Pique Newsmagazine 2749

DECEMBER 3, 2020 ISSUE 27.49

WWW.PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM

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DUAL MOUNTAIN

Building a Mountain Celebrating 40 years of Blackcomb

14

TOURISM IN TOUGH

Tourism Task

Force preps report to province

15

COVID-19 CASES

Vancouver Coastal

Health shares local coronavirus numbers

44

WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL

Marking

its 20th year, the WFF kicks off this week

WINTER IS IN THE AIR! Tourism Whistler / Justa Jeskova

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THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

38

44

32 Building a Mountain On the eve of Blackcomb Mountain’s 40th anniversary, G.D. Maxwell looks back on what it took to get there. - By G.D. Maxwell

14

TOURISM IN TOUGH

A provincial Tourism

26

TOUGH TICKETS

Pembertonians, politicians

Task Force is preparing to table its report to government next week, while

frustrated after CN Police issue tickets to visitors using rail bridge to

the federal government is also launching new supports for the industry.

access Riverside Park.

15

38

COVID-19 CASES

Vancouver Coastal Health’s

TRIALS OFF

Nordiq Canada cancels domestic

Board held a virtual meeting and for the first time, revealed case numbers

FIS-sanctioned events, including World Championships Trials slated for

of coronavirus in Whistler.

Whistler Olympic Park.

20

AND THE EMMY GOES TO

Teradici, with

44

SMALL TIME, BIG SCREEN

Small

Whistler-based CEO David Smith at the helm, earned the Engineering Emmy

Time, a film about a young girl in the midst of rural America’s opioid

for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development.

crisis, is set to make its Canadian debut at the Whistler Film Festival.

COVER It’s no exaggeration to say Whistler wouldn’t be the community it is today were it not for Blackcomb Mountain, which has left a lasting legacy four decades after its original Opening Day. - Photo courtesy of Hugh Smythe 4 DECEMBER 3, 2020

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THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

Opinion & Columns #202 -1390 ALPHA LAKE RD., FUNCTION JUNCTION, WHISTLER, B.C. V8E 0H9.

PH: (604) 938-0202 FAX: (604) 938-0201 www.piquenewsmagazine.com

08 OPENING REMARKS As the pandemic has hit our local small business sector harder than most, now more than ever, we need to support our local businesses so they survive until a vaccine is in place.

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com Editor CLARE OGILVIE - edit@piquenewsmagazine.com

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letter writers this week congratulate Whistler Blackcomb for a safe

Assistant Editor ALYSSA NOEL - arts@piquenewsmagazine.com

opening in a pandemic, and also call for the mountains to close if we really want to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Sales Manager SUSAN HUTCHINSON - shutchinson@wplpmedia.com Production Manager KARL PARTINGTON - kpartington@wplpmedia.com Art Director JON PARRIS - jparris@wplpmedia.com Advertising Representatives AMY ALLEN - aallen@wplpmedia.com TESSA SWEENEY - tsweeney@wplpmedia.com Digital/Sales Coordinator AMELA DIZDARIC - traffic@wplpmedia.com Production production@piquenewsmagazine.com LOU O’BRIEN - lstevens@wplpmedia.com Arts & Entertainment Editor ALYSSA NOEL arts@piquenewsmagazine.com Sports Editor DAN FALLOON - sports@piquenewsmagazine.com Features Editor BRANDON BARRETT - bbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com Reporters BRADEN DUPUIS - bdupuis@piquenewsmagazine.com BRANDON BARRETT - bbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com MEGAN LALONDE - mlalonde@wplpmedia.com Classifieds and Reception mail@piquenewsmagazine.com Office and Accounts Manager HEIDI RODE - hrode@wplpmedia.com

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Writer Dan Falloon reminds us to be kind to the many frontline staff we may come in contact with this holiday season as they help us buy groceries, gifts and more.

58 MAXED OUT Max casts his mind back, way back, and recalls how office parties over the Christmas season used to be.

Environment & Adventure

30 SCIENCE MATTERS To avoid past mistakes and seize this unique opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable world, it’s also time to plan for a green and just post-pandemic recovery, argues David Suzuki.

31 RANGE ROVER Writer Leslie Anthony takes to the slopes on Opening Day and finds Mother Nature and Whistler Blackcomb made for great partners for a fun day.

I.T. and Webmaster KARL PARTINGTON Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, MICHAEL ALLEN, FEET BANKS, LESLIE ANTHONY, ALLEN BEST, ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY, LISA RICHARDSON President, Whistler Publishing LP SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of Whistler Publishing Limited Partnership, a division of Glacier Media) distributed to over 130 locations in Whistler and to over 200 locations from Vancouver to D’arcy.

The entire contents of Pique Newsmagazine are copyright 2019 by Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of WPLP, a division of Glacier Media). No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the Publisher.

In no event shall unsolicited material subject this publication to any claim or fees. Copyright in letters and other (unsolicited) materials submitted and accepted for publication remains with the author but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic or other forms.

Letters to the Editor must contain the author’s name, address and daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 250 words. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject any contribution. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine.

Pique Newsmagazine is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact (edit@ piquenewsmagazine.com). If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the web site at mediacouncil. ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.

Lifestyle & Arts

40 FORK IN THE ROAD Glenda Bartosh gives readers some great ideas for local, sustainable gifts this year as we all try and support our community.

42 VELOCITY PROJECT Lisa Richardson tells us that lying facedown on the ground might look like a protest or a collapse, but it’s actually a highly recommended energetic healing technique called docking.

This organization replaces the BC Press council (and any mention of it).

46 MUSEUM MUSINGS This week mark’s a significant milestone in the resort’s history—

ISSN #1206-2022

Blackcomb Mountain turns 40 years old!

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OPENING REMARKS

Consider shopping local this winter AS WE SAW the snow creep down the mountains last month, a general feeling of anticipation pervaded the community.

Obviously this was tempered by the reality of living through a pandemic, but nevertheless, with a busier-than-expected summer behind us, many local business operators could be forgiven for feeling a wee bit optimistic.

However, when provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry locked us down, in essence, until at least Dec. 7, optimism began to wane.

BY CLARE OGILVIE edit@piquenewsmagazine.com

This is not really by way of complaint— after all we just came off a weekend that saw 46 people die and more than 2,000 test positive for COVID-19, so buckling down to try to reduce the numbers of positive cases just makes sense. And we now know that Whistler itself has had about 200 positive

Whistler’s bacon so many times before. But now, even this market is being told to stay home for the greater good.

We may not yet be seeing the “closed for business” signs around town, but there can be no doubt that business operators and owners are wondering how much sharper they can make their pencils as they manage the math around staying open.

In a report released late last month, Canada’s national statistical agency said small businesses are facing the greatest risk from COVID-19 because they cannot take on more debt and are experiencing the greatest decreases in revenue.

It went on to say that nearly one-quarter of businesses with 19 or fewer employees reported revenues being down by 40 per cent in August, compared to the previous year, and about six per cent of businesses with one to four employees said they were actively considering bankruptcy or were closing because of the pandemic.

According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, this could mean as many as 218,000 companies going under due to COVID-19.

Many have been just hanging in there believing that the winter ski season and Christmas holidays will give them just enough margin to keep going. cases since the pandemic began—with the majority of those coming in the past few weeks.

But the weight of all this on our town’s small businesses is palpable.

Many have been just hanging in there believing that the winter ski season and Christmas holidays will give them just enough margin to keep going.

I don’t think anyone was realistically thinking the U.S. border was going to open for the holidays, and most had made peace with this, so planning centred around the drive-to market that has honestly saved

This week, we did see some changes at the federal level that may help small business teetering on the edge hold on. This includes a new plan called the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program, which will offer eligible businesses low-interest loans of up to $1 million, with a 10-year term (see related story on page 14). The money will be lent by banks or other financial institutions, but guaranteed by the federal government.

Said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in her prepared speech to the House of Commons on Nov. 30: “We know that businesses in tourism, hospitality, travel, arts

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and culture have been particularly hard hit.

So we’re creating a new stream of support for those businesses that need it most.”

And considering that on Dec. 1, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “Until the virus is significantly more under control everywhere around the world, we’re not going to be releasing the restrictions at the border,” the help is going to be needed.

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy were also bolstered this week to help businesses.

There are businesses that will be able to take advantage of the new programs, but there are many others that would simply be squeezing blood from a stone.

Restaurants Canada’s president and CEO Todd Barclay told the Toronto Star the measures won’t keep many businesses from failing. The fact that the subsidies would come after business expenses are already incurred makes them less helpful than at first glance.

“How can you pay 35 per cent of your rent if you’ve got 10 per cent of your revenue? How can you pay 25 per cent of your payroll if you’ve only got 10 per cent of the revenue?” he asked.

So, all this is to say it is more important than ever to support our local businesses as much as possible, and not just for our holiday shopping, but in these winter months, which are doubtless going to be leaner than we were hoping for.

Gifts this year could include certificates for take-out at eateries or something bought online from local outlets. You can also ask local businesses to ship your gifts to loved ones out of town, and share your ideas for local shopping across social media.

(Read this week’s Fork in the Road column on page 40 for some great local gift ideas.)

We need to remember that, according to Stats Canada, small businesses have been less likely to lay off staff in the pandemic, but when they have, are also more likely to rehire staff back.

Here’s to supporting our local economy so we can all be here when this pandemic is behind us. n

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Want an upside?

Now we value care work If the coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s the irreplaceable value of what used to be considered “women’s work”: caring, cleaning, farming and food preparation.

They’re the lifeblood of our communities as we’ve discovered. And, while we were distracted by politics (and, let’s face it, the mountain opening), across the world, New Zealand has just passed a law eliminating pay discrimination against women in female-dominated occupations, tackling one of the most intractable issues of our time—“pay equity.”

Importantly, many of these jobs are not wellcompensated, some typically pay below living wage, and many on the frontlines have unsafe or poor working conditions. The average pay for grocery clerks in Whistler is $13.99, a cleaner $16.07, a community health worker $22—all below the living wage ($25.73) for a family in Whistler. One in four people in B.C. have jobs that do not pay enough to live on, and one in five children are growing up in poverty!

Teachers, also undervalued, are on the frontlines of the pandemic, dealing with the pervasive issues that arise from children in their classrooms who need more than just a learning environment. Children living in poverty can have long-term learning and health issues, perpetuating toxic cycles we seek to prevent.

Inspiringly, New Zealand has begun to re-envision the place in their society the people in these jobs occupy. A social worker who deals with the opioid crises, food or housing security, domestic violence, or trauma and mental health issues brings extraordinarily valuable talents and capabilities to work—emotional dexterity and resilience, for instance, and that’s the first hour of the shift, not dissimilar to police officers.

It is time to value the work that is getting us through this pandemic. It is time to make universal childcare a reality, not a promise. It is time to use WorkSafe dollars in a way that actually benefits women in vulnerable work, and incentivize businesses that are making these positive changes. It is time to nationalize food banks to ensure that no child goes hungry.

It is time to pay caregivers a living wage, including maternity.

It shouldn’t take the confluence of a pandemic and an inspiring leader from New Zealand to chart a just course and begin tackling the consequences of women’s lowpaid work. It is time.

Amanda Ladner // Whistler

Help for those who need it Thank you for highlighting the current challenges faced by members of our community with opiate use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic in “Overdose prompts warning to community not to use drugs alone,” and “B.C.’s other pandemic needs our attention too” [in the

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Whilst [both are] excellent articles about important issues, there has been a missed opportunity to highlight the services in the Sea to Sky corridor that have been designed specifically in response to the epidemic of overdoses in B.C. Addiction care programs are available here and now, rather than being “aspirations for the long term.”

The OAT clinic (Opiate Agonist Therapy) provides access to pharmacological therapies, namely Suboxone and Methadone, to help community members manage their addictions.

The clinic provides a wraparound, low-barrier, supported and non-judgmental approach to helping people with opiate use disorder The Overdose Outreach Team is available to meet people where they are at in their journey with addicitons.

Harm-reduction supplies, Naloxone kits, needle exchange, safe-smoking kits, education and training are all available and just a call away Anyone seeking more information and access to these programs is encouraged to call. [For] Pemberton intake, [call] 604-698-5861; for Whistler intake, [call] 604-698-6455, [and for] Squamish intake, [call] 778-894-3200.

Dr. Danielle Patterson // Whistler

Some perspective after Opening Day 2020 I don’t remember the actual dates but I very much recall the events. And boy, does history repeat itself in this community.

The first time the proverbial sky was falling

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR was when Intrawest took over Whistler Mountain and merged the two organizations. That’s right, Whistler and Blackcomb [mountains] used to be owned and operated separately. The only formal cooperation between the two mountains was you could get a dual-mountain ski pass.

Most community members, including myself, were either in one of two camps. You were a Whistler skier or you were a Blackcomb skier.

Blackcomb allowed snowboarders and Whistler banned them. They even had two different ski clubs and there were great rivalries in the valley (I wish it was still like this). Then Intrawest (owner of Blackcomb) bought Whistler, and OMG, the valley was in an uproar. The plot was that of an evil corporation taking over a family-run operation. And, as far as the community was concerned when Whistler was taken over by Intrawest, “the Big Old Softie” as we knew and loved it was lost forever. Articles and letters to the editor galore. But then something funny happened. It was all OK, and the skiing experience on each mountain was basically the same as it was before the acquisition … hmmm.

Fast forward to a decade or so later and Intrawest sells Whistler and Blackcomb to Fortress Capital. And, if you thought Intrawest was evil, Fortress was the Devil dressed in Bogner. Again,

Beautifully renovated 2 bedroom, 2 bath, turn-key townhome.

nothing short of first class this past weekend as far as I am concerned.

Reservations were hard for this O.G. to handle, for sure, but all things considered, the Vail Resorts and Whistler Blackcomb operating teams absolutely nailed it! My weekend of skiing felt safe, organized and just plain awesome.

With all of this said, I am hoping we are moving into that next phase of historic repetition, and coming to the realization that maybe these big corporate guys that employ many people in our valley aren’t totally terrible.

Moreover, maybe they are in fact decent operators. History seems to suggest that it’s going to be all right.

Anyway, nice work this past weekend Vail Resorts and Whistler Blackcomb.

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Please keep your masks on in lineups Today I, (61 years old) waited in line behind a group of 20-to-30-year-olds who sipped their Starbucks coffees sans masks in the Blackcomb Gondola line up at the Upper Village.

Though the supervising Vail Resorts employee repeatedly (on three occasions) reminded them to pull up their face coverings, they did so only

“Let’s end this era of alternative facts once and for all and get back to reality, no more ‘I read somewhere!’ allowed.”

- MILO BRUCKS

it was end of days and our valley might as well have been the Lake of Fire. I recall many articles and letters to the editor, this time discussing the “Aspenization of Whistler.” Again, something funny happened after a while. It was generally all OK. The skiing experience (it was a bit busier) didn’t really change that much … hmmm.

Fast forward another decade, and Vail Resorts acquires Whistler Blackcomb. Well, I probably don’t need to go into detail because you all remember, and it’s safe to say that once again there was turmoil in our valley.

I have been observing with interest the third major shift in ownership/operations that I can remember, and history again is repeating itself.

Sure, there were a few hiccups (parent pass, integrating Vail Resorts’ technology platform and the Blackcomb Gondola … ouch) when Vail Resorts took over, but as far as I can tell, the experience is much the same.

Not to diminish the sentiments of others, but I personally didn’t notice the lower quality of grooming, food and customer service, and the ski school is still the best on the planet as far as I am concerned. Prices did seem to rise, but relative to other sports, skiing has always been extremely painful on the bank account.

Fast forward once again to this past opening weekend, and everyone was watching how Vail Resorts would handle its opening during COVID-19.

I know some who fully expected it to be a failure. So I am calling it as I see it. It was

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for the few seconds he was in their purview.

They sipped those Starbucks coffees, laughed and talked without masks for the entire corral until they handed their garbage off to the available employee at the gondola load.

I did try to email Vail Resorts to suggest maybe [they tell people they] “should not eat and drink in the lineup in order to keep a mask on.” [But] to no avail. There is no “contact us” unless you’re buying something.

Cheryl Springman // Whistler

Thank Ullr for Max This week’s [Maxed Out] column was just another excellent example of Max’s finger always being on the nose of our time.

His “you read somewhere” quote should be emblazoned on every social media page.

Too many know [people] spewing their own ignorant ideas without any ramifications has created a sense of self worth in people well beyond their line of credit.

Let’s end this era of alternative facts once and for all and get back to reality, no more “I read somewhere!” allowed.

Milo Brucks // Whistler

CEP grant to the Whistler Pickleball Association On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Whistler Pickleball Association (WPA), thank you

Write to us! Letters to the editor must contain the writer’s name, address and a daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 450 words. Pique Newsmagazine reserves the right to edit, condense or refrain from publishing any contribution. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine.

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Call at 604-602-9000 or visit www.macleanlaw.ca Maclean Law is headquartered in Vancouver with offices across British Columbia.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR to the Resort Municipality of Whistler council for providing a grant through the Community Enrichment Program to assist in [our] ongoing development of the sport of Pickleball in Whistler.

The funds granted to the WPA have enabled it to purchase a Lobster Pickleball Machine that will benefit all of its members. The machine is perfect for players and coaches looking to improve their skills and get an edge in competition as well as adding value to membership of the WPA. Norm Binion, interim co-president // Whistler

Only way to control COVID-19 on mountain is to close As a retired healthcare worker and previous full-time resident of Whistler, I read the recent article on Whistler Blackcomb “urging patience and personal responsibility” with interest (Pique, Nov. 26).

“[M]ost skiers are no different than grownup kids.”

- JOHN HAYLEY

While the COO of [Whistler Blackcomb] wants the mountain to stay open, he must realize that most skiers are no different than grown-up kids.

Just like children who find it hard to resist a candy bar waved in front of them, many skiers who have been enticed to buy season’s passes are not going to stay home in Vancouver, especially on those days with fresh powder.

Likewise, both the Whistler mayor and the medical director of the Whistler Health Care Centre must know that asking skiers from Vancouver to stay at home is no better than [Provincial Health Officer] Dr. Bonnie Henry asking us all to practise personal responsibility; it works for some, but not for all.

The only way to completely avoid spreading COVID-19 at Whistler is unfortunately to close

the mountain down until there is better control of this pandemic.

Perhaps [Whistler Blackcomb COO] Geoff Buchheister can convince his corporate friends to send Canada a few doses of vaccine to help us out, then Whistler Blackcomb can be opened safely for all of us to enjoy.

John Hayley // Parksville

More bus shelters needed now I was a transit rider in the early 2000s when I lived in Brio and worked in Function Junction. I stood on the highway five days a week across from Panorama Ridge waiting for the bus. It’s not fun trying to stay dry under an umbrella or dodging vehicles spraying salty slush.

At that time, I sent an email to the mayor and council of the day regarding the need for more bus shelters but I never received any reply. To date, not one new bus shelter has been built except at Cheakamus Crossing for the 2010 Olympics and at Rainbow.

From Village Gate Boulevard going south, there are zero bus shelters except one at Franz’s Trail/Creekside. No bus shelters are available at Brio, Alta Vista (two stops), Nordic, Bayshores or Alta Lake Road.

If you are heading north from Function Junction to the village along Highway 99, there are nine bus shelters: Spring Creek, Alta Lake Road, Bayshores, Franz’s Trail/Creekside (two), Nordic (three) and Alta Vista.

This makes me think that the Resort Municipality of Whistler is only interested in sheltering visitors and workers going to Creekside or the village and has no concern for anyone heading south to Creekside or Function Junction.

Maybe it is time to spend our tax dollars on building additional bus shelters and this might also encourage more locals and visitors to use Whistler Transit instead of their vehicles.

Perhaps mayor and council should experience waiting for a bus along Highway 99 in a freezing snowstorm, or with pelting rain bouncing off the pavement while trying to hold onto your umbrella and not get soaked!

Kathy Macalister // Whistler ■

Backcountry Advisory

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AS OF WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2 Welcome back to a new season of avalanche forecasts, Sea to Sky users! We’ve been busily producing them for the past week, so please check them out at avalanche.ca.

We have noticed a huge increase in Mountain Information Network (MIN) reports this season—nearly triple compared to this time last year—so please keep it up. These reports really help the early-season forecasts and promote information sharing all around!

The big news in the avalanche world this week is sunshine and rising temperatures.

We’re seeing forecast freezing levels up to 3,500 metres and alpine temperatures rising to 5 C and possibly as high as 9 C! This is what’s considered rapid change, and the snowpack doesn’t like rapid change.

The sun and warming could promote slab

cohesion anywhere that has had recent storm snow. This slab may reach threshold and avalanche, especially where it sits above a weak layer like feathery surface hoar or a crust. You may also see loose, wet avalanches, especially from steep terrain and solar aspects. These may be smaller but could be strong enough to push you around into uglier terrain.

You should also be suspect of large slopes with overhead hazards like cornices. Cornice failures could trigger a large avalanche on the slope below.

Conditions will likely be spicy out there until the freezing levels drop and things start to freeze up. To stay on top of the avalanche danger, please continue to check out the forecasts, which are updated daily at avalanche.ca. ■

CONDITIONS MAY VARY AND CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler Blackcomb are available at 604-938-7676, or surf to www.whistlerblackcomb.com/mountaininfo/snow-report#backcountry or go to www.avalanche.ca.

PIQUE’N YER INTEREST

Find kindness for workers as holiday approaches THE COVID-19 pandemic has been tough for everyone, but not in equal measure.

There’s been plenty of talk about evidence of a K-shaped economic recovery, where a handful of folks will be much better off as a result of the health crisis (and make no mistake, it’s a case of the rich getting richer), whereas the bulk

BY DAN FALLOON sports@piquenewsmagazine.com

of us make up the bottom-right spoke of that ‘K’ darting downwards.

It’s felt that way in terms of workload, too. That bottom-right portion could be bad news or good news—it’s likely indicative of a layoff or furlough, but at least anecdotally, there are a fortunate few who have had little or nothing to do while also retaining job and financial security.

But plenty of workers have never been busier. It could be because of increased demand, fewer staff members because of layoffs or illness, additional COVIDrelated protocols, changes or challenges, a situation unique to the company, or some mixed-bag combination. Take your pick.

Eight-plus months into the new reality, in many industries, it’s likely

that things are ramping up further ahead of Christmas and burdening an already-beyond-burned-out workforce.

Let’s all avoid taking our personal frustrations out on any customer service or otherwise public-facing employee who could very well be in the line of fire for a curmudgeon’s ire. After all, they’re more than likely just the face of decisions made well above their pay grade and having to eternally deal with situations out of their control. And if they’ve made an error, they’ve almost certainly earned some slack and patience to rectify the mistake.

As an aside, for a little levity, there have been a couple of frustratingly funny unique-to-the-pandemic customerservice experiences that my family and I have experienced recently from decisions that are 100-per-cent coming from the top down.

Firstly, my wife is taking on the arduous process of changing her last name with all the necessary agencies and one of those, of course, is the federal government. With Service Canada offices closed, you need to essentially plead your case to ask someone to meet you to process your request. She sent a message explaining her situation and later on in the day, had a voicemail from a blocked caller she ignored. Sure enough, it turned out to be a Service Canada employee

working remotely—letting her know that because she hadn’t answered, her request was cancelled. I know we office workers have gotten used to no commute, but these lengths are … drastic.

My own experience came when I was trying to speak with a company’s customer service rep. Their systems were overloaded, so I could request a callback.

What date would I like? Uh, Saturday.

What time? 10 a.m. There are no available slots at that time. Try again. 6 p.m. Try again. 9 p.m.? You’ve made too many unsuccessful attempts, moron. How dare you ask for a time in a slot that’s already full up? Please wait three hours for the next available agent.

I did, and, well, I accomplished what I needed to, at least.

Well, hope you got a needed chuckle to sustain you through the winter. Back to how crappy things are for our little workerbees.

Top of mind are frontline retail workers. If they’ve had a “hero pay” bump at any point since March, chances are that it’s long gone even as risk continues to rise. They’ve likely gone through frantic runs on supplies, shouldered increased responsibility for constant sanitizing duties, had to explain and enforce new shopping protocols while essentially babysitting

customers, and, in a similar vein, are experiencing increased pushback from a certain segment of shoppers who are exponentially more likely to sport a tinfoil hat than a mask.

That latter point, coupled with surging case counts, makes it riskier and riskier by the day just to show up and do their jobs. And to ward off those who are certain to point to the survival rate: sure, if a customer passes on the virus and an employee gets sick, they’ll almost certainly recover. That said, COVID-19 can have devastating long-term effects, the depths of which researchers are still discovering.

And more acutely, if these hourly employees get sick, they can’t work and if they don’t work, their earnings take a hit initially as they wait for federal programs to kick in.

Several studies have shown that the bulk of COVID-19 cases occur in those in lower income brackets, with less and less risk the more one makes.

Even if you believe in your own invincibility and your own freedom to avoid being detrimentally affected. If you don’t want to wear a mask around vulnerable people, there are contactless ways to get what you need.

Everyone should be able to have a relaxing, restful and healthy holiday season. ■

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NEWS WHISTLER

Tourism Task Force to table report next week FEDS ANNOUNCE NEW SUPPORT FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY

BY BRADEN DUPUIS AS COVID-19 continues to create anxiety for tourism operators ahead of the winter season, the wheels of government are turning to keep the industry afloat.

A provincial Tourism Task Force is preparing to table its report to government next week, while the federal government announced new supports for the tourism and hospitality industry on Nov. 30.

In its Fall Economic Statement (FES) issued Nov. 30, the federal government announced it will work with financial institutions on the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program (HASCAP)—a new program for the sectors hardest-hit

by COVID, like tourism and hospitality, hotels, arts and entertainment.

The program will offer “100-per-cent government-guaranteed financing for heavily impacted businesses, and provide low-interest loans of up to $1 million over extended terms, up to 10 years,” according to the FES. “Rates will be lower than those offered

UPHILL BATTLE B.C.’s tourism operators have adapted well to COVID-19, according to Tourism Task Force chair Tamara Vrooman, and there is light at the end of the tunnel—if they can weather the winter.

PHOTO BY VINCE SHULEY

14 DECEMBER 3, 2020

in [the Business Credit Availability Program] and beneath typical market rates for hard-hit sectors.”

More details on the HASCAP will be released soon.

Tourism Whistler president and CEO Barrett Fisher welcomed the news.

“First off, kudos to the federal government which has stepped up to provide important financial resources and tools to help businesses in the hardest-hit sectors, such as tourism. These important resources are complementary to provincial supports for businesses,” Fisher said in an email, adding that the HASCAP is an important tool that could help businesses with cash flow as they ride out the worst of the pandemic.

“While this loan program will not replace grants that would assist businesses on the verge of bankruptcy, it will assist businesses who are economically able to weather the next few months as we work towards business recovery.”

With increasing COVID-19 cases necessitating new restrictions Canada-wide, an extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program to June 2021 is also welcome news, Fisher said.

Fisher also took part in a regional roundtable for the provincial government’s Tourism Task Force, which was tasked in September with providing recommendations for short-term recovery spending, as well as medium- to long-term

opportunities for the industry.

The task force is wrapping up two months of extensive stakeholder consultation with a final report to government expected next week, said YVR president and CEO (and task force chair) Tamara Vrooman.

“Certainly from a liquidity and finance point of view, there’s no doubt that this is a sector that needs some support,” Vrooman said.

“Perfectly good businesses going into March of this year are really at risk of failing, and so how do we make sure that we can support them through this second wave, until we can get to the other side?”

The task force conducted a series of 12 virtual roundtables from Nov. 9 to 19, engaging different regions and sectors of the industry.

While there were, of course, many stories of the “unprecedented” impacts wrought by COVID-19, “we also heard that there’s an untold story there,” Vrooman said, noting that the industry has done an “exemplary” job of responding to changing health orders.

“It is a business that is, first and foremost, about people, and they know how to move people through a guided experience—it’s actually what tourism operators do right across the system,” she said.

“So being able to do that in a healthy, distanced and orderly way is something that I think has been a real strength, and that’s

why we have seen very, very few incidents of COVID outbreaks in tourism businesses.”

While its report isn’t due until Dec. 31, the task force wanted to give the government as much time before the holidays as possible to consider it, Vrooman added.

As for where Whistler fits into the tourism recovery picture, there are opportunities even in a pandemic winter, Vrooman noted.

“It works well, if I could put it that way, in a COVID context—people are outside, they’re distanced, they wear face coverings and goggles as well as gloves to participate,” she said.

“You know how to distance people to get on lifts, you know how to regulate and marshal folks in different ways, [and] you know how to monitor people and trace them, which you have to do for safety on the hill in any event.”

There are other long-term positives on the horizon for the industry: operators are still hearing about pent-up demand for their product once it’s safe to travel, and vaccines are developing at a steady rate.

But the winter ahead remains a concern for many.

“I don’t pretend for a minute that our report will be the solution to the [entire] problem,” Vrooman said.

“But we really hope that through the deep consultations that we’ve done that we’re able to ensure that government has the facts.” n

NEWS WHISTLER

Whistler has had around 200 confirmed COVID cases VCH OFFERS FIRST ROUGH TALLY OF POSITIVE CASES IN COMMUNITY AT OPEN BOARD FORUM

BY BRANDON BARRETT WHISTLER HAS SEEN roughly 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and mostly in the past few weeks, reported Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) in its first public acknowledgement of the total number of cases in the resort.

At its Open Board Forum held virtually Monday, Nov. 30, VCH provided an overview of the pandemic in its coastal and rural communities, which include the Sea to Sky, Sunshine Coast, Powell River and Central Coast.

While its coastal communities make up only six per cent of VCH’s total confirmed COVID cases so far, all of them have seen an increase during the so-called second wave of the virus.

“The wave in coastal rural is almost exclusively due to cases in Whistler, where we have in the last four to five weeks experienced a number of cases among young, working adults,” explained VCH chief medical health officer Dr. Patricia Daly, adding that “much of the transmission has occurred in household settings, and has not spread more broadly to the general population.”

hospitalization, two per cent being admitted to ICU, and two per cent leading to death, primarily linked to outbreaks in long-term care facilities.

Coastal rural communities represent three per cent of all of VCH’s COVID hospitalizations, three per cent of ICU admissions, and less than one per cent of all deaths.

“That tells us that the cases in the coastal rural communities have tended to be milder, with less impact on the populations at greatest risk of severe disease,” Daly said.

VCH expected a bump in cases as the economy reopened, and VCH’s chief medical officer was quick to note that, although adults aged 20 to 39 have experienced a higher proportion of cases compared to their percentage of the population, it doesn’t necessarily mean health guidelines aren’t being followed.

“This is a workforce that has gotten back to work and they have more social connections and they may be infected through those social connections,” Daly explained. “But by and large, for all cases of COVID-19, whether they are young adults or older adults, the vast majority are compliant with public health guidelines to self-isolate when they’re infected or if they’re a close

“The wave in coastal rural is almost exclusively due to cases in Whistler...”

contact of a case.”

It’s the first time VCH has shared community-specific COVID numbers for the Sea to Sky, due to its standing policy not to publicize low case totals in smaller communities in order to protect medical privacy.

“The challenge with providing very small numbers or a number by neighbourhood, for example, is that it could allow people to be identified and it’s really important that we maintain the confidentiality of our cases and our contacts,” Daly said. “Not only because that’s important to maintain their privacy, but because we know if people are worried their identity may become known when they develop COVID-19, they may be reluctant to go for testing and public health follow-up, and that actually can impede our ability to control spread.”

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Whistler’s 200 or so cases would make up about 45 per cent of the 446 confirmed cases for the coastal rural health region. Squamish, meanwhile, has had approximately 100 COVID cases since the pandemic began, followed by the Sunshine Coast (48), Powell River (41), and Central Coast and Bella Coola Valley (five each).

That’s compared to 5,562 confirmed cases in Vancouver, 1,123 cases in VCH’s coastal urban region (which includes North and West Vancouver, as well as Bowen Island), and 847 in Richmond.

“Apart from Whistler, Squamish and Powell River, there is no other municipality in our coastal rural communities that has had more than 20 cases since the start of the pandemic. In fact, most of them have had less than five cases,” Daly pointed out.

Through Nov. 27, VCH has seen 8,485 positive cases across all its service areas, with six per cent of those requiring

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NEWS WHISTLER << FROM PAGE 15 Several of the questions during Monday’s board forum centred on VCH’s communications policy, with members of the public pushing for more localized COVID data, but Daly reiterated that the focus should be on following the appropriate health guidelines.

“Identifying the specific number of past or current COVID cases in your community, almost all of whom are appropriately isolating, is less important than the actions you take in your day-to-day lives,” she said.

WHEN CAN WE EXPECT A VACCINE? Canada currently has purchasing agreements with a number of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, and VCH expects the first shipment of vaccines to arrive in early January.

“We have identified priority populations for vaccination based on those most at risk of severe disease,” Daly said. “We’re actively planning to administer the vaccine as soon as shipments arrive.”

‘HIGH-LEVEL’ INTEGRATED HEALTH PLAN COMING FOR SEA TO SKY During its board forum, VCH also outlined some of the top priorities for care in specific coastal communities, and along with a longawaited expansion to the trauma room at the Whistler Health Care Centre, funded in part by the Whistler Health Care Foundation, the health agency has also tapped a consultant to develop “a high-level master plan for the region, as well as local plans for Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton,” explained Karin

of people that come there to work for short-ish periods of time and don’t have access to primary care. We’ve lost a number of primary care providers in Whistler, so we’re working actively with the primary care team in Whistler, the GPs there.”

Olson added that VCH has begun preliminary discussions with the task force to identify some of the existing issues and eventually develop “a more robust primary care [model]” that will improve access to care for community members.

“We’re quite excited about this,” she added.

IN WHISTLER,

WE WEAR MASKS

‘MUCH MORE WORK AHEAD’ TO ADDRESS INDIGENOUS RACISM IN HEALTHCARE Just hours before the open board forum, a damning report examining systemic racism towards First Nations and Métis people in B.C.’s healthcare system was released, prompting an apology from both health minister Adrian Dix and VCH officials.

“This has been a very emotional and humbling day for all of us in the healthcare system in British Columbia, and indeed across Canada,” said VCH board chair Dr. Penny Ballem to open the meeting. “We are on a journey. We need to expedite that journey. It’s not acceptable for us to be providing care that does not address the needs of our Indigenous people, that is not respectful and safe for them and that compromises their health outcomes.”

Authored by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s former child and youth watchdog and a retired judge, the report was based on hundreds of accounts of racism, prejudice and discrimination that led to poorer health

“We have identified priority populations for vaccination based on those most at risk.”

- PATRICIA DALY

Olson, VP for the VCH coastal region.

The plan will include an assessment of current clinical services and facilities, future care needs, and “a clear vision for the strategic integration of acute, long-term [care] and community services” within the corridor, said Olson, adding that there will be opportunities for input from local medical staff, physicians and community partners.

ADDRESSING WHISTLER’S PRIMARY CARE SHORTAGE On the heels of the formation of a local task force, VCH said it is working with Whistler GPs to address the need for primary care in the resort.

“This is a real problem in Whistler and the Sea to Sky corridor has a growing population,” said Dr. Peter Edmunds, medical director for VCH Coastal Communities of Care. “We have a number

outcomes for Indigenous patients.

“Many of the accounts we heard were deeply disturbing, had clearly caused significant harm, and created lasting mistrust and fear of the healthcare system,” she said in a press conference unveiling the findings.

Before opening the forum with a traditional welcome, Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell spoke of the report’s significance, and also recalled his grandmother’s experience in B.C.’s healthcare system.

“My late grandmother … was denied service at hospitals other than St. Paul’s— that was the Indian hospital back then,” he explained. “Unfortunately the service that our Indigenous people received in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s was inferior to that of settlers, and we hoped that we would mature as a society and change that now in 2020, but unfortunately there is much more work ahead of us.” n

“... To keep our families, coworkers ad our guests safe.”

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#WhistlerWearsMasks www.whistler.ca/wewearmasks DECEMBER 3, 2020

17

NEWS WHISTLER

Keeping things local this ‘Giving Tuesday’ WHISTLER’S NON-PROFITS RELIED ON CREATIVE FUNDRAISING—AND EACH OTHER—IN 2020

BY BRANDON BARRETT AS BRITISH COLUMBIANS get set to stick cloer to home this holiday season, the head of Whistler’s social-service provider is hoping the community considers doing the same with their charitable dollars this giving season and beyond.

“People will ask me who they should give to, and I always say give local, because I think the best thing you can do is support local,” said Jackie Dickinson, executive director of the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS). “Your dollar goes farther when you support local non-profits, just like you would support local businesses.”

Called a “global day of giving” that was created as a response to the retail frenzy of Black Friday, the eighth annual Giving Tuesday took place Dec. 1, and this year took on an even greater significance as non-profits have either seen demand for their services skyrocket in the pandemic, such as WCSS, or their fundraising abilities significantly diminished.

