Apex Matters April 2021 by Apex Matters

Apex Matters “Keeping You in the S’know”

Volume 17 : Issue 8 Your FREE Local Snow Culture Newsletter!

April 2021

Apex Ski Club Alumni, Reece Howden, is the Ski Cross World Cup Crystal Globe Winner & Rookie of the Year!

See You Next Season!

By Myleen Mallach, Owner/Publisher of Apex Matters We survived our first, and hopefully last, pandemic winter season. I know we all are extremely grateful that we were able to enjoy a ski season, as some resorts back east and around the world were never allowed to even open. A huge thank you to all the managers and staff of all our mountain businesses. Your efforts to provide Covid friendly trail access and other support services were greatly appreciated. Thank you to the general public who followed the Covid protocols set forth. It goes to show that we are all in this together. Even if it was at a distance and fully masked, what a great winter season we shared together! Thank you to all the businesses that supported Apex Matters by purchasing advertising space this season. Without your monetary support, there wouldn’t be an Apex Matters publication. Thank you to all the content contributors. We appreciated reading your updates and stories you shared. And finally, a huge thank you to you the dear reader, who faithfully pick up a copy and read this grassroots snow culture newsletter from cover to cover. I trust we are able to fully ‘see’ everyone’s smiling faces next season! Published by Okanagan Matters Publications 250.490.6951 apexmatters@telus.net Quick Facts: Apex Matters is published monthly from September 2020 through April 2021. Distribution covers Okanagan Falls, Kaleden, Penticton, Summerland and around Apex Mountain. Full advertising options, read past issues online, and link to join our Apex Matters eNews all at www.ApexMatters.com. Now celebrating our 17th season in print! Please Note: No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. No liability is accepted for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this publication. We reserve the right to refuse any submission or advertisement, and retain the right to edit all copy. Every effort has been made to make this publication as accurate as possible. All authors and advertisers are provided with a proof of their submission and their final approval is requested before being published. © 2021 Okanagan Matters Publications.

Apex Mountain Resort Thanks for an amazing season!

Reece Howden Wins BIG! By Nancy Howden Reece Howden, Apex Ski Club Alumni, was unstoppable in his first full World Cup season! Standing on the podium 6 times, winning the gold in 4 races and silver in 2! Reece was voted “Rookie of the Year”, which is voted on by his competitors and all the coaches. And to top it off, he won the overall Men’s World Cup Ski Cross Crystal Globe! The Crystal Globe is awarded to the athletes with the most overall race points, which Reece impressively secured three races before the end of the season after a dominant start to the World Cup circuit. Reece ended the season with 691 points and 2nd place Swiss racer, Jonas Lenherr, accumulated 405. Only one year ago, Reece completed his Geomatics Degree (Surveying and Mapping) program at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, while still training and competing part time. “It was an amazing season. I had a lot of fun, learned a lot and had a great time with the whole team!”, says Reece Howden.

Arrive Together Together ... ... Ride Ride Together! Together! Arrive Let’s all keep our mountain safe. Don’t forget to wear your mask everywhere, except riding riding down down or or sitting sitting down down to to eat. eat. except

1.877.777.2739 | ApexResort.com

Remember ... Locals never need to pay full price! #ShopLocal incentives to get you and your family on the hill this season!

You can purchase lift tickets online at apexresort.com, and look for discounts mid-week! Grab our Power Pass at Pentagon Boardshop or Freeride Boardshop in Penticton. The Power Pass is pay as you go, receive $10 off your first day, 10% off days 2 thru 6, and your 7th day is free. You can also purchase discounted lift tickets at your local Sport Check in Penticton, or Visit Penticton located at 120-888 Westminster Avenue West for $79 + tax. Lift tickets are also available at any Costco in BC for $69.99. BCAA card holders save 20% on an Adult Full Day Lift Ticket, and must present your valid BCAA card at time of purchase.

Day Lift Operations ~ Daily 9am - 3:30pm thru April 5, 2021. Night Lift Operations ~ Friday & Saturday 4-9pm as of Dec 18. Tube Park ~ Friday 4-9pm, Saturday 10am-9pm, Sunday & Holidays 10am-3pm. Starting December 18, 2020 through April 4, 2021. Skating Loop & Hockey Rink ~ Open daily at 9am & night lit until 10pm. Tentative opening is Dec 18. Weather dependent. Snow Bus ~ Runs every Saturday & Sunday, plus Holidays & Spring Break. Starts December 19, 2020. Visit doublediamondtours.ca for info. Featuring ~ 80 Runs | 4 Terrain Parks 2000 Vertical Feet | 1112 Skiable Acres 16% Novice | 48% Intermediate | 36% Advanced/Expert | 20 Feet of Cumulative Annual Snowfall

It’s A “YES”! By Gabe Lavoie, Fire Chief It is with great pleasure I can announce that the Apex community has spoken and confirmed its support of the creation of a tax funded fire service. As a board member and Fire Chief of the Apex Fire Brigade Society, I can attest to the countless hours that many of our members have contributed to the research and planning, and educating community members through this referendum process. I can speak for everyone when I say that we are so pleased to hear that our community is supportive of the time and effort put into this huge undertaking. Rest assured we will continue to push forward in improving our professional volunteer service. Without the hard work of board members and fire brigade members, this process would not have been possible. It is absolutely paramount to acknowledge the work put forward by the previous and current board of directors, who have worked behind the scenes to ensure all the information is clear, concise and properly communicated. They have answered questions at all hours of the day, wherever they were, and held many long meetings to ensure our vision is what our community needs. With a “Yes’’ vote, it does not mean we will instantly have our fire and rescue service up and running. It simply means we now have our community’s permission to begin establishing these services with properly funded, equipped and trained volunteers. The real work is just beginning. We welcome any and all input from community members interested in helping out. Once again, THANK YOU all for your support! Your approval has solidified our efforts and will help protect our community. Thank you to everyone who has donated funds or volunteered time, from the early days of the inception of the society right up to recent months. Your words of support have been heard loud and clear.

