Pique Newsmagazine 3008

Whistler

The Peak to Valley Race

A race, a lifestyle, a whole lot of history. - By

G.D. Maxwell

14

LANDS

OF PLENTY

As the enhanced rezoning for Whistler’s Northlands continues, employee housing and recreation remain at the heart of the discussion.

16 GLACIAL PACE A new Whistler Blackcomb staff housing building is inching toward breaking ground nearly five years after its introduction.

18 BIG QUESTIONS Whistler is “staring down the barrel” of its ambitious 2030 climate targets; hitting them is going to take innovation at the RMOW and a seismic shift in our behaviours.

28 UP FOR REVIEW

As Pemberton undergoes its Official Community Plan review, officials have no plans to revisit a cap on new short-term rental licences.

36 STEPPING STONES Nordiq Canada athlete

Marlie Molinaro recaps a milestone season so far—and ruminates on what’s in store next.

40 ICE BREAKER Whistler landscape painter Meg

O’Hara is prepping a new series on ancient ice following an inspiring sojourn to Antarctica.

COVER During the making of this artwork I googled “are ski race suits warm?” They are not. The things we’ll do to win. I thought sports were meant to teach us how to lose graciously and form bonds within a community? I think this race embodies that. I’m sad my knees are knackered. - By Jon

Parris // jon.parris.art

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT

Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com

Editor BRADEN DUPUIS - bdupuis@piquenewsmagazine.com

Sales Manager SUSAN HUTCHINSON - shutchinson@wplpmedia.com

Production Manager AMIR SHAHRESTANI - ashahrestani@wplpmedia.com

Art Director JON PARRIS - jparris@wplpmedia.com

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Social Media Editor MEGAN LALONDE - mlalonde@piquenewsmagazine.com

Reporters

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MEGAN LALONDE - mlalonde@piquenewsmagazine.com

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

President, Whistler Publishing LP

SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com

Opinion & Columns

08 OPENING REMARKS The weight of grief doesn’t lessen, writes editor Braden Dupuis—we just grow accustomed to the load.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers keep the conversation going about Whistler Blackcomb, and draw connections between an old saying and a certain controversial park improvement project.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s promise to cut funding to the CBC is a bridge too far for columnist Andrew Mitchell.

62 MAXED OUT Nobody is immune to the callous cruelty of Whistler’s ever-tightening housing crunch— not even one of Max’s oldest friends.

Environment & Adventure

31 RANGE ROVER Leslie Anthony files an Eastern dispatch packed with winter flavour from la belle province.

Lifestyle & Arts

38 EPICURIOUS For Whistler sushi chef Koji Chiba, the key to a perfect meal is in the details.

44 MUSEUM MUSINGS More on the Molson World Downhill events held in Whistler in the early 1980s.

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The weight

EVERY SINGLE MORNING in Whistler, thousands of people head out the door in search of adventure. They climb mountains, conquer fears, and take big risks en route to new personal milestones.

The vast, overwhelming majority will return to their loved ones at the end of the day, god willing.

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

But not all of them. Not every day.

When the unimaginable happens, the general public gets a headline, maybe some contextual details if they’re lucky.

Friends and acquaintances feel the loss closer. They grieve, organize tributes and fundraisers, build monuments.

But for the immediate family members, the emptiness goes far deeper. The loss is forever, and the grief can’t truly be captured in a newspaper article.

For that reason, though he lives in Toronto, Arben Kodra will forever be tied to Whistler.

“This is never going to go away. And our life, our family history in Canada, even if we are the distance of 4,300 kilometres, that cannot ever disappear, can never be cut down,” Kodra said on the phone from Toronto, on Family Day, 2023.

“So that connection is going to be forever. It’s part of our daughter’s life there. It’s part of her last breathing there, and it’s never going to disappear.”

Arben’s daughter Gloria was skiing Whistler Blackcomb for the first time on Feb. 25, 2022, when she collided with a tree in the resort’s Symphony Bowl area. She

was later pronounced dead at the Whistler Health Care Centre.

“She was a beautiful, bright child; a young girl that finished Queen’s University last year with a 95-per-cent [average] and double degree in engineering and business,” Arben told Pique last year, adding that Gloria “was and she remains perfect in all aspects.”

She served as a teacher’s assistant in her third and fourth years at Queen’s; made the Dean’s List; was awarded the University Medal in Civil Engineering for Excellence in Industry Design; was a Royal Conservatory Musician piano player.

She was also “a great activist for women’s rights,” and advocated for the “blind interview” in the workplace, “which means that you don’t judge someone for the way you look, but for the skills that you bring in a workplace,” Arben said.

Gloria was one of at least four people to pass away after incidents at Whistler

leadership, has helped bring some semblance of peace to the family.

“The Whistler leadership team was amazing. [WB chief operating officer] Geoff [Buchheister] was a man that stood by his words,” Arben said.

On Aug. 8, Buchheister and other members of WB’s leadership team met the family in their hotel room, and flew them up the mountain to visit the site of Gloria’s accident.

The tree in question now bears a crucifix and a simple sign bearing Gloria’s initials: GYK.

“It brought us some peace,” Arben said of the visit.

“I personally imagine always those trees, on top, with birds and eagles—I can say [that is] where my daughter’s spirit is flying around. But it’s very tough. It doesn’t go away.”

As a journalist, you talk to a lot of people— sometimes every week, or multiple times a day, even; some calls last just minutes, others stretch over hours.

me will always be tied to the Kodra family in Toronto, thanks to a random phone call I got while sitting at my desk one day in March. It’s funny, in a morbid sort of way, how tragedy bonds us, cements us together, regardless of all our worldly differences.

Since Gloria’s death, Buchheister and Arben have stayed in contact, too.

“He called me, a few days before Christmas time, and we really appreciate that … He said, ‘When you have a shitty day, don’t hesitate to call me. We can talk,’” Arben said.

“And he said, ‘It doesn’t get easier.’ He said, ‘It is like a backpack, a heavy backpack that is always with you. But you just adjust how to carry that, every day.’”

We all have our own backpacks we carry. The weight doesn’t lessen; we just get stronger with time, more adjusted to the load.

Now, when I hear of tragedies in our community and beyond, I’ll think first of the Kodra family, and of Gloria, who was so much

Blackcomb last year (that we know of—the mountain does not announce fatal incidents publicly unless media inquires). Several more died in backcountry incidents near and far in 2022.

Each with their own story, like Gloria’s; their own grieving family left behind.

Almost exactly one year to the day since she died, Arben and his family still have questions, but a visit to Whistler in August, arranged by the Whistler Blackcomb

Conversing with multiple people, from all walks of life, every day for years on end can get muddlesome—that is, it’s easy for conversations and even people to blend together.

Over time, you can forget about phone calls, or sources, or even stories you’ve written. (And, to be frank, sometimes that’s for the better.)

And then there are the calls, and the stories, that will stick with you for as long as you live.

Though we’ve never met, some part of

more than a newspaper headline.

She was promise and potential, personified—an impossibly heavy reminder that tragedy can strike when we least expect it; to hold our people close and tell them we love them every chance we get.

“As parents, we’ll never stop talking about our child—how beautiful, how bright, how amazing she was,” Arben said.

“Always with a smile. Always so candid, always so friendly, and willing to help others.” ■

“As parents, we’ll never stop talking about our child—how beautiful, how bright, how amazing she was.”

- ARBEN KODRA

Feast CLAWS

Whistler Blackcomb needs Canadian ownership

Jim Pipe’s letter hits the nail on the head (“Will someone with authority at Vail Resorts please stand up?” Pique, Feb. 9). Vail Resorts is a greedy organization, and the consensus is consistent at all of its resorts; it is an organization, totally bureaucratic and too big, that has little regard for its customers.

Since taking over Whistler Blackcomb, we have lost quality experience. In fact, due to factors mentioned by Jim and Pique columnist G.D. Maxwell, it seems our skiing experience has declined. Ever since Vail’s takeover, good-paying jobs have evaporated, gone below the border, and we are left with puppet management!

What’s needed is a return to ownership that is Canadian and has a vested interest in the Whistler community.

Gordon Lake // Pemberton

Vail Resorts hate is getting boring

Reading the constant whining about Vail Resorts’ lack of this and lack of that is kind of getting boring. Stop complaining and don’t spend your money on the hill if you hate it so much. Do as we do and brown bag it (sorry Nancy). Enough $@#%ing whining. There are people in town who are proud of their jobs working for Vail. Any of you complainers think about them or their families?

Here’s the facts. Vail is a pubco. Bet ZERO of you even care enough to know that BAMCO just filed an 8k declaring 11.38-percent ownership in Vail ($MTN). Bet ZERO of you even know what BAMCO is.

What does that mean to you? It means you

should buy shares in Vail.

Patrick Smyth // Whistler

Rainbow connection?

Many years ago I heard a great expression:

A politician is someone who finds a problem where there isn’t one—comes up with a solution that doesn’t work and sticks to it like a dog on a bone.

Sound familiar?

Steve St. Arnaud // Whistler n

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Backcountry Update

AS OF TUESDAY, FEB 21

A bit of new snow accumulation early in the week, lots of wind, and cold temperatures define the period leading up to the last weekend in February. Arctic air will likely stick around until the weekend. A change in the weather pattern may happen sometime during the weekend. The change will bring more snow and warming temperatures, reflecting seasonal norms.

Given the colder and clearer weather through the end of the week, now is a great time to observe surface conditions before the switch to stormier weather. Some observations to watch for include:

Have recent wind events created hard surfaces in the alpine?

Did the cold temperatures earlier in the week cause facets to develop on the snow surface?

Did large surface hoar form in windsheltered areas around treeline?

All these features are potential weak layers

NewtoMarket

or sliding surfaces that may contribute to avalanche danger rising more rapidly if/when storm snow starts to accumulate.

We’ve covered how the upper snowpack may develop, but don’t forget about what is buried deeper. There has been a persistent slab problem lingering around in areas west of the Sea to Sky Highway. Given the weather conditions, we would expect this problem to stick around in the short term. The complication with this persistent slab problem is that the layers are deep enough that we are a lot less likely to see clues, like nearby avalanche activity, whumpfing, or cracking snow. If you do experience any of these then of course it is a strong sign to keep things tame, but remember that the first sign of trouble could be triggering a high-consequence avalanche.

Make sure you check the latest forecast at avalanche.ca and read up about how the snowpack and avalanche problems are developing before heading out. ■

CONDITIONS MAY VARY AND CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler Blackcomb are available at 604-938-7676, or surf to www.whistlerblackcomb.com/mountain-info/ snow-report#backcountry or go to www.avalanche.ca.

Write to us! Letters to the editor must contain the writer’s name, address and a daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 450 words. Pique Newsmagazine reserves the right to edit, condense or refrain from publishing any contribution. Letters re ect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine GOT GOOD VIBES TO SHARE? Send them to goodnews@piquenewsmagazine.com

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CBC or bust

AS A—WELL I guess it would be former journalist now—I’ve taken an inordinate amount of pride in my objectivity when it comes to elections. I come in with an open mind. I read platforms. I go to all-candidates meetings and read interviews. When it comes

BY ANDREW MITCHELL

time to finally cast my ballot, I always feel like I’m making an informed decision I could back up with a math equation. I’ve even used this very space to suggest that anyone who takes politics less seriously should stay home on election day.

And yet. If a federal election were called tomorrow I would absolutely not consider casting a vote for one candidate— Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. In fact, I will probably campaign for whichever party has the best chance of beating him. I’ve already heard enough.

It’s not because Poilievre is a conservative. I supported Progressive Conservative Kim Campbell in my first election, because I thought Mulroney got a raw deal and liked a lot of his environmental policies. I could easily vote for a true old-school Progressive Conservative tomorrow if they believed

climate change is real, vaccines work, and government was right to invoke the Emergency Act.

It’s also not because of some of the ridiculous things he’s said—like Canadians should invest in crypto currency to “opt out of inflation.” It was a reckless statement, but I could also see a young Justin Trudeau—the one who did stripteases and boxed senators for charity—making a similar gaffe back in the day.

It’s not that Poilievre will meet with literally anyone, regardless of how steeped they are in conspiracies and white nationalism. Or his idiotic take on B.C.’s sensible plan to create a safe drug supply at a time when 2,200 people a year are dying from overdoses. Or his misplaced threats against the Bank of Canada, an institution that has served Canada well for 83 years.

Where Poilievre went too far is his promise to cut funding to the CBC. You keep our national broadcaster’s name out of your damn mouth!

This is a call to war, and I will fight this reckless policy with every ounce of my being. The CBC is far too important an institution to allow one thin-skinned populist to blow it up because they don’t like being fairly called out on the things they said, or to capitalize on the conservative “fake news” grievance that’s sweeping the world.

The CBC is not biased—although I imagine anything in the middle might look

like it’s far left when you’re sitting as far right as Poilievre. The CBC regularly gets reviewed for bias in its news coverage and always passes with flying colours. Its online news coverage is slightly left, mainly because of its opinion writers, while its TV news leans slightly to the right, because of conservative over-representation on panel shows. Overall, though, the CBC is as fair as it gets.

And the CBC is far more than news. I grew up watching cartoons and kids shows on Channel 3, graduating to programs for teens like Street Cents. Hockey Night in Canada was on in my house every Saturday night. We watched comedies, crime dramas, and science shows and documentary like The Nature of Things. When 6 p.m. rolled around, it was time for CBC News.

I’ve been to nine provinces, living in four of them, and practically everywhere I’ve been I could dial CBC radio, which has always been excellent. Poilievre will need to pry Quirks & Quarks and The Debaters from my cold, dead ears.

This is just scratching the surface. I could fill this entire page with the names of programs and personalities that are a credit to our nation.

Though the CBC is arguably priceless, I’ll admit that it isn’t free. A billion dollars a year sounds like a lot, but for all the arts, culture, education, music, sports, news and other Canada-centric programming it provides, it’s an incredible investment with

huge returns for all of us. The CBC is part of our national identity and connects us in all kinds of ways we would miss if a guy who has never worked a regular job, who tagged his YouTube videos to target men’s rights/ Incel communities, gets his way.

I do have a theory as to why so many conservatives want to pull funding from CBC: it’s because they can’t buy it or control its message. The media landscape in Canada, despite conservatives complaining non-stop about the “elite liberal media,” leans heavily to the right. In the last election, every major paper in Canada but one endorsed either the Conservatives or nobody—and since then the Toronto Star was purchased by a company that has nudged it more to the middle. Almost every major national and city paper, and every broadcast news outlet, is now owned by a company with a conservative bent. Social media has also gone conservative, with billionaires buying every platform and force feeding us conservative content.

Six out of 10 Canadians identify as being in the middle or left of the political spectrum, but I would guess that 90 per cent of media sources are owned by conservatives. The CBC, which belongs to all of us, is the exception, and should always be off the table for any political party.

I’ve never been a single-issue or even a strategic voter, because I never had to be. Until now. n

I L D E R N E S S R U N

Enhanced rezoning process for Northlands moving ahead after latest round of community engagement

PLANS FOR A RECREATION FACILITY, MORE EMPLOYEE HOUSING HIGH ON WHISTLER’S WISH LIST AS PROJECT MOVES INTO PHASE 3

BY MEGAN LALONDE

TO WHISTLER COUNCILLOR Arthur De Jong, the development of 4500 Northlands represents the resort’s “last swing [at] a globally-recognized, award-winning village.”

For De Jong, that means plans need “to be futuristic and embrace [Whistler’s] netzero mid-century goals,” but it’s also why Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) staff, elected officials and property developers are taking extra steps to ensure they get every aspect of the development right.

An enhanced rezoning process for the 5.2-hectare parcel of land is moving into Phase 3 following Tuesday, Feb. 21’s council meeting, when Whistler’s elected officials received their first official glimpse at the community feedback resulting from initial site proposals released during Phase 2.

