PROFILE My entire family lived in what’s called Crow Holler. It borders Beaver Creek State Park, and there’s a lot of old trails there that my dad claims he made with his dirt bikes. I have an older brother and an older sister; we grew up fishing, and riding horses, bikes, and ATVs. My dad’s a descendant of generations of coal miners, and my great-great-grandfather owned the Lillybrook Coal mines. My family worked in the coal mines until my dad decided that he was going to start working for UPS. He was the one that told me, “You don’t need to go into coal mining because it’s a really hard life.” He is one who kept me in school and pushed me in another direction.
When did you get into outdoor recreation and adventure sports?
COREY LILLY By Dylan Jones Discussions of West Virginia often focus on brain drain—the phenomenon of the state’s young denizens fleeing downtrodden coal towns for greener socioeconomic pastures elsewhere. But some of the Mountain State’s native children make a conscientious decision to stay—and thrive—among her hills and hollows. Corey Lilly, an energetic tenth-generation West Virginian, is one of them. At just 29 years old, Lilly has walked many paths and accomplished more than some do in a lifetime. From professional skiing in his teenage years to dropping waterfalls around the world as a sponsored kayaker, from adventure sports media entrepreneur to executive director of an environmental organization, Lilly excels at whatever he sets his sights upon. Last year, Lilly spearheaded the Midnight Miracle, the instantly famous midnight rescue of a solo kayaker who was trapped behind a waterfall on the Kanawha River for over six hours. I caught up with Lilly to discuss his various career paths, his role in the legendary rescue, and what drives him to make West Virginia a better place. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 44 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS
SPRING 2021
Growing up on a big farm, being outside was just a way of life. Neither of my parents nor any of my family, except for my brother and one of my cousins, were into outdoor recreation. My parents put me in the Ski Wee program at Winterplace Ski Resort; that was my avenue into the outdoor recreation scene that exposed me to ski culture. One of my earliest memories is my dad and mom pushing me with skis on at three years old.
So skiing was the genesis of your passion for adventure sports. How did that blossom? I say skiing saved my life because I grew up in a fairly impoverished area, and my parents were going through a divorce, so there wasn’t a whole lot of direction in my life. When the opioid epidemic was hitting southern West Virginia, many of my friends were getting on drugs, even back in middle school. I never wanted to do that stuff because I had skiing and it felt like it would hold me back. I got hooked on skiing instead.
How did you get into professional skiing? My brother and I were notorious
at Winterplace for run-ins with ski patrol. We were always ducking ropes, skiing closed terrain, running from snowmobiles, and just causing trouble. I was constantly breaking my skis and taking them to the rental shop to get fixed. One day, I went in and they told me to stay in the shop and radioed the mountain managers to come down. I was like, “Oh shit, I must have done something bad.” They all circled around me and brought out this brand-new pair of skis and bindings. Turns out they had reached out to Atomic Skis and told them about me, and at the age of 13, I earned my first sponsorship. While freestyle skiers out west were focusing on big mountain terrain, we were progressing rail skiing here in the southeast. I became known as a rail skier and that’s how I started getting all my sponsors.
Tell me about your professional skiing career. My sponsors sent letters to our local Board of Education so I could graduate high school a year early. My dad gave me a minivan that I outfitted to live in. In the 2009-2010 ski season, I moved out to Colorado and my sponsors gave me a traveling budget to become a full-time skier. I was getting paid $50 an hour to work trade shows and do demos. My job was to make ski films and butter up big-time clients so they’d make big purchases. Those folks would host me on big ski trips and take me out to fancy dinners. I’m just this West Virginia kid who had never experienced anything like this before. My illiterate grandfather, who watched me growing up, had holes in the walls at his home. This new life was such a contrast. I qualified for nationals twice, was top-ten in the nation for under-16 freestyle skiing, and landed a spot on the Elan U.S. Freestyle Team. I stuck some really unique rail tricks during those years. When I switched sponsors to Elan Skis, I also picked up a suite of others that, by chance, happen to be the same as Glen Plake, a world-renowned freeskier. Touring with Plake was the highlight of my skiing career.
Karen Lane
You’re a native of Grandview, West Virginia. What was your upbringing like?