Blue Ridge Outdoors December 2015

DECEMBER 2015

FREE!

BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM

GO OUTSIDE & PLAY

Secrets to

Youth Skiing

WINTER RESORT GUIDE

ADV ERTISING SEC TION

FACES OF

p. 39

WINTER Champions of Chill

RUNNING THE

Iditarod

UNSTOPPABLE Adaptive Snowsports

BRING INCREDIBLE COMEBACKS

SKI PATROL’S ESSENTIAL GEAR | ADVENTURE DAD | LESSONS FROM THE RIVER

GoToWV.com | 800-CALL WVA #GoToWV |

WILD, WONDERFUL WEST VIRGINIA

YOU’LL FIND IT HERE. Who says only kids can have snow days? Come explore a grown-up winter playground.

Snowshoe Mountain Resort, WV

All the best of winter, all in one place.

And don’t be surprised when the mountain smiles back. snowshoemtn.com/welcome

Get thanks.

Easy, delicious dishes to please the whole (extended) family.

Get $15 off

your next order over $50!

4

TO G ET T HI S D EA L , VI S I T :

relayfoods.com/BRO

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5 / R I C H M O N D VA + M E T R O D C E D I T I O N

We’ve made a g reat discovery ~ the holidays and a state parks cabin. W e have the trails to ourselv es. The scenery is beautiful. A nd Jim loves to show off his skills building a fire in the fi replace. Good thing the cabin s have heat !

December 2015 CONTENTS

Love, Virginia

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

10 EDITOR’S NOTE

24 FACES OF WINTER

12 THE DIRT

31 UNSTOPPABLE

Meet the winners of our Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hiking Challenge • Want your kids to love skiing? Try terrain-based learning

21 QUICK HITS

Running shop owner chases down much slower vandal • Polar plunges to start the new year

22 FLASHPOINT

Can Southern ski resorts adapt to climate change?

53 THE GOODS

Essential gear for Timberline ski patrol and surviving a winter atop LeConte.

62 TRAIL MIX

The top 20 albums of 2015.

COVER PHOTO BY

Meet a pro climbing bum, ski coach, weatherman, ice climber, and a girl that shreds harder than you.

Adaptive snowsports athletes are making incredible comebacks on the slopes.

35 NO DOGS NEEDED

North Carolina ultra runner Peter Ripmaster will be pulling his own sled in the 1,000-mile Iditarod footrace.

57 SECRETS OF AN OUTDOOR DAD

Former pro paddler Adam Herzog reveals how to keep fit as a stay-athome parent.

59 TEACHINGS FROM THE RIVER

Girls at Play founder Anna Levesque discovers five life lessons from her thrills and spills on the water.

Photo courtesy of Bill Crabtree Jr., Virginia Tourism Corp.

A coalition of outdoor groups propose national recreation areas for Pisgah.

800-933-PARK (7275) | www.virginiastateparks.gov

SAM DEAN / SAMDE ANP HOTOGRAP HY.COM D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M BRO_November_2015.indd 1

5

9/22/2015 2:45:51 PM

CHATTER

FEEL IT ALL.

EXCEPT THE COLD.

LESSONS BEFORE DYING PR ESI D EN T

BLAKE DEMASO

ED ITOR I N C H I EF

WILL HARLAN

will@blueridgeoutdoors.com PU B LI SH ER

LEAH WOODY

leah@blueridgeoutdoors.com A RT D I R EC TOR

MEGAN JORDAN

megan@blueridgeoutdoors.com

Editorial & Production SEN I OR ED ITOR JEDD FERRIS jedd@blueridgeoutdoors.com

TR AVEL ED ITOR

JESS DADDIO

jess@blueridgeoutdoors.com SEN I OR D ESI G N ER

LAUREN WALKER

lauren@blueridgeoutdoors.com G R A PH I C D ESI G N ER

PAIGELEE CHANCELLOR

paigelee@blueridgeoutdoors.com C ON TR I B UTORS

WILEY CASH, KY DELANEY, GRAHAM AVERILL, JEFF KINNEY, DAVE STALLARD JULIA GREEN ROBERT MCGEE

C OPY ED ITORS

W W W. C O L D P R U F. C O M

12. 15

Advertising & Business

Asheville, N.C. Office (828) 225-0868 SEN I OR AC C OU N T EXEC UTI VE

MARTHA EVANS

martha@blueridgeoutdoors.com AC C OU N T EXEC UTI VE / D I G ITA L PU B LISHER

DUSTY ALLISON

dusty@blueridgeoutdoors.com

Charlottesville, Va. Office (434) 817-2755 AC C OU N T EXEC UTI VE

KATIE HARTWELL

katie@blueridgeoutdoors.com

AC C OU N T EXEC UTI VE / M A R KETI N G & PR

NICK NOE

nick@blueridgeoutdoors.com B U SI N ESS M A N AG ER

So many of us take life for granted.

Clearly every day has meaning for Royce Cowan, even before his ALS diagnosis. Thanks for opening your life to us, Royce. What a great story of her father your daughter will have to tell. —Janet James Thanks for sharing the inspirational, raw, and pure story of Royce (and his wife Natalie and daughter Lily). Royce is a huge spirit being sustained by his faith in a purposeful life. His story will echo loud and clear from now on in my own life and work. —Nina Snoddy This terrible disease took my younger brother’s life three years ago this month. I’m uplifted by Royce’s story and the strength of the human spirit.

—Susan Kaagan HEADS UP Both essays in the November issue— “Why Mountains Move Us” and “The Stars Above”—had a common theme: look up. Mountains and stars provide us with perspective and lift us out of our petty problems. I suggest combining them: stargaze atop a mountain summit. —Matt Stoudemire

POWER OF THE PEAK There are several good theories in “Why Mountains Move Us,” but I have another: being on high ground conveys a definite advantage and psychological comfort to any individual involved in conflict, and it has been that way long enough in human history to become ingrained in our consciousness. —Jordan Mitchell

MELISSA GESSLER

melissa@blueridgeoutdoors.com CIRCULATION MANAGER

HANNAH COOPER

hcooper@blueridgeoutdoors.com

Digital Media CRAIG SNODGRASS

ON LI N E D I R EC TOR

webdir@blueridgeoutdoors.com D I G ITA L M ED I A SPEC I A LI ST

TRAVIS HALL

travis@blueridgeoutdoors.com

SUMMIT

PUBLISHING

116 WEST JEFFERSON STREET CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA 22902 56 COLLEGE STREET, SUITE 303 ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 28801

BlueRidgeOutdoors.com

©2015 Summit Publishing, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

6

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

appexposures: Kicking it with my little pumpkin on Max Patch this morning. #MyBlueRidge #GoOutsideAndPlay

wispresort.com wispresort.com 855.990.0102 wispresort.com wispresort.com 855.990.0102 wispresort.com wispresort.com Deep Creek Lake, MD 855.990.0102 Deep Creek Lake, MD 855.990.0102 855.990.0102 855.990.0102 Deep Creek Lake, Deep Creek Lake, MDMD Deep Deep CreekCreek Lake, Lake, MD MD

Retreat to the mountains of Western Maryland to disconnect from everyday life and reconnect with what’s important to you - nature, family, relaxation, adventure - it’s all up to you!

Forecast: Forecast: Forecast: Forecast: Forecast: Chance of Heightened Heightened Chance of Midweek Heightened Chance ofof Madness Lodging Package Heightened Chance of Heightened Chance Chance of Adventure this Winter Adventure this Winter Adventure this Winter Starting at $84 pp* Adventure Winter Adventure thisthis Winter Winter 1- Night’s lodging at the slope-side Wisp Resort Hotel 1-Day Lift Ticket

*Based on availability, advance reservation and double occupancy. Valid Sunday thru Thursday, non-premium.

Retreat to the mountains of Western Maryland to disconnect from everyday life and reconnect with Retreat from everyday everydaylife lifeand andreconnect reconnectwith with Retreattotothe themountains mountainsofofWestern Western Maryland Maryland to disconnect disconnect from what’s important to you nature, family, relaxation, adventure it’s all up to you!

Retreat Retreat to the to mountains the mountains of Western of Western Maryland Maryland to disconnect to disconnect from from everyday everyday life and life and reconnect reconnect with with Retreat toimportant the mountains Western Maryland to disconnect life and reconnect with what’s totoyou family, relaxation, adventurefrom it’severyday uptotoyou! you! what’simportant you-of -nature, nature, family, relaxation, adventure -- it’s allallup what’s what’s important important to to you -- nature, - nature, family, family, relaxation, relaxation, adventure adventure - it’s -allit’s you! toyou! you! what’s important to you you nature, family, relaxation, adventure - it’s allupalluptoupto

Skiing / Boarding

Snow Tubing

Midweek Madness Lodging Package Midweek Lodging Package Midweek Madness Lodging Package Ice Skating Cross Country Skiing Snowshoeing Mountain Coaster Midweek Midweek Madness Madness Lodging Lodging Package Package Midweek Madness Lodging Package Starting at $84 pp* Starting atat $84 pp* Starting Starting Starting at $84 at $84 pp* pp* Starting at $84 pp* 1Night’s lodging at the slope-side Wisp Wisp ResortHotel Hotel 1-Night’s Night’s lodging lodging at at the the slope-side 1slope-side WispResort Resort Hotel 1-1-Day Night’s 1- Night’s lodging lodging at theatslope-side the slope-side Wisp Wisp ResortResort HotelHotel Lift Ticket 1-Day Lift Ticket 1Night’s lodging at the slope-side Wisp Resort Hotel 1-Day Lift Ticket 1-Day Ticket Lift advance Ticketreservation *Based on availability, and double double occupancy.Valid Valid Sundaythru thru Thursday, non-premium. *Based1-Day onLift availability, advance reservation and non-premium. *Based on availability, advance reservation and doubleoccupancy. occupancy. ValidSunday Sunday thruThursday, Thursday, non-premium.

1-Day Lift Ticket *Based *Based on availability, on availability, advanceadvance reservation reservation and double and occupancy. double occupancy.

Valid Sunday Valid Sunday thru Thursday, thru Thursday, non-premium. non-premium. *Based on availability, advance reservation and double occupancy. Valid Sunday thru Thursday, non-premium.

ter

Skiing/ Boarding / Boarding SnowTubing Tubing Ice Skating Skating Snowshoeing Mountain Skiing Snow Ice Cross Country Country Skiing Skiing Snowshoeing MountainCoaster Coaster SkiingSkiing Boarding Snow Tubing Skating Cross Country Skiing Snowshoeing Mountain Coaster Skiing // Boarding / Boarding Snow Snow Tubing Tubing IceIceSkating Ice Skating Cross Cross Country Country Skiing Skiing Snowshoeing Snowshoeing Mountain Mountain Coaster Coaster

CONTRIBUTORS

12 .15

BEST WAY TO SPEND A SNOW DAY?

DEVON O’NEIL JESSICA PORTER A snowshoeing day trip in the mountains, followed very closely by red wine and a bowl of chili while snuggling on the couch with my dog.

Adventure in Real Time We spend so much time watching others experience the world on our computer and phone. Why not get out and experience it for yourself in Real Time? Located in the heart of Southern West Virginia, the Beckley area is home to trails for hiking and biking, ziplines, full-service resorts, and the most accessible ski resort in the southeast. Winterplace is perfect for families, beginner to experienced skiers and groups.

Let somebody else watch while you experience the world!

