The Jasper Local December15 2015

a lt e r n a t i v e + l o c a l + i n d e p e n d e n t //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

thejasperlocal.com

tuesday, december 15, 2015 // issue 63

NIKI WILSON AND GEOFF SKINNER SKATE THROUGH THE FROST FLOWERS ON PATRICIA LAKE. IN OTHER COOL NEWS, LAKE MILDRED, WHICH IS MAINTAINED BY FAIRMONT JPL STAFF, IS NOW IN SKATING SHAPE.// NICOLE GABOURY

Brewster Travel to purchase Maligne Tours Brewster Travel Canada will purchase Maligne Tours, the owner of Maligne Tours Ltd. has confirmed.

While the sale was not yet complete on December 12, Maligne Tours Ltd. owner Gerry Levasseur said that a deal is imminent.

“It’s in the works alright,” Levasseur said.

Maligne Tours Ltd. operates a day-use facility and runs boat tours of iconic Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. In 2013, the company proposed constructing a 66-room “heritage” hotel to replace the current day lodge, along with 15 tent cabins. Former Jasper National Park superintendent Greg Fenton rejected the hotel element of the proposal but said administrators would consider the tent cabin component. That decision triggered EcoJustice

to launch a lawsuit against Parks Canada, alleging the agency broke the law when they considered an amendment to the management plan. The suit is pending.

When asked why now is the right time to sell to Brewster, Levasseur pointed to the rejection of the hotel proposal.

“I wanted to do a development there and it didn’t work so I decided to move on,” he said.

In 1980, Levasseur bought Maligne Tours from the late Bill Ruddy. Maligne Tours was created by Ruddy in 1955. Its predecessors were Rainbow Tours and Rocky Mountain Camp, started by Fred Brewster. Fred was the fourth son of the well-known Brewster family of Banff.

Today, Brewster Travel Canada is owned by Viad, a U.S.based stock market index company. Representatives from Brewster did not return requests for comment by deadline. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

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editorial //

page A2 // the jasper local // issue 63 // tuesday, december 15, 2015

Local Vocal There goes the neighbourhood.

The Jasper Local was saddened by the recent news that Maligne Tours is selling out to Brewster. Why the long face? The same reason most people get upset when their local corner store, movie theatre or gas station gets bought out by a big company: the business becomes less personal, more detached and less unique.

Now you may or may not agree with everything Maligne Tours has stood for over the years. However, the passion that those folks bring to Maligne Lake is undeniable and the dedication they’ve shown to their operation is, frankly, remarkable. Say what you will about their politics, the senior staff of Maligne Tours work their butts off. Being front-line ambassadors of one of the Rockies’ finest jewels, they have a weighty responsibility to help fulfil Parks Canada’s mandates—and they do it as second nature because they are as connected to that place as anyone.

But the sale of Maligne Tours to Brewster is a sad day for Jasper for another reason: it means that when issues arise—and they will—the battlegrounds will be further away. No longer, we predict, will the local operators make their points to the local field unit.

Instead, big Brewster will put the pressure on at a parliamentary level. This is already happening. In October 2014, Brewster president Dave McKenna urged the federal finance committee during pre-budget consultations to fund an industry-led marketing campaign to re-energize U.S. visitation to Canada. Whether that’s a good idea or not is irrelevant; the point is that if Brewster doesn’t like who or what they’re dealing with locally, they’ll simply go over the superintendent’s head. Money talks, unfortunately.

And Brewster wouldn’t be at the table if there wasn’t money to be made. Lots of it. Many Jasperites will ask: Why would Maligne Tours sell such a profitable business? In the busy months, the company’s 50-passenger boats are full all day. The cafeteria/ restaurant is always lined up and you can hardly imagine a busier gift shop. Owner Gerry Lavasseur says he is moving on because his hotel proposal went south, but we propose that his decision has more to do with the fact that some of his senior managers, i.e. those same folks of whom we spoke earlier, are nearing retirement. As such, instead of worrying about who will replace his first-admirals­­— not to mention what will eventually replace his fleet of antiquated boats—it makes sense to us that Mr. Levasseur is cashing in his chips.