“It’s a little hard to speak for everybody, obviously, but from the response we’ve seen from our granting recently, I would say [local non-profits] are still very much in

need,” said Claire Mozes, executive director of the Whistler Community Foundation (WCF), which has, since March, distributed close to $160,000 in emergency funding to local non-profits, supported in part by the federal government and Community Foundations of Canada.

Donate at whistlerfoundation.com/give.

Much of the focus through the pandemic has been on frontline-oriented organizations like WCSS, and rightly so.

Whistler’s social-service provider is preparing for a spike in demand this winter, in what’s already been a record year. In May, 57 per cent of those seeking support from WCSS identified as being in crisis, and more recently, in October, the organization facilitated the highest number of one-onone counselling sessions in any month since it began tracking in 2014.

“It gives me shivers when I think about it, in a good way and a way that’s saying, ‘Hey, the need is there and we’re here to help and support,’” Dickinson relayed.

“That’s the job we’ve signed up to do and we feel really lucky that the community has trusted us.”

For Giving Tuesday, WCSS is raising money for its Kids on the Move, Kids Camp, and Kids Art funds, subsidized programs that support financially restricted children

to go to camp, take part in sport and recreation, and the arts.

Donate at mywcss.org/fundraiser.

After a wave of donations in the spring that were “integral for us to keep going,” Dickinson said WCSS is also helping to spread the love this holiday season to other deserving non-profits.

“We’ve been fortunate because our work is frontline and people see the direct benefits, or have been on the receiving end, that we sometimes receive that support and it is important to acknowledge the other non-profits: Arts Whistler, AWARE, Zero Ceiling, all of these organizations that are also doing a lot of good work,” Dickinson said.

Non-profits that don’t work directly on the frontlines of the pandemic have been put into a tough place in COVID, being heavily reliant on donor support while also not wanting to detract from the enormous need social-service organizations saw at the onset of the pandemic.

“We certainly felt initially that we should step back a little bit,” said Lizi McLoughlin, development manager for Zero Ceiling, which facilitates supportive housing and employment for formerly homeless youth.

“In the early days of the pandemic, we were really keen for Whistler Community

Services to get the support they needed because there was such urgent need in the community. So we’ve been really conscious of that throughout the pandemic.”

Anchored by a pair of landmark fundraisers—the Whitewater Rodeo and the Masquerade—that typically bring in more than $100,000 annually, Zero Ceiling has shifted focus to its Giving Tuesday campaign, with a funding target of $10,000, which will be matched by an anonymous donor between Dec. 1 and 10.

Donate at zeroceiling.org/donate.

The resort’s animal shelter, Whistler Animals Galore (WAG), also has a fundraising target of $10,000 this holiday season, which will be matched by Moguls Coffee House and Zog’s Whistler. Donate at whistlerwag.com/donate.

In a year when people are spending more time at home, “the demand in adoptions has gone up,” explained assistant manager Catherine Mazza, “however, since many of our animals require special attention, we are still always looking for that special home.”

WAG currently has three dogs in care, as well as eight more in foster care, along with nine cats.

“As always, the area of most need currently is for general funding,” Mazza added. “To maintain our standard of care

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The Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE) is another non-profit that took a step back on its fundraising outreach at the beginning of the pandemic, but with COVID health orders pushing more people outdoors, AWARE’s work is more timely than ever.

The organization is aiming to raise $5,000 for its advocacy fund this holiday season.

Donate at awarewhistler.org/donate-toaware.

“A lot of people are retreating to nature, so it’s been nice to see a real recognition of the mental and physical health support that nature is providing to us,” said AWARE executive director Claire Ruddy. “But for our work, it’s showing that we need to do more to make sure we’re being positive stewards of the land.”

In recent months, AWARE has been revisiting the River of Golden Dreams management strategy with the municipality after summer brought scores of people to its banks. Ruddy said midweek data showed that, on busy days this summer, the river reached more than double its suggested carrying capacity.

LOCAL GIVING Whistler non-profits took a step back on their fundraising outreach at the start of the pandemic to keep the focus on the resort’s social service providers—but in a year when their fundraising abilities were significantly hampered, groups like Whistler Animals Galore still need support.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

In a welcome silver lining, however, COVID afforded AWARE more time this fall to apply for a federal grant that, with

in-kind services factored in, would be valued at more than half-a-million dollars, the largest grant the organization has ever

applied for.

“Honestly, submitting something like that in the fall would have been really challenging to do [in a normal year]. It was a lot of work and a lot of building partnerships at a time when we would normally be in the depths of reporting out on our summer programs,” said Ruddy, who noted the grant is intended for a project that would support local businesses on climate action, as well as working with Indigenous Youth Ambassadors at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre to better understand the impacts of climate change on First Nations’ use of the land. AWARE will find out in January if the grant is approved.

Already a supportive sector pre-COVID, Ruddy said that Whistler’s non-profits have only strengthened their bonds further throughout the pandemic.

“So many of the non-profit groups already were working actively together, because we have limited capacity and resources and it just strengthens everything we do,” she said. “But another silver lining from this year has really been all of the nonprofits working together not just to make strategic decisions for their organization, but the whole sector and the community.

What’s really clear is there are just so many amazing groups doing amazing work in this town, and everyone has adapted.”

For a list of local non-profits, with links to their websites, visit business. whistlercha mber.com/list/category/ community-non-profit-organizations-39. n

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NEWS WHISTLER

Company headed by Whistlerite earns Emmy TERADICI, WITH CEO DAVID SMITH, HONOURED FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT

BY DAN FALLOON THERE’S A 2020 EMMY winner amongst us in the Sea to Sky. On Oct. 29, Teradici, with Whistlerbased CEO David Smith at the helm, earned the Engineering Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development.

The company has offered technology to allow content creators to work remotely for more than 15 years, and with the need exacerbated this year, the Television Academy was impressed with what Teradici offered.

“It’s a company award, so I didn’t win an Emmy. It’s a company that I happen to be CEO of that won an Emmy,” Smith said. “It’s not every day you can think about winning an Emmy, or say you work for a company that’s won an Emmy. It’s definitely pretty cool.

“Our company does a lot of work, not only in the TV industry but also in the film industry, and this year in particular, they were excited about us because of our ability to have people work from home.”

Other honourees this year included heavy hitters like Apple and HP. Smith said that since the ceremony was

virtual, the company had some notice that it was a winner.

“We didn’t know we were nominated, so we were surprised to get the call,” he said. “We had to accept it virtually, so they gave us some notes and we were able to do our own video recording of an acceptance speech, which they played during the virtual ceremony.

“[W]e were surprised to get the call.”

- DAVID SMITH

“We had a bit of advance warning, but not much.”

If you’ve watched any sort of blockbuster programming in recent years, there’s a strong likelihood Teradici helped facilitate the work for those in the special effects, animation and graphic design departments.

Clients including Netflix, major studios such as Disney, Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic use the company, as do major networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and CNN, who utilize the technology to produce live content such as the World Series,

AWARD WINNER CEO David Smith of Whistler led Teradici to the Engineering Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development in October.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Saturday Night Live and nightly news programming. Smith noted that technology has replaced onsite broadcast trucks in

favour of people working from home.

“They took our technology home with them,” he said. “It’s technology that enabled the industry to continue to produce content.”

The company serves 2,000 customers worldwide and, already a heavyweight in its industry, found new connections this year when the Vancouver Film School came onboard as it shifted to remote operations.

Smith said Teradici saw some other uptick in interest during the pandemic.

“Back in March, when more companies sent their employees to work from home, certainly, we saw a tremendous tailwind from that and we continue to see an exciting opportunity moving forward in this new normal where the future of work has changed in terms of people being in offices,” he said.

Smith said Teradici continues to hire and grow, as it set revenue records in 2019 and is on pace for another high in 2020.

If you’re wondering if he practises what he preaches, Smith also continues to work from home as the health crisis drags on.

“I used to get in my car every morning and drive to Vancouver and drive back every night. I’d done that for 20 years, so I’m not doing that anymore,” he chuckled.

“I don’t miss it a bit.” n

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NEWS WHISTLER

White Gold beautification project gets council go-ahead (again) CONTROVERSIAL RESIDENT-LED PROJECT WILL STICK SOME OWNERS WITH HUGE BILLS

BY BRADEN DUPUIS AFTER A SLIGHT delay, a resident-led project to bury utility lines in White Gold is moving ahead after once again receiving council’s assent on Dec. 1.

The project—which originally passed Nov. 3 (with Councillor Jen Ford opposed) before being brought back for reconsideration by Coun. Cathy Jewett on Nov. 17—has proved controversial in the neighbourhood, with some residents questioning the transparency of the process.

Some owners argue that full individual costs for the work—in some cases reaching as high as $22,500—were not originally known.

The Dec. 1 decision to proceed was not unanimous, with Couns. Ford and Jewett again voting in opposition.

“I feel I made a mistake on Nov. 3 by not opposing it … People are hurting in this town, and these are some of the people that are hurting,” Jewett said.

“So this doesn’t pass, for me, the smell test, particularly during COVID, and the

fact that people can’t afford an extra $1,300, let alone an extra [$5,000 to $25,000].”

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) estimates about 100 of the neighbourhood’s 160 homes will need to have their services undergrounded for the project, all of them differing in complexity and costs.

Though the true costs for each owner won’t be known until the detailed design stage, the RMOW expects most to be in the low- to medium-cost range, and only about one per cent at the high end of the spectrum.

While homeowners technically can’t opt out of the project, a cheaper option will allow them to install a pole on their property to run a power line above ground to their home (estimated to cost up to $5,000).

The Dec. 1 agenda item was accompanied by a deluge of letters from White Gold residents, with 60 pieces of correspondence on the matter included in the council package: 48 in favour and 22 opposed.

Several residents also raised questions at the Dec. 1 public Q and A. For Tom Prochazka, the ballpark

estimate to hook his house up is $10,000, he said.

“This is on top of the huge added tax burden,” Prochazka said.

“How does council justify forcing even one resident to sell their house due to inability to pay for this unnecessary upgrade?”

“So this doesn’t pass, for me, the smell test...”

- CATHY JEWETT

Mayor Jack Crompton said he hopes no one has to resort to selling their homes, and noted there are “other avenues that can be pursued like tax deferral.”

The total project cost to White Gold homeowners is estimated at $5.52 million, offset by an $845,000 BC Hydro beautification grant.

Council’s decision was made more difficult by the fact the neighbourhood itself initiated the project.

Under Section 212 of the Community Charter, homeowners may petition a municipality for a “local service area,” with the costs being recovered via an add-on to annual property taxes over a number of years (in this case, a maximum of $1,230 per year over 30 years, according to the RMOW, with the first year of the increase not expected until 2024).

On Sept. 5, 2019, council received a letter from Toni Metcalf, speaking as a resident of the neighbourhood (Metcalf is also the RMOW’s economic development coordinator—she recused herself from the Dec. 1 discussion), expressing the interest of White Gold residents to initiate a formal petition process for the work.

Of 160 total affected properties, 93 voted in favour of the project.

While some residents raised concerns about a 15-day extension given to the petition process due to COVID-caused mail delays, RMOW staff noted in a report to

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NEWS WHISTLER

Divisive Alta Lake housing project inches forward

3-COURSE

CRITICS SAY PROJECT ‘SELLING RESIDENTS SHORT’ WITHOUT MORE EMPLOYEE UNITS

BY BRANDON BARRETT A HOUSING PROPOSAL development for Alta Lake Road continued to inch forward this week, as opinion on the project remains divided between elected officials and some nearby residents.

The mixed-use market and employeerestricted housing development proposed for 5298 Alta Lake Rd. was back on the council agenda on Tuesday, Dec. 1 to rescind previous readings of a zoning amendment bylaw.

The revision adds reference to a 20-metre building setback included as a condition of development, as well as a bylaw amending Whistler’s new Official Community Plan landuse map to include the market residential, parkland designation and protected natural area that has been negotiated through the rezoning process.

With first and second reading of the amendments now passed, the municipality will schedule a public hearing prior to third reading and is requiring the proponent to complete eight conditions of approval before that date.

But Tuesday’s meeting served mostly as a forum for council to voice its support for the proposal, and for critics to outline their opposition.

“This is a good project,” said Councillor Jen Ford. “We are getting employee housing at no cost to the municipality.

It is a very desirable area. It is a lovely walk to Creekside, to transit, and this has gone through design panel, this has gone though so many eyes and I think it has been rigorous. So I’m excited to see this move forward.”

Proposed by the Michael Hutchisonled Empire Club Development Corp., the project has undergone significant changes since it was first seen by council in September 2019. Originally, the project called for 15 employee-restricted Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) units (eight of which were intended to be maintained by the proponent) and 22 market tourist-accommodation units zoned for short-term rental. But after pushback from Nita Lake residents over the project’s density, loss of forestation and potential impacts on traffic and sightlines, the proposal was revised to include 11 market tourist-accommodation units, 11 market residential units and 21 employeerestricted units. The change also upped the number of market bed units by 24, to 88, and employee bed units by 44, to 72.

As part of the approval conditions, the

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WHITE GOLD FROM PAGE 22 council that the 50-per-cent threshold had already been met by the original Sept. 15 deadline (with 85 “yes” responses).

In response to residents wondering why just four days were given for owners to rescind their “yes” vote, staff noted that step wasn’t actually required in the process.

At the Nov. 3 council meeting, general manager of infrastructure James Hallisey made it clear council had the power to reject the project, despite the successful petition. ”It is really up to council to decide where and how they use municipal resources, including the borrowing that would be required for this project and the staff time that is required to execute the project,” Hallisey said.

“So just to be clear … it is definitely at council’s discretion.”

But in the view of a majority of council, denying the underlying legislative process—and the will of the majority of the neighbourhood—would set a bad precedent.

“A local service area is a provincial process that allows neighbourhoods to add amenities at their own cost. This is their

only path to this end,” said Mayor Jack Crompton.

“My understanding is that the neighborhood went through this process in good faith, and they hope they can expect their local government to move along that path that the Community Charter sets out for us.”

Coun. Ralph Forsyth said he’s heard from many people on the issue, and has friends on both sides.

“It’s just amplified the discord in the community. That is very troubling to me, that neighbours are not getting along,” he said.

But councils shouldn’t make decisions based on popularity of projects, Forsyth said.

“Sometimes things are very unpopular and you still have to make decisions,” he said.

“I’m going to make this decision to vote in favour because we followed a process that’s laid out in the charter that keeps council out of having to count the yeses and nos in favour of any project.”

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23

NEWS WHISTLER << FROM PAGE 23 proponent is also required to dedicate a 0.51-hectare land parcel to the RMOW for future development, to restore the historic Hillman cabin on the site, also known as Toad Hall, to build a neighbourhood park on the site, as well as a new paved section of the Valley Trail connecting the south parcel line to the north.

But with a number of those conditions already being pre-requisites for development before Empire Club acquired the parcel, some residents feel the developer isn’t giving enough back to the community for what he’s bound to receive in return.

“We all understand and know the need for employee housing, we get that,” said Cheryl Green, president of the Nita Lake Estates strata. “But I just really feel Whistler council is selling residents short by not getting them more employee housing out of this deal. Less market and more employee housing is better for the neighbourhood because you’ve got people who care about the neighbourhood, they’re not in and out.”

Nearby resident and one of Whistler’s original councillors, Garry Watson, echoed Green’s concerns, questioning the ratio of market to employee housing.

“I’ve been concerned from the very start and quite shocked by the proposal and the emphasis on market accommodation development in ratio to employee housing,” he said in the public question-and-answer period of Tuesday’s meeting. “It started out

DRAWING BOARD A housing proposal for 5298 Alta Lake Road is presented to the community at an open house in October 2019.

FILE PHOTO BY BRADEN DUPUIS

at six to one and through negotiations has been reduced to two to one. Traditionally on many similar projects, the ratio has never been higher than one to one.”

Watson, who holds the Freedom of the Municipality, said he has repeatedly asked the proponent for the project’s financial pro forma—which Hutchison committed to making public at an October open house, but has yet to do so—in order to clear up what he sees as possible discrepancies in the numbers.

“I’m just concerned, if there’s misinformation in that pro forma, that you’re still carrying on,” Watson said, addressing council. “Similar units have sold recently for $2.6 million. With their … proposal, you’re looking at least a $40- to $50-million market proposal and a huge potential profit to the developer and not near sufficient accommodation for employee housing.”

(To learn more about residents’ concerns around the project, visit nitalake.ca.)

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The RMOW has previously stated that an independent third party reviewed the pro forma, and found it “to be reasonable.”

Coun. Ralph Forsyth threw his support behind the proposal, quick to remind what could have been developed on the site under its current zoning, which allows for a hotel and cabins that would not have been offered to the WHA waitlist.

“The applicant could have walked into city hall and got a development permit application and built his hotel,” he said.

“Instead, I think the value of the land has increased. If it’s increased for the developer, fine, because it is developed tremendously for the community because we’re going to benefit with almost half—49 per cent—of the project being employee housing, plus all the amenities we will see.”

Given escalating construction costs in the pandemic, paired with the current need for restricted housing, Coun. Duane Jackson believes now is the time to consider this project. “[F]inancing projects is still a challenge This is not something that just happens easily,” he noted. “As much as there have been a lot of initiatives in the last few years since the Mayor’s Task Force [on Resident Housing], other than the WHA … we have struggled to get there.

And the cost, as we know from [Whistler Development Corp.] and WHA projects under COVID, have increased, so it only makes delivering housing harder.” n

NEWS WHISTLER

IN THE HOUSE In a letter sent to residents of staff housing on Nov. 24, Vancouver Coastal Health warned of ‘multiple COVID-19 cases’ in the buildings at 4802, 4810, 4812 and 4804 Glacier Lane.

PHOTO BY BRADEN DUPUIS

Whistler Blackcomb confirms COVID cases in staff housing VCH HAS NOT DECLARED OUTBREAK IN WHISTLER; NO IMPACT ON WB OPERATIONS

BY BRADEN DUPUIS A RASH OF COVID-19 cases is making its way through Whistler Blackcomb (WB) staff housing, though Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) isn’t calling it an outbreak— nor will it confirm exactly how many positives have been returned.

In a letter sent to residents of staff housing on Nov. 24, VCH warned of “multiple COVID-19 cases” in the buildings at 4802, 4810, 4812 and 4804 Glacier Lane.

The first risk of exposure was Nov. 11, and ongoing through at least Nov. 24, the letter said.

Asked about the letter, a VCH spokesperson said it cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy reasons, but noted it has not declared an outbreak in Whistler (see related story on page 15).

In the letter, VCH said public health is working to identify close contacts of those who have tested positive. Close contacts will be notified directly and asked to isolate for 14 days, the letter said.

If you do not receive a call from public health, your risk of exposure is considered to be low, and you are not asked to isolate.