RaleighCountyEvents.com

855-977-1785

8

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

Skiing deep powder, then talking about the deep powder you skied over beers in some natural hot springs.

CHRIS GRAGTMANS WILL HARLAN Trail running on a snow-dusted trail. I leave the first footprints in freshly fallen snow—and follow the tracks of other animals—amid the utter silence of the forest.

One of my favorite traditions is to keep an eye on the weather, jump in the car before the snow hits, and preemptively get myself snowed in at a ski hill. This chain of events allowed Tyler Boeing and me to ski 14” of fresh snow at Winterplace last February.

BLAKE DEMASO

ROBERT McGEE Brisk morning walk. Oatmeal and port by the fire. Tech-free all day.

Spend the day on the ski slopes followed by a big fire and bourbon.

JESS DADDIO

DUSTY ALLISON

Make a big fire and take a cold dip in the nearest body of water. Bonus points if you have to break the ice before you take the plunge.

Thermos of coffee, flask of whiskey, and skiing the trails and bald peaks of the snow-blessed North Carolina-Tennessee state line.

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

EDITOR’S LETTER

12.15

BIG DEAL

THE FUTURE OF OUR FORESTS IS BEING DECIDED RIGHT NOW.

by WILL HARLAN

I

f you’re like me, you are constantly bombarded with e-petitions and other advocacy requests. Often, they seem far away or futile, and I rarely see their results.

I’ve attended my share of boring forest planning meetings, too, and rarely leave with much optimism.

But a new proposal could protect the forests in your backyard forever.

It’s a game-changer, and your support could truly make a lasting impact.

A coalition of 16 outdoor recreation and environmental groups have united behind a plan to designate two national recreation areas in Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest: the 166,000-acre Pisgah National Recreation Area and the 10

51,000-acre Grandfather National Recreation Area. These designations would permanently protect the recreation opportunities in these forests and prohibit commercial logging, fracking, mining, and other extractive uses. The proposal would also designate 90,000 additional acres of wilderness across the PisgahNantahala Forest.

Mountain bikers, equestrians, wilderness advocates, hikers, climbers, paddlers, and environmental groups have all endorsed the plan. Often these groups are at odds over forest management, but they all have worked together to craft this plan. Supporters include IMBA, Pisgah Area SORBA, Nantahala Area SORBA, The

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

Wilderness Society, Carolina Climbers Coalition, American Alpine Club, Northwest NC Mountain Bike Alliance, American Whitewater, Wild South, Friends of Big Ivy, Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards, MountainTrue, Access Fund, Outdoor Alliance, and the Nantahala Hiking Club. Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine proudly supports the plan, too.

It’s the most ambitious, farreaching, and widely supported plan ever developed for the PisgahNantahala, and it comes at just the right time. The Forest Service has stepped up with initial support: last month, it included 364,000 acres of the Pisgah-Nantahala in its wilderness inventory and will

A VIEW FROM THE BIG BUTT TRAIL IN BIG IVY, WHICH COULD BE PERMANENTLY PROTECTED IN THE NEW FOREST PLAN. photo by STEVEN McBRIDE

consider 53 waterways for Wild and Scenic River status, which would protect water quality and habitat along our most beloved trout streams and whitewater creeks.

This is our best chance—and probably our only chance—to permanently protect our forests.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT for the National Recreation Areas proposal.

Email comments to the Forest Service by December 15 to NCPlanRevision@fs.fed. us. View maps and learn more about the national recreation area plans at ncmountaintreasures.org

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

Ski & Snowboard Rentals • Group Discounts

10% ONLINE RESERVATION DISCOUNT The Ski Barn at Snowshoe (Base Mtn) 304-572-1234 SnowCreek Mountain Sports at Snowshoe (On Mtn) 304-572-4321 The Ski Barn at Winterplace 304-787-3200 The Ski Barn at Canaan Valley & Timberline 304-866-4444 The Ski Barn at Wintergreen 434-361-3600

SKIBARN.NET

The Perfect Stocking Stuffers!

shop.blueridgeoutdoors.com R I C H M O N D VA + M E T R O D C E D I T I O N / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

11

THE DIRT

12 . 15

THE DIRTIEST

MEET THE WINNERS OF OUR WILDERNESS HIKING CHALLENGE

T

IKE CHALLENG

OZEN WILD ER TY D N DIR

015 4-2 01

GE SH he inaugural Dirty 2 ES Dozen Wilderness Hiking Challenge wrapped up this fall. Co-sponsored by THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY Blue Ridge Outdoors and & BLUE RIDGE OUTDOORS The Wilderness Society, the MAGAZINE challenge attracted over 565 hikers from 11 states who explored DIRTY DOZEN AWARDS 66 different wilderness areas across the Southeast.

FINISHED FIRST Wilderness areas are the wildest, 1. Timo Holmquist (4/13/2015) most pristine pockets of pure nature. No 2. Diana Otero (4/23/2015) roads, vehicles, machines, or permanent 3. Jeff Monroe (4/24/2015) structures are permitted in wilderness.

They are places where the human HIKED THE MOST MILES imprint is minimized and ecosystems 1.Jeff Monroe (341.6) 2.Heidi Triantafillou (231.33) function naturally. The Southeast has 3.Steve Boone (182.8) an astonishing number and variety of wilderness areas, from Shining Rock to HIKED THE MOST the Okefenokee Swamp.

WILDERNESS AREAS 38 hikers became the first Dirty 1. Jeff Monroe (17) Dozen hikers: they hiked 10+ miles in 2. Heidi Triantafillou (16) 12 different wilderness areas across the 3. Bill Witherspoon (14) Southeast. Timo Holmquist was the HIKED IN THE MOST STATES very first Dirty Dozen hiker, completing 1. Steve Boone (7) the challenge on April 13. A selection 2. Bill Witherspoon, Maryan Noack, and from Middle Prong Wilderness hike Heidi Triantafillou tied for 2nd place (6) report appears below. Jeff Monroe hiked the most wilderness areas (17) and also BEST HIKE PHOTOS logged the most miles (341.6).

1. Summer McCreless (Sipsey) Hikers were honored at an awards 2. Bill Witherspoon (Lewis Fork) ceremony in Asheville last month, 3. Heidi Triantafillou (Raven Cliff) where prizes were awarded in various MOST CREATIVE HIKE categories.

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTIONS

A big thanks to the sponsors of the inaugural Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hike Challenge: Blackrock Outdoor Company (Sylva, NC), City Lights Bookstore (Sylva, NC), ENO (Asheville, NC), GoWorx (Asheville, NC), Harmony House Foods (Franklin, NC), Lawson Hammock (Raleigh, NC), Mast General Store (Asheville, NC), Nantahala Outdoor Center (Bryson City, NC), Patagonia, RuffWear (Bend, OR), Second Gear (Asheville, NC), Southeastern Expeditions (Clayton, GA) 12

1. Olga Pader (Middle Prong) 2. Timo Holmquist (Middle Prong) 3. Felicia Mitchell (Congaree)

photo (top) by SUMMER McCRELESS, (bottom) BILL WITHERSPOON

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

Make a reservation with winter.

M

ER

’S FIRST R ES ICA

O

RT

Our 2,000 acre playground is ready to greet you and your family with well-maintained slopes, an outdoor skating rink, heated pool, worldclass spa and savory dining options.

A

©2015 Omni Hotels & Resorts

540-839-1766 • omnihotels.com/thehomestead

HOMESTEAD SKI from

$

224

*

Room + lift tickets

FAMILY LEARN TO SKI from

$

320

†

Room, lift tickets, lessons + equipment

Taxes and 15% daily resort charge not included. Valid through 3/13/2016. Restrictions apply. *Rate based on double occupancy. †Rate based on two adults and two children.

OMNI

250 YEARS

FOUNDED 1766

THE DIRT

12 . 15

THE MIDDLE PRONG WILDERNESS: BROUGHT TO YOU BY NATURE

BY TIMO HOLMQUIST

Hey there, kids! It’s your uncle Timo here with another Public Service Announcement.

You might be thinking, “Oh good lord he’s going to try to sell me something.” HAHAHAHA! YOU’RE RIGHT! Except what I have to sell you today is completely free!

You heard me, FREE. I can’t believe I just said that so I’ll say it again, FREE! The only thing it’ll cost you to get the benefits of this product is finding whatever seismic forces compel you to get up off your couch!

The item I’m offering today is wilderness! That’s right! WILDERNESS. You may be unfamiliar with the term or consider everything outside the comfort of your home “wilderness” but

I’m referring to a specific type!

I know you don’t have time to listen to the legalities of what constitutes a wilderness, so I’ll explain it for you: all you need to know is that there are areas out there that are free of roads, buildings and concrete just waiting for you to explore!

Today I’m going to talk about a specific one known as the Middle Prong Wilderness in North Carolina!

It’s FREAKING GORGEOUS. The Middle Prong is a smaller cousin to its larger wilderness buddy, Shining Rock. Both places are beautiful but Shining Rock gets all the attention (and all that traffic) so let’s give the other one a chance!

Now before I go on, you may be thinking, “Hey, this wise guy hasn’t told me any benefits of this here wilderness.” WOAAAAAAAAAAAA! Slow your roll. I’m here to tell you there are more benefits to this striking piece of nature than you could ever imagine!

It’s got trees! It’s got grass! It’s

got dirt! It’s got trails! It’s got solitude!

It’s got altitude! And it’s got serious backcountry attitude!

One second you’re walking along a nice path in the woods and then BAM! exposed rock face, or KAPOW! high meadows where the views stretch into the infinite, letting you see as many mountains as there are ridges on your brain!

IT’S CRAZY! You could be walking along an exposed ridge like the one leading up to Green Knob, or hiking along the impressively long Mountains to Sea Trail, or hopping across streams as clear as the message I’m trying to convey to you which is GET OUTSIDE. From the majestic summit of Mount Hardy to the Sunburst Campground, this place has got it all. I love the feeling of having the mountains to myself and here I can find that feeling ALMOST ALL THE TIME. Don’t hesitate to seize this opportunity! It might seem like a

sure thing now but who knows, the government could dissolve tomorrow, alien mice people could take over and then BAM! you’ve lost a golden opportunity to get to Middle Prong, but you’re not gonna let that happen, right?

DIDN’T THINK SO. So go on outside and find a place that makes you feel like you belong on this good green earth! CRAZY HIKER ENTHUSIASTS ARE STANDING BY TO ENCOURAGE YOU. Call now, toll free at 1-800-OMGGTFOUTSIDE, that’s 1-800-OMGGTFOUTSIDE or visit our web site at Everybodyisdoingit.com/I’ve justdiscoveredmylegsworkanddontknow whattodowiththem.

This message brought to you by Nature: Unleash the Wilderness Within You. MORE ONLINE! To read more wilderness hike descriptions from other award winners, visit BlueRidgeOutdoors.com

Explore - To Traverse for the Purpose of Discovery.

Exploring is discovering what is meaningful to you and your family. Spend the day on the most accessible ski resort in the southeast. Then enjoy a delicious meal and cozy night’s stay in nearby Princeton on I-77, at Exit 9.

Mercer County is looking for explorers. Discover what is here for you.

(800) 221-3206 | VisitMercerCounty.com

14

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GIVING GUIDE GIVE BACK THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. 2015

Do you give a buck?

