Black Dome’s Asheville Outdoors Guide

What’s up, WNC? Nice bit of weather we’re having this week. The sun is shining bright & bringing some spring-time warmth just in time for a great weekend to be outside in and around Asheville.

On Friday, The Southern Apalachain Forest Coalition is putting on an event called “Into The Woods” at On Broadway in downtown Asheville.

On that note, if you’re interested on avoiding an Into the Wild-esque fate (noteworthy story, if you haven’t read it, by the way) without putting too much of a dent in your wallet, we’re having a really sweet USED GEAR SALE here at the Dome on Saturday! We’re cleaning out the shop’s upstairs basement that we’ve been keeping chock-full of spare gear for a long time & tryin’ to get rid of a lot of cool stuff as cheap as it gets. We’ve even got some sweet rep samples we’re putting up for sale. A lot of our staff are going to be trying to trade/sell some cheap gear of our own, too; guaranteed to be an interesting selection.

Of course, everyone is welcome: Bring any gear that you wanna trade or try to sell in our parking lot. While we can’t exactly trade used gear for the new stuff we keep in the Shop, we are knocking 10% off of everything we have inside the Dome & we’ll have a huge tent set up outside with all of our remaining winter wear at knock-out prices.

It’ll be fun; come hang out with us & whoever else shows up; you’ll walk away with awesome gear & heavy wallets.

Other cool stuff is going down on Saturday as well for people looking to enjoy the nice spring weather. The Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education is hosting a course on primitive outdoor skills in Pisgah. There is also a hike to John Rock for ages 9 & up being put on by the Center on Saturday. Information regarding both of these events is available at www.ncwildlife.com

In celebration of Earth Day, there’s a “Go Green with Moss” workshop in Brevard, offering tips on identification of our local moss species as well as ideas for incorperating mosses in your landscapes. Information for this can be found at www.mountainmoss.org

Western Carolina University is hosting the 24th annual River Clean Up, which will cover a section of the beautiful Tuckaseigee. This is a great cause & on-site registration will be available where the troops will meet on the lawn of University Center out in Cullowhee. All the necessary information can be located at www.wcu.edu/univcenter/outdoors

In downtown Asheville, the Pack Place Community Gallery is presenting a a completely public reception of “A River of Words and Art” in order to celebrate both Earth Day as well as the “Time is of the Essence: Contemperary Landscape Art” exhibit. For more details on this, hit up www.ashevilleart.org

Those are just a few exciting events taking place this Friday & Saturday in the Asheville area. It’s getting warmer & warmer & there’s a ton of spots to check out for dayhikes, overnighters, or pretty much anything you can imagine. We’re here seven days a week & will be more than glad to help outfit you for the outdoors as well as offer ideas for everything from cool picnic spots to full-blown excursions & hot climbing routes.

Come see us on Saturday!

Join us for a day of bouldering, and try some of the new shoes from Evolv, Scarpa, Five Ten and LaSportiva in the process…Reps will be on hand to provide information and insight.

Please car-pool to help ease parking and gas usage…

Demo starts at 9am and goes ’till 4pm – Reps will be set up in the parking area of Rumbling Bald
Slideshow and raffle will be @ 7pm that night at Asheville Brewing on Coxe Ave!

See y’all there!

Map:

Black Dome Trail Running Team members Mark Ledyard and Jay Curwen duke it out in a soggy St. Patty’s Day 10k…

After local stud Brian St. Onge managed to take a wrong turn and follow the accompanying 5k, Curwen and Ledyard were left to decide first place between them. Mark took the lead near the crest of the Sunset Rd. climb before Curwen opened up a small lead that he would maintain until the finish downtown.

Results can be found at www.citizentimes.com 

The race was held to raise money for Asheville Catholic School.

Team Black Dome / Sport Factory takes 2nd at brutal CP0.

The weather was the story of the weekend at the 2008 CheckpointZero 30-Hour Adventure Race. sub-freezing temps, high winds and snow made mincemeat out of a highly competitive field. Several of the top ranked teams never saw the finish as the conditions forced withdrawal after withdrawal.

“The paddle was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” said The Dome’s Dwight Shuler…”Definitely on my list of shit I don’t ever want to do again.” said Team Black Dome 2’s Jay Curwen.

Both Black Dome teams saw each other off and on all weekend with each fighting for a place at the front of the 77 team field… Eventually, some mistakes and miss-fortunes conspired to knock the team of Curwen, Chris Brown and Michelle Hobson out of a possible podium spot. But, they were able to link up with the team of Shuler, Paul Humphries and Erinna Wever to give what support they could in an effort to place one of the teams as highly as possible.

Stregth and determination took the day as Black Dome / Sport Factory (Shuler/Wever/Humphries) overtook all but the out-of-this-world Team EMS (1st) to take 2nd overall…The other Black Dome team was still able to crack the top 10 with a 7th place showing.

Check www.checpointzero.com for full results.

…and www.trailblazerar.com for stories…

Great test to take…Click the pic…
 … and, everyone be careful out there.