Vail cycling champ Nat Ross has ridden plenty of 24-hour bike races and usually finishes on the podium. His recent record-setting win at the 24 Hours of Temecula in California was the first where he could actually see, thanks to Lasik surgery on his left eye to correct a lifetime of legal blindness at night. Ross, 35, saw his way to a 20-lap record at Temecula, climbing almost 30,000 vertical feet and riding more than 200 miles to break the previous men’s solo record of 19 laps by Tinker Juarez. Ross plans to have surgery on his right eye in the fall. Watch for the newly visionary Ross to dominate this summer’s endurance cycling schedule, and possibly repeat his 2004 solo win at the famed 24 Hours of Moab.
KAYAKING
River recreationists get support
The Colorado House of Representatives on April 27 approved a recreational water rights bill for the state’s kayakers and rafters, marking the home stretch for a year-long negotiation involving the state’s boaters, farmers and water watchers.
A similar “recreational in-channel diversion” bill died in the Legislature last spring. This bill is sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry, a Gunnison democrat who forged a compromise between the growth and agricultural value of Colorado’s water and the recreation and tourist-related value of running water in Colorado’s mountain towns. Curry’s bill allows cities like Steamboat and Durango to ask Colorado’s water court for consistent recreational water rights up to 50 percent of their river’s historic flow from April to Labor Day. If towns ask for more, the water can only be poured through kayak parks and downtown riverfronts if 85 percent of the requested water is available.
Senate Bill 37 requires final Senate approval and a signature by Gov. Bill Owens.
CYCLING
Riders reward their favorites
Wheat Ridge Cyclery was named Bicycle Retailer of the Year at the annual Bicycle Colorado gala last week in Denver. Cyclists from around the state voted in the Bicylists Choice Awards. The Triple Bypass ride from Evergreen to Avon was named the best bicycling event of the year. Check out www.bicyclecolorado.org for more info.
SKIING
Ski innovator Kirschner dies
Bill Kirschner, the legendary founder of K2, passed away April 23 at age 87. The Kirschner clan got its start making animal cages on Vashon Island, Wash., after WWII. In 1961, Bill Kirschner forged a pair of fiberglass skis for personal use. The design took off. Last winter, K2 Skis was the No. 1 ski company in the U.S. market in both volume and dollar sales.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Barbara, two sons, a daughter, six grandkids and five great-grandkids.
MOUNTAINEERING
Education has tough lessons
Steamboat Springs sixth-grade teacher Matt Tredway went to Mount Everest this spring hoping to give his students inspiration when faced with mountains to climb in their own lives. They will learn a painful lesson as well.
Tackling challenges involve taking risks, risks have consequences and sometimes they are fatal.
Two Sherpas, Lhakpa Tseri Sherpa, 32, and Dawa Temba Sherpa, 22, were part of Tredway’s Team No Limits Everest expedition when they were killed April 21 by two ice séracs that collapsed in the notoriously dangerous Khumbu Icefall. Two more Sherpas on the team were seriously injured.
Team No Limits has three American climbers, two from Colorado. Climbing leader Doug Tumminello is a Denver attorney. Tredway teaches math and science.
The Khumbu Icefall is a dangerously unstable cascade of ice at the foot of Everest. It is the perilous gateway to the mountain at the beginning of the South Col route first climbed by Edmund Hillary in 1953. On the first American Everest expedition in 1963, Jake Breitenbach was killed the day after climbing began when a block of ice the size of two railroad cars shifted and fell.
The Team No Limits website offers obituaries for the fallen Sherpas. Visit www.nolimitsclimbing.com for more info.