FOR LOVE

SOUTH

A nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the special places we love

Learn about the Southern Environmental Law Center’s results at SouthernEnvironment.org

If every visitor gave just $1 a year, we could raise millions for the Blue Ridge Parkway.

brpfoundation.org

ASHEVILLE • ATLANTA • BIRMINGHAM • CHAPEL HILL • CHARLESTON • CHARLOTTESVILLE • D.C. • NASHVILLE • RICHMOND

S P E C I A L A DV E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N

Wolf Ridge Ski Resort has over 62 acres of skiable terrain offering: • 15 Exciting Ski Slopes: 4 Green Family Runs, 9 Blue Runs, 2 Black Diamonds • 1 Quad Lift: 1 Double Lift: 2 Surface Lifts • 1 Ski Lodge with rental shop, ticket sales, large stone fireplaces and more!

• PSIA/AASIA Member Snow Sports School.

• Great discounts for groups of 15 or more.

• Shuttle service available from parking areas to Base Lodge.

• NEW THIS YEAR: Beginner training area with 160’ surface lift, great discounts with our new Learn To Ski & Snowboard Program.

5OFF

Redeem this coupon to receive:

$

Lift Ticket

Coupon good for up to 2 lift tickets. One coupon per puchase.

Not Valid with other special lift or discount offerings. Some restrictions apply. No cash value.

Mars Hill NC • 35 min. north of Asheville, NC • Just 5 mi. off 1-26

Visit SkiWolfRidgeNC.com or call 800-817-4111 to book your ski vacation today!

THE DIRT

12 . 15

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

A PARENT PUTS HIS KIDS INTO A NEW SKI PROGRAM HOPING IT WILL GET THEM HOOKED ON THE SPORT.

by GRAHAM AVERILL

H

ere’s what a lot of people won’t tell you about skiing. It sucks.

Snowboarding too.

Sucks. Okay, skiing doesn’t suck, but learning how to ski does. It’s miserable. You spend most of your time on the ground, trying to figure out how to get up without taking your skis off. Significant bruising is common. I was about 12 when my older brother taught me how to ski.

He spent an hour pushing me down in the snow until I could stand up on my own. I spent the next seven years

trying to learn how to stop on North Carolina ice. I still don’t think I have it down. Somehow, though, if you can get through all of the learning curve misery, skiing and snowboarding will hook you like “Bolivian Marching Powder” in the back room of an ‘80s disco. So when my twins turned two, I bought them skis and proceeded to teach them how to ski the only way I knew how: systematic pain and suffering. And it worked, kind of, the kids progressing slowly through a mix of joy and tears over the next few years.

“Skiing is scary,” says Caroline Conner, who runs the ski school instructor training at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. “A lot of people try it once and they don’t want to do it again. The ski industry as a whole has been talking for a long time about what we can do to make that first ski experience better.”

Enter Terrain Based Learning (TBL), a ski-school program that has redefined the beginner slope. Instead of putting new riders on a standard green slope, TBL uses mellow versions of terrain park features like

half-pipes, rollers, and berms to introduce new skiers and boarders to the fundamentals of riding.

“What we’re doing with TBL is enabling skiers to have fun within their first two hours on the mountain,” says Joe Hession, who helped develop TBL four years ago when he was the general manager of Mountain Creek Resort in New Jersey. Since then, Hession has founded SNOW Operating, a firm that implements Terrain Based Learning parks and trains instructors at resorts across the

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

17

THE DIRT

12 . 15

at Massanutten

It’s All New This Winter! Outdoor Umbrella Bar. New Snowmaking Equipment. Expanded Ski School & Tubing.

Featuring skiing & snowboarding, snow tubing, ice skating, mega zip line, and nightly entertainment. Season specials include learn to ski packages, weekday specials, and 100% night skiing. Ski Season Passes now on sale at massresort.com/ski.

Winter Lodging Packages available at massresort.com/specials.

Only 2 hours from Richmond, VA & Washington, DC | 540.289.4954 | McGaheysville, VA | MassResort.com

18

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

country. Now, you can find comprehensive TBL programs at almost 30 resorts in the United States, including Cataloochee in North Carolina, Seven Springs in Pennsylvania, and Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia.

Last winter, I put my kids into Snowshoe’s TBL program hoping the instructors could do two things: 1) erase any bad habits I had imparted to my children, and 2) instill the stoke for skiing that I had yet to be able to pass on to them. My kids ski willingly, but they never ask to go skiing. This is the exact “problem” that TBL is designed to address.

“If we can take away the fear factor by shaping snow features that help

control speed, we can give new skiers these fun skiing sensations and hook them early on,” says Conner with Snowshoe.

Hession says the data they’ve collected shows TBL retention rates are 30 percent higher than traditional ski schools. In other words, people who learn to ski through TBL are more likely to come back to ski again.

Snowshoe’s Terrain Based Learning program is situated at the top of the mountain, adjacent to the village. Kids in the program break off with instructors based on age and skill level, and immediately hit the half pipe, where they begin skiing right away, learning how to use the curve in the snow to slow themselves down. From there, they progress to a short slope with large, mellow berms that guide them down the hill.

When they get the hang of that, they move onto a short lift that serves the “perfect slope,” a gentle green run where the kids can practice putting together everything they learned from

the lesson.

“All of the fundamentals of skiing are still there,” Conner says. “You still work the gear the same way, you’re still learning to turn and stop.

But we’ve reverse engineered the lesson, so guests can start sliding and moving firs before they learn how to stop and turn. They can start feeling the fun sensation of sliding on snow immediately. We found that doing away with just a few of those tedious tasks up front really increases the fun factor.”

I saw it firsthand with my own kids, who progressed from timid beginners to confident skiers by the end of the first day. On day two, Snowshoe’s instructor had them skiing every green and some of the blues on Snowshoe. They rode the lift with confidence, looked down the mountain instead of at their feet and cruised right past the hallmarks of stopping and turning that I had spent two years trying to teach them, and started skiing with style. We’d

make our way down Snowshoe’s Powderridge, a long, winding green that runs from the top of the village to the base of the mountain, with my kids constantly looking for opportunities to duck into the woods or hit little jumps. Every couple hundred yards, one of my children would yell, “watch this!” and fly high up on a berm, or flow through a chute between the trees. Sometimes they’d eat it, but they’d always get up smiling. The stoke was there. At the end of the weekend, my son broke down crying because we couldn’t ski for longer. He didn’t understand why we didn’t live at Snowshoe.

I had a permanent grin plastered to my face on the way home, imagining a lifetime of family ski adventures ahead of us. It’s selfish, but if my kids are psyched to ski, that means I’ll get more days on the hill every year. Joe Hession gets it. “If the kids aren’t having fun skiing, then the parents aren’t having fun skiing.”

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

19

TOP FOUR REASONS TO VISIT THE NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

GREEN BANK K SCIENCE CENTER:

1

# Ou� � �� S t���i i� w��l� �h� C a��

�� t� �� �lo �’� � � y � ��l Ge ��� w � � �r��� s�� s� p�� o m � s l�r�e �e� ���esc�

PROJECT “BREAKTHROUGH LISTEN”

LEARN MORE AS THE GBT EMBARKS ON THE MOST

POWERFUL COMPREHENSIVE AND DEEPEST SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE!

REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS: Star Lab Presentations, Behind the Scenes High Tech Tours, Star Parties, New SETI Tour and more!

#2 �� �D

U�S #3 �� �!

H�nd�-O � t� a C ��� W���!

���L #4 � ���IT

Call for details 304-456-2150 Visit us online: www.nrao.edu/visitgb or facebook.com/NRAOGreenBankScienceCenter The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc

OPEN YEAR-ROUND CLOSED TUESDAYS & WEDNESDAYS

15 MINU

T

FROM CA ES SCENIC R SS AILROAD AND DU !

RBIN RO CKET

25 MINU

FROM S

TES

NOWSH

OE

QUICK HITS

12 .15

BEYOND THE BLUE RIDGE

SHORTS

B AC K C OUNTRY B A R

WINTER PARK, COLO. Upslope Brewing Company decided to make customers earn their first taste of its fall seasonal Oktoberfest Lager.

Back in September the first pints of the brew were poured exclusively at a pop-up bar in the mountains that could only be reached via a 2.3mile hike. Unveiled as part of Upslope’s limited Tap Room Series, Oktoberfest was available at what the brewery called its Backcountry Tap Room, set up at the High Lonesome Hut located just outside of Winter Park and surrounded by the Arapaho National Forest.

BLUE RIDGE BRIEFS

by JEDD FERRIS R U N N I N G S H O P OW N E R C HASE S DOW N M U C H S LOW E R VANDAL

HUNTINGTON, W.VA. For weeks, employees of Robert’s Running and Walking Shop in Huntington were scared and extremely inconvenienced by ongoing incidents of their car windows being shot by a pellet gun.

Earlier this fall, though, a shop employee caught a suspect in the act, witnessing a man shooting car windows parked at an insurance office across the street. The employee notified shop owner Robert Smith, who darted out the door along with another employee Ryan Smith (no relation). Suspect Robert Coffman tried to run away, but considering where he’d been vandalizing, the pursuit didn’t last long. “At the time I guess we weren’t laughing, but it seemed pretty comical,” Smith told new station WSAZ. “He was being chased by probably some of the best runners in the state.”

After quickly catching Coffman and restraining him, Smith and Smith waited until police arrived.

The police ended up finding drugs in Coffman’s apartment, so according to the news station he was charged with destruction of property.

BR EW ERY S E N D S C A N N E D WAT E R TO F LO O D VI C T I M S

COLUMBIA, S.C. The folks at Oskar Blues Brewery know how devastating floodwaters can be. In 2013, heavy rains ravaged the longstanding brewery’s home base of Lyons, Colorado, and the town has since been rebuilding. So earlier this fall the brewery, known as the first to offer craft beer in cans, sent 1,600 cases of canned drinking water to flood victims in South

M UC H A D O AT FA LL M A R ATH ONS

Carolina, where heavy rains caused damage throughout the state. Oskar Blues sent the cans through its own CAN’d Aid Foundation, which helps communities dealing with the effects of extreme weather events.

In more brewery philanthropy news, Georgia-based Sweetwater Brewing Co. is currently donating proceeds from sales of its line of fly fishing rods and flies and related swag to Project Healing Waters, a non-profit organization that takes disabled veterans on fly fishing and other water-based recreation trips for therapeutic purposes. The brewery’s Healing for the Holidays program will last through the holiday season.

START T HE YE A R WITH A POLA R P L UNGE

Need a baptism of renewal as you head into 2016? Start the year with a Polar Plunge, an annual rite of passage for many on New Year’s Day and the following weeks that simply

entails jumping into a freezing body of water with some like-minded brave souls. On January 1, plenty of plunges will be taking place around the region, including the shiver-inducing soak within North Carolina’s Hickory Nut Gorge at the Lake Lure New Year’s Day Polar Plunge. There’s also the Polar Pony Plunge, which sends swimmers into the chilly waters of the Atlantic on Virginia’s Chincoteague Island. Later in the month the daring will plunge into the frigid waters of Chetola Lake in the North Carolina High Country at the Blowing Rock Winterfest on January 30. In February there’s also a Polar Plunge Festival that takes place throughout Virginia with chances to jump in Virginia Beach, Richmond, Dumfries and a dip in the New River at Bisset Park in Radford. More info: polarplunge.com illustration by WADE MICKLEY

The fall marathon season yielded quite a few interesting tidbits. In Chicago, 42-yearold Deena Kastor posted a new U.S. Masters record time, finishing the race in 2:27:47.

