Coopers Rock WinterFest 2019 Recap
[WinterFest 2020 scheduled for 2/8/20]
–by Adam Polinski
Cold temperatures but no snow, combined with sun but no warmth weren’t quite the weather conditions that the Coopers Rock Foundation (CRF) hoped for at the 8th Annual Coopers Rock WinterFest. Just one Saturday before WinterFest, a fresh 8” of snow covered Coopers Rock, providing cross-country skiers the best conditions of the year so far, and creating picture postcard images at the annual Chestnut Ridge County Park’s Toboggan Festival. But during the intervening week, unseasonably warm temperatures and rain took it all away. Then exactly 24 hours after WinterFest, snow once again began to fall on the State Forest. We just missed it! Still, 6 out of 8 Winterfests have had snow, even though this one did not. But “snow or no”, we always hold the festival on it’s scheduled day, with a selection of activities and events that aren’t snow-dependent when we don’t have snow.
Our fun and games for this festival included the Slingshot Paintball Biathlon (on foot, not skis) and our Snowball Target Range (hacky sacks and beanbags instead of snowballs). There were some Disc Golf baskets set up, and for the first time at a WinterFest but not the last, a slackline was set up between two trees – a forty-foot-long tightrope of 2” webbing stretched just two feet above the ground.
Two Winter Tree ID Hikes occurred, one throughout the festival site, and the other to a rocky maze ¼ mile from the Day Use Parking Lot.
The Morgantown Area Rescue Group truck – a mobile mission control – was on display.
The WinterFest Café’ and Warming Fire were cooking as usual. Any winter day is better if it involves a hot cup of coffee around a fire.
While the Mass-Start Downhill Dash, a race for up to 40 cross-country skiers, could not be held in 2019, and thus The Golden Ski could not be awarded, two other contests, immune to the vagaries of weather, proceeded as planned.
For the first time ever, the Men’s Snowball Throwdown was held, and commenced at high noon. Hacky sacks and beanbags substituted for snowballs, and contestants threw at the Snowball Target Range, not at each other. A series of rounds winnowed down the crowd, and at the end, Ryan Cook took home the Target Tree Trophy as the first-ever victor of this recently added WinterFest contest.
Our signature event, The Women’s Frying Pan Toss – an event we copied from the Saranac Lake, NY Winter Festival – was held, as always, at 3:00. We’ve standardized the competition in that we are now using the same pan year after year, and we have a recorded Course Record. Last year Melissa Adkins established a record of 60’ 6”, but that distance was eclipsed this year, when Tiffany Williams set the new record of 65’ 8”, and took home a one-of-a-kind hand-painted frying pan trophy for her 2019 WinterFest victory. Will her new Course Record stand up in 2020 or be toppled by next year’s field of contestants? Reserve the second Saturday next February to find out.
The 9th Annual Coopers Rock WinterFest will be held on Saturday, February 8th, 2020
CRF thanks the following for their contributions to this and/or past festivals:
WV DNR Parks & Rec Section – cooperation and support
MARG – event preparation and bringing their ‘mission control’ truck for display and tours
WVU Outdoor Rec Center – cross-country skis
Fairmont State Outdoors Program — snowshoes
Morgantown Mountain Goats Disc Golf Club – disc golf baskets and discs
WVU Climbing Club – slackline
Amy Metheny — for leading the tree I.D. walks
2020 Schedule—
All events are “open house” from 10:00 – 4:00 unless otherwise stated. Hosted by the Coopers Rock Foundation – coopersrock.org. ALL EVENTS ARE FREE. Food & Drink for sale; donations accepted. Funds go toward facilities improvement.
1] Try-out Cross-Country Skiing
2] Try-out Snowshoeing
3] Short Sledding Hill
4] Snow Sculpture Zone
5] Snowball Target Range
6] Slingshot Paintball Biathlon Short Course
7] Winter Tree I.D. Walk Around Festival Area — 11:00 a.m.
8] Winter Tree I.D. Hike To Rocky Maze – 1:00 p.m.
9] Disc Golf 5-Basket Course
10) Slackline
11) MARG Mission Control Truck on display
12] WinterFest Café’ & Warming Fire
13] Mass-Start Downhill Dash Cross-Country Ski Race — 2:00 p.m.
14] Men’s Snowball Showdown – High Noon
15] Women’s Frying Pan Toss – 3:00
