Pique Newsmagazine 3115

AQUARTERCENTURYofbeautifulmusic

Whistler’s Con Brio Music Festival celebrates 25th anniversary April 18 to 21

A quarter century of beautiful music

Whistler’s Con Brio Music Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary April 18 to 21. - By Will Johnson

14 DENSITY DEADLINE

Whistler is weighing the implications of new provincial housing legislation in the resort ahead of a June 30 deadline.

15 FUNCTIONAL UPGRADE

A Lil’wat Nationowned development in Function Junction will get increased density for housing after council gave its approval April 9.

18 HOT HEADS

Both Garibaldi and Meager remain high volcanic threats, according to recent studies, but researchers say there is no cause for panic.

COVER

24 PICTURE THIS

MLA Jordan Sturdy made the case for a solution to Pemberton’s free-roaming horses in a graphic speech to the legislature last month.

34 JUNIORS MINT

Four Sea to Sky freestylers hit the podium at the 2024 Junior Nationals in Whistler earlier this month.

38 TELLING TALES

Australian/British duo Night Tales caps off the World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s music offerings on April 14.

The best thing about being a band geek is you can most likely still be a band geek well beyond your forties. I don’t think there are many masters football leagues out there that don’t involve a heaping dose of fantasy. - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art

Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@piquenewsmagazine.com

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Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, LESLIE ANTHONY, ANDREW MITCHELL, ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT

08 OPENING REMARKS A trio of silver jubilees in Whistler has editor Braden Dupuis partying like it’s 1998.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers share thoughts on Whistler’s new wateruse bylaw and on-mountain safety at Whistler Blackcomb.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Whistler undoubtedly has much going for it, but it’s not always the easiest place to make friends, writes David Song.

Environment & Adventure Lifestyle & Arts

29 THE OUTSIDER Vince Shuley wades waist-deep into the wild and wacky world of perfluorinated compounds.

36 EPICURIOUS The Bearfoot Bistro is inviting Whistler to satiate its sweet tooth courtesy of the magic of maple this spring.

42 MUSEUM MUSINGS Revisiting some classic April Fool’s Day pranks from Whistler’s printed past.

54 MAXED OUT When it comes to on-mountain safety at Whistler Blackcomb, a good first step would be consideration of others, writes G.D. Maxwell. Get

Partying like it’s 1998

IN THIS WEEK’S cover feature, you’ll read about the long-running Con Brio music festival, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in the resort this year.

And next week, we’ll recognize 25 years of the Whistler Community Foundation

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

(previously the Community Foundation of Whistler), before we turn our sights to the opening of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park… and its 25th season of operations.

Considering this trio of silver jubilees, one may be tempted to ask: just what the heck was in the Whistler water in 1998?

What else was this enterprising population of go-getters accomplishing with that late-’90s swagger? What other landmark headlines might we find if we took a stroll down memory lane?

Luckily, we can find the answers in our handy newspaper archive—and they might (not) surprise you!

THIS ALL SOUNDS FAMILIAR

Revisiting the year that was in Pique is an exercise in both nostalgia and déjà vu.

At the outset of 1998, Pique’s pages were full of talk of the upcoming Millennium (and associated local projects), as well as a potential Olympic bid.

A Jan. 23 cover feature probed the potential of a proposed Garibaldi at Squamish ski resort, while in that same issue, readers found a story with the headline, “Whistler council opposes Howe Sound LNG facility.”

A week later, Pique wrote about a bear

not hibernating due to warmer-than-expected weather, and getting into trouble at the dump.

Bear researcher Michael Allen had been “in familiar contact with the old boy,” and reportedly had this to say about the bear: “He has a very large head.”

Around this time, the nascent Whistler Housing Authority was also looking to buy land and hire its first general manager—but seeing as it was founded in the fall of 1997, it is technically disqualified from this particular exercise. Sorry!

The similarities don’t end there.

In March 1998, Pique was reporting on an enhanced need for avalanche safety; a snowboarder who died in a tree well; a Royal visit from Prince Charles and his sons, William and Harry; and the injustice of the Indian Act in Lil’wat Nation governance.

In June, a story on how enhanced traffic on the Valley Trail merits caution; in July,

in 1998 was the tale of Ross Rebagliati, the Whistler snowboarder infamously stripped of his gold medal at the Nagano Olympics when he tested positive for marijuana.

Despite, or perhaps because of, this fact, Rebagliati was certified a bonafide Whistler hero before he even flew back to Canada, and on Feb. 20, Pique wrote about how the snowboarder was “welcomed home by thousands.”

Up to 5,000 people jammed Village Square for the event, prompting Pique to note “a crowd this large has not been seen in Whistler since Rob Boyd won the 1989 World Cup downhill here, or at New Year’s Eve celebrations before First Night activities tamed things down.”

Not quite at the same magnitude, but hundreds of Whistlerites would again gather publicly to celebrate in December 1998, when the resort was officially awarded the 2010 Winter Olympic bid.

“Our world changed as of 20 minutes ago,”

O’Reilly produced some timeless advice for all local elected officials.

“(It) was absolutely one of the most controversial projects brought before council. It had failed at least twice previously, and the third time, when we finally approved it, I can tell you, I had friends, and these are good friends, who didn’t talk to me for a couple of years. They were so angry that we did that project,” he said.

“There are projects you have to take a bullet for—you have to be willing to stand up to it … And I said to council, you know, this one, you’ve got to take a bullet. This is a good project, it’s appropriate, and located right.”

LASTING LEGACIES

In retrospect, it’s undeniable: Whistler was on a heater in the late ’90s, blazing new trails in art, athletics and community, and securing

[O]f all the timeless headlines peppering Pique’s pages in 1998, none are as effortlessly classic as this, from Nov. 13: “Town hall meeting fails to inspire public.”

a piece about a garbage-addicted bear who “sealed [its] own death warrant” (but no word on how big its head was).

But of all the timeless headlines peppering Pique’s pages in 1998, none are as effortlessly classic as this, from Nov. 13: “Town hall meeting fails to inspire public.”

Reusable until the end of time, that one.

THE GOLD STANDARD

Among the biggest news stories in Whistler

Mayor Hugh O’Reilly was quoted as saying right after the announcement. An accurate assessment, as crowds of thousands would soon become far more common in the resort.

The most controversial news story filling Pique’s pages in 1998, bar none, was the saga over developing 19 Mile Creek.

The heated discourse over the housing project near Alpine Meadows is now the stuff of local legend (among those who care about such mundane matters), and in revisiting it 20 years later in a 2018 interview with Pique,

legacies still serving us immensely well 30 years later.

It’s easy for newer Whistlerites to take things like the Whistler Housing Authority, the Whistler Community Foundation, and our Olympic legacies for granted.

But it’s worth remembering the pioneering individuals who made it all possible way back when, and all the hard-working locals carrying those legacies forward today—and considering how we might forge our own legacies for future generations to enjoy. ■

Vail Resorts needs safety solution at Whistler Blackcomb

Every time I ski, Vail Resorts is kind enough to send me an opinion survey, and one of the questions is: did you feel safe? And I always answer, “no.”

The fact is there are too many collisions that result in injuries with no responsibility. A friend of ours was recently hit while skiing on the Dave Murray Downhill run and sustained a broken clavicle and a fractured tibial plateau. The guy (a good skier) denied he hit her and skied away. Would not identify himself.

When my wife visited her at the clinic, she was told by a health-care worker collisions with injuries are up dramatically this year.

Reckless and dangerous skiers would have their pass lifted for collisions in the past. I have it on good authority Ski Patrol would lift about 150 passes per year for speeders and careless skiers and boarders. I suspect Vail Resorts doesn’t want to do that anymore because it puts their people in harm’s way confronting an aggressive individual. Ski Patrol is there to save lives and attend to injuries, not to be a police force.

Vail Resorts doesn’t have a solution so far, but it needs to find one! It is operating a major piece of vacation real estate, and some of its guests are committing crimes. Causing personal bodily harm is a crime.

It’s sad collisions happen, but usually it involves culpability on someone’s part.

It might come to having CCTV cameras on all the runs reviewed daily to monitor accidents, reckless behaviour, etc.

Big Brother would be watching. Surely hope not!

Concerned for safety (on the mountain),

Terry Spence // Whistler

‘Zero consequences’ for unsafe skiing at Whistler Blackcomb

As an Australian who is a yearly addition to the Whistler community, I have a question: “What is

going on up there on the blue-designated runs?”

They are now, in my opinion, Race Rail Zones: Nobody is safe, there are no patrols, no volunteers attempting to assert some control in flagged zones, and unfortunately zero attempts to “clip passes” for unsafe skiing.

Blue runs are groomed = “Let’s rail it at max speed.”

There are zero consequences! (A debatable topic).

Ski Patrol are a well-respected and invaluable resource, but they are unfortunately only there at times to pick up the damaged and mangled pieces. Whistler Blackcomb, please get management up on the hill to see what I

see every day: The Blue Groomed Luge Course. (The Green Zones are just frightening.)

David Sadler // Australia

More on water use in Whistler

I completely agree with Heike Stippler’s letter to the editor (Pique, March 29: “Whistler ‘needs to do better’ on water-use bylaw”).

We have an extensive natural garden and minimal grass area maintained by a professionally installed irrigation system. The watering is thoughtfully set to maintain the gardens with “minimal” water use, including our flower baskets and additional vegetable-producing pots located on our “bear-free” sundeck. All four zones are set to their respective watering times depending on their specific needs (nothing more than required).

This is an alternative to manual watering and sprinkling, which tend to use an exorbitant amount of wasted water that usually ends up on driveways and other impermeable surfaces… i.e. a sprinkler running unattended for hours on grass that only requires a minuscule amount of moisture—grass roots only run so deep.

Concerning the wildfire risk… lush gardens and lawns are an effective fire deterrent. Lessons learned from the Fort Thompson, Alta., wildfire? Most homes with “dry bark mulch” gardens burned down, homes with green foliage and grass did not.

Jim Brown // Whistler

Out of sympathy for MAGA

I read with empathy and fascination the two letters in response to Leslie Anthony’s article, “Absurdity 2.0?” way back in Pique’s Feb. 23 issue. Both letters took offense by or at least proposed that the article’s point of view was either intolerant of the “other side” or disrespectful to a significant percentage of the U.S. population, and therefore U.S. tourists to Whistler.

To both of the writers, I say it is not our obligation to normalize or give credence to a neo-fascist, misogynist, cult-ridden extremist movement based on denial of verifiable facts, disrespect for humanity and aggression towards any who might not bend a knee.

Yes, aggression, or implied aggression, is one of the keynotes of right-wing extremism. Whether it is religious Christian nationalism or disrespect for the rule of law and the legal transfer of power, aggression lies below the surface. The devotion to imagined realities is not policy-driven, other than harping on xenophobic or homophobic ideologies: attack the weakest as scapegoats (remember Germany 1930’s) and propose nothing of any value to society other than stoking anger. Resist all change and progress at ANY cost and harken back to days of yore when women were non-voting, child-bearing chattel and being as rich as a (b)millionaire was every middle-class earner’s dream.

These pillars of the MAGA or Conservative righ t deserve our cold shoulder and intolerance. If only there were logical, productive policy approaches worthy of debate and implementation, then discourse would be invited and engaged in wholeheartedly. But those days have passed, and now there is virtually nothing to engage, nothing of substance to debate. Down south, take the bipartisan Senate Border Legislation to rectify longstanding issues… MAGA can’t handle a solution they have been screaming

for. They would rather deny its passage, because there is nothing else for their leader to attack if that issue is addressed with even a modicum of intelligence.

