EAST BURKE — The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) hosted the 7th Annual Vermont Outdoor Economy Summit in November at Burke Mountain Resort last month, convening 155 outdoor industry businesses, organizations, and policymakers for a day of collaboration, education, and business development.

Kellyann Davis, Director of Research for the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), kicked off the Summit with a keynote providing crucial insights into data on outdoor consumer trends. “Snowsports continue to dominate as the activity outdoor enthusiasts spend the most on,” said Davis. “With snow on the ground, this puts the Vermont outdoor sector in a strong position going into the holiday season – but the data also shows only 14.5% shoppers get their gear at independent outdoor retailers, with Amazon overwhelmingly capturing the outdoor gear dollar.”

“Currently, Vermont resorts and retailers are reporting a strong start to the season, but the OIA data is a clear call to action, highlighting the need for outdoor consumers to support the places and people they care about by shopping at local businesses and visiting our outdoor downtowns,” said Kelly Ault, Executive Director of VOBA. “With so many challenges affecting the industry, including financial risks due to fluctuating federal policy and the hurdles of climate resilience, supporting your local gear shop is one way to support the economic prosperity of the outdoor sector and our State”

The outdoor industry was intentional about convening in the recreation epicenter of East Burke. Northeast Kingdom leaders offered up decades of lessons learned from the success of local communities and partnerships that have balanced ecological values and commerce. In opening remarks, Jon Schaefer, COO and Co-Owner of Bear Den Partners’ Burke Mountain Resort, emphasized Burke Mountain’s deep connection to the success of the local economy, “Rising tides for us is when the whole community does better. Our business is successful when our community does better.”

Governor Phil Scott, who oversaw the creation of the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative in 2017, addressed the Summit and maintained his belief in the return on investment of directing public funding to Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy, “The outdoor economy is something that defines who we are as Vermonters. Using outdoor recreation as a tool to attract people to come to Vermont, and stay, has, and can, pay real dividends.”

The founders pitching in the 2nd Annual Outdoor Pitch Fest brought down the house with Thicket Adventure taking home the Overall Resilience award and Sluff Wax the Climate & Circularity and the People’s Choice award. The annual event gives outdoor entrepreneurs the opportunity to present best practices for resilience, and values-led climate and circularity strategies to judges and industry peers.

This year, VOBA honored Donna Carpenter, Owner of Burton Snowboards, and the Carpenter family with the 5th Annual Sen. Patrick Leahy Trailblazer Legacy Award. The award recognizes lifetime contributions to Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy with a special focus on sustainability, equity, community investment, and economic growth. “[Vermont] is where the Burton story started, and where it will continue into the next generation,” said Carpenter. “Next year, Burton turns 50, half a century. Most of the world thought we were crazy, Vermont didn´t. Vermont supported us, gave us a sense of community, and helped install the kind of stubborn optimism that I think is hardwired into this state. To survive here, especially through a hard winter, you need grit and perseverance. But you also need your neighbors.”

Marc Sherman, Owner of Burlington’s Outdoor Gear Exchange (OGE), agrees that starting a business in Vermont requires perseverance and support for and from your neighbors. “At the OGE, we have always considered ourselves as part of the neighborhood. We invest in our staff and our community and hope that this helps inspire our customers to think of us when they’re getting ready for their next adventure or simply in support of their outdoor lifestyle. Thanks to ongoing support from Vermont’s outdoor community we have built OGE into a thirty-year old economic cornerstone of friends and neighbors. When you choose to shop local this holiday season you are supporting Vermonters, the benefits of which ripple through your community and all of Vermont.”

VOBA would like to recognize the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development’s Departments of Economic Development and Tourism and Marketing, Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative, Northern Border Regional Commission, Sevenpair Studios, Merritt & Merritt, Burke Mountain Resort, Cabot Hosiery Mills, Northeast Vermont Development Association, Vermont Economic Development Authority, Vermont Community Loan Fund, The Richards Group, Green Up Day, The Wildflower Inn, and SB Signs.

The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) is a state-wide organization established in 2018 to educate Vermonters on outdoor recreation and businesses on business development, collaboration initiatives, and outdoor recreation policy. VOBA and its 155 members strengthen Vermont’s outdoor economy through networking & learning, business development & technical assistance, research & branding, workforce development, and advocacy. VOBA supports investment in the state’s natural and recreation resources and equitable access for all in the outdoors. www.vermontoutdoorbusinessalliance.org

Deep in the Northeast Kingdom lie the Kingdom Heritage Lands, 132,000 acres of former and current timberland conserved for public access since 1998. The remote and undeveloped area is mainly the domain of wildlife, logging trucks, hunters and snowmobilers.

Recently, however, increasing numbers of rock climbers have frequented a stunning band of chiseled granite towers set in the middle of the Kingdom Heritage Lands, at a cliff 30 minutes south of the Canadian border and on the northern edge of the Nulhegan basin.

