
Burton Kid’s Snowboard
Progression Session
January is full of opportunities to learn to ski or ride at Snowshoe. Try one of our weekend camps for a focused introduction or enhancement to your abilities. Or call us for a variety of day lesson options. In addition, our park team will host Progression Session, an event that focuses on your improvement, not your initial skill level.
WASSAIL! ANNUAL CELEBRATION
Join Big Fish Cider Company
as we follow old English customs of walking to an orchard at night, scaring away the evil spirits, and leaving gifts for the tree spirits. We’ll toast to the lengthening days and a good apple harvest!
877.441.4386 | snowshoemtn.com
January 12th, 2019 at 5pm Spruce Street | Monterey, Virginia www.bigfishcider.com for tickets and additional information
These Gifts Give Back!
We donate 1% of all Patagonia sales to groups who impact the environment in positive ways. onepercentfortheplanet.org
Great ideas in our holiday gift guide! Hilltop East Shopping Center, Virginia Beach GreatOutdoorProvision.com/gift-guide 14
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Mennonite University’s Center for Justice & Peacebuilding program. In 2008, when Makelele was just 17 years old, his father was murdered by a group of Congolese rebels affiliated with the government. Two years later, his mother passed away, leaving the then 19-year-old to care for his 10 siblings. After receiving his undergraduate degree in computer sciences, Makelele picked up a job installing internet communications systems in rural parts of the Congo. Originally from the thriving capital city of Goma, Makelele was suddenly exposed firsthand to extreme poverty, starvation, and lack of basic medical care. In one village he visited, where the total population was only 1000, 35 children died in 30 days. Distraught but committed to making a change, Makelele founded the non-profit Vijana Africa, which aims at educating and empowering youth. Around the same time, he became a citizen journalist, reporting on his blog about the human rights injustices and corruption within the Congolese government. His articles eventually landed him in prison for three months where he
PHOTO BY JESS DADDIO
was held without trial and tortured, his family threatened. Though he was able to make it to the United States, his stay here is not guaranteed; in September 2017, Makelele submitted his application for asylum, and as of October 2018, he still had not received any updates. His family, meanwhile, is still in the Congo. Within a few months of arriving, Makelele met Vaughan. At the time, Makelele was living in Rockingham County, which is not on any of the city’s bus routes. Vaughan gave Makelele a bike, and even though he
had to ride 25 minutes uphill to reach the first bus stop, he was finally able to have some independence in his new life. “It’s really a tough situation right now,” he says. “Watching what is being said and the attitude by the government, for people like me it is really tough and really traumatizing. The community here was very welcoming and helped me work through this transition.” Makelele recently passed his driver’s license test and received a donated car. He returned his bicycle
to the program for another newcomer to use. When he’s not studying for his master’s degree in conflict transformation, he’s pulling shifts at the CVS and doing his best to take care of his family from afar. Sprague urges communities to contact their state senators and representatives in support of returning the Presidential Determination number of refugees back to its historic value of 75,000. In a city that was once described as “99.2% Americanborn and 93.7% white,” Harrisonburg’s diverse economy thrives because of its diverse population—a 2018 study released by James Madison University found that immigrants made up 9.8% of the city’s population and 13.8% of its entrepreneurs. In 2016, foreignborn residents alone contributed 10% to the Harrisonburg area’s GDP. Back at 821 Mount Clinton Pike, Vaughan is prepping bikes for a family that will arrive in a week. She says it’s volunteers, not bikes, that present the biggest need for Bikes For Refugees. Interested in lending a hand? Visit svbcoalition.org/bicycles-for-refugees for more information.
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QUICK HITS
Q&A with Rashid Clifton One of the South’s best whitewater paddlers discusses being a black boater in the Blue Ridge B Y A D A M E D WA R D S
IT ALL STARTED WITH A SUMMER JOB RIGHT OUT
of high school. Rashid Edwards was born and raised in Charlotte, N.C., and his first job after graduation was at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. At the end of his first summer, he was invited to paddle the Upper Green River with some other guides. “Seeing a wild river in the mountains, the feeling of remoteness, it was life-changing,” says Clifton. BRO talked with the 24-year-old paddler about his favorite rivers, most memorable paddling adventures, and his experiences as a black boater in the Blue Ridge.
PHOTO BY CHAD BLOTNER
No internet. Just your thoughts and the wilderness. I had never taken myself for a desert person. Now I appreciate how much life is hiding in those seemingly barren landscapes.
What are your favorite paddling spots in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic? Linville Gorge is pretty incredible. It’s been called the Grand Canyon of the East. It’s just a beautiful old canyon to explore and appreciate. The Green River is also an amazing place. The river gets much deserved hype, but the surrounding wildlands host trails and access for all types of recreation. Wilson Creek, Tallulah, and the Cheoah are also pretty spectacular.
What’s been your toughest outdoor moment? Green Race 2016 was a huge low and high for me. I had been rehabbing a shoulder injury and was finally feeling like my shoulder was stable. The race started, and I had great lines till exiting Go Left. I ended up rolling to the right and caught a rock with my arm. My shoulder dislocated. I swam, rescued my boat, and tried to get back in the mindset to race. But I couldn’t even pull the skirt back on my boat. I was crushed. I had worked so hard to race, but I couldn’t finish. Still, there was a huge outpouring of support from the community afterward, from friends and strangers. Folks were offering advice and helping to get me back out on the water. It really was heartwarming.
What’s been your best outdoor moment? I paddled the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon last spring. It was just incredible unplugging from everything for two weeks. No phone.
Do socioeconomically disadvantaged groups have a tougher time engaging in adventure sports like paddling? To be totally real, when you're a minority in this country, you grow up with a certain set of street smarts
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or rules. Your parents are going to teach you survival skills and things to do and not do. A non-minority child may not grow up with that. A white suburban family wouldn't think to tell their kids not to do this or that. They just haven’t experienced that historical discrimination. For example, you don’t go running around the backwoods of North Carolina all loud, proud, and cavalier if you are a minority. That’s just asking for trouble. We have a different perception and experience with the established culture and its rules. How do you feel about diversity in the outdoors and the conversation surrounding it? A few years ago, I was paddling with a friend on the Upper Gauley. He brought his friend who happened to be another black man. He said, “I’ve never seen another black guy on the river. To see someone like me on the river is amazing.” That's been the experience for me as well. When I see another black person, or someone that’s not your typical kayaker, it’s pretty exciting to see that fresh face. While it may not be an issue for someone who’s already in these sports, the view coming from a minority standpoint is that it is refreshing to see other people that B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
look like you getting into the sport. It makes it feel more inclusive. That is important for comfort. Why are there so few African Americans in outdoor sports? There are definitely issues like access and socioeconomic reasons. But there are also more nuanced reasons. For example, perhaps we don’t see black women in the water because it's very difficult to maintain your hair if you have traditional African American hair, and you are trying to meet beauty standards that males don’t necessarily feel pressured to ascribe to. If I was a woman a few years back and had to ascribe to that standard, I wouldn’t be a kayaker. In a lot of minority communities, people don’t have the time and money to get themselves or their family into these activities. You can get into basketball, football, and sports like that for much cheaper across the board. A lot of outdoor activities require a larger time and monetary investment. To ignore that and shun those people and not help them into this community is just pretending like those people don’t want to be a part of this. It is the opposite of what the outdoor community should be: welcoming. G O O U TA N D P L AY
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BIG DAY IN THE BLUE RIDGE
T W O P R E M I E R R A C E S —T H E G R E E N R A C E A N D S H U T- I N — AT T R A C T T H E R E G I O N ' S B E S T PA D D L E R S A N D T R A I L R U N N E R S . BY DENNIS MASHUE
THE FIRST SATURDAY IN NOVEMBER IS ALWAYS one of the most exciting: both the Green River Race and the Shut-In Ridge Trail Race are held on the same morning, and they are only about 30 miles from each other in Western North Carolina. The Green Race attracts the best paddlers in the world to plunge down class V rapids, and the 17.-8-mile Shut-In race, now in its 39th year, is one of the country’s toughest trail runs. At Shut-In this year, Luke Paulson bested a stacked field, finishing in 2:22:22. Anne Wheatly won the women’s race in 2:55:28. At the Green Race, Dane Jackson was fastest down the river, finishing in 4 minutes, 10 seconds. Queen of the Green, Adriene “Lil’ A” Levknecht, won the women’s race for the tenth time. (TOP) QUEEN OF THE GREEN ADRIENE L E V K N E C H T; S H U T - I N C H A M P S L U K E PA U L S O N ( L E F T ) A N D A N N E W H E AT L Y R I G H T ) . / T O P P H O T O B Y M A R C H U N T, L E F T A N D R I G H T PHOTOS BY ANDY WICKSTROM
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FLASHPOINT
'The Worst Possible Site for a Spaceport' BY KIM DINAN
SELC Sues to Protect Cumberland Island National Seashore from Proposed Commercial Spaceport Camden County, Georgia, is proposing to build a commercial spaceport that would launch orbital and sub-orbital rockets eastward over populated areas, including the Intercostal Waterway, Little Cumberland Island, and Cumberland Island National Seashore. But according to litigation filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) on October 17, 2018, the risks of the project have not been fully disclosed to the public. Every other spaceport in the United States launches directly over the ocean. But the proposed Spaceport Camden site would launch over dozens of private residences and a national park that hosts tens of thousands of visitors each year. This would jeopardize hikers and force closures of the national park for weeks at a time. It’s also located on a toxic site that has already experienced deadly explosions. Morton Thiokol, Inc. manufactured booster rockets on the site for NASA, including the space shuttle Challenger in the 1980s. Those Thiokol-built rockets failed and caused the infamous shuttle to explode just 73 seconds into flight in 1986. Fifteen years earlier, Thiokol was involved in another tragedy in Camden County on the banks of Todd Creek: an industrial fire and explosion killed 29 and injured 50, with shock waves shattering windows up to 11 miles away. Later, Union Carbide produced highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas on the site. The gas is famous for a 1984 tragedy in Bhopal, India, where it spilled at the city’s Union Carbide plant and was eventually held responsible for more
“THE PROBABILITY OF A LAUNCH FAILURE AT THE PROPOSED SPACEPORT BESIDE CUMBERLAND ISLAND IS APPROXIMATELY ONE TO THREE EXPLOSIONS EVERY TWO YEARS.”
than 20,000 deaths. “It’s the worst possible site for a commercial spaceport,” said Kevin Lang, whose family owns property on Little Cumberland Island. “It endangers people, wildlife, property, and public lands.” With all of this contamination on a site surrounded by water, environmentalists worry the construction and rocket launches will cause severe water contamination. “There have been no studies on vibrations, extreme heat, fuel spills, and other potential impacts that happen regularly at rocket launch facilities,” says Megan Derosiers, executive director of the nonprofit 100 Miles. “How will construction affect the existing contamination on that site? None of these concerns are addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement, and Camden County isn’t talking about them. These are huge concerns—especially because of the hazardous waste landfill that is on the site now, that sits right on the bank of Todd Creek. And that bank is eroding. And so with vibrations, and continued disruption, thanks to the spaceport, that site will continue to get worse over time.”
to the FAA. Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), in March 2018, SELC submitted two requests to the FAA asking for the disclosure of documents that relate to the DEIS and the Hazard Analysis for Spaceport Camden. When the SELC filed the FOIA requests back in March, the FAA acknowledged receipt of the requests but did not provide a determination— acknowledgement that responsive documents exist, claims that certain exemptions may apply, and a timeline for when those documents will be produced. By law, FOIA requests should receive a response within twenty days. After six months with no response from the FAA, the SELC filed suit. “This dispute is really about documents,” says SELC attorney Brian Gist. “This litigation doesn’t impact the environmental review process and the permitting for the facility. This is solely about whether, when, and how FAA will provide the requested documents.”