If the writers of the responses back in February are offended by the lack of respect paid to their extremism, and make no mistake, it is extremism, then don’t support a strongman wannabe. Don’t endorse a “leader” who ridicules the disabled, craps on war veterans, incurs 91 indictments, loses civil lawsuits and gains penalties in the hundreds of millions of dollars, encourages Russian aggression, denies health rights to women, preaches religiosity while living like a degenerate and is devoid of a single thought-worthy statement. The list goes on and is almost endless. He and his political cult can do no better than disgrace a country that has the potential to lead the world.

Sorry, but I’m out of sympathy for your painful cry for tolerance and understanding. Find another battle to wage. Fight for compassion for others that your Christian religious base hypocritically declares. Seek out the positive and find legislation that improves rather than degenerates society. You will have a much better chance of success to catch our ears and empathy.

Last, take note, Pierre Poilievre. Your mimic-like behaviour garners no better response here in Canada. Attack away, lie outright, deny human rights, provide no compassionately human alternatives and stoke anger all you want. We are both smarter and more sympathetic than that here at home. Canadians are better than that. Your vacuous, smarmy, repugnant anger-baiting and weak, divisive challenges, too, are not worthy of tolerance. The most civilized, human and least we can do is ignore you and vote for someone else.

Paul O’Mara // Whistler n

Backcountry Update

AS OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10

It has been a great week for spring backcountry travel. We’ve had some nice storms delivering fresh snow, mixed in with sunny skies. It’s looking like a beautiful weekend coming up, which will make for pleasant travel up into the high country.

However, in addition to sunshine in the forecast, the freezing levels are expected to rise rapidly throughout the weekend, which will increase avalanche danger. The primary avalanche problems to be on the lookout for are wind-slab and wet, loose avalanches. The wind slabs are most likely to be found below alpine ridgetops, and wet, loose avalanches are most

likely on steep, sunny slopes. Cornices will be another hazard to be cautious with. They have a nasty habit of breaking much further back than expected.

More top tips for the weekend:

Avoid steep, rocky, and wind-affected slopes where triggering slabs is more likely;

Avoid sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day;

Give cornices a wide berth while travelling on or below ridges, and always be aware of what’s above your head;

Remember to check the forecast for the most up-to-date conditions and enjoy the sunshine. n

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

Nick Davies, Whistler local and exper ienced family lawyer pr actising across BC and Yukon. Call at 604-602-9000 or visit www.macleanlaw.ca

It’s not always easy to make friends in Whistler

WHEN I FIRST moved to Whistler in November of 2022, many were excited on my behalf. Friends and family wished me luck, while all kinds of new acquaintances welcomed me to what they described as more or less

BY DAVID SONG

dsong@piquenewsmagazine.com

the Canadian Dream. Picturesque mountains, gorgeous forests, stunning lakes and an energetic community full of adventurous spirit… in their eyes, I had found some type of mecca where the good times always roll.

I was hesitant at first, knowing that I’m not the type of snowsport and mountain bike warrior who usually shows up for an adrenaline rush. Fortunately, I managed to settle in and tick some important boxes in the subsequent months.

Job security? Check. Housing? Check. A reliable routine and growing familiarity with my new surroundings? Check. (I even went skiing).

Friends? To be determined.

Certain level-headed realists have told me about how transient Whistler’s populace is. Far too many of the novel people you’ll meet will only be here for so long—a few months, a year at most. Then they inevitably move on, heading back to the European,

Latin American or Commonwealth nations from whence they’d come.

My first round of social turnover happened last summer, when a handful of folks I’d met at church headed out within the same month-long span. There was “J,” a sports fan after my own heart, “N,” a globetrotting Kiwi who lived in a van, and “S,” an affable Coloradan who was always so easy to talk to. Had they remained, I believe they could have formed the core of a great friend group, but it was not to be.

enjoys it very much. Yet things can always change, as I’m reminded now.

Second, Andy isn’t just a friend. He’s effectively a second coach at our kickboxing gym, and he’s darn good at mentoring newbies like myself. He makes drills and sparring fun, while also pushing us to maintain an appropriate level of discipline. Our little combat sports community won’t be the same without him.

Most of all, I remember a particularly frustrating night at the gym. I’d just allowed

Far too many of the novel people you’ll meet will only be here for so long—a few months, a year at most.

I’d been warned this would happen, so I carried on.

A couple of weeks ago, I learned my pal Andy was moving back to Australia for up to two or three years.

This one hurt. The other day, I was driving home and I nearly cried in my car. I’m man enough to admit that.

Why did this news hit differently? Well, for starters, I didn’t expect Andy to leave. He’s a married man in his forties who has the ideal temperament to live in Whistler, and he

my sparring partner to tune me up for three minutes straight, all the while thinking, “Why don’t I get this? Why is my footwork wrong? Why do I suck so much?”

Andy sat me down and reminded me of a very important truth.

“Kickboxing is like life,” he said (though I’m paraphrasing). “Sometimes you’re going to get hit, and what matters is how you respond.”

The last few months of my life have been up and down, to say the least, and I spent a lot of time wallowing in self-pity. Andy was one

of several individuals who helped me discard that mindset, and I’ll always remember his words to me.

These are the kinds of people we all need, and it feels cruel when God or circumstance takes them away from us.

Look, I’m not trying to be ungrateful. Whistler is indeed a beautiful place, and my job at Pique lets me talk to Olympians for crying out loud. My volunteer work mentoring youth through the local church gives me meaning as well, and I don’t plan on leaving in the foreseeable future. No situation is perfect.

I still have some friends here and I undoubtedly appreciate them, but it’s not fun knowing any of them could depart at any moment.

Whistler can be a lonely place. Beneath the attractive veneer of powder days and a rocking nightlife is the reality that stable fellowship is hard to come by here. You’ll brush shoulders with a lot of interesting folks, but how many of them will be part of your life for more than a few fleeting months?

With that in mind, let’s not take our existing relationships for granted. Let’s maximize the time we have with those we befriend. Don’t assume bars and recreational activities will automatically generate lasting community. Instead, be intentional in fostering that community—even if some of us don’t stick around.

Most of all: don’t be cliquey. Life’s too short for that nonsense. n

Whistler probing provincial housing legislation ahead of looming deadline

COMMUNITIES OVER 5,000 MUST APPLY NEW HOUSING DENSITY BYLAW CHANGES BEFORE A PROVINCIAL DEADLINE OF JUNE 30

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

THE RESORT MUNICIPALITY of Whistler (RMOW) is working through how various changes to provincial legislation will impact housing in Whistler, with a wide-ranging update presented to council this week.

At the April 9 committee of the whole meeting, mayor and council heard an update on how the changes will affect Whistler’s planning department, prior to providing staff direction at the regular meeting on the same day.

As laid out in a staff report, the municipality is at various stages of adoption to provincial bills 44, 46 and 47, which require municipalities to rapidly update their bylaws in a manner intended by the province to speed up housing development.

Under Bill 44, which affects residential development, staff are currently conducting an analysis of the impact of small-scale, multiunit housing (SSMUH) zoning requirements and their applicability across the RMOW’s existing zoning.

Under the SSMUH legislation, all municipalities must update their zoning and parking bylaws to accommodate small-scale, multi-unit housing on lands restricted for single-family residential.

According to the RMOW’s technical director of planning, Mike Kirkegaard, an initial analysis of areas of the municipality found there were 45 “restricted” zones within the RMOW, within which there are

approximately 3,500 lots.

Of those 3,500, 281 are eligible to require secondary suites be permitted (Kirkegaard noted many already do have zoning to that effect), while 211 small lots (less than 280 square metres) qualify to be upzoned to allow up to three units, and 3,001 lots over 280 square metres qualify to be upzoned to allow up to four units. Zoning bylaws must be updated by June 30.

Staff said the changes are simply related to zoning, and do not require additional units be built—the number actually built is at the discretion of the landowner.

“This legislation really aligns with the municipality’s housing policies and strategies regarding infill development and private-sector initiatives to create new opportunities for additional housing for local residents and employees in existing neighbourhoods,” said Kirkegaard.

The RMOW is included under the province’s legislation around Transit Oriented Development under Bill 47, though it only has one site that qualifies, being the Whistler Gondola Exchange. Municipalities are unable to reject residential development proposals within a certain distance of transport hubs that are within provincial minimum densities.

Some questions from council were around cost and financing of these proposals on the building and financial industry (ongoing discussions), the stratafication of lots that have fourplexes built on them (a question staff said was up in the air across the entire province), and impact on the municipality’s carrying capacity, given the potential impact of more than 3,500 lots being upzoned in a short amount of time.

Staff responded it is easy to (hypothetically) max-out the potential population increase, but a more fulsome analysis would need to

wait until there was actual uptake on the new development permitted by zoning changes.

The entirety of the RMOW staff update to the COW meeting can be watched on the RMOW website.

At the regular meeting later the same day, council directed staff to prepare zoning amendments relevant to both bills 44 and 47, as required by the province.

Under guiding principles suggested by staff, the RMOW will seek to support the provincial housing objectives, and to do it in a way that supports Whistler’s policy and development context, particularly in relation to providing housing for local employees; that does not alter existing base zoning entitlements; and that is easy to understand and communicated adequately.

On the guiding principle that existing zoning entitlements not be changed, staff said it would create an “overlay” of SSMUH regulations to simplify the process and sidestep the need to alter all 45 restricted zone regulations.

Another principle is to require a portion of all new housing be allocated to local employees.

Staff also spoke of density, saying they would seek to maintain density of neighbourhoods through the maximum allowable floorplan, and leave it up to the developer to decide how they would allocate floorplan space between however many units they chose to build.

A full list of guiding principles is available online.

To fund the changes required, the RMOW has received a one-time grant of $210,718 from the province—a grant allocated to every municipality affected by the legislation on a per-capita basis. According to staff, the funds will be spent on seeking legal assistance associated with bylaw preparation, and for

work related to bylaw testing with input from teams of professionals with experience in architecture, building and construction, real estate professionals, and the Canadian Home Builders Association.

The proposed bylaw changes have a tentative first reading date in May, ahead of the adoption deadline of June 30. Municipal staff will monitor uptake of the changed zoning as it is applied.

Staff acknowledged there may be issues with the bylaws that arise through bylaw testing, and said they will be raised with council through reports and during the adoption process.

Other legislation changing the housing landscape for municipalities is longer-term, such as the pro-active planning portion of Bill 44, which has a deadline of Jan. 1, 2025 for an interim housing needs report and a Dec. 31, 2025 OCP amendment. Changes to bylaws and staff work on those files will come before council at a later date.

Mayor Jack Crompton told Pique he believes RMOW staff are doing an “unbelievable job at getting a huge amount of work done in a very short amount of time,” given the short turnaround time laid out by the province.

Asked about community feedback on the changes being applied to municipalities, Crompton said there is a lot of interest in “all things housing” in Whistler.

“Most of the people I talk to encourage us to be progressive in how we apply these new tools—I’m eager to see the outcomes of the bylaw-testing work that our staff will be doing with the local construction community,” he said.

“Our community continues to feel that housing is our No. 1 priority—the update of our zoning is going to help us move forward on housing.” n

PARCEL PLAN A municipal map of land parcels affected by new housing density legislation.

