Pique Newsmagazine 2905

FEBRUARY 3, 2022 ISSUE 29.05

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IDENTITY CRISIS LONG AFTER THE OLYMPIC SPOTLIGHT FADES, ELITE ATHLETES FACE THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSITIONING TO A LIFE OUTSIDE OF SPORT

14

TRANSIT STRIKE

Workers, businesses get creative with transit on pause

16

‘TIL DEATH

Whistler’s wedding industry has taken a major hit from the pandemic

44

PHOTO FINISH New series takes you behind the scenes of an epic expedition

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THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

38

44

32 Identity crisis Long after the Olympic spotlight fades, elite athletes face the challenge of transitioning to a life outside of sport. - By Harrison Brooks

14 TRANSIT STRIKE

With negotiations stalled

28

BUDGET SEASON

Pemberton’s draft municipal

and transit service on pause, Whistler workers and businesses are

budget proposes no tax increase for 2022, but that could change as

getting creative.

budget sessions continue into the spring.

16 ‘TIL DEATH

Whistler’s wedding industry has

38 OLYMPIC DREAMS

Sea to Sky lugers

taken a major hit from the pandemic, and operators aren’t sure when

Natalie Corless and Trinity Ellis are ready to hit the track at their first

revenue will return.

Olympic Games.

20 TENDER TENQUILLE

A new visitor

44

PHOTO FINISH

Whistler photographer Erin

strategy bans mountain biking and dogs on Tenquille Lake trails north

Hogue’s new video series takes you behind the scenes of an epic

of Pemberton.

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COVER There must also be so many other athletes out there who never reached the top because of injury, circumstance, or the simple reality that only a select few get there in the end. Retiring from anything you love is never easy—give your sports buddies a hug. - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art 4 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

Opinion & Columns 08 OPENING REMARKS For a town of about 14,000, Whistler punches well above its weight at the

#202 -1390 ALPHA LAKE RD., FUNCTION JUNCTION, WHISTLER, B.C. V8E 0H9.

PH: (604) 938-0202 FAX: (604) 938-0201 www.piquenewsmagazine.com

Winter Olympics—because Whistler kids are just built differently.

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers weigh in on pandemic restrictions and

Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com Editor BRADEN DUPUIS - bdupuis@piquenewsmagazine.com Assistant Editor ALYSSA NOEL - arts@piquenewsmagazine.com Sales Manager SUSAN HUTCHINSON - shutchinson@wplpmedia.com Production Manager AMIR SHAHRESTANI - ashahrestani@wplpmedia.com Art Director JON PARRIS - jparris@wplpmedia.com Advertising Representatives

protest disruptions, and share gratitude for outgoing library board members.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Pique reporter Harrison Brooks tries his hand at skeleton (but can’t quite “get that bill”).

62 MAXED OUT The foundation of the truckers’ protest in Ottawa rests firmly on a bed of quicksand, writes G.D. Maxwell this week.

TESSA SWEENEY - tsweeney@wplpmedia.com GEORGIA BUTLER - gbutler@wplpmedia.com Digital/Sales Coordinator AMELA DIZDARIC - traffic@wplpmedia.com Production production@piquenewsmagazine.com

Environment & Adventure

Arts & Entertainment/Features Editor BRANDON BARRETT - bbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com

31 THE OUTSIDER Real skiers and riders know how to shop for both function and mountain fashion,

Social Media Editor MEGAN LALONDE - mlalonde@piquenewsmagazine.com

writes Vince Shuley.

Reporters BRANDON BARRETT - bbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com MEGAN LALONDE - mlalonde@piquenewsmagazine.com ALYSSA NOEL arts@piquenewsmagazine.com HARRISON BROOKS - sports@piquenewsmagazine.com

Lifestyle & Arts

Classifieds and Reception mail@piquenewsmagazine.com

42 EPICURIOUS Charcuterie lovers unite! Picnic Whistler is opening a brick-and-mortar shop in

Office and Accounts Manager HEIDI RODE - hrode@wplpmedia.com

Whistler Village this May.

Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, FEET BANKS, LESLIE ANTHONY, ANDREW MITCHELL, ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY, LISA RICHARDSON

46 MUSEUM MUSINGS Whistler’s first Pride Parade in Whistler Village took place 12 years ago,

President, Whistler Publishing LP SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com

during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of Whistler Publishing Limited Partnership, a division of Glacier Media) distributed to over 130 locations in Whistler and to over 200 locations from Vancouver to D’Arcy.

The entire contents of Pique Newsmagazine are copyright 2021 by Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of WPLP, a division of Glacier Media). No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the Publisher.

In no event shall unsolicited material subject this publication to any claim or fees. Copyright in letters and other (unsolicited) materials submitted and accepted for publication remains with the author but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic or other forms.

Letters to the Editor must contain the author’s name, address and daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 250 words. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject any contribution. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine.

Pique Newsmagazine is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact (edit@ piquenewsmagazine.com). If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the web site at mediacouncil. ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.

This organization replaces the BC Press council (and any mention of it).

ISSN #1206-2022 Subscriptions: $76.70/yr. within Canada, $136.60/yr. courier within Canada. $605.80/ yr. courier to USA. GST included. GST Reg. #R139517908.

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OPENING REMARKS

Whistler’s outsized Olympic impact AS SOMEONE whose glory days as an athlete peaked with the captaincy of a bush league Saskatchewan minor hockey team in 2006, I’ve always found myself in awe of the raw talent that emanates from Whistler.

I realized it the first time I awkwardly strapped on a pair of skis and began my first descent down Whistler Mountain, shaky but nurturing a burgeoning confidence in my abilities—until a single-file row of

BY BRADEN DUPUIS four-year-olds ripped past me in perfect formation, dancing some sort of smooth, synchronized number behind a gleeful, carefree instructor.

Whistler kids are just built differently, man.

Take ski-cross racer Marielle Thompson, Olympic gold medallist in Sochi in 2014.

When she crashed in Switzerland in October 2017, rupturing her ACL just a few short months before the 2018 Olympics, many assumed her chances of competing at the Games were dashed.

But after an innovative surgery to repair the ACL, it was right back to the grind.

“I did do a lot of work; it was pretty well every single day from October to February, when I went to Korea,” she told me in an interview last year.

Thompson lined up with very little preparation—and immediately won the Olympic time trial. “[That] was honestly a big takeaway— knowing that I can still be the fastest despite having basically no training or racing,” she said.

In preparation for that call, I watched some videos of Thompson training at the Whistler Athletes’ Centre. I think I ruptured my own ACL through my computer screen.

The typical recovery time for an ACL tear is six to nine months. Thompson was

back and competing at the highest level of her sport in just over three.

For that same story, I spoke with halfpipe skier Simon d’Artois and luger Reid Watts—and that was when I realized the sheer concentration of top-level talent that just like, hangs out at the Whistler Athletes’ Centre every day.

“I’m in touch with them a little bit, but of course, we’re all different sports—but it’s kinda the same journey, right?” Watts said of his fellow Olympians.

As for what’s in the Whistler water that cultivates such a concentration of high-end talent, “it’s the best place in the world to call home … beautiful, super conducive to high-performance sport, and even going through high school it was incredibly accommodating for me,” Watts said.

“It was a great spot to grow up and start an athletic career.”

There are 215 Canadian athletes on the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games roster ahead of Feb. 4’s Opening Ceremony.

Of those, six list Whistler as their hometown: Marielle and Broderick Thompson, Natalie Corless, Reid Watts, Simon d’Artois and Sofiane Gagnon.

country of Argentina; or Mollie Jepsen, and other Paralympians gearing up for their own Games in Beijing beginning March 4.

(There are no doubt more, and I have to add a line here apologizing for the local connections I’ve missed—as you can tell, the Whistler factor is much harder to track than it appears on the surface.)

For the sake of the following math exercise, let’s stick to the six “official” Whistlerites.

In 2022, only five cities are sending more: Calgary has 21 (population 1.33 million); Montreal has 11 (population 1.78 million); Toronto and Ottawa both have nine (populations 2.9 million and 995,000, respectively); and Sherbrooke, Que., has seven (population 167,162).

Bear with me here. I’m better with words than numbers.

But Whistler’s six Olympians and roughly 14,000 permanent residents translate to about one Olympian per 2,300 residents.

Calgary residents have to share an Olympian between every 63,619 people.

In Montreal, it’s one Olympian for every 162,000 residents, Toronto, 322,000 or so.

entire home province of Saskatchewan (six athletes from a population of 1.174 million— but let’s be honest, this one’s no surprise… it’s really flat there).

It would be easy, and justified, to dump on this year’s Olympics for many things: China’s well-documented human rights abuses and the corruption of the International Olympic Committee chief among them.

But I’ll leave that to the other columnists.

This piece is for the athletes, coaches and trainers who make Whistler shine on the biggest stage of them all.

It’s for those who work and train tirelessly in the sports they love, who inspire the rest of us to push for greatness in our own little areas of existence.

Hell, it’s even for all the other athletes born and bred in Whistler, kicking ass at competitions big and small, near and far— to list you all would require more space than this column affords, but following your careers is one of the best parts of being a Whistlerite.

Pique has some fun stuff planned for the next two weeks of the Games, including a daily blog and behind-the-

“[I]t’s the best place in the world to call home … beautiful, super conducive to high-performance sport, and even going through high school it was incredibly accommodating for me.”

- REID WATTS

This doesn’t take into account the other 2022 Olympians who live here, or otherwise have a local connection: people like Teal Harle, Darcy and Cassie Sharpe, Jack Crawford, Brodie Seger, Jasmine Baird and Derek Livingston.

And not to mention Pemberton’s Trinity Ellis; Benita Peiffer, an alternate for the biathlon team; Veronica Ravenna, a Whistler resident competing for her home

The closest to Whistler on a per-capita basis is Sherbooke, which has one Olympian for every 23,880 residents.

Again, this is only counting the six Olympians who officially list Whistler as their hometown—the actual impact of our little resort on the world’s biggest sporting stage is significantly greater.

Whistler is technically sending more athletes to the Games this year than my

scenes photos and insights. You can find it all (along with feature profiles of most of our local athletes) at piquenewsmagazine. com/2022-winter-olympics.

The next two weeks are primed for both triumph and heartbreak, personal bests and less than was hoped for—but whether or not our Whistler athletes find themselves on the podium this year, they’ve already done us proud. ■

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Time for a new approach to the pandemic I have spent the last two years living for the health of other people.

I have respectfully lived by health guidelines. I have been double vaccinated, with my third dose on the way. I have socially distanced and self-isolated when needed. I have avoided large gatherings of every kind. I have had extremely minimal in-person contact with family and most friends. I have worn a mask everywhere it has been requested.

And now it is time for a change.

Through the last two years, my mental health has been at the lowest points of my entire life. There has not been a single day gone by that I have not been forced to think about this pandemic. Due to lack of team sports available, recreation centre closures and overall motivation, I have gained 20 pounds. My business has been struggling and the overall stress of the situation is no longer worth the prevention of the illness.

At 34 years old, I need the option to move on, think for myself and make my own decisions. We have all been informed of potential consequences and we all understand “the risk to others.” We have been given the information, over and over again, and it is time to let us live.

If someone else wants to protect themselves through isolation and restricted social interaction, then that is their right.

But for anyone who feels the rest of us should continue to live like this for the sake of your

Vancouver as I was coming back from a farmers’ market making deliveries to the North Shore and eventually going home to Whistler. When protesters shut down the means for me getting to work, their cause is now lost on me. We have a democratic system in place in Canada. Don’t like it? Vote. Still don’t like it? Litigate.

Just don’t commit economic terrorism by not letting me go to work.

Patrick Smyth // Whistler

Pemberton library thanks retiring board members

health—you are now the one who is selfish.

If other people need their masks, they should put on an N95 and let the rest of us choose.

If a business owner wishes to operate their business without a vaccine requirement or a mask mandate, that should be their right—and if someone doesn’t like it, then they do not have to give that establishment their business. If you are against the hosting of an event or the throwing of a party, then don’t attend it.

Give us the information, give us the recommendations and let us think for ourselves. It is no longer fair to require anyone to sacrifice their quality of life for the sake of another person’s length

The recent Pemberton and District Public Library (PDPL) AGM, held Jan. 25, marked the retirement of several of our trustees, including Tracy Graham and Monique Midgley.

Tracy and Monique joined the board at the same time. They were both vital members of the board who saw the library through many changes.

Monique served as treasurer for her full eight years on the board. She has brought her financial knowledge and passion for reading to the board. All your experience and dedication will be missed.

Tracy also served on the board for eight years. Through those years she served on our fundraising committee. Your commitment to the library will be missed.

With the close of 2021, we also see the departure of John Parnell. John has served on the library board for two years and has brought his love of libraries and enthusiasm with him.

We thank all these people for their time and effort in making the library the hub of the community.

of life. It is my body and it should be my choice.

And it is time for me to quit wearing this ****ing mask.

Brandon Smith // Whistler

Sometimes protests have the opposite of the intended effect We live in the best country on the planet. I will attest to this having lived abroad for 10 years in countries rich and poor.

We live in a society that enjoys some freedoms, including the right to protest. On Saturday, Jan. 29, protesters shut down the core of Downtown

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR C And finally, we wish to express our gratitude to our library director Emma Gillis for all the work she does to support the trustees.

We look forward to another incredible year at the library.

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Backcountry Advisory AS OF WEDNESDAY, FEB. 2 The first weekend in February is a fickle one! The forecast on Friday calls for new snow and strong wind, Saturday may feature strong sun, and Sunday could see a rapid rise in temperature.

Snow, wind, temperature, and sun are key drivers of avalanche activity, and it is possible we may see all of these ingredients in short succession over the weekend. As a result, the avalanche hazard will be dynamic and highly spatially variable, which will make it harder to extrapolate regional hazard information for local areas.

To manage the uncertainty, it will be important to verify conditions when you are travelling in the mountains this weekend to determine whether the conditions you experience are worse than expected in terms of the avalanche danger. Look for clues that there is an elevated risk of triggering avalanches.

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• Signs of rapid warming, like snow shedding from trees and snow pinwheeling or snowballing down slopes.

The wide range of conditions forecast for this one weekend provide an ideal opportunity to step up your trip planning approach. Make travel plans that you can easily adjust when your observations in the field suggest the hazard is worse than expected. If conditions are worse than forecast, make sure you’re ready for these three options: • Back off your initial trip plan and switch to your simpler Plan B. • Abort the trip.

• Continue with the trip, but make ongoing observations and exercise greater caution.

As always, be sure to track the forecasts and advice at avalanche.ca to get the most up-to-date information on how the weekend will play out. ■

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PIQUE ME UP

An act of kindness In this new regular column, Pique shines a light on some of the good things, big and small, happening in and around Whistler. Got good vibes to share? Send them to goodnews@ piquenewsmagazine.com.

A LOCAL MOM (who wishes to remain anonymous) sends “a big bouquet” to a Whistler Taxi driver who sensed she was having a rough day, and went above and beyond to ensure she and her son had a ride home on one of Whistler’s recent crazy traffic days.

The driver dropped the pair at an appointment in Function, and when they came back outside 15 minutes later, “we see the kind taxi driver waiting for us!” the mom says. “It was honestly the nicest thing ever.”

But the kindness didn’t end there. When the mom pulled out her cash to pay the driver, “he stops me, saying ‘This one’s on me.’ I couldn’t help but tear up and tell him how much that meant to me in such a rough time,” she says.

“By far one of the nicest things a stranger has done. Thank you so much—great things are coming your way.”

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After one of his appointments, Dr. King called him in for a consult.

“At that appointment, she explained that [one of my moles] was melanoma and had to be removed ASAP.” Two weeks later, Marco went under the knife.

“I can’t believe the timing of it all. I had the most aggressive skin cancer … It was detected and removed early on, and now I’m just left with a seven-centimetre scar in my back and the feeling that everything could have gone terribly wrong for me, my wife and my entire family,” he says.

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GOING STRONG You might have seen Lara Parnell’s dad, John, on the slopes of Whistler with his “Living Fossil” button, always with a big smile.

“A few times a week he gets up early, drives in from Pemberton, parks in the first row in Lot 8 and skis until he gets tired, sometimes with friends or family but often on his own,” Lara writes. “Did I mention that he’s 81 years old?”

John’s enthusiasm for skiing is contagious, Lara says, and most of the laps they ski together end in jubilation and gratitude for the place they call home.

“It’s so great to be motivated by someone who is truly living the dream; who isn’t negatively influenced by anything in the news or social media and is honestly just stoked to be able to ski,” Lara says.

“He once commented to me after I took him on a pow lap through Bagel Bowl that ‘if I died tomorrow, I’d die a happy man.’

That was at least 10 years ago and he’s still going strong.”

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ROAD TO RECOVERY Last year, a regular patient at Coast Mountain Veterinary Services—a 12-yearold lab named Ty—started to grow a large tumour. After weighing the risk of surgery with the benefits of removing the tumour, Coast’s Dr. Ruairidhd MacKenzie conducted a successful surgery in early November. Ty has been on the long road to recovery ever since, going from vet visits every two days, to every three days, and then four.

Before long, Ty’s visits were down to once a week, and “he graduated from bandages to a majestic pink onesie,” says Rhian, hospital manager at Coast.

“Last Thursday, we saw Ty for his final check up after surgery! Within a few weeks of surgery he had turned back into a big, bouncy puppy, and we’re all so proud of him and his mum for seeing him through this process.”

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PIQUE N’ YER INTEREST

Trying my hand at the Whistler Sliding Centre’s public skeleton program EVERY NOW AND THEN being the sports reporter in a town like Whistler brings with it a few perks. Most recently it was the chance to go ride a skeleton sled at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

Now, this sport is in no way exclusive to athletes training for competitions and sports writers who think they are good at sports. It is

BY HARRISON BROOKS actually available for anybody 16 and older who meets the height and weight requirements.

At first, the idea of rocketing down a chute of ice headfirst on a sled with no brakes may seem daunting; even more so when you realize that, even starting from the bottom third of the track, you can reach upwards of 100 km/h, while athletes starting from the top routinely hit 150.

But for me, the fact that no experience is necessary put my mind at ease. Surely they aren’t sending unexperienced people hurtling down this supposed death trap if there was any actual chance of getting hurt, right? That would just be a poor business model.

So thanks to my rationalization, I walked in to the Sliding Centre with no nerves—but still without any idea of what to really expect.

After listening to the pre-slide safety presentation, which went over techniques to ensure the best run—the most important being to stay relaxed, but not limp, and keep your shoulders touching the sled at all times—myself and the seven other first-time sliders were led over to the track to be shown where we would end our run before walking up to the starting platform.

While at the Maple Leaf starting platform, named for the maple leaves literally frozen

it’s my turn, and I’m pumped. I want to be the first person to top 100 km/h.

After watching everyone else go and listening to the tips Snowy has been giving them before setting off, I lay down on the sled, shoulders at the top, thumbs locked in the handle and legs pointing straight out the back.

“Looks great,” Snowy says as he grabs my legs ready to give me a push.

Confident that I’ll be able to hit that 100km/h mark, I respond with a “Hell yeah”

Then I hit another wall, followed by another, and come out of the finishing ramp pingponging back and forth. A complete disaster. into the side walls, we meet Snowy, one of the Sliding Centre’s coaches and the man who will be giving us our push down the track.

