NEWS Quarterly of the Green Mountain Club WINTER 2020 Codding Hollow Property Conserved | Managing Trails During a Global Pandemic | Winter Hiking Safety Side-to-Side in Less Than a Week | Skiing Vermont’s Highest Peaks CONTENTS Winter 2020, Volume 80, No. 3 The mission of the Green Mountain Club is to make the Vermont mountains play a larger part in the life of the people by protecting and maintaining the Long Trail System and fostering, through education, the stewardship of Vermont’s hiking trails and mountains. Quarterly of the Green Mountain Club Michael DeBonis, Executive Director Alicia DiCocco, Director of Development & Communications PHOTO BY ALICIA DICOCCO Becky Riley and Hugh DiCocco on Mt. Mansfield Ilana Copel, Communications Assistant Richard Andrews, Volunteer Copy Editor Sylvie Vidrine, Graphic Designer FEATURES Green Mountain Club 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road ❯ Waterbury Center, Vermont 05677 6 Celebrating Success after 34 years: Phone: (802) 244-7037 Codding Hollow Property Conserved Fax: (802) 244-5867 E-mail: [email protected] by Mollie Flanigan Website: greenmountainclub.org ❯ The Long Trail News is published by The 10 Managing Trails During a Global Pandemic: Green Mountain Club, Inc., a nonprofit Field Staff Reflections of the 2020 Season organization founded in 1910. In a 1971 Joint Resolution, the Vermont Legislature by John Plummer designated the Green Mountain Club the “founder, sponsor, defender and protector of 12 ❯ Hiking Trails During a Global Pandemic: the Long Trail System...” Hiker Reflections of the 2020 Season Contributions of manuscripts, photos, illustrations, and news are welcome from by Rick Dugan members and nonmembers. ❯ The opinions expressed byLTN contributors 16 Going the Distance: are not necessarily those of GMC. Side-to-Side in Less Than a Week The Long Trail News (USPS 318-840) is published quarterly by The Green Mountain by Nigel Bates Club, Inc., 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. Periodicals 20 ❯ Winter Hiking Safety postage paid at Waterbury Center, VT, and additional offices. by Neil Van Dyke POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ❯ the Long Trail News, 4711 Waterbury-Stowe 22 110 Peaks: Backcountry Skiing Vermont Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. by Spence Crispe Copyright©2020 The Green Mountain Club, Inc., 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. Permission to DEPARTMENTS reproduce in any form any of the material in this publication without prior written approval ❯ ❯ ❯ of The Green Mountain Club, Inc. is granted 3 From the President 14 Field Notes 28 Land Stewardship only to individuals for their own personal ❯ ❯ ❯ hiking convenience. 4 Mountain Views 24 Volunteers 29 Board Report ❯ ❯ ❯ 5 Trail Support 26 Trail Mix 31 Journey’s End FRONT COVER: Looking south to Mt. Ellen from Burnt Rock. Photo by Crystal Valente. From the President was out on the trail often this summer usual managing the impacts of COVID-19 as I continued my end-to-end hike on every aspect of the field season. In I from the Winooski River North. And addition to their usual jobs answering I wasn’t alone. There was a noticeable hiker questions and protecting popular increase in the number of hikers on the sites, caretakers helped build privies, mark Long Trail, its side trails, the Vermont trail corridor boundaries, and conduct trail Appalachian Trail, and the Northeast maintenance. We were lucky to have such a Kingdom trails. During a Zoom call with capable and dedicated staff. the presidents of GMC’s 14 sections, the I hiked through Codding Hollow in Manchester Section reported very full Johnson on the one-third of a mile of parking lots around Bromley Mountain, Long Trail protected by a recent 160- and the Northeast Kingdom Section acre land acquisition, which is now part reported high use on and around Wheeler of the Long Trail State Forest. The club Pond and Lake Willoughby. worked 34 years to protect this portion of This increased interest in hiking has trail, demonstrating our commitment to Tom Candon resulted in more GMC members. So if this securing the last miles of unprotected trail is your first edition of theLong Trail News no matter how long it takes. inclusion in the organization’s operations, as a member, welcome! I am pleased to report that another programs, and governance. We know our This year my appreciation of the work small but strategic parcel is under contract, board members, staff, and volunteers still done by volunteers increased as they and we expect it will close by the end of have work to do on this initiative, and implemented COVID-19 safety rules while the year. The GMC Land Conservation must move it forward. clearing trails and maintaining structures Committee and the club staff are working Enjoying the Long Trail, the for crowds of enthusiastic hikers. Trail and very hard to protect all the land that hosts incredible beauty of the Vermont shelter adopters made even more