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE RESORT MUNICIPALITY OF WHISTLER

RMOW gives thumbs-up to increase unit numbers at Function Junction development

THE LIL’WAT-OWNED DEVELOPMENT ON ALPHA LAKE ROAD IS PROPOSED TO HAVE 72 HOUSING UNITS, RATHER THAN 48

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

THE RESORT MUNICIPALITY of Whistler (RMOW) has given the thumbs up to a zoning amendment for Lil’wat-owned lands in Function Junction to allow for easier development, and increased housing density on the site.

The project, at 1000 Alpha Lake Road, previously received a development permit in early 2022 which would see a gas station, a brewery and 48 units of employee housing constructed on two previously subdivided lots.

Two years on, the RMOW has said yes to tinkering with the development permit, and making a zoning amendment that would see the wider project encompass a gas station, a mixed-use commercial and residential building, and 72 employee units—removing the brewery and adding an additional 24 units.

The project is bounded by Highway 99, the railway tracks, and Alpha Lake Road.

According to a staff report, the zoning amendment was to adjust the zoning boundary between the two lots to reflect the lot boundaries themselves, allowing both to have frontage onto Alpha Lake Road with a panhandle that was appropriately zoned.

The lot (Lot 2) allocated for mixed commercial, industrial and residential will allow for three, four-level equivalent buildings that would host the 72 employee units.

Two of the buildings would have 20 units each, with a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, and space for three commercial or industrial units on the ground floor.

The third, larger building would have 32 units on the top two floors split between one

and two-bedroom makeup, while the ground floor would be a high-ceiling space suitable for six industrial or commercial units.

The development would see 141 parking spaces, with 96 set aside for residential, and 45 for non-residential including accessible stalls and EV charging stalls. Most of the parking would be surface parking between the buildings, besides 32 stalls underground in the larger building for industrial and residential use.

The entire 2.15-hectare plot of land is owned by the Lil’wat Nation, and has been in the development planning stage for many years; When it received a development permit in 2022, it was four years after the project was first proposed in 2017.

Mayor Jack Crompton said he was pleased to see the increased residential density, and queried whether it could be higher, to which staff said the nature of the site combined with the property’s location wedged between the highway and the railway meant the density was “consistent with the neighbourhood.”

Staff also noted the proposal was within zoned density allowance, and the map amendment simply allowed more floorspace within what was already zoned.

Because the changes involve access to a road controlled by the provincial government, the bylaw amendment must be approved by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure prior to adoption.

Councillors voted unanimously to give the zoning changes first, second and third readings, and to receive the amended development permit application. Both items will come back before council for approval.

The development of Lot 1, which is zoned for a gas station, was not affected by the changes. n

DENSITY INCREASE Site work for the Lil’wat Nation-owned development at 1000 Alpha Lake Road in Function Junction is well underway.

PHOTO BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

Low winter snowfall kills summer ski camps at Whistler Blackcomb

THE HORSTMAN GLACIER WILL NOT OPEN FOR 2024 DUE TO LOW SNOWPACK

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

WHISTLER BLACKCOMB (WB) has confirmed what a season of poor snow had many suspecting: The Horstman Glacier will not open for summer skiing in 2024, and the popular summer training camps taking place on the glacier will have to go without.

“Whistler Blackcomb is unable to host camps during the 2024 summer on the Horstman Glacier,” said a WB spokesperson.

“This decision was not made lightly—we know these camps, and this experience, have a long history at our resort.

“Unfortunately, the conditions related to this season’s snowfall prevent summer camps to safely operate this year.”

For the primary user of the glacier through summer months—Whistler’s Momentum Camps—it was hard news to take.

“It’s a huge blow to us and over a thousand kids that come out here to train for the summer,” said Momentum Camps director John Smart, in an interview with Pique . Momentum Camps hosted more than 1,200 registrants in summer 2023.

Blackcomb’s Horstman Glacier is one of only two locations in North America where summer skiing and riding is possible—the other being Mount Hood, in Oregon.

Smart said the uniqueness of the Horstman operations makes losing a season difficult for the company given the last few years have seen some of the best-attended camps in Momentum’s 32-year history.

Momentum’s camps were still open for registration right up until the decision was made to pull the plug in early April.

“We were fully on track,” said Smart. “Last year was our biggest year in 32 years. The camp has just been getting bigger and bigger. We were tracking the same registration as we were last year at this time, and so expecting that it was going to be a very similar size.

“We’ve had to turn around hundreds and hundreds of people.”

Those registered to attend the camps held in June and July will be refunded, as Momentum hasn’t been able to pivot quickly enough with alternate offerings—and what it could offer wasn’t equal to the draw of Horstman in the first place.

“We tried to pivot quickly for a multisport camp, however we’ve learned that our diehard ski and snowboard crowd isn’t having that,” Smart said.

While Momentum can’t host its kids camps, it will instead attempt to flip its adult camp from the beginning of the summer season into the last week of WB’s May operations—so the company will not be completely idle for 2024.

“We’re putting that out there as a new idea for them and so far the feedback has been pretty positive,” Smart said. “We might be able to keep some of our older happy campers going.”

While there will be some activity, Smart said there is “no quick recovery” to keep most customers happy. “It’s unfortunate we have to say no,” he said.

T-BAR THE ISSUE, NOT THE GLACIER

Smart said the main issue hampering this year’s operations is the Showcase T-bar.

“Everyone at Whistler knows that that T-bar didn’t get going for the longest time because of the low snowpack,” he said. “That’s the real problem, the way it’s engineered.”

Smart explained there are plans by WB to have the T-bar re-engineered to allow for it to operate on a lower snowpack, but that would require input from the manufacturer Doppelmayr, meaning it isn’t a solution for 2024.

As it stands, WB operations were scraping snow for the Horstman T-bar through winter.

“It’s obviously in their interest— everyone knows it was the latest opening for that T-bar this year for the Blackcomb Glacier,” Smart said. “That’s a huge part of winter operations, having access back there.”

The challenges posed by the Jersey Cream chair replacement project were an issue for 2024, said Smart, who added the problem was solved two years ago when the project was supposed to happen.

“The plan around that was to take vans from midstation gondola up to the bottom of Glacier Express,” he said.

OPTIMISM FOR THE FUTURE

Smart said 2024 poses a tough situation, but Momentum experienced disruption before in 2020 and 2021, and came back stronger.

“As long as people don’t lose hope … It’s important that people don’t think right away that [summer skiing] is done,” he said, downplaying the idea the glacier has receded too fast, and summer skiing will never return.

“That’s not true,” he said, noting that besides re-tooling the T-bar, there are plenty of other long-term possibilities for summer skiing at Whistler Blackcomb, including snowmaking.

The key focus for now to ensure confidence in future seasons is the T-bar.

“Without that lift issue, I think we can be a lot more confident, and more positive pushing forward to 2025,” Smart said. n

Jake Kimble

Jin-me Yoon

Images, top left clockwise: Adad Hannah, What Fools These Mortals Be (video still detail), 2022, Courtesy of the Artist, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver & PFOAC, Montreal. / Jin-me Yoon,

Peter ‘Peru’ Chrzanowski to host book signing and screening of Ski Bums

SLCC EVENT ON APRIL 13 WILL BRING TOGETHER SKI BUMS OLD AND NEW

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

RENOWNED DAREDEVIL, Peter “Peru” Chrzanowski, is inviting locals old and new to a night of all things ski culture.

The Whistler legend will be signing copies of his book, I Survived Myself, at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre on April 13, followed by a screening of the documentary classic Ski Bums. Doors open at 6 p.m. with activities planned until midnight.

The book illustrates the life of a rebel, a ski bum and a vagabond. Chrzanowski was always determined to do life his way, whether that meant wrangling a racoon into a classroom for show-and-tell, throwing chestnuts at a priest or simply posing as a journalist to gain a press pass. Chrzanowski’s life in the wild has been far from smooth sailing, leaving him with more insight on what it means to be alive than most.

Released late last year, Chrzanowski is now concentrating on getting I Survived Myself into locals’ hands.

“I’ve just hired another marketing firm to see how they help me with it,” he said. “I want to concentrate on more local shows, and they are going to push them. I’ll have books there and people can bring their own to get signed.”

Chrzanowski is aiming to get the very most out of the time slot, with a screening of

John Zaritsky’s Ski Bums also scheduled.

The 2002 film followed 10 self-proclaimed Whistler ski bums who chose to pursue their unconventional lifestyles around the resort.

The flick’s cast and crew will reunite at the event after more than 20 years, but the message behind Ski Bums echoes as clearly around Whistler as it did two decades ago. It is heard loud and clear by those crashing on friends’ sofas, sleeping in their vans, and by those scheming ways of nabbing a free pass to the mountain. As described by one of its subjects, it is a movie about “being able to participate in a rich man’s sport without the financial means to do it.” The tale of resourcefulness stresses the importance of living for the moment and not dwelling on what the future may bring.

However, Zaritsky’s film was labelled as “controversial” at the time it was released. Chrzanowski said it was “vaulted,” and those involved have been trying to get it back on the big screen ever since.

“It’s a bit of a controversial film. It was a lot of politics and I don’t think they liked John Zaritsky too much,” he said. “They vaulted the film for 20 years. It had the potential to be the most distributed ski film ever. There’s a bit of pot smoking in it. Twenty years ago, that’s what kept it shut before pot was legal and everything.”

The gang sent the film’s producer and star

Johnny Thrash (born John Hunt) to promote Ski Bums in Poland last year. “We sent Johnny Trash to Poland to three festivals with the film in December,” said Chrzanowski. “They were so fascinated, because ski-bumming is so new in Eastern Europe. The whole concept of not having to go to the army or study or work is so foreign to them. It was really received well over there. “

The people behind Chrzanowski’s first film, Search for the Ultimate Run, will also be present at the event next week. Chrzanowski

“I just see such potential...”

- PETER CHRZANOWSKI

said everyone is welcome to join in on the fun and lap up the atmosphere.

“We have a nice window for six hours. There will be food and art and music,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of old locals as well as new people.”

Aside from promoting his book, Chrzanowski is also turning his focus to getting more Indigenous people involved in activities in nearby towns.

“We formed a non-profit society called

Falcon Cultural Explorations,” he said. “The aim is to start doing direct cross promotion of events and activities with mountain communities in Canada and Poland. There are Indigenous groups in these places. This will be separated from politics and everything else, just a town dealing directly with another town.”

The Pemberton resident is looking at opening up the idea to people in nearby First Nations, and is also working with a Polish mountain tribe.

“It will centre around cultural exchanges, sporting events. I am doing this aerothon event and I would really like to get it going again in Canada,” he said. “I also wanted to get the First Nations involved, and Pemberton was always difficult. Now, we have the event in more than seven countries. It would be really nice to bring it back here.”

Chrzanowski hopes Falcon Cultural Explorations can bring money to remote communities.

“I just see such potential for a different type of tourism in Pemberton. I always wanted to work with First Nations,” he said. “I’ve given a documentary workshop for free to them in the past. It would just be nice to get them more involved in things that are going on. In Bella Coola, Indigenous people are after getting really into heliskiing. They are making little helicopters out of wood. It has become a staple for them.” n

Whistler Community Foundation gives $219K to local charity programs

THE WCF CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF CHARITY DONATIONS IN 2024, WITH MORE THAN $4.45M DONATED OVER THE YEARS

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

THE WHISTLER COMMUNITY Foundation (WCF) is giving out $219,000 in grants this year as part of its ongoing mandate to support community needs.

