September/October 2026 / NEWS BRIEFS

Northeast Winter Expo

Kickoff the snowsports season at the Northeast’s premiere alpine skiing and snowboarding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, winter sports, health, fitness, travel, and adventure show on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24-25 at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. With 200 exhibitors and resorts, and 10,000 active attendees expected, the high-energy show will feature gear and clothing sales, interactive demos, great prizes, inspiring films, motivational speakers, and après ski food/drink. There will be top quality retailers with premium alpine and XC ski and snowboard gear at fantastic prices. 

Get involved with outdoor clubs and much more. With your entry to the Expo, you’ll receive a prize ticket for entry to win one of 40 prizes valuing $10,000. Prizes include lift tickets from alpine resorts, trail passes from XC resorts, season passes and more, ski/binding packages, snowshoes, and much more. Show hours are Saturday, 10am-5pm and Sunday, 10am-4pm. Bring your family and friends to visit us on one or both days. Free parking is available in downtown Saratoga Springs on the street and in parking garages, with inexpensive paid parking at the adjacent City Center. northeastwinterexpo.com.

Vermont Dog Hiking Challenge

In January of 2024, Robin Miller launched the Vermont Dog Hiking Challenge, a statewide competition aimed at getting more people and their dogs out on Vermont's trails. Why? Because there's no better hiking companion than your trusty pup. Inspired by the ADK-9 Challenge, she included peaks in every corner of the state encouraging participants to get out of their county and explore all of Vermont. It’s aimed to make the challenge as accessible as possible. Out of the 35 trail options offered in the challenge, 13 of those trails are wheelchair accessible. In addition, you don't even have to complete the hike, you just have to get to a point where you feel you have done some exercise and got into nature, then you can count it. 

And as of July 2026, you can have up to three “wild card” hikes, this means you can count up to three hikes of your choice toward the completion of the Vermont Dog Hiking Challenge. No dog? No problem! You can complete the challenge in memory of a dog, in support of a dog, or maybe even as a fundraiser for a dog or your local humane society; the goal is just to hit the trails and discover Vermont! vtdoghikingchallenge.com.

Protect The Roadless Rule

The Roadless Rule was enacted by the Clinton administration in 2001 to protect our nation’s forest lands, prohibiting the construction of new roads in wild areas of the U.S. National Forest system and making new timber harvesting efforts all but impossible. In April of this year, the Trump administration issued an executive order to massively increase logging across our nation’s National Forests, rolling back environmental protections on more than 112 million acres of our nation’s forest lands - including approximately 26 million acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas. And in June, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced her intent to rescind the Roadless Rule altogether. This would dramatically impact the lands we recreate on and be a detriment to environmental efforts going forward. The 30-day comment period for the draft environmental statement recommending the removal of the Roadless Rule ends at midnight Sept. 21. To act and speak up for our lands, visit outdooralliance.org/take-action.

Vermont Climbing Festival

On Friday-Sunday, Sept. 25-27, Crag VT is putting on the annual Vermont Climbing Festival for the eighth year. The festival makes for an incredible weekend packed with camping, climbing, professional workshops, clinics, competitions, guest speakers, live music, and more. Competitions range from a bouldering comp for all ages/skill levels at Black Barn Farm to a late night, high-energy dyno and crack wrestling comp (winning competitors take home a pie!) with an after party. 

Keynote speaker Tim Emmet will be bringing his infectious stoke as he takes the audience along on a wild ride through his lifelong pursuit of adventure at the absolute limits of human potential. Best of all, 100% of festival proceeds directly support the work of CRAG-VT to protect, preserve, and secure sustainable access to Vermont climbing. Whether participants are looking to sharpen their skills on the rock or just hang out around the campfire with the local community, there is a place for everyone. Join the party this fall in Waterbury and on the cliffs of Bolton for the festival. cragvt.org/festival.

Long Trail FKTs!

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, NH resident Andrew Drummond called off his unsupported FKT attempt of Vermont’s Long Trail. Starting at the Northern Terminus, he was making his way south with about 90 miles left when a combination of blisters and trench foot from the recent rain forced him off his feet. Before he ran out of the mental juice to put up with his soggy feet, he was maintaining the pace needed to unseat the current FKT of four days, 11 hours, and 34 minutes, currently held by Will “Sisyphus” Peterson. “I got to experience all the feelings on the spectrum and so happy I gave it an honest effort,” Andrew wrote on his Instagram story, announcing his decision to call it. “Hard things are… hard!” northeastexplorer.com.

On Friday, August 21, Canadian ultrarunner Cody Taylor (pictured) returned to Canada after establishing the out-and-back (YO-YO) unsupported FKT of the Long Trail. Seventeen days, eight hours, and 42 minutes earlier he had started at the Northern Terminus, ran all the way to the Massachusetts border and back, almost 550 miles. Being an unsupported attempt, he started with a 51-pound backpack, losing almost 1.9 pounds in his pack per day as he ate through his stores of food. Cody said that “The thing that has probably stuck with me most is just how much I learned about myself by being out there that long.” runningmagazine.ca.

Caroline Block’s Unprecedented 55-Mile Swim

In August 2026, marathon swimmer Caroline Block of Alexandria, VA, completed a historic, record-breaking 55-mile continuous swim on Lake Memphremagog. Originally attempting an unprecedented triple-crossing of the lake’s 25-mile length, she had to adjust her route due to incoming severe weather. Despite the threat of lightning and high winds, she finished a staggering 55-mile leg, cementing it as the longest continuous swim ever recorded on Lake Memphremagog. She entered the water at the Newport City Boat Ramp in Vermont on August 24, and 54 hours and 28 minutes later she had completed a full double-crossing (Newport to Magog, QC, and back to Newport) before swimming an additional five miles to clear the water at the Canadian border reporting wharf. The feat was officially ratified by the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association as a historic achievement in ultra-marathon open-water swimming. openwaterswimming.com.