Revelstoke Mountaineer December 2020 (Winter) issue

Compassion in the time of COVID-19. p · 30.

The artists behind Art Alleries. p · 46.

WINTER/����

FREE

revelstokemountaineer.com

The Freeskiing Farmer. p · 16.

Sinixt at the Supreme Court. p · 18.

Cover Illustration by Sonia García.

Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine is a free monthly publication featuring the best of Revelstoke outdoor life, food, style, visitor experiences, lifestyles, entertainment, home style and healthy living.

We are an independent, locally owned publication dedicated to showcasing our amazing mountain town and the great people who create the stoke.

Each issue we distribute over 3,000 free copies to over 200 public venues across Revelstoke, including hotel rooms, shops, restaurants, cafes, community centres — everywhere people meet.

Hang in there, baby!

For all inquiries, please contact us at info@revelstokemountaineer.com For Revelstoke daily news online, please see our sister publication www.revelstokemountaineer.com · 250 814 8710 info@revelstokemountaineer.com 606 Railway Avenue. Revelstoke, B.C. P.O. BOX 112 · V0E 2S0

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aaron Orlando aaron@revelstokemountaineer.com

EDITOR Aaron Orlando aaron@revelstokemountaineer.com

STAFF JOURNALISTS Sofie Hagland sofie@revelstokemountaineer.com Melissa Jameson melissa@revelstokemountaineer.com

EDITORIAL DESIGN/ADVERTISING DESIGN Sonia García sonia@revelstokemountaineer.com

WEBSITE Chris Payne chris@revelstokemountaineer.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Emily Beaumont, Bryce Borlick, Noelle Bovon, Amaris Bourdeau, Lisa Cyr, Amy Erving, Jade Harvey, Heather Hood, Emily Kemp, Nikki Lussier, Charlotte Sit, Louise Stanway, Laura Stovel

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS Jennifer Avery, Eric Berger, Agathe Bernard, Shelly Boyd, Carolyn Buchanan, Sona Cermakova, Nolan Gale, Seb Grondin, Kelly Hutcheson, Zoya Lynch, Andrew Miller, Eddie Petryshen, Dillon Ross, Laura Szanto, Ali Treasure

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Benji Lowclass

This was my most-texted image of 2020, sent to friends, family, and colleagues struggling with the deep disruption and challenges created by the pandemic.

I'm not sure why I gravitated to something from the cover of a get-well card your grandma might send when you get your tonsils removed — it just seemed broadly appropriate.

Sometimes it feels like we're all just hanging in there these days.

For our Winter 2021 issue, Revolve 2020, we put a focus on wellness through the dark days of the darkest winter in memory. It's our way of encouraging readers and acknowledging the struggles we're all facing, letting you know that while you may be in isolation, you're not going through this alone. I'm proud of our part in bringing out great contributions by writers in our community. Their wisdom reflects the community's challenges and also lights a path forward.

We are returning to a near-regular print publishing schedule starting in February, 2021, including creating several special themed issues. We've welcomed new community journalist Sofie Hagland onto the team and plan

to increase our daily online news coverage on revelstokemountaineer.com in 2021.

In December, we're unveiling new voluntary print and digital subscription options online at revelstokemountaineer.com, allowing community members to support our publications and keep local journalism alive and growing. We're seeking your support. If you have the resources, please consider supporting us, our mission, and the many creators we support through our publications.

We will also be offering some amazing deals for year-long advertising commitments; please contact me at info@revelstokemountaineer. com.

We plan to continually update our offerings and build options for subscriber participation and direction through the year.

With your help, we can all hang in there through this together, baby.

—Aaron Orlando, BA, MJ; Creative Director, Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine, revelstokemountaineer.com

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NEWS BRIEFS Our news briefs from the fall of 2020.

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CALENDAR: DECEMBER & JANUARY EVENTS Changing COVID-19 restrictions at press time led to some cancellations.

Check with the event organizer before you go.

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CONTENTS Court of Canada. The case has big implications for the Sinixt, and even broader ones for other Indigenous groups whose traditional territories have been divided by international borders, writes Laura Stovel.

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LA NIĂ‘A EFFECT Science writer Jade Harvey explores the workings of the La NiĂąa effect and its impact on mountain weather in the Revelstoke region.

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FLYING THROUGH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Revelstoke's Eagle Pass Heliskiing is making a go of the 2020 winter season. We checked in with the smallgroup operator to find out about their plans for the winter.

NEW REVELSTOKE MOUNTAINEER REPORTER We welcome new Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine and revelstokemountaineer.com reporter Sofie Hagland. Check out her intro story for more on our newest journalist.

REVELSTOKE IDEA FACTORY We looked inside plans for a new tech fabrication lab set to start construction in Revelstoke.

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FULL CIRCLE Revelstoke filmmaker Francois Desrosiers' new film 'Full Circle' explores the connection between mental health and biking, featuring a local cast.

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PLANKS TO PLANTS The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in change for many. Writer Amy Erving explores Revelstoke pro skier Chris Rubens' shift to market gardening during the off season.

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BATTLE FOR THE RIGHT TO EXIST A Sinixt hunter's push for recognition under the law is before the Supreme

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POWDER DREA MS Revelstoke's Powder Rentals seeks to return the stoke with holiday initiatives to help the community.

Find out how you can help the community drive and get some deals for your backcountry adventures.

Sponsored

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E-BIKE EXPLOSION Revelstoke has seen an explosion of e-bike commuters of all ages.

Nikki Lussier checks in with a group that mixes fun and function with these inexpensive replacements for expensive automobiles.

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HELPING SENIORS THROUGH PANDEMIC ISOLATION Pandemic got you down? Helping others is a sure way to help lift your

mood. Lisa Cyr explores ways you can help Revelstoke seniors through practical challenges made even more challenging during these hard times.

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BRIDGING TROUBLED WATERS Columnist Noelle Bovon explores how stress can impact our ways of being, offering practical ways to avoid the pitfalls of isolation and division.

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ARTS BRIEFS Skis and boards to the front for our local winter ski flick preview.

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TERR A FIRMA'S KITCHEN New restaurant harvests from local farms to bring the farm-to-table revolution to Revelstoke.

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FINANCING A HOME Columnist Laura Wierzbicki explores strategies for finding and financing a home in Revelstoke's expensive housing market. Sponsored.

THE ART OF PERSONAL CHANGE These challenging times have pushed many to reinvent themselves in response to practical pressures.

Writer Emily Kemp explores two residents experiences with big personal changes in life direction.

COURAGE TO FIND COMPASSION Thinking of getting in a fistfight over face mask rules at a strip mall?

Read this first. In this insightful exploration, Melissa Jameson reaches out to Revelstoke counsellors for advice on how to make compassion your pillar during trying times.

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CELEBRATING JOHN AUGUSTYN Laura Stovel's telling of John Augustyn's truly incredible story of survival through the Second World War reminds us there is another chapter after hardship.

OLD-GROWTH LOGGING CONTROVERSY Environmental group targets BCTS logging plans in the Revelstoke area, citing mountain caribou concerns.

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ART ALLERIES Community journalist Sofie Hagland caught up with the artists behind the new expansion of Art Alleries for their stories on this expanding Revy public art project.

STOKED PALATE Food columnist Charlotte Sit updates us on developments in the Revelstoke local food movement.

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R GEAR Revelstoke mountain outfitter R Gear integrates sustainable choices and local artists into their mix for the 2020/21 season. Check out our four-page feature on the latest looks that will last. Sponsored.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Sofie Hagland

Noelle Bovon

Amy Erving

MULTIMEDIA COMMUNITY JOURNALIST

WRITER

CLIMATE ACTIVIST

I’m Noelle, an entrepreneur, teacher, writer, mama, optimist and have a constant desire to help others. I published my first book – The Art Of Transformation in December 2020.

My own struggles from childhood became unmanageable and I needed to make some serious changes in my own life if I were to feel emotionally healthy. I began to prioritize my own self work and it was apparent that I needed to prioritize skills that helped me feel calm, centered and grounded so that I could have more social grace.

I am driven to help others become more successful in their lives, careers and businesses. My work these days focuses on teaching people how to create ease and releasing stress – in addition to helping people move through trauma and heal deep wounds I believe with are in a social/ spiritual/planetary revolution, and in order to create change in the world we are required to dive into our own inner evolution. I believe we must do our inner work in order to create the change we want to see in the world.

Amy Erving works with Protect Our Winters Canada as an Education and Outreach Coordinator. When she isn’t busy promoting environmental stewardship and climate activism, you can find her dabbling in all sorts of adventures from sea kayaking and surfing to backpacking and snowboarding. With her ‘do everything attitude,’ she is a Jill of all trades and master of none, this year competing for the title of ‘Revelstoke’s Most Average Skier.’

Originally from a small sheep farm on Vancouver Island, Amy is passionate about strengthening our relationships with nature and the environment.

After living abroad in places like the tropical rainforests of Costa Rica and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, she recently opted to move back to B.C., thrilled to call Revelstoke her new home.

Sofie Hagland is the new multimedia community journalist for Revelstoke Mountaineer. She claims to be Norwegian, but her loud American accent and obsession with splitboarding tell you otherwise.

After a year of outdoor education, the black sheep was drawn to the place with the highest sheep to human ratio in the world, New Zealand. Three years and a B.A. in Communication later, she still didn't understand why lighting couches on fire was a form of entertainment Down Under. Looking for purpose, she guided a group of teenagers through the Nepalese mountains, surfed the beaches of Indonesia, and hosted her own radio show and podcast. But she was still missing something, and it wasn't until she strapped into her splitboard in Rogers Pass, she realized just what that was.

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NEWS BRIEFS

By Melissa Jamesson

Average sale prices of Revelstoke homes continue to rise in 2020. Photo contributed.

Housing continues to be a challenge in Revelstoke as sale prices and rents continue to climb.

Here, downtown heritage homes under a blanket of snow. Photo: Tourism Revelstoke.

Just the Stats!

Rental housing shortage continues for Revelstoke

VOLUME DOWN, PRICES UP IN REVELSTOKE REAL ESTATE MARKET

By Emily Beaumont/Royal LePage Revelstoke Realtor

The Revelstoke real estate market is bustling as we head into the winter of the unknown. With the flurry of activity through the summer we are still seeing less sales volume overall, down 27 per cent this year over last during the same timeframe.

As of November 13, 2020, there were 69 Single Family Residential sales to date compared to 85 in 2019.

Many buyers are still hesitant or simply cannot pay the higher asking prices.

However, prices continue to rise with the average sale price to date at $672,000, up from $570,000 in 2019. (Not including a $2.99 million sale at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.)

On average, the negotiated reduction from list to sale price was approximately 4 per cent, up from 3 per cent in 2019.

After the third quarter in 2020: · Nine of the 69 single-family-residential properties sold to date this year have been under $500,000 · 60 sold over $500,000 · Seven of those in the $1M+ range · In 2019, 25 of the 85 homes sold were under $500,000 As of November 13, 2020, there are just 43 Single Family Residential properties on the market.

Statistically the amount of exposure needed to determine fair market value is 90 days. The average number of days-on-market-to-date is 2020 is 89, slightly longer than the 73 days it took in 2019.

There have been 38 land-only sales in 2020 compared to 45 during the same period in 2020.

The average sale price for land in 2019 was $251,000. To date in 2020 it is $299,000.

Revelstoke is ramping up for the winter. Snowfall is also on the rise. Take care of each other out there. The spring market is coming.

RMR GETS APPROVAL FOR WORKER CAMP, NO WORD ON STAFF HOUSING START

By Melissa Jameson

Finding rental housing in Revelstoke has become increasingly more difficult this year as remote workers and adventure seekers look to carve out a simpler lifestyle as COVID-19 restrictions continue. Here’s a look at the status of current housing projects in Revelstoke: RMR Johnson Heights worker camp doesn’t sit well with neighbours In late October 2020, Revelstoke city council gave approval for Revelstoke Mountain Resort to house a work camp Johnson Heights under a two-year temporary use permit. The proposal was met with significant opposition from the community. Council received 54 letters on the proposed permit, with only a couple in support, including a letter from RMR. Plans for the work camp include five clusters of ATCO trailers that will house 60 workers for hotel and golf course construction at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. At the time of publication, Revelstoke Mountain Resort had yet to make an application to begin building staff housing.

Affordable housing projects slow to start The Revelstoke Housing Society’s 24-unit affordable housing complex on Oscar Street has yet to break ground. The society had planned to start construction in early spring 2019 and the again in spring and summer 2020 but were unable to do so without a lease agreement from the city, which owns the land the complex is being built on. A lease agreement for the land was finalized in June 2020.

The delays caused the project, which is funded through BC Housing and Columbia Basin Trust, to be put to tender for a second time.

BC Housing continues to work projects in Revelstoke, including a proposed 174-unit high density housing development at 420 Downie Street and renovations on two aging apartment buildings. Currently BC Housing is still in the public engagement process for the Downie Street project. Renovations on the Rivers Edge and Columbia Gardens apartment buildings were slated for completion in fall of 2020.

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A rendering of the new Cabot Revelstoke golf course. Revelstoke Mountain Resort has announced a partnership with the golf resort company. Construction starts in 2020.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort released this rendition of a staff housing project and says it will soon submit applications to the City of Revelstoke. Image: RMR social media image.

RMR, Cabot Revelstoke announce golf course partnership

RMR releases staff housing preview

CABOT REVELSTOKE TO DEVELOP 18-HOLE GOLF COURSE, 150 ROOM LODGE AT BASE OF MOUNT MACKENZIE

IF REVELSTOKE MOUNTAIN RESORT ANNOUNCES PLAN TO SUBMIT A DEVELOPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION WITH THE CITY OF REVELSTOKE

By Melissa Jameson

By Melissa Jameson

Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Cabot will partner on the development of a golf-course and lodge on resort lands.

Cabot announced the partnership through a statement in mid-November 2020. Cabot Revelstoke is the third resort for the developer and operator of master-planned golf resort communities and is being designed by Rod Whitman’s company, Whitman, Axland & Cutten. Whitman said having the opportunity to build a mountain course with Cabot in such a spectacular destination is, “a true honour and lifetime achievement for me.”

Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO and co-founder of Cabot said they are “excited to build upon the amazing foundation that exists and be part of the thoughtful Revelstoke Mountain Resort expansion. Set on a bench of land high above the river valley, the 18-hole golf course will take advantage of the diverse landscape and rolling natural topography, overlooking the Columbia River with views of towering Monashee and Selkirk peaks in every direction.

The Cabot Revelstoke development plan also includes a 150-room hotel and lodge planned for the base of Mount Mackenzie. The lodge will offer a mix of rooms and suites with amenities including a ski concierge, a range of dining venues, a full service pro shop, spa, meeting facilities and an all-season indoor pool and hot tub complex. The statement noted clearing for Cabot Pacific will begin in December with the golf course expected to be read for play in 2023.

RMR announced the start of construction on a new 154-room luxury hotel in July 2020.

The statement also noted a planned exclusive real estate offering for, “those seeking a more permanent address with close proximity to world-class golf and skiing. The Residences at Cabot Revelstoke will feature mountain-style exteriors with sumptuous interiors that envelop homeowners in comfort and luxury.”

Staff housing at Revelstoke Mountain Resort could be one step closer to becoming reality, but firm details are not yet in place.

In a mid-November statement, RMR said it planned to submit an application for a development permit application to the City of Revelstoke sometime in November. The social media post also included a rendering of the staff accommodation.

The resort is currently in Phase 2 of its Master Plan which began in 2019 and has an estimated timeframe of 10-15 years. Some of the development plans included as part of Phase 2 are: expansion of the village base, a luxury hotel, a new golf course, and staff housing. Other projects completed during Phase 2 have included upgrades on the Revelation Gondola, Stoke Chair and Ripper Chair, as well as construction of the Stellar Chair.

The staff housing announcement came on the heels of a decision by Revelstoke city council to approve a controversial temporary use permit for a Johnson Heights work camp that will house workers as they begin construction on the golf course and luxury hotel. In a May 2019 presentation to council, RMR VP of Operations Peter Nielsen noted the resort’s updated Master Plan included plans for staff housing that would include three employee buildings containing 150 to 200 bed units per building.

No details about the number of staff buildings or number of staff beds were included in the resort’s November social media announcement. Once submitted, RMR’s application for a development permit will be reviewed by city staff who then provide recommendations to city council, who are ultimately responsible for giving approval, or disapproval, of the application.

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FIRST TRACKS Be the first to load the lifts and take advantage of untouched powder or perfect corduroy with a personal guide. Extend the time with our First Tracks Breakfast Club. Grab a bite on the mountain and be guided to the best bowls and glades as more terrain opens.

LIMITED AVAILABILITY | BOOK ONLINE & SAVE revelstokemtn.com/first-tracks

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CALENDAR WINTER 2020 WEEKLY EVENTS

DECEMBER EVENTS

TUESDAY

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3

FREE ONLINE PAIN SUPPORT & WELLNESS GROUP

RVAC MEMBERS CHRISTMAS MARKET

SATURDAY

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12

REVELSTOKE WINTER MARKET

HOLIDAY TRAIN AT HOME

@ Online · 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. & 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

A support group for B.C. residents living in the Kootenay region. Learn new pain management skills and coping strategies. The group meets virtually the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Visit painbc.ca for details.