Aside from the Whistler Racket Club (WRC) that currently operates on site, the sizeable piece of land just north of Whistler Village sits largely empty. Property developer Beedie Living is planning to use the site to add hundreds of new beds to Whistler’s housing supply, in addition to community amenities and green space.

Feedback presented to council Tuesday proved the community isn’t necessarily in agreeance when it comes to the best use for the land, but crowds rallying to save the WRC and build more employee housing stood out as the loudest.

THE BACKSTORY

Back in 1988, a property developer secured the rights to the land with the condition that it build a new tennis club—including a stadium court, four indoor and 12 outdoor courts— capable of hosting live televised events.

That developer built three indoor courts, seven outdoor courts and a dining facility in 1993. Though those facilities were intended to be temporary, they remain in operation as the WRC.

The Holborn Group purchased the land in 2002, before selling to current owner Beedie Developments in 2017. Thanks to Whistler’s new Official Community Plan, Beedie doesn’t have the same obligation

the prospective development: balance resort and community needs; strengthen sense of place and social connections; provide diverse housing opportunities; enhance connectivity and mobility; accelerate climate action solutions and address resource use; and, finally, integrate and enhance nature.

Phase 2, meanwhile, saw Beedie submit two alternative development concepts last June proposing its vision for the site, intended to fall in line with the above-listed principles.

In both renderings, townhouses and lowand mid-rise housing surrounded central green space, while employee housing and community and commercial uses were proposed in a “community hub” located on

What was missing from each concept was space for racket sports facilities. That omission struck a nerve with dozens of passionate WRC supporters who turned up to a June 2022 council meeting to advocate for the inclusion of a racket sport facility within the resort.

“With these two alternative development concepts, I think it’s important to remember that these were created just as tools to think about the site, to make it easier for all of us and for the community to consider what could happen on the site, and provide their thoughts on what were the best things, what’s missing, what do they really want to see [from the proposals],” said RMOW manager of planning John Chapman in a presentation to council on Feb. 21.

As Chapman explained, the RMOW sought public feedback about the concepts through several avenues last summer.

to maintain existing courts or to build the world-class tennis facility conceptualized three-and-a-half decades ago. Instead, the developer is proposing the construction of mixed-residential housing that would become Whistler Village’s newest—and, most likely, final—enclave.

Council initially endorsed an enhanced, three-phase rezoning process to guide the consideration of plans for 4500 Northlands in March 2021.

Phase 1 saw RMOW staff carry out community engagement that ultimately informed a list of six “guiding principles” for

the southeast portion of the site. Each plan called for underground parking and minimal roadways, and emphasized connections to the existing trail network for foot and bike traffic.

The proposed building heights in both concepts included two- to three-storey townhouses on the northern and eastern portions of the site, four- and six-storey residential buildings in the southwest, and an 11-storey residential building in the northwest, which would make it among the tallest buildings in Whistler. The municipality pegged the maximum bed-unit potential for the parcel at 832.

An online questionnaire yielded 365 submissions, while 180 members of the public attended an in-person open house at Myrtle Philip Community School on June 13. RMOW staff also hosted pop-up community engagement sessions at the Farmers’ Market, Meadow Park and the Whistler Public Library, as well as a series of 16 “digital lunch chats” conducted via Zoom.

Municipal staffers also presented to a range of local committees.

WHAT DID THE COMMUNITY HAVE TO SAY IN PHASE 2?

Analyzing the results of that public engagement paints a picture of conflicting perspectives throughout the community: some claimed the lot’s prime, central location isn’t an “appropriate” spot to build employee rental housing, or expressed concerns “the

VIEWS An aerial view of the Northlands site north of Whistler Village.

“I think it’s important to remember that these were created just as tools to think about the site...”

- JOHN CHAPMAN

development will only compound the capacity issues created by the unconstrained growth already in place,” while others praised the high-density plans and building heights. One commenter said they felt the proposal “is too much for the space,” while another called the concept “very appealing.” Dozens upon dozens of responses condemned the exclusion of a racket sport facility, while others noted “a private tennis facility is not a public community amenity,” and said Whistler “needs housing, not tennis.”

Still, a few common themes emerged.

Employee housing was the clear winner when it came to priority land use, followed by large-scale recreation facilities. Commercial space for small, independent local shops was rated the lowest priority, with a world-class tennis facility rated the second lowest.

Asked “what building forms and sizes should be prioritized?” the majority of questionnaire respondents agreed “a mix of forms including some taller buildings that allows for more open space and community uses” would be best.

“People in the community really liked space that was welcoming to locals and visitors. They liked the inclusion of employee housing. We heard a lot of positive feedback on how the site design prioritized active transportation—active movement, rather than vehicle and car space,” Chapman explained. “Folks commented positively on the variety and scale of the buildings and the way the site design sensitively used the natural topography and the amenity stream.

“We also heard lots of things that people didn’t really like and lots of comments on what was missing,” he added.

Aside from the oft-mentioned exclusion of a racket sports facility, many respondents felt the concepts presented did not propose enough employee housing, Chapman said. Additionally, many locals felt open space or amenities included in the new development shouldn’t replicate existing offerings in the community, for example at nearby Whistler Olympic Plaza.

“We heard as well the concepts maybe don’t optimize density on the site,” Chapman added. “So that was great. That’s been helpful information.”

In terms of recreation facilities, the report presented to council on Feb. 21 marked a vast departure from the previous staff report, which failed to mention the WRC even once.

In response to the question “should a dedicated tennis/pickleball facility, like what currently exists, be a priority inclusion for the site?” 55 per cent said “yes,” compared to the 39 per cent that said “no” and the five per cent that said they didn’t know.

Though many advocated for maintaining the current courts, others called for a new, scaled-down version of the WRC to be built within the new development, while others suggested having the property developer contribute to the construction of a new facility off-site, with Spruce Grove, Meadow Park or Cheakamus raised as possible locations.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Whistler council voted Tuesday to proceed with Phase 3 of the project, which calls for the development of a preferred rezoning concept for the site, followed by another round of community engagement once that plan is

ready to be shared.

“I think we’re anticipating that the preferred concept will retain the preferable elements that were identified during Phase 2; it will address those key directions, but it will probably look different,” said Chapman.

For example, the RMOW “would want to support the rezoning request for a change in the market accommodation component of the development, from existing hotel to residential,” Chapman added, as well as pursue an increase in the amount of employee housing proposed and support “further investigation of a rightsize destination recreation facility” with tennis and pickleball courts.

RMOW staff will also host a new mix of online and in-person events, including an open house where the community will be invited to learn about the proposal and share feedback, as well as other online opportunities for community members to review the proposal, ask questions and provide feedback directly to municipal staff. In addition, a public hearing will take place prior to council’s third reading of a zoning bylaw for the site.

A timeline for when that community engagement might take place was not immediately available.

Tuesday’s discussion prompted Coun. Jessie Morden—Whistler’s first locally bornand-raised elected official—to look to the past for perspective.

“I remember when I was a little kid and the newer part of the village was being built, and it was scary,” she recalled. “And we were scared that we would lose that sense of community, but over the years, it’s been a great addition to the community and I just hope that this project integrates [similarly] into Whistler.”

WHAT DOES WHISTLER’S MAYOR HOPE TO SEE BUILT ON THE NORTHLANDS SITE?

Following Tuesday’s report, Mayor Jack Crompton appeared to side with those calling for higher-density plans for the site.

“Whistler is a beautiful open valley with all kinds of space set aside for recreation and nature, and gravel lots in the middle of town are a limited resource,” he said. “I’m convinced we should optimize their use for Whistler worker housing as much as we possibly can.”

The mayor also offered a glimmer of hope for the approximately 50 tennis and pickleball proponents in attendance for Tuesday’s council meeting, eager to see their interests represented in amended development proposals for the site.

“I look forward to seeing what the recreation facility looks like—I think a lot of people do,” he said. “And I hope it is able to deliver for all of our community. I hope that it’s a great space for racket sports, but also the existing bubble is useful for all manner of things, and I look forward to seeing something that really most members of our community can imagine themselves using and being a part of.

“I think Coun. Forsyth said it well for me: No less than what we have, as far as the recreation amenity is concerned,” Crompton concluded. “That’s really guided my thinking as we’ve considered this.”

- With files from Braden Dupuis and Brandon Barrett n

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OFFICIALS APPROVE DEVELOPMENT PERMIT FOR WHISTLER BLACKCOMB’S SIX-STOREY, 66-UNIT APARTMENT

BY BRANDON BARRETT

ELECTED OFFICIALS this week paved the way for construction to begin on Whistler Blackcomb’s (WB) long-awaited Glacier 8 apartment building, a project nearly five years in the making that will add dozens of units of staff accommodation to the base of Blackcomb.

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, council greenlit a development permit authorizing the sixstorey, 66-unit apartment—with several conditions attached. Called “Building 8,” the apartment will be added to WB’s existing staff housing complex at 4800-4814 Glacier Lane.

Vail Resorts, WB’s parent company, is aiming to begin construction as early as this spring, and, at least according to local officials, it can’t come soon enough.

“I hope they can get into the ground soon and get going. It’s very needed,” said Councillor Cathy Jewett.

Considered under the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) Private Employee Housing Initiative, the project was first floated in 2018 as a way to help address Whistler’s longstanding housing shortage. Vail Resorts submitted a rezoning application for the site, nestled between lots 6 and 7 in the Blackcomb Benchlands South neighbourhood, in 2019. Since then, the core elements of the project

have largely remained, although minor changes have been factored into the design, such as relocating the entrance to a planned communal space.

The proposed building will be similar in architectural style to WB’s other Glacier Lane buildings, although it is slightly taller, which RMOW staff said would have “minimal” visual impact on the adjacent properties. Once completed, Glacier 8 will feature 60 two-bedroom units with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities,

four accessible one-bedroom units, and two studio units earmarked for “temporary respite,” all on 3,956 square metres of gross floor area.

The facility will also include a number of shared amenities, including 100 m2 of common space on the ground floor, two shared laundry facilities, a large covered outdoor terrace, and an outdoor seating area with a firepit.

Fourteen additional parking stalls will be integrated into the site, which is lower than what would typically have been required

for a development of this scope. As part of the zoning that was eventually adopted for the site, the RMOW allowed for the reduced parking on the condition that WB make a $1.08-million fee-in-lieu contribution to help cover the transit costs associated with the project. Glacier 8 will also include two universally accessible parking stalls in front of the building’s main entrance, as well as two electric-vehicle charging kiosks.

Representing about 200 new beds, Glacier 8 is the largest injection of employee beds Whistler has seen in years—although it still only represents a small fraction of WB’s 4,000-plus workforce. When the project was first announced five years ago, WB said it housed 31 per cent of its staff internally. With the addition of Glacier 8, the company will house more than a third of its workforce.

“This is an important piece of addressing our housing needs, as we all know—and the sooner the better,” said Mayor Jack Crompton at the Feb. 21 meeting. “I am enthusiastic about voting in favour of this.”

Among the conditions placed on the project that are yet to be fulfilled are: a landscaping security of $190,742; a restoration of vegetation disturbed by the project’s construction; and the protection of existing trees and forested areas on the site in accordance with the Tree Preservation Plan attached to the project. n

HEADS IN BEDS An overhead view of the proposed site where Whistler Blackcomb’s new 66-unit Glacier 8 staff housing apartment will be located in the Blackcomb Benchlands South neighbourhood.

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE RMOW

Whistler ‘staring down the barrel’ of its ambitious 2030 climate goals

THE RESORT HAS BEEN LAGGING BEHIND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS FOR YEARS; GETTING THERE IS GOING TO TAKE INNOVATION AT THE RMOW AND A SEISMIC SHIFT IN OUR BEHAVIOURS

BY BRANDON BARRETT

FOR YEARS NOW, every time Whistler’s mayor and council have heard updates on the resort’s ambitious 2030 climate targets, staff comes with the same message.

“It’s challenging that every time we get this report, we read that Whistler is not meeting its targets. We have eight years to knock off 50 per cent [from 2007 GHG emission levels] and it’s daunting,” said Councillor Arthur De Jong at the Feb. 21 regular meeting of council. “It’s a very, very daunting goal, and I hope within this term we’ll receive one report that says we’ve turned the corner. It’s audacious.”

Whistler’s elected officials had a frank discussion at the Feb. 21 meeting that considered what it’s actually going to take for the resort to hit its environmental targets by the turn of the next decade, and while the ideas floated were varied, council and staff agreed: the time for drastic action is now.

“High-income cities and towns such as ourselves have an outsized responsibility to tackle greenhouse gas emissions,” said the

RMOW’s climate action coordinator, Maria Thorlakson, before stressing the need for urgent action by quoting Juergen Voegele, VP for sustainable development at the World Bank Group: “Action now is possible, action

Plan at the Feb. 21 meeting, which contains nine overarching goals divided into climate mitigation and climate adaptation.

The most pressing of those mitigation goals is undeniably the first one on the list:

“We mentioned the largest source of our emissions comes from passenger vehicles, so I think transit and alternate modes of transportation are up there on our list,” she said. “They’re also difficult to implement, so that magic wand would be useful.”

While the municipality doesn’t have any concrete local data, studies across the globe have shown that improving the frequency and efficiency of public transit is a significant motivator in getting drivers out of their cars.

now is necessary and urgent, and action now is where we should focus our efforts.”

The past year at municipal hall was marked by the RMOW’s consolidation of two major environmental plans: the Community Energy and Climate Action Plan and its Big Moves Strategy, intended to streamline the resort’s environmental efforts and move Whistler closer to its climate goals. Council heard an update on progress towards its revamped Big Moves Climate Action Implementation

“Move beyond the car.” In 2021, Whistler’s GHG emissions returned to pre-COVID levels, largely attributed to a return of passenger vehicle emissions, which made up 52 per cent of the 126,903 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted in the resort that year.

Asked what single initiative of the 180 recommended in the RMOW’s consolidated climate plan she would implement first if she had “a magic wand,” Thorlakson didn’t hesitate: improving transit service.

“The research from every other location around the world is important to consider as we do this work,” said Mayor Jack Crompton following Tuesday’s meeting. “The evidence is extremely strong that robust transit systems drive a reduction in the use of singleoccupancy vehicles.”

In order for that to work locally, however, “We really have to work on making sure that the buses are faster than driving,” added municipal CAO Ginny Cullen, “so if there’s traffic, looking at things like a queue jumper lane.”

SEE PAGE 20 >>

“It’s challenging that every time we get this report, we read that Whistler is not meeting its targets.”

- ARTHUR DE JONG

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On the active transportation front, another idea that has been floated is a dedicated bike lane.

“I think we can do that fast. It’d be wonderful to have an express bike lane through the valley, and as fast as we can practically adopt electrification, the better,” De Jong said.

For as crucial as it is for Whistlerites to shift their habits, whenever discussing climate action in the resort, it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room: as a global ski destination, we rely on long-haul visitors to travel by plane or vehicle. The problem is, however, while the RMOW estimates visitor emissions to be “significantly larger” than residents’ output, it has never been fully captured. The RMOW wants to change that.

“One of the first steps here is to quantify our visitor emissions,” Thorlakson said. “It will help to inform our decision-making and have more directed actions.”

Asked how the RMOW would go about measuring tourists’ carbon footprint, Crompton said the municipality already has a general sense of vehicle emissions through car counters situated south of Function and at Blueberry, and the municipality is hopeful to get a handle on flight emissions from destination visitors as well.

“That’s why it’s one of the priorities that we need to be able to put our arms around, to figure out what we have agency to control,” Cullen added.

Policy is but one tool the RMOW hopes to

utilize in its push to 2030. The municipality said it also wants to “lead by example” on a number of environmental fronts in order to inspire and influence visitors. One of the more impactful examples Whistler is looking to set is through its electric-vehicle infrastructure. There are currently 25 municipal EV chargers in the resort, with plans for more, and the RMOW is also converting the light-duty vehicles in its fleet to electric.

“We’re really looking to lead by example and show that Whistler is an EV-friendly community, and we can do that by driving

around in these vehicles ourselves and showing that we can still complete the work that a municipality needs to do with them,” said Thorlakson.

After passenger vehicle emissions, commercial buildings are the next biggest contributor to Whistler’s emissions, and the RMOW also has plans, thanks to a recent Community of Practice grant it received, to pick up efforts it began pre-COVID to get resort hotels onboard with retrofitting their facilities to enhance energy efficiency.

“This is a big area we want to address,”

Thorlakson said.

On the residential side, the RMOW said it has had 19 applications to its RetroFit Assist program, which offers free counsel to eligible homeowners to upgrade their home heating systems, although only three of those applications are active. The municipality has set a target of reducing residential building emissions by 20 per cent and from large commercial buildings by 40 per cent in the next eight years.

Along with the myriad specific climate actions it has recommended, the RMOW also plans to better “apply climate change projections into decision-making at municipal hall, as well as integrating future climate considerations into the RMOW planning process and daily workflow,” Thorlakson said. And as the municipality continues to think big on its own efforts to adapt to climate change, so too does the community at large, said Coun. Jen Ford.

“It is a scary time to be staring down the barrel of 2030. I just think there are so many things we need to support each other in. One of the things I often hear is, ‘Well, it’s OK, my vehicle is electric.’ We have to think bigger,” she said. “We have to think about life differently … We have to think about tourism differently and how we travel differently. This is a challenge for all of us to approach everything we do differently and think about way beyond our own conveniences. Living our lives differently than we have is a huge task and it’s very scary—and we need to do it.”

For more information, visit whistler.ca/ climate-action/big-moves. n

BIG QUESTIONS The Resort Municipality of Whistler is seeking to better quantify greenhouse gas emissions from visitors to the resort as it works towards its emission reduction targets.

FILE PHOTO BY BRANDON BARRETT

I T , S T I M E

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‘The culture has to be saved’

MEET TWO LIL’WAT CULTURAL TECHNICIANS WHO HAVE DEVOTED THEIR LIVES TO PRESERVING THE NATION’S RICH CULTURE AND HISTORY

BY BRANDON BARRETT

FOR JOHNNY JONES, the work of preserving the Lil’wat Nation’s cultural and historical sites was less a job than it was a calling.

“It’s just a way of life to me. It’s the way I was brought up,” said Jones, who worked for more than 30 years as a cultural technician in the Lil’wat’s Lands and Resources Department before his retirement in 2021.

But it was long before then that Jones was set on the path that would come to define his life’s work.

“It all started when I was a young boy, back in ’69, when I first saw our house being dismantled by non-natives and being taken away. That’s when I realized that the culture has to be saved. Everyone was being taken away back then,” he remembered.

But not Jones. From an early age, Jones impressed his family with his curiosity and innate ability to unearth long-forgotten cultural sites, like the rock painting he discovered at the tender age of seven on a hill near where the Pemberton Industrial Park now sits. He would marvel at the paintings, drawing what he saw to show his father and peppering him with questions about what they meant.

“I was questioning my dad, why all the

paintings are out there, and he was telling me some people training to become medicine men would leave their mark on the land, using paint with red ochre or a fungus from the fir trees there,” Jones said.

Soon enough, a decision was made: recognizing Jones’ gift, his family would prevent him from being sent to residential school so he could continue his cultural training from home.

“My grandpa was a medicine man … and he knew that I had something to pass on, so he told my parents not to send me to residential and that they wanted to teach more cultural stuff to me,” recalled Jones.

Throughout his career, Jones and the Lil’wat Land and Resources Department have helped preserve more than 200 archaeological sites on the Nation’s territory, and repatriated dozens of cultural items from museum collections, like the stone pieces and baskets returned to the Nation from the Pemberton Museum and a 565-year-old twin fish bowl repatriated from a Vancouver museum.

“When I’ve been travelling around the country to different tribes, I notice a lot of artifacts that come from here. I say something about it and people return them,” Jones said. “That’s how a lot of artifacts are being returned.”

If it was Jones’ job to locate and protect the Lil’wat’s cultural sites and items, it was Lex Joseph’s role to interpret and contextualize their significance. A Lil’wat elder who also worked as a cultural technician with the Lands and Resources Department until his retirement, Joseph called himself the Lil’wat’s “in-house advisor” on stories and legends.

“We spend a lot of days in the field, and those are the exciting parts, like when we find

SEE PAGE 24 >>

ON THE TRAIL Retired Lil’wat cultural technician Johnny Jones posing with a pictograph depicting a moose and three goats.

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a rock painting or a culturally modified tree,” he added.

Today, there are only three known cave paintings remaining on Lil’wat land, after several sacred pictographs depicting legends and marking ancient burial sites were destroyed more than 30 years ago to make way for new logging roads, an act that precipitated the 1990 roadblock at Ure Creek and led to the arrests of dozens of Lil’wat protesters. In discussing their meaning, Joseph said, “A lot of the rock paintings were made by children [depicting] their prepubescent dreams.”

One of the Nation’s most important archaeological discoveries came in 2016, when researchers carbon-dated a site next to the Birkenhead River that showed it had been occupied by the Lil’wat between 300 and 1,100 years ago, and was used as a seasonal camp as far back as 5,500 years ago.

Although he’s technically retired, Jones said he will be back at another archeological dig planned for this summer, and he’ll have the next generation of Lil’wat cultural technicians in tow.

“Now I’ll be starting to attend meetings again and doing another archeology dig and trying to keep passing on the cultural knowledge to the people and the younger generations. Even the older people need to re-learn,” said Jones, adding that he has trained “at least” two dozen young Lil’wat over the years to carry on this vital work.

“A lot of our tribal members who are older

than me don’t even know our culture, and I was so lucky to be brought up in our cultural ways. They’ve been sent to residential and been brainwashed by the schools.”

Joseph welcomed the next generation of

cultural experts, adding that he’s happy to continue offering guidance wherever he can.

“I am excited about their involvement and wish them good luck,” he said. “When we started, we didn’t have any guidance from

6 WEEKS STARTING MAY 15

anyone, but the new ones coming after us have plenty of background resources in our office and in our mapping.

“It’s very important to provide future generations a cultural link to their past.” n

ON THE TRAIL Left: A spear point discovered on Lil’wat territory in 2012. Right: The exterior of a twin fish sculpture repatriated from a Vancouver museum collection to the Lil’wat Nation.

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Whistler Institute looking ahead to 2023 programming

REGISTRATION FOR SPRING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES OPENED ON FEB. 22.

BY MEGAN LALONDE

FOR THE WHISTLER INSTITUTE, the beginning of a new year is usually reserved for planning.

Specifically, planning out the events and initiatives the organization wants to bring to reality in the months ahead. The non-profit is carrying out that phase this year with the added comfort and security provided by an influx of new funding at the end of 2022.

That includes a $10,000 gift from local legends Bob and Sue Adams, which supplements additional contributions from the privately-held Raindrop Foundation (its donations to the Whistler Institute have now reached a total of $110,000 since 2018) and funding from the McLean Group, which in 2021 committed to providing $25,000 annually to the Whistler Institute over a fouryear period.

“I’d just like to reinforce how grateful we are to receive the donations that we have,” explained Whistler Institute executive director Suki Cheyne.

Being able to count on those funds coming in “is essential” for planning programming ahead of time, she added. Especially at this stage of 2023, “it provides some security for the rest of the year” and functions as the operating fund required to allow staff to take the time required to write thorough grant applications, Cheyne said.

Private donations represent one of several fundraising vehicles that help make it possible for the Whistler Institute to develop new, local education initiatives, with other opportunities like government grants, foundation grants and fees for service (like registration costs) also contributing to the pot. The outside support also “reinforces the belief that we have in our mission … to bring lifelong learning and learning opportunities to the local community,” Cheyne added.

The Whistler Institute launched in 2012 as the Whistler Education Group, with the goal of providing a wide variety of learning opportunities within the Sea to Sky corridor. Since then, the Institute has delivered 45 different courses to nearly 500 students, and is continuing working to develop even more offerings within the resort.

“So for instance, this year, one of the areas we would like to look at is early childhood educator training,” Cheyne explained. The funding “gives us the opportunity to investigate and explore that area further.”

This spring, the institute will also host two more accredited professional development courses in Whistler through its partnership with the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT): A “Presenting and analyzing data with MS Excel” course takes place on Tuesday evenings beginning April 11, while a Thursday-night “Managing employee performance and conflict” course kicks off on April 13. Registration opened for

those courses—which are both taught by local instructors—on Feb. 22.

The courses would be ideal for Whistlerites who recently “started a new role or who have new responsibilities, where they need to use Excel in the workplace or if they’re starting to manage people or are planning to manage people,” Cheyne explained. “It’s going to impart skills and knowledge that they’re going to need to do their jobs.” The courses are aimed at building capacity and helping develop Whistler’s local workforce, Cheyne added.

New potential course topics the institute is currently exploring include full-time early childhood educator (ECE) training, Cheyne explained, while the organization also plans to continue working with local First Nations to once again deliver Indigenous & Intercultural Awareness programs in the coming months.

The institute is also preparing to host a mountain resort community housing symposium in late April as part of its Global Speaker Series. The Series has presented discussion-based events to more than 2,500 participants (some virtually, some in person) over the last four years.

The housing discussion in particular will be held “in collaboration with Canada West Ski Areas Association,” Cheyne explained. “We’re adding a session to the last day of their spring conference, and intend to make that session open to the general public.”

Something the Whistler Institute would like to do more of, she added, is “where there are visiting conferences—you’ve got all this knowledge and all these incredible specialists in Whistler—is making that knowledge and some of those specialists available to a local community, so that that knowledge doesn’t just come here and disappear with the conference, but it gets shared with the local community as well.”

Also in 2023, the Whistler Institute hopes to work on spinning its Global Speaking Series into an intimate “Salon Series” that’s currently in development. The intent, said Cheyne, is to offer local audiences the opportunity to hear from an industry expert before attending a social to further discuss the topic at hand.

To learn more about Whistler Institute programming or support the organization’s initiatives with a donation, visit whistlerinstitute.com. n

“I’d just like to reinforce how grateful we are to receive the donations that we have.”

- SUKI CHEYNE

Village of Pemberton backs bylaw limiting shortterm vacation rentals going into OCP review

RESIDENTS INVITED TO SHARE FEEDBACK AT OCP OPEN HOUSE ON MARCH 6

BY DAVID SONG

GOOGLE “Whistler short-term rentals” and you will find a bevy of options, including some truly extreme offerings. Take, for instance, a nine-bedroom chalet on Alpine Crescent that—at the time of this writing—goes for an exorbitant $10,000 per night. Vacation rental companies like Airbnb have made a fortune in the Sea to Sky corridor as locals and newcomers have struggled for years to put an affordable roof over their heads.

Not wanting Pemberton to be overrun with pricey short-term rentals, in 2017, officials began the process of amending the local zoning bylaw. After extensive community input, the modified bylaw was adopted in July 2018.

Part of the current bylaw states that the number of short-term vacation rental licenses available in a calendar year shall not exceed five per cent of the total number of singlefamily dwelling units located in each of Pemberton’s neighbourhoods.

Those wishing to operate a vacation rental must first apply for a license. If approved, they must also sign a Good Neighbour Agreement indicating that they will obey noise and

parking guidelines in their area.

Going into the current Official Community Plan (OCP) review, Mayor Mike Richman and Sheena Fraser, manager of corporate and legislative services for the Village of Pemberton (VOP), both believe that the fiveper-cent cap is here to stay.

The rationale behind the policy was—and is—straightforward: preserve Pemberton’s inventory on the long-term rental market so that locals have an easier time finding stable residences. Quality of life was also a

A five-per-cent limit is meant to achieve a happy medium: safeguard Pemberton’s housing landscape while being considerate of differing values and business initiatives.

Pemberton has only one bylaw officer, and thus is unable to proactively enforce all of its bylaws. While VOP staff try to monitor local activity on the short-term rental market, they depend on residents to report any illegal or non-sanctioned rental activity within village borders.

In 2017, Pique reported that most

and all the way down to Whistler,” said Fraser during the Feb. 7 council meeting. She believes that the number of locals wanting to operate an Airbnb has somewhat diminished over time as people lose interest in regularly cleaning their properties or hiring others to do so.

“All in all, I feel like we’ve struck the balance [with the five-per-cent cap],” Richman opined. “Like any policy, though, we’re going to keep an eye on it. We all know that our housing situation is dire.”

Fraser concurs, noting that many Pembertonians have been taking their homes off the rental market for various reasons. Some landlords prefer to accommodate friends and family members instead of strangers, while others have been burned by irresponsible or uncooperative tenants.

key consideration, as councillors believe that people who chose to move into residential neighbourhoods should not have to deal with a carousel of visiting outsiders or the possibility of vacation properties turning into raucous party hubs on their streets.

At the same time, elected representatives recognized that the sharing economy is not going to disappear any time soon. They reasoned that a total ban on short-term rentals would likely cause landlords to take their business underground, employing illicit methods that would be more difficult for authorities to track.

Pembertonians seemed to be either ignorant or dismissive of rules surrounding vacation rentals at the time. Today, Richman feels that the current policy has served its intended purpose, citing relatively few complaints and a similarly low number of illicit “underground” rentals in the area over the last four or five years.

Additionally, there are fewer vacation rentals in the village than one might assume.

“If people go on Airbnb’s website and [search up] Pemberton, it shows that there can be up to 150 spaces, but what we’ve generally seen is: that reflects all the way up to D’Arcy

The VOP’s policy on short-term rentals has remained largely the same since its introduction, as have prevailing attitudes about the overall issue. According to Fraser, councillors rejected a 2022 motion to increase the cap beyond five per cent. Nonetheless, the bylaw will be re-evaluated this year.

“I look forward to the conversations in the OCP review to hear if people’s attitudes have changed, if they feel that our policy is either too tight or not tight enough,” Richman said.

The VOP is hosting an open house on its OCP review on March 6 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Pemberton and District Community Centre.

Read more about Pemberton’s OCP review and share feedback at haveyoursay. pemberton.ca/ocpreview. n

UNDER REVIEW The Village of Pemberton is hosting an OCP open house on March 6.

FILE PHOTO BY HARRISON BROOKS

“All in all, I feel like we’ve struck the balance [with the five-per-cent cap].”

- MIKE RICHMAN

We do all typ e s of returns

Putting profit before life is a recipe for disaster

ON FEBRUARY 3, a 150-car train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near East Palestine, Ohio. Close to half the town’s 4,700 residents had to evacuate as deadly gas and smoke fouled the air and chemicals contaminated waterways.

Fortunately, no people were killed (although at least 3,500 fish perished), unlike in the devastating 2013 runaway train explosion that levelled the town of LacMégantic, Quebec, killing 47 people.

BY DAVID SUZUKI

These and other railway disasters have something in common: the elevation of profit over safety. Trains are getting longer and heavier, with smaller crews. They also use air brake systems invented in the 1860s.

In 2014, the Obama administration proposed safety regulations to require speed limitations, minimum two-person train crews and electronic braking systems on U.S. trains carrying hazardous materials. Electronically controlled pneumatic braking systems can stop cars evenly and more quickly than sequentially applied air brakes, which can cause cars to jam into one another and derail.

Companies including Norfolk Southern, which operated the train that derailed in Ohio, lobbied against the regulations, because they would “impose tremendous costs.” Most were watered down to apply only to trains carrying crude oil, and in 2017, the Trump administration “killed provisions requiring rail cars carrying hazardous flammable materials to be equipped with electronic braking systems.”

“ECP brakes would have avoided that monster pile up behind the derailed car,” former senior Federal Railroad Administration official Steven Ditmeyer told USA Today. “In fact, depending on when the crew got the (error) notice from the wayside detector, applying the ECP brakes would have stopped everything very quickly.”

While laying off workers and lobbying against safety rules, railway operators including Norfolk Southern paid out US$196 billion (adjusted for inflation) in buybacks and dividends since 2010, far more than the $150 billion they spent on infrastructure, Surface Transportation Board chair Martin J. Oberman said in a 2021 speech. Norfolk Southern made a record $12.7 billion in revenue last year, and paid lobbyists $1.8 million. At least 20 of its derailments since 2015 have released chemicals.

In an economic system that rewards rapid growth and wealth accumulation (for the few), putting profits above safety is business as usual for many companies. In the 1960s, Ford Motor Company knew its Pinto’s gas tank could rupture and explode in rear-end collisions. It had patented a safer gas tank, but lobbied against a government safety standard and went ahead with the unsafe model.

In 1977, after some horrific deaths and injuries, Ford made minor alterations to meet the standard. According to Mother Jones, “Ford waited eight years because its internal ‘cost-benefit analysis,’ which places a dollar value on human life, said it wasn’t profitable to make the changes sooner.” Ford determined that a human life was worth about US$200,000 and that making the improvements (for about $11 a vehicle), which could prevent 180 deaths and countless injuries a year, was not costeffective.

The article adds, “There are plenty of similar stories about other cars made by other companies.”

These kinds of cost-benefit analyses— along with rushed and inadequate procedures—are common in many facets of production under profit-obsessed economic systems. Often, ignoring safety is costeffective from the cold standpoint of corporate executives. Profits generated usually dwarf the costs of lawsuits against car companies, small fines paid by mining, oil and gas companies that foul waterways or compensation paid by railway companies after disasters.

Many companies face no consequences. Eight years after a tailings dam broke at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine in B.C. in 2014—releasing more than 20 million cubic metres of mining wastewater into surrounding waterways in what is considered one of Canada’s worst mining disasters—two former engineers had to pay $226,500; the company received no sanctions.

Many of the most profitable enterprises are actually rewarded for damage they cause. This is especially true of the fossil fuel industry, which is still raking in massive returns and executive salaries, along with generous subsidies, as its products fuel a crisis that threatens our survival!

What more evidence of systemic failure do we need before we change our ways? It’s abundantly clear that putting profit, endless growth and absurdly excessive, unequal wealth accumulation above environmental and human health, well-being and survival is suicidal.

A better way is possible—and absolutely necessary.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington. ■

Many of the most profitable enterprises are actually rewarded for the damage they cause.

A Quebec winter sojourn

IN 1964, QUEBEC singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault penned “Mon Pays,” whose lyrical turns on cold, snow and ice captured not only the solitude of winter landscapes, but the camaraderie of those who brave them. The song’s theme, Mon pays ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver—my country isn’t a country, it’s winter—may be a de facto provincial anthem, but it’s known throughout Canada, where most can relate to the invernal season.

BY LESLIE ANTHONY

Still, when it to comes to passionate snow aficionados, Quebec is on another level, reflecting not just the ardour of outdoor recreationists, but the joie de vivre that permeates life here, with its art, culture and gastronomy. Basically, winter in Quebec is wonderfully different.

I spent a month in Quebec last week— not in the sense of W.C. Fields’ infamous pejorative, but in that there was simply so much to see and do that one could easily forget how much they’d packed into a day.

Although most of my trips to Quebec revolve around alpine skiing, this time our group was à la recherche de broader palette of activities. We started in Lanaudière region northeast of Montreal, at the Val Notre-Dame monastery. Designed by renowned architect Pierre Thibault, this masterpiece of wood and

slate stands in harmony with the surrounding 187 hectares of wooded hills. The monks known for Oka cheese settled here in March, 2009. As a result, the Magasin de L’Abbaye offers a range of handmade cheese, meats and other local products (pickled quail eggs!), many of which derive from the forest. Taking a snowshoe tour in a storm with a master bushman, we learned about many of these— particularly Sapin baumier, or balsam fir, used to flavour almost anything. Indeed, we landed at a yurt in the woods where a chef (the bushman’s wife, it turns out) was shilling sapin-flavoured sausages wrapped in bannock

wait (apparently white-with-fish, red-with meat applies even while obtaining dinner). From the numinous depths came spunky speckled trout which, before they’d a chance to freeze, sizzled in a pan behind us; as imagined, they tasted heavenly fresh.

Late afternoon we’d set out for our evening destination, driving through endless forest punctuated by the church steeples marking every village in Quebec. Somewhere in the wilderness we reached the log-palace aerie of Hôtel Sacacomie. Checking in—conducted outside on the deck with its commanding view of Lake Sacacomie and its cradle of

the winter forests of my Ontario childhood. More because we paired up to ride and drive the sled over several kilometres with a full team of eager but disciplined dogs. Unlike the usual pedestrian version of dog-sledding, we ripped through the forest and ran uphill with the dogs out, occasionally tipping the sleds around corners and generally having a blast figuring out how/when to let ’em run and when to brake.

and dressed in a sapin mustard and foraged berry sauce, washed down with chaga tea (a fungus found on birch).

A more traditional lunch ensued at Auberge du Lac-à-l’Eau Claire in neighbouring Mauricie region, a classic Canadian lake-lodge. The food was good, but all our attention was on the lake— some 25-kilometres long and so extraordinarily clear in summer you can see 10 metres to the bottom. We couldn’t see anything through the lake’s metre of ice and the snow curtaining down, but we were actually here for that which couldn’t be seen. Manning a little wooden tipper beside an augured hole, we each scrunched a piece of worm onto a hook (sorry, worm), and sat down with a glass of white wine to

ancient, hardwood-pelage mountains—was a treat. First order of business was the ritual downing of maple whisky in a shotglass made of ice, throwing it over a shoulder into the forest below and making a wish; mine was that I didn’t hit anybody—or a moose. Next was retrieving our room keys—frozen in iceblock decorations hung from a tree; once you found your number you smashed the ice with a hammer to liberate the key. Just about then, the storm was cleared off by a bully sunset, scattering us to the hot and cold comforts of Sacacomie’s Nordic Spa.

The next-day’s dog-sledding on the Sacacomie’s network of trails was exceptional—and not just because it resonated

The afternoon was a lesson in survival in the bush in winter, and those who materialized to lead it could only be found in Quebec: 70-something Gaspar appeared truly a man of the previous century, bedecked in an antique coat of sea otter with a raccoon/beaver hat… flanked by his son in a onesy snowmobile suit. While junior instructed us on lighting a fire with birchbark, carrying a whistle and Labrador tea to brew, Gaspar explained the contents of a trapper’s cabin, and how beaver skins were tanned with bear brains—perfect prelude to eating hot maple rendered into taffy sticks on snow. This was le vrai chose, yet we were only scratching the surface. Mostly because Gaspar was just getting started: his old-school speeches ranged from an emotional tribute to the region to treatises on First Nations (“Amerindians,” in his oldschool parlance), to Americans liberating the world, to little Jesus creating everything, to logging, trapping and existential gratitude. “Life,” he concluded, sweeping his arms wide as another molten sunset turned the surrounding snow fuchsia, “is beautiful.”

If that wasn’t joie de vivre, I don’t know what is.

Next time: Quebec City and the Saguenay region.

Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based author, editor, biologist and bon vivant who has never met a mountain he didn’t like. ■

The afternoon was a lesson in survival in the bush in winter, and those who materialized to lead it could only be found in Quebec...

SLICE OF LIFE Maple whisky in ice shot glasses. That’s joie de vivre!

PHOTO BY LESLIE ANTHONY

THE PEAK VALLEY RACE RETURNS

TO WHISTLER

BLACKCOMB THIS MONTH AFTER A PANDEMIC HIATUS

BY G.D. MAXWELL

If, taking the argument a bit further, you like sliding down, say, Whistler or Blackcomb, it’s probably fair to guess you enjoy the free-flowing thrill of long runs. Varied terrain. Top to

Maybe you even like to slide fast, conditions permitting. Engage in a bit of friendly

Those very thoughts, perhaps unconsciously, perhaps not, were going through Dave Murray’s head one day in the early 1980s. Crazy Canuck Dave and his loving wife, Stephanie Sloan, were standing atop Whistler Mountain. As Stephanie recalls it, “David and I used to ski top to bottom together. We loved doing it. It was a challenge. Our legs would burn and it was just pure fun. So, one day, standing on the peak, looking down at Creekside through the tips of our skis, we were thinking, wouldn’t it be great to have a race from top to bottom and set gates and make it exactly the way you’d ski it naturally… but throw in a little control so people wouldn’t

bottom. Non-stop. Good weather. Challenge weather. competition with your sliding buddies. Or just challenge yourself. doing just fun. a little kill themselves going straight?”

“Wouldn’t it be great?” Of course it would. almost—giant slalom race in the world.

And thus was born, a few years later, Whistler’s Peak to Valley race, the longest—well

OK, the Südtirol Gardenissima race at Val Gardena in Italy is, technically, longer—six kilometres as opposed to 5.6 km. But its vertical is just over 1,000 metres and they set somewhere in the neighbourhood of 110 to 115 gates. By comparison, the full Peak to Valley race drops around 1,385 m and frequently includes upwards of 180 gates. No offence, Val Gardena,

technically, they race drops 1,385

but , sounds a little light to me. ooh and aah course run courses compelled secure under two minutes and women’s under a minute-and-ahalf on a shorter course, well, it makes a guy wonder why they

Of course, either race makes you wonder about the World Cup/Olympic races we all about. While the Peak to Valley runs, good weather or bad, on a course we all ski regularly, which is to say highly variable, World Cup races run on courses that have been fussed over like a Hollywood starlet’s makeup on Oscar night. Safety systems are so extensive, racers feel compelled to push the boundaries of human endurance, secure in the knowledge they may end a career but probably not a life. And with the men’s time usually

even bother holding them on big mountains. Yawn. race history. In addition to the Peak to Valley, there’s a rich, historical lore of races. Like the largely underground Sextathalon—six skiing disciplines, , all skied on the same skis—and storied races like the Saudan Couloir. Whistler has a history of balls-to-the-wall ski racing that makes World Cup like the Peak to Valley. And best of all, it’s back! After a COVID hiatus, the race is back for its 37th running this year, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb.

Consider Whistler Blackcomb’s real including moguls and a on downhill seem like a debutante cotillion.

But there’s nothing 25. Still time to get your teams together. you can

Murray believed in racing as the gateway to both being a better skier and getting greater enjoyment from the sport. He also believed everyone should have a chance to race and have fun doing so. The Peak to Valley was envisioned as a citizen race, open to all, lots of fun. can race in it. Me too. Anyone. Any age. The race is run by teams of four; two on Friday, the other two on Saturday. In the early days, to encourage older skiers to join in, one member of the team had to be over 35. As race fever caught on, that was

dropped.

For most of its run, teams had to have at least one member of the opposite gender. Still do today. Teams are categorized according to their cumulative age and compete in age-bracketed groups. In 2020, the youngest category was 150 years and under, the oldest 250 years and up.

Four members; you do the math.

Two favourite strategies for winning your category are including a ringer, generally a recently retired or still carded racer, or larding up with seniors who can still rip it up, there being no shortage of fast skiers in this town in their 70s, and even in their 80s. As a sidenote, the oldest Peak to Valley racer was 92 when he ran his last race! Racers run over two days—oldest racers go first, youngest last—and start 60 seconds apart. Passing is permitted and frequent.

While speed is always a good strategy, the single most important element of this race is simply finishing. It’s a tortoise-hare kind of thing. You can be blindly fast, but if you miss a

single gate, your run and team is disqualified. No bragging rights; no glory.

But all is not lost. If you miss a gate—so many ways to do that—you can stop, make your way back uphill to a point above the gate you missed, go through it and keep on truckin’. Same if you fall. Your time won’t be great, but your team effort will still count. Glory of a sort but limited braggin’ rights.

Everybody and their spouses head up to the Roundhouse for a rip-roaring party on Saturday night—frequently a continuation of the party that started Thursday night—where the overall winners of the race are awarded the coveted Stephan Ples trophy and the winners of the oldest age category are awarded the even more coveted Dave Murray trophy, both of which were graciously donated by Fred Zeilberger, a Peak to Valley legend, to

honour his two friends.

For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re someone who enjoys sliding down snowy mountains. Should describe most of you. Doesn’t matter whether you do it on two boards, one board, free heel or fixed heel, just matters you like the rush of gravity and the small coefficient of friction between well-waxed boards and snow.

Notwithstanding its name, the race has only been run from Whistler’s peak once. One day. Never again. The problem is both the physical challenge of racing from the peak and the logistical challenge of setting a course through Whistler Bowl and keeping errant public sliders out of the

way. Difficult but not impossible.

John Kindree, who has been one of the course setters since the beginning, was there on Feb. 5, 1988, the one and only day the race started from the peak. “We were up top by 6:30 that morning, punching gates in down Whistler Bowl. Dave was with us. But as outgoing as he was, we weren’t making much progress. We had to push him to stop talking to people—he was really woman to beat, was lucky enough to be one of the people who started that Friday from the peak. “There were huge, massive ruts right from the start,” she remembers. “Dave Murray was there, like he always was, to send people on their way. It was just so cool and at the same time so terrifying because it was so rutted. Huge, monstrous ruts. And there’s Dave at the top and Dave’s primary focus was always safety and people having fun. The poor guy would tell every person, ‘Just take it easy.’ That’s all he wanted. It was always

outgoing—and keep setting gates,” he says. June Southwell, who for years was the about finishing and being safe.”

Not everyone that day found it safe. Who remembers poor Miss Japan? Well, no one remembers who thought it would be a cool idea to have petite Miss Japan be a forerunner that day. At least no one’s owning up to it. Bob Dufour remembers what happened though. “She was in a pink ski suit. A very pink ski suit. She was very small, very delicate. A tiny, beautiful Japanese woman. She, well, she tumbled… down… all the way down. Pretty much from the top of Whistler Bowl to Shale Slope. It was pretty sad… watching that little pink suit just tumbling, tumbling.”

course was “as good as it gets,” as Kindree recalls. “We’d had perfect conditions for probably a week: sunny, cold. When we set the course, it was clear weather and cold, fast snow top to bottom. We hardly needed grooming even at the bottom. We just slipped things out as the race progressed.”

By contrast, the slowest time ever recorded in the race was 34:32:11 in 2006, over half an hour to cover the same distance. Well, it’s just that kind of race and a record

is a record.

Chris Kent enjoys the distinction of holding the first record. I could tell you what it’s like to ski the course, but Kent can tell you what it’s like to ski the course and win.

“I divide the course into three sections,” he explains.

The first section is from the starting line to the bottom of Old Man. The challenge is to ski fast off the steep pitches and carry your speed onto the flats. It’s tricky. You have to mentally ski the right line. Not go too straight but really race it. In ski racing, it’s a sin to rest your elbows on your knees in a tuck, but in this race, that’s what you try to do so you can actually rest and still be in aerodynamic position.

“Coming off the first section, you’re gliding across the flats before Upper Franz and you’re beginning to really feel your legs. The first time I ran it, about there I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, how can I possibly finish this course?’ This is where you have to start getting tough,” Kent says.

“Going into the first pitch down Upper Franz’s, the course really changes. It gets narrow (not quite half the width of the run is fenced off and open to the public) and steep and the snow texture changes. There’s probably been some melting and freezing and you can get almost anything through there. If there are deep ruts, they seem that much deeper. You have to be right on it. As someone who’s trying to win the race, I go into that section and try and carve for as long as my legs will let me. I find if I can carve several gates past the point where Highway 86 enters Franz’s before I lose it so badly I have to start sliding, then I’m usually going to have a good race.

Weather is always the wildcard. There have been years where the course has been greatly shortened by bad weather. Like, bad enough to close the rest of the mountain to the public. More

So, the starting line changed. The name didn’t. on that later.

you have sliding turns,

“Past Highway 86, my legs begin to turn to jelly. I begin to slide my turns because I’ve got nothing left. It feels awful to be sliding through there, losing speed. I get angry and carve a couple of turns, pick up speed and then have to slide a few. Carve, slide, carve, slide. What I’m really keying on at this point is to hold my line so I can carve off the last pitch.

But on a reasonable year, the course runs from below the entrance to the Saddle, in Glacier Bowl, scoots along the reservoir, down Old Man, Upper Franz, Lower Franz and ends within a beer bottle throw of Dusty’s, 5.6 kilometres of quad-destroying, non-stop fun.

reservoir, Lower

The best time ever posted in a full Peak to Valley race—faster times having been posted over shorter courses—was 4:52:03. That is not a typo; four minutes, 52 seconds, and three one-hundredths of a second. The year was 2000. The

“In the final section, Lower Franz’s is flatter and rolling and widens up. You’re carrying a little more speed through there. The gates are always set so you can carve ‘em, but you really have to dig deep and stay low. By now, I’ve said ‘no way’ about 10 times. Then, finally, you come into the last pitch and can see the finish line. You try to let your skis run and try not to ski so straight you ski off the course. But when your legs are that tired, it’s easy to do if you take too straight a line. Keep focused a couple of gates ahead. Keep your head from bobbing. Keep your legs in powerful position and look ahead. Oh yeah—and breathe.”

The astute reader will have noticed it took longer to read Kent’s description than it actually took him to cover the distance he’s describing.

THE SHORTENED COURSE

Anyone who’s skied here more than a day or two brutally understands the local version of Mark Twain’s quip about New England’s weather: “If you don’t like it, wait a few minutes.”

Historically, weather has been a factor in the Peak to Valley. The official race log for 1991 lists Friday’s weather as “YUCK.” That’s not so bad considering Saturday’s weather was entered as “DOUBLE YUCK.” Yet, even in adversity, or perhaps especially in adversity, there lies mythology.

o’clock

“YP (Peter Young, longtime former events manager for Whistler Blackcomb) called me around 3 o’clock in the morning on Saturday,” recalls Dufour about that year’s race. “The groomers had called him and told him conditions on the mountain were insane. YP said we were going to have to cancel the race. We’d never cancelled the race before and even though it was only a few years into its history, it was already a fixture.”

He continues, “I called the groomers and told them we just had to run the race that day and to do the best they could to groom the course. We ended up closing the rest of the mountain

to the public, but we kept the Gondola and the Olive and Orange chairs running. (Historical note: That’s the original, four-passenger gondola out of Creekside and the two subsequent chairs that took people to the top of the Dave Murray Downhill, neither of which still exist } We had to close the Orange after a while though and ran the racers up to the

with snowcats.”

Cate Webster, Queen of the Peak to Valley for years and in the eyes of many, a true sorceress for pulling it off each and every race, picks the story up. “The first day was horrible. The mountain was so stormy we went to the top of the T-bar to set up and when we brought the start tent out of the trailer the wind lifted it and we found it in June. In Harmony Bowl! We couldn’t even use the alternate start at the top of Old Man. It was raining in the valley, windy and snowing higher up.

“The second day, they closed the mountain. I’m on the radio with [Dufour] telling him he can’t close the mountain, we have a race today and a party tonight and we have to crown some winners. We end up running the Olive Chair and get the snowcats to pick people up at the top and drive them to the start of the course.

“In the midst of all this craziness, one of the competitors decides he’ll just walk up from the chair to the top of the course. Simon

Wirutene was a skier on the New Zealand National Ski Team and he knew he was the last racer of the day. So, he walks up Franz’s, watching all the racers go by, gets to the top, steps into the start gate, clicks into his bindings and cracks off the fastest time of the day. He’s our Maori legend.”

THE DYNASTIES

The Peak to Valley was an overnight success. It captured the spirit of the times and, more importantly, the spirit of the mountain, Whistler, and the man, Dave Murray. It also spawned other legends, including what would become two of the longest-running team dynasties in the race’s 36-year history.

The 1985 race was won by a team called Frankie Goes to the Valley, reputedly named after the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The team consisted of Sue Boyd, who clocked the fastest time of any woman that year, 6:14:23—exactly 20 seconds off Kindree’s fastest men’s time—Bob Boyer and the two men who would prove to be the team’s enduring nucleus: Julien Soltendieck and Shawn Hughes.

Frankie raced as a team, with a few personnel changes—most notably the acquisition of the lightning-fast June Brandon, later Southwell, who had raced with the B.C. provincial ski team— for 16 years. In 11 of those races, they won their age category. In 1985, ’86, ’88 and ’92, they won the whole race. Aside from a disqualification in 1993, the team never finished lower than eighth place, a remarkable feat considering for many of those years they were granting a substantial age handicap to the winners and at least some of them were reputed to be fuelled by substances better left unmentioned, but generally not considered performance-enhancing. Their accomplishment is all the more remarkable considering the team lacked what were generally regarded as ringers.

The team roster boasted more than a few wellknown names around the valley for a year here, a year there. Rob Denham, Eric Pehota, Dean Moffit, Renata Scheib and Kelly Nylander all made appearances. And in 1993, Bob Switzer, who terrorized his age group in most any race he ran and who unfortunately left us last year for that racecourse in the sky, became a permanent fixture.

As noteworthy as Frankie, and perhaps even more in keeping with the race’s spirit of embracing all comers, was another team cobbled together that first year. Qualifying in an older cumulative age category, Beauty and the Beast never won the race. What they did though was dominate their class. For 10 years, with the exception of a single second-place finish, Bob Dufour, Kurt Karka, Fred Zeilberger and, most frequently, Leanne Dufour simply kicked butt.

Bob, who was director of the ski school in the early ’70s and mountain manager until his retirement, explained the genesis of the team. “In Austria, being ski school director is like being a ski

god. I became very welcome with the local Austrians. We’d ski all day and hang out in the parking lot drinking schnapps in the afternoon. I just became one of the crowd. When the Peak to Valley started, I thought it would be a great event to get into so a couple of us got together and formed a pretty consistent team.”

Bob last skied with the team in 1994. His timing was impeccable. The next year, Zeilberger was disqualified and that was the end of the dynasty. “We couldn’t accept defeat,” was Bob’s explanation.

The race has spawned other dynasties that cobbled teams together and consistently finished high in the standings... or at least had a rollicking good time, both accomplishments being at the heart and soul of the Peak to Valley. And there have been teams since—Barry and the Rooster, Blue Ice Wrecking Crew, NZ Foundation Team among them—which have consistently placed high both in their age categories and in the overall standings and with some longevity may be the focus of future storytellers.

THE FINISH LINE

As storied as the Peak to Valley is, it won’t last if it becomes a historical cliché. A good argument can be made that local interest in ski racing is experiencing a sharp decline notwithstanding skiing itself has somehow caught fire once again. While tens of thousands of spectators might crowd the finish of a European World Cup race, North American interests have tended to be drawn to more spectator-friendly events such as skier/boarder cross and freestyle. It has also been a while since Canadian skiers captured the imagination of even recreational skiers.

Still, the spirit of Dave Murray and his hope the race would be one for all ages and all levels of seriousness clings stubbornly to life. “It’s maintained a comfortable balance between competition and just getting out there and doing it and having fun,” Webster observes. “The party still goes off, people are still dancing. It’s maintained that special feeling.”

Bob Dufour adds, “The Peak to Valley’s a very important race. When you look at Whistler Mountain, the length, the vertical, the variety, the uniqueness of Creekside, this is an incredible tradition. You’ve got racers who have been in it for decades. As this place has developed, we find we’re often losing touch with the old traditions, the old-time Whistler. But during Peak to Valley weekend, you can get that feeling back, no matter how modern this place gets. The memories come out that week.

“Whistler’s changed a lot but in the Peak to Valley race, once you’ve crossed the finish line, you stop to talk to your buddies and realize hasn’t changed one bit. For those who’ve been here for a long time, that’s important. And for those [competing in the race for the first time], to see that energy and enthusiasm, it just seems to be catchy. For us, keeping that tradition alive, remembering where we came from, is important.”

In a town that often either ignores or is ignorant of its history, hope springs eternal.

This is an updated version of a feature G.D. Maxwell wrote in 2014. Read it at piquenewsmagazine.com/cover-stories/a-whistler-

tradition-2495452.

DAVE MURRAY AND STEPHANIE SLOAN

Sea to Sky skier Marlie Molinaro continues to push through a milestone season

THE NORDIQ CANADA CROSS-COUNTRY ATHLETE GREW UP IN PEMBERTON AND RECENTLY PLACED 39TH AT THE NORDIC SKI WORLD JUNIORS IN WHISTLER

BY DAVID SONG

OF THE 500-PLUS cross-country skiers, ski jumpers and Nordic combined athletes who graced the Callaghan Valley during the 2023 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in January, only one or two have roots in Whistler or Pemberton. Marlie Molinaro is one of them: a 19-year-old member of Nordiq Canada’s cross-country contingent.

It was a milestone week for Molinaro, who first raced on the trails of the Callaghan when she was seven years old. She hasn’t looked back since. It was also a rare opportunity for her and other Canadian cross-country skiers to compete against international rivals on home soil, as major Nordic events come to North America once in a blue moon.

In fact, 2023 is only the third year in history that Canada has hosted a Nordic World Juniors competition.

“It’s super awesome to have all the teams over here,” Molinaro said during the contest. “Typically, the event is hosted somewhere in Europe, so for everyone to come over here and to be able to race on home turf is incredible.

“It was super cool to have so many friends, family members and Canadian fans out on the trails cheering us on all week.”

Molinaro’s mother, Joanne Den Duyf, won’t soon forget the sight of her daughter hustling through Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) in contention against the world’s best.

“Being able to witness your child compete in a world class event in your hometown is

surreal!” Den Duyf said. “Marlie’s brothers, her grandmother and I really enjoyed cheering Marlie and her teammates on.

“Marlie worked through much adversity to accomplish her goal of competing at this level in Whistler. I couldn’t be more proud. We are grateful to the volunteers for their tireless efforts throughout the event, as many of them are friends.”

Molinaro completed the junior women’s 10-kilometre individual start back on Feb. 2 in about 30 minutes and 15 seconds. That netted her a 39th-place finish against a deep field of Scandinavians, Americans and her fellow Canadians. She admitted to hoping for a somewhat better result, but was pleased overall with her race tactics.

“There’s some super big climbs on this [Whistler Olympic Park] course,” said Molinaro after her race. “So my goal was just to ski the climbs—especially on the first lap— super relaxed and strong, and try and make up some good time on the flats and rolling terrain and really push those super hard. I think I did a good job trying to execute that.”

Above all, the Sea to Sky athlete is ready to level up her game.

“It was extremely motivating to race against the top level of skiers [at the World Juniors],” she said. “I have left Whistler more motivated than ever to train hard with

the hopes of qualifying for the U23 World Championships next year in Slovenia.”

FROM SPUD VALLEY TO ALBERTA

Although she was born in Squamish, Molinaro grew up in Pemberton until her Grade 8 year. She took part in virtually every sport she could find as a child, with the Spud Valley Nordics being just one of numerous extracurricular commitments in her life. In her youth, Molinaro discovered her appreciation for the competitive elements of organized sport, which also brought her quality outdoor time with friends.

Eventually, she had to choose between

Even so, she is deeply grateful for her time with the Whistler Nordics. “Growing up, I had so much fun training and travelling to races with my teammates,” she said. “They’ve definitely influenced me as an athlete.”

After high school, Molinaro moved across the Rockies to represent the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) headquartered in Canmore, Alta—the last Canadian city to host the Nordic World Juniors in 1997. Since its beginnings in 2008, the AWCA has graduated eight athletes to Team Canada, with six competing in the 2010 or 2014 Winter Olympics. It has so far been a productive environment for Molinaro to sharpen her skills among equally driven peers.

“Marlie has been able to adapt to her environments, her teams and her coaches well,” said Den Duyf. “She has made sacrifices and continued on in a sport with a high attrition rate.”

Last month, six other AWCA athletes— Xavier McKeever, Amelia Wells, Ry Prior, Sonjaa Schmidt, Max Hollmann and Anna Stewart— joined Molinaro at the World Juniors. McKeever had the best outing of the bunch, statistically, with two top-16 results in individual races and a sixth-place finish in the mixed team relay.

skiing and soccer, and knew that her future lay on snow instead of grass.

“I love working toward goals, getting to spend so much time outside in the mountains with my friends and pushing myself as hard as I can,” she said.

As the young Pembertonian began to take cross-country skiing more seriously, she realized that she would need a higher level of training. That’s why she moved to Whistler, where she honed her craft throughout much of high school. In Grade 11, Molinaro switched organizations again to the Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club, where she was able to train with a bevy of fast girls around her age.

All gained valuable experience for the future, and they did so together.

“It was super cool to experience World Juniors with so many of the people in my daily training environment,” Molinaro said. “Having such strong teammates to motivate and push you to be better every day is awesome.”

The one-time Pembertonian is pushing to perform at two more high-level contests this year. Next up are the Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown, P.E.I., followed by the Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ont. Molinaro has higher aspirations than just cracking the top 40 at these events—she wants a podium or two. n

STEPPING STONES Marlie Molinaro of Nordiq Canada was born in Squamish, but has trained for clubs in both Pemberton and Whistler.

PHOTO BY NATHANIEL MAH/COURTESY OF NORDIQ CANADA

“It was extremely motivating to race against the top level of skiers [at the World Juniors].”

- MARLIE MOLINARO

Allied Winter Sports Camp hosted by Soldier On returns to Whistler

THE EVENT INVITES ILL AND INJURED MILITARY VETERANS FROM CANADA, THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM TO PARTICIPATE IN NORDIC SPORTS

BY DAVID SONG

FOR THE FIRST TIME in three years, the Allied Winter Sports Camp (AWSC) hosted by Soldier On is returning to Whistler.

Up to 20 active duty soldiers and retired veterans from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are joining roughly 20 others from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom in the Sea to Sky corridor to bond and engage in active rehabilitation through sport. From Feb. 22 to March 1, each participant will have the chance to engage in various Nordic sports like bobsledding, sledge hockey, alpine snowboarding, and downhill and cross-country skiing.

Soldier On is a CAF program with a mandate to help ill and injured service members recover from their ailments or reintegrate into civilian life by way of various athletic and creative activities. According to the organization’s website, it has supported more than 10,000 soldiers and veterans since 2007.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a hiatus to the AWSC, a break that took its toll on numerous service members. Fortunately, the event is back.

“It’s been exciting that we are able to provide these programs again to our members, and all these opportunities that have really impacted a lot of them,” said Vasiliki Zobolas, communications and outreach manager for Soldier On. “The whole point of Soldier On is to get ill and injured members together, so that they can have a community. When COVID hit, a lot of [soldiers] reverted back to that lonely, dark space they were in.

“The fact that we were able to put these events back on together to continue our mission has been extremely valuable.”

Soldier On’s relationship with Whistler goes back to 2010. During that year’s Paralympic Winter Games, the organization participated in a Paralympic summit and was later introduced to the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program (WASP). Soldier On and WASP began an official partnership in 2013.

Last time out in February of 2020, two special guests joined the Soldier On veterans for a game of sledge hockey: former Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan and local MP Patrick Weiler.

Zobolas has high praise for Whistler, both for what it is and what it has brought to numerous service members over the years.

“I think it’s just the beauty of Whistler is—it embodies what everyone envisions Canada to be,” she said. “It is this winter town, and it has all these activities happening. The climate also is more beneficial than it would be, for instance, in [our organization’s] hometown of Ottawa. We don’t necessarily have the greatest climate when it’s -40 in Ottawa, so I think Whistler provides the best of both worlds in that aspect.”

Any soldier is trained to work as part of a team. By bringing together service members from multiple nations in a group athletic context, Soldier On is able to reinforce the sense of camaraderie that they are accustomed to from the armed forces. Canadians who genuinely take to any given sport have an opportunity to go one step further.

Each year, Soldier On develops the roster that Team Canada sends to the Invictus Games, an international multi-sport event founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex specifically for sick and wounded soldiers. Twenty-four Canadian athletes recently wrapped up their first training camp at CFB Esquimalt on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in preparation for this year’s Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany.

“We’ve just met with the team and from the week [of training], we were able to see that spark of camaraderie and teamwork that I think a lot of them have been missing for quite some time,” said Zobolas after she and her colleagues joined the veterans at CFB Esquimalt.

That very same competition is coming to Whistler in 2025, giving Canadian servicemen and women a chance to represent their country in a meaningful new way.

Make no mistake, though—one need not be an athlete or a sports lover to find community with Soldier On. The program also offers various creative activities, like art, music and cooking lessons, for those so inclined. Many of these tutorials went virtual during the pandemic, ensuring that veterans had some way of engaging in relevant hobbies and staying connected to one another.

“The goal is just to remind people that as much as they might feel like they’re in their recovery alone, we are offering them [a source of] camaraderie,” Zobolas said. “It’s honestly remarkable to witness these members becoming friends—they reach out and they’re engaged with each other.

“That is really what this is all about: finding that sense of community that [some soldiers] have felt like they’ve lost in exiting from the Canadian Armed Forces and going back to civilian life.” n

ALLIES IN SPORT Participants at the 2020 Allied Winter Sports Camp pose for a photo.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SOLDIER ON

For Whistler sushi chef Koji Chiba, the key to a perfect meal is in the details

FORMER NAGOMI CHEF OFFERS HIGH-END, OMAKASE-STYLE PRIVATE TASTINGS FOR THE DISCERNING SUSHI LOVER

BY BRANDON BARRETT

OVER THE COURSE of his career, Japanese chef Koji Chiba has had the chance to serve a list of distinguished dinner guests that would intimidate even the most seasoned cooks.

“I used to work at a five-star hotel in Tokyo and I served the Emperor of Japan, the King of Sweden, the G8 summit, and lots of VIP people in the world,” said Chiba.

Now, Whistlerites can enjoy the VIP treatment themselves thanks to Chiba’s new venture: high-end, omakase-style private tastings for the discerning sushi lover.

After seven years at Nagomi Sushi in the Upper Village, Chiba decided it was time to set off on his own. “It was time to leave to do it myself as a business. That was one of my dreams when I was kid, and also to be a sushi chef, too,” Chiba explained.

Visiting the sushi restaurants dotting the West Coast, Chiba couldn’t help but notice there weren’t many places doing sushi the traditional Japanese way. He saw an opportunity.

“I thought, ‘I should do the traditional style in North America, plus mix in the essence from the North American culture, like sushi rolls. Then I can add my essence as well,” he said. “It’s gonna be the perfect match, especially in Whistler.”

The result is an exquisite, multi-course culinary experience that blends Chiba’s penchant for traditional techniques and ingredients with the quality seafood that can be found in B.C.’s waters. An accomplished

key to a perfect meal is in the details. It can be years before chefs in Japanese kitchens are even allowed to prepare sushi in front of guests, first being tasked with perfecting the art of sushi rice.

“Like 90 per cent of sushi is the rice,” Chiba said. “Three years only making the sushi rice. Then the next seven years, just prepping in the back. After 10 years, finally we can make sushi in front of customers. Can you believe that?”

meat) is placed over top. Throughout our two-hour tasting, we will sample myriad different nigiri—everything from uni (sea urchin) and cuttlefish to yellow-tail Hamachi and succulent, A5-grade wagyu beef that melts in your mouth like butter. Then it’s time for the sashimi, and we enjoy thinly cut slices of sockeye salmon and surf clam before moving on to a dish with origins in Cantonese cuisine: steamed Vancouver Island lingcod caught by Chiba’s friend and topped with a bold black bean sauce. Then there’s a comforting bowl of miso clam soup and an assortment of palate-cleansing Japanese pickles before the dessert course: a subtly sweet green tea crème brulée served in beautiful, Pemberton-made ceramics.

fishermen in his own right, Chiba will sometimes catch his own fish, like the white king salmon he caught from Campbell River that wound up on our plate for a recent tasting at Chiba’s home. And if he can’t find it in B.C., he won’t hesitate to ship it directly from Japan.

“Local fishermen can only get certain high-cost ingredients, like crab, salmon, halibut—the kind of specific fish that only they caught,” Chiba said. “Most Japanese love to eat lots of kinds of fish, so if we would like to use other species of fish here, it’s really hard.”

Like any great sushi chef will tell you, the

As inconceivable as it may be, that emphasis on craft is evident in each course Chiba serves us. My lunch guest and I are lucky enough to sample a pared-down version of his usual 18-course (or more!) tasting, a flurry of complementing and contrasting flavours and textures. We start things off with a hot bowl of chawanmushi , a delicate and savoury egg custard topped with Hokkaido scallop, prawn and a rich sauce made from B.C. Dungeness crab. Then it’s on to the nigiri , which roughly translates to “two fingers” because the rice is molded by hand before a slice of raw fish (or, sometimes,

All in all, it is an experience that tantalizes the senses with every bite, bringing you ever more into the present moment, which is the goal of any omakase menu. A Japanese phrase meaning “I’ll leave it up to you,” omakase asks the diner to entrust their meal to the chef. But more than that, at the root of omakase is an expectation for innovation and surprise, as much an artistic performance as it is a meal that is best enjoyed by simply going along for the ride.

“When customers taste my sushi, they are going to change the world,” Chiba laughed. “They taste it and they know the difference.” For more information, or to book your own private tasting, visit chiba-privatechef.com. n

A CUT ABOVE After seven years at Nagomi Sushi in the Upper Village, Japanese chef Koji Chiba has launched his own business offering high-end, private sushi tastings to Whistler diners.

PHOTO BY BRANDON BARRETT

“When customers taste my sushi, they are going to change the world.”

- KOJI CHIBA

MEADOW PARK SPORTS CENTRE SWIM • SKATE • SWEAT • SQUASH

OPEN DAILY: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, February 25.

F FLEXIBLE REGISTRATION

Flex-reg’ classes have a  separate fee and allow you to register for classes on the days that fit your schedule.

R REGISTERED FITNESS

Registered fitness classes have a separate fee and a defined start and end date.  Pre-registration is required for the entire set of classes.

I INCLUDED FITNESS These classes are included  with your price of admission for no extra charge.

ARENA SCHEDULE

Please see whistler.ca/recreation for the daily arena hours or call 604-935- PLAY (7529)

Whistler landscape painter finds inspiration in Antarctica

MEG O’HARA RECOUNTS HER EPIC JOURNEY WITH SOI FOUNDATION IN DECEMBER

BY ALYSSA NOEL

IT TOOK MEG O’HARA three minutes to reply to an email invitation asking if she’d like to join the SOI Foundation on its trip to Antarctica a mere two-and-a-half weeks later.

“Two people were faster than me,” she says with a laugh.

The Whistlerite was the only artist invited to set sail with the organization—which aims to connect youth and nature to help inspire a more sustainable future—on the expedition for three and a half weeks last December.

“There were a wide variety of people chosen—and from all three coasts,” she says. “They had people coming from all over Canada. I was the only artist, which made it pretty interesting. We would have these conversations around science and the importance of polar regions and the impact of climate change on polar areas. I’m the only one going home and creating paintings about them.”

Part of her immediate desire to join the trip was due to the series she’s currently working on about ancient ice in Canada.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity,” she adds. “Coming from such a cold place with glaciers everywhere, we’re spoiled [in that] all year round we can see ice. I definitely credit Whistler with making me fall in love with ice. A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to go the places I go—ski tour up the Spearhead Traverse or go on an ice breaker trip or go to Antarctica—but the lessons are valuable for everyone.”

O’Hara—who, in 2021, earned a

join the 29 other countries with consultative party status to allow for greater influence and scientific contributions to the area.

“We’d have a say in what happens on the continent,” O’Hara says. “We’re in a pretty unique position as a polar nation. We have the longest coastline in the world … and we have a ton of land in the Arctic, scientific research goes on up there and we have Indigenous knowledge of polar regions. So we’re in a unique position to be part of the treaty.”

was like, ‘You have to get out.’”

Art-wise, the cold made it hard for O’Hara to make use of the watercolours she brought along too often. (Typically she prefers acrylic on canvas.) But she was sure to take studio sketches and photos to bring home for future paintings.

“The mountains are iconic down there; they shoot straight out of the ocean, but what interested me the most was ice and the icebergs,” she says. “There were two main types of ice—the glaciers on the shoreline and the ice sheets.”

The icebergs, in particular, captured her imagination.

BCBusiness 30 under 30 award—came away from the trip armed with plenty of interesting scientific facts about the planet’s leastpopulated and southernmost continent. For one, it houses 90 per cent of the world’s ice.

“It’s the forefront on climate change,” she says. “The polar regions are three or four times more affected by climate change than the rest of the world.”

The continent also adheres to the Antarctic Treaty System, which ensures its environmental protection, use for science, and peace. This year, Canada is hoping to

Aside from her new range of knowledge, O’Hara also had some pretty unique experiences. She saw penguins close up (and learned first-hand about their foul smell), experienced nearly 24-hour daylight (save for a few hours of dusk), and she got to experience the ultimate polar bear dip.

“I’ll ice plunge all year long in Nita Lake,” she says. “But 0 C is so cold. Because of the salt content, it doesn’t freeze, but it’s close to freezing. It’s a bit like swimming in a slushy; the water is viscous. Not to brag, but I lasted the longest. I lasted a minute and the doctor

“When an iceberg floats by, you can decipher its life based on how it looks,” she says. “You can see a line of sediment, you can see where it was parallel to the ground or what part has been weathered by the water. Or you can just tell which iceberg is brand new, which just broke off from a glacier. There’s no way of saying this without sounding cheesy, but they look like sculptures that are carved by nature.”

The first part of O’Hara’s ancient ice series will debut at The Artist Project in Toronto in April. To see some of the pieces, keep your eye on her website at megoharacreative. com or Instagram at instagram.com/ megoharacreative.

For more on the SOI Foundation— which has expeditions for youth—visit soifoundation.org/en. n

TIP OF THE ICEBERG Whistler artist Meg O’Hara gleaned inspiration for her series on ancient ice during an SOI Foundation trip to Antarctica last December.

PHOTO BY MEG O’HARA

“The mountains are iconic down there; they shoot straight out of the ocean...”

- MEG O’HARA

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Marcus Mosely Ensemble brings uplifting performance to Whistler

CATCH THE 12-PERSON GROUP AT THE MAURY YOUNG ARTS CENTRE ON FEB. 26

BY ALYSSA NOEL

MARCUS MOSELY wants to get one thing out of the way.

The Marcus Mosely Ensemble might perform gospel music—along with R&B, jazz, and even a few Beatles and Bob Dylan songs— but that music is for everyone.

“We’re cast as a gospel group, but we’re not evangelical,” he says. “We’re not trying to convert anybody. We love the musical form. I draw it from my background having grown up during the civil rights era. We sang gospel designed to sing about social issues and compassion.”

In short, “It’s about spirit; it’s about joy, love, humanity, and good music,” he adds.

Mosely, who lives in North Vancouver, has performed in various groups over his long, accomplished career. Recently, he had the final concert of The Marcus Mosely Chorale, which included about 70 singers and spanned a decade.

Now, the 70-year-old BC Entertainment Hall of Fame inductee is focusing on the ensemble—which features 12 people—and his solo work.

“We had the final concert for my choir— the chorale—back in May,” he says. “It was just time to do that. I wanted to slow down a little bit and take some of the work off my team’s shoulders. It’s much easier to wrangle 12 people than 70, especially if you want to make little trips here and there touring— like coming up to Whistler—it’s much more challenging bringing 70 than 12.”

The ensemble has performed a handful of

shows since pandemic lockdowns lifted, but during that time, Mosely found a new way to use his voice.

“I got this phone call from someone who did an animated series for children, for preschool kids, called ABC with Kenny G,” Mosely says.

The Canadian show features a cat named Kensington—voiced by Mosely—who performs music at the Milk and Cookies jazz club.

“They asked me to audition for it, and I got the job,” he says. “I did two seasons of it … One day I’d go in and sing a calypso song. The next day country, and the next day jazz. The next day something else. It was quite a range. The musical director had quite an imagination. I was nominated for a Leo award for that industry for animated voicing. I didn’t win, but I was nominated. It was a nice introduction to the voiceover world.”

Now back on stage, Mosely is looking forward to a performance in Whistler on Sunday, Feb. 26, with the ensemble, featuring gospel songs celebrating Black History Month, as part of the Arts Whistler Live! performance series.

“It’s going to be a good time and hopefully an inspiring time,” he says. “If we’re very lucky, there will be a little bit of healing people will feel. They’ll hear something musically or through the music that offers some comfort or healing. Some people are still carrying hurt or the sense of isolation or loneliness. By being in a group together and hearing music, maybe it can be comforting or healing as well.”

Catch the Marcus Mosely Ensemble at the Maury Young Arts Centre on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available at showpass. com/aw-live-mme. n

GOSPEL FOR ALL The Marcus Mosely Ensemble performs at the Maury Young Arts Centre on Sunday, Feb. 26.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

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PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond. FIND MORE LOCAL EVENT LISTINGS (and submit your own for free!) at piquenewsmagazine.com/local-events

BARBED CHOIR

FEB24-MAR 5

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

BARBED CHOIR

Do you love to sing? Do you love meeting new people?

Do you like all types of rock music, new and old? Come out and sing with Barbed Choir, Whistler’s rock choir. Meetings are drop-in, no registration or experience necessary. This Sunday, the choir is singing Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac.

> Sunday, Feb. 26

> Whistler Public Library

> Free

> More info at whistlerlibrary.ca/event/barbed-choir

MOTOWN ON MONDAYS

Massages

Sea to Sky Locals

SAVE 15% off all treatments at The Spa at Nita Lake Lodge

*Excludes RMT - locals flat rate of $155 available

Body Services

Facials

Esthetics

Medi-Spa

Motown on Mondays celebrates the sound of soul & funk every Monday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Playing original 7’’ soul & funk records with DJs Foxy Moron, Soul Club and Vinyl Ritchie.

> Monday, Feb. 27

> The Raven Room

> Find more info on Facebook (MOTOWN ON MONDAYS | The Raven Room)

Seeking Poetry

THE WHISTLER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY PRESENTS: MATHIEU-CHUA DUO

The dynamic duo of Veronique Mathieu, violin, and Stephanie Chua, piano, are celebrated for their dramatic sense of expression, balance and poise. Blending their distinctive personalities together to create a singular musical voice, they seek to contribute to the evolution of classical music as well as forge new connections between composers and audiences.

> Sunday, March 5

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> Adults $25; youth (20 and under) $20

> Find more info and tickets at whistlerchambermusic.ca/concert/mathieuchua-duo

FIVE ALARM FUNK

Some bands want to change the world. Five Alarm Funk’s goal is much simpler. They want you to sweat. The iconic funk rockers return to the resort for a longoverdue night of wild debauchery at the Maury Young Arts Centre on Saturday, March 4.

> Saturday, March 4

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> $25

> Find tickets at showpass.com/aw-live-funk

www nitalakelodge com/spa @spaatnita 604-966-5715

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and the Public Art Committee invite submissions of unpublished, original poems for the 2023 Poet’s Pause poetry competition.

The Resor t Municipality invites submissions of unpublished, original poems for the 2023 Poet’s Pause poetry competition

The poems will be displayed at the two Poet’s Pause sculpture sites in Alta Lake Park Writers are invited to submit poems for one or both of the display sites. The poems should respond to the theme selected for each site, listening and togetherness.

Poems are due Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 3:00pm and should be submitted to resortexperience@whistler.ca Lear n more at whistler.ca/PoetryCompetition

Resor t Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca

FILE PHOTO BY DAVID BUZZARD/DAVIDBUZZARD. COM

*Proof of full-time residency in the Sea to Sky (Squamish to Pemberton) required

Pendulum Magic

Do

1984: The Molson World Downhill

BY ALLYN PRINGLE

WHEN WHISTLER held its first World Cup Downhill race in 1982, the course ran from the top of the Black and Orange Chairs, down through the Double Trouble rollers, the Pony Trail Flats, Tokum Corner, the Elevator Shaft and across Crabapple Creek to the finish line in view of the recently completed Whistler Village. This was, however, the only World Downhill to run this course, and in 1984 the course returned to the south side of Whistler Mountain.

The race in 1984 followed the same course as had been planned for the World Downhill in 1979. It began near the top of the Orange Chair, coming down the run now known as Dave Murray Downhill and ending above today’s Creekside area. The course was prepared by hundreds of Weasel Workers, volunteers who bootpacked, slide-slipped and carefully maintained the race surface, as well as working the course during training runs and the race itself.

Spectators were encouraged to come and watch at both the race itself on March 11 and at the training races in the preceding days. Organizers with the multi-day festival Winterfest offered a VIP viewing experience for Winterfest patrons, who were flown by helicopter to a prime viewing location on the mountain where they could enjoy a champagne brunch before being flown back down to the valley. For those who didn’t have a spare $1,000 to become a patron, organizers printed a guide to viewing locations along the course. From Double Trouble near the top of the course, spectators could expect to see racers come down the starting pitch and tuck before disappearing beyond Toilet Bowl. Racers would be going pretty fast, and spectators watching from the finish could see the racers push themselves to make up any

lost time. Highly recommended was Coach’s Corner, with a sharp turn and a section requiring good technical ski skills.

Whistler was the last stop for the 1984 World Downhill. This meant that by the time the World Cup came to town and Winterfest began, many of the racers were well known even to those who didn’t usually follow the circuit. Franz Klammer of Austria and Crazy Canuck Steve Podborski were fan favourites, especially as this was to be Podborski’s final race before retiring at the end of the season. On March 11, however, it was the American skier Bill Johnson who came in first. This was the third World Downhill win for Johnson, who had also taken gold at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo.

According to the Whistler Question, the race was a success “in terms of excitement and technical difficulty,” though the start was postponed twice due to fog. Some of the top skiers of the season didn’t finish the race, including Erwin Resch of Austria, who had a serious fall but still came in second in the overall downhill standings. The top Canadian results came from Todd Brooker, who finished fourth, and Podborski in fifth. This race also marked the end of local skier Rob Boyd’s first World Downhill season.

While the course in 1982 drew complaints from some racers, reactions to the 1984 race and surrounding events were mostly positive, although the snow did soften throughout Sunday, making for some tough conditions for those later in the line-up, and reports of the race admonished spectators who chose to boo Johnson at the finish. Nonetheless, hundreds gathered in Mountain Square to cheer for the racers at the official ceremony. Joey Lavigne, the Canadian Men’s Downhill coach, even told Winterfest organizer Tony Formby that “Whistler had the bestrun event on the whole 10-race World Cup downhill circuit.” n

SPEED RACERS Spectators watch the course from the finish line.

GEORGE BENJAMIN COLLECTION, 1984

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

Closing date is March 3, 2023

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR A PERMANENT CHANGE TO A LIQUOR LICENCE

ESTABLISHMENT LOCATION: 1045 Millar Creek Road

LICENSE TYPE: Manufacturing Licence - Brewery

APPLICANT: Whistler Brewing Company

Whistler Brewing Company is a manufacturing licensed establishment with a brewery lounge endorsement with hours of service of 11 a m -1 a m Monday through Sunday The licensee has applied to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB) to permanently change the brewery lounge endorsement to add a 15 person capacity outdoor patio.

Residents and owners of businesses may comment by writing to: Resort Experience, Planning Department

Resort Municipality of Whistler

4325 Blackcomb Way, Whistler, BC V8E 0X5

planning@whistler ca

PETITIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

To ensure the consideration of your views, your written comments must be received on or before Saturday March 25th 2023 Your name(s) and residence address (or business address if applicable) must be included

Please note that your comments may be made available to the applicant and local gover nment officials as required to administer the license process

Free Will Astrology

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 23 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Philosopher John O’Donohue wrote a prayer not so much to God as to Life. It’s perfect for your needs right now. He said, “May my mind come alive today to the invisible geography that invites me to new frontiers, to break the dead shell of yesterdays, to risk being disturbed and changed.” I think you will generate an interesting onrush of healing, Aries, if you break the dead shell of yesterdays and risk being disturbed and changed. The new frontier is calling to you. To respond with alacrity, you must shed some baggage.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Right-wing religious influencers are rambling amok in the United States. In recent months, their repressive pressures have forced more than 1,600 books to be banned in 138 school districts in 38 states. The forbidden books include some about heroes Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, and Rosa Parks. With this appalling trend as a motivational force, I encourage you Tauruses to take inventory of any tendencies you might have to censor the information you expose yourself to. According to my reading of the astrological omens, now is an excellent time to pry open your mind to consider ideas and facts you have shut out. Be eager to get educated and inspired by stimuli outside your usual scope.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I think we can all agree that it’s really fun to fall in love. Those times when we feel a thrilling infatuation welling up within us are among the most pleasurable of all human experiences. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do it over and over again as the years go by? Just keep getting bowled over by fresh immersions in swooning adoration? Maybe we could drum up two or three bouts of mad love explosions every year. But alas, giving in to such a temptation might make it hard to build intimacy and trust with a committed, long-term partner. Here’s a possible alternative: Instead of getting smitten with an endless series of new paramours, we could get swept away by novel teachings, revelatory meditations, lovable animals, sublime art or music, amazing landscapes or sanctuaries, and exhilarating adventures. I hope you will be doing that in the coming weeks, Gemini.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The scientific method is an excellent approach for understanding reality. It’s not the only one, and should not be used to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. But even if you’re allergic to physics or never step into a chemistry lab, you are wise to use the scientific method in your daily life. The coming weeks will be an especially good time to enjoy its benefits. What would that mean, practically speaking? Set aside your subjective opinions and habitual responses. Instead, simply gather evidence. Treasure actual facts. Try to be as objective as you can in evaluating everything that happens. Be highly attuned to your feelings, but also be aware that they may not provide all facets of the truth.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is there anything in your psychological makeup that would help you do some detective work? How are your skills as a researcher? Are you willing to be cagey and strategic as you investigate what’s going on behind the scenes? If so, I invite you to carry out any or all of these four tasks in the coming weeks:

1. Try to become aware of shrouded half-truths. 2. Be alert for shadowy stuff lurking in bright, shiny environments. 3. Uncover secret agendas and unacknowledged evidence.

4. Explore stories and situations that no one else seems curious about.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The country of Nepal, which has strong Virgo qualities, is divided into seven provinces. One is simply called “Province No. 1,” while the others are Sudurpashchim, Karnali, Gandaki, Lumbini, Bagmati, and Janakpur. I advise Nepal to give Province No. 1 a decent name very soon. I also recommend that you Virgos extend a similar outreach to some of the unnamed beauty in your sphere. Have fun with it. Give names to your phone, your computer, your bed, your hairdryer, and your lamps, as well as your favorite trees, houseplants, and clouds. You may

find that the gift of naming helps make the world a more welcoming place with which you have a more intimate relationship. And that would be an artful response to current cosmic rhythms.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you aimless, impassive, and stuck, floundering as you try to preserve and maintain? Or are you fiercely and joyfully in quest of vigorous and dynamic success? What you do in the coming weeks will determine which of these two forks in your destiny will be your path for the rest of 2023. I’ll be rooting for the second option. Here is a tip to help you be strong and bold. Learn the distinctions between your own soulful definition of success and the superficial, irrelevant, meaningless definitions of success that our culture celebrates. Then swear an oath to love, honour, and serve your soulful definition.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The next four weeks will be a time of germination, metaphorically analogous to the beginning of a pregnancy. The attitudes and feelings that predominate during this time will put a strong imprint on the seeds that will mature into full ripeness by late 2023. What do you want to give birth to in 40 weeks or so, Scorpio? Choose wisely! And make sure that in this early, impressionable part of the process, you provide your growing creations with positive, nurturing influences.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I recommend you set up Designated Arguing Summits (DAT). These will be short periods when you and your allies get disputes out in the open. Disagreements must be confined to these intervals. You are not allowed to squabble at any other time. Why do I make this recommendation? I believe that many positive accomplishments are possible for you in the coming weeks, and it would be counterproductive to expend more than the minimal necessary amount on sparring. Your glorious assignment: Be emotionally available and eager to embrace the budding opportunities.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Actor Judi Dench won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the film Shakespeare in Love—even though she was onscreen for just eight minutes. Beatrice Straight got an Oscar for her role in the movie Network, though she appeared for less than six minutes. I expect a similar phenomenon in your world, Capricorn. A seemingly small pivot will lead to a vivid turning point. A modest seed will sprout into a prismatic bloom. A cameo performance will generate longterm ripples. Be alert for the signs.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Most of us are constantly skirmishing with time, doing our best to coax it or compel it to give us more slack. But lately, you Aquarians have slipped into a more intense conflict. And from what I’ve been able to determine, time is kicking your ass. What can you do to relieve the pressure? Maybe you could edit your priority list—eliminate two mildly interesting pursuits to make more room for a fascinating one. You might also consider reading a book to help you with time management and organizational strategies, like these: 1. Getting Things Done by David Allen. 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. 3. 15 Secrets Successful

People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “What is originality?” asked philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Here’s how he answered: “to see something that has no name as yet, and hence cannot be mentioned though it stares us all in the face.” Got that, Pisces? I hope so, because your fun assignments in the coming days include the following:

1. to make a shimmering dream coalesce into a concrete reality; 2. to cause a figment of the imagination to materialize into a useful accessory; 3. to coax an unborn truth to sprout into a galvanizing insight.

Homework: What’s something you would love to do but were told never to do by someone you loved? Newsletter. FreeWillAstrology.com

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

In-depth

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

Wellness Studio Office Space/

Room for Rent

In

•

•

Fairmont Chateau

RE-USE-IT CENTRE Donations daily

10 am to 4 pm

•

Email

Whistler Resort is growing its Housing portfolio and sourcing additional Chalet and Condo Rental contracts for our Hotel Team Members. Our leaders are mature, career driven drivers that know the word respect. Contract terms for property Owners are stress free with no commissions and includes representation from our 4 person fulltime Housing Department working with you 24/7; maintaining all aspects of the tenancy including quarterly inspections. A great next move for Whistler property Owners that have tired with the Airbnb game or Property Fees. Let’s see if we can make a match and develop a long-term relationship here. General inquiries please email mark.munn@fairmont.com

Accepting pre-loved clothing, gear and household items. Shopping daily

10 am to 6 pm 8000 Nesters Road 604-932-1121

RE-BUILD-IT CENTRE Donations daily

10 am to 5 pm

Accepting pre-loved furniture, tools and building supplies

Shopping daily

10 am to 5 pm 1003 Lynham Road 604-932-1125

Visit mywcss.org and our social channels for updates.

PERKS:

We've Got You Covered

piquenewsmagazine.com/ local-events/

FullTime

SouthVancouverIsland-SomethingDifferent! workingwithourteamtomake yachtsshine,insideandoutsideexperiencenotrequired-enthusiasmis abilitytoworkatheights,inconfinedspaces,overthewater,in teamsorsolo,physicallydemanding,liftingofreasonableweight(50 lbs),communicatewellinEnglish, withbasiccomputerskills driver’slicense&PleasureCraft Operator’sCardassetsbutnot critical startingwage$22.00perhourwith benefitsafter3-months yachts@philbrooks.com https://philbrooks.com/

PembertonVeterinaryHospitalRegisteredVeterinaryTechnician ThePembertonVeterinaryHospitalis seekinganRVT(orequivalent)tojoin ourteam.Thepositionisparttime,but thereispotentialforfulltimeworkfor therightcandidate.Wecurrentlyhave asmallteambutthepracticeisgrowingwiththeadditionofanothervetthis year.Theidealcandidatewillbepassionateaboutveterinarymedicine, havetheabilitytoworkaspartofa teamandindependently,andthrivein abusyclinicenvironment.Wageand workscheduleisnegotiablebasedon experienceandthecandidate.Benefits includelicensingdues,CEallowance andmedical/dentalcoverage.604-894 -1119laura@pembertonvet.com www.pembertonvet.com

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Needsomeextramoney?Come playhats!

DuetoinjuryTheWhistlerHat GalleryLtdislookingforanother casual/parttimeemployee.Weofferflexibleworkdaysandstart timesbetween10am-10pm.

Perfectjobforamaturelongterm locallookingtoonlyworkadayor twoaweekorsomeonelookingto workaroundtheirfulltimejob. Funandbusyworkenvironment, discounts,monthlystaffbonuses andcompetitivewage. Locallyownedandoperated. nicole@whistlerhatgallery.com

Kanna@whistlerhatgallery.com

HopePointSummerCook

Privateestatewouldliketofillthefollowingpositionforthe2023season. SummerCook.JunethroughSeptember.Averaging40hoursperweek. Prepareorganic,wholesome,mealsincludingfamilypicnicsandbarbeques, fortheowners,theirfamilyandguests. Bakingasrequired.Keepthekitchen, pantryandfoodareascleanand stocked.Youwillalsooverseethe kitchensupportstaff. Asyourworkhoursvaryfromdayto day,youwillbeprovidedroomand board.Youwillbeabletogooffpropertyforyourdaysoffandwewillprovideboattransportationtoandfrom theworkplace.hopepoint@gmail.com

HopePointDomesticHelp

Privateestatewouldliketofillthefollowingposition.JunethroughSeptember.Averaging40hoursperweek. Wearelookingforapersontoserve meals,washdishes,helpwithmeal prep,andallaspectsoflaundry,includingironing.Youwillhelpwithpicnicsandbarbeques.Lighthousework andoutdoorworkarealsopartofthis position.

Asyourworkhoursvaryfromdayto day,youwillbeprovidedroomand board.Youwillbeabletogooffpropertyforyourdaysoffandwewillprovideboattransportationtoandfrom theworkplace.hopepoint@gmail.com

WhistlerPersonnelSolutions

Full-time,part-time&tempjobs. Nocost,nostrings.604-905-4194 www.whistler-jobs.com

RCMPDetentionGuardJobs

Seekingacasualemploymentopportunity?CommissionairesBCis lookingforcandidatesthathave the commitmentandflexibilitytofill casualpositionsasadetention guardwiththePembertonRCMP. Thispositionhasnofixedwork scheduleandguardsarecalledin toworkonanas-neededbasis. ContactHeidiat hsnowdon@commbc.caorvisitus athttps://commissionaires.bc.ca/

Thank you to all our volunteers and foster homes, we love you!

Antifreeze is highly toxic

pets – check for spills and keep safely stored away from pets. Ice melters can irritate paws – wipe off paws after walks to avoid dogs ingesting. White dogs are difficult to see in the snow – keep pets on leash as cars are not able to brake or react quickly in the winter weather.

Our Squamish location is looking for an

Au tomotive Par t s Representative

Assistant Director of Engineering

Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler is seeking an Assistant Director of Engineering!

• Competitive Wage

• Monthly housing allowance

• Ski pass

• Comprehensive health, dental, and retirement benefit plans

• Global travel benefits with Four Seasons

• Fun, engaging work environment

If this exciting opportunity sounds like a fit for you, please apply directly on the Four Seasons website: https://jobs.fourseasons.com/

We are looking to hire another member to our team at Straightline. Experience in Plumbing is required. Gas Fitting and HVAC would be preferred but not essential. Wages are based on experience, Starting between $38-$50/hr.

Part-time or Full-time positions available.

Please call 604-935-8771 or email straightlineplumbingandheating@gmail.com for more information.

Journeyman Electrician position available, Service / Renovation

If you thrive in a fast paced, busy and diverse environment with lots of autonomy then this could be the position for you.

If you like variety in your work experience, are responsible and would like the opportunity to advance your career, Please send your resumé in confidence to: e. info@sparkelectrical.com

Whistler’s only dedicated wedding magazine.

The Alpenglow Lodge (a Phase 2 property) is accepting proposals for their Front Desk Management contract.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email info@avesta1.com for more information.