Apex Mountain Resort would like to remind local residents and visitors alike that water conservation is extremely important even in the winter! It is integral to the well-being of this beautiful mountain that we love so much. We all need to make a conscious eﬀort to conserve when we can and remember that ...

1.877.777.2739 | ApexResort.com

We want to thank all our new and loyal customers for supporting our local Mountain Shop. Stay tuned through our social media during the off season to learn more about our 2021/2022 gear. Don’t forget to come get your summer wax to keep your boards fresh & protected for next season! See you in December!

mtnshop@apexresort.com 1.877.777.2739 | apexresort.com

Nickel Plate Junior Racers Update By Jessica Roach, NP Coach As my first season at Nickel Plate comes to an end, I cannot help but to think about how lucky I am. Although a season of racing did not pan out, I was able to spend more time at the nordic centre and see how wonderful of a community it truly is. Coaching the team taught me a lot of lessons, but I feel like even though we did not have a normal season, it was extremely beneficial. The athletes improved drastically in technique and their commitment levels. We had lots of technique focused practices, some race simulations, relays with the skill development program (shown below), even capture the ﬂag and mantracker games! The year was full of challenges and surprises, but I am looking forward to next year’s season with lots of racing and fun!

Diesel’s Snow Removal - 250.490.7952

Nickel Plate Nordic Centre Update By Kevin Dyck, Nickel Plate Nordic President Well, that was a season for the record books! After closing a week early last year in a world that seemed upside down, and then preparing for a season in a world that was definitely upside down, our little club came out stronger than ever. There were a lot of tough decisions made and a lot of hard work by our staff members, but we made it through with fantastic support from our members and guests. Nickel Plate showed its true colours this year and the verdict is in ... this community is incredible. We managed some great milestones, which will only be better next season. First, the demand for our masters programming is obvious. Although we had to cancel the weekly groups, almost everyone transferred their registrations to private lessons. We were going to run two groups because of the level of interest, so next year we’re going to ramp it up even more. If you’re thinking of taking a crack at World Masters in Canmore next season, you’ll be interested in our Early Season Race Camp. Details to be announced once we have them. The Junior Racers also got a boost of energy and structure from Coach Jessica. Although there were no races this year, Jessica worked with the team to push their personal goals, and inspired them with her own passion and dedication to the sport. The team will continue training throughout the summer with podium dreams for next race season. Thanks to everyone who donated for the skiathon. That support is helping to keep a paid coaching position for the team. And, we really need to thank everyone who also donated to our Stop Getting Lost signage project. Member donations alone amounted to $5300, and Nordiq Canada is contributing another $1000 to the cause. There’s a full slate of things to be done this summer at the centre, so as usual we’ll be having some volunteer opportunities coming up. Sign up will be online and we’ll announce the details in the next month or two. Again, thank you to everyone who stood by the club this season. Our last day of operations for this season is Sunday, April 4th. We’ll see you on the trails!

Like each year, the eldest athletes move on and this season is no different for Matthew Broder. (Shown below pulling a younger skier along.) Matthew has been an incredible part of the team for years, and is someone the rest of the team has looked up to. It will be weird adjusting to a team without Matthew, probably a lot quieter, but I am hoping the next group of athletes will step up to fill the leadership roles within the team. I am really looking forward to seeing how much growth the athletes will have from the summer program. I am excited to spend more time watching these athletes improve into awesome skiers and people. It is said that “skiers are made in the summer” and I intend to prove that true.

Season Ender By Fred Albrechtson, Nickel Plate Junior Racer Alumni And, that’s a wrap for a season that never happened! With World Championships wrapping up, and national athletes returning home from such as short, unpredictable season, the “season” has come to an end. Early March, the team participated in short time trials in the city weekly. I did not participate in them, as my coaches did not feel my fitness was good enough to actually benefit from participating. The team did them until the last snow disappeared in the heat wave that brought double digit temperatures to Calgary. Even out in Canmore, for a few days at least, we were able to ski shirtless. Later in the month, on March 24th, I put on my first bib of the season for a 5 km classic time trial in Canmore. I was so pumped to race I hardly slept the night before. The coaches laid out a grueling course, leaving little room for a chance to catch one’s breathe, let alone enjoy the effort. The race itself sure hurt, which was a great indicator of how far I need to come to even have a paralleled fitness to last year’s season. Of course, it did not go as well as I would have liked. My lap times were nothing like they have been in the past, meaning I still have a long road ahead of me. This summer will be a pretty crazy training period. Our season as a team is coming close to an end, with our last team session falling on April 11th. Our last few sessions will mainly consist of long meanders amongst the mountains, enjoying the rapidly dissipating patches of snow. From there, most athletes will take some time off and jump back into training come May 1st. After having taken 3 months off from training this year, I am not a fan of taking even more time off; however, the dictatorial relationship between my coaches and I will likely force me to take it off. If you have not already, you should check out my blog, I have not had a lot of time to update it recently, but I am hoping to keep it up to date throughout the summer. Check in for some wicked adventures! fredalbrechtsonblog.wordpress.com Hoping you are all enjoying some sunny days on the mountain and maybe a powder day or two!

