October 23, 2013

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revelstoke

FREE! Fall 2013

arts eats outdoors alive

INSIDE: 2 Revelstoke summer events guide 4 Songwriter Joanne Stacey 6 Moose hunting on the Goldstream 8 Revelstoke aventure tourism entrepreneurs find their niche 10 Video producer Frank Desrosiers 12 Revelstoke’s favorite fall fun Participate in one of Revelstoke’s oldest, most traditional fall pastimes as we search the mountains and valleys of the Goldstream on a hunt for moose. Page 6.

Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Times Review

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vents

calendar

List your community event here for free! Visit www.revelstoketimesreview.com/calendar or email editor@revelstoketimesreview.com to add your event.

Ongoing to Friday, Nov. 1

for the Canadian Cancer Society. At the community centre at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at the Cabin, the community centre, Roberta's Tanning, Malone's and at the door. 19+.

MT. REVELSTOKE QUILTERS GUILD on display in the main gallery. The side gallery features Print Making. Opens Friday, October 11, at 6 p.m. at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre.

Friday, November 1

Wednesday, October 23

LADIES NIGHT OUT The Revelstoke Figure Skating Club hosts a cocktails and comedy night out and auction to raise money for the club. At the Traverse at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20, available at the community centre or through club members.

BERGMANN PIANO DUO An entire concert devoted to two-piano, and piano four-hand repertoire. Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann became a piano duo while studying in Montréal. They have since garnered many awards including first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy and at The 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition.

At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, available at Art First, the Chamber of Commerce and online at revelstokeartscouncil.com.

MOVIES IN THE MOUNTAINS: NO This gripping histori-

cal drama from director Pablo Larraíne stars Gael García Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, Bad Education) as a savvy young ad exec in 1988 Chile. Engaging, suspenseful and breathlessly paced, No is both a tense political thriller and a vibrant document of Chile’s triumphal return to democracy. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7.

October 25–27

BEAR'S DEN CLASSIC SQUASH TOURNAMENT This annual squash tournament attracts many top players from the B.C. Interior. At the Bear Den Racquet Club in the basement of the Selkirk Medical building. Head on down to check out the action.

Visit racquetden.com for more information.

Saturday, November 2

RAVEN MEETS THE MONKEY KING Axis Theatre presents

Saturday, October 26

a play about JJ, an inquisitive 11-year-old who dreams of becoming a rich and famous treasure hunter. One day she buys a mysterious box at a garage sale, releasing the spirits of the Raven (First Nations) and the Monkey King (Chinese). They share their stories and guide JJ to understand the value of money pales in comparison to the values of family and history. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 11 a.m. Tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for children, available at Arts First, the Chamber of Commerce or through the Revelstoke Arts Council website.

COFFEE HOUSE FEATURING JAKE & STEPH The Coffee

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House kicks off it's fourth season with Jacob Verburg and Stephanie Clifford, a duo that play a mix of gypsy jazz and folk songs. The night is an opportunity for local musicians to play in a relaxed and Now hiring team members with at a 7:30 passion forto friendly environment.

At the United Church p.m. Want customer service involvement. perform? Signs up startand at 7 community p.m. Entry is $3, and coffee and treats will be served.

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Fri, Nov. 8, to Fri, Dec. 6

FROM THE SUMMIT at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre. The side galleries feature Holes and Tunnels by Jacqueline Palmer, Work from the Glacier Stewardship Adventure Program, and Best of Banff Photographic Competition. Opens on Friday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m.

Thursday, November 14

THE BILLS This folk music quintet is renowned for their

instrumental virtuosity, lush vocal arrangements, exuberant live performances, evocative songwriting and innovative interpretations of songs from around the world. They draw their inspiration from a broad range of North American, European, Latin American and Romany musical traditions. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15, available at Arts First, the Chamber of Commerce or through the Revelstoke Arts Council website.

November 16–17

HANDMADE PARADE The annual Handmade Parade Craft Fair brings together local artisans from the Columbia, Kootenay and Okanagan regions of British Columbia. Come out to find a gift for yourself or someone else. At the community centre.

Wednesday, November 20

NATIONAL CHILD DAY The Revelstoke Early Childhood Development Committee celebrates National Child Day with a free screening of the film Babies. This 2010 documentary is a look at one year in the life of four babies from Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco and Tokyo. At the Revelstoke Peforming Arts Centre at 7 p.m.

Saturday, November 23

RELATIVE JAZZ Local jazz band will play tunes ranging from classic jazz, reggae, funk, blues and even a little rock and roll.