Snowy offers us some more background on the track and the sport, and some anecdotes on how the most scared people often do the best in their first time, to which I think, “Yeah right, I got this.”

Sitting fifth in the order, I watch as, one by one, the other sliders get set up on the sled and pushed down the track.

As each slider takes off down the track, the top speed is announced over the PA system: 97.6 km/h, 96.0, 97.1, 98.1. Finally,

when Snowy asks if I’m ready to “get that bill.”

And just like that, I’m off.

First corner, no problem. Shoulders still down, chin out, keeping my eyes looking forward to what’s ahead, I’m picking up speed at an exponential rate. Second corner, my shoulder and elbow scrape up against the wall, and in reaction to the mild pain I tense up and pull my arm in as tight as possible.

Then I hit another wall, followed by another, and come out of the finishing ramp pingponging back and forth. A complete disaster.

As I step off the track, I hear my speed… 86.1 km/h, the lowest of everyone by at least nine

km/h for the entire day. I completely blew it.

Luckily, everyone gets a second run to redeem themselves. So as I walked back up the track cursing myself for the poor performance, I start going over everything that went wrong in my mind.

I must have lifted my head too much while trying to look down the track, causing me to hit that first wall. Then I tensed up and pulled my shoulder in, causing me to lose control even more—a mistake I wasn’t going to make again.

Setting off for my second run, all I’m thinking is, “Don’t look up, and don’t move your shoulders.”

Staring at nothing but the ice right under my head, I essentially go down the track blind, unsuspectingly whizzing around each corner, which was definitely more unsettling than seeing what’s in front of you. But no walls were hit, and I came around the finish with a clean run.

The PA system rings out, “The most improved athlete of the day, shaving a full three seconds off his time, is Harrison Brooks reaching a top speed of 97.3 km/h.”

It wasn’t the 100 km/h mark I was hoping for, but at least it was some sort of redemption.

And just like that, my skeleton career came and went in a total time of 1:09.59.

Find more info and book your own run at whistlersportlegacies.com. All proceeds from public programs go directly towards growing sport and supporting bobsleigh, skeleton and luge athletes. ■

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

13

NEWS WHISTLER

Sea to Sky transit strike negotiations stall at the bargaining table WHISTLER WORKERS, BUSINESS FORCED TO GET CREATIVE WITH TRANSIT SERVICE ON PAUSE

BY BRANDON BARRETT NEARLY A WEEK into a strike that has suspended transit service throughout the Sea to Sky corridor, it appears negotiations at the bargaining table have come to a complete halt.

“Based on recent information as we understand it, there aren’t any active negotiations at this time,” said Diana Chan, board chair of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, on Monday, Jan. 31. “Our focus is on working with the Squamish and Pemberton chambers and other business associations to put the call to the parties to get them back at the table. This doesn’t help

HOLDING THE LINE Whistler Transit workers seemed in good spirits as they took to the picket line on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 29, saying they just want to get back to serving their customers.

PHOTO BY BRADEN DUPUIS

14 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

anyone. It’s not just a business issue; it’s a community issue.”

Transit operators hit the picket line on Saturday, Jan. 29, suspending services in Whistler, Pemberton and Squamish, except for Squamish’s handyDART service, which is deemed essential and will continue to operate with full service hours on weekdays.

The job action is necessary as BC Transit’s contractors “refuse to close the pay gap for Whistler-area transit operators,” said Unifor in a release on Jan. 28. The union said Whistler and Squamish transit workers make anywhere between $3 and $5 an hour less than their counterparts in Vancouver and Victoria.

Whistler workers and businesses have been forced to get creative to shore up the sudden lack of transit. Chan said employees are arranging carpooling where possible, or switching shifts around to accommodate staff who live further away, while some small businesses have adjusted their

operating hours to better align with staff’s commuting time.

Other larger organizations have arranged shuttles to ferry employees to and from work. A spokesperson for Whistler Blackcomb confirmed the company has organized a shuttle looping West Side Road for those who cannot easily walk to work, with pickup times at 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. and 4 and 5 p.m. at the end of the day.

Even with the workarounds, the impacts of a lengthy transit strike would deal yet another blow to a workforce and business sector that has already suffered through the uncertainty of COVID-19 and a worsening labour shortage.

“For a workforce that has been challenged in every way, this is not something we need,” said Chan. “This is another restriction [that impacts] employee mental health and I want to ensure people understand this is not just about getting to and from work.”

Christian Boone, managing director of

the Whistler Athletes’ Centre in Cheakamus Crossing, said staff, guests and athletes training at the centre are “deeply reliant” on public transit to get around.

“I think it really depends on the guest, but it’s very common,” he said, noting that because the centre has a self-cook kitchen, guests typically rely on grocery stores in Creekside and the village for their supplies.

Further complicating the situation is the fact there are just over a dozen parking stalls at a facility with 140 beds.

“This building was built during the [2010 Olympic] Games and I think at that time Cheakamus was looked at as a green community where we wouldn’t have a lot of cars,” Boone said. “But the reality is, a lot of people have one, two cars in this area and the businesses just wouldn’t be able to survive without the transit.”

For Pemberton and Mount Currie, the effects of the job action are even more acute. BC Transit’s Pemberton 99 bus is a crucial link to employees who commute to

NEWS WHISTLER NEW TO MARKET Whistler, which speaks to the ongoing need for a more robust regional transit system that links Pemberton and Mount Currie to the corridor and beyond, something local officials have been pursuing for years.

“We’re just going to wait and see what happens with the strike. If it carries on, then I guess we’ll have to come up with [a transportation alternative for Mount Currie residents],” said Lil’wat Chief Dean Nelson.

Taxi companies and ride-hailing service Whistle! have struggled to pick up the slack in the wake of the strike. Whistle! GM Andrew Bacon said his drivers were kept busy over the weekend, but, like so many other businesses in town, a lack of staff is making it virtually impossible to meet the surge in demand.

“Are we as a local rideshare company and taxis able to step up and fill the gap of the buses? Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s very difficult for us as a rideshare company, and I’m sure for the taxis. They just stop answering their phones, and I don’t blame

of pressure dealing with COVID, then you’re going to have to compensate them appropriately,” said McGarrigle.

“And if they don’t want to do that then unfortunately it’ll be the people who rely on transit who suffer.”

BC Transit operates the service for Whistler and Pemberton under contract to Whistler Transit Ltd. and Diversified Transit in Squamish. McGarrigle believes it is BC Transit’s reliance on private contractors that is at the root of the dispute.

“There’s only one of two things that are true here: either BC Transit hasn’t funded the contractor enough to make sure they can be treated fairly like other transit operators in markets like this, or they have a contractor that is trying to get ahead by undercutting the wages, benefits and working conditions to try to make a buck,” he said. “Ultimately we really don’t believe there should be a role for these kinds of private contractors in a public transit system, because the only way they

“For a workforce that has been challenged in every way, this is not something we need.”

- DIANA CHAN

them. We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of people looking for rides.”

Bacon said the average wait time during peak hours this weekend was anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes. (Whistle! also introduced a pooling option on Saturday.)

Counting 26 drivers on the platform and a fleet of seven Whistle!-owned cars (independently contracted drivers may also use their own vehicle), Bacon said the platform would need at least another 20 drivers to meet the demand. “We’re moving a lot of people. We’re moving a couple thousand people a weekend now,” he said.

‘UNFORTUNATELY, WE’RE QUITE A DISTANCE APART’ In an interview with Unifor shortly after news of the impending job action came to light last Friday, Gavin McGarrigle, the union’s western regional director, said the parties were far from any kind of consensus at the bargaining table.

“Unfortunately, we’re quite a distance apart,” he said. “BC Transit wants to hide behind its contractors, and the contractor made it clear they don’t see a route to closing the gaps and getting to a fair agreement, so we have no choice but to strike.”

Local 114 represents more than 80 transit workers at Whistler Transit who voted 98 per cent in favour of striking in August 2021. In that case, negotiations failed to produce a satisfactory offer from the employer, said Unifor. Wages, a lack of benefits coverage for nearly 40 per cent of the unit, pension, and job security remain sticking points for the union.

“The reality is if you want to have a decent transit system in an era of driver shortages, inflationary gains and a lot

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can save money is to cut labour costs below what a public entity would do.”

While BC Transit uses private contractors throughout much of the province, in Victoria, hundreds of the company’s employees are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city’s bus service, and Unifor deals directly with the agency in negotiations there.

“The real sad thing is BC Transit seems to be taking a hands-off approach” in negotiations, McGarrigle said. “Workers know what kind of service they’re delivering, they know they’re undervalued and the insertion of a contractor just makes negotiations difficult.”

BC Transit has referred comment to its contractors, but in a release Friday, apologized to customers “for the inconvenience caused by this matter. BC Transit understands the frustration felt by customers, and that the job action is difficult for everyone involved in the region,” it said. “BC Transit is closely monitoring the situation and hopes the parties will find resolution soon.”

If history is any indication, it could be some time before a deal is reached in the Sea to Sky. While both Victoria and Greater Vancouver narrowly avoided looming transit shutdowns in 2013 and 2019, respectively, after 11th-hour deals were struck, Vancouver’s last transit strike came in 2001 and lasted a record 123 days, still the longest transit strike in B.C. history.

“One thing I do know about transit workers is that when they’re bound and determined to take job action, they will last as long as it takes,” McGarrigle noted.

A representative for Whistler Transit Ltd. has not returned multiple requests for comment. n

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15

NEWS WHISTLER

Current B.C. wedding restrictions ‘defy logic,’ say Whistler vendors AMID CALLS FOR A RECONSIDERATION ON RECEPTION BAN, SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS SAY THEIR INCOMES HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED FOR YEARS events can take place at 50 per cent of a venue’s capacity, but wedding and funeral receptions have not been allowed in British Columbia since the order was implemented.

On Jan. 18, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry opted to extend the restrictions past their initial expiry date. They will remain in effect until at least Feb. 16.

Now, some Whistler and Sea to Sky wedding vendors are adding their voices to the chorus of frustrated business owners calling on the province to reconsider the current rules barring wedding celebrations.

If the restrictions and cancellations continue, the impact on her business’ bottom line “is going to be catastrophic,” said Lythe.

BY MEGAN LALONDE IN A TYPICAL pre-pandemic year, Whistler-based photographer Pascale Gadbois would shoot 25 to 30 weddings on average, in addition to about 20 elopements.

“Post-COVID? I did one large wedding last year,” said the owner of Gadbois Photography.

Event planner Rachael Lythe said her business, Sea to Sky Celebrations, had three weddings go ahead in 2021 compared to a normal roster of 70-plus events. “When you’re walking through your numbers and seeing that you’re down 100 per cent month over month, it’s pretty depressing,” she said.

Unfortunately for Whistler’s wedding industry, that downward trend appears to be continuing into 2022. Lythe said she’s so far had two couples cancel the weddings they’d initially scheduled for March, since B.C. public health officials on Dec. 23 introduced a ban on indoor, organized gatherings of any size to help slow transmission of the Omicron variant.

Ceremonies are permitted to go ahead while outdoor, seated organized

WHISTLER

|

WEDDING RULES ‘BASED ON RISK,’ SAY B.C. HEALTH OFFICIALS The health orders “defy logic,” in Lythe’s view.

“You can have a restaurant full of people that don’t know each other, but I can’t have a wedding dinner with 30 people that know each other, under the same sixperson-to-a-table rule, because it’s labelled a wedding ... What’s the difference?” she asked. “Why can we go to a concert or a

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RESTRICTIONS COULD HAVE BROADER EFFECTS IN ‘WEDDING MECCA’ WHISTLER The ongoing restrictions limiting wedding receptions impact a wide range of vendors and small businesses across B.C., aside from planners and venues: hairstylists and makeup artists, DJs, florists, rental companies, cleaners, photographers, videographers and musicians, to name just a few. But in the Sea to Sky corridor, where a majority of couples travel from out of town to get married, the effects of these restrictions reach even further.

McGaw estimated that 98 per cent, “if not more,” of her clients are destination visitors. “Whistler is a wedding mecca, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that,” she said.

Here, the absence of weddings and guests

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but especially around here, the venues are excellent at following the rules and the planners are outstanding,” she said. “They don’t need this, and they don’t deserve this.”

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hockey game or a movie theater, but we can’t have a wedding reception abiding by the restaurant restrictions?”

When pressed during a media briefing last month, Henry doubled down on the rationale behind her reception ban.

“We know that invariably, those are the settings where we are seeing transmission—not at every one, clearly— but at many, many, many,” she said. “It’s very challenging … you all start off with the right intentions and you’re sitting at tables, but you’re with people you haven’t seen, and it’s a positive, joyful time, so at the end of the evening it becomes more of a celebration. Which is a wonderful thing, but also very risky right now.”

Comparing wedding receptions to hockey rinks, Henry said arenas are much larger spaces with more ventilation and space between people, due to the smaller number of attendees permitted inside under current capacity limits.

The decision, she added, “is based on risk.”

Whistler wedding celebrant Linda McGaw disagreed with Henry’s assertion. “I don’t know if any of these provincial health [officials] have been to a wedding recently,

APPENDIX B to Order G-3-22

We want to hear from you Fortisbc Energy Inc.’s Application for Approval of Revisions to the Renewable Gas Program On December 17, 2021, FortisBC Energy Inc. (FEI) filed an application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) seeking approval for revisions to its Renewable Gas Program (formerly referred to as the Biomethane Program). The application requests changes to FEI’s tariff, cost recovery methods, and accounting treatment in order to provide new and revised Renewable Gas service to its customers, including: • a new Renewable Gas blend for all FEI sales customers as part of their regular gas service, beginning at 1% on January 1, 2024; • connections for new residential dwellings attaching to FEI’s gas system to be connected as 100% Renewable Gas. Renewable Gas connection customers will pay the same rate as other gas customers.

• All customers participating in the voluntary Renewable Gas offering can choose to purchase up to 100% Renewable Gas; increase the price for Natural Gas Vehicle and Transportation Service to equal the weighted average cost of Renewable Gas supply; and eliminate the $1 per gigajoule discount for long-term contracts.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

IMPORTANT DATES

• Submit a letter of comment • Register as an interested party • Request intervener status

• Wednesday, February 9, 2022 – Deadline to register as an intervener with the BCUC.

For more information about the Application, please visit the Proceeding Webpage on bcuc.com under “Regulatory Activities – Current Proceedings.” To learn more about getting involved, please visit our website at www.bcuc.com/get-involved or contact us at the information below.

GET MORE INFORM ATION FortisBC Energy Inc.

British Columbia Utilities Commission

16705 Fraser Highway, Surrey BC V4N 0E8

Suite 410, 900 Howe St., Vancouver BC V6Z 2N3

E: gas.regulatory.affairs@fortisbc.com

E: Commission.Secretary@bcuc.com

P: 604.592.7664

P: 604-660-4700

NEWS WHISTLER << FROM PAGE 16 could potentially mean millions of dollars in lost business for hotels, restaurants, retail stores and tour operators. “The restrictions [B.C. has] in place for other industries generally affect only that industry,” added McGaw. “But the wedding industry, I think, is different, because it involves multiple different moving parts, and if a wedding gets cancelled, everybody gets cancelled.

“Everybody in Whistler should be concerned about this because a lot of people will be affected if they don’t change [the rules], in my opinion.”

Compounding the hardships brought on by these restrictions is the fact that most wedding industry players don’t qualify for the government supports currently available for B.C. businesses impacted by pandemic health measures—partly because ceremonies are technically still allowed.

“If there was ever a niche market to get lost in the shuffle, we’re it,” said Gadbois.

Plus, with postponed weddings typically rescheduled for months if not years into the future, vendors’ ability to recoup lost revenue has also been effectively destroyed, she added. The cost and logistics of re-planning an event have prompted some couples to reschedule their special days into 2023 and beyond, said Gadbois, while others have cancelled altogether.

“So for us it’s not six to 12 months,” of recovery, she explained.

The varying mandates that have been

WEDDING WISHES Photographer Pascale Gadbois is among the members of Whistler’s wedding industry calling for an end to B.C.’s ban on receptions.

PHOTO BY RACHAEL LYTHE, WHISTLER ELOPEMENT COMPANY

implemented on and off since weddings first ground to a halt in 2020 also mean Sea to Sky vendors like Gadbois and Lythe are left struggling to pack three years worth of demand into a few precious summer weekends, without the clarity or confidence of knowing which restrictions are sticking around or coming down the pipe.

Even if all measures are lifted and every summer weekend is booked up once again, after nearly two years of lost income, “we’re not going to make up that financial loss, ever,” explained Gadbois. “There’s not enough space for us to do that, and the demand will go elsewhere.”

Agreed Lythe: “Our income is now compromised for years down the road.”

ELOPEMENTS SOAR IN POPULARITY, BUT DON’T MAKE UP FOR PANDEMIC LOSSES The one bright spot for many B.C. wedding vendors since March 2020 has been a boom in elopements.

Data from BC Vital Statistics, shared in an Instagram reel by local florist Ninebark Floral Design, shows there were 73 weddings in Pemberton in 2019 and 349 in Whistler, compared to 28 and 72 in 2020, respectively. Last year, 49 weddings took place in Pemberton while 365 couples were married in Whistler.

But those statistics don’t factor in the number of guests in attendance. The

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average number of guests at a Ninebark wedding dropped from to 118.5 in 2019 to 21 in 2020, and lowered even further to 12.5 in 2021, according to the florist’s post.

Lythe coincidentally launched a second business, the Whistler Elopement Company, at the end of 2019.

“It was sort of a fortuitous decision,” she said. “As a new business it took a while to take off, but it has helped us—it’s saved us, basically.”

That said, “as far as losses, maybe it’s helped pay some expenses, but at the end of the day, I can tell you that when I did my tax return, we were down a colossal amount even with that.”

Finances aside, Gadbois has found joy in the flexible, easy-going nature of elopements and is “so, so grateful for the folks that have decided an elopement is right for them,” she said. “I am having the time of my life with them—they are creating such a different, unique experience.”

The downside?

Gadbois must photograph five elopement ceremonies to bring in the same revenue she would by shooting one traditional wedding.

“If I have to work five times harder, and those are five more couples that I get to bring joy to help create keepsakes … then that is worth it,” she said. Nevertheless, Gadbois’ experience represents just how far wedding vendors’ incomes have fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

And “there’s no way that my numbers are unique,” she said. n

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

19

NEWS WHISTLER

B.C., Lil’wat and N’Quatqua release new visitor strategy for Tenquille Lake JOINT FRAMEWORK BANS MOUNTAIN BIKING AND DOGS ON TRAILS; LIMITS CAMPING TO DESIGNATED AREAS

BY BRANDON BARRETT THE

PROVINCIAL government and local Lil’wat and N’Quatqua First Nations have jointly released a new visitor management strategy for Tenquille Lake aimed at guiding future recreation in the area that acknowledges and preserves its cultural, ecological and wildlife values.

Tenquille Lake, or Háwint, is located within the unceded traditional territory of the Lil’wat, while the greater area, including the Birkenhead River watershed, sits within the unceded territory of the N’Quatqua.

