Vermont Sports October, 2018

NEW WAYS TO GET STRONGER | GEAR UP FOR FALL | SKIING, WITHOUT SNOW

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OCTOBER 2018

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ADVENTURE DOGS MEET OUR CONTEST WINNERS

A VAN, A PLAN

A VACATION STORIES OF #VANLIFE

Be first down the mountain again.

BE YOU AGAIN. THE RIGHT SPORTS MEDICINE PHYSICIAN CAN HELP. Our physicians provide comprehensive sports medicine care, no matter how complex the injury. Patients receive a course of treatment that’s ideally suited for them, built around the most advanced options available—whether operative, non-operative or a combination of both. So, if you live in the Burlington area, make an appointment with The University of Vermont Health Network’s sports medicine specialists at The UVM Medical Center. To make an appointment, call (802) 448-5445.

UVMHealth.org/MedCenterSportsMed

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A night (not) on the town. Adam Sauerwein throws a backyard barbecue at the converted bus he calls home.

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Your Vermont

6 Great Outdoors Racing the Sky

Vermont's Hilary Gerardi is pretty badass too.

8

News

No Snow? No Problem

Vermont's elite Nordic skiers are finding more ways to compete before the snow falls.

BE SOCIAL!

11

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The mountain bike pant that for sub-freezing rides, a crash

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Gear & Beer

Cool (Weather) Gear

Health

DIY Sled Training

14

Feature

The Afghan Pro Rider

Farid Noori has big plans for himself and mountain biking.

16

Feature

#VanLife Vermont

Some people vacation in their vans. This guy lives in his.

Stories from our #VanLifeVT Challenge.

Photo by Adam Sauerweind

18

Feature

The Dogs We Love

Meet the winners of our 2018 Adventure Dog Contest.

28

Featured Athlete

The Ph.D. Ultra Runner How Goshen's Britta Clark handles two big challenges.

30

Featured Athlete

Climbing High

Isa Oehry seeks new summits.

29

Calendar

Race & Events Guide

34 Endgame

The Call of Upward

Why Leath Tonino loves getting high.

pad, and flannel vs. puffy.

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Adam Sauerwein

T

he thing I love most about this issue? We get to hear from you, our readers. You told us some amazing stories about adventures with your dogs, stories of thru-hiking the Long Trail and even Jet skiing with your canine buddies.

You shared photos and tales of vacations in vans. You showed us how you outfitted them for skiing and camping, where they took you and what upgrades you made. And one reader, Adam Sauerwein shared how moving into a van and ski bumming his way around Vermont changed his life.

I kind of want to be Adam Sauerwein.

And if you read his story, as told by Abagael Giles, in "#Vanlife Vermont" on p. 14, you’ll want to move into a van and wake up in a parking lot on a powder day, too.

The fact that Sauerwein, who was living in Buffalo, chose to drive east to Vermont to live out of his van instead of pursuing the more temperate climate and bigger mountains of the West says something.

As he says of Vermont, “No one cares about your backstory. You show up at the same place every week, and you’re here to ski and you will, whether it’s rainy or windy or cold. And whatever the conditions, you’re going to have a great time. You get psyched about stuff that other people wouldn’t look twice at. You find what you can. It’s this diehard skiing culture that I don’t think you quite get on the West Coast.”

That “diehard” culture permeates pretty much everything we do in Vermont and it’s one of the reasons why this tiny state turns out an inordinate number of world class athletes.

Take Skyrunning, the international competition that sends competitors flying along high mountain ridges (all above 2,000

Brewery opens every day at 11:30AM for LUNCH + SUPPER

Britta Clark meters) and clambering up rocky mountain faces. Around the world, it has become a huge phenomenon with ultrarunner Kilian Jornet Burgada, of Spain, earning a sixfigure income and serving as its poster child. The event seems made for those who live at high altitude. Few Americans have broken into its top ranks. Remarkably, some of those are Vermonters.

In September, Hilary Gerardi of St. Johnsbury won the women’s division of the 2018 World Championships (Jornet won the men’s division) and this month stands a good chance of winning the series title. In 2014, Huntington’s Kasie Enman won the same grueling race Gerardi did earlier this year, the 7-plus-hour Trofeo Kima in Italy and went on to place second in the series. And now, Ripton coach Ryan Kerrigan is training a new generation of trailrunners from Vermont and elsewhere and this summer took them to Europe to compete. Kerrigan, who works with the U.S. SkyTeam, also reached out to Goshen ultrarunner Britta Clark (profiled on page 28) to join the U.S. team. However, she was too busy starting her Harvard Ph.D. program to compete.

We don’t have the biggest mountains.

We don’t have the best weather but here is something unique about Vermont that inspires us to climb higher (as Leath Tonino writes in “The Call of Upward,” p. 34), to run faster, to ski longer and to embrace a life outdoors.

We’re grateful for that, for your stories and the chance to write about all of you who are out there. Keep at it.

23 South Main Street • Waterbury, Vermont prohibitionpig.com

—Lisa Lynn, Editor

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 5

GREAT OUTDOORS

RACING THE SKY

YEAH, THERE’S KILIAN JORNET. BUT NEXT TO HIM, A VERMONT WOMAN IS POISED TO WIN THE 2018 SKYRUNNER WORLD SERIES

6 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

I

f you’re tuned into the running world,

into Ripton, Vt., resident Ryan Kerrigan

you’ve probably heard the name Kilian

who was coaching the first ever U.S. team

Jornet. But you probably haven’t heard

to compete in the Youth Skyrunning World

of the Vermont woman who took the podium

Championships. “I’m usually one of the only

this September alongside Jornet at the

Americans at these events, so to run into a

Skyrunner World Series in Kinlochlevin,

group of Vermonters was pretty awesome,”

Scotland. This month, she is also is poised

says Gerardi.

to win the overall title.

The

Jornet, a pro runner from Spain’s

Federation defines skyrunning as “mountain

mountainous Catalan region, is a six-time

running above 2,000 meters where the

champion of the Skyrunner World Series.

minimum incline is six percent over the

It’s no surprise he took another first place.

total distance and must include sections

Winner of the women’s division in the sixth

of 30 percent.” In other words, running on

stage of the Migu Run Skyrunner World

extremely technical high mountain trails.

Series and now the leader in the Sky Extra

As Gerardi put it, “It’s not skyrunning if you

category, was Vermonter Hillary Gerardi.

don’t have to use your hands.”

The St. Johnsbury native ran through

International

Skyrunning

Gerardi credits her upbringing in

high winds and foul weather over third

Vermont with instilling a love of the

class terrain to win the 32 kilometer race

outdoors. “When I was a junior in high

in the Scottish Highlands with a time of

school at St. Johnsbury Academy, I joined

4:17:48. Although the route was shortened

the Wilderness Club. I remember taking a

from the original 52K route due to weather,

trip to hike in the White Mountains in the

competitors still gained the full 2,700

winter and traveling to New Zealand to

meters, which included an exposed third-

tramp, and I think my passion for living in

class scramble up Curved Ridge on the

the mountains and my love of the outdoors

Buachaille Etive Mor.

were born out of those experiences,” says

Gerardi.

On September 13, Gerardi also took the

While she was at Middlebury College,

bronze for Team USA in the Vertical World Kinlochlevin.

Gerardi spent five seasons working for the

She climbed 1,000 meters over 5K to the

Appalachian Mountain Club at their high

summit of Mt. Munro to take third. Gerardi

mountain huts in the White Mountains of

was one of 15 American runners invited

New Hampshire. At that point, she says she

to compete on the first-ever complete U.S.

was focused on hiking and climbing, not

Skyrunning Team.

running.

Championships,

also

in

Burlington's Noah

Gerardi

Brautigan was also invited to join the team.

never considered herself a

The team placed third overall in the World

runner until well after she graduated from

Championships.

college, in 2009. “I didn’t really run seriously

At

the

2017

Skyrunning

World

Championships in Andorra, Gerardi ran

until 2012,” Gerardi said in September.

She never even liked road running. But

On July 22, 2018, Hillary Gerardi took second place in the DoloMyths Run Skyrace in Canazei, Italy. Here, she tops out after climbing nearly 1,000 feet per mile for 10K. Photo by Mattia Rizzi

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 7

in 2010 her then-boyfriend (and now husband) Brad Carlson of Hinesburg signed her up for The Great Adirondack Trail Run, an race through the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. She finished first in the women’s category, and was pleasantly surprised. “I was more focused on rock climbing and hiking the rest of the summer and didn’t really pursue it again,” she recalls. “Then we moved to Europe in

NEWS BRIEFS

NO SNOW? NO PROBLEM

MORE AND MORE, VERMONT’S ELITE ATHLETES ARE COMPETING IN NORDIC SPORTS LONG BEFORE THE SNOW FALLS.

2012, and skyrunning was everywhere.”

The couple relocated to Sevoz, France,

near Chamonix, in fall of 2012. Carlson is a professional mountain guide, and Gerardi now works for the Research Center for Alpine Ecosystems, an NGO that recruits university professors and students to study the impacts of climate change on alpine ecosystems.

Gerardi joined the World Series circuit in 2017 and in just one year has garnered attention for a slew of wins, including the Tromso Skyrace on Aug. 4 (where she took 10th place overall) and the Trofeo Kima, a grueling 52K race across snowfields, moraines and exposed crests with fixed ropes in Valmasino, Italy. Gerardi won Kima in 7 hours, 37 minutes and 29 seconds—just a minute shy of the course record. In 2014, another Vermonter, Huntington’s Kasie Enman, won the Kima

Members of the U.S. Olympic team set off on the App Gap Challenge Photo by Reese Brown

race and went on to tie for second in the Skyrunning World Series Ultra category,.

On October 13, Gerardi will compete in the Limone Skyrace in Lombardy, Italy. The 29K race is known for being exceptionally challenging and technically demanding, with 2,500 meters of vertical gain through olive groves and rocky

AN HISTORIC WIN

for sprint races, as part of a rollerski weekend. The big race of that weekend,

This past summer, Tara Geraghty-Moats

August 16, was the tenth running of the App

had a moment she’s been training for her

Gap Challenge, sponsored by Bag Balm.

whole life. On August 19, the West Fairlee

This one brought out many of the

ski jumper and cross-country skier stood

women’s Olympic team: Caitlin Patterson

on the podium, tied for gold, in the first

led

Federation International du Ski (FIS)

limestone mountains. In order to win

Ladies Nordic Combined Summer Grand

the Skyrunning World Series outright,

Prix in Germany. Crowds cheered.

pack,

followed

by

Olympic

and Sophie Caldwell. Route 17 was closed for the event and the course was lined with

Gerardi will have to earn sixth place or

It was an historic day, the first time

better at Limone, a race she has previously

women have been able to compete at an

placed eighth in twice. The top overall

international FIS event in Nordic Combined.

ranking is based on the top two finishes

The event, which challenges skiers to both

of the season in the Sky Classic and Sky

ski jumping and Nordic skiing (on roller

Extra categories. There are 10,000 euros

SKI FESTS, WITHOUT SNOW

skis) has previously only been open to a

on the line but Gerardi says one of her

Each fall, Lake Placid celebrates its Olympic

men’s field.

heritage during the Flaming Leaves festival

favorite prizes has been a 6 kilogram leg

the

teammates Ida Sargent, Katherine Ogden

spectators.

Geraghty-Moats, on her way to gold this summer.

This fall, NENSA puts on the NENSA Fall Classic at the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club Oct. 13, followed by a repeat on Nov. 3 of last year’s Elite Invitational, which took Caldwell and a number of other Olympians up the back roads of Stowe to finish at the

A ski jumper who barely missed

of prosciutto she won in a local race.

(Oct. 6-7) as Olympic caliber ski jumpers

qualifying for the 2018 Olympics, Geraghty-

compete for the US Cup. The town makes a

“I typically train about six days a

Moats is a former biathlete and junior Nordic

festival out of it with barbecues and blues

week, always on trails,” says Gerardi. “At

racer who is as at home cross-country skiing

music, craft fairs and kids events.

this point in the season, it’s mostly about

as she is jumping. A few weeks later, she led

Seeing the success of Flaming Leaves

maintenance. There isn't time to get much

the pack in the Climb to the Castle, a steep

While rollerskiing may not be the easiest

and recognizing the fact that the Northeast

stronger, so I’ll be focusing on speedwork

rollerski race up Whiteface Mountain, near

sport to, um, jump into (though NENSA

(and Vermont, in particular) is home to a

the Lake Placid facilities where she trains.

does have a small demo fleet and Skirack

in the coming weeks, and especially

host of Olympic-caliber Nordic athletes and

was

in Burlington has a good selection of skis

seeing the potential for a new, off-season

and poles), Craftsbury Outdoor Center has

on dynamic changes. I’ll be doing runs

Though

Geraghty-Moats

disappointed

Combined

spectator sport, the New England Nordic

remains the only winter Olympic sport that

a creative way to introduce people to the

requires changing speeds.”

Ski Association has ramped up its off-

is not open to women, she’s excited to see

sport of biathlon. On October 6, as part of

Gerardi says she loves the steep,

season racing.

it on the FIS international circuit this year

its Fall Fest, the training center is hosting

technical trails of the Alps, but that she

In August, the organization brought

and as a World Cup event for 2019/2020

a Singletrack Shootout, a race where even

and her husband still daydream about

the world’s fastet Nordic sprinter, Ludvig

season. This winter, she’ll be competing

newbies can run or bike the singletrack

moving back to Vermont. “For now

Sogne Jensen, to race in Lake Placid in a

both as a ski jumper on the World Cup and

trails and then pick up a rifle and try for the

though, Chamonix is a great place to be.

sprint and then an agility duel with Andy

in Nordic Combined on the Continental Cup

targets. There’s a shooting and safety clinic

There's a spirit of pushing yourself that is

Newell (Jensen won the first, Newell the

circuit.

in the morning and Craftsbury Outdoor

such a part of this place." —Abagael Giles

second, which required hopping around on

Center supplies the range, ammo, safety

rollerskis). Jensen then came to Burlington

equipment and rifles.

8 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

Nordic

BIATHLON FOR BEGINNERS

with lots of up and down on terrain that

that

Trapp Family Lodge. nensa.net

NEWS BRIEFS SOLD: PROSPECT MOUNTAIN On September 19, a new local nonprofit, the Prospect Mountain Association, purchased Prospect Mountain from previous owners Andrew Amodeo and Steve Whitham. The pair had owned the Woodford, Vt. ski area for 26 years and had converted it from a small downhill ski hill to a Nordic center.

