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2016 Scion
2016 Scion
NEWS NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN PENTICTON WESTERN
PENTICTON’S GOT GAME
page 18
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
Vol. 50 Issue 05
FRIDAY, JANuARY 15, 2016
Games alumni returns to show support for Penticton event
LIVING LIFE ON HIS EDGES Mark Brett
Western News Staff
NEWS NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN PENTICTON WESTERN
At age 88, Vince Rabbitte is not over the hill, in fact, he’s usually on top of it. Every winter when ski season rolls around the Penticton octogenarian trades his tennis shoes for ski boots and heads for the hills. At least three times a week Rabbitte, a retired high school teacher originally from New Zealand, gets to enjoy a little downhill fun and exhilaration. A popular face, even behind the multi-coloured fire iridium goggles, he gets warm greetings from regulars of all ages who frequent Apex Mountain. “The freedom of coming down the ski runs with the wind in your face is part of it, but it’s the whole atmosphere,” said Rabbitte, pausing for a moment. “I think sometimes when you look at the snow and the trees and the mountains beyond you really see a part of creation. “The other side is the energy you get from being around young people and I think thirdly the discussions you have in the coffee shop.” Rabbitte actually began skiing in 1945 in his homeland of New Zealand and worked for 60 years as a teacher before moving to Penticton after retiring in 1991. “Back in those days, when I first started, the skis didn’t even have edges and they had kind of a spring binding and the leather boots would often come out,” said Rabbitte. The Penticton resident is fastpaced proof you are as young as
Vince Rabbitte 88, glides down the one of the runs at apex Mountain Resort this week. For years the Penticton resident has worked as an instructor at the mountain’s snow school and still loves getting out several times a week.
Mark brett/Western news
you feel and a body in motion stays in motion, especially on a slippery slope. “Plus the energy I get saves me from taking medication and that saves me thousands of dollars. They’ll pump anything into you these days.” And even though he’s getting older, he’s still getting better. “Skiing’s been one of the most elusive sports for me to master but actually, yesterday, my skiing improved,” he said. “My turning is much better, I’m more aggressive,
I’m more confident. I even went to the top of the mountain, but my older legs aren’t quite as good on the steeper stuff now. Once I get down to say the blue runs or wellgroomed black run I can do it quite OK.” Sticking to his philosophical roots, Rabbitte who has a PhD in physical education, believes in zen and the sport of skiing and incorporated that during his many years of instruction with the Apex snow school. See SKI on PG. 2
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