Pique Newsmagazine 3031

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Best of Pemberton

Celebrating the best of Spud Valley’s best. - By Pique staff

14 BRING IT HOME

Whistler is prepping an application to a new federal fund that could mean millions for local housing.

30 BETWEEN FRIENDS

Pemberton’s Friendship Trail is set for an extension thanks to an investment from the federal government.

15 LUGE LAWSUIT A local luge coach categorically denies allegations brought against him in a lawsuit from a Whistler luge racer earlier this year.

22 STAY AWAY The Casper Creek wildfire is now more than 4,000 hectares, but a local First Nation says tourists are still coming to the community.

44 SKY-HIGH ENDURANCE Sea to Sky riders dominated the 2023 Canadian Open Enduro to cap off another thrilling edition of Crankworx Whistler.

52 LAKE DAYS Art on the Lake returns on Aug. 10 and 11 for two days of live music, art demos, and performances for all ages.

COVER “It’s always a bit sunnier in Pemberton!” If it’s not a saying, it probably should be—definitely a few degrees on the plus side!? - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art

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Opinion & Columns

08 OPENING REMARKS Documenting and interpreting our shared history as a society is a constant work in progress, writes editor Braden Dupuis.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers weigh in on fuel thinning in Whistler’s forests, and how rising interest rates are impacting homeowners.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Columnist Brandon Barrett is not homeless; he has just decided paying rent is not for him.

70 MAXED OUT In which readers get a glimpse at an intimate conversation between a man and his God—or maybe just a wild trip.

Environment & Adventure

33 THE OUTSIDER As the worst wildfire season in B.C.’s history rages on, a permanent campfire ban seems like a logical step for Whistler, writes Vince Shuley.

Lifestyle & Arts

50 FORK IN THE ROAD Columnist Glenda Bartosh offers up some tasty tidbits that keep British Columbians happy on B.C. Day.

56 MUSEUM MUSINGS The thrilling conclusion to the story of the first Spearhead traverse, pioneered in 1964 by members of UBC’s Varsity Outdoor Club.

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History is a work in progress

IN PEMBERTON’S municipal hall, there is a Coat of Arms, supposedly representing one Joseph Despard Pemberton—the Irish surveyor for whom the town is named.

It was gifted to the town in 2015 by Ivan Moldowan, from Vancouver, who became interested in Pemberton’s history through his work with a company called Pemberton Securities (also named after Joseph Despard Pemberton, or JDP).

In a time long before the internet, Moldowan spent hours in Vancouver libraries researching his company’s namesake,

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

eventually coming across the Coat of Arms in question, and commissioning the plaque.

When Pemberton Securities folded, it went into storage, until Moldowan rediscovered it, dusted it off, and decided to gift it to the Village of Pemberton.

Mayor Mike Richman presented the plaque and shared Moldowan’s account at a council meeting in September 2015.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Shortly after that presentation, Pique heard from a man named Richard Holmes—a direct descendant of JDP—who revealed the Coat of Arms was not, in fact, that of JDP.

The Coat of Arms presented to Pemberton’s council featured three griffin’s heads, Holmes pointed out in an October 2015 meeting at Pique’s office; JDP’s true Coat of Arms featured buckets.

“Different Pembertons have different things … and it gets quite complicated,” Holmes said at the time.

“And of course it’s all deadly serious. In the 1500s, 1600s, if you used the wrong arms, you would be accused of stealing. You would be killed. There would be no discretion about it.”

Let me tell you, dear readers: the Coat of Arms kerfuffle of late 2015 sent this reporter

down an endless rabbit hole of regional history, with immediate (and exciting!) plans to turn the whole thing into a massive, satisfying cover feature that straightened it all out.

It never materialized.

In October 2015, I made the shift to the Whistler council beat, which diverted much of my attention down the road to the resort. But I kept plugging away on my history project in the background. I visited the Pemberton Museum and Archives. I compiled a robust research file with help from Holmes. I had an outline and I thought I could see all the pieces, if only vaguely.

Month after month—and soon, year after year—I assured myself my Pemberton history feature would not be relegated to the proverbial dustbin.

But one pressing task after another delayed it; pushed it further down the list. The grind of the weekly newspaper life dictated my progress, and, like all good stories, the more I pulled on the ends of the threads I could see, the longer and more tangled they became.

Like any town, Pemberton’s history is

all those years ago. “The soils are acidic, so wooden evidence just lying on the ground is gone. You also had the drainage and diking of the Pemberton Valley in the ’50s, that really changed the layout of the valley. New lands, new roads.”

This is to say nothing of the history of the Lil’wat Nation, who have resided in the valley since time immemorial.

The main takeaway from this exercise? Documenting our collective history takes a massive effort, and it’s a neverending workin-progress.

“It’s also not absolute, right? Each researcher brings new information,” Madigan said, noting the museum often hears from people looking to correct information attached to donations.

In those instances—say, a disagreement over the name of a bridge shown in a historical photo—the “museum standard” is to simply add to the record.

“But we’d leave the original description, because this is what the donor thought it was, whether or not they were right, right? That’s part of the record,” she said.

in a day, and biology dictates that we must allocate a set number of those to sleep, for some God-forsaken reason.

How annoying is it that we have to spend such a large chunk of our existences unconscious? Just lying there for hours on end, doing nothing but dreaming and maybe snoring, when we could be doing something fun or, better yet, productive?

If I could only forego this pointless exercise, my Pemberton history feature would have published back in 2016. Alas, I am stuck sleeping several hours every night like a big dumb log, and my history project remains my white whale. The one that eluded me, no matter how far I pursued it.

There are still only so many hours in the day, but soon, Pique will have a new reporter to help maximize the productive waking hours.

The new role is thanks to the federal government’s Local Journalism Initiative program, which provides one year of grant funding to hire reporters to cover areas of Canada that aren’t quite getting the attention they deserve—places like Pemberton, and throughout the Lil’wat Nation, which is where

rich—and complicated.

It’s also not definitive.

According to former Pemberton Museum curator Niki Madigan, it’s not at all uncommon to stumble across gaps in the town’s historical record, or questions that simply cannot be answered.

“One hundred and fifty years is a long time in the modern age, and it’s a really long time in the mountains, so evidence disappears,” Madigan told me during my visit

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“So there’s no erasing of the record, and there’s no real ‘wrong’ fact, unless it was like, ‘aliens landed and Pemberton [was founded by] aliens.’”

You heard it here first: Pemberton was founded by aliens.

Jokes aside, as I revisited my old research file for the purposes of this column, I felt a familiar rush of excitement—the one you get when you know you’ve got a great story on your hands. But there are only so many hours

the new reporter’s loyalties will exclusively lie.

Are there other Pemberton-centric stories falling through the cracks? Most certainly. But with a new set of eyes on the beat, there will be fewer moving forward.

And maybe, just maybe, my comprehensive history of Joseph Despard Pemberton and his early exploits in Canada will one day see the light of day.

But I’m not making any promises—until someone develops the cure for sleep. ■

“One hundred and fifty years is a long time in the modern age, and it’s a really long time in the mountains, so evidence disappears.”

- NIKI MADIGAN

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Tree thinning has ‘ruined’ some of Whistler’s beauty

After reading the article in the July 7 Pique about forest management (“Whistler residents speak out about impacts of fire mitigation work”), I feel compelled to make a few comments. The reactions were similar to mine after going for a hike along the Cheakamus River a few years ago. I was shocked to see a beautiful and easily accessible area ruined with the thinning of the trees. With the recent droughts, the area has become more of a dry dustbin. The lovely mossy areas were gone, the blueberries that were in abundance were no longer there, and the whole forest experience was no longer energizing. I lived in Whistler full-time from 1990 to 2007, and spent many enjoyable days on this trail and others.

Shortly after this disappointing discovery, there was an online article through The Narwhal with regards to that particular area. It focused on the natural beauty and what it had to offer. I responded that was no longer the case, and challenged a few descriptions that I knew to be false.

Responses to my comments were made, and one was from a member of the Cheakamus Community Forest who said that the trees were thinned to assist with

fire prevention, to which I replied that it actually resulted in the opposite goal. The forest would have retained more moisture and kept the temperatures down, which is logical and just common sense. I felt this was only an excuse to do some easy logging within the forest’s mandate.

But in the article from July 7, I read that the federal government has provided $10.1 million to the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) to pay for “treatments” regarding fuel mitigation. And the descriptions of the results mentioned in the article describe what I also found to be obvious, in that the

poorly managed forest thinning resulted in the opposite effect.

I am not a trained forest ecologist, so it is disappointing that I came to the same conclusion as Rhonda Millikin, but the RMOW environmental manager did not. Luisa Burhenne claims that economics is a factor with the decision-making, and that they are working to understand the effects of different approaches. This $10 million-plus should not be spent using guesswork and performed without proper expertise.

The mistakes made in this forest management program are devastating and, if

they listen to the concerns of the community as claimed, this practice should be halted before more damage is done.

Marilyn Olthuis // Sunshine Coast

Interest hikes may mean ‘dire straits’ for landlords

To start, I would like to note that I am not a homeowner myself.

There’s been a lot of aggression towards landlords recently due to the housing crisis. I would just like to remind people that many landlords are simply renting unneeded space in their homes and may be in dire straits themselves with recent interest hikes.

I would like to put a few hard numbers out for monthly mortgage payments (for a 25-year mortgage). This increased interest does not go to building their equity either: $2,063 at 0.25 per cent ($618,900 total); $2,540 at two per cent ($762,000 total); $3,156 at four per cent ($946,800 total); and $3,838 at six per cent ($1,151,400 total).

It is a sad state of affairs, but please keep in mind if these resident homeowners are forced to sell, their tenants are likely to suffer for it as well. Communication and understanding are key to minimizing the damage to both parties here. I hope both the lower and middle class can work together, rather than drag the middle class down to the lower.

William Carswell // Pemberton n

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My underhoused Whistler life

I’VE DECIDED PAYING RENT isn’t for me. Call it a personality quirk. Some people hate cilantro; I hate forking over exorbitant amounts of my hard-earned income to share a shoebox with an army of ski bums who haven’t yet learned the finer techniques of dishwashing. Sue me.

All jokes aside, for several months now, I’ve adopted a sort of transitional lifestyle

BY BRANDON BARRETT

that has seen me bounce from temporary place to temporary place, thanks to a series of live-in pet-sitting gigs and the boundless generosity of friends. This choice, I should add, is entirely my own, partly motivated by a desire to stow away some money for a rainy day, and partly motivated by a growing resentment towards a rental market that long ago crossed over into the realm of the absurd.

I tell you this, somewhat reluctantly, not because I’m seeking sympathy, but to demonstrate how tenuous the line can be between secure and insecure housing in this part of the world, as more residents look for ways to exit a rental market that never really served them in the first place.

For several years, I was lucky-ish to live

in a $1,000-a-month bachelor suite in Alpine, thanks to landlords that were committed to offering affordable rent to long-term locals. Like so many other Whistlerites in my tax bracket, the decision to live there for as long as I did was more about the cheap rent than my personal well-being. A small, dark, and dingy ground-floor suite tucked under a deck that blocked virtually all natural light, my “kitchen”

My six-month experiment was up, and I was back to scrambling for a place to live.

Not wanting to leave Squamish, and unable to find something even remotely within my budget or accepted level of humanity in Whistler, I made the wise choice of subletting my ex’s room while she spent several months back in her native Australia. The fact I moved in a mere month after we broke up is all the

friends’ couches—that motivated me to try to extend this unconventional living arrangement for as long as possible. (Some of this—OK, a lot of this—you can chalk up to the journalism industry’s piss-poor pay: the average salary for a Canadian journalist today hovers around $47,000. The estimated living wage for Whistler in 2023 amounts to roughly $55,000 a year.)

And before you accuse me of squandering my precious dollars on avocado toast and fancy lattes (what up, Camp Coffee!), a favourite accusation lobbed at my fellow broke-ass Millennials, I will say this: setting down roots in Whistler shouldn’t require one to live the ascetic life of a monk, nor should it necessitate killing yourself working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

was a converted laundry room, equipped with a hot plate and a microwave, but no oven.

After several years there, and with my mental health spiralling, I realized it was time to choose my well-being over my wallet, even if it meant forking over more rent than I could realistically afford. That’s how I found myself sharing a bright, spacious, modern apartment in Downtown Squamish last year on a sixmonth lease—a lease, I should add, that I was given the impression the owners would be eager to extend after my half year was up. Not so. Reading the tea leaves of a softening market, they figured it was high time to cash out, and sold the unit to the highest bidder.

proof you need of how desperate I was.

After that four-month stint, I returned to Whistler, where I had already lined up a multiweek cat-sitting gig. After that, my friend graciously allowed me to continue staying in their spare room, trading my well-honed pet-care skills (hire me, you cowards!) for rent.

Soon enough, I had a small nest egg of savings, more money than I had managed to put away at any point in my previous 11 years in Whistler. It was this simple fact—that I, a 37-year-old, university-trained, mid-career professional who has been covering this town for more than a decade, could only seem to amass any savings by sleeping in spare rooms and on

So, leave, I hear the trolls clamouring. Well, at least anecdotally speaking, many Whistlerites are. After all, not everyone who lands in the resort, far from their families and support networks, has the same connections I’ve been lucky enough to forge in my decadeplus here that have afforded me a spare couch or bed to sleep on. And if they aren’t skipping town, then many are, like me, foregoing the traditional rental market by choosing to live in vans or tents, a growing trend you can find in communities across North America.

The reactionists would like to point the finger at these underhoused masses for their own precarious housing situation. But the more nuanced thinkers out there recognize: the system is utterly broken. ■

Setting down roots in Whistler shouldn’t require one to live the ascetic life of a monk, nor should it necessitate killing yourself working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

Federal grant would require Whistler to

at

113 new housing units annually over next 3 years

SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION TO HOUSING ACCELERATOR FUND COULD MEAN MILLIONS FOR HOUSING

BY BRANDON BARRETT

THE RESORT MUNICIPALITY of Whistler (RMOW) is banking on a national housing fund to ramp up the development of new units and put a “major dent” in the resort’s longstanding housing shortage.

At the regular meeting of council on Tuesday, Aug. 1, elected officials greenlit a recommendation from municipal staff to submit a grant application to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Housing Accelerator Fund, a multibilliondollar national program announced last year, with a target of helping local governments permit 100,000 new housing units across the country over a three-year period.

“This is great work, and I am hopeful this would make a major dent in our No. 1 priority at this table,” said Mayor Jack Crompton following a staff presentation to council.

Designed to empower local governments in land-use planning and development approvals, the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) provides incentive funding to increase housing supply and “support the development of complete, low-carbon and climate-resilient communities that are affordable, inclusive, equitable and diverse,” according to the CMHC.

Local governments across the country—including in both Pemberton and Squamish—are vying for a piece of the

$4-billion fund, which comes with stringent eligibility criteria. Successful applicants must, for instance, commit to a minimum 10-percent annual increase in housing growth rate, and boost housing supply by no less than 1.1 per cent a year in that span.

Taking that metric, over the past 10 years, the RMOW has averaged 80 net new housing units a year, a 0.78-per-cent growth rate. Achieving the minimum 1.1-per-cent growth rate would require an average of 113 net new units a year, a growth rate of 41 per cent.

Given the initiatives the municipality has set out as part of its application, “we are

initiatives that staff thinks will offer the best chance at scoring high in the evaluation criteria, the majority of which dovetail with the commitments already included in the municipality’s Housing Action Plan, unveiled in May: Establish a workforce housing funding and financing strategy; develop a new infill housing program; initiate pre-zoning of targeted sites to incentivize workforce housing: establish an auxiliary residential dwelling unit catalyst program; implement electronic permitting at municipal hall; establish phased development plans to advance workforce housing on municipal

hit municipal hall. There are currently 164 permits in process at the building department, and staff is now reviewing single-family and duplex residential applications from April, and multi-family and commercial applications from February. Digitizing the permit process, something the RMOW already intended on doing prior to applying to the HAF, is but one factor that would speed up approvals, added Cullen. “The No. 1 thing isn’t necessarily a digital application. It’s getting complete applications from the beginning and our ability to staff plan checkers,” she said, noting the RMOW is now looking to fill three plan checker positions. “Those two things are the most important in terms of being able to reduce those times.”

confident that we can meet the minimum requirements and growth targets required by the grantor,” said RMOW planning policy analyst Claire Van Leeuwen in Tuesday’s presentation.

Eligible applicants must outline at least seven initiatives that will grow housing supply and expedite housing approvals, and, if successful, the initiatives must be completed within the first two years of the program. Local governments must also provide for long-term efficiencies designed to increase housing inventory and enhance certainty in the building and approval process.

The RMOW has identified eight

lands; monitor and identify workforce shortfall and long-term housing needs; and complete a vulnerable populations housing needs assessment.

“Because we already had our Housing Action Plan in place, we were able to fill out an application in a super informed way,” said municipal CAO Ginny Cullen following Tuesday’s meeting.

