Non-Snow Activities: Dude Ranchin’
From Yodeling To Yippee-ing, Yvette Rides The Range.
Riding the foothills of the Tucson Range. Credit: White Stallion Ranch
I’m not sure if skiing gets you into shape for horseback riding or vice versa, but, yes, a lot of the same muscles are at play.
Either way, both take strong legs.
I confirmed all of this at White Stallion Ranch just outside Tucson, AZ at the end of last ski season.
I packed my schedule full because I wanted to do EVERYthing.
So on my first day, I went on the slow mountain horseback ride. We left the main ranch compound and sauntered leisurely across the valley, following a well worn path through the cactus.
Fast ride. Credit: White Stallion Ranch
At the foot of the volcanic, granite hills of the Tucson Range, we headed up via a rocky trail, passed the tall fingers of saguaro cactus and all sorts of blooming brush: yellow, purple, violet flowers. All in all, a great intro to the ranch rides.
There are also breakfast rides, wine and cheese rides, and a beer and Cheetos ride. Yum.
Such is life at one of the two remaining guest (aka dude) ranches in the Tucson area. Not that many years ago there were a hundred but population growth and development swallowed them one by one.
The White Stallion Ranch has been around since the turn of the 20th Century, first as a cattle ranch, and later home to 30,000 chickens. In 1945, it became a guest ranch. The True family bought it in 1965, and. when they saw that the area guest ranches had already dwindled to about 30, they started buying land and adding rooms. Today, the 3,000 acre ranch has 43 rooms, a five bedroom hacienda, 160 horses, 120 cows, and wranglers on hand to lead rides, teach, tend to the livestock, cook and all the rest.
For me, it wasn’t all riding. A couple of mornings I went shooting. I’ve only touched a gun once before in my life, but Bob and Sharon Callan will talk you through everything, how to aim, how to cock the guns, how not to accidentally blow your head off.
They’ve run the firearms training program for the Tucson police department, so they’re used to teaching.
You get to use a six shooter and a rifle, and there’s a set of steel plate targets.
“Consider all guns loaded and don’t point at anything you don’t want to shoot,” Sharon said. And added, “You can shoot the pistol one handed, but if you want to hit something, use two.”
All those cowboy movies where folks at a gallop shooting one-handed pick off the bad guys? Not on your life.
Western star Loop Rawlins does rope tricks during evening entertainment at White Stallion Ranch. Credit: Yvette Cardozo
I also did the movie tour by van.
The ranch has been a popular site for movies since the 1930s. And for good reason. It’s literally around the corner from Tucson. You leave the ranch, climb a low hill and there, on the other side are the outskirts of the city. Talk about convenient.
Marty Freese, the ranch’s history guy, took us to all the popular sites where dozens of movies, TV shows, and commercials have been filmed, including High Chaparral, a Lone Ranger movie and enough others to fill a two-page list.
Each night there an activity. Bill Ganz sang cowboy songs by a campfire. Phil and Hector brought tarantulas and scorpions and a bearded dragon named Stumpy that attached itself to Phil’s chest like velcro, along with a Burmese python so long, it took nine kids to hold it.
But the star of the week was Loop Rawlins who is an artist with gun and rope. He kept the Spring Break crowd of kids spellbound as he twirled guns, flipping them into his holster, skipped rope with his lariat and did a finale that involved a flaming, twirling lasso.
On one of my last days, the ranch held its once-a-week rodeo. It’s sort of Rodeo 101, which is great if you’re like me and have never been to one. Russell True, who was five when his folks bought the place and now pretty much runs it, explained barrel racing, bulldogging, where you ride alongside a steer and jump astride it to bring it down (as bone rattling and dusty as you imagine) and team roping which Russell says he calls “cowboy judo” and is even more frenetic than bulldogging.
I also took a horse riding lesson and discovered all the things I was doing wrong.
So maybe next time, I can actually get my horse to canter.
For more information on the White Stallion Ranch, click here.
Guests leave the breakfast corral on horseback during a breakfast ride. Blooming hedgehog cactus in foreground. Credit: Yvette Cardozo
SeniorsSkiing Guide: La Parva, Chile
La Parva Is A GS Cruiser’s Heaven.
As a first installment on the Three Valleys of ski fame in Chile, I’ll write about La Parva. One hour and a half from the Santiago airport, La Parva is perched up at 8,700 ft on the front side of the Andes, and overlooks the city. The road up involves 40 switchbacks and a vertical rise of 7,000ft. I do not recommend tackling it during a storm!
The furthest north of the three ski areas, the village rests at the base of the La Parva peak (13,000ft), which itself is a sub-peak of the El Plomo Massif (18,000ft). Stretching for a width of three miles across several watershed— all connected with skiable cat tracks— the area faces mostly west, with the north sides of the valleys collecting the most snow. While this western orientation exposes it to the sun and north wind, often leaving bare ridge lines, it also means snow accumulates in those multiple bowls where the snow is blown, and the sun hardly shines.
On a good year such as this, even the north faces are skiable.
