Spring is an amazing time to be in the New River Gorge! The days are warming up, the flowers are blooming, and best of all, it marks the start of another rafting season. Getting ready for the season means getting the dust of our equipment and refreshing our guides’ rescue skills. Safety is always our number one priority and ACE is committed to holding our guides to the highest standards in the outdoor industry.

This year, ACE is excited about its partnership with Whitewater Wisdom to offer swiftwater rescue and wilderness medicine courses. Guides are always cultivating and fine tuning their craft: studying new rivers, learning about new gear and exercising rescue/medical skills to ensure the safety of everyone for a fantastic adventure. All guides complete an intensive training course their first year. However at ACE, guides are encouraged to enhance their training every season they return. Many of our staff have been paddling the river for 10, 20 and even 30+ years and they still continue to take part in training and workshops to strengthen their skills.

This spring, 60 returning staff and 30 trainees are taking part in the Whitewater Rescue Technician Level 1 courses, certified by Rescue 3 International, which involve plenty of swimming on the New River. The 3-day courses include tying knots, setting up ropes systems and working through rescue scenarios.  Whitewater Wisdom offers a wide range of courses for the weekend paddler, whitewater professionals, fire departments, law enforcement agencies and military groups. With West Virginia’s reliable flows, the New River Gorge is the ideal place to hone in these skills year round.

Definitely not your typical adventure vacation.

With a property spanning 1500 acres, we are constantly working to expand the hiking and biking options for our guests by creating new trails and maintaining existing ones.

But trails don’t build themselves. They require clearing, leveling, benching and grooming. It takes years of up-keep and thousands of footsteps and mountain bike tracks to establish a great trail. And so it goes. In order to have good trails, we need a little help from our guests.

When the crew arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that our age range spanned more than 75 years.

Jeannie brought her two young boys so they could learn to work trails and maybe begin a life long passion for the outdoors. Olive, with seven decades of living under her belt, was not shy about digging and doing her share.

The coolest part? Everyone is excited to help make the trails better so when others vacation to West Virginia, they have the best time possible.

For their hard work — roughly 12 hours trail maintenance work — we put them up for two nights at one of our Cozy Park Cabins. We’re talking hot tub and all (among other perks)!

Each participant had a unique story and each inspired me in different ways. I could relate to my peers for the desire to have a challenging weekend, to work hard and to earn two free nights of lodging in a cabin. But really, I was mostly inspired by those who had a bit more life experience than me. They were the most prepared and stayed positive despite the rain.

On behalf of the entire ACE Adventure Resort family, we thank our AWESOME guests for their hard work, their smiles and reminding us that real adventures are what you make out of them. Rain or shine, adventure vacations are a state of mind.

Like on a zip line, for instance. Which, incidentally, is also an easier way to set a new world record with no need for nets and explosions.

If you want to help set a new world record at ACE Adventure Resort in West Virginia, just click here for zip line world record details.

When you could set a new record by coming to West Virginia do a little zip lining instead?

Visit Zip Line World Record page to join the fun.

Pretty sure you’d need a whole bottle of aspirin after slamming into one of those panes of glass, helmet or no.

There are easier ways to set world records. For real.

Like zip lining for example. On June 3, 2012. Right here in good old West Virginia. Check it out here.

Spring Meltdown kicked off the official start to the white water rafting season here at ACE Adventure Resort. Guides and employees made the annual pilgrimage to wild & wonderful West Virginia to get reacquainted with each other and that old friend, the New River. The Meltdown is an annual event where we get a chance to see all of our amazing employees, talk about the upcoming season, and, of course, go rafting!

Being a guide, all I can think about through the winter is getting back to ACE so the Meltdown date has been circled on my calendar for a LONG time.

After doing paperwork, we were updated on the Boy Scout’s Summit project. Sounds like a bunch of cool stuff going on over there, everything from mountain biking to zip lines, shooting ranges to skate parks.

Sunday was the day we had been waiting for all winter; we had over 30 guides paddling on the Lower New River. It was a great level for giant waves and big hits. I paddled my kayak down the river and at Dudley’s Dip I launched my boat off a wave and rocketed through the air! Pretty sweet.

Love the New River in the spring and love being back at ACE with such great people.

And while we were away this winter, there’s been plenty going on here at our 1,500 acre base camp. The Lakeside Dining Hall is being expanded along with an outdoor dining area right on ACE Lake! There is a ton of construction going on and you’re going to love what we got planned for you.

Hope to see you all on the river this summer.

Umm, no. Wouldn't you rather just hit the zip lines?

Been to the ACE homepage today? No? Well, go check it out. We’ll wait (Don’t worry, there are no crazy fingernails there).

Pretty cool, huh?

On Sunday, June 3, 2012 we’re going to take a shot at a bonafide Guinness-approved Zip Line World Record of the most people to Zip Line in an hour.

Now we can hear you thinking to yourself (didn’t know it was that loud, did you?), “Wait, I’ve been growing my fingernails for nigh on three years. I’m only a couple years away from the record.”

Clip them. Ditch the nails and make your way to West Virginia. Fire up the chopper or inflate the hot air balloon or whatever you’ve got to do to get your hovercraft going and join the festival of awesome.

Yeah, we know. We’re pretty excited, too. We may just wear a cape or something.

And then– What? Just get on with the details? Sorry, we can’t help ourselves and start waxing all poetic and nostalgic and stuff.

Oh, right. Go here for all you need to know about participating in breaking the Zip Line World Record this June at ACE Adventure Resort in West Virginia.

Like Justin Bieber. And common sense rafting safety guidelines. Check it out.

Did you ever wonder how your favorite trails came to be?

It’s totally cool if the answer is no, but it’s important to know that good trails don’t make themselves.

Alright, we’ll make this even easier.

You like hot tubs, right? How about hiking or mountain biking or trail running? We thought as much, that’s why we’re hosting our annual Trail Maintenance Weekend. We’re asking you for a bit of help in exchange for a place to stay.

Not sure what to do? No worries. It’s easy, all you do is show up, stay in a Cozy Cabin for free, complete with hot tub, and we’ll hook you up with implements of construction and point you in the right direction. With a qualified trail-building foreman, of course.

Did we mention the cabin was FREE? As in, not costing you a nickel? Same goes for the hot tub. Just remember, there are only so many Cozy Cabins, so you’ll need to call us (800-787-3982) and make a reservation so you don’t have to make a nest of pine needles, dead leaves and your jacket.

Also, bring your mountain bike, running shoes or hiking boots and you can hit the trails in the evening. If you need a bike, we’ll set you up with one of our rentals – FREE. (Sensing a theme yet?)

Head on over to our Facebook page for all the details. And, above all, don’t forget to call to reserve your digs for the weekend.

The beautiful thought,
of good ol’ West Virginia,
keeps my scattered mind at ease.
Codylewis94

We couldn’t have expressed it better ourselves. And we didn’t. We think Cody caught the spirit of what brings people to the New River Gorge over and over again. Heck, if you can’t relax here, you might want to seek medical attention.

We’ll be sending Cody an email with the details on how to select either his white water rafting trip or zip line tour for two.

Thanks to all who participated and poured out their hearts in a three-line poem. Keep your eyes peeled for more contests and giveaways in the upcoming months.