The Prospect Mountain Association acquired the 144-acre ski area, five buildings onsite, trail grooming equipment and revenue from a cell tower on the mountain for $900,000. Prospect Mountain was built in the 1930s. Two t-bar lifts were installed

Williams College uses Prospect to train for races.

in the 1960s.

Photo courtesy Prospect Mountain

David Newell, president of the Prospect

expanded

Mountain Association and father of Olympic

held by Whitham and raise some capital for mountain operations. As of late September, the group had raised $150,000 in cash and pledges.

A portion of the funds to purchase the mountain came from a $285,000 grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. Those funds require

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO MOUNTAIN BIKES This fall as middle-schoolers settle back in school in West Burke, there’s a new phys. ed. option they can choose: mountain biking. Over the past few years, the Specialized Foundation has

Prospect Mountain, which has the highest altitude base lodge in the state, has big plans and new owners.

Photo courtesy Prospect Mountain

that the property be governed under a

recreation

conservation easement, to be overseen by

staying on to oversee maintenance and

tourism to the area."

the Vermont Land Trust. The easement

operations and will serve as home base for

will ensure the mountain is preserved from

the Williams College Nordic ski team.

In the long term, Newell hopes to see

development.

The nonprofit plans to continue to

Vermont's Ryan Miller of the band Guster

couldn’t afford bikes or owned unreliable

Photo courtesy Guster

Kingdom

for instruction, skills and coaching.

integrate cycling into the middle school’s

Kingdom Trails plans to buy a trailer to

physical education program. The Burke

help transport the program bikes more

foundation

helmets.

also

pays

for

The

tune-ups

at the local shop.

Morgan Moore, an administrator for the Northeast Kingdom Bike Program, says “The more time on bikes, the better… kids riding more regularly is best and hopefully we will see their skills, focus and fitness improved.”

In the past, Morgan has run an afterschool biking program for the middle school. Although there was always lots of

Gold

sprint racer Sophie Caldwell headed to Prospect Mountain for a fundraiser.

supporting

Kingdom

received a Specialized grant to help

and

also

and

network of trails and donating money

kit

is

Trails

the Burke Town School

maintenance

Olympic

Medalist Jessie Diggins and World Cup

before, are now able to participate.

spring, 2018,

bikes to fit their program, a starter

26,

attracts

students who didn’t have access to bikes

students

School with 20 specially-engineered

September

and

for Focus” Program, Morgan hopes the

mountain

The grant supplied Burke Town

On

opportunities

ones. With the help of the new “Riding

which they call “Riding for Focus.” In

school year.

snowmaking installed, the base lodge

interest for the program, many kids either

United States to create biking programs

school programs during the 2018-2019

Mountain “an amazing community asset that provides local residents with outdoor

been working with schools around the

schools, will start their Riding For Focus

like

the Vermont Land Trust, called Prospect

operate it as a Nordic center, with Whitman

Kids

Town School, along with 37 other middle

summer activities

Campbell, southwest regional director for

late September that the organization aims to raise $265,000 to pay off a mortgage

and

mountain biking and hiking added. Donald

Nordic skier Andy Newell, told VTDigger in

biking to

ride

program,

the

new

allowing

throughout

their

easily.

“My hope is that (mountain biking) will become accessible to all Northeast Kingdom kids,” says Morgan about her overall goal for the program.

The Specialized Foundation started in 2015 with the mission to use “...cycling as a tool for children to achieve academic, health, and social success. Through investments in primary scientific medical research

and

school-based

cycling

programs, our mission is to increase accessibility to cycling to aid youth in personal development and education.”

The foundation is able to support more than 20,000 kids in 77 schools across 30 different states. —Rylee Ewald

KILLINGTON KILLER WORLD CUP CONCERT LINEUP Michael Franti, Guster, KT Tunstall — get ready to see all those major acts for free this Thanksgiving at the Killington World Cup. On the weekend of

November 23-

25, the World Cup will once again bring

party at Killington for fans of all ages that’s free and open to the public,” says Rob Megnin, director of marketing and sales for Killington Resort. New this year, Killington will host free concerts each day of the weekend featuring Dispatch, Paul Oakenfold, KT Tunstall, Michael Franti,

the best women’s technical alpine skiers

and

Guster.

Additional

entertainment

in the world together with concerts,

includes the World Cup Festival Village,

movie screenings and more. “Combining

fireworks, parades and a Friday night

an expanded entertainment lineup with

bib draw featuring top athletes. For a full

the United States’ premier women’s ski

schedule of the weekend’s events, go to

racing event makes for a unique, weekend

killington.com.

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 9

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COOL (WEATHER) GEAR

GEAR & BEER

WITH TEMPERATURES DROPPING, IT’S TIME TO GEAR UP FOR FALL.

Outdoor Research’s Kalaloch

Pearl Izumi Summit AmFib

Metolius Session II Crash Pad

Metolius Competition Chalk Bag

FLANNEL OR PUFFY?

and make cycling easier. Since the pants

pad. For this model, Metolius added two

new version of its popular Competition

drag handles on either end of the pad,

Chalk Bag, which features a no frills,

making it easier to reposition or anchor

simple cylindrical shape, a draw string

quickly. They also kept the carpet patch

for cinching down your chalkbag on the

at the center for brushing off your feet,

approach, full-length pile lining and

one of the original version’s most popular

a waist belt with an easy, side-release

features.

clip buckle. Three designs are available,

Old school Vermonters wear flannel.

New school Vermonters wear a puffy.

Or is that now the reverse? Regardless, Outdoor Research’s Kalaloch ($169, women’s and men’s) has you covered.

The Kalaloch reverses from a smart flannel shirt (tapered for women) to an insulated puffy. Snaps close the cuffs and on the flannel side there are two side pockets to warm your hands as well as two chest pockets. The reverse side is a slim puffy with a weather-resistant polyester shell and synthetic fill. It’s not the most technical of pieces but it is water-resistant and wicks moisture.

And if you’re on a hut or backpacking trip and don’t want to bring two pieces, this could be your solution. The Kalaloch comes in three plaid color variations for men (Storm, Naval, Juniper) and two for women (Peacock and Plum).

A WINTER FAT BIKER'S FRIEND If you are planning on biking through the winter, the new Pearl Izumi

are not overly stretchy, getting a good fit is important and we recommend sizing down, rather than up, so you don’t deal with bags and sags. Velcro straps at the waist also help cinch the pants up. There are three zippered pockets (two just below the waist, which feel a bit stiff when you are hunched over the handlebars) and one on the leg, right where you want it. Zippers on both ankles make it easier to slip the pants on and off. You’ll want a chamois short underneath, and maybe a wicking layer, but overall, these are the Carhartts of winter bike pants, and the ones that will get you through a Vermont winter.

YOUR FIRST (OR SECOND) CRASH PAD

and Yosemite Valley. You pay $19.95, but

take some tall falls but for a beginner,

a portion of all proceeds from these bags

lowball problems, or an extra pad to add

will be donated to the Access Fund to

to your highball repertoire, the Session

help protect American climbing areas. —

II remains a great option.

Abagael Giles

is

And while

you’re at it, Metolius is introducing a

BEER HOUNDS, HOPS & HOME BREWS “Flash is probably the worst hunting dog

need a crash pad. At $149, the Metolius Session II Crash Pad is a durable medium-sized pad that won’t empty your bank account. It’s the perfect middle-ofthe-road option for someone who is new

keep even Iditabikers happy. The Summit

not quite minimalist but is comfortable to

is a bomb-proof pant that will keep you

hike with, or to bring as extra padding to

rolling on your mountain or fatbike even

a highball or expert session.

when the mercury dips well below zero.

The pants have a stiff shell which will

flap, which is easier to load and access

take some breaking in (at first, they feel

and can hold a small daypack, shoes,

like ski pants) but give good protection

chalk bag, etc. The new flap can also be

from wind and are water resistant. The

reversed to cover the suspension system

the back of the knees let the pants breathe

destinations: Smith Rock, The Tetons

more padding if you’re planning to

redesign

and if you want to start climbing, you’ll

to the sport and wants something that is

and cozy and warm. Thermal panels on

all of which feature popular climbing

this

Bouldering is big and getting bigger

Summit AmFib ($185) pants should

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that ever lived, so we named a beer after him,” says Dale Patterson of the bassett hound that gave his name to Rutland Beer Works seasonal release, Flash’s Hunting Lager. The lager is a Marzen Oktoberfest-style beer, a pale malt fashioned after the traditional Bavarian brews. Patterson opened Rutland Beer Works' less than a year ago on Granger Street, a few blocks from his popular brew pub, Hop’n Moose. The new 14-barrell brewery’s signature Rutland Red (and three types of Barbarian, an American IPA that comes in pink, green and blue cans) started getting distributed last May by Farrell. The best place to taste new brews is still at the Granger Street brewery or at Hop’n Moose. Be sure to head to Hop'n Moose on October 20 when the brewpub is hosting a home brew contest. The winner will be brewed, labeled and distributed and all proceeds from the event go to the Rutland Humane Society. Flash must be proud.

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 11

NUTRITION

SLED TRAINING FOR ATHLETES

ALL IT TAKES IS 10 MINUTES A DAY AND A $15 DIY SET-UP TO BUILD THE POWER YOU NEED FOR SKIING, RUNNING OR OTHER SPORTS, SAYS SPORTS PERFORMANCE COACH CHRIS MCKHANN.

“A

t 46, I’m in the best shape of my life,” says Chris McKhann. That’s a bold statement from someone who ski raced at Harvard (Division 1), competes as a sprint cyclist on the track, is a certified Olympic weight lifting coach and now trains many of Middlebury College’s top athletes.

A decade ago, McKhann could barely walk. In 2006, the Middlebury resident discovered he had Lyme disease. Between 2008 and 2011, he was hospitalized five times with acute kidney failure, paralysis and heart and cognitive issues. “I went to a ketogenic diet,” he says. He also took antibiotics and started trying a new way to build back his strength: sled training. The combination seems to have worked. “I won’t say it cured me,” says McKhann, who has a physique that would make Kelly Slater jealous, “but as long as I stick to my diet and workouts, I feel great.”

What McKhann discovered during that time was that he could replace much of the high-intensity weight training he’d been doing in the gym with a very simple DIY work-out: Sled training involves, essentially, pushing or pulling a weighted “sled.”

“I first started making my own sleds when I was coaching the Middlebury Ski Club,” says McKhann. That was about four years ago. He cut the sides off tires, put a plywood bottom in them, attached a strap with handles and started adding weights (be it real weights, cinder blocks or small children) to the tires. “The kids loved them,” he recalls. McKhann launched a sideline (by day, he's an educator in investment trading) of online coaching programs.

“Sled training allows you to build power without the risk of injuring yourself— there’s no heavy weight,” says McKhann.

“There’s no eccentric loading, so there’s no overloading muscles which then leaves you sore the next day. And you don’t bulk up,” he says. At the same time, sled training can work just about every muscle in your body.

Athletes ranging from skier Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarder Shaun White to swimmer Michael Phelps and surfer Laird Hamilton have adopted sled training to build up power. McKhann, who works with Middlebury College’s track and field teams, as well as the ski teams, also notes it’s particularly helpful for runners: “You can do a workout in 10 minutes that can build the same aerobic and anaerobic benefits and improve your VO2 max by as much as an hour-long run will,” he says.

12 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

McKhann demonstrates the start of a row, emphasizing that you should keep your back and neck straight and your thighs parallell to the ground.

Senior ski racer Lexi Calcagni has been working with McKhann and says training with a sled (she used a waist belt) really helped her come back after a shoulder injury. "Unlike weights in the gym, with sleds you're moving and exerting power with every step. It’s perfect cross training for skiing. Since using sleds, I’ve felt more power in my legs and more ability to work past fatigue."

McKhann recommends Tabata training,

a high-intensity four-minute workout developed by Japan’s Dr. Izumi Tabata, where you do 20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 10 seconds of rest (or 40 seconds rest, if you are starting out).

In one study, Dr. Tabata had seven subjects do exhaustive intermittent training with seven to eight sets of exercises for 20 seconds at a high intensity with a 10-second rest between each bout. After doing so five days a week for six weeks, the subjects

THE DIY SLED

You can buy a sled for about $100 or you can build one yourself for about $15.

To do so, take an old tire and slice one side of the inner wall. Add in a plywood platform to fit across the bottom. Attach a hook with a nut, bolt and washer.

Buy a 16-foot strap, such as those used for roof racks (“I often have to take off the ratchets they come with,” says McKhann). For handles, cut two 1-inch diameter pieces of PVC piping and slip the strap through and tie a loop to make handles. Attach the strap in the center to the tire. Then add weight. “You can add cinder blocks (28 pounds), gym weights or even small children,” says McKhann. For videos, workouts and more on sled training, visit sledrx.com

McKhann does 10 minutes a day of sled training. improved their VO2max and increased their anaerobic capacity by 28 percent.

McKhann recommends a circuit of four to six exercises with a “sled,” using either distance as a measure (say pulling or pushing the sled 20 or 30 yards) or timed 20-second on/40-seconds off sets. “All it takes is 10 minutes a day,” he says.

He recommends starting light and adding weight as you go. “The track athletes I’ve been working with start by loading the sled with 15- to 20-percent of their body weight. Sprinting with 90-percent of your body weight is great for building both speed and strength. Top athletes can pull up to 400 or 500 pounds and I heard one pro football player has loaded 1,000 pounds,” says McKhann. “I like to do a day of power workouts using less weight and going for speed, followed by a day of strength a couple of days later” McKhann says.

“The thing about sled workouts: you feel absolutely terrible right after you do them but an hour later, you feel great," he says.

For more and videos, see sledrx.com

1.

2.

3.

3.

6 SLED WORKOUTS

4.

Build or buy a sled, head out to the backyard or a local soccer field and you can do everything you can in a gym. These six workouts will get you ready for skiing, running or cycling.

1. Backwards Pull With the sled in front of you, arms bent 90 degrees at the elbow, back straight and knees bent, walk backwards, pulling the sled. “This works your quads, back and knees, including the VMO (vastus medialis oblique) muscle that helps stabilize your knee,” says McKhann.

