Page 4 - Dec_13

publisher commentary

by Angelo Lynn

rUmOr Has It someone new bought
all working at our various newspapers in a mISSINg VoIce
essex, Colchester, middlebury, Brandon Backcountry access, Vermont’s winter Vermont Sports.
and Killington’s Mountain Times. It’s true. that’d be me.
Olympic hopefuls, new gear for the
We also publish Vermont ski & ride holidays, ski ticket deals, tuning my hope is that I do right by
magazine and Freedom Publications skis, a film review, and a profile of Vermont Sports’ loyal readers, which has
(six or so phone books in central and for the past 23 years of this magazine’s
a photographer with a dream job—
southern Vermont). and just so you don’t shooting for Burton—are wrapped into lifespan, included me.
think we’re crazy for being all print, we this 32-page issue.
I moved to Vermont 29 years ago to
also have web sites, mobile apps and Of those stories, backcountry ski take over the newspaper in middlebury,
other digital outlets.
the Addison County Independent, and
access is the up-and-coming issue.
the threat is losing the access to for most of those three decades have also the family business also includes
forestlands enthusiasts have been quietly competed in various runs, bike rides, my wife, lisa Gosselin, who is currently
skiing, riding or snowshoeing for the triathlons, canoe races and other friendly working as state commissioner of
when the cone was covered in snow
past couple of decades, or longer. the forms of competition. I’ve always read economic development, but prior to her
quandary is how best to stem that loss.
Vermont Sports to keep up with this current post spent 25 years as editor of and ice just a short ways up from the
community of friends and like-minded national magazines— 14,000-foot base hut all the way to the some may prefer to
competitors, to learn of upcoming races Eating Well, Bicycling, 18,491-foot summit. (Global warming
has since melted all but the very top.) We keep the issue out of the
and events, articles important to fitness Ski, Yachting, Audubon, limelight, others think Have other thoughts
andhealth,updatesonthelatestgear,and to name a few. In her wentbackin1976totrytobethefirst it’s time to officially concerningaccesstothe
to read about the lives and adventures of current role with Vermont to ski down that 45-degree icy cone, but organize and speak with
fellow outdoor enthusiasts.
and didn’t count on blizzards in mexico in backcountry? Send your
Sports Vermont Ski a unified voice.
comments to publisher@
I’m also an avid skier, more alpine or & Ride, she plays the late may. after four days camped at the the latter course vtsports.com or go online
backcountry than Nordic, but I love both. underpaid consultant. hut in snowstorms, we jumped at a brief holds the better promise
I live part of the time on lake dunmore a brother, emerson, has window of blue sky but after 8 hours at Vtsports.com and post
for a simple reason: your opinions there or on
and love to water ski; we have a 30-foot not only been my canoe struggling through the snow-pack, we Backcountry skiing is on
tartan on lake Champlain (my wife is partner for the past 30 called it off at 16,500, skied down and the rise. Industry reports our facebook page.
skipper); and I try my hand at surfing (and years and teammate in headed home.
suggest it’s the fastest
kite-surfing next) whenever we’re on the triathlons for 15 years, I’ve been a cowboy in steamboat
growing segment of
ocean. I swim because I have to.
but also a colleague in the newspaper (wrestling steers, branding, riding herd today’s recreational skiers. With growth
In my earlier years at Kansas business as publisher (with his wife, on1,000headofbeefcattle,fixingfence), comes pressure on the land and eventual
University and after, I worked for rocky suzanne) of the St. Albans Messenger guided rivers in alaska, served on a
policies that may instill boundaries.
NationalParkinColoradoandspentan and Milton Independent, and co- climbingrescueteam,wasanightjanitor Without an organized voice, those policies
active eight years rock climbing in the owners of the Essex Reporter and at a ski area in the sierras, a dishwasher will be made without backcountry skiers
summers and skiing at steamboat springs Colchester Sun.
and liftie, too.
at the table.
in winter. at my peak in climbing, I was that all adds up to a few years But for the past few decades I’ve been
silence may be golden in the
invited on a winter-like first ascent in experience in sports, outdoor adventure an editor and publisher on the days I’m backcountry, but it’s not an effective
alaska on the tusk in early april.
and journalism.
not pursuing some outdoor passion. the strategy when others are laying down
I’d also climbed mexico’s highest so glad to meet you, but let’s get on business has grown and today my three
the law.
volcano, Pico de Orizaba, in 1973, back
with the show.
daughters—Polly, Christy and elsie—are
as Vermont writer and author
david Goodman writes in a letter
(below), mountain bikers, snowmobilers,

to tHe eDItor:
hikers and atVers have all organized into
groups with good success. If backcountry at a forum in rochester a few days earlier, Vermont
skiers put aside their penchant for tourism Commissioner megan smith also leaned on skiers to
BaCKCOUNtry sKIers are really good at disappearing organize so that the state could promote backcountry skiing.
independence and joined together, they
into secret powder stashes with barely a trace. We haven't could be key players in helping Vermont this could help small communities that are struggling to find
been very good at showing up when decisions are being made determine how to effectively embrace economic development opportunities tap into the white gold
that directly affect us. It's time for backcountry skiers to get backcountry skiing, rather than limit it.
lying on their hillsides — if only they could get the word out
to the world. and then there is speaking up about climate
organized.
•••••••••
Why organize? For starters, skiers are losing access change and the threat it poses to all of our winter passions.
to wild lands. ski areas such as stowe and sugarbush are One final note about Vermont Sports: mountain bikers have done it (VmBa). snowmobilers
Former publisher and editor sky Barsch, have done it (Vast). atVers have done it (Vasa). Hikers have
restricting or banning skiing up their mountains to reach the
backcountry –despite the fact that the ski areas are located who is currently associate publisher at done it (GmC). the time has come for Vermont’s backcountry
on state or national forest. legislation was proposed earlier Vermont Life, has continued burn the skiers to emerge from their secret stashes, come together and
this year that would have criminalized some backcountry midnight oil helping edit the magazine speak with one voice about issues of common concern. there’s

skiing, levying fines on any skier who left a ski area and then through our the transition. We are a whole lot of wild snow out there waiting for our turns—if we
required rescue in the backcountry. skiers testified in the indebted to her for all she has done to can preserve our access, glades and our snow.
Vermont state House and helped defeat the measure, but it keep Vermont Sports vibrant and look
forward to working with her and many
was a warning: get organized, or get banned.
Power and powder,
at the annual meeting of the Catamount trail of the same employees at Vermont davidGoodman
association in November, Craig Whipple, head of the Vermont Sports as we produce a magazine that Waterbury Center, Vt
is entertaining, motivating, sometimes
dept. of Forests, Parks and recreation, practically begged
backcountry skiers to come together in some organizational provocative and always informative.
david Goodman is the author of Best Backcountry Skiing
form so that the state could have input into backcountry trail in the Northeast: 50 Classic Ski Tours in New England and
Angelo Lynn
development, glading and other user policies.
New York.

4 VtSportS.com
December 2013