In light of increasing visitation in recent years, the Tenquille Lake Visitor Use Management Project aims to guide future recreation management in a way that protects the Nations’ cultural resources and opportunities, wildlife habitat and sensitive species, and provides guidance for recreation authorizations and activities in the area.

“It is one of the places that was used by the Lil’wat for generations and it has recorded presence there with the pictographs and the trails,” explained Lil’wat Chief Dean Nelson.

“It is a part of the route that our people took throughout the territory.”

The importance of the area is reflected

TENDER TENQUILLE Tenquille Lake, near Pemberton. in both the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua’s oral histories and in the Ucwalmícwts-language place names describing geographic features throughout the land. Today, the area continues to be used by the Nations for cultural practices, hunting and gathering— activities that have been “impeded by the impacts of colonization and the amount and types of public visitation to the area,” the strategy noted.

Part of the strategy’s intention is to formally codify the Nations’ respective history and use of the land, and plans are in the works to educate visitors on Lil’wat

REDDIT

and N’Quatqua culture, including Lil’wat stewards and additional signage and other information sources using the Nations’ place names and Ucwalmícwts language.

“Having those recognized and I think just sharing the knowledge that our people were there initially and understanding that history of how it was taken away and knowing that going in there is probably the biggest thing for us,” Nelson said.

The area also provides vital habitat to numerous wildlife, including several rare or at-risk populations, such as mountain goats or the South Chilcotin grizzly bear unit.

With that in mind, the strategy proposed to close the Tenquille Creek trail and promote public access via the Branch 12 and other historic trails; prohibit mountain biking on trails and within the rec site; ban dogs from the lake and on trails; and designate the rec site as non-motorized year-round.

Winter motorized use within 500 metres of mountain goat habitat outside the rec site will also be discouraged.

Camping will only be allowed at designated sites, and overnight stays at the campground and cabin will be limited and reserved through a fee-for-service system.

Commercial use of the campground and cabin is prohibited and the strategy also calls for adventure tourism operators to contribute funding towards the maintenance of the rec site and trails if using the area.

Co-managed by the Nations and province, the Tenquille Lake strategy is meant to be “iterative,” with management actions expected to evolve as monitoring of certain key environmental, recreational, cultural and safety indicators progresses.

“Project partners recognize this is a new approach to managing recreation in the Sea to Sky corridor and seek to learn from the process,” the report stated.

To view the full strategy, visit landuseplanning.gov.bc.ca. n

count YooYou u cancan count onon us!us!

As we go through this pandemic, affordable and reliable public services are needed more than ever. We continue to be here for you, whether it’s our regular work day or after hours in a weather emergency. CUPE 2010 members are proud to provide excellent public services that residents and visitors – and our own families – rely on every day in the Village of Pemberton and the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

Our members in Pemberton continue to provide essential services such as clean drinking water, maintaining the safe operation of the wastewater plant, all of the snow removal and upkeep for roads, and keeping our parks and trails clean and safe for all to enjoy.

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NEWS WHISTLER

Feds to fund asset management planning in Sea to Sky communities COUNCIL BRIEFS: WHISTLER COUNCIL RECEIVES ROADS MANAGEMENT UPDATE; CONTRACT AWARDED FOR NEW FIRE HALL, POLICE DETACHMENT ROOF

BY MEGAN LALONDE AS WHISTLER continues to figure out how best to approach its aging infrastructure, the municipality’s asset management plans are getting a funding boost.

West Vancouver-Sunshine CoastSea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler announced Friday, Jan. 28 that the federal government is investing a total of $145,600 into Sea to Sky communities through the Municipal Asset Management Program.

“The past few months have reinforced the importance of having public infrastructure that will support long-term sustainability and create healthy communities where all residents can thrive,” said Weiler in a release, citing assets like roads, buildings and wastewater systems. “The Municipal Asset Management Program provides tools and training to help local governments make sound, data-driven decisions about their investments, ultimately leading to better results for

all residents.”

That investment breaks down to $50,000 for the District of Squamish, $45,600 for the Village of Pemberton and $50,000 for the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW). That grant will help fund improvements to the RMOW’s asset management systems, in particular.

It marks a continuation of the previous asset management investment plan completed three years ago, explained RMOW director of finance Carlee Price.

“Asset management planning is a multi-year undertaking,” she said. “The work that was completed in 2019 largely focused on building an inventory and starting to understand what the value of our built asset infrastructure was, so with this iteration, we’re building upon that knowledge and starting to think about the systems that support that inventory going forward, and ensure that we’re learning more and more about it as time goes on.”

That means everything from collating all the information on Whistler’s assets from various departments to engaging the municipality’s in-house experts.

The 2019 Asset Management Investment Plan pegged the total value of

Whistler’s infrastructure at $810 million.

Though that’s still the number the municipality is working with as it embarks on this next phase of asset management planning, “with this current phase of implementation, we’ll create a system where that number will update regularly,” Price explained. “But we continue to use the 2019 numbers until the new system and the regular updates are in place.”

The RMOW is working with an external consultant tasked with leading this stage of planning, which is slated to wrap up later this spring.

“This work moves us towards proper timing on required replacements,” said Mayor Jack Crompton. “Well-managed and -maintained assets are a significant part of a healthy community and a responsible annual budgetary process.

To avoid budget surprises in the future, we need to understand where our assets are and what is the replacement cost and plan for each of those assets—this work informs a strategic and thoughtful approach to managing them.”

Asset management “may not be sexy,” Crompton acknowledged, “but it’s important.”

WHISTLER COUNCIL HEARS ROADS UPDATE FOLLOWING NEW YEAR’S STORM CYCLE The skies might have been clear during Whistler’s last regular council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 25, but mayor and council had their attention focused on stormier weather.

The RMOW’s manager of transportation and waste management Andrew Tucker was on hand to provide an update regarding Whistler’s municipal road maintenance program, offering some insight into how staff deal with snowy roads and the resulting issues many motorists experienced during the resort’s busy holiday period.

Though the main route through town, Highway 99, is managed by the province’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) and contractor Miller Capilano, as Tucker explained, RMOW staff is tasked with maintaining the community’s neighbourhood roads.

Staff begins by assessing weather forecasts and planning accordingly, before heading out when temperatures drop to treat roads with calcium chloride—a liquid

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But once a storm passes through, crews “need to reset,” explained Tucker.

They get to work widening roads, pushing back snowbanks, opening up intersections and clearing storm drains. “Some neighbourhoods do not have a lot of snow storage, so we’ll go in, we’ll remove that snow and we’ll take it to another location,” Tucker said, “like Day Lot 5, for example.”

Tucker also acknowledged the heavy congestion that essentially gridlocked Whistler roads over the holiday period. “We had a series of weekends where we had heavy snow and big snowstorms, which is great for the mountain—a lot of people are excited— but it also occurs when it’s the busiest time of the week for Whistler,” he said.

More problems were posed by “a significant increase of the number of crashes” the resort saw over the holiday period compared to prior years, Tucker said, partly due to vehicles that were not properly equipped to be driving on snowy Whistler roads. Collisions “stop traffic and prevent the maintenance contractor from doing the work that they need to do to maintain that service level for the highway,” he said.

Afternoon congestion is not a new issue for the resort, Tucker added. “We know that the solution is [reducing] the number of vehicles that are travelling along the highway. But how do we do that?” he said.

The answer, Tucker explained, is to

improve both regional transit offerings and the infrastructure that allows transit to maintain acceptable service levels, “so people will use it.”

Following the presentation, Councillor Jen Ford questioned the amount of municipal resources needed to clear sections of the Valley Trail where people could bike or walk when the highway is congested.

The Valley Trail is cleared by the RMOW’s resort operations team, explained general manager of resort experience Jessie Gresley-Jones.

“The team, I will say, does a good job of prioritizing the routes that have a bigger impact on that ability to commute,” he said.

“I think it’s fair to say that most of our team felt behind in these recent snow events and it was starting to get challenging on many stretches of the Valley Trail where we didn’t have the space … [and] the equipment wasn’t able to get the snow up and off the trails in many stretches.”

Two limitations impacting the RMOW’s ability to expand Valley Trail clearing efforts in the future are staffing hours and equipment challenges, Gresley-Jones added.

“At this point we’re sort of maxed out for what we can get to in a morning period during a snow event,” he said. “We did contemplate during those 50-centimetre events of staggering [crews] with an evening shift, just to get caught up, but ultimately it would require investment in, likely, an additional piece of snow clearing equipment and the supporting staff hours

to be able to focus on meeting our objectives of being able to walk and cycle [the Valley Trail] 12 months of the year.”

Council will hear another presentation in the coming weeks that’s set to provide more information on the roads RMOW crews service, their priority routes and the pieces of equipment they operate, Tucker added.

CONTRACT AWARDED FOR NEW PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING ROOF Whistler’s mayor and council voted unanimously at the Jan. 25 meeting to award a $1.7-million contract for a new public safety building roof to Surrey company Bollman Roofing and Sheet Metal Ltd. The two-story building located at 4315 Blackcomb Way that houses both Whistler’s main fire hall and the local RCMP detachment was built in 1979. Its roof was last replaced with cedar shakes during a second phase of construction in 1995, explained RMOW facilities construction manager Andy Chalk.

“After 27 years, the shake roof has exceeded its design life expectancy and is in urgent need of replacement,” he told council.

The roof replacement project was initially tendered in July 2021, but received just a single bid that was ultimately rejected by the RMOW due to both cost and lack of clarity.

RMOW staff expanded the parameters of their request for proposals last fall to allow for several different types of roofing materials. When the tender closed in mid-

November, the RMOW had received three formal bids, two of which were compliant.

Consultants recommended the RMOW proceed with Bollman Roofing and Sheet Ltd.’s bid of $1,482,100. With an additional contingency of 15 per cent of construction costs, the 2022 budget allotment for the project amounts to $1.7 million, to be drawn from the RMOW’s general capital reserves.

Construction is due to begin this spring and take approximately 10 weeks, ideally wrapping up prior to July 1.

Following Chalk’s presentation, Councillor Duane Jackson noted that the 2021 budget consideration for the project was listed at approximately $700,000 and inquired whether the increase was due to fluctuating market conditions or a change in the project’s scope.

The answer is both, said Chalk, first citing seismic concerns due to the building’s age.

The new roof will include an additional three-quarter-inch plywood layer tied into the walls to improve the public safety building’s structural dynamics “that probably wasn’t well-considered in the original budget for the project,” Chalk explained.

The price tag “is also very indicative of the market conditions today,” he added. “We worked very hard with a number of different contractors to understand what the cost of this project would be, and we felt that somewhere in the neighborhood of $700,000 to $1 million should be enough to do the work. However, we’ve been to the marketplace twice and we’re getting these numbers back.” n

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22 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Photo courtesy of Tara O Grady

MARCH 4 & 5, 2022

In Memorium

Hans Albert Schroeder SEPT 12, 1958 | FEB 4, 2020 Albert came to Whistler at the height of the 90’s building boom. He was a German trained carpenter and worked on many finishing projects: Pan Pacific Village Centre, The Aspens, Crystal Lodge. After 18 years with Glen Lynsky culminated in Albert’s last job, before leaving Whistler - Origami house.

He was a super Dad to his two kids and a wonderful partner. He moved through life quietly, helping many people along the way.

Albert once saved a neighbour’s son’s life.

After a stint in Vancouver, Albert settled in Squamish. He was doing renos and looking forward to another SUP trip to NS Oahu.

Covid hit … followed by a diagnosis Pancreatic Cancer Stage 4. Family and friends were supportive throughout a very tough year of Chemo. But Albert needed the help of the Sea to Sky Hospice crew.

They were amazing beyond words.

There was a lovely funeral with 10 folks in attendance, and was live-streamed to 14 families.

Maybe this summer we can all relax and have a few brews by the river and throw flowers for Albert, Hawaiian style.

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FEBRUARY 3, 2022

23

NEWS WHISTLER

Whistler police looking for suspect who exposed himself to woman POLICE BRIEFS: TIRES SLASHED IN FUNCTION; ATTEMPTED BREAK-AND-ENTER IN CREEKSIDE

BY BRANDON BARRETT WHISTLER RCMP is asking the public for help in identifying a man who reportedly exposed himself to a local woman, according to a release.

At about midnight on Jan. 21, police responded to a report of an indecent act in the 6100 block of Lorimer Road. A woman told investigators an unknown man had followed her before exposing himself.

He is described as Caucasian, approximately 40 years old, 5-10 in height with a medium build and shaved head. He was wearing a blue puffy jacket and dark blue jeans at the time, police said.

“At this point in time this is an isolated incident,” RCMP said in the release.

Police offered some safety tips for those walking home at night, urging the public to stay in busy areas and avoid short cuts through secluded areas, hidden trails or lanes that are not well trafficked.

Anyone with information should contact the detachment’s non-emergency line at 604-932-3044, or Sea to Sky Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or solvecrime.ca to remain anonymous.

TIRES SLASHED IN FUNCTION JUNCTION Whistler police responded to a mischief complaint on Jan. 19, and soon learned that three tires had been slashed the night prior in the 1000 block of Millar Creek Road in Function Junction.

In a release, RCMP said they responded to a similar complaint Jan. 10, when a pickup truck had two of its tires slashed.

ATTEMPTED BREAK-ANDENTER REPORTED IN CREEKSIDE At about 6 a.m. on Jan. 23, police responded to a report of a break-and-enter in the 2000 block of Karen Crescent in Creekside.

Investigators determined a suspect had tried to gain access to a residence through a window, but were unable to break it. No entry was gained.

THEFT AND FIREARMS SEIZURE A person was arrested after a theft from a closed vaccination room at the Sea to Sky Hotel in Squamish on Jan. 29.

Thanks to quick-acting hotel staff, who called officers immediately, the

police were able to catch the suspect, RCMP said in a release.

The theft involved under $5,000 worth of items, police said.

When officers tracked the suspect down at their vehicle, they also discovered a loose, loaded M&P .45 handgun and a large amount of shotgun ammunition inside the vehicle, police said. The person did not have a firearms licence and the gun and ammunition were seized.

TOO MUCH NEED FOR SPEED Squamish highway patrol officers were conducting safety enforcement south of Depot Road on Jan. 28 when a vehicle was tracked travelling 134 kilometres an hour in an 80 km/hr zone. The vehicle, which had Washington licence plates, was impounded, and a ticket was issued to the registered driver. A taxi then took all occupants to their destination.

PERSONAL DOCUMENTS STOLEN IN SQUAMISH B&E Personal documents were stolen during a break-and-enter in the 1000-block of Enterprise Place in Squamish earlier this

month, police said.

Police suspect the break-in took place sometime between Jan. 8 and 29. Police are asking members of the public with any information on this incident to contact the Squamish RCMP at 604-892-6100, or Sea to Sky Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or go to the website solvecrime.ca.

IMPAIRED AT THE WHEEL An impaired driver lost his vehicle and right to drive, for a time, on Jan. 29.

This happened after a BC Highway Patrol officer grew suspicious when he passed a vehicle with a licence plate registered to an unlicensed driver in Squamish, police said.

The officer pulled the truck over and noted the driver’s eyes were bloodshot, and there was a strong odour of liquor on the driver’s breath, RCMP said.

The driver failed a breathalyzer test and thus had their vehicle impounded for 30 days, along with an immediate 90-day driving prohibition.

Anyone with any information regarding the above files is asked to contact the Squamish RCMP at 604-892-6100, or contact Sea to Sky Crime Stoppers at 1-800222-8477 or solvecrime.ca.

-With files from the Squamish Chief n

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Robert Thomas Smith

June 1, 1943 - January 23, 2022 Robert (Bob) Thomas Smith passed away peacefully at Hilltop House in Squamish BC on a sunny winter’s day. Husband, father, grandfather and adventurer Bob had a great love and appetite for a life well lived. He passed “gently into that good night” after a long battle with dementia and heart disease. He is survived by his wife Kathleen, his children Caitlin, Laura and Jason and his grandchildren Amelia, Jack, Augustin, June and James.

Bob was born in Vancouver BC to Margaret McFarlane (deceased) and Donald Smith (deceased) had a sister Donna (Laughton) and grew up in Victoria BC. After some colourful teenage years he found his professional purpose studying mathematics, first at the University of Victoria and then postgrad at the University of Toronto. He passed his actuarial exams while at Manulife in Toronto and after marrying Kathleen in 1979 they moved to Vancouver BC. He worked at Fidelity/Seaboard Life and obtained his MBA from the University of British Columbia. He eventually became president of Seaboard Life Insurance and held this position until the company was sold.

Bob consulted for William Mercer Ltd for a few years before moving on in his semi retirement to various board positions with Healthcare Benefit Trust, Worksafe BC and BCAA. He obtained his Directors College designation and INSEAD designation during this time.

He and Kathleen retired from Vancouver to Whistler BC where he was an active volunteer with Whistler Blackcomb Mountain and the Rotary Club. He greatly enjoyed his skiing, photography, woodworking, bridge, golfing, hiking, reading and music.

Bob never stopped being curious about the world he lived in and he took great pleasure in traveling whenever he could, photographing special moments both on land and in the ocean while meeting many people in the course of these travels.

Bob’s columbarium niche will be located in the forest in the Whistler Cemetery and a celebration of his life will be held later in the year when the weather permits. There is a memorial page for Bob on the Squamish Funeral Chapel website.

Words cannot express our deep gratitude to Dr. Gornall, Dr. Millar and the wonderful healthcare staff and volunteers at Hilltop House in Squamish BC. They were there for us every step of the way with their dedication, love and support especially during the last two years and the challenges of Covid. We ask all the friends and organizations whose lives were touched professionally or personally by Bob to consider donating to the Hilltop House Support Society in lieu of flowers. Your donation will allow these good people to continue their outstanding work in helping other residents lead meaningful lives despite their health challenges.

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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NEWS PEMBERTON & THE VALLEY

Pemberton draft budget shows no tax increases in 2022 FIRST DRAFT OF 2022 BUDGET PRESENTED TO COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON FEB. 1

BY HARRISON BROOKS FOR THE SECOND year in a row, Pemberton residents may not be seeing any tax increases, according to the Village of Pemberton’s (VOP) 2022 draft budget.

However, the VOP’s manager of finance Thomas Sikora does note that the iteration of the budget presented to the Committee of the Whole (COW) on Feb. 1 is the first pass, and reflects unaudited numbers from a “snapshot in time,” which may be subject to change as the year-end process is completed over the coming weeks.

At present, the operating budget for 2022 shows a deficit of $494,433. However, a 2021 surplus carryover of $616,107 has resulted in a net overall surplus of $121,674 for 2022 “before reflecting any project additions,” according to Sikora.

The surplus is the result of “projects which were reflected in last year’s budget which were funded which may not have been completed,” he said. “So that’s a contributor where we’ll see that carried forward into next year.”

The budget’s capital expenditures are broken up across seven categories: admin, fire department, development, public works and parks, water projects, sewer projects, and reserves, with the largest allocation of $6,198,783 going towards public works.

Nearly half of that total allocation to public works will be put towards the continued construction of the new soccer field and amenity building on Pemberton Farm Road East, which is estimated to be completed this year, according to Sikora.