WB is working closely with the health authority and following its guidance regarding the cases, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“The Whistler Blackcomb team is supporting these employees as they manage through this difficult time. The health and safety of our employees is our top priority,” the statement said.

“Ahead of this season, we developed heightened safety protocols for these facilities, such as closing recreational common areas, requiring face coverings in hallways and other common spaces, implementing a no-visitor policy, and communicating with residents directly, and through signage on site, about COVID-19

safety guidance. We remain committed to our safety protocols and thank our residents for their support.”

The mountain operator has set aside 10 per cent of its staff housing beds for isolation purposes, and positive cases are isolated immediately, a source told Pique.

Isolated employees are taken care of with food and necessities until their isolation period is over.

Roommates of those who test positive are required to self-quarantine with direction from VCH. WB has a zero-tolerance policy around its COVID protocols, and those caught violating them will be fired.

So far, there has been no impact on WB operations.

WB opened Nov. 26 with COVID-19 safety protocols in place.

Prior to opening day, WB Chief Operating Officer Geoff Buchheister spoke with Pique about the challenges presented

by COVID. “Just like everyone else, we’re asking [staff-housing residents] to take personal responsibility,” Buchheister said on Nov. 23.

“We need everyone in town, really, and everyone that’s going to come here to think first about their own personal responsibility. Making good decisions there will lead to our overall community’s ability to get open and stay open.”

As for increasing COVID cases in Whistler, “I think the big impact is just on making sure people understand the process—what do you do if you’ve got concern about your health or someone else’s—and making sure we guide them to the right processes to make sure we’re keeping everybody safe and giving people an opportunity to know how to keep themselves safe,” Buchheister said.

“I think across town, you feel it. It’s kind of at a different temperature than it has been right now.”

- with files from Brandon Barrett n

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NEWS PEMBERTON & THE VALLEY

CN Police fine Riverside Park users DESPITE YEARS OF FRUSTRATED ATTEMPTS TO SECURE LEGAL ACCESS, POLITICIANS REMAIN HOPEFUL

BY DAN FALLOON HILLARY DOWNING IS WELL aware that utilizing the CN Rail bridge to access Riverside Park is trespassing.

So she wasn’t entirely surprised when a CN Police officer handed her a $115 fine on Nov. 25.

“It was my turn, my unlucky day to pay the toll, the troll at the bridge,” she told Pique the day after the incident. “I’d just gone for a walk across the bridge like I normally do, and coming back, I guess it was a CN Police [officer] who stopped me.

“I definitely know people who have been ticketed before, and I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never been stopped. I’m not surprised, just disappointed.

“I know I am trespassing. I fully acknowledge that. But Pemberton has lots of restrictions to access: the river, the railroad, dikes that aren’t public. Those trails on the other side of that river have become pretty essential to our community and they have been for a long time.”

The bridge, which has a walkway in addition to the tracks, has long been used illegally as politicians and area stakeholders look to secure a legal Lillooet River crossing into the park. Downing estimated she crosses roughly three times a week to the park, which has a bench dedicated to the memory of her daughter, Riva Fisher.

“I like to think that CN would be good community citizens, that we can have some

OFF TRACK Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman, shown at the CN Rail bridge accessing Riverside Park in 2018, has long looked to secure legal access.

FILE PHOTO BY JOEL BARDE

26 DECEMBER 3, 2020

discussions and solve this problem,” she said.

“If safety is the primary concern, let’s talk and see if we can come up with a solution.

“The problem is not going to stop.”

Urdal Road resident Jan Naylor who, along with husband Hugh, granted the Squamish Lillooet Regional District a right of way on their land in 2016 for a trail to the bridge, talked with the CN officer after hearing he was out ticketing in the area.

A friend returning from the park told the Naylors that she’d just been fined by the officer.

“The [officer] did tell her that it was something about complaints, local complaints,” said Jan Naylor. “So we rushed down and spoke to the guy. We said, ‘complaints about what?’

“We don’t really know what the complaints are about, who complained.”

The only complaint Naylor could think of would be related to parked cars near the trail, but even then, couldn’t grasp who’d be lodging them.

Naylor recalled that even when she was conversing with the officer, she advised a cyclist that police were fining people, but he continued nonchalantly.

“There’s lots of people using it again,” she said. “Walkers, dog walkers, bikers, of course.

“It’s not deterring people.”

Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman, who has been involved in the negotiations and is also an SLRD director, was blunt when asked if there’d been any progress.

“I wish,” he said. “It’s been an ongoing issue and it’s something that I’ve brought to CN representatives through the Village on a number of occasions and developed a good working relationship, actually.

“I had some high-level executives come

up and I have walked the area with them, and explained that that crossing is not going to go away, just because of the geography.”

The SLRD has a tenure application for the Bathtub Trail area of the park.

“Once we have that further along, we plan on contacting CN and saying, ‘The parks are standing there. We support this.

How do we work through it?’” said Richman.

“It’s a brilliant little trail network and there’s tons of beautiful river access there.

“The problem is not going to stop.”

- HILLARY DOWNING

“It should be a publicly accessible beautiful recreation area, so we will continue pounding on that door.”

Richman said CN often comes up to “make a mess” of the trail to prevent access, or to ticket pedestrians and riders, as a deterrent. He feels neither approach is an effective solution and he’s pushing for some form of alternative access to the park.

The track isn’t particularly active at this time, as since April, the Squamish-toWilliams Lake line has been suspended, with all trains between Vancouver and Prince George rerouted through Kamloops.

Transport Canada told the Williams Lake Tribune in late April that the corridor had not at that time been “identified by CN for permanent discontinuance.” Transport Canada did not provide an update on the situation by Pique’s deadline.

Local MLA Jordan Sturdy has long

had an interest in the efforts to secure a crossing, first as the Village’s mayor and now in his current provincial role.

With train activity on the track at a minimum, Sturdy wondered why the company would use its enforcement resources there.

“It’s a bit of a mystery to me why CN would be enforcing the prohibition right now given that the subdivision, that line, is in abeyance right now,” he said. “I’m really surprised that they would find that enforcement is a priority right now.

“Obviously, that doesn’t solve the longer-term issue, but it does raise the question of what the intention is with the line north of Squamish.”

Like Richman, Sturdy said past discussions with the railroad’s Western Canadian representatives were positive, but since the company implemented new leadership in the region in 2019, there haven’t been any recent talks. He noted that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in September normally would have been a chance to touch base, but that was not possible due to it being held virtually.

CN did not respond to multiple requests for comment before Pique’s deadline. The company put out a press release in the summer, however, reiterating that trespassing on tracks is illegal and could result in a $115 ticket while reminding members of the public to cross only at designated public crossings.

In 2018, in response to a similar request for comment regarding public use, CN said in a statement: “Trespassing on CN tracks or other infrastructure, including the bridge over the Lillooet River, is not only illegal and subject to fine, but also extremely dangerous.” n

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BY ALYSSA NOEL TWO SEA TO SKY RESIDENTS have been named this fall’s recipients of Royal Roads University’s Eric. C. Douglass Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies Scholarship.

The $10,000 award is given to the program’s most promising entrepreneurial graduates finishing their studies that school year.

Pemberton’s Kristina Schrage, who recently submitted her thesis for the Master of Arts in Environmental Education and Communications program, was chosen for her new Nurture in Nature Community Farm. Meanwhile, Whistler’s Sherry Hilliard, who just earned her Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management, received the award for her plans to add to the educational component of Whistler Photo Safaris Ltd., which she runs with her husband.

Schrage first started her business at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when she found herself without a job.

She had talked to local Kim Rainthorpe, who owned some property, about how to connect more people to the land through education, and when she suddenly had more time on her hands, she decided to take a leap.

“My background is in environmental education,” Schrage said. “I’ve always been connecting people to the land in a more adventurous way, but I’m also really interested in sustainability. I realized we were taking people and throwing them into adventurous scenarios. It was amazing, but … they would return to normal lives and the ethics of sustainability they learned were separate from their real lives.

“In Pemberton, I was interested in connecting people to the land here through the food system in their own backyard.”

To that end, Schrage leased land off Rainthorpe to launch Nurture in Nature, offering people a chance to help produce food as well learn more about sustainability.

She had to tweak her offerings this summer in keeping with COVID-19 safety restrictions, but, in the end, two adults or one family at a time visited the permaculture garden once a week to contribute to growing 200 kilograms of food.

“Next year, I want to expand it with more educational opportunities, more connection to nature, more product,” Schrage said. “I’m particularly excited to make it more of a closed-loop system, especially with this awesome scholarship I got.”

Another aspect of the farm is its “conscious collaborators,” including a shaman who guides students down a path of purpose, and an herbalist who runs an herbal medicine garden.

“I’m excited to bring people in as this community grows,” Schrage said.

She plans to spend her scholarship money on growing some aspect of the business, but she will spend the winter choosing carefully.

“I’m so excited to figure that out,” she added. “The great thing about farming is you get the winter to make your plans.”

In Whistler, Hilliard has decided that her money will go towards enhancing the educational aspect on their tours. However, just the gesture of being chosen was a vote of confidence in her business.

“To win this, to be recognized by the school, it’s an honour,” she said. “I definitely feel honoured.”

In addition, she also earned the President’s Scholarship Award for graduating with distinction in the top 10

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per cent of her class, as well as the Royal Roads University Founders’ Award, which is a medal given to one student from each program who demonstrates qualities of leadership, sustainability, and personal development.

“Getting that final stamp of approval at the end was really meaningful,” she said.

While, historically, around 90 per cent of their business has come from international tourism—which meant a challenging summer—Hilliard is optimistic about the company’s future. She believes the uptick in regional visitors keen to see local wildlife and learn more about it will also remain in the mix.

“From the depths of spring, even when we were in lockdown, I wanted to be a bright light,” she said. “That’s just being an entrepreneur. You roll with whatever challenges are thrown at you.” n

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604 894 5166 | WHISTLERREALESTATE.CA DECEMBER 3, 2020

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RANGE ROVER

Two things THE BAPTISM for this year’s very different ski season begins when I pick up my pass at Guest Services in Creekside. Because, of course, you can’t go into Guest Services anymore. Instead, the lengthy pas de deux

BY LESLIE ANTHONY that typically takes place in front of a zigzag lineup indoors is now transacted outside at ticket windows. The only real difference in this brilliant set-up is the foot-stamping in the lineup—now less about impatience than exposure, as not all came dressed for the occasion. But I am ready, dressed properly, here early, and at the front. As I get the wave to approach from a masked service dude hermetically sealed behind plexiglass, another one steps forward to spritz my hands and wipe the metal counter. This leads to two thoughts: 1) Ski area ticket windows are perfectly engineered for a pandemic; and 2) standing at them feels a lot like placing a bet—which in many ways it is.

Of course, with COVID-19 raging through Whistler—including staff housing—all bets are off. But that doesn’t deter from: 1) the dude expeditiously getting me sorted; or 2) the next day being one of the best openings of the 20 I have now enjoyed.

The morning starts with my partner and

DAY ONE WONDER This is what a physically distanced, opening-day, high-five and smiles all around looks like.

PHOTO BY LESLIE ANTHONY

I scanning social media from the comfort of a warm bed, analyzing live photos of base lineups. Creekside looks lengthy at 8:30 a.m., but given how physically distanced everyone is, we think it’ll spin through pretty quick. Indeed, when we rock up at a leisurely 10 a.m., we stroll directly into a gondola all to ourselves while chatting up the amiable and helpful staff loading the lift. As we take in the sights of the familiar ride up, two things are clear: 1) There’s plenty of snow with good coverage; and 2) there’s no shortage of human guinea pigs packing down the ski-out to the valley. The mental needle that began at ambiguous starts moving toward stoked.

Red Chair, bane of the Creekside upload,

Erin O’Toole have not improved the brand; and 2) the latest unhelpful contribution to Canada’s COVID-19 crisis by conservatives has been Trump-lite conspiracy and persecution theorizing.

The first run of the year from the top is practically mid-winteresque, a yeoman’s job by Whistler Blackcomb (WB) staff having paved the way with a solid base over which we shred the occasional patch of pulverschnee back to the lift. Here we join two friends, forming a box with two-metre sides to work our masked way through the now-much-faster lift line; adhering to the abundant clear signage, everyone else follows suit save a small group of Covidiot snowboarders doing the two things you

The first run of the year from the top is practically mid-winteresque, a yeoman’s job by Whistler Blackcomb (WB) staff having paved the way ... sees people spilling from the corrals on both sides and lined up the hill. But: 1) they’re reasonably spaced; and 2) the lift is moving fast without a fully loaded cable. It takes less than 10 minutes and we’re on. A quad chair for two? Thank you very much.

As per opening day orthodoxy, I’ve brought my ancient rock skis, patched together with duct tape and Stop Harper stickers. They will prove unnecessary (the skis, I mean—the stickers are still talismanic conversation-reminders that: 1) cookiecutter HarperCons like Andrew Scheer and

shouldn’t do near other people: 1) Having your mask down; and 2) spewing aerosolized droplets by shouting at the top of your lungs to friends some distance away.

Back at the top, we skate over to Emerald for a longer, more open line.

The upper meadow is cruisy, the base solid everywhere, and, surprisingly for this time slot, more untouched snow.

As we drop into Green Acres, an even weirder thing happens: humans virtually disappear, and we swoop all the way down to the road, hundreds of turns in excellent

conditions, with no one ahead of us. This is: 1) amazing; and 2) really amazing. But it gets better: Olympic isn’t officially open but sure looks like it is as we discover completely packed-down coverage, an army of snow guns blazing to top it up, and only a modest array of the punters the run usually attracts. The skiing is even better than it often is mid-season, with no slick, icy sheets underpinning the snowmaking skiffles. This is a dream, I think, as we ski right through the corral and directly onto an empty Garbanzo Chair. But it’s real, and good enough to warrant a second attack from the Raven–Ptarmigan route, which is: 1) also most excellent; and 2) about all we have time for on this side, since some of us work in the afternoon.

As we ride Garbanzo for the last time, the plan is clear: Death before Download, as lower mountain hazards appear to be nothing more than step-arounds this year.

We start at the top of Dave Murray, shoot through Bear Cub, cross over to Franz’s below Red Chair base, which sports kneedeep pow, back onto Dave Murray, tip-toe around the breakover, chatter across the flats, and arc through the buttery snow of the final pitch. Other than an occasional ditch or hole to mind, pretty much a normal descent for experts (*beginners and intermediates should still download).

So, for Opening Day 2020, I’ll: 1) score Mother Nature a solid 80 per cent for her effort; but 2) score Whistler Blackcomb a well-deserved 95 per cent.

Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based author, editor, biologist and bon vivant who has never met a mountain he didn’t like. ■

DECEMBER 3, 2020

31

FEATURE STORY

Building a Mountain Celebrating 40 years of Blackcomb

32 DECEMBER 3, 2020

FEATURE STORY

By G.D. Maxwell

M

ountains are creations of nature. But ski mountains are birthed by people. Blackcomb Mountain was fathered by two men. Without their mix of vision, political arm-twisting, cussed determination and pure, blind luck, Whistler the town, with but one mountain, probably wouldn’t be anything like what it is today.

Al Raine envisioned a village where a garbage dump was. The village he saw was nestled between two great ski mountains, one in operation, the other operating in his imagination. In his role as provincial coordinator of ski development, he sold the government-of-the-day on the idea of supporting the development of Blackcomb.

Hugh Smythe built Blackcomb because, well, he was destined to. His fate was set as a teen working volly patrol at Mount Baker. It was fuelled in Whistler Mountain’s opening year, 1966, and indelibly cast when he became a pro patroller a short time later, an experience he described as, “flying around in helicopters, dropping bombs, chasing women, and skiing every day.”

Fortunately for all of us, Smythe was a closet businessman, and a few years later, only 26, was running Fortress Mountain in Alberta. Bankrupt, owned by the Federal Business Development Bank and in shambles, Smythe got it opened and steered the bank toward Aspen when they wanted to get out of the ski business.

Meanwhile, Raine had convinced the B.C. government developing Blackcomb made good sense. When the final decision to proceed was made in the waning weeks of summer, 1978, two bids were submitted to develop the mountain. The final decision was made later that autumn; the bid from Fortress Mountain, backstopped by Aspen, with Smythe as the point man, prevailed.

Raine said it came down to a matter of choosing a proven resort operator. Smythe simply said: “Let’s get to work.”

“I’d have to admit that back in‘78 when we started the planning and working on it, my vision for Blackcomb certainly didn’t come anywhere close to where it’s since grown to be,” Smythe said.

Imagine a mountain: trees, rocks, streams, elevation gain, cliffs, more trees. Imagine turning the mountain into a ski area—runs to lay out and cut, lifts to plan and install, restaurants to build, menus to tweak, people to hire, a million and one decisions to turn a forest into a playground.

“Operations is one thing,” said Smythe. “But going in and developing an evergreen project, cutting trails, hiring contractors and logging companies are all big decisions. We had to be on time and on budget to open for 1980. It was scary stuff.”

While still notionally in charge of Fortress, Smythe took up residence in

Hugh Smythe. Photo Submitted

White Gold, fired up his old Tucker snowcat and grinding up a “road” he’d had Seppo Makinen cut, skied every day trying to get a feel for the mountain. Between those excursions and hiking in summer, he gained a sense of where to cut runs. Logging contractors were hired and runs soon began to take shape on the lower flanks of the mountain.

“Starting from scratch, we were able to design and build something that worked,” Smythe said. The intermediate cruising was splendid, but variety still outweighs good design and until we were able to get more variety, we were always going to be the underdog.”

But variety would have to wait. Key people had to be hired, a ski school established, rental skis secured and everyone trained to manage skiers’ total experience. Had Blackcomb been anywhere but across Fitzsimmons Creek from Whistler Mountain, what they were about to open would have been sufficient, even superb. But with Whistler’s high alpine bowls, two downhill aspects and a 15-year head start, it was going to be difficult just to put in a solid No. 2 showing.

“It was a challenge to figure out how we would compete,” said Smythe, who placed his bet on better marketing, better customer service and better food. Ready to open for the 1980 season, all they needed was snow and skiers.

Franz Wilhelmsen must have gotten a chuckle out of Blackcomb’s marketing literature that first season in 1980. “Over 4,000 feet of soulstirring skiing,” it proclaimed, with 350 acres (142 hectares) of skiable terrain. The uppermost runs just touched treeline on some of the steeper pitches. The 33 kilometres of runs were 75-per-cent beginner and intermediate. The rest, deemed expert, was considered an overstatement in the minds of many.

But Blackcomb was the new kid on the block and received a big boost from the developing Whistler Village where the aptly named Lift 1 was anchored. The daylodge, guest services, ski school, administrative offices and Rendezvous 765 were located up the mountain where Base II stands today.