CatMatch Meet Enchante Enchante needs an adoption HERO! Enchante is a bit sensitive and when she gets stressed, she gets what is called Idiopathic Cystitis. She is also a VERY fussy eater. Enchanted will need a quiet home, where she is the only pet and the family can closely monitor her food intake to ensure that she is getting enough calories, as when she gets stressed she stops eating. Other than that, she is a lovely girl, very affectionate and curious. If you have the extra time to give to this sweet girl, you won’t be disappointed! www. AlleyCATSAlliance.org

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Thank You From CSP Submitted by the CSP South Okanagan Boundary Zone Thank you so very much people of Apex! The South Okanagan Boundary Zone of the Canadian Ski Patrol would like to thank all who skied and rode the hill this season. Your positive attitude and compliance with all the weird new rules made it a joy to be out on the mountain. As a volunteer organization, you the skiing/boarding public, make the job worth while. We patched people up, found some lost kiddos (and sometimes lost parents), helped take some photos, picked up garbage, directed ski traﬃc, helped newbies find a safe, fun way down the hill, among many other things. And doing all of that, we felt your support. You really do help make our jobs easier by reporting things you see on the hill or getting out of the way when we are rushing in a patient. We are always getting high-fives (or elbow taps this season) and tips on where there are still fresh lines. We love this gig and the people we are out here helping are a huge reason for that. I mean, the killer terrain does play a part, but it is terrain best shared with this awesome community. It is a pleasure to work hand in hand with the paid patrol staff on the hill. Lyle and his team are true professionals and are a joy to work with. This was a great season, and while we hang up our snow pants for bikinis and board shorts, we are always eager to get prepped and ready to hit the slopes again next winter. Please have a safe and extremely fun summer everyone. We will see you next season! Climbing, Hiking, Camping, Winter Sports & Apparel

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Proud Supporter of the Apex Community! Small Jobs, Renovations, New Builds, Maintenance & Lighting Upgrades

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Best Mountain Views!

By Cheffy and Ash

Here are some of our favourite images. Yes, it’s good to be here, as well as our staff on Retro Day and Tropical Day this season. The Edge family wishes all of you a safe and healthy summer. We look forward to seeing all your FULL smiling faces next season! Take Care, from all of us, Colin, Leah, Ash, Emma, Kim, Sammy, Ance, Christel, Mel, Tamsin and Vanessa.

return!

Specialty coffees, teas, amazing breakfasts, lunches with homemade soups, sandwiches & loads of treats.

A HUGE Thank You to ALL the Locals & Apex Staff! Your Support Is AWESOME!

Final Thoughts From The Edge

Thank you for supporting our new take out window and online platform. Many have asked, and the answer is ‘YES’, the popular take out window will be a permanent part of The Edge in the future.

See You All Next Season!

Our new Take Out Window will

BettsElectric.com

What a year it was! A big thanks goes out to everyone who supported The Edge this year. During trying and different times, we were still able to share laughs and stories with our regular customers and many new ones too.

Located next to The Mountain Shop in the Apex Mountain Village

To order online, plus get your “Artisan Take & Bake” Pizzas, please visit us at the-edge-bistro.square.site

Carvers Corner

By Jorgen Anderson, Head Coach & Program Director What A Season!!! I have been saying this all year, because it is true! Big snow falls, with amazing conditions from start to finish. We are so fortunate to say we had a season. I was skeptical, keeping my fingers crossed that we would have one. One of the only group activities we could do in the country. We are so fortunate to have such a great resort staff, who kept this train rolling all season long. From amazing lift operators, groomers, lift maintenance and James and his crew ... Cheers to you folks! You did an amazing job! Thanks so much!

U12 Team

U16 Team

Apex Carvers ~ We had a fantastic season with this gang of skiers. Head Coach Shelby Naylor was busy all season long directing her amazing team of coaches. We had perfect conditions to work on skills for life. Moderate temperatures and great conditions allowed these kids to excel this season. Our 3 day camps at Spring Break and Christmas Break were amazing. Skill acquisition was happening daily. Super proud of these rippers! We look forward to seeing you all next season! U12-U16 ~ Big thanks to U14 Coach, Brent Schleppe, U12 coaches Tyrah Henderson and Jaras Grant for a great season of coaching! It was great to see them having a lot of fun with their groups this year. I was lucky to have an amazing group of U16s, such a fun year! This was like no other year we have experienced as coaches and racers. Having no travel events was a big change. The silver lining to this was amazing training blocks. Luckily, we have such an amazing training venue. Apex Mountain Resort is undoubtably one of the best in the country. I’m biased of course, but it is a known fact. From recreational to alpine to freestyle, we are the luckiest around. The free skiing at Apex speaks for itself, but having the cooperation with this amazing resort to allow these kids to train is amazing. We were so lucky to have monthly time trials; this kept the kids going. We could not have done this without the GOAT of Timing ... Sir Wally James and his amazing sidekick Simon Wells. Thank you again from all the kids, coaches and parents of the Apex Ski Club. All the kids are so excited for next season.

U14 Team

Slushy Thoughts From The Snow Bank By Brad Nunes

Well, thanks everyone. The season is a wrap. I enjoyed having our little chats here in the snowbank. I honestly had an amazing year up the hill. Despite the masks, it all felt pretty normal. Combined with really nice conditions, it was a great way to get out and be social. We now turn faces to the sun. This year, I am trying to convince my family to engage in disc golf. I think this is going to go very well. We are going to get my 9 and 11 year old, who on the best days are inches away from shanking each other, into a sport which involves hucking hard plastic disc at high speed. I foresee no problems/concussions that could possibly occur. I am sure all will go smoothly as you need to make calm focused shots, while Special Thanks To Our Amazing Sponsors ~ Gold Sponsor - dodging ticks and mosquitoes on a hot humid day. Everyone is Interior Roofing. Silver Sponsors - Omland Heal, Neighbourhood going to have a great time and there will be no complications that Brewing, Penticton Collision and Canaccord Cumming Investment I can see. But really, it is a great family sport. We have 3 courses Strategies. Bronze Sponsors - IGA, Cumming Construction, Betts of different lengths within 40 minutes of us. Awesome way to just Electric, B&L Machine Shop, Capri CMW Insurance and Unified get out and do something. Alloys. Your support is very appreciated. I am also starting the internal debate on my inaugural lake entry. I FIS & World Cup ~ We are so proud of our two BC Ski Team members Marcus Athans and Heming Sola. Great work this season boys. The Okanagan FIS Team is gearing up for next season. Veteran Aaron Leaman is the current Apex Ski Club member this year. He had some amazing experiences at World Juniors. We have some very fast ladies graduating to this program next season. Exciting times for sure.

