B.C. tree planting to plummet 23% amid wildfire boom. - By Stefan Labbé
06 OPENING REMARKS Reports were down last year, but Whistlerites deserve more transparency on grizzly bears in the resort, writes editor Braden Dupuis.
08 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers share more thanks for G.D. Maxwell, while also weighing in on a municipal lawsuit, the upcoming federal election, and more.
22 RANGE ROVER Leslie Anthony delves into the undeniable aura of Hotdog Hans—the alter ego of elite freestyle skier Alex Ferreira.
42 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST For better or worse, mountain towns have a tendency to lionize their local achievers, writes Vince Shuley.
12 RESCUE REPORTS From ill-prepared snowshoers to a night-vision rescue, Whistler Search and Rescue is dealing with some complex calls this winter.
13 ROGER THAT Friends and colleagues remember Roger McCarthy, who passed away this week at the age of 74.
26 FIRE INSIDE Despite injury, setback and sexual assault, national bobsled pilot Mackenzie Stewart has built herself into a promising Canadian athlete.
30 WHAT A STEAL The eclectic keyboard concert series Piano Heist rolls into Whistler’s Maury Young Arts Centre on Jan. 18
COVER Proud owner of more than 80 houseplants! They need planting and replanting every year. Unfortunately I don’t think it reduces my carbon footprint or purifies my air. Like so many things in my life, it’s all for show and simply makes me happy! - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art
Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@piquenewsmagazine.com
Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT www.piquenewsmagazine.com
Whistler deserves transparency on grizzlies
IN THE LATE SUMMER of 2023, you might have been forgiven if you thought grizzly bears were about to overrun the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW).
That summer, grizzlies were spotted in local parks, on golf courses, and near elementary schools. They disrupted races, created excitement on social media, and led to more than a few signs posted on local trails.
BY BRADEN DUPUIS
But according to stats from the B.C. government, concerns of an impending grizzly bear uprising in Whistler were premature, at
In 2024, the BC Conservation Officer Service (COS) received 93 grizzly bear calls in the Sea to Sky zone, and 35 in Whistler—down from 125 and 73 the year prior, respectively.
A spokesperson with the provincial Ministry of Environment and Parks also noted sometimes grizzly bear calls turn out to be black bears (as was the case more than once in Whistler in 2023 and 2024).
“Whistler and the Sea to Sky region is considered bear country. Grizzly bears have been reoccupying their historic range and increasing their density following a period earlier in the last century where human/ bear interactions often led to population decline,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship. “Recovery has been slowly but steadily occurring since the 1980s. Increased human presence in remote backcountry areas may also contribute to some of the reports to the COS.”
Total Human/Wildlife Conflict Report (HWCR) calls were also way down in Whistler
year over year, from 743 in 2023 to just 201 in 2024. For the Sea to Sky, HWCR calls dropped from 5,157 in 2023 to 4,187 in 2024.
None of this is to say grizzlies aren’t a going concern in the region.
In November 2024, two yearling grizzlies were shot on-reserve in Mount Currie by a member of the community, though specifics are still lacking. According to the BC Conservation Officer Service, an investigation into the incident is ongoing, with no updates to provide as of Jan. 6. No word on when we can expect to hear more, either.
In the meantime, the Coast to Cascades Grizzly Bear Initiative (C2C) is keeping a close eye on the local grizzly population, and will continue its work focusing on conflict reduction and grizzly recovery in the region in 2025—but as a non-government, nonprofit organization, its initiatives are privately
“We are actively seeking funding to continue our Conflict to Coexistence Project which includes public education initiatives and aversive conditioning work to reduce conflicts with grizzly bears, primarily in the Pemberton Meadows area. However, the size and reach of our initiatives are limited by funding constraints.”
Grizzlies in the Stein-Nahatlatch Population Unit are still considered “critically endangered,” while populations to the north and west are growing but remain classed as “threatened,” she added, noting exact population numbers are unknown.
“These bears rely on this critical habitat, and it’s essential for humans to take responsibility by managing attractants, using electric fencing, understanding bear behaviour and giving wildlife the space they need,” Van Loon said. “Grizzly bears will continue to move into Sea to Sky areas, including Pemberton,
In early May, 2024, the RMOW posted signs notifying of a grizzly in the area around Meadow Park, urging the public to use caution—but didn’t directly notify media.
And in late July, the municipality closed part of its Alpine Trail Network after multiple grizzly sightings were reported in the area—again, without notifying media about the closure.
The COS also no longer communicates with media directly about wildlife conflicts, instead notifying the RMOW, which utilizes its own channels to get the information out at its discretion.
“If there is an urgent message to communicate, there will be boots-onthe-ground officers ensuring that gets done—COS and possibly RCMP,” an RMOW communications official told Pique in May.
“From our perspective, grizzlies will be part of our life in Whistler moving forward as
“These bears rely on this critical habitat, and it’s essential for humans to take responsibility by managing attractants, using electric fencing, understanding bear behaviour, and giving wildlife the space they need.”
- ERICA VAN LOON
funded and dependent on fundraising, said communications coordinator Erica Van Loon.
“Our key initiatives going into 2025 include continuing our electric fencing cost-share program to help residents manage attractants, conducting small-scale DNA studies in local areas to improve our understanding of local populations (funding dependent), and advocating for habitat-based connectivity to support grizzly bear movement and recovery,” Van Loon said.
Whistler, Lil’wat, and Squamish, as recovery continues. Coexistence is critical and can be achieved with these proactive measures.”
The C2C team also sees a need for better government support to address conflicts quickly and effectively to prevent losses for both humans and bears, she added.
Time will tell what 2025 holds in terms of grizzly sightings in Whistler—but it seems officials would prefer to keep the spotlight off the issue as much as possible.
long as we have a healthy ecosystem.”
That is no doubt true—but as is the case with all things, the public deserves more transparency and timely communication when it comes to grizzly bears in Whistler.
In its absence, we’re left with assumptions and best guesses—which are never the best bet when it comes to safety, whether human or wildlife.
Find more info at coasttocascades.org and whistler.ca/bears. n
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Western toads the ‘biggest loser’ in RMOW lawsuit
The Resort Municipality of Whistler lawyers settled in the case of Cuttler and Barrett (see Pique, Nov. 27, 2024: “RMOW agrees to pay $95K over bike crash lawsuit”).
The last two years have been an absolute nightmare for myself and my family, and I am so grateful to the lawyers and many friends who stepped in to support us in this very dark time in my life.
I have had too many sleepless nights and even now cannot get my brain to stop replaying this event.
But as we start the new year, I just wanted to reflect on the power of kindness and to thank those of you who called, stopped in to see us and just quietly kept us going.
To our family, Mark Hart, Jerri Sanson— thank you.
To all our neighbours—for just being the backbone we needed.
Thanks to the legal teams—Whistler lawyer, Greg Diamond, and then to Geoff Plant and the amazing partners and staff of Gall Legge Grant Zwack LLP (GLGZ), who took on my case after being contacted by a very special
local family.
Doria and Jim Moodie, my world today is a better place because of you and others who stepped in to help.
So many people worked on this case—a special thanks to Liam Babbit, and then to the extraordinary team from GLGZ, who finally got this case resolved—Renee Gagnon and Trevor Duncan, your energy and sense of justice is something I will treasure as a good part of this horrible journey.
To the Whistler Naturalists—Bob, Kristina,
Dea, Victor and everyone else—to my Mount Currie friends and especially to Chief Dean Nelson—your support meant so much to me.
THANK YOU!
Words simply are not effective to convey the depth of our gratitude to each of you.
A final thanks to the Pique staff—for your work and the many articles you write to educate and share information on how we can step up to support and protect the western toad migrations at Lost Lake.
Sadly, I fear I failed them, and they are the
biggest losers in this affair!
Wishing you all a happy holiday and a great 2025.
With grateful thanks, Liz Barrett // Whistler
Max’s challenge was our wonder
When a child goes to bed a crack is often left open at the door. Just enough to be sure the world hasn’t slipped out through the redeeming sliver of light. It strengthens imagination, and lends pretense to wonder. Knowing it will reappear not long after the crack of dawn is often the discerning privilege of parenthood.
A service to imagination is something that grows with all of us. It takes a place outside the home even as it lets in an edge of light. A part of the retiring personality of G.D. Maxwell is owed a little of that pleasure from any who might now recall better of the community of Whistler as a whole, through their own door.
Not just because there was a voice on the other side, but instead as there were others beside that voice, and a sense of the commonplace made less ordinary and therefore within conversation. Canadians might take too much pride in silence otherwise, and in having the mark of that privilege sustained by apology, but to know cause is to see effect and so we are better off in having the chance to read so thoroughly from the prospect a writer offers.
His challenge was our wonder, and those
who were his readers will as much beckon to any apprentice at thought over a growing sense of what will make future issues of Pique . Being an understudy is never what an actor intends to be on the whole, but when it comes to thinking and writing most welcome the role of interpretation to their own voice. Character is often a pledge to distinguish ourselves from those who we see most hospitably on that occasion.
It is with congratulations Mr. Maxwell deserves much acclaim to his persistent guarantee of character. He has given much of it to the community. Not so silently. Whomever may step up has some big shoes to fill. Yet the crack in the door is open, and it will surely hold some appeal.
Most will continue to be readers as they are want of a visit through that sliver of hope we call authorship. One of the advantages of maturity comes with the opportunity to hear many voices through a lifetime, and these are not so many in smaller communities, or perhaps they are more. As luck would have it, Maxwell stepped up and assured 29 years of companionship. He will be sincerely remembered, as he now takes to a full sense of relief from the pages he persevered to fill.
Roger Duddridge // Langford
The Long Goodbye
In 2020 my wife Carol was diagnosed with frontotemporal Alzheimer’s, a terrible disease that causes the brain to change physically and slowly die. The slow process brings on
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
negative, irreversible symptoms that cause personality changes, loss of executive thinking, the ability to converse, mobility issues, loss of body functions, and a host of other undesirable changes. Watching your loved one gradually deteriorate and lose the wonderful qualities that made them so special is often referred to as the Long Goodbye.
There is an abundance of good information about this disease and other forms of dementia from good sources on the internet, but the in-person support is only available in large urban areas. Health-care caregivers from Vancouver Coastal Health travel from Pemberton and Squamish to service Whistler, but the resources and availability is very limited. The Canadian Alzheimer’s Society predicts one in five seniors will be affected by some type of dementia within the next 15 years.
Two and a half years ago a pilot program called Making Connections spearheaded by Charalyn Kriz from the Whistler Mature Action Community became available. There was an overwhelming demand for registration for this program that provides a very qualified fun fitness instructor, an incredible music therapist, and wonderful, caring volunteers who organize game sessions and serve up hearty lunches. The program has brought together caregivers and their loved ones that would be going through this awful journey on their own. An unexpected consequence of attending is the connections that have grown between the participants—we support and help each other, which assists in filling the void of social isolation that comes
Backcountry Update
AS OF WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8
Periods of low danger are great for stepping out into bigger terrain and exploring the Coast Mountains. However, as new snow accumulates we need to react quickly by dialling back our terrain choices to simple, low-angle terrain and allowing the snowpack to adjust to the new load.
During long periods without snow, weak crystals can form on the surface of the snowpack. Surface hoar, which usually grows on clear, calm nights, is pretty and fun to ride through while it’s on the surface, but problematic once buried. Similarly, crusts that form on sunny slopes during the day can develop weak, sugary facets during large temperature swings from day to night. This week, both crusts and surface hoar have been forming and may be a problem going forward once buried under new snow.
We’re all hoping for new snow this
weekend! However, while new snow brings excitement, it also comes with a rise in avalanche danger that’s usually relative to how much wind and snow we get. As you’re travelling in the mountains, watch closely for signs of instability like shooting cracks, whumpfs, and natural avalanches. These are all clear signs that the snowpack needs time to stabilize, and you should choose simple terrain free from any overhead hazards. A good practice is to start your day on small terrain and gather information as you go. Slowly increase your exposure to avalanche terrain as your confidence in stability grows. This way, if you do trigger an avalanche, hopefully, it will be on a small, safe slope rather than a large, dangerous one.
When new snow arrives after a period of low avalanche danger, it’s essential to recalibrate our terrain choices and group mindset so that we can travel safely in the mountains. n
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 reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine. Send them to edit@ piquenewsmagazine.com before 11 a.m. on Tuesday for consideration in that week’s paper.
•Short stroll to BlackcombGondolaandWhistlerVillage
with the loss of normal lifestyle. We are truly a supportive family.
The volunteers have gained experience in supporting the participants and have taken on some of the role of additional handson support for the participants, freeing up the partners to enjoy the activity. Several volunteers make regular wellness checks with me and are regular visitors to our house. They take Carol on short adventures, often ending at the Alpine Cafe where she has become a celebrity. This is a wonderful break for me. The program is funded through federal grants from the New Horizons program and several private donations from the community. At our last Christmas session we had 24 participants including volunteers. We currently rent private space for our venue, but that is not long-term. Our requests to the Resort Municipality of Whistler elected officials to assist in helping us find a more permanent venue are being dismissed.
A similar weekly program in Pemberton called Movement Matters is run by the paid Pemberton recreation staff. Their venue is a permanent dedicated senior/youth centre. Funding is from the Village of Pemberton, with some assistance from private donations. This program is also wonderful, and we are also regulars there. They welcome our Whistler clients. Both programs have initially received help from the Better at Home Society.
Over the past two and a half years, this program, the volunteers and the participants
have been my main source of a social life and contact. This is a wonderful, needed program and it would be a crime to see it discontinued due to the loss of a venue and support.
I am so thankful for their wonderful care and support that has allowed me to keep what little sanity I have. Unfortunately, due to further progression of the disease, it is no longer feasible for us to continue.
Thanking everyone for all your wonderful support—you make a difference!
Glenn and Carol Bayliss // Whistler
Max’s Tuesday turns are ‘greatly deserved’
Dear Max, thank you for 30 years of insightful, and sometimes inciteful, meditations of daily life in Tiny Town. I moved here shortly after your fateful encounter with Mr. Barnett, so have been fortunate enough to have had your erudite humorous musings as my guide to the pulse of our town for the past 30 years. Your weekly columns will be sorely missed, but your Tuesday turns greatly deserved.
See you on the slopes.
Cheers,
Harvey Lim // Whistler
MP Patrick Weiler deserves to be re-elected this year
There is a lot of justified frustration and
dissatisfaction about the state of our economy and cost of living among Canadians including the electorate of the Sea to Sky corridor and the Sunshine Coast.
The cost of living and inflation is on everybody’s mind. I heard that hundreds of times while canvassing door to door during the provincial election last year. I am encouraged that a majority of voters in our riding did not follow the call of the BC Conservatives to abandon our progressive ideals in exchange for a tempting quick fix by throwing out the present government. Not only that, but a majority elected a local candidate, who is arguably even more progressive than the NDP government! That tells me that many residents in the Sea to Sky corridor understand the difference a local candidate can make advocating in the interests of our local communities.
That brings me to the upcoming federal election, which could happen at any time. I know a majority of Canadians are glad to see the back of Justin Trudeau as the Prime Minister of Canada, and I am one of them. However, I would like to caution my fellow voters in the Sea to Sky against throwing out the baby with the bath water. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s only policy is to make Canada better (just like the incoming president to the south of us). He has no policies to back that up, and even more worrisome to me, he has no policies to address climate change, which should greatly
concern us in terms of keeping a world-class ski resort going and mitigating the dangers of forest fires.
We are lucky to have a young, energetic MP in our federal riding who is doing his best for us in terms of federal funding for housing needs, small business support and beyond. In my opinion, regardless of which party will win this upcoming federal election, let’s re-elect Patrick Weiler as our MP.
Erich Baumann // Whistler
More action needed on mountain safety at Whistler Blackcomb
It appears Vail Resorts has abdicated its responsibility to enforce the Alpine Responsibility Code, leaving us with no option but to beg the municipal or provincial government to step in. I’m sure Vail would welcome the opportunity to be held hostage by government bureaucracy. If Vail reinstated the previous level of mountain safety and not the seven members who cover both mountains and gave them the power to revoke passes for a day, a week, or a month, maybe people would take the rules seriously. Bringing back the kill board of passes taken for the season at Creekside would also be a good idea. It’s mystifying why this system, which worked beautifully for decades, was discontinued by Vail Resorts.
Paul Shipley // Whistler n
Whistler Search and Rescue seeing complex calls this winter
FROM ILL-PREPARED SNOWSHOERS TO A NIGHT-VISION RESCUE, HERE ARE THE NOTABLE CALLS WHISTLER SEARCH AND RESCUE HAS RESPONDED TO SO FAR IN WINTER 2024-25
BY LIZ MCDONALD
THE BACKCOUNTRY is crawling with skiers, splitboarders and snowmobilers for the 2024-25 winter season, and so far, Whistler Search and Rescue (WSAR) has responded to 10 calls in the first eight weeks of winter conditions.
Brad Sills, president of WSAR, said the majority of the calls they’ve received are pretty routine, ranging from knee injuries to lost hikers. Around Christmas, however, calls started getting a bit more complicated.
The first serious call related to the avalanche on Ipsoot Mountain, near Pemberton, when five heli-skiers were rescued. WSAR mobilized its rapid intervention team to respond, and thankfully, everyone survived the avalanche.
Perhaps the most out-there incident this season related to three lost individuals attempting to snowshoe to Kees and Claire Hut.
Sills said three foreign nationals on student visas heard about the lodge on Instagram, and booked a reservation for Dec. 23. They made it to Singing Pass before one group member got separated from his companions. That night, a windstorm came with gusts up to 120 km/h making rescue impossible.
“We had them bed down for the night about a kilometre short from the hut. We told them to come out of the alpine, coached them to get under the trees, huddle up and spend the night,” Sills said. “WSAR went in the morning and heli-ed them out to the
clinic, and they were both hypothermic. The third person in their group eluded WSAR, and the avalanche risk increased throughout the storm.”
WSAR found one sign he may have been OK: rescuers found an empty McDonald’s burger wrapper on the ground in a treed area, and the other two rescues said their pal happened to be carrying their McDonald’s dinner.
As WSAR prepared to launch a significant response for the third missing snowshoer, they received a call from the RCMP stating the missing individual’s credit card was used at McDonald’s in Whistler Village.
“Instead of taking the left-hand turn as his other two friends did on the way to Kees and Claire, he took a right-hand turn and went up
All three were transported to Vancouver for medical care and recovered.
Another complex call occurred New Year’s Day with a trio of experienced skiers. A father with his young son and daughter required a night vision hoist while stranded in a bowl above Cheakamus Lake at Whistler Blackcomb.
“It’s a very difficult place for a fit person to get out of,” Sills said. “Two children, one an asthmatic without medicine, presented an extraordinary risk.”
The family dialed 911, but shortly after, their phone was unresponsive. WSAR had their location, and while calls weren’t going through, text messages were.
“We texted them and told them if they hear a helicopter, use their cell phone and point it towards the helicopter,” Sills said.
“This group of people were in jeans, and they had canvas-top running shoes in snowshoes.”
- BRAD SILLS
to Oboe, spent part of the night up there and then retreated into the forest and found the trails,” Sills said.
After spending the night outside, he made his way down the lifts at Whistler Blackcomb, went back for more fast food, and charged his cell phone, which died while in the backcountry.
“These are the situations we run into quite a bit being at an international resort. This group of people were in jeans, and they had canvas-top running shoes in snowshoes,” Sills said.
North Shore Rescue (NSR) was dispatched for a night vision hoist, as they have the security clearance required for night vision rescues, and transported the family to hospital at about 10 p.m.
Then, on Jan. 6, WSAR did a long-line rescue out of the Y chute on Mount Currie. Two splitboarders became stranded on their descent. They went down through the chute, and ended up in a series of canyons.
“My understanding is they did a series of rappels already, and on the last one, the rappel line took them under a waterfall.
They couldn’t go any further,” Sills said. Fog in Pemberton delayed their rescue, but a helicopter managed to take off from Whistler to make it to the scene. The two were turned over to emergency health services and no further update was available at press time.
WSAR TRAINING AND FUNDRAISING
Aside from responding to emergencies, WSAR members are busy with their winter training regimen focused on winter rescue skills like avalanche, crevasse and gravity-induced trauma rescues—also known as blunt force trauma, first aid and rope rescue programs.
They worked with NSR Jan. 6 to train in helicopter hoist rescues, and they’ve been training on night vision imaging technology. WSAR and NSR share resources, with each specializing in different emergency responses. WSAR tends to focus more on avalanche forecasting and response, but NSR has a license for night vision helicopter operations, which dual members of WSAR and NSR trained on.
For membership numbers, the local chapter has 36 volunteers, and intake is as-needed. They took in 14 members three years ago, and the retention rate is high.
“We bring on people that are committed because it’s a life commitment,” Sills said. “Those who come on tend to stay. Our standard is around 13 years for longevity.”
For anyone looking to give back to WSAR, the Beacon Pub & Eatery is raising funds through January. The annual fundraiser honours the legacy of Jesse Van Roon, who passed away in a 2021 snowboarding accident on Whistler Mountain. To learn more about the fundraiser, visit the Beacon’s website or ask at the pub about the upcoming après party Jan. 30 from 4 to 8 p.m. n
Joy drove Roger McCarthy to the heights of the ski world
THE LONGTIME WHISTLERITE, FORMER COUNCILLOR AND CANADIAN SKI HALL OF FAMER DIED JAN. 4
BY BRANDON BARRETT
ROGER MCCARTHY learned fairly quickly that Russians have their own ways of doing business. Tapped with developing Rosa Khutor, a fledgling ski area in the Caucasus Mountains that was to become the alpine skiing venue for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, McCarthy’s laidback demeanour and hands-on work ethic threw his Russian minders for a loop.
“They’re not used to the boss going out in the field and getting his shoes dirty,” McCarthy told Pique in a 2007 interview. “But I firmly believe you can’t manage this business from the office.”
It’s a philosophy McCarthy carried with him from his early days in Whistler on ski patrol to the pinnacle of a glittering career as one of the snowsport industry’s most influential executives. He knew if a job was to be done, and done well, it wasn’t going to happen from the back of the pack.
“He understood how an organization should run and that it should be led from the front,” said friend Duane Jackson.
The longtime Whistlerite, former councillor and Canadian Ski Hall of Famer died Saturday, Jan. 4 from a suspected heart attack. He was 74.
The seeds of McCarthy’s remarkable career, spanning half a century and multiple continents, were planted as a youngster in his native New Zealand, where he grew up skiing Mount Ruapehu on his father’s handmade wooden skis. It was there one day he saw Super 8 footage of Whistler Mountain, then a plucky, upstart ski area, inspiring him to make the move across the globe.
“He came here, like so many people, with a backpack and an intention to stay for a year, and he ended up giving his whole life to this place and helping create what we’ve all fallen in love with,” explained Mayor Jack Crompton.
Arriving in Whistler in 1972, McCarthy initially worked as a handyman at the Cheakamus Inn before landing a job as a lift operator. It was there he met members of the ski patrol, motivating a career change, excited by the prospect of carrying explosives around on his avalanche control missions. Recognized for his affability and caring nature, McCarthy quickly moved up the ranks at Whistler Mountain, first as assistant patrol leader, then safety supervisor, then as safety and lift ops supervisor.
“It was so much fun working with him. He could always lighten the air. He was not a guy you saw get angry or anything like that,” said Councillor Cathy Jewett, who first met McCarthy when she was on patrol, one of the first women on the team. “He was a real big cheerleader for me. It wasn’t always easy working on the patrol with all those guys. He always pumped me up and got me going again. He made me believe I
could do whatever I wanted.”
In 1991, McCarthy was tasked with one of the biggest missions of his career: turning around Mont Tremblant in Quebec, then on the brink of collapse and widely considered the worst ski resort on the continent. Within five years, it was named the top ski area in eastern North America, thanks in no small part to McCarthy’s steady hand.
“Roger played a huge role in the Canadian ski industry,” said friend John Hetherington, who met McCarthy as a lifty in the early ’70s. “He was always a happy, friendly guy who would talk to anybody. He was very competent.”
Through all his time away, McCarthy never forgot his home away from home, itching to return to his Whistler residence on the shores of Alta Lake. In 2011, McCarthy was elected to council, and his West Side Road home regularly served as “a community think tank” for elected officials, with discussions— and adult beverages—flowing well into the night. At municipal hall, McCarthy served as council’s “glue guy,” lending his unique perspective to the business of local government, Crompton said.
“He helped you listen to the other people around the table,” the mayor added. “He was able to see a side of things others weren’t able to. He was also able to draw out people’s insights that they weren’t able to express themselves.”
Even after reaching the highest heights of the ski industry, McCarthy never lost that childlike awe he first felt watching that grainy footage of Whistler Mountain so many years ago. Joy, more than anything else, was his animating force, and he remained grateful for the chance to pursue his passion, in the place he loved more than anywhere else, until his final days.
“I mean c’mon, it’s a phenomenal thing that we’re doing,” he once told Pique. “Let’s make sure we keep reminding each other just how special this business really is.”
Find the full story at piquenewsmagazine. com. n
GLUE GUY Roger McCarthy’s remarkable career as one of the ski industry’s most influential executives spanned half a century and multiple continents.
Whistler counts nine of top 100 valued residential properties in B.C.
ASSESSED VALUES FOR WHISTLER PROPERTIES STAYED RELATIVELY FLAT FOR THE YEAR
BY BRANDON BARRETT
WHISTLER COUNTS nine of the top 100 valued residential properties in the province, according to B.C.’s list of assessed properties for 2025.
On Thursday, Jan. 2, BC Assessment released updated values for property owners across the province, with the resort tallying nine in the top 100 valued properties, and 59 of the top 500.
Reflecting market value as of July 1, 2024, the priciest local property was a luxury estate on Stonebridge Drive assessed at $31,939,000, making it the 17th highest valued property in B.C. Among the resort’s most exclusive addresses, Stonebridge counted the top three valued properties in Whistler.
The highest valued property in the province was a single-family home owned by Lululemon founder Chip Wilson in Vancouver’s tony Point Grey neighbourhood, assessed at $82,664,000.
Overall, the typical assessed value for a Whistler single-family home in 2025 was $2,821,000, a one-per-cent decrease from 2024’s assessed value of $2,842,000. West Vancouver ($3,052,000) and the University of BC’s Endowment Lands ($5,535,000) were the only areas on BC Assessment’s regional
list spanning the Lower Mainland, Sea to Sky, Sunshine Coast and Fraser Valley with higher assessed values.
Pemberton ($1,390,000) and Burnaby ($2,044,000) saw the biggest percentage change in assessed value for single-family homes in the region, with both seeing values rise by four per cent for the year.
Whistler saw virtually no change in the assessed value of condos and townhomes for the year, with the typical assessment for 2025 valued at $1,344,000, compared to $1,349,000 the year prior. West Vancouver was the only jurisdiction with a higher value; a typical condo or townhome there was valued at $1,388,000.
“Whistler, from what we’ve seen, has acted pretty similarly to most of the rest of Lower Mainland, but I imagine moving forward you won’t see it moving the same way in every segment of housing,” explained Bryan Murao, assessor with BC Assessment, who noted the luxury real estate market, in particular, has been “sluggish” with no signs of picking up anytime soon.
Part of that stagnancy in property values, both in Whistler and beyond, can be chalked up to the federal interest rate, Murao theorized, which was cut to 4.75 per cent just weeks before BC Assessment’s July evaluation and has only come down further since, to 3.25 per cent.
VALUED VILLAGE This property at 5462 Stonebridge Drive was valued at more than $28 million, making it the 30th highest valued property in the province, and the second highest valued property in Whistler, according to BC Assessment.
“Post-evaluation day, things have still been really flat and even trending a bit down,” Murao said. “It’s been a lot of wait-and-see from buyers waiting for the market to bottom out. From sellers, we’re seeing the same lack
of action, but for the opposite reason: they’re hesitant to sell as values come down. Sales volumes have been really low.”
For the region, total assessments have generally stayed flat from about $2 trillion to $2.01 trillion this year. Nearly $27 billion of the region’s updated assessments are from new construction, subdivisions, and the rezoning of properties.
Owners can use BC Assessment’s searchable database to see the assessed value of their property. Anyone who believes their assessment does not reflect market value as of July 1, 2024, or sees incorrect information on their notice, should contact BC Assessment as soon as possible. If, after speaking with an appraiser, they still have concerns, an owner has until Jan. 31 to submit an appeal to the independent Property Assessment Review Panel.
“It is important to understand that changes in property assessments do not automatically translate into a corresponding change in property taxes,” Murao said. “As noted on your assessment notice, how your assessment changes relative to the average change in your community is what may affect your property taxes.”
Last month, after weeks of back and forth, Whistler’s mayor and council settled on an 8.25-per-cent property tax increase for 2025.