‘This dispute is really about documents’
“They’re going to be shooting rockets over us,” says Lang. “If a rocket explodes, it’s kind of unclear how we’re supposed to get off the island.” According to the DEIS, the probability of a launch failure at the proposed spaceport is approximately one to three explosions every two years. The DEIS says that launch
In order for Camden County to acquire a Launch Site Operator License from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Camden County is required to submit both a risk analysis, called a Hazard Analysis, and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
Line in the sand
PHOTO COURTESY CUMBERLAND ISLAND NPS
failures typically occur at the launch pad soon after ignition, after the rocket is in flight, during the return flight, or at the landing site for firststage landings. As stated in the DEIS, debris from explosions at the launch pad “would be expected to impact within the launch site boundary or on land or in water within the hazard area.” But the DEIS does not identify the geographic limits of this hazard area. According to SELC’s lawsuit, the Hazard Analysis also likely contains other critical information currently unavailable to the public such as potential damage to fisheries, saltmarshes, and waterways and estimates of human fatalities. Steve Weinkle is a concerned Camden County resident and lives about six miles from the site of the proposed spaceport. Weinkle says he has seven outstanding FOIA requests with the FAA and that his concern with the spaceport is primarily an economic one. “I’m a retiree,” says Weinkle. “I’m on a fixed income. I have seen my property taxes increase because of this proposed spaceport.” Weinkle says that after two years without response from the FAA regarding his FOIA requests, he received a call from the FAA on October 18, 2018 and believes that the FAA is anxious to correct their prior failures to follow FOIA. According to the FAA, the FAA does not comment on pending litigation.
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Ice Climbing THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN THE SHENANDOAH BY ELLEN KANZINGER
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he Shenandoah ice crags are spoken about in hushed tones, with only the most trusted climbers charged with keeping these rare locations a secret. “I think one of the fun things about ice climbing in this area is we kind of joke around that, yeah, we’re not going to tell you where it is,” said ice climber Grant Price. “It’s like hop in the car, the blindfolds are behind you.’” There are a few places in Shenandoah National Park and the George Washington National Forest, like Crabtree Falls, Overall Run Falls, and Whiteoak Canyon, which are known in the region as potential locations for ice climbing. But finding the really good stuff requires more legwork ahead of time, making climbers reluctant to spread that information around. “There’s just not much ice,” Price said. “The joke is that the only ice in Virginia is usually in sweet tea.” Without a definitive guidebook, Price said he spends a lot of time exploring different climbing areas during the warmer months for signs there might be ice in the winter. This might mean hiking for hours through the woods or looking
PHOTO BY SAM DEAN
PHOTO BY KENTON STERYOUS / @KENTON_STERYOUS
for potential climbs on the side of the road. When Price was in college, he noticed a drip on a road cut that had frozen over. Knowing that good climbing ice is rare in Southwest Virginia, he and a group of friends decided to test it out. “We asked around before to see if anyone else had climbed it,” Price said. “Of course we wanted to claim that we’d done the first ascent.” A barricade between the road and the cliff offered them about ten feet of protection. A concerned citizen driving by yelled at them to get down, but the college students shrugged it off and kept climbing. “Next thing I know, I look over towards the university and there are blue lights coming over the hillside,” Price said. “We ended up with probably five police cars and the road being blocked off. They were moving traffic around because they were freaking out that the ice climb was going to fall down and hit a car.” Price was mid-pitch and knew the ice screws he had placed in the fragile ice for protection would not hold his weight if he tried to lower off of them. In order to get down, he had to finish climbing all the way to the top of the cliff in order to rappel off a tree to the bottom. “There was probably a remark in there about, ‘What’s the problem, officer? I’ve got my helmet on,’” Price said. After making it safely to the bottom, Price and his friends got off easy with a warning. In the eight years Price has been ice climbing, he said opportunities like that are rare in the Mid-Atlantic but out there if you know what to look for. Now Price works as the head guide for Blue Ridge Mountain Guides. During the winter, they lead ice climbing trips on the Blue Ridge Parkway when the weather allows it. They also provide guided trips to New Hampshire where winter conditions are more consistent. “In Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, you’re going to get anywhere from a handful of days to maybe three weeks,” Price said. “During that time, it’s really just a matter of dropping everything and going. It’s not always going to be in on the weekends, you may have to go out mid-week.” Such is the life of an ice climber in this region. The ice may be gone by the time you get out there if you are caught unprepared. The rarity B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
of good climbing days is one of the reasons why these ice climbers are so reluctant to reveal the good stuff. “Everyone really protects their ice in the Shenandoah because the Mid-Atlantic doesn’t get a lot of ice generally,” said climber Carol Clayton. “If we’re lucky enough to have something freeze enough to climb it, people keep their mouths shut.” Clayton took up rock climbing four years ago at the age of 61. She found she had more free time in her schedule and always thought rock climbing looked cool. “A lot of my friends were like, wait until you try ice climbing,” she said. “I’m like, oh, I’m not feeling that. But I was curious, and they were so enthusiastic.” A year later, Clayton went on her first ice climbing trip with the Potomac Appalachian Trail ClubMountaineering Section to the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. In the three years since she started ice climbing, most of Clayton’s trips have been to New York and Vermont where the ice is more reliable. The inconsistency of ice in the Mid-Atlantic makes it hard for her to get out more than once or twice a year. But she heard whispers of a secret place in Shenandoah from her friends in the climbing community and wanted to be let into the club. “Honestly, I just begged,” Clayton said. “I’m pretty sure there was pleading and probably a little bit of bribery.” During a cold freeze last winter, some of her friends took her out to the Unicorn crag. “I’m like, ‘What’s the Unicorn?’ They’re like, ‘I can’t tell you. And you can’t tell anyone,’” Clayon said. “I’m pretty sure I’ll never find this place again because once you pull off the road, there’s like an hour of hiking to get to it. So Shenandoah ice is a guarded secret.” But Clayton said that all of the work that is put into finding a place to climb is worth it for the chance to embrace the feeling of this winter sport. “When I climb and follow someone, I literally put my life in their hands,” she said. “And I do that every single time I climb. And, they put their life in my hands. So that alone makes it different from almost any sport I can think of.” Most ice climbing in the MidAtlantic is water ice, a liquid flow like a frozen waterfall. The difficulty of the G O O U TA N D P L AY
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grade depends on the steepness of the pitch and the continuousness of the ice throughout the climb. With water ice climbing, there are two main forms of ascensions, top rope and lead climbing. Top rope climbers are secured to an anchor, like a tree, at the top of the route with a belayer picking up the slack below. In lead climbing, the first person up the route places ice screws as he or she ascends, climbing above his or her protection before placing the next screw. Since she is still a beginner, Clayton does not expect to ever lead ice. “Leading ice, you really have to know what you are doing,” Clayton said. “You have to be able to read the ice, you have to be able to read the weather because what you’re doing is putting ice screws into the ice, which is exactly what it sounds like. You’re screwing the thing into whatever ice you’re climbing and you’re clipping your rope to that. You’re hoping that you don’t fall and that the ice doesn’t break off. There’s a whole different set of problems with ice. That said, it’s also absolutely exhilarating.” The small community of ice climbers in the Mid-Atlantic communicates through online groups about weather patterns and ice conditions in the area. Although multiple climbers brought up these mysterious crags and described these magical places, they refused to reveal the exact location. “There are some well-known places, but there’s a lot more beyond that,” said Dustin Sanderson. “It’s not that we’re trying to be selfish, but sometimes it’s just nice to be productive. I’ll happily take someone there but I’m not going to blast it all over the Internet.” Sanderson started rock climbing on and off when he was six and now runs Capital Climbing Guides out of D.C. His first ice climb was on a roadside cut in the mountains of North Georgia. He made his first ascent as the cars were whizzing by on the road below. “The first time that I swung a tool into the ice, I was hooked,” Sanderson said. “We set up top ropes and ran laps all day and had a great time. After that, I was 100 percent hooked.” He said there is something that draws him in about the quieter nature that winter brings out and “Not only the feel of the ice when you are swinging tools into it, but the way that you feel moving over the ice on an
WAITING ON COLDER WEATHER GERARDO MARTINEZ LEARNED TO ROCK
exceptionally cold day when the wind is really cranking and you can barely keep your fingers warm.” If this does not sound like a pleasant way to spend your time, ice climbing probably is not the sport for you. At one point, Sanderson offered ice climbing clinics in the winter but had to stop scheduling them because the conditions were never right and he usually had to cancel. He still offers to lead private climbs when there is ice. “Really and truly, if you want to get into ice climbing, don’t try to learn it on your own,” Sanderson said. “Hire somebody that can teach you. Your experience is going to be that much better if you do that.” When planning his trips, Sanderson watches the weather closely, looking for trends in the freeze/thaw cycle.
F R O Z E N FA L L S : I C E C L I M B E R S A S C E N D L I N V I L L E FA L L S , O N E O F T H E T O P I C E C L I M B I N G S P O T S I N T H E S O U T H E A S T. / P H O T O B Y H A L L E Y BURLESON
The temperature, the wind, and where the sun is located in relation to the flow can change the properties of the climb. “In the Mid Atlantic, it’s like a game,” Sanderson said. “It’s the thrill of the hunt, the thrill of the chase, especially over the past couple of years as I spent seeking out these areas that we suspect have potential flows. It’s a gamble. You go out and you might spend a whole day walking through the woods and you don’t find anything. But then there’s other days where you come around the side of the hill and you just see this area that opens up and it’s 100 meters wide of these beautiful pillars of ice that are just hanging down, waiting to be climbed.”