For skiers, building that muscle can help prevent an ACL tear. It's also helpful for shin splints. “It really works muscles in the front of your leg that often get overlooked. Pretty much everyone I’ve done sled training with who had shin splints has recovered,” he said.

2. Forward March/Run For this exercise, the sled is behind you. Grasp the handles and keep your elbows bent at 90 degrees. With a straight back and neck, lean forward and march or run forward. “Bring your knee up so it is parallel to the ground and keep your foot flat as it’s raised,” says McKhann. “Many athletes really don’t know how to run properly and doing this move helps.”

The exercise really works the chest, triceps, abs and core as well as the posterior chain: hamstring, glutes and calves.

3. Sled Rows “A sled row works a lot of the same muscles as a squat—your quads, glutes, upper back and biceps,” says McKhann. Facing the sled with the straps taut, squat down and then pull the sled toward you as you rise up. “This should be a quick move, where you drag the sled almost to your feet,” says McKhann, who notes that it’s best to load the sled a little heavier than you might with other exercises.

5. Lunges

4. Lateral Pulls

6. Press

With the sled off to the left side of you and the straps taught, hold both handles in the center of your chest. Keeping your hands and the handles in place at your chest’s center, take side steps or cross-over steps, moving sideways. After one rep, turn around and repeat with the sled off to your right side. “This exercise is great for skiers—alpine and Nordic,” says McKhann. “It really works your legs in the same way you do when you’re setting an edge.”

Another move that really works your glutes and hamstrings is the lunge. With the sled behind you and your arms stretched back behind you and holding the handles, take a step and lunge forward, bringing your back knee to the ground, then switch and repeat. This also works your triceps and back.

Stand with your feet in a split stance (or, to make it harder, together) and, with the sled behind you, grasp the handles. With your hands in front of your shoulders, press forward (for a bench-press type movement) or up at a 45-degree angle for an overhead press. This engages your upper body in the same way a bench press with weights might though, as McKhann says, “you don’t have to worry about anything fall down on you.”

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

Afghanistan hosted its first mountain bike event in September.

Aghanistan’s First

Photo courtesy Farid Noori

PRO RIDER

FARID NOORI MAY LIVE AND RACE IN VERMONT, BUT HIS HEART AND SOUL ARE DEDICATED TO SEEING MOUNTAIN BIKING GROW IN HIS HOME COUNTRY, AFGHANISTAN. BY RACHEL DANA COHEN

F

orty-five minutes before his race at the Catamount Outdoor Family Center, Farid Noori, 24, of Ghazni, Afghanistan, pedaled up to a viewpoint on the Williston race course. Taking a quick break from his warm-up, Noori, a Middlebury College student, sat and took a deep breath.

“It’s going to be fine,” he thought.

Then as the clock approached 3:40 p.m., he lined up against some of the best mountain bikers in the world—U.S. Cyclocross National Champion Stephen Hyde and the Canadian and the Japanese national champions—all there for the Julbo Eastern Grind, held the last weekend in July, and the only stop in the East for the 2018 Pro Mountain Bike Tour. Noori was there to represent Afghanistan as a pro in an international race for the first time.

Noori, 24, earned a Category-1 certification at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Biking National Championship in Missoula, Mont., in 2017, which allowed him to race as a semi-pro in the U.S., only

14 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

Noori, racing pro at the 2018 Julbo Eastern Grind. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

one level below professional. He is working toward achieving professional status. In the meantime the Afghanistan Cycling Federation recognized him as an elite racer, giving him the license to race as a professional for Afghanistan.

The night before the race, he lay awake

thinking about how he was going to bike alongside the hardest competition he had ever faced in his three years of racing. But another thought helped him push through.

“The other part of me was like, ‘You know, that’s not the only reason you’re doing this,’” Noori said.

A DREAM OF GOING PRO For as long as Noori has known about mountain biking, he has dreamed of racing professionally for his nation. Growing up in Kabul, he never had a bike. For a long time, his family had no electricity and ran a generator for four hours a day.

Noori's father was a doctor and the family moved to Pakistan for a while to escape the Taliban. "It was getting too dangerous to live there for a while," he says. Noori came to New Mexico for high school and finally his senior year, he rode a mountain bike and was hooked.

At Middlebury, Noori started a fundraising campaign through the college's MiddStart program and was able to raise $5,000, enough to buy himself two bikes.

He approached cross country coach Andrew Johnson and asked for his help in fitness and training as the college doesn't have a cycling team. Last spring, Noori went on his own to a collegiate race in Massachusetts and placed second.

Racing professionally would not only

propel his own racing career, but also, and perhaps more importantly to him, it would allow him to help his country.

Noori wants to bring the sport of mountain biking to his mountainous country, which is why he founded the nonprofit Mountain Bike Afghanistan, known as MTBA. He also hopes that through representing Afghanistan in international events, he will be able to shift the media narrative that often portrays the country as merely a war-torn land.

At the Julbo Eastern Grind simply remembering his primary motive put Noori at ease. “Just peddle your bike; that’s what you love,” he told himself.

At the starting line, he calmed himself down, reminding himself that no matter the results, it would be a valuable experience.

“Farid Noori from Mountain Bike Afghanistan,” the announcer spoke into the microphone.

“That just felt so good,” Noori said of hearing his name and his organization over the loudspeaker. “The fact that people heard that—the audience, the racers—that kind of reminded me of what it was all about: trying to represent (Afghanistan) and get us out there.”

Noori sported a homemade jersey, which his brother helped him design. On the white shirt, they stenciled the MTBA logo with green, red and black fabric markers ordered online just that week.

When he heard the starter’s whistle, Noori peddled as hard as he could.

“The pace was so frickin fast, and I was hanging on for dear life behind these guys,” he said. It was very tough. I couldn’t hang onto their wheels for too long. Within five minutes, I stopped seeing them. But then it was like a one man show for me, and I just tried to do my absolute best.”

The July 28 race, the men’s professional cross-country division at the Julbo Eastern Grind, consisted of five laps around a fourmile twisty, rocky course.

“My goal was to just keep on going as long as possible. Even though the results weren’t glamorous—they were pretty bad— it was one of the best races I’ve ever done,” Noori said.

Stephen Hyde approached him after the race to say hello. “It’s all about that— meeting these incredible riders I admire so much, who care about what I’m doing, and having an opportunity to learn from them,” Noori said.

GROWING THE SPORT Racing in increasingly high-profile competitions is Noori’s way of bringing awareness to his organization, which is making headway in the mountains of Afghanistan.

MTBA started weekly trainings in the province of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, which Noori noted is a relatively safe area.

They have just built their first singletrack trails though, as Noori says, "the country has thousands of footpaths that people and

Naab Radio, an online radio station in Afghanistan, shared Noori’s Facebook post about his race results, along with the photograph of him in his makeshift MTBA jersey.

“So many people probably heard of mountain biking for the first time this weekend,” Noori said after Naab Radio’s shared his post.

With one more semester at Middlebury College before he graduates in February, Noori is looking ahead to the future of MTBA. While he wants to go to Afghanistan to support MTBA in person, he also sees the value in staying the U.S., continuing his racing career, and building a solid foundation for his organization.

DREAMING BIG For now, he thinks he may stay in Vermont after graduation and find a part-time job while he dedicates more of his energy to growing MTBA. One of the perks of living here, Noori said, is being able to take advantage of the Wednesday night weekly practice rides in Williston that occur throughout the summer.

“The Green Mountains are beautiful, too. I’ve slowly begun to think of them as mountains,” Noori joked, comparing Vermont’s peaks to the Himalayan-sized mountains in Afghanistan.

After

Noori’s

six

collegiate

races

this fall, he will look ahead to additional competitive races and the Asian Continental Noori, who is in his last semester at Middlebury College hopes to stay in Vermont. Photo by Trent Campbell animals have laid down." The training group consists of eight young men, led by Noori’s friend Sajjad Husaini, a skier. Four of the eight men do not have mountain bikes, and instead ride cruisers in Bamiyan’s Dragon Valley.

Through fundraising, Noori hopes that MTBA can provide the training group with improved equipment. Last summer, he sent over helmets.

“Going into my final semester and then out of college, I’m going to be focused more full-time on raising funds and finding support,” Noori said.

Another one of Noori’s goals is for women riders to attend the trainings.

“Cycling is a vehicle for change and a tool for freedom, independence,” he said.

Noori acknowledged that women riding bikes is controversial in Afghanistan, but a club for female cyclists does exist in Bamiyan.

Although Noori would like to go to home and ride with the training group that he created from afar, he hasn’t been back in three years and can’t return now, as it would be difficult to get a visa back to the U.S. So he supports MTBA in every way he can from his home base in Vermont. This

often means spreading the word online and on social media.

Recently, Noori started a newsletter to share news about MTBA’s training in Bamiyan and updates on his own racing career. He calls it the “Hindukush Herald,” named after the mountain range that extends from the Himalayas into northeast Afghanistan. A “special feature” that Noori includes in the newsletter is a “Hindukush Hotspot,” a destination that has potential for mountain biking or skiing, or one that shows an especially beautiful landscape.

“The idea is to introduce Afghanistan’s alpine mountains to the rest of the world,” Noori said. “Not a lot of people know Afghanistan is a crazy mountainous country.”

Not only does he use his platform to share news about MTBA with his audience in the U.S., but Noori also directs his outreach toward Afghans in hopes of increasing interest in the sport.

He writes blog posts in the Afghan language of Farsi, which he said is tough for him because he has been out of practice for a while. On these posts, Noori shares maps of the rides that he has done, nutrition tips and information about the training group.

Mountain Bike Championships, which he hopes to enter in 2020. The winner of that automatically gets a spot in the Olympics.

In 2008, during one of the nights the generator was running at his home in Kabul, Noori had watched as an Afghan won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in taekwondo. Now, Noori has his sites set on representing his country as an Olympic mountain biker, in either 2020 or beyond.

Noori’s dream of making it big is anything but self-centered, though. All along, his underlying mission has been to improve opportunities for young people to get active in Afghanistan, and for the world to see his country in a more positive light.

Plus, he would love for more Afghans to join him on the trails.

“And who knows, maybe somewhere in Afghanistan somebody has a bigger engine than me,” Noori said Part of Noori’s dream recently came true: On the weekend of September 28, Noori's organization hosted its first race—the first cross-country mountain biking competition to ever take place in Afghanistan. About 50 people entered.

To keep up with Farid Noori sign up for his newsletter at mtbafghanistan.com.

AUGUST 2018 2017 | VTSPORTS.COM 15 OCTOBER

A social media movement is inspiring some young ski bums to hit the road. But what does #vanlife look like from the inside? Photo by Adam Sauerwein

SOME PEOPLE SPEND A WEEK OR TWO IN THEIR VANS. ADAM SAUERWEIN MOVED INTO HIS.

BY ABAGAEL GILES

A

t first glance, it’s dark outside the bus windows. Another look reveals the purple glow of the predawn sky reflecting on the crisp white of fresh snow.

Wood smoke hovers in the air, which is cold and thick with flakes. In the silence of the parking lot, the air crackles gently with the sound of falling snow.

It’s early on a powder day, but no one is here in the Killington parking lot, except Adam Sauerwein. The access road will be impassable for a few hours until the plows come, followed by the lifties and then the powder hounds. Cars will fill the parking lot and lifts will whirr. But Sauerwein is already there. He rolls over in his warm bed and savors the silence. Then he grinds his coffee with a hand crank and puts some water on his tiny stovetop.

Inside his heated bus, Sauerwein gears up as he sips his first cup of coffee. He slaps skins on his powder skis, a pair of Lib Techs, and pulls on his telemark boots. Then, he steps out onto the snow-covered lot and snaps his heel wires into place. Headlamp on, he skins for the summit, methodically making his way up the mountain. There’s no rush, no stress, no impatience, no jostling for powder. With any luck, he’ll earn a peaceful sunrise just as the lifts are starting to whirr, and first tracks before his second

16 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

For Adam Sauerwein, his renovated short school bus is home, whether he's on the road skiing around Vermont or working out of his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. in the summer. Photo by Adam Sauerwein cup of coffee in the parking lot. Once he reaches the summit, he skis down through fresh, untracked powder.

For the last five years, Sauerwein has lived out of a converted 2001 Ford e350 short school bus. He’s rebuilt the interior three times, tried heating it with everything from propane to wood before settling on solar, and outfitted it with a television, a bed and an oven. “Sometimes I bake cookies,” he

says, by way of explanation.

In many ways, his story starts on a grey morning in 2012, when Sauerwein was driving to work at a prominent environmental company in Buffalo, N.Y..

He was sitting in traffic. Someone hammered on their horn. “I was part of the hustle, like everybody else,” he says. After spending most of his twenties working a nine-to-five job, Sauerwein had become

disillusioned. “I was living in this world where money ruled everything. There was drama in my office. It was all driving me crazy.” What he really wanted to be doing was photography. While sitting in that traffic jam, he decided to give three week’s notice.

“At that point, I was doing wedding photography part-time,” he said. The then29-year-old quickly got rid of his “crappy apartment” in favor of a bus his high school was retiring from its fleet. He spent a few months living at his parents’ house while he shot weddings and stripped and then outfitted the vehicle. Armed with a Mr. Heater portable propane space heater, three pairs of skis and a snowboard, he ventured east with his camera.

From January to March that winter, he skied almost every day. Instead of heading west to chase powder, he chased local legends—the people who give New England’s ski areas their soul. “I wanted to meet the local guys who are like, ‘yeah I’ve been skiing here for 40 years,’” said Sauerwein. People like Killington’s group of cliff-dropping rogue rippers, The Stray Flakes, or Radio Ron from Holiday Valley, N.Y. (“Every Saturday and Sunday, he drives three hours from Cleveland, Ohio to ski bumps for six hours in a one-piece suit with an old AM/FM radio headset and makes a

“ The bus is a free pass to that group of skiers and riders that exists at every mountain, the keepers of the local intel.

“

blip noise every time he hits a bump,” says Sauerwein). It’s also helped him meet skiers like Corey Potter of Killington TV and Pat Meehan of Leki Poles, both of whom have steered him to some of the best backcountry and sidecountry in Vermont.

“The bus is a free pass to that group of skiers and riders that exists at every mountain, the keepers of the local intel,” says Sauerwein, a telemark skier who is as at home in the park as he is in the backcountry.

Offering someone a great cup of freshly brewed coffee while you’re both gearing up in the parking lot, doesn’t hurt, either.

