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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2015)
www.hoodrivernews.com S PORTS Hood River News, Saturday, January 31, 2015 ‘Honestly, it’s been part of the healing process. To see the community rally together and turn a tragedy into some- thing positive and lasting for people to enjoy really embodies the spirit that Matt put into this place. BEN KETLER, Kleeway trail adopter, builder Kleeway trail coming along nicely Matt Klee dedicated a great deal of time and ener- gy building things for others, and now, as a year since his death approaches, an impas- sioned community is coming together to build something for him. The Kleeway is quickly taking shape, and when com- pleted the Post Canyon mountain biking trail will be a lasting legacy and the ful- fillment of a vision a beloved member of the Hood River community left behind. If there’s an upside to the dry winter the Pacific North- west is in the midst of, it’s that conditions have been perfect for trail building. Without ice, snow and seri- ous mud to contend with, builders have made rapid progress on the three-mile route, which Klee envisioned and advocated for as a way to alleviate high-traffic safety issues on the popular Seven Streams trail, which is the main artery for Hood River County Forestry’s popular Northwest Area Trails Sys- tem. Expected to be completed in time for the summer rid- ing season, the new single- track trail will be a downhill- only biking-only trail con- necting Family Man (off Ri- ordan Hill Road) to the Seven Streams Staging Area, pro- viding bikers a fun new downhill route while making Seven Streams safer for the variety of user groups that frequent it. A second phase of the project, to be complet- ed in the fall, will link the in- tersection at the bottom of the Spaghetti Factory and Lower GP trails to about the middle of Kleeway. When walking a roughed- out section of trail last week that traverses a hillside clear-cut after the 2012 ice storm, it’s easy to sense Ben Ketler’s passion about the project. “Matt was the kind of per- son who would build stuff below his level so that others could enjoy it and progress,” said Ketler, the Kleeway’s of- ficial adopter, through HRCF’s recreational trails management system. “The great thing about this trail is that it is truly going to be for every rider, from little kids all the way up to experts. That was Matt’s vision, and after all the work and plan- ning to get to this point, it’s pretty exciting to see it final- ly taking shape.” Although Ketler has devot- ed countless hours of his own time and energy to see the project through, he is quick to point out how much of a community effort it has become. “The amount of support, both financially and in vol- unteers coming up here to See KLEEWAY, Page A8 Work party Feb. 14 Hood River Area Trail Stewards is hosting a Klee- way trail work party on Sat- urday, Feb. 14. Meet at 10 a.m. at Family Man and bring shovels, hoes, wheel barrows, buckets, gloves, water and a snack. The bulk of the work will be raking and shaping trail, hauling gravel and digging tread. A7 Olympian, US Open champs headline girls’ wrestling clinic Hood River Valley High School will be one of just two locations on the west coast to host a special girls’ wrestling clinic on Wednesday, Feb. 4 as part of USA Wrestling’s goal of raising awareness and partici- pation in female wrestling across the country. The clinic will run from 6:15-7:45 p.m. in the HRV wrestling room and is open to all females ages 5-25, no wrestling experience required. Headlining the event are clinicians Kelsey Campbell and Whitney Conder. Campbell is a former Olympian and US Open champion originally from Milwaukie High School and Conder is a US World Team Trial and US Open champion from Puyallup, Wash. Both wrestlers are currently living and training at the Olympic Training Center on Colorado Springs. Participants should come ready for light technique train- ing but do not need special equipment. For more informa- tion, contact Trent Kroll at trent.kroll@hoodriver.k12.or.us HRV swim team poised for CRC title The Hood River Valley High School varsity girls swim team sent a clear statement last weekend that it is intent on re- claiming the Columbia River Conference title — after losing it last year to Pendleton — and making waves at the 5A State Championships. At the annual Hood River Invitational Satur- day, the girls claimed the team title and beat the next closest CRC finisher, Pendleton (4th place) by more than 100 points. Of the ten teams at the meet, all four CRC teams were in at- tendance, thus providing a good preview of potential out- comes at the upcoming confer- ence championships (Feb. 14 in Hood River). Although not as commanding as the girls, the HRV boys had a solid perfor- mance at the meet as well, net- ting 333 points for a 3rd place finish behind La Grande (422.5) and Pendleton (378). The combined effort put the HRV team at second overall with 750 points. La Grande was first with 777.5, Pendleton was 3rd (673), The Dalles was 6th (301) and Hermiston was 10th (112). About Matt Klee Please see RESULTS, Page A8 Hood River resident Matt Klee passed away last May at the age of 40 while mountain biking at the Whistler Bike Park. Klee, an avid biker, kiteboarder and outdoorsman, worked at Insitu and dedicat- ed much of his free time as the driving force behind the Hood River Area Trail Stewards (HRATS). Klee was instrumental in laying a strong foundation for the organization’s future. For more informa- tion on HRATS, future work parties, Kleeway progress or how you can help, see the HRATS facebook page at facebook.com/hrats. Paul Weatherly rules the roost BY JEFF OLSON Kegler’s Corner columnist Team of the Week: Paul Weatherly, +132 (783) Terry Arthur, +129 (780) Gordon Sim, +129 (786) Carl Casey, +114 (768) Quinton Cox, +109 (709) Photos by Adam Lapierre THE KLEEWAY as seen last week above the section of Seven Streams trail that was clear cut in the winter of 2012. Ben Ketler (top and below, left) proposed the trail with Matt Klee and has worked with IMBA trail builder Jason Wells (below, right), HRATS, Hood River County Forestry and a small army of volunteers to get the trail completed by this summer. Hats off to our Team of the Week bowlers who rolled the most over their averages in last week’s league action at Hood River’s Orchard Lanes. Once again we have a nice mix of bowlers — some new, some household names and all of them on fire. Leading the parade of stars was Paul Weatherly, who car- ried his team to a 21-4 thrash- ing of the powerful Hood River Sports Club trio in the tough Wednesday night Fra- ternal league. Paul racked up savvy scratch 233 and 213 games on his way to a stellar 627 series that was 132 pins over his average, the most for anyone in league action last week! This marks the second time that Paul has made the Team of the Week in the past month, so it appears he has found the key to success. Ahhhhhh, there’s nothing like basking in the limelight for motivation! It’s always special to wel- come another newcomer to the big five. Terry Arthur sure had things his way in the Tuesday Nite Mixed league, where he blasted a huge Please see BOWL, Page A8