climb while stationed with the Marine Corps in sunny San Diego, Calif. When he moved to Maryland three years ago, he decided to try ice climbing as a way to stay active outside. He started making trips to Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York, embracing the thrill of the colder weather. A long way from the crags out west, Martinez got used to climbing the towering waterfalls and the below freezing temperatures that kept the flowing water unmoving. But he hasn’t tried ice climbing in the MidAtlantic yet. “It honestly kind of sketches me out to go in such a warm climate,” he said. While Martinez has heard of people who have ice climbed in the Mid-Atlantic the last few years, he is waiting for another storm like the blizzard that brought so much inclement weather over a decade ago. “It’s been a lot warmer in the Mid-Atlantic than it has previously,” he said. “Around 2006, there was a giant snow dump and that was the year of ice climbing in the MidAtlantic just because there was so much ice and snow. If you look on Youtube, there’s a lot of videos of people ice climbing in the Shenandoah but they’re all from that year.” Martinez owns and operates Triple Direct Leadership, using the outdoors to develop leadership and communication skills among individuals and groups. He typically organizes group outings like rock climbing and hiking. “I have not had any clients that want to go out ice climbing,” Martinez said. “It’s a very unique sport because it is freezing. Generally, it takes a certain type of person.” If he ever did lead an ice climbing trip, he would take them up north where the ice is a little more guaranteed and less dynamic. All of Martinez’s climbing partners are still up north, although he is looking for some adventurous souls in the MidAtlantic should the temperatures drop this winter. “Not only are rock climbers rare, but ice climbers are even more rare.” •
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super plunge PHOTO COURTESY OF SPECIAL OLYMPICS MARYLAND
POLAR PLUNGES ARE TOO CHILL FOR THESE COLD-HEARTED DOGOODERS WHO WADE INTO THE FRIGID CHESAPEAKE 24 TIMES IN 24 HOURS. BY ELLEN KANZINGER
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here are polar bear plunges, and then there is the Super Plunge. For the last 14 years, dozens of participants have shown up to plunge into the frigid waters of the Chesapeake Bay 24 times in 24 hours to raise money for Special Olympics Maryland. “I wasn’t too sure about it at first because I was like, 24 times?” said 24
Adam Hays, a Special Olympics Maryland athlete. Throughout the year, Hays competes in cycling, soccer, alpine skiing, basketball, and swimming. He started going to the Maryland State Police Super Plunge as a member of the athlete media team, cheering on the participants and raising awareness for the cause. After two years of watching from the sidelines, he decided to sign up himself. Hays has now completed the Super Plunge every year since 2005. “As an athlete, this is pretty cool, because I’m part of a team that is helping raise money for my fellow athletes from all over Maryland, knowing that even though I freeze, we all freeze as one,” he said. Hays said he returns every year for the camaraderie among the small, tight-knit group of Super Plungers, the challenge of the event, and “the
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power of inclusion for people with The Super Plunge is one of five intellectual disabilities.” plunges Special Olympics Maryland Every hour for 24 hours, the Super puts on over the course of a week Plungers race down the beaches every January. For the other events, of Sandy Point State Park into the organizers ask participants to raise Chesapeake Bay. Nonstop food and at least $75 to enter. To take part in entertainment helps everyone the Super Plunge, participants stay awake as darkness falls commit to raising $10,000. and ice begins to form in There are typically 25 the water. to 35 Super Plungers “I’VE BEEN A “My fellow athletes in comparison to the FIREFIGHTER FOR 30 and I, there are like thousands of people YEARS, SO NOT A LOT six or seven of us, who show up for the INTIMIDATES ME. BUT and we’re leading other events. THIS WAS CERTAINLY the charge out into Donny Boyd has A CHALLENGE.” the water. Then been plunging for DONNY BOYD everybody’s running in 13 years, raising more right after us,” Hays said. than $250,000 for the “That first one is pretty darn Maryland athletes. One of cold. As you keep doing it for his best friends, whose son is those 24 hours, you get used to it… I autistic, first introduced him to the usually go up to my shoulders. There event. are some other really dedicated ones “I had absolutely no idea what was that go all the way under.” going on, but it sounded exciting,” B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
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Boyd said. “I’ve been a firefighter for 30 years, so not a whole lot intimidates me. But this was certainly a challenge.” He did the regular plunge for two years before tackling the Super Plunge. “Once you do the Super Plunge, you can’t go back,” Boyd said. “There’s so much excitement in that tent for 24 hours, you can’t describe it.” Boyd has carried that excitement with him the last ten years as team captain for the Super Plunge, rallying others as they work towards their fundraising goals. He also sits on the board for Special Olympics Maryland. This year, two of Boyd’s daughters will be joining him for the marathon event, carrying on the tradition of plunging for a cause. “They have gotten to know a lot of athletes by name, it’s personal now,” he said. “How many people have the opportunity to do something at a higher level like this and be so involved and make a difference?” Over the years, the Polar Bear Plunge has become a defining fundraiser for Special Olympics across the United States. Jim Schmutz, the CEO of Special Olympics Maryland, said they hope to raise $2.5 million this year, translating to around 35 percent of their annual budget. But the event is about more than the money raised. “It’s an opportunity for us to help people better understand the breadth and depth of our program,” Schmutz said. “We have 7,782 athletes and they’re participating year-round in 27 different sports. We’re not just a one time event.” Plunges are far from a new phenomenon. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club, founded in 1903, claims to be the oldest winter bathing club in the United States. Members take a dip in the cold New York waters every Sunday afternoon from November to April. In other places like Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia, plunges are historically held to celebrate New Year’s Day. People alternate between the freezing temperatures of the water and hot saunas as a way to boost their health. Although researchers have not found a link between this practice and improved physical conditions, there are some who believe the shock from the cold temperatures and the rush of adrenaline is a great way to start off a new year. At Scott Base research center in
Antarctica, an annual polar plunge is a tradition dating back decades, It's so extreme that participants wear a harness as they jump into a hole cut in the ice. For anyone planning to do a plunge for the first time, Boyd recommends wearing as few clothes as possible. “As soon as you get out, you can dry off, put your dry sweats on, and start your warming process,” he said. “A lot of people will jump in with the full sweat clothes on and it’s just miserable because you can’t get them off. It intensifies the cold.” And don’t forget your shoes. “Your feet are more sensitive than you know,” Boyd said. “If you go into the water without something covering your feet, it’s going to be like pins and needles.”
It’s not just about getting away; it’s about finding yourself. There’s no better place for winter adventures than
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winter survival
Cold and wet conditions are the biggest killers. Backcountry Rescuer Andrew Herrington can help you save yourself. BY ELLEN KANZINGER
hen it comes to wilderness survival, don’t expect Andrew Herrington to teach you how to make a bow drill fire or how to trap animals for food. His classes focus on the reality of dealing with an emergency wilderness situation, a reality that looks a lot different than what is shown on television. As a National Park employee and founder of a search and rescue team, Herrington spends a lot of time trekking in the Great Smoky Mountains. “Probably 90 percent of the incidents in the park happen from day hikers because they don’t have the gear and they’re unprepared,” he said. Part of Herrington’s solution is education, or what he calls preventative search and rescue. In 2013, he started BigPig Outdoors, an outdoor survival school taught in the mountains of Tennessee. He offers classes in land navigation, foraging, tracking, and survival skills. “Training in a bunch of survival schools and all that through the years, I just saw a need for realistic, applicable training that recreationists need,” Herrington said. “As a hiker, you don’t need to learn how to make a basket for survival, that’s a primitive living skill. You need to learn how to keep your body core temperature up and how to start a fire in real shitty weather. It’s all about context.” Survival 101, the school’s flagship class, focuses on practical skills that can save lives. Herrington only teaches it in the winter, with temperatures often dipping close to freezing. Participants simulate injuries, spend the night with limited gear, and learn how to handle stress during an emergency. At the end of the two-day course, participants fully submerge themselves and all of their gear in the water. Wet and cold, they then have to start a fire to get their body temperature back up. “If I can elicit some type of stress in your training, when you get in that real world thing, you’re like been here, done that,” Herrington said. All of this is to help others prepare for the worst situations they could encounter in the wilderness, from injury and illness to gear failure and bad weather. “When you’re out there in the woods, it’s not the ranger’s job, it’s A N D R E W H E R R I N G T O N D E M O N S T R AT E S H O W T O S TA R T A F I R E / P H O T O B Y E L L E N K A N Z I N G E R
not the search and rescue team’s job… ultimately, there’s some element of personal responsibility,” Herrington said. “We can only try and do the best job we can and try to alleviate pain and suffering in that regard. But this person made the choices to go down this trail, to not take this stuff. When it comes to survival, you are the person that’s responsible for your survival.”
T H E S U N R I S E S O V E R T H E G R E AT S M O K Y M O U N TA I N S / P H O T O B Y ELLEN KANZINGER
“YOU DON’T NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE A BASKET FOR SURVIVAL. THAT’S A PRIMITIVE LIVING SKILL. YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO KEEP YOUR BODY CORE TEMPERATURE UP AND HOW TO START A FIRE IN REAL SHITTY WEATHER.”
boar eradication program. These hogs are an invasive species in the park that destroy natural habitats and carry diseases. During the spring months, the hogs move farther up in the mountains so Herrington will camp in the backcountry Monday through Friday ANDREW HERRINGTON and then hike out for the weekends. “With the job hunting hogs for the Park Service, I’m out there, off trail, Origins of BigPig hunting dangerous game in the Herrington teaches from experience, largest expansive wilderness in the having personally survived numerous East,” Herrington said. “It’d be hours unexpected emergencies in remote for someone to get to me, so I have to areas. use all of the risk mitigation decision From December to June, he hunts making tools.” hogs in the Great Smoky Mountains While on the job, he has been for the National Park Service’s wild D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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stranded overnight when his ride was involved in the searches for didn’t show to pick him up. He has William Lee Hill, Jr. and Susan been bitten by a rattlesnake and Clements. From 2008 to 2013, he gotten ehrlichiosis from ticks. He has also worked as a backcountry law encountered bad weather and gear enforcement ranger. failure more times than he can count. Based on his experience, “I’ve learned by mistakes, and I Herrington knew the importance think most of us do. And so that’s the of having skilled and physically benefit I can pass on to my students fit people working on these because I’ve had so much exposure operations. After resigning from based upon being out there 40 plus his law enforcement position, he hours a week,” Herrington said. “It’s started thinking about how he could not that I’m accident prone, it’s just contribute to the effectiveness of that I’m out there so statistically search and rescue. these things are going to happen to In 2015, Herrington founded Team me more often.” BUSAR, a nonprofit backcountry Before he goes out each day, search and rescue team assisting the Herrington does a pack dump to National Park Service in the Great make sure he has all of the right Smoky Mountains. The team supplies. He lets multiple trains for off trail, winter, people know where swift water, downed he will be and what aircrafts, and “WHEN YOU’RE time he expects to technical rescues OUT THERE IN THE be back in case in some of the WOODS, IT’S NOT THE he doesn’t show. toughest terrain RANGER’S JOB, IT’S “There’s this and conditions. NOT THE SEARCH AND decision point They also RESCUE TEAM’S JOB. and it happens do a number ULTIMATELY, THERE’S when we walk of preventative out this door search and SOME ELEMENT out front here rescue programs, OF PERSONAL today. We have like teaching RESPONSIBILITY.” a decision of what REI classes and gear we’re taking, are interacting with people we telling someone where at various trailheads as we’re going, have we checked they head out on hikes. the weather, have we printed off a The original recruitment flyer map… the technology is there to help said, “Experienced outdoor athletes you,” Herrington said. wanted for hazardous work. No These are all preventative steps wages. Long hours. Adverse weather. that he teaches to other outdoor High level of fitness required. Honor recreationalists and professionals. and recognition in case of success.” He plans to start making videos Three years into its existence, demonstrating the techniques he the team has grown to 20 members teaches and posting them online so with a variety of specialties. As of that he can reach a wider audience. the end of October, the team has For Herrington, wilderness logged more than 2,500 hours of survival is about developing the right training and 1,500 hours on search mindset, learning the right skills, and and rescues. carrying the right gear. His classes In 2018, Herrington and the team are geared towards combating were awarded the National Park the misconceptions that popular Service Search and Rescue Award television and other popular media "for significant contributions to the create about survival. National Park Service Search & “Nobody gets voted off the island Rescue program." Herrington also and all of that bullshit… that’s a game received the Department of Interior and all the drama they put on TV. It’s Valor Award for his role in evacuating nauseating,” Herrington said. Gatlinburg, Tenn., from the wildfires in November 2016. Seeing the worst “It seems like everybody is so Herrington has also been on the drawn to all the Marvel movies, all other side of emergency wilderness these superheroes, but they don’t situations. For the last 18 years, he exist,” Herrington said. “We all have has worked on numerous carry outs that opportunity to be the superhero and search and rescues in the Great if we’re willing to step up and help Smoky Mountains as a National Park someone. That could just be stopping employee. Most recently, Herrington to help someone on the side of the 28
B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8
FIXED BLADE KNIFE
STEEL CANTEEN WATER FILTER
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road, or it could be the kind of stuff my team is training and doing.” There are a number of factors that set Team BUSAR apart from other search and rescue groups. Applicants must pass a rigorous fitness test before joining, and team members must maintain those standards throughout the year. The team works out together every Tuesday, helping them form a cohesive unit. Members must also reapply every year, setting goals for how they will build up the team and improve on their weaknesses. “Complacency is a big killer on teams,” Herrington said. “You’re either working or you’re not going to B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
be around very long.”