So was Lift 2, a 10-minute ride to Lift 3, itself granting access to Lift 4.

The ride from Village to Elevation 1860, the restaurant at the top—guess how high it was—took 37 minutes. But within the context of the mountains of its

DECEMBER 3, 2020

33

FEATURE STORY

day, and certainly compared to the lifts on either side of Whistler, pokey another staff or more likely a raven,” said De Jong. fixed-grip chairs and long rides were nothing out of the ordinary That first year, Blackcomb clocked about 54,200 skier visits, well Thirteen bucks bought a day’s skiing, $5 for children. A season’s below its projections of 225,000. Whistler? 320,000. But Smythe had worth of fun could be had for $300. The core runs of the early mountain beaten the odds, opened on time and developed a small core of were the fall-line, intermediate cruisers familiar today: Choker Vancouver skiers who liked the service on the mountain and preferred (currently the terrain park), Springboard, Gandy Dancer (sometimes its intimacy and lack of crowds. called Ross’ Gold) and Cruiser. That was about it for skiing.

Fortunately, they came back. With virtually no changes to the What little skiing was being done, that is—1980 was not a good snow physical layout of the mountain, visits during the 1981/82 season almost year. Good rain year though. But with no alpine to get above the rain, quadrupled, to just over 205,000. The worries of the first season were Blackcomb was off to a slow, soggy start. beginning to fade and it was time to think about expansion.

“When Blackcomb first opened, we had phenomenal conditions on A new lift opened the 1982-‘83 season. Planted at the bottom of the Opening Day, Dec. 4, right through until Christmas. Top-to-bottom flats below Jersey Bowl, it accessed terrain previously skied only by ski skiing. It was just amazing, and then it started to rain and washed not patrol and powder poachers, including the serious powder chutes of just half the mountain, but three-quarters of the mountain was barren Blowdown, Staircase and The Bite. Powderhounds not averse to some green, into early March,” recalled Smythe. “We had spent three years hiking and a potential run-in with patrol discovered the Saudan Couloir, planning and building and to have that all washed away, that was a Secret Bowl, Cougar Chutes, Pakalolo, and others. pretty big setback.”

But despite new lifts, better grooming, a popular race program and Arthur De Jong, then a patroller, recalls the mountain throwing a some alpine skiing, Blackcomb wasn’t the mountain Hugh envisioned. party the first time they broke 2,000 skiers in one day. He also recalls “We couldn’t compete with Whistler without more variety. We were a warm spring day when he and future mayor, Hugh O’Reilly, got boring. The alpine was up there; it just had to be realized.” their golf game ready for the summer by driving balls off the deck of Peter Xhignesse realized it. A patroller and trainer, Xhignesse Elevation 1860 down into Jersey Bowl. “The only thing we could hit was had explored the far reaches of Blackcomb’s terrain, particularly the

Preparing for Blackcomb’s opening day, 1980. Photo scans from Whistler Question archives

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34 DECEMBER 3, 2020

FEATURE STORY

Chair 3, the “Stoker Chair,” on Blackcomb.

Ski instructors from Blackcomb’s early days. Photo scans from Whistler Question archives

expansive, south-facing slope that fell away towards Fitzsimmons Creek. He pitched it to Smythe, who was skeptical but had a habit of listening to his people. After some recon and a lot of thought, the conspiracy was hatched.

Smythe remembered a T-bar he’d installed at Fortress that was no longer in use. Assuming Aspen’s support and not going into the messy detail, “It just disappeared.” Reputedly under cover of darkness.

Xhignesse thought it would make a nice addition.

Contrary to Hugh’s assumption, Aspen refused to fund the undertaking. Hugh said he’d sell enough incremental season passes—$380 for early birds—to pay for it. He did and the Mile High Mountain was opened in 1985. Whistler was changed forever and the race was on.

But, perhaps foreshadowing future developments, Aspen was growing weary of its Canadian outpost. They wanted out.

Fortunately, a guy named Joe, who had a thing about real estate development, wanted in.

With Blackcomb finally showing promise and Joe Houssain having previously wanted to develop Whistler itself, Smythe had found someone to buy out Aspen’s interest in the mountain. With the deal inked in the summer of 1986, the stage was set and the good times started to roll in earnest.

The 1986-‘87 season saw modest expansion on the hill but many plans behind the scenes. Despite that, and despite Whistler’s new Peak Chair, Blackcomb cracked 40 per cent of total skier visits, confirming everyone’s faith in the future.

Opening Day 1987 changed everything though. Blackcomb arrived and arrived in a big way thanks to Smythe having hired Paul Mathews of Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners fame, who finally got the opportunity to realize the vision he had for Blackcomb when he was instrumental in the initial losing bid to develop the mountain.

The Wizard, Solar Coaster and 7th Heaven Express—all newfangled detachable quads—started turning on Opening Day... fast. A ride that had taken 40 minutes on many chairs now took 14. A new Daylodge, base bar and much larger Rendezvous greeted skiers. And a new T-bar up Horstman Glacier opened up much more alpine skiing.

Blackcomb had arrived. Whistler took notice, especially when Smythe racked up 54 per cent of skier visits that year. Better skiing, better lifts, better food, better grooming, better snowmaking made not noticing Blackcomb impossible. The centre of gravity was shifting quickly.

“It was always competitive with Whistler, but the emphasis on customer service and some of the operational innovations, I would say was the catalyst that led to so many great things at the resort,” Smythe said. “Not that Blackcomb caused the village to be built, but without the development of Blackcomb, I’m not sure the village would have gotten built or would have been as successful.”

But that was just the start. Houssain and Smythe convinced Canadian Pacific Hotels to build a new, luxury hotel at the base of Blackcomb. It would anchor a whole new village of condo developments that sprang up like autumn mushrooms. The Upper Village on the Benchlands supercharged further development and ensured thousands of skiers would stumble out of their lodging right onto Blackcomb’s lifts.

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35

FEATURE STORY

More improvements followed. Showcase T-bar opened Blackcomb Glacier and jaw-dropping terrain. Crystal Chair opened up 568 more acres (230 ha.) and gave access to a whole new aspect of the mountain.

It could have ended there and no one would have complained.

But Smythe had one more trick up his sleeve, one that had been there since 1978. A chance meeting in Tokyo in 1993 led to Nippon Cable—the Japanese representative for Doppelmayr lifts—purchasing 23 per cent of Blackcomb. Their investment, $25 million over five years, fuelled Hugh’s dream of a lift running into the high alpine of Horstman Glacier. Glacier Express was born.

It was followed in short order by the retirement of Lift 1, replaced by Excalibur Gondola, which begat Excelerator Express, which led skiers to the expansive Glacier Creek restaurant. Infilling followed but Blackcomb was, for all intents and purposes, built. Whistler’s destiny was cast.

But then, an unlikely rumour came true. In December 1996, Blackcomb ate Whistler and the two best ski mountains in North America came under single ownership.

Compared to that single decade of meteoric rise, things have been relatively calm on what is still referred to as the Dark Side by long-time Whistler skiers. Intrawest has come and gone, another outrageous rumour came to life when the Peak 2 Peak Gondola stitched both mountains together, Smythe retired, former COO of Whistler Blackcomb Dave Brownlie left his mark on the new WB and moved on as well. Mountain ownership passed through various monied interests then enjoyed a brief moment as a public company, always with Nippon Cable in the background with a significant ownership stake.

And now, Whistler Blackcomb is an arrow in the ever-expanding quiver of Vail Resorts. The latest owners have replaced the gamechanging lifts rising from the Benchland base. The 10-person gondola—pre-pandemic capacity—replacing the Wizard and Solar Coaster has proven popular, after much angst and a shaky first season. Pokey old Catskinner is now a realigned quad. Tweaks here, tweaks there.

Several generations have grown up not knowing a time there wasn’t skiing on Blackcomb. One generation has grown up not knowing when the old established mountain and the unlikely upstart were in fierce competition with each other. The cooperative Dual Mountain is the punchline of an increasingly inside joke.

And Hugh? He’s still around. Skiing most days, on Blackcomb, of course. Wondering how it all happened in the blink of an eye.

“Change is always a challenge,” Smythe said. “But this is still a phenomenal place to live and work and play. I’d say maybe it’s hidden a little, but if you peel back the layers of the onion, the bones of the resort are still very good.”

There will, hopefully, be some kind of socially distanced, virtual celebration to commemorate Blackcomb’s 40th. How could it be otherwise? Whistler without Blackcomb? Unimaginable.

-With files from Brandon Barrett G.D. Maxwell wrote about the development of Blackcomb in Pique Newsmagazine’s 2000 publication, Whistler: A History in the Making, which helped inform this feature. ■

7th Heaven T-bar construction Photo scan from the Whistler Question archives

Photo scan from the Whistler Question archives

The view from Chair 6 (Jersey Cream). Photo scan from the Whistler Question archives

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SPORTS THE SCORE

Nordic World Championships Trials cancelled ORGANIZERS LOOK TO SCALE DOWN TO BC CUP EVENT AT WHISTLER OLYMPIC PARK

BY DAN FALLOON IT WAS GOING TO BE the new Black Tusk Nordic Events Society’s first major event, but the Junior/U23 World Championships Trials scheduled for Jan 7 to 10, 2021 has been cancelled.

Nordiq Canada announced the cancellation of all domestic FIS-sanctioned events, including the trials, in a Nov. 30 release.

Black Tusk chair Norman Laube worked closely with the national organization and saw the cancellation on the horizon.

“We’ve been discussing for many months now what the potential impacts of COVID might be on this event,” he said. “A major concern is that interprovincial travel has not been permitted or supported by the various health authorities across the country.”

Nordiq Canada events coordinator Jeff Ellis said that going into the season, the organization was well aware that any and all events could fall by the wayside.

“Back in the summer, we knew that we were going to have to protect a bunch of interests in certain events, whether it be the organizer in not getting too far down the road spending money and then we had to cancel the event and they would lose their

STOPS AND STARTS Nordiq Canada cancelled the Junior/U23 World Championships Trials, scheduled for January. The 2019 Coast Outdoors P’ayakent’sut is shown here.

PHOTO BY JUSTA JESKOVA/TOURISM WHISTLER

38 DECEMBER 3, 2020

money,” he said. “Also, there’s the athletes who need to be able to plan and then coaches that need to plan and book accommodations and flights, and also how they train their athletes and get them ready.”

At eight weeks before the event, Nordiq Canada started checking in with all its hosts regarding situations related to local restrictions as well as the organizer’s unique circumstances.

“We saw the writing on the wall with B.C.,” Ellis said. “We decided that with trials in Whistler, we needed to make a final call six weeks out from the event [instead of four] for a number of reasons.”

Ellis detailed those reasons as Whistler requiring significant travel distances for eastern teams, while the six-week point allowed for a two-week window to find a backup site and allow for teams to adjust and change plans. However, Plan B—Canmore, Alta.—was scratched as case counts rose in the province, and the government started imposing restrictions on sport. Rather than try to pivot, it ultimately made more sense to cancel, Ellis reasoned.

“We wanted to give everybody, in an uncertain year, a little bit of certainty,” he said. “To stay home and stay local is part of our messaging and by keeping the trials in Whistler, we were, in my opinion, contradicting ourselves.

“Even if we try to move trials somewhere, where could we even go where we could even have a fair representation of our best athletes at the start line?”

The release noted that Nordiq Canada still hopes to send some athletes overseas

for select World Cups as well as World Championships in the New Year, but it’ll be a difficult task without the head-to-head, level-playing-field competition Whistler’s trials was set to provide. Nordiq Canada is figuring out its criteria for qualification and expects to release it on Dec. 7.

“We wanted to give everybody, in an uncertain year, a little bit of certainty.”

- JEFF ELLIS

“Nothing is fair this season. Nothing is fair with COVID, and I’m sure our selection group will find the fairest solution,” Ellis said. “It won’t make everybody happy, but I think people would be hard-pressed to find another way to do it in a more fair manner.

“I feel bad for the athletes who had a great offseason of training and maybe didn’t ski at their best last season and may not get a chance to showcase that against a national field this year.”

While Black Tusk is losing its first significant test event as it ramps up to host the Junior/U23 World Championships in 2023, Laube said the group hopes to salvage the weekend by scaling down to a BC Cup. “We’ve been putting all of the pieces in place for the organizing committee and

the competition committee to be able to host that and still be able to host an event working very closely with Whistler Olympic Park to make sure that proper COVID protocols are all in place,” he said. “We’ll put everybody through the paces to start to get unified as a team for future events.”

Laube added that regional Coast Cups are possible on Dec. 20 and Feb. 20.

Whistler Olympic Park managing director Tim Hope said that while it’s unfortunate to lose such a high-level event, it’s understandable given the circumstances.

As an Olympic legacy, the park is built to welcome the best, and he was eager to hearken back to the 2010 glory days.

“We were really excited about it.

It would have been over a few days and would have been a high level of athletic competition here,” Hope said. “It would have brought the focus to the park this year, in addition to the years to come.

“We would have had a chance to profile the Olympic race course that would have been used and use the facility in its highlevel competition manner.”

Now, the organizers will turn their attention to December 2021, when they will host FIS ski jumping and Continental Cup Nordic combined competition.

As well, Laube confirmed the group is in the running to host Canadian Championships in March 2022.

“There’s a good possibility that with our preparations, because that would be a Nordic nationals with cross-country as well as ski jumping and Nordic combined, that would be great preparation for us,” he said. n

SPORTS THE SCORE

HEATING UP Whistler’s Beck Warm recently inked a pro contract with the Chicago Wolves.

PHOTO BY ANDY DEVLIN/EDMONTON OIL KINGS

Warm set to begin pro career with Wolves LOCAL GOALTENDER PACKING UP AFTER SIGNING WITH CAROLINA AFFILIATE

BY DAN FALLOON THANKS TO THE COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no certainty when or where Beck Warm’s professional hockey career will start, but he’s excited to get going however it looks.

The 21-year-old Whistlerite inked his first pro contract in late November, signing with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL) for the 2020-21 season. The Wolves are the top affiliate of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.

“Over the last few months since the summer, my agent [Ray Petkau] and I have been talking to four teams,” Warm said.

“Carolina finally just said, ‘We’ll take a chance and we’ll sign you to an AHL deal this year.’

“It’s the first deal we were offered and me and my agent talked and just decided that with the state of the world, there’s no point in holding out for anything. Let’s just do it.”

Warm wrapped up his junior career last season by splitting time with the Tri-City Americans and Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. The Oil Kings sat third in the league when COVID-19 halted the season for good.

This year, Warm anticipates starting out at the Hurricanes’ NHL training camp when it gets underway for the 2020-21 season.

From there, though, the picture gets murky.

The Hurricanes have five goalies signed to NHL contracts, so those players will have organizational priority. Also complicating matters is that the ECHL, a tier below the AHL, will start its season first, and Warm expects that league to be his next stop.

However, the Hurricanes do not currently have an ECHL affiliate and are still making arrangements for where to send players.

Carolina isn’t alone in figuring out its plans for its lower affiliates. Half of the ECHL’s 26 teams will start a 72-game schedule in December, while the remaining teams can opt in for a 62-game campaign

starting on Jan. 15. The six teams in the league’s North Division have already announced that they will not play this winter, so roster spots are at a premium.

“The ECHL, right now, they’re planning on having a Jan. 15 start date, so if they go through with that, then I’ll be starting in the East Coast [league] and whenever the AHL starts, hopefully I get a shot to go up there,” Warm said. “There’s a lot of possibilities right now.”

Should Warm make the jump to the AHL, it’ll be the highest level of pro hockey a Whistlerite has achieved. Forward Garrett Milan has played 25 ECHL games with Atlanta, Greenville and Rapid City.

Whatever happens, Warm will be prepared. He’s been based out of Kelowna since June working out with a trainer operating under his agent’s umbrella.

“He has a gym on his property, so we haven’t had to deal with any regulations or shutdowns since it’s just been me and him all summer,” Warm said. “I’ve been here for the past six months, just training every single day.”

When he first went to the Interior, ice time was hard to come by, but Warm said since August, he’s been able to lace up his skates four to five times a week.

When the NHL was running its playoffs, there weren’t too many players in the region to pepper Warm with shots, but since the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in late September, he’s shared the rink with Cup champions in defencemen Brent Seabrook and Luke Schenn and forward Brayden Schenn.

“Kelowna seems to be a bit of a hub for pro hockey players,” he said. “There are always pro groups looking for a goalie, so it’s been nice.”

Warm is still working out when and how he will head stateside. As of Dec. 2, North Carolina did not have a quarantine requirement for those entering the state.

“We’re trying to figure out if I’m going to drive or fly. There’s a lot of things to try to figure out,” he said. n

ur pics o y e r a h S with us

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39

FORK IN THE ROAD

Christmas gifts that say ‘love’ and ‘local’ SPECIAL TIMES MEAN BEING ESPECIALLY THOUGHTFUL READY, FOLKS, for a holiday season like no other? This is the year of Creativia Unexpectedius, when we’re all re-inventing our Christmas and holiday traditions like never before, at least not in our lifetimes.

You’ve maybe heard my annual “gifts that disappear” holiday theme song, where I spread the word about thoughtful gifts that say “love,” not “landfill,” and keep the “green” in “evergreen.” Now, we’ve all got a new chorus to add, and that’s how to be sustainable, and keep our loved ones healthy and safe, and support local businesses that have faced one setback after

BY GLENDA BARTOSH another with the pandemic.

I know, I know, it’s so easy—too easy just to click your mouse and order online these days. But stop. Just stop! And maybe delete Amazon from your browser options.

Restaurants, cafés, shops, and dozens of suppliers, community organizations and at-home entrepreneurs throughout Sea to Sky are more than willing and able to help you with your Santa shopping during these special times.

Remember, you truly spread the love when you eat local, shop local, spend local—especially with those who support our local community.

All those locals? Wherever they’re from,

CHRISTMAS CREATIVITY Stella Schwartz and Edie Hampton of the Whistler Nut Butter Co. selling a variety of organic peanut butters without added sugar at the Bratz Biz craft fair in 2019.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRATZ BIZ BY JOERN ROHDE.

40 DECEMBER 3, 2020

they’re family, too.

KEEPING ‘COMMUNITY’ IN OUR COMMUNITIES First on my gift-giving list of ideas, not just at Christmas but anytime, are the wonderful not-for-profits that keep culture and community in, well, our communities.

To start, how about an All-Access Holiday Pass to the 2020 Whistler Writers Festival? A pass gives your giftee access to 20 YouTube videos of readings and workshops from this year’s festival, which was totally virtual this year. Still, it attracted writing stars like Caroline Adderson, Waubgeshig Rice and Whistler’s own Leslie Anthony and Stephen Vogler.