love swimming, but don’t like it when my voice goes up 8 octaves upon hitting cold water. So, most years I throw the children into the lake as my guinea pigs. They are getting much wilier these days. They will often fake pleasure, as their lips slowly turn blue. They risk their own discomfort, if it means bringing pain and misery to their dear father. The glint in their evil, beady eyes glows brighter as they watch me prep for a canon ball into water I would happily Reece Howden crushed the World Cup season, winning the Crystal store my beer in. There is a sense of pride in knowing they would Globe and Rookie of the Year! Just an amazing accomplishment put themselves in such discomfort, just for a petty joke. I honestly for this young man! I’m still in shock our club now has a World would do the same thing. As Jason Lee’s character Brodie said Cup Winner to top off his amazing season, as he wins the Crystal in the 90’s cult classic Mallrats, “It is a small price to pay for the Globe. Overall Winner of the Season! Reece being a young gun smiting of one’s enemies”. also received Rookie of the Year. Your team mates, young and That is a wrap on the oddest season I think we have had here old, so look up to you fella! over at the snowbank. I’d like to thank all my sponsors ... which Well folks, it’s been a ride for sure this season! ~ We are all is nobody. So, hit me up if you want me to like, wear a sticker on blessed to be apart of this great Apex Community. Special thanks the back of my head or something. My bald dome could be your to Myleen of Apex Matters. She is the best! Keeping this platform billboard! Maybe I could become an inﬂuencer on the Tok-Grams! going is such a treat for us all to read monthly. Have an amazing Have a great summer everyone. God willing, I will see you all right back here in the fall. Peace! ApexMatters.com | April 2021 | Page 7 spring and summer folks. See you on the slopes next season!

Ski Skills For Life! Moguls, Terrain Park, Big Air & All Mountain for the kids, the club, and the community

Competitive & Non-competitive Programs for ages 6 & up

Season Wrap Up!

By Kristi Richards, Program Director & Head Coach As the season is coming to a close, we reﬂect on the moments we’ve had, the new skills acquired and the experiences that made us grow! Despite the challenges faced with the pandemic, we at Freestyle Apex made the most of the situation and gained a lot in just the ability to have a training season without the pressure of competitions. We were also able to focus on rebuilding our club, and creating opportunities within like offering some mid-week training and the great addition of our BagJump landing bag. We had a lot of big projects this season that went off without a hitch and has created some structure, opportunities and excitement moving forward. We also loved all of the THEME days this season at Apex! Retro Day, Hawaiian Day and Western Day! We launched our first pilot “Snowboard Camp” with local ambassador and former pro-snowboarder Donny Ellis, along with Olympic Gold Medallist Ross Rebagliati! We now have 2 Olympians involved in our humble Apex Freestyle Club! We are so honoured to have such a great snowboard committee behind this project and behind the concept of a permanent Snowboard Club at Apex. The committee consists of local businesses and industry leaders; Rob from Freeride, Donny from Bum Wrap, Jesse from The Gunbarrel, James from Apex Mountain Resort, Cathy from Snowboard BC, Daniel from Silver Star Snowboard Club, and Mike and Kristi from Freestyle Apex. This committee worked hard behind the scenes to make the camp come alive, and we couldn’t have asked for a better turn-out or bigger smiles. Its all about the riders ... So, WELCOME SNOWBOARDERS!

The landing bag is certainly the talk of the town ... And as it should be, as it is the first one of its kind in Western Canada! Those that have had a chance to try it out are saying it is proving to be an incredibly valuable training and progression tool that makes learning new tricks safe and viable. The jumps we built this season were diverse, with a hip jump, and mogul jump, a ‘learning hybrid’ jump, and a medium to large park style jump. This allowed a variety of athletes work on their tricks and target their goals. We even had some visits from the BC Mogul Team, where we saw an incredibly quick progression of two specific athletes take new tricks from the landing bag to snow in a matter of days, where they may not have had that opportunity to get those tricks on snow this season without this training tool underneath them. We also saw alumni Apex Freestyle Team member and now current BC Slopestyle Team member, Alec Henderson, come to try the landing bag to work on some bigger tricks and give us feedback on the setup for his high performance skill level. The landing bag is available for Freestyle BC, Freestyle Canada and Freestyle Apex members at this time, and we hope to open more and more opportunities in the future with Snowboard BC and TRY FREESTYLE days.

Thanks to the Freestyle BC Virtual Timber Tour, our athletes had the chance to have a targeted focus, and submit their Mogul, Slopestyle and Big Air runs for a chance to ‘virtually podium’! We had a lot of success from our Club and want to give a huge round of applause to those athletes that were recognized on the podium: • U12 Big Air - Women ~ Bronze - Charlie Longstreet • U12 Moguls - Women ~ Bronze - Lillian McCaughey • U12 Moguls - Women ~ Silver - Francesca Farcau • U12 Moguls - Men ~ Bronze - Jackson Kendall • U14 Moguls - Women ~ Bronze - Emelie McCaughey • U14 Moguls - Men ~ Gold - Brandon Van Schalm • U16 Big Air - Womens ~ Gold - Sharon Van Schalm • U16 Slopestyle - Womens ~ Gold - Sharon Van Schalm • U16 Moguls - Men ~ Bronze - Patrick Farcau • U16 Moguls - Men ~ Silver - Charlie Roberts • U16 Moguls - Men ~ Gold - Grady Parsons • U18 Moguls - Men ~ Gold - Trent Walkley We would like to recognize the efforts of our amazing coaches and support this season, as they are the strength and the structure behind the program: • Jumps and Bumps Coaches ~ Jon Hodal, Debbie Vollet, Gary Vollet, Ryan Paulhaus, Austin Eaton and Zoe Mackenzie. • Jumps and Bumps Manager ~ Cole Patton • Freestylerz and Freeriderz Coaches ~ Mike Richards, Nate Parsons, Anna Spence, Mark Billups and guest Olympian Tami Bradley. • Junior, Girlstylerz and Performance Team Coaches ~ Ainsley Macdonald, Ethan Phillips and Kristi Richards. • Facility Manager ~ Mike Richards • Head Coach & Program Director ~ Kristi Richards • Club President ~ Evan Phillips • Board ~ Theresa Sengl, Chad Parsons, Terri Parsons, Charles Cornell and Sarah Holeton. • Thank you, thank you, thank you to our Sponsors and Fundraising Partners this season! Slackwater Brewing, The Penticton Lakeside Resort, NuFloors Penticton, The Gunbarrel Saloon, Apex Mountain Resort & Marketplace IGA.

Bike To Work By Susan Barnes, Sports Clinic Physiotherapist Winter is closing down. Spring is closing in. Biking is just around the corner, of which many of those cyclists are commuters ... like me. I have been a bike commuter for many years, sometimes enjoying a lake swim on the way home. After losing a bike locked at work to a thief, I was a bit gun-shy about leaving my chariot locked outside the Community Centre again, where I work as a physiotherapist. Fortunately, with some public-private partnering with the City, our clinic was forward thinking in developing a bike lock-up. This after renting a steel container for a season to keep the hooded bandits at bay. Bike To Work week (now called Go By Bike BC) is a great promotion of all types of cycling activity. Commuting, competing, recreating and traveling ... to work, school or otherwise. It fits well with Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommending moderate to vigorous intensity exercise. Children-Youth 60 minutes/day; Adults 150 minutes/week. Cycling crosses all ages groups. The Dale Charles Physiotherapy/Sports Clinic Physiotherapy clinic group have been gold sponsors of Bike To Work/Go By Bike BC for many years. It reﬂects our professional values for physical activity, and follows the Physiotherapy Assoc of BC logo ‘Moving for Life’. Our clinic staff rides to work, rides as weekend warriors, participates in the Granfondo (near and far), entered a team in the Challenge, and many consecutive Elevator Races. Bike fitting is a clinic service offered by Phil Burman, who is one of our real ‘bikies’. Another staff member, Grant Gichard, rode 6,500 km across some sketchy borders from Britain to Dharamsala in northern India in support of Tibetan refugees. Cycling is the sensible individual activity for a COVID safe exercise. I have graduated to an e-bike, which I can confidently lock-up at work in a secure bike cage. Consider your participation in Go By Bike BC this spring.

Hello From Whistler By Alec Henderson, BC Park & Pipe Team Member Well, it has been a backwards and an upside-down winter this year with no events and very little travel, but us Freestylers have loved it! After all, that is what we do, and we all have felt right at home in Whistler airing it out and training hard. The skiing has been amazing and our team feels stronger than ever with so many tricks in the works and every day I watch the guys getting better and better. It is fun to be part of this group and we are already making plans for our summer camps on the glacier and the possibility of travel and comps in the near future. Last month, Andre and I were able to do a quick stop at Apex for a day and tested the new airbag out. It was sooo much fun to see everyone and the bag is one of the best!!! Way to go Apex Freestyle!!! Hopefully, we will be back again soon and enjoying Alec (right), team mate Andre (middle) and friend “The Edge” sandwiches ... Spencer (left) enjoying a Spring Break BBQ on our snow patio at Silver Star during a week off. mmmm. As the season ends, we will remain in Whistler through May and I will be sure to update you on the BC Park and Pipe team’s progress in the first Apex Matters edition next year. Until then, get out and enjoy the slopes for a few final turns and watch our updates and new edits on Instagram @alec_henderson_

Penticton Snowmobile Club Update By Stuart Drake, President Well, it looks as if once again our season is coming to an end. This time of year is always wonderful to welcome the spring weather and the warmer temps and conquer some terrain. This year has proved to be very challenging with the introduction of COVID-19 and trying to work around it as a Snowmobile Club. I have found it to be one of my most challenging years as President in that it was hard to know which decision we were making would be correct for everybody involved. It was very hard for us to come up with protocols for rides and events and we were urged not to hold any events due to the government regulations and Covid protocols. We have tried during this diﬃcult time to keep our members safe and I feel that we have succeeded in this task. I would like to announce that this will be my last year as acting President for the Penticton Snowmobile Club. It has been a wonderful four years of running this club, watching it grow, having wonderful events that are supported by our wonderful members and volunteers, and of course, all the wonderful rides and memories we have created. I feel that my agenda with the club has been

met. I always wanted to increase the club’s presence in the area, help the numbers grow for memberships, and get people out riding safely in some awesome new areas that they might not be aware of. We have had a lot of fun over the years and I feel that my agenda has been completed. I also feel that there are new issues facing the club in the coming years in the Apex area with regard to our trails and land-use in the Apex community and similar issues that will require new leadership in our club from somebody who is dedicated and passionate about helping the club accomplish these tasks. As always, the club is run by dedicated volunteers working together to help the club succeed. If you are interested in joining us, please email pentictonsnowmobileclub@outlook.org. I would like to thank everybody who read my column this season or had interest and took the time to reach out to me during my time as President. I really appreciated everybody and their help. Thanks so much again for a wonderful four years and I look forward to seeing you all out in the snow next year.