PEEK inside Herrington’s pack The goal of the pack is to carry all of the necessary supplies while keeping it at a manageable weight. Herrington follows the PACE methodology (primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency), carrying multiple sources of light, shelter, fire, water purification, and signaling. For navigation, he carries a map of the area he is hiking in, two compasses, and a GPS. He also has the Avenza map app downloaded on his phone. “People may say it’s overkill, but this is 20-plus years of experience,” Herrington said. G O O U TA N D P L AY
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GORE-TEX JACKET DRY BAG WITH EXTRA CLOTHES (SOCKS, UNDERWEAR, SHIRT) HIGH VISIBILITY SILNYLON TARP
BACKUP COMPASS
50-DEGREE QUILT
BIVY PAD
SPARE BATTERIES
GPS
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9X12 1 MIL DROP CLOTH
His normal daypack weighs less than 10 pounds and can get him through the worst of situations. Herrington also keeps a personal survival kit in his pockets in case he is ever separated from his pack. This includes the clothes on his back, a garbage bag, fatwood sticks, and a way to start a fire. Pack foods that are high in caloric intake like almond butter and coconut oil. Here are the top three items Herrington recommends you carry: 1. A 55-gallon trash bag. (Watch our web video to see how Herrington uses it to keep warm and dry.) 2. A lighter wrapped in duct tape. This is the easiest way to get a fire going and the duct tape acts as a
H E R R I N G T O N ' S PA C K C O N T A I N S A N Y T H I N G H E MIGHT NEED ON THE TRAIL, INCLUDING MULTIPLE BACKUPS. / PHOTO BY ELLEN KANZINGER
good starter. 3. Puffy jacket. Even if it is warm when you start hiking, temperatures in the mountains can drop at night. These combined items add up to a little more than a pound but can mean the difference between life and death should you get caught outside and temperatures drop. “In survival situations, always cheat, always win,” Herrington said. “Don’t try to build the bow drill [fire] and all that. Carry the damn shit you need.” D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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Where Are They Now? Catch up with three of the Blue Ridge’s best athletes from yesteryear. L E C K Y H A L L E R WA L K S W I T H T W O O F H I S S C H O O L ’ S F O O T B A L L P L AY E R S / P H O T O COURTESY OF THE ASHEVILLE SCHOOL
BY ELLEN KANZINGER
For more than two decades, Blue Ridge Outdoors has been covering the top athletes and outdoor trends in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. As 2018 winds down, we catch up with some of these personalities to see what they have been up to the last few years.
Lecky Haller
After a canoeing career spanning more than two decades and 400 races, Lecky Haller does not seem to be slowing down. Now in his ninth year as a coach at the Asheville School, a boarding school in Western North Carolina, Haller does a little bit of everything. He is the outdoor facilities director for athletics, head coach for the wrestling and lacrosse teams, and in charge of the ski program. In the fall, he runs a mountaineering program, taking students paddling, biking, and climbing in the area. “I wear a lot of different hats,” Haller said. He still finds time to race in one or two triathlons a year to feed his competitive side.
“Fortunately, I can still run around and don’t get too many injuries,” Haller said. “It’s not as high of a level but I think that whatever you do, you got to do on your own level anyway. I had my time as an elite athlete and I had great results.” Haller’s storied career on the water began at eight years old when he learned to paddle at Camp Mondamin near Flat Rock, N.C. Always a gifted athlete, he played lacrosse through college before his focus turned to canoeing. During his time as an elite athlete, Haller medaled in four World Championships, 15 National Championships, and attended two Summer Olympics. “Sometimes I won, sometimes I got on the podium, and sometimes I blew it and came in last,” he said. “I got to race in East Germany when East Germany was still East Germany. I got to go to the Eastern Bloc, race there, and then I got to see it change. I’ve seen history.” After the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Haller retired from the sport and worked as a trim carpenter for ten years. With the Asheville School, he lives on campus with the students. Although there are times when he misses the competition, he now channels that energy into helping younger athletes reach their potential. “I sometimes dream that I could still be as good as I once was,” Haller said.
"The guy was basically a god to me as a little kid." In 1992, Haller made the U.S. Olympic Team, something he had wanted to do ever since meeting Burton at camp. Looking back on THROWBACK: that experience, Haller In 1996, Haller was says he still remembers ranked number one in "walking in with the the world with his brother “I SOMETIMES Dream Team, knowing Fritz for men’s C2, a DREAM THAT I that Michael Jordan is on two-man canoe event in COULD STILL BE my team." whitewater. AS GOOD AS I At the time, BRO was ONCE WAS. IN MY still a quarterly insert DREAMS, I AM. in C-ville Weekly. The BUT I GET JUST AS Sue Haywood has been magazine’s motto was, MUCH JOY OUT OF SEEING OTHER tearing up the trails “Spend your money on PEOPLE DO WELL longer than BRO has sports—we’re free.” 23 AS I GOT FROM been a monthly magazine. years later, BRO is now THE SATISFACTION In the more than two an independent monthly MYSELF.” decades she has been publication, although the racing, Haywood has magazine is still free for LECKY HALLER watched the mountain its readers. biking community grow In BRO's coverage and evolve. of Haller's Olympic “More people are into it, and more competition, Haller reflected back on people have access to it,” Haywood learning to paddle at Camp Mondamin. said. “You don’t have to come all the The camp has produced a number of way out to the mountains of West well known boaters, including John Virginia to do the sport now.” Burton, who competed in the 1972 Then there is the gear. Olympics, the first time the canoe “The bikes are so much more slalom event appeared at the games. awesome now,” Haywood said. The following year, Burton returned to “They’ve totally changed the sport for Camp Mondamin where a young Haller the better.” was a camper. Haywood’s dominance on the trails "He came to show movies of the is apparent in issues of BRO throughout 1972 Olympics in Munich," Haller said. “In my dreams, I am. But I get just as much joy out of seeing other people do well as I got from the satisfaction myself.”
Sue Haywood
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the late 1990s and 2000s. In a profile for the September 2000 issue, Andy Morris wrote, “Among elite women, Haywood may have signaled her arrival.” Indeed she had. Haywood has since racked up four National Championships and a 24-hour solo racing World Championship. From 1999 to 2013, she won the Shenandoah 100 seven times. Haywood has since retired from the professional World Cup circuit but she’s still racing, focusing on the mental aspect of the sport. In June 2017, Haywood became the first woman to complete the Massanutten Ring, a 68-mile loop of hard trails around Fort Valley, Va. She is one of seven riders to have completed a full pull in a single go, adding her name to the Fellowship of The Ring. Haywood finished all 68 miles in 20 hours and 30 minutes and is the only rider to have completed the full pull in reverse. In July of this year, Haywood won the Enduro National Championship in Snowshoe, W. Va. for her age group. When she’s not competing against other riders or her own mental toughness, Haywood offers private lessons and clinics in the region. She also runs the Canaan Mountain Bike
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Festival, which she (not just scaled down started ten years ago. versions of the men’s “I always enjoyed models).” “MOUNTAIN BIKING IS A TOUGH SPORT, helping other women AND YOU TAKE out,” Haywood said. “It’s A LOT OF LICKS. a mountain sport, it’s a I WANT TO HELP tough sport, and you take Although a second back WOMEN WHO HAVE a lot of licks… It’s one of surgery in 2013 ended her AN INTEREST IN those hero to zero sports competitive career, Anne MOUNTAIN BIKING where you’re doing great Riddle still finds ways TO FIGURE OUT THE and then all of a sudden to challenge herself. In SKILLS THEY NEED.” you might crash or get October, she completed SUE HAYWOOD a flat tire. I just want a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim run to encourage women at the Grand Canyon who have an interest in (running from the south mountain biking and help them figure rim to north rim and back). out the skills they need.” “That wasn’t about time or anything like that,” she said. “It wasn’t a race. It THROWBACK: was kind of just going out and testing In that same September 2000 issue, myself.” Allison Tillack wrote about gear “For Riddle and a friend completed the those who squat instead of stand…” 48-mile trek in 19 hours, crossing over a She highlighted a surge in products variety of terrain and more than 11,000 on the market designed specifically for feet of elevation change. women, like Osprey’s Amelia backpack “The scenery alone was and Sidi’s Toscana 2 cycling shoes. breathtaking,” Riddle said. “Even “Let’s face it: Women’s bodies are though I had done a couple of ultras different from men’s and that means our here and there, I hadn’t done anything boyfriend’s long johns and our brother’s real long in a while… you just really lose old hiking boots just aren’t going to cut track of everything when you’re out it,” Tillack wrote. “Manufacturers have there for 19 hours.” responded to this universal truth with She recently rediscovered rock gear created specifically for women climbing, a sport she said challenges
Anne Riddle
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her and offers room for growth. “I’m channeling not the competitive part, but the part of me that likes to compete with myself,” Riddle said. That desire to push her limits is what got Riddle into ultra running all those years ago. “Right after I did my first marathon, I was having some knee pain and a local orthopedist told me that I just wasn’t cut out for running, I should quit running and ride bikes instead,” she said. “And thank goodness I didn’t listen to him because I wouldn’t have had all of these amazing experiences. I’m not saying you can overcome everything, but I’m saying don’t give up too quickly without really looking at every angle and pushing as hard as is realistic.” Riddle won nine National Championships in road and trail running and set countless speed and distance records along the way, including the women’s speed record for South Beyond 6,000. Her second place finish in the International Association of Ultrarunners stands out as one of her top accomplishments. In an August 2005 article, BRO reported, “June 26, 2005 will long be remembered in the Blue Ridge as the best day [in] women’s running history.
Anne Riddle Lundblad of Swannanoa, N.C., finished second in the IAU World Cup 100K Road Race in Hokkaido, Japan. She kicked at the end to finish in a personal-best 7:54:22, just 40 seconds behind the winner. Riddle’s performance led the U.S. to a team gold medal.” Riddle still runs an average of 50 miles a week, about half “I’M NOT the distance she used to run SAYING YOU when she was competing. CAN OVERCOME “I probably could continue EVERYTHING, BUT with the real long stuff but I DON’T GIVE UP TOO might be sacrificing the ability QUICKLY WITHOUT to run shorter stuff for the rest REALLY LOOKING AT of my life,” she said. “It was EVERY ANGLE AND worth it to me to slow down on PUSHING AS HARD the competitive stuff and enjoy AS IS REALISTIC.” it more.” ANNE RIDDLE
THROWBACK: In 2005, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine’s annual “Best of the Blue Ridge Awards” were still submitted on a paper ballot. Readers ripped out the last page of the magazine, filled out their favorites in each category, and mailed in their votes. BRO tallied each vote by hand. Fast forward to 2018, the nomination process and competition is all done online. Winners for 2019 will be featured in the next issue.
A N N E R I D D L E PA U S E S D U R I N G H E R R I M T O R I M T O R I M R U N AT T H E G R A N D C A N Y O N . PHOTO COURTESY ANNE RIDDLE
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November 23 – December 23 Holidays in the Highlands
SEVEN SPRINGS MOUNTAIN RESORT, PA
Take a ride through one million beautiful sparkling holiday lights at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. Stroll through Holiday Village featuring the region’s best artisans and crafters. Celebrate the season with a special holiday concert each week. Enjoy our Holiday Buffet, kids craft zone, ride the Santa Express, go snow tubing, take pictures with Santa & much more! VISIT 7SPRINGS.COM
ALL SEASON Blackwater Falls State Park Sled Run
BLACKWATER FALLS STATE PARK, WV
Race down the longest sled run on the East Coast and take in the sights of Blackwater Falls State Park in the winter. Open ThursdaySunday and Holiday Mondays mid-December through February. Pricing starts at $16. Group rates available. Great for beginners, families & large outings! VISIT WVSTATEPARKS.COM/PARK/ BLACKWATER-FALLS-STATE-PARK.