At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at the Revelstoke Nickelodeon, the Revelstoke Credit Union, and the Powder Springs.

Sunday, November 24

THE FUGITIVES A group of musicians and poets from Vancou-

ver, including Canadian SLAM poetry champion Brendan McLeod, musician Adrian Glynn and others. Their music has drawn comparisons to the Arcade Fire. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at Arts First, the Chamber of Commerce or through the Revelstoke Arts Council website.

Friday, November 29

MOONLIGHT MADNESS Get your shopping on as Revelstoke

stores stay open late and offer great deals. Drop off your kids for a swim and a movie at the community centre while you’re out.

Saturday, November 30

OPENING DAY AT RMR Line up early for first tracks as Revel-

stoke Mountain Resort opens for it's seventh season. The gondola starts spinning at 8:30 a.m. but you should show up the day before if you want to be first in line.

COFFEE HOUSE FEATURING THE STEVE BROCKLEY BAND This Salmon Arm trio will entertain you with their roots and

Canadiana tunes. The night is an opportunity for local musicians to play in a relaxed and friendly environment. At the United Church at 7:30 p.m. Want to perform? Signs up start at 7 p.m. Entry is $3, and coffee and treats will be served.

THUNDERSTRUCK 12 PREMIERE Come celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club with a dinner, prize raffle and the Revelstoke premiere of Thunderstruck 12. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m., the prize raffle at 8 p.m. and the film starts at 9 p.m.

At the Hillcrest Hotel. Call the hotel in advance to purchase dinner tickets. The movie is free.

SAID THE WHALE These Vancouver indie-rock darlings won a 2011 Juno award for New Group of the Year. Their songs feature

catchy melody's, spiky choruses and 60s-style vocal harmonies. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $2 for children, available at Arts First, the Chamber of Commerce or through the Revelstoke Arts Council website.

SNOWFLAKE WINE FESTIVAL Sample wines from some of the best wineries in southern B.C. at this Revelstoke Ski Club fundraiser including appetizers and a huge silent auction. At the Sutton Place Hotel at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

Sunday, December 1

NO HOST BAZAAR Crime Stoppers holds its annual pre-Christmas bazaar – a chance to buy gifts for yourself and others from a variety of vendors. At the community centre from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

December 6–8

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December 18–22

SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR BY THE NORTH FACE The Freeride World Tour returns to Revelstoke Mountain

Resort as some of the world’s best skiers and snowboarders tackle the Mac Daddy face. The competition will run whenever the weather is good enough, so be flexible if you want to check it out. Stay tuned for a full schedule of related events.

Thursday, December 19

B3 KINGS This funky jazz quartet has become well known for

their annual Christmas shows. Vocalist and drummer Denzal Sinclaire is joined by organist Chris Gestrin, saxophonist Cory Weeds and guitarist Bill Coon. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, available at Arts First, the Chamber of Commerce or through the Revelstoke Arts Council website.

DEAR SANTA by Norm Foster. The Revelstoke Theatre Company presents it newest play. Santa Claus tries to fulfill a child’s special Christmas wish while his staff attempts to overcome a supply shortage at the North Pole. This is a laugh-filled holiday play innocent enough for the youngest boy or girl, and entertaining enough for adults. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre. The Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday show is at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Powder Springs or through revelstoketheatrecompany.org.

live acoustic music, the Revelstoke Coffee House, is holding its annual fundraising event. The featured performer TBA. Many pleasant surprises await. Come one, come all! At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.

December 12–14

Thursday, January 16

DEAR SANTA by Norm Foster. The Revelstoke Theatre Company

presents it newest play. All shows are at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Powder Springs or through revelstoketheatrecompany.org.

December 13–21

THE CHRISTMAS SHOP Look for reasonably priced art gifts

by local artists. At the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre. Opens Friday, December 13, at 6 p.m.

Friday, December 130

CP RAIL HOLIDAY TRAIN Choo Choo! and Ho Ho Ho! Santa

Claus rides into town on the CP Rail Holiday Train, accompanied by live music. The event is a fundraiser for the Community Connections Food Bank, so come with a donation. At the CP Rail parking lot

Saturday, December 28

COFFEE HOUSE FUNDRAISER HOOTENANY EXTRAVAGANZA Revelstoke’s de facto event celebrating local talent and

DAVE GUNNING Called the “next big thing in the True North

of Song” by the Toronto Star, Gunning plays songs that grab you by the heart. Having grown up in humble beginnings, he now gets compared to the likes of Bruce Cockburn, David Francey and Gordon Lightfood. His songs feature Irish, Scottish, French Acadian, folk and country musical styles. At the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15, available at Arts First, the Chamber of Commerce or through the Revelstoke Arts Council website.