“They’re like, oh ok, you’re not a tourist. You get it. We can share our secret spots with you,” he says.

Those early-morning coffees have led Sauerwein to private stashes of powder on people’s own land, epic sidecountry glades, late night stargazing sessions and early morning uphill jaunts with strangers who have since become friends.

As he says in his three-part web series about that first winter called “The Pursuit,” “It wasn’t about the lines we were hitting. It was about the people we met along the way.”

One of his most memorable days was

Above and left, Sauerwein celebrates a powder day. In the bottom right, he warms up at home in front of the wood stove in the parking lot, and throws another log in his Kni-Co Trekker Camp Stove. Bottom left, the benefits of the van? First tracks on powder days.

Photos by /courtesy Adam Sauerwein five years ago at Mount Ascutney. “I was in Killington on a weekend powder day, with no lift ticket, and walked into one of the local shops looking for advice about touring,” said Sauerwein. Merisa Sherman, the author of the blog, “Tales from a Female Ski Bum,” described Ascutney as a magical, abandoned ski resort. He drove over and stayed in the parking lot for three days, meeting strangers and doing lap after lap.

The Middlebury Snow Bowl was similarly inspiring. A group of ski patrollers readily offered their favorite spots on the mountain. On another venture, he and Corey Potter discovered cut glade after cut glade on the back side of Killington. “There is so much skiing to be done there, you could get lost,” says Sauerwein.

To him, that’s what exploring the East is all about. “No one cares about your

backstory. You show up at the same place every week, and you’re here to ski and you will, whether it’s rainy or windy or cold.

And whatever the conditions, you’re going to have a great time. You get psyched about stuff that other people wouldn’t look twice at. You find what you can. It’s this diehard skiing culture that I don’t think you quite get on the West Coast.”

Sauerwein is just one of many people

THE ULTIMATE VAN: THE EARTHCRUISER

Renovations aren't for everybody. Want luxury? The EarthCruiser may be for you.

If money is no obstacle and you want to bypass having to renovate a vehicle yourself, EarthCruiser makes customizable vans rugged enough to get you off the beaten path and onto dirt roads.

Their vans also cushy provide all the creature comforts off the grid, no matter the elements. But with new models starting at upwards of $175,000, these are serious luxury vehicles.

The EarthCruiser FX is specially designed for long distance, remote travel and uses similar construction materials to that of long-distance cruiser yachts but on a Mitsubishi Fuso chassis.

It comes with interchangeable rear bumper mounting options that fit specific gear, a system that allows you to draw fresh water from a lake or stream, filter it internally, and then run it out through the kitchen tap. The FX also comes with under-bed storage and a multitude of other internal containers specifically designed for outdoor gear. The interior is a modern-looking mix of white, shiny chrome and black, complete with a DC air conditioner, composting toilet, microwave oven, queen-sized bed, external shower, ceramic cooktop, refrigerator, electrically operated awning and more.

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

across America choosing to retrofit buses and vans to live out of them. The trend has spawned a lifestyle movement, meticulously documented via social media through the hashtag “#vanlife.”

A scan of Instagram reveals 3.8 million posts tagged with #vanlife. Most feature decked out vehicles with tanned, fit young people in striking settings across the western United States. There are jagged snow-capped mountains, the red stone of Utah’s deserts, misty scenes from the Pacific Northwest, all places with lots of public land and, presumably, free camping.

The idea, as one #vanlifer told The New Yorker in April 2017 for their story “#Vanlife, The Bohemian Social Media Movement,” is to strip away financial obligations like rent, live a seasonal lifestyle around outdoor recreation, and participate in the gig economy. No commitments, no hassle and lots of adventure.

To pay his way, Sauerwein pieces together three endeavors: a business called SH Wedding Photography that he co-owns with a friend, his own adventure photography and videography business, Adam Sauerwein Photography and a gig as the equipment lead for Silverback Enterprises. He tries to take January, February and March off from work to ski, which he affords by hustling at three jobs the rest of the year. Come summer, Sauerwein rolls his home back to Buffalo, or wherever else his work takes him.

Five years into bus living, he says people are often surprised to find that he works most of the year and has a career. “I ran into an old high school teacher who was like, ‘Are you ok? Do you need any money?’ and I was like no, I’m great, actually. This is a choice,” says Sauerwein.

At 33, he’s seen a lot of friends get married, start families, buy homes since he bought his first bus. “I have one friend from growing up who has a wife, a couple of kids.

He owns four houses in Buffalo. The other weekend, we were catching up and he was like, ‘Man I’m so envious of what you have, of your freedom.’ And I was like, ‘But I’m envious of what you have. You have so many assets, a family, a great life.’”

Sauerwein says the van lifestyle isn’t his forever plan, but it’s a great way to live while he’s young. He hasn’t gotten a whole lot of pushback from his parents (his dad spent time traveling the country in a Volkswagen bus back in the ‘70s). “So he gets it,” says Sauerwein. But, as he points out, he’s also not your typical traveling dirtbag skier.

He’s built a career around the bus-living lifestyle. “People think I am postponing life, just passing through places, but I have a great business and a career. I have a photography studio. We have an office. I’m contributing to society. Believe it or not, I have a savings account.”

18 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

A HOME ON THE ROAD

Life on the road is pretty good, says Adam Sauerwein. Here, he drives his school bus, The Pursuit, to one of his summertime photography gigs.

S

Photo by Adam Sauerwein

auerwein bought his first bus, a short school bus on a 2000 Chevrolet 3500 frame with 100,000 miles on it, for $1,000.

“School districts usually run their buses to 150,000 miles and then dump them for fairly cheap. They tend to turn over vehicles every 10 to 12 years,” says Sauerwein. He put about $500 into it and hung some blankets up for insulation.

His first winter was miserable.

The skiing was great, but the propane space heater caused intense condensation that would cover his belongings and freeze when he turned off the heat during the day. “It was just a gross space,” he recalls. He woke up every day to wet clothes and frozen water bottles. But then he’d get first tracks.

The bus rusted out by the spring with 130,000 miles on it, and he spent the summer living with his parents until he found a new school bus, a short bus on a 2001 Ford e350 frame, also with 100,000 miles on it, the following October.

This time, he decided to invest in creature comforts. Over six weeks, he insulated the vehicle’s interior with three-inch-thick foam board and covered that in wood paneling, leaving most of the windows exposed. He built cabinets and put in a countertop, a couch, a bed with a full mattress like what you would put on a regular bed frame, complete with sheets, pillows and a comforter.

He even installed a Kni-Co Trekker Camp Stove, a light-weight woodburning stove ($143.80) and chimney (he cut a hole in the bus roof for it and used fire-resistant caulking and license plates as heat guards on the

Sauerwein says his oven was the best investment he's made. "It's really nice to be able to cook a real meal, even if it's a ham steak and some baked potatoes." Photo by Adam Sauerwein

wall behind). He had a tiny platform and a tiny maul for splitting tiny pieces of wood to feed his fire. “It was amazing, but I don’t know if it was legal,” he confesses of the stove, though he never had any problems with cops. “It helps that I’m straight edge, which is convenient when you look like you’d reek of weed. When I occasionally get pulled over out of curiosity, I get it.”

Then, there was the oven: a propane-powered Camp Chef Outdoor Oven ($259.99) with two gas burners and stoves. He installed countertops donated from a friend’s home kitchen remodel. He also upgraded to a pair of good batteries with Renogy RV solar panels.

Finally, he painted the bus black, and lettered “The Pursuit” in the label at the front where a route would typically be denoted. When asked what he’s pursuing, Sauerwein says simply, “experience.”

Today, he has a Webasto Air Top 2000 ST parking air heater. It runs off of the bus’s diesel tank and keeps the vehicle at about 60 degrees, even while he’s out skiing. The bus

has no shower or toilet so Sauerwein typically relies on gyms and public restrooms (ski area restrooms are typically open from about 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.) He has few belongings and tries to keep his space uncluttered. He has rigged a horizontal Thule box on the back of the bus, where he keeps his skis and has a bike rack. “You can’t stash things in a closet, so you get creative,” says Sauerwein. “And you learn you don’t need as much as you thought you did.”

He enjoyed the remodel so much, he recently purchased a short school bus for $500, remodeled it, and sold it for $7,000.

This winter, Sauerwein is excited to return to Vermont for ski season.

He’s eyeing a new Sprinter van, but otherwise says he’s got his systems in the bus pretty dialed. At this point, he estimates he’s invested about $3,500 in his rig, money he says is well-spent.

“It feels like a home,” he says.

He doesn’t see himself settling down any time soon, and he says he doesn’t miss having an apartment to call home. He has, however, picked up a gym membership so he’s less reliant on friends for showers, which he notes as though it’s a sign of his age. He’s growing up.

He’s always eager to meet the next person, find the next secret, north woods powder stash. Or spend a day hitting the park in the rain with friends. “At the end of the day, money can be taken, houses can be taken, but you can’t take experience from someone. If I’m 70 and on my deathbed, I’m gonna look back and be like, ‘Those were some of the best days of my life.’”

THE FACES OF #VANLIFE

LIVING OUT OF YOUR VAN (FOR A WEEK OR A YEAR) IN NEW ENGLAND ISN’T ALWAYS EASY, BUT IT CAN OFFER YOU ACCESS TO ADVENTURES THAT YOU MIGHT MISS IN A CAR.

Meg Simone's 2018 EarthCruiser FX, Temerity

Alec Distler's 1977 Volkswagen Bus, Eileen

Max Littlefield and Hannah Van Wetter's 2000 Dodge Ram 3500, Little Van in Boston, Mass.

Kelsey Christensen's 2008 Sprinter Van at a campsite in Vermont.

Jim Papadonis' 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon, the SRFBUS.

Tiaan and Lindley ven der Linde's 1959 Chevrolet Viking Short Bus.

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his fall we invited van-dwellers from across the region to share photos of their travels, their redesigns and vehicle makeovers.

Here are a few of our favorite submissions to our Vermont Sports #VanLifeVTChallenge.

Name: Meg Simone Home: North Conway, N.H. Vehicle: Temerity the EarthCruiser FX. Must-Have Gear: New England Gazetteer. Favorite Campsite: North Beach Campground in Burlington, Vt. Coolest Modification: None needed. The Earth Cruiser comes with a water filtration system, full solar power, a shower, toilet, twoburner stove and refrigerator. The Earth Cruiser FX starts at $190,000.

Best Adventure: Camping, hiking and getting beach time at Hermit Island Campground, Phippsburg, Maine.

Name: Alec Distler Home: Williston, Vt. Vehicle: Eileen the 1977 Volkswagen Bus Must-Have Gear: All of his camping gear stocked in the van at all times. Favorite Campsite: Elmore State Park, Lake Elmore, Vt.

Coolest Modification: Other than replacing the engine, replacing the pop-top canvas for one with windows and refacing the cabinets with new veneer. Best Adventure: Road tripping through the Adirondacks to Meacham Lake in Duane, N.Y. From the campground, you can access a lake or hike Debar Mountain, a 4.7-mile round trip route that gains 1,751 feet of elevation and earns you great views of the lake.

Name: Max Littlefield and Hannah Van Wetter Home: Tupper Lake, N.Y. and Denver, Colo. Vehicle: 2000 Dodge Ram 3500 van with a builtin roof-topper. Must-Have Gear: Inflatable stand-up paddleboards.

Favorite Campsite: The Vallee Bras du Nord Secteur Shannahan, Quebec.

Strangest Experience: Waking up to a field mouse that sounded like someone trying to break in through the bottom of the vehicle in Skookumchuck, B.C. Coolest Modification: A wood-burning stove and a solar system comprised of one GoalZero solar panel and a GoalZero Yeti 400 Portable Power

Station and 400W battery powered generator alternative with 12V, AC and USB outputs.

Name: Kelsey Christensen Home: Springfield, Vt. Vehicle: 2008 Sprinter Van Must-Have Piece of Gear: Apple CarPlay Console and Dometic threeburner propane oven/stovetop.

Favorite Campsite: Waterhouses Campground and Marina, Salisbury, Vt. Coolest Modification: The bed is a full mattress lifted three-and-a-half feet off the bus floor with a container underneath it that stores three 200amp batteries, plumbing for the van’s two by two shower and plenty of gear.

The compartment can be accessed through the rear doors, where Kelsey keeps yard games, and fully-packed hiking packs, tools, a canopy and general outdoor gear. She and her partner did all of the work themselves with no construction experience.

Favorite Adventure: Camping on Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, Vt, where you can rent boats or hike into the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area.

Name: Jim Papadonis Home: Brewster, Mass. Vehicle: 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon Must-Have Piece of Gear: Surfboard and Hawaiian-print neoprene seat covers. Favorite Campsite: Nickerson State Park, Cape Cod, Mass. Adventure: While camping by one of the National Seashore Beaches on Cape Cod, seeing a 15-foot-long Great White shark breach fully out of the Atlantic.

Name: Tiaan and Lindley ven der Linde Home: West Burke, Vt. Vehicle: 1959 Chevrolet Viking Short Bus, purchased for $50 from a field. Must-Have Piece of Gear: Bicycles Favorite Campsite: Any on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

Coolest Improvement: Retrofitting the interior in 1920s Bohemian style with guest quarters for two. Best Adventure: Dropping their kids off at her sister’s then going on a 24-hour parents-only adventure to Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park. There, they biked 57 miles of the island's dirt Carriage Roads built by John D. Rockefeller between 1913 and 1940.

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

MEET THE DOGS WHO LEAD THE PACK IN OUR ANNUAL CONTEST.

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ou love your dogs—that’s been made apparent as year after year entries pour in from around the state for our annual Adventure Dog Contest. We hear stories about the trips and hikes, bikes and skis your best canine buddies have taken you on. Other people love your dogs too. Each year, the Adventure Dog Contest issue ranks as one of our best-loved issues of the year. This year, we also asked readers to vote on Facebook and the following dogs received, collectively, more than 500 votes. We also received some great footage, which we have posted at vtsports.com, so check out the videos, too.

The winners of each category, as well as the overall Reader’s Choice Winner, will each receive a $200 gift packet from Pet Food Warehouse that includes: A booklet to their Pet Wash Express with five free pet washes, a $25 gift card, four tickets to Wag It Forward, a NiteIze Nite Howl necklace (a cool night vision collar), a New Himalayan dog toy, handmade in Nepal, a Bully Stick Chew, ROAM Ostridge Jerky, a Huggle Hound USA moose dog toy, Darford zero grain dog treats, and a One for All candle.