Optimizing Healing From Ski Injuries By Dr. Deirdre O’Neill, Naturopathic Doctor Have you been injured this year? Was your season cut short? If you love to ski, it often is said that you will fall into two camps healing from an injury or soon to be injured. The good thing about becoming injured this late into the season is that you have the rest of spring-fall to recover to maximize your lifetime on skis. This is what your body goes through after an injury. There are three phases in wound healing - an initial inflammatory phase, a secondary proliferation phase, and lastly, a remodeling phase. The inflammatory phase is where you see swelling, bruising, pain as the body goes through an initial preparation for healing. This initial phase typically occurs over the first week post-injury and is the body’s way of protection and initiating the overall repair process, as it brings nutrients and cells to the injured site. The body then bleeds into a proliferation phase. This secondary step is the healing phase, where there is mending and laying down new tissue at the injured site. The final phase that continues onwards for a year post injury is where scar tissue remodels and the tissue gains strength. The wound healing process is pretty set. The body goes through each of these phases as the body is meant to heal. Speaking with Phil Burman, physiotherapist, regarding injury, he has a sensible view that you can’t rush physiology. What you can change is how well your physiology will heal. This is where rehabilitation in all forms comes into play. Eat Your Way To A Stronger You ~ You may not consider what you eat plays a role in rehabilitation. Diet surprisingly has an integral part in how controlled the inflammatory and proliferatory phase is for you. Eating a diet rich in processed foods brings the body’s inflammatory state to a higher place. Typical inflammatory foods are nightshade vegetables, wheat, dairy, corn, citrus, sugar, alcohol, and high consumption of beef. Yep, I know - all the good stuff. Swapping this diet out for more of a Mediterranean diet will not only keep inflammation in check, but it will also increase antioxidants. Feed The Body’s Wound Healing Process ~ As the gears are ramped up with laying down new tissue, the source must come from somewhere. Vitamin C and Zinc are safe supplements to help increase collagen synthesis for ligaments, tendons and bone. You can even go straight to supplementing with collagen. Again, collagen is the main structural component of connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) - the most common tissue to be injured out on the hill. If you have suffered from a fracture, Vitamin D plays a role in calcium absorption and laying down of minerals into bone. Take Care To Modulate Pain ~ On one hand, it is important to use pain as your guide. Loading up on anti-inflammatories or pain killers prior to a day of activity is never a good plan. This form of preloading can lead you to doing stupid stuff - going beyond what your body can handle. On the other hand, don’t let pain get ahead of you. Shelfing all forms of pain medication can get you into trouble, where pain and swelling gets ahead of you. I recently was injured on the hill - I was able to use alternate forms of therapies to modulate my pain. This included the frequent use of laser therapy, curcumin, fish oil, and perineural injection therapy. Perineural injection therapy is a fascinating therapy for acute injuries, where it treats inflammed and injured nerves with the use of microinjections of dextrose to reduce pain and restore function. Keep Active With Limits Set ~ When you are injured, all plans to keep to your sport are sidelined. Training takes on a new meaning, where not only are you protecting the part of your body that got injured, but also working to maintain muscle throughout the healing

Dr. Deirdre O’Neill

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process. What is important most of all is to keep moving. Work closely with a physiotherapist to make sure what you are doing is working towards a stronger you, not putting you at risk for further injury. Dan Colbeck, physiotherapist, always feels that there are two types of injured people - those that get back at it too early and those that you need to encourage to do more. The middle ground would be the best place to be. This has been a great season. I am grateful for the smooth operation of the place that we all love. It was great to see smiling faces under masks, getting outside, and bringing some fun into this strange and stressful year. If you too have been injured, I hope that you can use the off season to create a stronger you, so that you can keep living the dream. Dr. Deirdre O’Neill, Naturopathic Physician, has an expertise in Prolotherapy and Platelet Rich Plasma using Ultrasound Guidance. She practices in Penticton at Alpine Natural Health. You can also ﬁnd her on the hill as part of the volunteer Canadian Ski Patrol.

Apex Community Association Update By Andrew Drouin, ACA Board Member The Apex Community Association (ACA) thanks everyone who came out to our events over the winter of 2020/21. We look forward to offering a collection of family-fun events between now and the start of the next ski season. Despite Covid hanging over our collective heads, it turns out that Apex Mountain Resort experienced one of their best ski seasons in years, and we congratulate everyone on ‘coloring within the lines’, thus allowing the resort and community to escape Covid-19 infections. Well done everyone! The ACA is planning several exciting community activities for 2021, including: hike and bike trail-maintenance days; our Second Annual Drive-In Movie Night; and a Bear-Smart & BBQ community education event, where participants will not only learn about bear-smarting their homes, but also gain information about living with bears in the Okanagan. This event will also find participants triggering canisters of inert bear-spray, thus answering the universal question of “how far does it actually shoot?” We will also host our First Annual Poker Ride n’ Run event. This is a 17 km cross-country mountain bike and running course, which finds participants negotiating a 5-stage course, with each stage offering a fun challenge that must be accomplished in order to gain a poker card, thus building a winning hand by the end of the event. The winner of the event is the one whose luck gets them the best poker hand. You could finish last, and still win! As always, the ACA invites community members and valley-folk alike to join us in presenting fun, family-oriented events to enhance the community. Check out our Facebook page at www.facebook. com/ApexCommunityAssociation. You can also reach us by email to apexcommunityassociation@gmail.com. Special thanks to the ACA Board; Andrew Drouin, Erica Fletcher, Gabe Lavoie, Graeme Lindsay, Jill Lindsay, Kelly Johnston, Marlene Parrott, Neil Edwardson, Nicola Williams & Richard Rae.

