17 minute read
Pivot point. p
PIVOT POINT:
HOW THREE PROFESSIONAL SKIERS BALANCE THEIR DREAMS
MANY WOULD CONSIDER PROFESSIONAL SKIING A DREAM JOB, BUT WHERE’S THE FUN IN HAVING JUST ONE DREAM? THREE OF REVELSTOKE’S RESIDENT PRO SKIERS SHARE HOW THEY PIVOTED TO OTHER PROFESSIONS AND HOW THEY MANAGE TO FIND BALANCE BETWEEN THE TWO.
By Nora Hughes.
Professional skier, mom, and long-time Revelstoke community member Izzy Lynch recently purchased the Revelstoke Florist, a town staple since 1964, and rebranded it as Left Field Floral. Photo: Nora Hughes Most professional skiers have to work. I don’t mean work hard, although they do that too; I mean work another job. The hustle is real, and most skiers blend their passion for skiing with a business that follows the same arc — professional skier/marketing manager, photographer, climate change professional, or brand coordinator. Even working seasonally in construction works well for many professionals. However, some professional skiers have gigs that seem all-consuming — a real pivot from the skiing job but equally as cool. Professional skiers Izzy Lynch, Yu Sasaki and Chris Rubens, have a few things in common — they own businesses that are pivot points in their careers. All three balance lives as parents, pro skiers and owners of vibrant community businesses.
Izzy Lynch
First and foremost, Izzy Lynch is a skier. It’s what she’s been doing the longest. She started skiing when she was one-and-a-half years old, progressed to ski racing and coaching, then skiing brought her to Revelstoke. Pursuing the powder lifestyle and shredding hard at the newly opened Revelstoke Mountain Resort, she made connections, and things took off. Now she’s a pro skier, mom to two boys and a business owner. Izzy purchased the Revelstoke Florist in the fall of 2022. The florist is a long-standing Revelstoke business, serving the community since 1964. She opened her doors on October 4, rebranded as Left Field Floral. The decision to buy the shop came out of the left field. Izzy was working for Protect Our Winters, a non-profit that focuses its efforts on legislation regarding climate change. “I loved that job. It was so fulfilling and amazing, but I just found, especially for COVID, it was purely computer work,” says Izzy. “I was really struggling with that. Just hours and hours of Zoom calls every day, being on the screen so much, and having kids. You realize your time is so limited, and your energy is so limited, and it was really draining me.” When she saw her good friend Christine Pavlik had posted Revelstoke Florist for sale, she shot her a text jokingly asking if she should buy it. Christine shared her knowledge throughout the summer, and Izzy hit the books learning as much as she could about running a floral shop. “There’s so much to do in life; why not pivot? Why not try different things? I think you're limiting yourself if you stay on one path your entire life.” When balancing her passion and career, Izzy says it’s important to her to have a job that slots into other parts of her life. Through filmmaking, Izzy highlights how she balances a professional ski career and motherhood through films like Motherload and Kindred. She plans on Left Field Floral fitting in with the other things she loves to do and being a creative outlet. “The reason I love skiing is it's a lifelong sport,” says Izzy. “I think ski media really focuses on this snapshot of our lives. When you're 20 to 30, and your risk tolerance is super high, you're out shredding and stuff like that, and that's super aspirational. But there are so many skiers out there that are living outside of that, and so it's cool to showcase that.”
Chris Rubens and his partner Jesse Johnston-Hill started First Light Farm during the throes of the pandemic. They produce fresh produce for their Revelstoke neighbours and have recently embarked on the adventures of parenthood. Photo: FD Productions
Chris Rubens
Chris Rubens is one of the few who makes a full living off being a professional skier. He’s been a sponsored skier going on 20 seasons. So when he and his partner Jesse started First Light Farm in Revelstoke, money wasn’t the primary motivation. For Chris, the farm is two things; a plan to take action against climate change and a plan to take the monetary pressure off his skiing career. The latter, he says, has helped him take a step back and think about what he wants to get out of skiing. “Basically, what I realized is there are a bunch more things I still would like to do,” says Chris. “Like making movies and showcasing my life and the farm is a really important thing. On the climate side of things, the farm makes a negligible difference in the grand scheme of things, but if I can share that story and inspire people, that can potentially make a big difference.” While farming seems wildly different than Chris’s other profession, he says being at the mercy of Mother Nature is identical to skiing. As a backcountry skier, Chris always observes the conditions and what’s happening around him. He knows you can never fight Mother Nature, but you can watch for windows of opportunity and learn to work with her. Capping off their busy farming season, Chris and Jesse recently welcomed their first baby. Their goal for the farm is to find a work-life balance. Having always been drawn to the storytelling side of his industry, Chris is excited to incorporate his son into the narrative. “Instead of pushing skiing away, I feel like I’ve jumped into a whole new chapter of skiing this year,” he says. “It’ll be the ultimate dance of trying to find that balance, but I’m pretty excited to take him skiing. It’s really important for me to show him life is for living.”