Saturday, January 26

REVELSTOKE COFFEE HOUSE The night is an opportunity for

local musicians to play in a relaxed and friendly environment. At the United Church at 7:30 p.m. Want to perform? Signs up start at 7 p.m. Entry is $3, and coffee and treats will be served.

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Songs of Joanne Stacey Revelstoke singer-songwriter shares her story, and the story behind her songs.

by Alex Cooper

O

Photo by Sarah Mickel

ne night in early October I went to Benoit’s Wine Bar for an intimate evening of music organized by Joanne Stacey. About 20 people were on hand, sipping glasses of wine and listening as Stacey and two friends – Matt Carter and Lindsay May – took turns playing songs and telling the stories behind them.

I’d seen Joanne play a number of times before as the lead singer and guitarist for Sister Girl. That band broke up recently and since then Stacey has been pursuing her solo career – writing her songs and trying to get them out there in the world.

Stacey has a classic old-time country voice, the result of a lifetime singing in country music bands. She started when she five, singing in her family’s band the Country Squires in Merritt, B.C. – the self-proclaimed country music capital of Canada, where Stacey has a star on the walk of fame. She wrote her first song when she was 11. It was called Free as an Eagle. “It is terrible now when I look at it,” she told me. “But I was 11.”

I met up with Stacey in her basement music space, where she plays her songs and teaches singing classes to local youth.

There was a keyboard along the wall and an assortment of

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string instruments hanging from the wall – several guitars, a ukulele, banjo and mandolin.

“I was raised on Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Loretta Lynn – all those old country people,” she said.

She wrote and sang throughout her youth, releasing her first CD when she was 28, and playing at the first Merritt Music Festival shortly after. It wasn’t until she turned 30 that she learned to play guitar.

At around this time her first marriage fell apart and she went to school to become a legal assistant. She worked in intellectual property in Kelowna, where she sang back-up in a folk group, but her music career took backseat to raising her children.

“In retrospect I needed to learn how to be a better business person so working in law and that environment I focused on developing that whole other side of my brain so I became a better businessperson while still being creative,” she said.

Her career took her Calgary, where she helped found the Calgary Songwriter’s Association. She continued to work on her songwriting and performing while continuing to work.

During this time, her second husband Andrew got hired by CP Rail and they moved to Revelstoke, where she started the band Sister Girl. She started her own consulting business, while teaching singing lessons on the side.

Slowly her work balance shifted to the point where she could focus on teaching and performing.

“That was a big deal for me because I could stop doing things I didn’t want to be doing and I could follow my heart and be through my hand,” she said.

Sister Girl enjoyed a modestly successful five-year run, releasing two albums and having their song It’s a Lonely Place reach number two on the country music charts in Austria of all places.

Sister Girl had an amicable break up recently so Stacey could focus on her music career. It was a decision she made knowing that her bandmates,

with work and family commitments, weren’t able to pursue a music career as much as she wanted. “It just didn’t make sense any more. I needed to do what I needed to do and I didn’t want to have those things to hold me back,” she said. “I couldn’t ask them to quit their jobs and just do music.”

Returning to a solo career has allowed Stacey to focus on her songwriting and put herself out there in new ways. I met with her a few days after she returned from a trip to Nashville, where she met with agents and producers, and performed with other musicians and singers.

There, she got advice on what style of music to focus her songwriting on (Americana) and she was able to pitch some of her songs to different producers. One song – Zam Bam Zinger Bang Girl – will hopefully be recorded and released on an album and, if she’s lucky, released as a single. Before that, the song has to be chosen by the artist and producer, then it has to be recorded, then included on the album.

“It’s just such a huge process,” she said. “It’s mind blowing and you can’t get yourself too excited. Until you know your song is going to be released as a single, which is such a long pathway, then I will be doing the happy dance all over Revelstoke. Until then I’ll just play it cool, I won’t get too worked up.”

Stacey plans to continue teaching, writing and traveling to Nashville twice a year. She said she would move there if everything worked out, but for now she will continue to hone her craft in Revelstoke. She hopes to record a new solo album as soon as she lines up a producer.

“I’m always hoping for a door to open that will take me to a new place,” she said. “If things work out the way I want them to in my wildest dreams I will live in Nashville. And my husband, I’m not leaving him here, so he has to come too.”

Find out more about Joanne Stacey and listen to her music at www.joannestacey.com.

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The stories behind the songs

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Zam Bam Zinger Bang Girl soundcloud.com/joannestacey/zam-bamzinger-bang-girl

T

hat one is the one that’s being pitched to people in Nashville. I wrote it last fall with three other writers. It started out with the three girls and we were laughing because we were trying to epitomize what kind of woman is strong and viewed as a take charge kind of person. We came up with those whole concept of the Zam Bam Zinger Bang Girl, and she rules everywhere she goes. Everyone knows her, they love her, she’s charismatic and in control. She’s successful and doesn’t put up with crap. This song is about this woman who’s the ideal woman in a woman’s eyes.

We all look up to that woman and say wouldn’t we love to be her. We wrote that and it’s getting quite a bit of attention in Nashville right now.

One of the writers came to us with that title. We looked at each other and thought that’s too much of a mouthful, that’s too weird. But you write the song that’s in the room and that’s how it came about. That came totally from a title and we all put our heads together and said she’s this kind of chick and she’s really sassy. And we love her and hopefully she’ll make us lots of money.

Beautiful B.C.

Hold On

www.reverbnation.com/sistergirl/ song/2309692-beautiful-bc

soundcloud.com/ joannestacey/hold-on

I I

wrote because that's right when we moved back to B.C. We went through some hardtimes when we lived in Calgary, some real growth period I would call it. When we came back to B.C. I was so happy in my heart. I was so happy to be in the mountains and be where I belong. We moved here in June or July and that fall I wrote Beautiful B.C. I was so grateful to be where I belonged. I love the mountains, and being closer to my kids too.

Photo by Sarah Mickel

wrote it for my daughter. She had made a plan to go to Africa to work in Ghana as a volunteer... She was 20....

It was her focus for two years that she was going to do this. The day came when she was supposed to get on the plane and she couldn’t get on it... She was scared about leaving the country to a weird country where she didn’t know anybody. The whole fear thing stopped her. She went back to her dad’s house in Merritt and she holed herself in there and wouldn’t talk to anybody for about a month. She was in so much pain and so much growth. I think she was so disappointed in herself when she went through all that. It was a huge growing thing for her to realize she wasn’t infallible, she was scared. She wasn’t ready to do it ... She ended up going later but during that time she was in her seclusion and mad at herself, I wrote Hold On and I wrote it for her. I don’t even know if she knows I wrote it for her.

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A Goldstream moose hunt

For an authentic Revelstoke experience in the autumn, take

By Aaron Orlando part in a moose hunt Moose hunting. Not something a at first daylight, strapping the rifle hide in my grandfather’s den was endlessly urn over a new leaf. Or in my T case, a vapour trail of yellow past me would have envisioned me on and cruising around old logging fascinating when I was a boy. So were the birch leaves as my ATV zooms down doing. I like challenging myself with roads. Stopping, waiting, ‘glassing’ many, many rifles and guns on the walls. a long-abandoned logging road in the French Creek area north of Revelstoke.

completely new experiences, so here goes.

There I am, helping unload ATVs

with binoculars, listening and waiting some more.

Let me back up a bit. The full wolf

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Some from the war, many for hunting.

When it was time to sell what remained of the family hobby farm, they were cleared out and dispersed.

I ended up with a lever-action Winchester .308. A cowboy gun, of sorts. Borderline big enough for moose hunting (“I wouldn’t put anything bigger on that rifle,” the gunsmith says as I’m shopping for a scope. I perceive a sleight after I rebuffed his sales pitch for a Browning .300 Win Mag, which I couldn’t really afford.)

I open the envelope. Success after two tries! I get a moose draw in the Goldstream, despite 19:1 odds.

I take a weekend gun and hunting course in Nakusp. I can tell a mule deer from a whitetail, know how hard it is to sex a mountain goat, and can identify upland game birds. I learn where a moose’s heart is located, and how to tell by the blood trail if it’s been shot through the liver, lungs or major blood vessels. We watch a hunting safety video from yesteryear. I learn that if

From left: I barely made an impression in the sand when I stood next to this large, deep moose print; the fall colours were stunning, accented here by fields of moss covering an old logging road; the Goldstream River, north of Revelstoke, follows a relatively flat, snaking course before suddenly dropping into Lake Revelstoke; cruising through smouldering slash fires.

Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Times Review

you’re a yahoo, mixing beer, bullets, guns and sweet late ‘70s pickups is a deadly combo. I learn to never point a rifle at anyone. And don’t put the wrong ammunition in it.

I learn about limited entry hunts, bag limits, draws, tags, management units, restricted weapons, over-unders, shotgun chokes, bolt-action, pump-action, rimfire, field dressing (gutting), quartering and survival basics.

I pass my hunting licence test. I pass my gun licence test (100 per cent, thank you very much!) Get my draw, my tag and I’m ready to go.

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GRIZZLY AUTOMOTIVE • • • • • At the Revelstoke Rod & Gun Club’s Bullet Basin, I get help to figure out sighting-in the rifle. I’ve shot the rifle in the past, but I’m forced to cram in the days before the hunt. Given all the time in the world and some luck, I could hit a Loonie at 100 meters within a few shots. But I hear your heart races when it’s time for the real thing.

It’s a 4 a.m. wake-up, Tim Hortons, toques and gloves, logging trucks, loggers, the chalky jade of Revelstoke Lake, slashpile smoke obscuring Frenchman’s Cap. The deer that always seem to jump out in front of me on Highway 23 are conspicuously absent.

Out in nature, it’s a different way of being. There’s no rush to get to the summit. No viewpoint to stop at. No physical destination to achieve. You go different places and look for different things.

We travel up logging roads, onto older roads, then bushwhack through completely overgrown roads. We travel past smouldering slash pile fires, skirt marshes and scan clearings. We spend lots of time on the binoculars.

I’m reading the wrong signs. Are those mushrooms edible? Is that a poplar or a birch? That would make a nice photo. What are those furry, ringed flowers called? Look at the colour on that moss!

It causes me to miss the fresh wolf scat, moose paths through the tall grass and hoof marks on the trail. *** About a year ago, there were a flurry of stories about urban foodies getting into hunting to bag organic, natural meat. I tried to connect with local newcomers to hunting, but found a real resistance to being publicly identified as a hunter. That’s aside from the Revelstoke Rod & Gun Club annual award winners, who we’ve featured annually in the Times Review. (And here’s a note to future Times Review editors: don’t send your vegetarian reporter to the banquet! He’ll report on the salad and be formally requested not to report on future banquets! True story.)

Having come this far, I’ve got a few key personal observations. Like my instructor said, it’s not cheap meat. If you do full-cost accounting, and enjoy success and luck, it’s OK, but not cheap. I’m not into the trophy scene, so the cost barrier is something to consider if you’re there for the meat. Add the cost of travel from the city, and I’m skeptical we’re about to receive an influx of urban meat hunters.

Second, I realize more and more just how ‘managed’ wildlife are in B.C. I’m guessing others who grew up in urban centres like Vancouver don’t have a good sense of that. I think that’s the source of a lot of misunderstanding. I’m not saying that wildlife and hunting is well-managed, just that it’s much more managed than many perceive.

Third, hunting has been part of both lines of my family as far back as I know.

On my great-great grandfather’s sod-house homestead on the Manitoba prairie. On the other side of the family, famous Kootenay elk sausages. I had that feeling if you don’t give it a go, you’re giving something up.

I had a fantastic time in the Goldstream last week. I’d like to send out a special thanks to my host, who showed me the ropes. People come to Revelstoke because it’s an authentic place, and it was an authentic experience. I’d encourage anyone interested to just tag along on a hunt – it’s a unique experience.

Finally, I’ll say I’m not yet sure hunting is for me. I kept thinking I could do it with just a camera. (Except fill the freezer with moose.) I spent most of a decade as a vegetarian, and still think I should consider going back. I have a pervasive feeling that going somewhere beautiful to take a life is somehow wrong. I realize we could pull up two chairs and debate this forever; I’ll skip that here. And I’ll keep trying this season and see where it goes.

Unfortunately for me, the only hoofed game I’ve seen since I got my new scope sighted-in are the deer and doe that walked across the range at Bullet Basin. But I’ll keep trying.

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By Aaron Orlando

S

ome locals call them the ‘paycheque years.’

There was a flurry of construction activity around Revelstoke in the early- to mid-2000s in the run up to the opening of Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

The resort was being scratched out of the mountain, and subdivisions were being carved out of woods and etched into the ground.

Your grandpa used to run a bulldozer in the bush? Get him down to the job site – that’s a $50-an-hour skill!

Revelstoke, the thinking went, would follow the Whistler model – a ski resort based on real estate development and sales. The sky was the limit.

Then, the global economic meltdown in 2008, and that model ground to a halt.

