Editors share insights, humor, and experiences from the regional outdoor scene.

The National Park Service recently released their preferred alternative for governing ORV use at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. For the past two years, the park service has heavily restricted ORV use on the island after a lawsuit from the Southern Environmental Law Center led to a ruling from a federal judge. Wildlife and park visitation [...]

I’m a sucker for a romantic story, which is why this little nugget caught my eye. Two Carolina Mountain Club members got engaged on top of Mount LeConte this October after completing the daunting South Beyond 6,000 challenge. After summitting LeConte, their 40’th 6,000 foot peak together, Lee dropped to one knee and asked Kelly [...]

Middle School Students Share Their Favorite Outdoor Experiences

My five minutes of fame comes Monday when my wife and I appear briefly on the Oprah Winfrey Show, along with guest Jerry Seinfeld. I never imagined I’d appear on Oprah, nor did I even dream that Jerry Seinfeld would target me for a few laughs. But even more unbelievable is the topic that I [...]

You think snowboarding’s cool? Check out the next evolution of snowboarding: Noboarding. Take your standard snowboard, strip the bindings and stick a stomp pad on top. Then rip powder sans bindings. The niche sport gets back to snowboarding’s surf-like roots, and opens up a whole new world of tricks in the process. Granted, there are [...]

Guns will be allowed in our national parks starting Monday, February 22 (George Washington’s birthday). The controversial law, which was first introduced by the Bush administration, was slipped into a massive credit cards bill in 2009 and signed by Obama. The law allows citizens to carry concealed weapons as well as hunting rifles and shotguns [...]

Asheville’s Ty Stevens finished third overall and top American at the six-day “Route of Fire” Coastal Challenge Expedition Run in Costa Rica last week. Stevens covered 140 rugged miles and over 30,000 feet of elevation ascent in just under 24 cumulative hours. Racers navigated jungles and rain forests, forded wide rivers, and ran across pristine, [...]

Text, photos, and video by Eric Crews
The wintry precipitation that fell across the High Country over the weekend was a nuisance for most area residents, but for the participants in the Red Bull Buttercup at Appalachian Ski Mountain on Saturday, the snowy weather provided an extra incentive to come out and compete for a chance [...]

West Virginia delegate John Doyle has introduced a bill (HB4192) that, if passed, would create a West Virginia Ski Resort Industry Commission designed to identify potential locations for new ski resorts, according to a recent article by the Charleston Gazette. The Mountain State currently has four downhill resorts that bring in 800,000 tourists and $250,000 [...]

The Southern Environmental Law Center—the region’s venerable legal eco advocate—has released a list of the top 10 most endangered areas in the South. According to the organization, the 10 areas were chosen out of hundreds analyzed, because their threats are the most immediate and potentially irreparable if not addressed soon.
“Common themes on this year’s list [...]

Next to food and medical supplies, the biggest need in the continual relief efforts in Haiti is shelter. President Rene Preval recently made a plea for 200,000 tents to provide much needed shelter for the many homeless residents displaced by the massive earthquake that struck the small Caribbean island country on January 12.  Regional outfitter [...]

A new bill introduced in California would make ski helmets mandatory for all minors and employees at any resort in the state. Intrawest, the mega-corp that owns a network of resorts across the U.S., including Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia, enacted a similar policy at all of its resorts this season. Any kid involved [...]

Sure, you work all day in front of the computer and then squeeze in 30 minutes of cardio in the evening. But is it enough? A new report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says no. The article published last week states that prolonged periods of sitting are linked to obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart [...]

We’ve had unprecedented amounts of early-season powder here in the Southeast. There’s been a constant base of snow in the high elevations near BRO’s NC office for almost a month. Canaan Valley, W.Va. has gotten 114 inches of snow already. Snowshoe Mountain Resort has gotten even more. The constant base on the mountain tops have [...]

While many this winter have been rejoicing about the second coming of snow in the Southeast, I was reminded last night by a local news report that most of the snow at regional ski resorts is manmade. It reminded me of a story I wrote three years ago about the day in the life of [...]