And 80-year-old local Frank Abramic running his 17th straight Chicago Marathon.

Earlier in the month, runner Bryan Morseman won his 30th career marathon at the Wineglass Marathon in upstate New York eight days after winning the Mill Race Marathon in Columbus, Indiana. Morseman runs races to help cover his son’s ongoing medical costs for spina bifida treatments.

And Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys ran the New York Marathon on November 1, an effort she was undertaking to raise money for Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit that assists young HIV patients in Africa.

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

21

FLASHPOINT

12 .15

WEATHER WOES

CAN SKI RESORTS ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE?

by JEFF KINNEY

S

everal resorts across Appalachia are making changes to prepare for warming weather patterns.

If climate change is not slowed, ski resorts could see their livelihoods melt away completely in the nottoo-distant future. But many resort owners say they are more worried about short-term, season-to-season temperature fluctuations than what their businesses could look like decades from now.

“We’re a very weather-dependent industry, and things have been up and down,” says Barbara Green, president of Blue Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania. “Last year, weekend visits were probably down about 20 percent. But because of the snowmaking technology we’ve invested in, I think we’re in a really good position to keep on skiing for many, many years.”

Tyler Crawford, director of frontend operations at Montage Mountain Ski Resort in Pennsylvania, feels much the same way. “Within the last 10 years, we’ve seen so much weather fluctuation. There’s no consistency.”

Still, Montage Mountain is hedging its bets with a zip line, outdoor water park, and other warm-weather options in case the snow season shrinks significantly over time.

More and more resorts are coming up with creative ways to attract as wide a swath of humanity as possible—even those allergic to the cold. For example, Beech Mountain Resort in North Carolina offers a host of activities ranging from disc golf to scenic lift rides to a restaurant dubbed “the highest skybar in the East.” And Beech has become the epicenter of downhill mountain biking, attracting the national downhill biking championships to their trails.

22

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

“Downhill biking has become hugely popular, and people like that our trails are lift-accessible because you’re just riding down the hill,” says Talia Freeman, Beech Mountain’s director of marketing.

Other Eastern ski resorts are offering year-round recreation as well, including Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia (backcountry tours, horseback riding, and yoga) and Wintergreen in Virginia (everything from archery to tennis to spa treatments). “We want people to visit us in summer as well as winter—to sort of rebrand ourselves,” says Shawn Cassell, public relations specialist for Snowshoe. Although climate change is also “a factor,” he says it isn’t driving business decisions, at least for now.

Then there are climate change skeptics like Chris Bates, general manager of Cataloochee Ski Area in North Carolina. “I don’t believe there’s enough science to say whether we’re in climate change or not,” he says. “Still, I believe in being a good steward of the environment. We should try to leave everything better than we found it.” For Cataloochee, that means common-sense measures like installing efficient lighting, recycling as much as possible, and investing in energy-efficient snowmaking equipment. But climate change itself gets no more than a shrug from Bates. “In the 30 years I’ve done this, I’ve seen up-and-down weather across the board,” he says.

“I think I’ve seen it all, and it hasn’t varied that much.”

Whatever the climate’s actual long-term trajectory, one thing is clear: a lot of money is at stake in the snowsports industry. A 2012 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the advocacy group

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

Protect Our Winters, citing data from 2009-2010, found that more than 23 million people participated in winter sports through spending at ski resorts, hotels, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, and gas stations.

All that activity pumped about $12.2 billion into the U.S. economy and supported, either directly or indirectly, nearly 212,000 jobs— including thousands in Eastern states like North Carolina (2,445) and Virginia (1,960).

Not surprisingly, the study also found that decreased snowfall blunts a lot of that economic impact.

For example, between November 1999 and April 2010, Virginia and Maryland saw a combined 19 percent difference in skier visits for low snowfall years compared to years when snow was plentiful.

That translated into a $17.9 million difference in ski resort revenue and a $13.6 million difference in added economic value.

Regardless of the financial bottom line, Geraldine Link, director of public policy for the National Ski

Areas Association (NSAA), says her organization is working to fight climate change simply because it’s the right thing to do. The group adopted an official climate policy in 2002 with the goals of reducing the carbon footprint of ski resorts, educating others about carbon emissions, and advocating for climate-friendly legislation. She says 34 resorts nationwide (although only one in the East—Hunter Mountain in New York) have taken up the NSAA’s “climate challenge,” wherein they conduct carbon inventories of their ski areas and set emission-reduction targets that must be achieved with specific actions in a specific timeframe.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, climate change may already be an irreversible reality. For this and other reasons, it “makes sense as a business model” for ski resorts to offer warm-weather activities, Link says.

“You have all of that infrastructure investment, so why not take advantage of it?” To that end, the NSAA successfully pushed for a 2011

bill that authorized the construction of facilities for four-season use of ski resorts operating on Forest Service land.

Resort owners are wise to expand their repertoires, because participation in winter sports is taking a hit. “For decades, the baby boomer generation has been the prime demographic for skiing,” says Larry Weindruch, president of National Ski & Snowboard Retailers Association. “That’s starting to change.” According to Weindruch, Generations X and Y aren’t necessarily replacing all of the Boomer skiing aficionados; many younger folks find snow sports inconvenient and expensive, want to start families, or just don’t have the time. The industry is trying to spread the skiing gospel through public relations campaigns, but it’s an uphill battle. “There’s leakage in terms of numbers of overall participants, and we need to do something about it,” he says. In other words, maybe ski resorts have more to worry about than just a warming planet.

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

23

WHEN KARSTEN DELAP ISN’T GUIDING TRIPS ON THE WORLD’S MOST ICONIC MOUNTAINS, HE’S AT HIS HOME IN WNC CHASING ICE. PICTURED HERE IS A 2014 ASCENT OF LOOKING GLASS FALLS. photo by MAGGIE ALLEN

24

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

WINTERY WEATHER IS OFTEN CHARACTERIZED AS DULL AND DREARY, THE CATALYST FOR CABIN FEVER, BUT THE FOLLOWING FIVE FACES DON’T SEEM TO SUFFER FROM THE WINTER BLUES. IN FACT, THE ROUGHER THE CONDITIONS, THE HAPPIER THESE WINTERITES ARE. BRING ON THE SNOW!

by JESS DADDIO

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

25

CLIMBING-BUMTURNED-PRO KARSTEN DELAP

Owner/Guide, Fox Mountain Guides and Climbing School AGE: 35 HAILS FROM: SOUTHERN INDIANA CALLS HOME: WESTERN N.C.

ADMIT IT. THERE ARE A handful of adventure-themed Instagram handles you occasionally (and by occasionally I mean daily) cyberstalk, the ones with images of climbers and hikers staged before almost impossibly epic mountainscapes.

To most, these Instagram handles are intended to inspire, to motivate, but for Karsten Delap, dramatic landscapes and gritty adventure are par for the course. As a professional rock and alpine guide, Delap’s own Instagram handle (@karstendelap) is peppered with alpine summit photos from around the world. Since quitting his “real job” back in 2005 to pursue climbing in the Red River Gorge, Delap has climbed extensively throughout the United States and in 30 different countries, from France to Bolivia.

In 2013, Delap became the first guide in the Southeast to achieve his certification as an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Alpine Guide, and now owns Fox Mountain Guides (FMG) based out of Pisgah Forest, N.C. For most of the year, Delap is far from FMB headquarters, guiding trips on some of the world’s most revered peaks like Aconcagua in Argentina and Mount Whitney in California.

No matter the exotic spread of travels that await him, though—Delap is proud to call western North Carolina home.

In between guiding trips, Delap works volunteer shifts with three local rescue teams as their expert in high angle, technical, and wilderness rescue. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for AMGA and the Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team.

On the rare occasion that Delap has 26

time off from those duties, you can still find him repping his sponsors (La Sportiva, Deuter, Ibex Outdoor Clothing, Blue Water Ropes, and Julbo Eyewear) on the rock or up an ice flow doing what he does best.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO CHASE CLIMBING AS A CAREER?

I was working in sales after college. I didn’t really take to being in front of a computer all day!

WHY RELOCATE TO WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA?

It was the closest area [from southern Indiana] where I could start working in the rock climbing realm. The western mountains of North Carolina offer a variety of climbing, from easy bouldering at Rumbling Bald to big ice climbs. It’s a pretty rad place.

HAVE YOU FOUND ANYTHING CLOSE TO AN ALPINE EXPERIENCE IN THE SOUTHEAST?

There’s very fringe ice climbing. Ice in North Carolina is super finicky. It’s in one week and out the next. You don’t come to North Carolina and expect to climb ice—you come to North Carolina and you get to climb ice…if it’s in.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU GOT TO CLIMB ICE IN YOUR BACKYARD?

It was last year. Looking Glass Falls had frozen over. Well, it froze, but it wasn’t like, completely frozen. I knew it was one of those climbs that was going to be super committing. The gear was no good. I could feel the icicle moving.

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON RISK VERSUS REWARD?

When you’re climbing or doing these activities in the outdoors, you have the luck jar. You’re trying not to use the luck in your luck jar, so you push risk management to the edge, but sometimes you don’t know where that edge is and you just have to hope that if you need luck, there’s still luck in that jar.

DOES ANYONE IN YOUR FAMILY SHARE YOUR LOVE OF ADVENTURE?

I got [my father] up to Grand Teton and did some multipitch climbing. Now he’s going to the Red [River Gorge] every other weekend. He’s loving it.

The Tetons wrecked him—it was an awesome trip, but even before we got

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

KARSTEN DELAP photo by CRISTIN JULIAN

on the plane to go back home, it was like, “What’s next?” I don’t know what I’ve started here, but the Bugaboos in Canada are next. He’ll be 61 this year.

THE MOUNTAIN MAN DUSTIN SANDERSON

Owner/Guide, Capital Climbing Guides AGE: 33 HAILS FROM: ABILENE, TEXAS CALLS HOME: WASHINGTON, D.C.

THIS IS THE GUY YOU WISH you could be. Kayaker, climber, skier, mountain biker, beard grower. Don’t be surprised if and when you see

Dustin Sanderson’s mug on the next cover of GQ. By day, Sanderson works as the Assistant Director for the Voyageur Program, an outdoor experiential education opportunity provided as an elective to students in grades four through 12 at the National Cathedral School for Girls and the St. Albans School for Boys.

When he’s not teaching students to roll a kayak or tie a figure eight, Sanderson gets after it on the weekends by boat, bike, boot, whatever means necessary.

He’s an all-around outdoorsman, a connoisseur au dehors, but come

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

Voyageur Program], I can actually be in whitewater or be climbing every day of the week and that’s the full-time gig, so, maybe there’s more than meets the eye to D.C. SO ICE? IN THE SHENANDOAHS? IS THERE ANYTHING GOOD?

If you understand the geology of the Shenandoahs, there are certain elevations where there are naturally some rock bands that form, which are not necessarily fantastic cliffs for climbing, but they also produce some springs or seeps that are fantastic at forming these ice flows.

WHAT MADE YOU START EXPLORING THE SHENANDOAHS FOR ICE?

A couple of years ago, the cover of Rock and Ice was a picture of a particular ice climbing area in the Shenandoahs. I said to myself, “I need to find this.”

WHY ICE CLIMBING? WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?

I enjoy it because it’s very different from rock climbing.

