Get Your Glide On

Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: Winter 2024 | Photograph By: Susan Renfro

Ready for adventures in snow and ice this Leap Year? Brrrr-iliant!

Zip-up your puffer coat, wiggle your toes into fleece-lined boots, sling ice skates over your shoulder, and leap into the slides outside. Short of sticking your tongue to a flagpole, test how cold it is. If kids are yelling, “It’s freeze-degrees!” get your glide on.

If for no other reason, engage in some serious sliding to work off the calorie calamities of holiday fests with figure-skating. Whether clunky or sleek, just keep your feet closer to the ground than any other part of you.

Skating is a winter classic, and it happens on frozen lakes, like Mirror and Harris. Some unfrozen lakes (such as Lake Glenville) invite a Polar Bear Plunge. It’s a great way to kick off the new year. Look for similar ops in your neighborhood. Make sure the water/ice is safe.

In addition to lake-skating, visit Highlands Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park. It provides sturdy, modern skates from now until March 8 (as long as the ice holds). Times: Thursday, 3:30 to 8:00 P.M.; Friday, 3:30 to 10:00 P.M.; Saturday, 1:00 to 10:00 P.M., and Sunday, 1:00-5:00 P.M. On cold nights, warm yourself and socialize at the lower-level fireplace. It’s a wonderful family outing right in the middle of town where the air is crisp, the fire is warm (get even warmer with hot chocolate or coffee), and the rink invites everything from rockin’ to romantic. Only $5, and that includes skate rental.

The second of the Four Big S’s (Skating, Sledding, Skiing, and Snow Boarding), is on Hickory Street in Highlands, locally regarded as sledding central.

It’s a perfect slope for sliding with gravity-glee. In years past that stretch of sloping road was (and to some, still is) Monkey Hill. If you don’t have a sled, then a cookie sheet, a hubcap, your dog’s bed, even a cat litter box (preferably clean and cat-less) will send you zipping.

Alas, Monkey Hill is not safe for Snowboarding and Skiing. For those advanced enthusiasts, head for Sapphire Valley Resort. There’s a 1,600-foot run with a vertical drop of 200 feet. Whew! Somebody help me find my stomach.

There’s a state-of-the-art quad-lift, a Learning Center Slope, and a multiple lane, 300-foot snow tubing run. More info? (828) 743-7663 or visit skisapphirevalley.com.

Highlands Outpost in Scaly offers many solutions for your need-for-speed – snow tubing, ice skating, and the Scaly Mountain screamer roller coaster. Mother Nature (and the outpost folks) provide the snow/water in season. Call (828) 526-3737.

And for those who prefer a non-slide adventure, try Highlands and Cashiers hiking, shopping, dining and theater. Winter’s got it all.