(1) WINNER & READER’S CHOICE WINNER HUMPHREY, HYDE PARK

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It’s hard to resist Humphrey—and few of you could. Winning both the Reader’s Choice in this category and the judges' vote (and gracing our cover), Humprey leads the “Best Adventure Dog Photo” category. Humphrey hails from Hyde Park and loves to SUP (he's been doing it since he was just a year old)—so much so, that the staff at Green River Reservoir State Park have dubbed him "The Bark Ranger." He's five years old, and owner Lauren Traister says, “Our best guess is that he’s a Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix." Humphrey loves the water and snow and Traister has entered him in this contest multiple times with photos of Humphrey exploring rivers in Maine and chasing

ADVENTURE What is an “adventure dog?” Well, it’s the buddy you can take anywhere, the one who plays just as hard as you do. They’re the ones who sometimes get us off the couch.

her on backcountry skis. For Traister, who works as the 4-H Teen and Leadership Program coordinator at University of Vermont Extension, Humphrey is her goto adventure buddy. “The only season you won’t find him out is mud season. Then he’s on the couch,” says Traister.

(2) RUNNER UP: ARCHIE, BURLINGTON Archie is an Australian Cattle Dog from Texas who came to Vermont via Random Rescue in Williamstown. He now lives in Burlington with his owner Tom Kupfer.

Kupfer says: "While his human prefers to scope out the mountain bike features before sending them, Archie prefers to use the send-first-look-later method. His favorite place to ride is Perry Hill because the rock rolls and slabs are so much fun! His low center of gravity is perfect for railing berms and keeping things stable at high speeds on Vermont's best trails.” Archie seems to enjoy the après just as much as the rest of us. Only instead of a good beer, a great stick will do.

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(3) RUNNER UP: SUMMIT, BURLINGTON One of the benefits of working at Burton is you get to bring your dog to work at the company’s Burlington headquarters.

Weekdays, that’s where you’ll often find Danielle Sweet and Summit. Sweet describes Summit as “a fluffy, and not fluffy as in fat, fluffy like you-always-findrandom-dog-hair-in your-food fluffy, lightred Siberian husky.” Weekends, both love to mountain bike, snowboard, hike, kayak and skateboard. Summit has been known to surf and even jetski. “Yeah, you should have seen the kayaker stare when he saw a dog on a jet ski go by,” Sweet says. Summit even has his own Instagram account, @summit_ the_shred_dog and is featured in the Chill Foundation calendar. “He has a pretty great personality. People around Burlington recognize my dog and have no idea who I am,” says Sweet, adding “But honestly, I’d rather know a dog than a human, too.”

(4) RUNNER UP: AEOLUS, KILLINGTON Rescued from a West Virginia kill shelter, brought up to the Northshore Animal Rescue in Salem, Mass., and then to the Killington area, Aeolus the Beagle is Appalachian Trail Adventures' mascot. In Greek mythology, Aeolus was the custodian of the winds. But

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3 owner John Keough named his beagle after a cave where he and a friend dug open a blocked passage to discover the largest cave in New England, in 2000. The cave, located just north of Manchester, Vt., is named after the mountain, Mount Aeolus. Keough often takes Aeolus out on trips with his clients.

A regular participant on guided kayaking, caving and hiking adventures, “That crazy beagle makes everyone laugh, whether it’s riding in the minivan, running nonstop on the hiking trails, racing through bellydeep mud or riding on the bow of the kayak, where he drinks water while trying not to

fall off, barks at any wildlife he can sniff out, and on the longer trips, pees right off the bow!” says Keogh.

WATCH: AEOLUS VS. COW

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 21

FACE SHOTS Sometimes a dog will give you a look so intense you know he’s having more fun than you are. That’s the case with all the finalists in our Face Shots category this year.

(1) WINNER AND READER’S CHOICE WINNER: SHADOW, LUDLOW Shadow belongs to Marleigh and Matthew Rutman but his dog walkers Lynn Obernier and Jim Malley couldn’t resist submitting a photo of this Wheaton terrier who just loves snow. The two partners in Ludlow Dog Walker often take care of dogs while their owners are on the slopes. It seems Shadow loves snow just as much as skiers do: the couple also submitted a video that shows Shadow tunneling through mounds of snow.

SHADOW IN THE SNOW

(2) RUNNER UP: JUNO, PUTNEY Juno is a year-old Northern Inuit from Putney, Vermont who loves to hike with owner Patrick Noyes. Chief among Juno's many endearing traits, says Noyes, is that he is a keen observer of nature. He also has a propensity to sleep in bathtubs, a love/ hate relationship with snowmen, and an ability to play throw and catch by himself.

(3) RUNNER UP: MILLER, STRATTON Shop dogs have to be some of the best loved dogs. Miller goes to work with his owner Matthew Henshaw at Equipe Sport at Stratton Mountain Resort Village. “He works five days a week and he’s a local celeb,” says Henshaw. Born in Weathersfield, Miller is now 4. “He loves the water and is absolutely crazy about snow,” says Henshaw.

(4) RUNNER UP: RIVER, SOUTH BURLINGTON River is a one year and nine month old "Beaglebull" mix that Aiden Gilbert and his girlfriend adopted when he was 12 weeks old. “Ever since he has come on rock climbing, mountain biking, splitboarding and camping adventures,” says Gilbert.

“Last winter we did some backcountry touring on Camels Hump and the snow was so deep we lost River in the powder but luckily his giant ears and blue jacket made it easy to quickly find him and carry him for part of the ride down.”

SNOWBOARDING WITH RIVER

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BEST LOOKING Everybody thinks their dog is the best looking. Of course they do.

But, as is true with people, not every dog can look great after a long hike up a trail to a mountain top. These dogs did.

(1) WINNER: CALI, BURLINGTON Cali is a 10.5-year-old Golden Retriever who takes on big hikes with her owner Emily Sanders DeMott. Here she is hiking Mount Mansfield. "The best time we’ve had was making it up Mt. Mansfield. As a 10-year-old dog, I was concerned about the difficulty of it. She made it up and down like a champ!” says DeMott.

(2) OVERALL READER’S CHOICE WINNER: DOLOMITE, HUNTINGTON Dolomite won the hearts of our Facebook friends, racking up close to 200 votes to win the Readers’ Choice overall contest. The year-old Australian Cattle Dog “leaves no stoke left unturned" says his owner, Joshua Burns. You can find him trail running with Burns and he seems to make it to just about every mountain around, from Mad River Glen (shown here) to Madonna, near Smugglers' Notch. “The highlight to Dolomite’s year was pow hounding his way through February’s Nor’easter down the Teardrop Trail in Underhill State Park,” says Burns. “[In winter, Dolomite's] motto is always to keep one paw in front of the other. He just puppy post holes the skin track.” When the snow subsides, Dolo can be frequently found running miles of trail from Appalachian Gap to Smugglers' Notch with a treat-filled smile.

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(3) RUNNER UP: THEDA, MORETOWN Theda is a five-year-old English Setter who lives in Moretown in the shadow of Camel's Hump, which she loves to climb with her human, Heidi Higgins-Cutler. Theda is a bird dog by breeding but loves to run. “She can run 15 miles easily with her humans, “ says Higgins-Culter, “but this summer has been no fun for running dogs, too hot!

(4) RUNNER UP: ACHILLES, CASTLETON

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Born in Fairfax, Vt., and raised in Castleton, Achilles is a true Vermont dog, notes his owner, Eric Jakubowski. The three-yearold Greater Swiss Mountain Dog loves to hike and snowshoe, as well as swim, kayak, hike and bike. “He especially loves when we go snowshoeing together,” says Jakubowski.

His favorite hikes are Killington and Pico. and he always carries his own water and snacks in his orange pack.” Says Jakubowski “It's the same Ruffwear pack he's used since he was a puppy.”

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

BEST VIDEO

BEST STORIES

Many of our readers submitted awesome videos of their dogs and you can see the ones below (and on other pages, marked with red triangles) at vtsports.com. Our three favorites are below.

THE DOGS OF THE LONG TRAIL

Nearly every dog has a story to tell. Or at least their owners do.

This year, many of the best stories centered around dogs as hiking companions, including a few who have thru-hiked the Long Trail.

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2 (1) WILLA THE WONDER DOG, QUECHEE Willa the Wonder, is a three-year-old Golden Retriever from Quechee. As owner Daphne Moritz says, “Willa is my stalwart trail companion. She trail runs with me, mountain bikes, hikes for miles, but her greatest joy is diving into the water. I brought her to a lake where she unleashed pure joy. I watch Willa and try to learn from her grace and her unbridled love of life. Oh but if we mere humans can have one scintilla of a dog’s freedom. I’ve had other dogs.

Willa truly does get best in show." A video of Willa dock diving in action wins Best Video.

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1 (1) WINNER: SAM, ST. ALBANS

WILLA DOCK DIVES

(2) RUNNER UP: LEXI, WARREN Sandy Pollen lives in Massachusetts but spends every weekend at her house in Warren with black and yellow labs who love to hike, swim and, yes hit the slopes. And we mean that. If you never thought a dog could carve up corduroy, just watch this footage of Lexi at Sugarbush.

LEXI HITS THE SLOPES

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(3) RUNNER UP: LUNA, RUTLAND Luna is an 8-year-old Goldendoodle from Rutland who loves swimming, kayaking, hiking, biking and hitting the slopes with her owner Jamie Wilson.

But the video footage of Luna diving in the leaves was the footage we truly loved.

LUNA IN LEAVES

This summer, Sam earned his own trail name: The Ambassador. The little 20-pound dog accompanied his owner, Betsy LeBlancet, on a 273-mile thru-hike of the Long Trail to raise awareness and funds to support suicide prevention in Vermont.

“I never felt like I was by myself,” says LeBlancet of her solo thru-hike. “He’s pretty good at staying at my heels.”

LeBlancet says she and Sam weren’t always that close. “It took us a while to

bond, and it wasn’t until we started hiking together than I came to understand the term ‘man’s best friend,” she says.

LeBlancet says that Sam’s friendly demeanor helped her to connect with other people hiking the trail. “There’s something about having a really friendly dog that puts people at ease. I was really amazed by how much people opened up to me about really personal things.”

He must have been effective. LeBlancet’s hike was dedicated to raising money for the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center’s UMatter Program, which offers training in

suicide prevention and in how to support survivors of suicide. She beat her initial fundraising goal of $20 per mile hiked and raised $6,000.

According to a report published by the Vermont Department of Health in December 2017, suicide was the eighth leading cause of death among Vermonters in 2015. It’s affected LeBlancet personally through her own struggles with depression and she has lost several friends to suicide.

"I went through a really dark period about three years ago. Taking care of Sam got me out of bed every day. Once I realized how happy hiking made him, that would start to transform how I was feeling," said LeBlancet.

She says she plans to hike the Long Trail annually for her No One Stands Alone project, and would like to establish a nonprofit to help other women who struggle with depression gain access to the outdoors.

“My hike was an effort to demonstrate a tool kit I’ve found for managing this issue [depression and suicide] in a healthy way.

Exercise is a great way to deal with mental health issues, and being exposed to natural places, connecting with people, can play a big role in our wellbeing,” says LeBlancet.

Sam proved to be a great trail dog, carrying ten to 20 percent of his body weight the entire trip. As LeBlancet tells it, even the tricky ladders that lead to the summit of Mt. Mansfield’s iconic Chin on the Long Trail were no trouble for Sam. The dog flew right up them without even a boost from her owner. “He did better than I did,” she says. “I got blisters!”

LeBlancet used Sojos dehydrated dog food from Pet Food Warehouse to lighten Sam's load (he could only carry about four pounds at the most). She recommended doing overnight training trips with your dog, not just to test gear, but to learn how they will behave when sharing a shelter with other hikers. “You may have a really wellbehaved dog, but you never know exactly how they will respond in a new s i t u a t i o n ,” she said. For example, Sam loved sneaking into other shelter guests’ sleeping bags. “Usually people were pretty cool with a snuggle, but it was pretty funny.”

(2) RUNNER UP: SUMMIT, CHESTER, VT. “I’m always amazed by how dogs are so much more resilient than humans,” says Brett Mastrangelo of Chester. “A dog can

2 sleep out on a rock when it’s windy and cold and be psyched. It gives you perspective when you’re backpacking and brings you back to what’s important.”

That optimism helped power Mastrangelo and a group of five or six high school students on a school-sponsored thru-hike of The Long Trail in the summer of 2016. Since that first backpacking trip together, Mastrangelo and Summit have hiked for weeks at a time in Maine and on the Pacific Crest Trail through Oregon. Next summer, they’re eyeing the Continental Divide Trail.

Summit’s favorite activity on that first Long Trail trip was to visit each member of the group in their sleeping bag every morning as the sun was rising. “He was good for morale.

He’d even sit and watch the sunset with us, and he was laughably pensive, which I’d never known about him until that trip,” says Mastrangelo. When parents resupplied the group, Summit received dog treats and the occasional hot dog.

Throughout the trip, Summit carried 15 to 20 percent of his body weight in dog food in a Ruffwear Approach pack. “We run together [with the pack] for about an hour or so every day and I’d done a lot of mountain running with him on the weekends,” says Mastrangelo of their training for The Long Trail. Although Summit lost about five pounds, Mastrangelo says he didn’t suffer injuries. “Other than a little chafing towards the end, he did great.”

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(3) RUNNER UP: RAMONA, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. “She wasn’t a hiking dog before I adopted her,” says owner Alyssa Godesky of Ramona, her four-year-old dog from Charlottesville, Va. This summer, Ramona, mix of Labrador, Airedale Terrier, Chow Chow and Pit Bull, accompanied Godesky on more than 150 miles of the Long Trail, while Godesky trained to challenge the fastest known time for a woman completing the Long Trail from end-to-end. In July, she broke that record with a time of five days, two hours, 37 minutes.

According to Godesky, who spent the summer in Winhall and Stowe, Vt., Ramona was a big part of that. “There were a lot of days when I would run a 20mile section in the morning and then hike for two to four hours in the evening. A lot of it was about scouting out the trail, and it was really nice to have a companion,” says Godesky.