First Time Ski & Snowboard Program PENNSYLVANIA SKI AREA ASSOCIATION, PA
SkiPA makes it easy and affordable for beginners to learn to ski or snowboard this winter with its “First-Time Ski & Snowboard” program. Available for $59, the program includes a beginner lift ticket, group lesson, and complete rental. For more information, visit our website. VISIT SKIPA.COM/DEALS/FIRST-TIMEPROGRAM-DEAL-OFFER
Dec 20, Jan 10, Feb 7, Feb 28 College Nights OBER GATLINBURG, TN
All students with valid proof of enrollment will receive a FREE Night Session Ski Area Ticket when they bring in 10 nonperishable food items or a $10 donation to Sevier County Food Ministries! This fantastic organization helps keep our local communities fed, which is especially important during these chilly months! VISIT OBERGATLINBURG.COM
DECEMBER December 14-23 Three Free Learn to Ski/Ride Lessons
WINTERGREEN RESORT, VA
For those who have always wanted to learn to ski or ride, this is your golden opportunity. Wintergreen is offering three free lessons from December 14-23, 2018. The program includes a beginner area lift ticket, ski/snowboard equipment rental and beginner lesson. For ages 8 and older. Guests need to sign up online no less than 48 hours in advance. VISIT WINTERGREENRESORT.COM
December 16–30 Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas WINTERGREEN RESORT, VA
Celebrate the most magical time of year at Wintergreen Resort with holiday craft workshops, Santa on the slopes, and story time with Mrs. Claus. Don’t forget to work in time for skiing, riding, and tubing! VISIT WINTERGREENRESORT.COM
December 23–30 Christmas Week
WINTERPLACE RESORT, WV
This holiday week is the kick off of winter. Seasonal temperatures are ideal for snow making. Fresh snow on the slopes makes this a great time to ski, snowboard, and snowtube. Spend your winter vacation celebrating the holidays and having family fun at Winterplace. There’s nothing better! Purchase your tickets online and save this season! VISIT WINTERPLACE.COM
December 31
NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION BRYCE RESORT, VA
DJ in the Copper Kettle, Fireworks, Torchlight Parade, Light Show on the Slopes VISIT BRYCERESORT.COM/SKISNOWBOARD-RESORT
Mountain Park, Get one product free.* 1-night lodging for $89* *Rules & Restrictions May Apply.
VISIT WISPRESORT.COM/WINTER-HOME
January 12 Slam Jam January
WINTERGREEN RESORT, VA
JANUARY
Slopestyle event in the Terrain Park.
Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month
January 12 & 13 SnowJam
SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN RESORT, WV
We are introducing new people to snowsports all month long! Burton Women’s Camp, Burton Kid’s Camp, and Head Women’s Ski Camp as well as Progression Session and Learn to Ski and Ride Day make for a whole month of opportunities for new skiers & riders. VISIT VISIT.SNOWSHOEMTN.COM
Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month WINTERPLACE RESORT, WV
January is National Learn to Ski and Snowboard month! Ideal for introducing friends & family to skiing and snowboarding, take advantage of the allinclusive “Learn to Ski Packages”. Winterplace makes it easy with our “Terrain Based Learning Area”, where we shape the snow to make it easy for you to enjoy sliding with your friends, guided by our professional instructors. VISIT WINTERPLACE.COM
January 1 First Day Hike
BLACKWATER FALLS STATE PARK, WV
Start the new year off on the right foot with a First Day Hike at Blackwater Falls State Park. Hike with the park naturalist along Dobbin House Trail and enjoy scenic views of the Blackwater Canyon. Hike is 2 miles & takes 2.5 hours. Starts at 10 a.m. No reservations required. VISIT WVSTATEPARKS.COM/PARK/ BLACKWATER-FALLS-STATE-PARK.
January 4 Hero’s Day
WISP RESORT, MD
The resort is honoring our nation’s military and rescue personnel with these specials: Friday, January 4 only - Complimentary 1-day lift ticket.* $19 sport equipment rentals - Half priced group lessons - 15% off regular priced items in Outdoor Elements* - Buy 1 product from the
VISIT WINTERGREENRESORT.COM
OBER GATLINBURG, TN
Spectators and competitors are welcome for an epic weekend. Saturday we will host USASA for a sanctioned Slope Style competition. Then on Sunday, skiers and riders can compete for the title of “King of the Mountain” on Ober’s infamous Mogul Ridge. Live music will be available throughout the weekend as well as drink and food specials to complete the experience! VISIT OBERGATLINBURG.COM
January 18-21 Visit The Omni Homestead OMNI HOMESTEAD RESORT, VA
A weekend filled with magic shows, wine tastings, artisan craft classes and more. Enjoy skiing, snowboarding, tubing, ice skating, mini snowmobiles, heated indoor and outdoor pools and hayrides. Plus, view the latest equipment from Rossignol, savor our popular Brew & Q lunch and live music at Kober’s and later, the thrill of night skiing.
VISIT OMNIHOTELS.COM/HOTELS/ HOMESTEAD-VIRGINIA/THINGS-TO-DO/SKI
Jan 18, Feb 16, & March 2 Rail Jam WISP RESORT, MD
The Wisp Resort Rail Jam is a 3 part series located in the Central Park, ski and board park. This event is open to the public to enter and attendees are welcome. This is a Complimentary event for both the public and participants. Prizes will be awarded after the Rail Jam Final in March. Come see the best park tricks in the North East. VISIT WISPRESORT.COM/WINTER-HOME
January 19-21 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day WINTERPLACE RESORT, WV
MLK Weekend features great snow and a Tap Takeover in Mikey’s Slope-side Restaurant.
Have a great day of skiing, and then slide on down for some music on the Deck while enjoying a local Craft Brew and Hot Brat! Mickey’s Tap Takeovers have become a favorite event during Holiday Weekends. VISIT WINTERPLACE.COM
January 25 Ober Rocks
OBER GATLINBURG, TN
Rock and ride all night! Join us for our Second Annual Rock night. Ober Gatlinburg Ski Area will be open until midnight with a Slopeside DJ blasting on the snow, live rock music on our indoor main-stage, local beer and cocktail specials, and extra savings on ski area tickets, rentals, lessons, and more! VISIT OBERGATLINBURG.COM
Every Saturday in Jan & Feb Après Ski WISP RESORT, MD
January 5, 12, 19, 26 & February 2, 9, 16, 23. This is Wisp Resort’s 1st year to offer a winter-long themed Après Ski party. These events will include house DJ’s, live music, drink specials, contests, costumes, and chachkies. Themes will include: Camo & Beards, Pirate Day, Fire Hoopers and Ice, Disco Boogie Wonderland, German Day, 80’s Vintage Ski Party, Mexican Fiesta, and a Hawaiian Luau and Pig Roast. VISIT WISPRESORT.COM/WINTER-HOME
FEBRUARY Cardboard & Duct Tape Sled Race BLACKWATER FALLS STATE PARK, WV
All you need for winter fun is some duct tape, carboard and a little creativity! The annual Carboard and Duct Tape Sled Race at Blackwater Falls State Park is a great family outing. Design your sled and test it against other racers. Turn your trip into a long weekend by staying at the lodge. VISIT WVSTATEPARKS.COM/PARK/ BLACKWATER-FALLS-STATE-PARK
February 1-3, 2019 Winterfest Weekend
OMNI HOMESTEAD RESORT, VA
In addition to skiing, snowboarding, tubing, ice skating and mini snowmobiles, enjoy artisan craft classes such as jewelry and candle making, family puzzle competition,
a variety show, night skiing and a spectacular fireworks display. During your stay, enjoy barbecue at Kober’s, a Down Home dinner and other culinary delights.
VISIT OMNIHOTELS.COM/HOTELS/ HOMESTEAD-VIRGINIA/THINGS-TO-DO/SKI
February 4 Cupp Run Challenge
SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN RESORT, WV
Who will rule the mountain this year? Expect nearly 200 skiers and riders to battle for the titles in men’s and women’s ski and snowboard divisions. This exciting race down the best slope in the Southeast is an annual event not to be missed. VISIT VISIT.SNOWSHOEMTN.COM
February 14 The Powder of Love
WINTERGREEN RESORT, VA
Make your chairlift connection on the Blue Ridge Express and if you click, make it a downhill date, become powder pals with binding connections! Cupid will be on hand for those who need help. VISIT WINTERGREENRESORT.COM
February 16–18 Presidents’ Day Weekend
OMNI HOMESTEAD RESORT, VA
Spend the weekend at the iconic Omni Homestead Resort and experience family-friendly activities such as variety shows, family games and artisan craft classes. Plus, enjoy skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, tubing, mini snowmobiles, hayrides, s’more and more. On Saturday, see the latest from Rossignol, listen to live music and that night, ski under the stars! VISIT OMNIHOTELS.COM/HOTELS/ HOMESTEAD-VIRGINIA/THINGS-TO-DO/SKI
February 16-18 Presidents’ Day Weekend WINTERPLACE RESORT, WV
Presidents’ Day Weekend features great snow & a Tap Takeover in Mikey’s Slope-side Restaurant. Have a great day of skiing, and then slide on down for some music on the Deck while enjoying a local Craft Brew and Hot Brat! Mickey’s Tap Takeovers have become a favorite event during Holiday Weekends. VISIT WINTERPLACE.COM
MARCH March Value Season
WINTERPLACE RESORT, WV
Spring may be just around the corner, but historically, March brings some of the best snows of the season. Cool nights and Sunny days make for short sleeve skiing, sunglasses, sunscreen, and discounted prices. Enjoy the last turns of the season at reduced rates as we welcome in spring! VISIT WINTERPLACE.COM
Mid-March WINTERFEST
WINTER GUIDE
GIVEAWAY ENTER TO WIN AN AWESOME PRIZE FROM EACH OF THESE BLUE RIDGE RESORTS AT BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM
A pair of lift tickets and equipment rentals Seven Springs Mountain Resort* Omni Homestead Resort* Massanutten Resort*
BRYCE RESORT, VA
Our season end celebration features activities for the kids, plenty of crazy costumes, live music on the slope, a bar made out of snow and concludes with our feature event, Pond Skimming in what is sure to be fun for the whole family. VISIT BRYCERESORT.COM/SKISNOWBOARD-RESORT
March 15 - 17 Ballhooter Spring Break
SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN RESORT, WV
An unforgettable spring break (that you may not remember). Free Village concerts featuring Clutch and CKY- plus spring game competitions, whiskey tastings, yoga, and all the best skiing and riding in the region. Ballhooter promises to be bigger and better than ever this year. VISIT VISIT.SNOWSHOEMTN.COM
WANT MORE?
VISIT BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS. COM/WINTER-GUIDE
to explore the best adventure-packed resorts in the blue ridge, and see what they have up their sleeves for the new season! We interviewed each resort to learn everything you need to plan your winter adventures. From their most exciting ski runs to the greatest apres-ski dining and drinking options in the area, you will find everything you need to go outside and play this winter!