Instead of pushing the skiing away, I feel like I've jumped into a whole new chapter of skiing this year,” says Rubens. Photo: Bruno Long
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Yu and his family own and operate the popular food truck, Twilight Bite, in Revelstoke. Photo: Daniel Stewart
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Yu Sasaki
Yu Sasaki moved to Canada after high school. His father had taken him skiing when he lived in Japan, but he wasn’t overly impressed with the sport until his first time skiing in Whistler. The skiing culture in B.C. inspired him to become a professional skier. After a few years of chasing powder, he posted clips of his skiing to YouTube and to his surprise, sponsors started calling him. Yu lives in Revelstoke now with his wife and two children. He opened a food truck four years ago that has become incredibly popular. His second truck, Twilight Bite, has become a staple in Revelstoke’s downtown food scene. The food trucks are a seasonal business that allows Yu to focus on skiing in the winter. He says balancing a pro ski career, a family, and a business is tricky. “Skiing in a niche sport. The gear is very expensive. You have to buy a season pass and have to commute every day. It’s hard,” says Yu. “I think there are few people who are able to make money being just a pro skier.” With a passion for skiing and a supportive family to help him run his business, Yu can pursue his dream. This year, Yu turns 37. He plans on pushing his limits as a skier for a few more years. One thing he’s determined to achieve in that time is securing a spot with a production company. “My skiing goal is I want to join a crew like Matchstick or TGR,” he says. “I was very close last winter season. Matchstick was hitting me up to shoot together, but two or three days before shooting, I got injured.” Yu had torn his Achilles tendon. It was a season-ending injury. This year, his goal is to try again. “I came to Canada, and I’d always watch MSP movies, and I’ve grown with them. My goal is to join this group, skiing together.” As for his food truck empire, he doesn’t want to keep doing it too much longer. The business’s exponential growth has taken away from Yu’s focus on skiing — the reason he started the business in the first place. Instead, Yu dreams of opening a restaurant or, even better, a bed and breakfast. “Many Japanese young skiers are interested in Revelstoke,” Yu explains. “I want to invite them, these kids. If I had a B&B, I would cook and teach them skiing and English.”
TOURISM TALKS
LEARNING FROM OUR BROADER COMMUNITY.
As part of our destination management planning process, Tourism Revelstoke and Destination Think created the Think Revelstoke podcast to interview and learn from leading experts in other destinations around the world. There are many ideas, innovations, and solutions being put forward to ensure positive outcomes for the tourism industry. Our problems and opportunities as a small, tourism based community are not unique, and we can gain valuable insights from our colleagues. Here are quick highlights from some of our guests:
“Probably one of the most obvious missing pieces of the conversation for a very long time is the actual host community, the residents that live there and their stake in how this industry would impact their way of life... and what they hope to share with the world about their community. So including residents in the conversation we feel is important, not just for their sake but for the long term sake of our industry.”
Marsha Walden, CEO of Destination Canada
“Indigenous history is a history that’s been put on the shelf, and now we’re taking that book off the shelf to use it in a way that we’re learning the true history, but also learning from it and moving forward... Our generation and the generation that’s coming is going to open up the doors and true reconciliation through tourism based on relationships.”
Frank Antoine, Chief of Bonaparte First Nation
Everything we do must be in harmony with nature and for the benefit of the people. Everything we do has to have social value... environmental value, heritage. Everything has to be fulsome... if money was everything for tourism, we would just welcome mass tourism... If we have had a lot of tourists come in, there would be no space for the locals.”