Improving Whistler’s sluggish building permit process should be music to the ears of local developers, who were critical of the RMOW’s meticulous approval criteria and long wait times even before a pandemicfuelled backlog and staffing shortage

The national accelerator fund incentivizes housing through three cumulative components: base funding of approximately $20,000 per new unit; topup funding for multi-unit housing of up to $15,000 per unit; and an affordable housing bonus of approximately $19,000 per unit. If the minimum targets are met, municipal staff estimates the RMOW could stand to receive at least $3.2 million through the fund. That’s before tacking on a possible affordable housing bonus, which RMOW staff has not yet calculated, as it is still determining what exactly would constitute “affordable” in Whistler’s distinct housing market.

“Having worked with CMHC and BC Housing a little bit, our market is an anomaly, and we don’t fit into their affordable box,” said Councillor Cathy Jewett. “So, I’d be really curious to see what model we use for that.”

The RMOW has until Aug. 18 to submit its application. Learn more at cmhc-schl.gc.ca. n

add

least

BUILDING BOOST Construction underway this spring as part of the development of Cheakamus Crossing Phase 2 lands.

FILE PHOTO BY ROBERT WISLA

“This is great work, and I am hopeful this would make a major dent in our No. 1 priority at this table.”

- JACK CROMPTON

Luge coach denies allegations of abuse, neglect brought by Whistler athlete

IN APRIL LAWSUIT, GARRETT REID ALLEGED MATTHEW MCMURRAY’S PATTERN OF HARASSMENT, BULLYING AND NEGLECT LED TO ‘CATASTROPHIC’ 2019 INJURY AT WHISTLER SLIDING CENTRE

BY BRANDON BARRETT

A LOCAL LUGE COACH has categorically denied allegations brought against him in B.C.’s Supreme Court by a Whistler luge racer, who claimed his coach’s neglect, and pattern of abuse, harassment, and bullying led to the teenager’s “catastrophic” 2019 injury at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

In the civil suit, filed in April, Garrett Reid alleged that coach Matthew McMurray subjected him to abuse and neglect while the then-16-year-old was a member of the Canadian National NextGen team from 2018 to 2019, culminating in a crash on Nov. 16, 2019 that reportedly led to a litany of injuries.

The competitive racer reportedly sustained a blow to the head in the crash, leaving him in a coma for months and, eventually, fighting to walk again. In his original court filing, Reid alleged that, during training in the week leading up to the November injury, McMurray directed him to “begin adding strips of sand paper, one at a time, to his sled,” a technique used to “reduce control of the sled and, thereby result in faster run times,” the filing stated.

Reid claimed he had never used the technique before, and said he told McMurray he felt unsafe after completing a run with three strips of sand paper on his sled, requesting he return to two. As a result, Reid alleged his coach subjected him to “verbal, psychological, and physical abuse regarding Garrett’s request to reduce the sand paper strips, and he continued to

pressure Garrett into increasing the number of sand paper strips. McMurray told Garrett he needed to use three strips,” the suit went on.

In his response to the notice of civil claim, filed in June, McMurray denied “ever subjecting the Plaintiff to any verbal, psychological and physical abuse, as alleged or at all,” and also denied directing Reid to add strips of sand paper to his sled. Instead, he said he directed the luger to add strips of duct tape to his sled to “combat the Track’s humid condition,” which the filing claimed is a standard technique set out in the official rules used to assist with changing the angle of a sled. McMurray also alleged that Reid “never” expressed his safety concerns as a result of using tape on the sled, and that he “consistently” trained with duct tape on his sled from Nov. 7, 2019 onwards “without any issues or concerns.”

On the day of the crash, Nov. 16, Reid claimed he was participating in his first training session of the day, when McMurray placed him at the men’s start, the highest luge start on the Whistler track. According to his civil claim, the usual practice and protocol is for athletes to start at a lower start on the track “until they are accustomed to a new set-up,” as the lower starts result in reduced speeds.

In his response, McMurray does not specifically deny starting Reid on the men’s start on Nov. 16, 2019, noting how he worked his way up to the men’s start over the course of training.

“At the beginning of the training season, the Plaintiff started from the ladies’ start

SEE PAGE 16 >>

LUGE LAWSUIT Luge coach Matthew McMurray has denied liability for a 2019 crash at the Whistler Sliding Centre that led to a litany of serious injuries to teenaged athlete, Garrett Reid, pictured.

PHOTO BY YORK M. CHAN / COURTESY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LUGE FEDERATION

and then gradually progressed to the men’s start,” the court document read. “Prior to the day that the Injury occurred, the Plaintiff had completed training runs safely and consistently from the men’s start.”

On the day of the injury, Reid said he struggled to control his sled as he rounded corner 15, before crashing as he exited corner 16, nicknamed “Thunderbird Corner” and the fastest section of track. The right side of his helmet purportedly struck a short wall at a high rate of speed, the same point of impact on his helmet, he claimed, as in an accident in Austria from months earlier.

McMurray countered in his filing by alleging that Reid’s crash and subsequent injury were caused in whole or in part by his own negligence for, among other factors, failing to exercise “reasonable care” for his own safety; misusing his equipment; failing to use proper equipment; failing to follow the advice of treating medical practitioners; competing when his ability to do so was “impaired or compromised by fatigue, the consumption of alcohol or the ingestion of drugs;” and competing when his ability to do so was “impaired by prior injuries or existing medical conditions.”

McMurray’s response also claimed negligence on the part of Reid’s mother, Leesa (incorrectly referred to as “Lessa” in the suit), for, among other factors, allowing him to compete when his ability to do so was “impaired or compromised by fatigue, the consumption of alcohol or the ingestion of drugs;” allowing him to compete when his

ability to do so was “impaired by prior injuries or existing medical conditions;” and for failing to report the aforementioned to McMurray.

THE AUSTRIA CRASH

According to Reid’s suit, prior to the Whistler injury, in February 2019, he was involved in a separate crash in Austria while training for the upcoming Junior World Luge Championship. The crash reportedly resulted in Reid’s sled flipping up and impacting the right side of his helmet, equipment that had been issued by Luge Canada. Following that crash, Reid allegedly requested medical attention from McMurray, “who refused and told Garrett to stop asking,” the suit claimed.

McMurray denies this allegation as well, claiming Reid never requested medical attention nor informed his coach that he was “injured in any way,” including of the healed facial fractures the luger said were later discovered through medical imaging.

Partly a result of his diminished performance results, Reid claimed McMurray “heightened his verbal and psychological abuse” following the crash, subjecting the athlete, according to his suit, to “daily bullying, humiliation, hazing, threats, and intimidation.”

McMurray, in turn, denied ever engaging in “reckless and abusive coaching and behaviour” towards Reid.

Reid’s suit also said neither McMurray nor Luge Canada took steps to replace his helmet following the Austria crash, and that he was required to continue wearing it for the duration

of the 2019 championship and subsequent season, including, on Nov. 19, 2019, the day of his crash at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

McMurray claimed the helmet was never replaced because Reid did not report hitting his head in the Austria accident, nor did he or his family ever request a new helmet.

A replacement helmet would have been “readily available” to Reid following the crash had he reported he hit his head, which follows Luge Canada’s standard concussion protocol, according to the response.

McMurray opposed the granting of any relief sought by Reid, who is seeking general, special, aggravated, and punitive damages, as well as in-trust damages for care provided by family members.

“The selfish, high-handed, and callous conduct of McMurray warrants condemnation of the court through awards of aggravated and punitive damages,” Reid’s civil claim argued.

On July 21, McMurray filed a third-party notice against Reid’s parents, which he accuses of negligence in their son’s crash, for financial relief recouping his legal fees, among other costs.

WHISTLER SPORT LEGACIES, BC LUGE, AND LUGE CANADA RESPOND

Also named as defendants in Reid’s suit are the Whistler 2010 Sport Legacies Society (WSLS), which operates the Whistler Sliding Centre; Luge Canada; and the B.C. Luge Association; while Kenneth Reid, appointed co-committee of Garrett’s person and estate, is listed as a

plaintiff as well.

All three filed their own responses to the civil claim in June, and all three denied liability for Reid’s accidents and subsequent injuries, as alleged.

“Luge Canada says that as an experienced luge athlete, the Plaintiff had full understanding, awareness, and knowledge of the inherent risks, dangers and hazards of the sport of luge and accepted them voluntarily in order to participate in the sport,” Luge Canada said in its response.

Following the November 2019 injury, Reid claimed that, in the 2021 carding cycle, Luge Canada “failed to submit a supported nomination for Garrett’s [Athlete Assistance Payments] injury card, causing Garrett to be removed from the program,” contrary to his contract with the national sport organization, his suit claimed.

In its response, Luge Canada said it did apply for Reid’s 2021-22 injury card, but Sport Canada informed the organization he “did not qualify for an injury card unless he was returning to the sport in the next six months.” Luge Canada noted it was “not involved in, and had no determination over, whether to approve or deny” the card.

In response to Reid’s claim for health-care costs, the WSLS denied he is a “beneficiary” under the definition of the Health Care Costs Recovery Act. The society denied Reid has received health-care services as defined in the same act, and also denied the provincial government has made payments for health-care services on Reid’s behalf arising from the injury.

None of the above claims have been proven in court. n

Britannia Beach surf park, housing development headed for public hearing

SLRD DIRECTORS GAVE THE PROPOSAL SECOND READING AT A JULY 26 BOARD MEETING

BY MEGAN LALONDE

IF ALL GOES ACCORDING to plan, Canada’s first surf park could open in the Sea to Sky corridor as soon as 2025. But that’s dependent on what the community has to say about the project.

The surf park is part of a proposal for a major mixed-use development in Britannia Beach, which is now headed to a public hearing after a rezoning application received second reading at the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District’s (SLRD) July 26 board meeting.

“We know that the public are excited about the project,” said Tony Petricevic, head of development for applicant Tiger Bay Development Corp. “This is our opportunity to prove to the board that the public wants this project, and to show them with that support.”

In addition to the Wavegarden surf pool, plans for a new community on the shores of Howe Sound, dubbed “South Britannia,” include 1,050 new multi-family dwellings—at least 150 of which will be non-market, affordable units—plus commercial space, tourism accommodations, a skate park and pump track, community centre, daycare, space for a school, sports field, new trails, and a publicly-accessible oceanfront park at a revitalized Minaty Bay.

Plans call for the development to be built out over four phases. Phase 1 would see the

construction of the surf park, pump track and skate park, followed by the first round of townhomes and condos, more commercial space and public access to Minaty Bay in Phase 2. Some community amenities, like parks and a community centre, wouldn’t appear until Phase 4.

The July 26 report marked SLRD staff’s seventh presentation to the board regarding Tiger Bay’s application since June 2020.

After purchasing the land more than a decade ago, developers submitted a revised rezoning application in July 2019 proposing a mixed-use development, including a surf park, on an 87.6-hectare parcel in South Britannia. That application received first reading in December 2021.

The application initially appeared in front of the SLRD board for second reading this June. Elected officials opted to delay that decision until a future meeting, and instead sent regional district staff back to the applicant to clarify 11 main concerns the board raised. Presented with detailed answers to those questions, SLRD directors appeared mostly satisfied when the application returned to the board table for second reading on July 26.

One lingering concern was potential impacts an influx of new Britannia Beach residents could have on amenities in Squamish, especially if facilities like a community centre and playfields are only

slated for Phase 4, long after most Britannia South residents will have already moved in.

Through taxes, new Britannia Beach residents would pay the same fees to the District of Squamish for use of its amenities as the rest of the SLRD population—the 1,050 new units would translate to roughly $100,000 annually for the Brennan Park pool, SLRD director of planning and development

Kim Needham estimated in her report to the board. Though Squamish Mayor Armand Hurford acknowledged there is “a lot to like” about the proposal, he didn’t “accept that argument that just creating more folks to pay into the fund is enough to offset the load [the development] will put on to our services.”

Squamish Councillor Chris Pettingill was the sole SLRD director to oppose sending Tiger Bay’s rezoning application to public hearing. He echoed Hurford’s concerns, noting “affordable housing is more than just the roof, it’s … where you work, your access to public community amenities, and I don’t see that here. I think that has a knock-on effect of putting a lot more burden on neighbouring communities to fill in the pieces that are missing.”

In Pettingill’s view, the proposal that appeared in front of the SLRD board doesn’t fit the definition of a “complete community,” where “most of the people who live there work there, most of the people who work there, live there,” he said.

Area D director Tony Rainbow countered that position. Factoring in the substantial development that already exists in Britannia North, plus employment opportunities stemming from the surf park and commercial space, “that’s a pretty good community, where a lot of people will be able to live there and work there and play there,” Rainbow said.

At the July 26 board meeting, Squamish Coun. Jenna Stoner proposed an additional motion directing SLRD staff to explore the potential for voluntary cash-in-lieu of critical amenity contributions to Squamish from the developer, and have the results of those discussions brought back to the board prior to the application’s third reading.

That motion passed, despite opposition from Rainbow and Area C director Russell Mack.

The public hearing has not yet been scheduled, but Petricevic said officials are eyeing potential dates in September or October.

Following the hearing, Tiger Bay’s rezoning application could return to the SLRD board for third and final reading in short order. The bylaw would then be subject to approval from B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation before heading back to the SLRD for formal adoption.

Petricevic anticipates it will take approximately two years of work to open the surf park once building permits are issued, and at least another three years to break ground on Phase 2. n

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N’Quatqua says tourists still coming despite growing Anderson Lake wildfire

FIRE HAS DOUBLED IN SIZE IN PAST WEEK, PROMPTING EXPANDED EVACUATION ORDER AND CLOSURE OF HIGHLINE ROAD

BY BRANDON BARRETT

AS THE FLAMES from the Casper Creek wildfire have inched closer over the past several weeks, N’Quatqua Chief Micah Thevarge couldn’t help being reminded of the COVID-19 pandemic, when flocks of tourists in search of open, natural spaces came through the Indigenous community at the head of Anderson Lake, despite the Nation’s wishes.

“It was pretty chaotic. There were a lot of terrified people in our communities and of course it was hard to shut down to the outside world. People just wanted to come and look and be out in nature, but of course the [virus] was spreading so rapidly that we, as a leadership, said, ‘OK, we can’t have anyone else coming in from the outside,’” Thevarge told Pique this week.

Thevarge and the N’Quatqua have felt a familiar sense of déjà vu in recent weeks, as the Casper Creek wildfire has doubled in size to, at press time, 4,056 hectares, while the nearby Highline Road is closed to the public to keep the narrow stretch of dirt road clear for firefighters and community members.

“It’s just kind of concerning, with the amount of tourists that are out there and are still coming over,” Thevarge said. “When communities are affected and being evacuated,

it just seems like the backcountry is never shut down to people, and it just adds more pressure to our members and our community.”

Located roughly 50 kilometres northeast of Pemberton, the area is a draw for local recreationalists and vacationers looking for a rustic alternative to the corporate sheen of Whistler. But, of course, resort locals and other second-homeowners have the luxury of returning to their primary residence, if need be. For the N’Quatqua and Tsal’alh, another St ’ át ’ y ’ imc First Nation located on the shores of Anderson Lake, there is often no such option. And as extreme weather events grow in both frequency and severity, it tends to be the more remote, Indigenous communities that bear the brunt of the impact, as was the case in the 2021 heat dome and subsequent fire that ravaged Lytton.

“It’s going to be a yearly thing now. The weather has changed so much and the backcountry is so dry,” said Thevarge, who discussed the mental and emotional toll the recent wildfire has had on the community.

“There’s been a few mornings when you wake up and there would be ash all over your vehicle. You can see the flames at night, so everyone is obviously concerned,” he added. “It’s taken a toll on people, and especially people with asthma and stuff, wondering what we’re going to do if it comes to evacuating.”

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order is in place, with the suspected lightningcaused fire still about 10 to 15 kilometres away from the N’Quatqua, Thevarge estimated. An evacuation order is in place, however, for all properties in the Tsal’alh and Seton Portage areas. (Tsal’alh Chief Randy James did not return a request for comment.)

An evacuation alert has also been issued for properties south of the existing evacuation order on the west side of Anderson Lake.

There are currently 36 BC Wildfire Service personnel, 31 contract crew, and several structure protection personnel assigned to the fire. That’s in addition to five helicopters, and 11 pieces of heavy equipment onsite.

Both the N’Quatqua and Lil’wat Nations have sent firefighters to assist the efforts, with close to a dozen volunteers answering the call from Mount Currie in recent days, according to Lil’wat Chief Dean Nelson. As two of 11 distinct, self-governing communities comprising the St ’ át ’ y ’ imc Nation, the Lil’wat and N’quatqua have long held close familial, cultural and linguistic ties, and Nelson said there was no hesitation in lending a hand.

“We have to stand for what we value,” he added. “We’ve been fortunate here in Lil’wat and our surrounding area that we haven’t been impacted by those fires. I know for a fact that if we did need help that there are people who would come to our aid. It’s reciprocal. If someone needs help, you help the best you

can and pray that there is help when you do need it.”

Both the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua count a number of certified professional and contract firefighters, but, in the midst of B.C.’s worst fire season in recorded history, they were all deployed around the province, Nelson said, which is why he put a call out for help on social media.

The BC Wildfire Service said ground crews are working to extinguish fire spots closest to properties on the fire’s southwest flank. On Monday, July 31, planned ignitions were carried out and were to continue through the week to remove unburnt fuel between Six Mile Creek and the fire perimeter. Fire activity remains low on the northeast flank of the fire, while firefighters on the southeast flank near Seton Portage continue to patrol and extinguish hotspots within the fire perimeter, closest to the community.

