MARCH 4, 2010 ISSUE
Lift Ticket
A Column About Skiing and Snowboarding in the High Country
“It looks like Idaho up there,” said local travel writer and ski author Randy Johnson, referring to the snow cover, six-foot drifts, rime ice and winter splendor that he experienced two weeks ago on a trip to Mount Mitchell.
Randy and his friends are pros at experiencing winter. For decades, during big snow days, they wake before the dawn, decide on an adventure and then tackle it. Mountaineering, snowshoeing, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, photography expeditions, hiking—you name it, they do it…a lot. And Randy has crafted a life around not only doing snowsports, but also writing about them.
With snow falling every other day in the High Country this winter, it’s easy to become conditioned to its presence; it’s easy to take it for granted, to complain about it, to hole up inside and rationalize staying warm instead of facing the elements head on and seizing any bit of recreation available. But Randy and his friends, like others I am fortunate enough to know, understand that a precipitation-rich winter such as this is not to be ignored; it’s not to pass without a carve of the skis in fresh powder, not to pass without a mountaineering expedition up a rock face glistening with ice, not to pass without finding yourself negotiating a six-foot snowdrift.
So I pass along thanks to Randy for rekindling my inner child—the child who loves snow; the child who would never have to stop dreaming as long as the snow was falling. As Randy stood across from me at my desk last week, he began the conversation quietly, yet as he and I began talking about Southern skiing, its history and then eventually the immense snowfalls of this winter, his voice raised, his arms became animated and a smile stretched across his now expression-rich face. He recounted with boyhood splendor about a half-dozen adventures he had embarked on this winter—snowy adventures that he and his friends have taken year after year, winter after winter. But you could tell that something about this winter’s adventures was different. Exclamation points ended every sentence as he described the sights he has discovered over the past two months. In Randy’s own backyard—the High Country, a place he knows well, especially its potential winter exploits—the fun, adventure and recreation is new again, thanks to snowfall that far surpasses any snowsport lovers’ dreams.
We talked about the week’s snowfall, the potential for even more snow, and you could just see Randy’s brain twirling, his mind dreaming up new adventures to be had—before it was too late. I left work that day inspired, enlightened and energized. And you can bet that the next time the snow falls heavy in the High Country, I’ll be outside embarking on a unique High Country adventure instead of just sitting at my desk hearing about one.
Go play in the snow.
High Country Magazine’s Annual Ski Issue Now Available
Last week, the latest issue of High Country Magazine hit the streets. Our annual winter ski issue is anchored by a story on Sugar Mountain Resort’s 40th anniversary—titled “Dream On”—that provides a historical perspective on the last four decades of ideas, dreams and initiatives that shaped, and continue to shape, the flagship resort. I urge everyone to pickup a copy or read the issue on our website, which can be accessed by clicking to www.highcountrypress.com or www.highcountrymagazine.com.
The issue also contains a story by ski writer Randy Johnson about Sepp Kober, the Austrian transplant who launched skiing at The Homestead resort in Virginia in 1959-60. “Hall of Fame Honors at Last for Southern Skiing” explores Kober’s contributions to the early days of the Southern ski concept and industry, and explains why Kober, more than any other person, turned the dream of Southern skiing into a reality. Read it!
High Country Magazine is available at hundreds of locations across the High Country.
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