2-Day Ski Passes with Rentals Bryce Mountain Resort*
2-Day/2-Night Lodging & Lift Package for Two Snowshoe Mountain Resort* Wintergreen Resort*
*Rules and Restrictions may apply. Visit blueridgeoutdoors.com/winter-guide for more details. Winners will be announced Jan 1st.
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the other John muir trail BY BRENT MARTIN
IN SEPTEMBER 1867, TWO YEARS AFTER the end
of the Civil War, a wild-eyed 29-year-old man left Louisville, Kentucky on foot with little money, food, or plans. Only a few months earlier he had suffered a serious eye injury in a work accident. He was heading south on a botanical journey with an ultimate destination of South America, then maybe Europe. He did not know it then, but he would become one of the most famous conservationists in American history. His name was John Muir. Muir is known mostly for his founding of the Sierra Club, meetings and campouts with Theodore Roosevelt, and his journeys throughout the Sierra Nevada, and Alaska, but ask most Americans about his time in the South and they will likely never make the association. Yet this journey in 1867 was his first such sojourn, and one of his longest. He did not make it to South America, but he made it to Cuba, going for days at a time without food
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” –John Muir– or money, and sleeping in the open air. His story of this journey became The Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf, a portrait of the southern Appalachians and the Deep South at a time of great change and transition. Muir walked through Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountains, crossing the Blue Ridge in eastern Tennessee and walking up the Hiawassee River Valley to modern day Murphy, N.C., before turning south to Blairsville, Georgia and the north Georgia mountains. His path up the Hiawassee was the same path I am walking today out of Reliance, Tenn., a national historic district, where two outfitters, a burger
and beer joint, and a few odd and interesting historical buildings make up the entirety of the architectural landscape. I am here because the John Muir National Recreation Trail begins here, running for almost 20 miles up the valley before terminating near the tiny hamlet of Turtletown. This was wild country when Muir passed through here in 1867. The Cherokees had only been removed a few decades earlier and Muir described it as “the most primitive country I have ever seen, primitive in everything.” As I leave Reliance and walk upstream, I imagine that the river of Muir’s visit did not look altogether
different than it did when Muir described it. Although there are dams upstream, beginning not far from the river’s headwaters with Lake Chatuge, the river here looks wild and free, rugged and forested. The trail stays close to the river and would be impossible to travel in places during high water. The meager online references I find have accounts of hikers turning back during such times. Muir described the Hiwassee as a “most impressive mountain river. Its channel is very rough, as it crosses the edge of upturned rock strata, some of them standing at right angles, or glancing off obliquely to right and left.” The river is loaded with large rocks and sluices, deep pools, and shallow rock filled rapids. It is much wider than I imagined it would be, knowing its size and appearance before it loses its wildness in the depths of Lake Chatuge, followed by Lake Hiwassee and Lake Appalachia.
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On September 18, 1867, a farmer in eastern Tennessee took Muir to the crest of the Unaka Range, the long spine of the Great Smokies that forms the TN/NC state line, and which runs south to Georgia’s Cohutta and Tennessee’s Big Frog Wilderness areas. Muir describes this visit in some detail: “The scenery is far grander than any I ever before beheld. The view extends from the Cumberland Mountains on the north far into Georgia and North Carolina to the south, an area of about 5,000 square miles. Such an ocean of wooded, waving, swelling mountain beauty and grandeur is not to be described.” The amazing thing about this area is that it is still the darkest spot on the map, with one of the “I CAN’T HELP biggest concentrations BUT WONDER of roadless National IF MY FEET ARE Forest and Designated TOUCHING THE Wilderness areas in the SAME SPOTS region. It’s a long spine of THAT MUIR wildness, beginning with WOULD HAVE Great Smoky Mountains TOUCHED WHEN paddlers, commercial National Park, and HE WALKED HERE. rafting, and logjammed descending southward WHAT WAS ON tourist traffic. through the Joyce KilmerHIS MIND? WHAT Should I continue Slickrock Wilderness, DREAMS FIRED walking another ten Citico Creek Wilderness, HIS IMAGINATION miles or so, as Muir Snowbird Wilderness AS HE WANDERED certainly would have, I Study Area, Bald River THIS ONCE WILD would emerge on State VALLEY?” Gorge Wilderness, Highway 68, where not Upper Bald Wilderness far upstream the river Study Area, and ending end is held back by Lake with the Cohutta/Big Appalachia dam. I can’t make this 16Frog Wilderness complex. I don’t mile journey in a day, so I return in two believe there is another area in the weeks to go south from 68, down the eastern United States, and definitely Hiwassee to my departure point. From not southern Appalachia, where such the start, I’m surprised at the lack of a description would be as close to use. The river is just as spectacular, but accurate today as it was 150 years the trail is overgrown, and I realize that earlier. I’m going to spend a chunk of the day What is different is the invasivecrawling over and under blowdowns, exotic plant life along the river, plants and at times, simply trying to find the that Muir would not have recognized. trail. The trail has seen no maintenance From the trail’s beginning, the meager work in years. It’s a warm, dry day, and and struggling riverine forest is choked I consider every snarl of downed trees with privet, stiltgrass, multi-flora to be a five-star hotel for copperheads. rose, autumn olive, and Japanese My eyes study patterns in the leaves honeysuckle—all introduced and and grass as I proceed. spreading far and wide. But there are What forest did Muir see here in also native pawpaws, umbrella leaf 1867? The Forest Service has cut the and Frasier magnolias, hazelnuts, area heavily in recent decades, but walnuts, and a suite of fall wildflowers. occasionally I see a large chestnut oak I see three anglers and a handful of or tulip tree that escaped the blade. boaters in eight miles of walking, but There is also remnant rivercane, and no other hikers, save two flip-flop clad loads of pawpaws, as well as the same tourists who were near the trailhead invasive-exotic species. At one point, where I began, walking a bit north of the privet is so thick that it has choked the parking area for another view. It’s out all other vegetation along the river. hard to believe on such a spectacular No campsites, no trash. I see one fire day, where less than ten miles to the ring at about mile five, and it looks like south the Ocoee River is packed with 38
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it was used a very long time ago. I can’t help but wonder if my feet are touching the same spots that Muir did. What was on his mind? What dreams fired his imagination as he wandered this once wild valley? I do know from his journal that he was every bit as awestruck as I am on this bright October day. Muir arrived in Murphy on September 20th and wandered around for day or so, exploring what he describes as the “groves and gorges” of the town. It was a rugged and dangerous place then, especially in those immediate years after the war. And much like the Hiwassee river of today, Murphy still has a bit of a wild edge to it. It’s the last small town in the far corner of western North Carolina you pass through before entering Copper Hill, Tenn., and the site of one of the biggest American industrial disasters of the 20th century: copper mining that poisoned the air and soil so badly that the forest is still in recovery. Today in Murphy, Muir would see a large billboard for Mackaysville Gun and Drugs. Yes, pick up your painkillers and your ammo in the same place. There are also pawn shops, fast food restaurants, vape shops, tattoo parlors, a casino, a growing restaurant scene, and a decent microbrewery. On your way out of town, near the John Muir trailhead, there’s Field of the Woods, an enormous Bible theme park, free and open to the public. Ten commandments the size of skyscrapers B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
cover a hillside. It’s just one sample of the interesting backwoods places and communities to be encountered here. Just over the NC/TN state line, there is a small bar that must be the most remote bar in North Carolina. It’s called the Thirsty Turtle. Another worthy stop in this surreal landscape. And the fact that John Muir traveled through here makes it all the more surreal. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and one of the most dedicated conservationists who ever lived, walked this same trail, saw these same rocks. I hope the trail gets some good love and much-needed maintenance in the future, though, and that his significance here grows. If you decide to pay the area a visit, read Muir's A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf before leaving. It will make your trip a special one. Except for a few occasional rises to avoid difficult bluffs, the trail is all on the river, which should make it an easy and relatively flat walk. But the trail’s condition is so bad that time must be allowed to navigate the blowdowns and dense vegetation. When Muir passed through here in the mid-19th century, this trail would have been a well-used trade path, in far better shape in 1867 than it is today. Muir carried on from here, walking all the way to Cedar Key, Florida before catching a boat to Cuba. Then on and on and on, he wandered, until he could wander no more. G O O U TA N D P L AY
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A TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR IS POUNDING
Neko’s Comeback How did downhill biking phenom Neko MulaLly rediscover his mountain biking mojo? He built a bike park.
BY PHIL MORGAN
took fifth at a World Cup race in Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia, Australia and then followed it with and there’s talk of canceling the a legendary run at the World Cup men’s U.S. Nationals downhill Finals in Norway. Within seconds of championship, in which case podiums busting out of the starting gate, his will be awarded based on Saturday’s chain broke and flopped onto the the qualifying runs. This should be dusty track. welcome news to Neko Mulally, who “I rode on instinct,” Mulally said of already took first in qualies. his miraculous performance. “I was Mulally is ruminating on the able to do stuff. I never practiced.” possibilities. While a cancelation Mulally's star began rising rapidly. would make him national champ, He attracted sponsorships from Scott shortcuts have never held much and Oskar Blues, earned $200,000, appeal to the 25-year-old pro. Deep and bought a house in Pisgah Forest, down he wants another run. North Carolina. “He takes the long way round,” In both 2015 and 2016, injuries says friend and business partner Sean plagued Mullaly, and he struggled to Lider. “He believes in hard work.” recapture the magic of his breakout Mulally‘s penchant for work has season. compelled him to move mountains, “He was struggling,” said Logan or at least reshape them. In eastern Mulally. “It was a big mental game. Tennessee he and Lider have built He just didn’t know how he could get their own downhill park and training back on top.” facility, an epiphanic experience for In the winter of 2016, the young athlete. discontented and restless, Mullaly “It changed my perspective,” approached his friend and fellow Mulally said. “Getting on the podium racer Sean Lider about building a isn’t the only thing that matters. downhill course. Mulally hoped that There’s more to life than just winning such a project would reinvigorate his the race. It taught me balance.” career and rekindle his fire. These days nothing surpasses the Furthermore, both riders wanted pleasure of pushing his boundaries in to see a downhill renaissance in the company of his friends, a whole the Southeast. In a region where new crop of downhill competitors mountain biking had exploded in who are thriving thanks to Neko’s recent years, downhill riding has leadership. been conspicuously underplayed. When the announcement comes “The first year was just Neko and through that the national myself busting ass,” said Lider. championship race will take The duo sculpted trail place, albeit on a slippery inspired by the downhill track, Mullaly is stoked. courses they had “MULALLY‘S The 25-yearcompeted on around PENCHANT FOR WORK old pro kits up and the world. “Windrock HAS COMPELLED HIM takes to the starting is unique because TO MOVE MOUNTAINS, gate brimming with we have the OR AT LEAST RESHAPE confidence. freedom to develop THEM.” “When you go into this place however a race knowing you we want,” says Lider. can win, it’s the best best The gnarly, steep feeling.” terrain immediately Alongside his little brother attracted a following of Logan Mulally, Neko began racing dedicated competitors, World Cup BMX at the tender age of six in their stars like Walker Shaw, Dakota home state of Pennsylvania. Their Norton, and Max Morgan. father, an avid mountain biker, pushed “It gives me a place to train that them into BMX in order to build their is similar to the conditions we ride skills early. When Neko was 13 he in Europe,” says Norton. “From the competed in his first downhill race at rider’s perspective it is everything Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. we could ask for. I’ve built my entire With pinpoint precision and career at that bike park and on that hit-it-wide-open bravado, Mulally mountain.” developed a reputation as one of the Rivalries and friendships abound best youngsters in the East. Mulally as the Windrock has become a crashed the party hard in 2014 when hamlet of downhill athletes. In the off-season, a slew of trailers arrive at Lider's, where a nonstop routine PHOTO COURTESY SEAN LEADER of pumptrack riding, motocross, and B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
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downhilling begins. “Three of the top 30 in the world practice at my place,” said Mulally. “They train on my mountain. I am happy about that.” Logan Mulally says his big brother warmly embraces the extra competition that comes with the scene he’s cultivating. “It’s brought all the riders up a level,” Logan said. “He’s bringing his friends with him. He’d rather see one of those guys win than some European.” Aside from a training ground, Windrock is open to the public and also home to a Southeast Downhill Series and the Windrock Enduro. When Neko isn’t training he’ll jump into one of their old trucks and run shuttles. Embracing the bike park’s everyday chores and sharing in the stoke is a big part of Neko’s newfound zen, says Lider. “He comes up here on his day off all the time. He likes just seeing the scene. He’s here because he loves it.” Mulally and Lider say a growing number of novices and young riders now frequent the mountain, especially as they develop more trails. In Windrock downhill has
taken hold. “The younger kids who come are pretty good riders,” says Neko. “It’s cool to see they are products of our scene.” As the starting gate buzzes, clicks, and parts open, Mulally smoothly glides out. He picks and flows his way down the chundery track, riding a razor’s edge of calculation and euphoric abandon. “It was the Neko we’d seen in 2014: calm, relaxed, having a good time with his friends,” says Logan Mulally of that national championship run. Mulally crosses the line with a time of 3:11:121, winning by only a half-second. Climbing the podium, the national champion is all smiles. "He’s back with that desire," said Norton. "This whole process of building this bike park has given him a sense of clarity about what he wants." “I am proud of all the guys that ride at our spot,” says Mulally. “We all ride together all the time. Sometimes I win. Sometimes they win. We do that all winter long.”