Located approximately 33 km west of Lillooet, in proximity to Anderson Lake, the fire was discovered July 11 and is suspected to be lightning-caused.

Stay up to date with wildfires in the province at wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca.

Further information will be posted at slrd. bc.ca, and notices through the SLRD’s Alert messaging service, which you can subscribe to for free at slrd.bc.ca/slrdalert to receive emergency notifications via email, text, and voicemail. n

thoughtful is

with you at every step

CARONNE MARINO – RENNIE ADVISOR - WHISTLER

Howe Sound Women’s Centre receives multi-year provincial funding commitment for sexual assault response programs

SERVICES WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE 24/7 FOR COMMUNITIES BETWEEN FURRY CREEK AND LILLOOET

BY MEGAN LALONDE

SEXUAL ASSAULT response services will continue to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to survivors throughout the entire Sea to Sky corridor and Stl’atl’imx/ Lillooet region, thanks to a recent influx of provincial funding.

The Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society (HSWC) is among 56 service providers across British Columbia that are set to receive stable, annual funding beginning this year, the province announced July 24.

The B.C. government is spending just over $6.6 million to establish 68 sexual assault response programs facilitated by those providers. The funding kicked in last month.

A regional panel decided to award the HSWC with three contracts—one each for programs in Squamish, Whistler/Pemberton, and the Stl’atl’imx/Lillooet region.

The Sea to Sky non-profit initially set up a five-person mobile team in 2021 offering 24/7 sexual assault response services in Squamish and Whistler. The program was made possible by a nearly $300,000 grant funded by the province and managed by the Ending Violence Association of B.C.

That funding expired in March of this year, “so we were really excited to know that this opportunity from the province would allow us to continue the program,” said HSWC executive director Ashley Oakes.

Better yet, the new funding means HSWC can extend its programming’s reach by 200 kilometres, into Stl’atl’imx and Lillooet communities.

In addition to core staff based in Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, a fulltime HSWC employee currently living in N’Quatqua will be based in Stl’atl’imx First Nations communities to provide crisis support to those who need it, Oakes said. A similar program was previously offered through the Southern Stl’atl’imx Health Society. “We were advised that they were unlikely to apply again for the funding through the province, so we decided that we would apply for that funding so there was still service delivery and continuity of service delivery for the Indigenous communities up north,” Oakes explained.

HSWC’s sexual assault services include trained staff who are reachable around the clock by phone or text at 604-389-9168 and by chat through the Izzy platform at hswc. ca. Workers are also available to accompany survivors to RCMP detachments, hospitals,

and court, and can help connect survivors with third-party reporting options they can use to share details of an assault anonymously.

Those services are available to individuals of any gender who are visiting, living in, or passing through the corridor. “They’re also available to support people with … a history of sexualized violence in their past in their lives,” Oakes added. “It’s not just things that are new.”

Beyond an immediate response in the wake of an assault, sustained funding empowers HSWC to provide longer-term support to survivors, Oakes said. “It is not just a one-time contact,” she explained. “The level of crisis support required to ensure somebody is supported throughout the journey of seeking justice or healing is long.”

The province has committed to funding HSWC’s programs for a three-year term with two renewal years. “Then we will have to wait and see what the government wants to do in terms of continuity of the funding,” said Oakes. “We are optimistic that this will become a permanent service contract within the provincial government. Especially showcasing the need in the community, we’re hoping that it would be sustained funding moving forward.”

On average, sexualized violence occurs at

a higher rate in the Sea to Sky corridor than it does at provincial and federal levels.

In a report to Whistler’s mayor and council this March, Sea to Sky RCMP said the number of sexual assaults reported in the resort increased 18 per cent last year, rising from 28 offences in 2021 to 33 reported in 2022.

Statistics Canada data shows 34,242 sexual assaults were reported to police nationwide in 2021, representing 90 incidents per 100,000 people. It’s not an entirely fair comparison considering Whistler’s tourist economy, but the 28 offences reported in the resort in 2021 translate to 200 incidents per 100,000 people—more than double the national rate.

Self-reported data from 2019 shows only about six per cent of sexual assaults in Canada were reported to police that year.

“We’ve started to see the numbers of people contacting us for help increase steadily over the last two years and we anticipate that that will continue with this new funding,” Oakes said.

Slowly but surely, the stigma around sexualized violence also appears to be diminishing, she added. “We’re improving how we talk about it,” she explained. “We’re empowering people to talk about it more, and that is resulting in more disclosures coming forward as well.” n

Luxury Stonebridge estate shatters record for Whistler’s priciest property sale

PEEK INTO THE SIX-BEDROOM HOME AND ADJACENT LOT THAT SOLD FOR AN UNPRECEDENTED $40 MILLION

BY MEGAN LALONDE

THE COMBINED SALE of two properties in Whistler’s exclusive Stonebridge development this week marks the highest-priced real estate transaction in resort history.

At $32 million, the recent sale of a sixbedroom, 10-bathroom luxury home at 5462 Stonebridge Drive shattered Whistler’s record for highest-ever sale price on its own, real estate agent John Ryan, who represented the buyers, said in a release issued July 31. Whistler realtor Maggi Thornhill of Engel & Völkers represented the sellers of the 8,700-square-foot “architectural masterpiece” and the nearly three-hectare lot it sits on. Featuring sweeping views of Alta Lake, Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, the property became the highest-priced house for sale in all of Canada when it was listed last year at $39 million.

But including the vacant, four-ha adjacent lot simultaneously acquired in a private sale, the deal sets a new record for Whistler’s priciest transaction at $40 million.

The sale is an important one, Ryan said in the release, that could stand to “shift the needle” in the resort’s high-end real estate market.

“There are so many high-end homes in Whistler, some in excess of $30 to $50 million, that have never hit the market,” Ryan added. “With anything that is precedent-setting, there is an injection of confidence that we have the right product in this market, and that we have the buyers willing to step up.”

The modern estate serving as the centrepiece of the landmark sale was built by Whistler’s Dürfeld Constructors in 2014 and conceptualized by the team at internationally-acclaimed, U.S.-based architectural practice Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the same firm responsible for designing 75 Apple stores around the world. The property’s dramatic location informed its design, a representative for Bohlin Cywinski Jackson noted in the release.

The residence features a curved, floating staircase suspended by cables that doubles as an art installation, a 25-metre pool cantilevered over the cliff edge it’s built into, in addition to three fireplaces, a wine cellar, grotto spa, floor-to-ceiling windows and an elevator.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, personally. It is incredibly unique,” Ryan added. “This is by far the most exciting home ever to hit the market in Whistler, architecturally.”

In the release, the realtor also pointed out the impact high-end homes like the

one at 5462 Stonebridge Drive can have on Whistler’s economy and workforce.

“The amount of trades it takes to build these homes helps to keep our talent living in this town,” he said. “I don’t think there is anywhere in Canada that would compare to the quality of the work that we get out of

our builders. They are special. They take everything to the next level. We have people from all over the world buying here, and they recognize the creativity.”

The property described as “a marvel of architecture and engineering” is changing hands for the first time since it was commissioned.

Its new owners intend to honour the existing home by developing the adjacent lot at 5458 Stonebridge Drive in keeping with its design.

The international couple “are not just buying an incredible property,” Ryan added, “they are loving and supporting the community. They are at the local gym every day, they are biking and hiking, and they are entrenched in the dining scene. They are absolutely blown away by what Whistler has to offer.”

The buyers are also set to support Whistler’s community in another way: gross property taxes for 5462 Stonebridge Drive reached $95,214 in 2022, according to REW.ca. In 2022, the property’s total value was assessed at about $18.7 million—$10.4 million for the land, and $8.3 million for the building. The original owners purchased the lot for $5 million in 2007.

The median price of a detached home in Whistler was $2.8 million in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Whistler Real Estate Company. n

RECORD SALE The estate at 5462 Stonebridge Drive. The property and its three-hectare lot recently sold for $32 million.

PHOTO BY NIC LEHOUX, COURTESY OF JOHN RYAN

B.C. developing outdoor recreation strategy

NEARLY SEVEN OUT OF 10 B.C. ADULTS PARTICIPATED IN OUTDOOR REC IN 2022

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

IN JUNE, THE OUTDOOR Recreation Council of BC (ORCBC) shared findings from a recent survey detailing outdoor rec habits and preferences among British Columbians.

According to that survey, nearly seven out of every 10 adult B.C. residents have participated in outdoor recreation in the past 12 months, and 2.8 million adult British Columbians enjoyed the outdoors last year.

And it’s not hard to see why, according to the ORCBC.

“Outdoor recreation provides many benefits, including community health and social inclusion, reconciliation through Indigenous involvement in recreation planning and management, connection to nature, and economic benefits such as jobs and tourism,” said ORCBC executive director Louise Pedersen, in an email. “A recent economic study indicates that outdoor recreation in B.C. provides more than $15 billion in economic value to British Columbians annually.”

Despite those clear benefits, little has been done in the past 20 years to support the sector, Pedersen said.

“Underfunding, increased recreational use, and the impacts of climate change put more pressure on B.C.’s recreation infrastructure and natural spaces, which elevates the need for volunteers to perform important repair and safety work, educate trail users about key outdoor concepts such as preparedness and leaving no trace, and work with land managers to mitigate the substantial effects of climate change-induced wildfires, flooding and erosion,” she said.

For those reasons, the ORCBC has advocated “for several years” for a comprehensive outdoor recreation strategy for the province, along with adequate resourcing to implement it, Pedersen added.

The organization may finally get its wish, as the provincial Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy is leading a project to develop a shared vision of outdoor recreation service delivery in the province.

According to a ministry spokesperson, the aim is to “position the province of B.C. and Indigenous communities to plan, develop and/or manage the diverse range of outdoor recreation opportunities balancing public interests, conservation and stewardship.”

The opportunity arose after a recent interministerial shuffle.

Last year, Recreation Sites and Trails BC was reorganized from the Ministry of Forests into the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy as a branch, alongside BC Parks, in the Conservation and Recreation Division, the spokesperson explained.

“With these two agencies in the same division, the opportunity arose to align these provincial agencies that both directly

manage outdoor recreation on public lands as well as those agencies that have a role in supporting recreation opportunities or have a vested interest in outcomes associated with a healthy outdoor recreation sector,” they said.

“A shared provincial vision will ensure the province remains an exceptional jurisdiction for outdoor recreation and that the province’s approach is aligned with the commitments to Indigenous reconciliation and environmental stewardship.”

Project objectives include: Developing a shared vision (and principles) for managing outdoor recreation on provincial public lands; incorporating Indigenous perspectives and identifying opportunities to further reconciliation in provincial delivery of recreation management; making recommendations and developing a strategy to align service delivery and organizational structures to achieve the shared recreation vision; and developing a medium- and long-term digital strategy for the BC Parks, Recreation Sites and Trails Division to support effective service delivery over the next decade.

The project will build on the extensive public engagement that Rec Sites and Trails and BC Parks conducted for a provincial trails strategy in 2021, and will engage broadly with the outdoor recreation sector. In-person and virtual sector engagement sessions are scheduled over the next few months.

Residents in Whistler are encouraged to engage through groups like the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association and Tourism Whistler, the spokesperson said, adding that ministry staff will be talking with such groups “at various stages throughout the planned two-year project and into implementation.”

The strategy is an “excellent initiative,” said Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC), particularly as the last strategy is about two decades old.

“I think it’s very necessary from many perspectives: for land-use planning, for tenure security, for development of new opportunities, for being able to … operate in conjunction with the other natural resource sectors,” he said.

But importantly, TIABC sees the process as an opportunity to ensure that tourism is a significant part of the strategy, he added.

“So you have recreation, which in a general sense is everybody, every resident and visitor that is able to participate in activities and parks and in the backcountry hiking and fishing and all those wonderful things, but there is a commercial side to this, too, that cannot be overlooked, and it’s critical that it be incorporated into the broader recreation strategy,” Judas said.

“That’s really what our goal as an industry is, to ensure that tourism is reflected and well represented, and that tourism is a priority within the recreation strategy.” n

NOTICE OF HAZARD

This Notice of Hazard is published in accordance with section 25 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and pursuant to Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) Policy 7.3: Mount Meager Landslide Hazard Notification.

The SLRD is in receipt of a jour nal article entitled: “Hazard and risk from large landslides from Mount Meager volcano, British Columbia, Canada”. The article was published on March 1, 2008 in Georisk: Assessment and Management of Risk for Engineered Systems and Geohazards.

The article identifies a safety risk to persons and property from debris flows in the Mount Meager and Lillooet River valley areas as far south as the head of Lillooet Lake. A copy of the article is available as follows:

• at the Pemberton & District Public Library; and

• on the SLRD’s website at: http://www.slrd.bc.ca/

Dated this 25th day of July, 2023.

Craig Dalton Chief Administrative Officer

Pemberton Friendship Trail extension receives major federal grant

THE

$418,200 IN FEDERAL FUNDING WILL HELP PAY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE APPROXIMATELY 0.75-KILOMETRE PEMBERTON FARM ROAD EAST CONNECTOR

BY MEGAN LALONDE

THE PEMBERTON VALLEY’S multi-use Friendship Trail is growing.

West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler joined Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman and Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) Electoral Area C Director Russell Mack in Spud Valley on Thursday, July 27 to announce a $418,200 investment the federal government is making to extend the Friendship Trail.

The six-figure grant will help pay for the construction of a new, approximately 0.75-kilometre section of trail to connect the two existing segments of the Friendship Trail to Pemberton Farm Road East, fully linking downtown Pemberton with Mount Currie. The Village of Pemberton (VOP) is contributing $186,800 to the project, while the SLRD is throwing $92,000 into the pot.

The new Pemberton Farm Road East Connector will become an integral part of the 7.2-km non-motorized Friendship Trail,

particularly considering the new route will run beside the sports fields and bike skills course at Den Duyf Park. Pemberton councillors previously directed VOP staff to apply for a provincial grant to fund a multiuse bike lane on Pemberton Farm Road East back in February 2020, one month before the COVID-19 pandemic officially began.

“This new connection will fill a vital gap in ensuring residents can travel safely between town and our growing recreation site,” Richman noted in the release. “This type of infrastructure helps us meet our objectives to expand opportunities for multimodal transportation, and with the non-motorized use, supports our climate change goals. Thank you to the Government of Canada for helping to bring this important project to our community.”

The Friendship Trail is a collaboration between the Village of Pemberton, Lil’wat Nation and the SLRD that is more than a

decade in the making. It is expected to be fully completed by 2024.

The trail functions as “a safe and designated pathway” for residents of all ages— including Lil’wat Nation members living in Mount Currie—to easily travel to school, work, or access other essential services on foot, by bike, or even on horseback. “Additionally, the trail provides an opportunity for visitors to

contributions, the sum totals close to $2 million. It’s part of the larger Sea to Sky Trail project, the 180-km trail that winds through the corridor to link the Pacific Ocean south of Squamish with D’Arcy, on the shores of Anderson Lake north of Pemberton.

The investment announced July 27 will flow from the Government of Canada’s $400-million Active Transportation Fund. The contribution supports the Liberal government’s National Active Transportation Strategy, which aims to expand pathways, bike lanes, pedestrian bridges and trail networks across the country.

engage in outdoor activities, explore the valley, and discover local businesses, events, and tourism offerings along the route,” according to a media release issued by the three partners.

Mack described the trail as “a lasting legacy for the Pemberton Valley and surrounding communities.”

The project has previously received significant grants from the federal government, the province, Innergex Renewable Energy and the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation dating back to 2008. Supplemented by community

In the release, Weiler said active transportation infrastructure like the Friendship Trail provides options for “healthier, more accessible and greener transportation” that in turn create betterconnected communities. “The Village of Pemberton to Líl’wat Nation Friendship Trail takes this a step further by breaking down barriers in between the communities of Pemberton and Mount Currie,” he added.

Speaking on behalf of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser, Weiler said the federal government is pleased to work with its municipal partners to bring this project to fruition. “Active transportation projects like this move us closer to our net-zero emissions goals, while providing safe and inviting options for the community to walk, bike, run, and skate for work and play,” Weiler explained. n

GOOD FRIENDS West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler, left, joined Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman on July 27 to announce a significant federal investment to extend the Friendship Trail.

“This new connection will fill a vital gap in ensuring residents can travel safely between town and our growing recreation site.”

- MIKE RICHMAN

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Study shows vegan diet is best for people and planet

OUR FOOD SYSTEMS have huge impacts on human and planetary health. Growing, producing, processing, transporting, and eating food all contribute significantly to climate-altering emissions—especially in affluent areas where people consume more of everything, particularly meat. Global food systems are also major water users and polluters. And agriculture takes up massive amounts of land and is a major factor in habitat loss and destruction.

A new Oxford University study confirms what vegans have been saying for years: eating an entirely plant-based diet significantly reduces emissions, pollution and land conversion.

BY DAVID

The comprehensive study, published in Nature Food, linked “dietary data from a sample of 55,504 vegans, vegetarians, fisheaters and meat-eaters with food-level data on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, eutrophication risk and potential biodiversity loss from a review of 570 lifecycle assessments covering more than 38,000 farms in 119 countries.”