Priced by donation, all proceeds go to next year’s 20th anniversary festival. See whistlerwritersfest.com.

Arts Whistler, which has been bringing arts and culture to Whistler since 1982, was also forced to do a Covidian U-turn this year, and re-invent a lot. But the Arts Whistler Gift Store in Maury Young Arts Centre is open and well and, until Dec. 20, offering 25-per-cent off the unique, locally made offerings from 60-plus Sea to Sky creators. Arts Whistler, which is especially near and dear to my heart since I started it all those years ago, is keeping with the community-minded spirit I always intended, and cancelling its sales commission so the artists will enjoy a few more bucks in their pockets this season.

More at artswhistler.com.

Along the same creative community vein, but with a twist since all the creators are eight to 16 years old, how about some sweet Christmas gift tags, a jar of handmade organic peanut butter—the candy-cane flavoured one is a holiday favourite—or a Christmas

unicorn pillow case, all from Bratz Biz? These and more are available from the youngsters now selling their creations online at BratzBiz. ca since COVID cancelled the annual live market. Especially think of all the edible creations some kids had to prep and store in anticipation of the now-cancelled market— and how many of your giftees will love them.

As for any bigger kids in your life, remember, “thrift” and “retro” are really in these days. So you can never go wrong shopping at Whistler’s second-hand outlets run by Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS). All proceeds support the 20-plus local services the society runs, including the local food bank. And don’t forget, WCSS welcomes all donations more than ever.

At the Re-Use-It Centre on Nesters Road, you’ll discover everything from kitchenware to cozy scarves and computers, even used skis and boards. At the WCSS Re-Build-It Centre in Function Junction, there’s household treasures, tools and building materials galore.

Better yet, how about giving a membership to the Re-Build-It Centre’s popular tool lending library? Your recipient gets to use the tools for a week and, yes, everything is carefully sanitized between each use. Pemberton and Squamish have great tool libraries, too.

FILL YOUR HEARTS WITH ‘LOCAL’ All kinds of local entrepreneurs and business operators have been forced to re-invent themselves this year.

Restaurants and bars are operating at hugely reduced capacity, so why not give gift certificates to your favourite places?

Then there are the creative souls like Cary Campbell Lopes of Paintertainment in Black Tusk, who’d normally be painting faces live at festivals but is now painting amazing rocks

and canvases you can give as gifts. How about one celebrating a beloved pet? (Contact Cary through Facebook at www.facebook.com/ artbycary.)

For the sweet tooths on your list, there’s The Great Glass Elevator Candy Shop, where you can fill a bag with your intended’s favourites, from Pez to Pop Rocks. And we have so many excellent Whistler-based products, it’s hard to choose: There’s the legendary Namasthé teas (my fave: Mountain Mint, made with wild mint grown in Pemberton). Whistler Chocolate’s organic bars—which even made it to the International Space Station!

The gorgeous breads and baked goods from Purebread, and an all-time kitchen musthave, Nonna Pia’s balsamic glazes, made right in Function Junction.

Throughout Sea to Sky, we have so many amazing, creative ways to pass on the true spirit of Christmas—the spirit of giving—I hope I’ve gotten you started on just some of the possibilities.

It can be hard to keep Christmas in perspective, but maybe one upside of the pandemic is the enforced simplicity. In that regard, I really like what the Tierney family in Pemberton has to say: “There is nothing we truly need, and all we really want is good, healthy food and experiences with friends and family.

“We are pretty lucky.”

A big thanks and tip of the elf hat to all those who contributed their ideas, time and effort to this column: Stella Harvey, Sam and Erin Tierney, Kyle Stillie, Rowland Stanley, Lee Erickson, Craig Lovell, Alyssa Noel, Chris Quinlan, Maureen Douglas and Joern Rohde.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who still believes small is beautiful. n

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VELOCITY PROJECT

The language your body speaks BEFRIENDING YOUR SELF STARTS WITH MAKING SMALL TALK WITH YOUR BODY MY FATHER was a pharmacist, my mother a nurse. In my household, we took stale-dated medicine (because it was still good even if it was illegal for him to sell, so why waste it?) and we were never indulged a day off school unless we had a serious fever.

Feeling bad had to be evidentially supported, symptomatically verified.

Feelings themselves were irrelevant, and should be willed away, in order to remain productive and on-task. (My mother’s stoicism was so extreme she’d even once managed to ignore her own abdominal pain throughout a nursing shift, until her appendix burst

BY LISA RICHARDSON and she had to be rushed into emergency surgery. A high pain threshold was one of our family’s bragging points.)

So the idea of energy medicine, or being attuned to the subtle vibrations of the body, were, shall we say, not part of my native language. Picking up Ellen Meredith’s new book, “The Language Your Body Speaks: Self-Healing with Energy Medicine,” was akin to grabbing Russian for Dummies, as my COVID-19 self-improvement project.

But the question intrigued: what language does my body speak? It had not taken me long to register that my go-to coping strategies (still trailing extreme stoicism, especially when removed from a support network of friends and community) really didn’t serve. Chin-up and wine-down might work for muscling through a tough week, but long-term, I was going to need to develop some fluency in other coping mechanisms—I

GETTING GROUNDED Lying facedown on the ground might look like a protest or a collapse (especially if you’re the mother of a toddler), but it’s actually a highly recommended energetic healing technique called docking.

PHOTO BY LISA RICHARDSON

42 DECEMBER 3, 2020

downloaded podcasts about polyvagal theory, skimmed workbooks on building tolerance for uncertainty and the feelings wheel, signed on to every meditation class offered through Whistler Public Library, began to experiment with sobriety. With the prospect of travel or human interaction looking slim for the nearfuture, why not get to know what was in my immediate vicinity, maybe even invest some time in the most overlooked relationship I’ve ever had? With my own body.

Ellen Meredith is a language lover, and a writer, by training. As a kid, she’d turn the radio dial until it caught foreign broadcasts, listening to the rise and swell of strange languages, feeling a kind of understanding almost within reach. She worked as a creative writing teacher. She stumbled into healing work in her 20s, and tries to explain it as a kind of language—a dialogue or conversation you can enter with yourself, using metaphor, symbols, touch, music, spidey-senses, and a naïve kind of curiosity.

She explains that the body has two main systems of communication—chemistry and energy. Energy is the way the body, mind and spirit communicate, a language we’re born fluent in, but something we are socialized to lose contact with.

“We are trained to move beyond our physical/energetic focus to live a more abstract, mental existence in this culture,” Meredith explained to me via email. “It is part of our socialization. It shuts off at different ages in different families.”

Reclaiming it, Meredith writes, can start simply with an exercise she calls “Healing Hands.” Rub your hands together and place one hand on a part of your body. Any part.

Pay attention. Place the other hand on another part of your body. Pay attention.

Move your hands as you feel compelled to.

I read this exercise, as I read most of Meredith’s book, with one eyebrow arched.

Really? How can healing be so simple that a child could do it? I saw my university roommate’s biochemistry notes—there’s nothing simple about that language. How could the other language of the body be

so intuitive and accessible, that even a chemistry dropout like me could master it, by humming to myself, or drawing love hearts on my boo-boos?

Meredith says that our bodies speak their truth through symptoms, trying to get our attention through sensations, interruptions of functions, energetic blockages, and physical signals. If we miss those communiqués, the body and mind shout louder and discomfort snowballs into illness. She has worked as an energy healer and medical intuitive for more than 40 years, often with people who successfully ignored things until they could no longer be ignored, seeking her out after years of enduring such chronic pain that conventional medicine rarely helped.

Meredith herself had spent thousands of dollars trying to treat chronic migraines and digestive problems.

“Many of the wonderful practitioners I saw did help me,” she said. “But in other ways, they kept me dependent on their help, rather than teaching me what I could do to help myself.”

Her belief that healing belongs in everyone’s hands prompted her to write this book, to make the teachings she’s received available to anyone.

What if managing anxiety, moving ourselves to a state of balance and wellness, is as simple as drawing a figure eight on your skin, putting your hand on your heart and inquiring, “How are you today? What colour are you? Do you have anything you need me to know?” What if everything comes back to the quality of relationship we have—with our body, with our environment, with our community? As radical a departure as this was from my programming, I was intrigued by the question: What if?

So, on the last day of October, when the chores were finally done, the family out of the house, the temperatures finally back above zero after a cold plunge, and the ground somewhat dry, I had my window, to try Meredith’s Earth-docking exercise— “a great exercise to do if you are feeling overwhelmed, overloaded or pent up, or

if you are confused about what energy medicine is needed. It can give you a whole-system reset. Lie facedown on the earth. Give it all over to Mother Earth. A whole-body plant on the earth allows you to ground with every cell of your body.” I’d had the page tabbed for weeks.

I looked for a quiet place in my yard, out of the sightlines of any neighbours. I pushed my face into the humus, inhaled, and lay still. The world around me began to make itself known. I could feel my heart thumping away in my chest, my belly pushing into the ground with each breath. It was gentle, strange, comfortable, calming. I flipped over and looked up, gazing up at the tree canopy, and the way the branches and leaves reach toward each other, but stop short of touching—giving each other breathing room. An hour passed. I was in no hurry to be anywhere else.

Did it do anything? Energetically? To be scientifically rigorous, I probably would have had to hook up to electrodes and a portable EEG, log brainwave and blood pressure before and after. Did it have a quantitative impact on my well-being, longevity, resilience to influenza or cancer? Meredith says that’s a line of thinking worth reconsidering. We need to ask better questions than “what is wrong and how do I fix it?”

“If your intention is to delve deeper into ‘what’s wrong and why am I in pain?’ your body produces more information about that.”

Instead, she invites us to begin asking: What’s needed? How can I support that? What needs to be cultivated? Can you show me? How do I come home to my body and participate in my wholeness and well-being?

It starts, like any homecoming does, by opening the door, and stepping across the threshold, taking a breath, and realizing where you are. Or, enjoying a full faceplant out in the woods. Which, for the record, I highly recommend.

The Velocity Project: how to slow the f--k down and still achieve optimum productivity and life happiness. ■

ARTS SCENE

Small Time delves into rural America’s opioid crisis THE FILM MAKES ITS CANADIAN DEBUT AS PART OF THE WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL

BY ALYSSA NOEL SMALL TIME centres on a young girl named Emma growing up in rural America in the midst of a bleak opioid crisis.

She bounces from her mom’s barebones forest cabin to the dirty drug den of her mother’s ex-boyfriend to her estranged grandmother’s house where her equally estranged father, riddled with PTSD from fighting the “war on terror,” also lives.

Throughout these never-ending hardships, Emma still exudes a childlike wonder navigating a life that, to the viewer, seems desperately tragic.

“She’s the reflection of who we are going to become as a society because she’s absorbing—or not—everything that’s around her,” says Niav Conty, the writer, director and director of photography for the film. “The vision [for her character] is, as a sponge, what does she absorb or what can she resist and somehow use the humanity that’s not tainted by her surroundings to become her own person.

And that’s the struggle of the film. Will

ON SCREEN Audrey Grace Marshall stars as Emma in Small Time, screening this month as part of the Whistler Film Festival.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

44 DECEMBER 3, 2020

she succumb to all the weak behaviour around her?”

Conty originally cast then-seven-year-old Audrey Grace Marshall in the lead role of Emma back when it was just a short film and Marshall had next to no acting experience.

“After the short was well received and we had a good time and Audrey was great in it, we wanted to expand the story of this

“Because we turned it into a feature and left time for her to grow between each of the parts we cut between, that gave her time also to develop a career and skyrocket,” Conty adds. “And get a lot of roles in other things.

This was her very first discovery on film.”

Alongside the growing drug crisis, the film delves into what might seem to Canadian viewers like cultural curiosities—

“I had to find a way to not feel hopeless at the end of this film. I think it would not have served the story or the character at all. I was very conscious to bring something positive.”

- NIAV CONTY

little girl,” Conty says. “It was less stressful casting because we were casting a short— not that I don’t want to cast it perfectly, but I wasn’t casting a seven-year-old with absolutely no experience to be a lead in an hour-and-45-minute feature. I would’ve gone about it differently.”

Conty wrote and shot the film over three years, which meant following Marshall from ages seven to 10. In that time, she started getting more roles in productions like the Netflix film The Last Summer and Marvel’s Jessica Jones.

the biggest of which is the omnipresence of guns.

“The place where this is shot in rural Pennsylvania, I feel very close to the nature of this place,” says Conty, who currently lives in New York City. “This is a very heavy Trumpvoting area. Very religious, quite poor, a lot of addiction, and so I find [the film] is pretty near to everything that is here.”

Conty operates in nuance over the span of the film. The characters have moments of horror and humanity; Emma seems resilient, but signs of trauma might creep

in; and while the viewer is pummelled with bleakness, through Emma’s innocent approach to life, it never becomes too much.

“The film was going really dark and I’m a dark person,” Conty says. “I had to find a way to not feel hopeless at the end of this film. I think it would not have served the story or the character at all. I was very conscious to bring something positive.”

While her plans for screening the film have changed thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has played at—and earned accolades from—several festivals. On Dec. 19, it’s set to make its Canadian debut as part of the Whistler Film Festival, streaming until Dec. 31.

“I would’ve loved to go to Whistler, for this, but it’s not to be,” Conty says. “That said we’ve gotten really wonderful awards at most of the festivals.”

To buy tickets, visit whistlerfilmfestival. com/films.

The Sea to Sky has several places to get help with opioid addictions: The OAT clinic (Opiate Agonist Therapy) provides access to pharmacological therapies. The Overdose Outreach Team is available to meet people where they are at in their journey with addiction. For more information and to access to these programs in Whistler call 604-698-6455, Pemberton 604-698-5861, and Squamish 778-894-3200. n

ARTS SCENE

RESERVOIR

BY REBECCA BELMORE

LOCAL LEGEND A fundraiser concert takes place online on Dec. 6 to support long-time local Kevin Damaskie as he battles cancer.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

CancerPalooza showcases local talent for a good cause ARTS NEWS: WFF’S SEA TO SKY SHORTS SHOWCASE FEATURES LOCAL FILMMAKERS IN NEW COMPETITION; DREAM BIG VINTAGE POP UP RETURNS

BY ALYSSA NOEL A GROUP OF FRIENDS have banded together to help a long-time local family in need.

When Kevin Damaskie, known for his local involvement in everything from journalism to politics, music and activism over the last several decades, was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer, friends from his many facets of life wanted to find a way to help him and his family of four. (Damaskie was one of Pique’s original founders and a former reporter with the publication.)

So they banded together to host CancerPalooza 2020 via livestream to kick off the launch of a GoFundMe to support Damaskie, his wife, and two sons as he battles the disease.

“We go back a long way,” says Stephen Vogler, who is helping to organize the evening of online entertainment. “We’ve been good friends, we’ve skied together, they lived in their RV in our parking lot for a while. He helped me add a room to the cabin [years back] … He’s always been a really supportive friend.”

The event will take place on Facebook Live on Sunday, Dec. 6 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Vogler and local DJ Ace Mackay-Smith will host the evening with Pemberton favourites Dakota Pearl playing a (pre-recorded, COVID-friendly) show throughout.

“We’ll tell a few anecdotes [and] I’ll play a song or two live there at The Point [ArtistRun Centre],” Vogler says. “We’re hoping a few other friends might get up and say a few words.”

To tune in, search CancerPalooza2020 on Facebook or contribute to the GoFundMe at gofundme.com/f/help-kev-fuk-cancer.

LOCAL TALENT ON DISPLAY AT WFF’S SEA TO SKY SHORTS SHOWCASE The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) officially kicked off this week, but one must-see new event is the Sea to Sky Showcase.

The inaugural filmmaking competition selected 10 finalists to shoot a short film from the Sea to Sky region. The winner will receive $2,000 and be revealed at the WFF’s awards ceremony on Dec. 20.

“ ... He’s always been a really supportive friend.”

- STEPHEN VOGLER

However, you’ll get a chance to see all the films online on Thursday, Dec. 10. To screen them, buy tickets online at whistlerfilmfestival.com.

POP-UP SHOP RETURNS The Dream Big Vintage Pop Up Shop is returning to Whistler in time for holiday shopping.

While they kicked off on Dec. 1 with fully booked time slots for shopping at their temporary space at 109 Bear Paw Trail (next to Cranked Espresso Bar) in Rainbow, they will be open from Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Dec. 19.

Check out vintage and used clothing, artwork, illustrations, jewellery, plants, macramé, and second-hand books.

For more information, visit facebook. com/dreambigvintagecollective. n

DECEMBER 3, 2020

45

MUSEUM MUSINGS

EST.2006

Immigrating great people to a great country Our team of Canadian immigration experts will help you understand the immigration system and processes to give you a clear understanding of how to achieve your immigration goals.

Book a Roadmap Consultation to develop a detailed strategy tailored to your unique situation based on an in-depth analysis and discussion of your situation as student, worker, visitor, family sponsor, employer, or entrepreneur.

Our full-service representation will manage each stage of the application process for you to achieve results faster, with less stress and higher likelihood of success.

Contact Us E: info@whistlerimmigration.com W: whistlerimmigration.com P: 1-888-266-1161 A: 201-4230 Gateway Drive (above the Visitor Center & beside the Whistler Chamber) We are members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) Managing Partner and Director Brooke Finlay (R514337), Barbara Kolvek (R531141) and Caitlin Thomas (RCIC R530663).

Did you miss us around town?

Get your free facemask at Municipal Hall — Customer Service desk (while supplies last) when you buy your December transit pass or show us your current transit pass.

Courtesy of the Resort Municipality of Whistler and BC Transit.

See whistler.ca/transit for December giveaway locations & times.

Resort Municipality of Whistler Whistler.ca/transit

46 DECEMBER 3, 2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLACKCOMB Mayor Pat Carleton and Hugh Smythe load the first chairs heading up the mountain.

GREG GRIFFITH COLLECTION

Blackcomb Mountain’s 40th

BY ALLYN PRINGLE OVER THE PAST FEW months, we’ve been sharing stories about Blackcomb Mountain and its early days of operations.

Tomorrow (Dec. 4) marks 40 years since Mayor Pat Carleton cut through the ribbon on Lift 2 using a chainsaw and officially opened Blackcomb Mountain to the skiing public.

This did not technically mark the beginning of organized skiing on Blackcomb Mountain. The day before, on Dec. 3, a limited opening had welcomed Whistler residents to test out Blackcomb’s operating systems. The previous winter, Blackcomb had offered snowcat tours for 12 skiers at a time, promising fresh powder and a hot lunch on the mountain. Dec. 4, however, was the culmination of a lot of hard work in a very short time.

