Frost Heaves Watch

SI senior writer Alex Wolff founded an ABA team, the Vermont Frost Heaves (SI, Dec. 19, 2005), which begins play in November.

We've got the franchise, the logo and the website. But the Frost Heaves will come to an abrupt halt in a few months if we don't raise money to sign a coach and players. That's where another winter sport comes in, one I've always been too busy following hoops to learn.

Know how every dreamer with a start-up has an "elevator pitch," a honed-to-a-(Power)Point spiel just in case he finds himself next to Bill Gates? On March 3 at Vermont's Bolton Valley ski resort, a local venture capital firm is sponsoring Peak Pitch: Entrepreneurs share a chairlift with prospective investors and sell their ideas on the ride to the top. That the Heaves are honchoed by a guy who can't ski is a niggling detail. Ah, the prospect of ride after capital-acquiring ride--if the president & G.M. can get back down the mountain.

• For more on the team, go to: vermontfrostheaves.com.

PHOTO

CHRISTOPHER HERCIK (HEAVES LOGO)