The hardest part about hiking with a dog? “Planning for her eating and drinking. A dog can’t stop and be like,

‘hey, I’m thirsty!’ But it took my mind off my own fatigue and suffering on longer training days,” Godesky says. She treated Ramona’s waste like human waste, burying it 200 feet off-trail and away from water with a backpacking trowel.

She recommends the Outward Hound DayPak for dogs, which features a side saddlebag design and four pockets for stashing your dog’s dish and food.

Ramona’s favorite part of the trail was chasing chipmunks with an enthusiasm that Godesky found contagious and inspiring. Although Ramona was not with Godesky for her record-breaking ultra-run, she says, “I don’t think I would have done that [broken the Long Trail FKT] w ithout Ramona.”

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

Do you think growing up at Blueberry Hill informed your thinking about how people interact with the land?

Definitely. Over the last year, I’ve been really struck by how time spent in a place shapes you. Growing up in Vermont, we are lucky to really value these ecological, natural places. You will never have a relationship with a place like the place where you grew up. For me, that’s the trails around Blueberry Hill. I wanted to argue for the legitimacy of that in a way that appealed to a broader audience.

FEATURED ATHLETE

THE ULTRA RUNNER PH.D. CANDIDATE Name: Britta Clark Age: 24 From: Goshen, Vermont Family: Parents, Tony Clark and Shari Brown; Brother, Oliver; Dogs, Remy and Weezer Primary Sports: Ultra trail running Occupation: Soon-to-be Harvard Ph.D. student in philosophy, server at Blueberry Hill Inn and Outdoor Center Dream Job: Philosophy professor and Owner/Steward of Blueberry Hill

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n June 23, Britta Clark came in first place for women in the Catamount 50K at Trapp Family Lodge and Outdoor Center in Stowe. A week later, she finished second overall in The Endurance Society’s Marathon in Goshen. The next seven finishers were all men and the race was on turf she knew well: the trails that surround Blueberry Hill Inn, where she grew up. Trail running is in Clark’s blood: she grew up exploring and helping her father, Tony Clark, maintain the trails at his Blueberry Hill Inn and Outdoor Center in Goshen. This fall, After having spent the last two years completing a Fulbright scholarship in New Zealand (and running really long foot races through the jungles of Malaysia), she started a five-year Ph.D. program in intergenerational justice at Harvard. Clark was invited to compete in the SkyRunning World Championships in Scotland this past September but declined as she was starting school.

How did you get into ultrarunning?

I grew up cross country ski racing and skied competitively all through college at Bates. The summer after college, I was home in Goshen and finally took out a map of the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area. I realized that there were hundreds of miles of trails that I’d never explored in my 20 years of living there, and that I could access them from my back door. There really aren’t a lot of people in Goshen, so I just started running. It really helps to have a good endurance base, which I had from ten years of cross country ski racing.

I ran the Moosalamoo Ultra in August 2016 [a 36-mile race] and I was hooked.

What do you find compelling about really long trail runs?

Philosophy is an all-consuming discipline. It’s just the way my brain works, but I tend to spend a lot of time focusing on really tiny thoughts and concepts and picking them apart.

Running is a way to get away from all that. Its meditative. I don’t think a whole lot, and I think being on the trails helps facilitate that meditative state.

Trail races have a different vibe than road races.

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Britta Clark in New Zealand. This summer, she set the women's course record at the Catamount 50K in Stowe. Photo courtesy Britta Clark

Everybody talks and cheers each other on. What’s cool about trail running is that the longer the distance, the more you see women winning races outright or finishing in the top ten. I like that I can see a guy ahead of me as competition in a way you might not in a road race. Plus, there’s more beer in trail running.

Tell us about your research on rivers as a Fulbright fellow in New Zealand.

New Zealand’s environmental policy is pretty unique in that it tries to incorporate some of their indigenous populations’ beliefs. I was lucky to be there during the New Zealand Parliament’s passage of the Whanganui River Settlement Bill in 2017. The bill granted legal personhood to the Whanganui River and in doing so gave the rive all the rights, powers, duties and liabilities of a legal person.

This was in response to a century-long disagreement between the indigenous community living next to the river and New Zealand’s government over who owned the body of water. The compromise was essentially to say it owns itself.

I ended up completing a masters’ thesis in philosophy at the University of Otago, where I focused on the field of intergenerational justice and explored whether indigenous philosophical commitments could coexist with Western philosophical commitments.

What is intergenerational justice?

What I found when I started looking into intergenerational justice was that often, when you have specific places like this river or public lands or other places that are shared but are especially valuable to specific groups of people, that value is excluded from philosophical or economic discussions of what we are required, as a matter of justice, to save. They’re seen as a gift when they are conserved, like it would be good if they existed, but it’s not obligatory. My thesis argued against that way of thinking.

What is the craziest race you have ever run?

This past May (2018) I did a 50K race in Malaysia called the Penang Eco Race, where I started at 1 a.m.

It was pretty much just me and 200 Malaysian dudes running through the jungle at night. I had never run with a headlamp before. At the aid stations they gave us sticky rice and spicy Malaysian food. The course was either straight up or straight down. Either way, I did a lot of hauling myself up on vines and roots. The Malaysian trail running community is hard core. I finished that race in first place for women and second overall.

What does it take to run an ultra race really fast, and how did you transition from being a novice ultra runner to a competitive racer?

I think that the first step is to have a really strong endurance base. I was lucky to get that from being a middle-of-the-pack Nordic skier for 10 years, and I started running seriously the spring after my last season of Nordic racing at college. Once you have that base, you can start trying to develop a bit of speed. I think it’s also about doing more ultra races so you can begin to feel confident that your body can finish. Once you have that confidence, it changes things during a race.

I also hired a coach when I was in New Zealand. His name is David Roach and he’s based out of Boulder, Co. I’ve been working with him for about three months now. I realized that I didn’t really know what I was doing when it came to training, and although I want to move fast through the mountains now, I also want to be running when I’m 60 and still have functional knees when I’m older.

That’s been great because he helps me with training schedules and taught me to work on speed over shorter distances to get faster at longer ones. Sometimes he tells me to cool it and have fun, and that’s helpful too.

What do you eat before, during and after a race?

Eating during a race is so important. Ultra running is really just a big eating competition! Before a race, I like to eat oatmeal. If I’m honest, I go for calories per dollar a lot. Some people are particular, but I can eat just about anything during a race. I pound chips at every aid station. It’s a great excuse to go pretty hard on the chocolate chip cookies. Oh and pickles. They’re refreshing and salty, and I love them during a race.

—Abagael Giles

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How is the Vermont climbing scene?

There are some really good people here. The mountains aren’t as big and humidity causes lichen and slippery days but there are some good spots like Smuggs' and Deer Leap, which is off of Route 4. Up here in the Northeast Kingdom, there's good rock climbing on Mt. Hor and Mt. Wheeler and ice climbing at Mt. Pisgah.

The Northeast Kingdom is a haven for ice climbing, with ice falls towering over Lake Willoughby. There are small ice and rock climbing problems hidden all over the Kingdom but mostly they are a secret and are humorously called “Wish I Could Tell You.”

FEATURED ATHLETE

CLIMBING HIGH Name: Isa Oehry Age: 60 Lives in: Greensboro Bend Family: Daughter, Nina Primary sports: Rock and ice climbing, skiing Occupation: a published author and artist

A

s a child growing up in the Alps, Isabella, “Isa” Oehry had a picture on her wall of Wyoming’s Grand Teton, a mountain that years later she would climb. Oehry came to the States and went to college in Johnson, Vt. After studying business and traveling extensively, she settled back in northern Vermont. She earned a degree in management information systems and then went on to get a degree in psychology. She’s the author of two books, an artist and keeper of Old Clary Farm in Greensboro.

What was your first sport?

I was born in Liechtenstein so I grew up in the mountains but Liechtenstein is only 61 square miles with not that many people so it took me until I was in my early 20s to find people to rock climb with. When I was younger, I was a telemark ski racer and placed second and third at the World Championships in Austria in 1989, I didn’t discover ice climbing until I moved to Vermont, 27 years ago.

What brought you to Vermont?

I came to the United States for the first time when I was just turning 20. Liechtenstein is very small and very patriarchal. Women didn’t get the vote until 1984 and advanced schooling for women wasn’t encouraged when I was young. I was a bit of a rebel so I took a backpack and came here to explore. I went to school at Johnson State College and I always wanted to come back to Vermont. I like the greenness of the state and Vermonters are connected to the values I really love.

How did you end up at the Old Clary Farm in Greensboro Bend?

From 1992 to 2003, I lived in a cabin in the woods in Pomfret. I learned how to use a wood stove and shovel roofs and deal with frozen pipes. Later we moved to Sharon but after 25 years, I got laid off from my corporate job making marine navigation safety lights.

I decided this gave me a chance to explore something different and I had always dreamed of moving to a farm in the Northeast Kingdom. My plan is to create a space that I can share and I’m putting on events that benefit people, usually for free.

What got you into ice climbing I discovered that the winters here in Vermont are very varied and a good year can turn into a bad year in the course of two days. I was experiencing a bit of frustration since this was different from what I had experienced in the Alps. A friend invited me to go

28 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

Oehry, atop the Grand Teton in 2016. Photo courtesy Isa Oehry

ice climbing at Holt's near the Dartmouth Skiway. I thought it would be cold and uncomfortable but I fell in love with it right away. If skiing conditions are bad, climbing conditions are good and vice versa, so I really enjoy the winters here.

What are the pros and cons of rock versus ice?

If you’re burly and strong you can go pretty far on ice but rock requires more finesse and technique. I experienced the height of my rock climbing career in my late 20s, early 30s. Sport climbers were just breaking into the 5.14a grade, which was an unimaginable feat at the time. I was pushing 5.12 then. Now, I look more for pleasure climbing rather than pushing a grade. On ice I am more hesitant. If conditions are good, I can lead WI4. I have climbed WI5 many times, but am content to follow rather than lead at that grade.

Tell us about a memorable climb.

My climb up the Grand Teton was really memorable.

It’s less of a technical rock climb than an achievement of getting to the top of a difficult peak. It had been a childhood dream. I saw a picture of the mountain when I was a child and it struck me as so beautiful— and this was with me living in the middle of the Alps!

I cut out the picture and pasted it to my bedroom wall.

I never thought I’d be on top of that mountain. It took three tries to get there. The magnet of this mountain was so strong that it pushed me up and up and it was the most incredible feeling to stand on top of it.

Are there climbs you’d still like to do?

There aren’t enough days to do all of them. When I started climbing it was more about technical climbing rather than reaching a peak. Most climbs were up rock faces but now I want to climb the old traditional routes that may be easier, but get you to the top. I’ve never been up the Eiger, Matterhorn or Mont Blanc. I had a shoulder injury which limited me in terms of technical climbing. My shoulder is great now but my focus has shifted. My next goal is two mountains in the Wind River area—Wolf’s Head and Pingora in Wyoming.

What do you love about climbing?

One way to describe it is yoga on a vertical wall. You go from spot A to spot B and it might only be a few inches or a foot or two but it’s a problem you’re trying to solve.

It takes all your focus. It’s the most relaxing and the most exciting thing at the same time: relaxing because you forget everything else and exciting because you’re heading towards a goal. The moves are so intricate.

It makes you stretched out and flexible in a way that you don’t get when you’re flat on the ground. The focus is incredible and it’s a little like life. When you think you’re stuck, you move an inch or two and the entire picture changes. One thing shifts and everything changes.

What advice would you give to someone trying to get into climbing?

People often think climbing is very dangerous. It definitely is and you need to be there 100 percent. But if you take all the safety measures, it can be enjoyable and really healthy. In Europe they are using climbing walls for back pain. There are so many different motions with big and little muscles that it’s a very healthy sport. I threw my back out a few years ago and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to climb again but I got back into it and it really helped me feel better.

Tell us about your book, "Under the Blue Moon."

That started really spontaneously while I was at Green River Reservoir on August 31, 2012, which was a full moon, a blue moon and a super moon and my birthday.

I was there by myself and I paddled underneath this incredible moon and it triggered the book which is a journey through the following year. Things began to happen really quickly and I started writing things down. It’s non-fiction and very personal. I printed it because I hoped my daughter might read it, but it seems to touch other people. I’m currently working on another book titled "Healing Lyme Disease Beyond Antibiotics" which will give people with chronic Lyme disease, which I have suffered from, some alternatives to conventional treatment.

You’re also an artist, aren’t you?

I call my work primitive folk art. I paint on windows and most of the subject matter has to do with nature but with a little bit of humor. To my surprise I’m about to sell my 100th piece. The pieces are light and they’re not too expensive. I like to be able to bring joy into someone’s day. —Phyl Newbeck

RACE & EVENT GUIDE

VERMONT

SPORTS

LISTING YOUR EVENT IN THIS CALENDAR IS FREE AND EASY. VISIT VTSPORTS.COM/ SUBMIT-AN-EVENT OR E-MAIL EDITOR@ VTSPORTS.COM. ALL AREA CODES ARE 802. ALL LOCATIONS ARE IN VERMONT, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. FEATURED

EVENTS, IN YELLOW, PAY A NOMINAL FEE.

RUNNING OCTOBER 6 | Stark Mountain Hill Climb/Run, Fayston Run from the base lodge to the summit of Stark Mountain, as part of Mad River Glen’s Green and Gold Weekend. starkmountain.org 6 | Art Tudhope 10K, Charlotte A fast out-and-back course on dirt and paved roads past orchards and through a covered bridge. gmaa.net 7 | Harpoon Octoberfest Race, Windsor Harpoon Brewery holds this annual 3.6-mile road race, followed by an Oktoberfest. Proceeds benefit the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center. harpoonoctoberfestrace.com 7 | Mad Dash, Waitsfield Runners support the Mad River Path with a 10K and 5K race. Community lunch follows. madriverpath.com 7 | North Face Race to the Summit, Stratton Race 2.18 miles uphill to the summit of southern Vermont’s highest peak for more than $2,000 in prize money and awards. stratton.com 7 | Ripton Ridge Run, Ripton The Ripton Elementary School hosts its annual fundraiser with a 5K run, 10.4K run and a non-competitive 5K walk.

