Mount Washington Valley News Brought To You By Horsefeathers

By Tom Eastman

PINKHAM NOTCH NH— The 10th annual Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon and Wildcat Wildfire Pentathlon return to Mount Washington Valley Saturday, April 17.

The events are presented by the non-profit, member-supported Friends of Tuckerman Ravine organization based in Madison.
Funds from the races and membership dues help Friends of Tuckerman to preserve and protect the unique alpine and sub-alpine eastern slopes of Mount Washington and work in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to sustain the traditional uses of this distinctive area.

The events are open to teams, individuals and duos, according to executive director Al Risch.

The Inferno is the more challenging of the two events. Getting under way at 7 a.m., it consists of five legs — an 8.3-mile run, 6-mile kayak, 18-mile bike, 3-mile hike, and 1- mile ski or snowboard, ending in the ravine.

Registration is full for the Inferno limit of 30 teams of five and the 20-field solo TuckerMan class (to get on a stand-by list email to info@friendsoftuckerman.org). It is still open for the 20-female TuckerWomen competition, the all-women class and the duo class.

Registration is also still open for the Wildcat Wildfire. It follows the same format but starts an hour later, and finishes at Wildcat Mountain Ski Area with stunning views of Tuckerman Ravine.

The Wildfire race legs are a 6-mile run, 6-mile kayak, 18-mile bike, 2-mile hike/snowshoe up the Polecat Trail  at Wildcat and a 1.5-mile downhill ski race. The race is open to the same categories as the Tuckerman Inferno. The Wildfire will also feature a Wildfire Ski Club Division. An awards party will follow at the Wildcat Mountain Base Lodge at 5 p.m.

For further information, go to www.friendsoftuckerman.org or call 367-4417.

NORTH CONWAY NH— The Chefs’ Pentathlon got under way at Chef’s Market Wednesday night, Feb. 10. The series continues March 11, April 14, May 12 and the finals June 9. All will get under way at the Chef’s Market at 6 p.m.
“We had about 25 people show up, and five chefs: Doug Gibson and Chris Nelson of Hooligan’s, Dave “Chefs Pants Off” Dube of Lazy Susan’s, Josh Farrington, the sous chef at White Mountain Hotel, and Dennis Delmonico of Kearsarge Cafe and Severance Lodge on Kezar Lake,” said Bryant Alden, who is presenting the series with fellow American Culinary Federation New Hampshire Chapter official Gary Sheldon.
Bryant said by chance, he happened to mention the series that day to a couple having lunch at the Chef’s Market Wednesday. Turns out they were from Boston WCVB-Ch. 5’s “Chronicle” program, and they came back and filmed it that night for a future airing.
Bud Selmi presented his Sizzling Sauces as part of the event, and two tickets to the upcoming Tase of New Hampshire tickets at the Eagle Mountain House May 21 were given to two attendees from the audience — to be a monthly offering, says Bryant
At the end of the series, the first-place winner will be awarded $1000; second-place gets $550; third-place will receive $300 and fourth will net $150.
For more information, call Alden 356-4747 or Sheldon at 1-800-946-0197 ext. 7064 or email sheldon.gary@nne.sysco.com.

CONWAY — Local ski racing fans will be cheering on Conway ski racing sensation Leanne Smith, 22, when she competes in her first Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which got under way Feb. 12.

Smith learned to ski and race at Cranmore Mountain while growing up as a young skier with the Eastern Slope Ski Club’s Junior Ski Program and then as a member of the Kennett High Ski Team and the Mount Washington Valley Ski Team at Cranmore. She also trained with the team at Attitash and Wildcat Mountain.

The affable speed demon wasn’t able to get home in time for an Olympic celebration held at Cranmore’s Eating House Feb. 5, as she arrived later that evening en route back from Europe, but her parents and sister were there, and they were honored by the community. Conway selectmen declared that Friday as “Leanne Smith Day.”

Selectman Crow Dickinson presented a framed copy of the proclamation to Leanne’s parents, Joe and Paula Smith, and sister (Kennett High alpine coach] Laurel Zengilowski at the standing-room-only bash at Cranmore. A Chinese auction and silent auction were also held, with the event raising $15,000 to help the family with its traveling expenses to go see Leanne at the games.

The event was presented by the Eastern Slope Ski Club, Cranmore, the Valley Originals and Alvin J. Coleman and Son Inc. Musical entertainment was provided by Hey Yeti and Cranmore’s Kathy Bennett, and several businesses donated items for the auctions.

Smith met with friends and family over the weekend before going to her alma mater, Conway Elementary School (Class of ‘99) for an assembly with the entire school population. She fielded questions like a seasoned pro, and told the youngsters that only 10 years ago, she too, was a Junior Program skier at Conway El. She then urged them all to “study and work hard.”

Smith is expected to compete in the super combined (features one run of slalom and a run of downhill, in the super-G and the downhill.