Maybe that’s what is bumming us out: the thought that as Maligne Tours takes its leave and Brewster comes to the table, even though Canadians own the house, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the deck is stacked. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

Ottawa opportunity Do you want to experience a summer in Ottawa you will never forget? Here is your chance. The Library of Parliament has begun its recruitment process for Parliamentary Guides. The Library is looking for bilingual, full-time university students from across the country to participate in the program for the summer of 2016.

understand and appreciate the history and functions of our country’s national legislature.

As a Parliamentary Guide you would welcome and provide tours to hundreds of thousands of visitors, helping them

Jim Eglinski, Yellowhead MP

For more information and to apply online, please visit the Parliament of Canada website at www.parl.gc.ca/guides.

The deadline to apply is Friday, January 15, 2016. Hope to see you in Ottawa.

The Jasper Local //

Jasper’s independent alternative newspaper 780.852.9474 • thejasperlocal.com • po box 2046, jasper ab, t0e 1e0

Published on the 1st and 15th of each month Editor / Publisher

Bob Covey..........................................................................................bob@thejasperlocal.com

Art Director

Nicole Gaboury........................................................................nicole@thejasperlocal.com

Advertising + sales

sarah DeClercq.........................................................................sarah@thejasperlocal.com

cartoonist

deke......................................................................................................deke@thejasperlocal.com facebook.com/thejasperlocal

@thejasperlocal

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Local adventure//

tuesday, december 15, 2015 // issue 63 // the jasper local// page A3

NORIO SASAKI WALKED THROUGH JASPER ON HIS WAY FROM ALASKA TO ARGENTINA LAST WEEK. // BOB COVEY

His boots are made for walking Norio Sasaki is walking to Argentina.

Seriously.

Sasaki rolled into town December 9 hauling a 175 lb rickshaw and wearing a big smile.

He was looking for a pair of new boots, because he’d worn his last ones out walking to Jasper. He was coming from…

Alaska.

“I didn’t expect to get to Jasper in the winter,” Sasaki said. “But I liked the hiking in the Yukon, so I stayed longer.”

Speaking through a translator, Jasper’s Rico Naito, whom he met while walking the final 10 km into town (Naito was coming back from skiing at Decoigne when she spotted him), Sasaki said he’s been enamoured by the landscapes he’s walked through since July 4. He saw the Northern Lights for the first time, stripped naked at the Arctic Circle, ate caribou and other wild game and got approached by grizzly bears in Denali National Park. Even in the trying times, Sasaki could see the good through the bad.

“The Dempster Highway was the most difficult time but had the most beautiful views,” he said.

Difficult sounds like an understatement. Pictures of Sasaki’s tires caked with the mud of the notorious 745 km Dempster Highway make the Dawson City-to-Inuvik pace of local fatbike celebrity, GVT, look positively hummingbirdesque in comparison. It took Sasaki 23 days to traverse the Dempster Highway, 20 of which were in the rain.

The 37-year-old Japanese lifeguard and rescue worker has undertaken previous multi-thousand-kilometre journeys: he circumnavigated his home country of Japan and Korea for two years, then, for his next trip, he walked 4,400 km from the top to the bottom of the Australian continent.

“It was more than plus 50 degrees Celsius in the desert,” he said.

What did he learn from those journeys?

“I didn’t learn anything,” he said. “Just that it’s very hard.”

And then, as an afterthought: “And the kindness of people.”

Sasaki found out that Jasperites are kind, too. He

took a break from his threeyear mission at the home of Sherrill Meropoulis.

Sasaki isn’t raising money, and doesn’t really have a message. He said he simply loves to travel and appreciate nature, and walking through the world is the best way he can think of doing that.

He also said that the hardship of his journey allows him to empathize with others, such as the people he helps as a rescue worker.

“To help people, I must first become strong.”

He was about to get stronger; poised to roll his rickshaw onto the Icefields Parkway, Sasaki was warned about the highway’s dangers: namely it’s predilection for extreme weather and its isolation.

But he was looking forward to seeing a part of the world which is held in high esteem in Japanese travellers’ books.