FROM THE DIRECTOR For RDOS Area ‘I’

On March 27, 2021 the residents/ property owners of Apex community voted to create a sustainable Fire Service to protect the homes within the service area. What this means for the community of Apex is that the homes and residents will receive the services provided by a Fire Department that Subrina Monteith is tax funded and sustainable for the Director of future and will support growth of the RDOS Area ‘I’ community. AVFD will also have access to mutual aid and RDOS support. There are no tax impacts on 2021 property taxes for the fire service creation. I will be working with the new Apex Volunteer Fire Department on next steps. This is a very exciting step for the community and I look forward to seeing the amazing things that AVFD accomplishes in the near future. Every home entering the fire service will decrease the financial impact on all within the service. I’m honoured to have worked with AFBS to make this leap into an RDOS tax funded service and want to thank Gabe, Kelly and Graeme, as well as the entire AFBS team for all the dedication, professional experience and volunteer hours that have gone into this transition. Stay tuned on the “Apex Home Owners/Residents RDOS Area I” Facebook group for updates as things progress. If you have qualified skills you wish to volunteer, contact the AFBS or myself to get involved in the building project. If you are not already a member of APOA, I encourage you to renew and/or volunteer on the board. APOA has a very key role in representing the community interests at Apex. I attend their monthly meetings to share updates and seek feedback on bylaws, etc. They have a direct line to MLA Russell and myself, which makes our working partnership stronger together. Without APOA, there would be no voice from the Apex community on forestry or mining activity concerns or advocacy for access to education or road maintenance improvements. I work closely with the APOA board and see the need for more hands to work on the many committees. Many hands make less work and create a well rounded voice during decision making. APOA has been key players in advocacy for community concerns. I want to thank the APOA board for everything this past year and it has been a pleasure working with you all. Big shout out to Apex Mountain Resort and Nickle Plate Nordic Centre for providing an amazing year of outdoor recreation and keeping everyone safe during the season with Covid-19 restrictions in place. I want to thank everyone who complied with resort expectations to maintain operations and allowed everyone to enjoy the season uninterrupted. Let’s hope 2021-2022 is just as good as this season, if not better. Subrina Monteith, Director of RDOS Area ‘I’ Direct: 250.486.1346 | smonteith@rdos.bc.ca | www.rdos.bc.ca

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The APOA ... The Heart of the Apex Community!

APOA membership is open to all Apex property and condo owners. Love your Apex playground? Want to keep it pristine? Love to use the snowshoe & cross country trails? Like to drive on safe roads to get to Apex? Concerned about the status of logging? Then, the APOA needs YOU!

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April APOA Update By Jeff Brown, APOA Secretary

What to make of the 2020-2021 ski season? It certainly reminded Apex property owners of what’s important. Record season passes sold. Every parking lot full … on weekdays! Vehicles parked in random places along Apex Mountain Road, with telltale ski and snowshoe tracks meandering off into the forest. All year we saw the same message being repeated over and over: outdoor recreation matters. It matters to our health, it matters to our soul, it matters to our society. Intensive Recreation Area. That is Apex’s oﬃcial designation in the Okanagan-Shuswap Land & Resource Management Plan, which is the profoundly ignored provincial document that was supposed to protect recreation areas like Apex. This year reminds us that Apex must not be treated as a pawn in the political and economic game of who gets to control BC’s public spaces and natural resources. Apex served our society well this year. Not because its forests can be harvested. Not because its minerals can be mined. Apex property owners know Apex cannot be taken for granted. What if Dividend Mountain and Green Mountain are subjected to more clear cuts as planned? What if yet another slice is taken out of Nickel Plate Nordic Centre? What if Mount Riordan is turned into an open pit mine? What if our growing number of young families can’t live here because their kids can’t find a school that will teach them? Did Apex help keep you and your family active and at least somewhat sane during this global pandemic? Are you keen to see Apex Village achieve its full potential? Are you worried that not everyone who seeks to impact Apex actually cares about the things YOU love about Apex? You are not the only Apex property owner who wants to protect and improve what makes Apex Apex. There is strength in numbers. The ski season may be over, but there is a lot going on at Apex all year long. Join the APOA at www.apexpropertyowners.com. Then go that extra step, the most important step. Email us at apoaexec@gmail.com and let’s figure out how you can use your skills, your passion for Apex, to make it even better.

From The Hill By Richard Cannings, MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay Last year, Gord Portman saved two people in a house fire in Penticton. When he saw his picture in the local newspaper, he said to himself, “Oh boy I need help”. Gord was addicted to drugs. So he turned to Discovery House, a local organization that helps men battle their addictions, and he now thanks them for saving his life. Over 1300 British Columbians have died from COVID-19; over the same period, 1716 British Columbians have died because of the opioid crisis. And, this is not just a big city problem happening in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. It’s happening across the province. 17 people have died in Penticton and 14 in Grand Forks. There is a misinformed and very unfortunate view among many in our communities that these people chose that path and don’t deserve our concern. But, these people were sons and fathers, daughters and mothers. They had a medical problem, not a criminal problem. Many have mental health challenges or became addicted to opioids through prescription drugs after an accident left them with crippling pain. Thousands of them are being poisoned by drugs laced with fentanyl. How can we stop this carnage and do the hard work necessary to help people with addictions? The war on drugs, with stiffer penalties and longer prison sentences, has been tried for 40 years and has failed miserably. We need a new approach, one that treats addiction as the health problem it is. This has been carried out with significant success in countries such as Portugal. That approach has two main components: decriminalization and a safe supply. To bring people with addictions into programs that will help them, we have to convince them that we are there to help. Defining them as criminals is a huge barrier to creating that relationship. So, we have to decriminalize the simple possession of small amounts of drugs. The manufacture and illegal sale of drugs would remain a criminal act, so that we can go after the dealers that are truly behind the opioid crisis. A safe supply program is endorsed by the police, as well as community advocates and health care professionals. Bill Spearn, an inspector with the Vancouver Police Department’s Organized Crimes Section, says that the VPD “supports safe supply and treatment on demand”. He adds that safe supply would “not only save lives ... [but] will also reduce crime, which addicts often resort to when they need money for a fix”. Many community organizations have been helping people with addictions for decades. In Penticton, along with Discovery House, there is Pathways Addiction Resource Centre. Pathways has been working here for almost a half-century, and it was a surprise to hear that Interior Health was cancelling their contracts for addictions counselling and services, to bring those programs in-house. While I have every confidence that the professionals at Interior Health can carry out this work, I think there are aspects of that mandate that are best carried out by a group such as Pathways, that is not only a step outside government bureaucracy, but has such a valuable history with this work. I’ve talked with Sheila Malcolmson, the BC Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, about this issue and hope that some solution can be found that maintains funding for Pathways, so that they can continue to help people with addictions. Gord Portman was recently honoured with a bravery award by the Royal Canadian Humane Association. I thank him and the people at Discovery House who saved his life, and all those who work hard every day to help people with addictions return to their families and a normal life. If you’d like to get in touch with me, please email Richard. Cannings@parl.gc.ca or call 250-770-4480.