Damcho Rinzin, Chief Tourism Officer, Tourism Council of Bhutan
“If [a community] want[s] to make certain that their community retains the vibrancy of a place where people live, they have to put other strategies in place. They have to think about what people need to live in that community and be able to address that, and a lot of times it’s possible to use the proceeds of that tourism economy to help make those priorities happen.”
Tune in to Think Revelstoke wherever you get your podcasts, or grab a cup of coffee and tune in on Stoke FM on Saturday mornings at 8am. We are excited to share our findings from our colleagues around the world.
Cathy Ritter, former CEO of Colorado Tourism
OUTDOORSAnd yeah, Marmots do fly But the rewards are worth it! It takes resolve and effort to get there Adventure starts with your fellow Marmots
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK CLOSED POW MORNINGS
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK CLOSED POW MORNINGS
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK CLOSED POW MORNINGS
And yeah, Marmots do fly
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK CLOSED POW MORNINGS
Photo Credit: Zoya Lynch
BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL MOVIE EXPLORES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MOUNT BEGBIE’S NAME
A SHORT FILM THAT EXPLORES THE HISTORY OF MOUNT BEGBIE AND ITS SHARED SIGNIFICANCE TO INDIGENOUS GROUPS AND MOUNTAIN SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS. By Nora Hughes
Photo Credit: Keri Knapp
REVY ARTIST, MAY DAVIS RELEASES THREE NEW SONGS
By Nora Hughes
Mount Begbie looms over Revelstoke. It’s iconized in the backdrop of photos, on logos, in the names of businesses and schools. It’s a right of passage for adventure enthusiasts, no matter the season. Producers of the film Beyond Begbie say, “Mount Begbie has inspired an entire community.”
The short film premiered at this year’s Banff Mountain Film festival. Beyond Begbie was directed, produced and edited by Revelstoke residents Zoya Lynch, Nat Segal, Colleen Gentemann and Ryan Paul Collins.
Exploring the heavy history behind the mountain’s name, viewers are asked to consider if their connection to the land is, or isn’t, reflected in the name. The film features Nahanni Mckay, Ariel Hill, Dale Tomma, Tim Patterson and Shelly Boyd, members of Indigenous groups and mountain sport enthusiasts, sharing their histories with the land and its significance to them individually.
The film highlights that the peak has created an entire contemporary culture in Revelstoke, but its name and story only represent colonial history with no reference to the Indigenous heritage of the land.
“The main aim of the film is to start the conversation about colonial names of mountains,” says producer Nat Segal. “It is not a black and white film that pushes for the name to be changed.”
The Revelstoke premier of Beyond Begbie takes place December 2 at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre. The “For the Love Of” event hosted by Open Mountains Project — a non-profit society in Revelstoke — will screen three films that explore the topics of place and colonialism in Revelstoke and winter recreation, followed by a panel discussion. Tickets are available online through the Open Mountains Project’s social media pages and on Eventbrite.com.
Revelstoke’s Americana singer-songwriter May Davis has had quite the year. This summer, she forged her first solo tour through the Kootenays, performing at bubbling breweries and bistros in the region and premiering at beloved festivals Tiny Lights and Kaslo Jazz Festival. With her first fulllength album, One Way Ticket, under her embellished leather belt, Davis is ready to share new music with the world. While on tour, she returned to Becoming Sound, a recording studio in Ymir B.C., to record new music and is now preparing for the release of three new singles in 2023 starting in January. But that’s not all. For her third and final release planned for May 2023, Davis, alongside a local crew of production professionals, has gone back in time to create an exciting and revenge-fuelled music video to compliment her original song, Black Widow. Filmed live on location at 3 Valley Gap, Davis, Francois Desrosier and Keri Knapp captured the essence of a classic murder ballad using the heritage village and its natural, rustic charm. An Appalachian-inspired storyteller, Davis loves collaborating the visual with audio to reveal the underbelly of her songs. Known for her soulful reflections on love and relationships, her new songs expand on the themes of old love, loss, risk and revenge. Her final release Black Widow holds near and true to her heart as this song holds deeper meaning underneath its surface murder ballad. Black Widow is a story of female rebellion in the face of adversity and the infringement of women's rights as they have, and continue to be, compromised. The fight for equality continues across the world, and in this song, our heroine takes her own step toward revenge and regaining her own power. So buckle up and stay tuned for new releases from May Davis.