In 1978, the Province of British Columbia put out a call for development proposals for Blackcomb under the direction of Al Raine, then a consultant for the British Columbia Ministry of Lands, Provincial Ski Area Coordination. Two companies expressed interest: one led by Paul Mathews, who later founded Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners Ltd., and the other put forward by Hugh Smythe and Fortress Mountain Resorts Ltd. (FMR). As Smythe recalls, it was on Oct. 12, 1978 that they were told they won the bid, only just over two years before opening day.

Smythe had previously worked for Whistler Mountain, first on the ski patrol and then as mountain manager. In 1974, he left Whistler to run Fortress Mountain in Alberta, which was owned by the Federal Business Development Bank (FBDB) [today known as the Business Development Bank of Canada] after going into bankruptcy in

1971. When the FBDB asked Smythe to find a buyer for Fortress Mountain, Aspen Skiing Corporation was brought in and FMR was formed, jointly owned by the FBDB and Aspen Ski Co. After the success of Star Wars in 1977, 20th Century Fox began diversifying under the direction of Dennis Stanfill and, in 1978, bought Aspen Ski Co. Before FMR could begin work, Smythe had to go to Hollywood to make the case for spending $11 million developing Blackcomb Mountain. According to him, his pitch was, “It doesn’t cost as much as a movie, so you guys should do it.” Luckily, they did.

Along with the many practicalities of starting a new venture, the winter of 197879 was spent exploring the mountain and designing trails. Smythe set up in a house at the end of Fitzsimmons Drive in White Gold and kept a fuel tank and a Tucker SnoCat in the front yard. The trails were cut in 1979 and the winter of 1979-80 introduced skiers to Blackcomb through their snowcat tours. The summer and fall of 1980 saw lifts installed on the mountains. In what appears to be an incredibly short time, Blackcomb Mountain was ready to open.

The original target date set in 1978 was Dec. 1, 1980. Blackcomb Mountain opened just three days late, a feat described by the management as “not bad.” Lift 1 from the (still under construction) Whistler Village was not yet open and capacity was limited to those who could find parking at the daylodge base (now known as Base II) or get dropped off with their equipment but, by all accounts, the first day of skiing was a success.

Happy 40th Blackcomb!

(For more on the story on Blackcomb, read this week’s cover feature in Pique starting on page 32.) n

PARTIAL RECALL

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OPENING DAY The extra-long wait was worth it. Whistler Blackcomb opened for the winter season on Thursday, Nov. 26 with decent conditions, as Angie Jones experiences here. PHOTO BY STU BENNER. 2 SWEET AS CAN BE Seven-year-old Jack Sweet sews ice bag covers to be donated to the Whistler Health Care Centre. PHOTO SUBMITTED. 3 BEARY HUNGRY A bear looks for some final snacks near Creekside before he settles in for a long winter nap—take this as a reminder to continue securing attractants, even though the lifts are open. PHOTO BY NATE CLARK/@NATECLARKIMAGES AND NATECLARKIMAGES.COM. 4 LIBRARY LOVE Pemberton & District Public Library director Emma Gillis (left), Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman 1

and board chair Carmen Praine (second from left) present former Pemberton & District Public Library Board chair Judith Walton with the Trustee Excellence Award from the British Columbia Library Trustees Association, an annual award that recognizes a trustee who has made a major contribution to their public library and community through governance. Whistler Public Library Board vice chair Bevin Heath Ansley, not pictured, has also earned the provincial trustees award. PHOTO SUBMITTED. 5 PIZZA FOR PARAMEDICS Rotary Club of Whistler vice president Marg Pallot delivers pizzas from the Westin Resort and Spa to the paramedics at Whistler’s BC Ambulance Service Station to thank them for their service to the community. The Rotary Club of Whistler received $500 worth of vouchers for the Westin’s restaurants as the prize for Best Theme Interpretation at the 2019 Canada Day Parade, but had been unable to use them due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PHOTO SUBMITTED.

6

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT The Whistler Garden Centre in Function Junction has transformed into a winter wonderland ahead of the holidays. PHOTO BY MEGAN LALONDE.

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! Send your recent snaps to arts@piquenewsmagazine.com

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ASTROLOGY

HEAR AND NOW WHISTLER’S LOCAL MUSIC CELEBRATION

Free Will Astrology WEEK OF DECEMBER 3 BY ROB BREZSNY

ONLINE THURSDAYS, 7PM

Dec 3

Marble Canyon

Dec 10

Poor Dirty Sylvia

Dec 17

Stephen Vogler & Some Assembly Required

Find the episodes on Arts Whistler’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

artswhistler.com/hearandnow

@artswhistler

SEEKING APPLICATIONS FOR ADVISORY DESIGN PANEL The Resort Municipality of Whistler is seeking qualified applicants to serve in a voluntary capacity on the Advisory Design Panel for 2021 in the position of regular member. There is one vacancy available for a two-year term. The regular member must be entitled to be registered as an elector to vote in Whistler’s municipal elections.

The Advisory Design Panel is a Council-appointed committee that meets monthly and advises on matters concerning the design of the built environment in Whistler. Download the Terms of Reference at whistler.ca/committees.

To apply, submit a resume and brief statement that reflects your interest in participating on this committee by email to planning@whistler.ca or mail: Advisory Design Panel c/o Karen Olineck Resort Municipality of Whistler 4325 Blackcomb Way Whistler, BC V8E0X5 Phone 604-935-8170 or email planning@whistler.ca for more information.

Application deadline: December 14, 2020 at 4:30 p.m.

Photo: Arts Whistler / Kelly Cosgrove

DECEMBER EPISODES

ARIES (March 21-April 19): An anonymous blogger on Tumblr writes the following: “What I’d really like is for someone to objectively watch me for a week and then sit down with me for a few hours and explain to me what I am like and how I look to others and what my personality is in detail and how I need to improve. Where do I sign up for that?” I can assure you that the person who composed this message is not an Aries. More than any other sign of the zodiac, you Rams want to be yourself, to inhabit your experience purely and completely—not see yourself from the perspective of outside observers. Now is a good time to emphasize this specialty.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Humans like to be scared,” declares author Cathy Bell. “We love the wicked witch’s cackle, the wolf’s hot breath, and the old lady who eats children, because sometimes, when the scary is over, all we remember is the magic.” I suppose that what she says is a tiny bit true. But there are also many ways to access the magic that don’t require encounters with dread. And that’s exactly what I predict for you in the coming weeks, Taurus: marvellous experiences—including catharses, epiphanies, and breakthroughs—that are neither spurred by fear nor infused with it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1994, the animated movie The Lion King told the story of the difficult journey made by a young lion as he struggled to claim his destiny as rightful king. A remake of the film appeared in 2019.

During the intervening 25 years, the number of real lions living in nature declined dramatically. There are now just 20,000. Why am I telling you such bad news?

I hope to inspire you to make 2021 a year when you will resist trends like this. Your assignment is to nurture and foster wildness in every way that’s meaningful for you—whether that means helping to preserve habitats of animals in danger of extinction or feeding and championing the wildness inside you and those you care about. Get started!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Is there anyone whose forgiveness you would like to have? Is there anyone to whom you should make atonement? Now is a favourable phase to initiate such actions. In a related subject, would you benefit from forgiving a certain person whom you feel wronged you? Might there be healing for you in asking that person to make amends? The coming weeks will provide the best opportunity you have had in a long time to seek these changes.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Scientists know that the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down—but at the very slow rate of two milliseconds every 100 years. What that means is that 200 million years from now, one day will last 25 hours. Think of how much more we humans will be able to get done with an extra hour every day!

I suspect you may get a preview of this effect in the coming weeks, Leo. You’ll be extra efficient. You’ll be focused and intense in a relaxing way. Not only that: You will also be extra appreciative of the monumental privilege of being alive. As a result, you will seem to have more of the precious luxury of time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Adventurer Tim Peck says there are three kinds of fun. The first is pure pleasure, enjoyed in full as it’s happening. The second kind of fun feels challenging when it’s underway, but interesting and meaningful in retrospect. Examples are giving birth to a baby or taking an arduous hike uphill through deep snow.

The third variety is no fun at all. It’s irksome while you’re doing it, and equally disagreeable as you think about it later. Now I’ll propose a fourth type of fun, which I suspect you’ll specialize in during the coming weeks. It’s rather boring or tedious or nondescript while it’s going on, but in retrospect, you are very glad you did it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “I made the wrong mistakes,” said Libran composer and jazz pianist Thelonious Monk.

He had just completed an improvisatory performance he wasn’t satisfied with. On countless other occasions,

however, he made the right mistakes. The unexpected notes and tempo shifts he tried often resulted in music that pleased him. I hope that in the coming weeks you make a clear demarcation between wrong mistakes and right mistakes, dear Libra. The latter could help bring about just the transformations you need.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Home is not where you were born,” writes Naguib Mahfouz. “Home is where all your attempts to escape cease.” I propose we make that one of your mottos for the next 12 months, Scorpio. According to my astrological analysis, you will receive all the inspiration and support you need as you strive to be at peace with exactly who you are. You’ll feel an ever-diminishing urge to wish you were doing something else besides what you’re actually doing. You’ll be less and less tempted to believe your destiny lies elsewhere, with different companions and different adventures. To your growing satisfaction, you will refrain from trying to flee from the gifts that have been given you, and you will instead accept the gifts just as they are.

And it all starts now.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked,” observed Sagittarian author Jane Austen. She wrote this confession in a letter to her niece, Fanny, whose boyfriend thought that the women characters in Jane’s novels were too naughty. In the coming weeks, I encourage you Sagittarians to regard pictures of perfection with a similar disdain. To accomplish all the brisk innovations you have a mandate to generate, you must cultivate a deep respect for the messiness of creativity; you must understand that your dynamic imagination needs room to experiment with possibilities that may at first appear disorderly. For inspiration, keep in mind this quote from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich: “Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn novelist Anne Brontë (1820–1849) said, “Smiles and tears are so alike with me, they are neither of them confined to any particular feelings: I often cry when I am happy, and smile when I am sad.” I suspect you could have experiences like hers in the coming weeks. I bet you’ll feel a welter of unique and unfamiliar emotions. Some of them may seem paradoxical or mysterious, although I think they’ll all be interesting and catalytic. I suggest you welcome them and allow them to teach you new secrets about your deep self and the mysterious nature of your life.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian philosopher Simone Weil formulated resolutions so as to avoid undermining herself. First, she vowed she would only deal with difficulties that actually confronted her, not far-off or hypothetical problems. Second, she would allow herself to feel only those feelings that were needed to inspire her and make her take effective action. All other feelings were to be shed, including imaginary feelings— that is, those not rooted in any real, objective situation.

Third, she vowed, she would “never react to evil in such a way as to augment it.” Dear Aquarius, I think all of these resolutions would be very useful for you to adopt in the coming weeks.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In June 2019, the young Piscean singer Justin Bieber addressed a tweet to 56-yearold actor Tom Cruise, challenging him to a mixed martial arts cage fight. “If you don’t take this fight,” said Bieber, “you will never live it down.” A few days later, Bieber retracted his dare, confessing that Cruise “would probably whoop my ass in a fight.” If Bieber had waited until December 2020 to make his proposal, he might have had more confidence to follow through—and he might also have been better able to whoop Cruise’s ass. You Pisceans are currently at the peak of your power and prowess.

Homework: What parts of your past weigh you down and limit your imagination? What can you do to free yourself?

Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca

48 DECEMBER 3, 2020

EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES In-depth weekly forecasts designed to inspire and uplift you. To buy access, phone 1-888-499-4425. Once you’ve chosen the Block of Time you like, call 1-888-682-8777 to hear Rob’s forecasts. www.freewillastrology.com

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ROTARY CLUBS OF WHISTLER The Rotary Clubs of Whistler are now meeting virtually.

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Big Brothers, Big Sisters Sea to Sky Volunteer to Mentor- just 1hr/week - and make a difference in a child's life. Call 604-892-3125.

STORAGE STORAGE SPACE

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604.932.1968

Emotional distress can be difficult to manage on your own. The goal of Ashlin Tipper Counselling is to promote health and happiness by providing welcoming, kind, supportive, non-judgmental, goal-oriented, practical, clinically-based emotional support.

Website: ashlintippercounselling.com Email: ashlintippercounselling@gmail.com Phone: (604) 916 8979

FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

JOB POSTING

8 X 10 CONTAINERS

$

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88/64 CASPER CHARLIE PLACE, DARCY BC V0N 1L0

WALSH STORAGE Pemberton Industrial Park 1944 Stone Cutter Place Owner Residence On-Site

DRIVE

N’Quatqua Child and Family Development Centre PO BOX

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USE A WALSH CUBE TRUCK FOR FREE TO MOVE YOUR POSSESSIONS TO WALSH STORAGE

FIX

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

RESTORATION

Family owned & operated

WORK

- Entrance Ambassador - Must be 19 years or older - 4 hour shifts 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. & 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact: volunteerwhcc@gmail.com

The N’Quatqua First Nation is seeking a qualified Early Childhood Educator and/or Aboriginal Supported Child Development Support Worker to fill a full-time position at N’Quatqua Child and Family Development Centre. The successful candidate will join our NCFDC team, the function of the Early Childhood Educator and/or Aboriginal Supported Child Development Support Worker is to provide the extra staffing support to a child care center in order for children with extra support needs to fully participate in the child care settings chosen by their families. The Early Childhood and/or Support Worker works as a team member with child care setting staff and with all the children and families providing general support to the whole program to ensure effective inclusion of the children.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated ability in: • Ability to develop and maintain a warm, caring, responsive relationship with the child.

• Ability to establish and maintain supportive, collaborative relationships with families and staff.

• Ability to maintain confidentiality, positive, professional, nonjudgmental attitude.

• Physically ability to carry out the duties of the position.

• Planning and implementing developmentally appropriate curriculum that supports community, inclusion and is culturally significant for young Aboriginal children • Understanding and working knowledge of Child Care Licensing regulations • Interpersonal, written, oral communication skills and maintaining positive communication with parents • Collaborating with community service providers, Self-directed and able to initiate and complete projects In addition, the Early Childhood Educator and/or Aboriginal Supported Child Development Support Worker will have: • A minimum of 2 years work experience in a child care setting • Valid Early Childhood Education Certificate, Special Needs License to Practice or going to school to take Early Childhood Educator and/ or special needs.

• Special Needs certificate or relevant experience preferred • Clear Criminal Records Check & Current First Aid • Food Safe, or willingness to obtain • Some knowledge of curriculum and philosophies in First Nations Early Childhood settings Terms of Employment: • Full-time Permanent, Monday to Friday hours to be determined • Start Date: As soon as possible • Wage: (negotiable depending on experience) Cover Letter & Resume to: Title: Lisa Sambo, Manager Agency: N’Quatqua Child and Family Development Centre Email: lisa.sambo@nquatqua.ca Fax: 604-452-3295/3280 Deadline: until position is filled We thank all those who apply. Only those candidates selected for interview will be contacted.

DECEMBER 03, 2020

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM/JOBS

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Are you passionate about helping people and your community?

www.whistlerexcavations.com

The Sea to Sky corridor’s top civil construction company.

We are currently recruiting professionally minded people to join our team.

Required are: Labourers • Heavy Equipment Operators Class 1 or Class 3 Truck Drivers • Pipelayers Please send resume to: Email: info@whistlerexcavations.com

Whistler Community Service Society (WCSS) are seeking an ambassador to join our team: OUTREACH worker As an Outreach Worker at WCSS, you will use your own emotional intelligence to connect with and provide no cost confidential support to individuals of all ages and families. You will use your experience in social services to engage individuals who may be experiencing mental/physical health, financial insecurity, substance use, relationship challenges and parenting or prenatal support.

Community

NOTICES MEETING PLACE Welcome Centre at Whistler Public Library - Information, support, community connections and ESL practice groups for newcomers and immigrants. Meet people, make connections, volunteer, build your communication skills in English.

Multicultural Meet Up every Friday 9.3012pm.604-698-5960 info@welcomewhistler.com FB: WhistlerWelcomeCentre

ANNOUNCEMENTS NOTICES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Does presenting on-line or in person terrify you?

Join us at: Mountain Spirit Whistler Toastmasters

This is a contract position for 15 weeks with the possibility to extend. This position requires 32 hours/week.

Please see the full job description at www.mywcss.org

Meeting Details: Wednesdays 6:30-8:00pm On-line using Zoom & starting January 2021 also Millar Room - Myrtle Philip Community School

Guests Welcome Phone/Text : 1-604-967-1231 whistler.toastmastersclubs.org

We are currently interviewing for Red Seal Carpenters (or equivalent experience) Please submit resume to: info@evrfinehomes

Whistler’s Premier Estate Builder

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES ***Local Automotive*** Automotive technician for year round position in Whistler. 604-905-9109 steve@localautomotive.com MCC Modern Concept Contracting Looking for key people to join our team.

Not happy with your current employer & looking for a change?

New in Town & looking for a job?

Moving to Whistler?

Whistler Construction Company is Looking for F/T Hardworking, Reliable, Motivated team players. Note what position you’re applying for & include resume. *Foreman or Lead Carpenters (Room for growth ) *Carpenters (Room for growth ) *Helpers (Apprenticeships available) * Labourers 604-902-0956 office@modernc onceptcontracting.com

PLAY HERE

» piquenewsmagazine.com/jobs 52 DECEMBER 03, 2020

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM/JOBS

THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

Project Analyst and Coordinator Policy Analyst and Coordinator for Indigenous engagement, government relations and policy analysis for large infrastructure projects. The position will have a range of responsibilities and duties with a focus on the preparation of documents and reports, issues monitoring, research and analysis, and organizing meetings related to Indigenous engagement and relationship building.

Experience and Knowledge Preparing records of meetings and summarizing information received from a range of different groups in a clear and concise manner.

Preparing professional, comprehensive, multi-page reports, presentations and other communications materials that are supported by reliable records and analysis.

Now hiring for the following positions: GUEST SERVICE AGENT ROOM ATTENDANT HOUSEPERSON OVERNIGHT HOUSEPERSON SKI VALET (FULL-TIME) BREAKFAST ATTENDANT (FULL-TIME & PART-TIME)

Strong writing, research, project management and analytical skills.

Ability to organize, schedule and coordinate meetings both inperson and online with a range of participants.

Knowledge of or experience participating in consultations with Indigenous communities and an understanding of their culture and interests is an asset.

• • • • • • •

Knowledge or understanding of environmental assessment processes and environmental issues is an asset.

Education and Skills Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Environmental Science, Resource Management, or a relevant/related field degree from a recognized post-secondary institution. Experience as an intermediate to advanced level user MS Office, Power Point, Excel, the internet, and working remotely online.