In fact, the newly-released Resort Municipality Initiative Annual Report by the city’s economic development department found that out-of-town property ownership has barely budged since 2008, increasing by just one per cent from 19 per cent to 20 per cent by 2012. In Sun Peaks, it’s 86 per cent; Whistler’s 76 per cent.

Although the resort real estate model has been hobbled and awaits a macroeconomic turnaround, the marketing machines pitching Revelstoke as a winter adventure destination hasn’t been switched off, and visitors continue to arrive for our unique mountain experiences.

Real estate development continues to stall, but niche tourism developers are finding and creating services and amenities for the new wave of young, mobile adventurers seeking out Revelstoke each year.

We spoke with a few of the many, seeking to highlight the services they are offering, and gain insight into the market.

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T

he Boulder Mountain parking lot is where sledders unload their expensive machines from their expensive trucks. It’s a guy scene; an arms race to see who can jack up their truck the highest and add the most aftermarket mods to their sleds.

Revelstoke snowmobile guide Nadine Overwater says that intimidating environment is one of many barriers preventing

elsewhere, Overwater, who was already guiding here, decided to open La Nina Sled Camp, offering two camps for women.

The response was exceedingly positive; she plans to operate 10 camps this season. I spoke with her on the phone from the Alberta Snowmobile and PowerSports Show.

Guys might not understand, she explained, but women are looking for a different group experience than just riding with the boys.

“Women are always looking for this girl power and united [experience].” Overwater explained. “They get really ramped up when they see each other doing well and

Nadine Overwater’s La Nina Sled Camp offers women-only group tours that help beginners and intermediate riders overcome significant barriers to entry into the sport of big mountain riding.

La Nina Sled Camp image

more women from getting into the sport.

“There are girls that if they wanted to go sledding by themselves, they couldn’t get the sled out of the back of the truck,” she told me. “There’s 200 guys there watching.”

They struggled to keep up with their husbands or boyfriends – usually more experienced riders who brought them to Revelstoke in the first place.

If was off-putting. They went skiing instead, or didn’t come on the trip.

Seeing women-only camps popping up

progressing.”

Her camps add emphasis to things like lunch, apres-sled meals, repair basics and souvenir photography.

Overwater foresees a successful seasonal operation. Sleds are much easier to operate these days, making them more accessible to smaller riders.

“I think girls are enjoying it more,” she said.

But the barriers to big-mountain riding will remain; terrain, avalanche safety, deep snow. Overwater sees a continued demand

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to provide guiding for beginners and intermediate riders.

“It’s pretty daunting up there,” she said. “That’s my job; to keep them out there and keep them safe. So far I’ve had nothing but positive feedback.”

Overwater encourages anyone entering the adventure tourism services business to do their homework first. “It’s a huge learning curve,” she said. Running the business, web presence, marketing and social media promotion are as vital as guiding skills.

She also said understanding tenure issues and insurance challenges are key.

Find La Nina Sled Camp on the web and Facebook.

Wandering Wheels

M

att Yaki took the plunge this year, quitting his full-time job to pursue his dream and passion for riding and guiding mountain bikes in the Revelstoke-region mountains.

He offers shuttling and a variety of guiding services, but is focused on building a destination guiding service for visiting groups.

It’s gone well so far, Yaki said. July and August were very busy months, when riders from New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the U.S. arrived to try out Revelstoke’s destination alpine rides, which have a very short season.

“That’s definitely where the fun is at and the money is at,” Yaki said.

The mountain biking infrastructure in Revelstoke has proliferated in the past few years – new trails, new signs, improved trails, new destination trails like Frisby – and Yaki felt Revelstoke needed a guided service like those available at other biking destinations.

“It’s not anything new,” Yaki said. “It might be a new thought to Revelstoke.”

Tourism operators I spoke with made that same observation: it’s not about inventing the wheel, but rather looking at services provided in other adventure destinations and figuring out if there’s sufficient demand here. Being passionate about the service helps greatly.

Yaki said guiding is a “tight market” at this point. Mountain bikers are adventurous spirits to start with, and summer biking doesn’t have the barriers to entry of winter sports.

Yaki hopes to grow by partnering with other tourism operators by providing turnkey packages.

The goal is to get visiting riders into two- or three-day experiences booked well in advance.

Like Overwater, Yaki said

www.revelstoketimesreview.com | 9 learning about the tenure system Peter Dixon is opening a new, and getting your groundwork pre- guided snowshoeing service at pared are key to success.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort this “I definitely think there winter, ferrying groups of up is room to grow,” he said. to 16 people up the gondola for excursions on the mountain.