“Social services in Whistler and Pemberton areas have seen a heightened need post-pandemic, and our team, while keen on addressing a climate crisis, also sees a developing social crisis that needs funding,” reads a WCF press release for its 2024 grants.

Claire Mozes, the WCF’s chief executive officer, said there is increasing focus on social supports.

“It’s a hard job for our committee when assessing grant applications, because it’s easy to see the value in all types of programming from arts and culture to social services,” she said.

“WCF, since its 2023 Vital Signs report, has started to give more attention to the intersections of community needs.

“For example, Pemberton Off Road Cycling Association (PORCA) has been a critical asset for Pemberton-area residents in terms of social, mental and physical wellbeing. And this year, they received a grant for a program that provides mentorship for

girls in the outdoors—through mountain biking. That’s the kind of programming that gets young people excited.”

Also in the Caring Community grant stream, the Sea to Sky Hospice Society received $3,484 for a bereavement support program and the Whistler Community Services Society received $6,516 for counselling assistance, while PearlSpace received $3,600 for its Mama Baby Connections program. More than $23,000 in additional funds goes to another 10 programs.

PORCA’s Girls on Wheels program will receive $1,500 from the WCF’s Caring Community grants stream for 2024.

Executive director of PORCA, Bree Thorlakson, said a deep-dive on youth membership data revealed the need for a program.

“[PORCA] noticed that it was heavily weighted towards male participation in comparison to our adult membership, which is 50-per-cent female,” she said.

“Of course, women’s participation has grown significantly by way of our legacy programs designed to support women in sport, like Bike Club and the Spud Crusher. We were serving the adult community but had a gap to fill with youth. When a teen joined our women’s trail maintenance night, she further highlighted a desire for girlsspecific programming. We took that as a

sign, and Girls on Wheels was born.”

Girls on Wheels is described by PORCA as a teen version of the association’s women’s bike club, and is a free weekly social ride for teens aged 13 to 18. It started as a means to encourage more girls to get out riding and upskill in a safe and inclusive space.

As of 2024, the WCF has operated for a quarter century, and over the years has granted more than $4.45 million to charities serving the Whistler and Pemberton areas.

The range of grants going out in 2024 go from small-scale, like $500 to the Whistler Independent Supportive Housing Society for grant-writing education, to large-scale, like a $50,000 grant to the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE), to go towards

organizational development.

The lion’s share of grants in 2024 will go to environmental causes. There is also $6,100 for the Whistler Naturalists’ Fungus Among Us mushroom festival, as well as $5,000 for its glacier monitoring program, and $2,200 for bird studies.

The Sea to Sky Invasive Species Council (SSISC) likewise receives large grants from the WCF, like $12,500 for inventory, control and monitoring programs for invasive flora, and $23,000 for programs to monitor and map invasive fauna.

Learn more about the Whistler Community Foundation and how to support it at whistlerfoundation.com. Funds raised by the WCF are through community and industry support. n

RAPID GROWTH PORCA’s Girls on Wheels program helps get teenage girls out riding and learning more skills.

PHOTO BY JOSH DOOLEY / PORCA

Roaming horses would be ‘unacceptable’ outside of Pemberton: MLA Sturdy

MLA JORDAN STURDY SHARED ISSUES LOCALS FACE ON HIGHWAY 99 IN A GRAPHIC SPEECH TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ON MARCH 13

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

THE ISSUE OF ROAMING horses in Pemberton would be unacceptable anywhere else in the province, MLA Jordan Sturdy told the BC Legislative Assembly in a graphic speech on March 13.

“Imagine for a moment that you are driving the Sea to Sky highway. It’s blowing and it’s cold, mixed rain and snow. You round a corner and without warning in front of you are a herd of 60 horses, stretched right across the highway,” he said. “Even as you hit the brakes, you smash into them. Horses come down. Down falls a younger horse, crunches onto your hood before sliding off to the side before it comes through your windshield. Your vehicle tumbles off the road and comes to a rest into the ditch, which fortunately is not full of water.”

Sturdy explained this scenario happened right outside his own North Arm Farm last fall.

“I pulled out of the driveway in the morning and immediately saw the red and blue lights of the RCMP eerily illuminating dead horses’ guts, bones and blood spread across the highway,” he said. “We learned later that two other horses had wandered off to die alone. A dozen horses have been killed in the last year or so. Many more have been killed over the last decade.”

The area is not open range, and not designated for livestock, “and yet livestock are left to roam,” Sturdy said. “It’s a situation that would be unacceptable elsewhere in the province. Would the Fraser Valley, the Kootenays or the Cariboo tolerate such

hazards on their numbered highways? I think not.”

Sturdy said many of the involved parties are shifting the blame in a dangerous game that could eventually result in the loss of human life.

“Why is this chronic issue on Highway 99 in the Pemberton Valley ignored?” he asked. “Countless horses have been killed. Vehicles have been damaged. People have been hurt. Yet despite the risks to both animals and human lives, expressions of concern are put forward and then the responsibility is deflected. Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Forests, Solicitor General RCMP, Ministry of Transportation and the SPCA all decline to take on responsibility.”

Sturdy has previously requested the speed limit be reduced from 80 to 60 km/h on that particular stretch of road, but said this “simple” request has so far been refused.

“Meanwhile, damage to the private and public property continues, horses die, people wail and the government does not act,” he said. “It is unacceptable.”

When asked about the issue of the roaming horses at the Pemberton Chamber of Commerce’s Lunch and Learn meeting on Thursday, March 21, Sturdy suggested a radical solution.

“Put in a fence, bring the horses into that area, feed them, hold them, and then ship them,” he said. “There is no reason why the festival grounds shouldn’t be fenced up.”

After the event, Sturdy acknowledged to Pique putting the horses up for auction could lead to them being shipped abroad for meat.

“Likely the outcome would be shipped to auction,” he said. “When I put my pigs up for auction, I don’t know where they are going.”

The herd’s owner, Wayne Andrews, previously told Pique his relationship with his

horses is deeply rooted in Lil’wat culture.

“We have to treat horses with respect,” he said. “Right now, I’m behind, but nature waits for me. Every time nature waits for me it’s because I look after and respect the horses.”

Roxy, which belonged to Wayne’s daughter, was one of the horses struck dead in the fall.

“It’s always hard,” he said. “So many horses have been killed. We are being terrorized by the highway. In 1990, people blocked the road because they didn’t want it paved. It got paved anyway. This is the last of our freedom area. Once this is gone, I will leave. I will take these horses and leave.”

Pique reached out to Andrews, but did not hear back before press time.

At a Pemberton council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, councillors agreed to send letters, copying the Lil’wat Nation, to MLA Jordan Sturdy, the BC SPCA, and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure requesting additional support in the matter.

In his letter to the Ministry of Transportation, Mayor Mike Richman said the roaming horses have caused significant issues in the Pemberton Valley for many years.

“To date, there have been three major incidents … resulting in at least three horses being killed, extensive damage to vehicles and residents and commuters being impacted physically and emotionally,” he wrote. “There is a mounting sentiment that loss of human life is imminent if nothing is done to mitigate the hazards posed with the comingling of the horses with the highway.”

Communications and Engagement Advisor, Michelle Fernandes, told Pique the Village of Pemberton (VOP) has long recognized the safety concerns with this issue.

“Council has been actively advocating community partners and government agencies regarding community concerns

around the roaming horses along Highway 99,” she said.

“This is a complex issue that impacts several jurisdictions and the Village of Pemberton appreciates the advocacy support expressed by MLA Sturdy in his speech during the BC Legislative Assembly.”

Canada is one of the world’s leading exporters of horse meat. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 2,600 Canadian horses were exported for slaughter in 2022, all of which ended up in Japan, at a total value of $19 million, according to an October CBC investigation.

Sturdy said he is amenable to other positive options.

“I am open to any solutions, but I don’t see action,” he said.

Sturdy also raised the issue with Minister of Transportation, Rob Fleming, on March 11 at a Committee of Supply meeting. Fleming acknowledged the problem is unique to Pemberton.

Fleming said the ministry is working with private property owners and the SPCA. He also said officials are considering Sturdy’s idea to perhaps reduce the speed limit on that stretch of highway. Other action being taken by the government includes putting up more signs in the area.

“We have ordered and are about to take delivery of advanced warning signage of horses on the road,” said Fleming. “We’ll be able to do the most good to let drivers know of potential hazards on the road.”

Murray Sinclair, spokesperson for B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, said it has posted signs on Highway 99 between Pemberton and Mount Currie warning motorists horses may be present on the highway.

Read the full story at piquenewsmagazine. com.

■

ACTION NEEDED MLA Jordan Sturdy speaks in the BC Legislature on March 13.

Man arrested after ‘spring-clean’ fire blows out of control in Lil’wat Nation

FIRE SAFETY TOP OF MIND AS ANOTHER WILDFIRE SEASON FAST APPROACHES

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A MAN WAS ARRESTED last week after a “spring-cleaning” fire at a property on Main Street in Mount Currie blew out of control. Pemberton Fire Rescue and the Lil’wat Nation Volunteer Fire Department attended the scene on April 5. The man, who is not a member of Lil’wat Nation, has not been identified.

The Lil’wat Nation previously urged people not to light fires when disposing of debris in their yards due to the dangerous risk of the blazes spiralling out of control. The Lil’wat Nation FireSmart program also organized a pick-up service for construction material, branches and bushes. The group will also erect notices around the community soon.

The Lil’wat Nation’s FireSmart coordinator, Dillon Bikadi, said the property that caught on fire did not belong to the individual who lit the debris.

“There was an individual who was trying to do some spring cleaning,” he said. “They decided to light that pile of spring cleaning on fire. It was a windy day and the fire decided to spread on its own. There are very dry conditions out there so it didn’t take long to spread. It quickly spread across a half hectare of burnt grass. Most of what was burnt was tall, dry grass.”

Bikadi confirmed the fire-starter was arrested by Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police (the detachment did not respond to a request for info before press time).

Thankfully, the firefighters were able to put out the blaze in less than half an hour. This is the second time in three

Seasonal Service Change

Effective April1 and April15, 2024

April 1–14: Late Winter Service

April 15: New Service Expansion for Spring/Summer/Fall

-Increased frequency of service andimproved timing forall routes inSpring/Summer/Fall standard schedule

-Reintroduction of Route 32 Emerald

For moreinformation, visit bctransit.com/Whistler or refer to yourRider’sGuide to view full schedulechanges.

TransitInfo604·932·4020 bctr ansit.com /Whistler

months firefighters have had to step in to control the man’s fires, Bikadi said. “We responded to a fire in February at basically the same location,” said Bikadi. “He accepted responsibility for it.”

That fire, on the afternoon of Feb. 17, affected the property of Bendigo Noble, who is currently recovering from cancer treatment. His girlfriend, Tara Lundrigan, told Pique people need to learn the scary consequences these fires can have.

Lundrigan said she was terrified by how quickly the fire overtook the yard.

“Someone who doesn’t live in our neighbours’ [property] was helping with yard work, doing a very typical spring burn, and it was a close call,” she said. “The guy who set our property on fire didn’t even have a hose or water ready for control.”

The couple believe they could have lost a lot more.

“We lost some cords, a hose, and some plexiglass, but thankfully that was it,” Lundrigan said. “It was just terrifying to see how fire moves and how some people think they have things in control, when they really do not.”

Bikadi and his team are ready to help people ensure their homes are FireSmart ahead of the warm summer months.

“The idea of FireSmart is to educate and assist in proven ways that can reduce the risk of fire within the community,” he said. “The main idea is resistance against wildfire, but it is also proven to work against domestic fires. Lil’wat Nation has asked that nobody burns any debris from spring cleaning right now as we don’t have a full band.”

Tips and advice on protecting your property against the risk of fire can be found at pemberton.ca/firesmart. n

SAFETY REMINDER Firefighters at the scene of the fire in Mount Currie on April 5.

PHOTO BY TARA LUNDRIGAN

Village of PEMBERTON

WHISTLER FIRE RESCUE SERVICE

Paid On Call Firefighters Wanted

Enjoy a physical challenge?

Enjoy a team environment?

Enjoy serving your community?

This could be the opportunity for you.

The Whistler Fire Rescue Service is now accepting applications for Paid On Call Firefighters.

Interested applicants are also invited to attend a question and answer session being held at Fire Hall 1 4400 Village Gate Blvd on April 18 at 7 p.m.

For information and applications please go to: www.whistler.ca/careers

Closing Date: April 23, 2024

Pemberton council reviews impact of Short Term Rental Act on village

COUNCIL CHOOSES TO OPT-IN, BUT SEEKS MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR HOMEOWNERS

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

THE VILLAGE OF PEMBERTON (VOP) will opt-in to new provincial legislation governing short-term rentals after council gave its assent last month.

for the construction or people who are visiting the community,” she said. “They are staying here and working, but aren’t going to be here for three months.”

Gwendolyn Kennedy, manager of corporate and legislative services, said those people may be able to seek another form of licence.

At the regular council meeting on March 19, Pemberton council recommended staff submit a request to the Province of British Columbia to have the VOP included in the principal residence requirement for short-term rental accommodation. Council also directed staff to draft amendments to Zoning Bylaw No. 832, 2018 and Business Licence Bylaw No. 855, 2019, to bring the VOP’s lone existing bed and breakfast business into compliance with Village bylaws, and to draft an amendment to Zoning Bylaw No. 832, 2018, to align the Village’s definition of short-term vacation rental with the definition set out in the ShortTerm Rental Accommodations Act.

B.C. introduced the Short Term Rental act to return much needed-homes to the rental market for British Columbians. Data collected by the province shows more than 16,000 entire homes are being used as short-term rentals for the majority of the year in B.C. Many local governments around B.C. have now taken action to regulate short-term rentals. The maximum fine that regional districts can set for prosecutions of bylaw offences under the Offence Act has increased from $2,000 to $50,000.

“Short-term rental” refers to renting out a furnished room, suite, home, apartment, cabin or condo for a short-term stay (for a period of less than 90 days at a time).

The purpose of the Act is to: Give local

“I have seen it done before. Someone who rents out their own home while they are away might have a different category of licensing than someone who rents out their suite all the time,” she said. “Those who rent it when they are away are in a different position. They are going away for travel. If they were under a different business licensing, then there might not be the same hardship on them.”

Richman asked if a house swap would fall into the category of short-term rentals, and was told that wasn’t one of the exceptions.

Coun. Katrina Nightingale also wondered if there was a way of distinguishing people who rent out their homes while on vacation from commercial operators.

“I just want to support what Coun. Ramsden was saying,” she said. “There are a lot of people who have principal residence and want to go away for a month and rent it out. I don’t think they should be penalized for wanting to do something like that. They have gardens to take care of and all those things. Having someone in the residence is very helpful.”

Richman agreed those who want to rent out their homes while away should be able to do so.

“It’s their biggest asset,” he said. “It’s their home. They should be able to have that flexibility in their ownership.”

Staff were asked to come back to a Committee of a Whole meeting with flexibility options for people who rent out their homes

“It’s their home. They should be able to have that flexibility in their ownership.”

- MIKE RICHMAN

governments stronger tools to enforce shortterm rental bylaws; Return short-term rental units to the long-term housing market; and establish a new Provincial role in the regulation of short-term rentals.

Mayor Mike Richman brought concerns to the table over how the new legislation would affect homeowners who rent out their houses while travelling.

“The less than 90 days is a little restrictive in the sense that some people go away for a couple of months at a time to visit people elsewhere in the country,” he said. “I don’t want to overly regulate how people use their own homes when they are living their lives.”

Councillor Laura Ramsden offered a similar thought, noting lots of people in the community would be affected by the act.

“I can think of people who are coming up

while travelling.

The existing B&B business in the village is operated in the host’s principal residence and would therefore not be impacted by the Village opting-in to the provincial principal residence requirement. Changing the Village definition of short-term rental (30 days or less) to align with the provincial definition (less than 90 days) would similarly have no impact on the business, staff found. However, when they compared the operations of the B&B to Village bylaws, staff noted the business does not conform to Village B&B licence regulations for two reasons: It offers too many rooms (the limit is two bedrooms for a B&B licence); and it offers cooking facilities (which are not permitted in a B&B facility).

Staff proposed minor bylaw amendments to bring the business into compliance. n

What’s going on with Gore-Tex?

SOME TIME in the early 2010s, I was working at a local backcountry gear store here in Whistler and sitting through a semi-annual product knowledge session. The store was one of the largest carriers of the Arc’teryx brand in the Sea to Sky corridor, and the rep was back to run the retail staff through the latest garment releases.

After the brand spiel and the requisite oohs and ahhs over the new product we were

BY VINCE SHULEY

tasked with selling to customers, one associate asked the rep about the environmental impact of this very expensive Gore-Tex jacket.

“We do use chemicals that are harmful to the environment,” he replied. “But we build the jacket to last much longer, so the customer has to replace it much less frequently.”

Having taken a course on life-cycle analysis in university, I understood this justification. Even if every jacket sheds a small amount of harmful chemicals (that don’t degrade) over the course of its life, the overall environmental impact of making a whole new jacket is far greater.

Technical outerwear has been at the whim of these harmful chemicals for decades. Let’s start with the first barrier against moisture getting through your jacket; the Durable Water Repellent (DWR)

treatment to the outside fabric. The chemical name for DWR is “perfluorinated compound” (PFC). If you start looking into PFCs, you’ll quickly find a litany of articles highlighting their detrimental effects, including damage to the immune system in children (leading to an inability to respond to certain vaccines), increased incidence of cancer associated with PFC pollution, and compromised female fertility associated with PFC blood levels in women. So, not great.

Like all things chemistry, there are PFCs and then there are PFCs. The most harmful are the class of C8 PFCs, which—

great for the planet, or its inhabitants.

The wake-up call to the outdoor apparel industry has triggered a sort of sustainable DWR arms race among manufacturers. Chemists are pursuing everything from silicones to unmodified plant wax. The issue with many of these experiments is the water repellency doesn’t hold up over time, effectively removing the “D” from DWR. But they are getting closer.

Helly Hansen claims to have achieved proper water repellency without PFCs with its new Lifa Infinity Pro fabric. It integrates the waterproofness into the fabric and yarn,

Despite how extreme the regular Joe backcountry skier thinks he is, he can probably survive a day in the Duffey without PFCs in his outerwear.

if you remember your high-school organic chemistry—is a molecule containing a chain of eight carbon atoms. After government interventions around the world, major players in the outdoor apparel industry like Arc’teryx and Patagonia phased out C8 PFCs in their DWR treatments more than a decade ago. A large driver of public awareness was the “Detox my Fashion” campaign, which Greenpeace launched against the use of PFCs in the greater clothing industry in 2011. In the place of C8 PFCs, outdoor apparel companies began using C6 PFCs (also called “short-chain PFCs”), which linger less in the environment and human bodies than C8, but in the grand scheme of things, still aren’t

eliminating the need for harmful chemical treatment to the outside of the garment. The downside is the fabric has next to no stretch, so it will have less appeal for activities like climbing.

Looking at what the other top apparel brands are doing, there seems to be a consensus that only the highest-level “pro” gear should need PFCs. This is gear highperformance athletes (like mountaineers) require for special situations, such as being exposed to rain and snow for more than 24 hours straight, where getting wet could mean the difference between making it home alive or not. Despite how extreme the regular Joe backcountry skier thinks he is, he can

probably survive a day in the Duffey without PFCs in his outerwear.

As we all transition away from PFCs alongside our favourite brands, until there’s a veritable new breakthrough in DWR chemistry, we should all manage our expectations of what the garments can and can’t do. You’ll be paying the same for the new garment, but your jacket will be wetting out sooner and require more frequent washing and DWR treatment. This is a compromise we all need to get comfortable with.

Gore, which owns the intellectual property for Gore-Tex and supplies much of the industry with its fabric technology, has officially begun phasing out its PTFE (Teflon)-based membrane, which contains PFCs. This is the layer with that magical quality of keeping water out while letting vaporized sweat escape, otherwise termed “waterproof breathable.” In its place is a PFC-free version, which Gore calls ePE, another confusing acronym for “expanded polyethylene.” Since this layer is sandwiched between two layers in the jacket’s fabric, the end user shouldn’t really notice the difference of a PFC-free membrane. Shortto mid-term reviews on the ePE membrane haven’t brought up any concerns, but the long-term durability of ePE membranes will be revealed as they enter the consumer market over the next few years.

In the meantime, look after that old Gore-Tex jacket and make it last. You may never get a chance to replace it with one as good.

Vince Shuley appreciates his waterproof breathable garments and treats them with respect, as well as DWR about once or twice a season. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider, email vince.shuley@gmail. com or Instagram @whis_vince. ■

AQUARTERCENTURYofbeautiful

By Will Johnson

Once a year every April, Whistler transitions from being just a ski town for a weekend and is instead transformed into a musical refuge.

Whistler’s Con Brio Music Festival celebrates 25th anniversary April 18 to 21 halls.

During the Con Brio Festival, hundreds of students from all over the province and beyond pack the cobblestones in their dress black, lugging around backpacks and unwieldy instruments as they hustle their way through a hectic schedule of workshops and concerts. These teenagers clamber off school buses to fill the hotels, the sidewalks, the local shops, and the concert halls. They practice their harmonies in the alleyways, jam out in community spaces and go over their notes in restaurants and cafés. For that quick, four-day window, this little Canadian ski town is suddenly filled to the

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the festival has evolved into a multi-generational tradition. There are former attendees returning as music teachers, parents or chaperones to shepherd the next generation through the Con Brio experience. Since 1999, more than 50,000 musicians have enjoyed the opportunity not only to take in world-class performances and learn from faculty passionate about music education, but to

One of the festival’s promises is that no student will ever

disenchanted with the festival circuit. As they bused back and forth across the province with their student

musicians, seeing their charges unengaged and bored, they found themselves coming back to the same question—“could we do it better?”

“Doug and I had travelled to various music festivals together, and as one tends to do, you find yourself thinking, ‘oh, I like that,’ or, ‘I wish they did that differently.’ Well, perhaps you should be careful what you wish for, because now over the course of our festival we regularly fill 700 rooms for the three nights, so 2,100 room nights,” Magnan tells Pique

Those are the sort of numbers she could only dream of when she and Macaulay first decided to team up all those years ago. As they began to hash things out, outlining their various ambitions for a superior sort of festival, they learned their visions aligned in crucial ways. Keeping everything strictly punctual, that was important, as was keeping the participants active and engaged.

The pair wanted to offer an experience akin to camp, immersive and community-oriented—and ultimately decided Whistler offered the perfect environment to make that a reality.

“I’m not sure we had expectations when we started. We just had the desire to create a legacy, and a desire to offer something in the music festival environment we thought was missing at the time,” says Magnan.

With a lifetime of experience as a choral singer, orchestra member and music PAC president in both school and community organizations, Magnan lived and breathed music. Meanwhile, Macaulay, who would later receive the BC Music Educators’ Distinguished Service Award, had an uncompromising vision about the importance of quality music education. It was this attitude that made them a match, and drove them to create Con Brio.

According to Macaulay, Con Brio offers the sort of experience that impacts the students’ entire life, creating irreplaceable memories and countless relationships. From the chaperones to the teachers to the musicians, they’re all working together to create the perfect musical environment.

“I always remind kids at the festival that this is not their teacher’s job. They don’t have to do this, give up their whole weekend to come here,” he says.

“But they do it because they believe in music education and their students.”

Music from our ancestors

When Con Brio organizers were looking for faculty to inspire their students during the first year of the festival, Macaulay reached out to gospel singer Marcus Mosely—who would go on to be inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2016. He was a member of the gospel trio The Sojourners, had starred in numerous musicals, and even provided a singing voice for a character in My Little Pony

But Mosely’s real passion was introducing student musicians to the protest music of the civil rights era, and showing them how gospel has the power to create seismic cultural change. That’s why he has participated as an instructor at nearly every Con Brio Festival since it started.

“I used to work in the cotton fields of Texas with my mother when I was a kid, and what I remember most clearly is that there was always a gospel song under her breath. I would hear her singing, and I loved it, and what I learned later on was that she was grounding herself, keeping herself with her spiritual centre, amidst an oppressive culture,” he tells Pique

“That music helped my ancestors, and it helped my mother to find strength and courage in the midst of struggle and hard times, and gospel music has had that power in my life. Many kids have never heard these things before, so I act as a living witness to the significance of music over history.”

Though the various instructors at the festival follow different musical traditions, Mosely believes they all have the same driving impetus—to create a better world by fostering the next generation of musical talent.

“When I share gospel music, I’m not sharing from a religious point of view or trying to convert anyone. It’s a message of universal empathy and compassion, and it’s about all those things we have in common. It’s historic, cultural for me. For me it was about the civil rights era, and how we would sing before going to fight for the right to vote or march for freedom,” he says.

his story begins 25 years ago, with a West Vancouver band leader named Douglas Macaulay, and the mother of one of his student musicians, Susan Magnan. It was 1999, and the pair was growing

brim with beautiful music. enjoyed actually perform before an audience themselves. play to an empty room.

the programming, he knew they wanted to minimize the time students spend stationary and maximize the time they spend active, engaged and performing.

“When we were coming up with the name Con Brio, which means ‘with spirit,’ we knew we wanted something that reflects the animated nature of what we wanted to do here,” Macaulay says.

“We’re a festival of active learning through participation. So no sitting, no getting lectured to, we want everything to be in motion, to push the tempo a bit and create urgency.”

Mosely says it is that energy that has kept him involved over the years.

“I live in Vancouver, and every now and then I’ll run into kids at Starbucks who are now graduated, maybe adults, and some of them have gone into music or music is part of their lives, and they’ll say, ‘I remember you from Con Brio,’ and I get to find out what they’re doing with their lives. Many have chosen a career in music,” he says.

“It makes me feel great. I want to share a level of joy, but also teach compassion, empathy and social justice for everyone. To give that message to thousands of kids in a musical context, it feels like you’re making an impact on the world because they go everywhere. They grow up and go out into the world with that influence.”

A 25-year learning curve

S ometimes you have the best intentions, but the world just gets in the way.

That’s what Con Brio organizers learned following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, when a number of music festivals were axed due to international travel constraints. Multiple American schools had already booked their festival spots, and had to cancel at the last minute.

“We looked around us. All the other festivals were cancelling. We took a deep breath and decided to continue. We were one of the few that kept going, and I’m glad we did,” says Magnan.

“It was quite a scramble, and we ended up being a very local festival, but it all worked out.”

The next trial came with the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the festival being cancelled in 2020 and being offered online the following year. Organizers remember this as a time of uncertainty and innovation, as they tried to manoeuvre the changing landscape. The festival was held in-person again in 2022, but didn’t open its registration to full capacity again until 2023.

“We just don’t give up. We’re not profit-motivated. We’re motivated by educational value and the music. So we don’t care if we make money, we want to run a festival and we’re

happy if we don’t have to write a personal cheque to cover the expenses,” says Macaulay.

He is amazed to see how the demographics have shifted over the years. They now have triple the number of schools attending as they did in 1999, with a growing number from the U.S., which means they regularly max out their 3,000-participant capacity. This year they’re particularly thrilled to welcome 120 students from Hawaii.

“Because these kids come from all kinds of different places, they have different responses to even being in the village. One year we had students from Alabama and they were blown away. One student said to me, ‘I had no idea the world was like this,’” he says.

“Every year there’s a moment, or maybe a couple of moments, where you think, ‘wow, this is why we’re doing this.’ It can be quite life-changing for kids, because it might even be their first time away from home.”

A quarter century in, the organizers are still fine-tuning their approach and programming. The resulting experience is as different as each student who takes the stage, according to Magnan.

“Each and every year I am so impressed by the young people who come to perform. I’m moved to tears almost every time, not only by the performances but also by how music is a real way to build cooperation,” she says.

“It’s not like a sport, where you have someone doing a breakaway to get a goal. With music you all have to play your part and rely on each other, and it fosters that in young people so that they become polite and caring and cooperative.”

Where the spirit is

All music is an expression of life, which is why Con Brio has taken a multicultural approach to choosing its faculty and music over the years.

More recently, organizers have made Indigenous inclusion a priority, taking on a cultural advisor and introducing a welcome song. This year, elder Bob Baker, whose music was featured in the 2010 Olympics, will share with the students. According to Macaulay, who first met Baker at a band concert in West Vancouver, the Squamish Nation performer makes a powerful impression.

“It’s wonderful music with a different structure, imagined in a different way, that we translate using Western orchestra band instruments. The main thing is the opportunity for tangible engagement, because for all those kids who participate it will change their thinking of First Nations people and their culture,” he says.

“It’s different to learn in school rather than engaging in person. When you have someone up front sing a song for you and ask you to play it back, that’s a whole other level. It engages the students in a different way.”

Baker says the music will come with cultural lessons.

“We’re going to share how it is that songs are received, the spirit of a song. There’s a bit of an explanation that goes before the song,

that’s part of our teachings, and we always address what the song represents,” he says. His work centres around the spirit of the animal kingdom, and the teachings of coastal Indigenous populations.

“A lot of what I’ve been sharing is trying to get across the sense of where we are on the West Coast. Our nations have been here for thousands of years, and we’ve developed cultures—a canoe culture, a longhouse culture, a musical culture—and the spirit of the nation is family, so we conduct business as a nation in that spirit,” Baker says.

“I want to remind everyone how we should be looking at where we live and appreciate the wealth of everything we have. The trees, the mountains, the lakes and rivers and oceans. We have killer whales, grizzly bears, everything here. We get caught up in whatever trivial thing gets magnified, but we should always remind ourselves where we are living and the beauty of the West Coast.”

Baker likes how Con Brio has progressed in recent years as it embraces diversity.

“I’d love to see how it’s going to evolve creatively, and what they come up with as a way to create an overall experience for everyone to share,” he says. “It’s a pretty big calling.”

A festival of choice

A fter 25 successful years, Con Brio’s organizers are feeling pretty good about the reputation they’ve established and the space they fill in the country’s musical landscape.

“People vote with their feet,” says Magnan. “They choose which festival they want to go to, and we’re only as good as our reputation. I feel quite proud that we’ve maintained our standards and that we’re a festival of choice that sells out every year.”

This all comes during an era when many music departments aren’t being prioritized or funded like they used to, and Macaulay says they understand how indebted they are to the music teachers who take the time to bring their students up the Sea to Sky.

“It’s tough to give a generalization, because it’s different from district to district how they support the arts. Music teachers quite often have to battle for their programs, and they’re largely successful. That success is based on the drive and passion and work ethic of individual teachers. They have to lead the charge,” he says.

Towards the end of the weekend, students are invited to attend a professionally staged gala concert designed to introduce students to “music they didn’t know they’d always loved,” with a range of instrumental and vocal performances across culture, genre and style.

But the true highlight each year is when the students gather for the mass choir and mass band events, which feature 400 singers and two groups of 700 musicians performing a First Nations piece in unison. It’s the culmination of all the learning and cooperation that has occurred over the weekend, bringing everyone together for a common artistic purpose. The result can be overwhelming.

According to Magnan, it’s a stirring finale to take in.

“If you put your hands on the wall of the ballroom in the conference center, you can actually feel it vibrate with the force of the music,” she says.

“It’s a truly extraordinary thing.” ■

Four Sea to Sky freestylers podium at 2024 Junior Nationals

KRUMME VICTORIOUS TWICE AS TROTTER EARNS BRONZE; HESLOP AND OLIVER TAKE GOLD AND SILVER, RESPECTIVELY BY

DAVID SONG

IT HAS BEEN QUITE the campaign for local freestyle skiers Avery Krumme, Mattheus Heslop and Jude Oliver.

Weeks after taking hold of a bronze slopestyle medal at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships, Krumme came up clutch again to strike double gold at Junior Nationals in Whistler from April 5 to 7. Evelyn Mullie came within a point of the upset each time, but the Squamolian twice fended off her Calgarian opponent by narrow margins (86.00 to 85.33 points in slopestyle, 89.67 versus 88.67 in big air).

Sylvia Trotter also represented Freestyle Whistler with slopestyle bronze (81.33).

Heslop was the only one to break the 90-point barrier in boys’ slopestyle (90.33) as he claimed a victory of his own. Oliver nipped at Heslop’s heels for silver (88.83), leaving Ty Kargus with bronze (86.83).

In boys’ big air, it was Malcolm Farris (95.67), Henri Joyal (93.83) and Drew Christensen (92.17) atop the podium in that order.

“There’s a lot of kids that showed up here who had never hit jumps the size of what we have before,” said Freestyle Whistler director Chris Muir. “We didn’t have any real injuries. [The venue] was big and burly, but they all rose to the occasion.”

Although there were only so many medals to

give out, there were also plenty of milestones to feel good about. For instance, Muir recalls how ecstatic Whistlerite Yamato Buhler was about landing his first cork jumps in competition.

‘THE SKY’S THE LIMIT’

Anyone who knows Krumme can tell you she’s often the hardest worker in any given room. The 15-year-old is keen to train as much as her school commitments will reasonably allow, which is why she bounced back from two broken collarbones sustained in 2022. Now she’s busy cementing her place as one of the nation’s more prolific young talents.

“I was very thrilled with my performance [at Junior Nationals],” said Krumme. “I was a little bit jet-lagged coming back from Italy, so it was hard on the body and a little hard on the mind. Other than that, it was really good.”

In joining Heslop and several other young Canadians at Junior Worlds, Krumme had what she calls “a surreal experience.” She found it eye-opening to represent the Maple Leaf in a proper international opening ceremony, while her fourth-place big air result proves that she’s capable of holding her own against top opposition.

Her father Ray is delighted.

“There are so many life lessons with sport,” he said. “I think that’s the most important thing. To actually see the world and travel and get those experiences—Avery will remember that forever. The sky’s the limit with her ability and I know her goals are a lot loftier than her recent performances.

“The future is going to be exciting for Avery. [Her mom] Rachel and I are just there to support her and give her those opportunities.”

‘PULLING MYSELF TOGETHER’

Heslop knows a thing or two about bouncing back himself.

The 18-year-old absorbed a heavy, headfirst crash during Junior Worlds and was rushed to hospital. Some feared he might have broken his neck, but a fortunate CT scan revealed no permanent damage.

Even so, it may have been the first time Heslop’s typically-boundless confidence was truly shaken during a contest.

“That [injury] was pretty scary,” he admitted. “I landed right on my head and then I was super disoriented. There were definitely some nerves [competing in Whistler], especially during big air. The weather wasn’t great on Sunday, and it was kind of the same as in Italy when I crashed.”

Nonetheless, Heslop managed to regroup.

“I’d say I did a pretty good job of pulling myself together and putting down a run,” he commented. “The original plan for Junior Nationals was just to have some fun. These courses that they build [in Whistler] are far from standard, and I think it definitely helps to live here and constantly be skiing them.”

Heslop has his sights set on the Nor-Am circuit next season. Elite results on that tour would vault him into World Cup action, which remains the ultimate goal.

WUNDERKIND

We should all congratulate Oliver for his silver medal. We should also be blown away by the fact he’s just 14.

As one of the youngest athletes in the field, Oliver understandably felt anxious going into last weekend. He vented to his

mom Louise and to coach Brandon Fritz (a.k.a. Fritzy) about how well he’d seen his opponents perform, and how he doubted his own ability to keep up with them.

Louise and Fritzy helped him discover self-belief, and for good reason. Oliver has a triple cork 1080, a switch double 1260 and an unnatural double 1080 in his bag of tricks— stuff one might see at a Nor-Am tier event. He landed all three during his slopestyle run.

“I’ve had so much experience on these jumps in Whistler and my coach has really pushed me to get ready for all the bigger competitions,” said Oliver. “It means a lot to do super well at one of them because I’ve trained so hard for it.”

Oliver’s illustrious season also includes big air gold and slopestyle silver at a nationallevel contest in Calgary and a landslide overall title on the Timber Tour—which he will likely not return to despite having one more year of eligibility. The young man’s knowledge of freestyle skiing transcends his age, and he’s excited to brush shoulders with all kinds of peers at every outing.

“It feels great to get out there and compete against a bunch of my friends from Silver Star, Big White, Sun Peaks and all these other areas,” Oliver said. “It’s definitely awesome to see them try their hardest and see myself progress.”

Of course, his most important supporters are right here at home.

“Freestyle Whistler tries to get the best out of you and they really have the best coaches in the game for that,” remarked Oliver. “It’s an honour to be against the guys who compete for the province when I’m just competing for my hometown.”  n

BRIGHT FUTURE Whistler Junior Nationals female slopestyle medallists, left to right: Sylvia Trotter, Avery Krumme and Evelyn Mullie.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHEN REICHERT

SPORTS THE SCORE

‘It all lined up in front of me’

WHISTLER SNOWBOARDER MIKEY CICCARELLI WINS 2024 NATURAL SELECTION TOUR; JAMIE ANDERSON THIRD AMONG WOMEN

BY DAVID SONG

IN ANOTHER LIFE, Mikey Ciccarelli might have gone to the Winter Olympics. We might have watched him suit up alongside the likes of Mark McMorris and Darcy Sharpe at Beijing 2022, going for slopestyle and big-air gold. Yet Ciccarelli relinquished his former Olympic dream to walk a different path: one that ultimately took him to the snow-capped peaks of Revelstoke.

It was there on April 4, in the high alpine of Selkirk Tangiers, that Ciccarelli became a first-time victor on the Natural Selection Tour (NST).

“I’m such a huge fan of Natural Selection: the events they put on and the people that run it,” he said. “Having this opportunity and then the fortune to win just feels like a dream come true, honestly. It’s a win for all of us in Whistler and Canada, and I hope this helps to inspire the next generation. As Canadian snowboarders, we’re all rooting for each other.”

Jamie Anderson also gave Sea to Sky fans something to cheer about when she earned bronze in the ladies’ event. The 11-time World Cup champ and 21-time Winter X Games medallist fell in a tightlycontested semifinal to her fellow American Mary Rand, who in turn lost out to winner Marion Haerty of France.

“Thank you, Natural Selection,” said Anderson on social media. “It was an honour to be back competing at this event. The venue and snow was all time! Congrats [Marion Haerty] and [Mikey Ciccarelli] on the titles!”

‘I HAD TO GO FOR IT’

Ciccarelli dropped in against Nils Mindnich of the United States in the final. NST rookie Mindnich initially took a 20-point lead by riding switch nearly all the way down his opening run. With little to lose and a great deal to gain, the Whistlerite threw a Hail Mary in his second and last attempt.

Several eye-opening tricks—including a big cab 540—later, Ciccarelli rode away with 85 points to Mindnich’s 81. The touchdown (pun intended) was his.

“Nils was riding so well,” Ciccarelli recalled. “I just knew that if I wanted to stand on top, I had to go for it. If I fall, I fall, and if I land, I land. Without fear, I put it out on the line and that first cab five really set the tone for my run.”

Mindnich settled for silver as bronze went to 2023 champion and NST founder Travis Rice.

Giving up a chance at an Olympic berth sounds like insanity to some, but Ciccarelli knows why he made that call.

“It’s funny, the way it all transpired,” he said. “I really wanted to have more fun on my snowboard and I felt like chasing that Olympic dream on the slopestyle circuit just wasn’t fulfilling me. I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I once was.

“I’ve had lots of ups and downs in my

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snowboarding career—I think Natural Selection is my third win ever. It all lined up in front of me … I found myself competing again, in an arena that I really enjoyed and with my favourite riders of all time.”

JUST AS HUNGRY

Since its beginnings in 2020, the NST has attracted top talent from all corners of the snowboarding realm like moths to a flame. Plenty of elite freestylers, from McMorris to Anderson to Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, find it as compelling as big mountain maestros like Ciccarelli and Mindnich. Each year, the tour visits all kinds of world-class venues from Baldface Valhalla to Valdez, Alaska.

One gets considerably more open space with which to operate at Selkirk Tangiers than, say, Valdez with its cliffs and rocks. That plays to the advantage of a man like Ciccarelli, who can focus on building speed and momentum without worrying about an abundance of natural hazards. Even so, it’s a challenge—NST athletes don’t get to inspect their terrain until shortly before the event begins.

This time, the northeast-facing Mosquito Bowl lay before them: 1,600 feet of vertical descent stretched across 52 hectares.

“[NST organizers] are so good with venue selection and choice of terrain that it really does allow someone to step up and ride better than they even thought they were capable of,” said Ciccarelli. “I definitely didn’t think I was supposed to be in that final and found myself there, so it was surreal.”

And while Olympic and X Games contenders enjoy an increasingly bright spotlight, the NST plays a key role in elevating riders who prefer the mountain to the park.

“Maybe the general public doesn’t realize that we’re just as hungry as the national team competitors, but in a different environment,” remarked Ciccarelli.

Event replays and full results are available at naturalselectiontour.com. n

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ALL NATURAL Natural Selection Tour men’s medallists, left to right: Nils Mindnich, Mikey Ciccarelli and Travis Rice.

PHOTO BY COLIN WISEMAN/NATURAL SELECTION

Satiate your sweet tooth at the Bearfoot Bistro this spring

THE MAGIC OF MAPLE: A SUGAR SHACK DINING EXPERIENCE TAKES OVER THE BEARFOOT APRIL 10 TO 30

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

THIS SPRING, Whistlerites will get a chance to experience a sweet and savoury tradition steeped in centuries of Quebec culture when the world-renowned Bearfoot Bistro tries its hand at a new down-season offering.

The Magic of Maple: A Sugar Shack Dining Experience takes over the Bearfoot from April 10 to 30, celebrating the maple tree sap harvest in Quebec (or sugaring season), where maple trees are tapped to collect the prized sap (sometimes referred to as liquid gold).

A partnership with Maple from Canada, the concept came about when the Bearfoot team was considering options for a new slow-season experience, explained Bearfoot’s culinary director Dominic Fortin.

“There is quite a few of us in the Bearfoot Bistro team, especially in the management team, that are from Quebec,” he said.

“So for us, at this time of the year, when I was a kid we used to go to the sugar shack all the time … so we had the idea to bring that to

the public here, to the population of Whistler.”

A traditional “sugar shack” is a rustic cabin where sap collected from maple trees is boiled and reduced to create maple water, maple syrup, and various other products. Gathering at the sugar shack for family fun, music and laughter is a spring tradition in la belle province.

line-up of family-style dining options starting at $49 per person.

Main dishes include a Miso Maple Black Cod with pickled shitake mushrooms, maple dashi, and goma-ae; Braised Beef Tourtière with caribou jus; Onion Tarte Tatin with maple whisky glaze and hazelnuts; and Québec Veal Tenderloin with confit sweetbreads, parsnip,

“It’s a celebration, so we’re going to have lots of music going on ... everything is going to be shareable at the table.”

- DOMINIC FORTIN

“You would go there, to the sugar shack, and you would have many activities with the family outside, and then you would go inside and have a big brunch/lunch, everything from cooking eggs in maple syrup, all the way to cooking ham, bacon, beans,” Fortin said. “It’s a big celebration.”

Now, Whistler locals are invited to join in the tradition themselves.

When they come to the Bearfoot Bistro this spring, guests will be treated to a tantalizing

maple whisky jus, and apple (to name just a few of the new offerings).

“And of course we’re going to have multiple desserts made with maple syrup, maple sugar and maple butter,” Fortin said. “So we have the traditional maple cone, but we’re doing it in a way with marshmallow and maple syrup; Liquid nitrogen ice cream with maple butter and maple syrup—oh my gosh, the list goes on.”

Near the top of that tantalizing dessert list,

for Fortin at least, is the tableside maple taffy offerings Bearfoot is planning this month.

“When I was a kid, I would eat so much of it. It would be why I would go to the sugar shack, for the end of the meal they would use the maple syrup,” he said. “They cook the maple syrup to I think it’s about 110 degrees, so it gets thick, and then you put it on snow, and then you just go at it with a stick and then you roll it around… for me, it brings so many memories.”

The limited-edition menu offers something for everyone in town, Fortin said, but it’s not just about the food.

“It’s much more relaxed, it’s an easygoing atmosphere,” he said.

“It’s a celebration, so we’re going to have lots of music going on, and also all familystyle in terms of food, so everything is going to be shareable at the table.”

Creating the brand-new dining experience was a tall task for the Bearfoot team, but the hope is the Sugar Shack Dining Experience becomes a new annual tradition at the restaurant itself.

“That’s what we’re trying to do. Of course, the first year will always be the hardest one, but we’re going all-out with different multi-course menus,” Fortin said. “Usually a sugar shack is not necessarily vegetarian friendly, so we worked hard to have offerings for vegetarians as well.”

Read more and find the full menu at bearfootbistro.com/the-magic-of-maple. n

SWEET OF THE MOMENT The Bearfoot Bistro is inviting all locals and guests to a brand-new dining experience this spring.

PHOTO BY JOERN ROHDE / COURTESY OF BEARFOOT BISTRO

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Night Tales to wrap up World Ski and Snowboard Festival Music Series

AARON BANNIE AND KAMALIZA SALAMBA PERFORM APRIL 14 AT SKIERS’

BY DAVID SONG

EACH YEAR, the World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF) brings together an eclectic lineup of musical talent to complement riders and their on-mountain feats of athleticism. This time around, Night Tales will receive the honour of closing the show.

