Joy talks cold weather adventures with two outdoor experts on this Appalachian Outdoorosity. Bob Riddle and Valerie Kankiewicz share their perspectives on the best way to prepare for and thrive in the chilliest of outdoor scenarios. Ice climbing, sweating in the snow, David Hasselhoff and last but certainly not least The Legend of the Traveling Jorts all await you! So, come on in! The water is ice. 

Show Notes

Becki

Welcome to the Appalachian Outdoorosity Podcast, where we encourage you to get outside and keep going outside. Here we will share Appalachian State stories that entertain, inspire and inform listeners about living an active outdoor lifestyle. Each episode features a story with the goal to get you outside and keep you going outside to improve your overall wellness. This podcast is presented by the Hope Lab, where our purpose is to investigate the role of outdoor physical activity, exercise and play on health, the environment and human development. The vision of the Hope Lab is to continue developing the perfect foundation for promoting and supporting outdoor physical activity, exercise and play through interdisciplinary research. Feel free to check us out at hopelab.appstate.edu. Hi, my name is Becki Battista and I am a professor in exercise science at Appalachian State University and a self-proclaimed physical activity addict. On today's episode, we will continue our conversation with outdoor professionals about what to wear when recreating outdoors in the cold and rain. Outdoorosity team member Dr. Joy James, a professor in recreation management, interviews Appalachian State University's outdoor program team who provide more details about types of clothing and the importance of layering, as well as things to consider in a variety of outdoor activities like backpacking and ice climbing. Why have two episodes on dressing for weather outdoors? Because our aim is to have you enjoy the outdoor activity. While discomfort can be part of the outdoor experience, there are ways to lessen being uncomfortable. Dressing for the weather is significant to a person's willingness to continue to try new outdoor activities. And here at Outdoorosity, we are all about getting people outdoors. Let's get to the interviews.

Joy

These are two experts from outdoor programs at Appalachian State University. We have Bob and Valerie. First, we'd like to know, Bob, a little bit about yourself.

Bob

Yeah, so I'm Bob Riddle. I'm originally from southern Ohio, so I grew up in the foothills of Appalachia. I've made my way deeper and deeper here into the mountains over time. Now, kind of in year four of my professional experience here in the outdoors, apart from graduate assistant shifts and working as an undergrad student and outdoors, I'm currently here the coordinator of outdoor programs for Appalachian State University's Outdoor Program at University Recreation. Specifically, some of the things that I do right now is I manage our indoor climbing wall, our outdoor trips program, our broad stone kind of outdoor educational center. And as part of that is our team building challenge course.

Joy

Thank you! Valerie, I think I will go ahead and switch over to you and have you tell us a little bit about yourself before I start asking questions. So give us a little bit of information about who you are, what you're doing, and anything you think's funny or surprising.

Val

Thank you. I am Valerie Kankiewicz and I'm the assistant director for outdoor programs here at App State. In this role, specifically right now, I work most closely with our outing center where we handle all of our gear rentals, trip registrations and items of that nature. In addition, our Bike App program that provides free bike tunings and repairs for the App State community. Overall, I just generally oversee the operations of outdoor programs to make sure that we are flowing smoothly and providing great opportunities for everyone. I have been involved in the outdoors since I was little, but I came from a family that was not very interested in the outdoors. I went to summer camp and really built up my own interest that way and one thing that I think is kind of funny is that I don't really like to watch a lot of TV or movies or music or things like that. So I'm often quite ignorant of a lot of quotes that people will talk about or different things. My first day of my first full time job ever, I was working as an aquatics director and my supervisor said to me, referring to a particular lifeguard of ours, “He's a real David Hasselhoff.” Now, I had grown up in this town and I was like, I recognize that name. I said, “I think I know him. Why would I know him?” And now it turns out he's a famous actor and I didn't know that. So I prefer to spend my time outside and not spend a lot of time with my technology.

Joy

I know a few people like that. Bob, what is your favorite outdoor activity that you enjoy doing? I know you probably have multiple, but if you were to be able to go do something today, what would that be?

Bob

Backpacking. I really got my start backpacking kind of in West Virginia and through the mountains there. It's something that I've always really valued because for the most part it can be pretty low gear intensive. It's certainly a lot of logistical planning, but on a skill level, it offers a wide variety for really anyone to get involved with. It's a great way to connect with folks or disconnect from folks, depending on what you're looking for. So for me, it's backpacking. You know, similar to Val and what she was saying earlier, I don't come from an outdoorsy background originally. I didn't go backpacking until my freshman orientation program. I grew up playing basketball, baseball, football. My original thought of camping was taking your 30 foot family trailer to the county fair and spending a week with farm animals. I'm certainly not a lightweight backpacker. A quote from a student staff colleague of mine when I was just getting into backpacking that has always stuck with me is, “We're not out here to rough it. You know, we're out here to thrive and do the best that we can with each other and with the supplies that we're given.” I got no problem. You know, throw in some tent poles and carrying a bunch of water and a bunch of food to have a good meal outside. So not on the lightweight side.

Joy

I love that you're like, we're here to thrive and not to rough it. And I think often many people think backpacking is roughing it and it's just a different form of camping that gets you out in a different way. And and I love the challenge of being able to carry all that gear. All right. Thank you for explaining that. I am going to ping pong between the two of you. Change it up a little bit, Valerie. So can you tell us what your favorite outdoor activity is? If today you could do whatever you wanted to be doing. What would be your choice?

Val

Ooh, well, that's tough. Somebody I worked with in college leading trip said it best that they were a jack of all trades and a master of none. And I find that defines me. So I really enjoy backpacking. I also really enjoy cycling. I really like winter and outdoor sports. So if I had my option, I would like to go ice climbing. But that's not an option very often. So I'll take cycling or backpacking as well.

Joy

And it sounds like both of you, come from snow areas originally, right? For some reason I have Iowa on my mind. Valerie and Bob, you said Ohio, but it was southern Ohio you're at.

Bob

Yeah, I'm originally from Southeast Ohio, about 45 minutes from the border. Any which direction, south or east you go.

Val

And Joy, you're correct. I went to college in Iowa at northern Iowa and grew up in northern Illinois. I lived in Wyoming for a little bit and between Buffalo and Rochester, New York. So I've seen my fair share of snow.

Joy

And I asked this because I knew my parents were from Iowa, but I grew up born and raised in Georgia. So Snow was an event in Georgia. And to have snow like we have here in Boone, was kind of a new concept to me. And I mean, I've lived in North Dakota, but I didn't understand wearing a hat. That was a new thing to me. It's like people who come from snow know how to play in it, they know how to dress for it. And it didn't stop them from recreating. And that kind of stunned me as a Southerner going, “Why would you tell the snow and ice climb? Doesn't that that sound like it would be a little bit of a challenge?” But, having been in the snow now, I can see why people enjoy that. All right, Bob, so since we're talking about cold weather, how do you typically dress for a workout or backpacking in colder weather?

Bob

Yeah, so kind of a rule and principle. I use and this is going to sound kind of backwards maybe to some folks if they're not familiar with it. But I like to actually dress to be cold during the activity, especially if I'm going to be on something that's going to be multi-day, where I don't have the luxury of, you know, driving home at the end of the evening and getting a hot shower and a hot meal and laying down in the bed. I like the dress cold for the activity. The reason I like to do that is I want to be just comfortable enough I can withstand it, but I want to be cold. So I'm not sweating because after that activity, if I'm going to be camping and I know it