Plus he was thrilled to learn there are no transport trucks allowed on the Icefields Parkway; he had too many close calls on Hwy 16.

“Although I know this will be very hard and cold, it is beautiful. It will be like a dream,” he said. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

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page B1 // the jasper local // issue 63 // tuesday, december 15, 2015

Local tourism //

Jasper Planetarium: a newly discovered star of local tourism “As we head out you’ll see the star that looks like a yellow circle. That’s the north star, the point that the whole sky seems to be turning around.”

Moe Jennings is taking a dozen stargazers to one of the best places in the park to view the night sky: Pyramid Island. But even though the skies are cloudy and the air is chilly this evening, Jennings’ guests have a crystal clear view of the constellations. Not only that but they are perfectly cozy without a jacket.

“Grab a seat and feel free to take pictures,” Jennings says.

Although the group is peering at the sky-scape as framed by Pyramid Mountain, they aren’t actually on-location. Instead, Jennings has let them in on Jasper’s best kept stargazing secret: the Jasper Planetarium. Clear skies or not, the indoor planetarium allows amateur astronomers to unravel the mysteries of the universe, starting with the skies above Jasper.

“Up here on Pyramid Island, using our telescope, we can actually see things out in deep space,” says fellow presenter, Maegan Dukes.

As the picture of a white blob amongst the night sky enlarges 10, then 100, then 1000 times, we see that it is in fact a nebula—a star nursery.

“We’re using the most powerful telescope in the Rockies,” Dukes says.

Housed in a 12-foot inflatable dome and located at the Best Western Jasper Inn and Suites, the Jasper

Planetarium uses a high-powered projector to display dazzling illustrations of deep space; interpretive constellation diagrams from both Greek astronomy and First Nations story culture; and impressive astrophotography shot in Jasper National Park. Set to an engaging, orchestral soundtrack, the 35-minute show gets up close to planets, the moon and the aurora borealis.

“What we see as the Northern Lights is pretty much space weather,” fellow guide Maegan Dukes explains

post-dining activity for winter visitors.

“It appeals to a diverse audience,” he said. “It’s not just for star geeks.”

Part of the charm, certainly, is the local content. After Dukes and Jennings point out Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s rings, we take a virtual hike on Whistlers’ Mountain. Early explorers used the peaks to wayfind, Jennings points out. And David Thompson, who mapped much of the west, relied on stars as navigation tools.

“You could imagine David Thompson seeing the night sky not unlike you see it here,” she says.

After a tour around the international space station, from which we get a great picture of how dark the Rocky Mountain trench is compared to the rest of the illuminated world, Dukes and Jennings take us on a journey down the Icefields Parkway, where we can see the full glory of the Milky Way and our local galaxies. We fly to the edge of the known universe and back, taking in The Jasper Planetarium is Jasper’s newest tourism offer and the the northern lights as seen from Churchill, most consistent place to view the Northern lights.// bob covey Manitoba.

“Here in Jasper we get to see the auroras as the Planetarium’s “sky” comes alive with ribbons every one or two weeks,” Dukes says. of green, purple and golden light.

“But in the Planetarium we can see them every Paul Hardy, who owns and operates Sun Dog Tour night.”

Co., is part of the group which brought the Jasper Planetarium to town. Building on the success of The Jasper Planetarium operates Friday and Jasper’s burgeoning Dark Sky Festival, Hardy hopes Saturday nights. Check the website, the miniature IMAX theatre will be seen as a great www.jasperplanetarium.ca, for showtimes.

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Local music//

tuesday, december 15, 2015 // issue 63 //the jasper local// page B2

Restaurant/music venue has Olive the right ingredients With the lights low, the din of the kitchen quieted to a murmur and 50 or so diners holding their forks in anticipation of their next bite, musician Wil Mimnaugh pretty much summed it up at the Olive Bistro and Lounge before hitting his first notes December 12.

“You’re eating delicious food, you’re in this amazing venue where great people have worked hard to bring you live music and you’re among friends. Does it get much better?”

Actually, it did.