Learn more at bcassessment.ca. n
Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol rioter arrested in Whistler
ANTONY VO WAS IN THE RESORT AWAITING A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON FROM DONALD TRUMP
BY BRANDON BARRETT
AN AMERICAN fugitive’s snowboard trip to Whistler was cut short this week, four years to the day after he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol building with throngs of rioters.
Antony Vo, 32, arrived in Whistler on Christmas Eve after reportedly entering the country via Saskatchewan. Claiming political persecution, Vo filed for refugee asylum, as he awaited President-elect Donald Trump to take office and fulfil his promise to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters.
“We can confirm that Mr. Vo, a fugitive from U.S. justice, was arrested without incident in Whistler, B.C. on Jan. 6, 2025 on warrant under the [Immigration and Refugee Protection Act],” a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) told Pique in a statement.
Vo told The Toronto Star this week he was an irregular entry into Canada, crossing into the country either through North Dakota or Montana “pretty unimpededly.” The CBSA spokesperson confirmed the agency has no record of Vo entering Canada “at Regway, SK or any other official port of entry.
“The CBSA has a legal obligation to remove all foreign nationals who are inadmissible to Canada under the IRPA and who have a removal order in force,” the spokesperson said, adding more than 14,000 foreign nationals were removed from Canada between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2024.
Asked about Vo’s possible extradition to the U.S., the border agency spokesperson declined further comment. Pique has also requested comment from Vo’s legal counsel.
Photographed inside the Capital with his mother, Vo is one of more than 1,500 people charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riots that injured more than 100
police officers and sent legislators scrambling for safety. More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial. Vo was convicted on four charges, including disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and sentenced to nine months. He was to report to federal prison in June.
Speaking with Pique prior to his arrest on Monday, Vo, an Epic Pass holder who hadn’t been to Whistler before, said his time in the resort was positive.
“It’s been lovely, man. Everybody I’ve met here has been so kind and I’ve made lots of friends here,” he said.
Vo didn’t shy away from media attention in his short time in Whistler, conducting a flurry of interviews with outlets across Canada and the U.S., including a casual sitdown with CBC outside of The Longhorn that was broadcast on national TV.
Speaking with Pique, Vo likened himself to V, the revolutionary fighting a fictionalized fascist regime in the 2005 dystopian political film, V for Vendetta
“There’s a lot of tyranny and corruption in the world, and I want to do my part to bring light to it,” he said.
Fearing inhumane treatment because of his political views, Vo looked into possible asylum in Argentina, Mexico, El Salvador, Vietnam, Belarus and Russia, but either didn’t hear back or was presented with major hurdles to his claim. Ultimately, he settled on Canada, which he called “a bastion of freedom.”
Immigration experts, however, agreed Vo’s claims of political persecution would be difficult to prove, especially given the U.S. is generally considered to uphold the rule of law and respect human rights. Asylum claims from the U.S. are exceedingly rare, with only 142 from January to September last year, out of nearly 147,000 total claims from all countries. Canada has not accepted any American asylum claims in the past decade. n
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PARDON ME? Antony Vo and his mother after entering the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. Facing jail time, Vo fled to Whistler, awaiting a potential pardon from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANTONY VO
Sea to Sky Filipino community forms new society
BARANGAY
SEA TO SKY, DEDICATED TO PROMOTING FILIPINO CULTURE AND REPRESENTATION, HOSTS FIRST EVENT JAN. 10 AT FAIRMONT
BY BRANDON BARRETT
IN THE PHILIPPINES, there’s a term, called bayanihan, that lies at the heart of the Southeast Asian nation’s rich culture. Loosely translating to “a spirit of cooperation,” it’s a concept best exemplified in a particular historical custom: In the past, when a family moved, the entire neighbourhood would band together to, quite literally, lift their house and carry it to its new location.
“In Filipino culture, we help each other to do anything. When we do parties, no one leaves until the place is cleaned up,” said Hannyliz Villafuerte.
It’s that strong sense of community and cooperation that inspired Villafuerte to create Barangay Sea to Sky, the corridor’s first registered Filipino non-profit society. The group’s aim, Villafuerte explained, is to create a deeper sense of belonging and promote Filipino culture and representation locally.
“We want to keep our culture because it’s what makes Filipinos very unique and happy almost all of the time—because we know we belong to somebody,” she said.
Like many tourism destinations around the world, Filipinos have a strong presence in Whistler, making up roughly four per cent of the resort’s population and more
than a third of the community’s total visible minorities, according to the 2021 census. Yet, because they frequently work in behind-thescenes service jobs, local Filipinos’ many contributions to the community can go overlooked, a consequence of being a part of what the Whistler Multicultural Society has called Whistler’s “invisible immigrant” class.
“I’m really hoping that by being very present in Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton, and presenting our best selves, we will inform and create awareness for our neighbours that this is who we are,” said Villafuerte. “When people know who you are, they won’t treat you differently. That’s the hope.”
Villafuerte, who organized Whistler’s first Philippines Independence Day celebration
in 2023, said Barangay Sea to Sky will host cultural events, social gatherings, and activities that celebrate Filipino heritage and foster camaraderie among its members. The group will also play an advocacy role, with a particular focus on combating racism and nurturing inclusivity in the corridor.
“When we belong, we feel happy and function better. Local Filipinos will be more happy to work and stay here if they feel there is a group they can run to when they need anything.” Villafuerte said.
Another mission for the society is to get a better understanding of just how large the Filipino community is in the Sea to Sky.
“Most of the Filipinos living in Pemberton and Squamish are working in Whistler.
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That’s why the scope of this society reaches out to those two towns—because we are so interconnected,” Villafuerte said. “That’s also the reason why we are doing this formal organization: We want to keep track of who is where, what they are doing—and also for [job] protection. We want to know they are well taken care of, paid well, all of that stuff.”
Previously, the local Filipino community has organized events under the Whistler Multicultural Society banner. Formalizing as a society “gives us the capacity to raise funds for the community, as well as make more events that can cultivate Filipino culture, especially for those who were born here,” Villafuerte said. “They don’t always get to experience how it is to be a Filipino, that spirit, that vibe.”
The Filipino spirit will be on full display Friday, Jan. 10 when Barangay Sea to Sky hosts its first official fundraising event at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. Featuring a prize raffle, dinner, dancing, and live music from The Groove Section, the event will also see the induction of the society’s inaugural members. Tickets are $65 for adults, $35 for kids ages six to 12, and free for anyone under five. RSVP to Arnold Marasigan at arnikups77@yahoo.ca.
Everyone, Fiipino or otherwise, is welcome.
“We would love to show this event to our neighbours,” Villafuerte said.
Learn more on the Barangay Sea to Sky page on Facebook. n
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CULTURAL CONNECTIONS The local Filipino community hosted Whistler’s first-ever Philippines Independence Day celebration in 2023.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HANNYLIZ VILLAFUERTE
New year, new you? This tool aims to educate about alcohol use
NEW ONLINE RESOURCE CALCULATES RISKS OF ALCOHOL USE AND BENEFITS FROM REDUCING CONSUMPTION
BY LIZ MCDONALD
RESEARCHERS FROM the University of Victoria (UVic) have launched a new tool to help people understand the risks of alcohol consumption and the benefits of reducing it, just in time for New Year’s resolutions or dry January.
UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) launched a website, Know Alcohol, on Jan. 1. The website has educational tools and a calculator for personalized health outcome estimates when consuming alcohol, using updated Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSUA) guidelines.
In 2023, CCSUA released evidence-based guidelines which replaced Canadian guidelines from 2011. The advice shows zero drinks produces positive health benefits. Two or less standard drinks in a week is considered lowrisk, meaning it’s unlikely alcohol consumption is consequential to an individual’s health. Three to six standard drinks in a week increases cancer risk, and seven or more “significantly” increases cancer risks.
Know Alcohol takes these guidelines and personally tailors evidence-based advice for consumers. Priya Johan, research associate for CISUR, said personalized information “is the trajectory of medical and quality-of-life information.”
“Given the advancement in technology of late, ads we see online are tailored to our demographics. People can relate more when it’s based on their age, gender and drinking habits, versus seeing messaging applied broadly. Knowing individual risk like cancer or cardiovascular disease really situates people in terms of their personal impacts,” Johan said.
In addition to using the online tool, there are Whistler resources which can support people making plans to shift their alcohol consumption. Whistler Community Services Society’s (WCSS) outreach services team is available Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jackie Dickinson, WCSS’ executive director, said someone is always available on-site during operating hours if people want to chat.
There is no clearly defined route for care when accessing a free assessment. Dickinson said they start by focusing on an individual’s desired changes and noted while abstinence may work for some people, it isn’t a one-sizefits-all approach.
“I think dry January is a great start for some people, but we also know that an abstinence-based approach to substances can sometimes be harmful to people and cause health complications,” she said. “If that’s the path someone wants to take, we can provide abstinence-based programming referrals like Alcoholics Anonymous or working with their family physician to look at what that might look like.
“But we are at a time in our health-care in our province where we are also encouraging
harm reduction, so looking at some ways to reduce harm, maybe potentially reduce consumption for them.”
WCSS outreach workers check to see if the visitor has or needs a family doctor and look at their access to clinical counselling or psychiatric support. If visitors are financially restricted, WCSS has a counselling assistance program to help offset some of the costs.
They help visitors redefine their support network and can suggest programs like the Late Unique Nighttime Alternatives (LUNA) program in Whistler. LUNA is a non-profit group running out of the Maury Young Arts Centre, creating space for alcohol-free connectivity.
“I often think about the fact that all of us are craving a strong sense of community and a strong sense of belonging,” Dickinson said. “So, when we talk to someone about changing anything in their life, we want to reinforce the people, opportunities, or places in their life that can reinforce that positive sense of belonging.”
Similarly to the creators of Know Alcohol and staff at WCSS, Whistler 360’s Dr. Karin Kausky said she takes an individualized approach to patients seeking advice for alcohol consumption while recognizing advice has changed.
“I think it’s something that’s seen evolution,” she said. “There is an increased risk of certain cancers with alcohol; it’s colon cancer, breast cancer [and others]. I’ll talk with somebody about their family history and any genetic mutations they might have, determining their baseline risk. It’s really a conversation, and I feel like it’s my job to give people information but not tell them what to do.”
With more research on alcohol’s impact on health outcomes, Kausky said youth are shifting their relationship with the substance, which is influencing industry trends, with alcohol-free options like mocktails and de-alcoholized beer growing in popularity.
“That’s probably driven by public demand and recognition of the risks associated with alcohol,” Kausky said.
Cancer risk recently led to the U.S. surgeon general calling for cancer warning labels on alcohol, similar to those on tobacco products because of the direct cancer link.
Kausky said if Canada adopted alcohol warning labels, the move would be in line with evidence-based knowledge on the associated risks. Johan also echoed the call from our southern health-care leader.
“CISUR has been since its inception in support of warning labels on alcoholic beverages in Canada and globally,” she said. “So many other products have information for nutrition, or cigarette packages have cancer warnings. All these other substances have information for consumers to be informed. Why is alcohol the one that doesn’t have that? People have the right to know how alcohol harms.”
To learn more about alcohol’s health impacts and benefits from reducing consumption, head to knowalcohol.ca.
Find the full story at piquenewsmagazine. com. n
Greens’ Valeriote, vocal opponent of LNG, says shares in oil and gas company an ‘oversight’
SEA TO SKY MLA COMMITS TO DIVESTING $172 WORTH OF SHARES IN PRAIRIESKY HE SAYS WAS LEFTOVER DIVIDEND FROM RETIREMENT INVESTMENT
BY BRANDON BARRETT
SEA TO SKY MLA Jeremy Valeriote, whose election campaign was defined by his opposition to a liquefied natural gas facility in Squamish, said he plans to divest his remaining shares in an Alberta oil and gas company after a media report this week brought the investment to light.
On Monday, Jan. 6, The Tyee reported on the “surprising” financial holdings of some BC MLAs, based on the disclosure statements all candidates are required to complete, and found the BC Greens’ Valeriote owns shares in PraireSky Royalty Ltd., a Calgary-based company with crude oil and natural gas interests across Western Canada. The company reportedly holds interest in approximately 9.7 million acres of land with petroleum and/or natural gas rights, plus gross overriding royalty interests in another 8.5 million acres.
“I appreciate The Tyee for bringing this to my attention. This was an oversight which I am taking action to resolve,” Valeriote said in a statement to Pique. “The $172.08 I have in PrairieSky shares is a leftover dividend from past retirement investments in fossil fuels,
which I have been actively divesting from over the years. While this highlights the systemic challenges of transitioning pensions away from oil and gas investments, I am committed
to leading by example as the representative for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky and will be removing this investment immediately.”
Valeriote’s historic campaign centred
around his fierce opposition to the Woodfibre LNG facility being constructed on Howe Sound, which helped make him the Greens’ first-ever candidate elected on the B.C. mainland. Last month, he told The Squamish Chief it was “tremendously disappointing” the NDP wouldn’t agree to cancel the controversial project as part of its power-sharing agreement with the Greens.
The Greens’ 2024 election platform promised no new LNG projects, no permits for new fracking wells or pipelines, and vowed to set a date to begin phasing out gas production in the province.
Valeriote’s disclosure lists other investments, including shares in companies dedicated to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. They include wind power company Innergex, electric and hybrid vehicle producer Azure Dynamics, and Foremost Lithium Resource and Technology.
The MLA also invests in the telecommunications giant, Telus Corp.; plane and snowmobile manufacturer, Bombardier; cybersecurity and software provider, BlackBerry; Toronto-Dominion Bank; water management consultants Paradigm Environmental Technologies; drug developer Arbutus Biopharma; and IM Cannabis Corp., among others. n
Pick up the latest issue of your favourite read in Whistler.
OIL OVERSIGHT Jeremy Valeriote, second from left, with members of Frack Free BC protesting oil-and-gas industry practices outside of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in July 2024.
PHOTO BY LIZ MCDONALD
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New Lil’wat ski and snowboard team hits the slopes
SEVENTY-FOUR YOUTH FROM LIL’WAT NATION KICKED OFF THE FIRST OF 10 WEEKEND SESSIONS ON BLACKCOMB LAST WEEKEND
BY LUKE FAULKS
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
SANDY WARD had only been snowboarding for a year or two when Aaron Marchant, founder of the First Nations Snowboard Team, invited her to join a small group of other Indigenous youth to train for the 2010 Olympics. That was in 2005.
Now, Ward is leading her own winter sports youth team, the Lil’wat Nation Qwíxwla7 (sliding) ski and snowboard team. Over the next nine weeks, she and two other coaches will take more than 70 skiers and snowboarders between the ages of eight and 22 up to Whistler Blackcomb for lessons and a whole lot of winter fun.
“I started in that program, and it got me to where I am today,” said Ward. “So I see how important it is.”
When Ward first started training, she remembers it being a high-performance team.
The minimum entry level was a Level 3 snowboarder—a measurement indicating comfort linking skidded turns and using turn shape to control speed on green runs, while
maybe being ready to tackle a blue. She and two other members of the team would go on to the BC Provincial Freestyle Team and BC Snowboard Cross Team.
But after 2010, funding dried up and the mindset changed; less competitive and more geared towards inspiring a lifelong love of the outdoors.
passes and equipment rentals, if needed, are sponsored for all 74 registered members of the Lil’wat Qwíxwla7 team by Whistler Blackcomb’s Epic Promise program.
“I don’t want to have that barrier for the kids,” said Ward. “So we started accepting everyone, and this weekend was really cute to see the Level 1s out there.”
“I started in that program, and it got me to where I am today. So I see how important it is.”
- SANDY WARD
“There’s been this transition towards getting away from that competitive side [of the sport] and just giving the kids a recreational experience, so to get them in love with the sport, rather than training someone towards the Olympics,” said Ward. “We’re providing a chance to find that love.”
She has kept the same mindset with her new team, removing the experiential barrier she faced as a kid. The same goes for cost; the program is free for Lil’wat youth. Lift
Ward has been a trainer and observer of Lil’wat’s ski and snowboarding team since she started training at the age of 16.
Over the years, the team was subsumed by the Indigenous Life Sport Academy (ILSA). But in 2024, the executive director of ILSA announced he was stepping down, and with no one there to take his place, Ward said the program was in danger of being dissolved.
“I just didn’t want to see the kids go
without the program,” she said. “I just thought, ‘No, the kids need something.’”
So, after two decades of being involved in skiing and snowboarding out of Lil’wat—first as a student, then as an instructor—Ward decided to take the reins of the program. Her team includes Mikey Barton, head coach for snowboarders, and Ward’s partner, Morgan Fleury, who organizers the skiers.
The program isn’t easy to run. Ward remembers the first day was overwhelming at first—74 kids is a big number to wrangle and transport—but the experience and feedback made it all worthwhile.
“The kids had a great day,” she said. “I’ve been getting feedback from the parents through the last couple of days, just saying, ‘the kids are stoked, and they’re just coming home with story after story of the day.’”
If readers are interested in contributing to the team, they can always donate to the Lil’wat Nation. Ward said she is also always on the lookout for new ski and snowboard instructors with experience working with Indigenous youth. Potential instructors are encouraged to reach out on Facebook or Instagram.
When she isn’t leading the Qwíxwla7 team, Ward is a backcountry guide, founding member of Indigenous women outdoors, runs the Lil’wat Youth Mountain Bike Program, and is an Arc’teryx athlete. n
JOIN THE TEAM A group of young Lil’wat sliders during a day at Whistler Blackcomb.
PHOTO BY SANDY WARD
Pemberton animal shelter completes new enclosures
NEWS BRIEFS: PEMBY POUNDER TRAIL RACE SET FOR JUNE 21
BY LUKE FAULKS Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
THE PEMBERTON ANIMAL Wellbeing Society (PAWS) has completed construction on two new insulated, roofed enclosures after damage from flooding last year.
The new enclosures had been on the organization’s radar since late 2023, but after flooding last January wiped out the larger of two enclosures and seriously damaged the smaller one, the shelter was faced with a choice to try and “patch up” the old shelters, or move forward with an entirely new facility, explained PAWS manager Erinne Campbell.
“We decided to go for it and take the leap,” she said. “We’re just so happy with the support we received and [that] we were able to do it.”
PAWS launched its subsequent Raise the Roof campaign in April, raising more than $52,000 through events such as an online auction that local businesses donated to.
After raising enough money to pay for the enclosures, PAWS faced a new challenge: finding a construction company that would take on such a small-scale project.
“It’s sort of small potatoes to [builders],
“We’re just so happy with the support we received...”
- ERINNE CAMPBELL
but we were able to get Kentel Construction there,” said Campbell. “They came onboard and sort of pieced it together amidst [their] other jobs and really helped us out.”
The new enclosures are roughly four times larger than their predecessors, and each consists of an eight-by-eight-foot bedroom, an eight-by-12-foot lounge, and an eight-by12-foot patio area. Each enclosure is heated and insulated.
There are currently six dogs in one enclosure and three in the other. Campbell said the new enclosures won’t necessarily be enough to house all the animals PAWS takes in. The shelter now has six dogs on its waitlist. Whistler Animals Galore, the Whistler-based animal welfare society and shelter, has about a dozen dogs on its waitlist.
The shelter is a small, volunteer-led operation that receives funding by donation and through the Pemberton District Initiative Fund, which provides $15,000 a year for payroll and veterinary services.
In October, PAWS received charity status, broadening its fundraising efforts.
“It opens the door for a lot more corporate donations, which ideally would boost our fundraising above and beyond what the
local community can sometimes withstand,” Campbell said.
In 2025, the team is looking to raise funds for upgrades to their office space and cattery, including better flooring and insulation. Those looking to donate to PAWS can do so through their website or CanadaHelps. Donors will receive a tax-deductible receipt.
PEMBY POUNDER TRAIL RACE SET FOR JUNE 21
Pemberton’s premiere trail race is back... with a re-brand. After crowdsourcing a new name, co-owners Charlotte Paul and Kristian Manietta settled on “The Pemby Pounder” to signify the “heart-pounding climbs” and the “leg-pounding descents” of their event.
The Pounder has a nine-kilometre and 22-kilometre course. Both courses start at Den Duyf Park, before setting out down the Mackenzie Basin access road and into the Basin’s network of trails.
Nine-kilometre runners will climb up Happy Trail for a 261-metre ascent, before returning to the starting area via Radio Tower, Waterfall and Cross Town Traffic trails.
Twenty-two-kilometre runners will brave a 963-metre ascent, up Happy Trail, Nimby, Let it Go and Middle Earth, after which point runners will fly down another set of trails back to Den Duyf Park.
More detailed route descriptions are available on the Pemby Pounder website.
For the last two years, the event has been sponsored by XTERRA. Now, the group has rebranded with a new name after splitting with the lifestyle brand.
“With parting ways with XTERRA, the event is truly locally owned and operated,” said Paul. “I think that’s important to people.”
She added that avoiding licensing fees with XTERRA and the flexibility of running their own event helped her and her husband Kristian decide to move on.
Registration opened Jan. 1. As per tradition, five dollars from every entry will go towards the Pemberton Valley Trails Association (PVTA), which created and maintains many of the trails that make the Pemby Pounder possible.
Paul says the PVTA and Lil’wat Nation Recreation Department will fundraise through the race, as they’ve done in years past. In 2024, they raised about $900 for local charities and roughly $1,000 for the PVTA from runner registrations.
Registration covers race swag, a finisher’s medal, a course record bonus, medical support, aid stations, and post-race food, drinks and ice baths.
Those who’d like to participate in the event but aren’t much for running are in luck—the team behind the event is looking for volunteers to staff aid stations, set up and tear down the event, and just generally cheer on runners.
Registration and volunteer opportunities are available on the Pemby Pounder website. As are last year’s results, if you’re looking to set a course record. n
Public Notice
Winter Parking Regulations Changed
The Village of Pemberton has updated its Winter Parking Regulations to improve snow removal and safety
At Regular Council Meeting No. 1612 on December 10, 2024, Council adopted Parking and Traffic Control Amendment Bylaw No 976, 2024, expanding parking restrictions on the even side of streets to 24 hours a day during winter parking restrictions between November 15 –March 31 annually
This update aims to improve snow removal and ensure safer, clearer streets throughout the winter months Updated signage is in place throughout the Village and is now in effect Please follow the new regulations to avoid penalties a
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Why Hotdog Hans rules
LET’S SAY you’re a young, wide-eyed skier hanging around Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain with friends when a shit-talking 80-something in jeans with the ski style of a hungover cowboy pulls up to the halfpipe deck, growls something along the lines of watch this, punk, and proceeds to throw a 1620. There are wows,
BY
LESLIE ANTHONY
disbelief and WTFs aplenty between you and your buds before the inevitable reality-check Hey, wait a minute—what’s going
Such is the innocent punking envisioned by superpipe wunderkind Alex Ferreira and friend Kyler Sciarrone when they created “Hotdog Hans”—i.e., Alex made up as a cantankerous, hard-done-by former freestyle boss with an ever-evolving backstory rife with Olympic ignominy, foul language, drinking, womanizing, a scofflaw son and plenty of police-cruiser backseats. You know, a man who seems compelled to say and do almost everything in the now-mostly-unacceptable old way—much like many greying Whistlerites.
Little did the pair suspect their resulting 2022 film, Hotdog Hans, would evolve into a viral YouTube series, today with five numbered episodes built around ski plots and a pair of comical intermezzos involving pickleball and golf. Propelled by the perpetual human need for an irascible hero—and how
well Ferreira pulls it off—the series is a global hit. “Hans has more fans than I do,” says Ferreira, who thinks the character strikes a chord of hope around ski country. “It was easier to be a ski bum back in the day, so I look at Hans and think, good—that still exists, and hope it resonates with people.”
Certainly, when Hans appears on the hill he’s a celebrity loved by everyone—kids, parents, grandparents. Meaning that to know Hans doesn’t require knowing who’s behind the character, even if it’s a multi X Games gold- and Olympic silver-andbronze-medallist who just came off the most
accent inspired by Ferreira’s own unfiltered grandfather to guest appearances by the likes of Jonny Moseley and Lance Armstrong. There’s also Hans’ ski style—flailing arms and ragged, pistoning turns, moves that Ferreira says came naturally. “Maybe it was from growing up with old Warren Miller movies and thinking that’s what skiing was like in the ’60s,” he ponders.
The entire enterprise is highly professional, from idea sessions in the studio to filming and post-production. “My business partner [writer/director] Matt Hobbs is oneof-a-kind when it comes to packaging and
“It was easier to be a ski bum back in the day, so I look at Hans and think, Good—that still exists, and hope it resonates with people.”
- ALEX FERREIRA
dominant season in men’s halfpipe history, going five-for-five in the 2023-24 World Cup and adding X Games and Dew Tour titles for a total of seven straight victories (Ferreira has also already won the first event of this current season, the Copper Mountain Grand Prix on Dec. 22, 2024).
But while Hotdog Hans may be a standout example of the disguise-prank subgenre (à la Kyrie Irving’s Uncle Drew), it’s the sharp writing, smart production and marketing savvy that give it life. From impeccable makeup and prosthetic work to the Morgan Freeman parody narration; from Hans’ perfect ’70s jeans to an old Columbia jacket (Ferreira’s clothing sponsor) scoured from the internet; and from the gravelly New England
marketing, and it’s an honour to create these pieces with him,” says Ferreira, who’d just returned from filming Hotdog Hans 5 in Switzerland when I talked to him last April.
The series took a quantum leap with Hotdog Hans 3, on which Aspen resident Ben Silverman, an award-winning producer behind comedies like The Office and Jane the Virgin, acted as advisor. “It was truly funny and inventive and my kind of angular comedy,” he says, after his son showed him the first film. “Having made a ton of characterdriven comedy, you know when something works and actually makes you laugh.”
He also appreciated Hans’ edginess. “I love how dangerous and third-rail some of Hans’ language and attitude is,”
he says. “So hyper-juxtaposed to Alex’s wholesome-life-at-home-with-mom-giveback-to-the-community personality.”
Meaning that if Alex was actually anything like Hans it wouldn’t work. “And if the writing and performance wasn’t so raw and strongly comedic it wouldn’t work either,” Silverman assesses, giving due to Ferreira’s preternaturally strong acting, which is both convincing and consistent. According to Hobbs, once Alex transforms into Hans he never breaks character—he’s in there. “That’s exactly how I feel,” says Ferreira. “Once I’m in, there’s no coming out. It happens very naturally for me.” (Check out @Hotdoghans on IG for a little taste).
As a testament to Ferreira’s ability to bring it, his immortal bad-boy avatar may, in fact, be too convincing. “Weirdly, that’s how many people see me now,” he chuckles. “As a ruffly old guy who messes with people. They might be talking to Alex but they treat me like Hans.”
The conflation could be due to an undeniable synergy between the characters, who share an ethos of dusting themselves off after a beat-down to get back at it and find redemption, a wellspring of underdog motivation that bubbles to the surface at every opportunity. Certainly a lot of his people encouraged Ferreira to stop skiing after two hard crashes forced him to withdraw from the 2023 X Games, but “man am I glad I didn’t listen,” he said after taking gold for the third time in the 2024 event. And that line sounds an awful lot like the postscript narration to Hotdog Hans 3, in which Alex actually battles his geriatric alter ego—“No matter how far down they say you are, it’s never too far to come back.”
Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based author, editor, biologist and bon vivant who has never met a mountain he didn’t like. n
DOG DAYS Alex Ferreira as Hotdog Hans. SCREENSHOT
Winter’s cold grasp claims another Trudeau’s time in power
FOUR DECADES AGO, his father took his famous walk in the snow to decide to leave the country’s highest office. In recent days, the son took to the British Columbian ski slopes to determine how to do so, too.
In literature, snow can provide a backdrop for moments of existential resignation or of a quiet acceptance of fate. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s acceptance of his political fate has been anything but quiet, until perhaps the end.
He has held on and on, as we saw painfully in recent months with U.S. President Joe Biden below the border and even BC United Leader Kevin Falcon nearby, until it was
BY KIRK LAPOINTE
beyond obvious that something other than public service was the personal compass.
But with what he called “internal battles” too massive to surmount—while neglecting to cite public opinion that was hurtling toward single-digit support—Trudeau announced Monday he cannot be the standard-bearer of the Liberal party he has kept in power for nearly a decade.
What we will get immediately is a paralyzed, prorogued Parliament until March 24, when Trudeau’s replacement will either from inside or outside of the Commons be the prime minister seized with retaining confidence of the chamber
grappling with climate change and resource development, the promise followed by the slumbering progress of Indigenous reconciliation, and the hellhole of the pandemic that proved an inflection point on his character when he made the classic mistake of criticizing his citizens. And, of course, who can forget blackface?