Smith, 22, is one of 10 New Hampshire athletes competing in Vancouver. She joins a legion of other locals who have competed in the Olympics, including Paula Kann (1948), Imogene Opton (’52), Brooks Dodge (’52 and ‘56), Gilford’s Penny Pitou (1960), Tyler and Terry Palmer (1972), David Currier (also ‘72), Abbi Fisher (’76 and ‘80) and cross-country ski racers Carl Swenson (’94, ‘02 and ‘06) and Marcus Nash (’94 and ‘98). Jack Lufkin, now of Bartlett and first director of the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation in 1972, competed out of Rumford, Maine, at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, and Sue (Long) Wemyss of Great Glen Trails competed in cross country at Sarajevo in ‘84.

For more on her results, go to www.skiracing.com — and be sure to watch all the Olympic action on NBC-TV 6.

By Tom Eastman, Conway Daily Sun Feb. 2, 2010

JACKSON NH — It was a sellout Saturday night for the venerable resort’s 75th birthday gala, as the Valley’s Swingtones Big Band played a smooth series of sets that got everyone “In the Mood,” Glenn Miller Orchestra style.
The day’s events included skiing at Black, a dinner, torchlight parade, birthday cake and address by ski historian Ian Scully, who presented a brief overview of Black’s history. Scully is creator of the ski documentary, “Austria’s Influence on American Skiing.” Also featured at Black was the annual N.H. Sanctioned Snow Sculpting.

This year’s 2010 “People’s Choice” was awarded to Greg Grady andStephen Torpazio. First Place was awarded to Jonathan Pullan, StephenPullan and Jay Tremblay, who will be representing New Hampshire at the Nationals in Lake Geneva Wisconsin in 2011. The Pullan brothers — who hail from East Conway — have also won in the past.

TheInvitational first-place winner was awarded to Bryny Urquhart andMolly Urquhart of Maine.

Sunny, affordable and historic, Black Mountain has been a New England tradition since 1935 and, as the marketing director puts it, “continues to walk the very fine line of today and yesterday.” Back when it started, Black was known as Moody’s, as farmer Edwin Moody had his farmhouse which took in some lodgers and a hill behind the house. In 1935, he and local inventor George Morton and Phil Robertson of the local electric company at Goodrich Falls hydro-electric dam put up a tow, and soon skiers were flocking to the place. “Phil [Robertson] needed a day time power customer because they were dealing with hyrdo-electric — that’s part of the story behind the lift at Moody’s. They could not turn off the river, obviously, and it made sense to try and develop a big customer during the day that would counteract the draw they needed for the nighttime when everyone would be turning on their electric lights,” notes Jeff Leich of the New England Ski Museum, who was among the ski luminaries who attended Saturday’s gala.

By Tom Eastman

NORTH CONWAY NH - “There will likely come a day when another weather station reliably records a wind of greater than 231 miles per hour. When that day comes, [Mount Washington] Observatory staff, perhaps better than anyone, will understand the value of the achievement. But that next world record wind cannot diminish the significance of the 1934 World Record Wind, in what it will still say about the mountain and those who have worked there.”
— Dr. Peter Crane, “The Story of the World Record Wind,” Mount Washington Observatory Web page
• • •
Those who love the mountain that locals affectionately refer to as “The Rockpile” have been suffering a bit of an identity crisis all week.
Who are we, we ask our weather-loving selves, if Mount Washington is no longer holder of the “World Record Wind?”
Mount Washington devotees are at a loss this week to learn that the 6,288-foot focal point of the Mount Washington Valley — the “Top of New England” and the highest peak in the Northeast — can no longer lay claim to holding the world’s wind speed title.
In case you missed it, the mark of 231 mph record on April 12, 1934 by the crew of the then two-year-old non-profit Mount Washington Observatory has been blown away, if you will.
In a press release issued Jan. 26 by Scot Henley, executive director of the North Conway-based observatory, news of the new record is contained in a report released Jan. 22 by the World Meteorological Organization.
The record was toppled in 1996 at Barrow Island, Australia, during Typhoon Olivia.
According to the report, the new record stands at 253 miles per hour.
News of the new world record was released by a WMO evaluation panel of experts in charge of global weather and climate extremes. The panel was led by Dr. Randy Cerveny of Arizona State University.
“It was bound to happen, but it’s definitely quite a shock to hear that news,” says the observatory’s Henley. “While we are disappointed that it appears that Mount Washington may have been bumped from the top, at our core we are all weather fans and we are very impressed with the magnitude of that typhoon and the work of the committee that studied it.”
Sure, it hurts some to lose the distinction — but Mount Washington is still a bear of a mountain.
“We are still ‘Home of the World’s Worst Weather,’ ” said Henley, “and just because we may have lost the World Record Wind title does not change that. The mountain is still one of the most feared places on the planet. It’s a combination of bitter cold, freezing fog, heavy snow and incredibly high winds.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, February 7

NORTH CONWAY NH -  The American Cancer Society’s Race to Beat Cancer in North Conway will be taking place at Cranmore Mountain Resort. Participants gather donations from friends and family and enjoy a fun-filled day on the slopes. Minimum contribution of $75 per participant ($50 for those 17 and under) includes a full day lift or tubing pass. To register and for more information go to www.cancer.org/racetobeatcancer or call Kathy Metz, American Cancer Society, Community Executive at 356-3719 or (800) ACS-2345. For more information anytime, call toll free (800) ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.