Registration is underway. The team captains meeting rooms are set up. The venues are ready. The athletes are here! World Cup Freestyle action gets underway this Thursday in Wilmington at Whiteface Mountain with knee-crunching moguls competition, followed by two days of high flying aerials at the Olympic Jumping Complex in the annual Lake Placid Cup. The top international freestyle skiing athletes have converged on Lake Placid en masse and we're ready. The aerial events are always enormous crowd-pleasers with pounding rock music and mega-volts of electricity in the air as the world's best execute their mind-bending acrobatics off the giant freestyle 'kickers'. This is one winter sport that is incredibly spectator-friendly. Come out and catch the World Cup action this week. The town always has an air of excitement when international competitors of any sport hit town. This week will not disappoint.
Some tips on spectating at the Lake Placid Cup from Kelly Kennedy, our alpine skiing blogger:
* Dress in layers/ dress to be outside -- feet get cold quickly standing on snow - especially in ski boots - hand and toe warmers are a good idea.
* Moguls are Thursday on Wilderness - it's one of the steepest, if not the steepest course in the world on this tour. You will need to be able to ski to get to the bottom of the course from the top of The Facelift or from the top of Wilderness from above. The course is quite high up on the mountain so it's not accessible for non-skiers.
* Mid-station is a decent spot to watch from - especially w/ binoculars, if you can't get from there up to the course.
* If you can't ski down Wilderness, you can walk up from mid-station - bring water and ski poles can help you hike.
* Aerials events are on Friday and Saturday -- favorites of ours!!! Again, dress for weather, arrive early if you want to view up front, otherwise all viewing is good, arrive early for good parking - parking overflow is across the street at the horse show grounds, there is plenty of parking there. This is a great event for kids and non-skiers, in addition to ski enthusiasts. The Saturday night event is followed by a great fireworks display. This event is really much more than a competition - it's a party, with great rockin' music and a fabulously 'electric' atmosphere! Dress the kids for playing in the snow!
*Food and beverages and bathrooms are available at mid-station lodge at Whiteface and at the Freestyle aerials hill, and the buildings are good places to warm up.
Next door in Keene and Keene Valley, the Mountaineer and Adirondack Rock and River are gearing up for their 17th Annual Adirondack International Mountaineering Festival January 18 - 21st. Mountainfest will kick off on Friday night with a slideshow by Majka Burhardt, one of the finest alpinists in the world, at the Keene Central School in Keene Valley at 8 p.m. Majka, who hails from New Hampshire, will take us on a journey through her most recent climbing expeditions. On Saturday, renowned guide and mountaineer Freddie Wilkinson will present "Alpine Dispatches: Mountaineering and Storytelling in the Twenty-First Century." From hands on workshops in the field to the evening activities, it's an awesome weekend, jam-packed with all things mountaineering. If you don't climb you can still enjoy some of the amazing night time presentations.
In the Schroon Lake Region this weekend, join the Northern New York Audubon Bird Walk with SUNY'S Environmental Science and Forestry's Charlotte Demers. The participants will snowshoe around a two-mile loop in the beautiful forest of Arbutus Lake in the Huntington Wildlife Forest of Newcomb. The Adirondacks are seeing some eruptions of bird species we haven't seen in a couple of years, so it's a great opportunity for birders.
In the Lake Champlain Region, you can learn how to tap trees and start making your own maple syrup at the Maple Sugar Workshop at Camp Pok-O-MacCready in Willsboro. Start the day with a pancake breakfast and then learn how to identify maple trees and set up and maintain your own sugar bush. Sounds like a fun, tasty and educational day!
The rest of this month and next are busy in all of our regions. From book signings and art events, to the huge international events, you're sure to be able to immerse yourself in the fun of Adirondack winter!
