TO SERVE YOU

Al-Anon

Alcoholics Anonymous If alcohol is causing problems or conic t in your life, AA can help All meetings are at 7 p m

Columbia United AA, Invermere: Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the BC Ser vice Building, South End – 624 4th St , Invermere Please call 250342-2424 for more information or to speak with someone from our fellowship

CHEERS to the EMP PAC for organizing and ser ving such a wonder ful lunch to our school Cheers to From Scratch, AG Valley Foods, Sobeys and GFS & Sysco for making the meal possible!

Huge cheers to the people in Windermere for taking Ellanore (my dog) in for safe keeping after she ran away from her care keepers in the early morning hours of Februar y 24th I'm sorr y not sure of your names Ver y much appreciated

Cheers

Local View for the quick turnaround time on my business cards Excellent customer ser vice!

Cheers to Christine store manager at Canadian Tire for your help Thursday evening You were great and ver y patient with me O utstanding customer ser vice!

Cheers to Jaye and Heath at Selkirk Cellulars The ser vice is always top notch!!

Cheers to Jefferson Contrac ting They are fast, ver y good at what they do and ver y friendly.

Cheers to Megan at Home Hardware for the great customer ser vice.

Cheers to Mister Tire, Invermere Ver y late S aturday afternoon, I noticed tire pressure low on my truck Mike Heisler and crew at Mister Tire were about to close but they said they could x it but I didn' t have my wheel lock nut adapter. Mike said ... no problem go home and get it They waited for me and xed it! Great customer ser vice!

Ro Ger Jean Paul Gagn

Januar y 6, 1941 - Februar y 26, 2023

Roger passed away peacefully at home after a battle with Pulmonar y Fibrosis and Dementia on Sunday, Februar y 26, 2023.

Roger leaves behind his wife Claudette, his daughters Fabienne (Dan), Annie (Travis), Nadia and his grandchildren Andre (Tara), Marianne and Danae (James).

A memorial ser vice will be held at McPherson Funeral Ser vices Cranbrook, BC on March 25th 2023 at 1 p.m. See the McPherson Funeral Ser vice Cranbrook website and Facebook for a more detailed obituar y

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Roger’s name to Alzheimer Society of B.C. or Canadian Pulmonar y Fibrosis Foundation.

Cheers to R ick Lake for being an amazing person. You have rescued me once again D on’t know what I would do without your help. You can x anything!

For Sale By Owner

Blind Repair Business For S ale

Small business operating in the Valley for 16 years, includes all tools needed for xing/installing blinds Includes ex tensive inventor y of par ts/cording in many sizes/colors

The per fec t little business to add to your existing business or great for semi-retired handyman! $8,000 Call Cathy

B B's Home & Design Ser vices

Renovations, Masonr y & Handyman Ser vices, Blinds & Install Cabin checks/yard care/eavestrough cleaning/junk removal/dump runs Call 250-688-2897

THE HEARTFELT COMPANION: Ser vices for Seniors

Since 2014 we've provided kind and compassionate non-medical care, transpor tation to Cranbrook, overnight care, meal prep, grocer y shopping and more

Excellent local references 250-341-5683

Hear tfeltcompanionser vices com

Wanted 2 F/T Restaurant Cooks, Rocky R iver Grill, 8888 Arrow Road, Invermere, B C Permanent, F/T shifts, over time, weekends, days and evenings, $16/hour for 40 hours per week O ver time after 40 hours. Minimum several years' experience and completion of secondar y school. DUTIES: Prepare and cook full course meals, prepare and cook individual dishes and foods, ensure qualit y of food por tions, work with minimal super vision, prepare dishes for customers with food allergies or intolerances. Inspec t kitchens and food ser vice areas Please for ward resume to Justin Atterbur y by fax 250-342-8889 or email: justatterbur y@hotmail com

Acreages For Sale

2 5 to 3 4 acre parcels

Great mountain views, privac y, individual wells, no building time commitment Located on sunny side of the Valley.

For more information contac t Elkhorn Ranches 250-342-1268 w w w elkhornranches com

HAY FOR SALE

Top qualit y round bales Stored in shed. Phone Elkhorn Ranch 250-342-1268

Notice To Remove Private Land From

WOODLOT 0481

Please be advised the William Pr y tula is proposing to remove 50 hectares of private land from Woodlot Licence W0481 located in the vicinity of Harrogate, BC, Parcel Identifier 007-180 -781 described as THAT PART OF THE NORTHWEST QUARTER OF SECTION 28 LYING NORTH AND EAST OF THE RIGHT OF WAY OF THE KOOTENAY CENTRAL RAILWAY AS SHOWN ON PLAN 1155

TOWNSHIP 23 RANGE 18 WEST OF THE 5TH MERIDIAN KOOTENAY DISTRICT EXCEPT (1) PARCEL A (REFERENCE PLAN 74066I) AND (2) PART INCLUDED IN PLAN 6516 AND (3) EPP74485.

