April 2024

Grand Hike in the Champlain Valley

Join Champlain Area Trails for The Grand Hike, a 14-mile walk through the beautiful forests and fields in the Champlain Valley on Saturday, May 11. Along the way, there are four rest stops to find snacks, water, and porta-potties. There are also chances to mingle with other hikers. If people want to walk only part of the distance, they can catch a shuttle back to the finish line, and join the post-hike party. The hike starts from the Essex Gateway Trailhead in Essex, and ends in Westport.

After the hike, join the “après hike party” celebration at Winton’s 1898 Tavern at Westport Golf and Country Club. The party will feature live music by the Headwall Band, drinks, and food to purchase. There will also be an outdoor games area to enjoy. Everyone is welcome to attend the party, which CATS invites the community to participate in. Proceeds benefit Champlain Area Trails, an accredited land trust founded in 2009 to make trails, protect land, connect people with nature, and promote economic vitality in the Champlain Valley. Register: champlainareatrails.com.

Cycling in the Dolomites Photo Workshop

Italy’s Dolomites have fantastic rock shapes that rise as isolated massifs, separated from each other by saddles, ridges, and deep valleys. High-altitude grasslands, larch and fir forests, valleys furrowed by rushing streams, mountain huts, and villages are connected by an unparalleled path network. Muench Workshops will explore by bike and photograph this region on a unique photo and travel experience. They’ll combine the best photography with some amazing gravel paths and tracks, which guests ride on custom-built gravel or mountain bikes, or mountain e-bikes. They’re fully supported with repairs, food, water, and gear transport. Participants will photograph these scenes in the sweet light early and late with their “big camera” gear, and during the day, they’ll ride and photograph with small cameras and iPhones.

Muench Workshops has been leading photo expeditions around the world since 2007 with the most experienced guides. They include everything, even the bikes. It’s a small group, and this trip on June 22-30 is almost filled, so act fast to join them. Muench offers personal instruction and an all-inclusive experience so guests can focus on photography. They collaborate with the best pros and local guides to offer the ultimate learning environment for travel, adventure, landscape, and wildlife photographers so guests can best capture our beautiful planet. Go to: muenchworkshops.com.

New Publication: Wilderness Camping in the Adirondacks

Wilderness Camping in the Adirondacks is a helpful guide for adventure seekers planning weekend or two-day camping trips. Written by Bill Ingersoll, guidebook author and vice-chair of Adirondack Wilderness Advocates, the book features 25 relatively easy outings scattered throughout the park for campers to hike trails or paddle waterways to lean-tos, primitive tent sites, and some camps accessible only by water. Introductory sections also cover NY’s regulations for wilderness camping and tips for gear, safety, and leave-no-trace principles.

With detailed trail and waterway maps for each hike along with photos taken by the author, it’s the perfect companion. Bill is also the author of 50 Hikes in the Adirondack Mountains and Snowshoe Routes: Adirondacks & Catskills. Available now: rowman.com.

Above Average Day Debuts on WMHT

Filmed in the mountains and wilderness of the Adirondacks and Vermont, An Above Average Day is a documentary that poses the question: What could two men with a 30-year age difference – Ray O’Conor, 69, and Joe Murphy, 39, both of Saratoga Springs – who met by chance (or fate) on a mountain climbing adventure, possibly have in common that would compel them to climb more than 400 mountains and hike in excess of 4,000 miles of trails?

Produced and directed by Katera and Aviral Kapoor, founders of Veda Films, it follows their hiking and wilderness adventures. Hiking is not just a pastime, but an avocation for Joe, a UAlbany academic advisor, and Ray, a bank board chairman. They challenge each other physically, while replenishing themselves in mind and spirit. The view from atop a mountain, sitting along a forest stream, standing beneath a waterfall and listening to music during their travels, makes the troubles of life and the world melt away. They’ve discovered that there is nothing better than time in the wilderness and chasing their dreams. In conjunction with Earth Week, WMHT-TV PBS will broadcast the debut of An Above Average Day on Wednesday, April 24 at 5:30pm. Visit: wmht.org.

UCI Mountain Bike World Series in September

Lake Placid will host a round of the WHOOP UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) Mountain Bike World Series, the world’s premier mountain biking circuit, for the first time on Friday-Sunday, Sept. 27-29. With a loyal following, the series will bring the top pro riders to compete in three UCI Cross-Country World Cups: Olympic, short track, and marathon. Tickets are on sale now. Mt Van Hoevenberg is one of 15 stops for the series that spans 10 countries on three continents, starting in Brazil on April 12-14 and finishing at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec on October 4-6. The series includes traditional XC and downhill as well as new formats: XC marathon, enduro, and e-enduro.

Mountain biking’s best will be there, including Swiss rider Nino Schurter, the top men’s rider last year after capturing his ninth XC world cup overall title and 10th world championships victory. Considered to be greatest rider in the sport’s history, he is a four-time Olympian with gold, silver and bronze medals. Other top men’s riders include Tom Pidcock, a British rider who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games, Jordan Sarrou (France), and Mathias Fluckiger (Switzerland). Christopher Blevins of Colorado, was the top American on the XCO tour last year, finishing 29th. Luca Schwarzbauer (Germany) was the overall XCC points leader.

For the women, Puck Pieterse of Netherlands won the overall points title last year in both short track and XC. Loana Lecomte (France) and Mona Mitterwallner (Austria) were second and third in XC, while Alessandra Keller (Switzerland) and Evie Richards (United Kingdom) rounded out the top three in XCC points. Swiss riders Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei and Linda Indergand swept the medals at the Tokyo Olympics. For the American team, California natives Gwendalyn Gibson, Kate Courtney, and Savilia Blunk all finished in the top 20 overall.

The Olympic Authority and series promoter Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, will enter a three-year agreement to host the races in Lake Placid. Mountain biking made its Olympic debut in 1996 at the Atlanta Games. The series will take a mid-season break during the Paris Olympic Games from July 26-August 11. Tickets: mtvanhoevenberg.com.