All courses start and finish at the school. riptonridgerun; addisoncentralsu.org

11-13 | 29029, Stratton Run/walk/crawl up Stratton Mountain. Take the gondola down. Repeat 17 times until you climb 29,029 feet, the height of Mt. Everest. A running festival takes place this weekend, too. stratton.com

13 | Westmore Mountain Challenge, Westmore This mountain marathon takes hikers 26 miles over five mountains through beautiful scenery of the Northeast Kingdom and supports Northwoods Stewardship Center's conservation programs. northwoodscenter.org 13 | Trapp Family Lodge Mountain Marathon, Stowe This annual race—either a half or full marathon—takes runners through colorful fall foliage at the Trapp Family Lodge trails. trappmountainmarathon.com 13 | The CircumBurke: Marathon Trail Run and MTB Challenge, Burke A mountain bike or trail run hosted by Kingdom Trails, Burke Mountain and Victory Hill. Both follow a difficult and scenic 27-mile circuit on logging roads. circumburke.org 13 | Shelburne Farms 5K, Shelburne Farms This 5K takes you past Lake Champlain and through farms, trails, and fields. racevermont.com 14 | Green Mountain Marathon and Half Marathon, South Hero A marathon or half marathon along the shores of Lake Champlain past cottages and orchards. gmaa.net 14 | Chase Away 5K, Essex Run this 5K with your leashed canine companion to raise funds for the Chase Away K9 Cancer fund. chaseawayk9cancer.org 15 | Run with the Heroes 5K, Williston This scenic fun run follows the bike path and features views of Mt. Mansfield and foliage. Prizes awarded to the top male and female finishers. specialolympicsvermont.org

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20 | CaniCross 5K Run Doggy Benefit, Williston Run with your dog on the trails at the Catamount Outdoor Family Center to benefit Golden Huggs Rescue and the Catamount Family Center. Runners and walkers are welcome to try one of two courses: a 5K and a 2.5K. eventbrite.com 20 | Trick or Trot 5K and 10K, Montpelier Costumes are encouraged at this fun trail run at Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks. Maple creemees and kettle corn for all runners, and a speech from guest speaker Newton Baker. racewire.com 27 | The Kingdom Challenge, Lyndonville/St. Johnsbury A challenging point-to-point half marathon between Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury. Course runs through four covered bridges. thekingdomchallenge.com 29 | The Randolph Ramble, Randolph, NH The 10,000-acre Randolph Community Forest hosts a 10K rugged, self-supported trail race through the Great North Woods in the mountain town of Randolph, NH, at the base of the Presidential Range in the White Mountains. randolphramble.com

NOVEMBER 3 | Fallen Leaves 5K, Montpelier Part of a low-key, three-race series (also on Nov. 10 and 17). The flat and fast 5K course begins and ends on the Montpelier High School track and incorporates the Montpelier bike path. cvrunners.org 4 | Fall 5K/10K and Half Marathon, Shelburne Choose from a 5K, 10K or half marathon for this route, which was recognized in 2014 by active.com as one of the nine most scenic in New England. racevermont.com

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4 | 2nd Annual Vermont 10-Miler, Stowe Enjoy a stunning but challenging run from the Stowe Land Trust’s Mayo Farm Event Fields and onto the Stowe Bike Path.

Registration comes with one free local craft beer. vermont10miler.com 22 | 42nd GMAA Turkey Trot, Burlington A certified 5K on the University of Vermont women’s cross country course. Walkers are welcome in this race which benefits the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. Race starts at the Gutterson Field House. gmaa.net

BIKING OCTOBER

mountains. Pro cyclist and Tour de France racer Ian Boswell will lead the grind. peachamfallfondo.com 13 | CircumBurke Trail Challenge, East Burke Choose between 27- and 50-mile mountain bike routes in this Northeast Kingdom classic at Burke Mountain. This tough annual race moves through rugged forests and hills and includes an enduro race. circumburke.org 21 | Vermont Forest Fondo, Lincoln This challenging gravel grinder will leave you with mud on your face. The 45-mile route climbs class 4 roads to pass through Ripton with 6,400 feet of climbing.

Mountain, cyclocross, gravel or fat bikes are recommended. vtforestfondo.com

6 | 3rd Braintree 357 Gravel Enduro, Braintree A cloverleaf-shaped course lets riders tackle class 3 gravel roads. Rides range from 18 to 50 miles, with 2,700 to 8,000 feet of elevation gain. braintree357.com

26 | Wicked Creepy Cyclocross Race, Bennington Hosted by the Bennington Area Trail System and Peak Racing Gear Works Cyclery, this is the Vermont stop in the 2018 NYCROSS series. Course includes plenty of grass, obstacles and sand. nycross.com

6 | Leaf Blower Fall Classic Mountain Bike Festival, Stowe Join Stowe Trails Partnership and MTBVT for a celebratory day of group rides, vendors, homegrown food, local libations and community at Ranch Camp on Mountain Road. stowemountainbike.com

27 | 3rd Annual Grafton Cheese Grater Gravel Ride, Grafton A challenging gravel grinder that departs from the Grafton Trails & Outdoor Center, then heads west to Windham for a cheese pit stop. The race is a 36-mile ride. graftoninnvermont.com

7 | Allen Clark Hill Climb, Waitsfield Climb 1,600 vertical feet in 6.2 miles from Route 100 to the top of Appalachian Gap. ahillclimb.org

NOVEMBER

13 | Peacham Fall Fondo, Peacham A Northeast Kingdom classic with 50plus miles of gravel riding on mixed terrain through fall foliage in the

4 | 28th Annual West Hill Shop Cyclocross Race, Putney Cyclocross racers tackle a challenging course over dirt tracks and through cornfields with one new and even more spirit-crushing hill for the title of Vermont Cyclocross Champion. Time divisions range from 30 to 60 minutes. westhillshop.com

27 | 16th Annual Vermont Ski + Snowboard Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony, Killington Join the party as the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum honors seven Vermont skiers and riders who have made history.

Dinner, silent auction and more at the Killington Grand Resort Hotel. For tickets: vtssm.com

OTHER OCTOBER 5 | LoveYourBrain Annual Golf Tournament, Enfield, N.H. Join LoveYourBrain for their second annual golf tournament. Funds raised support LYB’s mission to improve the quality of life of people affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI) through programs that build community and educate youth about mindfulness and TBI prevention. loveyourbrain.com/golf/

NOVEMBER 1 | 6th Annual Vermont Backcountry Forum, Rochester This year’s statewide community forum about backcountry skiing will feature the first ever Vermont Backcountry Film Showdown, along with a potluck, cash bar, raffle and backcountry project updates from the Catamount Trail Association and RASTA. rastavt.org

6 | 7th Annual Singletrack Shootout, Craftsbury The Craftsbury Outdoor Center hosts a mountain biking or running biathlon on the Center’s singletrack trails. Novices and experts alike are welcome; novices will have ammo and rifles provided and a shooting clinic will precede the novice race. craftsbury.com

3 | NENSA Elite Rollerski Invitational, Stowe The region's best rollerski racers will compete at Trapp Family Lodge, with several Olympians, Junior National Champions expected to turn out. nensa.net

13 | NENSA Fall Rollerski Classic, Camp Ethan Allen Opt for either a 5K or a 10K loop in this fun fall event hosted by the Mt. Mansfield Nordic Club and Ethan Allen Biathlon Club. nensa.net

17 | New England Ski Museum Annual Meeting and Dinner, Shirley, Mass.

The NESM honors Nashoba Valley Ski Area founder Al Fletcher, Sr. with the Spirit of Skiing Award. newenglandskimuseum.org

20 | 8th Annual Fall Disc Golf Tournament, Pittsford The Pittsford Recreation Area Public Disc Golf Course holds a tournament with bragging rights at stake. The round includes 18 holes of disc golf, hot chocolate and donuts for a fee of $10 per person. pittsfordvermont.com

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17 | The Big Kicker, Waitsfield Kick off the 2018/2019 ski season with Mad River Glen and Sugarbush to celebrate their 70th and 60th anniversaries, respectively with an epic freestyle party at American Flatbread. sugarbush.com

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23-25 | Audi FIS World Cup, Killington Skiing greats from around the world compete in this FIS slalom and giant slalom event. The weekend also features free movie premieres, concerts by well-known bands and lots more. killington.com

FESTIVALS OCTOBER 5-8 | Columbus Day Weekend Celebration, Stratton A weekend with the Annual Craft Brew Festival, Chili Festival, hayrides, mountain yoga, and much more. stratton.com 6 | Brewfest, Stratton Mountain Enjoy more than 100 regional and Vermontbrewed beers and live music at southern Vermont’s tallest peak. stratton.com 6-7 | Craftsbury Outdoor Center Fall Festival, Craftsbury Previously known as Oktoberfest, this year’s celebration will include the singlterack shootout, a mountain biking or biathlon race and clinics, cider pressing, the inaugural Friends of Great Hosmer Paddling Event, an orienteering race and community harvest dinner. craftsbury.com 6 | Fall into Winter, Okemo Celebrate fall with live German music, hayrides, games, pumpkin painting, craft vendors and German food and beer.

German attire is encouraged. okemo.com 6 | Harvest Faire, Killington Celebrate fall in the mountains with food, live music, craft beer, pumpkin painting, horse drawn hay rides, a bounce house, apple launching and stein hoisting. killington.com

6| Community Day, Sugarbush A weekend of fun filled with outdoor activities and food. Enjoy scenic lift rides, pumpkin carving, pancakes and live music. sugarbush.com 7 | Harpoon Octoberfest The Harpoon Brewery in Windsor hosts their Octoberfest filled with Harpoon beer, oompah music, keg bowling, fall foliage, and a Harpoon race. harpoonbrewery.com 7 | Oktoberfest, Sugarbush Bavarian food, drink, stein hoisting, keg tossing, football and other games all to the tunes of the Reformed Mad Bavarian Brass Band North. sugarbush.com 6-7 | Oktoberfest, Mount Snow Mount Snow hosts their 18th annual Oktoberfest with plenty of oom-pah music, 25 German and domestic breweries and schnitzel plus games and activities for kids. mountsnow.com 6-7 | Green and Gold Weekend, Mad River Glen Don’t miss live music, fall foliage chairlift rides, barbecues and bike and foot races in this annual kickoff to Mad River Glen’s ski season. madriverglen.com 7-9 & 13-15 | WitchCraft, Killington A spooky week-long celebration with a haunted house, haunted hikes, hayrides, pumpkin painting, beer garden, a haunted maze and live music. Also, ride the chairlift or try the alpine coaster, zip line, sky ropes course, and more. killingtonwitchcraft.com

SKI SWAPS Oct. 5-7 | Killington Club Monster Ski and Bike Sale Equipment drop-off: Sept 29 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.;

CATAMOUNT is going to the dogs.

Have you ever wanted to run at Catamount with your best friend? Now’s your chance.

CATAMOUNT is going to the dogs.

TO BENEFIT:

Have you ever wanted to run at Catamount with your best friend?

Now’s your chance.

6TH ANNUAL

5K CANI-

SPONSORED BY:

CROSS YOUNG PUPS

Oct. 4 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Oct. 5 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Ramshead Base Lodge. Sale hours: Oct 5 from 5 to 9 p.m.; Oct 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Oct. 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. killingtonskiclub.com Oct. 12-13 | Colchester Ski Sale Equipment drop-off: Oct. 12 from 4:30-7 p.m. Sale hours: Oct. 13 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Colchester High School gym. colchesterskisale.weebly.com Oct. 20 | Montpelier Rec. Department Ski and Skate Sale Equipment drop-off: Oct. 19 at Montpelier High School from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sale hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the high school. montpelierrec.org Nov. 10-11 | Waitsfield Ski and Skate Sale Equipment drop-off: Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Nov. 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Waitsfield Elementary School. Sale hours: Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Nov. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. waitsfieldschool.org Nov. 16-18 | Okemo Mountain School Ski and Snowboard Swap Equipment drop-off: Nov. 10, 11 and 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Sitting Bull restaurant at Clock Tower Base Lodge. Sale hours: Nov. 16 from 4 to 7 p.m.; Nov. 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Nov. 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. okemomountainschool.org Nov. 17-18 | Cambridge Area Rotary Ski and Ride Swap Sale Equipment drop-off: Nov. 17 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sale hours: Nov. 18 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Nov. 19 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Center. rotarycambridge.org

FALL MOVIE RELEASES MountainFilm Festival Tour The MountainFilm Festival features incredible storytelling about outdoor adventures around the world. This year’s festival features a slew of films, including one about sailing in Antarctica, and another about Kai Jones, a Jackson Hole local who is already making a name for himself as a 10-year-old big mountain skier. Then there’s Drop Everything, which features pro skier Michelle Parker shredding big mountain lines with elegance in Alaska. Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center: Sept. 22, UVM Davis Center: Nov. 2, Vermont Law School, South Royalton: Nov. 1, The Big Picture Theater, Waitsfield: Nov. 3, Dana Auditorium, Middlebury: Nov. 4. mountainfilm.org

2.5K

Far Out This year’s film by Teton Gravity Research CATAMOUNT is going to the dogs. follows skiers to one of the most remote and Have you ever wanted to run at Catamount unexplored (by skiers) mountain ranges on CATAMOUNT is going SAT. Oct 20st @ 9:30am with your best friend? Now’s your chance. to the dogs. $20 Advance / $25 Onsite TO BENEFIT: SAT. OctCost: 20th @ 9:30am TO BENEFIT: Have you ever wanted to run at planet: Catamount the the Albanian Alps. Getting there Register In Advance: https://2018canincross.eventbrite.com CADET COURSE WALK/RUN ENTRY W/O DOG TOO!

required riding, skis strapped to pack, on horseback. Other featured locations include the Purcell Mountains (think pillow lines), Kamchatka, the Slovenian Alps, Jackson and more. Starring Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Angel Collinson, Jeremy Jones, John Collinson, Hadley Hammer, Griffin Post, Elyse Saugstad and more. Higher Ground, Burlington: Oct. 20. tetongravity.com Face of Winter Warren Miller Entertainment’s 69th feature film is a tribute to the legend himself, who passed away in January 2018. For this episode, some of the world’s best skiers, including Kaylin Richardson, Dennis Risvoll, Marcus Caston, Michael “Bird” Schaffer, got together to ski some of Miller’s favorite locations across Europe, British Columbia, Chile, Iceland and the world. Expect big mountain lines, cliff drops over crevasses and a “celebration of a life lived in high places” and everything big mountain skiing.