“As soon as you reach the cliff, your jaw drops,” Mischa Tourin, executive director of the Climbing Resource Access Group of Vermont — or CRAG-VT — said last week. “It all is perfect 90-degree angles, like it was built by rock climbers with rock climbing in mind.”

Climbers first explored the cliff, known as Black Mountain (not to be mistaken for Black Mountain Natural Area in Dummerston), around 2005, but only visited it sporadically until it was added to the second edition of Vermont’s comprehensive outdoor climbing guidebook, “Vermont Rock,” in 2022.

Alongside the subsequent increase in use of the cliff, the nonprofit CRAG-VT has spent the past few years working with landowners and easement-holders to preserve access, including creating a climbing management plan and establishing rock climbing as an “acceptable form of recreation” on the Kingdom Heritage Lands.

As part of that effort, six weeks of trail work on the area’s rugged and steep approach trail have been completed over the last two years by NorthWoods Stewardship Center, with significant funding from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.

According to Tourin, outdoor rock climbing in Vermont was, for a long time, defined by the schist that runs along the spine of the Green Mountains — a unique rock covered with tiny impressions, used by rock climbers as “holds.” In contrast, Black Mountain is made up of strong granite covered in “perfect” parallel cracks of varying sizes, Tourin said, which geologically has more in common with the White Mountains of New Hampshire or world-class climbing areas like Yosemite.

The power-line access road that leads to Black Mountain on September 4, 2021. Photo by K. Fiegenbaum/VTDigger

Those cracks, Tourin said, are very conducive to “traditional” climbing, where participants jam their hands and feet into the crack to move upward and place expansion gear — attached to a rope — in the cracks to catch a fall or help facilitate a descent.

“I think I feel comfortable saying that (Black Mountain) is the best place in the Northeast for crack climbing, as far as the number of crack climbs in one cliff,” the longtime climber and guide said. About 70 different routes have been established at the area, most of them of moderate or advanced difficulty.

However, reaching “Vermont’s premiere crack climbing mecca” can be quite the trek.

Black Mountain is located about a three-hour drive from Burlington, on the edge of Averill (population 21) and Lewis (population 0). Following a GPS will likely lead to a dead end, and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended.

The cliff is even a sizable distance from the Northeast Kingdom towns of St. Johnsbury (one hour and 30 minutes) or Newport (one hour), since users generally drive all the way up to the Canadian border in Norton before traveling 6.2 miles south on a slow, rocky power-line access road to reach Black Mountain’s parking area.

“It’s definitely far away,” Tourin said. “The last few times I’ve been there, it certainly seems like more folks in Canada have noticed that it’s a pretty good climbing resource because it’s only a couple miles south of the border.”

Before CRAG-VT’s involvement, the ordeal to reach the base of the cliff didn’t stop at the parking area. Up until a couple of years ago, visitors had to try and locate the access trail, which was steep, prone to erosion, often muddy and lined with prickly plants that latched onto any nearby pants leg.

As of last month, however, trail workers have fully established a sustainable approach trail that includes a welcome kiosk, 38 stone steps, four wooden ladders and 160 feet of retaining wall, a recent CRAG-VT newsletter explained. 

Julia Vitale climbs at Black Mountain in Averill on October 9, 2022. File photo by Mischa Tourin

“Next phases will continue base-of-cliff stabilization, assess more complex gully issues, and explore parking improvements,” the newsletter read. “This work moves us closer to a fully sustainable Black Mountain for years to come.”

According to Tourin, CRAG-VT’s work lies not only in securing access to climbing and stewarding cliffs but also in building community. To that end, the group held weekend member meetups titled Kingdom Climbing Weekend this year and last, renting out cottages at Quimby Country resort in Averill.

“We started it off maybe as a one-time thing to celebrate the start of (CRAG-VT’s) corridor manager agreement,” said Tourin, adding that most of those 40 participants wanted to return the next year to what he described as a “magical little family camp” on a lake.

“It’s a pretty great event and a pretty cool way to bring, I think, a little bit of money into the local community there,” he said.

While the remoteness of Black Mountain can be a draw, Tourin said it’s hard to gauge the future of the climbing area due to its location.

“It’s an amazing cliff,” he said. “I don’t know if it will ever be super crowded, just because it’s so far tucked away in the corner of the state, but it’s definitely a resource worth traveling to.”

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (WNYT) – A Vermont man is facing weapons charges after a traffic stop in Schenectady.

State Police said on Friday that troopers on Nov. 25 stopped a vehicle on Edison Avenue just before 10:45 a.m. for a traffic violation. The driver, 25-year-old Jayshawn Clemente, allegedly had an illegally possessed loaded handgun with a large capacity ammunition feeding device.

Clemente was charged with three counts of criminal possession of a weapon and traffic violations. He was arraigned in Schenectady City Court and sent to Schenectady County Jail in lieu of bail set at $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond.