[PeterParker]

https://www.liberty.edu/libertyjournal/ ... &artid=310

Falwell also introduced a new initiative, “Ultimate LU,” to allow more students to get involved in activities at Liberty...

Now, Falwell Jr. said, “We’ve grown so much that only a small percentage of our students are able to participate in intercollegiate athletics. So in order to broaden it so that there’s activities and athletics for everybody, we’re expanding our intramural program, our club sports program, and we’re surveying students to see what activities you want to see added at Liberty.”

He spoke about the opportunities available on Liberty Mountain, with new hiking and biking trails and the highly anticipated new Snowflex ski slope, an artificial ski slope that would allow students to ski, snowboard and go tubing even in the warmer months. That project is expected to be completed by start of 2009.

http://www.ultimatelu.com/

Ultimate LU is your ultimate resource for recreational opportunities. Whether you’re seeking a heart-pounding, knuckle-whitening motocross ride or a casual game of soccer, “Ultimate LU” connects you to all Liberty University has to offer beyond the classroom. From mountain biking and paintball to skiing and archery, make your free time your own!

Motocross, Mtn. Biking, Skiing....Well played, JJ, well played. So when do we get one these? Man-made rapids, a la the Athens Olympics or stateside: the Adventure Sports Center International. (After looking around this site, it appears LU is slowly creating their own version of this complex.) [Yes, LUConn, it's hyberbole...money doesn't grow on trees, etc. etc.]



http://www.adventuresportscenter.com/in ... Itemid=119

The Adventure Sports Center International (asci) was first envisioned following the 1989 Whitewater Slalom World Championships on the Savage River. Organizers from the Worlds, led by Don Storck, were encouraged by the then president of the ICF (International Canoe Federation, the world governing body for all paddle sports) Sergi Orsi to build upon the world class outdoor resources of Garrett County and the Allegheny mountains, and to make ‘adventure sports’ part of the region’s overall cultural and economic future. The sheer remoteness of whitewater in Garrett County made hosting events (like the Worlds) almost prohibitive: a solution was found in building an artificial, recirculating whitewater course. Thus asci was born, and its vision expanded to include programming in other adventure sports (climbing, trail running, mountain biking, etc...).

Even before developing asci, the founders sought to institutionalize adventure sports in Garrett County. This was done by creating Garrett College’s Adventure Sports Institute, the country’s first undergraduate program in adventure sports recreation management. The Adventure Sports Institute is now 15 years old, enrolls dozens of students, and has graduated students who have gone on to be leaders in the adventure sports industry. The vision was also to develop local talent that could easily segue into work with asci.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 83292.html

Ride man-made rapids in western Maryland

McHENRY, Md. -- There's a man-made river atop a mountain in western Maryland.
The $24 million splashy concrete-and-rock course operated for paddlers by Adventure Sports Center International stretches 1,700 feet and drops 24 feet through nearly nonstop rapids. Rafters and paddlers then ride a conveyor belt from the pool at the end of the C-shaped course back to the pool at the beginning of the run and do it again.

The unusual facility sits atop 3,115-foot Marsh Mountain and next to the Wisp Resort, a ski area, in Garrett County in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains.

It adjoins Deep Creek Lake, a 13-mile-long reservoir popular with boaters. The area is a summer vacation spot for people from Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

The water from the lake is pumped to the top of the mountain in the winter to make snow for skiing. Now it's being put to use in the summer.

The whitewater course holds 2 million gallons and is fed from a mountain-top pool that holds up to 13 million gallons, said Brian Homberg, the center's whitewater program manager and a University of Akron graduate.

The center, open from May to late October, is aiming to attract families to a whitewater run that is several steps beyond an amusement park ride and without the problems you might find on a natural whitewater river. It has hosted competitions for world- class paddlers.

What the center offers is a more-compact trip with guaranteed water levels. That makes the rapids less remote and the whitewater more accessible. There are no shuttles, no hauling rafts and no boring flat-water paddling.

There are no hazards typically found on whitewater rivers, either: undercut rocks and strainers or places where feet can get caught.

And you can do it all in only two hours, not the eight to 12 hours you might have to invest in a river trip.

In fact, ASCI touts that it offers "a seamless whitewater adventure perfect for every experience level." It modestly calls itself the world's premiere adjustable whitewater course. Its advertisements tell paddlers they can control their adventure.

The facility drew about 12,000 rafters and 2,000 paddlers in 2007...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00794.html

And they don't have floodlights, so you can't go all night-- not yet, anyway. "That's something we might think about in the future," said Jesse Shimrock, the strapping young kayaker who handles public relations at the new, $24 million mountaintop facility alongside Wisp ski resort in McHenry, Md., near Deep Creek Lake...

Yes, rural Maryland now is home to one of the two wholly artificial whitewater courses in the nation, the other being in Charlotte. At least asci (they keep the acronym lowercase, like the poet e.e. cummings) is out in the boonies, not just outside downtown....

It's a marriage of convenience. Wisp already had ponds for snowmaking scattered over the mountain, which sat unused in summer. Why not pump that water to the top and cut it loose down a man-made, obstacle-laden channel for the entertainment of summer vacationers at Deep Creek Lake...

[JDUB]

i think the mountain bike trails will be done soon. they have been working a lot on them

[PeterParker]

An LU Pipedream for sure, but probably worth a little trip to Maryland for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51ELJjjb ... re=related



For those interested in some morning reading: Another one of these Adventure Park Concepts from the UK (complete with man-made surfing.)

http://www.venture-xtreme.com/water.html

[LUconn]

I would love to see Parker be given a large sum of money to do with what he wishes. How much could he spend without doing something boring like investing? I don't think there is a finite number.

[Cider Jim]

Agreed, LUConn, we need to get Pete back on the payroll.

[Hold My Own]

Ok...weird I know...but I had a dream last nite that we did have this man made rapids thing and it was on JJ's farm....it was crazy fun though from what I remember!

[blwall1416]

it was on JJ's farm....

I was there last night fishing..........no, not in your dream.

[Hold My Own]

I was there last night fishing......

Suck up....Never thought fishing could lead to job security but you manged to surprise me

[ATrain]

And as usual, there's already a Facebook group opposing this:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6 ... 692&ref=nf

[Hold My Own]

Its amazing how people find a way to complain about having to many fun things to do....while just years ago "Lynchburg Sucked b/c there is nothing to do" all the while 90% of this stuff is donated and not costing the student anything



"You would like to buy us a ski slope?"

"That's correct"

"I'm sorry but this is a University and I have to turn you down even though your paying for it"



Yeah, that makes sense

[blwall1416]

One person wrote "they really just need to put a cap on the amount of freshman that they let in. thats my biggest complaint."

When someone complains about the lack of quality students & "they let pretty much anyone in here even if they barely graduated" has reading comprehension problems:

"Because of the tremendous growth of the university — with an expected 11,300 students this fall — university leaders felt the need to set the closing date. With an expected 3,500 new students to arrive this fall, the move will allow for facilities and staffing to catch up with the current growth and for the administration to make plans for future growth."

http://www.liberty.edu/libertyjournal/i ... &artid=196

....wouldn't that be the very definition of irony?

[SuperJon]

The absolute lack of knowledge about what the school doing in that group is hilarious. They have no clue what this school is doing right now. They haven't heard/read the interviews with Jr where he has said they are slowing down student growth so that they can build more academic buildings and get the academics back up where they need to be. Do those that complain about "letting anyone in" not realize that, yes, that was the point of the school in the first place. How many times did Dr. Falwell say he never wanted to turn a kid down who wanted a Christian education? It's one thing to get into a school. It's a completely different thing to make the grades and stay here. They complain about the library but, um, didn't we just build the 3rd floor of Demoss to be pretty much exactly what they were complaining we didn't have? Also, our library has been on the edge of the technological movement in that while we may not have as many paper-books, our students have access to God only knows how many online research journals and things of that nature.

Pay attention and learn the reason that things are being done before you whine about them.

[Hold My Own]

I couldnt resist any more....BL i posted your link too

[JDUB]

i had to voice my opinion in the discussion board. I can't stand ignorant people with no facts flapping their jaws

[LUconn]

Is she seriously complaining about the library? Is she stuck in 1995? She's probably got a full set of encyclopedias and a typewriter in her dorm room.

[RagingTireFire]

i had to voice my opinion in the discussion board. I can't stand ignorant people with no facts flapping their jaws

[Cider Jim]

Is she stuck in 1975? She's probably got a full set of encyclopedias and a typewriter in her dorm room.

FIFY

[jcmanson]

One girl on that facebook page mentioned the "new LU student union." What is that?

[blwall1416]

I couldnt resist any more....BL i posted your link too

Ha, ha........you should have posted my "define irony" comment.

[SuperJon]

One girl on that facebook page mentioned the "new LU student union." What is that?

There's a coffee shop going in by Lahaye and they're turning the tower into a big multi-level student center.

[jcmanson]

Thanks, never heard it referred to as that.

[Fumblerooskies]

Thanks, never heard it referred to as that.

Yup...that is what it is referred to.

[JDUB]

well.. the tower will be a future addition. the student union should be done in the next month. it will be a big room with a stage for karoke and concerts and a coffee shop and different stuff