@ Revelstoke Community Centre · 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

The Winter Market brings together farm and craft vendors from Revelstoke and beyond. Takes place every second Saturday from November until April.

TAKE OUT FAMILY CRAFT DAY

@ Okanagan Library Revelstoke Branch · 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Drop by the library the first Saturday of every month to pick up everything you need for a family crafting afternoon.

TAKE AND MAKE SUPER STEAM SATURDAY

@ Okanagan Library Revelstoke Branch · 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Drop by the library on the second Saturday of every month to pick up everything you need for a fun afternoon of family STEAM exploration.

@ Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre · 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.

The Annual Christmas Market is always a blast.

Works include cards, prints, jewelry, woodwork, paintings, photography and more. The Christmas Market runs until Dec. 19, Tuesdays to Saturdays 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

@ facebook.com/Canadian.pacific · 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.

The 2020 Holiday Train is a virtual event on Facebook live with Serena Ryder, the Trews, JoJo Mason, Logan Staats and Kelly Prescott. CP will donate to food banks in communities along its network.

Library Crafts. Visit the Revelstoke Library on the first Saturday of every month for Take Out Family Craft Day. Photo: pixabay..

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23 HEADLAMP HEROES

@ Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club · 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Registration begins at 6 p.m., racing starts at 7 p.m.

For details visit revelstokenordic.org.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 ROTARY CLUB OF REVELSTOKE WINE SURVIVOR DRAW

@ Online · 6:30 p.m.

The Rotary Club and the Alpine Club of Canada have partnered to raise funds for the Lower Jordan/ Columbia River Trails. A total of 25 winning tickets will be drawn. Ticket sales end Dec. 16. Contest open to BC residents age 19 and up. Tickes available at wine-survivor-draw.eventbrite.com. For more details visit @RevelstokeRotary on Facebook.

CP Holiday Train. This year’s CP Holiday Train is a virtual event with performances by the Trews. Kelly Prescott, Serena Ryder and more. Photo: CP Rail

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Bootfitting Experts

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Let our certified bootfitting experts fix your foot pain so you can focus on what matters. Conveniently located at the base of the Revelation Gondola at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. revelstokemtn.com/shopping

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VISIT REVELSTOKEMOUNTAINEER.COM/CALENDAR TO SUBMIT YOUR EVENT FOR FREE. WE INCLUDE A SELECTION OF THOSE EVENTS HERE IN OUR MONTHLY PRINT CALENDAR. *Due to ongoing restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19 some events may have changed or are cancelled.

Please check with event organizers for up to date information.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25 ANNUAL COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS DINNER

@ Pick Up or Drop Off · 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

To keep everyone safe, this year’s Annual Community Christmas Dinner is only offering pickup and delivery of Christmas dinners on Christmas Day. Households are asked to pre-order prior to Dec. 18 to help with planning. For more information visit @RevelstokeChristmasDinner on Facebook.

Annual Christmas Dinner. This year the Annual Community Christmas Dinner is offering pick-up and delivery of Christmas dinners on Christmas Day. Photo: pexels

JANUARY EVENTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 8 CANUCK SPLITFEST

@ Revelstoke & online · runs to January 10 7:30 p.m.

The world’s biggest splitfest sees the entire splitboard community gather for a two-day event that includes guided tours, speakers and more.

This year’s tradeshow and speaking events will be virtual. Clinics and tours will still take place out of Revelstoke. For details visit canucksplitfest.com.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13 HEADLAMP HEROES

@ Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club · 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Registration begins at 6 p.m., racing starts at 7 p.m.

For details visit revelstokenordic.org.

Wine Survivor. The Revelstoke Rotary’s virtual wine survivor event will help raise funds for the Lower Jordan/Columbia River Trails.

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FEATURE FEATURE

INTRODUCING NEW REVELSTOKE MOUNTAINEER COMMUNITY JOURNALIST SOFIE HAGLAND REVELSTOKE MOUNTAINEER MAGAZINE AND REVELSTOKEMOUNTAINEER.COM WELCOME SOFIE HAGLAND AS OUR NEWEST TEAM MEMBER.

By Sofie Hagland.

It kept me up at night how I could best introduce myself to the people of Revelstoke.

Originally, I wrote a powder-filled fairy tale of how I fell in love with this magical little town. Then, I realized I was sounding like my dad, telling a story you’ve heard a gazillion times before. So instead, I’m giving you six high and low lights from my life, that you simply couldn’t tell just by looking at my overpriced Gore-Tex jacket.

1 It’s sad to admit but I peaked at 10, scoring the main act in ‘Annie’ (the musical) in my hometown on the west coast of Norway. Yes, I was famous and had up to several eight-yearold fans (stalkers) that followed me around like I was Michael Jackson.

2 I spent my first year of primary school in Phnom Phenh, Cambodia, as my parents were working as engineers for the Peace Corps. Having lived in Norway all my life, I had the culture shock of a lifetime: the daunting smell of rotten meat at the market, cops blackmailing you for no reason, and kidnappers breaking past security at school. I left Cambodia with a new grown enthusiasm for spicy food and travel, a lot better at English, and more aware of just how lucky we are.

3 After studying a BA in Communications on the South Island in New Zealand, I wanted to surf somewhere I wouldn’t get a brain freeze every time I ducked under a wave. I had my eyes on a little surf town far north called Raglan. However, the only job listed was working as a full-time beekeeper. Before you know it, I’m sweating away marinated in bee vomit (yes that is what honey really is). At the end of the summer I concluded that yes I loved unlimited free quantities of fresh Manuka honey, however, the 10-20 bee stings a day made Chinese water torture seem like a joke. Try sneaking a drink in the basking heat, just to realize you now have zipped in an unwelcome guest.

4 Biggest failures in life: Reversing my van over my brandnew surfboard, kitesurfing (unknowingly) during a king tide losing my kiteboard forever, snapping my splitboard dropping onto ice, lighting my hair on fire (twice). As you might have figured by now, I am a complete liability. And even though I have tried to follow my dad’s advice of ‘taking better care of my things,’ my iPhone will slip into a self-flushing toilet, my mountain bike gets stolen on day five of owning it, and I missed an exam thinking it was in the a.m. when it was in the p.m.

I love telling stories, so I try to tell myself that these things happen to me so that I can be the life of the party.

5 When COVID-19 struck, I escaped the apocalyptic supermarket and started woofing at an ‘off the grid’ organic goat farm by Slocan Lake. I learned how to grind flour, grow

cucumbers, and that goats actually have the most stubborn personality. They will not let you milk them no matter how hard you try unless they like you. “Dear Coco, if you read this, know that I forgive you. I understand that my lack of technique made you want to kick me.”

6 I am super excited about this new opportunity, marking the end of an era where I treated snowboarding and splitboarding as my professional career (which is quite hard to do when your biggest fan is your grandma commenting way too personal things on your public Instagram). Let’s just say that I don’t know if I love oats or if oats love me, it’s a very codependent relationship. I bless the holy oat makers of the world for bringing me through years of university as well as years of ski/surf/climb bumming.

Growing up as a ‘drama queen’ I have always loved telling stories. Now it’s my turn to listen to you and communicate that message in new ways using film, photography, and podcasting.

It’s my goal to ‘spice up’ the newsroom, keep you updated, and get your word out there! If you see me around town don’t be afraid to say hi, I am less scary than I look.

Sofie Hagland is the new Community Journalist for revelstokemountaineer.com and Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

Photo: contributed

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MADE HERE

FAB HIVE READY A NEW HIGH-TECH, LOW-COST FABRICATION LAB OPENS DOORS TO THE FUTURE

By Bryce Borlick.

Twenty years ago, futurist Ray Kurzweil postulated that humankind’s rate of technological progress speeds up exponentially, roughly doubling every ten years. At times it may not feel that way but right now, as I watch a printer create a three dimensional object, while lasers work in the background, it most certainly does. Amazingly, in this small high tech lab, entrepreneurs Jason and Isaac have been able to create a digital design, print and test prototypes in rapid succession, and even hone the durometer of their final product.

What’s even more amazing is that this lab is right here in Revelstoke and it’s available for anyone to use. Welcome to the Revelstoke Idea Factory.

Fabrication laboratories, or fab labs for short, are essentially small scale production facilities that utilize digital design software, a variety of cutters and 3D printers, and an array of digital electronics to produce small parts and devices at a fraction of the time and cost of more traditional methods. At a commercial level, this rapid prototyping allows manufacturers to thoroughly hone their design before moving them into mass production. But on an individual level, it allows someone with no previous high tech experience to produce small items that are otherwise difficult or impossible to find. Need a rare window crank for a ‘77 Westfalia? The Idea Factory can make that. Do you have a idea for an innovative product? The Idea Factory can make you one to test. Want to build a app-controlled drone? How about a guitar body or custom GPS mount for your sled? Yeah, it’s all possible.

“The capabilities of the facility are vast,” says Revelstoke Idea Factory Tech Coordinator Steve Baker. “The laser cutter can engrave, etch, and cut all manner of materials.

The mix of 3D printers utilize different technologies, printing parts in dual colours, flexible plastics, transparent resin, and even wax that can be used to cast metal parts. A 3D scanner makes it easy to bring parts into the digital world, and soldering stations make electronic projects a breeze.”

Fab labs have been in existence since the early 2000’s and the idea of establishing one in Revelstoke was first put forth as part of the city’s Technology Strategy in 2017 when 3D printers and other peripheral equipment had become relatively affordable. As Director of Economic Development at the time, Nicole Fricot championed the initiative and not only helped secure funding for an impressive array of equipment, but also worked with the City of Revelstoke to find a dedicated workspace.

After three years of clearing hurdles, the Idea Factory will finally be opening its permanent facility above our visitor center in early 2021.

"To get it off the ground has taken hundreds of volunteer hours by our community and incredible support and perseverance put in by the City, Okanagan College, Community Futures and SD19 to mention a few,” says Nicole who still chairs the Fab Lab board of directors. “Given everything that is happening in the world right now, I think supporting our community’s capacity to innovate has become even more important.”

Not one to wait for a formal workspace, City of Revelstoke Tech Strategy Coordinator Hayley Johnson is already familiarizing enthusiasts with the machinery and putting it to use. Through a three-week, six-session after school program this fall, local kids will be challenged to design a simple part digitally, and print it three-dimensionally. During this three week period, the Idea Factory is also offering free evening drop-in sessions for anyone who’s fab-curious or who just wants to see a 3D printer in action.

The unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 have also highlighted just how useful a local fab lab can be. When the need for face shields for front line workers emerged, the Idea Factory printed hundreds. And when Downie Timber had difficulty sourcing replacement filters for their dust masks due to temporary COVID-19 related shortages, they had a small run of adaptors made that allowed them to use a more readily-available filter. So the lab isn’t just about funky creative projects, it can also help local businesses keep the lights on.

Taking another step back, we can get an even wider perspective on the benefits of local manufacturing. As the plasticization of our oceans and the failure of our recycling systems become more apparent, so does the need to move from a linear economy to a circular economy in which waste products are put back into a continual cycle of reuse. With 3D printing, it will be possible for materials to be melted down and reused, which paves the way for complete recycling of plastics at a local level. In fact, there is a movement promoting the idea of Fab Cities that produce no waste, and Barcelona has pledged to be self-sufficient by 2054.

These ideas may sound distant, but as we prepare our youth for the ever-accelerating technology that will take us there, we make them a reality little by little. Even right now, our entrepreneurs Jason and Isaac take a small step forward and remove a new prototype Wingman from the printer. It’s a universal mount that allows you to strap items like water bottles or bear spray canisters to your bike.

And, as futurist Ray Kurzweil might expect, it’s already available for sale in local stores.

Above and below: Youth at a Revelstoke Idea Factory workshop at the community centre. Photo: Sofie Hagland/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

Revelstoke Idea Factor Tech Coordinator Steve Baker.

Photo: Sofie Hagland/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

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Full Circle features Chris Miller, a Revy mountain biker overcoming personal challenges.

Photo: provided by François Desrosiers.

NEW REVELSTOKE FEATURE 'FULL CIRCLE' EXPLORES MENTAL HEALTH THROUGH BIKING

By Sofie Hagland.

The building is old and the stairs are squeaky. Art is covering every inch of the walls leading up to cinematographer François Desrosiers' office in downtown Revelstoke. A photo of a tree with bikes hanging from its branches catches my eye.

A painting on the wall “It’s more of an art piece, a painting on the wall, than a bike documentary," explains Desrosiers, head of Revelstoke-based company FD Productions.

Desrosiers’ passion shines through his office with so many video cameras from the last century making it resemble a museum.

Full Circle is the result of Desrosiers’ urge to take creative control after, “always doing paid jobs where you are working for somebody else, and all the time wishing you could put together something of your own.”

“Everybody is always trying to sell something, I just wanted to make a creative art piece with no agenda,” the cinematographer says.

Desrosiers wanted to give himself a proper challenge: “How can I make this even harder on myself, what if it’s a completely silent film with no talking at all?” The lack of language unlocks the movie’s global potential. “Everyone is going to get something different out of it reflecting how you feel at the time,” Desrosiers says.

Biking: A mental release Desrosiers’ has been injured for most of his life. “I broke my legs, my arms, my face, my whole body, in an avalanche 20 years ago. Ever since then, I have tried to find ways to remind active and keep chasing

adventure. Biking has been a big part of that. I can’t walk very well, but I can mountain bike like a fiend.”

Desrosiers talks about how crucial it has been for his mental health to have a physical outlet. “Biking is a big release for me, especially in this town when it starts getting dark and brutal. I go on midnight rides by myself in lighting storms, headlamp and all, just pushing through.”

The more Desrosiers biked, the more he thought. “[I] wondered in how many other ways people use bikes to maintain a form of sanity.” An idea started forming in his head around characters he knew personally in Revelstoke.

The wheel of emotions Pieces started falling into place when Desrosiers discovered Dr. Robert Plutchick’s psychoevolutionary theory ‘The Wheel of Emotions.'

The wheel of emotions consists of eight primary feelings: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation. Bearing similarity to the colour wheel the emotions get stronger closer towards the centre of the wheel. "Every emotion can be mixed with another feeling to create a new emotion,” François explains.

It made a lot of sense to Desrosiers to structure his movie around a theory that “revolves around a wheel” when he “wanted to make a film about biking.”

Care enough to listen Desrosiers has found characters for his film through caring enough to hear somebody else’s story and forming a connection.

"A lot of the time in today’s world, we don’t take the time to do that.”

Desrosiers’ friend committed suicide two years ago. To this day François struggles with understanding why exactly this happened. "Full Circle" became a reflection of that struggle and the trail of confusion it left behind.

“I’ve been living an emotional life, and I’m learning how to accept my emotions and let them happen,” Desrosiers says. He describes how we are taught to suppress negative emotions.

“People will hug you and say don’t cry, it’s OK. But the more you put those feelings aside, the more they will come back and bite you. You have to give them room," he said. "That is what’s going to create a healthy environment inside your head. When I’m sad and losing my mind thinking about my buddy, I will go out for a bike ride and let it all out on the trail.”

"Full Circle" shows the beauty that can exist within darker emotions coming from loss, injury, and illness that are not normally broadcast. “There are ways to embrace it, and turn that sadness into something positive,” Desrosiers says.

For the big screen only So far, "Full Circle" has only had a few screenings after debuting at LUNA Fest in September this year.

COVID-19 has thrown some obstacles in his way for doing screenings in theatres, but soon there will be a movie night at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre.

A year of “being super creative and having a lot of fun with no timelines” only using the area around Revelstoke and local residents, has resulted in this timeless film, Desrosiers says.

François feels like “Art is about creating the art, not necessarily when it’s done and it’s hanging up on the wall in a gallery, and everybody is standing around looking at it and analyzing. That's when the artist shies away and goes back to making more art."

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OUTDOORS

Chris Rubens skiing fresh powder during a filming with Matchstick Productions in 2019. Photo captured by Eric Berger and contributed by Chris Rubens.

Jesse Johnston-Hill and Chris Rubens working in a field on First Light Farm that they leased in 2020. Next year, they plan to grow food on a property of their own here in Revelstoke, B.C, an exciting step for the two new farmers! Photos contributed by Chris Rubens.

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THE FREESKIING FARMER HOW ONE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE IS USING HIS MOUNTAIN MENTALITY TO LIVE MORE SUSTAINABLY, TURNING CHALLENGES OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC INTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANGE

By Amy Erving.

From freeskiing to farming, the rise of COVID-19 shifted B.C.-based Chris Rubens' routine from chasing first tracks to setting down roots in Revelstoke and starting the farm, First Light. The reality of the pandemic for Chris, similar to most, presented many challenges. Amidst the uncertainty, Chris felt confident that now was a better time than ever to transform his vision of farming and sustainable living into a reality.

“COVID-19 kick-started us into farming. We had completely different plans for the summer. We were going to go sail, surf, and spend most of the summer on the coast.

When the pandemic hit, farming was definitely my first thought.”

With so many unknowns surrounding the ski season and even more, surrounding the state of the world, Chris found himself returning to simpler ways of living.