Discover new opportunities and embark on a career in Hospitality with Pan Pacific Whistler To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume to careers.ppwhi@panpacific.com

This position will be on a part-time basis, with some flexibility for hours worked, paid on hourly rate that is competitive.

Location: Whistler, BC.

PIQUE NEWSMAGAZINE

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Competitive Wages Associate Housing Wellness Allowance/Ski Pass Flexible Schedule Discounted Food Extended Medical Benefits Spa Discounts

Please email: consultingserviceswhistler@gmail.com

52 ISSUES $76.70/YEAR

REGULAR MAIL WITHIN CANADA

We are the Spa for you

$136 /YEAR .60

If you are looking for a new place to call home: • We manifest positive energy • We have a long term and loyal team • We treat you fairly and look out for your wellness • You are listened to • We give you proper breaks and time to set up between services • We offer extended medical benefits • We have potential staff housing at affordable rates • You can enjoy $5.00 cafeteria meals • You have the opportunity to work for other Vida locations in slow season We are here for you.

COURIER WITHIN CANADA COURIER WITHIN USA

PAY BY MASTERCARD, VISA OR AMEX TEL. 604-938-0202 FAX. 604-938-0201

ISO: RMT’S Due to the high demand of RMT at the Spa, we are looking to grow our team so that we service the community at this critical time. With a new commission rate, we are one of the highest paying places in town, a local’s favourite and offer an environment honouring and respecting diversity and inclusion.

SPA RECEPTIONISTS

Vida Spa at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler is currently recruiting:

To enhance our Spa experience we wish to hire additional team members, to best service our guests, offering them genuine wellness throughout their entire experience.

We offer: Spirit Pass financing, a great work environment at an award-winning Canadian Lodge, free underground parking, and much more.

Apply today at: careers@nitalakelodge.com

RMT Spa practitioners and esthetician’s To join our unique Vida family, email Bonnie@vidaspas.com

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$605.80/YEAR

Vida Spas - Vancouver & Whistler Live well. Live long. vidaspas.com Thank You for applying Only those considered will be contacted.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM/JOBS

THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

Communications & Projects Coordinator (Permanent, F/T)

The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) is located in southwestern BC and consists of 4 member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and 4 electoral areas. The region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains in the province and affords an endless range of opportunities for outdoor adventure. Headquartered in Pemberton, which is the approximate geographic centre of the region, the SLRD delivers a wide range of regional, sub-regional and local services to its residents. Services include land use planning, solid waste management, building inspection, fire protection, emergency preparedness, 911 services, recreation, water and sewer utilities, regional transit, trails and open spaces as well as financial support for various community services.

The SLRD is seeking an experienced individual to perform communications, grant administration duties, community outreach and project management planning and implementation in support and under the direction of the Director of Environmental Services. This is a new permanent, full-time position with diverse responsibilities. At this time, it is anticipated that this position will initially be remote due to the COVID pandemic but will, in accordance with the SLRD reopening plan, eventually be located at the SLRD office in Pemberton.

Career Opportunities at the District of Squamish Utilities Technician – Regular Part-Time Under the direction of the Technical Operations Manager, this position oversees the District’s Water Conservation Program.

A diploma in Engineering, Water/Wastewater, or Applied Science Technology is required.

Casual/On-Call Opportunities: Recreation Facility Attendant 1 Recreation Facility Attendant 2 Community Patrol Officer Building Inspector

The ideal candidate will have a post-secondary education in communications, public relations, marketing, environmental studies or a related discipline as well as five or more years of relevant experience.

Candidates must have marketing and graphic design skills, experience in project implementation and superior communication and public engagement skills with the ability to work within deadlines.

The successful candidate will be responsible for: •

Developing and implementing departmental communications plans.

•

Coordinating the development, design, production and delivery of a variety of printed and electronic information and marketing materials.

•

Monitoring, analysing and reporting on metrics related to various communications and public engagement activities, including web and social media analytics.

•

Developing, delivering, evaluating and reporting on community engagement Solid Waste Regional Management campaigns.

•

Coordinating community relations, engagement and education.

•

Reviewing various grant funding opportunities, compiling information, writing grant applications and completing grant reporting requirements.

•

Performing other related work as required.

To find out more, please visit: squamish.ca/careers

Resort Municipality of Whistler

Employment Opportunities • Village Host Program Assistant • Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

For further information, please see the full job description at www.slrd.bc.ca/employment.

Compensation will be determined commensurate with knowledge, skills and ability, includes a comprehensive benefit package and Municipal Pension Plan and offers the ability to work a compressed work week (nine-day fortnight).

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca/careers

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume with a covering letter by email, no later than December 7, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. to: Angela Belsham, Director of Environmental Services Squamish-Lillooet Regional District abelsham@slrd.bc.ca We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates under consideration will be contacted.

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Delta by Marriott Whistler Village Suites Is currently recruiting for the following Positions are:

- Houseperson / Public Area Attendant - Mechanical Maintenance Associate - Guest Service Agent Start your journey today with: competitive wages, growth opportunities, a positive team environment, medical benefits, play money (ski pass, etc), travel benefits to over 7,000 hotels world wide!

To Apply: either submit an application online at Marriott.com/careers or send your resume to barbara.fraser@deltahotels.com

54 DECEMBER 03, 2020

We offer competitive wages, a unique environment, seasonal bonuses, staff discounts and benefits.

Ask about accommodation.

Come Grow Sport with us at our Whistler Olympic Legacy Venues Whistler Athletes’ Centre (High-Performance Training and Accommodation) Positions for this venue are currently filled Whistler Sliding Centre (Bobsleigh, Luge & Skeleton) Track Medical Responder Whistler Olympic Park (Nordic Skiing, Snowshoeing and Outdoor Activities) Nordic Sport Instructor Maintenance and Operations Worker Custodian

Visit our website to view current postings and to apply: www.whistlersportlegacies.com/careers

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM/JOBS

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The SLRD is seeking an experienced individual to perform asset management duties, grant administration duties and other intermediate level accounting duties in support of and under the direction of the Director of Finance. This is a new permanent, full-time position with diverse responsibilities. At this time, it is anticipated that this position will initially be remote due to the COVID pandemic but will, in accordance with the SLRD reopening plan, eventually be located at the SLRD office in Pemberton.

9 4 3 The ideal candidate 8 will have a Professional Accounting7Designation, or be enrolled in such a program, with a minimum of 4 years accounting experience with a focus on and extensive experience with managing tangible capital assets. Candidates must have excellent Excel skills, experience using large 4and superior communication 5 skills7with the ability to work 9 within deadlines. data sets The successful candidate will be responsible for: 6 3 2 • Building, maintaining, improving and communicating the SLRD’s asset registry and asset management

are safe and following all current COVID 19 provincial protocols • A positive work environment where follow MEDIUM through on commitments is expected# 45 Opportunity to build industry leading projects • Professional development opportunities and trade-specific training • Extended health benefits • Tool purchase program • Award winning Team as your co-workers

plans and strategies.

(CHBA Renovation Customer Satisfaction Award 3 of the last 4 years and voted Best Of Whistler for Construction by the Pique News magazine the last 2 years)

4 9 WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR: 1• A highly skilled Foreman 7with extensive 3 experience 2 building custom homes in challenging environments hand leader who can manage, mentor and 9 • A3lead motivate a crew of experienced carpenters 4individual6whoandwillapprentices 9 alongside the Project • An work Managers, the Site Superintendents and the site to ensure the on-going success of our9 projects 7crews • Someone who is open to new technology and innovative building systems 1 3 4 • A commitment to improving the British Columbia Residential Construction space one custom 3 7 home at a time 5 8Please 2 send your resume to: 1 info@rdcfinehomes.com 1 6 9 2 MEDIUM

Accountant (Permanent, F/T)

The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) is located in southwestern BC and consists of 4 member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and 4 electoral areas. The region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains in the province and affords an endless range of opportunities for outdoor adventure. Headquartered in Pemberton, which is the approximate geographic centre of the region, the SLRD delivers a wide range of regional, sub-regional and local services to its residents. Services include land use planning, solid waste management, building inspection, fire protection, emergency preparedness, 911 services, recreation, water and sewer utilities, regional transit, trails and open spaces as well as financial support for various community services.

7 RDC Fine Homes is seeking an 7 Foreman 6 9 Experienced to join our team.

9RDC Fine8Homes has4continually worked Since 1993, to improve our construction practices and project management 8 6systems in4an effort 5 to build high performance, low environmental impact healthy homes that deliver superior value and comfort for happy 6 3 8 homeowners.

WE OFFER: 6 7• A highly structured 5 workplace where 3 your 4 experience and input are highly valued As a WCB 8 COR 7 9 2 compliant company, we ensure our worksites

5

THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK FOR LOCAL JOB OPENINGS

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Developing annual and long-term capital budgets and performing capital budget variance reviews & remediation strategies.

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Assisting with capital projects as they relate to infrastructure asset management.

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Assisting with capital project planning and procurement.

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Reviewing various grant funding opportunities, compiling information and writing grant applications in coordination with the applicable SLRD department.

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Reviewing and reconciling project financial records for completeness and for any grant eligibility requirements, ensuring the project stays within any respective grant requirements.

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Completing grant funding reporting requirements.

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Cross-training in all facets of the finance department to assist as needed.

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Tracking financial funding resolutions of the Board, preparing funding letters to the recipients and completing cheque requisitions for funding disbursements.

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For further information, please see the full job description at www.slrd.bc.ca/employment

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Compensation will be determined commensurate with knowledge, skills and ability, includes a comprehensive benefit package and Municipal Pension Plan and offers the ability to work a compressed work week (nine-day fortnight).

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Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume with a covering letter by email, no later than January 8, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. to:

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Suzanne Lafrance, Director of Finance Squamish-Lillooet Regional District slafrance@slrd.bc.ca

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Protect your pooch this winter!

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4 5 7 8 1 6 9 8 3 9 4 7 5 1 2 6 9 1 8 7 4 2 6 7 6 2 5 4 3 9 1 8 White dogs are difficult to see in the snow – 8 6 9 4 5 7 3 3 5 8 7 9 1 6 4 2 keep pets on leash as cars are 6 2 3 5 8 9 1 9 4 1not 2 able 8 6 7to3brake 5 2 react 8 5 1 quickly 9 3 4 in the winter 2 8weather.

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Answers 5 6 3 4 8 9 2 7 1

7 4 2 1 3 5 9 8 6

3 9 4 6 5 1 8 2 7

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1 7 8 9 2 3 6 4 5

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4/11/2005 DECEMBER 03, 2020

55

CALL THE EXPERTS

Want to advertise your service on this page?

BLINDS ETC.

Call Pique at (604) 938-0202, or email sales@piquenewsmagazine.com

BLINDS ETC.

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WINDOW COVERINGS Whistler’s Source for Blinds since 1989

Custom Blinds • Shades • Draperies

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CARPET CLEANING

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Custom Window Treatments Contact us today for a free quote or consultation info@suncrestwindowcoverings.com

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CLEANING

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Coast Mountain Cleaning • Full service cleaning • Residential & Commercial • Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning • Property Maintenance • Established 2011 We follow all VCH, Min of Health and WHO Covid 19 protocols

Insured & Bondable • Criminal background checks on all staff

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604-966-1437

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We use tea tree oil based cleaning products.

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GLASS

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Take advantage of the benefits and savings you will receive from new windows and doors.

Call Whistler Glass for your onsite consultation

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David Weldon david@summersnow.ca 604-938-3521

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Our paint team has over 25 years combined paint sales experience, and we can help you get things right the first time. Now offering In Home Paint Consultations! Pemberton Valley Rona.

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SURVEYING BUNBURY & ASSOCIA BC LAND SURVEYORS

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56 DECEMBER 3, 2020

SQUAMISH OFFICE #207 - 38026 Second Avenue Phone: 604-892-3090 email: squamish@bunbury-surveys.com

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SURVEYING DOUG BUSH SURVEY SERVICES LTD DOUGLAS J BUSH AScT, RSIS p: 604-932-3314 c: 604-935-9515 Engineering & construction layout Topographic & site improvement surveys Municipal, volumetric & hydrographic surveys GPS - global positioning systems www.dbss.ca // dougb@dbss.ca

PUZZLES ACROSS 1 6 11 16 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 34 36 38 39 40 41 42 43 45 48 49 50 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

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Round mark Rescued one D.C. figures Do a laundry chore Style Cheer up Deli sandwich Modem-speed unit More prudent Go-aheads Geese and ducks Lose brightness Sorenstam rival Result of damming Where Tabriz is Courageous Pickling ingredient Prong Movie mogul Channel changer Freight unit Deeply impressed Brood Areas Rawls or Gehrig Boxed up Provisions Necklace pieces Horse’s hair Fix a shoe Knighted Guinness Brothers Hologram maker Sells chances on Groves Waiter’s reward Mexican jar Roofing piece Terra --

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DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

7 6 9

9 4 8 6 4 5 6 3 8 6 7 5 3 4 8 7 9 2 MEDIUM

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# 45

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5

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LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

3 8 9 1

7 4

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3 7

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MEDIUM

9 # 46

Enter a digit from 1 through 9 in each cell, in such a way that: • Each horizontal row contains each digit exactly once • Each vertical column contains each digit exactly once • Each 3x3 box contains each digit exactly once Solving a sudoku puzzle does not require any mathematics; simple logic suffices.

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

5

1 9 3 4 7 5

2

4 9 7 3 2

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MEDIUM Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com# 47

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 55

DECEMBER 3, 2020

57

MAXED OUT

Now that was a (pre-COVID-19) party …

IT STARTED the day after American Thanksgiving. No, not Black Friday shopping, Amazon’s quest to put virtually ever other retailer out of business. The Countdown to Christmas Madness began in earnest.

This year’s jolly season came in like a guest arriving a day early for dinner.

Suddenly every channel in the millionchannel universe—including the explosion of streaming services—were awash with cheesy Christmas movies, specials, cartoons and ancient nostalgiafests that return every year like dandruff. My inbox was choked with unwanted flyers.

BY G.D. MAXWELL The annual onslaught seems particularly cruel and ironic this year since many of us will be facing a blue Christmas of social isolation or pandemic-fraught traditional gatherings. Because of that, I’m doubling down on the spirit of goodwill and holiday cheer for the rest of the year. If I practise hard enough and ignore everything else going on, my eyes may even twinkle and my voice go all ho, ho, ho.

All holidays are, apparently, stressful.

But this holiday, and all those other quasireligious, secular and just plain silly holidays people around the world celebrate between now and the first holiday of next year, is particularly stressful. The good people who make their living off our collective stress always stress this point. They advise us of ways to combat the sorts of stresses we’re likely to face over the course of the next couple of weeks.

This kind of free advice used to seem rather self-defeating to me. I mean, if stressed-out people are your bread and butter, why would you try to help people avoid stress?

Like so many things in modern life, the answer was diabolically clever. And simple. Simple and clever. You can’t pick up a magazine or newspaper or soil yourself with social media without reading solemn advice about how to avoid stress over the holidays. For example, in even so dry a periodical as Modern Office Manager, there’s an article entitled, “Ten Ways to Keep From Making An Ass of Yourself at the Office Party.”

Since it’s unlikely most of us will have the chance to attend an office party this year, I suspect the editor slipped in a rerun.

However, it was kind of nostalgic reading about office Christmas parties. Ironically, most of the 10 ways involve abstinence of one sort or another. Don’t pound tequila shots even if they’re being served from the receptionist’s cleavage is one. Leave your automatic weapons at home is another. I’m guessing it’s an American publication.

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Nowhere in the 10 is the suggestion you simply not go to the office party, which seems the most logical solution considering you already spend 40 or more hours a week with those losers.

Ironically, the best office Christmas party I ever went to was many years ago and turned out to be for an office I didn’t work in. It was being held at a large, downtown hotel in one of the conference/party rooms located in a labyrinth of catacombs somewhere in the bowels of the building.

Wearing a Santa suit and beard—it didn’t seem like such a weird idea at the time, given

coffee room, taking care to underline in two colours of highlighter ass-avoidance suggestion No. 3—the ‘60s are over! No one thinks it’s cute to spike the punch with LSD. Don’t do it again this year!— was arguing with the division head about whether it was too early in the evening to start playing A Chipmunk Christmas on the wheezy cassette player he’d borrowed from his preteen daughter, a pink Barbie at the Beach number that was stolen by evening’s end. I only found out about that excitement when I finally went back to work after New Year’s.

Santa is always welcome at a Christmas party. You don’t even have to know whose party it is.

What do you care?

I’d been pounding shots of tequila from the receptionist’s cleavage all afternoon—I stumbled into the Aztec Room where a gaggle of somber-faced people were making merry and firing automatic weapons.

Admittedly, it seemed a little less sedate than the usual barbiturate fest most office parties normally are. But it was a party… just not the right one.

The party I was looking for was in the Inca Room, as it turned out. That party hadn’t yet swung into high gear because the office manager, who had posted the article from Modern Office Manager in the

I never did find out who was throwing the party I ended up crashing in the Aztec Room but the amazing point of the story— let’s be generous and call it a point—is that no one cared I was there. No one even seemed to think I didn’t belong there. They just assumed they didn’t know me in much the same way I assumed I didn’t know them. I could have wondered why I didn’t see anyone all evening I knew but frankly, I didn’t like the people I worked with and didn’t really care.

The important lesson I learned was that there was an 11th way to avoid making an

ass of yourself at the office party: Go to someone else’s party.

Most years in this town, there’s a lot of wisdom in that observation. Suppose you’re a liftie, a retail clerk, a housekeeper, a whatever. Maybe they have an office party where you work, maybe not. Doesn’t matter.

The fact is, in non-COVID years there are some good parties every night of the week around here this time of the year. Many involve very good food; most involve at least some form of liquor. Obviously, you’re not invited to these parties.

But Santa is.

Santa is always welcome at a Christmas party. You don’t even have to know whose party it is. What do you care? A party’s a party; a free meal’s a free meal. Just walk in, give ‘em a bit of the old Ho-Ho-Ho and start mingling in a direct line to the bar/buffet/ tequila shots. No one’s going to shake down Santa for ID unless they want to go to the head of the Naughty List. And if someone does try to engage you in more meaningful conversation, saying, for example, “Who the hell are you?” ask ‘em if they’ve been a good boy or girl or see if they want to sit on your lap and whisper in your ear what it is they want for Christmas. If you stay in character, no one’s going to press the point very far and run the risk of violating suggestion No. 8 from “Ten Ways to Keep From Making An Ass of Yourself at the Office Party”: Don’t remove Santa’s beard… or any other item of his clothing.

This nonsense will end some day and Christmas parties will be all the rage again.

So keep this column, buy a Santa suit and enjoy office parties for places you don’t work for the rest of your life. n

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