Other major projects that will be underway this year include the installation of EV Chargers in two different locations in town, funded through grants and a gas tax; breaking ground on the new Bike Skills Park, which will be funded entirely from previously received grants carried over from 2021; and the repair of Pemberton

BUDGET BUSINESS No tax increases and construction projects highlight the first draft of Pemberton’s 2022 budget presented to Comittee of the Whole on Feb. 1 FILE PHOTO BY CLARE OGILVIE

Farm Road East, Farm Road Trail and Pebble Creek Drive, which will be funded through a collection of grants, COVID restart funds and reserves carried over from 2021.

is a priority for operations manager Tom Csima.

“I’ve talked quite a bit conservation. And I think critical part of our water

and projects about water it’s a pretty conservation

“I’ve talked quite a bit about water conservation. And I think it’s a pretty critical part of our water conservation to find out where the leaks are.”

- TOM CSIMA

And while it may not have the highest dollar figure attached to it at just $18,000, with water conservation top of mind after the summer’s heat dome (which led to record water use in the community), leak detection in the village’s water system

plan to find where the leaks are,” he said.

“This is basically a device that can detect leaks based on frequencies using listening devices; it’s a pretty cool technology, so we’re excited to get something like that.”

Pemberton’s water and sewer

systems are also set to receive significant SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) improvements that will allow for a more direct and immediate response to any problems that arise by notifying an operator directly. The current notification system relies on someone noticing the flashing beacon and phoning the operator directly, which means it could be hours before anyone even knows there is a problem, according to Csima.

The final budget with full tax implications is set to be completed and presented to the COW on March 8, while the first three readings for the adoption of the budget is scheduled for the VOP regular council meeting on April 5 with a special council meeting for the fourth and final reading scheduled for April 26.

Find budget documents and stay up to date with the process at pemberton.ca. n

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28 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

NEWS PEMBERTON & THE VALLEY

B.C.’s ban on sports tournaments leaves rural schools in the lurch PEMBERTON SPORTS TEAMS PLAY FAR FEWER GAMES, TRAVEL LONGER THAN THEIR LOWER MAINLAND COUNTERPARTS

BY BRANDON BARRETT STUDENT ATHLETES and parents from across the province are calling on B.C.’s Ministry of Education to reconsider its 11th-hour decision to uphold a ban on sports tournaments in light of COVID-19.

“This is creating an uneven playing field for students, not to mention taking away opportunity for scouting, college play, mental and physical health and long-term sport participation,” said clinical counsellor Tanya Richman, whose son, Oliver, plays on Pemberton Secondary School’s (PSS) senior basketball team.

The ministry was expected to announce the resumption of tournament play on Feb. 1, but ultimately decided to uphold an addendum to the K-12 guidelines that prohibits any single- or multi-day event with more than two teams participating.

Single games are still permitted. The ministry said it would review the policy on a weekly basis moving forward.

“We are stunned by this decision, as there was commitment made this year to ensuring club and community sport access remained equal to school sport,” said Jordan Abney, executive director of BC School Sports, which represents public and non-public secondary school members from across the province.

“To have this decision made at such a critical time of year is disheartening for everyone involved in school sport, and continues to threaten and erode at the longterm health and sustainability of school sport.”

For rural schools such as PSS, the news is especially difficult to swallow in an academic year when opportunities to play in meaningful games have been few and far between. A Single A school, PSS does not belong to an official league, and as such, relies on tournaments to play the required number of games to be eligible for playoff contention. But with tournaments banned, PSS teams now have to travel out of the region several times a week—often in sixhour round trips—just to play a single game.

“Not being able to have fans and all our tournaments getting cancelled has been really difficult, and we’ve had to do a lot just for single games, so it has been very difficult,” said PSS basketball player Oliver Richman.

The PSS senior teams’ schedules have effectively been gutted, with Oliver estimating his team has played about half of the games other Single A schools like those in the Lower Mainland have, given their proximity to each other.

With limited playing time and no fans in the stands, players like Oliver looking

to take their game to the collegiate level are also missing out on crucial scouting opportunities.

“I’m definitely trying to play at the next level, at college,” he said. “Not having crowds makes it so scouts aren’t allowed to come to the games. I can’t film my games to send to coaches, so that part has been very difficult.”

Then there’s the inherent social and emotional value of sport, especially important in the pandemic after student athletes across all sports were limited to only practices in the 2020-’21 academic year. “[W]e live in an area … where so many of our students are active and engaged, and it’s one of the things that research shows attaches kids to schools and gives meaning,” said clinical counsellor Tanya, who added that she was hopeful the education ministry would consider some form of exemption for rural schools like PSS. “I would have liked to have seen perhaps an exemption for rural schools, where they can go somewhere and play two different teams in a day, with no spectators. The other team doesn’t have to stay and watch, but some accommodation for when we’re putting kids on the road for a six-hour round trip, that we’re not doing so at the expense of their education and time,” she said.

*

“Not being able to have fans and all our tournaments getting cancelled has been really difficult…”

- OLIVER RICHMAN

A change.org petition calling for the province to lift the ban on high school tournament play had hit more than 12,000 signatures at press time.

In a canned statement, the education ministry said it recognizes sport’s importance to students and school communities, and continues to work closely with public health and BC School Sports “to ensure we can keep students and staff safe and healthy as we continue to navigate through the Omicron wave of the pandemic.” The statement did not address questions about rural schools.

The ministry is meeting this week with B.C.’s K-12 steering committee to review the current guidelines around school sports tournaments, the statement added. n

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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SCIENCE MATTERS

Anthropocene means we hold the key to our future GEOLOGISTS HAVE classified most epochs in Earth’s history according to fossils, radiometric dating and composition of the strata. The widely endorsed label for our current era, the Anthropocene, describes the extent to which our collective human footprint is changing the planet. It’s a proposed “geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems.”

It’s not a surprise to hear that humanity’s impact is negative overall, as evidenced by global climate change, biodiversity loss and

BY DAVID SUZUKI species extinction. Although life on Earth has undergone vast changes over millions of years, never before has one species been the cause.

Happily, in response to our negative impacts, many humans are engaged in repairing historical and ongoing ecological damage. Alongside our long list of negative impacts, examples of positive effects abound.

Actions that degrade and repair the planet’s ecosystems do not amount to a zero-sum game, though. At any moment places are being destroyed and restored, but they’re not the same places, and the actions don’t happen in equal measure.

We haven’t repaired nearly as much as we’ve degraded and destroyed. (In fact, most restoration initiatives are pet projects of the very industries damaging the land.)

It’s unrealistic to imagine that human

species, and many areas we grudgingly yield are covered with rock, ice and snow, that’s not a lot.

Last year, a group of international conservationists released a paper that advanced benchmarks to achieve a “nature positive” world. The goals are to reach zero net loss of nature after 2020, damage less than we repair by 2030 (become “net positive”) and achieve “full recovery” by 2050.

Full recovery could mean many things.

The Convention on Biological Diversity links it to ecosystem services maintenance: “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.”

Our federal government is responsive to these targets and has made commitments to achieve them. However, it has not come up with a plan that outlines how these goals will be assessed and reported, nor defined what full recovery would look like in the Canadian context.

But there’s wind in the sails; the UN has even declared this the “decade on restoration.”

Our marks on the planet don’t have to be permanent. They were put down by us and can be taken up or out by us too. We can apply the same ingenuity we used to construct the infrastructure we’ve imposed on the world around us to reconfigure it.

Roads that fragment wildlife can be pulled out and replanted with vegetation; dams that block fish can be torn down.

As the editors of the essay collection Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet write,

Our marks on the planet don’t have to be permanent. They were put down by us and can be taken up or out by us too.

lives, coupled with our many wants and needs, could ever be benign for the planet.

But no one is arguing for this. Ecologists around the world are making the case for societies to change the systems that oversee development and resource extraction so that ecosystem functionality—which supports all life—can be maintained or restored.

Figuring out and upholding thresholds to ensure ecosystem health is not easy.

Much thought has gone into determining goals to tip the scales in nature’s favour, so that initiatives to heal the planet will outweigh activities that further degrade it, and ecosystem health can be restored where it’s been lost.

Some scientists have argued that “nature needs half”—that half the planet’s natural areas should be protected to maintain the processes that support human and non-human well-being. Considering we’re just one of around 10 million animal

30 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

acts of restoration give us an opportunity to explore the question, “How can we repurpose the tools of modernity against the terrors of Progress to make visible the other worlds it has ignored and damaged?”

Our impacts on the planet are ongoing.

One way of looking at the Anthropocene is to recognize that we are continually shaping the world with every development and restoration plan. Restoration initiatives give us the chance to hold the ground, literally, until, as Barry Lopez wrote in his book Horizon, “industrial expansion ends and begins to show signs of drawdown” and the scales tip back toward the health of lands and waters and the life they support.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Boreal Project Manager Rachel Plotkin. ■

THE OUTSIDER

Looking practical IT WAS A COUPLE of years ago while riding Chair 5 at Mount Baker that I witnessed a brief but beautiful expression of skiing. And no, it wasn’t the typical powder-slaying, cliffhucking, road-gapping, stompy smoothness that you would normally associate with Mount Baker’s talented locals. This man was skiing a

BY VINCE SHULEY groomer on the verge of non-control, goggle gap an inch wide, tattered jacket fully undone and flapping in the breeze, his mouth open in awe of his own speed.

Awesome.

Witnessing such a display would no doubt send a lot of core skiers straight to their phone camera for a crack at making the share on @jerryoftheday. But I chose instead to take in that moment and reflect—could this be the soul of skiing right here? When you scrape off all superficial fashion, attitude and oneupmanship stories at après, you get a glimpse into what skiing is actually like for people.

And you can find it at any number of momand-pop hills around North America, at least

BOUNDARY RIDGE The author tests the practicality of his backcountry attire.

PHOTO BY VINCE SHULEY

those that have survived poor snow years and corporate absorption.

The decades-long locals in Whistler could wax poetic about the days when the soul of skiing lived here, and while I believed it did for many years, the reality is, our resort was founded on an Olympic dream, one that took almost 50 years to realize. Faded neon onepieces were always going to have to make way for shiny Bogner puffies by the time the five rings came to town.

While luxury brands of ski wear tend to be the outerwear of the one-percenters, the rank and file skier or snowboarder in Whistler still puts a lot of stock in how they appear on the mountain; jackets, pants and gloves that coordinate, seamless helmetgoggle integration, mid-layers that look striking on the après patio.

Ahh, but real skiers and riders know how to shop for function AND mountain fashion, right? Enter the high-end Gore-Tex garments, where for a small fortune, you can have one of the highest-performing (and arguably one of the better looking) jackets on the mountain. I do believe these purchases have their merits, not on the grounds of their colour palettes, number of pockets or dead bird logos, but for their durability. If you’re still rocking a jacket 10 years later that’s had umpteen waterproof treatments and a couple of manufacturer repairs, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I’ve bounced around various brands over

the years once I realized my need for durable and reliably waterproof outerwear to make it through a wet Whistler winter. A seven-yearold Arc’teryx Alpha SV still accompanies me into the backcountry and probably will for a few more years, or until it suffers irreparable damage. My Patagonia PowSlayer pants aren’t nearly that old so I expect them to serve for a similarly long tenure. These garments are built for backcountry breathability and versatility, and while they work just fine for skiing the resort, there are a few features that a more resort-geared ski suit could provide, especially as I start to prioritize comfort for my on-hill ski days.

The answer came this winter when I tried the Mountain Hardwear Boundary Ridge jacket and bib pants. I still have an old pair of Mountain Hardwear Gore-Tex bib pants from about 2009 (which I finally wore holes in) that I now use for snow clearing around the house and other such laborious duties.

So I already had some experience with the brand and could trust the durability of their Gore-Tex garments. The key differences with this kit that I’ve really come to appreciate are how much more comfortable this full bib is thanks to four-way stretch fabric in the chest and back areas. I also feel much warmer in this suit compared to my backcountry kit, for which I credit the backing fabric lining the jacket and pants. On the full technical GoreTex Pro garments (like my aforementioned Arc’teryx and Patagonia pieces) the backing

fabric is a smooth surface built for the best breathability and ease of movement when skinning and bootpacking. The Boundary Ridge kit comes with something they call “Lo Loft Brushed Back Construction,” which sort of feels like a very light carpet.

While sacrificing some breathability, I felt much warmer and wind-resistant when attempting a couple of those -30 C ski days we experienced during the arctic outflow.

The Lo Loft fabric does come with more friction, so I wouldn’t want it on for a fourhour approach on the skin track up Wedge or anything. But for hitting the Spanky’s boot pack and First Tracks Husume, the comfort trumps function in this case.

We all have to find the gear that works best for us with fit and function. I’d give style a distant third priority, but that’s just me being practical. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Veilance (a highend urban fashion sub brand of Arc’teryx) selling a waterproof tote bag made from Gore-Tex offcuts for $200. I don’t expect to see any of those kicking around the Village Stroll any time soon, but it’s a sign that— for better or worse—fashion trends are alive and well in the ski business.

Vince Shuley received no compensation for his opinions in this article, and that’s the way he likes it. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider email vince.shuley@gmail. com or Instagram @whis_vince. ■

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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FEATURE STORY

IDENTITY CRISIS

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FEATURE STORY

LONG AFTER THE OLYMPIC SPOTLIGHT FADES, ELITE ATHLETES

Proud to support local Whistler

Athletes

FACE THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSITIONING TO A LIFE OUTSIDE OF SPORT

BY HARRISON BROOKS

G

ame 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, dead even through three periods and into overtime. I hop on the ice as the last few seconds are running off the clock. Ten, nine, eight. I pick up the puck along the boards and charge towards the opposing goalie. Seven, six, five. I carry the puck over the blueline and make a move on the defenseman, beating him clean. It’s just me and the goalie now. Four, three, two. I fake a shot, pull the puck to the backhand, back to the forehand, and fire it upstairs past the goalie’s glove.

The crowd goes wild. Harrison Brooks has just scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for the Calgary Flames… or so I envisioned it countless times with my net and tennis ball in front of my house as a young kid in Saskatchewan.

And whether it’s the Stanley Cup-winning goal, a Game 7 buzzer-beater, or laying down that perfect run and standing atop the Olympic podium, playgrounds, driveways, backyards, outdoor rinks and ski hills across the country are filled with young athletes dreaming about their own spotlight moment in their favourite sports.

Go

Broderick!

Go

team

canada

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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FEATURE STORY

For Whistler’s Mike Janyk, that dream started at 10 years old while watching the Olympics with his family and picturing himself among the great skiers of the time. But it wasn’t until he was 13, while lying in bed recovering from a twice-broken leg he sustained alpine skiing, that the fire needed to make that dream a reality was ignited in him.

“I just remember lying in bed and I was like, ‘I’m going to be on the World Cup one day.

I’m going to be racing for Canada in the Olympics.’ So really from that moment lying in bed with a broken leg at 13, it was like this is what I want to do,” says Janyk.

But for other elite athletes, pinpointing the precise moment their hobby turned into a deeper passion isn’t quite as easy.

Four-time Olympian Mercedes Nicoll just loved snowboarding. It’s all she wanted to do.

And that love for the sport, along with an inherent competitive nature and tons of natural skill, blossomed into a 20-year career.

“When did I start getting serious about snowboarding? I don’t know. Was it ever serious?” she jokes. “I just kind of took it one day at a time, one contest at a time, one trip at a time.

You’re always in the zone when you are competing, so it was probably from Day 1 that I wanted to win at the local contests—and then it snowballed into four Winter Olympics.

“When you grow up in that early generation of snowboarding, people weren’t going to the gym, they weren’t doing that. I just wanted to be on snow as much as possible. I honestly didn’t know anything better, so when people ask me, ‘What

was your daily routine?’ I’m like, ‘I’d go snowboarding.’

That’s what I did.”

Two-time Paralympic snowboarder John Leslie, on the other hand, started out playing hockey and ski racing as a young kid.

It wasn’t until he lost his leg to cancer at 11 that he found and fell in love with snowboarding, because it levelled the playing field and bridged the gap between him and his peers.

“In the beginning stages after I lost my leg, it was really nice because I can ride regular with my artificial leg in the front so I’m able to put all my weight on my back leg and really manipulate the PHOTO SUBMITTED snowboard with my able-bodied side,” he says. “Long story short, snowboarding really bridged my disability. No one could see it. I was wearing snow pants and I could be competitive with able-bodied kids, and I really enjoyed that.”

Regardless of where the love came from, that passion, that intensity, that drive to be great is what connects all elite athletes, no matter the sport. And it’s that same driving force that allows them to block everything else out and push their bodies to the limits.

But while putting all that energy, time and focus towards a goal is often necessary to reach the upper echelon of a sport, it also sets you up for some major low points when things don’t go to plan.

‘SELF-DISCOVERY INSTEAD OF SELF-PROVING’

PHOTO BY SEAN FRITH

For Janyk, that low came after the 2010 Olympics.

With visions of standing on an Olympic podium in his hometown, Janyk ended up in a disappointing 13th place. Following that letdown, he spent the next year recovering from multiple major injuries, which kept him out of competition and proved to be one of the darkest periods of his life.

“I actually wrote a letter of retirement to my sport psychologist. The Vancouver Games was this big pinnacle, and you envision yourself winning gold in your hometown, and then it doesn’t come to fruition. I went through a really big depression,” says Janyk. “I was so injured, I couldn’t train the way I was used to, so I tried to retire and my sport psychologist said, ‘This is really good, but I don’t think you are done.’

“And so that’s when I really used the last four years of my career where it was like, ‘OK, how do I want to be as an athlete?’ Everything that got me to this point, that motivation, that drive to stand out and make my mark in the world, sort of fizzled out and it was like, ‘OK, why am I doing this? Why would I go through all the ups and downs?’

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34 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

FEATURE STORY

“I KNEW I NEEDED TO KEEP BUSY; THAT’S JUST HOW MY LIFE WORKED. SO I WORKED FROM CONTRACT TO CONTRACT AS A SNOWBOARDER AND THEN WORKED FROM CONTRACT TO CONTRACT IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. IT’S JUST THIS CRAZY MENTALITY THAT I THINK ATHLETES HAVE OF, ‘YOU’VE GOT TO KEEP GOING, AND YOU ALWAYS NEED MORE, YOU NEED TO DO MORE, BE BETTER.’” MERCEDES NICOLL

From that point forward I was shifting, and I was using sport as self-discovery instead of self-proving.”

Nicoll went through a similar low point after a crash at the 2014 Games in Sochi that put her in the hospital staring down two years of recovery. While re-learning how to walk, Nicoll’s chances of resuming her snowboard career looked bleak.

“I had lost my personality and didn’t realize I was in a depression, so that was my first thing, like, ‘Am I going to get me back? Am I going to get my personality back? Am I going to be able to walk?’ So everything was like a micro step on getting my life back,” she says. “I knew I needed sport in my life because that’s what’s driven my life forever and I don’t know what life is without sport.”

According to sports psychologist and professor at Scotland’s Albertay University David Lavallee, this kind of existential crisis is common among elite athletes, who, from an early age, often make sport the primary aspect of their identity. That means anything that could disrupt that lifestyle—like injury—can lead to a diluted sense of self.

However, while injuries can lead athletes to dark places, they can also help re-light their fire, providing motivation to return to the top of their sport.