Inquiries/comments to this proposal must be submitted to William (Bill) Pr y tula, 4419 13 St NE, Salmon Arm, BC V1E 1C9 by April 12, 2023

Only written inquiries received by the above date will be responded to

Information about this proposal can be obtained by contacting William (Bill) Prytula, 250 -344 -8183, wprytula@gmail.com.

Distric T Of Invermere Distric T Of Invermere

M P Lo Y M E N T

The Distric t of Invermere is accepting applications for:

• Summer Students to work as par t of our Public Works Staff as Parks Labourers, Gardeners, and to suppor t outdoor events. These are temporar y, full-time positions (40 hours per week) within the CUPE Local 2982 bargaining unit.

General Hours of work: (days and hours may var y)

Parks Labourers

• 6:00am – 6:00 pm Monday to Friday with some weekend shifts

• Mondays - 4:00 pm – 12:00 am (Movies in the Mountains events in July & August)

Gardeners

• 6:00am – 6:00 pm Monday to Friday with some weekend shifts

Employment Term:

• Employment will commence in early May and will terminate in late August

Star ting Pay Rate:

• Star ting at $17.65 per hour

Please visit w w w.invermere.net for full job descriptions These positions will remain open until filled

Distric t of Invermere

Attn: Kindr y Luyendyk, Corporate O fficer PO Box 339

Invermere, BC, V0A 1K0

Email: corporateser vices@invermere.net

In winter, Hakuba is full of foreigners (particularly Australians and Brits) there to work in the ski industry, just like the Columbia Valley, and Blair has fast formed a circle of international friends.

Being a ski nanny is essentially a general nanny gig, with skiing on the side, described Blair. She helps out with the Robb family’s morning routine, getting the kids dressed, fed and out the door to hoikuen (a kind of Japanese day care) or to the ski hill. Some days she skis with the kids, other days she teaches ski lessons with Hakuba Ski Concierge (the ski school Nadine runs), and other times she’s off skiing on her own. In the afternoon she’s often with Summer and Joey again, playing and reading with them.

She’s also finding time to continue working, remotely, for the Invermere Public Library, and — as if that weren’t enough — she’s also completing an online Master’s degree in Library and Information Science through the University of Alberta. Busy? Yes, very much so, con- cedes Blair, quickly adding that although it’s a tricky balancing act “I can’t really complain about doing grad school work in Japan”.

In the evening it’s dinner with the Robb family, watching a movie with the kids, and then heading out to an onsen (Japanese hot spring) to soak with friends, and perhaps hitting up some of Hakuba’s bars and restaurants. Or to bed early (not from exhaustion mind you, but more so to be up early and catch the first chairlift the next day).

Spending so much time with Summer and Joey has been a great experience, said Blair. “Both kids are little rippers on the mountain...Joey (age four) is fearless and loves the jumps and boxes. Summer (age six) was tearing up the powder down a black diamond run with me the other day.”

Blair has been a staple of the Fairmont ski school for more than a decade, and has found she loves being a ski instructor in Japan just as much. So far, in Hakuba, she’s taught Australians, Swedes, Americans, Hong Kongers, Singaporeans, Thais and a family from Qatar who are originally from Hungary (and who had, remarkably, driven through Invermere once, years before). “It’s been cool meeting people from all over the world and helping them learn how to ski,” Blair told the Pioneer.

There are ten ski resorts in the Hakuba valley, all interconnected by bus. Although each only has about 15 to 20 runs, together they pack a collective punch, and many of them conveniently have chairlifts right to gates leading to the backcountry.

And the backcountry is where Hakuba goes from great to exceptional. The snowpack is generally much more stable in Hakuba than in B.C. (although there is still avalanche risk), and Blair has been skiing backcountry in Japan much more than she ever has at home.

Her first foray off the resort was memorable: a storm had deposited 40 centimetres (cm) of fresh powder, prompting a 40-minute hike with a group of Canadian, English and German friends. Blair is fit, but struggled to keep pace, her heart thumping and legs burning. Then the descent: floating down through snow unlike anything in Canada, whizzing through birch and beeches trees with their branches spreading out overhead into snow-coated canopies. Clumps of bamboo bushes poked through the powder. Cutting through the ultra-dry snow was like slicing through silk.