Mimnaugh—who performs as WiL—intoxicated the crowd with his bluesy ballads before blowing their hair back with his powerful, stomp-happy soul-scratchers. For dessert, he and bandmates Lena Birtwistle and Keith Gallant served up a heady blend of harmonics and hoe-downs, alternately layering Mimnaugh’s powerful baritone with Birtwistle’s spine-tingling falsetto.

And yet while WiL was undoubtedly the reason that most of the patrons were at the Olive that night, the reason they could be there at all is due largely in part to two people who watched the show from the back of the room. Darryl Huculak and his wife, Steph Kalamoutsos, own and operate the Olive.

Together when there’s a wil, there’s a way// the duo bob covey

are helping keep live music in Jasper alive, but it doesn’t come easy. Simply operating a restaurant is hard enough; throw in the complexities of negotiating a band’s contract, promoting an event, balancing diners’ expectations with that of music fans’, receiving the artists, setting up the sound, working out staffing numbers and trying to make the night worth it for everyone, and you’ve got as difficult and dynamic recipe as the most delicate soufflé.

“It’s always a bit of a gamble,” Huculak said the night after WiL sold out the room. “We’ve definitely learned a lot since we first started hosting these shows.”

Darryl Huculak and Steph Kalamoutsos are finding the right harmony between dining and dancing// bob covey

When Darryl and Steph envisioned the Olive Bistro in 2010, they were following their dream of creating a place where they could feature Darryl’s creative cuisine and at the same time, host live music. Before they knew it, they were engaged in a floor to ceiling renovation of what was then the Palisades Restaurant. As the workload piled up and the learning curve steepened, Steph’s parents helped them find their feet.

“They are a big part of this whole thing, they mentored us and were there to help with any problems,” Huculak said.

Problems such as overbooking bands, for example. The couple quickly learned that they couldn’t answer the call every time an act came through town.

“It’s a tricky balance,” Huculak said. “You don’t want to oversaturate. We now try to limit ourselves to two shows per month.”

As to what gigs they bring in, that’s been a learning process, too.

“It seems like the more bluesy-stuff seems to work the best in this venue,” he said. “Those are the folks that are often storytellers, it gives that

more intimate atmosphere.”

With a good feel for what works, Steph and Darryl are now more confident in taking on some of the auxiliary roles of music promotion, tasks for which they’d previously relied on others to do.

Steph got some graphic design tips so they don’t always have to contract out the poster creation; Darryl learned how to cue up the soundboard.

“You kind of have to do it all, otherwise all these things add up and you end up having to charge $25 at the door to break even,” Darryl said.

That’s another fine balance—the cover charge. Set it too high and you’ll isolate your clientele, too low and you risk ticking off the artist.

“It’s happened,” Darryl smiled. “I just have to tell them ‘sorry, this is Jasper, it’s not the city.’”

Of course, that’s what makes it special for many musicians to play the Olive. Likewise for local audiences: there’s simply not many places in town where you can enjoy a fabulous dinner and a nice glass of wine while taking in live music in an intimate setting. But as their last booking proved, if there’s a WiL, there’s a way.

Bob Covey //bob@thejasperlocal.com

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page b3+B4 // the jasper local // issue 63 // tuesday, december 15, 2015

LOCAL FEATURE // BY MIKE DONNELLY

TWO DECADES OF SKI S

JASPER FREERIDE TUR The Jasper Freeride Team marks a milestone this ski season - Celebrating 20 years of jumps and bumps, tearing up the slopes of Marmot Basin and generally causing people on the chairlift to turn their heads. If you can track former head coach Chris Peel down these days—say, for example, in the basement of Freewheel scraping wax—he can tell you what competitive freestyle skiing was like two decades ago.

“The vibe was pretty cool, we were definitely doing something different. Marmot Basin was pretty race focused and here we were, hitting jumps, practicing spins off the booter on T-Bar Ridge and skiing with snowboarders.” The North Rockies Freestyle Ski Team, as it was then known, was started by Jon Standing, along with Bryce Carvell, Hamish McPherson, and Peel. They were the top-ranked mogul skiers in Alberta but Standing wanted to build a separate program from the provincial team. He felt that Marmot Basin offered the perfect place to build and grow a group that would challenge the provincial team, and he recruited a 19-year-old Chris Peel to help him in that aim.