PHOTO COURTESY SEAN LEADER
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Experience the thrill of mountain air rush by as you ride down the longest sled run on the East Coast. Then, warm up in your cozy cabin at Blackwater Falls State Park for a winter getaway you’ll never forget. Plan your trip at wvstateparks.com.
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THE FUN LASTS
TALLAHASSEE ALL YEAR
Tallahassee is more than college kids and politics. From towering live oaks and sparkling natural springs to standout restaurants and thriving craft breweries, Tallahassee brims with excitement. Plan your trip at VisitTallahassee.com.
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THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT the rising stars of Ski Racing in the Southeast
A Y O U T H S K I R A C E R C O M P E T E S AT M A S S A N U T T E N R E S O R T. / P H O T O B Y RODNEY WILLET
BY ELLEN KANZINGER
THE SOUTHEAST IS KNOWN FOR ITS ACCESS
to outdoor adventures, from hiking the Appalachian Trail and climbing in the New River Gorge to paddling the Narrows of the Green River and biking the Great Allegheny Passage. But it’s not a region necessarily known for its competitive ski racing. “The weather is a real roller coaster ride in the Southeast as far as temperature,” said Chris Shepard, a coach for the Wintergreen Race Team. “For ski racing, you need a surface that is cold and is frozen. We don’t always have that because of the temperature fluctuations that we see in our region. So we might have really good, solid snow on a Wednesday, and then by Saturday when it’s training day, it can be a little bit slushy. That’s an inconsistency you wished you didn’t have if you were trying to train ski racers all the time.” Skiers in the Southeast also have to contend with significantly smaller mountains and shorter runs. “You ski and then you’re on the lift,” Shepard said. “If you go out West, you can ski and ski and ski and ski and ski and ski and then get on the lift.” But since Shepard took over the Wintergreen Resort ski team in 1997, the program has grown from 18 kids to 150 kids participating on the race team, the development team, and the free ride team. Families from as far away as D.C. and Virginia Beach make the trek to the mountains every weekend for instruction and competitions. “Ski racing, especially in the Southeast, is truly a family sport,” Shepard said. “Folks who get into it have to be pretty passionate about it
because most of them are driving a bit to get to the resorts.” Nicole Weiss and her husband, David, have been big skiers their entire lives. They started their three boys on the slopes at a young age, not long after they were able to balance and walk on their own. When they moved their family of five from Michigan to Virginia, they feared their dreams of having a skiing family would never be a reality. Then the Weiss family discovered Wintergreen, about 45 minutes from their home in Charlottesville, Va. After meeting Shepard at a parents' meeting and hearing him speak, Nicole Weiss said she knew this was the program for her boys. “The coaches are really what makes a huge difference,” she said. “If you’re in this program to develop an Olympic ski racer, then he’s on your side and he’s going to help you do that. If you’re there to have fun, he’s also there to do that too. That’s really what has kept us here.” Braeden, 13, Cooper, 11, and Dalton, 10, each spent two years with the development team before moving up to the race team. “Everybody thinks their kid is a great skier if they can point their skis down and bomb down the hill a million miles an hour,” Weiss said. “The development team actually teaches them that just being out of control and skiing fast is not the way to develop into a racer. They slow them down and it drives the kids crazy.” The whole Weiss family gets involved with the racing. Nicole works with the Wintergreen Boosters, a group that fundraises to help purchase
equipment and subsidize the coaching staff. David is on the ski patrol, and his skills as an orthopedic surgeon have come in handy a few times. And every year, the three boys look forward to the new race season. “When it stops being 75 degrees and it cools off a little bit, I start seeing them pulling their boots out and trying their skis and seeing how they’ve grown,” Weiss said. “And it’s just an assumption that winter is for ski racing, even though it’s Virginia.” The boys race through the Southern Alpine Racing Association (SARA), a division of U.S. Ski and Snowboard encompassing North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The organization supports nine ski resorts' teams, including Snowshoe Mountain Resort, Timberline Four Seasons Resort, Winterplace Ski Resort, Bryce Resort, Massanutten Resort, Wintergreen Resort, Appalachian Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain Resort, and Sugar Mountain Resort. Racers, ages six to 18, compete in a series of weekend competitions from the end of December through February. Kids can choose to only participate in events in one state to help cut down on some of the travel. Adults also have an opportunity to compete with the Masters Alpine Program. Everyone then comes together for the SARA Championships at the end of February and beginning of March. Top finishers are invited to larger events held in the Northeast. “I, along with some of the other coaches, went up to New Hampshire for some postseason racing and we’re up there competing against kids that
get to ski eight or nine months a year,” said Steve Howard, a coach for the Timberline Race Team. “Here, we ski three months a year. We do okay in spite of all that.” Howard grew up racing in Virginia, eventually as a member of the Virginia Tech ski team. He moved out West for a number of years before moving back to his home state to have a family. “Skiing in the Southeast leaves a lot to be desired after you’ve lived in Park City and spent years in Colorado and Utah,” he said. “But it is still skiing and it’s a good place to learn. If you can do it here, you can do it anywhere.” Howard got involved as a coach when both of his kids starting skiing with the Timberline Race Team. For the last eight years, he and his children have commuted from their home in Floyd, Va. to the West Virginian ski resort to train. “For me, it’s a four to four and a half hour drive one way, every weekend,” Howard said. “We spend a lot of time on the road.” But the drive is a necessary part of the sport as they try to squeeze the most out of the short ski season. “The month of February [2018], it didn’t go below freezing and so you lose all of the snow, you have poor conditions,” Howard said. “We, unfortunately, ski a lot in the rain, which is never any fun, but it’s what we have to do. Last year we had a number of races cancelled because of the weather. Sometimes we’re scraping enough snow together to make a racecourse… All in all, everybody’s in it for the love of the sport and trying to pass that on to the next generation.”
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KING OF ROCK
Bike guru Mike King is helping transform Rock Hill, South Carolina, into a cycling mecca B Y E R I C J . WA L L A C E
IF YOU WERE INTO BMX RACING IN THE
1980s and 90s, you knew Mike King. Following in the steps of his older brother, King’s uncanny ability for the big pass made him one of the sport’s first kid prodigies. Winning a World Cup, U.S. National Championship—and a slew of less notorious titles—he was a BMX star by the age of 20. As if that wasn’t enough, in ‘93 King switched to mountain biking and won both NORBA’s Dual Slalom National Championship series and the UCI Downhill World Championship title as a rookie. By the time he hung up his racing jersey in late 2005, King was a living legend and shoe-in for the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame (he was inducted in 2013). Accordingly, USA Cycling tapped him to direct their national BMX program. From 2006 to 2013, King was responsible for developing, training, and coaching the nation’s top Olympic-level racers. Under his watch, the program netted three Olympic medals, four Pan American medals, five world championship titles, and 14 Supercross World Cup wins. “I’d been competing since the age of 6,” says King, 49. “For me, switching to an administrative and leadership role was an extension of that. It came naturally and I enjoyed it.” But when the team underperformed at the London Olympics in 2012, he started thinking about making a change. “As a racer, the only thing I had to do was show up at the airport on time and perform on a bike,” he explains. “The responsibilities began and ended with me.” Directing an elite program, there were variables he couldn’t control. “It was pretty stressful,” King continues. “And by that point, I’d 46
become a parent. It was Going on five years important for me to be later, King describes the “WHEN I WAS with my kids as much as move as an excellent RACING, I’D WIN possible. I was thinking decision. Transitioning AND THE NEXT DAY about quality of life.” to the role of cycling IT’S FORGOTTEN— A year or so earlier, supervisor, he’s helped BECAUSE THERE’S King and USA Cycling had Rock Hill achieve more ALWAYS ANOTHER visited the small southern than its BMX dreams—the RACE. BUT HELPING city of Rock Hill, South area has become no less A KID OVERCOME Carolina. There, he’d than an East Coast mecca THEIR FEARS AND discussed the city’s plans of cycling. GET BETTER? to build a world-class Folded into the THAT’S LASTING. supercross track that— Rock Hill Outdoor THAT CONFIDENCE officials hoped— would Center at Riverwalk IS GOING TO enable it to host elite-level are programs for BMX, INFORM THE REST events. track cycling, road OF THEIR LIVES.” “That visit stuck with cycling, and mountain me,” says King. Rock Hill biking. In addition was striving to create to the supercross the East Coast’s premier complex—with its elite destination for BMXers. And it also and junior level courses and pump seemed like a great place to live. “I track—the center features a 250-meter was struck by the southern hospitality velodrome; 1.1-mile closed-circuit and how people came across as cycling course; 3.5 miles of paved genuine and respectful,” King adds. “I riverside trails; and 7 miles of mountain kept thinking about it and, every now bike trails. Partnerships with local bike and then, I’d find myself telling my wife, clubs and other organizations have ‘You know, that would be a great place resulted in additional mountain bike to raise a family.’” trails, cycling routes, and support for In late 2013, King received a phone events like the yearly Bike Bonanza call from Rock Hill’s parks, recreation and Bikefest. and tourism director and arranged Since the supercross track opened a second visit. By Feb. of 2014, he’d in August of 2014, it’s hosted a slew of accepted a position as the coordinator major events including the USA BMX of the city’s BMX program and moved Gold East Regional Championships, his family to South Carolina. USA BMX Carolina Nationals, USA
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Cycling National BMX Championships, UCI World Cups (2015 and 2016), and the UCI BMX World Championships in 2017. The latter attracted 20,000 spectators and 3,700 competitors from 48 different countries. Its direct economic impact was estimated at $19.2 million. “Not only was this the world’s biggest BMX event, it hadn’t been held on U.S. soil since 2001,” says King. “It was a super exciting opportunity and [we] executed. The event solidified Rock Hill’s position as a world-class center for BMXing and cycling.” The success has helped fuel a booming educational program. Weekly classes and clinics for riders of all ages and skill levels are offered through the Outdoor Center. King speculates its elite classes may one day produce an Olympian. Championship prospects aside, he’s just glad to be getting folks outdoors and on bikes. Especially kids. “It’s the best feeling in the world to watch a kid go from knowing nothing to hitting jumps and competing full steam ahead,” asserts King. “When I was racing, I’d win and the next day it’s forgotten—because there’s always another race. But helping a kid overcome their fears and get better? That’s lasting. That confidence is going to inform the rest of their lives.” G O O U TA N D P L AY
B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
THE GOODS
SKI RACING ESSENTIALS COACH CHRIS SHEPARD’S FAVORITE GEAR FOR SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN SLOPES B Y G R A H A M AV E R I L L
C
hris Shepard grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, but didn’t start skiing until he was on the other side of the world, in Germany. Fresh out of high school, and a young Army soldier in a foreign country, Shepard was game for picking up a new skill. Little did he know that the diversion he picked up at the Armed Forces Recreation Center in Germany would become a life-long passion. Fast forward two decades, and Shepard is now the head coach of Wintergreen’s Freeride and Ski Race Team, where he gets to help guide 150 different kids through the nuances of ski racing in the Southern Appalachians. “If you can learn to set an edge and carve on our icy conditions, you’ll be well on your way to being an expert skier,” Shepard says. “We obviously don’t get a lot of deep snow, but you do get a lot of varied conditions here. Ice, slush, powder…you have to know how to ski all of it. Those sort of conditions help you become a great skier, fast.” We asked Shepard to detail the pieces of gear he relies on to ski the challenging conditions in the Southern Appalachians. He took it a step further and tells us exactly which pieces of gear are worth the splurge, and which pieces of gear offer an opportunity to save some money. What he says might surprise you.
