By Sandra Dee Owens At some point in my life, I decided to go solo. I did not get divorced, or leave my friends, family, or home. I simply started minding my own business. While raising our daughters in my 20s and 30s, I had neighborhood girlfriends also raising children. We would frequently walk, hike,…

By Victoria Gaither Arthritis is usually associated with older people, but a teenager in North Chittenden is on a mission to show another face of the debilitating condition.  Dylan Aker, 16, has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which causes joint inflammation, pain, and stiffness.  “For the first year, I was stiff in the morning. It would be…

Staff report A man died at a snowmbobile event at Suicide Six in Pomfret around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, according to Vermont State Police. James C. Darrow, Jr., 56, of Moreau, New York crashed into a tree while traveling off course down the mountain and died. It happened during a snowmobile race called…

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) is reminding the public that it is mud season and many trails around the state are closed through Memorial Day weekend.  Mud season is the time period (typically the duration of April and May), when hiking and biking trails are extremely wet and muddy due to…

Staff report The annual Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge last Saturday, April 2, did not disappoint as amateur bumpers took to the slopes of Outer Limits at Killington Resort to battle for a place in the finals. The top 32 men and 16 women then competed in a head-to-head competition for the Mogul Challenge cup. Myles…

Cobra Gymnastics wrapped up its regular season with success at the Vermont State Championships on March 19 and 20. In total, 322 gymnasts competed in 12 different levels over the weekend, all hoping to achieve individual and team state titles. For some individuals, a qualifying spot for the Vermont Regional team was also a coveted…

By Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Vermont-schooled Mikaela Shiffrin began the latest World Cup season by skiing through a snowstorm on Killington Mountain to win the only U.S. stop on the international women’s racing circuit. “I hope that everybody enjoyed watching,” the Alpine champion told a national television audience, “because that was about as much show as we have.”…

By Katy Savage Helen and Emmett Norton, who are lifelong skiers, didn’t know if they’d ever be able to take their daughter on the snow. Their daughter, Erin, has cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. She’s non-verbal and is in a wheelchair. When Erin was 10, Helen saw an ad in a local newspaper for adaptive…

By Karen D. Lorentz The season-pass landscape has erupted with many options that can be perplexing to skiers and riders trying to decide which pass to take advantage of for an upcoming season. Multi-mountain passes have driven down the cost of skiing for people who ski or ride more than a few days each winter.…

The 2021-2022 season is proving to be a first for the city of Rutland and the sport of gymnastics. On March 19 and 20, the Rutland Community Center will host almost 300 gymnasts in the Vermont Gymnastics State Championships. After almost a decade of this championship meet being held in Bellows Falls, pandemic rules prevented…

Woodstock Union High School and Killington Mountain School alumna Ava Mattsson skied to an 11th-place finish in the women’s giant slalom at the 2022 NCAA Championships in Park City, Utah on Thursday morning, March 10. The Bridgewater native is now a senior at St. Lawrence University. It was her second trip to the NCAA Championships.…

Staff report Woodstock’s varsity girls' hockey team defeated Hartford’s 5-1 in the Division 2 state championship game on Monday evening, March 7. It was the program’s first championship in its history. The game was held at Gutterson Fieldhouse, a 4,035-seat hockey arena in Burlington, where the UVM Catamounts men’s and women’s ice hockey teams play…

The Sherburne Trails, located on Route 100 in Killington, which were first opened for the winter season in 2020-2021thanks to a new agreement with the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF), will now be groomed for fat bikes. The Sherburne Trails are open for non-motorized use. While fat biking has always been permitted, until now the…

By Katy Savage Growing up, Spencer Wood didn’t know he had a disability. Wood, a Pittsfield native, was diagnosed as a baby but his parents didn’t tell him until he was 10 and they didn’t let his disability get in his way. “We didn’t want it to be a crutch,” his mother Barb Wood said.…

By Brooke Geery Pico played host to the second edition of 2021/22 Mini Shred Madness last Saturday, Feb. 26. Despite warm temps in the leadup melting out much of the snow, the park crew was able to put together a special setup at the bottom of the Exhibition trail for the kids to enjoy, with…