It’s such a short window, especially in the Mid-Atlantic. We’re looking only at two months of good quality ice conditions. We’re getting on it while it’s hot, or cold for that matter. It’s the thrill

LIZ STOUT

DUSTIN SANDERSON

winter, Sanderson usually has just one thing on his mind—ice. Considering he lives in the heart of D.C., this may appear to be a poor choice in hobby, yet Sanderson takes his playtime seriously. Every weekend is usually spent tromping through the elements in search of ice climbing nearby in Shenandoah National Park.

Over the years, and through countless hours bushwhacking around the park, Sanderson has found some real gems, including a few ice flows scaling over 100 feet in height.

HOW WERE YOU INTRODUCED TO ICE CLIMBING?

When I started working with Outward Bound up in Maine, that was one of the first times I’d been exposed to ice climbing. They offered up a lot of warnings, saying, “If you start down that road, it’s a slippery slope.” It is an expensive sport, more so than climbing in some regards, but I ignored all of their warnings. Nothing sounds better than slinging tools into ice and bashing my way up things.

MOVING FROM MAINE TO D.C. SOUNDS LIKE A BIG CHANGE IN PACE. HOW HAS THE CAPITAL FARED IN THE WAY OF ADVENTURE?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the amount of outdoor recreation opportunity. [Working for the

Fish and Wildlife Service and double shifts on the weekend with pro ski patrol for Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Timberline Four Seasons Resort, Stout barely has time to train for her 50-mile endurance horseback rides (only barely—she still rides nearly every evening).

Born and raised in the mountains of West Virginia just an hour’s drive from three major ski areas, Stout has been sliding down slopes on a pair of alpine skis since the age of four. She only recently made the transition to tele skis after joining patrol in 2011, but you’d never be able to tell.

She’s a solid athlete with a pretty smile and contagious sense of adventure. She can follow even the rowdiest of backcountry tree lines and rarely complains, even when she has a second-degree AC separation and has to lug 100-pounds in toboggans for patrol training.

WHY THE SWITCH TO TELEMARK?

Once I joined patrol, I had free lessons all of the time. It was neat to learn how to better manipulate the skis I was on and better maneuver the terrain. The flow with the motion of tele opened up some other terrain that I hadn’t considered before. I started seeing the mountains in a different way, which was refreshing because I’ve lived here my

of the chase.

whole life.

THE GIRL THAT SHREDS HARDER THAN YOU

EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND SKIING ASIDE, HAS WORKING SKI PATROL TAUGHT YOU ANY UNIQUE SKILLS?

LIZ STOUT

I’ve mastered the art of driving a car with ski boots.

National Ski Patroller, Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Timberline Four Seasons Resort

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WORST INJURIES YOU’VE HANDLED ON THE MOUNTAIN?

IF YOU’RE LUCKY, YOU MAY catch a glimpse of Liz Stout’s red braids as she flies past you on the slope, elegantly carving practice turns on a set of telemark skis. Unless you catch her on a lunch break, you’d be hard-pressed to make this gogetter sit still and chitchat. Between working 9 to 5 as a biologist for U.S.

know what that person was thinking.

AGE: 26 HAILS FROM: ELKINS, W.VA. CALLS HOME: ELKINS, W.VA.

You usually see a lot of shoulders— clavicle fractures or an AC separation— wrist fractures, a couple of them with a lot of deformity where you’re like, oh yes, that’s not right. I’ve had two unresponsive-unconscious patients who were both epileptic and a patient with an impaled object in his ear. I don’t

HAVE YOU EVER SUFFERED FROM ANY SKI-RELATED INJURIES YOURSELF?

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

27

All of my injuries have come from skiing—a broken elbow, broken collarbone, second-degree AC separation, bruised and maybe cracked some ribs.

DO YOU HAVE ANY FEMALE COPATROLLERS?

On pro patrol at Canaan, I’m one of two women on a staff of 25. At Timberline, I’m one of four or five out of 35. We’re not many and it’s not surprising that there aren’t as many women. It’s a dog eat dog world and you have to have a thick skin to handle it.

WHY WORK PATROL ON THE WEEKENDS WHEN YOU COULD JUST AS EASILY SKI FOR FUN?

I like the camaraderie that comes from working with a group of people in some high-stress situations, which can go from nothing to crazy in just the blink of an eye. It can be challenging but I really find it rewarding.

THE COACH CHRIS SHEPARD

Winter Teams Director, Wintergreen Resort AGE: 51 HAILS FROM: SHIPMAN, VA. CALLS HOME: NELSON COUNTY, VA.

THE PATH TO COACHDOM is undoubtedly rooted in passion.

Chris Shepard’s story is no exception.

Despite growing up near a handful of ski resorts in western North Carolina, Shepard didn’t start skiing until he enlisted in the Army at age 18. Stationed among the towering peaks of the Bavarian Alps, Shepard became enraptured with the sport after his first ski vacation.

Two winters later, Shepard took a position at the Armed Forces Recreation Center in Germany where he skied to his heart’s content. For five years, Shepard took solace in the snow-capped sea of crests and German beer. When he returned to the East Coast in ’89, he easily found work at Sugar Mountain Resort in North Carolina, but something within was whispering, silently at first, then more loudly—go north.

On a whim, Shepard listened to his instinct, landing at Wintergreen 28

Resort in central Virginia the winter of 1990-91. As fate would have it, Shepard met his now-wife, a native of the Nelson County area. Three kids, two dogs, and some fish later, Shepard still gets after it on the slopes of Wintergreen with nearly 200 ski and snowboard students under his guidance.

His wanderlust for velvet powder, however, is far from satisfied. As part of Wintergreen’s training program, Shepard incorporates multiday trips to world-renowned ski destinations, most recently Austria’s Hintertuxer Gletscher. When the snow melts in Virginia, Shepard can be found on a plane bound for Oregon to beat the heat with a little dose of summer skiing.

HOW HAS THE SCENE AT WINTERGREEN CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST ARRIVED 25 YEARS AGO?

The climate in the Southeast for skiing is always going to be desolate. I’ve seen so many unpredictable weather patterns. The most amazing thing is we seem to, occasionally, every two or three years, have situations where we get upwards of 30 inches of snow. It’s pretty exciting.

THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS ARE CERTAINLY NO BAVARIAN ALPS WHEN IT COMES TO SKIING, SO WHY STAY AT WINTERGREEN?

Meeting my wife, getting married, having a family, and with Wintergreen so close by, it worked perfectly together. The fact that [the resort] was member-owned made the whole work experience different than other places.

When you see these families every weekend, you develop a relationship and feel like you’re part of their family.

WHAT HAS BEEN ONE OF YOUR PROUDEST MOMENTS IN MANAGING THE RACE TEAMS AT WINTERGREEN?

Even though we have a girl that made it to the women’s World Cup Development Team, the number of kids’ lives we’ve touched is probably the best thing that we do. Some of our best success stories are the kids who didn’t meet the skill requirements to race. When those kids get to be 14 to 15 years old, they are all of a sudden excellent skiers and will be for the rest of their lives.

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

THERE’S NO DOUBT YOU LOVE SKIING, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WINTER SEASON?

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU EVER EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THE WEATHER?

I would go crazy if it was winter all of the time, or summer all of the time. But what a perfect place here [in Virginia].

You’re three hours from the beach and the mountains are right here.

When I was young, I bought every book a 10-year-old could get on meteorology and read. When you asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, well, I was going to be a meteorologist of course. As time went on, I did other things. The weather just kinda happened out of hobby and interest and accident.

THE WEATHERMAN RAY RUSSELL

Mastermind, RaysWeather.Com

AGE: 68 HAILS FROM: MANCHESTER, TENN. CALLS HOME: BOONE, N.C.

DR. RAY RUSSELL IS A MAN of many talents. A minister with a Ph.D. in computer science and a running coach’s certification, Russell is mostly known around town as the weatherman. Self-taught in the art of meteorology, Russell first began reporting weather in the High Country after the blizzard of ’93 blew through Boone, bringing with it nearly 36 inches of snow. As a professor of computer science at Appalachian State University (a position he maintains to this day), Russell was one of the few who could decipher the inner workings of the Internet, which was then only in its infancy.

Using primitive web design, Russell crafted a snow report for western North Carolina on his university site, posting semi-regularly during the winters of 1994-96. By the time he received a weather station from his wife during the Christmas of ’98, Russell already had a wellestablished following of weather watchers.

Now, Russell’s forecast (raysweather.com) covers more than the High Country surrounding Boone, spanning the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee, N.C., to Waynesboro, Va. Though Russell now has five meteorologists working for him, he still updates daily forecasts for his hometown. The company’s annual Fearless Forecast has become like a Farmers’ Almanac to southern Appalachian powder hounds awaiting winter’s arrival.

WHEN WAS THE TURNING POINT FOR RAY’S WEATHER?

February of 2000. Unbeknownst to me, a local radio station started going to the site and looking at it. They wanted me to talk about weather on the radio. For the next three years, every day at 7:10, that became a staple of the radio station.

WHAT MAKES YOUR WEATHER FORECAST DIFFERENT?

If you go to weather.com, they’re going to tell you what the temperature is in Beech Mountain, but they don’t have any idea. They’re just guessing.

With those national [weather] sources, there are no people behind that. It’s all computer generated. It goes from a computer model through some processing straight to the website or mobile device with no human brain that ever intervenes in that process.

DO YOU THINK YOUR ACCURACY HAS LED TO RAYSWEATHER.COM’S SUCCESS?

I call it my hobby gone berserk. I don’t really understand it all. Back in the day, I wrote some pretty zany things I couldn’t get away with anymore, but it was a creative outlet for me, not just the weather, but just to write something funny. We have a golf-o-meter for good days and snowman-o-meter for snow days. We’ll issue a white leg warning on the first warm day after winter, and if it’s windy, we’ll issue a big hair alert.

We have fun with it but it’s a serious forecast.

SO WHAT’S OUR WINTER LOOKING LIKE?

It’ll be a slow start to winter, but snowier than average in the Foothills and throughout Southern Appalachia.

The heart of our winter will begin late January and February.

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

winter escape starting at $89!

Every Day is a Snowday

TEL. 866-620-5752

T H E O F F I C I A L R E A L E S T AT E C O M PA N Y O F W I N T E R G R E E N R E S O R T

Real Estate Sales & Service

“We love our ski-in/ski-out condo at Wintergreen!”

“Almost as good, walk-to-ski condos – and they are really affordable.”

“Don’t forget, awesome view condos also available!”

LOCATED ONLY IN THE MOUNTAIN INN 434-325-8018 | wintergreenresort.com | 866-905-9777 A PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H R O Y W H E E L E R R E A LT Y C O .

“How can I make it better? From the moment I regained consciousness, that was my thought process.” —Eric Thompson

A VOLUNTEER HELPS NAVIGATE A MONOSKIER DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. image courtesy of WINTERGREEN ADAPTIVE SPORTS

UNSTOPPABLE ADAPTIVE SNOWSPORTS ATHLETES MAKE INCREDIBLE COMEBACKS ON THE SLOPES

E

ric Thompson breathes adventure.

The 35-year-old Tucker County, W.Va., native has lived, worked, and traveled around the world. Over a decade in Hawaii. Numerous ski patrol seasons on Mount Hood. Countless more seasons raft guiding in West Virginia, Alaska, and Colorado.

Short stints between Yosemite and Ireland and everywhere in between facilitating high ropes courses and ski instruction. Thompson’s even done the cubicle grind for a financial

by JESS DADDIO services company, just to see what it was like.