Researchers found that vegans had onequarter the dietary impact of high meat-eaters (more than 100 grams a day) for greenhouse gas emissions, land use and eutrophication (an overabundance of nutrients, algae and plants in water systems), and around 34 and 46 per cent for biodiversity loss and water use, respectively.

It’s important because food systems create about one-third of global emissions

the emissions impact of a low-meat diet—but cutting back on meat and animal products is a step in the right direction and can make a difference.

Although other ways to reduce food system impacts are needed—such as cutting food waste, increasing sustainable and regenerative agriculture and supporting local food production—a shift in the way people eat and drink, especially in wealthier nations, will have the greatest overall effect.

Reforming agricultural practices to protect soils and their ability to sequester carbon is critical, and here we can learn much from people who have lived in place for millennia and discovered how to feed themselves without depleting the systems that support agriculture, from small- to large-scale.

Some impacts from animal agriculture can be reduced—by adding seaweed to feed for pigs and sheep to reduce methane emissions, for example. But that’s kind of like the oil industry using carbon capture and storage to reduce production emissions; it’s more about finding ways to continue destructive practices than taking the action necessary to curtail them.

Reducing or eliminating meat from your diet is also much healthier—and delicious! A well-balanced vegetarian or vegan diet includes more fruit, vegetables, nuts, and legumes, and so is lower in cholesterol and higher in fibre. Studies show plant-based diets reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, dementia, high blood pressure, obesity, some cancers and more.

With any diet, it’s crucial that people get the nutrients they need. That means nutritional requirements must often be met in different ways for different people in different places—a vegan diet isn’t practical for everyone, especially people in the North

(including potent methane from livestock farming; methane emissions were 93 per cent lower for vegan diets than high-meat diets!) and are responsible for 70 per cent of freshwater use and 78 per cent of freshwater pollution.

The good news is that, while vegan diets are better all around, reduced-meat diets (less than 50 grams a day) and vegetarian diets are also substantially better for the environment and climate than high-meat diets. The study showed that low-meat diets had half the impact of high-meat diets on emissions, water pollution and land use. In the U.K., that would be equivalent to taking eight million cars off the road. “However, the differences between low-meat, pescetarian and vegetarian diets were relatively small,” the Guardian reported.

A vegan diet is much better for the environment than all of them—half again

who have relied on and had access to fish and game for millennia.

It also means those who choose a vegan diet must ensure they’re getting a good balance of proteins, minerals and vitamins— especially vitamins B12 and D, iron, zinc and calcium—which can mean using fortified foods and supplements along with bioavailable plant sources.

We wrote recently about the need for privileged people and countries to curtail what many would consider “luxuries” if we’re to get serious about the climate crisis. Excessive meat consumption is one luxury the world can no longer afford.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington. ■

[R]educed-meat diets ... and vegetarian diets are also substantially better for the environment...

SUZUKI

We truly appreciate your continued support over the past three years!

Pemberton for voting for us in this year ’s Best of Pemberton awards.

Campfire bans are a necessary step

THE HUMBLE CAMPFIRE has been a centrepiece of humanity since the beginning. Control of fire was critical in our early evolution as a species by providing warmth and light. It also allowed protection from predators at night; was a way to fabricate more advanced hunting tools; and a way to

BY VINCE SHULEY

cook food that was hunted or foraged. By allowing human activity to continue into dark and cold nights, campfires paved the way for early human migration.

Hundreds of thousands of years later, the humble campfire still draws people together. Stories are told, meat and marshmallows are roasted, memories are made, and everyone shuffles around to avoid the smoke when the wind changes direction. Some of my favourite memories in Canada are of sitting around a campfire with several generations of family just chatting and enjoying the beautiful B.C. outdoors. I’ve also enjoyed a few stag trips where friends sit around a campfire and laugh

at each other so hard they fall off their camp chairs. Like most Canadians, I’m a fan of small, controlled fires.

The environment we live in has changed in the last couple of centuries. Fire mitigation methods mean people are more comfortable living in and around forested areas. The average active citizen prefers living amongst trees (on account of trail access) or just simply feeling a closer connection to nature in their daily lives (this pretty much includes everyone who lives in the Sea to Sky corridor). But the rainy “Wet Coast” we’ve learned to

scattered on the South Coast. Even with the growing fire at Casper Creek near Anderson Lake, we haven’t yet had the acrid smoke descend on our valley (at the time of writing— knock on wood). Our recreationally-focused lives have experienced very little disruption in the bubble, and our days paddling on the lake continue unhindered. I somehow feel we’re cheating the 2023 wildfire season in our little pocket of British Columbia.

If you look at the temperatures outside of B.C., it starts to feel even more like we’re heading into a heat-induced apocalypse.

the cultural significance these flames have had over the ages, but given the temperature trends and worrying wildfire seasons, maybe it’s time we said goodbye to summer campfires. As reported by Pique last month, Whistler Councillor Arthur De Jong said he’s ready to back a blanket wildfire ban within our municipal boundaries over the summer months, and it’s hard to argue with his logic. Yes, we have seasonal fire bans when it gets hot and dry, but it’s never really that clear when the fire ban gets lifted. Some folks might just assume because it rained for a couple of days that campfires are good to go again, even if the rain barely penetrates the tinder-dry ground vegetation. We’ve had close calls from less, like the time a fire almost got out of control on the lower slopes of Blackcomb because some idiot van dweller was burning their used toilet paper.

love isn’t nearly as wet anymore, nor as cool. And our homes nestled among these beautiful trees are more and more likely to burn down as a result.

The year 2023 is B.C.’s most destructive wildfire season on record. But unless you’re watching the news or scanning the social media headlines, you wouldn’t know it in Whistler by looking up at the sky. As of Sunday, July 30, fires were burning in pretty much every part of the province, with only a handful

Phoenix, Ariz. just had 30 straight days of 43 C. It’s a desert city and it’s always hot there in the summer, but the consistent, record-breaking temperatures throughout the last month have been so hot that the iconic saguaro cacti are dying. If these heat trends continue—as climate scientists expect them to—it wouldn’t surprise me if large swathes of America’s southwest are rendered uninhabitable before the end of the century.

Now back to the campfires. I understand

Before we all start pushing back that a blanket summer campfire ban is an assault on our Canadian traditions and values, let’s remember that there are plenty of appropriate times of the year for campfires. The late fall and early spring—when the ground vegetation is not nearly as combustible—is perfect for getting outside and sitting around a small circle of flame.

Humans evolved with fire. We can evolve to use it sparingly as well.

Vince Shuley likes to think he’s getting more FireSmart. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider, email vince.shuley@gmail.com or Instagram @whis_vince. ■

[L]et’s remember that there are plenty of appropriate times of the year for campfires. The late fall and early spring— when the ground vegetation is not nearly as combustible.

FIRE FIGHT Should campfires be confined to nonsummer months in Whistler?

PHOTO BY VINCE SHULEY

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Inoneofthefastest-growingcommunitiesinB.C.,localshave,historicallyspeaking,favouredthe annualreadersurveyhighlightingthebestandbrightestPembertonhastoo er.SeveralBestofPembertonmainstaysdidreturnin2023,however—TheHwy.Cafeonceagaintoppedthelist oflocals’favouriterestaurants,forinstance,whileotherregularssuchasperennialFavouriteWriterLisa RichardsonandFavouriteBand,belovedcountryrockers,DakotaPearl,reclaimedtheirtitles.Butthere werejustasmanynewfacesinthecrowdthisyear.BruceMillerofTheBeerFarmersfamenarrowlybeat outlong-timeFavouritePembertonianandlocaliconBobMenzel,andwe’vegotathree-waytieforFavouriteVolunteerafterGrahamTurnerearnedthataccoladeforseveralyearsrunning. size.You’llalsonoticeafewchangestothepollitself,primarilydesignedtomakeitamoremanageable don’tAsalways,weareopentosuggestions,soifyouhaveanyideastomakenextyear’spollevenbetter, So,hesitatetoemailfeatureseditorBrandonBarrettatbbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com. fantastichere’stoyou,Pemberton.Atipofthecowboyhat(orbikehelmet?)toyouandyoursforanother yearinSpudValley.

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Media, Arts & Culture

1. Painter Karen Love

2. Painter Vanessa Stark

3. Painter and multimedia artist Levi Nelson

1. Dakota Pearl

2. Austin Ross

3. “Grateful” Greg Reamsbottom of The Hairfarmers

FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPHER

1. Kelly Cosgrove

2. Brittany Andrew

3. Shane Roy

1. Lisa Richardson

2. Anna Helmer

1. Slow Food Cycle

2. Lil’wat Rodeo

3. Pemberton Barn Dance

Kelly Cosgrove

Dakota Pearl

This is a court ordered sale of a pension in Whistler, which could provide an attractive income. There is a self-contained 1-bedroom caretaker’s suite, for possible on-site management.

Featuring a spacious living area for relaxation and entertaining. Additional features - single-car garage, private hot tub. Development plans already in place for a new owner to renovate!

Easy access cabin in Alpine Meadows. Enjoy the Hot Tub & Wood burning fireplace on a winter day or the sundeck & a yard in the summer. A perfect family home on a flat lot on a quiet cul-de-sac.

Discover the tranquil beauty of this 5-acre property nestled in a quiet rural subdivision, o the main road, o ering an idyllic retreat. Also has 1,000 sq.ft. storage building on-site.

A 5,597 sq ft commercial warehouse inclusive of a spacious 650 sq ft mezzanine with o ice space and a front sales area. Total area of 12,373 sq ft, located in the heart of Pemberton Industrial Park.

Introducing a delightful 1-storey home, located just 5 minutes from Pemberton. Set amidst the serene beauty of old grove cedar trees, this charming property o ers a cozy and inviting atmosphere.

This spacious, elegant duplex features an open-concept layout complete with designer finishes and expansive deck to enjoy unobstructed mountain views. Ideal for growing families or the perfect weekend home with plenty of room to entertain. Move in Fall 2023.

Enjoy spectacular views of Mount Currie from this gorgeous new home with 1-bedroom suite in Pemberton’s premier Sunstone neighbourhood. The smart open floor plan features key elements of mountain modern architectural style. Move-in ready.

in Pemberton with the entry on the main living space, this layout is spacious and welcoming and immaculately kept.

4.56 acre private oasis with a gorgeous 3.5 bedroom home plus a charming 2.5 bedroom cabin. Delightful outdoor living area, multiple storage spaces and quick access to the riverfront.

This property o ers sweeping views of the valley and Mount Currie and allows for a single family home with secondary suite as well as an accessory building or structure.

Modern

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amazing views, 1

Discover the epitome of contemporary living in the highly sought-after Benchlands neighborhood. This modern and stylish home o ers jaw-dropping 180° views that will leave you in awe. Room for family/friends plus a 2-bedroom suite. Embrace a lifestyle of luxury and tranquility. Just 25 minutes from Whistler!

Bike In/Bike Out from this gorgeous home in the luxurious First Tracks Lodge. This spacious home features two decks with views overlooking the pool and surrounding mountains. Just steps to shops, restaurants and lakes! Nightly rental zoned, great storage and parking.

This incredible south-facing building lot boasts an impressive 13,455 square feet of space, providing ample room for your dream home, garden, and more. You’ll enjoy breathtaking views of Mount Currie and plenty of sunshine all year round. GST has been paid.

Welcome to Pemberton Industrial Park, where an incredible opportunity awaits! Introducing a fully operational recycling center and bottle depot, this commercial property is a one-stop shop for all your recycling needs.

Renovated condo zoned for nightly rental, steps from the Creekside Gondola. Gas fireplace, covered deck & beautiful kitchen. Pool + hot tub plus BBQ area and secure ski + bike storage

Unlike any other residential complex! Located on the picturesque Alpha Lake, Twin Lakes o ers lakefront living with a private beach, in ground pool and tennis court.

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Nestled in a tranquil cul-de-sac, this magnificent home site boasts breathtaking view potential of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, providing the perfect backdrop for your dream home.

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This expansive 12,000 square foot lot is surrounded by Crown Land and with no through road, ensures a quiet setting for your new home. Alpine Meadows voted favourite neighbourhood year after year, o ers easy access to trails. Rec centre and more!

This stunning fully furnished home has been immaculately kept and is turn key! Keep for your own personal use or take advantage of the phase 1 rental zoning.

This one bedroom and den condo is in the award winning Orion development, built in 2020, where you have piece of mine with the 2-5-10 New Home Warranty!

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on

Food & Drink

FAVOURITE OVERALL RESTAURANT

1. TIE: The Hwy. Cafe and The Pony Restaurant

3. Fish and Rice

BEST SERVICE

1. The Hwy. Cafe

2. Sunstone Bar & Grill

3. TIE: Fish and Rice and The Pony Restaurant

BEST VALUE

1. The Hwy. Cafe

2. Miller’s Fries

3. Sunstone Bar & Grill

BEST BREAKFAST

1. Town Square

2. Blackbird Bakery

3. North Arm Farm

Blackbird Bakery

BEST COFFEE

1. Mount Currie Coffee Company

2. Blackbird Bakery

3. Lynx Cafe

BEST PLANT-BASED MENU

1. The Hwy. Cafe

2. Stay Wild Natural Health

3. Mile One Eating House

BEST DESSERT

1. Blackbird Bakery

2. The Pony Restaurant

3. The Hwy. Cafe

BEST BEER SELECTION

1. The Beer Farmers

2. The Pony Restaurant

3. Pemberton Brewing Company

BEST PATIO

1. Fescues Restaurant

2. The Beer Farmers

3. Sunstone Bar & Grill

Town Square

The Hwy. Cafe

Sports & Recreation

FAVOURITE GOLF COURSE

1. Big Sky Golf Club

2. Sunstone Golf Club

FAVOURITE BIKE TRAIL

1. Mackenzie

2. Cream Puff

3. TIE: Bathtub, Happy Trail and Radio Tower

FAVOURITE HIKING TRAIL

1. Lumpy’s Epic

2. Nairn Falls

3. Joffre Lakes

FAVOURITE LAKE

1. Mosquito Lake

2. Gates Lake

3. Birkenhead Lake

FAVOURITE SUMMER ADVENTURE ACTIVITY

1. Mountain biking

2. Backcountry hiking

3. Horseback riding

FAVOURITE WINTER ADVENTURE ACTIVITY

1. Backcountry skiing and snowboarding

2. Cross-country skiing

3. TIE: Snowmobiling and snowshoeing

FAVOURITE ATHLETE

1. TIE: Lucas Cruz and Logan Pehota

2. Ethan Hess

3. Trinity Ellis

Business Services

FAVOURITE NEW BUSINESS

1. BAO’s Chinese Restaurant

FAVOURITE FARM

FAVOURITE TOURISM OPERATOR

FAVOURITE GAS STATION

CompanyBuilding

FAVOURITE WEDDING VENUE

1. Riverlands Red Barn

2. North Arm Farm

3. Big Sky Golf Club

FAVOURITE WELLNESS SERVICE

1. Leaning Cedar Therapy

2. Ivy Esthetics

3. Local Motion Therapy

FAVOURITE REALTOR

1. Danielle Menzel

2. Katelyn Spink

3. Lisa Hilton

FAVOURITE BUILDING/CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

1. Fitzgerald Building Company

2. New Leaf Contracting

3. BC Passive House

RiverlandsRed Barn Fitzgerald

The Beer Farmers

2. A-Line Tattoo

3. Dandelion and Clover

1. North Arm Farm

2. Laughing Crow Organics

3. Rootdown Organic Farm

1. The Beer Farmers

2. Copper Cayuse Outfitters

3. Blackcomb Helicopters

1. AC Gas

2. Lil’wat Gas Station

3. Pemberton Petro Canada

FAVOURITE HOTEL OR BED & BREAKFAST

1. Pemberton Valley Lodge

2. Pemberton Hotel

3. The Log House Inn

Danielle Menzel

Sea to Sky riders dominate 2023 Canadian Open Enduro

JESSE MELAMED, RHYS VERNER AND REMI GAUVIN TRIUMPHED AMONG MEN, WHILE BRITTANY PHELAN, MIRANDA MILLER AND FLORENCIA ESPIÑEIRA HERREROS BROKE THROUGH FOR WOMEN

BY DAVID SONG

AFTER DAYS spent watching Europeans, Americans and riders from Down Under win Crankworx hardware in the Boneyard, area mountain bike fans got to wrap up the festival with a bang as locals swept both the men’s and women’s elite podiums at this year’s Canadian Open Enduro.

Jesse Melamed. Rhys Verner. Remi Gauvin. Brittany Phelan. Miranda Miller. Florencia Espiñeira Herreros. Six up, six down for the Sea to Sky.

Go outside the elite divisions and you’ll find even more regional success. Wei Tien Ho claimed victory in the men’s U21 race with a time that would have been competitive among pros. Elly Hoskin finished as runnerup in the women’s U21. Mateo Quist and Mason Cruickshanks powered to first and second, respectively, among U17 males. An honourable mention goes out to Marcus Goguen, who was less than six seconds away from U21 bronze.

FIRST-CLASS CONTENDERS

When Canyon CLLCTV signed Melamed earlier this winter, it was because they intended to add a high-calibre enduro threat who would take them to new heights in the sport. It is safe to say the Whistlerite has delivered.