It was lost on some of his supporters that Trudeau had first been picked to lead mainly because of his electability, not his particular vision for the country, and as time went on, it became clearer that the task was larger than the man and would eventually devour him. Too many attached the same ardor and awe to him as the country had to his father, but he was more of a tactician than a strategist, more visceral than intellectual. I have too many memories of Pierre as a cerebral gymnast and Justin as an evasive acrobat.
Even so, he never lost to the alternatives across the aisle—a drawn-out Stephen Harper, and successors Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole—and leaves office technically undefeated, if unquestionably deflated. His successor might elevate the party from polling in third place nationally, but Trudeau has so overstayed and entrenched a resolve—not just about him, but about the Liberal team—as to make Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre an inevitability in 2025 as prime minister. The outgoing and incoming prime ministers alike have no small tasks in engaging the second-term Donald Trump, and the focus on a domestic leadership race for the next two months is hardly helpful to Canada in the presidential short-term.
History ought to show Trudeau’s administration reduced poverty ... but he leaves office in a financial strait that makes one wonder if there will ever be a balanced budget again.
or facing an election that today would wreak oblivion on what has been long termed Canada’s “natural governing party.”
It is an ugly departure to a starry arrival, when Trudeau injected legitimate enthusiasm in politics and became, like his father Pierre, an international celebrity as prime minister. In that period, which was brief but which we tend to forget so soon, it appeared that Canada had the ear of the world on climate change, on equity and on a progressive value set.
Trouble arrived quickly, though, first with backing off on his promise of introducing proportional representation— something he mentioned Monday as a regret—then a series of speed bumps he raced over that wrecked the alignment of the political vehicle he was driving.
There were ethical breaches (the Aga Khan vacation, the WE Charity, and the SNC-Lavalin controversy), the policy considerations and political contradictions that come with managing a government
History ought to show Trudeau’s administration reduced poverty and marginally improved the tax burden for the middle class, but he leaves office in a financial strait that makes one wonder if there will ever be a balanced budget again. A little like his father, he didn’t make fiscal policy a focus. A lot like his father, his impetuousness could at times be his folly, and the trait made him more a vessel of polarization than cohesion, more of division than unity in the country.
I remember interviewing Harper in the days before his 2015 defeat and saw in Trudeau at the microphone Monday the same body language of relief that the inhumane physical and emotional toll of resistance to the country’s will could stand down now. After a bit of scripted ceremony, the prime minister could speak more candidly and relax in knowing it was over.
Kirk LaPointe is a Glacier Media columnist with an extensive background in journalism. n
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‘ANOTHER PERFECT STORM’ B.C. tree planting to plummet 23% amid wildfire boom
By Stefan Labbé
3,000,000ha
AREA BURNED BY WILDFIRES IN B.C.
2,000,000ha
1,000,000ha
Source: National Forestry Database, BC Wildfire Service • Stefan Labbé/
British Columbia’s government expects to plant nearly 60 million fewer trees this year—a 23-per-cent drop from last year’s planting season at a time the province has seen a major spike in wildfire activity.
The projections come from presentation slides obtained by Glacier Media and shown to industry in September, less than 10 days before the B.C.’s provincial election campaign kicked off.
During the campaign, the BC NDP promised to plant 300 million trees annually across the province to “help increase forest resilience.”
That promise came off the back of two of the most destructive wildfire seasons in B.C.’s history.
In 2023 alone, more than 6,000 fires torched 15 million hectares of land, an area larger than England, according to Natural Resources Canada.
But according to the province’s own projections, the government expects the number of trees planted to sink to 233 million in 2025, down from 291 million in 2024 and far short of its election promise.
About half of the 58 million fewer trees forecast to be planted this year come from declines in trees planted by logging companies. Drops are also expected in government programs designed to combat climate change, restore forest carbon stocks, and plant trees in the wake of wildfires, data shows.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests said part of the decline in planting is due to a drop in tree harvesting in regions like Omenica and Skeena in recent years.
The 2023 wildfires also prevented many replanting projects from occurring that year, and delays due to the time it takes to grow enough seedlings mean replanting won’t take place until 2026 and 2027, according to the ministry spokesperson.
Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar defended the province’s reforestation record.
“British Columbians can be proud of our tree-planting work,” Parmar said in a statement. “We’ve led the country by planting more than two billion trees in our province in the last seven years, and there’s a lot more work to do.”
Randy Fournier, CEO of the Victoria-based tree nursery company PRT Growing Services Ltd., said the tree-planting projections raise serious questions over how the province hopes to recover its forests from such devastating fire seasons.
“The fact that planting is going down at a time you’ve come off back-to-back epic wildfire years is just immensely concerning,” said Fournier. “How do you actually plant [fewer] seedlings after an epic wildfire?”
Tree planting down amid growing wildfire threat
The steep decline in tree planting comes as wildfires grow in size and destructive power. Over the past eight years, more than 7.56 million hectares have burned across B.C. That’s bigger than Ireland and nearly triple the combined area burned in B.C. over the previous 16 years.
Several studies have linked a rise in wildfire activity to climate change.
One 2023 study found almost 40 per cent of the area burned by wildfires in Western Canada and the United States over the last four decades was caused by emissions from the world’s top fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers.
The research, which measured how burning fossil fuels had amplified the vapour pressure deficit across Western North America—essentially a measure of how “thirsty” the atmosphere is—found major fossil fuel emitters were responsible for nearly half the increase in fire-prone conditions since 1901.
Another group of researchers found climate change drove B.C. forests to take a turn in 2005—from prevailing wet conditions to two decades of increasingly dry and flammable forests. That helped drive the recent spike in wildfire activity, a trend researchers found is likely to continue over the next century.
Previous natural cycles of fire would trigger trees to drop their cones and seeds, allowing forests to regenerate. But Canada’s hotter and bigger fires are now often incinerating cones and burning away soils, say experts.
Erik Piikkila, a forest technician and watershed ecologist in Ladysmith, said that while B.C.’s forecast decline in tree planting next year is likely due to a number of factors—from a lack of fibre in the forest to U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber—the rise in wildfire intensity is
THE DONNIE CREEK WILDFIRE sprung to life in May 2023 and quickly became the largest in B.C. history. By Aug. 30, 2024, when it was finally put out, it had burned more than 619,000 hectares, more than double the area of Metro Vancouver and almost nine times the size of Greater Victoria. Photo courtesy of BC Wildfire Service
making large swathes of ground more difficult to plant on.
“These wildfires are burning so hard they’re baking the ground hard,” Piikkila said. “All these factors are adding up.”
“It’s another perfect storm.”
Take ‘incremental bites’ out of the problem, says nursery association head
The nursery industry estimates that planting about 15 per cent of the forest burned in 2023 and 2024 would require more than 880 million seedlings in B.C. and a combined 5.3 billion across Canada.
B.C. nurseries do not currently have the capacity to produce that many additional seedlings every year, but with the right amount of government funding, it could take “incremental bites” out of what burned, said Christina Lavoie, president of the Forest Nursery Association of B.C.
However, as the total number of trees planted decreases in places like B.C., achieving that level of nursery production is becoming an increasingly distant prospect, said Rob Keen, executive director of the Canadian Tree Nursery Association.
“It’s not just, ‘next year, we’ll jack it up.’ You’ve got to maintain it,” said Keen.
At the Oliver-based nursery K&C Silviculture, general manager Henry Yang says most of the more than 40 million seedlings they produce every year go to logging companies required to reforest harvested areas.
He said there’s “no doubt” natural disasters have also provided a demand for reforestation in recent years, but without incentives, nurseries and logging companies are still planting a fraction of new trees in burned areas.
“We are playing catch-up to forest that was lost maybe six or seven years ago,” Yang said.
Value forests a ‘critical infrastructure’
F or PRT’s Fournier, the growing intensity and scale of Canadian wildfires is pushing the country’s forests to a “tipping point” where they won’t be able to recover on their own. It’s a message the CEO delivered last month to Canada’s Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.
“Pine cones don’t fly,” Fournier told the committee. “When the edges are out here, you end up with permanent grasslands in the middle because you couldn’t get there before invasive species took over.”
Fournier called on the federal committee to start treating forests as “critical infrastructure” and help remove barriers to clearing burned forests so replanting can occur.
PRT’s 28 nurseries produce more than 600 million seedlings every year. That makes it the largest tree nursery company in North America. Fournier said an increasing number of those seeds are going toward reforesting burned areas.
But where jurisdictions like Alberta have moved quickly to let forestry companies salvage and replant forests scorched by fire in recent years, he says B.C. has fallen behind.
“Within weeks [after the 2023 wildfires] in Alberta, salvage logging took off. I’ve heard customers say in B.C., that takes up to a year to happen,” he said.
Industry calls for creation of ‘restoration economy’
The province’s forecasted decrease in planting next year represents the largest single-year drop in tree planting since the 2008 economic crisis, according to Lavoie.
Without ramping up planting in burned areas, she said the decline in area harvested in B.C. is going to lead to a “ripple effect” putting pressure on nurseries in the same way pulp and paper mills have curtailed production and laid off workers.
“We’ve seen some ebbs and flows, but really nothing this substantial and prolonged,” she said.
Lavoie says the province’s promises to re-invest in planting trees could mark a turning point toward a “restoration economy.” But she said that would require a major scaling-up of sowing requests and survey work in burned areas.
“We need boots on the ground,” she said.
To do that, Fournier said Ottawa and the provinces need to help host private reforestation on Crown land and redeploy Canada’s 2 Billion Trees Program to replant areas hit by disaster.
“We’re trying to figure out a way to help government get out of its own way, because by the time they figure this out, it’s going to be too late,” Fournier said.
Critics say replanting burned forests an ‘enormous’ industrial undertaking
When the 2 Billion Trees program began in 2021, the federal government sold the program as a way to reforest land and sequester carbon in places where logging companies had no duty to plant trees. The recent destructive wildfire seasons have shifted that narrative, said David Wallis, Nature Canada’s policy and campaign manager for reforestation.
Whatever its intent, Wallis said the program has consistently failed to meet its own targets year over year, let alone provide the money nurseries would require to replace trees lost by wildfire.
“This program is never going to have the capacity to replant the trees lost to forest fires,” said Wallis. “The industrial size of that would be enormous.”
Consider this, he said: Even if the federal program could be expanded, the forecasted drop in trees planted in B.C. next year would effectively wipe out those gains.
“That decline is more than the 2 Billion Trees program has managed to plant in any single year,” Wallis said of the falling B.C. numbers. “That decline is really substantial.”
Tree planting ‘misguided’ from the start, says ecologist
Karen Price, an old-growth ecologist who served as a technical advisor on B.C.’s Old Growth Strategic Review, questioned the entire premise that planting fewer trees is a bad thing for Canada’s forests. She described the continued focus on tree planting as a “red herring” that has allowed the forestry industry to continue logging as usual.
“It’s misguided,” she said. “I’d be happy if they planted fewer trees, particularly on burns.”
Price pointed to research from Alana Clason, an ecologist at the Bulkley Valley Research Centre who published a study in 2022 looking at 21 wildfires across B.C.’s Interior from 1960 to 2015. Some of the fires had been replanted, while others had been left to regrow on their own.
After examining the sites, Clason and her colleagues—including one from the B.C. government—concluded tree planting decreased the total carbon locked into the ecosystem over time, largely through the loss of dead wood from salvage logging and site preparation.
A team of U.S. scientists drew similar conclusions in 2006, when researchers from Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service presented data showing conifer regeneration and fuel loads following the state’s 2002 Biscuit Fire.
The scientists compared burned areas with and without post-fire salvage logging and tree planting. Ultimately, they found the logged and planted areas reduced median regeneration density by 71 per cent, and significantly increased downed woody fuel loads, adding to short-term fire risk.
“It is true that fires are burning hotter than they were. And it is true, for sure, that it’s going to be a bit harder to regenerate,” said Price. “But if we go in and salvage what’s there—which we’re doing more and more—we’re compacting soil even more, and we’re damaging it even more.”
The study out of Oregon sparked a public controversy over the merits of post-fire logging and tree planting that continues to this day.
In Canada, both the tree nursery and logging industries continue to advocate that thinning and salvage logging will help suppress wildfires while offering a new source of revenue for the forestry sector. It’s a path some have suggested could help industry regain its place as the “hero” in a new narrative where wildfire is a villain everyone can agree on.
But for ecologists like Price, using the latest destructive wildfire seasons to drive more public dollars into tree planting will only perpetuate an industrial cycle that foments wildfire and destroys biodiversity.
Others suggest charting a cautious path toward increased tree planting. Nature Canada’s Wallis agreed more government money needs to be plowed into tree nurseries to boost seedling stocks for burned areas. But he warned any investment needs to come with long-term requirements to improve biodiversity and prevent logging companies from reaping all the benefits of public investments through mono-crop tree plantations.
Instead, added Piikkila, both logging companies and government need to ramp up the planting of deciduous species to act as fire breaks.
“We’re planting these dense plantations that are just bait for fire to come ripping in,” said the forest technician. “The status quo is setting up a house of cards.” n
AREAS BURNED BY WILDFIRE in recent years have spiked across western North America. A growing body of research has tracked the rise in burning to climate change. Photo courtesy of Mast Reforestation
B.C. bobsledder Mackenzie Stewart finds her ‘fire inside’
DESPITE INJURY, SETBACK AND SEXUAL ASSAULT, THE NATIONAL TEAM PILOT HAS BUILT HERSELF INTO A PROMISING CANADIAN ATHLETE
BY DAVID SONG
MACKENZIE STEWART is a talented human.
She’s a seven-year veteran of Canada’s national bobsled unit. The 5-11, 170-pounder is built to handle the explosive demands of her sport with the same aplomb she displayed as part of Simon Fraser University’s track and field team. Stewart can also walk on her hands, though that doesn’t directly help her drive a 300-pound sled down an icy track.
The Sunshine Coast native and frequent Whistler visitor has other kinds of gifts, too. She’s working towards a master’s degree in psychology and can often be found drawing or crafting. Her latest side hustle, creating press-on nails, is one of many odd jobs on her resume: from selling Lululemon apparel to making real estate videos.
Strong in body and bright of mind, yet the most exceptional thing about this athlete could well be the resilience of her heart.
‘AT PEACE WITH MYSELF’
Four years ago, a male teammate sexually assaulted Stewart in the ostensible comfort of
her own home. In an eloquent and remarkably raw blog post on her personal website, she wrote: “I knew deep down that something was wrong, that this was not what I wanted, but my body was frozen, disconnected from my own will … I was raped.