He and his partner Jesse Johnston-Hill had dreamt of this farm, feeling that, “It was good for us to get that nudge because sometimes there are so many big daunting projects and you need a kick to get your priorities straight.”

Without any second-guessing, Chris traded in his nomadic lifestyle for a small piece of land.

--What aspects of being a professional athlete translate into farming?

“A big part of what I love about skiing and mountains is the community,” which he appreciates finding amidst farms and farmers markets.

Chris described 2020 for First Light as a year of learning, grateful that other local farmers were so supportive, “They are just super excited to see more people growing food in town.”

“It's one thing to grow food, one thing to sell it, and then a whole other to be profitable with it. It translates to moving in the mountains. It all comes down to efficiency. Everyone told me you can’t be a profitable pro skier, ‘It’s a dirtbag job.’”

Now, Chris finds himself stepping up to this challenge all over again, but instead with farming.

“Just like being in the mountains or in the ocean, you are at the mercy of mother nature in farming too. Right when you think you’re on top of it, mother nature throws you a curve ball and you remember that you can only react to whatever comes your way.”

Chris shared that many times, we shy away from things that feel out of our hands, but skiing and farming both provide us with unique opportunities to adapt. “Be dynamic and deal with uncertainty because forecasts can change abruptly.”

In terms of COVID-19, Chris feels that “This is [humanity’s] best opportunity to change our ways in regards to climate change. This is our opportunity to go down a different route.”

How do you foresee balancing First Light and a skiing career?

“We just purchased a property and will be hard at work next spring! My partner Jesse is the real farmer and I just help her out. In early winter, she can begin with the plant starts while I’m skiing. Once I’m done, I’ll help her out.”

What is the environmental responsibility of a professional skier in terms of climate change?

“I got through a lot of my career with the saying that the beauty of outdoor sports is you learn about what there is to lose. Being in these beautiful places you see them affected by climate change and have that realization you need to keep these places pristine.”

“We have a huge responsibility as outdoor advocates to stand up for the environment. That’s why Protect Our Winters (POW) is so important because it provides a voice for the outdoor industry. I’m a huge believer in individual change for climate change because it encourages us to do more, but we also need much more than that.”

“The best thing you can do is sign up, vote with your dollar, and just vote.”

Should every skier start a farm?

“Definitely not. I went vegetarian, then I flew less, then I used veggie oil in my car. Now we have a farm. Like being in the mountains, it’s all about progression. Your lifestyle changes over time and you’ve got to stay motivated. As much as we want overnight change, it's not realistic. It's more about the mentality that you are willing to change.”

What lessons can we learn from your story?

“Changing your lifestyle is not about setting too lofty of a goal. Especially with climate change, the most important thing is to do something and that looks different for everyone.

Setting more achievable goals, helps turn negatives into positives. We take positives and we get incentivized.”

Anyone who has dabbled in growing food knows that it is a time-consuming activity. Balancing this commitment with a career trademarked by travel is tricky; however, as with most difficult tasks, Chris believes he will find a way. As we put 2020 behind us, perhaps we can draw inspiration from this story – turning challenge into an opportunity for change, uncertainty into new ways of sustainable living, and a whole lot of dirt into a dirtbag’s dream.

Wondering how you can make a change in your daily life?

If you are looking for ways to challenge yourself to live more sustainably, keep your eyes on the horizon for the 2021 Protect Our Winters’ 12 Month Challenge! In the meantime, visit the POW website to become a member at protectourwinters.ca to get involved in local initiatives, email the Revelstoke POW Chapter at revelstoke@protectourwinters.ca. Together, we can take positive climate action in the outdoor community.

18

FEATURE

THE MEANING OF BELONGING:

SINIXT AT THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA 'THE STAKES ARE BIG, WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND PROVINCES/TERRITORIES ALL ALONG THE CANADA-US BORDER. IF THE SINIXT WIN THEIR CASE, THIS MAY SET A PRECEDENT FOR OTHER INDIGENOUS NATIONS WHOSE PEOPLE WERE DIVIDED BY THE BORDER.'

The Sinixt are before the Supreme Court of Canada arguing a case that could restore traditional rights to the Sinixt, and could have broadeer legal implications for First Nations across Canada.

Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

By Laura Stovel.

Standing on the front steps of the Supreme Court of Canada on a chilly Ottawa morning, two Sinixt men and one woman wait patiently, wanting to be seen. The woman, Shelly Boyd, who was until recently the Arrow Lakes facilitator for the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington, holds a hand-crafted sign reading “Older than the Crown.” The case that the court is hearing, Her Majesty the Queen v. Richard Lee Desautel, has been winding through the legal system for ten years.

For these Sinixt, being seen, being recognized in Canada, is what this effort is all about. The Canadian government declared the Sinixt to be extinct in Canada in 1956 after the last member of the tiny Arrow Lakes reserve near Burton died and just before the Columbia River Treaty was signed. The ill-conceived reserve was meaningless to most Sinixt whose efforts to claim their traditional lands and rivers were dismissed by BC and ultimately Canadian authorities. With their land being parcelled out from under their feet in the Columbia River region in the late 1800s and early 1900s, most fled to their southern territory in the United States where they were included in the tribes of the Colville Reservation. Many ended up in Inchelium, Washington.

Many others joined their linguistic cousins in the Okanagan.

One of the men on the court steps is Rick Desautel, a traditional hunter, who was sent by the council of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington state to harvest an elk in B.C., to share with the community – and to be arrested in the process. After shooting and preparing a cow elk, Desautel called the BC Conservation office and told them what he had done. It took a few tries but finally he was cited for contravening the BC Wildlife Act, charged with hunting without a license and hunting big game without being a resident of Canada.

Desautel and Mark Underhill, the lead lawyer for the Colville Confederated Tribes, argued that the Wildlife Act did not apply to him because section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, as it has been interpreted by the courts, permits Indigenous people to hunt, fish, and practice their culture on their traditional territory.

Sinixt traditional territory stretches along the Columbia River from Kettle Falls in Washington to just north of Revelstoke.

In March 2017, BC Provincial Court found in Desautel’s favour. The BC government appealed and lost at the BC Supreme Court and BC Court of Appeal. They appealed again to the Supreme Court of Canada and the hearing was scheduled for May 13 of this year.

19

The tribe got busy trying to raise funds to bring bus-loads of their elders and youth to Ottawa for the hearing. Sinixt filmmaker Derrick LaMere – the other man on the steps – produced the film Older than the Crown which showed Sinixt efforts over the decades to be recognized in Canada. Film screenings in Canada and the United States were used to raise funds for this effort.

Then the COVID-19 epidemic hit. The hearing was postponed. The border was closed. And there was no possibility that the youth and elders could go to Ottawa for this historic occasion.

The hearing was eventually rescheduled for October 8.

Desautel, Boyd and LaMere were given special permission to cross the border. After being tested at the border and isolating for 14 days they flew to Ottawa. The closest they could come to the courtroom was the steps of the Supreme Court.

“For us it’s really sad that the judges don’t get to look at us,” Boyd said. “They don’t get to look at a whole roomful of Sinixt.

We did all this fundraising. We did all of these things to bring all of our people and our drums.”

“Ferry County, which is the county in which Inchelium is located, is the poorest county in Washington State, and for our people to be able to go meant everything. We’ll do a celebration later but we wanted the Supreme Court judges to see us. It was important to be seen and that doesn’t get to happen now. We hope that maybe they’ll look out the window,” she said.

Still, it was deeply meaningful for them to be there with LaMere filming the journey for an extended version of Older than the Crown.

“It feels, not like pressure but like all of our ancestors are with us but they’re also watching us,” Boyd said. “Like so many more did so much more and suffered so much and lost so much and for whatever reason only three of us could get through. The weight of that presses behind me with the ancestors but also in front of me to my grandchildren and beyond. I definitely feel that I need to pay attention to everything and do my very best at whatever I’m meant to do here.”

Back in Inchelium, the Community Centre was open at 6:30 a.m. so community members could watch the court proceedings live. After the hearing, a group met at the sharpening rock at the historic fishery at Kettle Falls, which was submerged in 1941 by the Grand Coulee dam, the dam that blocked the Pacific salmon from reaching the upper Columbia River. After offering prayers and words of support a convoy of around 10 vehicles drove to the Waneta border crossing to offer more prayers, well wishes for the court case and to express the desire to return to their homeland in Canada.

In the Supreme Court courtroom, the lawyers’ arguments seemed to center around four words, one in particular: “aboriginal peoples of Canada.” Who is of Canada? Who belongs? Can a people be of Canada and not be physically there? Do they belong to a government or to the land that their ancestors have known for millennia?

The stakes are big, with implications for Indigenous peoples and provinces/territories all along the Canada-US border. If the Sinixt win their case, this may set a precedent for other indigenous nations whose people were divided by the border.

Eight attorney generals from the Canadian government and all border provinces and Yukon territory except Manitoba intervened on the side of the Crown. Twelve Indigenous organizations, including the Indigenous Bar Association, the Grand Council of Crees, the Okanagan Nation Alliance and the Assembly of First Nations, intervened on the side of the Sinixt.

Each intervenor spoke for five minutes.

The nine justices of the Supreme Court heard these arguments. Several months from now we will know their answer.

For Boyd the answer is clear. “Kʷu Sn̓ ?ay̓ ckstx. Kʷu alá?” she says. “We are Arrow Lakes people and we are still here.”

"For these Sinixt, being seen, being recognized in Canada, is what this effort is all about. The Canadian government declared the Sinixt to be extinct in Canada in 1956"

Preparations for the Supreme Court case: Mark Underhill, the lead lawyer for the Colville Confederated Tribes, Rick Desautel, a traditional hunter of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington, and attorney Kate Phipps. Photo: Shelly Boyd.

Rick Desautel, a traditional hunter of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington (right), and Mark Underhill, the lead lawyer for the Colville Confederated Tribes, and attorney Kate Phipps. Photo: Shelly Boyd.

20

CLIMATE PATTERNS

LIFE

EXPLORING THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE LA NIÑA PHENONMENON AND ITS IMPACTS ON THE LOCAL SNOW SEASON

By Jade Harvey.

The deep blue is all-encompassing. Light penetrates in rays of soft gold down into this serene, enchanted place. There are aquatic creatures of every kind, iridescently glistening in the wavy shimmer from above.

Suddenly, there is movement below. Like a volcano erupting, up comes an intense rush of water towards the surface. An icy cold torrent ... the Little Girl is awakening.

This little girl, isn’t your average child. She isn’t sweet or cute — one who is content to just be with her friends enjoying all those fun games little girls love to play. Instead, she’s looking to wreak climatic havoc on a global scale, throwing the Earth’s two hemispheres into disarray.

Let me introduce La Niña … or ‘the little girl’ in Spanish, a name given to this atmospheric and oceanic system by scientists, a system that can influence our climate for years at a time. But who is she and what does it all mean for us, and every other living thing on our fragile planet?

Our Earth’s climate is a complex, interconnected system which can be likened to a set of Russian nesting dolls. Using this analogy, the tiny doll at the very centre represents the main driving force behind our climate, which is planet Earth’s annual voyage around the sun.

Each of the multiple layers on top (the progressively larger dolls), represent interacting feedbacks in the cycle that enhance and spread the effects of the Sun’s energy, including wind patterns, oceanic currents, volcanic eruptions of gas, and the reflectivity of ice (known as albedo).

Much more recent (in terms of the Earth’s history) are human interactions — such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, and these serve to exacerbate the climate-change problems we face.

Woven in to these feedbacks (several of those figurative dolls) are natural, global scale, short term cycles of changes in our atmospheric and oceanic currents — and these can dramatically affect our seasons.

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one such cycle. Fluctuating between ‘cold’ (La Niña) and ‘warm’ (El Niño) phases, this pattern changes the atmospheric pressure (responsible for winds) and sea-surface temperatures (responsible for driving ocean currents), thereby affecting rainfall and temperature in differing ways across the globe.

La Niña is characterized by lower than normal air pressure over the Western Pacific, and low-pressure zones invariably generate storms.

So how does the allegorical Little Girl in this tale work her magic?

Let’s take a long bath, relax and find out … and our bathtub in this case is the entire South Pacific Ocean.

In order to understand the shift into La Niña, we need first to understand the standard conditions in the Pacific Ocean.

Normally, strong trade winds blow westward across the tropical Pacific (the area between the Tropic of Cancer (23N°), covering the equator and down to the Tropic of Capricorn (23S°) like a giant belt around the centre of Earth.

These trade winds occur due to the Coriolis effect, which means that as our planet spins anti-clockwise on its axis, the winds created at the equator by the Sun’s energy are whipped around the Earth’s surface — thereby causing large-scale winds that move from East to West in the tropics (and West to East up North, where, of course, we are).

Going back to that relaxing South Pacific bath, we’ve all turned on the hot taps and now our feet are too hot! So now we have to move the water back and forth with our hands to even out the temperature in the bath tub.

The shifting (dominant) trade winds are driven by those changes in atmospheric pressure, (like when we use our hands to mix the hot and cold water in the bathtub), and this contributes to the entire ocean basin between South America and Australia sloshing back and forth.

As the warm water sloshes towards Australia (our hot feet), cooler, more nutrient rich water gets sucked up in ocean currents off the coast of North and South America (at the other end of the bath). This process is known as upwelling and it is super important for the health of the ocean’s ecosystems.

Warmer water creates the conditions for more condensation, more clouds and ultimately more precipitation over the tropical Pacific. These conditions have a knock-on effect and cause changes in Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation.

The subtropical jet stream — a giant, global spanning, invisible river of wind in the sky that is usually centred over Mexico, gets shifted up, hovering right above us here in Canada. This wind moves from West to East delivering us that warm, wet air, all the way from the Ocean, over the Coast Mountains to the Interior region.

It’s where we get our snow from … and, this winter, the meteorologists are expecting more. Much more!

Illustration by Ali Treasure.

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ELEVATE YOUR TOURISM CAREER AT OC REVELSTOKE

We’ve been observing this three- to five-year cycle (from data collected by ships) since at least the beginning of the 21st century. Climatic proxy (estimation) techniques put this natural phenomenon as occurring for many centuries.

El Niño can be devastating for ocean ecosystems and fishing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America.

Fish populations die or migrate as they seek the cold, nutrient-rich water in the euphoric zone (upper layer of the ocean.) These nitrates and phosphate nutrients are the basis for photosynthesis (food production from the sun) for phytoplankton, which in turn are the basis of the food chain for EVERYTHING in the ocean.

So, if the western Pacific Ocean could express its feelings, it would be pretty happy right now. That’s not to say the Little Girl is all good. Research at Colorado State University suggests that the chance for continental US and the Caribbean Islands to experience hurricane activity increases substantially during La Niña.

In a study completed in BC, La Niña winters were shown to experience more avalanches due to increased snowfall, with a higher percentage of dry rather than wet avalanches. Any increase in avalanches places a higher stress on infrastructure, transport and community efforts to cope with snow.

Then, for added complexity in 2020, we have an ongoing global pandemic where transport connections plus the flow of goods and services and essential health care systems are all being impacted — resulting in a recipe for big trouble.

It has been noted that touring gear is selling out across the province, with more people looking to access the backcountry should commercial skiing get shut down. As many may be tempted to venture out without the knowledge and skills to do so safely, it could be that the Little Girl’s visit (La Niña) might result in more havoc than ever.

As the cooling in this southern place spreads, the sky above catches ahold of the flow. They grip each other tightly travelling vast distances across the surface, pushing the powerful river of the sky North, north to the land of bears and whales and mountains.

The river sucks its moisture from the great Pacific, winding across the expansive landscape until it is lifted up and over the mountains and it can bear the wet, heavy load no more. Frozen in this high place, it sheds in sheets of soft white. Covering the land in the thickest, soft, blanket ever seen. The Little Girl laughs. Her powers know no limits.

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22

OUTDOORS

COVID-19 Positive Case The first time Ian Tomm, president of Eagle Pass Heliskiing, realized the real threat COVID-19 posed to his company was during a dinner party in January this year.

By the end of February, Ian was working hard to prepare. “I really pressed pause on everything,” he told the Mountaineer.

Yet, the inevitable thing happened. Even though Eagle Pass had been screening for weeks, one of their guests tested positive for COVID-19 after flying home to the U.S.

Eagle Pass Lodge will be closed Tomm points out that dealing with infectious diseases is not something new for heli skiing lodges, as, “the Norovirus cripples at least one heli ski operation a year.” However, with the severity of COVID-19, this year will be a little different. Eagle Pass’ luxury lodge will be closed for bookings and only functioning as their staff accommodation.

On the flip side, multi-day heli-skiing guests will be staying in privately booked accommodation and seeking out local restaurants and bars in the evenings.

In other words, guests will be exposing themselves to further risk, which they potentially could bring back into the helicopter the next day. However, Tomm is hopeful and points to the success of protocols in schools across B.C.

REVELSTOKE’S EAGLE PASS HELISKIING ADAPTS FOR OPERATIONS UNDER COVID-19 THE PRESIDENT OF EAGLE PASS HELISKIING, IAN TOMM, GIVES US THE FULL RUN DOWN OF HOW THE HELI-SKIING SEASON WILL LOOK LIKE DURING COVID-19, WITH MORE EXTENSIVE SCREENINGS, CLOSING THEIR LODGE, AND CUTTING COSTS WHILE KEEPING THEIR STAFF

By Sofie Hagland.