In a mirror image of early June’s UCI World Cup stop in Pietra Ligure, Italy,

more of a hometown advantage, but Rhys is riding really fast.”

Gauvin went away with a bronze medal to show for his labour (38:41.50). In doing so, he continues to carry the torch for Rocky Mountain Race Face (RMRF): the team he and Melamed elevated to second overall in 2022’s Enduro World Series (EWS) rankings along

you had to stay engaged the whole time top to bottom because it was pretty technical the whole way.”

It was “an incredible podium,” remarked Miller, who distinguished herself after making a short-notice decision to compete. “My boyfriend [Gauvin] was in third, and all our good friends: Rhys, Jesse, Flo, Britt. It was really fun.”

Ho, meanwhile, was one of only two U21 athletes to break the 40-minute mark (39:27.20). Runner-up Lief Rodgers was the other (39:57.00), and Nicolas Brochet completed the top three (40:47.40). That left Goguen on the outside looking in (40:53.00).

Melamed and Verner combined for a splendid one-two finish in the men’s elite division of the Canadian Open Enduro. Melamed was the only rider to break the 38-minute barrier, crushing five hefty stages in a total time of 37 minutes, 50.40 seconds, while Squamish’s Verner nipped at his heels all day long (38:11.60).

“I think we both knew we were the top contenders for the [Canadian national title] sleeve,” Melamed said after the race. “It was fun, because it was a really good battle between the two of us. We both battled some adversity, and I think I just have a little bit

with Andréane Lanthier Nadeau.

The ladies likewise showed out to defend home turf. Phelan struck gold with an excellent performance of her own (45:54.60), narrowly outpacing Miller who added silver to her bronze from last Sunday’s Canadian Open Downhill (46:31.40). Espiñeira Herreros, the Chilean expatriate who now calls Whistler home, rounded out the top three (48:32.40).

“It was definitely a pretty full-on day,” said Phelan, the 2018 Olympic ski cross silver medallist. “It was a really cool format: not as much climbing as in the past we’ve had, but the stages are super physical and

“Pretty happy to finish the day strong like that,” said Ho. “It was a clean day for me, so I’m always happy with that, and the dirt was absolutely mint today. We had a bit of rain earlier in the week, so it made the tracks perfect.”

Added Goguen: “It was a super fun day of riding with the boys. I had a bit of a crash on Stage 4, but I’m all good, so I’m happy with that and I started to make a bit of time up on Stage 5.”

Emmy Lan is becoming a familiar sight on women’s U21 enduro podiums, and she came out on top again this time (46:30.50), but Hoskin put up a good fight en route to silver (46:38.50). Geza Rodgers checked in for bronze (49:16.10).

“Every time I go to Whistler and finish a

OPEN SEASON Canadian Open Enduro elite medallists, left to right: Rhys Verner, Miranda Miller, Jesse Melamed, Brittany Phelan, Florencia Espiñeira Herreros and Remi Gauvin.

PHOTO BY CLINT TRAHAN COURTESY OF CRANKWORX

“It was fun, because it was a really good battle between the two of us.”

- JESSE MELAMED

race like this, it’s just instant tears,” Hoskin said. “It’s such an iconic venue, and crossing the Crankworx finish line is amazing.”

In the men’s U17 category, Quist (41:24.60) opened up a two-minute lead on Cruickshanks (43:43.90) for the win. Cruickshanks, though, earned a second medal this week to accompany his air DH victory. Third place went to Jack Hague (44:02.30).

TOP OF THE WORLD

When asked which parts of Sunday’s big race posed a noteworthy challenge to them, most riders had the same answer on their lips: Stage

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3. Composed of the trails “Top of the World,” “Miss Fire” and “Delayed Fuse,” this particular gauntlet was one of the most gruelling stages to be found this year—not only in Whistler, but on the entire enduro scene.

“It’s painful for everyone,” Miller admitted. “It doesn’t matter who you are—it’s going to be really hard. I handled it better than I thought I would. There were definitely moments of weakness, for sure, but yeah, it’s a doozy.”

Ho concurs. Despite his success, the young Whistlerite had some trouble pacing himself through the middle of the race and had to dig deep to maintain his lead.

Melamed and Verner agree that Stage 3 of the Canadian Open Enduro was arguably more punishing than anything they’ve faced in the Enduro World Cup (EDR) so far. The two friends have pushed each other hard all year, and this week was no exception. Knowing

that Verner is, in his words, “a savage on long stages,” Melamed drew upon a wealth of championship experience to execute the right tactics on course.

Indeed, Verner has put himself on the map this season with an inaugural World Cup breakthrough in Leogang, Austria. He’s second overall in EDR rankings and actually holds a 79-point advantage on Melamed, the man he grew up watching.

Fittingly, the Squamolian came home to unprecedented hype from local fans and lived up to those expectations. He gave Melamed a run for his money in the contest’s first two stages before grabbing a win on Stage 4

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“Pressure is a good thing and it’s a privilege to have, but it’s still there,” Verner said. “This was like the first time I haven’t been an underdog, and people were really building me up to do all this stuff. It’s like: this is new to me, I just tried my best. I had a lot of self-pressure too, from having a good stint in Europe and coming back and basically being a different person in people’s minds than before.”

As for Melamed, it’s yet another highlightreel moment in a career full of them. To lock down a third straight Crankworx gold medal in his first year with a new team is an eyepopping feat. To douse five of his close friends with champagne afterwards is no doubt a very large cherry atop the cake.

Fear not, Sea to Sky. Your enduro future is in good hands.

Complete results are available online. n

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TRAILBLAZER Rhys Verner blazes a trail through the forest during the 2023 Canadian Open Enduro.

PHOTO BY ROB PERRY COURTESY OF CRANKWORX

“Pressure is a good thing and it’s a privilege to have, but it’s still there.”

- RHYS VERNER

Emil Johansson conquers 2023 Red Bull Joyride, locks up slopestyle Quadruple Crown

SQUAMISH NATIVE BEN THOMPSON SEVENTH, VOTED RIDER OF THE DAY

BY DAVID SONG

EMIL JOHANSSON elected to play it safe this time around.

After crashing in practice on July 29, the Swedish slopestyle sensation knew he would not be at the peak of his powers. His goal in this year’s Red Bull Joyride was simply to stay clean and give himself a fighting chance at a respectable result. He faced not only an ailing shoulder, but a three-hour event delay due to less-than-ideal weather conditions in Whistler’s Boneyard.

It didn’t end up mattering. Johansson’s so-called safety run netted him 92.4 points, well clear of runner-up Paul Couderc’s 87 and bronze medallist Tom Isted’s 83.8. The outcome: a 13th Crankworx gold medal for one of mountain biking’s beloved icons.

“Honestly, it’s too big to grasp,” Johansson said. “Growing up, just securing one was a huge dream of mine and now to have done it 13 times—13 out of 14 events the last four years. I never thought I would be in this position growing up, so I’m just soaking it in and enjoying it the best I can.”

Meanwhile, Ben Thompson stole the show

on home turf. The Squamolian wound up seventh after a 70.2-point effort, but hordes of Sea to Sky fans voted him Rider of the Day.

IRON MAN JOHANSSON

The perfect season almost didn’t happen. Johansson went down forcefully during a Saturday morning practice run and immediately felt considerable pain in his AC joint. He wasn’t sure if or when the agony would diminish, nor if the issue could be managed with a good tape job.

“To be completely honest, when I had a crash, I did not think I was going to ride,” admitted Johansson. “I did not see myself being in this scenario. I felt like giving up [in the] morning, honestly, just because of the pain I was in, and I felt very devastated.”

Johansson, though, is not a quitter. He’s already overcome the Epstein-Barr virus and Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune ailment

that attacks the thyroid gland resulting in constant fatigue and enough back pain to make sitting in a chair an Olympian feat. At 18 years old, the Trollhättan native’s career— indeed his life as an able-bodied human being—was in jeopardy.

The devastation was great, but it couldn’t keep him down. Thanks to appropriate medications and measured rehab, Johansson’s body began to heal as the competitive fire in his soul drove him forward. In 2019, the resurgence came to fruition as he bested at-the-time FMB World Tour leader Brett Rheeder for his very first Joyride championship.

On Saturday, Johansson found himself in the same Boneyard that played witness to his inaugural Crankworx triumph. More than 38,000 fans looked on, eagerly awaiting the start of what has been called “the Super Bowl of mountain biking.” Unsettled winds pushed the contest back for hours as organizers tried

to look out for the safety of their athletes.

When Symon Godziek finally dropped in at just after 7:30 p.m. local time, he and his fellow riders would have just one run instead of the usual pair to stake their claim for gold.

“I needed to improvise a couple of things,” Johansson explained. “I decided to play it safe like we always tend to try to do, but when you know you have two runs and the weather conditions are somewhat consistent, you can kind of risk it a bit more.

“Today, kind of guessing that it would be a one-run format, I definitely didn’t want to take any risks. Yeah, I just tried my best to make it down the hill and for a contest, that’s never an easy task.”

CARNAGE IN THE BONEYARD

Multiple contenders experienced that fact the hard way. Tomas Lemoine, Miguel Guerrero and Griffin Paulson all bailed out attempting various tricks, while a blown rear tire truncated Timothé Bringer’s day at the office. David Godziek lost the handle at the end of what could have been a medal-winning run, though he was none the worse for wear.

The same could not be said for Torquato Testa, who appeared to lose speed after an

“Honestly, it’s too big to grasp.”

- EMIL JOHANSSON

under-rotated 360 and impacted hard on top of the final ramp. Viewers around the finish corral looked on anxiously as medical personnel carted Testa away, though he was fortunately seen flashing a thumbs-up on his way out.

Couderc, however, managed to push to the razor’s edge without falling over it. The Frenchman seized the day, double-flipping and rotating both ways en route to his first career Joyride medal.

“It was such a hard day for everyone, so we all tried to play safe but send it at the same time,” Couderc said in a press release. “We knew we could end up just having one run, so I just decided to trust in myself and go full send even if I have just one run. Everything worked and that’s why!”

Isted, a.k.a. ‘”Ice Tea,” was also thrilled to cap off a banner season with another accolade. “A pretty hectic year, this year has been,” said the Brit. “Every [competition] I’ve got, I’ve ended up on the podium, so I’m stoked. I’m over the moon. I did 90 per cent of what I wanted to do … I missed a few little bits, but still got a medal.”

Ultimately, the day—and the Quadruple Crown of Slopestyle—belongs to Johansson. He prevailed in Rotorua. He broke through in Cairns. He triumphed in Innsbruck. Now, he enters the offseason undefeated.

Even so, the humble Swede keeps himself grounded.

“It’s a very surreal experience to be here and to have all these fans cheering your name,” Johansson said. “I guess it’s as close to being a rock star that we slopestyle riders ever

get to be. It feels awesome that this is the last event of the season.

“Very thankful for all the fans that came out and supported us throughout the day, and didn’t leave the hill even though conditions didn’t seem too promising.”

Many would argue that Johansson is no

doubt a rock star, and at just 24 years of age, he’s got plenty more time to build his legacy. Yet perhaps what makes this slopestyle savant truly worthy of admiration is how he takes pictures and signs autographs for fans deep into the night, smiling the whole way through.

HOMETOWN HERO

Thompson didn’t get within striking distance of the podium, but he didn’t seem to care much about that. At 20 years old, he’s finally gotten to ride against the best in the world, at one of the world’s marquee mountain bike events, in his own backyard.

“I’ve come to [Crankworx] since Day 1, and to get a run here and to just be in the event, to be Rider of the Day, is the most insane thing ever,” Thompson gushed. “I am honestly lost for words. I feel like I’m going to wake up at any moment now from an insane dream.”

Feel free to keep pinching yourself, young man, because what you just lived was no dream. You kept your composure on a long and trying day, being awed but not intimidated by the world-class talent all around. You were poised enough to make adjustments on the fly and ensure that you broke the finish beam, giving your fellow Squamolians something to roar about.

“I was not 100-per-cent sure on what I was going to do,” Thompson revealed. “I could probably point out five places throughout the run where I was like: ‘OK, I’m doing this just to make sure I make it to the bottom.’ I would have loved to step it up in the second run. Sadly, we couldn’t have it but, you know, it turned out and I couldn’t be more stoked.

“There are an insane amount of friends and family here … and I just, I love them all. If it wasn’t for any of them, I would not be here today. They all contributed a little part, and lots of them, a huge part.”

Full results are available online. n

JOY STORY Emil Johansson soars into slopestyle history at the 2023 Red Bull Joyride.

PHOTO BY ROB PERRY COURTESY OF CRANKWORX

Garret Mechem dominates Crankworx Speed and Style; Harriet Burbidge-Smith outduels Robin Goomes in Whistler

BAS VAN STEENBERGEN FIFTH, SOLIDIFIES RUNNER-UP POSITION IN KING OF CRANKWORX RANKINGS

BY DAVID SONG

THEY CALL HIM “Lil Rojo.” He’s got riding skills, he’s got tricks, and now he’s got two Crankworx Speed and Style wins in 2023.

Garret Mechem qualified for Friday, July 28’s contest in first place and barely lost a step all day long. Jacob Murray, Daniele Ferri, Peter Kaiser and Bernd Winkler all tried to take him down, but none could match his blend of topflight velocity and gravity-defying acrobatics.

“I’m stoked that it’s all over,” Mechem said in a press release. “Coming into this event, it was kind of stressful knowing that I’ve only missed one podium. It was stressful, but it was fun. I loved it. First time doing the whole series, I’m amped.”

Winkler was jaw-droppingly impressive in his own right as runner-up, while David Lieb joined his fellow American Mechem on the podium by finishing third. Two-time King of Crankworx Bas van Steenbergen rode a fifthplace result to second overall in this year’s season standings behind the newly-crowned Tuhoto-Ariki Pene.

“Second is all good,” van Steenbergen remarked. “Obviously, I would have loved to have won, but it is what it is. Tuhoto did amazing this week, so I can’t really complain about that.”

With multiple short-notice withdrawals in the women’s field, Harriet Burbidge-Smith and Robin Goomes received byes directly into the semifinals. They ended up facing one another for gold in a rematch from Innsbruck, where Goomes narrowly broke through over her close friend.

This time, Burbidge-Smith reversed the tables for her second championship in as many days. Goomes, though, pulled off multiple backflips and added another silver to go with the one she earned in the Whip-off. Shealen Reno took home bronze, and Natasha Miller was tops among Canadian women in fourth.

“It’s been a pretty good couple of

days,” Burbidge-Smith said in her typical understated fashion. “Yeah, it’s been good, I just had so much fun! I love being in Whistler, riding. I know [Goomes] is going to push it as hard as she possibly can, and that’s what I love about her.”

‘A TOUGH PILL TO SWALLOW’

To thrive in Speed and Style, one must truly possess both in equal measure. It’s not enough just to be fast and mistake-free, for the discipline rewards riders for high-flying tricks by taking time off their runs according to a set formula. It’s a caveat that not even the swiftest downhill and slalom athletes can consistently outrun, as van Steenbergen and Jackson Frew discovered this week.

Granted, there was some controversy in van Steenbergen’s case. The Vernon native wields a clear speed advantage over his quarterfinal rival Kaiser, and looked to be moving on after Kaiser wiped out twice in the second of their two runs. Yet, Crankworx Speed and Style rules dictate that an athlete can only face a maximum time deficit of 2.5 seconds to their opponent, even if they crash.

The rest of each man and woman’s score is determined by how spectacular their tricks were. For that reason, Kaiser advanced to the semifinals on the quality of his superior aerial manoeuvres. Understandably, van Steenbergen wasn’t thrilled about the outcome.

“Somebody crashing next to me and still moving on in Speed and Style was very unexpected,” he said honestly. “Not that it

would have impacted the overall, but that was a tough pill to swallow.”

Newly-minted dual slalom champ Frew was likewise unable to outpace Winkler and his deep bag of tricks, winding up seventh.

SLIP AND SLIDE

Kaiser’s quest for victory ended in the semifinals with a loss to Mechem, but the Austrian wasn’t the only one to go down. His compatriot Winkler bailed out across the finish line in his own semifinal against Lieb, tearing his distinctive leopard-print pants and donating some skin to the Boneyard track. Lieb’s luck ran out the very next run, and he ate dirt at the tail end of an ill-fated backflip.

Even Goomes took a tumble just before the line in her gold-medal match against Burbidge-Smith, showing just how difficult it can be to incorporate acrobatic moves into what is essentially a dual slalom run and remain upright.

“If the body is still working, you have to keep your body warm,” said Winkler about how he kept his composure after falling—and after a tough practice round. “You have to say to yourself: f#%$ it, you have to do this now. The course was pretty difficult for me, so there was not really a plan, but I qualified second and pulled through the whole race, so I’m just out of words.”

Mechem, though, was clean from start to finish. The redheaded Santa Cruz native now boasts half a dozen Speed and Style podiums dating back to 2019 in Innsbruck, emerging on top in both Whistler and Cairns this year. Even so, he too holds a healthy respect for the Boneyard track.