“Doctors telling me I should retire, I was like, ‘We’re going to have to stay positive here because that’s the only thing that’s going to get me through this.’ It was the most trying time of my life for sure,” says Nicoll.

“I worked two years to get back on snow and ended up competing at my last Games, which was in 2018, and I landed the trick that took me out four years prior in the exact same scenario where I crashed. So that was a huge highlight. I kind of call that a gold medal moment even though I didn’t get a gold medal.”

But after all the highs and lows, the injuries and the comebacks, there comes a time when each athlete must make the decision to step away from the sport for good. Sometimes this decision is obvious, like it was for Nicoll, who realized at her fourth Olympics that it was time to move on.

Other times the decision comes through long periods of reflection, like it did for Janyk, who was trying to rediscover the intensity he needed going into his third Games, but instead

found relief in the realization that he was done, and could MERCEDESNICOLL.COM finally stop pushing.

And sometimes, like it did for Leslie, that decision comes from burnout.

“Leading up to the [2018 Paralympic] Games, I was very focused on winning and getting a gold medal, which is a pretty big thing to put on a pedestal. So when I didn’t get that gold, I took that pretty hard. It felt like the last four years, everything I have been training for, the blood, sweat, tears, time in the gym, the people that were helping me… I just felt like I let everybody down,” said Leslie.

“And I had a pretty big burnout after [that]. I just wasn’t having the time and space to realize something was missing in my life in terms of fulfilment. So with the slowdown [from the pandemic], and even just thinking about it with the amount of work between then and the same time the next year, it just wasn’t something I was willing to do.”

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FEATURE STORY

RETIREMENT PLAN According to Natalia Stambulova, senior professor of sport and exercise psychology at Sweden’s Halmstad University, making a conscious decision to retire is an important factor in an athlete’s ability to smoothly transition out of sport.

But sometimes a longer view is required beyond the initial decision to retire, says Stambulova.

“Many athletes plan retirement in terms of timing like, ‘OK, I will retire after these Olympics,’ but they don’t plan what they are going to do after that and what steps they can do when they’re still in sport in order to prepare themselves to deal with the new demands,” she says. “Also having a multidimensional identity—family member, student, employee, friend, all have their own resources, knowledge, skill and self-efficacy that add to the richness of the person and help to deal with retirement.”

While Janyk was content with his decision to hang up his ski boots, he still found himself in a two-year period of depression, being bombarded with visions of his unfulfilled goals, without a plan for what he wanted to do with his post-skiing life.

So he started exploring. He joined a writing group and tried stand-up comedy, looking for a new source of inspiration he could channel his energy into. But no matter what he tried, there was still that void that skiing used to fill.

“I didn’t want to do anything; I didn’t want to replace that void that being an athlete took away with something else just to replace it. So in that, I just started exploring some more creative stuff and seeing where some more inspiration could come from, and slowly it came. It took two and a half years before I did anything again,” says Janyk, who recently completed the manuscript for his memoir.

“Slowly I realized that I had a passion for sport development. I had a strong passion to kind of bring back into the sport what I thought wasn’t there. That’s when Grouse [Mountain] approached me to start working with them.”

After working as Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club’s program director for five years, Janyk’s career came full circle when he returned to the Whistler Mountain Ski Club as its executive director last summer.

Where Janyk decided to focus his time and energy on giving back to the same sport that gave him so much, Leslie’s path led him away from snowboarding to a new sporting endeavour entirely.

In the years after the 2018 games, until he officially retired last summer, Leslie says he felt lost, like he didn’t have the life skills necessary to live a life away from sport.

But with the pandemic came the time and space for Leslie to start building those other parts of his life, and he realized there were real life skills he could take away from his athletic career. He made friends outside of snowboarding, got a dog, found a new place to live, started working at Whistler Creek Athletic Club and really started to craft the multidimensional identity he was lacking as an athlete.

With his growing love for the fitness industry, Leslie recently completed his training to launch a career as a personal trainer.

Nicoll was one of the lucky few who didn’t go through the same post-retirement depression as Leslie and Janyk did, mostly because she never gave herself the opportunity to.

Nicoll went straight from a career on a snowboard to an office job in Toronto through the RBC Olympian Program, which is designed to give Olympic athletes in-office work experience after retirement.

As many can maybe guess, and as she has joked about herself, taking a born-and-raised West Coast mountain lover and dropping her into the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto

“IT FELT LIKE THE LAST FOUR YEARS, EVERYTHING I HAVE BEEN TRAINING FOR, THE BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS, TIME IN THE GYM, THE PEOPLE THAT WERE HELPING ME… I JUST FELT LIKE I LET EVERYBODY DOWN.” JOHN LESLIE wasn’t quite the perfect fit.

After her threemonth contract was PHOTO SUBMITTED up, Nicoll returned to Whistler where she continued her usual summer job working in events for the municipality, until this past November, when she moved on to new opportunities like Whistler Blackcomb’s Ride with an Olympian program, which offers private lessons taught by an Olympic athlete, as well as her new podcast, Dropping in with Mercedes. She’s also been a vocal advocate for youth mental health through Jack.org and has discussed her own struggles openly.

“I knew I needed to keep busy; that’s just how my life worked. So I worked from contract to contract as a snowboarder and then worked from contract to contract in the business world. It’s just this crazy mentality that I think athletes have of, ‘You’ve got to keep going, and you always need more, you need to do more, be better,’” she says.

“Now, I try to take time to not work, which is really challenging for me. It’s necessary because I’ve pretty much been working since I was 14, and to take an actual break is really difficult for a lot of us. It sounds so easy and gravy but to maybe not have like 10 goals at a time is kind of crazy to me.”

With the 2022 Winter Olympics getting underway in Beijing Feb. 4, chances are this will be the last Games for many of Canada’s athletes. And for those who are struggling with the decision of stepping away, or might struggle with it in the coming years, Janyk wants them to know they aren’t alone.

“I think the best advice is that you are not the first one that’s gone through it. There are others who have transitioned out and have transitioned successfully,” he says.

“Everyone has to do it in their own way, but someone has probably gone through it the way you want to … It will be some challenging times, but seek someone out who moved on from sport in a way that interests you and reach out—they’ll probably be happy to talk.” ■

Gogglesoc, Squamish, B.C.

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36 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

WMSC ALUMNI OLYMPIC BOUND

With the Olympic and Para-Olympic opening ceremonies just around the corner, we are honoured to share with you the WMSC Alumni bound for Beijing.

Competing in the Men's Alpine Speed events we have Broderick Thompson, Jack Crawford and Brodie Seger, in the Women's Ski Cross Marielle Thompson and in the Para-Alpine events, Mollie Jepsen. On the coaching front, WSMC is also excited to highlight Mark Tilston, Conrad Pridy and Nick Cooper as Team Canada representatives and coaches for the Men's Alpine team and Ben Wilkinson, Coach for Canada Ski Cross Team.

Please join us in cheering them on and making sure they feel the love all the way from home!!!

SPORTS THE SCORE

‘I’m going to the freaking Olympics!’

SEA TO SKY LUGERS NATALIE CORLESS AND TRINITY ELLIS WILL SOON BE TESTING THEIR SKILLS ON THE WORLD’S BIGGEST STAGE

BY HARRISON BROOKS AT JUST 18 and 19 years old, respectively, Whistler’s Natalie Corless and Pemberton’s Trinity Ellis will be among the three women representing Canada in luge at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Growing up in Pemberton, Ellis first got a taste of luge during a class field trip to the Whistler Sliding Centre in Grade 6. For the self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, the speed at which she was able to fly down the track on a sled, even the first time she tried the sport, was enough for her to sign up for the sliding program the following year.

Similarly, Corless, who was living in Calgary at the time, got her first exposure to the sport through a summer camp activity at about 11 years old. Like Ellis, she was immediately hooked by the speed, but also by the luge community as a whole.

“It was probably mostly just how unique it was at the beginning. It was something so cool and so different, and within the sport it’s a really small community of athletes, so you just get to form such a connection with your teammates, and with athletes of the other nations,” said Corless.

“So in one aspect, it was just a superduper exciting sport. I got to go so fast, which I loved. But on the other side, it was also just such an awesome community that I was able to join.”

DYNAMIC DUO Trinity Ellis (bottom left) and Natalie Corless (middle left) will be making their Olympic luge debuts before their 20th birthdays.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

38 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

A few years after she got her start, Corless’ father had a job opportunity in B.C., so the family made the move west.

Luckily, they settled in the one other place in Canada—and one of just 17 places in the world—where a luge career is an actual possibility for young athletes.

Ellis and Corless have been training and sliding together in Whistler ever since. Being just one year apart in age, the early careers of both sliders have looked extremely similar, even if Ellis has been a small step ahead so far with slightly better finishes and an extra year and a half of World Cup experience under her belt.

So when this season first got underway, Corless was just excited to have taken the next step to the Canadian National Team and for the opportunity to compete on the World Cup circuit, while Ellis had her eyes set on the bigger goal of making it to the Olympics.

“Going into the season, I was fairly confident. I knew if everything went well that I could do it for sure. And then the two weeks of team selections in [Sigulda, Latvia] really kind of pushed me back a little bit. I didn’t have the best results and was struggling a bit,” said Ellis.

“But luckily, I was able to kind of pull through from there, and then once we started racing and you go to World Cup after World Cup, I feel like I kind of fell into my groove a bit and I knew it was definitely looking good for me being the top Canadian by a fair amount. That put me in a more comfortable spot for sure.”

For Corless, on the other hand, being named to the Olympic team in her first World Cup season was much less expected.

In fact, it all came down to one of the very last World Cup stops before the Games in Sigulda earlier this month.

After qualifying for the race, Corless ended up crashing and not finishing, leaving her wondering if the points she missed were going to be what cost her that third spot on the team.

Sitting in suspense for three days after the event, unsure of the outcome her mistake caused, the announcement came at a team meeting in Oberhof, Germany, that Canada would officially have a third women’s spot at the Olympics.

“At that moment, I was trying so hard not to cry. I was looking around at teammates with so much excitement.

Because at that moment, I knew I had one [of the spots]. It really hit hard when the announcement was official. I sent it into our family group chat with all caps: ‘I’M GOING TO THE FREAKING OLYMPICS!’ and a lot of emojis,” she said.

“I’m thrilled. It’s something that I didn’t think was going to happen this year, especially after a bit of a rocky start to the season. It has been such a long season, and now to have this amazing experience at the end—even though I’m not going to be pining for a medal at these games, I still get to walk away with so much experience that I can use in my future in every aspect of my life.”

Despite being neck and neck for much of their early careers, Ellis said there is a teammates-first-competitors-second approach to the Canadian luge team, and being able to experience the Games for the first time together is something both sliders hold dear to their hearts.

“This season, we’ve definitely become really close. And so getting to go through this whole learning process with someone that I can relate closely with definitely makes things easier, and in some ways, makes it a lot more fun because you get to do it with a friend, which is always nice,” said Corless.

“I have definitely learned a lot from Trinity. She has already done a few seasons on the circuit, and so she was able to show me the ropes and helped me deal with some of the challenges that I was going through. And now we’re both taking this brand new step, which is going to be super exciting.”

When Ellis and Corless hit the track in a couple days’ time for their first Olympic runs, both women are in the same boat— they aren’t expecting to be competing for the podium just yet, but hope to use this as a stepping-stone for a potentially long and fruitful Olympic career.

“It’s definitely something that’s always in my mind, knowing that luge can offer such long careers that aren’t really peaking until you’re kind of mid-20s, that these Olympics are going to be so valuable for me, especially going into the next Olympics and already having that experience,” said Ellis. “And maybe in four years, I’ll be more competitive and vying for results and stuff.

So yeah, I’m just really grateful for the opportunity and career growth. I’m sure it’ll help me out.”

Find more local Olympian profiles, along with complete coverage of the 2022 Games, at www.piquenewsmagazine.com/2022winter-olympics. ■

SPORTS THE SCORE

Jasmine Baird ready for Olympic spotlight

Coastal Mountain Excavations Ltd. is incredibly proud to support

THE WHISTLER RESIDENT WILL BE COMPETING FOR CANADA IN SLOPESTYLE AND BIG AIR AT THE 2022 BEIJING OLYMPICS

BY HARRISON BROOKS FOR MOST PEOPLE growing up east of Alberta, without access to world-renowned ski resorts at the tip of their fingers, summer reigns supreme when it comes to favourite seasons. Winter tends to find itself a few spots lower on the totem pole.

But while all her friends were enjoying the heat and dreading the return of colder temperatures, Team Canada snowboarder and Georgetown, Ont. native Jasmine Baird’s summers were mostly spent longing for snowfall and her next chance to get back on a board.

“It’s just always been a huge part of my life and I always felt like it gave me purpose,” she said. “When I was snowboarding it just kind of gave me that outlet and I could focus on my boarding, my tricks, or whatever I wanted to be working on that day.”

Baird, who has been snowboarding longer than she can even remember, took to the sport immediately. Even at just two or three years old, when Beaver Valley, her home ski hill, closed for the day, Baird would spend another couple hours hiking up, then riding down the hill.

Her love for the sport, even from the first time her parents put her on a board, stemmed from the ability to constantly progress and reach new benchmarks within snowboarding.

It started with the challenge of moving from the bunny hill to steeper runs. But as she got older and her skills continued to increase, her goals just kept getting bigger.

“Once I got into the park, I really liked the adrenaline aspect of it and being able to face my fears and being super stoked on landing a new trick or hitting a bigger jump,” she said. “[I] kind of just became addicted to that feeling of progressing and the adrenaline.”

Baird’s competitive career started as a teenager in Ontario, where she would compete in contests across the province. As the success started to come more regularly, so too did the opportunities for bigger and better competitions. By about 15 years old she was had graduated to national-level competitions.

“I remember the most stressed I’ve ever been in my early career was my first trip outside of Ontario to an Air Nation [event] in Calgary. I’m paying all this money, don’t know how it’s going to go, don’t know what the course is going to be like, but that contest did go pretty well,” she said.

While that first year of national competitions came with average results, by her second year on the circuit Baird was winning nearly every contest. It was “a huge confidence boost for me and sort of helped me believe in myself,” she said.

“That’s when I got asked to be on the Next Gen team. It just felt like a pretty direct progression and always seemed like I knew

what my goals were, and everything was pretty clear in what I had to do.”

All that momentum Baird was gaining in the snowboard world, moving from national contests to competing with Team Canada internationally to, eventually, the World Cup circuit, came screeching to a halt with a torn ACL while training in New Zealand in August 2019, which forced her to have to keep track of her competition over social media while stuck at home rehabbing.

“I’ve been snowboarding since I was two years old, and the biggest break I had ever taken from it would be from the end of winter to the start of the next one, but this time it was like a full year and a bit off,” she said.

“So it was hard to watch all my competitors progress and just feeling like I was falling behind and like there was nothing I could do about it.”

Even after being cleared to return to competition, Baird struggled with mental blocks stemming from the fear of re-injuring her knee, and good results were slow to return.

It wasn’t until the start of this season, while training and competing in Switzerland, that the 22-year-old Whistler resident felt 100-per-cent back to her old self again, everything aligning just in time to qualify and compete at her first Olympic Games in Beijing.

“I’m beyond stoked. I feel like all the pieces have just come together now … [I’ve] been keeping strong in the gym, getting lots of physio, eating well, just staying healthy,” said Baird.

“It’s been my dream to go to the Olympics ever since I started competing, and at times it definitely felt really far out of reach, but we’re here and ready to go and it’s coming up soon and I’ve put in so much work and time and effort into this. I’ve always just stayed really determined and I just really couldn’t be happier.”

For Baird, the past couple weeks have been spent lapping the park on Blackcomb Mountain, hitting the gym and avoiding COVID-19 at all costs before flying out to Beijing.

As far as goals for the Games go, Baird said she’s trying to avoid focusing too much on rankings, but more so wants to put down a run she can be proud of, take in as much of the Olympic experience as she can, and hopefully inspire young girls across the country to chase their dreams in snowboarding.

“I’m just really motivated by how much I’ve wanted this for so long. This is definitely huge for me and definitely the highlight of my career up until now,” she said. “I do think it’s possible to do really well and hopefully get on the podium, but at this point, I’m just hoping to put down a run that I am happy with, do my best tricks and just leave China with a landed run and wherever that puts me, it puts me, and I’m going to be stoked on that.” n

Te Team Canada’s Brodie “The The Bullet Bullet” Seger - as he heads into his first Olympic Games in Beijing! We will all be cheering loud for all of our amazing Sea to Sky athletes and we wish you all every success in chasing your dreams. You are all an inspiration to us watching from home and we are with you in spirit!

GO CANADA GO!!!

Good luck and Congratulations to all of our 2022 Sea to Sky Olympic Athletes!

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

39

SPORTS THE SCORE

Gagnon soaking in inaugural Olympics WHISTLER MOGULS SKIER LOOKING FOR SMOOTH RIDE ON THE BUMPS

BY DAN FALLOON AS A MOGULS skier, Sofiane Gagnon’s run to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in China was always going to be a bit of a bumpy ride.

Now that the 22-year-old Freestyle Whistler alum has cracked her first Olympics team, she’s looking to stick the landing.

The most challenging part of Gagnon’s qualification came when she was forced to miss half the Olympic quadrennial due to a knee injury. However, Gagnon returned to action 12 months before the Games and she’s feeling stronger than ever.

“When I got back to skiing, I progressed a lot faster and I improved really, really quickly from my injury and even compared to before,” Gagnon said, adding that she watched video and worked on her balance during rehab.

Gagnon’s last event before her injury was at the FIS World Ski Championships at Deer Valley, Utah in February 2019, and she returned to World Cup action in February 2021, also at Deer Valley.

The delay was, in part, pandemicrelated, as she was preparing to return

to snow when COVID-19 struck in early 2020, delaying her return for several months.

Gagnon has posted some of the best results of her career since returning, scoring 10th in moguls in her first event back, a fourth-place finish in dual moguls at the World Ski Championships in Kazakhstan last March and top-10 placements (seventh in dual moguls and ninth in moguls) at the World Cup stop at Idre Fjall, Sweden last December.

Though there were challenges along the way, Gagnon said the support of her teammates and coaches kept her going.

“It definitely was hard to keep a positive mindset, especially when there were those setbacks. There were hard times when my knee wasn’t feeling well and it was really hurting. It’s only now feeling 100 per cent,” she said. “I never had any doubt that I would come back strong.”

Gagnon will be among the first athletes to get a taste of Olympic action this year, as the two qualification rounds will be broadcast on Feb. 3 at 2 a.m. (local time) and Feb. 6 at 2 a.m., with the finals starting Feb. 6 at 3:30 a.m.

Gagnon is eager to get things going, likening the Genting Resort Secret Garden

Good luck to all Sea to Sky Corridor athletes, coaches, workers and volunteers competing in and contributing to the Olympic & Paralymp pic Winter Winter Games 2022!

Paralympic

Whistler Sport Legacies, its venues & staff 40 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

MOGUL MADNESS Whistler’s Sofiane Gagnon, shown here at a World Cup event in Lake Placid, N.Y. in 2019, is ready to make her Olympic debut in Beijing this week.