“Jon convinced me to move from Red Deer,” Peel said. “I began working as a liftie, which turned into a full-time coaching job as the team grew.”

This wasn’t Marmot Basin’s first flirtation with freestyle. Beginning in 1973, Whitecourt native Robert Kalboum, along with former Jasperite and restauranteur “Tokyo” Tom Akama (and several others), started an informal freestyle team focusing on the three disciplines: moguls, aerials and ballet (ballet, a fusion of figure skating and skiing, eventually went extinct as a freestylee discipline after it failed to gain Olympic status in 1994). Kalboum said they would glean what they could from magazines, even travelling around to the occasional contest.

Jasper Freeride teams have always mountain. Above, former head coac Below, freeriders get judgey; bott and the Edmonton area. //Jasper Y

In that sense, how Kalboum was learning wasn’t too much different from how Peel and his freestyle buddies were progressing 20-odd years later. The North Rockies Freestyle Ski Team members would take what they saw in the popular magazines and VHS tapes and bring it to Marmot Basin. Back then, there was a big focus on free-skiing; Peel said the coaches wanted their members to ride the whole mountain well, rather than spend the entire day on the mogul course.

“We were hitting cliffs, hiking the peak…you’ve got to think that jumping off cliffs into the chunder would make you pretty good, and it did,” Peel remembers. One of the early adopter families were the Timmins.

Both Randy and his younger sister Sabra were part of this fast-forming group. The free-ski approach was important in recruiting families who saw the sport as less-structured and intensive than race programs , however, the freestylers were still getting results. Sabra and Randy both competed at the national level and both returned to Jasper to coach. Randy still coaches with the team today.

“WE WERE HITTING CLIF YOU’VE GOT TO THIN CLIFFS INTO THE CHUN PRETTY GOOD

“The relationship with the hill has really grown,” Randy says. “And with Marmot Basin’s ability for snow-making in the early season, the athletes can begin training much earlier.”

Peel remembers a time when freestyle skiers weren’t always regarded as serious athletes. They were a rogue bunch who couldn’t get the equipment their sport demanded in a race-centric town. As freeskiing was changing through the late 90’s, 195cm straight skis were fine for the mogul line but what they really wanted were the shorter, fatter, twin-tipped skis—the precursors of what today’s rippers ride on. Edge Control was the first shop in town to answer the call.

“It wouldn’t have happened without Blair Timmins” (no relation to Randy) Peel said. “He was the first to support us, early on with team uniforms and then bringing in the early twin-tip skis that K2, Dynastar and Volant were making.”

The team wouldn’t have been in the position to continue on, however, if another family hadn’t gotten involved. It was the dedication of the MacDonald family, from Edmonton, which ultimately made the club sustainable.

“The turning point was the MacDonalds,” Peel said. “Ken and Janet became involved when the club was owing money. They dug it out, they put it back in the black.”

Linked to the healthier financial situat Soon there were 25 skiers from Jasper freestyle ski jersey. Today, Ken and Jan larly, although not as much as their son sister Tracey, was one of the young ski with the team. Today he is the head of

“We were straight-up freestyle back th first Jasper skier Peel can recall who l gul competition (unfortunately there sive trick netted him zero points). It w

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feature //

TYLE:

RNS 20

s been about having fun on the ch Chris Peel jumps the team; tom, familiar faces from Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives

FFS, HIKING THE PEAK… K THAT JUMPING OFF NDER WOULD MAKE YOU D, AND IT DID,”

tion, the club’s numbers grew, too. and the Edmonton area wearing the net still get up to Marmot Basin regun Kerry. Kerry, who along with his iers who benefited from his early days f public safety at Marmot Basin.

hen,” laughed Kerry, who was the launched a jump backwards in a mowas no precedent and the progreswas at about this time the name of

// eddie wong

the club was changed to the Jasper Freeride Team to reflect the diversity of training. A few years later, during the 2003-2004 season, the International Ski Federation (FIS) finally sanctioned inverted maneuvers in moguls. Suddenly a twister-twister-spread was no longer good enough to get on the podium. To win competitions, skiers now needed to go upside down. To learn these tricks, summer training on water ramps became an important part of the Freeride program.

