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Shut-In Ridge Trail Run
The Shut-In Ridge Trail Run / Race is a 17.8 mile endurance running event that takes place in the mountains near Asheville, NC. The route begins in the North Carolina Arboretum and ascends approximately 5,000 feet, with a finish line at the top of Mt. Pisgah. The last two miles are steep and technical, to such an extreme that observers may see "runners hanging on to trees to keep from falling backward". History The Shut-In Ridge Trail Run event officially began in December 1980 when 64 runners ran the same 17.8 mile route that George Vanderbilt used to get from his Asheville mansion (Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...) to his mountaintop hunting lodge. Shut-In Ridge is among the oldest running events in the USA. References {{Reflist Mountain r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Carolina Arboretum
The North Carolina Arboretum () is an arboretum and botanical garden located within the Bent Creek Experimental Forest of the Pisgah National Forest at 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, southwest of Asheville, North Carolina near the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is open daily except for Christmas Day. There is no admission charge, but some parking fees do apply. Although the idea for the arboretum stretches back to landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1898, who wished to create an arboretum at the nearby Biltmore Estate, today's arboretum was established by the General Assembly in 1986, as a facility of the University of North Carolina. In 1989 the site was officially designated the North Carolina Arboretum. The arboretum is still under active development. It includes many hiking and bicycling trails, a bonsai collection, a holly garden, and a stream garden. Its tree collection includes a fine set of ''Metasequoias'' planted in 1950, and now said to be the tallest in the south ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Pisgah (mountain In North Carolina)
Mount Pisgah is a mountain in the Appalachian mountain range and part of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, United States. The mountain's height is 5,721 feet (1,744 m) above sea level, and it sits approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Asheville, near the crossing of the boundaries of Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Transylvania counties. It is located on the border of Buncombe and Haywood counties, close to the point where Henderson and Transylvania meet them, but not actually within the latter two counties. The mountain is easily accessible via a hiking trail from the Blue Ridge Parkway, near the Pisgah Inn. Broadcasting controversy The prominent tower in the picture at the crest of Mount Pisgah, on what is known as Pisgah Ledge, is a television broadcast tower owned by Chesapeake Television, Incorporated, doing business as the Sinclair Broadcast Group, licensee of WLOS TV 13.x, transmitting on VHF channel 13, from nearby Asheville, North Carol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Washington Vanderbilt II
George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises. He commissioned the construction of a 250-room mansion, the largest privately owned home in the United States, which he named Biltmore Estate. Biography George W. Vanderbilt was the youngest child of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam. Though there is no evidence to suggest that he referred to himself using a numerical suffix, various sources have called him both George Washington Vanderbilt II and III. The Biltmore recognizes him as George W. Vanderbilt III, because he had two uncles by that name, the first of whom died at the age of four. As the youngest of William's children, George was said to be his father's favorite and his constant companion. Relatives described him as slender, dark-haired, and pale-complexioned. Shy and intro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at of floor space ( of living area). Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions. History In the 1880s, at the height of the Gilded Age, George Washington Vanderbilt II began to make regular visits with his mother, Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt, to the Asheville area. He loved the scenery and climate so much that he decided to build a summer house in the area, which he called his "little mountain escape". His older brothers and sisters had built luxurious summer houses in places such as Newport, Rhode Island, the Gold Coast of Long Island, and Hyde Park, New York. Vanderbilt named his estate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Running Competitions
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (1,000 feet) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