As a bonus, the sunsets over Santiago are wildly beautiful.
To get you up the hill, there are four chairlifts, each serving different terrain, and seven good surface lifts (platters, thank god). In windy weather, the platters are safest, as you can bail out wherever you want. But, with 80% of the days being sunny, and often with no wind, the weather is generally not an issue. Grooming is excellent with no mogul bashing required, ever, but add in 70% of the runs being intermediate level, and this is a GS cruisers heaven. The entire vertical rise of 3,000 ft can be skied in one go, so get the long boards out boys!
The village itself is like a classy suburb of Santiago with no hotels, but several restaurants. Most of the 2,000 or so beds are ski in-out apartments, and the family-oriented atmosphere is manifest in the hoards of little racers out at 9 am sharp every weekend. Racing is the name of the game in La Parva, and while often fun to watch, it does take up some of the best runs, especially when the international teams arrive in August. Fortunately, there is a lot of room in the ski area, especially when the off-piste is in good shape.
Casey finds a lonely route down to the Las Aguilas chair, and the small restaurant at its base.
For lodging, there many private apartments, and a few houses on Airbnb or Booking.com. The village has three restaurants, a bar/disco, and a small grocery store. On the hill, aside from the three restaurants mentioned (all accessible on skis) there are two mid-station restaurants, and a small, occasional, open-air one at 11,400 ft. Careful with the pisco sours, it is a long way down…
For La Parva Trail Map, click here
For La Parva Webcams, click here
Check out the La Parva website here.
Slopeside Syrup: Ski Racing And “Golden Delicate”
The Cochran Family Makes Maple Syrup And Ski Racers.
Slopeside Sugar House run by ski racing’s famous Cochran family. Credit: Cochran Family
There are a lot of Vermonters and others in the ski racing world who could tell you a lot more about the famous Cochran Family of Richmond, VT. I have friends who know them personally and tell the tales of the first rope tow that Mickey Cochran built in his back yard with the vision of a community ski facility. He and his wife Ginny ultimately had four children who all made the U.S. Ski Team and had outstanding success including a gold Olympic medal for Barbara Ann and a World Cup GS Title for Marilyn.
World Cup GS Champ Marilyn Cochran helps out at Slopeside. Credit: Vermont Sports Hall Of Fame
My friend Mark Hutchinson remembers the time that Mickey’s jacket caught on fire because of all the oil and engine grease embedded in the fabric as a result of countless hours maintaining the tows at Cochran’s. Today, Cochran’s is a legendary ski training center for young ski racers all over Vermont with coaching and operational duties falling to the Cochran family, relatives, and grandchildren. They are currently a non-profit ski area with training and races held each winter. Donations are gratefully accepted at www.cochranskiarea.com/donate But that is not what the subject of this article is. I am talking pure Vermont Maple Syrup of which I am a true connoisseur or as my friends say, a “common sewer”.
I have this habit of taking pure Vermont Maple Syrup, heated, in a jar when my wife and son and I go to breakfast. They look at me with disdain, but I will not use anything else on my hot cakes, waffles, or oatmeal. I am always on the hunt for the recently re-named “Golden Delicate” syrup that is elusive.
With the re-naming of the descriptions of different grades of syrup by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association (www.vermontmaple.org) , there has been some confusion as to what is actually the top syrup for consumption. Personally, I like the lightest syrup currently described as “Golden Delicate”.
Recently, four of the grandchildren—all cousins—of Cochran decent, decided to enter the maple syrup space in Vermont by constructing a timber frame sugar house close to the ski area. This has expanded since 2010 to an operation of 22,000 taps and PVC collection lines that all feed the operation in the sugar shack.
Maple syrup from Vermont. Hmmmm. Credit: Slopeside
Slopeside Syrup has become the standard bearer for all Vermont syrup, and I am so happy that I found them. One day, while perusing the Durfee family refrigerator in Lake Tahoe, I came across a bottle of this delectable treat. I asked Eric Durfee about it as he is a native Vermonter and friend of Marilyn Cochran. He told me about the operation and how he and Marilyn converse about the old days of ski racing and training to this day. Turns out that Marilyn helps out occasionally with the syrup operation. When I ordered several bottles online and told her I was a friend of Eric’s, she wrote me a nice personalized note that she packed in with my order. That little bit of customer service and kindness will always make me a Slopeside Syrup fan for life. You should be as well.
Go to www.slopesidesyrup.com, and you will see ordering information as well as some history of the family. Not often that a World Cup GS Champion will oversee your order. Take it from me, the “Golden Delicate” is nothing like you have ever tasted before. Most times when I have ordered the formerly labeled “Grade A Delicate”, I got something less with more of an amber color and traditional taste. However, the Slopeside Syrup product is truly that elusive grade which I know and love and bring with me to every breakfast.
So treat yourself, buy Slopeside Syrup and support Cochran’s Ski Area for the kids in Vermont. Not all of them can go to the elite ski academies because of cost. But they can come to Cochran’s, get world class coaching, and immerse themselves in a culture of champions. Ski racing, and maple syrup. What a combination.
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