Screening blood oxygen levels

specifically asks groups of singles and doubles to get a group of four friends together, trying to avoid merging preexisting ‘bubbles.’

However, if this cannot be achieved, groups of strangers will be sitting closer than six-feet apart inside the helicopter.

Ian reassures that the windows will be cracked open, “and if you really think about it, wearing gloves, masks, googles, and helmets, we already have PPE on.”

Guests will only spend a few minutes in the helicopter between runs, and a little longer flying in and out for the day. Tomm justifies this grey area with research showing heightened risk of contamination when spending more than 15 minutes in close proximity to someone. Ian admits how fragile the operation is, “It only takes one lazy person, staff or guest, then it all falls apart.”

Cutting costs and keeping staff Today, Tomm is thankful they decided to keep all their staff on and protect their wages. Instead, Eagle Pass has been cutting costs on “literally everything,” and keeping their pricing the same, in contrast to other heli skiing providers offering big discounts for local Canadians. To attract a more local crowd, new programs like ‘heli-assisted ski touring’ have been released. Inspired by the mountain biking and golf industry this summer, Ian hopes to see the same “big domestic boom” for heli-skiing.

International market Eagle Pass Heliskiing is still marketing internationally. “We simply cannot take a pause from fueling the stoke,” Tomm said.

Most overseas guests have chosen not to get a refund but to hold on to their seats.

When the borders open, and when there is rapid testing available and/or vaccines available, Eagle Pass will welcome guests back from outside of Canada.

Ian empathizes they will “do the right thing” this winter, and that they are prepared to close. “We probably cannot survive the loss of a full season,” he said. However, he doesn’t doubt that their shareholders will have their back.

Tomm thinks it is important to operate a business during times of a pandemic.

“People need employment, but they also need enjoyment.” Ian wraps it up on a positive note: “There are deep friendships within the heli-skiing industry, and those friendships are going to see us through.”

This season, Eagle Pass is not only taking the temperature of guests and staff, but they are also checking their blood oxygen levels in an attempt to catch pre-symptomatic cases. When it comes to COVID-19 specific testing, Tomm says he is frustrated with the government. “I spend too much time every day trying to get rapid testing for Eagle Pass — it’s really hard.”

Impossible to social distance in a helicopter Eagle Pass has always operated with small groups of four. This season, the operation Eagle Pass Heliskiing is making a go of the winter season with offerings adapted around the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Andrew Miller.

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SPONSORED CONTENT Powder Rentals staff in photo. Back Row: Ryland, Foster, Rogan, Adam. Middle Row: Steve, Shey, Ryan, Ryan. Front: Aaron.

REVELSTOKE POWDER RENTALS GIVES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY TEST-DRIVE THIS SEASON'S TOP OF THE LINE POWDER SKIS AND SNOWBOARDS.

By Melissa Jameson.

Tucked away just a quick stop on the route to slay a few powder runs, Revelstoke Powder Rentals offers skiers and snowboarders a chance to test-drive some of the most popular brands in the industry.

Owned and operated by Aaron Noble and Michelle Gabriele, Revelstoke Powder Rentals has skis and boards for every condition, but truly prides itself on having tons of the latest powder shapes and unique skis and boards that aren’t widely available as rentals.

Brands the shop carries for boarders include Jones, Capita, Yes, Salomon and Burton. For skiers the list includes Rossignol, Salomon, Icelantic, Line and RMU. “People like to try the smaller/niche brands like Jones snowboards and Icelantic skis. There are some clear favourites on powder days like the Jones Mind Expander snowboard and the Icelantic Nomad skis,” Noble told the Mountaineer.

New to the line-up this year is Black Crows skis and Lib Tech Snowboards. Noble said he expects the Anima from Black Crows and the Orca from Lib Tech will be very popular this season.

“Unless you have your own quiver of skis and boards, most people aren’t likely to have an Orca or Anima as their only ski for the season. They are more of a board/ski you would use on a big powder day that would compliment your everyday ride. It is not necessary to have a dedicated powder ski but there are usually at least a couple of storms every season where people wish they did,” said Noble.

Sweet deals for locals help give back to the community Noble and Gabriele spent their first season in Revelstoke volunteering at the Community Connections Food Bank. Noble described the experience as “eye opening.”

“I was definitely able to see a different side of Revelstoke," he said.

The experience struck a chord and twice a year Revelstoke Powder Rentals hosts two initiatives to help the food bank stock its shelves. The first is a twice-yearly Locals’ Week, which has been running for ten years. During these weeks local skiers can rent gear for a donation to the food bank. Noble said the Locals’ Weeks generate between 300 and 600 pounds of food and around $600 in cash for the food bank. This year’s free-bydonation rental weeks are Dec. 12 to 19, 2020 and March 27 to April 4, 2021.

The second initiative is a Locals’ Deal, which runs all season.

Started three years ago in celebration of Revelstoke Powder Rentals’ Tenth Anniversary, the Locals’ Deal is $15 for a ski/ board rental, $15 edge and wax and $15 avalanche gear rental.

Noble said the Locals’ Deal generated more than 3,000 pounds of food and $1,000 in its first year.

“I see lots of people here just like me. I was always interested in trying out new gear but wouldn't because of the price.

Having the option to try something different for only $15 and support a local charity is a no-brainer,” said Noble.

Revelstoke Powder Rentals has also helped other community projects including raising funds for Avalanche Canada and the Revelstoke Skatepark. They’ve also donated gear to the Open Mountains Project, a program that provides youth, young adults and other vulnerable populations with barrier-free access to outdoor mountain experiences.

Noble said feedback from skiers and boarders who take part in the locals promotion is always positive.

“Everyone’s totally on board and tend to be generous with their donations since they are helping the community. They love it because they get to demo all the brand new latest and greatest gear they otherwise probably wouldn’t try.”

Not a local? That’s totally cool too, at only $49 a day, the cost of renting gear won’t put too big of a dent in your bank account.

Revelstoke Powder Rentals is located at 709 Victoria Road. Visit them online at revelstokepowderrentals.com.

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FEATURE LIFE

THE CASE OF THE E-BIKE: ARE REVELSTOKE SENIORS PEDALING TOWARDS A TRANSPORTATION FUTURE? ELECTRIC COMMUTER BIKES ARE GROWING IN POPULARITY, AS RESIDENTS ENJOY CHEAPER LOCAL TRANSPORTATION

By Nikki Lussier, North Columbia Environmental Society.

Nancy Parrott and Joan Holzer join the weekly e-bike ride. Photo: Nolan Gale.

A Revelstoke e-bike adventure group enjoys a fall ride by the Columbia. Photo: Nolan Gale.

Unlikely snowflakes had already foreshadowed an early winter in Revelstoke by the time I met a group of seasoned cyclists. They were undaunted by the weather, and it wasn’t long before I realized we have much to learn from their collective wisdom.

Claudette Kendel, a retired teacher, has kept active for years. In June, when her knees began to trouble her, she set off in search of a new set of wheels, which have since taken her 4,000 kilometres. Though she uses it mostly for exercise and recreation, she’s the first to admit that she’s swapped out her regular car rides for e-bike jaunts — at least two or three per week she reckons.

The number of times we opt for biking over driving makes a difference. May 2019’s Bike to Work Week saw 15,571 kms logged in Revelstoke alone. This is the equivalent of riding to Costa Rica and back. If those same trips were made by vehicle, roughly four tonnes of carbon dioxide would have resulted from the process.

In Canada, transportation accounts for 24 per cent of climate polluting emissions, second only to the oil and gas industry, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. With vehicles accounting for such an enormous component of our society’s environmental footprint, why are we still driving our cars, rather than walking or biking?

While that’s ideal for some, it’s unfair to say that everyone has an interest in walking or biking, or that everyone has the proper level of physical fitness needed for the task. That’s where e-bikes come in, a mode of transportation literally designed to bridge those barriers. Indeed, they offer convenient mobility with an environmental footprint that is a fraction of the internal combustion engine’s impact.

Nancy Parrott and her sidekick, Peanut, a Jack RussellChihuahua cross, have been riding an e-bike for the last three years. In the summer she rarely uses her vehicle and runs errands solely using her e-bike. Just the other day she bought groceries, picked up her mail, stopped at the salon, and voted — all on two wheels. Aside from its health and environmental benefits, Nancy is quick to point out that cycling is in fact more convenient. Using her bike is often quicker than using her vehicle for short trips, and she never has to worry about finding a parking spot.

Peter Walker, author of How Cycling Can Save the World, raves about the bicycle being one of the most elegant and lasting inventions in history. Additionally, its benefits are proving to be even more pertinent than before: it’s weaning us off our dependence on fossil fuels, relieving traffic congestion, reducing pollution, and helping stem the growing public health crisis of inactive living. Biking is meditative, and being outside connects us to nature.

Walker mentions that cycling is safer than people think with the net health benefits outweighing the risks by nearly 10 times.

The physical and mental health advantages of e-bikes are not lost on another group of local retirees. Mieke Blommestein, Sharon Kelley, and Jane MacDonald meet daily for bike rides of 20 kilometres or more.

Blommestein mentions that with COVID, this form of transportation has opened the door to another opportunity for socializing, exercising, and spending time outdoors. Set up with panniers and a basket, she runs all her errands with her e-bike. She lives in Arrow Heights, yet she can be downtown within minutes.

Arrow Heights, Columbia Park, Big Eddy – they are all within that ‘sweet spot’ distance to downtown with a variety of viable alternatives for the commute.

When we replace short, single person vehicle trips with our own human power, sometimes aided by a bit of stored hydro power in the form of an e-bike battery, we can collectively have these trips add up and make a difference. What these seniors have shown me is that we making this difference might just be fun and convenient, too.

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HELP LOOK OUT FOR SENIORS IN REVELSTOKE THROUGH COVID-19 CHALLENGES A little goes a long way when it comes to giving your time As we head into the ninth month and second wave of COVID-19, most of us have largely settled into this new reality. We have grown accustomed to wearing a mask, isolating when we are sick. Businesses, services and schools are mostly back up and running, and many of us have returned to a sense of normalcy and routine. But for many seniors, this isn’t the case.

With seniors’ activities remaining shut down, many are left with either no reason to leave the house or a crippling fear associated with it. This is especially worrisome with winter around the corner, where many are bound to feel even more isolated due to the weather. The sense of isolation that seniors are now feeling, coupled with the sheer duration of the isolation, has made everything from social outings to getting groceries more difficult.

“It’s hard,” says senior Clarence Dunlop who has lived in Revelstoke since the '70s.

For Dunlop, the hardest part has been the change in routine and the sudden stop to social outlets. “They shut everything down because of COVID.” Aged in his early 80s, Dunlop is still mobile but lives alone and relies on the help of community members.

Revelstoke steps up to help out The good news is that the community has rallied around the needs of seniors in many spontaneous ways. Last winter, resident Sandra Gregory created Revelstoke Unstuck, a Facebook group to help identify seniors in need of shoveling.

This is not a new issue, nor is it COVID-19 specific, as every year seniors struggle with snow management and more. Ruth Boettger, previous president and long standing member of the Revelstoke Seniors Association, explains that groups like Revelstoke Unstuck make a big difference because they invite citizens to look out for and identify vulnerable seniors, rather than placing the onus on the seniors to call in for help, which they don’t do so readily.

“The Seniors' Centre reaches out to its membership, but it’s those that are not a part of the association and that do not have friends and family that we don’t always know how to reach,” she says.

While ad-hoc initiatives like Revelstoke

Unstuck can make a big impact, they also rely on volunteers for everything. That means it can be easy to lose volunteers to family and work obligations. The Revelstoke Seniors Centre used to have a volunteer program called Helping Hands, where volunteers helped seniors out with yard work and snow removal, but it became too difficult to find and keep volunteers.

Gregory also at one point had to prioritize other work and when she did, things came to a bit of a halt. She says she plans on starting up Revelstoke Unstuck once again this year and has recruited the help of two other volunteers to help field calls and requests. She’s also counting on the donation of a snow blower to help make it easier for volunteers.

While Revelstoke Unstuck started around shoveling snow it also sends a strong message to those individuals receiving help.

“Ultimately, it’s about reminding seniors that the people around them care, and it’s about easing their mind,” Gregory says.

Because so many seniors feel disconnected — especially now with COVID-19 — the simple gesture of noticing that they could use some help tells them they matter. Other simple gestures by community members that go a long way can be: saying hello, offering to help, inviting them to coffee (depending on current restrictions) or dropping off a meal. These are small ways to make a big difference to someone who is struggling.

Early in the pandemic, the Revelstoke Hospice identified this need for connection and volunteers set up a phone tree to check in on isolated seniors and they played tic-tac-toe on windows outside of

Mount Cartier Court. For larger initiatives however, legalities can make getting anything off the ground a daunting task, even for those with the best intentions.

That’s why having a formalized program can ensure that any potential liability issues are taken care of.

Recently, the City of Revelstoke conducted the Age Friendly Plan survey to find out more about the gaps in infrastructure and services. Results from this survey showed that many seniors would like help maintaining their homes and with tasks such as snow removal.

Thanks to emergency COVID-19 funding, organizations from the social sector are working together to address this gap.

Community Connections, the Revelstoke Women’s Shelter, and the Revelstoke Community Response Network (CRN) are looking at ways to link up Community Connections’ Goods and Services Exchange platform with the database of volunteers created by the CRN at the onset of COVID-19. This will connect seniors and other vulnerable adults with help through the use of BC’s 211 service directory and the Safe Seniors Strong Seniors program which connects seniors to various supports and services. These can be social and emotional services, help with yard care or cleaning, assistance with groceries, or goods like winter clothing.

At the onset of the pandemic, the Revelstoke Women's Shelter and the CRN also established a response program for vulnerable adults, and seniors in particular.

Dunlop benefits from this, receiving regular check-ins from a volunteer, which make him feel supported. “It’s nice that she’s checking up on me, we have a talk and she makes sure everything is OK," he says. "Sometimes she drops off some cookies and I like that too!"

At the heart of all of these initiatives still lies the selfless act of volunteering one’s time. Whether it is through a formalized program, an inspired, citizen-led initiative, or casually checking in on your elderly or vulnerable neighbours and offering help or assistance, volunteering your time to connect with a senior can renew their sense of hope and purpose. The connection one gains from helping another human in need far exceeds any other reward, because loneliness and isolation is something no one should have to normalize.

If you would like to support seniors and vulnerable adults in this community, contact revycrn@gmail.com to be added to the volunteer database. Volunteer calls take into consideration skillsets, interest levels and time capacity.

Photo: Stock photo by Unsplash.

By Lisa Cyr/Revelstoke Community Response Network.

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HEALTH

CAN OUR COMMUNITY BRIDGE THE NEW DIVIDES OF OUR TIMES? NERVOUSNESS, AGITATION, FEAR, ANGER, AND STRESS HAVE THE TENDENCY TO BE DESTRUCTIVE HABITS, BUT ONLY IF THEY BECOME A DAILY LIVED EXPERIENCE IN THE BODY

By Noelle Bovon.

Photo by Youssef Naddam/Unsplash.

Emotional availability is the ability to connect with others in honest and open ways. Without hiding yourself or feeling the (unconscious or conscious) desire to control someone else’s perception of. It’s a practice of learning to be open and be honest. The depth in which we can be honest with others is a direct reflection of how honest we are with ourselves.

While we don’t want to share everything in our lives with everyone we can choose to engage in meaningful ways. Our emotionally availability impacts the depth of connection we experience with others.

It also seems to impact our mental and physical health in either positive or negative ways.

When we understand who we are and what self-honesty looks like, it helps us navigate with integrity and allows us to choose consciously. For example, when we experience conflict in a relationship, when we’re not feeling heard, and if it becomes systemic in the relationship, we might eventually react without understanding why we’re so frustrated. When we understand that our need to be heard is not being met, we are more capable of choosing to communicate that problem, if that is not received, we can choose to leave the relationship. Honesty gives us options. It allows us to carve out clear boundaries and act accordingly to support ourselves.

To use science to help me explain: the frontal lobe is the most evolved part of our brain and where our personality develops.

Within the frontal lobe, we carry out everyday tasks from our morning routines to learning new skills. It affects our speech, language, spontaneity, sexuality, impulse control, and social behaviour. Our ability to be kind and rational are carried out through this region of the brain, and it is also the region that can be the most affected by sustained stress.

Through neurophysiological research, it’s been found that the brain stem and the subcortical regions of the brain (the areas deep within the brain) help filter out information that is irrelevant and to prepare our minds for action. This is all happening without our awareness.

Yale University School of Medicine Neurobiologist Amy F.T Arnsten explains how stress signalling pathways can impair prefrontal cortex structure and function in a 2009 paper. The basic idea is that we are deeply unconscious in our own conditioning.

We build patterns and habits of behaving and thinking unconsciously and without intention. Which means most of us spend our days creating things, experiences and relationships that are not necessarily what we want or what serves us.

Nervousness, agitation, fear, anger, and stress have the tendency to be destructive habits, but only if they become a daily lived experience in the body. These behaviours can interfere with healthy social functioning. High levels of these emotions impact the onset of clinical depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular disease; they

have even been shown to increase the rate of cellular aging.