PHOTO BY MATEUSZ KIELPINSKI/FIS

venue to a stadium, given its capacity for about 3,600 spectators as well as its magnificent shining lights.

“The venue is just so impressive and of course, it’s the Olympics, so you’re expecting a lot, but it’s more than I could have imagined,” she said. “It’s magical and it gave me butterflies.”

While the atmosphere will be unlike anything else Gagnon has experienced before, the course itself invokes the setup at the World Cup site in Ruka, Finland.

“It’s well-made and symmetrical; it’s a perfect course for skiing, that’s for sure,” she said. “This one is the same pitch all the way down, so we don’t have to adjust our bodies to account for the pitch change. The moguls are also very even in rhythm, so we don’t have to prepare for those longer ones and shorter ones.”

While Gagnon is aiming for gold, she’ll consider laying down a run that showcases her abilities a major success.

“I’m going to focus on what I can do best and show that off,” she said.

Rather than catching other events in the Zhangjiakou Zone, Gagnon will leave right after competition. While she’s sad to miss the exhilaration of being there live, she’ll embrace the time to experience the Games back in Canada.

“It’ll be really cool to be home with my family and watch the other events … and feeling like I was right there,” she said. n

SPORTS THE SCORE

Crawford targets podium in second Games WMSC ALUM PEAKING IN ADVANCE OF BEIJING

BY DAN FALLOON JACK CRAWFORD has a tendency to pick up momentum as a season goes along, and he’s hoping that holds true as he gets set to enter the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

The 24-year-old Whistler Mountain Ski Club alumnus saw the fruits of that trend just last year, as he barrelled to a fourthplace showing in the Alpine combined at the FIS World Ski Championships at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy last February.

“It’s definitely been trending the right way this season, starting off with solid results and working my way up in both super-G and downhill,” he said. “Last year, it was similar with World Champs. I peaked with Cortina and I’m hoping I can continue that momentum.”

Crawford explained that, simply, the cumulative effects of the season help him settle in more and more each time out.

“I’ve always built through the season.

For me, the more time on skis, the more comfortable you get day-to-day. It’s something that really resonates with me,” he said. “I get a little more confident every race and hopefully that continues through

the end of the season this year.”

In 2021-22, Crawford has posted three top-10 finishes, including season bests in the super-G (fifth at Wengen, Switzerland) and downhill (sixth at Kitzbuhel, Austria) since the calendar flipped. He also has three top-20 showings this season.

Despite the realities of the pandemic, Crawford said, in the first few days of being in China, he’s enjoyed a greater sense of the Olympic spirit than his first Games in 2018 in PyeongChang, South Korea. While the speed events were sequestered outside of the central hub last time, in China, the skiers are in a cluster with the sliding athletes in Yanqing to help foster that sense of cross-sport camaraderie.

“We’re actually in one of the Olympic Villages, so it’s been awesome, it’s been really cool,” he said. “It definitely feels a little different being in the Village with [athletes from] some of the other sports around you.”

Already a veteran entering his prime on the smaller, younger team, Crawford felt confident that he’d be returning to the Games so long as external factors didn’t have other plans.

“This year with COVID and all of the restrictions that came, it was a little bit of a relief, honestly,” he said. “When an event

PODIUM OR BUST WMSC alumnus Jack Crawford looks to follow his fourth-place finish at the 2021 World Championship with an Olympic medal.

PHOTO BY GEPA PICTURES/COURTESY OF ALPINE CANADA

comes up only once every four years, you don’t know how many you’re going to get, so to be here is amazing.”

Crawford will take part in three events: downhill (Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. local time), super-G (Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.) and Alpine combined (Feb. 10 with the downhill at 6:30 p.m. and slalom at 10:15 p.m.). He’ll be looking to build off his PyeongChang results that saw him finish 20th in the combined, 29th in the giant slalom and a DNF in the super-G. “If you’re not getting a medal, you really haven’t completed your goal. Coming fourth and fifth, maybe at your first Olympics, feels pretty good, but at the end of the day, not many people remember fourth place,” he said.

Speaking on Feb. 1, Crawford had only tested the training slope at the Chinese National Skiing Centre and looked forward to hitting up the competition venue in the coming days.

“Everything looks amazing,” he said, noting the course reminded him of those at PyeongChang and Beaver Creek. “The snow’s very aggressive and quite good. It’s hard to describe.

“You don’t necessarily feel like you’re going super fast or you’re doing everything right. It’s just easy to ski and that can be deceiving. Taking the couple days we have left and figuring out how to go really fast on it is key before race day.” n

IT'S LIKE NOTHING ON EARTH.

Experience it for yourself in the Legendary Back Bowls, only at Vail.

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

41

EPICURIOUS

Picnic Whistler to set up shop in Whistler Village this spring AMY MAC HAS SEEN HER CHARCUTERIE ARRANGEMENT COMPANY GROW BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS SINCE LAUNCHING IN 2020

BY BRANDON BARRETT SOMETIMES THE BEST ideas come when we least expect them.

For 31-year-old Amy Mac, her lightbulb moment came on the biggest day of her life.

“Back in pre-COVID days when me and my husband were getting married, I couldn’t find a charcuterie board to take for our first look. I went to the local companies and nobody would sell a box for takeaway and I pitched my wedding photographers the day of my wedding and said, ‘I want to do this,’” she says. “Literally we were driving to the Green Lake lookout and I pitched my wedding photographers.”

Not everyone is prone to making business deals on their wedding day, but in the case of the former Sushi Village server, she saw a niche that needed filling, and, less than a year after her summer 2019 wedding, Picnic Whistler was born.

Offering an array of pre-made and customizable charcuterie boards, takeaway boxes and packages for everything from intimate two-person picnics to table setups for large-scale events, it’s not an exaggeration to say Picnic Whistler has exploded in popularity since launching less than two years ago.

“When I started it … I thought I would be a caterer, what I wanted for my wedding.

I was totally focused on that and then all of a sudden the real estate agents were loving the charcuterie as home-buying gifts, people were loving it for birthdays or a Friday night in,” Mac says. “We just expanded so quickly that we got a commercial kitchen after only a couple months in business, which seemed like a crazy investment at the time, but it really worked out for us.”

Now, Mac is channelling that growth into a brick-and-mortar Picnic Whistler shop, with plans to open in Whistler Village in mid-May. Mac says the store will be set up like a deli, where customers will be able to buy pre-made boards or

NICE TO MEAT YOU Charcuterie lovers unite! Picnic Whistler is opening a brick-and-mortar shop in Whistler Village this May. PHOTO SUBMITTED

“Everything is curated to go with something else in the box, but also we take into account the visuals. That cheese is just a little too orange or a little too off-white for us, so we’re like, ‘Nope, can’t do it.’ It’s as much about the visual as it is taste for us.”

- AMY MAC

purchase all the fixings individually and create their own.

“You’ll be able to come and buy any meat or cheese by any amount you want, along with a bunch of different dried goods and some sandwiches, and of course all the sizes of our charcuterie boards will be available daily,” she says.

What strikes you first about Picnic Whistler’s boards are their eye-grabbing aesthetics. The boards are meticulously arranged not just by flavour profile, but also by shape and colour to ensure each customer is feasting with their eyes as much as their taste buds.

“People get the boards and the reactions are just the best. That’s the best moment for me,” says Mac. “Everything is curated to go with something else in the box, but also we take into account the visuals. That cheese is just a little too orange or a little too off-white for us, so we’re like, ‘Nope, can’t do it.’ It’s as much about the visual as it is taste for us.”

On paper at least, launching a business just weeks into the pandemic like Mac did would not seem the best of ideas, but like the sourdough craze that took hold at the beginning of COVID-19, the pandemic has come with a renewed interest in charcuterie.

“There still were celebrations; there were still birthdays. Life still went on even though we weren’t allowed to do the normal things,” Mac says. “So having a delivery option in Whistler was the perfect kind of fit for what we went through as a community.”

Between COVID and Whistler’s penchant for entertaining, it’s no wonder Picnic Whistler took off the way it did.

“We have been in Whistler for 12 years now and I’ve been a part of the community the whole time, but the sense of community I’ve felt since starting this company and the support we’ve gotten locally, I’ve never felt more in love with Whistler than I have after starting this,” Mac says. “The power of our community here is unmatched.”

To learn more, visit picnicwhistler.com. n

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NEW!

ARTS SCENE

Erin Hogue’s new video series takes you behind the scenes of an epic backcountry expedition WHISTLER X GAMES MEDALLIST HOPES TO INSPIRE OTHER WOMEN ACTION-SPORT PHOTOGRAPHERS TO PUSH THEIR BOUNDARIES

BY BRANDON BARRETT AFTER BREAKING into the industry about a decade ago, Whistler’s Erin Hogue would constantly get asked the same question: What does it feel like to be the only woman in action-sports photography?

“That’s a question that really frustrates me, because I’m not the only woman doing this, especially now. But even at that time, there were less female photographers because there was way less support for women,” she says. “So it was important for me to show and encourage more women to get out there and show them there are women out here doing this, even if it seems like there’s not.”

It’s part of the reason the 36-yearold National Geographic adventure photographer and X Games medallist is so keen to inspire other photographers, especially emerging women.

In partnership with Sony and fellow photographer (and snowboarding icon)

PHOTO FRIENDS Erin Hogue, left, and Estelle Pensiero in the Valhalla Mountain Ranges for Hogue’s new video series, Photo Adventures.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

44 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Robin Van Gyn, Hogue has launched a five-part video series, Photo Adventures, which takes viewers behind the scenes of her epic backcountry shoots while she mentors emerging female photographers.

The first episode, released Jan. 17, sees Hogue, Van Gyn and artist Jessa Gilbert (whose colourful murals can be found around Whistler) showing the ropes to burgeoning photogs Irie Smith, 20, and

been doing since. I heard a lot about her different adventures, which were insane.

They were super generous with their time and answers.”

Along with learning the tricks of the trade from a technical standpoint—like where to station yourself for the perfect mountain action shot—the five days in the backcountry proved an invaluable bonding experience.

“[I]t was important for me to show and encourage more women to get out there and show them there are women out here doing this, even if it seems like there’s not.”

- ERIN HOGUE

Estelle Pensiero, 18, on an expedition to the Valhalla Mountain Ranges.

“It was one of the most unbelievable experiences I’ve had to this day,” says Whistler local and environmentalist Smith.

“It was incredible. I had a heck of a lot of questions and they were very gracious about answering as many as they could, especially Erin. I fired away a lot of questions about how she started her career, what she’s

“I don’t know the last time I hung out and went on a trip with a [then] 17- and a 19-year-old. Just that young energy and thought process and enthusiasm was amazing,” Hogue says. “It brought a lot of life to the trip. Everyone got along really well. The girls learned so much and you could really see them grow from the very first day to the fourth day.”

The series’ remaining four episodes

feature a strong Whistler contingent, including Olympic snowboarder Spencer O’Brien; filmmaker and snowboarder Leanne Pelosi, who mentors sisters Juliette and Amalia “Billy” Pelchat of local women’s skateboarding crew, The Real Wild Kittens; and snowboarder, filmmaker and Protect Our Winters ambassador Marie-France Roy, who speaks with Smith in an episode about environmental activism.

Truth be told, as someone with plenty of experience being pigeonholed as a woman photographer, Hogue was initially reluctant to play up that aspect of the video series— but she also understands the inherent value in women seeing other women building each other up.

“That was something that bothered me a lot when I first started: there was so much emphasis on the fact I was a female as opposed to my work overall. You would never be like, ‘Oh, it’s a male photographer!

Look!’” she says. “So when I did put these out, I originally just wanted … to put it out as a, ‘here’s a behind-the-scenes with a photographer … and then my hidden agenda is that it hopefully inspired more women to get out there.”

Episode 1 of Photo Adventures, “Snowed In,” can be viewed at youtube/9zgU_8sGaAs. n

tnt SEASON 3

Hosted by Dr. Curtis Collins, Director & Chief Curator, Audain Art Museum (AAM) The immensely popular Tuesday Night Talks offer a unique opportunity for online participants to simultaneously enter the Museum and the artist’s studio or home during the evening, while learning about key works in the AAM’s Permanent Collection directly from their respective makers.

To register, visit: audainartmuseum.com/tnt

photo by David McCoy, London

Season 3: Episode 5 February 8th at 8pm on Zoom featuring Vikky Alexander

MUSEUM MUSINGS

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The RMOW is looking for food trucks, pop-ups and delivery services to Whistler’s parks for summer 2022.

Vendor applications are due March 20, 2022.

For more information and a link to the application, visit whistler.ca/ParkEats

WALK WITH PRIDE Whistler’s first Pride Parade in Whistler Village during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

THE WHISTLER PRIDE COLLECTION

The first Pride Parade in Whistler

BY ALLYN PRINGLE

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca /ParkEats

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FUN CIT Y GAL A March 10

opened our latest temporary exhibit, Pride & Progress: From the Grassroots Altitude to the Fearless Whistler Pride and Ski Festival, which looks back at the 30-year history of the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival. One of the most public and visible events of the festival is the Pride Ski + March, where skiers and snowboarders with rainbow flags make their way down Whistler Mountain towards Olympic Plaza. The first march through Whistler Village, however, took a shorter route and happened not during the festival but during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

It was led by the first Pride House.

The idea of an LGBTQ2S+ space modelled on the hospitality houses set up by national Olympic committees took a few years to come together. While attending the 2007 InterPride conference in Zurich, Switzerland, WinterPRIDE (now the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival) organizer Dean Nelson was inspired while learning more about what pride meant in other countries, especially nations more hostile towards LGBTQ2S+ communities.

Three years later, with a lot of hard work, organization, and dedication, the first Pride Houses opened in February 2010, one in a portion of the Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre and another in Vancouver (Pride House hosted a daily centre in QMUNITY, BC’s Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Resource Centre, while the sports bar Score on Davie served as a celebration space). In both locations, Pride House was designed to have multiple functions. They served as educational centres, with resources on many topics including homophobia in sport and Canadian immigration and refugee protection. They were also a welcoming space for LGBTQ2S+ athletes, coaches, officials, family, friends, and fans.

Additionally, Whistler’s Pride House hosted a media room for unaccredited media, to which Nelson credits the high exposure of Pride House, as it offered a new Olympic story and a chance at more airtime. Over the 2010 Games, 5,000 people visited Whistler’s Pride House, including skeleton gold medallist Jon Montgomery and Olympic swimmer Mark Tweksbury.

Whistler Pride House’s march through the village came about in response to disparaging remarks made by two commentators about American figure skater Johnny Weir, in which they questioned his gender and the example he set for young skaters. Pride House contacted Whistler Media House (located in the Maury Young Arts Centre) to arrange a press conference with accredited media (Weir held his own press conference in Vancouver to respond to the remarks) and, quite literally, marched over with rainbow flags and banners.

Their march took them from the Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre, down the stairs, along the Village Stroll, down to Celebration Plaza (today Olympic Plaza), around the Olympic Rings, and back to the theatre in what Nelson described as “probably the most dramatic press conference that the Whistler press team held during the Olympics and Paralympics.”

With a few changes to the route the following year, the march became part of WinterPRIDE. According to Nelson, “We’ve held onto that tradition ever since and I think it’s really important to have that visibility.” The festival has grown increasingly visible within Whistler over the past 30 years, from the Resort Municipality of Whistler raising rainbow banners in the village to businesses putting flags in their windows.

You can learn more about the growth of the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival and the legacy of Pride House at Pride & Progress, which will be on display at the Whistler Museum through April 19. n

PARTIAL RECALL

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CREEKSIDE SUNSET Clear skies at the end of January meant this bright display over Whistler, as seen from Creekside last week. PHOTO SUBMITTED. 2 BLACKCOMB VIEWS Conditions cleared up on Monday, Jan. 31, just in time for this group of locals to reap the rewards of Sunday’s snowfall. PHOTO BY JESSLYN GATES. 3 SNOWY SUNDAY Whistler Village was packed with skiers and snowboarders enjoying the snowfall on Sunday, Jan. 30. PHOTO SUBMITTED. 4 JANUARY FOR JESSE The final tally is still being counted, but a fundraiser held at the Beacon Pub & Eatery on Monday night, Jan. 31 in memory of bartender Jesse Van Roon raised thousands for Whistler Search and Rescue. PHOTO BY MEGAN LALONDE. 5 CAFFEINE KICK Creekside’s BReD is the spot for a pick-me-up before a couple of snowy weekend runs on Whistler Mountain. PHOTO BY GEORGIA BUTLER. 1

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ASTROLOGY 5 YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN INVITATION FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION Work is underway as the Regional District prepares its annual budget and five-year Financial Plan. The 2022-2026 Financial Plan will be discussed (for services applicable to each meeting) at the following meetings of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) being held virtually via Zoom and also available for public viewing from the SLRD office at 1350 Aster Street, Pemberton: SLRD Pemberton Valley Utilities & Services Committee (PVUS): February 3, 2022; meeting starts at 1:00 pm SLRD Electoral Area Directors Committee (EAD): February 9, 2022; meeting starts at 10:30 am SLRD Committee of the Whole meeting: February 24, 2022; meeting starts at 9:00 am SLRD Pemberton Valley Utilities & Services Committee (PVUS): March 10, 2022; meeting starts at 1:00 pm SLRD Electoral Area Directors Committee (EAD): March 9, 2022; meeting starts at 10:30 am SLRD Regular Board meeting (adoption): Thursday, March 30 2022, starts at 10:30 am All meetings may be viewed once they begin with a link to the livestream at https://www.slrd.bc.ca/inside-slrd/meetings-agendas/watch-meetings.

And if you’re unable to view the meeting as it happens, recordings of the meetings are available at the same link.

The full Draft 2022-2026 Financial Plan will be available to review online at a later date (will be advertised).

Questions on the SLRD’s 2022-2026 Financial Plan can be sent to: Mail: Box 219, Pemberton, BC V0N 2L0 Email: info@slrd.bc.ca

NOTICE

2022 COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM The Resort Municipality of Whistler will be accepting Community Enrichment Program (CEP) applications from community groups looking for financial assistance for 2022. The application period runs from January 25 to February 15, 2022.

The CEP provides funding to not-for-profit organizations or societies based within Whistler that are considered by Council to be contributing to the general interest and advantage of the municipality. The categories include ‘Environment’, ‘Community and Social Services’, ‘Recreation and Sport’ and ‘Arts and Culture’.

Each interested community group is required to complete a Grant Application Form and present to Council at a Committee of the Whole Meeting on March 22, 2022. All approved funding will be issued no later than April 30, 2022.

Grant Application Forms are available at www.whistler.ca/cep or at the reception desk of the Whistler Municipal Hall, 4325 Blackcomb Way, Whistler, B.C., Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays.

Please submit applications to: Legislative Services Department Resort Municipality of Whistler 4325 Blackcomb Way Whistler, BC V8E 0X5 Phone: 604-935-8117 Email: corporate@whistler.ca Completed applications must be received by 4 p.m., February 15, 2022.

No late applications will be accepted.

To learn more, visit whistler.ca/cep.