“Society ingrains in [women] the importance of being nice, of not causing harm, and it twisted my thoughts. Maybe it was my
detonated minefields of emotional unrest. Her physical prowess declined precipitously, and a posterior tibial tendon tear added injury to insult by wiping out what would have been her 2022 Olympic campaign.
At one point a “fearless little girl” who believed herself invincible, Stewart wanted to quit. There appeared to be no light at the end of the tunnel, just a black hole of ever-
“Society ingrains in [women] the importance of being nice, of not causing harm, and it twisted my thoughts.”
- MACKENZIE STEWART
fault, I wondered. If only I hadn’t been drinking, if I had been more sober, perhaps I could have been clearer when I said ‘no,’ maybe I would have locked my door behind me. I desperately tried to convince myself that maybe he didn’t realize the impact of his actions and that he didn’t mean to hurt me.”
The following morning, Stewart tried with equal desperation to hide from her internal tempest of trauma—but to no avail.
She grappled with daily life. The oncefamiliar national training facility became a house of horrors, and regular social interactions
increasing despair. Yet she found it within herself to march on as loved ones began to rally her away from the band-aid “solutions” of alcohol and adrenaline.
Then, an individual close to Stewart disclosed their own experience as a sexual assault victim.
“That lit a fire inside of me: people needed to know [what happened],” Stewart said. “The fact that this person didn’t know they could turn to me and find comfort in me was devastating. I wanted to help them, so my way of helping was to come out with my story, take
ownership of it and be better.”
Stewart’s newfound resolve coincided with a valuable career opportunity. She’d begun her career as a brakewoman, but transitioned fully in 2022 to the sport’s more glamorous role of pilot. It was in that front seat she discovered liberation, for she could control her own race—and her own destiny.
Understand one thing: psychological scars remain despite time, professional counselling and love from friends and family. However, the awesome forces of grace and absolution continue to drive this woman.
“I did a lot of work over the last two years to not necessarily move on … but to give myself grace and no longer associate the negative stigmas [of sexual assault] with me,” Stewart revealed. “I forgave myself for what I thought was my fault, and I don’t even think I find anger and blame in the other person.
“I want to believe that people make mistakes. That’s maybe naive, but I think it’s helped me get through—trying to find a positive and not see society or people in a dark light. I still have days where I feel pain or feel like I lost something … but I do think that I’m at peace with myself.”
COMING OUT STRONG
Sport hasn’t just enabled Stewart to heal. It has also taught her how to market herself, speak in public and respond to the unexpected. The 28-year-old was always athletic, but needed time to find her long-term niche.
PROMISING PUSH Mackenzie Stewart (left) pushes a two-woman bobsled.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MACKENZIE STEWART
She wasn’t meant to go pro in her childhood activities of basketball, horseback riding, soccer or volleyball. Her skills in high jump and shot put were notable, but insufficient to advance her past the collegiate level.
Alan, her dad, recommended bobsled. Stewart’s ironic knee-jerk response: “I’m not going to do a winter sport. I don’t know how to do winter sports. We grew up [in Pender Harbour], there’s no mountains.”
Weeks later, a British Columbia Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BCBSA) staff member reached out. That brought Stewart to her first recruitment camp, though she didn’t enjoy her maiden voyage down track—instead likening it to an unpleasant roller-coaster ride.
However, something about those G-forces enticed Stewart to continue. She loved riding a horse in full gallop as a kid, and grew to thrive on the edge of discomfort.
Speaking of uncomfortable situations: every Canadian bobsledder is funding his or her own way through the 2024-25 season. Even after digging deep into her savings, Stewart doesn’t have enough to cover her $88,000 in projected expenses and is hustling to make more money.
The Sunshine Coast resident’s go-getter attitude is emblematic of her vocation. Most bobsledders outside of powerhouse Germany must commit hundreds of hours to fundraising in addition to thousands more hours spent training and maintaining equipment away from the limelight. They race because they love to, not because of financial gain or exposure.
“I don’t want to take a year off the track. It doesn’t make sense,” remarked Stewart. “I want Canada to come out strong at [the 2026 Winter Olympics] and have a shot at medals.”
Ladies face an additional hurdle: opportunity. They are only allowed to compete in pilot-only monobobs and twowoman sleds, as opposed to men who race in two- and four-person vehicles. This practice substantially reduces the number of women who can participate in any given event.
‘LEAVE THE DOORS OPEN’
Stewart has been making the most of her ice time, though. She and Leah Walkeden upset
their more widely heralded compatriots for victory at last November’s Canadian Championships, and roughly a week after that she notched monobob bronze during North American Cup (NAC) action in Whistler.
Lots of people are happy to see it, including Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) coach and Olympic gold medallist Justin Kripps, who named Stewart’s Canadian Championship breakthrough as an achievement that stood out to him.
Walkeden now pushes Melissa Lotholz, who finished top-12 at each of the last two Olympics. Nonetheless she credits Stewart with helping her rediscover a passion for bobsleigh amidst a difficult time in life.
For her part, Stewart will continue to grind away on the NAC circuit as both a lone pilot and with teammate Morgan Ramsay in her backseat.
“[I always tell myself]: leave the doors open. It’s not giving up, it’s finding a new path,” she said. “There’s always going to be another path that gets you to where you want to go, and the goal may change … that’s fine. Do what makes you feel purposeful in the moment, and if it changes, jump on the next opportunity that arises. I want to inspire as many kids as I can, so going into schools and talking about that is just as big a piece of the goal as going to the Olympic Games.”
To her fellow sexual assault survivors, Stewart writes: “Each person possesses their toolbox in life, and I consider myself fortunate to have the tools that help shape my journey towards healing. However, no toolbox is inherently right or wrong, and we must refrain from judging others based on how they cope and react to such events.
“We must acknowledge that countless individuals don’t make it through their own battles. If you’re reading this and it strikes a nerve, resonates with you, or makes you feel less alone, I encourage you to reach out to me or someone you trust. Allow yourself to reclaim your life, build a support system of people you trust, and embark on the healing journey you deserve. It’s not fair, and it’s not right. We can’t change the past, but we can take hold of our future.” n
PURPOSE-DRIVEN Mackenzie Stewart is a Canadian bobsled pilot from the Sunshine Coast, B.C. PHOTO COURTESY OF MACKENZIE STEWART
Whistler Blackcomb’s Glacier Creek Lodge is more than just burgers and fries
WITH THREE NEWLY LAUNCHED MENU ITEMS, WHISTLER BLACKCOMB’S ON-MOUNTAIN OFFERINGS PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DINE ON HIGHER-QUALITY MEALS
BY LIZ MCDONALD
FOR MANY VISITORS of Glacier Creek Lodge on Blackcomb Mountain, the options for diverse meals were few and far between in the last few years.
Sure, you could rely on the standard fare of burgers and hot dogs, soups and breakfast, or perhaps a noodle bowl, but those craving an elevated meal would be better met elsewhere. It’s a reality Wolfgang Sterr, executive chef and senior director of food and beverage for Whistler Blackcomb (WB), went on the hunt to change. Based on guest feedback and the culinary team’s passion projects, guests can now sit down and enjoy Italian, Mexican and coastal fish and chips as their fingers warm and growling stomachs are satiated.
“What I hear from the public when I’m out on the mountain is that it’s all the same. It was the burger, the fries, the chicken tender and the hot dog,” Sterr said. “Now, when you go to Glacier Creek, we have chicken tenders and yes, we have burgers because people want that, but you have diversified food—tacos, grains and greens, which is healthy, the fish,
the pasta and the ramen. That’s what you would find in Vancouver.”
Changing menus on the mountain required finding the right distributor. With thousands of guests coming through, Sterr said they needed producers who could accommodate high-volume customers and provide ingredients that would exceed their current expectations.
WB partnered with Vancouver Soup Company, which takes recipes from WB, cooks them to its standards and then ships them back to Whistler. For Mexican
Trembath, chief operating officer for WB, introduced the menu. The updated food stations also incorporate cultural elements, with thoughtfully placed decorations around each station.
For inspiration, Sterr, a frequent traveller, took stock of what excited him from other restaurants he visited and came back with his own vision for re-inventing food with authenticity at the heart of service. Three contenders came to life after discussing his inspiration and analyzing how new food options could fit within the existing
“What I hear from the public when I’m out on the mountain is that it’s all the same. It was the burger, the fries, the chicken tender and the hot dog.”
- WOLFGANG STERR
offerings, WB works with Epsilon Integra Trade, a company specializing in importing products from Mexico. The fish is portioned and packaged fresh from Intercity Packers, based in Vancouver, using fish caught in the Lower Mainland and from Alaska, according to Sterr
Whistler Blackcomb invited members of the tourism industry to taste-test newly released items on Dec. 13. Sterr and Belinda
infrastructure and customer feedback.
“We distilled it down to passion,” he said. “The pasta station is one of our staff’s passion projects, and we wanted to make sure that he can share that with the public. The taco station and the central team helped us with it because they have a lot of Mexican food in the States, so they helped us bring that to life. And then the fish and chips were my brainchild when I went down and saw Gordon
Ramsay’s fish-and-chip shop in Las Vegas.”
Fish & Fry Co. serves hand-battered cod using Stanley Park Brewing’s Trailhopper IPA, and guests can quickly grab a can to go along with their fish and chips. The fish’s batter wasn’t too heavy, and the tartar sauce was mouthwatering.
The taqueria provides street tacos in double-wrapped soft-shell tacos. The reason for two soft shells versus one is so diners can push one taco back and catch morsels that inevitably wiggle out. On offer is beef barbacoa, chipotle chicken and green Chile pork. Guests can finish their meal with a churro, and there are grab-and-go beer and margaritas.
Trattoria Alpina has a large selection of pastas which meet adult and kids’ needs. The spicy gnocchi arrabiata chicken parmesan, pasta cremosa with pancetta and pasta puttanesca with prawns are best suited for adult palettes, and the pasta simplece works well for kids. Add a Caesar salad and garlic bread, and guests will have enough carbs to keep going until the last lift.
Sterr said the resort is seeking feedback on the change.
“We want our guests from Vancouver, Squamish, and Whistler to kind of reacquaint themselves with Glacier Creek and come in and be curious about what we’ve done here,” he said. “Come in and give us constructive feedback, because that’s what helped us put this into place.” n
TIS THE SEASON Using authentic Mexican seasoning from Epsilon Integra Grade, Glacier Creek Lodge’s trattoria provides tacos worth talking about.
MEADOW PARK SPORTS CENTRE
Piano Heist frontmen tell viewers to ‘expect the unexpected’
THE
ECLECTIC KEYBOARD CONCERT SERIES ROLLS INTO WHISTLER ON JAN. 18
BY DAVID SONG
PATRICK COURTIN’S friendship with Nico Rhodes began somewhat inauspiciously.
The two met as kindergarteners at Quarterway Elementary School in Nanaimo, B.C. Their mothers are both from France, and they both grew up in Francophone households. Both possess a deep-rooted passion for music that has defined their lives to this day.
Rhodes, however, is much more open to physical touch than Courtin—or at least he was as a kid. One day he hugged Courtin, who responded in a panic by biting his shoulder. Both boys cried, and both French moms got involved.
“My mom talked to me about how it’s OK to have boundaries, but it’s not OK to do that to your friend,” Courtin recalls. “She guided me towards giving Nico a little apology gift of a piggy bank, which he kept for a long time.”
Twenty years, to be exact, and they’ve been friends ever since.
Courtin and Rhodes represent the driving force behind Piano Heist, a colourful and tongue-in-cheek show which aims to prove keyboards can be just as cool as other instruments like guitars and drums.
“Expect the unexpected,” Rhodes says. “Expect to hear a lot of music that you know and love, and expect to hear it turned upside down and backwards: whether that’s a Brazilian dance tune with two keyboard players conga-lining across the stage, or your favourite Queen tune done as a rhapsody, or your favourite Mozart tune done as a saloon battle. We’re just out for a good time.”
PLANNING A HEIST
The concept of Piano Heist originated in Rhodes’ mind roughly a decade ago. He never liked adhering to boundaries of conventional genre and wanted to play all kinds of music on the same night: from Bach to Jerry Lee Lewis to Freddie Mercury. As a drama kid who grew up to write theatre productions, however, Rhodes wasn’t satisfied with merely showcasing a series of songs.
He wanted to make people laugh in the spirit of showmen like Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Victor Borge, Tenacious D, et al.
Rhodes sat on this idea for years, feeling like he didn’t have the tools or the bravery to commit. At last he described the dream gig to longtime agent and family friend Margot Holmes, wanting to reset his life after the COVID-19 pandemic. Her first advice: “you need another musician. [Doing it by yourself] is going to be an insane amount of work … it’s better if you have someone else on stage you can play off of.”
Courtin picked up the phone later that night. He talked things over with Rhodes, and
Piano Heist was officially born in 2022.
“I absolutely jumped in head first,” says Courtin. “I feel very strongly about the power of silliness, which isn’t to say that we don’t take the music seriously. My personal philosophy of performing is: don’t take yourself too seriously and take the music very seriously.
“We challenge each other to play challenging music that we find and arrange, but we also really try our best to connect with people … choosing what they’re already familiar with [but adapting it] in ways they’re unfamiliar with, injecting a heavy dose of comedy and silliness.”
MUSIC, A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
If you’re still on the fence about giving Piano Heist a try, know that its frontmen are blessed with a rare level of talent and versatility.
Courtin nailed his first professional gig accompanying a choir at 14 years of age and finished Grade 10 of the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) curriculum three years later. Next he went on to teach private lessons, compose scores for films and TV shows and music-direct theatre productions.
“I owe a lot to my family,” Courtin reveals. “I listened to my older brother play piano. My parents had me in lessons. I love playing multiple instruments, although piano was kind of always my main love. As I got older, my parents encouraged me to study music and [I got a Bachelor’s Degree of Music in Jazz
Studies at Vancouver Island University]. Piano Heist feels like a culmination of all that: I get to play a lot of music I really like with a guy I’ve known my whole life.”
Rhodes, meanwhile, is multi-talented in multiple fields. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Esperanto (an international auxiliary language created in 1887 by L. L. Zamenhof) and is currently working on Japanese. That linguistic toolbox is nearly as diverse as his resume: with 40 stage musicals, 400 original compositions, four original musicals and two symphonic pops concert arrangements to date.
