Tuesday, November 15, 2011

-Trip Report- Pine Hill Park: Now There's A Reason to go to Rutland (November 2011)



Rutland has long been the Rodney Dangerfield of Vermont towns: it doesn't get any respect. From it's derisive nicknames (i.e. "The Rut", "Rut-vegas") to…well, the title of the article, it takes a lot of flak from the outside world and especially from Vermonters.

After sampling the local trails at Pine Hill Park, I may owe the good folks from Rutland an apology.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

-Trip Report- Ascutney: One Week Later (November 2011)

I have the urge to sculpt this out of mashed potatoes.
I swore I wasn't going to write any more mountain biking articles this year.

If you hadn't noticed, we've already switched the graphics over to our winter offering.  Like a department store, the Halloween decorations are already in the box and the garland and lights are up in the windows.  Ski season is clearly on our minds.  This weekend screwed all of that up.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Five Steps to Buying a Cheap Telemark Ski Setup

Gered makes his own climbing skins out of snow.
November is a tough month for skiers. Your mailbox is filling up with ski magazines, your inbox is getting blasted with announcements for ski movie premiers and resort lodging specials, and you've already dusted off your gear and put the ski rack back on your car. Still, the season still seems so very far away. Sure, you may get an October treat to tide you over for a few days but pretty soon it's brown and bleak again and you're counting down the days until you can make some real turns.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

1000 Miles from Home


Somewhere near mile 994.
I traveled a thousand miles from home this year....and I did it all on a mountain bike.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Trip Report- Millstone Hill Trails: True Grit (October 2011)

One of the many bedrock spines.
At the geographic heart of the Green Mountains, the trails at Millstone Hill near Barre are the embodiment of Vermont's stern and ingenious spirit and among its premiere mountain biking destinations.

While you probably won't need your climbing harness or pitons, you'll need to bring a heaping helping of true grit.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

This is the Year: Alaska Heli-Ski Video

There is only one guy I know who is more fanatical about skiing than Andy: My friend Ben Szekely.

Ben has been gracious to lead me down some of the best lines I have ever skied and this past spring he set some of his own personal bests out in Girdwood, Alaska heli-skiing with Chugach Powder Guides. He put together this video of his footage for a CGP/GoPro contest.

While this guy can rip some big lines, Ben is based in Boston and hones his chops on New England slopes like the rest of us. The brief East Coast cameo in the video is likely the first time heli-skiing and Bretton Woods have ever been associated with one another.

Check out the video and let Ben know what you think.