“It was amazing. Awesome. You just fly through. It really is like floating,” said Blair.

The quaint nature of Hakuba suits Blair just fine, she said.

Continued on page18

If you possess the necessary qualifications

“I think in North America generally there’s the impression that Japan is super high tech and advanced, but that’s not really the case (outside the cites). There is some cool tech stuff but everyone largely uses cash, everything is done on paper forms and through fax. The ski hill infrastructure is quite old. Ski hills came into fashion here in the 1980s and not a lot has changed since. The lifts are quite old, lots of chairlifts don’t have a safety bar,” she said. “The benefit, though, is that skiing is much cheaper here — around $60 for a day pass at one resort, $75 for the pass that gets you onto all ten resorts in the valley. I don’t think I had any real set impressions of Japan, but travelling is a good reminder that while people eat different foods or organize things a bit differently, we’re all just people, and in Hakuba in particular, everyone is keen to ski or board and enjoy the mountains.”

That said, Blair has had some experiences in Hakuba that just wouldn’t have happened in Invermere, for instance, being served in a restaurant by a three-foot high cat-shaped robot waiter. Or the fact that ATMs are closed sometimes, because Japanese people believe machines need a rest too.

Or finding a great ‘secret’ bar in a Hakuba back alley that is accessed by a door that is disguised as a cigarette vending machine. Blair and her friends thought it was, in fact, a cigarette vending machine. Then they watched another group of people walk up the ‘machine’ and slide it open, revealing a bar behind. Then there was the dinner Blair attended along with Nadine and another friend, in which she wore a wedding dress and a Mickey Mouse ball cap. Everybody was given 15 minutes and $15 to purchase an outfit for another member of the group. Hakuba has plenty of secondhand stores with great prices, and, as it turns out, some unusual dinner attire. “We were all out, dressing in these outfits — it was certainly a fun night,” recalled Blair.

The food in Hakuba has been delicious — yakiniku barbeque, top-notch ramen, Japanese curry and rice, and outstanding sushi everywhere, including from 7/11 and other local convenience stores.

There’s also the onsens – traditional Japanese hot springs.

“They are all over, and are a way different set up than Radium or Fairmont. First off, they are all nude baths — separated into men and women’s baths. You undress and have a shower first. Everyone gets very clean before they go in for a soak. It was a bit weird at first, but you get over it quickly and they are so nice after a day on the slopes,” explained Blair. “There’s around ten to fifteen in Hakuba alone. Some have so their kids were amped up with excitement on Christmas morning. Later the family held a huge potluck dinner for all their ski school’s instructors, with roast chicken and the fixings (but sushi too).

Blair has been able to make a few trips beyond Hakuba: taking in a sumo wrestling tournament in Tokyo, visiting the old imperial capital of Kyoto, and going to the Nozawa Onsen Fire Festival. Kyoto was a blur of shrines, Japanese macaques, a bamboo forest, and cherry blossoms. The sumo tournament was a ton of fun, though Blair learned you need to pay close attention: most bouts last less than 10 seconds.

And the fire festival was something else entirely: each winter villagers in Nozawa Onsen spend days choppidown beech trees and building a 60-foot high wood little one-person tubs, most have a bigger pool for everyone. There’s one here with a beautiful view of the mountains and ski hills. They are also very cheap between $6 to ten dollars to get in.”

Blair has picked up a few Japanese phrases but has been surprised at how easy it is to get by in Hakuba just speaking English.

This winter was the first Christmas Blair has spent away from her family, and the holiday is not a big deal in Japan, but there still plenty of festive spirit, outlined Blair. The Robb family is Canadian, shrine. When evening falls on the festival night, the fun beings: all the villagers (and great many of the onlookers who have flocked to the town) consume liberal quantities of sake. Once the mood is jovial, the village parade in the direction of the shrine, all bearing large bamboo torches, which are blazing. It it the job of all 25-year-old and 42-year old village men to defend the shrine from the fire-wielding villagers. The 42-years olds perch on top of the shrine, singing songs and taunting the villagers. The 25-year-olds hang off a lower level of the shrine by ropes and use pine boughs to battle back the villagers and to put out any parts of the wooden structure that catch alight.

“The songs are going full tilt, there’s the torches, the sake, and there are fireworks going off everywhere at the same time,” said Blair. “It’s pretty crazy, but it was amazing to watch.”

And yes, she noted, the next day people have scratches and minor burns. But it’s all in good fun and apparently participants are rarely badly hurt.