forays than the Long Trail. mountains, and the great community usual taking care of their charges. In another important step, the GMC of hikers that I met while finishing my On my section hike, GMC field Board of Directors recently formed a End-to-End hike over the last two years staff greeted me at Long Trail shelters Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) confirmed for me the importance of and on our highest summits. They had a Working Group to advise the board and GMC’s work in the Green Mountains. challenging year, with fewer of them than the staff as we address diversity, equity, and —Tom Candon, President LONG TRAIL NEWS • WINTER 2020 | 3 Sunset Ridge, Mt. Mansfield PHOTO BY ROXANA GLIGOR Mountain Views Aiming for Inclusion, Not Tokenism A Family Volunteer Day I’m sending this email because the summer quarterly on the Long Trail GMC Officers Thomas J. Candon,President this year included a picture of a Black person on My wife and our two teenagers just did a day of Howard VanBenthuysen, Vice President the front cover, but all White people within the volunteer trail work with Volunteer & Education Nancy Thomas,Treasurer Ed O’Leary, Secretary magazine. This is a good example of tokenism, Coordinator Lorne Currier last week. He was an GMC Directors which is when you try really hard to appear informative, professional and enthusiastic leader. Lars Botzojorns, General anti-racist by showcasing people of color, but it is He made it enjoyable while letting us do some Cathi Brooks, Northeast Kingdom Section Michelle Connor, Burlington Section a facade. Does that make sense? It is advertising productive work to improve drainage on the Long Hope Crifo, General inclusion, but is not particularly inclusive to have Elisabeth Fenn, Sterling Section Trail just north of Taft Lodge on the trail toward the Bob Fish, Manchester Section one Black person advertised on the front when the Barnes Visitors Center. Russ Ford, Northern Frontier Section rest of the quarterly is nothing but White. James Fritz, Connecticut Section Afterward we were sore, but that passes quickly, Anne Hauser, General —Emmerson “Torch” Roberts and the fond memories of working hard together Tom Kahl, Upper Valley Ottaquechee Section to make something better in this world will last a Mariah Keagy, General EDITOR’S NOTE: Thank you, Torch, for Amy Kelsey, General lifetime. We just joined as a family, encouraged by George Longenecker, Montpelier Section bringing this to our attention. We appreciate your Nancy McClellan, General pointing out that placing a person of color on the our experience, and we will always remember our Caitlin Miller, General time on the trail. Bob Paquin, Laraway Section cover without additional supporting content in the Mike Peckar, Worcester Section magazine is a form of tokenism. There is nothing like working hard to improve Alexis Peters, General a trail to give one great appreciation for the trails Kenna Rewcastle, UVM Board Fellow We should have included content and imagery Ira Sollace, General in the summer issue that better represented Black, others have made ahead of us and to respect the Martha Stitelman, Bennington Section natural world that the trail goes through. Thanks to Larry Walter, Killington Section Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). For Matt Wels, Brattleboro Section Lorne and everyone at the GMC for the hard work. Bruce Yelton, Bread Loaf Section this, we apologize. We will work to better represent them in the future, and we hope members of our Keep it up! GMC Staff Directory —Thomas Geiger Main Telephone: (802) 244-7037 community will continue to comment on the club’s Isaac Alexandre-Leach, Field Supervisor communications and our work on justice, equity, E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (802) 241-8218 diversity, and inclusion, especially when identifying Jason Buss, Director of Finance errors or areas for improvement. E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (802) 241-8214 Lorne Currier, Volunteer and Education Coordinator HikeVT for the Whole Family E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (802) 241-8329 (In response to the HikeVT hike Michael DeBonis, Executive Director recommendations): This is a wonderful series. So E-mail: [email protected] helpful for planning hikes with different members Phone: (802) 241-8212 View from Camel’s Hump PHOTO BY CHRISTIE SILKOTCH Alicia DiCocco, Director of Development and of my family having different abilities. Thank you, Communications GMC! E-mail: [email protected] New Member Reflections Phone: (802) 241-8322 —Rachel Norton I am embarrassed to admit I haven’t been a member Rick Dugan, Database Coordinator before, since I have worked in the outdoor industry, E-mail: [email protected] Mt. Ellen Staff/Volunteer Workday Phone: (802) 241-8325 love your trails, and couldn’t live without the work Mollie Flanigan, Conservation Manager Looking at all the hard work the club does, you E-mail: [email protected] you do.