Carolina Mountain Club
Since 1923
eNews
| Hike . Save Trails . Make Friends
|
|
Meet your new president, Randy Fluharty
By Danny Bernstein
Randy Fluharty was just elected President of Carolina Mountain Club for 2018-2019.
Randy was born in West Asheville. Like many successful WNC natives, he traveled and lived near and far but knew he'd always come back to his roots.
He spent his whole career in marketing - from Quaker Oats in Chicago to Leggs in Winston-Salem. He was the brains behind the
Just my size
pantyhose for Plus size women, now sold everywhere. He also came up with the
Hanes Her Way
campaign. His expertise took him to New York City and Isotoner gloves as VP of marketing.
Then a position perfectly suited for Randy and his skills opened at Biltmore Estate. Randy and his wife Beth came back to Asheville. He became the VP for marketing and business development, which he describes as an all-consuming job. He didn't hike while working.
|
CMC Trail Crews Respond to Hurricane Damage to Trails
By Ann Hendrickson
The high winds from Hurricane Irma took a major toll on the heavily forested landscape in and around the greater Asheville area. The Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail were closed to the public due to the large number of downed trees. The CMC trail crews immediately started to assess the damage and initiated an action plan to mobilize as many crew members as possible to do section surveillance and then start removing the trees, limbs, root balls, and debris from the MST. All of our trail crews combined their efforts to work together. Many of the volunteers worked back-to-back-to-back days of chain sawing, swamping, and lopping, lugging saws, fuel, hoes, Pulaskis, loppers, and other equipment, while hiking several miles to get the work done. Within 3 days the CMC crews had reopened 21 miles of the most heavily used sections of the MST from RT 191 to Cravens Gap. Within 2 weeks the trail crews had cleared a total of 82 miles of trail and removed over 528 downed trees from the MST. Fortunately, most of our sections of the AT were left unaffected by the storm.
We are fortunate to have so many trail crew volunteers who were so willing and capable of managing such a daunting and unprecedented task. The concerted effort in this emergency situation resulted in only a few hikes cancelled, and few tourists had their trail/Parkway plans interrupted. Kudos to every one of you for going way above and beyond your already significant commitment to our WNC trails!
|
CMC Youth Partner Challenge is Making a Difference
The Youth Partner Challenge is the newest Carolina Mountain Club challenge. It targets youth 17 and under to experience the love of hiking with their adult partner. Eight hikes in a variety of land management areas are required to complete the challenge. Jan Onan who is trained in the Trail to Every Classroom and I strongly believe that youth need to discover and appreciate the great outdoors. Each YP hike includes educational activities and Leave No Trace principles. We lead two hikes per quarter and enjoy seeing the youth having fun, learning and making new friends.
Two young hikers, Eleni Farago and Ash Johnson, recently completed the Youth Partner Challenge along with Bev MacDowell. Eleni and Ash started the challenge in the spring while they were in Kindergarten. They are both in 2nd grade now at Carolina Day School. Along with family activities, school events, birthday parties and other activities these kids are avid hikers. In fact, they both love the Youth Partner hikes so much, they continued participating even after completing the challenge. Eleni's brother, Sam, is working on the YP Challenge and Ash's little brother, Harper, is eager to start hiking next year. Bev MacDowell deserves congratulations for sharing her enthusiasm and love of hiking with many of the youth who are participating in the challenge.
Recently, Jan presented the Youth Partner Challenge awards to Eleni, Ash, and Bev at an assembly at Carolina Day School. They were so proud to be honored in front of their peers. Enthusiasm developed and many students are interested in pursuing the challenge too. Carolina Day is extremely supportive in partnering with CMC to encourage their students to become healthy and develop lifelong recreational skills. In fact, the school has developed their own hiking challenge which complements the CMC YP Challenge.
Jan and I are excited that the Youth Partner Challenge has had completers and youth that have discovered the love of hiking at an early age. Soon there will be more completers!
|
|
ABC's of a Successful Annual Meeting
Subtitle:
lots of
A
wards,
short
B
usiness
meeting,
C
omaraderie (
laughter & libations)
By Bobbi Powers
About 100 CMCers and invited dignitaries crammed the banquet hall at the Biltmore Park Hilton for the 2017 annual meeting and dinner.
Twenty-seven members contributed photos to the loop slide show that served as a back drop for much schmoozing and catching up.
Randy Fluharty served as emcee and coordinated lots of Challenge Award presentations during the plated dinner, highlighted by a cheesecake garnished with fresh berries. After dinner, outgoing President Barbara Morgan presided over the obligatory business meeting and kept it bare bones. In her President's Address, Barb mentioned there are 850 members, including 260 family memberships and 168 new members. She confirmed that a third and final, updated edition of Walt Weber's
Trail Profiles and Maps
will be published in the spring, and Walt was in attendance and received enthusiastic applause. Barb talked a bit about her two-year tenure as President, saying, "What I've enjoyed the most is sitting in on committee meetings and learning more about the individuals and their deep love for the club." Thanks so much, Barb, for your hard work and leadership!
Two members were surprised with the club's highest honors.
 Dennis Bass received the Award of Appreciation, usually given to someone who does something outstanding in a given year, but Dennis keeps topping his own achievements with his computer skills. He works quietly behind the scenes keeping the membership database (ever changing) up-to-date, fielding questions about difficulties members are having with membership issues, and he creates the slide shows members enjoy at various meetings. Well done, Dennis!
Marcia Bromberg was awarded the prestigious Distinguished Service Award.Marcia has spent nine years on Council as Vice-President, President, and the first Councilor for Technology. She leads hikes, does trail maintenance, and is quick to volunteer when a job needs to be done. Great achievements, Marcia!
Bob "Coach" Lindsey also received an Award of Appreciation. His was presented at the Trail Maintainers' picnic and he was duly honored then. Thanks for your years of hard work, Coach!
This year's program was presented by Kate Dixon, Executive Director of Friends of the MST, and Jim Hallsey, a Board member of FMST and the first person to put the route of the MST on paper so-o-o many years ago. At the time he said, "I thought it could be finished in 4 years." Both Kate and Jim laughed and agreed the MST will never be "finished." It will constantly evolve. Interesting factoid: The 1,175 current miles of the MST meander through 37 counties and 41 towns with 680 miles on trails and 495 miles on connecting roads.
Like the MST, our annual dinner brings friends together, but unlike the MST, we were "finished" after the program and headed home full of good cheer.
For a list of CMC officers and council members, click here.
|
Vance Mann Makes Challenge Awards at Annual dinner
From left to right, Kate Fisher, Jan Onan, Linda Smith, and Brenda Worley
Four CMC members,
Kate Fisher, Jan Onan, Linda Smith, and Brenda Worley, were recognized for completing the A. T.-MST Challenge. They hiked the parts of those trails that CMC maintains. After this year, Vance Mann will step down
from the Challenge Committee and Chris Kobelin will take his place.
For a list of other club members who have completed the Challenge,
click here.
|
|
The eNews is published on the first Friday of each month. Articles are due on the last Friday of the previous month. S
end your news to [email protected]. Please limit articles to no more than 1,000 words. You may send up to two photos as jpg attachments.
To join Carolina Mountain Club go to:
www.carolinamountainclub.org. Click on "Join CMC" on the right side. Follow the instructions. Send all address and email changes to Dennis Bass at
[email protected]. Do not resubscribe yourself to the eNews. That will be done automatically.
|
|
Carolina Mountain Club | P.O. Box 68
Asheville, NC 28802
|
|
|
|