A variety of tours are available. You can take the office on a team-building exercise, play capture the flag, book a school tour or opt for an intense workout experience.

A range of fitness levels are accommodated, and extra experiences are woven in, such as wildlife tracking, local history and winter survival.

“It’s great because anybody can do it,” Dixon said. “It’s a great way to explore winter landscapes. It’s a great family activity.”

Dixon operated the service on Mount Seymour on Vancouver’s North Shore, but opted to relocate here to pursue his dream of living in a mountain town.

“What’s the town missing?” he asked himself, and was surprised to find no snowshoeing tours.

“They have dogsledding and Peter Dixon will be offering snowparagliding. I was quite surprised

Revelstoke Snowshoe Company

shoe tours on Revelstoke Mountain Resort for the first time this winter.

Photo contributed

see page 12

Fall 2013-Winter 2014

schedule

musiC

date

Matt Yaki, owner-operator of Revelstoke mountain bike tour company Wandering Wheels, has one season down and hopes to focus on the demand for destination alpine ride tours next season.

Alex Cooper photography

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Beyond the lens

Francois Desrosiers is Revelstoke’s video production guru, having carved a niche for himself filming and editing videos in Revelstoke and beyond. He’s nearing completion of his biggest production yet – Throttle Decisions, an avalanche awareness series for snowmobilers.

By Alex Cooper

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Top: Frank Desrosiers in his Mackenzie Avenue studio, hard at work on Throttle Decisions.; Bottom left: Desrosier’s collection of cameras.; Bottom right: Jeremy Hanke, Curtis Pawliuk and Desrosiers out filiming for Throttle Decisions.

Photos by Alex Cooper/Revelstoke Times Review except bottom right, by Curtis Pawliuk

F

ourteen years ago, Francois Desrosiers was ski touring in Rogers Pass with some friends when they were struck by a massive avalanche. Desrosiers was sent cascading down the mountain into a stand of trees. He was found battered and bruised, with numerous broken bones and injuries. Nearby one of his friends lay dead.

Desrosiers was airlifted off the mountain and taken to a hospital. He spent the next five years recovering.

“In the process I just picked up a camera and started making all sorts of funky videos and expressing myself,” he told me not long ago. “Being cooped up in rehab is an extremely difficult thing. Making videos and creative little mini projects was my way of release and expressing myself.”

Desrosiers is Revelstoke’s video production guy. He runs FD Productions, what is essentially a one-man video production business. He does everything from project proposals to preparing budgets to filming to editing. Over the years he’s become the go-to-guy, producing heli-ski safety videos, Parks Canada movies, and short documentaries.

This year he’s been working on his biggest project yet – Throttle Decisions, a 10-part series created to raise avalanche awareness amongst snowmobilers. esrosiers, 37, grew up in the Laurentians, a region of small mountains dotted with small ski hills north of Montreal. His family skied and was musical, and he fell into both passions. When he was 18 he moved out west to Lake Louise. A few years later, in 1998, he took a job as director of the ski school at the Powder Springs ski area in Revelstoke.

“I applied for the job and for art school and said whichever one I hear back from first is the one I’d take,” he said. Clyde Newsome called him back first, and so he came out to Revelstoke.

I met Desrosiers at a studio he shares with his friend Chris

D

Payne in the Selkirk Medical building. The hallways to the studio are lined with photos and paintings by local artist Rob Buchanan. A drum kit sits in the middle of the space and the shelves are lined with various camera equipment old and new, and binders of avalanche education material.

“I’m 700 hours in on my project right now so I’m a little dazed,” he told me as I sat down.

He looked tired, the result of many long days sitting in front of a computer editing Throttle Decisions. He had 14 terabytes of video footage – that’s 14-million megabytes – to go through and piece together and he was nearing the end. first met Desrosiers in late 2009 when he wanted to share the story of the Dec. 7, 1999, avalanche that nearly killed him and took the life of his friend Shane Block. Since then I’ve known him as someone who can be really funny and sarcastic, but also very thoughtful and emotional when talking about something he cares deeply about.

After the avalanche, Desrosiers returned to Revelstoke in a wheelchair and picked up a video camera to pass the time. Video, it turns out, gave him an outlet for his creative impulses.

“I knew music and sound was going to be part of my life so when I found video and editing it started meshing all these artistic facets into one,” he said.

Desrosiers learned as he went along, working odd jobs doing carpentry, shovelling roofs, doing sound gigs and DJing to make ends meet.