To be emotionally available you must feel safe and as though you belong. To be successful at this you have to be aware of any sustained agitation in the body, which can be difficult if you’ve lived with it for so long that it’s become normal. If we’ve experienced high levels of stress and trauma in our lives, I believe this also affects the way we connect to others.

We need people in our lives who will show us that we belong and can love us even when we’re struggling. Over time this will make us feel safe. Anyone that’s in a stress response feels distrust and consequently cannot open up physically or emotionally. They remain in an emotionally unavailable loop because that’s where they feel the safest.

Emotional unavailability looks different for everyone, and understanding how it looks for you is important. I play it out by I locking myself into my body. My stress response takes hold and I shut the world out. I don’t share when I’m going through difficult times, because I fear judgment, I hold my jaw tight and I look at the world with distrust. I create a fortress around me, I go into lock down. I have digestive and anxiety issues from years of this playing out in my body.

If we understand how our stress levels impact our ability to show up for ourselves and others we might take them more seriously. We frequently hear how stress negatively affects our physical health but we still have lots of it in our world. Living in a small mountain town like Revelstoke, we experience lots of gossip, because it’s a relatively small and intimate community.

As we navigate pain and healing from the impacts of this pandemic, we get to choose how we want to be as a community. Lies spread much faster than truths; do we want a community that lifts people up or tears them down? Do we want to build relationships by experiencing people oneon-one or do we want to create more gossip?

If we aren’t aware of the amount of stress (all kinds) we have in our body we will be dishonest with ourselves and thus unable to create fulfilling relationships. Our stress will dictate the depth we’re able to listen and connect with others.

Stress is like an electric wire. Anything that triggers it sends currents of reactivity and unworthiness. If it promotes us to lash out by blaming, shaming and judging ultimately we are harming ourselves and others by creating more stress, drama and (possibly) trauma.

Why is being emotionally available something you should care about? Without it, we lack compassion for ourselves and others. We lack curiosity, we lose perspective and we enter into to a ‘cancel culture.' We aren’t able to meet our deepest needs and we end up feeling like victims.

It’s possible that our narcissism deepens, and we lack empathy. In this state, we will continue to create families, societies and countries that are divisive and unrelenting in our own opinions.

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Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash.

SPONSORED CONTENT

RISING HOUSE PRICES: THE PLAGUE OF THE RESORT TOWN— AND HOW TO COME OUT ON TOP

By Laura Wierzbicki.

We resort town locals are constantly riding that familiar teeter-totter tilting us towards our dream life in the outdoors rather than a healthy financial situation.

The ultimate goal—of course!—is to find that perfect balance between fun and funds. My name is Laura Wierzbicki, Consultant at IG Wealth Management (Investors Group Financial Services Inc.).

This is my first of many finance columns.

I hope to make comprehensive financial advice easy and accessible with a few hundred words each month.

Here it goes: for those hoping to get into the housing market, it’s not too late! As someone whose job it is to advise people on making healthy financial choices, I literally have a library of tips and knowledge up my sleeve. The right home will present itself, but you’ll have to do the groundwork—and note that the real estate market doesn’t take weekends off.

Check the listings online (realtor.ca) and diligently drive through your favourite neighbourhoods to scope out any new “For sale” signs.

Naturally, that’s not all it takes. The truth is, you’re not just signing up for a down payment and a mortgage; you’re signing up for many years of unexpected repairs, upgrades, and monthly household costs. So it’s best to get your saving game into motion. Put aside more than what you need for a down payment.

In BC, you’re required to pay a minimum of 5% on houses below $500,000. If the house is priced between $500,000 and $999,999, your minimum down payment will be 5% of the first $500,000 and 10% of any amount over that first sum. Your down payment will vary based on your credit score, assets, and employment situation— and it’s good to know that anything below 20% requires you to pay Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) insurance.

First time buyers have a lot of people rooting for them. For example, you can save your funds in your RRSP to take full

advantage of the First Time Home Buyers' Program, in which you can withdraw $35,000 (tax free!) from your RRSP to pay for your down payment, then repay the sum over the next 15 years. The program is also available for individuals who’ve recently been through a divorce or separation.

Luckily, interest rates on homes are at an all-time low because of our current economy. Get inspired to save up by picturing the little interest you’ll have to pay on your mortgage. It won’t be much more than rent. While you save, it’s good to know what state your credit score’s in. If you’ve missed or been late on payments in the past, your credit score may be dragging you down. Find out the current state of your credit score. If it’s in rough shape, focus on building it back up while you save.

Finally, and this’ll help with the previous credit score quandary, prioritize paying off your debt with high interest rates.

With more knowledge, the road to homeownership isn’t daunting. My suggestion: start by getting these tips in motion and I’ll be here waiting to give you guidance every step of the way.

Already own a home?

My advice isn’t just for new buyers.

Existing homeowners have great potential to use their home equity to fund their retirement, or to repay any outstanding debt. This market leaves so much room for the imagination when trying to capitalize on existing assets. Better yet, this existing low interest rate environment brings even more appeal to capitalizing on your cash flow and reviewing your debt management needs.

Likewise, second home owners can make a great income from their investment (think vacation rental or Airbnb!), but keep in mind the taxes that come with it—and feel free to reach out for suggestions on mitigating that mountain of taxes. After all, there are tons of expenses you can write off. This is just the start of our talk on homeownership.

Laura’s advice comes with 10 years’ experience in financial services. She offers comprehensive, fully customizable financial strategies and solutions, working one-on-one with business owners, retirees, families, and individuals focused on building their net worth.

Don’t hesitate to reach out for a holistic approach to investment solutions, insurance products, and mortgages.

Laura Wierzbicki BBA Investment Consultant Email: laura.wierzbicki@ig.ca Phone: 250-878-4174

Investment Planning | Retirement Planning | Tax & Estate Planning | Insurance | Mortgage Planning Trademarks, including IG Wealth Management and IG Private Wealth Management, are owned

by IGM Financial Inc. and licensed to subsidiary corporations. Investors Group Trust Co. Ltd. is a federally regulated trust company and the mortgagee. Mortgages are offered through I.G. Investment Management, Ltd. Inquiries will be referred to a Mortgage Planning (Agent) Specialist.

(What are the General Requirements to Qualify for Homeowner Mortgage Loan Insurance?, 2020)

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FEATURE LIFE Revelstoke residents Anika Heale (left, photo by Agathe Bernard) and Joey Norsworthy reflect on the art of personal change.

THE ART OF PERSONAL CHANGE

by Emily Kemp.

Looking too close at the state of the world or the affordability crisis in Revelstoke can make it difficult to be positive. But when we take time off the Internet and focus on what we can impact — ourselves and our lives — things can look a bit brighter.

We all go through ups and downs and have different tools to deal. And we've all heard that despite difficult times we often turn into stronger people. I know my own rock bottom a few years ago was the best thing that could have happened to me.

In the throes of distress, I had the simple epiphany that everything I was doing was my choice. Those I allowed in my life, what my habits were, and where I spent my energy. Taking responsibility gave me power over what I could control, and therefore freedom. It's not a silver bullet by any means but this change in perspective has helped me navigate through life's problems.

Revelstoke is filled with smart and passionate people on their various journeys. As winter can be a time of reflection and hibernation, we asked two residents to consider how they have changed over the years.

Anika Heale Since moving to Revelstoke in 2014 from the UK, Anika has made it home learning about the abundance this valley and surrounding regions offer. Wanting to encourage others to develop their own personal connection to the lands around them she started her tea company Hello Little Hippie last year.

How have you changed over the past five years?

Over the past five years I’ve enjoyed a lot of change. Most of this has been in the way I experience the world around me. For a long time I was operating from a very disempowered stance; I now have a more developed sense of agency, and where I used to perceive a threat, I’m now able to see an opportunity.

What were the moments that caused a change in your direction/perspective?

I suppose change for me was a necessary response to an array of unwanted feelings that had been accumulating for years. It was realizing that I was the common denominator in many of the situations that left me feeling depleted, and that if I wanted to experience a different outcome, I needed to change my approach and shift my perspective. I was also

introduced to the concept of 'Saturn Return' which happens around the age of 27 and learning more about that offered some context and normalcy to the bigger shifts and upheavals that I was experiencing at that time.

Fun fact: If you're interested in astrology, the Saturn Return Heale mentions is the concept that Saturn takes around 29 years to complete one full orbit around the sun. When it returns to the zodiac sign in which you were born around the ages of 27 and 30, you face personal change challenges which will last around three years. The next return is around the age of 59.

How do you feel about change and what do you think stops people from it?

I appreciate change; it is inevitable, therefore I think it wise to befriend. I also know that forcing change will likely not yield the desired result, and avoiding change can be very painful indeed.

There’s no doubt that change can feel intimidating. I think that many of us may resist change because of the inherent loss that comes

29

with it. There’s also this element of change needing to be drastic; we talk of “radical transformation,” and a “complete overhaul,” but change doesn’t always need to be disruptive; small and subtle shifts can have a big impact on our lives, and of those around us.

What does winter in Revelstoke mean for you?

This is definitely something that has changed considerably in the past five years. I moved here with the sole intention of skiing powder and everything was about chasing that one sensation.

In recent years I’ve taken up cross country skiing and I now look forward to that as much as skitouring. I love the snow, but I also grumble about it now!

Anything else you would like to add?

A quote from Albus Dumbledore: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Joey Norsworthy Joey moved to Revelstoke in 2010 and then again in 2017. He owns and runs retail store the Revelstoke Trading Post and the sales and distribution agency Our Habit.

How have you changed over the past five years?

A focus on health has been one of the biggest changes. Setting aside those things in life that do not serve me, or my goals. Sounds selfish perhaps.

I do believe it’s the only way to build positive change. And I have seen that change in just about

every aspect of my life. Building two businesses requires my full attention.

What were the moments that caused a change in your direction/perspective?

A few years ago, I moved to Calgary taking on a new position, learned lots, but the contract was volatile, only lasting one year. I then worked for a few years with an established sales agency in the action sports industry. This was a great experience with a knowledgeable mentor. This position, however, was cut short due to the slow economy.

It was during this time I started my own business.

Realizing that I needed to be in control of my own paycheck. Diving headfirst out of our comfort zones is not something we want to do. It builds our character and allows us to accept, and embrace change. Now with both of my businesses running things change so quick, I have to adapt daily. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

How do you feel about change and what do you think stops people from it?

Change is a great thing and one thing that keeps you on your toes. If you don’t embrace change, taking it on with an optimistic view — you will always perceive change as negative. We all get very comfortable in our little bubbles. This happened to me. I did not take notice of what was happening around me and was not prepared for the sudden change that hit me.

What does winter in Revelstoke mean for you?

Love winters here. The fact I can wake up in the morning ride my snowboard. Then get on with the task list is a fantastic lifestyle.

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30

LIFE

COMPASSION IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 HOW BUILDING EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE CAN HELP US NAVIGATE THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES

By Melissa Jameson. Illustrations by Sonia García.

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In university I had a roommate who kept a huge collection of stuffed animals — something I thought a bit strange for a woman in her early 20s. That was until I came home after a particularly difficult day that had left me feeling stressed, angry and absolutely defeated.

“I know what you need to do,” my roommate said.

She proceeded to drag me into her room, where she pulled every single one of her stuffed animals out of the closet and onto her bed.

“Throw them,” she said, pointing at the lop-sided pyramid of stuffed toys.

“What!?”

“Just throw them,” she said. “Swearing helps too.”

So, I did. I threw every single one of those stuffed animals against the wall while yelling out strings of obscenities.

It felt … fantastic.

I can’t remember why I felt so awful that day, but I do recall feeling much better after the last stuffed animal hit the wall and then quietly slumped onto the floor with all the others.

Fast forward 20 years and we’re smack dab in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown. I’ve just finished talking with a friend over messenger.

We’d been discussing the current state of affairs and eventually our conversation made its way to COVID-19-related financial aid programs. At that time both the provincial and federal governments had yet to announce any assistance for people with disabilities (many of whom, myself included, already live on a fixed income that’s far below the poverty line). Since I happen to fit into that exact category, I voiced my frustrations over this.

“Yeah, but nothing’s really changed for you,” my friend wrote.

I started to type out a lengthy reply addressing the ways all the changes and restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus were impacting people with disabilities, myself included. The thing is I don’t like conflict. So, I deleted my message, replacing it with “Yeah, I guess that’s true,” and hit send.

The conversation ended soon after, but I found myself filled with frustration. My friend, who usually responds to my venting with compassion and understanding, had completely dismissed my feelings. Unable to let go of my anger I found myself wandering around the house picking up any soft item I could find. I piled them on the couch and began to fling them at an empty wall, strings of obscenities flowing from my lips.

Afterwards, I felt better, but it got me thinking: what is it about the current situation that has so many people lashing out at each other and responding with negativity and judgement, rather than positivity, compassion and kindness?

Our culture is obsessed with the idea of perpetual happiness and positivity. There’s multitudes of magazine articles, books, and podcasts imploring us to ‘manifest happiness,’ or ‘discover the power of positivity.’ So why is it, then, that so many people struggle to stay positive, especially in the face of adversity? And what was it about the current COVID-19-impacted climate that seemed to make this even more difficult?

In order to better understand why people were struggling to maintain a sense of positivity in the face of a global pandemic, I reached out to three local experts: Registered Clinical Counsellors

Jennifer Wright and Talia Camozzi, and Registered Psychologist Melanie Parkin.

Genetics, evolution at play in determining our ability to maintain a positive outlook It turns out there’s a multitude of factors when it comes to determining why some people are more positive than others. Camozzi points out genetic predisposition and the influences of our childhood play a large role in how we see the world as adults.

“This continues into adulthood as trauma, tragedy, health, relationships, employment and affluence all

“I think we have to be careful how we use positivity because our culture is largely avoidant and consequently ‘positivity’ is often used to avoid processing difficult emotions,” says Wright. “The big lie we tell ourselves is that avoidance is less painful than processing difficult emotions and that undesirable emotions are bad.”

Wright points to statistics that show more than 70 per cent of the Canadian population has experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. That number goes up among marginalized populations. Science now also shows that trauma changes the brain structurally, neurochemically and neuro-electrically.

“Survivors of trauma, especially survivors of developmental trauma can be masters at masking their internal experience and often we assume that trauma always looks like dysregulated behaviour when it can look like many other things: poverty, incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse, hyperactivity, over-functioning, relationship failure, poor boundaries and much more,” says Wright.

“Part of developing a positive mindset is trusting oneself and knowing the difference between fear and intuition. This understanding gets very distorted for survivors of trauma that can fracture their sense of self.”

Viewing the pandemic through a trauma lens

play a role in how we see the world,” she says. “As life gets harder and more challenging, seeing the world positively becomes more challenging.”

Evolution is also at play here as our threat system evolved to keep us alive. Parkin says from an evolutionary perspective, it’s much more important for us to attend to threats in our environment.

“The example that’s often given is if you are living hundreds of thousands of years ago, you’re going to survive and pass your genes along if you are more hard-wired to notice the wild animal that’s going to eat you than if you are wired to notice a beautiful sunset and appreciate that,” says Parkin.

“So, from an evolutionary perspective it’s just natural that our first instinct is going to go to threat and negativity.”

In other words, maintaining a positive outlook is something that takes practice. For people who have endured difficult circumstances such as trauma, this journey for positivity can seem even more burdensome. There is also a risk that delving into a desire to maintain a positive outlook can cause more harms — particularly for individuals who have yet to work through any traumatic events they may have experienced.

So, what does all this have to do with trying to maintain a sense of positivity during a global pandemic?

For Wright, the pandemic meets all of the criteria for trauma. The result being our stress response systems are more easily triggered, making attempts at practicing positivity dependent on variables that “seem like a lottery system.”

On top of being traumatic, COVID-19 — and all of the restrictions, including a decrease in in-person social interactions — has led to many people feeling compelled to undermine how others might be struggling. Parkin notes when people feel resources are scarce it can fuel competitive and judgemental ways of thinking; it’s easier to offer generosity when it seems our own skies are filled with sunshine.

“Right now, the hatches are sort of battened down and people are not in a charitable mood.

People are feeling brittle, like, ‘I can’t afford to be compassionate to this group, so I’m going to view it in this way to make it a little easier for me.’”

At its root, it’s a way of simplifying through stereotyping and prejudice, says Wright. “When we feel powerless to change another’s fate, we often reject and devalue them instead of responding with compassion and sympathy. Focusing on our own hardships can be a way to avoid the discomfort of feeling powerless to help others pain.”

Thinking back to the conversation I had with my friend, I can’t help but wonder if his inability to offer compassion towards my situation was in some way related to COVID-19-related hardships he was experiencing but felt unable to share with me.

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Life

FEATURE

Focus on compassion, rather than seeking out positivity I was met with some apprehension when I began seeking professional input for this story.

It seems the current trend towards pushing the power of positivity isn’t exactly popular with therapists, who are often supporting people who have spent time struggling in their attempts to overcome trauma and difficult life circumstances by burying themselves in the pursuit of happiness.