Snowshed Conference Center, Killington: Nov. 24, The Flynn, Burlington: Dec. 7, Okemo Mountain School, Ludlow: Dec. 15. warrenmiller.com Hoji Canadian Eric “Hoji” Hjorleifson stars in this Matchstick Productions film. Hjorleifson is known for keeping a low profile off his skis, ditching his cell phone for weeks at a time to chase storms. This fall, you can follow him. He’s also one of just three skiers to ever be the subject of a feature-length film by Matchstick. The others are legends Sean McConkey and Seth Morrison. Check vtskiandride.com for updates on dates and locations. skimovie.com All In Matchstick Productions is also rolling out its first ever film to feature as many female athletes as male athletes. With big name big mountain skiers like Angel Collinson, Tatum Monod, Cody Townsend, Wiley Miller and John Collinson, this film is bound to be epic. According to Matchstick, the film is driven by a “talented group of hardcharging women who wanted to disrupt the male-dominated ski film formula... this isn’t your typical ‘women can shred too’ film, this is a kick-ass ski film that just happens to feature as many women as men.” Expect high action, stunning scenery segments and lots of personality. Dates and locations to be announced. skimovie.com Zig Zag With everything from urban street edits to gnarly backcountry backflips and harrowing big mountain lines in the Alps, Level1’s 19th film is a celebration of everything whimsical and rule breaking about freeskiing. The flick features the talents of Parker White, Laurenet de Martin, Sami Ortlieb, Chris Logan, and more. Winter Sports Club: Dartmouth College, Oct. 20. level1productions.com

dogs must be$25 leashed and after the race.

Cost $20AllAdvance/ Onbefore, site during (Costume Optional) with your best friend? Now’s your chance.

TO BENEFIT: SPONSORED BY: Register in advance: https://2018canicross.eventbrite.com All dogs must be leashed before, during and after VERMONT the race. 6TH ANNUAL (Costume Optional)

5K

SPORTS

6TH ANNUAL

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 31

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We offer bicycles from Giant, Liv, Ibis and Yeti for road, gravel, mountain and gravity, plus accessories and apparel and an extensive inventory of service parts. Custom fitting and expert technicians offering everything from tuneups to in-house suspension service. Mountain and DH rentals.

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Rental and demo bikes available. Stylish clothing for men and women plus gear, shoes and apparel for tennis.

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BELGEN CYCLES

24 Bridge St, Richmond VT 802-434-4876 belgencycles.com Hours: Mon – Sat 10:30 – 6:30, Closed Sundays Belgen Cycles offers custom and stock bicycles supported by 40 years of hands on experience.

Focused on the right bike for you covering the spectrum from road to ‘cross and mountain to fat with selections from Salsa, Xprezo, Moots, Parlee, Litespeed, Lynskey and Soma. Full service maintenance and repair as well as fitting solutions. In business as Village Bicycle in Richmond for 19 years.

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CHUCK’S BIKES

45 Bridge St. Morrisville VT 802-888-7642 chucksbikes802.com Hours: Mon – Fri 9 – 5:30, Sat 9 – 3, closed Sun Putting smiles on people’s faces for over 35 years.

Bikes by Jamis,Transition, Norco, KHS, Surly, Raleigh, Marin and Diamondback.

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We are a full service bike shop at the base of the Mt. Greylock State reservation. We also border a beautiful 12 mile, paved rail trail. We carry Jamis, Rocky Mtn. and GT. We offer sales, repairs, and hybrid bike rentals for the rail trail.

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RR 8, 169 Grove St. Adams , MA 413-743- 5900

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berkout@bcn.net

alpinebikeworks.com Hours: Tues - Sat 10 - 5

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BERKSHIRE OUTFITTERS

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AROUND VERMONT

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We are a true bike shop where customer satisfaction is top priority and staff is enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly. Everyone who walks through our door is welcomed into our diverse bike community. We bring people from all walk of life and ages that share the same love and passion for cycling.

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COWBELL MOBILE BIKE SHOP

25-mile radius around Burlington VT 802-373-3411 cowbellbike.com

Cowbell is Vermont’s first full service bike shop in a van. No more waiting around to get your bike tuned up. Just book an appointment and Cowbell shows up and you ride the same day. Todd the owner and operator has 23 yeas of experience and arrives with van full of parts and accessories. More then just a rolling bike shop...

Cowbell also offers Corporate Visits, Ride Support and Bike Maintenance Classes.

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EAST BURKE SPORTS

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215 eastburkesports.com Hours: 9 - 6 every day We are the original home to Kingdom Trails. Located in the heart of town, we pride ourselves in expert knowledge while providing friendly customer service. A full service shop awaits you and your repair needs. We have 100 rental bikes with an enormous selection of clothing, parts, and accessories.

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10 FROG HOLLOW BIKES 14 74 Main Street Middlebury VT 802-388-6666

froghollowbikes.com Mon - Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun. 11–4 The most advanced and courteous service in our region, including a quick turn-around. We offer the best in new and used road, mountain, lifestyle, and children’s bikes and new gear. We carry brands that offer superior products that balance innovation and performance with reliability and value.

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GREEN MOUNTAIN BIKES

105 N. Main St. Rochester VT 800-767-7882 greenmountainbikes.com 7 days a week, 10 – 6 Located in the center of Vermont, we are surrounded by terrain that calls to mountain and road bikers alike. Whether you ride twisting trails or back to back gaps, we service, sell, and rent all styles of bicycles, featuring Kona, Jamis, Juliana, Raleigh, Santa Cruz, Transition, and Hinderyckx bikes. So STOP READING and RIDE YOUR BIKE!

322 N Winooski Ave Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 oldspokeshome.com Mon - Sat 10 - 6, Sun 12 - 6

Vermont’s best selection of refurbished used bikes and new bikes for touring, bike packing, commuting, fat biking, and simply getting around town. Named one of the country’s best bike shops for its “plain-talk advice and no-nonsense service.”

A non-profit as of January 2015, Old Spokes Home uses 100% of its revenue to run programs creating access to bikes in the community.

15 OMER & BOB’S 20 Hanover St. Lebanon NH 603-448-3522

omerandbobs.com Mon.–Fri. 9 – 6, Sat. 9 – 5 Closed Sun The Upper Valley’s bike shop since 1964. Road bikes, mountain bikes and kids bikes from specialty brands including Trek, Specialized and Colnago. Featuring a full service department offering bike fitting, bike rentals and a kids’ trade-in, trade-up program.

12 HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY 16

2733 Main St. Lake Placid NY 518-523-3764

highpeakscyclery.com Mon – Fri 9 – 6, Sun 9 – 5 Lake Placid’s source for bicycling and outdoor gear since 1983! Sales, Service, Rentals and Tours. Bikes

by Intense, BMC, Salsa, Surly, Giant and Scott. Your information headquarters for Lake Placid and the Adirondacks for all types of riding adventures. Free maps. ADK80 and Ironman race info and course conditions. New! Basecamp Lodges

13 MOUNTAINOPS 4081 Mountain Rd Stowe VT 802-253-4531

mountainopsvt.com Mon - Sat 9 - 6, Sun till 5 MountainOps offers bike sales and service, fast and friendly with no attitude. We sell a full line Rocky Mountain Bikes for all abilities and riding styles. Tons of clothing and accessories in our converted 1893 barn. Our techs have decades of experience with all types of bike and our staff’s knowledge of local trails is awesome. We rent cruisers and performance mountain bikes for Stowe’s sweet collection of trails.

OLD SPOKES HOME

ONION RIVER OUTDOORS

20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736

onionriver.com M/W/Th 10-6, Fri 10-6:30, Sat 9-5, Sun 10-4, Closed Tues Gear, clothing, and expert advice for all your hiking, biking, running, camping, outdoor adventures! Friendly, knowledgeable bicycle and car rack sales and service. Check out onionriver. com to learn about all our fun events and clinics.

GEAR 17 OUTDOOR EXCHANGE 37 Church St. Burlington VT 802-860-0190

gearx.com Mon – Thurs 10 – 8, Fri – Sat 10 – 9, Sun 10 – 6 A premier bike shop with a knowledgeable, friendly, and honest staff. Commuters and gravel grinders from Marin and KHS, mountain bikes from Pivot, Transition, Rocky Mountain, and Yeti, and a wide consignment selection and demo fleet. Our service department is capable of everything from tuning your vintage road bike to servicing your new mountain bike.

18 POWER PLAY SPORTS

35 Portland St. Morrisville VT 802-888-6557 powerplaysports.com Mon – Fri 9 – 6, Sat 8:30 – 5, Sun 10 – 4 North Central Vermont’s Trek and Giant Dealer. With over 200 new and used bikes PPS has a bike for everyone. Service and rentals too!

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SKIRACK

85 Main St. Burlington VT 802-658-3313 skirack.com Mon.–Sat. 10am–7pm, Sun. 11am–5pm Locally owned since 1969, Skirack provides gear, clothing, expert fitting and accessories for all cyclists, with full service tuning and repairs...plus complete bike suspension service on most forks and rear shocks.

Open 8am Mon-Sat for service, car racks and rentals.

MOUNTAIN 20 STARK BIKE WORKS

9 RTE 17 Waitsfield VT 802-496-4800

Find us on Facebook Tues - Fri 9 - 6 * Close at 5 on Thursdays for Shop ride.

Sat 9 - 4, Sun 9 - 1, closed on Mon. Located at the lowest spot in the Mad River Valley so you can coast in when you break your bike on a ride! 20 years of advise, directions and fixing anything that pedals. You know you want a Yeti. Come try one!

21 WATERBURY SPORTS

46 South Main St. Waterbury VT 802-882-8595

waterburysportsvt.com Mon – Thurs 10 – 6, Fri - Sat 9 – 7, Sun 10 – 4 WBS sells Trek and Giant bikes of every flavor from high-end mountain bikes to kids, hybrids and cross bikes. Our service techs are among the best in northern VT. We also rent and Demo from our downtown location right near the Perry Hill Trails.

22 WEST HILL BIKE SHOP

49 Brickyard Ln. Putney VT 802-387-5718 westhillshop.com Mon – Sat 10 – 6

Since 1971, we’ve been a low-key, friendly source for bikes ‘n gear, service and rare wisdoms. Known for problem-solving techs and bike fitters who specialize in comfort and efficiency. Lots of gravel bikes for the awesome dirt road riding right out our door.

OCTOBER 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 33

ENDGAME

THE CALL OF UPWARD

WHAT MAKES US WANT TO CLIMB CAMEL’S HUMP, OR ANY OTHER HIGH POINT ON THE HORIZON? BY LEATH TONINO

Even as a four-year-old the author was drawn to the view of Camel's Hump from his backyard in Ferrisburgh. It didn't take him long to finally reach the summit.

Photo by Ben Moffat

34 VTSPORTS.COM | OCTOBER 2018

“

They ask for random adventure, for ten thousand steps, each step drinking This Place up through the soda straw legs, into the beating heart and the confused mind.

“

T

he poet Gary Snyder, a prodigious traveler, says that when he approaches a new place, whether that's the city of Kyoto or some vast desert, he immediately (usually within a day of arrival) searches out the height of land.

To get his bearings? Yes, of course; the bird’s-eye-view some craggy prominence affords is akin to the perspective provided by a map. But perhaps this practice of “getting high” offers more than just a sweet panorama? Perhaps the destination is, as the cliché goes, less important than the journey? Perhaps it’s the walk (or tram ride or bicycle ride or elevator ride) that, in combination with the vista, makes this such an intoxicating obsession?

For as long as I can remember, my travels have been characterized by semi-conscious, semi-entranced journeys upward. It’s almost as though a weird kind of reversegravity works over my body, pulling me through crowded streets, forested glens, you name it, until the final frontier (open sky) rests atop the crown of my head like a baseball cap. On a 12-hour layover in Hong Kong, I found myself sweatily ascending Victoria Peak by random jungle paths.

Visiting Montreal one cold weekend, Mount Royal’s steep flank warmed my numb toes.

Edinburgh was Arthur’s Seat. Colorado was 14,439-foot Mt. Elbert. The list goes on.

But here’s the thing, the wonderful thing: It’s easy to spy a lofty destination, yet generally quite difficult to set the flag of oneself in the sought-after soil. An unfamiliar urban grid, a labyrinth of wilderness canyons—these territories we love to explore are complex, intricate, only too willing to spin our butts dizzy. They ask for random adventure, for ten thousand steps, each step drinking This Place up through the soda-straw legs, into the beating heart and confused mind. While the big view does indeed orient us, it strikes

me that the local textures and moods encountered en route are themselves a powerful compass. What I really remember of Hong Kong are the noodles in a mysterious black sauce being sold out of alleyway kitchens. What I really remember of Mt. Elbert is a shaggy goat—his white fleece, his blazing eyes.

Whatever the call of upward is all about, one thing I can say for certain is that it begins with a specific, particular up. In my case, the initial call was less vocal than visual— the round bluish hump of a mountainous camel out there on the horizon. I remember toddling around the backyard, gazing past fields of stubble corn and rumpled foothills, my attention transfixed by Vermont’s thirdhighest peak. It was only a matter of time before my chubby little legs got to work and made happen an ascent of Camel’s Hump.

Well, actually, it’s more accurate to say that my father’s legs made it happen, and that I rode along on his back, hardly breaking a sweat. I use the word “hardly” because beneath the summit block, where the Long Trail traverses a narrow ledge, my father set me down for my first tactile encounter with alpine terrain. I was maybe four, maybe not even, and that ledge’s grim exposure (a five-foot drop that appeared as a 500-foot drop) did indeed get me perspiring. It also sealed the deal. Upward,

you are my boss, my lord. Command me where thou wisheth!

Over the past three decades I’ve been commanded again and again. And again.

The tiptop of a white pine. The crown of a sandstone dome. The touristy apex—Twin Peaks—of San Francisco. Why do we want that view so bad? What happens when we seek it out, when we’re en route? How do these explorations stamp our memories?

Honestly, despite that quasi-theory I proposed a few paragraphs back—the idea that what we’re really after is the effort of bumbling upwards and the resultant sense of place—I can’t claim that my wanderings have led me to any answers, to any clear thoughts on the subject. Rather, they have led me to rarefied perches, to improbable pinnacles, to heights around the globe, Camel’s Hump and beyond.

Passion begets passion, I guess. Upward leads to more upward, always more upward.

This is where I have arrived, and it is also where I am going, and it is also where I have been. That’s answer enough for me.

Contributing editor Leath Tonino is the author of the recently-published The Animal One Thousand Miles Long, a collection of essays about his travels across Vermont.

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