“My love of languages runs parallel to my love of music,” explains Rhodes, who in 2019 was granted Nanaimo’s Emerging Cultural Leader Award. “My mom is a polyglot and a performer, and I was really inspired by her stories of travelling and connecting with people. Language is the gateway for connecting with people—as artists, we connect through music on stage and I’ve always loved that feeling of shared humanity.
“If you think of music as a language, it’s a universal language. There’s some universal beauty to all styles of music, to all elements of performing. The feeling I get playing in a blues jam at a dive bar, watching people dance and sing and smile, is the same feeling I get playing with a symphony and choir watching people quietly enjoy themselves. All this stuff is interconnected and it matters.”
Piano Heist visits Whistler on Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. in the Maury Young Arts Centre. Tickets are available at showpass.com/awl-piano-heist. n
HEIST OF THE CENTURY Piano Heist is a unique concert series led by Nico Rhodes (right) and Patrick Courtin.
PHOTO BY WILSON PASCOE PHOTOGRAPHY
Icon Gone returns after 12-year hiatus
THE LATEST EDITION OF THIS LOCALLY-FLAVOURED DEBATE WILL HAPPEN JAN. 17 AT THE MAURY YOUNG ARTS CENTRE
BY DAVID SONG
ACCORDING TO LONGTIME MC Maureen Douglas, there have been seven or eight past iterations of Icon Gone: a good-natured public debate presented by the Whistler Museum and Archives where residents argue the merits of their chosen “icons” (people, places, traditions, etc). The event hasn’t taken place since 2013 at Merlin’s, and for a time it appeared to be joining the ranks of beloved local items lost to time.
Reports of this gig’s demise have turned out to be premature.
Icon Gone will return next Friday with Stephen Vogler, Emily Wood, Ace MackaySmith (a.k.a. DJ Foxy Moron), Chris Quinlan, Kevin “Big Kev” Mikkelsen and Pique Newsmagazine’s own Brandon Barrett on deck.
Douglas thinks back to a conversation she had with Bradley Nichols, the Museum’s executive director and curator. She asked: “What if we bring [Icon Gone] back together and elevate awareness in the community again of the importance of our local history—and importance of the Museum’s work? There’s a whole host of people who have certainly never been to an Icon Gone … and you can spend many afternoons in [the Museum] learning a ton about this crazy little place we call Whistler.
“I can’t believe it’s been 12 years,” she adds. “Icon Gone was a great way to breathe fun and dynamic energy into Whistler history. Even our very short, intensive history since the ‘60s, when the resort started, is filled with fascinating and hilarious characters and moments.”
Take for example the notorious Toad Hall poster. Mandy Rousseau, nowadays the Whistler Institute’s executive director, lit up 2013’s debate by defending the nude image and the skiers depicted within as central to our town’s legacy… in a flesh-coloured morph suit.
Mayor Jack Crompton once spoke passionately about Jeanie, a black bear whose untimely death helped Whistler become a far more “bear smart” community than it was in the past. To accentuate his point, Crompton dressed like a bear and scaled one of the pillars at the Garibaldi Lift Co. (GLC).
Psychotherapist Greg McDonnell argued the iconic status of mountain man beards, all the while forcing Douglas to wear a felt beard.
Furthermore, Douglas remembers somebody (whose name eludes her) talking about the village’s final grove of trees, which was cleared in the late 2000s to make room for what is now Whistler Olympic Plaza.
“The presenters are so good at taking even an issue that might have an edge to it and bringing humour so people can be thoughtful about their own opinions,” Douglas says. “Humour provides a broader context for people to consider things in.”
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
Allyn Pringle, events and community manager for the Whistler Museum, has
assumed a key role in reviving Icon Gone for today’s generation.
“It’s always important to know where you’ve come from and what the history of your community is, because that is how you build the current and future community,” she says. “Being able to look not necessarily [through the lens of] ‘the past was better’ or ‘everything used to be better,’ but as ‘this is where we’ve come from and this is where we’re heading’ is really valuable.
“Some of these icons that people are presenting on behalf of are not gone. It’s a way to recognize that things change, but some things do continue. Also, some of the worries and concerns we’ve had over the years aren’t new either.”
Unfortunately, several of Whistler’s founding fathers have passed away recently, such as Garry Watson, Roger McCarthy and Al Raine. It’s a poignant reminder of time’s inevitability, and Douglas feels such losses make the town’s history all the more valuable for the rest of us to grasp.
The upcoming Icon Gone will not feature discussion of any real-life individuals because organizers don’t want the night to become a popularity contest. Outside of that, the format will be similar to previous editions.
“There’s three rounds [of debate],” Pringle elaborates. “You start with all six contestants, narrow it down to three, and then after the third round we crown the winner. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously. In the past, there were costumes, songs and people climbing up poles.”
The Resort Municipality of Whistler is approaching its 50th anniversary, so there’s no time like now to have another chat about the Sea to Sky’s most recognizable—or infamous—elements. Douglas is optimistic a dozen-year hiatus will make next week’s Icon Gone feel fresh. These proceedings promise not to drag on, for contestants usually have a brisk three minutes to make their case.
“I just get to MC and have some fun on what everybody’s saying, but the hard job goes to the judges because the arguments are so smart, they’re funny … and people dig deep for some really great arguments,” says Douglas. “The audience is just so with everybody through the whole thing. It’s a pretty raucous night.”
Icon Gone will be held on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. For tickets, check out artswhistler.com/ calendar-upcoming/icon-gone. n
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
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Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multisensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before. Discover the music of Taylor Swift under the gentle glow of candlelight in Whistler.
> Jan. 10, 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
> Maury Young Arts Centre
> Tickets start at $60
BC SNOWBOARD REGIONAL SLOPESTYLE
DINO ARCHIE’S LOW ROAD TOUR
Fresh off his sold-out “Netflix is Joke Festival” headlining show in Los Angeles, do not miss your chance to catch hilarious L.A. comedian Dino Archie. He’s been featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Adam Devine’s House Party, Kevin Hart’s LOL and Just For Laughs Nasty Show. His show has been described as hilariously toxic but safe for all comedy fans everywhere!
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Reachout to us today regarding yourprojectin Squamish,Whistler,ortheSquamish-Lillooet RegionalDistrict—we’dlove to hearfrom you!
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The BC Snowboard Regional Slopestyle is a sanctioned provincial event that includes two slopestyle competitions. All participants must be members of their respective province with an Advanced Competitor or International FIS license.
> Jan. 10 to 12
> On-mountain
> Registration required
APRÈS KARAOKE
Après Karaoke hosted by Monty Biggins happens every Friday in The Living Room!
> Jan. 10, 6 to 9 p.m.
> Pangea Pod Hotel Living Room
SEPPO’S LIVE MUSIC
Every Saturday throughout the season, enjoy Corona Live Music Sessions at Seppo’s Bar with exclusive Corona specials!
> Jan. 11, 1 to 3 p.m.
> Roundhouse Lodge
FIRE AND ICE SHOW
Where else but Whistler would performers entertain you with an electric mix of music, dance and spinning fire? Watch world-class athletes flip and twist through a burning ring of fire, then finish the night off with a first-class fireworks display.
> Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m.
> Skiers Plaza
MONDAY NIGHT SPECIAL AT WHISTLER OLYMPIC PARK
Take advantage of discounted tickets and rentals on Monday nights. Spend time on the well-lit trails or light up your journey with a headlamp. Explore under the beautiful starry skies of the Callaghan Valley and when you need a break, stop by the fully-licensed café in the Day Lodge and indulge in delicious specials.
> Jan. 13, 3 to 9 p.m.
> Whistler Olympic Park
> $10
MUSEUM MUSINGS & ASTROLOGY
Whistler Museum celebrates busiest year ever
BY BRAD NICHOLS
CONTINUING WITH the trend started in 2022, the Whistler Museum celebrated its busiest year ever in 2024. Exhibit visits increased by an impressive 20 per cent, reaching a total of 19,735 visitors, while an additional 9,713 participants attended our events and external programs. Altogether, the museum recorded an incredible 29,448 interactions this year. We’re thrilled to see so many people engaging with our exhibits and programs!
Our 2024 Speaker Series began in February and explored the History of Nordic Skiing with Tom Barratt, Keith Bennett, and Stephanie Sloan. This sold-out event at the Lost Lake PassivHaus delved into the development of early Nordic trails, the role of the Resort Municipality of Whistler in their creation, and the formation of the Whistler Nordic Ski Club. In April, historian and ski enthusiast Alex Douglas, better known as Uncle Al, took us on a journey through the connections between Mount Seymour and Whistler Mountain in the 1960s. Then, in June, at the Whistler Public Library we hosted a discussion on the origins of Tourism Whistler’s predecessor the Whistler Resort Association (WRA) with Al Raine and Drew Meredith. Their detailed recounting of the 1980s—a formative era in Whistler’s history—highlighted the creation of the WRA, its legislation, and the marketing
of Whistler as a ski destination.
Thanks to generous funding from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation in 2021 and 2024, the museum expanded its digitization capabilities with the acquisition of 16mm film digitization equipment and a new slide scanner. The 16mm film equipment allowed us to digitize our George Benjamin and Jim McConkey film collections in stunning 4K resolution. We hosted two film screenings to showcase these archives. In March, we presented a vignette of George Benjamin’s footage, offering a glimpse into Whistler’s 1970s ski patrol, avalanche safety measures, and the counterculture of the era, including iconic locations like Tokem Corners and Toad Hall. In June, at the Maury Young Arts Centre, we screened highlights from the Jim McConkey collection, including films such as The Snows of Garibaldi (1974). This special event featured a Q&A session with 98-year-old Jim McConkey himself, alongside freeskiing legend and filmmaker Mike Douglas. McConkey shared captivating stories of his time in Whistler, including heliskiing adventures and film projects over the years.
The museum also continued its beloved summer programs in 2024. The Valley of Dreams Historical Walking Tour, now in its 27th year, and the Discover Nature program at Lost Lake Park, now in its ninth year, remained highlights of our outreach efforts. These outdoor programs allow us to connect with audiences beyond the walls of the museum.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries poet Charles Baudelaire said that if you want to fully activate your personal genius, you will reclaim and restore the intelligence you had as a child. You will empower it anew with all the capacities you have developed as an adult. I believe this is sensational advice for you in 2025. In my understanding of the astrological omens, you will have an extraordinary potential to use your mature faculties to beautifully express the wise innocence and lucid perceptions you were blessed with when you were young.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In many Asian myths, birds and snakes are depicted as adversaries. Their conflict symbolizes humanity’s problems in coordinating the concerns of earth and heaven. Desire may be at odds with morality. Unconscious motivations can be opposed to good intentions. Pride, self-interest, and ambition might seem incompatible with spiritual aspirations, high-minded ideals, and the quest to transcend suffering. But here’s the good news for you, Taurus: In 2025, I suspect that birds and snakes will cooperate rather harmoniously. You and they will have stirring, provocative adventures together.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Using a fork to eat food was slow to gain acceptance in the Western world. Upper-class Europeans began to make it a habit in the 11th century, but most common folk regarded it as a pretentious irrelevancy for hundreds of years. Grabbing grub with the fingers was perfectly acceptable. I suspect this scenario might serve as an apt metaphor for you in 2025. You are primed to be an early adapter who launches trends. You will be the first to try novel approaches and experiment with variations in how things have always been done. Enjoy your special capacity, Gemini. Be bold in generating innovations.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Psychologist Abraham Maslow defined “peak experiences” as “rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an
advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter.” The moment of falling in love is one example. Another may happen when a creative artist makes an inspiring breakthrough in their work. These transcendent interludes may also come from dreamwork, exciting teachings, walks in nature, and responsible drug use. (Read more here: tinyurl.com/PeakInterludes.) I bring these ideas to your attention, Cancerian, because I believe the months ahead will be prime time for you to cultivate and attract peak experiences.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): According to my analysis of the astrological omens, your life in 2025 will be pretty free of gruelling karmic necessity. You will be granted exemptions from cosmic compulsion. You won’t be stymied by the oppressive inertia of the past. To state this happy turn of events more positively, you will have clearance to move and groove with daring expansiveness. Obligations and duties won’t disappear, but they’re more likely to be interesting than boring and arduous. Special dispensations and kind favours will flow more abundantly than they have in a long time.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of my most enjoyable goals in life has been to expunge my “isms.” I’m pleased that I have made dramatic progress in liquidating much of the perverse cultural conditioning that imprinted me as I was growing up. I’ve largely liberated myself from racism, sexism, classism, ableism, heteronormativity, looksism, and even egotism. How are you doing with that stuff, Virgo? The coming months will be a favourable time to work on this honourable task. What habits of mind and feeling have you absorbed from the world that are not in sync with your highest ideals?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Here’s one of my predictions for you in 2025, Libra: You will reach the outer limits of your domain and then push on to explore beyond those limits. Here’s another prediction: You will realize with a pleasant shock that some old expectations about your destiny are too
In 2024, the museum unveiled two temporary exhibits. Off the Lip: The Rise of Snowboarding in Whistler opened in January, showcasing the emergence of snowboarding in Whistler during the late ’80s and ’90s.
The exhibit highlighted the shops, camps, athletes, coaches, terrain, photographers, and filmmakers that established Whistler as a key destination in the global snowboarding movement. Special thanks to Jeff Patterson
and Graham Turner for their invaluable contributions to the development of this exhibit. Then, in June, we launched Pedal to the Medal: The History of Mountain Bike Events in Whistler. This exhibit delved into the early mountain biking events that shaped Whistler’s vibrant mountain biking culture, from the first race in 1982 to the creation of the Crankworx festival, which continues to this day.
Throughout 2024, the Whistler Museum staff and board of trustees have been hard at work refining plans for a new facility. In 2025, we’ll be seeking public feedback on its design and the exhibits and subjects the Whistler community would like to see. Stay tuned for more information, including the launch of a formal capital campaign this spring. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletter at whistlermuseum.org/join-support.