“For me, I sometimes get my hackles up with the whole positivity movement, even though I do understand, especially culturally, why that’s really important,” says Parkin. “I think working as a therapist […] we can help people accept all that is and that includes everything that is really hard, as well as the fact the sun keeps rising in the morning, that there’s beauty around us and from there we can choose where we focus our attention. But when positivity starts to feel like, ‘Nope, let’s just push all the bad stuff over there,’ then it starts to feel a bit like denial in a way, which is not what I think people intend to do.”

Having self-awareness of your own difficulties — and knowing you won’t fall apart if another person shares their own pain — can allow you to find compassion when others share their own struggles, says Parkin The reality is, we will all face storms and looking at things positively is not always a mental stretch that will work, says Camozzi.

“It can also sometimes be harmful to have positivity suggested as a way to get through the storm. Sometimes a better way through difficult times is to lean into your own strength and remember that you’ve been through other difficult times,” she says.

The work of therapists often entails helping people notice the ways they are working hard to protect themselves. This can include depression, anger, anxiety, frustration or being overly self-critical.

“Learning how to respond to distress in the body and the mind involves introspection, compassionate observation, curiosity and a willingness to sit with the discomfort,” says Wright.

Through emotional resilience, we can learn ways to calm ourselves after experiencing negative or distressing emotions. I asked Parkin, Wright and Camozzi to share ways people can build emotional resilience and practice self-soothing during times of distress.

Based on their input, here are 10 ways to start building emotional resilience and be more compassionate towards yourself and others:

1.Spend time outdoors An easy way to begin building up emotional resilience is to spend time outside. Parkin says even spending 15 or 20 minutes in a forested area can have a profound impact on our ability to see the world through a more positive light.

2.Move your body For some people, it may be easier to build a positive mindset through seemingly unrelated behaviours aimed at calming the nervous system, says Wright. Examples of this include practicing yoga, playing tennis, throwing a Frisbee with friends, singing alone or in a choir, listening to low tone music and even volunteering.

“When the body feels safe, it is easier to expand our focus to allow a positive mindset.”

3.Look for the positives One of the simplest ways to shift from a pessimistic world view is to begin retraining your brain to look for positive moments.

“Cultivating attention to the more positive aspects of life and engaging in that practice of ‘OK, there’s this happening that’s kind of negative, but what else can I notice in my environment that might give me a more positive lens on it, even if they’re small things compared to a big, negative struggle,” Parkin says.

A simple way to practice this is to go for a walk and look for things you find positive along the way, says Camozzi.

4.Journal Many people keep a gratitude journal, and with good reason, said Camozzi: “It has been shown that people who have a practice of gratitude live more fulfilling lives.” However, both Camozzi and Parkin point out the idea of a gratitude journal doesn’t resonate with everyone, and that’s OK. “I think journaling can be a really helpful thing, but not necessarily just gratitude. I think that can be a really powerful thing, but it might be particularly difficult right now because things are hard and we might not be feeling the best about the world or about people,” says Parkin.

Journaling can also be used as a space to acknowledge your feelings. If you’re experiencing rage or anger, Wright recommends moving your body until the physical feeling of anger has calmed.

Afterwards, it can be helpful to write your feelings down.

“You don’t need to edit or be grammatically correct or politically correct, no one is going to read it. It’s just for you.”

5.Focus on your breath According to Camozzi, focusing on your breathing is a simple self-soothing technique that may work for some people.

“You’ll notice I didn’t necessarily say deep breathing. Sometimes during stressful situations, we stop breathing enough and we need to take some time simply to get our breathing back to coming in and out smoothly,” notes Camozzi.

One way to do this is to think of your breathing like a box. Here’s how: When you inhale, imagine drawing a vertical line going upwards for three seconds.

Hold that breath for three seconds and imagine the line going horizontal across the top of the box.

Exhale for three seconds and imagine the line going down.

Hold for three second and imagine the line connecting to your starting point.

6.Connect with friends and family Connecting with people who love and care about you can be helpful in working through emotions. Talking to someone you trust about what’s going on can help process the negative experience more efficiently than attempting it on your own.

“Being with loved ones, being with people that you know, whether it’s talking with them or just being in [their] presence, that there’s a mutual care is something that can sooth us pretty quickly,” says Parkin.

One word of caution, however, is to be mindful of who you choose to share with.

“Not all connections are going to be safe ones for talking about negative experiences with,” says Camozzi.

With current physical distancing guidelines in place, it’s also important to acknowledge some people may struggle with virtual-based visits.

Life

In person visits are the preferable option but may not always be possible with current physical distancing guidelines. While virtual visits are useful, it’s important to acknowledge some people may experience distress or fatigue using technology to communicate, says Wright.

“It may feel cold, it may not feel intuitive, time delays in feedback can create stress.

If this happens, it may be helpful to communicate that with those you are talking to, break the communication into small chunks of time, and utilize an activity that helps you relax before or after.”

7.Re-frame your thinking Dialectical thinking refers to an ability to consider that different viewpoints can co-exist with one another.

“To avoid appearing inconsistent, we will express attitudes that match our behaviour, even if those attitudes are not true to our internal dialogue,” says Wright. “Learning how to practice dialectical thinking is a valuable place to begin. For example, ‘I prefer a clean house,’ and, ‘I don’t want to clean my house,’ can both be true, even though they appear contradictory. We begin to exercise distress tolerance when we engage in dialectical thinking.”

8.Be gentle with yourself The journey towards building emotional resilience and bringing more self-compassion into your life won’t always come easy. Parkin cautions it’s important to be aware if your desire to seek out positivity in your life is leading to more negativity through selfcriticism.

“If the message you’re getting is ‘you’re in pain and you’re suffering and that’s because you’re not being positive enough,’ you feel an intense pressure to be positive and that tends to come in the form of self-criticism.

So that very hunt for positivity means you are actually having more negative thoughts and more painful thoughts,” says Parkin. “If right now [trying to be more positive] is leading to more suffering and self-criticism then that’s not working, and then we’re looking more under the lens of compassion. Can you have compassion for the suffering you are having right now?”

9.Don’t avoid processing difficult experiences and emotions Sometimes, in our desire to re-frame a tragedy in a more positive light, we miss out on the importance of processing those difficult experiences.

“The risk in skipping over difficult situations is that your nervous system will remember it and that situation will continue to influence you — sometimes outside your regular awareness. The main point of switching from a pessimistic worldview to a more positive worldview is that it is a conscious effort that involves some effort on your part,” says Camozzi.

For Wright, growing a more positive outlook begins with learning to sit in non-judgement with the parts of ourselves that may not feel, think or behave in the most productive ways.

Learning to process negative emotions and experiences is where we build emotional resilience.

“I encourage my patients to be polite with their thoughts and feelings and to spend time just sitting with them, validating them and accepting them,” says Wright. “Thoughts and feelings are parts of us that through time have developed in an effort to protect us and even though these parts can say, think, feel, and do some very unkind things, their sole goal is to protect you in some way.”

10.It’s totally OK to seek out therapy Sometimes all the nature walks, journaling and connections aren’t enough and we find ourselves still feeling numb and unable to let go of negative thoughts and emotions. When that happens, you may want to consider seeking out a therapist who can help you to process those difficult pieces.

“Some people really struggle with the idea of compassion, particularly self-compassion and that would be when therapy would be recommended,” says Parkin.

Revelstoke has therapists available in both private and public practice. If cost is a concern for you, there are free therapy options available.

If you have extended medical benefits through your employer, you can also check to see if this will help cover some or all of the cost of counselling sessions.

You can find out more about counselling options available in Revelstoke by visiting revelstokelife.ca.

Jennifer Wright.

Registered Clinical Counsellor.

Talia Camozzi.

Registered Clinical Counsellor.

Melanie Parkin.

Registered Psychologist.

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34

LIFE

THE MANY LIVES OF

JOHN AUGUSTYN

By Laura Stovel.

The day my mother passed away, I was rushing out the door to the hospital when my then-96-year-old neighbour John Augustyn stopped me and said, “Lowrie” – that’s what he called me. “Lowrie, I almost died.” He said he was pulling the snow off his metal roof when it avalanched and buried him. All that was exposed was his baseball cap. Luckily, his friend John Prescott was helping him and, seeing the exposed ballcap, was able to dig him out.

That was John. He was a survivor. “I should have been dead many times over,” he would say and he would begin to tell his war-time stories. “Man oh man, did he ever love to share his stories,” said his grandson, Dan Brown. “John could tell a story with precision detail and keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Not one detail missed, not a date, not a meal he had on a specific day back in 1945, not the type of bullets flying over his head as he was being targeted while driving supplies to the front lines. He wouldn’t miss a thing.”

In 2012, John shared his stories with Revelstoke teacher Sarah Newton, who compiled them, adding her own research, in Jon Augustyn’s Amazing Story of Survival.

John was born on May 12, 1919 in Stopnica, Eastern Poland, where his family had a small farm. When World War II began 20 years later, he became a soldier, defending the nearby border with Russia.

The Russians invaded, captured John, and sent his family camps in Siberia.

John was among 800 Polish soldiers sent to work in a Russian mine as slave labourers. The men worked 200 meters underground in dangerous conditions with little food. After a falling rock injured his leg, he was assigned to help a female mining engineer with deliveries. That accident may have saved his life. The engineer taught him to drive, a skill he would use later in the war.

The captive men built roads, worked on a dairy farm, and built an airport runway in Lvov (now in Ukraine). Starving, with little hope of freedom, some committed suicide but John pressed on. In June 1941, when the Germans bombed the Lvov airport, the Russians marched the prisoners away from the front into Russia. Newton quotes John, “We started out on the march as 150 prisoners. After 700 miles we were now 800 prisoners.”

Once, the prisoners scrambled into a ditch during a fire fight with the Germans and another man fell on top of John. That man was shot and killed while John survived.

John never forgot the horrors he witnessed. “With blood all over my face, nowhere to wash, the blood dried hard in my nostrils and ears.” Still, he said, the prisoners were “friends, helping each other, walking together, hand in hand, hand over shoulder so you don’t fall, so you can sleep a few seconds. Hanging on each other, so tired. If we couldn’t walk, we would be shot.”

Finally, when Russia joined the Allies, Stalin ordered the prisoners freed. In Strabelisk, Russia, they were formed into a Polish contingent – in Newton’s words, “a rag tag starving group of prisoners” – to fight Germany and its allies. While they travelled to Uzbekistan, near the Afghan and Pakistani border, many succumbed to malaria. John recovered to full health.

A REVELSTOKE VETERAN'S INCREDIBLE STORY OF SURVIVAL THROUGH HARDSHIP DURING SOME OF THE WORST CHAPTERS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

At the Caspian Sea they were taken by train to Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbasy) where they were shipped to Phleve, in Persia (Iran).

Sick, starving and exhausted, the men struggled for life. Those who died were thrown overboard.

In Phleve, British paramedics took them to a hospital. “They took all our old clothes,” he told Newton. “I couldn’t even stand up anymore, a skeleton. They washed us, disinfected us, gave us intravenous, vaccinations, good medical care, all by the British Army. I tell you, we thought we were in paradise. After so much medication, I fall asleep. In the morning, nurse comes and said ‘AH! I thought you were dead!’ And I said, not so fast!”

Once he recovered, he was appointed as a driver in the British army – much safer than being a soldier on the front lines. He drove supplies and soldiers in Iran, Iraq, Palestine (Israel/Palestine) and Egypt, from where he and 19 other drivers boarded a ship bound for Taranto, Italy. When their ship was struck by a torpedo, a British destroyer rescued them. “They threw us a rope bridge, even though both ships were moving all over. The first four drivers who went ahead of me fell in. My friend and me tried to go across crawling, and the sailors hauled us up as soon as we got to the ship.” Twelve drivers drowned. Another narrow escape.

In Italy, trucks were often attacked and John had many narrow escapes, including during the long battle for Monte Cassino. For his efforts, John was offered a promotion from corporal to sergeant but he turned it down. “I was a big shot as a driver, and able to save money. I didn’t want to be promoted because I would lose my truck and all the perks that went with it.” In Italy he was paid $30 a month and was very happy with that.

After the war, the British offered the Polish soldiers the choice of returning to Poland or settling in an allied country. John had heard good things about Canada and decided to move here.

Before the soldiers departed, their commander told them, in

John’s words, “‘You going to new country, civilian life. You gotta get used to it, make your mind. Everything you have been through in the war, it will stay with you all your life.’ He was a good commander. We shook his hand, we were crying. The disasters, prisons, bombing, attacks, shooting, killing, war, everything you went through, all of a sudden finished. It was a difficult thing to do, this transition to a normal life.”

Allied veterans from non-Commonwealth countries could become Canadian citizens if they worked on a farm for one year. John moved to Lethbridge where the soldiers were discharged, and given $270 each. “I could have bought a model A car for that price. It was a big day!” John told Newton. He had already saved $600 “so I had lots of money. I always saved money.”

John and his three Polish companions worked for two years on a sugar beet farm, then went to Fernie. There, a Doukhobor man suggested that John buy a power saw and work in the forestry industry. That’s exactly what he did, eventually working for his longtime employer, Celgar logging company, out of Revelstoke.

On a trip back to Lethbridge, John met the love of his life, Amalia (Emily) Vettori, a nurse from Milan. They married in Lethbridge and John brought her to Revelstoke. The couple had two daughters, Delores and Christine, and bought the little white house on the corner of Third Street and Connaught where they would spend the rest of their active lives.

John and Emily were known for their beautiful, abundant garden.

John grew fruit and vegetables; Emily nurtured her flowers and did the preserves and cooking. John often bragged about Emily’s white borscht. “So tasty, I tell you,” he would say. His garden lasted late into autumn. A hole in his unheated garage floor, covered with a trap door, stored apples and beets until the spring. A fur coat, purchased at the thrift store, insulated them and he sprinkled them occasionally with snow to keep them fresh.

John’s garage was a wonder. He would never throw anything out, neither screws nor machinery. As Brown said, “John taught himself everything he knew about fixing and working on chainsaw engines during his time as a faller. He was determined to learn so that if his saw broke down he wouldn’t have to pay someone else to fix it.” His reputation for fixing things grew and he could often be seen, well into his 90s, repairing small engines.

John was a wonderful neighbour, as generous with his fruits and vegetables as he was with his stories, which reminds me of another of his many brushes with danger. He would not pick his fruit until they were ripe, even if bears were around. A few years ago, a bear climbed into his plum tree, right near our shared fence. John would have none of it. He grabbed a long stick and from my side of the fence he started poking the bear to try to get him down. Of course, this episode became fodder for another of his wonderful stories.

John lived to be 101 years old and could be seen, often helped by a family work party, gardening and stacking his precious firewood – cut 16 inches precisely – until he was 99.

Photos contributed by the Augustyn family.

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36

HEALTH

37

TOURISM TALKS WHAT TO EXPECT IN REVELSTOKE THIS WINTER

Winter in Revelstoke is a busy time for our businesses, particularly our bars and restaurants. This year we’re expecting the same bustle of visiting skiers, snowmobilers, and adventure seekers. Due to physical distancing and capacity limitations, we are preparing for a slightly different outlook this winter. We encourage you to consider the implications of COVID-19, whether you’re a visitor or local.

Our restaurants are operating at a limited capacity to prevent overcrowding spaces and to allow for physical distancing. Additionally, by provincial mandate, parties at restaurants are limited to six people. This may mean waiting longer to get a table at a restaurant. It also may mean that your entire party won’t be seated together. There is no mingling between tables - once seated, you are asked to remain in your seat unless it’s necessary to get up. If you are a large party, consider dining in. There are a number of local catering and private chef services available to cook for you in your accommodation. Most of our restaurants are offering take out, which you can enjoy in the comfort of your accommodation. If you’re looking to head out for drinks, be aware that by provincial mandate bars and restaurants must close by 10 pm. Take advantage of the great liquor selection and our local breweries and distilleries and take some drinks back to your accommodation (while of course being respectful of your neighbours!). Remember that there may be long wait times to get into restaurants - be patient!

If you plan on taking public transportation, make sure to wear a mask. Masks will be mandatory on the Revelstoke Resort Shuttle this year, as well as on the BC Transit public buses. Masks will also be required on transportation links to Revelstoke, such as The Rider Express and The Stoke Shuttle from the Kelowna Airport. Free “REVY.” branded masks are available at the Revelstoke Visitor Information Centre.

Face coverings or masks will be required at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, including in the Village base area, all indoor facilities, lift lines and while riding in the gondola and on chairlifts. Appropriate masks and face coverings are defined as any double-layer material that adequately covers a person’s mouth and nose. Children 3 and under are not required to wear a mask or face covering. Reservations will not be required, but Revelstoke Mountain Resort may implement capacity restrictions during busy periods. During peak periods Revelstoke Mountain Resort will be loading up to 8 passengers per gondola cabin or 4 people per chair. Guests can request to ride with their own group. For more information, please see revelstokemountainresort.com.

Help us keep Revelstoke safe by: 1. Wearing a mask or face covering when in public spaces.

2. Maintaining physical distancing of 2 metres where possible.

3. Self-assessing and self-isolating if you have any symptoms of illness.

4. Adhering to mandatory quarantine rules for out of country visitors.

5. Maintaining a small bubble of companions.

6. Being kind, patient, and cautious.

We’re looking forward to a safe and fun 2020/2021 winter season.