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca 48 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Free Will Astrology WEEK OF FEBRUARY 3 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries actor Bette Davis said that if you want to improve your work, you should “attempt the impossible.” That’s perfect advice for you right now. I hope to see you hone your skills as you stretch yourself into the unknown. I will celebrate your forays into the frontiers, since doing so will make you even smarter than you already are. I will cheer you on as you transcend your expectations and exceed your limits, thereby enhancing your flair for self-love. Here’s your mantra: “I now have the power to turn the impossible into the possible and boost my health and fortunes in the process.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” You’ll be wise to make that your motto during the next five months, Taurus. Life will conspire to bring you more and more benefits and invitations as you take full advantage of the benefits and invitations that life brings. The abundance gathering in your vicinity may even start to seem ridiculously extravagant. Envious people could accuse you of being greedy, when in fact, you’re simply harnessing a crucial rule in the game of life. To minimize envy and generate even more benefits and invitations, be generous in sharing your plenitude.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “’Because there has been no one to stop me’ has been one of the principles of my life,” wrote Gemini author Joyce Carol Oates. “If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere,” said Gemini actor Marilyn Monroe. “Play the game. Never let the game play you.” So advised Gemini rapper and actor Tupac Shakur. “Who I really am keeps surprising me,” declared Gemini author Nikki Giovanni. I propose that we make the previous four quotes your wisdom teachings during the next four weeks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your animal symbol is usually the crab. But I propose we temporarily change it to the tardigrade. It’s a tiny, eight-legged creature that’s among the most stalwart on Planet Earth—able to live everywhere, from mountaintops to tropical rainforests to the deepest parts of the sea. In extreme temperatures, it thrives, as well as under extreme pressures. Since it emerged as a species half a billion years ago, it has survived all five mass extinctions. I believe you will be as hardy and adaptable and resolute as a tardigrade in the coming months, Cancerian. You will specialize in grit and resilience and determination. PS: Tardigrades are regarded as a “pioneer species” because they take up residence in new and changed environments, paving the way for the arrival of other species. They help create novel ecosystems.

Metaphorically speaking, you could be like that.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I regularly ask myself how I can become more open-minded. Have I stopped being receptive in any way? What new developments and fresh ideas am I ignorant of? Have my strong opinions blinded me to possibilities that don’t fit my opinions? In accordance with astrological omens, Leo, I encourage you to adopt my attitude in the coming weeks. For inspiration, read these thoughts by philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin: “If things speak to us, it is because we are open to them, we perceive them, listen to them, and give them meaning. If things keep quiet, if they no longer speak to us, it is because we are closed.”

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Like all the rest of us, Virgo, you have limitations. And it’s important for you to identify them and take them into consideration. But I want to make sure you realize you also have fake limitations; you wrongly believe in the truth of some supposed limitations that are, in fact, mostly illusory or imaginary. Your job right now is to dismantle and dissolve those. For inspiration, here’s advice from author Mignon McLaughlin: “Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else,” counselled poet and activist Maya

Angelou. Author Toni Morrison said, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Author and activist Nikki Giovanni wrote, “Everybody that loves freedom loves Harriet Tubman because she was determined not only to be free, but to make free as many people as she could.”

I hope the wisdom of these women will be among your guiding thoughts in the coming weeks. As your own power and freedom grow, you can supercharge them—render them even more potent—by using them to help others.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself,” testified Miles Davis, one of the most unique and talented jazz trumpeters and composers who ever lived. Popular and successful author Anne Lamott expressed a similar sentiment: “I’m here to be me, which is taking a great deal longer than I had hoped.” If those two geniuses found it a challenge to fully develop their special potentials, what chance do the rest of us have? I have good news in that regard, Scorpio. I believe 2022 will be a very favourable time to home in on your deepest, truest self—to ascertain and express more of your soul’s code. And you’re entering a phase when your instinct for making that happen will be at a peak.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In the course of human history, 3 million ships have sunk to the bottom of the Earth’s seas. At one extreme have been huge vessels, like the Titanic and naval cruisers, while at the other extreme are small fishing boats. Many of these have carried money, gems, jewelry, gold, and other precious items. Some people have made it their job to search for those treasures. I believe there could and should be a metaphorical resemblance between you and them in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. Now is a favourable time for you to hunt for valuable resources, ideas, memories, and yes, even treasures that may be tucked away in the depths, in hidden locations, and in dark places.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods,” wrote author Margaret Fuller. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your capacity for exposing and resisting falsehoods is now at a peak. Furthermore, you have a robust ability to ward off delusions, pretense, nonsense, inauthenticity, and foolishness. Don’t be shy about using your superpowers, Capricorn. Everyone you know will benefit as you zero in and focus on what’s true and genuine. And you will benefit the most.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “All things are inventions of holiness,” wrote poet Mary Oliver. “Some more rascally than others.” I agree. And I’ll add that in the coming weeks, holiness is likely to be especially rascally as it crafts its inventions in your vicinity. Here are the shades of my meaning for the word “rascally”: unruly, experimental, mischievous, amusing, mercurial, buoyant, whimsical, and kaleidoscopic. But don’t forget that all of this will unfold under the guidance and influence of holiness. I suspect you’ll encounter some of the most amusing and entertaining outbreaks of divine intervention ever.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The year 1905 is referred to as Albert Einstein’s “Year of Miracles.” The Piscean physicist, who was 26 years old, produced three scientific papers that transformed the nature of physics and the way we understand the universe. Among his revolutionary ideas were the theory of special relativity, the concept that light was composed of particles, and the iconic equation E = mc squared. With that information as a backdrop, I will make a bold prediction: that in 2022 you will experience your own personal version of a Year of Miracles. The process is already underway. Now it’s time to accelerate it.

Homework: What is the wisest foolishness you could carry out right now? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES In-depth weekly forecasts designed to inspire and uplift you. To buy access, phone 1-888-499-4425. Once you’ve chosen the Block of Time you like, call 1-888-682-8777 to hear Rob’s forecasts. www.freewillastrology.com

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*eligibility and conditions based on DRCL policies and practices set out in general terms and conditions of employment. Please note that Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) acquired Diamond Resorts International (DRI) as of August 02, 2021. If you apply to work at a Diamond Resorts company you will be an applicant of a subsidiary of HGV. A transition to HGV will occur as we integrate technology, systems and branding but it will take time until our separate operating systems, employment policies and benefits are fully integrated. As a result, for a period of time, employees will receive correspondence and messaging from Diamond Resorts as well as from HGV and related entities.

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1 1 8 9 5 LTD. DOUG BUSH8SURVEY SERVICES 7 is looking9 for a OFFICE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR 8 6 4 2 Part time Flexible hours. The applicant should have

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Flexible schedule, variable shifts available including possible night shift • Travel allowance for Squamish and Pemberton based employees OR activity/ski pass allowance. Signing bonus of $500. #5 9 1 coverage.

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with a two or three year college or technical school program in geomatics. Three years’ experience and Proficient in the use of robotic survey instruments and GPS equipment for engineering and building construction layout, topographic site surveys, site improvement surveys and precise monitoring.

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9 8 3 1 7 2 6 5 4 6 4 3 1 7 2 Please5 call Ian9@8604-932-3314 or 1 6 2 4 7 5 9 8 email 3@ ian@dbss.ca 4 7 9 8 6 5 3 2 1 #18-1370 8 5Alpha 2 3Lake 1 9Rd.4 Whistler 6 7 BC V0N 1B1 2 3 8 Whistler 5 9 and 1 Pemberton 7 4 6 Serving Squamish, 7 4 5 6 3 8 2 1 9 6 9 1 7 2 4 8 3 5

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Whistler Premier Resorts, Whistler’s leading property management firm is currently recruiting!

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NOW HIRING

RESTAURANT DIRECTOR Currently seeking a Restaurant Director to inspire and oversee the front-of-house team and deliver a unique, elevated guest experience.

• Lead the delivery of an unforgettable culinary experience for guests • Provide leadership, development and motivation to the team to ensure guest experience is always paramount through consistent delivery of high-quality food and beverages • Oversee all day to day and event activity to ensure proper planning and execution • Minimum 8 years of experience in food and beverage industry • Minimum of 5 years of experience in a management role in food and beverage industry preferably within a similar venue

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR RESUME TO: CAREERS@TOPTABLE.CA

WE’RE HIRING FOR CONSTRUCTION HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT MECHANIC CIVIL CONSTRUCTION LABOURER/PIPE LAYER GRAVEL TRUCK DRIVER

EXCITING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, APPLY TODAY!

To apply: https://secure.collage.co/jobs/coastalmountain

Diamond Resorts Canada Ltd., Whistler, BC

Full Time & Part Time Housekeepers Full Time Front Desk Agent Eligible successful candidates may receive*

• Extensive benefits package which may include; ski pass or wellness allowance, disability coverage, travel insurance and extended health and dental.

• Travel Allowance and discounted employee rates at any Diamond Resort International resort.

• Full-time work year round and a FUN work environment. *eligibility and conditions based on DRCL policies and practices set out in general terms and conditions of employment.

Please note that Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) acquired Diamond Resorts International (DRI) as of August 02, 2021. If you apply to work at a Diamond Resorts company you will be an applicant of a subsidiary of HGV. A transition to HGV will occur as we integrate technology, systems and branding but it will take time until our separate operating systems, employment policies and benefits are fully integrated. As a result, for a period of time, employees will receive correspondence and messaging from Diamond Resorts as well as from HGV and related entities..

Email your resume with the position you wish to apply for to: embarc_hr@hgv.com

54 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

is now hiring for

Assistant Maintenance Manager

This dynamic role includes the following Perks and Benefits:

• Full-Time, Year Round position • Competitive Wage and Benefits • Extended Medical Benefits • Supportive Executive Team Please reply with a cover letter and resume to hr@listelhotel.com

Thank you for your interest. Only those applicants being considered for an interview will be contacted.

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RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

UNLIMITED SEASON SKI PASS INCLUDED IN YOUR HIRING PACKAGE!

GOLF MAINTENANCE OPPORTUNITIES Join the Whistler Golf Club Maintenance crew for the 2022 summer season!

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we also provide our staff with: Competitive Wages, Health Benefits, Gratuities, Employee Discounts and Staff Housing

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TO APPLY, PLEASE EMAIL YOUR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO ANDREW ARSENEAULT: ANDREW@WHISTLERGOLF.COM.

JOIN OUR TEAM Cooks, Dishwashers, Expeditors, Hosts

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR RESUME TO: CAREERS@ILCAMINETTO.CA

The Pinnacle Hotel Whistler has the following positions available:

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ROOM ATTENDANTS

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Please reply by email: parmstrong@pinnaclehotels.ca

GUEST SERVICES AGENT Pinnacle Hotel Whistler has an opening for a full time or part time guest services agent. We are looking for a customer service professional who will help our guest enjoy their experience at our hotel. Duties include check in and checkout of guests, concierge and reservations. Experience preferred but

Flexible Roles & Flexible Hours

we will train the right person • Competitive Benefits and wages starting at $22 per hour • Quarterly Wellness Reimbursement of $100 Please contact Roger Dix rdix@pinnaclehotels.ca or ph: 604-938-3218

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

Building Clerk

(Regular, Full-time) The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) is located in southwestern BC and consists of four member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and 4 electoral areas.

The region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains in the province and affords an endless range of opportunities for outdoor adventure. Headquartered in Pemberton, which is the approximate geographic centre of the region, the SLRD delivers a wide range of regional, sub-regional and local services to its residents. Services include land use planning, solid waste management, building inspection, fire protection, emergency preparedness, 911 services, recreation, water and sewer utilities, regional transit, trails and open spaces as well as financial support for various community services.

The SLRD is seeking an experienced, energetic and customer-focused individual to fill the fulltime position of Building Clerk. Reporting to the Director of Planning and Development Services, the Building Clerk will be responsible for coordinating and processing building permit applications, maintaining building files and information, conducting background research, providing building statistics and assisting with other day to day building department administration activities.

The Building Clerk will also provide front line service to the public, providing information on building permit applications, building processes, policies, and regulations.

The ideal candidate will have 1-2 years of related work experience, preferably in a local government Planning and Building department setting, and will possess a high school diploma supplemented with courses in building technology, public administration or related field (an equivalent combination of training and experience may be considered). For further information, please refer to the full job description at www.slrd.bc.ca/employment.

Based in the SLRD Office in Pemberton, this position offers a competitive salary based on experience, a comprehensive benefits package, participation in the Municipal Pension Plan and a compressed work week (nine-day fortnight).

JOIN OUR HILTON WHISTLER RESORT & SPA is currently hiring for the following positions:

Night House Attendant

Food & Beverage Supervisor

Maintenance Technician

We have several significant projects currently in progress across Whistler and we are looking for individuals who are keen to build a rewarding career with a company that values quality workmanship.

We are currently hiring for Finish Carpenters, Carpenters, Apprentices, and Labourers.

EVR is committed to the long-term retention and skills development of our employees - we are only as good as our team. We are passionate about investing in the future of our workforce, and offer: • • • • •

Competitive Wages Apprenticeship Training & Tuition Reimbursement On-site Mentoring and Skills Development Extended Health and Dental Benefits Positive Work Environment

If you love what you do and have a desire to work on architecturally-beautiful and sophisticated custom homes while growing your career with a renowned Whistler builder, please get in touch.

You can send your resume to info@evrfinehomes.com and can view our work at www.evrfinehomes.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

56 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Life & Leisure Program

•

Extended Health Benefits

•

Free On-Site Staff Parking

•

Free Staff Meals

•

Tuition Reimbursement

•

Pension Plans

•

50% Discount in our Food & Beverage outlets

Sales & Marketing Coordinator

•

Team Member Travel Program including Friends & Family Benefits

Email your cover letter and resume to hr@hiltonwhistler.com

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those shortlisted will be contacted.

EVR Fine Homes is looking for exceptional people to join our team.

•

Program

Interested candidates are invited to submit their cover letter and resume (preferably in pdf format) by email, no later than February 13, 2021 at 11:59 pm, to careers@slrd.bc.ca.

We are a proven leader in residential home and estate building in Whistler. We partner with the best architects, designers and trades in the industry. World class, custom projects require commitment and dedication from our partners and our team of craftspeople.

WE OFFER AMAZING BENEFITS!

TRAVEL CONSULTANT Full Time, Year Round

Travel Consultants have a passion for ensuring that guests have the best possible vacation experience in Whistler.

The main goal of a Travel Consultant is to sell an entire Whistler vacation package, including accommodations, activities and transportation.

What we offer: a great schedule offering work-life balance, excellent benefits, and a great team environment.

What we’re looking for: individuals with outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, a high level of enthusiasm and initiative, and an interest in sharing their love of Whistler.

TO VIEW OUR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, AND TO APPLY, VISIT US ONLINE AT WHISTLER.COM/CAREERS.

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BLACKCOMB HELICOPTERS STORES ASSISTANT Job Location:

BHLP Pemberton Base - 1850 Airport Road, Pemberton B.C.

Status:

Full-Time Permanent Position

ABOUT US Blackcomb Helicopters is a well-established full service, multifleet helicopter company with rotary flight and maintenance services. We have bases in Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Sechelt, Lillooet and Vancouver.

POSITION This position is part of the Aircraft Maintenance Department assisting in all areas that arise out of the day to day running of our helicopter operation. Duties include but are not limited to: assisting with inventory and counts, expediting parts for overhaul and repair, tracking incoming and outgoing freight, preparing reports on aircraft parts, organization and maintenance of stores rooms, input and transcription of technical records, maintenance of aviation software systems, and other duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS • • • • • • •

THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

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PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM/JOBS

Excellent accuracy with data input and extremely detail-oriented; Previous experience in the aviation industry a definite asset; Firm knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Word programs, as well as ability to learn new computer systems quickly; Excellent interpersonal skills and superior customer service skills; Strong organizational and time management skills; Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment with a great sense of humour; Legally able to work within Canada.

This is a position of approximately 40 hours per week, however, we will require flexibility in terms of days worked as weekend work may be required due to the nature of our business. We offer an excellent benefits package, RRSP matching, and a great work environment. Renumeration will commensurate with experience.

Note: Blackcomb Helicopters is federally regulated, therefore, proof of double vaccination is a condition of employment.

If you are interested in this position, please send your resume to attention to: Human Resources at stores@blackcombhelicopters.com noting Stores Assistant Application in your subject header.

Sales Associates Positions Available!

At the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) our vision of ‘Service. Relationships. Results.’ is all about providing a valued service, building strong relationships with our stakeholders, and achieving greater results for the province.

The LDB is one of two branches of government responsible for the cannabis and liquor industry of B.C. We operate the wholesale distribution of beverage alcohol within the province, as well as the household retail brand of BC Liquor Stores.

We employ nearly 5,000 people in over 200 communities and have been named one of BC’s Top Employers 13 times over for offering exceptional places to work rooted in values of fairness and respect, work-life balance, and inclusion and diversity. We believe that our people are our greatest asset. Being a reputable employer with programs of skills training and professional development are what attract candidates to BC Liquor Stores, while our progressive, forward-thinking culture is why employees with a growth mindset thrive.

Auxiliary positions are on-call, meaning hours of work are not guaranteed and subject to availability. Some auxiliary employees may not initially work a full 35-hour week, but with more hours worked and more seniority gained, more opportunities for more hours of work will follow.

Auxiliary positions are not permanent full-time but can lead to permanent full-time opportunities with a very competitive total compensation package, including a comprehensive pension plan, medical and dental coverage (including massage and physiotherapy), tuition reimbursement and scholarship programs, and access to public service employee benefits including career support services, financial and legal services, and employee and family counselling.

We are dedicated to the highest quality of customer service, delivered with friendliness, individual pride, initiative, and retail passion! If you fit this description and you are prepared to work in a fast-paced environment, we encourage you to apply to become a part of the Whistler area BC Liquor Stores.

To be eligible, applicants must meet the following qualification requirements: • • • • •

Be at least 19 years of age Be able to legally work in Canada Be able to provide excellent customer service Be able to communicate effectively and professionally with the public Be able to demonstrate aptitude for cashier and related duties, including calculations • Be able to perform physically demanding work, including lifting 20-25 kg boxes • Have a valid Serving It Right Certificate™ • A Criminal Record Check is required.

BC Liquor Store Sales Associates may be required to operate a variety of mechanical and hand-operated equipment, in addition to handling large volumes of bottles as part of the LDB’s recycling program.

Rate of Pay (as of April 11, 2021): Auxiliary Sales Associate - $19.45 per hour

DEPOT SITE TEAM LEADER Requirements Passion for recycling • Team building Community building • Training provided Hours flexible DRIVERS - Class 5, 3 & 1

Resumes can be sent to

squamish@gflenv.com

For exciting and challenging retail opportunities, please apply online at: http://bcliquorstores.prevueaps.ca/pages/openings/ Or apply in person at: Whistler Marketplace 101-4360 Lorimer Rd, Whistler On November 1, 2021 the BC Public Service announced the COVID-19 Vaccination Policy that defines the conditions and expectations for BC Public Service employees regarding vaccination against COVID-19. Among other possible measures, proof of vaccination will be required by November 22, 2021. It is a term of acceptance of employment that you agree to comply with all vaccination requirements that apply to the public service. More information can be found here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/careers-myhr/all-employees/safety-health-well-being/health/ covid-19/covid-19-vaccination-policy-for-bc-public-service-employees

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ARE YOU A SELF-MOTIVATED INDIVIDUAL LOOKING TO GROW YOUR CAREER IN SQUAMISH?