“It took a lot of skill to get down,” Mechem added in a release. “It was definitely speed and style. You had to know how to ride flat turns, you had to know how to ride like a mountain biker to get down this. I think the biggest deciding factor was the bottom corners. I had to be on point with my braking.”

Full results are available online. n

STYLE BOYS Riders take to the air at the 2023 Crankworx Speed & Style in Whistler.

PHOTO BY CLINT TRAHAN COURTESY OF CRANKWORX

Tasty tidbits that keep B.C. happy on B.C. Day

BEYOND SALMON PINK AND INTO THE GREENS FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND

HERE COMES ONE OF THE BEST long weekends of the year, thanks to (Beautiful) B.C. Day!

Believe it or not, B.C. Day has only been around since 1974. Thankfully, it also always falls on the first Monday in August so you can get in some extra summer holiday time. It also happens pretty close to Aug. 2—the date when Britain’s Parliament established the Province of British Columbia in 1858. That’s when the then-pillars of British power figured they’d better set up an official

BY GLENDA BARTOSH

province fast due to the thousands of mostly American gold rush fortune hunters that, in 1857, started flocking to what had previously been a relatively quiet corner of the colonial empire after gold was discovered in sand bars of the Lower Fraser River.

The holiday choice also followed suit with other August civic holidays already established in other provinces across Canada.

Regardless of where you stand on the colonial land grab, here comes one of the best holiday weekends of the year, and there’s no better way to celebrate than with some trueblue B.C. bounty that’s also nice and green.

BEYOND SALMON

I hate to bring up a downer for a normally fun long weekend but, traditionally, if you asked most locals what they were planning for at least one feast with family or friends for the B.C. Day weekend, wild B.C. salmon—barbecued or otherwise—would have topped the list. Them were the good ol’ days.

Now with climate change warming and acidifying rivers and oceans, salmon streams drying up from drought, and far too many wild B.C. salmon stocks endangered by viruses from open-net Atlantic salmon fish farms (which are still allowed in B.C. coastal waters until 2025!), way too many of our salmon stocks are in major trouble. For starters, a lot of wild salmon stocks in that same “gold rush” Fraser River system mentioned above—which is also one of the largest sockeye-producing watersheds in the world—are considered endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

I’ve worked with B.C.’s fisheries for years, and I’m the first to support sustainable B.C. operations, like Skipper Otto and other community-supported fishers. I also totally sympathize with bewildered consumers trying to make wise fish and seafood choices, especially without proper labelling and standards. Add in all the other twists and turns—including changes in organizations like Ocean Wise, which is no longer tied to the Vancouver Aquarium, and the hot politics of B.C.’s fishing industry— and it’s a major challenge trying to choose truly sustainable B.C. salmon or any fish or seafood, especially when some places misuse sustainable-catch labels!

Still, B.C. Dungeness crab and spot prawns are considered sustainable choices (although spot prawn season is over now, so

you’ll have to wait until next year), as well as some catches like certain B.C. rockfish. As for sustainable, “B.C.-born-and-raised” in the meat-grilling department, there are always some reliable picks across the province, like the Sea to Sky’s Pemberton Meat Co. and Stony Mountain Farm, originally in Squamish and now up near 100 Mile House, both of which you can find at the Pemberton Farmers’ Market and beyond.

But overall, unless you’re sure of the provenance of your salmon and other B.C. fish and meat choices—and you can afford those choices—there’s one more good reason to go plant-based when you go “B.C.” anytime.

TRUE BLUE B.C. IN SHADES OF GREEN

I’ve long thought farmers across the province, or anywhere, for that matter, are nothing short of heroes for supplying us with amazing, locally-grown fruits and veggies. In B.C., I’m always partial to smaller-scale “ma-and-pa” operations like you find in the Sea to Sky and where you would find that seminal river which keeps coming up, the Fraser Valley. The latter is home to 15 per cent of B.C.’s farms, and they average only one-fifth the size of all B.C. farms!

Where would we be without our true-blue B.C. classics, like Pemberton’s fine potatoes, Chilliwack corn and those dynamite berries from the Fraser Valley, especially the fresh blueberries always in full swing right around B.C. Day?

Now with wildfires, heat and drought becoming summer “norms” (no doubt you’ve seen all the reports on recordbusting July heat across B.C. and around the world) counterpointed by horrendous storms, like the atmospheric river that hit

the Fraser Valley in November 2021, I think our local farmers have moved into the realm of superheroes. And there’s no better way to support them than buying and buying even more from them, including imperfection, like those carrots and beets with a wee blemish, a head of lettuce that’s slightly misshapen, or an apricot with a bruise.

It only takes a bit of effort and change of habit to find local farmers and suss out their products, and the B.C. Association of Farmers’ Markets has a super website to help. It links you to local markets, which in turn link you to websites for specific farm vendors. Plus, you can even find local farm products in some good, B.C.-owned grocery stores, like Nesters Market and Creekside Market in Whistler.

If you go for community-supported agriculture—where, just like communitysupported fisheries, you “pre-buy” a share of the harvest—you’re really helping those super B.C. producers.

So, do I hear you digging out your recipe for a Pemby potato salad, topped up with Chilliwack corn, some Fraser Valley or Okanagan fruit, a lovely B.C. wine or craft beer (like Pemby’s Beer Farmers) all topped up with homemade Nanaimo bars for dessert?

You can’t get more B.C. than that.

Now, with just a little more public pressure on our federal and provincial politicians, maybe we can get those damned open-net salmon pens out of the water and onto land, where they should be, and help our poor beleaguered wild salmon stocks before it’s too late.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who’s a total believer in regular holidays and local farmers. n

HERO WORSHIP Three cheers for local farmers in the Sea to Sky, who are nothing short of heroes for the goodness they supply.

PHOTO BY VISUALCOMMUNICATIONS/ E+ /

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Waterworks: The uniquely Whistler event, Art on the Lake, returns

PADDLE YOUR WAY TO ALTA LAKE ON AUG. 10 AND 11 FOR TWO DAYS OF LIVE MUSIC, ART DEMOS, AND PERFORMANCES FOR ALL AGES

BY BRANDON BARRETT

SINCE LAUNCHING the annual Art on the Lake event at the height of the pandemic three years ago, the team at Arts Whistler has learned a thing or two about producing a packed lineup of live music, painting, and performance on top of a lake—literally.

“Let’s see, we learned that art easels slide off little tin fishing boats. We also learned that if you climb a tree to see some art, you can be treed by a bear at the bottom. That happened last year,” says Mo Douglas, Arts Whistler’s executive director. “We learned that if a few people hang onto the barge with a band on it, it creates a flotilla, and the first people who got in can’t get out. What else? Oh, that even people with bad balance can seem to dance on a paddleboard.”

Certainly not the usual lessons you’d learn in event production, they speak to the uniqueness of Art on the Lake, an event borne out of the physical distancing of the pandemic that has evolved into a Whistler summer fan favourite on the events calendar.

“In all seriousness, we’ve learned a lot about production and how people experience the event,” adds Douglas. “We always try to find ways for us to make it more efficient, especially at the end of the day when we’re

trying to beat the sun.”

Slated for Thursday, Aug. 11 and Friday, Aug. 12 on and around Alta Lake, this year’s lineup includes eight local musical acts, 10 artists painting in real time, a selection of artwork on display in the “floating gallery,” line dancing with ALGN Whistler, lawn games, and everyone’s favourite canine dockjumping competition, WAG Woof Water.

Featuring six stations on the south end of Alta Lake, from permanent fishing docks to temporary floating docks, along with shoreline stops at the Alta Lake Station House and in Wayside and Lakeside parks, Art on the Lake offers stand-up paddlers, canoers and kayakers the chance to curate their own marine tour, while taking in the free entertainment.

“It’s one of those things where everyone comes out and congregates and it’s such a unique concept that has worked so well since it was founded. It’s an honour to be invited,” says “Grateful” Greg Reamsbottom, vocalist and co-founder of Whistlerites’ perennial favourite band, The Hairfarmers, who play the fishing dock on the southwest end of the lake from 4 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 10. Getting the prolific band on the bill this year was something of a coup for Arts Whistler; summer is primetime for The Hairfarmers, who tend to book four or five private gigs a week during the season.

“When we do have an opportunity in the summertime to play for the public on home turf, it’s always a riot,” adds Reamsbottom.

Incredibly, the band, which also features “Guitar” Doug Craig, never comes to a show with a setlist in hand, instead feeding off the

crowd to determine which of the roughly 2,500 songs (!!) in their repertoire they will bust out.

As for the atmosphere at Art on the Lake? Reamsbottom predicts “the best patio vibe you can imagine—with a giant swimming pool in front of you.” (Perhaps some Jimmy Buffet classics then?)

Along with The Hairfarmers, playing on Aug. 10 are punk rockers Last Reminisced Heroes; electronic duo Soultide; and beloved local rock band, Red Chair. Then, on Aug. 11, check out Muzik Therapy, a collective of acoustic and electronic performers led by DJ PRAiZ; rockabilly outfit The Railtown Prophets; lo-fi alt pop duo, Little Earthquakes; and quintessential Whistler rock group, Brother Twang.

On the art side of things, on Aug. 10, painter and sculptor Robyn Forsyth, a.k.a. Feral Nifty; acrylic painter Holly Mitchell; mixed-media artist and tattooist Dave Petko; Squamish-based landscape painter Sarah McDonald; and self-taught painter and illustrator Bryony Dique will be creating live for audiences to enjoy. The following day, Aug. 11, features mixed-media artist Emma Doyle; pen-and-ink artist Kate Zessel; Lil’wat jewelry maker Victoria Saddleman; and the couple behind body art company, Paintertainment, Cary and Paulo Lopes.

For McDonald, who, despite her tendency for seasickness, took part in last year’s Art on the Lake, the event offers a rare chance for artists frequently working in solitude to connect with their community.

“It’s just a nice social event. I love chatting with people and getting to paint outside and

enjoy the music and the liveliness of the day. It’s an all-around fun experience,” she says. “I tend to not get as much painting done because you’re chatting with people, and then your paint dries and you’ve got to mix it again.”

McDonald’s work often takes on the quality of photography due to her intricate airbrushing that blurs the background or foreground of her stunning floral and mountain landscapes, and this year, she won’t have to look too far for inspiration.

“I might even do a little bit of a scene of what it looks like on the lake, whatever mountains I see in the background,” she says. “I’m a bit more of a paint-in-the-moment kind of person, so I have to be inspired that day.”

For the first time, Art on the Lake coincides this year with another favourite lakeside event, Flag Stop Theatre & Arts Festival, running Friday, Aug. 11 and 12, giving Friday attendees the chance to float over to The Point Artist-Run Centre after Art on the Lake wraps up.

“We thought it was a great opportunity to cross-promote,” Douglas says. “Boy, for the community, it’s a pretty cool week of activity, with four full days around the lake between the two events.”

Art on the Lake is free and runs from 3 to 7 p.m. both days. Alternate days in case of inclement weather are scheduled for either Aug. 17 and 18, or Aug. 24 and 25. With limited parking available, attendees are strongly encouraged to bike, bus or walk to the lake, if possible.

For more information, and the full lineup of events, visit artswhistler.com/artonthelake. n

WALKING ON WATER Art on the Lake features live bands, art, and performance across two days on and around Alta Lake.

PHOTO BY OISIN MCHUGH / COURTESY OF ARTS WHISTLER

Videographer Kelsey Toevs wins Dirt Diaries with Ready or Not

FEATURING HARD-CHARGING RIDING FROM STEVE VANDERHOEK, TOEVS’ ENTRY CLAIMED TOP SPOT IN FRONT OF A PACKED WHISTLER OLYMPIC PLAZA AT CRANKWORX ON JULY 27

BY MEGAN LALONDE

NORTH VANCOUVER-BASED photographer and videographer Kelsey Toevs left Crankworx

Whistler $5,000 richer than when she arrived at the mountain biking festival this year.

She hoisted the novelty cheque in front of a stoked crowd of thousands that packed into Whistler Olympic Plaza on Thursday night, July 27 for Dirt Diaries, the annual filmmaking throw-down celebrating “the creative spirit and storytelling culture of mountain biking.”

Featuring a strong concept, some humour, and mind-blowing riding from Toev’s longtime partner, pro freerider Steve Vanderhoek—plus a quick cameo from B.C. mountain biking legend Brett Tippie—the panel of judges selected Toevs’ entry Ready or Not as Thursday night’s winner.

Toevs was the first of five filmmakers to present her submission on the outdoor big screen at Dirt Diaries, after kick-starting production earlier this summer.

The rules, according to Crankworx, are: “Teams must include the Whistler Valley and Whistler Mountain Bike Park in a quarter of their film—from there it’s free creative licence. They choose the size and scope of their team, their supports, their geographical boundaries.” The end result must be between four and six minutes long.

Toevs and Vanderhoek shot Ready or Not in Kamloops, Squamish, Whistler, and on Vancouver’s North Shore over a two-month period. It was an intense process that, at one point, even included Toevs hoisting herself about 50 feet into a tree to capture the right angle, but as Toevs told the crowd following her win, the project was an excuse to dive deep into a shared passion that brought the couple together more than a decade-and-a-half ago.

“We started doing just, like, really crappy snowboard videos with my little handycam,” she remembered.

“To be here, to be, honestly, up against everyone tonight is wild to me. I was just so happy to be out here competing against everyone else,” said Toevs.

“I am so stoked!” she added with a laugh.

Toevs faced stiff competition from her fellow Dirt Diaries contestants this year, including Israeli biker and filmer Ohad Nir, who won second place and $3,000 for his short film comically imagining how A.I. might craft the perfect Dirt Diaries entry.

Fresh off their 72-hour Filmmakers Showdown win at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival this April, Two Dontas One Proctor Productions—Whistler brothers Kris and Kevin Dontas, and friend Ryan Proctor—were back on the big screen, earning the $2,000 third-place prize for Three Guys on a Bike . In case the title didn’t make it clear, the story followed three guys on one bike, and their journey to become mountain bikers. It earned some of the

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MOVIE NIGHT Thousands of people packed Whistler Olympic Plaza on Thursday night, July 27 for Crankworx Whistler’s annual Dirt Diaries filmmaking showdown.

loudest laughs of the evening.

Whistler director and cinematographer Ryan Kenny, meanwhile, kept dialogue to a minimum in his submission Elemental, instead keeping the focus on some insane biking from riders Georgia Astle, Mason Mashon, Braedyn Kozman, Talus Turk, Jonny Eden and Matt Summers for a stunningly abstract look at how the four elements intersect with the sport.

Twenty-two-year-old B.C. born-andraised filmer Cole Nelson rounded out the field. His film The Empire of Stoke was more full-blown Hollywood blockbuster than simple mountain biking edit, complete with villains, race footage, and a massive crew of riders whipping through the bike park.

Still, Toevs had an edge with Ready or Not, in which a still-recovering Vanderhoek is ripped out of a physio appointment and dropped onto the trails against his will, remotely controlled voodoo-doll-style by a kid with a tiny, plastic toy bike. Turns out, rolling a toy bike through a garage translates to some epic shredding down rock slabs, around berms and through deserts that had the Whistler Olympic Plaza audience hanging onto the edge of their lawn chairs. Things got even rougher for Vanderhoek when the kid knocked over a bag of sand, leading Vanderhoek to rip down some comparably loose terrain, or when a looped Hot Wheels track meant a backflip for Vanderhoek in real life.

So, how do you celebrate a win like that?

“We’re going to Bills,” Toevs told the crowd following her win.

Re-watch Toevs’ Ready or Not, and the other four entries from the 2023 edition of Dirt Diaries online at tinyurl.com/892xsk46. n

Way

PHOTO BY MEGAN LALONDE

Sea to Sky photographer Brendan McClennon wins Deep Summer Photo Showdown

JUDGES PICKED MCCLENNON’S SLIDESHOW OVER SUBMISSIONS FROM FIVE OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS AT CRANKWORX ON JULY 25

BY MEGAN LALONDE

BLACK-AND-WHITE images of artifacts displayed in the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre. A rider soaring over a jump, hands stretched out behind them. Two friends, full-face helmets still on, looking out over a valley with blurred, snow-capped peaks in the distance. That same photo, but this time it’s the mountains in focus, and the mountain bikers fuzzy.

Then, full-colour stills of a group of riders ripping down trails, back wheels kicking up a spray of dirt and dust. Throw in a few portraits and some nature shots, like a field full of wildflowers and a handful of fresh-picked blueberries. An appearance from the Oakley side hit.

Those are a few of the shots that earned Squamish-based photographer Brendan McClennon the title of Deep Summer champion—and a $5,000 cheque—on Tuesday night, July 25. The event didn’t exactly live up to its name this year in terms of the forecast, but drizzly skies and single-digit temperatures weren’t enough to keep hundreds of people from rolling up to Whistler Olympic Plaza with camp chairs, blankets and rain jackets to watch six mountain bike photographers compete in Crankworx’s prestigious annual photo showdown.

“I’m so stoked right now. It’s been a dream come true, honestly. I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and it feels surreal,” McClennon told the audience after accepting Deep Summer’s Bonnie Makarewicz Trophy.

“I have no words right now.”