Proposals will be accepted until March 31, 2023 at 5:00pm.

WE ARE HIRING

Labourer 2 – Regular Full-Time

Utility Operator 1 – Water Distribution – Regular Full-Time

Recreation Program Instructor 1 – Biking – Temporary Part-Time (4-19 hours) (2 Positions)

Recreation Program Instructor 1 – Biking – Casual/On-Call (Multiple Positions)

Building Official – Casual/On-Call

Labourer 2 (Multiple Positions) – Temporary Full-Time

Economic Development Specialist – Regular Full-Time

Small Equipment Operator and Winter Truck Driver 3 – Regular Full-Time

Executive Assistant to the General Manager, Community Planning and Infrastructure and Administrative Technical Coordinator – Regular Full-Time

General Manager of Community Planning and Sustainability – Regular Full-Time

Recreation Facility Attendant 2 – Casual/On-Call

Recreation Facility Attendant 1 – Casual/On-Call

Custodian – Casual/On-Call

Municipal Engineer 1 – Regular Full-Time

Recreation Program Instructor 1 – Fitness – Casual/On-Call

Recreation Program Leader – Casual/On-Call

Lifeguard 1 – Casual/On-Call

Financial Services Specialist – Temporary Full-Time

squamish.ca/careers

BLACKCOMB HELICOPTERS GROUND CREW

TITLE: Ground Crew

LOCATION: Whistler, B.C.

STATUS: Full-time, Temporary

ABOUT US

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

ABOUT THE JOB

Reporting to the Ground Crew Supervisor and Base Manager, this position will include:  facilities and ground crew support, equipment repair and upkeep, aircraft grooming, fueling and refueling of aircraft, and assisting with passengers. It is worth noting that this position will not lead to flying or engineering opportunities.

YOU WILL

• Facilities and ground support equipment repairs and upkeep;

• Aircraft grooming, preparation and clean-up;

• Pickup and delivery of parts and equipment;

• Hangar and hangar equipment cleaning and maintenance;

• Re-fueling of aircraft;

• Assisting with passengers and passenger equipment or luggage; And other duties as needed from time to time.

YOU HAVE

• Excellent communication skills and ability to work within a team framework;

• Basic computer skills (email, word processing);

• A driver’s license (ideally class 4);

• Good rapport with customers and excellent customer service skills, as well as a good attitude and superior work ethic.

THE FINE PRINT

Blackcomb Helicopters is an equal opportunity employer and to that end, we want all barriers removed to ensure a fair screening process for all candidates. All resumes will be reviewed with an eye to skill set and experience only, and are considered without attention to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. To this end, we ask all applicants to ensure you do not include any personal information on your application and remove pictures from your resume if you have them.

INTERESTED?

If you or someone you know would be a good fit for this role, please send a resume to: Fiona Cochrane, HR Manager fcochrane@mcleangroup.com

We've Got You Covered

Lil’wat Nation Employment Opportunities

Ullus Community Center

· Early Childhood Educator

· Director of Lands & Resources

· Director of Community Services

· General Manager, Community Services

· Human Resources Generalist

· Intake Coordinator

· General Application

Ts’zil Learning Center

· Indigenous Advocate Supervisor

· Indigenous Support Worker – Culture & Language

· Receptionist

Xet’olacw Community School

· High School Math Teacher

· Prep cook

· Bus Driver

· Custodian

Health & Healing

· General Laborer

Lil’wat Business Group

· Cashier

Roland’s Pub is looking for a new bar manager.

Must be a sports enthusiast and have bartending experience. Duties will include inventory and ordering of all alcoholic products as well as other items. Creating promotions with suppliers and other Pub events. A few bartending shifts and management shifts, a combination of days & nights. Salary will be based on experience, plus tips and staff meals. Extended medical & dental benefits, ski pass, and gas allowance.

Please email resume to info@rolandswhistler.com

WE AR E HIRING WH IS

LOVE WHERE YOU WORK! JOIN OUR TEAM OF DEDICATED PROFESSIONALS

Amazing opportunities available:

Registered Dental Hygienist Certified Dental Assistant

APPLY TODAY:

Vacasa’s forward-thinking approach and industryleading technology help set us apart as the largest full-service vacation rental company in North America. We are seeking individuals with a passion for providing exceptional vacation experiences for our Owners and Guests.

We offer competitive wages and benefits: Travel allowance for Squamish/Pemberton-based employees OR Ski Pass/Activity allowance, Extended Medical, RRSP match, Recognition Program, Fun & Safe Work Environment-Great Team, opportunities to grow and more.

**SIGNING BONUS** $1000 (FT)

Housekeeper (Cascade Lodge) - Full Time all year around Night Auditor - Full Time all year around Guest Service Agent - Full Time all year around whistlerdental.com/

liz@whistlerdental.co

Apply online today! https://www.vacasa.com/careers/positions paul.globisch@vacasa.com or call to find out more details at 604-698-0520

We thank all applicants for their interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

We’re hiring in Whistler and Squamish

Gravel

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

Come join us!

Please submit your cover letter and resume in confidence to:

Cathie Greenlees cgreenlees@squamishchief.com

Closing date is March 3, 2023

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 14 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 10, 2022:

Auxiliary Sales Associate - $20.33 per hour

Seasonal Sales Associate - $18.92 per hour

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. 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-19vaccination-policy-for-bc-public-service-employees

position

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

location: Whistler, B.C.

“Inspiring thought leadership and learning for life”

The Whistler Institute is an innovative not-for-profit that was created to support the development of educational programs and speaker events to support and enhance lifelong learning opportunities for the local community and resort guests. Programs are designed and offered in partnership with post-secondary institutions, training associations, Indigenous communities, independent educators, and thought leaders in the inspiring learning environment of Whistler.

The Whistler Institute is seeking a vibrant and energetic Executive Director, who, working closely with the Institute’s Board of Directors will have a mandate to elevate education through implementing the Whistler Institute’s Business Plan.

The ideal candidate brings an entrepreneurial approach with a proven track record of effectively managing a start-up or non-profit while building strong partnerships, and driving fundraising efforts. Experience working with postsecondary institutions would be an asset. View the full job description here: whistlerinstitute.com/ ed-2023/

To explore this opportunity further please submit your resume and contact details by email to employment@whistlerinstitute.com to Sue Adams, Chair of the Human Resources Committee.

PLAY HERE

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Love a good challenge?

Passionate about the place you call home? Tourism Whistler is looking for community-loving, mountainappreciating, environment-respecting people to join our team. Come collaborate with us. We are hiring for the following opportunities:

• Coordinator, Ask Whistler

• Maintenance Technician/Cleaner

• Visitor Centre Agent

What we offer: a flexible schedule offering work-life balance, a commitment to health and wellness, excellent compensation and benefits package, and a great team environment.

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

ACROSS

DOWN

LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

Whistler’s housing crisis claims another victim

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”

-Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

AS WITH so many things, the depth of thought French writer M. Karr sought to illuminate with that phrase has been hijacked and made facile, stripped of meaning, in modern parlance reduced to the single, allpurpose shrug, “Whatever.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It has come to mean that everything regresses to the mean.

BY G.D. MAXWELL

Had the remainder of the thought behind the soundbite caught on as well, we’d have a different take on the concept. But then, we’d have to understand a lot more French than most of us do. The rest admonishes us thusly: “Turbulent changes do not affect reality on a deeper level other than to cement the status quo. A change of heart must accompany experience before lasting change occurs.”

How many deeply conservative, deeply religious people who were fundamentally opposed to the normalization of homosexuals and same-sex marriage remained so... until a child of theirs came out of the closet and triggered a change of heart?

That has nothing to do with what follows, but seems an apt way of describing what M. Karr was getting at.

Last Tuesday was an unusual day for me. Tuesday mornings generally find me pecking out this piffle for the back of Pique instead of skiing; afternoons are a write-off. I prefer to avoid afternoons on the mountains, because tired people and crowded ski-outs are not among my favourite things. But last Tuesday was so sunny, so tempting, I found myself on the mountain mid-afternoon following my Wonderful Wife shredding great conditions in Blackcomb Glacier.

But like I said, it was sunny, warm even. And there was a patio beckoning and the promise of a cold beer. Everything seemed, well, perfect.

Until it didn’t.

“Yo, bro. Long time, no see.”

I’ve described J.J.’s voice as very much like the sound of a couple of shovelfuls of gravel in a spinning concrete mixer. But that afternoon it sounded like the concrete mixer was being dragged behind a truck... on its side... over rocks... still spinning. A voice that makes Tom Waits sound like a castrato soprano.

There’s never really a good time to bump into J.J., but sitting on a sunny patio I know for a certainty, as sure as “gesundheit” follows “achoo,” that “buy me a beer,” will follow, “yo, bro.”

And so it did this time.

“J.J., what’s up? It has been a long time.”

“I’m leaving on a jet plane,” he sang.

“Don’t know when I’ll be back again...” I replied.

“You leaving too?”

“No. Why? Are you leaving?”

“I am indeed. This is adios, my friend. The last beer, so to speak... unless we have more than one.”

I was shocked. J.J. leaving Whistler? He was one of the first people I met in town those many decades ago. A fellow expat American. A former CIA operative. A man of many secrets of the “If-I-told-you-I’d-haveto-kill-you” variety, except in his case I think he meant it. For a long time, Whistler’s only private eye! A snoop. A ne’er-do-well. And a guy who owed probably a million beers to his small group of friends, none of whom ever expected to collect.

“Say it ain’t so, J.J. You can’t leave here. Where would you go?”

“I haven’t gotten that far yet. Been thinkin’ I could slip back across the border, stay under the radar and head to Key West. I still know some guys with boats down there who wouldn’t turn me in, assuming the government is still interested in me. Maybe just knock around the Caribbean as a mate.”

“How do you expect to get across the

border? You’d light up the biometrics alarms even with false documents. And you’re still on just about every no-fly list in the world, if I’m not mistaken.”

“I thought I’d reverse the wave, dude. Head to Quebec and cross into the U.S., at Roxham Road. It’ll probably blow their minds to see someone sneaking out of Canada there.”

“So what brought this on? I thought you were dug in here. Seems I recall you saying it’s the last place in the world anyone would look for you.”

“My most excellent landlady sold the

live offshore and have some weasel lawyer running point for them.”

“Tried threatening the lawyer?”

“No. As much as I’d like to, I really don’t want to run the risk of becoming persona non grata in Canada as well.”

“It seems to be happening all over town, J.J. People getting booted or priced out of their market rentals, homeowners not wanting to fight with or pay off bad tenants to get rid of them, people who have lived here decades cashing out of the homes they built after scraping together enough to buy the lot because they’re sitting on an unexpected fortune but still find it hard to afford to stay. It’s just sad, dude. Sad.”

“It is, I’ve seen it happen to lots of other people,” he said. “Maybe it’s partly my fault. I never really put anything aside—well, not that I’ll admit to. It was always ‘live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself.’ I had no idea tomorrow was going to be so expensive and no idea people would get so damn greedy or selfish; no idea the places I always thought would be available to rent would just disappear up someone’s media room.”

house. The new scum who bought it aren’t interested in renting the suite. They said they’re going to move their son in.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, except they don’t have a son. I checked. The bastards are just getting rid of me so they can rent it out for way more than what I’ve been paying for the last 18 years because they paid too much for it and want to recoup some of what it’s going to cost them to carry it.”

“Have you tried reasoning with them?”

“Did you really just say that? There’s no reasoning with them. I went right to threatening to break their knees with a baseball bat. Hard to do, though. They

“Hard to compete with a hundred-inch TV, dude. When do you have to be out?”

“End of April.”

“Maybe something will come up.”

“Maybe pigs will fly.”

“Maybe we should have another beer.”

“Maybe you should let me move into your extra bedroom.”

“Maybe we should have another beer.”

“Maybe you’re right. Better than nothing. And what the hell, there are at least a dozen or so more lottery draws between then and now. Anything could happen.”

“That’s the spirit. Maybe there’ll be a change of heart. Then again, more likely the pigs will fly.” ■

“My most excellent landlady sold the house. The new scum who bought it aren’t interested in renting the suite. They said they’re going to move their son in.”

GLOBAL REACH, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE FOLLOW YOUR DREAM, HOME

RAINBOW

8975 Highway 99 14 acres, 5 kms north of Whistler Village. South facing with panoramic mountain and Green Lake views! Services to the property line. Build your private family enclave here and enjoy a life time of Whistler family memories! $7,500,000

Kathy White prec*

604-616-6933

WHISTLER

VILLAGE

702 & 704 4050 Whistler Way Hilton Owners enjoy unlimited stays and a central village location offering all the amenities of a resort hotel. This lock-off 2 bed, 2 bathroom, with storage may also be rented nightly though the Hilton full-service, rental management program. $949,000

Nick Swinburne prec* 604-932-8899

BLACK TUSK

73 Garibaldi Drive 73 Garibaldi Drive is a spacious 3,170 sq/ft home that is situated on a quiet 7,535 sq/ft lot within the quiet & serene Black Tusk development that is a short 15 minute drive to Whistler! $1,899,000

Maggi Thornhill prec*

604-905-8199

CREEKSIDE

CP2 1400 Alta Lake Rd Lakeside living! Spacious 1 bed/1 bath penthouse in Tamarisk, on the shores of Alpha Lake. All day sun, cozy wood fireplace and sauna! Canoe/kayak & bike storage, and large personal storage locker. No short term rentals, and no GST. $679,000

Janet Brown

604-935-0700

BENCHLANDS

4653 - 213 G2 Blackcomb Way Enjoy one week per month in Horstman House. This quiet one bedroom quarter-share, conveniently located on Blackcomb, offers owners everything they need for a relaxing vacation including heated outdoor pool, hot tub, gym, ski and bike storage. $219,900

Sam Surowy

604-902-9754

BENCHLANDS

625 – 4691 Blackcomb Way FOUR SEASONS king suite with balcony views of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. Enjoy the 5 Star amenities – pool, tub, spa, gym; close to lifts and golf course. Phase 2 - 56 days owner use/yr, great revenues. $519,000

Rob Boyd - boyd team 604-935-9172

PEMBERTON

3-1470 Laurel St This 2bed/1bath home was completely renovated in 2018 offering a beautiful, bright interior with space saving touches. Enjoy your privacy with the fenced in backyard, and a great location that provides walking distance to town and close proximity to a network of trails. $699,000

Allie Smith

604-698-7024

CONTRIBUTION AT CLOSING

SQUAMISH

Paradise Valley Road Escape to your 9-acre waterfront estate in Paradise Valley. Down valley living offers lot size & absolute privacy unavailable in Whistler. Live in the carriage home while building your 5,400 sq.ft. dream home. paradisevalleyestate.com $3,185,000

Ken Achenbach

604-966-7640

SQUAMISH

40846 The Crescent This University Heights dream home captures stunning mountain and valley views. Modern and sleek design throughout, the primary bedroom is equipped with its own balcony and jaw-dropping ensuite bathroom. Close to epic mountain trails and more. $1,899,000

Angie Vazquez prec* 778-318-5900

Engel & Völkers i s a proud c hampion of Special Olympics. Many o f our a dvisors donate a p or tion of t heir commissions to Special Olympics o n behalf o f their clients. This simple p rogram m eans t hat ever y time we help our c lients realize their real estate goals, we are helping a Special Olympian get j ust a bit closer to theirs.

Whistler Village Shop

36-4314 Main Street · Whistler BC V8E 1A8 · Phone +1 604-932-1875

whistler.evrealestate.com

Squamish Station Shop 150-1200 Hunter Place · Squamish BC V8B 0G8 · Phone +1 778-733-0611 squamish.evrealestate.com

This centrally located studio at the Whistler Peak Lodge overlooks The Village Stroll and has beautiful west-facing mountain views. Step outside your door and be in the midst of everything Whistler has to offer including great shopping, restaurants, and of course the ski hill. The property features an exercise gym, hot tub and 24 hour desk.

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