Lil’wat Nation

Employment Opportunities

Come be a part of our awesome team as The Squamish Chief’s new Media Account Manager.

If you don’t already live in Squamish, you should know it’s one of the most innovative and attractive communities on the West Coast just a short commute from the North Shore of Vancouver. It has a growing worldwide reputation for outdoor recreation with world-class mountain biking, rock climbing, water sports and skiing, boarding and the backcountry in the winter. We’re youthful, engaged and passionate about where we live!

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Project Coordinator - Xet’olacw Community School Elementary On-Call Teacher - Xet’olacw Community School Receptionist Ts’zil Learning Centre Full Time Part Time Janitor – Ts’zil Learning Centre IT Co-ordinator Project Coordinator - Social Services Cultural Coordinator - Social Services Accounting Assistant Worker - Finance Family Enhancement Worker - Social Services Kindergarten Teacher - Xet’olacw Community School Cashier - Gas Station Home Care Nurse RN or LPN Education Jurisdiction Coordinator Xet’olacw Community School • Indigenous Support Worker Casual - Ts’zil Learning Centre • Early Childhood Educator and/or Assistant - Daycare • Early Childhood Educator Infant Toddler - Daycare

Benefits Pension Plan Employee Assistance Program Extended Health Benefits Professional Development Gym facility

And if you’re a local – well, you know you’re in the right place to forge a career and lucky to call Squamish home.

Here’s what we’re looking for: • • • • •

You have sales experience and are comfortable making cold calls and setting up/ leading meetings with new and existing clients.

A self-starter with a consultative selling approach working with clients planning both digital and print advertising campaigns.

Building and maintaining client relationships with your exceptional communication skills comes easy to you.

You are a goal orientated individual with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.

You possess strong organizational skills and have the ability to multitask in a fast paced environment.

Here’s the essentials of what we offer: • • •

Competitive salary + uncapped commission package.

Comprehensive health and dental coverage and extended benefits.

Extensive onboarding training and ongoing support.

Please visit our career page for more information: lilwat.ca/careers/career-opportunities-2/

DISTRICT OF SQUAMISH

We’ve got an opportunity to work and truly be a part of this inspired community at its media hub, The Squamish Chief. We’re part of Glacier Media Group and Local News Network, the largest local digital network in Canada. We work with our clients to offer cutting edge solutions like programmatic, Social, SEO, sponsored content and community display advertising on our website – and yes, we reach customers through our trusted newspaper as well. We’ve got media opportunities covered.

WE ARE

HIRING Manager, IT Security and Infrastructure Regular Full-Time General Manager of Community Services Regular Full-Time Director of Public Safety Regular Full-Time Human Resources Advisor Regular Full-Time Utility Operator 2 Regular Full-Time

Come join us!

Please submit your cover letter and resume in confidence to Cathie Greenlees at: cgreenlees@squamishchief.com

Chief Operator Waste Water Treatment Plant Regular Full-Time

Closing date is February 11, 2022

squamish.ca/careers 58 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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Youth Case Worker

Be a part of an amazing team as our newest Digital Account Representative!

We have a rare opportunity to work at one of Canada’s best-read online newsmedia companies, Glacier Media.

You will be part of the Pique Newsmagazine team, a division of Glacier Media. In your role you will consult with local businesses to offer cutting edge marketing solutions: programmatic, social media, SEO, sponsored content and community display advertising on our website and yes, we still reach customers through our trusted newspaper as well.

What we are looking for • •

NESTERS MARKET & WELLNESS CENTRE

NOW HIRING Deli, Bakery, Produce, Grocery and Meat Clerks Cashiers Full or Part Time E-mail or drop in your resume to: bruce_stewart@nestersmarket.com please cc ian_fairweather@nestersmarket.com or call us at 604-932-3545

PERKS • Competitive wage – Depending on experience • Access to medical and dental benefits for full time applicants • Percentage discount from store bought goods • Flexible and set schedule • Relative training

• • •

You are comfortable making cold calls and setting up/leading meetings with new and existing clients.

A self-starter with a consultative selling approach working with clients planning both digital and print advertising campaigns.

Building and maintaining client relationships with your exceptional communication skills comes easy to you.

You are a goal orientated individual with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.

You possess strong organizational skills and have the ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment.

What we offer • • •

Competitive salary + uncapped commission package.

Comprehensive / competitive group health and welfare benefits Extensive onboarding training and ongoing support.

Whistler has a worldwide reputation for outdoor recreation and boasts a vibrant village featuring restaurants, bars, retail and more. While this legendary resort is an international mountain sports mecca, it is also a down-to-earth mountain town, where community and culture have forged a unique environment. This opportunity offers you the chance to call a world-class ski hill you own—and if you are a local, well you know you’re in the right place to forge a career and lucky to call Whistler your home.

To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume in confidence to Susan Hutchinson, shutchinson@wplpmedia.com Closing date: Open until filled.

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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PUZZLES ACROSS 1 6 10 15 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 33 35 36 38 39 40 41 42 44 46 48 51 53 58 59 61 62 63 65 67 69 71

Rascal Polite address Former talk show hostess Gives a ticket Powerful beam Actor Raul -Flighty Reluctant Enough Lagoon maker Body temperature Result Born as Daddies Like good brandy Marched along Fruity drink Used up Hit Broadway musical Masculine principle Cereal plant spike Valley Speculate Dreaming, maybe Primate Came to an end More risky Did like Grounded bird Focus -- Arthur Hedge Insolent talk Puts on Mooring spots Like sisters Ripple

72 74 75 76 77 79 80 81 82 83 84 87 88 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 100 101 102 103 104 106 107 109 112 114 115 117 119 122 125 126 127 131 132

Storage room Spar Tastes Conductor’s stick Put on a leash Lures Car parkers Use a phone In addition Window ledge Turn into “Be prepared,” e.g.

Custom-made Semester enders Blabbed Loud clamor Hindu religious leader Monocle Hurried Face cards Do the backstroke Arith. term Infant’s toy Apply salve Capp and Jolson Plumbing bend City near Rochester Slick Seabird Cuttlefish defense Candid Beats by a hair Sushi ingredient Narcissus’ flaw Submissive Paretsky or Teasdale No future -- -Hatchet (var.)

Decorate the tree

133 134 136 137 139 141 143 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152

Standards Brown songbirds Foul up Food processor setting Epics Leather strip Major Japanese port Stirs to action Yonder Buenos --, Argentina Was overfond Deep gulf Preserves fish Break up Battery post

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 30 32

Jargon Granny’s brooch Popular ski resort Brooks or Gibson Ready for surgery Changed drastically Throw for -- -Feel crummy Kuala Lumpur’s country More frequently Solemn promise Talk rhythmically High as -- -Longest constellation Made a fast exit Cl- or Ca++ Schnoz-related Recital piece Gloss Shogun’s domain Low-pH Big blow

34 37 41 43 44 45 47 48 49 50 52 54 55 56 57 60 62 64 66 68 69 70 71 73 75 76 78 79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91

Made a speech Goddess of dawn Figure out Edible seed High cards Steals software Butter square Closet liner Overact Mother’s sisters Alpine goat Tiny amounts Noted lithographer Make happy Piece of turf 1999 Exxon mergee Lays down Stationery buys Situation comedy series German name part Used a CB Gave the slip Rolls in the mud Overstuffs Spice grinder Formal dances Andy Capp’s quaff End a strike Clock numeral Sealed in a jar Decaf drink Gong Corp. biggies Sweet treat Tall ship’s features Quirk Colder and wetter Novelist -- Zola Vaguely

93 94 97 98 99 102 103 105 108 109 110 111 113 116 118 119

Ballet costume Applies gently Supporter Merely Catch phrase Was a candidate Elton John or Mick Jagger (2 wds.)

Compass pt.

-- Van Winkle Fixes squeaks Wanton look Wished for Air pump meas.

Give Sediment Frat letter

120 121 123 124 126 128 129 130 132 135 138 140 142 144

Bedroom community Composer -- Anderson Main points City in Nebraska Avowed “Cool!”

Teed off Export or import Thomas Hardy heroine Pop-top beverage Newsroom VIPs Set Hotfoot it Male descendant

LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

Enter a digit from 1 through 9 in each cell, in such a way that: • Each horizontal row contains each digit exactly once • Each vertical column contains each digit exactly once • Each 3x3 box contains each digit exactly once Solving a sudoku puzzle does not require any mathematics; simple logic suffices.

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: HARD

8 6 7

3 1

5

7

8 4 8 2 6 1 5 5 1 7 8 6 1 3 9 9 7 8 4

HARD Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com # 6

ANSWERS ON PAGE 52

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

61

MAXED OUT

From every mountainside, let freedumb ring IN AN IRONIC TWIST of what I’ve always considered logic, I’m feeling pretty good about having grown old. Don’t worry, this isn’t a trip down nostalgia lane. I’m not about to bore you with how good things were in the good old days because, well, they weren’t that great.

But they were, in some ways, better.

I know this is going to be hard to believe, but there once was a time when people actually wanted to be smart, well-informed and aware of the subtle distinction between truth and fiction.

BY G.D. MAXWELL This fine distinction was brought home ad nauseam the past few days with the 18-wheeled protests taking place in Ottawa.

Ostensibly a protest of “truckers” aimed at the federal government’s vaccine mandate for cross-border essential workers, it has, like so many other things, morphed into a hodgepodge of irate people protesting pretty much everything. It brings to mind Bob Dylan’s response to a mid-1960’s reporter who, riffing on Dylan’s reputation as a protest singer, asked him, “What are you protesting?” He quipped, “What have you got?”

The supposed foundation of the truckers’ protest rests firmly on a bed of quicksand. Let us, momentarily, recall what the spark was that started this fire. The truckers—and I use the word advisedly— are protesting a government mandate that came into effect on Jan. 15. It requires all essential workers who cross the CanadaU.S. border to show proof of vaccination wherever they enter the country in order to avoid testing and quarantine.

One would think that is a good thing. If I was a trucker I’d much rather get vaccinated and roll across the border than go through a time-wasting, often-wrong testing procedure and possibly wind up having to quarantine for however many days we’re supposed to do that.

These rules have already applied to the general travelling public since last fall.

It’s probably worth mentioning truckers who aren’t crossing the border aren’t impacted in any way by this mandate.

But wait; there’s more. Around the same time the Canadian government was taking this step, the U.S. government crafted a similar requirement for Canadian drivers coming into the U.S. It took effect a week later.

So if Canadian truckers can’t get into the U.S. without being vaccinated, how can Canada’s requirement for them to be vaccinated to get back into Canada... wait a minute, something’s not right here. Is it?

Never having been one to let facts get in

62 FEBRUARY 3, 2022

GETTYIMAGES.CA

the way of telling a good story, I stand with my trucker brothers and sisters. This sucks.

How dare the feds pass a pointless law that really has no consequential effect? This is clearly an infringement of my licence, er, liberty. I’m standing up for freedumb!

Which is what this charade has pretty much become: A rallying point for everyone who is fed up with covid restrictions... whether they were warranted or not. And, of course, they weren’t. How could restrictions on personal freedumb be warranted when they were aimed at fighting something that clearly doesn’t exist? Or so it goes in the truly deluded mind.

How deluded, you ask? Well, if you ask, you’re simply not paying attention to the same sources of “information” the non-

to get his affairs in order and say their goodbyes, he proclaims, “It’s a miracle!” when he recovers enough to breathe on his own. I can only assume it took all the selfrestraint and compassion his overworked medical team could muster to keep from hitting him upside the head with a bed pan and screaming, “No, you moron. It wasn’t a miracle that saved your ass: it was medical science and round-the-clock care you probably wouldn’t have needed if you’d just got the damn vaccine in the first place.”

And so now we’re witness to the degradation of an admittedly small segment of society that have followed the trails blazed by the Trumps and Berniers of the world, gathering to protest their loss of freedumb to do whatever they want and

Truckers may have lit the fuse, but the fire is raging amongst those who are against any vaccine mandate… believers spend their time paying whatever limited attention they have to. So virulent is the belief in the non-existence of covid among those extolling freedumb above all else that we’ve been witness to people occupying ICU beds, ventilator tubes shoved down their throats, who still insist that whatever they have keeping them from breathing on their own certainly isn’t covid... which doesn’t exist. Q.E.D! We’ve witnessed a man so “uncertain” about the science behind the vaccines he refused to get that after three months on a ventilator, after his family had been told

have someone else pick up the tab for the devastation they leave behind. Truckers may have lit the fuse, but the fire is raging amongst those who are against any vaccine mandate, against restrictions on gatherings, against lockdowns, against masks, against Zoom meetings, against whatever ya got.

Cue Groucho Marx singing, “Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

They hate the prime minister—yeah, who doesn’t?—claiming he’s the love child of Fidel Castro and...? There are more than a few visual references to Nazis. There is a group petitioning for the Governor General

and the Senate, yes, the Senate, to take over the government, as though completely unelected people might do a better job. Yes, there is everything but pitchforks, torches and a lynching, the latter likely for lack of a good opportunity.

Missing in this is, of course, the inconvenient truth that the vast majority of pandemic-related decisions are provincial, not federal. Insert eye-roll here, accompanied by mumbling, “There ya go again, confusing me with facts.”

Of course, that set the stage for the centre-right provincial premier in a neckand-neck race with other conservative premiers for the right to claim Worst Performance by a Premier in Handling the Pandemic to announce his government will be stopping requirements for proof of vaccination to go to restaurants and other places people have gathered to give each other the virus. Yes, Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, who currently holds the record for chutzpah after announcing the number of covid patients in the province’s hospitals had gone down... after previously sending a number of them to other provinces because there was no more room for them in Sasquatch, feels the time is right to open up.

It’s sad. When I moved to Canada a lifetime ago, the country—Quebec excepted—seemed so quaint, so civilized, so cohesive in a multicultural sort of way. But more and more it just seems like the U.S. writ small, with the same mindless palaver coming from the same folks who don’t realize how good it could be if we managed to set aside just a bit of self-interest and put a bit more effort into making it an even better place to live.

I never believed age would bring wisdom but I wasn’t expecting it to bring sadness and even less faith in my fellow man/woman. ■

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SOLD

7580 Taylor Road

$999,000

This beautiful 1/3 acre property on the Pemberton Fringe allows for low taxes and access to municipal services. The current home has 3.5 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and the two story shop on the property allows for additional living space. This ideal location is close to the village of Pemberton and is prime for a new build.

Alexi Hamilton

3.5

604.935.0757

9333 Warbler Way

$3,850,000

4

604.905.0737

$375,000

Enjoy the charm & convenience of slope side living in this premium studio in the Blackcomb Springs Resort nestled on the lower slopes of Blackcomb Mountain.

This is true ski-in/ski-out location with 2 hot tubs & a heated outdoor pool facing the ski slopes.

Ann Chiasson

Bob Cameron*

604.932.7651

9145 Summer Lane

Dave Beattie*

604.905.8855

604.935.2214

.5

3D Tour - rem.ax/208snowbird

$3,195,000

Enjoy the views of Whistler, Blackcomb and Green Lake from the sunken hot tub in your new wrap around deck. Just a stones throw from Green Lake for boating in the summer and skating or cross country skiing in the winter. This 5 bedroom home features 3 bedrooms in the main house and a spacious 2 bedroom suite.

3D Tour - rem.ax/919westin

#919 - 4090 Whistler Way

#313 - 4899 Painted Cliff Rd.

3D Tour - rem.ax/9145summer

This One-Of-A-Kind Mountain Home is located in the exclusive Spring Creek residential neighborhood and shows off its quality with soaring vaulted ceilings accented with large heatsaving low e windows. The open floor plan and large deck invite you to enjoy a cozy feeling while entertaining or just relaxing at home.

Bruce Watt

$1,275,000

Only 5 lots remain in this Estate Property Subdivision. Homes can be 4629 or 5920 SF plus 2150 SF Auxiliary Buildings allowed. 5 Minutes from Grocieries, Gas and Liquor Store. Best Value in town!

3D Tour - rem.ax/1565khyber

1565 Khyber Lane

SOLD

5

#208 - 4865 Painted Cliff Rd

$149,000

Owning a 1/10th share in the 1350 square ft condominium on the Benchlands near Blackcomb is great way to insure that you family has year round access to Whistler and an Ownership position that will last in perpetuity. Each year you have access to 2-3 ski weeks and/ or 2 or more summer weeks.

Dave Sharpe

604.902.2779

2

3D Tour - rem.ax/305fourseasons

$428,000

#305/306 - 4591 Blackcomb Way

$1,625,000

#205 - 4111 Golfer’s Approach

$965,000

Be one from the top in this 9th floor luxurious studio suite in the Westin Resort & Spa. Suite 919 is a studio suite with a fully equipped galley-style kitchen, king bed & sofa bed that connects to a 1 bedroom suite if you need more room.

This luxurious 2 bedroom suite is an end unit featuring two spacious, ensuited master bedrooms. Two private patios to enjoy a main living area with a pull-out sofa. Enjoy the Four Seasons Resort Whistler including 9000 square foot spa, outdoor pool, health club, in-house restaurant and lounge, room service, and ski concierge.

LOCATION, LOCATION! Phase 1 apartments don’t pop up very often within VILLAGE CENTRE, and this gem is certainly dressed to impress and ready to go for its new owner. With custom tile work throughout, super functional layout, even a king size bedroom - you’ll be amazed at the overall presentation.

Denise Brown*

Doug Treleaven

Laura Barkman

.5

604.902.2033

604.905.8626

2

604.905.8777

1

3D Tour - rem.ax/2170sarajevo

#4 - 2170 Sarajevo Drive

$750,000

A newly renovated unit in an excellent Creekside location! This one bedroom plus loft, one bathroom condo is very livable with a full kitchen as well as laundry. The kitchen has been updated with new cabinets, appliances and tile work, and the bathroom has been designed to have a spa-like feel with custom tile and oversized shower.

Madison Perry

778.919.7653

1

#413 - 4369 Main Street

$449,000

Best Price in Alpenglow! This 4th floor studio with views of Sproat Mountain is a perfect little getaway and revenue generator. Located in the middle of Whistler Village, steps from Olympic Plaza, food and shopping, and a short walk from the ski hill. Complex includes a pool, hot tub and exercise room, and secure underground parking.

Matt Chiasson

WHISTLER OFFICE 106 - 7015 Nesters Road, Whistler, BC V8E 0X1 604.932.2300 or Toll Free 1.888.689.0070 *PERSONAL REAL ESTATE CORPORATION

If you are a home owner, buyer, tenant, landlord, or small business in need of help during this time, please see our updated list of resources at: remax-whistler.com/resources

604.935.9171

.5

#1457 - 4308 Main Street

$288,000

A rare studio with balcony and beautiful views to Whistler Mountain. Full service hotel property with a Marriot Hotel affiliation. Provides personal use as well as revenue/ income for Owner investors. Enjoy owner benefits even when not occupying the unit.

Delta Whistler Village Suites prides itself with a friendly high service standard.

Michael d’Artois

604.905.9337

.5

PEMBERTON OFFICE 1411 Portage Road, Pemberton, BC V0N 2L1 604.894.6616 or Toll Free 1.888.689.0070