Here’s how the contest works: Crankworx challenges five invitees and one wild card contestant selected by voters to spend three gruelling days shooting with their pals on bike trails around the Sea to Sky corridor during the first weekend of the mountain biking festival. The pro photographers compile their best photos into a story told via a slideshow

set to music, and present their submission on the big screen to an incredibly-stoked crowd and a panel of judges. Christina Chappetta and Derek Foose served as hosts for the event.

Even with a “stacked team” of riders like Georgia Astle, Jonny Eden, Brittany Gustafson, Rob Perry, Jakob Hartman, Harry Barrett and Tabias Croteau, lighting was the star of McClennon’s slideshow. His fourminute submission was the judge’s top choice out of a field of five other photographers.

“This feels pretty insane,” McClennon said following his win.

When it comes to the content of his show,

“I ride most of these trails all the time, so it’s kind of weird—every time I’m riding them, I’m always seeing different forms of light and composition and stuff like that. That’s just kind of how my brain works,” he explained.

“And I’m a huge perfectionist, too, so when I’m out shooting, I’m always overthinking everything, just trying to make sure that I’m getting the exact shot that I want to get. So that’s kind of how I put it all together.”

McClennon may have leaned on his local knowledge when scouting locations for the three-day shoot, but he didn’t necessarily have a home-turf advantage: also competing in Deep Summer this year were Ronia Nash, a Squamish-based action and wildlife photographer; Pemberton local and multidisciplinary storyteller Matt Bruhns; West Coast born-and-raised photographer, skier, climber, and biker Sofia Warrington; and wild card competitor Hailey Elise, a pro mountain biker and photographer who ditched Vancouver’s fashion scene for Whistler’s bike trails back in 2012. (Her show, the last presented of the evening, drew some of the loudest cheers from the crowd.)

The sole outsider in the field was Rotorua, New Zealand’s Thomas Falconer, who was looking for a repeat win after taking home the “Best Photographic Slideshow” title at Crankworx Rotorua’s Deep Summer contest back in 2020. ■

INTO THE DEEP Squamish photographer Brendan McClennon accepts the Bonnie Makarewicz Trophy after winning Crankworx Whistler’s Deep Summer Photo Showdown on Tuesday, July 25.

PHOTO BY MEGAN LALONDE

PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond. FIND MORE LOCAL EVENT LISTINGS (and submit your own for free!) at piquenewsmagazine.com/local-events

FLAG STOP FESTIVAL

4-12

FLAG STOP THEATRE AND ARTS FESTIVAL

Featuring a diverse live theatre, music, and comedy lineup at Florence Petersen Park on Aug. 8 and 9, plus two original theatre performances on the floating stage, dinner and live bands at The Point Artist-Run Centre on Alta Lake on Aug. 11 and 12. Evening shows feature performances by Dustin Bentall & The Blue Wranglers, Laugh Out Live! comedy variety show, Introduce Wolves, Balkan Shmalkan, Travis the Magician, The Spiritual Warriors, DJs, and more. Find more info at thepointartists.com.

> Aug. 8, 9, 11 and 12

> Florence Petersen Park; The Point Artist-Run Centre

> Cost varies

ANDRÉS MAZ AT WHISTLER BREWING CO.

Andrés Maz is a very talented singer, songwriter and musician—think one-man band—from Mexico who just released a second album on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube Music, etc.

Catch his unique blend of classic rock and country live at

Whistler Brewing in Function Junction on Friday, Aug. 4.

> Aug. 4

> Whistler Brewing

> Free

HEAR AND NOW: IN THE PARK

Join us for a live and local music series every Sunday until Sept. 3 in Rebagliati Park. Immerse yourself in diverse genres, connect with fellow music lovers, and let the melodies transport you to a world of sonic delight. Don’t miss this vibrant community experience where live music meets the beauty of nature. These concerts are free and everyone is welcome.

Catch Cat Madden on Aug. 6.

> Every Sunday until Sept. 3, 1 to 3 p.m.

> Rebagliati Park

> Free

MOVIES IN THE PLAZA - FOOTLOOSE

Make Movies in the Plaza your new summer tradition and get cosy on the Great Lawn for a cinematic experience under the stars. Movies are scheduled on select Wednesday and Saturday evenings this summer and are free to watch. There is a free bike valet available on site. On Aug. 9, catch the Kevin Bacon classic, Footloose

> Aug. 9, 8 p.m.

> Whistler Olympic Plaza

> Free

FILE PHOTO BY YULIA GLADYSHEVA

We l co m e to P i p e r s Pe a k ! a n exq u i s i te l y re n ovate d m a ste r p i e ce i n t h e p re m i e r g ate d co m m u n i t y o f B l a c k Tu s k Vi l l a g e j u st 1 2 m i n s s o u t h o f W h i st l e r Co m p l e te l y re d o n e a n d fi n i s h e d i n J u n e 2 02 3 P i p e r s Pe a k i s fo r t h e d i s ce r n i n g b u ye r w h o a p p re c i ate s q u a l i t y c ra f t s m a n s h i p a n d fi n e d e t a i l s O f fe re d t u r n key t h i s h o m e b o a st s v i ews o f B l a c k Tu s k w i t h p l e n t y o f s u n s h i n e o n a g e n e ro u s s i ze d l o t A s h o r t wa l k i n t h e b a c kya rd j u st p a st t h e c u sto m s a u n a b r i n g s yo u to t h e n o r t h e n d o f t h e n e i g h b o u r h o o d ’s p r i vate l a ke i d e a l fo r c a n o e i n g , p a d d l e b o a rd i n g a n d sw i m m i n g Fe at u re s i n c l u d e n ew re c l a i m e d h e a r t p i n e h a rd wo o d fl o o r i n g wo o l c a r p e t i n g , c u sto m s o l i d -wo o d m i l l wo r k f ro m E l mwo o d K i tc h e n s i n c l u d i n g : e n t r y c a b i n e t m a i n fl o o r b at h ro o m c a b i n e t r y a n d k i tc h e n w i t h b u i l t - i n s a n d h i d d e n a p p l i a n ce s , co m p l e te l i st ava i l a b l e

a l e s t a t e m a r ke t c o m

Over the top—Part 2

THE STORY OF THE FIRST SPEARHEAD TRAVERSE

BY CRISPIN WELLBURN

THE SPEARHEAD TRAVERSE, a popular ski-touring route, was first undertaken by four members of the University of British Columbia’s Varsity Outdoor Club, Alistair MacDonald, Karl Ricker, Bert Port and Chris Gardner, in 1964. The four were approaching the head of the Spearhead Range by the fifth morning, breezing across both the Ripsaw and Naden glaciers and arriving at Couloir Ridge where their easy progress was halted by difficult terrain. At this point, the group had reached Mount Macbeth and Naden Pass, considered to be the limit between the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons ranges. Falling back to their original position, the party

From there, a slow ascent up the slopes of Overlord Mountain and onto Overlord Glacier ended with the group settling down at Panorama Camp.

Due to heavy clouds, the group set off at noon the next day, splitting up for the third time and bagging both Whirlwind and Fissile peaks before meeting up again at the col. The weather began to worsen, and the party quickly skied down to Russet Lake. In later years, the BC Mountaineering Club would build one of the first gothic arch huts in the region, the Himmelsbach Hut, which was completed near the shores of Russet Lake in 1968 and was just recently relocated and replaced by the Kees and Claire Memorial Hut in 2019.

At this point, the group had gotten below the clouds, allowing them to continue beyond

members utilized their crampons to descend onto Iago Glacier and get around the head of the valley.

Despite their extensive preparations, the group’s map of the region from 1928 falsely rendered the south side of Mount Iago as too steep to climb, when in reality the mountain face had not only one, but two skiable slopes. This cartography error led the party astray, forcing them around the Diavolo Peak icefall before ascending and setting up camp on the newly christened “detour ridge.” In retrospect, the group proposed that, for future expeditions, a couple of days could be shaved off by following a different route along Naden and Macbeth glaciers.

The next day, the group descended onto Diavolo Glacier, before proceeding to the col between Mount Benvolio and Mount Fitzsimmons, and adopting their strategy of splitting the party to bag both peaks before reconvening at the top of Fitzsimmons Glacier.

Singing Pass onto the flanks of Whistler Mountain. Despite being so close to their goal, the weather conditions worsened and halted any progress for a day and a half.

The party finally managed to set off at noon the next day, making their way up Whistler Mountain and bagging the peak, before hastily skiing down in heavy snow in order to barely catch the train departing Rainbow Station to Squamish. The first Spearhead Traverse expedition was able to complete the trek in nine days, and concluded that the route would serve future backcountry skiing well for many years to come.

The Spearhead remains a popular route, and can now be routinely completed in a day, with most parties opting to complete the route between two to three days. In 2013, speedsters Eric Carter and Nick Elson completed the traverse in a blistering three hours and 10 minutes.

Read Part 1 in the July 28 issue of Pique. n

The Spearhead remains a popular route, and can now be routinely completed in a day...

FIRST TRACKS An annotated panorama of the Spearhead Range from the Varsity Outdoor Club journal. RICKER

120-4090 Whistler Way Whistler B C V8E 1J3

Join our Board of Directors!

Join the Whistler Community Services Society Board of Directors! Play an essential role in guiding, creating and building the future of this vital and dynamic community social service organization whose mission is to support, and advocate for a healthy community.

WCSS is looking for diverse and strategic thinkers who have the capacity and interest to grow into a leadership role WCSS is particularly interested in people with either lived experience or formal skills in t he following areas:

- Familiarity with WCSS Programs

- Social Services Experience

- Community Involvement

- Community Connections

- Understanding of Community Needs

New Board Directors must be able to attend a monthly Board meeting (can attend virtually), participate in at least one committee, and possess willingness and time flexibility to take on additional hours as necessary to support the work of the Board

To apply, please submit:

- Board Director application for m available at: mywcss.org/about-wcss/employment/

- Current resume and references (optional)

Application Deadline: August 18, 2023

Terms for Directors are two years and typically begin after the AGM at the end of June Board meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month

All applicants will be contacted.

If you would like assistance with the application process, interview readiness or tips for resume and cover letter writing, send your question via email to gov chair@mywcss org and we will make a WCSS Board Director available to you as an advisor.

WCSS is dedicated to diversity, inclusion and antiracism Our commitment is reflected in our programming, the clients we engage with and the team members we employ. We encourage a workplace in which individual differences are recognized, appreciated and respected

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates

Free Will Astrology

WEEK OF AUGUST 3 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Emotions are not inconvenient distractions from reason and logic. They are key to the rigorous functioning of our rational minds. Neurologist Antonio Damasio proved this conclusively in his book Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. The French philosopher’s famous formula—”I think, therefore I am”—offers an inadequate suggestion about how our intelligence works best. This is always true, but it will be especially crucial for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. Here’s your mantra, courtesy of another French philosopher, Blaise Pascal: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The famous Taurus TV star Jay Leno once did a good deed for me. I was driving my Honda Accord on a freeway in Los Angeles when he drove up beside me in his classic Lamborghini. Using hand signals, he conveyed to me the fact that my trunk was open, and stuff was flying out. I waved in a gesture of thanks and pulled over onto the shoulder. I found that two books and a sweater were missing, but my laptop and briefcase remained. Hooray for Jay! In that spirit, Taurus, and in accordance with current astrological omens, I invite you to go out of your way to help and support strangers and friends alike. I believe it will lead to unexpected benefits.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Did you learn how to think or how to believe?” When my friend Amelie was nine years old, her father teased her with this query upon her return home from a day at school. It was a pivotal moment in her life. She began to develop an eagerness to question all she was told and taught. She cultivated a rebellious curiosity that kept her in a chronic state of delighted fascination. Being bored became virtually impossible. The whole world was her classroom. Can you guess her sign? Gemini! I invite you to make her your role model in the coming weeks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the coming weeks, I advise you not to wear garments like a transparent Gianfranco Ferre black mesh shirt with a faux-tiger fur vest and a coral-snake jacket that shimmers with bright harlequin hues. Why? Because you will have most success by being down-to-Earth, straightforward, and in service to the fundamentals. I’m not implying you should be demure and reserved, however. On the contrary: I hope you will be bold and vivid as you present yourself with simple grace and lucid authenticity.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): In 1811, Leo scientist Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856) formulated a previously unknown principle about the properties of molecules. Unfortunately, his revolutionary idea wasn’t acknowledged and implemented until 1911, 100 years later. Today, his well-proven theory is called Avogadro’s law. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Leo, you will experience your equivalent of his 1911 event in the coming months. You will receive your proper due. Your potential contributions will no longer be mere potential.

Congratulations in advance!

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Israeli poet Yona Wallach mourned the fact that her soul felt far too big for her, as if she were always wearing the clothes of a giant on her small body. I suspect you may be experiencing a comparable feeling right now, Virgo. If so, what can you do about it?

The solution is NOT to shrink your soul. Instead, I hope you will expand your sense of who you are so your soul fits better. How might you do that? Here’s a suggestion to get you started: Spend time summoning memories from throughout your past. Watch the story of your life unfurl like a movie.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Nineteenth-century Libran physician James Salisbury had strong ideas about the proper ingredients of a healthy diet. Vegetables were toxic, he believed. He created Salisbury steak, a dish made of ground beef and onions, and advised everyone to eat it three times a day. Best to wash it down with copious amounts of hot water and coffee, he said. I bring his kooky

ideas to your attention in hopes of inspiring you to purge all bunkum and nonsense from your life—not just in relation to health issues, but everything. It’s a favourable time to find out what’s genuinely good and true for you. Do the necessary research and investigation.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I’m amazed that anyone gets along!” marvels self-help author Sark. She says it’s astonishing that love ever works at all, given our “idiosyncrasies, unconscious projections, re-stimulations from the past, and the relationship history of our partners.” I share her wonderment. On the other hand, I am optimistic about your chances to cultivate interesting intimacy during the coming months. From an astrological perspective, you are primed to be extra wise and lucky about togetherness. If you send out a big welcome for the lessons of affection, collaboration, and synergy, those lessons will come in abundance.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Please don’t make any of the following statements in the next three weeks:

1. “I took a shower with my clothes on.” 2. “I prefer to work on solving a trivial little problem rather than an interesting dilemma that means a lot to me.” 3. “I regard melancholy as a noble emotion that inspires my best work.” On the other hand, Sagittarius, I invite you to make declarations like the following: 1. “I will not run away from the prospect of greater intimacy—even if it’s scary to get closer to a person I care for.” 2. “I will have fun exploring the possibilities of achieving more liberty and justice for myself.” 3. “I will seek to learn interesting new truths about life from people who are unlike me.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Champions of the capitalist faith celebrate the fact that we consumers have more than 100,000 brand names we can purchase. They say it’s proof of our marvellous freedom of choice. Here’s how I respond to their cheerleading: Yeah, I guess we should be glad we have the privilege of deciding which of 50 kinds of shampoo is best for us. But I also want to suggest that the profusion of these relatively inconsequential options may distract us from the fact that certain of our other choices are more limited. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I invite you to ruminate about how you can expand your array of more important choices.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): My best friend in college was an Aquarius, as is my favourite cousin. Two ex-girlfriends are Aquarians, and so was my dad. The talented singer with whom I sang duets for years was an Aquarius. So I have intimate knowledge of the Aquarian nature. And in honour of your unbirthday—the time halfway between your last birthday and your next—I will tell you what I love most about you. No human is totally comfortable with change, but you are more so than others. To my delight, you are inclined to ignore the rule books and think differently. Is anyone better than you at coordinating your energies with a group’s? I don’t think so. And you’re eager to see the big picture, which means you’re less likely to get distracted by minor imperfections and transitory frustrations. Finally, you have a knack for seeing patterns that others find hard to discern. I adore you!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Is the first sip always the best? Do you inevitably draw the most vivid enjoyment from the initial swig of coffee or beer? Similarly, are the first few bites of food the most delectable, and after that your taste buds get diminishing returns? Maybe these descriptions are often accurate, but I believe they will be less so for you in the coming weeks. There’s a good chance that flavours will be best later in the drink or the meal. And that is a good metaphor for other activities, as well. The further you go into every experience, the greater the pleasure and satisfaction will be—and the more interesting the learning.

Homework: Make up a fantastic story about your future self, then go make it happen. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

In-depth

Fairmont Chateau

Whistler Resort is growing its Housing portfolio and sourcing additional Chalet and Condo Rental contracts for our Hotel Team Members. Our leaders are mature, career driven drivers that know the word respect. Contract terms for property Owners are stress free with no commissions and includes representation from our 4 person fulltime Housing Department working with you 24/7; maintaining all aspects of the tenancy including quarterly inspections. A great next move for Whistler property Owners that have tired with the Airbnb game or Property Fees. Let’s see if we can make a match and develop a long-term relationship here. General inquiries please email mark.munn@fairmont.com

Group Fitness Classes

1. Ian Ashton Barron 2008 Land Rover Range Rover

VIN: SALSK25438A127706 $2877.00

2. Frank Munoz 2001 Infiniti QX4 VIN : JNRDR09Y21W217662 $1701.00

3. Kenneth Hicks 2004 Honda Odyssey VIN: 2HKRL18504H004742 $1522.50

4. Castros Cuban Cigar Store 2 – 2004 Infiniti FX35

VIN: JNRAS08W94X202730 $2583.00

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•

• HOSTS (evenings) $19/hr

For

information, please call Cooper’s Towing Ltd. @ 604-902-1930

EMPLOYMENT

• PREP COOKS (PT) $ 22-25/hr for experience

• APPY COOKS (evenings/PT) $ 20/hr to start

Looking

Consider

Career Opportunities with the SLRD

together to make a difference in the region.