FREERIDERS TAKE OFF “Jasper Freeride sparked the love and passion I have for skiing. The great coaches, athletes, and parents made my years on the team ones I will never forget.”

CHELSEA HENITIUK – 10 YRS ON CANADIAN NATIONAL FREESTYLE TEAM

“I have fond memories of skiing in Marmot and being a part of the Jasper Freeride Team. Our coach Chris Peel really pushed us to ski the whole mountain, and those skills still help my skiing today.”

MIKE HENITIUK – PROFESSIONAL FREESKIER

“Jasper Freestyle is where it all began...

Without the Jasper Freestyle ski team, I would not have gone on to accomplish some of the things I never even had dreamed of.”

DANIA ASSALY – WORLD CUP, DEW TOUR, X-GAMES COMPETITOR, HALF-PIPE AND SLOPESTYLE

“My ski career is built on a foundation created from my time on the Jasper Freeride team. I had so much fun skiing on that team. Jasper is definitely where I fell in love with freestyle skiing.”

KELTIE HANSEN – 2014 OLYMPIAN, SOCHI - HALFPIPE

“There is a huge focus now on trampoline work, water ramps, and dry land training,” Randy says. He added that he expects a push from parents and coaches for Marmot Basin to get a slopestyle course and halfpipe in the future.

“Marmot does a ton for us,” he said. “Unfortunately right now we don’t have the facilities to train slopestyle or half-pipe.”

If anyone knows what it takes to build freestyle facilities, it’s Cam Jenkins. The father of four freestyle skiers and seven-year past president of the Jasper Freeride club once spent 26 straight days in ski boots building a mogul course for the 2011 Junior Nationals at Marmot Basin.

“But it was all worthwhile,” he remembers. “A mogul course can take hundreds of man hours and 40 hours of cat time, but if I ever won the Lotto Max I would do this full time.”

Jenkins said besides seeing his children excel and use their skiing experience to grow as young adults (his daughter Imogen coached with the Edmonton ski club while going to university), what he loves about the club is the people.

“Some of the best friends I have I’ve met at the ski hill,” he said.

“You develop a life-long love of skiing with a really broad cross section of people.”

The success of the Jasper club (this past season alone, four of the club’s athletes qualified for the Alberta Provincial Team) has prompted the Canadian Freestylee Ski Association to nominate Jasper Freeride as part of the National “Club Excellence” Program.

They are one of only three freestyle clubs across Canada to receive the honour. Today, the club has 45 members—a far cry from the original four— and a core group of dedicated coaches including Randy, Jordie Ellen, Rob Wood, Angus Sagan, Eddie Wong, and head coach Nick Bazin.

Freestyle skiing in Jasper has come a long way from the front flips, stretch pants, aviator sunglasses, double daffys and spread eagles of the 1970s. Kalboum, whose two sons were early members of the North Rockies team, now can’t believe how quickly his six-year-old grandson is progressing in Freeride’s Jumps and Bumps program.

“What we thought was extremely difficult back then is beginners’ stuff today,” he said.

As for Peel, he may not spin 720s anymore, but he’ll still beat you to all the best booters at Marmot Basin.

“Chris is a big kid,” Jenkins said. “His love of skiing is infectious.”

MIKE DONNELLY // info@thejasperlocal.com with files from Bob Covey

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page B5 // the jasper local //issue 63 // tuesday, december 15, 2015

Local food//

Tracks in the snow, dinner on the plate Elbows propped on a table at O’Shea’s Restaurant, Jasperite Reg Cook cups his hands over his nose and lets out a series of nasally, wailing snorts.

Cook, a local hunter who just wrapped up his season, is demonstrating ‘the calling method,’ a technique wherein hunters lure animals by mimicking an animal call—in this case a cow moose. No male moose appears out of the nearby

you see, then you pick and choose.” Since then, Cook has prioritized hunting for sustenance rather than a trophy set of antlers. “After all,” Cook says, “we probably wouldn’t be here unless our ancestors learned to hunt.”