To read previous Tourism Talks columns, check out https://seerevelstoke.com/tourism-talks/

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ARTS & CULTURE

The winter ski and snowboard film premiere season was unfortunately disrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic, but you can still see local faces shredding Revelstoke places online. Here's our guide to some local 2020/21 snow films. By Sofie Hagland.

Izzy Lynch skiing with her toddler Knox in Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for the filming of Motherload, a film that . Photo by Zoya Lynch

Dustin Craven getting pitted during the production of Octopus Boys. Photo by Dillon Ross

Motherload

Octopus Boys

The original idea was to make a fun montage, showing the chaotic craziness of getting your kids out the door to go skiing. However, life doesn’t always go to plan. After a tragic skiing accident last year, ‘The free-range family’ lost their dad and husband, Dave Treadway.

Having her life turned upside down in the most terrible of ways Dave’s wife, professional skier Tessa Treadway could no longer make a movie just about the fun of skiing with your kids. Together with her friend pro skier Izzy Lynch, the badass single mothers take us behind the scenes and show us how to keep chasing life no matter what.

In a busy everyday life, balancing a career with motherhood, getting up on the hill can seem like an expedition in itself. Between diapers, missing gloves, and a ski bag so heavy you can barely stand up, it’s easy to just stay in.

Motherload tells us that even though the sorrow doesn’t get any weaker, your back will grow stronger, making that load feel just a little bit easier to carry.

The film is a celebration of the families’ connection to the mountains. The mountains take, but the mountains can also heal.

Izzy’s sister, the award-winning photographer and filmmaker Zoya Lynch, beautifully captures the families in Kicking Horse and Revelstoke Mountain Resort, showing us that there’s still laughter and the love for skiing, in between soul-rocking hard moments.

The Motherload premiered at the Banff Mountain Film Festival this year.

Punky clothing brand and snowboard media Wasted Youth drops their fourth movie ‘Octopus Boys.’

It’s not only the powder that’s deep with this one. The idea behind the movie is where stuff starts to get weird, good weird.

Snowboard dad and “guiding light” Keith Martin had a dream where he was riding an octopus naked. “I’m not sure if he was naked or if the octopus was naked,” filmer and editor Nick Khattar laughs.

Khattar explains that the short is a “metaphysical look” on their snowboarding through the lens of a dream or the subconscious.

It’s funky, it’s nightmarish, but it works and it’s oh so much fun. All I know is that if I could shred like Sean Barrett, Keith Martin, Chris Curran, James Coombs, Taylor Roberts, Johan Rosen, Benoit Pageo, and Dustin Craven, I would never complain again.

The cool kids of Revelstoke are out on a ripping mission, and they won’t stop if you begged them to. Featuring fails left, right, and centre, the riders show their commitment to getting it just right, no tumble is too big. Luckily, and maybe surprisingly, no injures came out of Wasted Youth’s production last season, Khattar confirms.

Octopus Boys is a time machine of what we can start expecting from the snowboarding scene in the future. Big terrain and tricks executed so smooth skiers will second guess their life choices (but of course never admit it).

It does not look like Wasted Youth is slowing down any time soon. With La Niña around the corner, this year the team might not be able to live by their slogan: “Our passion for being in the mountains is as strong as our love for the party afterwards,” but with a diminished hangover their legs will boost them into the abyss of that backcountry kicker.

You can find the full movie on all snowboarding websites that knows what’s kickin’.

39

Heading up for another lap of blower pow for the film Oh Boy. Photo by Dillon Ross

The splitboarding crew paddling down Columbia River while filming for Without a Paddle.

Photo by Seb Grondin

Oh Boy

Without a Paddle

If you like seeing boarders chuckin’ their meat off 40-foot cliffs, you’ll like Oh Boy. But be warned, you might suffer from some serious FOMO after 19 minutes of drooling at bottomless pow. Last season was good, but was it really THAT good?

Or maybe it’s true what they say. It’s not about the conditions, it’s about your send.

Sledding around Revelstoke and Golden, ‘Oh Boy’ has you busing for the season to come. How hard can it be to drop a pillow line shifting 180 for every drop, or clear a little 720 off the mountain? They sure make it look effortless like it’s all fun and games.

But being towed into a make-shift half-pipe is serious business. The riders make sure you know just how serious they are by flicking the finger at the camera.

‘Oh Boy’ is a tribute to the good old days. Without any storytelling involving a Nepalese monk, or a shaman doing a snow dance, the movie is just a whole lot of shredding.

After a good season filled with some massive hucks in big boy terrain, I’m sure the local riders weren’t all too gutted about the COVID flight restrictions, as they got in plenty of airtime this year already.

The stacked team features Darcy Keller, Tyler Lightfoot, Dozer, Taylor Roberts, Dustin Craven, Scott Shaw, Keith Martin, Tanner Davidson, and Minike Yamada.

You might notice some of the same rippers greeting us with their presence in both ‘Oh Boy,’ and ‘Octopus Boys.’ Nick Khattar complains about the headache of organizing film days for one group of friends scattered between two productions.

It must be hard right, when all your friends are just too good to feature in one movie at a time?

If you want to witness these faceshots in person, please feel free to watch the whole thing on Shredbots’ YouTube channel.

It’s January, minus 40, and the wind is howling 90 km/h. Why not go for a paddle?

Not just a little dip, but a 10-day adventure down the Columbia River.

The Revelstoke boys Nick Khattar, Johan Rosen, Ben Howell, and Seb Grondin are the only ones out of their mind enough to chuck four splitboards, a tent, and a wood stove into two 20-foot Old Town canoes to see what happens.

Every summer the ‘David Thompson Paddlesport Classic’ runs from Mica Creek down to Revelstoke Dam. Nick is the brains behind the project. He wanted to do something different, so why not replicate the race in winter, and shred those boat-access only pillow lines along the way while they’re at it When the river started turning into slush and ice, the paddling wasn’t as fun and easy as the boys had expected, but nothing a hip flask of whiskey can’t fix, right?

The 150-kilometre-long paddle featured endless pow, so good that one day they just couldn't stop. The boys chucked on some headlamps and rode all night long.

‘Without a Paddle’ is not just a film about friendship, but about frostbite, skinny dipping, and the panic of losing each other in freezing fog.

Aspiring guide Seb Grondin admits that next time, “maybe we’ll check the weather forecast a bit better.”

The snowboard short, premiered at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) and will be travelling to festivals across the world to places like Sweden and Poland.

40

FEATURE

Chef Josh White. Photo: Sofie Hagland.

Do you ever wonder about the avocado you're munching on in winter, what its journey was to get to you? Or relish in the extra sweetness of carrots picked from the home veggie garden?

Terra Firma's Kitchen, Revelstoke's newest cafe, is the result of these thoughts and when 'what if' questions come to life.

Terra Park and Kevan McCroy have been firm friends for many years. As moms with kids in ski league, they would steal time away to ski and talk dreams. Their passion for good food and keeping it local saw them throw ideas around over the years of a farm-to-table cafe concept for Revelstoke and what that might look like.

"Modern times have made it too easy to make whatever you want when you want it," Terra explains. She's the owner of the local Terra Firma Farms, which she runs with her partner Rob. "Eating seasonally takes advantage of the food that tastes best during the season it was meant to be eaten. For example we are growing certain varieties of squash that were harvested early October but won’t be at their peak of flavour until they’ve been stored for at least a few months while other squash varieties need to be used up within the first couple months of harvest. Nature has a way or providing us an abundance for every season."

FARM-TO-TABLE CAFE OPENS IN REVELSTOKE

TASTY LOCAL PRODUCE FOR A FEEL-GOOD MEAL AT TERRA FIRMA'S KITCHEN

By Emily Kemp.

Terra Firma's Kitchen uses ingredients grown as locally.

Baking, soups and local foods at Terra Firma's Kitchen.

The cafe idea was just something that was fun to talk about until fortuitously this year the space from the closed Minh Tuyet's Vietnamese Restaurant became available. Downtown on Victoria Road near Save-On Foods, needing only a few renovations and a conversion to a homey farmhouse style, it was the potential the pair needed for the endeavour's start. And Kevan, having sold the successful The Modern Bakeshop & Cafe last year after 15 years of hard work, was free to set her business know-how on something new.

"I'm excited to do another place," Kevan says, who also previously owned The Summit Cafe in Canmore for seven years. "It's something different than what I'm used to, something I can learn from."

And this is going to be different, depending on the seasons rather than the transport industry.

Food security, meaning having a stable food supply, has been brought to the forefront of our minds since the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting how reliant we are on the globalized food supply and, if something goes wrong, how seriously we might be impacted.

Revelstoke's early years were focused on self-sufficiency, with as many as 200 farms stretching along the Columbia River feeding their families until the 1960s. But these days, that number has dwindled drastically and as highlighted in the 2014 Revelstoke Food Security Strategy, we rely mostly on food coming from further than 250 kilometres away.

Revelstoke's community values reflect lifestyle choices of sustainability and it's one of the reasons why Terra Firma Farms, now in its 11th season, has been such a success. They're a frequent stop at the local farmers markets, they have a veggie box subscription in the summer,

and they are part of the Local Food Initiative's annual farm-to-table fundraiser dinner.

While it's not uncommon for restaurants to feature fresh and local food and advertise seasonal specials, this cafe takes it a step further with having Terra Firma as its main source of food, merely five kilometres away, as well as regional suppliers.

"Our mission is to connect people to real food," Kevan says. "We think Revelstoke really cares about where their food is coming from."

Many are familiar with the exceptional taste of something grown in the backyard and Kevan and Terra want to build on that for the majority, to show that seasonal eating is anything but boring.

While you won’t see any avocado toast or banana bread, you will find their winter’s menu full of root vegetable soups and salads, sourdough bread made with local grains, pumpkin and squash folded into baked goods, creamy oatmeal and granola with stewed orchard fruits, and hearty breakfasts made with organic farm-fresh eggs and pasture-raised pork.

This focus on keeping it fresh and local will have the chefs on their toes and customers enamoured with wholesome food.

"We will have to be nimble and creative," Terra says. "Our chefs will be creating seasonal menus as well as using whatever is coming fresh from the fields that week.

Everything is made from scratch creating a more labour-intensive system."

The cafe's capacity will have a maximum of 32 people with tables spaced appropriately.

Customers can order at the till or sit and be served. While it may seem like a brave move to open in COVID times, Terra and Kevan are confident in the values that drive this idea and the community.

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FEATURE

ACTIVISTS SAY CARIBOU THREATENED

BY PROPOSED CUTBLOCKS IN ARGONAUT CREEK Argonaut Creek is a forested valley located north of Revelstoke, accessed via the Big Mouth Creek forestry road off Highway 23 North. The old-growth forest and high mountain range is the home of the strongest remaining Southern Mountain caribou in the area, a herd of 150 animals.

To protect this Northern Columbia herd, the nearby logging road in Upper Big Mouth Valley was recently rehabilitated.

Environmental organizations reacted when B.C. Timber Sales proposed new cutblocks in the drainage. Environmentalists claim the area is critical caribou habitat.

Wildsight’s conservation specialist Eddie Petryshen and the general manager of Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation (RCFC) Mike Copperthwaite explain their sides of the story.

By Sofie Hagland.

A Southern Mountain Caribou.

Photo by M. Bradley/Parks Canada.

Wildsight Conservation Specialist Eddie Petryshen Eddie Petryshen dropped out of law school to study geography after a dramatic hiking accident in the Southern Rockies, making him realize he wanted to protect the world’s only Inland Temperate Rainforest.

Today, Petryshen works with land-use issues and caribou recovery as a conservation specialist for the environmental organization Wildsight. After seeing the caribou herds in the Southern Selkirks become fully lost over the last few years, Petryshen fears that the same will happen in Argonaut Creek.

Only 40 per cent of the caribou’s habitat around Revelstoke is protected under Government Actions Regulation (GAR), the specialist explains.

“The challenge with caribou recovery is that you can’t make these big compromises, where you’re logging on one side of the valley while protecting the other. That doesn’t really work for caribou,” Petryshen says.

LOGGING OLD GROWTH PUTS CARIBOU AT RISK Petryshen explains that unlike other woodland caribou, the southern mountain species migrate up and down the mountains depending on season.

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In winter, the caribou’s main food supply is lichen found on old-growth forests, when other vegetation is covered by snow. The definition of old growth in the B.C. Interior is forests more than 140 years old.

Old growth logging takes away the caribou’s food source, and clearcuts attract moose, elk, and deer, resulting in more wolves, cougars, and other predators. Logging roads make it easy for these predators to travel up high, making caribou easy prey, Petryshen says.

B.C. TIMBER SALES PROPOSED NINE CUTBLOCKS IN CORE CARIBOU HABITAT B.C. Timber Sales plans on auctioning off 14 cutblocks in Argonaut Creek. Based on new data, Wildsight claims that nine of these cutblocks are located in critical caribou habitat. Petryshen himself spotted fresh caribou tracks when camping in the drainage.

WILDSIGHT LAUNCHES SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN After seeing the destruction of the caribou habitat up close, the Wildsight specialist started a social media and email campaign trying to stop the logging plans of Argonaut Creek drainage.

Several other environmental organizations, such as Echo Conservation Society, Wilderness Committee, and the BC Wildlife Federation joined in and sent over a thousand letters to provincial and federal officials.

“I think there is still a bit of an internal fight, within the provincial government and B.C. Timber Sales, which way to go on these cutblocks. That’s why people’s input is very valuable,” Petryshen says.

GOVERNMENT’S CRITICAL CARIBOU HABITAT MAP REMAINS A DRAFT FOR SIX YEARS After facing lawsuits from environmental groups and some public pressure, the federal government made a critical caribou habitat map in 2014, as a part of the recovery strategy for mountain caribou. However, the map remains an unofficial draft. The plan was to make a more detailed map in collaboration with the province, but this has yet to happen, Petryshen said.

The conservation specialist believes the government is using a “delay tactic.”

“It should not take six years to refine mapping on a species that is amongst the most studied mammals in North America,” he said.

The woodland caribou is listed as a threatened species in the federal Species at Risk Act. “The problem is that the act does not automatically protect species at risk, unless they are on federal land, making it possible for the province to prioritize economical interest on private land,” Petryshen said.

Now the environmental organization is “pushing hard” for B.C. to follow through with their promise from the last election to make a provincial species at risk act.

Wildsight activist Eddie Petryshen. Photo contributed.

A CANARY IN THE COAL MINE “The Inland Temperate Rainforest is one of the rarest ecosystems we have. There are not many places in the world where scientists are still discovering new species,” Petryshen said.

The complications of losing southern caribou for the wider ecosystem is unknown, however, the conservation specialist explains that everything is interconnected. “Everything down to certain species of mushroom which rely on caribou dump to reproduce will be affected,” he said.

“The caribou is the canary in the coal mine. It is not just caribou populations that are declining, but screech-owls, flying squirrels, fishers, wolverines, as well as lichen and moss that exists nowhere else,” the specialist said.

Petryshen’s viewpoint is clear: it’s not only about saving the caribou, but the Inland temperate rainforest as a whole.

Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation's Michael Copperthwaite General manager of Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation (RCFC), Michael Copperthwaite, has worked as a forester in B.C. for over thirty years.

RCFC was founded in 1993 after a local referendum to ensure economical gain from logging around Revelstoke went back into the local community. Today, jobs related directly and indirectly to logging is the largest employer in Revelstoke, Copperthwaite said.

The experienced forester has lived through a “huge change” in the forest industry, from not having many rules at all, to working hard doing the best environmental job they can under the Forest and Range Practises Act (FRPA).

RCFC has worked with provincial biologists to set aside the most critical caribou habitat within their tree farming license, adding up to 20 000 hectares of old growth, half of which impacted the corporation’s logging plans, Copperthwaite said.

MINIMIZING IMPACT: PARTIAL CUTTING, PENNING, AND HERD PLANNING Where RCFC is permitted to log is under constant assessment.

Partial cutting and heli-cutting are some of the many techniques used to minimize impact, the forester says. In easier terrain, partial cutting is preferable to minimize scrub layer and leave lichen behind. Heli-cutting is not used frequently due to cost; however, it’s beneficial for caribou as no roads are needed, he said.

RCFC also removes diseased and damaged trees to make up more room for healthier trees to grow faster, speeding up the forest’s regeneration.

From 2014–19 the forestry corporation was a part of the

In this file photo, Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation general manager Mike Copperthwaite, right, with former board chairperson Dr. Geoff Battersby and RCFC forester Kevin Bollefer.

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Feature

maternity penning project Revelstoke Rearing Caribou in the Wild Society (RCRW), which had the goal of increasing calf survival. The results weren't as good as Copperthwaite had hoped for, potentially due to the pen's elevation being too low and hot, he said. A new penning project up higher is in the works, led by First Nations.

RCFC is also working on caribou herd planning with the province re-evaluating previously set aside areas and new information from biologists to protect areas caribou needs the most. “We are all still learning,” Copperthwaite said.

As much as the forester wishes to speed up the herd planning process, the provincial election and COVID-19 pandemic has naturally slowed down the progress.

determined what areas needed to be set aside, they didn’t think Argonaut Creek had enough caribou activity to be protected.