Richard Cannings

Member of Parliament South Okanagan - West Kootenay

Richard.Cannings@parl.gc.ca 250.770.4480

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Monthly MLA Report By Roly Russell, MLA Boundary-Similkameen I haven’t been able to hug my mother now for over a year. I know I’m not alone ... it’s been an enormously diﬃcult year, testing us in so many ways. But our sights are now set on some light at the end of the tunnel, given a vaccine roll-out that’s moving ahead of schedule, and mobilizing an unprecedented public health effort thanks to our health-care workers and so many volunteers. We expect to have over 400,000 British Columbians getting a shot by mid April, and the current target is to have vaccines offered to everyone who wants it by the end of summer. That’s great news! The announcement of a new urgent primary care centre (opening very soon) in Penticton is also hopeful news, and I’ve been in many conversations across the region about much needed support for our primary care networks and physician recruitment/retention. Likewise, the recent funding for a situation table in Oliver is great new for the community, in terms of ensuring that resources go where they can most effectively be used. Essentially, the ‘table’ is a community-based team of health, public safety, and social services to deliver better/faster access to service. Legislatively, I had my first opportunity to sit in the venerable halls of our BC legislative chamber earlier this month. While I love the eﬃciency that legislating-by-Zoom provides for Rural MLAs, it was a remarkable experience to join the process first-hand, and to meet some of the bright lights in the professional public service. We are currently debating a variety of bills: ICBC amendments that include a new role for a fairness commissioner; Tenancy Act changes to provide more protection and dispute resolution between landlords and tenants; and a Firearm Violence Prevention Act to help get a better handle on gang violence ... among a many others. As always, reach out if you have questions, we’ll do our best to get you answers! So, the sun is shining, the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is getting brighter, and I look forward to - in the not-to-distant future being able to hug my mother once again. Stay safe, healthy, and happy. We’ll get through this, as with so many things, together.

Urgent Need For Reopening Of The Outdoor Event Industry By Lyndie Hill, Hoodoo Adventure Company The outdoor adventure and sporting event season is quickly approaching, and our industry needs support. There is no reason why we cannot be trusted to adapt and safely re-open our industry as other businesses have been trusted to do the same in their industries. We do not need to encourage travel right now, but we need to be able to host local events safely and plan for when travel does open. Currently Health Authorities, permitting oﬃces and Cities will not even consider event applications, even if we keep our group sizes to 10 people outdoors. There is no reason why local events that can show Covid Safe Plans that align with all other industries that are currently operating (retail, restaurants, schools, and other outdoor activities not classified as “events”, etc.) should not be allowed to operate as well. Covid Safe operations and permits should also be processed “Subject to Health Orders lifting” for larger events that may require regional travel, so we are ready to operate as soon as we are given the okay to do so. By now we all know the rules, we are just asking that our industry also be allowed to operate while abiding by them like everyone else. Unfortunately, the word “event” changes it all. Here is our letter to Dr. Bonnie and our BC Leaders asking for some additional consideration for this important industry in our community. We too can adapt and do this safely, after all, it is what we do ... keep people safe outdoors.

Dear Dr. Bonnie Henry and BC Leaders, I am writing to you today asking for your support of the urgent, but careful, re-opening of our industry in the coming weeks. The industry I am referring to is outdoor adventure and sporting events. I understand that the word “event” has become a dirty one in recent times and any time we seem to use it these days we get shut down faster than we can speak of it. Unfortunately, all “events” have been clustered into one lump industry and for some reason event organizers have somehow been deemed not capable of safely operating using the same health guidelines as retail stores, restaurants, and schools through managing of their capacity and adapting policies and procedures. I am not sure why this is, but I find it particularly hard to take for outdoor activities, which are actively being encouraged by yourself and all experts around the World. Only last week, I read a quote from “Canada’s Top Doctor” Theresa Tam as she encouraged people to get outside and avoid enclosed spaces, stating “We got to really give people some of these kinds of activities to look forward to”. While at the same time, we sent a Covid Safe Plan to Interior Health in hopes that we can run some small, local adventure racing events that would see no more than 10 people at a time starting a course, spread out over the trail or lake before another 10 people would start some time later. The response was of disapproval due to event organizers not being trusted to control people gathering before and after they start/finish the course. I found this response extremely confusing as we are in fact mitigating this concern by allocating times for people to arrive and depart to ensure there is no gathering at any time, while keeping everyone outdoors, spread over many kilometers of trails during the event. To this logic, how are big box retail stores controlling how many people pull up in their parking lots at one time? Or how many people stand in a long line at the checkout at one time? I am sure you can see how this would be confusing and frustrating. Outdoor events not only give people something to look forward to, but they boost our local economy. They provide options to keep people active for both their mental and physical well-being. They create purpose for people through participation, community volunteering and employment. If there is anyone that can be trusted to follow a plan, adapt when needed and always keep safety of top priority, it is event organizers. So, I ask you as we very quickly approach our outdoor event season, to please have equal confidence in professional event coordinators and consider the urgency in our industry within your reopening plan. We want to help you get people outside safely and hope that you can help us to ensure that our businesses also survive this pandemic. Sincerely, Lyndie Hill, Owner of Hoodoo Adventure Company Ltd.

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