Hunting, Cook said, requires tuning into a deep level of sensory awareness that is different than hiking or biking through a landscape. Instead of constantly moving to cover distance, hunters often slow down to a snail’s pace in order to avoid being heard by prey animals. In the long moments of stillness between moving, Cook has realized that “the bush is a very busy place,” and has had wildlife encounters with martens and wolves that any nature enthusiast would envy. Through these experiences, Cook has gained an appreciation for all life forms, including the common red squirrel, one of which kept Cook mesmerized for two hours as it scurried to stash winter food. The extreme patience that hunting demands is something Cook advises new hunters to learn early. “Slow down,” he says. “If you’re moving too fast, the animals will be running around you.”

Laurent Bolduc and his son Manuel are relatively new to hunting. Manuel, now 17-years-old, was 12 when he first got the idea to go hunting. “I was at a friend’s house when he showed me some deer antlers and grouse feathers from a hunt he had returned from,” Manuel said. Eventually he approached his father.

“He said ‘it’d be neat if we went, we could Reg Cook only blows his own horn when wild game is at issue// get meat,’” Laurent recalls. Although Lausubmitted rent had never hunted in his life, he saw the request as an opportunity to bond with crowd watching the hockey game, but that’s beside his son and spend time together in the bush. Afthe point. Over the last few months, hunters like Cook have been busy in the bush outside of Jasper ter taking all the necessary hunting courses and acquiring proper certification, they spent the first National Park, following animal tracks in the mud year learning mainly how to track. and snow.

“We followed cutlines aimlessly. We got lots of lessons and advice from hunting friends.”

Cook recalls one of his first hunting experiences several decades ago when he originally took an The first animal the father and son successfully interest in the sport. Despite spotting a couple took was a deer. The experience was an impresof deer, he passed them up and continued on for sionable one. Manuel recalls a rush of excitement, several kilometers in the hopes that he would followed by sadness upon realization that the deer encounter a larger animal. That hunt he returned had been killed. Laurent remembers how astonishempty handed. Later, he was given some advice ing it was to see the coyotes scavenge the gut pile from his father: “Son, you shoot the first animal

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in less than an hour. Nothing was wasted. They celebrated at dinner by cooking up the deer’s back straps, an excellent cut of meat.

In their kitchen, Laurent and his wife, Karina Hernandez, proudly stand alongside a deep freezer, inside of which is 120 lbs of wild meat harvested this season. Unlike meat from the grocery store, the couple knows exactly where their food has come from and are convinced that it’s the best organic meat available.

“After all, we probably wouldn’t be here unless our ancestors learned to hunt.”

“This is precious stuff” Karina says. “I couldn’t throw away any of this meat from my plate knowing how much effort has gone into locating, cleaning, and butchering the animal.”

For hunters, the experience of taking an animal’s life also represents a culmination of all the hours committed to getting to know an animal intimately—its likes and dislikes, its daily routines.

Over time, a hunter gains an understanding and deep respect for the hunted. Luckily for this writer, the appreciation that hunters have for game is one they also like to share. Here are two recipes that will drive your tastebuds wild.

Reg Cook’s Recipe for White Tail Strip Loin: 1. Cut into approximately ¾” thick steaks.

2. Marinate for 24 to 48 hours in your favourite marinade or simply season with Montreal steak spice or something similar.

3.BBQ on high heat or pan fry on med-high heat for a short time (about two to three minutes per side). *Cook steaks rare to medium; do not overcook Serve with a Blueberry-Juniper sauce: Combine ¾ cup frozen blueberries, 10-14 crushed juniper berries, juice from ½ lemon, and a dash of maple syrup. Simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Thicken with arrowroot or tapioca starch if needed.

fern yip // info@thejasperlocal.com

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Local skiing //

tuesday, december 15, 2015 // issue 63 // the jasper local// page B6

On December 10 these gate bashers caught The Jasper Local’s eye with their bright ski suits and tight ski turns. The racers are visiting Jasper from England. They were treated to perfect corduroy thanks to the fine work of Marmot Basin’s grooming crew.// bob covey