His first break was in 2002 when Rob Buchanan at Parks Canada got him a job editing a video documenting a forest fire. Desrosiers credited Buchanan for his success. “He gave me my first job, he provoked me, he tested me, he pushed my boundaries to see what kind of projects I could get accomplished,” said Desrosiers. I owe a lot to that guy because he gave me the ability to push myself.”

I

www.revelstoketimesreview.com | 11 He started his company FD Productions and from there came more work with Parks, the Canadian Avalanche Centre, and a number of corporate clients. He’s also made a number of videos for friends. Last year, he went to Nashville to record a documentary for Country Music Television. hen the Canadian Avalanche Centre put out the Request for Proposals for an avalanche education video series, Desrosiers saw a huge opportunity for himself. He put together a proposal that would involve showing snowmobiling and avalanche professionals to create a series that would entertain as much as it would educate.

“What I was looking to do was produce a product that was highly engaging, action packed and would catch any viewers attention, whether they be snowmobilers, other actionadventure based sports, or just city folk,” he said. “I thought if we created something engaging enough it would attract any viewers attention.”

He showed me part of the series – the introductory show piece. It starts off with “snowmobile porn” – a series of shots of professional snowmobilers carving turns through endless powder fields set to music by the hard rock band Priestess.

Then it shifts and goes into the story of Jeremy Hanke, a professional snowmobiler who was buried in an avalanche in 2005 and has since used his experience to educate others. You hear as people involved recount the story.

“Up to that time, I thought if I die in an avalanche, at least I died doing something I love,” says one person. “When I was rolling around in that thing, I thought, ‘This is a really shitty way to die.’”

The video looks at four major incidents with the goal of learning from them. “It’s a really emotional heavy piece,” said Desrosiers. “We let the viewer come up with their own

W

Continued on next page

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VIEWFINDER

Help us turn over a fallen leaf. What’s a quintessential Revelstoke activity to participate in during the fall season? If you had a few glorious days of fall sunshine and some free time, what would you be doing?

By Aaron Orlando

Kim Bibby and Cole Bibby I love the hiking around here in the fall. All the little local hikes like Mt. Rev, Cartier trail, even just wandering on the river. I like the fall colours, obviously.

James Floyer James recommended low elevation mountain biking and maybe some early-season ski touring up Mt. McCrae. “The evening fireplace is pretty cool – the outside fireplace in the fall.

Amy Flexman The scenery. I never knew that the colours were so vibrant here! Fall here is stunning. The weather has been beautiful. With the maples and the greens and the colours.

Adventure tourism, from page 9 no one has done it yet. There’s five snowshoe tour companies in Whistler.”

Dixon worked with resort staff to set up the independent service, linking into their marketing system. Find him at revelstokesnowshoe.ca.

He’s also marketing through Everything Revelstoke, a tour booking and transportation company that opened

Frank Desrosiers from previous page. interpretation of what happened and what could have prevented it.”

To make Throttle Decisions, Desrosiers travelled the province and put thousands of kilometres on his snowmobile with pro sledders like Hanke, avalanche professionals, search and rescue personnel and many others.

There are 10 videos in the series – the show piece, then chapters on forecasting, safe travel practices, weather, snow-

3

a new Revelstoke location in downtown Revelstoke this year.

Manager Richard Eden is bullish on tourism opportunities. “There’s a huge scope for people setting up new activities in Revelstoke,” he said, pointing to lots of room for summer services.

“The first season, we did have a huge positive response, mainly because Revelstoke is not known as a summer destination yet,” Eden said. “We have an excellent set

of mountain bike trails that not a lot of tourists seem to know about.”

Adventure tourism operations add to the overall tourism business by adding key extra nights to visitors’ stay here.

Eden points out Revelstoke is still missing basic adventure tours commonplace in larger destinations.

“This summer we had a lot of requests for things like horseback riding and ATV tours,” he said.

pack, terrain, evaluating hazards, companion rescue, and a youth video. Each one is 10–15 minutes “These videos are teasers for people to get out and get more education,” said Desrosiers. “What do I want people to get out of this? I want to create discussions, get people talking.”

I asked Desrosiers how his own near-death experience impacted him while making these videos.

“It’s definitely heavy. It’s quite difficult at times. At times it’s very inspirational. I have lived through this sort of stuff

first hand. I have made mistakes and I have learned from them,” he said. “It’s affected me in a very positive way because I don’t think I would have been able to come up with this content without having the experience I have had.”

Throttle Decisions is set to be released later this year. The 28-minute show piece will be screened in Revelstoke at a date yet to be determined.

Watch some of Frank Desrosiers work at www.francoisproductions.com.

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