“But that can have changed in the last ten years, and now with better information, they might be looking at this again, but in the meantime BCTS is continuing with their plans, I guess,” Copperthwaite said.

Another problem is the lack of detail in the federal government’s maps. “Big areas are marked as critical caribou habitat, but it encompasses a lot of smaller areas where we have better data showing no caribou is using that area,” Copperthwaite said.

THE PROCESS BEHIND A CUTBLOCK

CALL FOR GOVERNMENT TO PRODUCE UPDATED CARIBOU HABITAT MAPS

Before filing a cutblock application, RCFC sends out their plans to First Nations for feedback, followed by an evaluation assessment of the area that is later announced to the public for comments, the forester explains.

What both environmental organizations and RCFC agree upon, is that we need more detailed and updated governmental mapping of critical caribou habitats. This tool would help to balance the protection of caribou with a sustainable logging industry.

ARGONAUT CREEK CUTBLOCK MAP EXPLAINED

NO RESPONSES FROM GOVERNMENT ON THE STORY

On the government’s online database, the overview map of Argonaut Creek does not show the drainage as a critical caribou habitat area.

The environmental organization Wilderness Committee (WC) has made a map layer based on new information from caribou GPS collars identifying caribou activity in the drainage.

WC’s map shows the already built five-kilometre logging road to the five first cutblocks, where three of them are in what they define as critical caribou habitat.

Copperthwaite explained that at the time when the government

The Revelstoke Mountaineer contacted BC Timber Sales and BC Ministry of Forests in a timely manner; however, neither responded by our deadline. We contacted a government scientist who was happy to talk, but needed permission from Victoria-based government communications overseers. The communications department did not allow access to government scientists or respond to our questions by deadline, which unfortunately leaves our readers in the dark about the latest government policies and actions on the mountain caribou file.

The Upper Argonaut Creek area. Photo: Eddie Petryshen.

Road construction in the Argonaut Creek area.

Feature

DINING Whether you’re fueling up, unwinding or winding up for après, we strongly recommend making a reservation or using our online system to order take out.

Due to new Covid-19 guidelines, we are operating at a reduced capacity and anticipate that Resort food & beverage outlets will be busy during peak times.

BOOK A TABLE OR ORDER TAKE OUT revelstokemtn.com/dining

Local.

Independent. info@revelstokemountaineer.com

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ARTS & CULTURE

MEET THE ARTISTS BEHIND THE ART ALLERIES The master plan Every autumn, local artists display their recent creations at LUNA Art Fest in Revelstoke. Buchanan wanted to make a more lasting impression, something more permanent that could last for years to come.

The idea was to replicate a contemporary art gallery, where each floor has different mediums and genres.

The ambitious plan is to create a full network of art alleyways across Revelstoke.

“A secret discovery off the beaten path,” Buchanan explains.

Making Revelstoke safer Dark alleyways are not exactly known to be cozy. “You kill a few birds with one stone.

The light makes the art look cool, but it also works as security lighting, which the police and building owners have been very happy about,” Buchanan says.

Green ethos A Simple Joy, by Revelstoke metal artist Kyle Thornley. Photo: Sofie Hagland/ Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

Canadian Pacific Photo by Rob Buchanan, art by Kelly Hutcheson.

To make the Art Alleries last at least a decade, the outdoor gallery’s paintings and photographs are made with powder-coated aluminum, which is also used to paint cars and airplanes.

Reducing the project’s environmental impact has been a core value from the start.

The picture lights are run by solar-powered LED lights, the golden picture frames are made out of recycled water bottles and sawdust, and many of the pieces are made of recycled materials.

Artist Kyle Thornley. Photo by Sofie Hagland.

Buchanan hopes that these alleyways will create a new face of Revelstoke and inspire people to think outside of the box.

Tricky ski art by Rob Buchanan It was bothering Buchanan how many skis were going to the dump. You must be able to reuse them for something he thought.

Then he realized skis are the perfect medium for outdoor art, as they are made to be durable in the rain, snow, and minus 40.

However, what the artist didn’t realize was what a headache he had just signed up for. “Cutting through skis is impossible.

They are made of metal, laminated wood, fiberglass, epoxy, and foam. For every cut, you need at least five tools and every ski is different,” Buchanan says.

“The other hard part is, there have been decades of ski companies researching how to make a product that nothing sticks to, and now all of a sudden I want to stick it onto something,” Buchanan laughs. The secret recipe became to carve a diamond pattern into the back of the skis, and using heavy-duty construction adhesive, as well as screwing the pieces into an aluminum plate.

Blacksmith Kyle Thornley: A Simple Joy Blacksmith Kyle Thornley started his career in the hidden, trying to get away with making little sculptures out of the scrap bin at his welding apprenticeship.

Artist Kelly Hutcheson. Photo by Sofie Hagland.

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CERTAIN PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD MAKES YOU WANT TO DIVE INTO THEIR IMAGINATION TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WHERE THEIR GENIUS IDEAS COME FROM. THE BRAINS BEHIND THE ART ALLERIES, ROB BUCHANAN, IS ONE OF THESE PEOPLE.

By Sofie Hagland.

Today, he has his own workshop in the Big Eddy where he creates large scale pieces, such as ‘A Simple Joy,’ out of metal from the scrap yard.

The blacksmith wanted this piece to illustrate the connection between people and nature. “I wanted to spread some light during these dark times, to put a smile on people’s faces,” he says.

Thornley never turns down a challenge.

For every design, he tries out new techniques with new tools, which he often builds himself. “There is enough to learn for a lifetime,” Thornley says.

Adventure photographer Bruno Long: A friend of a friend

Hutcheson had a hope that doing a Bachelor of Fine Arts would make her realize what medium was her thing. But after graduating she couldn’t help but feeling a little lost.

New to town and out of work, Hutcheson started experimenting with stained glass, which her dad taught her as a teenager.

“It's a bit random and unexpected, but all the best things are,” Hutcheson says.

The artist quickly became known for her Begbie Bears, and as much as she loves making them, it’s nice to change it up every now and then.

Huctheson wanted to make a piece tributing Revelstoke’s history. The steam train at the railway museum became her muse, and today you can find ‘Canadian Pacific’ spanning across four windows at the Revelstoke Credit Union.

Even though the sports photographer Bruno Long calls Revelstoke home, he has spent most of his time chasing adventure elsewhere.

The pandemic mixed with a shoulder injury made the photographer homebound.

With time to reflect, the artist realized he wanted change. “I loved the cultural aspects of travelling, but I was tired of going to remote places halfway across the world to ski shitty snow or mountain bike somewhere that’s not made for it,” he says.

The artist wanted to make an impact by creating something more personal and meaningful.

With social distancing in place, people were craving social connection Long says.

He started his project ‘A friend of a friend,’ taking over 50 portraits of local Revelstoke residents and hearing their story. Each subject had to recommend the next friend to feature in the project, which later turned into an Instagram series.

“People want to open up. You see them walking down the street, but you have no idea what they have gone through. Everyone has a story to tell,” Long says.

The pandemic has taught the photographer a lesson: “There are all these limits and restrictions of where you can go and travel, but there are no restrictions on creativity.”

You can find the Art Alleries in the alleyway just west of Mackenzie Avenue in downtown Revelstoke, B.C.

Artist Bruno Long. Photo by Carolyn Buchanan.

Rob Buchanan. Photo contributed.

Stained glass artist Kelly Hutcheson: Canadian Pacific

A friend of a friend by Bruno Long. Photo: Sofie Hagland/Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

Begbie beer by Kelly Hutcheson.

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THE STOKED PALATE A delicious harvest from a local garden. Photo: Jennifer Avery.

HOMEGROWN HARVESTS AND FARM-TO-TABLE FLAVOURS DISHING UP ON THE LOCAL FOOD MOVEMENT TAKING ROOT IN REVELSTOKE

By Charlotte Sit

‘Stay local.' Within the events of this year’s lockdowns and travel restrictions, most of us kept close to home and heeded advice to ‘stay local.' As it turns out for many Revelstokians, the ‘stay local’ approach also translated to the food they were eating. The town’s vulnerability to food supply disruptions were once again highlighted with the unfolding of the pandemic’s effects on global supply chains. People found themselves stuck with an unexpected amount of free time, accompanied by stern warnings to ‘stay at home;' this was the perfect recipe for locals to rethink their connection to where their food came from.

Fortunately, the start of spring coincided perfectly with the growing interest in locally sourced foods as people looked to their yards melting out from the snow. Around town the rise in the popularity of gardening was obvious — newly built raised garden beds, lawns turned in vegetable patches, and improvised green houses. Reports of seed shortages from national suppliers meant that suddenly everyone, everywhere, was ready to get their hands dirty and grow their own food.

With the heightened interest in home gardening, the Revelstoke Local Food Initiative (LFI) became the go-to resource for gardeners both new and old.

With their regular public education and outreach programs on hold, they refocused their educational material in ways that would meaningfully support those looking to grow their own food. Their garden

guru workshops moved to an online series of regularly updated social media posts that shared season-specific gardening advice in a way that was relevant to Revelstoke’s growing conditions, as well as taking into account the crops people enjoyed eating.

For those without access to gardening space, the LFI also offered the use of two different Community Gardens. Compared to previous years, the level of interest in food production was noticeably increased, with members taking more time to plan and work on their allotted garden spaces in hopes of maximizing their harvests. Other grassroots efforts to support local growers through resource sharing took hold, including an immensely popular Facebook page dedicated to sharing ideas and knowledge, as well as a community organized bulk soil delivery from a wholesale supplier.

The LFI also continued to operate the popular Saturday Farmer’s Market, providing locals a chance to purchase food produced from within the Revelstoke area as well as nearby regions, while also supporting local small businesses. Each week brought about a new assortment of fruits and vegetables, rich in the flavours and textures that only freshly harvested crops can have. Because many of the market vendors are also directly responsible for growing their own crops, the level of care put into the production of the food is palatable in the quality and diversity of what is

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Charlotte Sit is a backcountry chef with a boundless enthusiasm for sharing the joy of eating well. She has cooked for hundreds of hungry adventurers at over a dozen backcountry lodges throughout B.C. and Alberta and is the owner of Mountain Standard Catering.

A local gardener tends to an array of plants. Photo: Sona Cermakova.

available. For curious eaters, the market also offers shoppers a way to try heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables that can’t be found in the standard grocery store aisle. Not only do those foods taste better, but the timeline from harvest to sale contributes to a longer storage life, which in turn reduces potential food waste.

Local restaurant chefs were also keen to work with producers to showcase the best of local ingredients, further adding to the demand for such products. The benefits of sourcing from a reliable, consistent producer with almost no supply chain constraints were appreciated by chefs, as well as the ability to exchange ideas and work in tandem to give producers some direction on what to grow.

Even with the end of the growing season in town, access to locally produced foods continues well into the winter with the LFI Winter Market. The market is a chance for local producers to continue selling the hardier crops they keep in controlled storage throughout the winter months, such as root crops, cabbages, and squashes. Some vendors even continue using greenhouses to produce a small amount of greens. Other products available often include local preserves, fresh baking, farm eggs, and frozen meats.

Despite the challenges and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, staying local proved to be full of delicious possibilities to experience new connections with the food we eat, whether they came from your garden, your friend’s garden, or from the garden of a local small business.

Thanks to Jesse Johnson-Hill and Chris Rubens of First Light Farms, Kelsey Gasparini and Kate Borucz from the Revelstoke Local Food Initiative, and Josh White from Terra Firma’s Kitchen for sharing their insight into Revelstoke’s local food scene with me.

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SPONSORED CONTENT

R GEAR: NOT YOUR AVERAGE GIFT SHOP FROM LOCALLY-SOURCED SOUVENIRS TO SUSTAINABLE OUTERWEAR, R GEAR PROMOTES SMART SHOPPING THIS WINTER.

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“Like many others, we, as a store, need to reduce our footprint,” says Catherine Marleau, Retail Manager at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. “For us, this means supporting brands that share our values.”

Catherine has been working at the resort’s retail store, R Gear, for just over two years now. Her mission is to promote smarter decision making when it comes to gearing up for winter. In the retail world—an undeniably materialistic industry—this is done in two ways, she says. First, by supporting local. Second, by favouring sustainable items.

With this year’s unprecedented hardships top of mind, she has chosen to give local artists front and centre stage. Talented female artists and designers

such as Emily Beaudoin, Turbo Bambi, SickChick, Vanessa St-Yves, Hailey Stewart, and Tina Lindegaard (of Begbie Studios) are just a few of the names you will see featured in store this winter.

The store also carries a wide selection of organic cotton t-shirts and hoodies that are printed and designed in B.C. (in fact, 80% of them are designed and printed here in Revelstoke, by Integrated Apparel). The result of these partnerships is an exclusive range of custom souvenirs that you will not find anywhere else in the world, let alone in other Revelstoke stores.

Now, let’s shift our focus to the technical selection. Catherine knows that buying new gear to support our seasonal hobbies doesn’t quite fit under

the umbrella of living sustainably. And, as such, she has made a conscious effort to work with brands that are paving the way for greener gear alternatives.

One such brand is Picture Organic Clothing.

Every season, this France-based brand cooks up new, innovative ways to recycle product waste by actually building it in to their freshest line of technical garments. The goal here is to minimize the environmental impact of their products, post-life.

Another factor when selecting “key” brands, is prioritizing local, made-in-Canada product lines.

This is why Catherine has chosen to heavily endorse the Vancouver owned-and-operated apparel brand, Arc’teryx Equipment. “In terms of quality, their line of products is one the best, if not the best, in

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1.

PHOTOGRAPHY Laura Szanto WORDS Louise Stanway STYLING Catherine Marleau

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MODELS Steph Schaft & Darren Gill

the outerwear industry,” she explains. An Arc’teryx item can last a lifetime (literally) and if something were to break or underperform, their lifetime warranty is there as a safety net. The thinking behind this approach, is that if you invest in one quality garment, it should alleviate the need to buy multiple pieces of equipment year on year; reducing both your carbon footprint and your overall spend.

If you’re curious to find out more about what’s in store and how it encompasses Revelstoke’s vibe, well, with its convenient ski-in, ski-out location, the easiest way is to pop by and take a look around.

R Gear is conveniently located at the bottom of the gondola in the village plaza, and season pass holders are eligible for 10% discount in store.

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Steph wears the Tanya Jacket in Burgundy ($329.95) and the Aeron Bib in Black ($394.95) by Picture Organic Clothing. She uses the Smith Optics Squad XL in Black out ($169.95). She retains her heat with the Dakine Cutter Beanie in Black ($26.95) and the Fleetwood Mitt in Stone/Turtledove ($74.95).

Darren wears the The Anton Jacket in Imaginary World ($364.95); this brand-new bio-sourced hard shell is made from repurposed sugarcane waste, converted into biobased polyester. He couples his jacket with the Zephir Bib in Safran ($379.95), also from Picture Organic Clothing. To protect himself from the elements, he wears the Dakine Hunter Balaclava in Black ($41.95), the Oakley Wind Jacket 2.0 (Sunglasses) in White ($194.95), the Coal The North Cap in Off White ($38.95) and Dakine Leather Titan Gore-tex Glove in Black ($99.95)

Sponsored Content

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3.

Steph wears the Famer Jacket in Black ($399.95) and the Haakon Bib Pant in Pink ($299.95) from Picture Organic Clothing.

Her essential accessories are the Dakine Pinto Mitt in Black ($69.95), the Sydney Beanie from Chaos in White ($27.95) and Squad Goggles from Smith in AC Desiree Melancon ($139.95).

Darren wears Stone Jacket in Red/Dark Blue ($399.95) and the Object Pants in Stone ($249.95) from Picture Organic Clothing.

His headwear is the Coal Tracker Hat in Black ($52.95) and the Smith Optics Squad Mag in TNF Red X Smith ($259.95). He keeps his hands warm and dry with Dakine Fillmore Mitt in Stone ($74.95).

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Sponsored Content

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Darren wears the Arc’teryx Rush Jacket in Glade Runner ($899.95), with complementary Arc’teryx Sabre LT Bib Pants in Black ($649.95). His ideal “underthe-helmet” beanie is The Stanley in Charcoal, by Coal Headwear ($29.95).

Black Diamond’s Mercury Mitts in Black ($124.95) complete this sleek and simple— yet performant—set up. He wears Oakley Line Miner FP goggles in Dark Bush Grey ($195.95) featuring Prizm lens technology.

Darren rides the Jones Mind Expander snowboard (available to buy at Critical Parts).

Steph wears the Arc’teryx Women’s Sentinel LT Jacket in Dark Magic ($769.95), layered with matching Sentinel LT Bib Pants in Sundance ($649.95). Her outerwear combo is teamed with the Dakine Lotus Mitt in Caramel ($104.95), the Dakine Cutter Beanie in Buckskin ($26.95), and completed with a staple piece of gear for those with smaller faces: the Smith IO Mag S Goggle in Polar Blue ($279.95). She rides the Salomon HPS Asmo snowboard (available to buy at Critical Parts).

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Visiting The Resort?

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PRE-PURCHASED TICKET/PASS Pre-purchased lift tickets are mandatory. Ticket sales are not available on-site.

A FACE COVERING

Face coverings must be worn at all times except when skiing or riding.

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