But on the night of November 12, 2012, Thompson’s life took an unexpected turn. It was the year of Superstorm Sandy, and the roads of Tucker County were nothing short of harrowing. Thompson was driving from the town of Thomas to Parsons when his tire popped off on the outside of a turn. His car spun 180 degrees before crossing lanes and soaring backwards beyond the guardrail where it landed on its roof, crushing Thompson’s back. He was

paralyzed from the waist down.

“I’m lucky enough to have the background and the mindset to look at [the incident] the same way I’d look at any of those other horrible things I’d seen,” Thompson says, referencing time spent as a wilderness EMT. “Picking up people on the side of the mountain, pre-hospital trauma care, you never have the resources but you have to think, how can I make it better? From the moment I regained consciousness, that was my thought process.”

In just six short months, it was

clear Thompson’s positive mental outlook was paying off. Though no longer able to walk, he was determined that the incident not rob him of his passion for the outdoors, too. With his doctor’s consent, Thompson flew to Portland, Ore., to retrieve his van and drive solo across the country to his home back in Tucker County. Six months after that, and one year post-injury, Thompson was back on the slopes of Timberline Four Seasons Resort.

“Having been an instructor and an advanced level skier for most

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

31

Want to learn more? Check out a few adaptive programs available near these major ski resorts.

CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA

MAGGIE VALLEY, N.C.

cataloochee.com/school/adaptive.php

of my life and knowing how a ski functions but not having the ability to move it, trying to wrap my brain around how to make the ski edge was exciting but definitely frustrating,” he says.

Thompson wasted no time in getting involved with his home state’s disability programs, including Snowshoe Mountain Resort’s Challenged Athletes of West Virginia. Yet after some initial research, Thompson was dismayed to find that the state didn’t enforce building codes that would provide handicap accessible facilities. This fact surprised him even more so, given that nearly one-half million people living within a three-hours’ drive from Thomas, W.Va., claim to have a walking disability.

“People with a disability are the United States’s largest minority,” Thompson says. “It’s hard to find a place to go [adaptive] skiing if you can’t get to the bar or the bathroom or the restaurant. Not everyone needs to go out ice climbing or mountain biking, but having accessibility in general, we need that to happen in order to promote adaptive recreation.”

Thompson is still rarely at rest—in the past year he’s been ice climbing in New Hampshire, mountain biking in Crested Butte, even oar rigging down the New and Gauley Rivers. He manages 32

a website and Facebook group, WVOnTheGo, with the hopes of raising awareness about disabilityfriendly businesses and facilities in West Virginia. His dream, however, is to unite and empower everyone with a disability through outdoor recreation.

“Just because you lose a certain ability doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to keep enjoying the things you love,” he adds. “It can become a lot harder, but it isn’t impossible.”

Wintergreen Adaptive Sports (WAS) Executive Director Dave Shreve knows that sentiment all too well. Shreve’s daughter, Emma, has spina bifida, a condition that, in severe cases, can damage the spinal cord and surrounding nerves, thereby hindering the person’s physical mobility. In 1989, thensix-year-old Emma came upon a brochure for WAS and decided that skiing just might be for her.

“She caught the bug,” Shreve remembers of their first visit. “Now, she’s a race team member and an instructor herself.”

Emma’s a four-tracker, meaning her disability still allows her to ski standing up but with the help of ankle-foot orthotics and two ski poles. Attached to the poles are small skis which, together, act as outriggers for steering.

Wintergreen’s program has flourished since Emma first joined.

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

Originating in the mid-‘80s under the guidance of Michael Zuckerman, early adaptive ski lessons were crude at best. Though Zuckerman was familiar with handling disabilities through his work as a special education teacher, the gear, and the methodology, for teaching disabled persons to ski had yet to be developed.

Now, WAS ranks among the country’s leading adaptive sports programs, averaging close to 200 students and 100 specialized instructors per season. The organization, which gained nonprofit status in 1995, even touts its own summer boating program, offering adaptive canoeing and kayaking in the off-season.

“The key for most adaptive programs is how you use the equipment and how you tailor your instruction to help your students achieve independence,” Shreve says. “When our students with all manner of disabilities can participate and learn, it gives them confidence and shows them there’s a big exciting world out there with a lot of things to try and do.”

WAS has assisted students with a variety of disabilities, ranging from physical ailments such as spinal cord injuries and cerebral palsy to visual impairments, deafness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and autism. The resort

BEECH MOUNTAIN

BEECH MOUNTAIN, N.C.

beechmountainresort.com WINTERPLACE SKI RESORT

GHENT, W.VA.

winterplace.com/take-a-lesson SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN & CHALLENGED ATHLETES OF WEST VIRGINIA

SNOWSHOE, W.VA.

cawvsports.org CANAAN VALLEY RESORT

CANAAN VALLEY, W.VA.

canaanresort.com/winter/ski/lessons MASSANUTTEN ADAPTIVE SKI SCHOOL & THERAPEUTIC ADVENTURES

MCGAHEYSVILLE, VA.

taonline.org WISP RESORT

MCHENRY, MD.

wispresort.com/ski-board-lessons.php BLUE RIDGE ADAPTIVE SNOW SPORTS (BRASS) AT LIBERTY MOUNTAIN RESORT

CARROLL VALLEY, PENN.

brasski.org

PROMOTE AN EVENT Have an adaptive wintersports event or program you want to promote? Add it to our calendar at BlueRidgeOutdoors.com or email us at submit@blueridgeoutdoors.com

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

LEFT: THOUGH THOMPSON IS NOW BOUND TO A WHEELCHAIR, HIS SENSE OF ADVENTURE IS AS ACTIVE AS EVER. image courtesy of ERIC THOMPSON RIGHT: OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADAPTIVE SKIING, LIKE THE BLIND SKIERS PROGRAM HOSTED BY WISP RESORT, ARE GROWING EVER YEAR. image courtesy of DEEP CREEK LIONS CLUB

regularly hosts Wounded Warriors and their families, supporting the WAS goal of integrating their students with the resort community at large.

“Beyond building confidence, one of the things I think you’ll learn when you talk to persons with disabilities is how at various times in their life,

they feel isolated from other people,” Shreve says. “What our program does, at least in some small measure, is break down those barriers between persons with disabilities and their peers, family members, and friends.”

Fortunately for those who have or know of someone with a disability, there are more opportunities for

adaptive recreation than ever before.

Chris Nichols, secretary of the Lions Club in Deep Creek Lake, Md., helps oversee the club’s Blind Skiers Program, hosted in cooperation with the Maryland School for the Blind and Wisp Resort.

“A lot of times, service clubs just donate the money to whatever cause,

and that’s it,” Nichols says. “What’s great about this program is we get heavily involved. We make them breakfast every morning, and a lot of our members are skiers and act as guides. It’s really amazing to see the level of growth that these kids experience just in the few days that they’re here.”

Discover

Your Winter Escape Our 8 unique trails, 5 lifts, and a top rated ski and snowboard school are just a few of the many amenities you will find on your next day or weekend trip to Bryce.

Great news – Winter Escape Packages are now available! All packages include lift tickets and nightly accommodations so reserve yours today.

Basye, VA | 800-821-1444 www.bryceresort.com Get social! Find us @bryceresort.

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

33

NO DOGS REQUIRED PETER RIPMASTER AIMS TO TACKLE 1,000-MILE IDITAROD TRAIL ON FOOT

by JACK IGELMAN

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

35

W

hen your husband tells you he wants to run a marathon, with zero running experience and forty pounds too much weight, you say no.

But not if your husband is Pete Ripmaster.

“I can tell him I’m worried, but when Pete puts his mind to something, nothing and no one can stand in his way,” says Kristen, Ripmaster’s wife.

Ripaster ran 26.2 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway by himself. For Ripmaster, that marathon in 2008 was just the start.

On February 28, 39-year-old Ripmaster also has permission from his wife to run 1,000 miles through the heart of Alaska in the dead of winter hauling a sled with all his gear.

This will be Ripmaster’s third start in the Iditarod Trail Invitational.

Instead of running the 350 mile version of the race, as he has the past two years, Ripmaster will be among a handful of runners who will attempt the entire 1,000-mile historic dog sled route from Knik to Nome.

Last year, no runners finished the unmarked race that crosses a portion of Alaska’s vast interior. Since 2000, just 15 runners have crossed the 1,000-mile finish line. The last winner, in 2014, took 23 days.

But don’t worry. Pete’s ready.

To fully understand his commitment to lugging a sled in subzero condition across Seward’s icebox, there’s something you should know first about Ripmaster. He is used to defying the odds.

As a 20 year old, he got whipped into shape on a NOLS course in Alaska after earning a 0.5 GPA while living in a frat house at the University of Kansas.

“I didn’t give a shit. I was a punk,” says Ripmaster who grew up in the Detroit suburbs. “The instructors weren’t easy on me. They said you have a lot of potential, but there’s a lot to work on. By the end of the trip, I knew if I wanted something I had to work for it. It was very eye opening.

That brought me to some beauty, 36

and also made me realize I had to change.”

It wouldn’t be overnight, however.

Ripmaster’s pattern of heavy drinking got worse after losing his mom to cancer when he was 24.

“My mom was my emotional stability. I wasn’t afraid to tell her anything,” explains Ripmaster. He moved to Telluride, Colorado after college where he skied, drank, and pretty much hit rock bottom. “My mom knew what made me tick and my faults. I held her hand when she passed. It was the hardest thing in my life.”

In Telluride, he met his wife and moved to North Carolina in 2004 to be close to her family.

“For some reason, she was willing to help me through it,” he said.

“Kristen brought me through some dark places. Somehow I got through it without hurting anyone else or myself. She’s a huge piece of the puzzle.”

Another piece was running.

Soon after completing his impromptu DIY marathon on the Parkway, Ripmaster became addicted to the sport. Over the next five years he ran 50 marathons in 50 states and raised over $60,000 for cancer research to fulfill a promise he made to his mother in her final days.

Still, Ripmaster says he was looking for something deeper, bigger,

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

more intense.

So when Ripmaster read about the Iditarod footrace, he immediately sent an e-mail to the race director, at that time, Bill Merchant. Within minutes he got an email back.

“He knew I was going to get my ass kicked, but he saw something in me that I didn’t see in my own self,” Ripmaster says.

That’s pretty much how Merchant saw it too.

“I’ve been dealing with people for a long, long time. Pete was raised old school—I could tell from his e-mail,” said Merchant, who picked Ripmaster from a long list of runner applications in a race where keeping all of your digits—or your life—is no guarantee.

“He didn’t have the qualifications of some of the other runners, but there was just something in his e-mail that I could tell about him. If I could explain it, I would. Pete’s one seriously good egg.”

Despite Merchant’s confidence, Ripmaster says, he did indeed get “his ass handed” to him.

From the first hill, Ripmaster realized he was hauling about fifty pounds too much gear. He also veered twenty-five miles off course and spent the first night in a bivy on the side of a lake. And the spikes from his overly taut snowshoes blistered his feet.

“I was green,” Ripmaster admits, yet he finished in 10 days, 6 hours,

twelfth among twelve runners. “I may not have a lot of sense, but I have a lot of mental toughness. I’m not sure where it comes from, but I have that in spades.”

In 2015, he knocked four days off his time and finished third.

He admits that while the run included moments of euphoria, more often than not, it’s filled with despair. Ripmaster, who has struggled with depression his entire life, says those highs and lows on the trail are precisely why he runs.