Judith Kasiama - Founder of Colour the Trails
REVELSTOKE TO HOST COLOUR THE SLOPES SUMMIT FOR BIPOC ADVENTURERS
PARTICIPANTS IN COLOUR THE SLOPES WILL GATHER TO COLLECTIVELY PURSUE ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES IN REVELSTOKE, INCLUDING SKIING, SNOWBOARDING, SNOWSHOEING, SNOWMOBILING, NORDIC SKIING, AND SKI TOURING By Nora Hughes
Photo Credit: Nora Hughes
TOURISM REVELSTOKE SUPPORTS WORLDWIDE SNOWBOARDING COMPETITION IN REVELSTOKE
TOURISM REVELSTOKE RECEIVES GOVERNMENT FUNDING TO SUPPORT THE NATURAL SELECTION SNOWBOARDING TOUR STOPPING IN REVELSTOKE MARCH 4-11, 2023. By Nora Hughes
Colour the Trails, Tourism Revelstoke, and Revelstoke Mountain Resort are partnering to host a summit celebrating winter pursuits and gathering BIPOC adventurer seekers. The first annual Colour the Slopes Summit is a four-day event from December 8–11, 2022.
Participants will gather to collectively pursue adventure activities in Revelstoke, including skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, Nordic skiing, and ski touring. The evenings will include a film night, apres with special guest speakers, and a gala featuring dinner, music, and dancing.
The event will host guest speakers Vasu Sojitra, Mirna “the Mirnavator” Valerio, and Larissa Crawford.
Vasu is one of the most recognized adaptive athletes in the outdoors, with numerous achievements both in skiing as well as trail running, or “ninjasticking,” as Vasu calls it. Mirna is a native of Brooklyn, NY, a former educator, cross-country coach, ultrarunner, obstacle course enthusiast, and author of the recently published memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress. Larissa is of Métis and Jamaican ancestry and is a published Indigenous and anti-racism researcher and policy advisor with over 13 years of experience.
The summit is the brainchild of Colour the Trails founder Judith Kasiama, who wanted to create a safe space for BIPOC to come and spend time on the slopes as a community.
Colour the Trails is an organization that advocates for inclusive representation in outdoor spaces and works with businesses to break barriers to adventure activities, creating accessibility. Their message of inclusion and representation in outdoor spaces is something that Tourism Revelstoke says it wholeheartedly embraces.
The event sponsors aim to create and bolster community; participants will be able to come together to try a new sport, hone their skills, and get to know Revelstoke. Tourism Revelstoke and other event hosts hope to sponsor this event annually.
The brainchild of snowboarder Travis Rice, the Natural Selection Tour (NST) showcases top riders, from Olympians to big mountain film icons, all competing in exciting natural and naturally enhanced terrain. Revelstoke will host the second stage of the competition within Selkirk Tangier’s Heli Skiing tenure.
The 2023 tour will host 24 of the world’s best riders in three new stages as they move through DUELS, Revelstoke, BC, and Alaska.
Stop number one, DUELS, is hosted worldwide and will feature headto-head competitions between sixteen men and eight women in locations worldwide during February 2023. The 12 riders to come out on top of the DUELS will participate in YETI NST Revelstoke on March 4–11, followed by stop number three outside Valdez, Alaska, from March 25–April 1.
NST’s mission is to inspire people to forge a deeper relationship with Mother Nature.
The event is supported by Tourism Revelstoke, which recently received significant grant funding from the provincial government that aims to strengthen B.C.'s reputation as an event destination by providing funds to event organizers to amplify the reach of an event. Tourism Revelstoke received $200,000 to support NST at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
Tourism Revelstoke’s Marketing and Destination Director, Meghan Tabor, says that given the size and scale of the event, most of the funding will go towards TV and production costs.
“NST is aligned with our destination reputation and will offer a good opportunity for brand awareness for our target winter audiences (adventure travellers),” says Tabor. “Adventure travellers are considered "high value" visitors, with as much of 70% of their expenditures remaining in the communities visited.”
