Something New at Deep Creek
May/29/2007 Deep Creek Lake, MD
If you've attended a class at my lake house, then you know what a great place Deep Creek Lake is. Well as of last weekend, Deep Creek became a nationally recognized Mecca for white water enthusiasts. Deep Creek's new Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) is home to the world’s only mountain-top whitewater course and to a diverse array of adventure sports opportunities.
The Adventure Sports Center International concept had its beginnings after the 1989 World Championships which were held on Savage River, about ten miles from Deep Creek. It was a huge event for Maryland, but getting the necessary water appropriated for those championships was almost impossible, so event coordinators decided to host only one more already planned race at that location. Those were the 1992 Olympic trials for the Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain. It was at the Olympics that the visionaries and founders of the Adventure Sports Center International saw the artificial whitewater facilities built for the games' whitewater events to assure that sufficient water would be available. They began to set the wheels in motion to do the same thing in Maryland. It took 15 years for the dream to come true on the top of Wisp Mountain above Deep Creek Lake.
The course features an entry pond and a huge reservoir that feeds water to it. Four massive pumps literally shoot water out horizontally, which creates the rapids right out of the rocks. "Wave shapers" in the form of pneumatically controlled air bladders underneath metal plates can literally raise the bottom of the river up and down so that the waves can be fine-tuned to create a hole or a wave. A conveyer belt take rafters from the lower pond to the upper pond as the ride begins. The course is about one-third of a mile long with over ten individual rapids along the way.
The Adventure Center also includes a climbing area that contains 65’ rock faces that sport climbing groups and adventure seekers love. Also under development is ten miles of mountain bike and running trails. The Center's goal is to be THE adventure sports destination for the region, and the ACSI is well on the way to achieving this lofty goal, as there are more class III, IV and V streams jammed together within the area than virtually any other part of the United States.
Click here if you want to see a video of the whitewater course in action. If you want to learn more about how this incredible facility was build, click here.
Here are some shots I grabbed on opening day. In the bottom image you can see just a few of the army of earth-moving vehicles that made the course possible.
The Adventure Sports Center International concept had its beginnings after the 1989 World Championships which were held on Savage River, about ten miles from Deep Creek. It was a huge event for Maryland, but getting the necessary water appropriated for those championships was almost impossible, so event coordinators decided to host only one more already planned race at that location. Those were the 1992 Olympic trials for the Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain. It was at the Olympics that the visionaries and founders of the Adventure Sports Center International saw the artificial whitewater facilities built for the games' whitewater events to assure that sufficient water would be available. They began to set the wheels in motion to do the same thing in Maryland. It took 15 years for the dream to come true on the top of Wisp Mountain above Deep Creek Lake.
The course features an entry pond and a huge reservoir that feeds water to it. Four massive pumps literally shoot water out horizontally, which creates the rapids right out of the rocks. "Wave shapers" in the form of pneumatically controlled air bladders underneath metal plates can literally raise the bottom of the river up and down so that the waves can be fine-tuned to create a hole or a wave. A conveyer belt take rafters from the lower pond to the upper pond as the ride begins. The course is about one-third of a mile long with over ten individual rapids along the way.
The Adventure Center also includes a climbing area that contains 65’ rock faces that sport climbing groups and adventure seekers love. Also under development is ten miles of mountain bike and running trails. The Center's goal is to be THE adventure sports destination for the region, and the ACSI is well on the way to achieving this lofty goal, as there are more class III, IV and V streams jammed together within the area than virtually any other part of the United States.
Click here if you want to see a video of the whitewater course in action. If you want to learn more about how this incredible facility was build, click here.
Here are some shots I grabbed on opening day. In the bottom image you can see just a few of the army of earth-moving vehicles that made the course possible.