“I typically hold all of my emotions in,” says Ripmaster, who has struggled with depression as long as he can remember. “The only way I can feel free it is to let it out. That’s why I run. It’s mental health. I embrace the pain.”

Kristen, his wife, agrees that running is meaningful to him.

“He can get very deep within himself on runs. For Pete, it’s a very spiritual experience,” Kristen says.

But most importantly, she added, it brings him joy.

Adam Hill, a friend and running partner, says that running seems to help Ripmaster tackle life. “He really learns more about who he is each time out. Pete’s not afraid to wear emotions on his sleeve.” Or, added Hill, is he afraid to take on lofty goals.

So not only will he attempt to slog through 1,000 miles of ice and snow, he’ll also aim to raise $44,000 for Hope Chest of Western North Carolina to support women living with cancer.

Ripmaster is well aware that he may not raise those funds, or even finish the race, but that’s okay with him.

Like in life, said Ripmaster, success and failure is yours alone.

GET HIM TO THE START Help Peter Ripmaster reach the starting line. Support his fundraising efforts at 2nome4hope.com

photos by KUDZU BRANDING AND DESIGN

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

WHAT’S YOUR SEASON? 3-YEAR SKI PASS

ONLY $499!

GOOD TIMES X3

Stay Here...

Play Here.

timberlineresort.com 1 (800) SNOWING D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

37

STAY WARM WHETHER YOU SKI OR SNOWBOARD (OR NOT) WE HAVE THE BRANDS THAT WILL KEEP YOU WARM.

475 Westfield Rd. | Charlottesville, VA | 22901 | freestyleonline.com | 434.978.4091

SNOWBOUND WINTER RESORT GUIDE 2015-2016

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

PHOTO: SAM DEAN

Open Up

To new stories with old friends

Please enjoy responsibly www.seguraviudas.com @SeguraViudasUSA

Š2015 Freixenet USA, Inc., Sonoma, CA Segura Viudas is a registered trademark.

THE GOODS

NO. 1 ICELANTIC VANGUARD | ORACLES 12 . 15

BRENT: We just switched over to these skis last season. They’re sweet skis that are hand-crafted in Denver with really cool graphics. MEGAN: They’re great all over the mountain in all kinds of conditions, from powder to ice. $799 for vanguards, $699 for

SKI PATROL ESSENTIALS

Oracles; icelanticskis.com

BRENT AND MEGAN EASTON SHARE THEIR GO-TO GEAR ON THE SLOPES

NO. 2 SWIX SPLIT MITT MEGAN: It’s like a lobster mitt, with two fingers in one hole and two fingers in the other hole. This is what I wear on those really cold days. They’re insulated, but with a tough outer shell. $45; swixsport.com

by GRAHAM AVERILL BRENT AND MEGAN EASTON KNOW SNOW. The couple lives in Canaan Valley and have been members of Timberline’s ski patrol for more than seven years, skiing telemark gear through 12hour days in a variety of conditions.

“In Canaan Valley, it’ll be pow one week, rain the next and then snow again,” says Brent Easton, who logs 20 to 30 hours a week keeping skiers safe on some of the MidAtlantic’s most aggressive terrain.

“The snow is really good here, but it’s also really cold,” he adds.

Timberline is known for steep fall line skiing, with plenty of trees and bumps, as well as some killer sidecountry opportunities.

“Ski patrol at Timberline is the best job,” says Megan, who’s also an E.R. nurse. “I’d just be skiing all day anyway, so you might as well get paid for it, and work with a really fun crew.”

We asked the tele-couple to detail their favorite pieces of gear, from the layers that keep them warm during Canaan Valley’s notoriously cold winters to the skis that perform all over the mountain.

NO. 3 PATAGONIA THERMAL WEIGHT ZIP HOODIE BRENT: The name doesn’t do this thing justice. It’s like a base layer with a built in balaclava. I wear this thing every single day I’m on the mountain. The hood fits well under your helmet and comes all the way up to your nose. It’s key. $119; patagonia.com NO. 4 SMITH GAGE HELMET

1

MEGAN: We both wear Smith helmets.

The Gage is inexpensive, lightweight and very warm. BRENT: I really would rather just go hat and goggles, but after seeing people all busted up, wearing a helmet makes good sense. $80;

smithoptics.com

NO. 5 PATAGONIA DOWN

6

3

5

SWEATER MEGAN: This goes on between that zip hoodie and a Gore-Tex shell. It can get really cold in Canaan Valley, but if I have this thing on, I never get chilly. I’ve had it for several years and the down is still good. $299; patagonia.

com

NO. 6 STIO FLANNEL SHIRT

“I always wear a flannel shirt, because it’s classy,” Brent Easton told us, and we couldn’t agree more.

The flannel really ties the ensemble together.

BRO editors have always had a love affair with flannel. Here’s our current flannel obsession: Stio Buckhorn Bonded Flannel Shirt. It’s a bit pricey for a flannel, but it’s insulated with super soft microfleece, so it might be the warmest flannel out there. $165; stio.com

4

EP 2

EDITOR’S PICK UNDER ARMOR NAVIGATOR SMARTPHONE CASE Your smartphone needs to be as rugged and adventurous as you. Under Armor’s Navigator composite military-grade armor shell ensures that your phone will survive your next outing (even if you don’t). Yet it’s featherweight and provides easy access to your screen and ports. $35 D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

53

GIVE THE GIFT OF THIS YEAR. FIND MEN AND WOMEN’S PULLOVERS AT WALKABOUT OUTFITTER

When you work at

ride and ski for free!

MEN’S SYNCHILLA® SNAP-T® FLEECE PULLOVER The pullover that made fleece famous; in warm, durable polyester fleece with the classic snap pocket and placket.

WOMEN’S RE-TOOL SNAP-T® FLEECE PULLOVER Made of Polartec® Thermal Pro® polyester (51% recycled) fleece this quintessential fleece pullover has feminine seaming and pouch-style handwarmer pockets.

40 Different Jobs | 100 Available Positions!

Call 434-325-8050 for more information.

WALKABOUTOUTFITTER.COM

Hilltop East, 1556 Laskin Rd, Virginia Beach 54

757.962.6618

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5 / R I C H M O N D VA + M E T R O D C E D I T I O N

GreatOutdoorProvision.com

THE GOODS

NO. 1 KAHTOOLA MICRO SPIKES I don’t go anywhere without them from October to May. They offer the best traction for the price that I’ve ever seen.

They’re very durable and the design is wonderful. They’re all steel, so they won’t snap like some spikes. I take them on every rescue. $69.95; kahtoola.com

12 . 15

WINTER TESTED

GEAR FOR THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

by GRAHAM AVERILL

NO. 2 OUTDOOR RESEARCH VERGLAS GAITERS I feel invincible with these on. Last year was the first year I’ve ever used them.

Being from Alabama, I put them on for the first time and wore them for six months without anyone telling me I was wearing them backwards. Here’s a tip: Put the Velcro on the front. $60; outdoorresearch.

BY MOST ACCOUNTS, RUTHIE PUCKETT HAS A DREAM JOB. She’s the resident manager of LeConte Lodge, a backcountry hotel that sits on top of 6,593-foot Mount LeConte inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She lives at the lodge from March through November, knocking out a list of duties that run the gamut, from keeping the water system from freezing to performing on-mountain hiker rescues.

Her day begins at 5:30 a.m., when she starts preparing breakfast for her crew and guests. While there is a full list of managerial duties Puckett has to attend to during the workday, if all goes well, there are a few hours in the afternoon where she gets to explore LeConte and the surrounding ridges. And that includes hiking in the snow, whether it’s for a rescue or just for fun.

“We get winter weather very early up here,” Puckett says. “We had a 22inch blizzard on Halloween last year.

It started snowing that evening, and we woke up to waist deep drifts. We had to do a couple of rescues in that storm.” We asked Puckett to detail her favorite pieces of winter hiking gear. Here’s what she had to say.

RUTHIE’S TIP FOR HIKERS: Pack for all kinds of weather, because it’s the Smokies so anything can happen. Too many times, I’ll see people who start out in the morning when it’s beautiful, and they haven’t brought the right gear. The right clothing can save lives, and it can save a lot of hassle, especially in the fringe seasons of fall and spring.

That’s when people run into trouble.

com

NO. 3 OSPREY ATMOS 65 LITER This is my favorite big pack. It’s so comfortable, and so well made. The hip belt is like the Cadillac of hip belts. It’s really snug, but also thick, so it distributes the weight better, and it’s soft, so you can tighten it without having it dig into your hip bones. $260; ospreypacks.

2

com

1

3

NO. 4 DEUTER AIRELITE 20 LITER I take this on every rescue. It has a back vent so it’s not sitting directly on you, which lets your back breathe. But it’s still snug enough where I can run in it if I have to, and it doesn’t bounce around. I keep it loaded with my rescue gear so I can grab it and go. $109; deuter.com

5 4

NO. 5 KEEN KOVEN MID I’m a big believer in waterproof boots, and these have proved to be up to the task. We’re in rain all the time, so it’s important that your feet stay dry. Plus, they’re pink and brown so they look good.

$120; keenfootwear.com EDITOR’S PICK MOTOROLA

EP

TALKABOUT T460 TWO-WAY RADIO With a 35-mile range, the T460 ensures you’ll never lose contact, even when you don’t have cell signal. The walkietalkies also have built-in flashlights, emergency signals, and options for hands-free communication. $99 D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

55

Let us introduce you to...

w e n e h t

BlueRidgeOutdoors.com

SECRETS OF AN

OUTDOOR DAD HOW TO STAY FIT AS A STAY-AT-HOME PARENT

by ADAM HERZOG

“W

hat are those things in your backseat?” a grungy kayaker asked me at the Green River Narrows takeout, his voice groggy with confusion.

“Those are car seats. That’s where my kids sit,” I said.

“Whoa. You have kids?” his confusion deepened. “How do you stay in paddling shape?”

I am a former pro paddler and a current stay-at-home dad. We have two sons, a five year old and a seven month old. After the birth of our youngest son, I decided to take some time off from my nursing job to stay home.

I have to admit: some days it would be much easier to hand the kids off to someone else and forget about the family for a twelve-hour shift at the emergency room. But I love my time with the kids, and over time, I’ve found some simple and relatively inexpensive ways to juggle child care with fitness and sanity:

6. GET A BABYSITTER. It’s okay to splurge on yourself once in a while and get occasional day care or a sitter.

1. DON’T STAY AT HOME. Get a backpack, bike trailer, or running stroller and get the kids out of the house. My youngest son and I have been section hiking the famed Shut-In Trail a few miles at time. He enjoys the fresh air and I get a killer workout hiking uphill with 20 pounds on my back.

8. FIND A FRIEND. Hiking, stroller running, and biking with kids is much more enjoyable if you have an adult to talk to.

2. WORK OUT AT HOME. If the weather does not cooperate, just stay home and sneak in workouts while the baby naps. I have learned the value of push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. These exercises build muscle, core strength, and general fitness, and they are free. Or think about investing in a treadmill or a trainer for the bike.

3. GET A BABY MONITOR. Our monitor has a 1,000-foot range so I can sneak in hill repeats in front of our house during nap time.

4. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. You don’t need tons of gear to make an adult playground in your backyard.

I spend at least 30 minutes on our backyard slackline every day. You can make one for next to nothing (or buy pre-fab kits) and it’s a great way to hone balance. You can also build a makeshift mountain biking obstacle course with natural features in most backyards. The kids love playing on these jungle gyms too.

5. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GYM. Many gyms have free or cheap day care where you can drop the kids off for an hour while you get in a workout.

Bring their swimming stuff and take them to the pool after you’re finished.

7. COOK. Take advantage of downtime to cook wholesome meals for the week. It will keep you and your whole family trim and healthy.

9. MAKE SURE YOUR PARTNER GETS THEIRS. I generally stay close to home on the weekends so my wife can run or take a yoga class. It’s only fair that she gets some recreation after her weekly grind.

10. GOT A LIGHT? If you don’t have a good head light, get one. I go for a run or bike ride once or twice a week after everyone is tucked in for the night.

Whether I am on wheels or on foot, there is something magical about a good night rip.

11. DON’T DRIVE SHUTTLE. Why drive when you can run or ride? I rarely ever paddle the Green anymore without running shuttle on foot or bike.

It does not take much longer, and I get more time outdoors.

12. ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. There’s a flat section of the French Broad River five minutes from my older son’s gymnasium. Although sometimes it hardly seems worth the hassle, I throw a boat on the car and get a quick forty minute paddle in while he takes his gymnastics class. I am always glad I did at the end of the session, when I pick him up and see most of the other parents smart-phoning in the observation booth.

I am not spending 20-plus hours in the woods like I used to, but I can still stay plenty fit enough to keep up with my young, childless friends as long as I follow these easy and affordable rules.

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

57

SHAMROCK SUperstar ASHLI T.

Half Marathon Finisher • ShamRocked 5 Yuengling Shamrock Weekend Events • Ice-cold Yuengling beer is her favorite post-race meal.

E C A R E FRE !

S O T O H P

• Real-life Jersey girl; her exit on the Garden State Parkway is 82- Seaside Heights!

• Helped produce “The Jersey Shore” reality show for 6 seasons.

VISIT SHAMROCKMARATHON.COM FOR DETAILS MARCH 18-20, 2016 | VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA

Yuengling Marathon • Anthem 1/2 Marathon • TowneBank 8K • Operation Smile Final Mile

FROM THE RIVER

by ANNA LEVESQUE

W

hen I first ventured onto the river some 20 years ago, my goal was to become a really good paddler.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that as my skills developed, so would an awareness of the profound life lessons contained in the flow of water and in the dance of maneuvering through that flow. The river is a teacher with many qualities—including soft, playful, gentle, intimidating, pushy, and powerful.

I’m proud of my accomplishments as a whitewater athlete and instructor, but it is these profound lessons from the river that have impacted my personal growth and that keep me passionate about paddling.

There is only the present moment.

If you look at a calendar you’ll notice that there is no ‘someday’ written anywhere. That’s because ‘someday’ doesn’t exist in reality, only this moment that you are living right now exists. Whitewater kayaking is a master teacher of this lesson.

Reading water and running a rapid well requires a focus that dissolves

everything around you except for the present moment. Allowing your focus to drift to thinking of the past or the future can sabotage your run very quickly. Taking this teaching off the water in the form of mindfulness in daily life allows me to be a full participant in the flow of life instead of standing on shore watching as it passes me by.

CHOOSE THE LINE THAT EMPOWERS YOU.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to choosing a line through a rapid. There are riskier lines, lines

D E C E M B E R 2 015 / B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S . C O M

59

that will allow you to stay in your comfort zone and lines that don’t work out how you thought they would. The key in the decision making process is to know yourself, know your skills, and know your goals so that you choose the line that empowers you. This also means knowing that walking a rapid is an empowered choice. If your goal is to step up your skills both physically and mentally, then running the challenging line or rapid is empowering. If your goal is to stay in your comfort zone so that you feel more relaxed and have a great day with friends, then choosing the comfortable line or river is an empowered choice. Don’t compare yourself to others. We each have a unique make-up and offer an original contribution to the world. Embrace your individuality and let it empower you to live the life, or run the line, that YOU love.

LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.

This is one of my favorite teachings from the river because it’s crucial for paddling and living to your full potential, and yet it’s not obvious at first. If there’s a big rock in the middle of a rapid and you know you don’t want to hit it, but you keep staring at it, you’re going to hit it.

Wherever you look is where you go.

In life it’s easy to get caught up in thoughts and habit patterns that don’t serve us and that keep our attention on what we don’t want to create.

We keep staring at and thinking about the big, intimidating, maybe even scary obstacles, problems, and dramas, and they suck us in. When we start to notice our thoughts and habit patterns, we can then start to train ourselves to look, think, and act in a way that keeps us on the path to where we want to go in life and what we want to create for ourselves.

IF YOU FLIP, ROLL, LET IT GO, AND PADDLE ON.

On the river, flipping over means that

you made a mistake in reading the water or maneuvering your kayak.

It’s part of the sport and part of what happens when you’re out there doing it, making yourself vulnerable to the power of the river. For years I would beat myself up for ‘failing’ when I didn’t have a good line, when I flipped over and especially if I swam. What I was doing was making myself wrong for not being perfect. Considering that I am human and no human is perfect, this is really self-defeating behavior. There is nothing empowering in beating yourself up for ‘failing’ and scientific studies now show that being hard on yourself and others doesn’t improve performance. Instead, I’ve learned to practice self-compassion, which is simply recognizing my human-ness, I acknowledge what happened, figure out how I can learn from it, and then I let it go. This is a much more effective use of my time and energy in living to my potential.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH A SUPPORTIVE TRIBE.

Throughout my 11 years of running Girls at Play whitewater programs, I’ve witnessed time and again how empowered women become on the water when they’re surrounded by a group of supportive and compassionate paddlers. A supportive tribe is a key component to a successful river trip. I like to use the word tribe because it infers a community that depends on each other for survival. Each member of the tribe contributes something unique that helps the community work and prosper. Choosing to surround yourself with people who hold you to your highest and best and who authentically support you in your goals and aspirations is not only empowering, but really fun too.

And in all of this, the whole point is to bring more fun and less suffering both on and off the water.

INDUSTRY

demo DECEMBER 19, 2015 WINTERGREEN RESORT

475 Westfield Rd. | Charlottesville, VA | 22901 | freestyleonline.com | 434.978.4091 60

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

BlueRidgeOutdoors

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

D on’t Fl oat the Mainstream!

®

®

®

™

SweetWater Brewing Company • Georgia • SweetWaterBrew.com

TRAIL MIX

JOHN STICKLEY TRIO 12 . 15

LOST AT LAST

TOP 20 ALBUMS FROM 2015

FOR BRO’S 20th ANNIVERSARY, WE’LL SEND YOU OFF WITH 20 MUST-HEAR STUDIO RELEASES FROM 2015.

by JEDD FERRIS

Stickley is a western North Carolina-based under-theradar flatpicking wizard. This dynamic new album with his unorthodox trio (featuring fiddle and drums) takes acoustic string sounds to the outer limits through crafty instrumental compositions.

ALABAMA SHAKES

LEON BRIDGES

LUCERO

SOUND & COLOR

COMING HOME

ALL A MAN SHOULD DO

This Texas upstart’s soothing voice revives Sam Cooke’s soulful heyday. Props for the authentic sound around him goes to Bridges’ band and producers, which includes two members of indie rockers White Denim.

The Memphis outfit’s latest contains some of the most poignant songwriting to date from front man Ben Nichols, backed by his longtime crew of tattooed alt-country soul rockers. The tune that won’t leave you: “Went Looking for Warren Zevon’s Los Angeles.”

The Shakes could’ve followed up 2013 debut Boys & Girls with some safe soulful rock, and no one would’ve complained. Instead the group got trippy and blasted through a recorded set of psychedelic blues rock with experimental touches that revolves around the voice of Brittany Howard. Her killer singing sometimes manages to conjure both Aretha Franklin and Robert Plant in the same song.

FATHER JOHN MISTY I LOVE YOU, HONEY BEAR

This album is part love letter to a new marriage and part world-weary head-trip confessional, all delivered through Josh Tillman’s wise-ass satirical mind and an expansive freak-folk sound that includes everything from mariachi horns to dashes of electronica.

DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE NASHVILLE OBSOLETE

The Machine’s sophomore effort is a hypnotic journey through the old-time minds of Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch, highlighted by stellar string work and hauntingly beautiful harmonies.

62

JAMES MCMURTRY COMPLICATED GAME

As the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Larry McMurtry, writing is in the Texas-based McMurtry’s blood. His lyrics have never been more vivid and stunning as he grits through his latest set of literate country rock.

SETH AVETT & JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD SETH AVETT & JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD SING ELLIOTT

CRAIG FINN FAITH IN THE FUTURE

Known best as a rock party ring leader as front man of the Hold Steady, Finn’s latest solo effort digs into some dark emotions as he ruminates on losing his mother and watching the Twin Towers fall with a friend in “Newmyer’s Roof.”

SMITH

STEVE EARLE

The partnership between Avett and Mayfield delivered a righteous revival of a troubled but brilliant songwriter who left us too soon.

TERRAPLANE

WILCO

BLITZEN TRAPPER

STAR WARS

ALL ACROSS THIS LAND

This summer Wilco surprised fans by dropping this unannounced album online for free. It’s a satisfying set with punchy and progressive earworms like “Random Name Generator.”

B L U E R I D G E O U T D O O R S / D E C E M B E R 2 01 5

On his sixteenth album, Earle takes a deep dive into the blues and it’s a perfect complement to his powerful weathered voice.

The seventh album from prolific indie roots-rock outfit Blitzen Trapper, known for occasionally indulging in experimental space country, mellows out and delivers a satisfying set of melodic folk rock, highlighting the earnest songbook of front man Eric Earley.

WARREN HAYNES ASHES & DUST

A refreshing change for electric guitar hero Warren Haynes, who dug into his memory bank and wrote some acoustic tunes about growing up in North Carolina, backed by expansive string band Railroad Earth.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS

This Colorado folk singer made an exciting pivot and turned to soul on this rowdy debut with his big band the Night Sweats on the legendary Stax Records.

KURT VILE B’LIEVE I’M GOING DOWN

Front man John Darnielle is still channeling his youthful angst through engaging alt-folk songs. This time it’s done through a creative theme—his lifelong love of pro wrestling.

Philly’s indie rock guitar hero showcased his wide musical taste on his sixth studio effort, blending his fluid finger-picking with banjo, piano, and studio atmospherics, while waxing poetic about self doubt in his Petty drawl.

BEACH HOUSE

CHRIS STAPLETON

DEPRESSION CHERRY

TRAVELLER

BEAT THE CHAMP

The Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally created another batch of mesmerizing ethereal rock with their most thoughtprovoking lyrics to date.

CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN INTERLUDES FOR THE DEAD

Neal Casal, former guitar slinger for Ryan Adams and currently a member of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Hard Working Americans, was asked to compose some instrumental set-break music for the Grateful Dead’s massive Fare Thee Well stadium concerts this past summer. This album compiles the best of those spontaneous psychedelic jams.

BlueRidgeOutdoors

An accomplished Nashville tunesmith, Stapleton has written hits for huge country stars and was once a member of Grammywinning bluegrass outfit The SteelDrivers. With Traveller, he’s come into his own as an Americana force, delivering heartfelt tunes with a husky howl.

MADISEN WARD AND THE MAMA BEAR SKELETON CREW

This mother-and-son duo from Kansas City channels the emotional power of front-porch intimacy with two acoustic guitars and two strong voices.

GoOutAndPlay

BlueRidgeOutdoors

YOUR CHAMPION FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS

OF THE