SAVE CHEAP GOGGLES— SMITH CASCADE CLASSIC $30
You should have two pairs of goggles: one tinted for the sun and one clear for gray days. Forget interchangeable lenses. That’s too difficult. And it doesn’t matter how much you pay for the goggles. Some of the best goggles I’ve had over the last 10 years have been $25 cheapies. They’re gonna get scratched if you use them a lot, so it’s not worth dropping lots of money.
SPLURGE ROSSIGNOL ALLSPEED PRO $600
The boot might be the most important upgrade you can make. You have to have boots that fit or you’ll suffer. There have been huge leaps in design recently, and the newest boots are made with lighter plastic and they’re just amazing. The insulation in these is top notch too. They’re so light, and so flexible, but my feet never got cold once last season.
SAVE LEATHER WORK GLOVES—FLYLOW RIDGE GLOVE $39
I got tired of paying big bucks for gloves a long time ago. Instead, I buy an insulated leather glove with Thinsulate insulation in them. You can often find two pairs for $25 around town. They’re great for warmer conditions. And I’m working in the snow all day, drilling holes and sticking gates. You have to have a tough glove with lots of dexterity. Work gloves are the best. And take two pairs of gloves with you when you ski. Your gloves are gonna get wet from snow and sweat. Have an extra dry pair to put on after lunch. You’ll enjoy yourself more.
SPLURGE: ROSSIGNOL HERO ATHLETE SL $1,180
This is my racing ski, and any one of the top ski brands makes a good slalom race ski right now. This one has 13-meter radius side cut with a full flex. I can put this ski on the edge and it will support everything I want to do. It’s my go-to ski in the Southeast. The trails in the Southeast are narrow, so I can’t run a full Giant Slalom ski, because the turn radius would be too great. This ski keeps me in the middle of the slope and safe. 48
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SPLURGE HELLY HANSEN SOGN SHELL $375
You’ve gotta have a technical shell. It’s so important. You see so many people buy thick, insulated jackets that they can wear to school and skiing, but you have varying temperatures and you don’t know what it will be on any given day. I like a stiff technical shell that is waterproof and windproof, and then I’ll layer underneath based on the conditions. Make sure the collar and hood fit you right; they need to seal up around your face and below your nose to give you proper protection.
HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS PATAGONIA WOOLYESTER FLEECE JACKET & PULLOVER $139
Striving for a zero-waste apparel industry, Patagonia took a classic style and modernized it by changing the fabric content. This Fair Trade Certified fleece is made with 46% recycled wool/46% polyester/4% nylon/4% other fiber patterned fleece. It’s your go-to, everyday, all-around layer that feels good to wear inside and out.
VOLT AVALANCHE X HEATED GLOVES $269
The Avalanche X has a built-in electrical heating system with three power settings. Soothing heat radiates all around each finger and across the hands. The batterypowered electric heat lasts from 3 to 8 hours. The gloves are waterproof, breathable, super-insulated, and function superbly on winter adventures even without the electric heat.
MOTOROLA TALKABOUT T800
If you’re venturing off the cellular grid, the Talkabout T800 can help you share and track your location and even send messages. Users download an app to their smartphone, and then connect their smartphones to the T800 radios over Bluetooth. The app uses the T800 as a modem to send messages and locations over radio frequencies. It’s ideal for communicating with fellow adventurers in the backcountry or alerting others about safety concerns or potential meet-up spots.
DAKOTA GRIZZLY QUINN $84
An ideal belay pullover, the Quinn wears well, can take a beating, and doubles as a bivouac in the truck bed under the stars. This comfortable heathered cotton/poly rib knit pullover has a quarter-zip and split side vent for all-weather breathability and versatility.
THE CUBE $25
Attach the Cube Tracker to your keys, backpack, or any item you tend to misplace. Using your keychain, you can click one button to ping your lost phone, or go through the phone app and ping or map the keychain if you lose your keys. Our publisher used it twice in the first week she tested it.
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TH
ANNIVERSARY
Celebrating 35 Years of Helping Folks Enjoy Winter Weather
HOLIDAY SALES
VISIT FREESTYLEONLINE.COM 475 Westfield Rd. | Charlottesville, VA | 22901 | freestyleonline.com | 434.978.4091
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TRAIL MIX
TOP SOUTHERN SPINS: BEST ALBUMS OF 2018 BY JEDD FERRIS
CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF THE YEAR’S BEST RECORDS FROM ACTS WHO HAIL FROM OUR BLUE RIDGE FOOTPRINT.
L U C Y D A C U S • H I S TO R I A N This emerging Richmond-based indie rock singer-songwriter sounds more assured than she did on her excellent 2016 debut No Burden. Throughout Historian, Dacus uses swells of strings and emotive horns to add sonic punch to her vivid confessional lyrics, as she wrestles with harsh feelings about breakups (“Addiction”) and spiritual confusion (“Nonbeliever”). The stunner is “Pillar of Truth,” in which she recounts witnessing her grandmother’s final days. In her striking voice, Dacus sings: “I am weak, looking at you/A pillar of truth, turning to dust.” JOHN PRINE
• TREE
OF
FORGIVENESS
Now 72, John Prine released his first album of new material back in the spring. While his voice has weathered with age and the effects of cancer treatment, the blue-collar folk bard is still a master of delivering wry, frontporch wisdom. He playfully recognizes that life is finite in “When I get to Heaven,” joking that in the afterlife he’ll be enjoying booze, rock ‘n’ roll, and a cigarette that’s “nine miles long.” He’s more earnest in “Summer’s End,” a wistful ballad about enduring change that features gentle harmony backing vocals from Brandi Carlile. K A C E Y M U S G R AV E S
• GOLDEN
HOUR
In Golden Hour’s mystical acoustic opener, Kacey Musgraves sings “I’m gonna do it my way, it’ll be alright.” For the crystalline-voiced tunesmith, known for bucking Music Row convention with songs about small-town cultural truths and an affinity for weed, that means taking the strum-and-sing twang of her first two records into new territory that she likes to call “galactic country.” That term certainly works for “Oh, What A World,” which features spacey banjo rolls and Musgraves singing dreamily about the intoxication of love, but this 50
album also takes her beyond country. The breezy disco groove of “High Horse” and the sweeping hook of “Velvet Elvis” prove Musgraves has a knack for soul-satisfying pop. BRENT COBB
• PROVIDENCE
C A N YO N
Brent Cobb’s exceptional latest album, Providence Canyon, is full of headbobbing country-funk that’s raw, rugged, and undeniably authentic. On the title track he takes a nostalgic trip to a favorite natural escape in his native Georgia, and even more poignant is “King of Alabama,” a tribute to a hard-working country singer who died too young. In the gritty Southern rock of “Ain’t a Road Too Long,” Cobb sings in his laid-back conversational tone, “I only do the work that pleases me.” That’s good news for the rest of us. AMANDA SHIRES
• TO
THE
SUNSET
A skilled fiddler, singer-songwriter, and member of her husband Jason Isbell’s band the 400 Unit, Shires decided it was time to bust out of the revivalist Americana mold on her latest album, To the Sunset. Her personal lyrical revelations and powerful countrywarble vocals remain familiarly
B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8
intact, but they’re set among synthaccented pop melodies (“Leave It Alone”), fuzzy garage-rock riffs (“Eve’s Daughter”), and spacey Bowie-minded soundscapes (“Parking Lot Pirouette”). It’s graceful evolution for an artist just starting to get her rightful due. K U R T V I L E • B OT T L E I T I N After last year’s stellar collaboration with Courtney Barnett, the Philadelphia-based indie guitar hero is back with the first full-length of his own since 2015. Vile has always exuded chill-dude ambivalence, but throughout the engagingly experimental folk-rock of Bottle It In he offers glimpses into an admittedly anxious mind, albeit with some playful word play and his usual languid drawl. He laments smart-phone dependency in the ethereal meditation “Mutinies,” and during the album’s best song, the 10-minute trippy odyssey “Bassackwards,” Vile distills shaky feelings into short existential phrases (“I was on the ground circa Planet Earth, but out of sorts”) that are delivered with a loping groove, hypnotic finger-picking, and dreamlike, effects-laden electric guitar riffs. He’s exorcising universal fears without getting too serious. B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
AMERICAN AQUARIUM
• THINGS
CHANGE
With a completely new backing band, B.J. Barham sounds fired up and ready to go on the latest effort from his longstanding North Carolina alt-country outfit. Throughout Things Change, Barham uses three chords and the truth—supercharged with plenty of distortion—to deliver fullthrottle Southern bar rock anthems written for those feeling disillusioned by the country’s current political climate. He’s clear where he stands in “The World is On Fire,” and offers a call for resilience in “Tough Folks,” singing “Life ain’t fair/Saddle up, boy, and see it through/Tough times don’t last, only tough folks do.” G O O U TA N D P L AY
B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S
W ITH EX PA N DE D
HORI ZONS CO ME E N DL ES S
POSS IBILITIES.
Groomed trails, crisp mountain air and breathtaking views make The Omni Homestead Resort the ideal place for your wintertime vacation. From skiing, snowboarding or ice skating to our world-class spa and culinary offerings, you’ll enjoy countless ways to make the most of your time this winter.
T H E HOM ESTEA D SKI PACKAGE RATES FROM
LUXURIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS,
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PARKING FOR ONE VEHICLE
229
PER NIGHT
AND DAILY LIFT TICKETS PER GUEST PER ROOM
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D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 / B LU E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M
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B a r e ly a s o u n d . B u t y o u f e e l p e r f e c t h a r m o n y.
Is it possible to be moved by stillness? In West Virginia you can wrap your senses in a thick blanket of snow. Marvel at the silence. And set off to discover mountains and valleys. Forests and trails. Peace and balance. For some, nothing sounds better.
WVtourism.com
Canaan Valley
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