Headquartered in Pemberton, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) delivers a wide range of regional, sub- regional and local services to its residents. The SLRD is a BC Regional District consisting of four member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and four electoral areas. 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 region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains in the province and affords an endless range of opportunities for outdoor adventure, making it an exceptional place to live, work and play.

The SLRD is currently accepting applications for the following positions:

• Legislative Assistant (Regular, Full-time)

• IT Manager (Regular, Full-time)

• Environmental Coordinator (Regular, Full-time)

The SLRD offers a competitive compensation and extended benefits package, participation in the Municipal Pension Plan, a compressed work week (nine-day fortnight), hybrid remote work opportunities, and learning and career development opportunities.

For more information on these career opportunities, please visit www.slrd.bc.ca/ employment. To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume (preferably in pdf format) by email to careers@slrd.bc.ca

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those shortlisted will be contacted.

The Pinnacle Hotel Whistler has the following positions available:

• HOUSEMAN AM/PM

Please reply by email: parmstrong@pinnaclehotels.ca

We are looking to hire another member to our team at Straightline.

Experience in Plumbing is required. Gas Fitting and HVAC would be preferred but not essential. Wages are based on experience, Starting between $44-52/hr.

Part-time or Full-time positions available. Accommodations are available. Please call 604-935-8771 or email straightlineplumbingandheating@gmail.com for more information.

Lil’wat Nation Financial Reporting Manager

Reporting to the Director of Finance, the Financial Reporting Manager will be responsible for all areas relating to financial reporting. The Manager’s role & duties will ensure accurate and timely financial statements in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and best practices. This position will review operating procedures, company controls, and compliance measures to determine any potential hazards or breaches of conduct. This role will also provide support to the Directors.

The Assistant Health Director is responsible for providing the overall leadership, direction, and management for the planning, development, implementation and administration of Maternal Child Health, Patient Travel, Assisting Living, Pq’usnalcw Health Center and Lil’wat Health and Healing Center, Programs and Services.

Closing Date: July 26, 2023

Lil’wat Nation Assistant Health Director

Current Opportunity

JOB FAIR

Senior Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Operator

Full Time, Permanent (CUPE 2010)

Responsible for the operation and maintenance of our Class II Waste Water Treatment facility, we’re looking for candidates who are comfortable working independently and understand the health and safety measures related to WWTP operations.

Join the Village of Pemberton team and give back to this incredible community by being a part of the exciting projects taking place throughout the Village. In addition to the satisfaction of giving back to the community, take a look at what our benefit package has to offer for all full time, permanent staff:

9-Day Fortnight - BC Municipal Pension Plan - Extended Medical Benefits - Dental Coverage - Vision Benefits - Free Fitness Centre access - Keeping it Active Allowance

Interested? Send your resume to recruiting@pemberton.ca For a full job description or to learn more, visit pemberton.ca/employment.

Vacasa’s forward-thinking approach and industryleading technology help set us apart as the largest full-service vacation rental company in North America.

We are seeking individuals with a passion for providing exceptional vacation experiences for our Owners and Guests.

We offer competitive wages and benefits: Travel allowance for Squamish/Pemberton-based employees OR Ski Pass/Activity allowance, Extended Medical, RRSP match, Fun & Safe Work Environment-Great Team, opportunities to grow and more.

**SIGNING BONUS** $1000 (FT)

Guest Service Agent

Assistant Housekeeping Manager

Lead Housekeeper Maintenance Technician

Full Time all year round

Apply online today!

https://www.vacasa.com/careers/positions or email: paul.globisch@vacasa.com or call to find out more details at 604-698-0520

We thank all applicants for their interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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•

• Flexibility to work evenings and on weekends

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Lil’wat Nation Employment Opportunities

Ullus Community Center

Transition House Support Worker – night shift

Financial Reporting Manager

FireSmart Coordinator

Referrals Coordinator

HIRING WE ARE

Please visit our career page for more information: https://lilwat.ca/careers/

Be up close with Whistler’s most unique sports, bobsleigh, skeleton & luge! Work in a fun, dynamic and inspirational team environment, meet the world’s fastest athletes and help facilitate unique public experiences.

provided!

Facility Operations Worker – Snow Clearing Sport Timing Operator

Why work for us?

We offer competitive wages, a comprehensive pension plan and health benefits, and we are driven by our passion to serve community. Bylaw

As an equitable and inclusive employer, we value diversity of people to best represent the community we serve and provide excellent services to our citizens. We strive to attract and retain passionate and talented individuals of all backgrounds, demographics, and life experiences.

squamish.ca/careers

Protect

pooch this summer!

With increasing temperatures, it is far too dangerous for dogs to be left in vehicles. Heat stroke, coma and death can result even with the windows left open.

Resort Municipality of Whistler Employment Opportunities

• Building Official - Plan Examiner

• Building Official - Plumbing Inspector

Resort Municipality of Whistler

• Corporate Service Administrative Coordinator

• Human Resources Coordinator

Employment Opportunities

• Human Resources Coordinator (Recruitment and HR Services)

· Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

· Legislative and Privacy Coordinator

• Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

· Skate Host

· Program Leader

• Program Leader - Myrtle Philip Community Centre

· Wastewater Treatment Plant Process Supervisor

· Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

· Solid Waste Technician

• Recreation Cashier/Receptionist

· Labourer I – Village Maintenance

• Skate Host

· Accountant

· Youth and Public Services Specialist

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca/careers

The successful individual will have experience in carpentry and/or building maintenance. Any experience in low voltage electrical and/or hotel card access systems will prove very beneficial. Good communication and customer service skills as well as a strong work ethic are essential to this position. Please reply to Service@alpinelock.com with a resume and cover letter outlining your suitability and qualifications for the position.

No drop-ins or phone calls please, apply only by email.

Pique Newsmagazine is seeking a Sales Coordinator.

Pique Newsmagazine is looking to fill a focal role of sales coordinator in our advertising sales department. The chosen candidate will possess uncompromising customer service and work well under pressure while thriving in a fast-paced deadline driven news media environment. The ideal applicant will have previous experience working with a print/digital media sales team. Strong administrative and communication skills are essential in this role, and attention to detail is a must. You will be highly organized and able to act as a liaison between departments, as well as possess a high level of professionalism when dealing with clients. We offer an excellent remuneration package as well as a benefits plan. Interested candidates should forward their resume and a cover letter to Susan Hutchinson at: shutchinson@wplpmedia.com

Deadline is September 1st, 2023

No phone calls please.

is hiring a

Zero Ceiling is committed to ending youth homelessness by providing young adults with unconditional support, advocacy, and opportunities. We are working towards equity and justice for young adults who have been marginalized, including Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and racialized young people.

We are seeking a compassionate, relationship-centered leader, responsible for fundraising, communications, and community engagement for Zero Ceiling. They build relationships with funders, donors, partners, and volunteers to provide stable revenue for Zero Ceiling's programs and mission

You will:

• Lead revenue development activities including grants, major gifts, events, and sponsorships

• Secure and execute government funding contracts

• Lead delivery of Zero Ceiling's communications strategy

• Professional Qualifications & Skills:

3-5 years experience in non-profit development and fundraising, or equivalent experience and education

Proven track record of successfully securing gifts, grants, and sponsorships.

• Wage band: $30-35/hour (based on experience)

• Benefits: 3 weeks vacation to start, extended health benefits, RSP matching, 10 sick days, wellness benefit

• Hours: Full-time (36hrs) Monday to Thursday, plus 1 Friday/month

We enthusiastically welcome applications from all qualified people, including those with lived experience, racialized people, people of all sexual orientations, women and trans* people, Indigenous peoples, those with diverse abilities, mental illness, and from all social strata.

Send your resume and cover letter to fran@zeroceiling.org

Find the full job description at zeroceiling.org/join-our-team

Deadline ASAP

ACROSS

LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

One more chance

[Single actor, centre-stage, sawing or planing a piece of wood. Single spotlight.]

God: (Disembodied voice offstage.) Charlie. [Actor stops sawing, looks around puzzled. After looking around, shrugs shoulders and goes back to work.]

God: Charlie.

Charlie: [Stops work again, looks around puzzled. Finally…] Huh? [Receiving no answer, shrugs again.]

God: CHARLIE!

BY G.D. MAXWELL

Charlie: (Peeved.) WHAT?... Who’s there? Stop messin’ with me. I’m busy.

God: Charlie… It’s me.

Charlie: Me, who?

God: God. It’s God, Charlie.

Charlie: Who?

God: God. You know, Heavenly Father, King of Kings, God Almighty, God Most High… God.

Charlie: Well, I’ll be damned.

God: I can spare you that unpleasantness. Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to save you.

Charlie: Funny, that’s what my wife said when she said we should get married.

God: I know… I work in mysterious ways. See all, know all.

Charlie: Uh-huh. I always thought that was kinda pervy, no offence.

God: None taken.

Charlie: Okay, I’ll play along. What do you want to save me from?

God: I’m going to make it rain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Charlie: Oh, that again. Same old trick, eh? Well, that’s one reason I live in the mountains. Not my problemo, big guy.

God: Don’t be petulant. That’s exactly where I’m going to make it rain.

Charlie: Won’t it all run downhill and flood Squamish and Pemby? We’re kind of the high point, locally. Got a lake that drains in both directions.

God: I’m God. I can do anything I want. No problemo for me. I’m just going to flood Whistler. Wipe it clean.

Charlie: Just Whistler?

God: Just Whistler.

Charlie: The devil, you say.

God: Was that humour?

Charlie: Guess not. Okay, I’ll bite. Why Whistler?

God: I don’t like what you’ve done with the place. You’ve defiled Eden… again. And I had such high hopes for you. I’m going to wash it all away and start over.

Charlie: Seems a little extreme, don’t you think? I mean, aren’t you supposed to be benevolent, turn the other cheek, that sort of thing? Seems like a kinda peevish thing for God to do.

God: You’ve never heard of the Wrath of God?

Charlie: Woke up a few mornings feeling

like it… but I always thought it was just a saying.

God: Trust me, it’s not.

Charlie: Yeah, guess you’re right. I never paid much attention to it, but now that you mention it, you do have a bit of an anger management issue, don’t you?

God: What’s that supposed to mean?

Charlie: Well, let’s start with the last time you made it rain. Didn’t you wipe out humanity except for the old guy and his family and all the animals? Didn’t you turn what’s his name’s wife to salt for sneaking a peek back as you destroyed her home? Haven’t...

God: Point made, Charlie. Back to the issue at hand.

Charlie: Okay, sorry, didn’t mean to piss you off. So, you’re God, you’re going to destroy Whistler by making it rain 40 days and 40 nights, yada, yada, yada. You know you could have saved a lot of water 13 years ago by just making it rain for, oh, two weeks during the Olympics?

God: Hmm… I hadn’t thought of that. But, no. That would have been ironic. I’m all about biblical. Besides, the town wasn’t such a disappointment then.

Charlie: Whatever. But why are you telling me all this? Hell, I’m not even sure I believe in you.

God: Then who exactly are you talking to?

Charlie: Good point. Hey, is this just a dream? Am I sleeping? Or having an acid flashback?

God: It’s all too real.

Charlie: Okay. But why me? Why not a true believer? I’m just an aging ski bum.

God: True believer? Believe this—I’ve searched. You’ll have to do. Besides, you know

a bit of carpentry.

Charlie: Whatever. So what’s the gig?

God: I want you to build an ark.

Charlie: (Disbelieving.) An ark!

God: Yes, an ark.

Charlie: I’m pretty sure there’s a bylaw against that.

God: If they give you any trouble tell them you’re answering to a higher power.

Charlie: Yeah, like that’ll work. Okay, I’ll play along. How big do you want this ark?

God: Build it 30 cubits by 15 cubits by 9 cubits.

Charlie: Sorry, did you say cubits?

God: Yes. Cubits.

Charlie: What’s that in metric?

God: What’s metric?

Charlie: Ah hah! I always suspected the devil was behind that whole move to metric. [Pause] Wait a minute, wasn’t Noah’s ark something like 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits? What am I building here, a dinghy?

God: I was trying to save all the animals on Earth then. I’m only trying to save the animals in Whistler. Besides, Noah didn’t have neighbours. You don’t have enough room to build that big an ark.

Charlie: I’ll buy that. But just to be clear, why exactly do you want to wash Whistler away?

God: In the beginning...

Charlie: Wait a minute. I’ve heard that opening before.

God: As I was saying, in the beginning, the town seemed like such a great idea. Weird, but great. It was a pipedream dreamed by true believers. It grew responsibly. It was the little ski town that could. It did.

Charlie: So you’re not big on success?

God: Whistler had success. But you wanted more. You were greedy. That’s one. You were prideful. Two. And you were envious. Three. Three out of seven deadly sins. You lusted for more and more and more. Make it four out of seven. You had it so good, but you couldn’t be satisfied. Time to start over.

Charlie: Oh. I get it. So we’re headed for the “From the Ashes” scenario from the Whistler Sessions.

God: I do like that one. Has Me written all over it.

Charlie: But that’s about building a new community following collapse. How we going to do that if you drown everyone? You think the bears I have in the ark are going to do that?

God: Big picture, Charlie. Think big picture.

Charlie: But I thought God was in the details. Who’s going to rebuild? I don’t think you’ve thought this through. If I were you, I’d take a different tack.

God: Do tell.

Charlie: A couple of seasons with no snow. A couple of summers with persistent rain. A bunch of business failures. Do that and you’d pretty much have the same effect without all the bodies. [Woman enters stage right.]

Woman: Charlie. Charlie. Can you hear me? Charlie.

Charlie: God?

Woman: Charlie. Oh, thank God. You’re alright.

Charlie: Huh?

Woman: I told you those mushrooms weren’t what you thought they were. [Lights down.] ■

219 – 2050 Lake Placid Road: Lake Placid Lodge 3 bed / 2 bath fully furnished condo. Walk to Whistler Mtn Gondola, nearby pubs, shops, parks and lakes. Enjoy owner use and excellent nightly rental option too! $2,599,000 + GST

Carmyn Marcano

Kathy White

604-719-7646

604-616-6933

8134 Muirfield Lane: Tucked away on a private cul-de-sac, this beautiful 4 BR, 4 bath, 3,105 sq/ft CHALET allows for multiple uses with flexible zoning for full time use or nightly rentals. Enjoy the hot tub on the 470 sq/ft south facing deck. Entertainer’s dream home! $5,690,000

Connie Spear

604-910-1103

307 – 2109 Whistler Rd: Top floor end unit with multiple storage areas. Walking distance to Creekside Gondola. Zoned for full-time owner use or nightly rentals. Generate significant income through AirBnB or similar with no Tourism

Whistler fees or GST! $578,000

Allyson Sutton PREC*

604-932-7609

4653 213 G2 Blackcomb Way: Minutes to Lost Lake and the Fairmont Chateau Golf course, enjoy one week every four in Horstman House. 2nd floor location offers easy access to heated pool, hot tub & BBQ. Amenities include games room, secure underground parking, bike and ski lockers.$209,000

Sam Surowy

604-902-9754

1307 Eagle Drive, Pemberton: This new 4br/6ba home enjoys unobstructed views up the Pemberton Valley, a 30’x40‘ rooftop patio for gardens, hot tub and entertaining; 1br suite, large flex room, radiant heating, workshop, double garage and much more! Call for a private viewing. $2,590,000 Rob Boyd – Boyd Team 604-935-9172

1360 Collins Rd, Pemberton: 10-Acre Country Retreat. Custom 4,404 sq ft home. Zoned for garden nursery, horse riding academy, green housing, brewery/cidery, agritourism, B&B, home business and limited weddings. $3,999,900

Carmyn Marcano

Suzanne Wilson PREC*

604-719-7646

604-966-8454

205 - 39771 Government Rd, Squamish: Welcome to The Breeze! Built in 2022, 2 Bedroom + large loft, 2 bathroom, 2 story vaulted ceilings, huge windows with tons of natural light, south facing deck with panoramic views. C-10 Artisan Village $879,000

Vallerie Phillipson

604-698-5899

38880 Gambier Avenue, Squamish: 3 bed / 2 bath rancher style bungalow situated in a mature neighbourhood amongst lovingly cared for homes. The interior features a bright & airy sunken living room with a bay window. $1,295,000

Carlo Gomez

Angie Vazquez PREC*

Whistler Village Shop 36-4314 Main Street · Whistler BC V8E 1A8 · Phone +1 604-932-1875

whistler.evrealestate.com

604-849-0880

778-318-5900

39726 Government Rd, Squamish: This dream home is a must see! This Beautifully renovated home includes a huge workshop with 220v and 200 amp service, hot tub, and a massive driveway for lots of parking on an 18,000+ sq.ft lot. $2,395,000

Angie Vazquez PREC*

778-318-5900

Squamish Station Shop 150-1200 Hunter Place · Squamish BC V8B 0G8 · Phone +1 778-733-0611

squamish.evrealestate.com