We would like to express our gratitude to the individuals and organizations that make documenting and preserving Whistler’s history possible. This includes the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada, the Aqueduct Foundation, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, BlueShore Financial, the Whistler Community Foundation, and The Whistler Grocery Store. To everyone who reads our column, attends our events, and visits our exhibits—thank you for your ongoing support. We can’t wait to welcome you back in 2025. n
small, and soon you will be expanding those expectations. Can you handle one further mind-opening, soul-stretching prophecy? You will demolish at least one mental block, break at least one taboo, and dismantle an old wall that has interfered with your ability to give and receive love.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): If you’re not married and would like to be, 2025 might be your best chance in years to find wedded bliss. If an existing intimate bond is less than optimal, the coming months will bring inspiration and breakthroughs to improve it. Let’s think even bigger and stronger, Scorpio, and speculate that you could be on the verge of all kinds of enhanced synergetic connections. I bet business and artistic partnerships will thrive if you decide you want them to. Links to valuable resources will be extra available if you work to refine your skills at collaboration and togetherness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I wonder how you will feel about the fact that I’m declaring 2025 to be the Year of the Muses for you Sagittarians. Will you be happy that I expect you to be flooded with provocative clues from inspiring influences? Or will you regard the influx of teachings and revelations as chaotic, confusing or inconvenient? In the hope you adopt my view, I urge you to expand your understanding of the nature of muses. They may be intriguing people, and might also take the form of voices in your head, ancestral mentors, beloved animals, famous creators, or spirit guides.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Astrologers in ancient China had the appalling view that more than two-thirds of all omens are negative, threatening, or scary. I haven’t seen formal research into the biases of modern Western stargazers, but my anecdotal evidence suggests they tend to be equally pessimistic. I regard this as an unjustified travesty. My studies have shown that there is no such thing as an inherently ominous astrological configuration. All portents are revelations about how to successfully wrangle
with our problems, perpetrate liberation, ameliorate suffering, find redemption, and perform ingenious tweaks that liberate us from our mind-forged manacles. They always have the potential to help us discover the deeper meanings beneath our experiences. Everything I just said is essential for you to keep in mind during 2025.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Over the years, a few people who don’t know me well have accused me of “thinking too much” or “overthinking.” They are wrong. While I aspire to always be open to constructive criticism, I am sure that I don’t think too much. Not all my thoughts are magnificent, original, and high-quality, of course; some are generated by fear and habit. However, I meticulously monitor the flow of all my thoughts and am skilled at knowing which ones I should question or not take seriously. The popular adage, “Don’t believe everything you think” is one of my axioms. In 2025, I invite you Aquarians to adopt my approach. Go right ahead and think as much as you want, even as you heighten your awareness of which of your thoughts are excellent and which are not.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m pleased, bordering on gleeful, that your homecoming is well underway. All the signs suggest that as 2025 unfolds, you will ripen the processes of deepening your roots and building a stronger foundation. As a result, I expect and predict that your levels of domestic bliss will reach unprecedented heights. You may even create a deeply fulfilled sense of loving yourself exactly as you are and feeling like you truly belong to the world you are surrounded by. Dear Pisces, I dare you to cultivate more peace of mind than you have ever managed to arouse. I double-dare you to update traditions whose emotional potency has waned.
Homework: Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, imagine that you lived another life. Where was it? Who were you? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.
LOCAL LEGENDS Drew Meredith and Al Raine at the Whistler Museum’s June Speaker Series event at the Whistler Public Library.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHISTLER MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
LOVE TO LEARN
After School Art
Winter Session Now Open
New Saturday Dates!
Grades K – 2
January 25, February 6, February 22, March 6, March 22
Grades 3 – 6
January 11, January 23, February 8, February 20, March 8, March 13
3:00 – 4:30pm | 4350 Blackcomb Way
$15 Per Session | AAM Members 10% Off
This program is made possible through the generosity of Allen Bell and Ola Dunin-Bell.
James Hart, The Dance Screen (The Scream Too), 2010-2013, red cedar panel with abalone, mica, acrylic, wire and yew wood. Edward John (E.J.) Hughes, Departure from Nanaimo, 1964 oil on canvas. Audain Art Museum Collection, Gifts of Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa.
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Our team of people is what sets us apart from other builders. As we continue to grow as the leader in luxury projects in Whistler, our team needs to expand with us.
We are currently hiring:
Labourers ($20 - $30 hourly)
Carpenters Helpers /Apprentices 1st to 4th year ($25 - $35 hourly)
Experienced Carpenters ($30 - $45 hourly)
Carpenter Foremen ($40 - $50 hourly)
Rates vary based on experience and qualifications. Red seal a bonus but not mandatory.
EVR is committed to the long-term retention and skills development of our team. We are passionate about investing in our team’s future.
We offer:
• Top Wages
• Training & Tuition Reimbursement (Need help getting your Red Seal?)
• $500 Annual Tool Allowance
• Extended Health and Dental Benefits for you and your family
• Flexible Schedule - Work Life Balance. (We get it. We love to ski and bike too.)
• Assistance with Work Visa and Permanent Residency (We can help!)
• Positive Work Environment
We promote from within and are looking to strengthen our amazing team. Opportunities for advancement into management positions always exist for the right candidates. Don’t miss out on being able to build with the team that builds the most significant projects in Whistler.
Send your resume to info@evrfinehomes.com We look forward to hearing from you!
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CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
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Employee Health & Wellness Plan available
HYDROVAC OPERATOR – Valid Class 1 or Class 3 with air brakes required. Manual transmission. Ground Disturbance II. 2 years operating hydro excavation equipment preferred. $35-$40.45 per hour.
HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, Squamish– Minimum 5 years or 5,000 hours operating experience on excavator. Full-time, Monday – Friday. $33-$42 per hour.
HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT MECHANIC - Commercial Truck & Transport, Transport Trailer, Class 1 or 3 air brakes preferred. 4x10 or 5x8 schedule. Red Seal certi ed receive $200/month tool allowance. $39.70- $47.90 per hour. 5% premium on hourly wage for Lead Hand position.
CONSTRUCTION LABOURER – Great opportunity to learn on-the-job. Stamina for physically demanding work and perseverance to brave inclement weather required. Previous experience preferred but not required. Training provided. $25-$32 per hour.
SNOWPLOW OPERATOR, Whistler – Valid Class 5 BC Driver’s Licence required. Must be available from November 15 through March 31. On-the-job training provided. Wage depending on experience. $28-35.02 per hour.
NOW HIRING
HEAVY DUTY MECHANIC Permanent, Full-Time
Cardinal Concrete, A Division of Lafarge Canada Inc is the leading supplier of ready-mix concrete in the Sea to Sky Corridor. We are currently seeking a career oriented individual to fill the role of Commercial Transport/Heavy Duty Mechanic at our Head Office Location in Squamish, BC.
This is a skilled position which primarily involves preventative maintenance and repair of a large fleet of commercial transport vehicles including concrete mixer trucks, dump trucks, trailers, forklifts and light-duty trucks.
Minimum Qualifications:
• B.C. Certificate of Qualification, and/or Interprovincial Ticket as a Commercial Transport Mechanic, and/or Heavy Duty Mechanic Ticket
• 3-5 years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience
Compensation $45.57 to $49.07
To view a full copy of this Job Description visit: www.cardinalconcrete.ca/about/careers
Apply to: info@cardinalconcrete.ca
For more information visit www.cardinalconcrete.ca/about/careers
Child & Family Services
Child & Family Services
Child & Family Services
• Social Worker ($80,371.20 to $91,673.40 per year)
• Social Worker ($80,371.20 - $91,673.40 per year)
• Social Worker ($80,371.20 - $91,673.40 per year)
• Transition House Support Worker ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• Transition House Support Worker ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• Transition House Outreach Worker ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• Transition House Support Worker ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
Lil’wat Health & Healing + Pqusnalhcw Health Centre
Position Overview: The Family Preservation Worker, part of the Child and Family Services team, implements culturally appropriate programs to support family development. They coordinate resources to enhance family collaboration and provide support services aimed at promoting children’s safety, reducing vulnerability, and assisting caregivers.
Qualifications:
Knowledge & Abilities:
Lil’wat Health & Healing + Pqusnalhcw Health Centre
Lil’wat Health & Healing + Pqusnalhcw Health Centre
• Custodian ($17.40 to $20.90 per hour)
• Program Manager ($57,330 to $64,610.00 per year)
• Custodian ($17.40 to $20.90 per hour)
• Health Care Assistant ($38,038 to $53,599 per year)
• Program Manager ($57,330 to $64,610.00 per year)
• Program Manager ($57,330 to $64,610.00 per year)
• Operations Manager ($59,878.00 to $73,564.40 per year)
• Family Mentor ($38,038 to $53,599 per year)
• Operations Manager ($59,878.00 to $73,564.40 per year)Would you please highlight/emphasize this position?
• Early Childhood Educator ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• Operations Manager ($59,878.00 to $73,564.40 per year)Would you please highlight/emphasize this position?
Ts’zil Learning Centre
• Family Mentor ($38,038 to $53,599 per year) - Would you please highlight/emphasize this position?
• Program Mentor – Early Childhood Educator ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• Family Mentor ($38,038 to $53,599 per year) - Would you please highlight/emphasize this position?
• Early Childhood Educator ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• A Social Service Diploma/or equivalent in Social or Human Studies Discipline (or in process) or a combination of experience, education and training 3-5 years.
• Knowledge of the Child, Family and Community Services Act
• Support Prevention and Early Intervention programs to minimize child care placements, emphasizing family preservation and reunification.
• Early Childhood Educator ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
Xet’òlacw Community School
Land and Resources
Xet’òlacw Community School
• Experience working with vulnerable children, youth and families
• Provide access to supportive services like parenting workshops, counseling, treatment options, and cultural healing activities for family well-being.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Territory Specialist ($46,683 to $60,515 per year)
• Elementary School Teacher - Grade 3 ($60,015 to $109,520 per year)
• Camp Counsellor ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
Xet’òlacw Community School
• Elementary School Teacher - Grade 3 ($60,015 to $109,520 per year)
• Experience and ability to work with family groups
• High School English and Humanities Teacher ($60,015 to $109,520 per year)
• Elementary School Teacher - Grade 3 ($60,015 to $109,520 per year)
• Camp Counsellor ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour)
• Language Resource Worker or Language Teacher ($46,683 to $109,520 per year)
• Demonstrated cultural competency and sensitivity of First Nations Peoples
• Promote collaboration among family members, interim caregivers, MCFD, specialized services, and community resources for a cohesive support network.
• High School English and Humanities Teacher ($60,015 to $109,520 per year)
Community Development
• High School English and Humanities Teacher ($60,015 to $109,520 per year)
Community Development
• Cultural Camp Supervisor ($46,683.00 to $63,973.00 per year)
Community Development
• Band Social Development Worker Assistant ($17.40 to $20.90 per hour)
• Cultural Camp Supervisor ($46,683.00 to $63,973.00 per year)
Please visit our career page for more information: https://lilwat.ca/careers/
Please visit our career page for more information: https://lilwat.ca/careers/
See full job posting on the careers page/website: sshs.ca/careers/
Special:
• This position is requires travel to indigenous communities served by SSHS, accessed by Forest Service Road
• SSHS offers a competitive benefits and employment package to full time employees
and
Filling big shoes
WHEN THE now-retired longtime Pique columnist G.D. Maxwell was talking about hanging it up a few years ago, I entertained the idea of being his successor—for about five
BY VINCE SHULEY
minutes. The idea of having a weekly backpage to rant, rave, cajole and generally get under the skin of readers and critics alike was an exciting proposition, but one I knew would most likely fail. Not because I can’t do those things. It just wouldn’t have that same G.D. Maxwell panache.
That’s the problem with standing on the shoulders of giants: You’re always going to be compared and contrasted, never quite measuring up to the real deal. Many readers didn’t read the backpage of Pique because it was Pique (not necessarily, anyway). They read it because it was Max writing those words, and as my colleague Brandon Barrett put it last week, that no-bullshit style gave voice to Whistler’s Everyman.
When Max’s talk of retirement got more real, I remember bringing it up with my editor and friend Braden Dupuis on what could follow.
“No one can fill those shoes,” I said. “The diehard fans of Max won’t accept whoever tries to follow him. The readers will tear them apart in the letters and comments.”
Wanting to offer a solution to the glaringly obvious problem, I looked at how other entertainment mediums had handled it. When Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek passed
the lead-up to the 2024 American presidential election, a weekly appearance he’ll continue to make through 2025.
So here we are. A rotating roster of writers on the backpage doing our best to fill the biggest writing shoes in Whistler’s history. Wish us luck.
For better or worse, mountain towns have
So here we are. A rotating roster of writers on the backpage doing our best to fill the biggest writing shoes in Whistler’s history. Wish us luck.
away in 2020, they gave all sorts of celebrities a chance at guest hosting before they settled on The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik and eventually game-show veteran Ken Jennings. Another example was the late-night comedy institution The Daily Show tackling the sudden departure of host Trevor Noah. Instead of scrambling to hire a proven comedian and praying it lands with the audience, they used a roster of rotating guest hosts including Sarah Silverman, Hasan Minhaj and Chelsea Handler and later looking to the existing Daily Show team of Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta and Jordan Klepper. While none quite had the gravitas of Noah, the approach worked. The showrunners even convinced Jon Stewart to come back to host on Monday nights for
a tendency to lionize their local achievers. Photographers were always chasing the success of the Paul Morrisons, the Blake Jorgensons and later, the Reuben Krabbes. Skiers looked to the pioneering backcountry successes of Eric Pehota and Trevor Petersen, with the next generation following the exploits of their sons Logan Pehota and Kye Petersen. I’m sure the Whistler realtors have their local heroes, too, perhaps judged by who can break the most consecutive sales records and buy the most ostentatious full-page ad in this humble publication.
There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from your heroes, but as we age, we run the risk of measuring ourselves against others who’ve been more successful, whether it’s financially, athletically, with
business, gaining more influence or any other socioeconomic yardstick. We pine for housing we can call our own with a garage where we can store our toys. We need better jobs with better pay and more vacation days to keep up with the extravagant experiences beyond weekend recreation. You don’t have to look far to see there’s big shoes all around us.
But all this is a matter of perspective. Most of us migrated to the Sea to Sky to live the dream of endless mountain recreation, and most of us still have that relative luxury. It hits different from the carefree years of our 20s and even 30s, when money and responsibilities didn’t matter (not nearly as much, anyway). We’re now in the part of life where a comfortable retirement isn’t a futurist concept anymore. It requires hard work, paying off a mortgage, and for those inclined, raising a family and making sure their kids are set up for success in an uncertain world.
Back to the rather large shoes in front me. I’ve come to terms with my opinion writing not ascending into the fabled halls of Maxed Out. But Pique has been growing into its next generation for a while now, with eras ending and tenures ticking over. The second half of the 2020s should be when we put the pandemic disruption and the disastrous online news act behind us for good.
We’re defining what Whistler’s local print media is again, and I’m humbled to be part of it. Even if I need to grow into these shoes a bit.
Vince Shuley is a writer for the turbulent outdoor industry. He hopefully qualifies as a Whistler local by now. n