Composed of Aaron Bannie and Kamaliza Salamba, Night Tales is an Australian/ British duo based in Los Angeles with roots in the pop and R&B worlds. They’ve united to bring a new spin on both, in partnership with the Billboard-highlighted Empire Dance label group.

“We wanted to combine our styles and translate the sound to tell late-night stories, and Night Tales was born,” say the artists. “We approach our music style as bringing a singer-songwriter ethos to electronic music. We feel this approach helps us write more meaningful stories.”

Indeed, Bannie and Salamba write all their own stuff from pillar to post. They’re versatile enough to rock any stage in a

self-sufficient manner: singing, DJing and keeping audiences engaged. Over time, they’ve learned to focus more on songwriting and less on relatively small production details that, in their experience, don’t necessarily add value to the finished product.

The duo’s profile has certainly elevated in 2024, being nominated for Breakthrough

PLAZA

BRIDGING THE GAP

What drives Bannie and Salamba forward in their creative process?

“All our music and storytelling is from relationships, traumas, and other real life experiences, whether that be personal or from friends,” they explain. “We explore those experiences and bring them to life via our

“We wanted to combine our styles and translate the sound to tell late-night stories, and Night Tales was born.”

- NIGHT TALES

Artist of the Year at the recent Electronic Dance Music Awards (EDMAs) during Miami Music Week. Their touring schedule has taken them to Mexico’s Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), Spain’s Abroadfest, London’s Colors Festival and the renowned T7 nightclub in Paris.

Night Tales is also the first electronic act to partner with anti-hangover beverage Safety Shot and have long-standing collaborations with Art Basel, F1 Miami and the X Games. More recently, they’ve teamed up with A-listers like Snoop Dogg and brands like the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

music. We hope that our music will find the right audience and help them heal.”

Night Tales is trying to span a divide between the urban and electronic genres, as well as carve out space for Black people in a traditionally white-dominated realm. Members of the public once tried to pigeonhole them as hip hop rappers, but they aim to change the narrative around what “being Black” means in today’s society— something far more nuanced than one’s tastes in music and clothing.

Rather, Bannie and Salamba insist hip

hop and R&B can and should be appreciated by listeners of all ethnic backgrounds. Along similar lines, they’re doing their part to make electronica more accessible and welcoming to people of colour or those who grew up hearing urban rap and hip hop.

Outside of perhaps Drake and Beyoncé, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many acts who do what Night Tales does. Now, they’re bringing their dynamic blend of storytelling, melodic rhythms, infectiously compelling vocals and live instrumental work to the Sea to Sky: an area familiar in its own right with cross-cultural pollination.

“Never been to Whistler so we are very excited to perform there,” say Bannie and Salamba. “We have had some snow performances and experiences before with X Games Aspen, so now we know what to wear and pack. We love performing in these environments, as the energy is next level.”

Those interested in continuing to follow Night Tales—or who already know and love their stuff—can look forward to their fivestop “Chromatic Tour” across the United States this July and August, where they’ll ride shotgun with electronic music producer Jerro.

Until then, locals can expect Bannie and Salamba to take the Skullcandy Stage at Skiers Plaza on Sunday, April 14 at 5:30 p.m. Learn more about the WSSF Music Series and all the other events on tap at wssf.com. n

NIGHT NOISE Aaron Bannie (right) and Kamaliza Salamba form the urban-electronic music duo known as Night Tales.

PHOTO BY TIM STEPHENS

Bear-loving painter Doria Moodie to guest-star at Fairmont Chateau Whistler

MOODIE’S RESIDENCY TAKES PLACE APRIL 15 TO 16

BY DAVID SONG

DORIA MOODIE saw her first grizzly bear in 2014 on a trip to Mussel Inlet, B.C. Like some others, she went in with a preconceived notion of what they would be like: massive, powerful, aggressive and downright scary. The first two things are true, and Moodie fully understands the need to be prudent around North America’s largest omnivores.

She also finds them to be extremely compelling.

“I realized that they weren’t as terrifying as I had been led to believe,” says Moodie. “If they’re preoccupied with eating salmon or grazing, they just notice you being there and carry on with what they want to do.”

Moodie leveraged her art career to showcase bears, beginning with relatively modest works. The late, great EnglishCanadian artist Gordon Smith exhorted her to go bigger—literally. At one point, he asked one of his studio assistants to lay out a fourby-four foot canvas in front of Moodie and requested she return with a complete portrait.

“Bears are majestic,” Moodie remembers Smith saying, in so many words. “They need to be painted large.”

The longtime Whistler local has been doing just that ever since. Her newest collection goes up at Mountain Galleries this week: about half a dozen paintings of lone grizzlies and family groups alike. Next, her artist in residency takes place from April 15 to 16 in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

WELCOME INTERRUPTIONS

As a full-time painter, much of Moodie’s work week is a rather solitary experience: her in her studio with an assortment of supplies before her. That’s why she looks forward to a change of pace.

“I just enjoy interacting with people,” she says. “[Being an artist in residence] is more about the interactions than actually trying to complete something. It’s hard to complete something when you’re getting interrupted all the time, but I welcome the interruptions. It’s fun to talk to people about art, bears and whatever else they want to talk about.”

Moodie has previously done residency stints in a number of bear-viewing lodges, including the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary in northern British Columbia and three years at Black Creek’s Knight Inlet Lodge. These locations once catered heavily to Europeans and Australians, but Moodie is pleased to see more Canadians become interested in domestic travel and wildlife tourism post-pandemic.

Aesthetically speaking, Moodie tries to stay away from complete realism. It’s somewhat disappointing when a person remarks that her work looks photographic, as she prefers to display more of her own

creative input.

“I start with the eyes,” Moodie elaborates. “After I’ve drawn it roughly, I like to be able to interact with the bear that I’ve chosen to paint. Then I work from there, starting with transparent colours and gradually adding opaque colours.”

PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

Moodie has painted professionally for a decade and a half. Before that, the Vancouver native was an educator in her hometown’s French Immersion program and a board member for Room to Read—a non-profit organization pushing for literacy and gender equality in the developing world.

Roughly 11 years ago, Moodie gathered the nerve to stroll into Mountain Galleries’ Whistler location with a few of her works and promote them. By chance, she encountered former owner Wendy Wacko and the two made a serendipitous connection.

Off Piste Fine Arts have since taken over ownership of Mountain Galleries, but that has not affected the harmonious nature of Moodie’s collaboration with them.

“It’s been wonderful,” she said. “Wendy started Mountain Galleries 30 years ago and supported Canadian art so well. It’s a little different now. There’s more artists from around the world, but it’s still a fantastic gallery.”

In addition to her painting career, Moodie is on the board of the Grizzly Bear Foundation (GBF) founded by Michael Audain—the same Audain with an art museum named after him in Whistler. She donates one per cent of all her sales revenue to the GBF.

“I feel quite a kinship to bears and I really want to help people understand that we can coexist with them if we treat them with respect,” Moodie says.

Learn more about Moodie’s artist in residency at mountaingalleries.com/show/ mountain-galleries-doria-moodie-artist-inresidence-whistler.  n

• Volunteers are invited to help clean up your favourite park, trail, lakeshore or neighbourhood.

• Supplies including gloves, garbage and recycling bags can be picked up from 8 a.m. to 10a.m. at the Public Works Yard at 8020 Nesters Road (opposite the BC Hydro substation).

• An appreciation BBQ will take place at the Village Fire Hall from noon until 2pm that day.

Scan the QR code to learn more.

For more info or to register your group send an email to roads@whistler.ca

IN THE MOOD Whistler artist Doria Moodie sits next to one of her paintings.

PHOTO BY JIM MOODIE

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PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond.

LAUGH OUT LIVE!

Roland's Pub is open for lunch Wednesdays & Thursdays from 11:30am!

Join our lunch club!

Get 10 stamps on your lunch card and your 11th lunch is free* (Restrictions apply)

Children are welcome everyday until 10pm, so bring the kids in for brunch on the weekends from 11am - 2pm

LAUGH OUT LIVE! PRESENTS: THE GREAT GORBY GAP

Laugh Out LIVE!, where the comedy is as fresh as the powder we’ve rarely got this winter! Get ready to shred some laughs as Laugh Out LIVE! carves up two nights of high-energy improv, side-splitting sketch, and uproarious stand-up comedy with a Whistler twist! Never been to a show? Imagine Saturday Night

Live and Whose Line Is It Anyway? meeting on the Blackcomb gondola for some cheeky laps, then joining up with The Price is Right for some après debauchery in Whistler! Uphill punchlines and downhill humour collide in this comedy extravaganza perfectly waxed to make you laugh your snowballs off!

> April 12 and 13, doors at 7:15 p.m.

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> $35

SEA TO SKY STUDENT SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

The 2nd Annual Sea to Sky Student Short Film Festival is a student filmmaking competition produced by the Whistler Secondary School graduating class of 2024. Support the students by coming to watch the finalists compete for great prizes including the top prize of cat skiing with Powder Mountain Snowcats and the People’s Choice award of $500.

Info and tickets at: filmfreeway.com/ SeatoSkyStudentFilmFestival.

> April 18, doors open at 6 p.m.

> Whistler Secondary School

> $10

YOGA FOR THE PLANET // #AWAREEARTHWEEK

Join AWARE and fellow community members at the Audain Art Museum for an all-levels Hatha yoga class

and set your intentions for Earth Week. Experience a yoga class that reignites and invigorates your passion for the environment. Be reminded of how our impact can inspire positive change and surround yourself with those who care about climate justice, habitat protection, and conservation efforts locally. Lead by Emily Kane, author of The Energy and Art of Restorative Yoga and owner of Yogacara, this will be an accessible Hatha-based practice with variations for all levels to enjoy.

Find more Earth Week events at awarewhistler.org.

> April 17, 12 to 1:30 p.m.

> Audain Art Museum

> $11.98

THE PEOPLE’S FILM PRESENTS: PULP FICTION

Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, blending interconnected stories of hitmen, boxers, and mob bosses in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or discovering Pulp Fiction for the first time, don’t miss your chance to see this classic on the big screen. Grab our signature Big Kahuna cocktail*, settle into your seat, and prepare to be swept away by Tarantino’s masterpiece.

During the film intermission, volunteers from the audience will have a chance to shake, rattle, and roll their way to first place in “The World Famous Jack Rabbit Slim’s Twist Contest!” Winners will be picked (as always) by you, the audience.

*Please note our signature Big Kahuna cocktail (rum and pineapple-based with a gummy “tasty burger” to garnish) is only available to pre-order when purchasing tickets online.

This event is 19-plus.

> April 17

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> $10/$18 with cocktail

We’ve got you covered.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUGH OUT LIVE!

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Fools rush in

BY ALLYN PRINGLE

ON APRIL 1, 1982, the front page of the Whistler Question announced “$2 million win donated to community,” accompanied by a photograph of Drew Meredith, the supposed donor. Prank headlines in newspapers are nothing new, ranging from the obviously foolish to the almost believable, and headlines designed specifically for April 1 have graced Whistler newspapers since the 1980s. Some of the articles have been lighthearted, while others have turned out to be prophetic.

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According to the Question, Meredith, a Whistler realtor, won $2,304,197.16 on Fools Rush In in the Irish Derby after purchasing the ticket on a dare from Debbie Tiegan. Upon receiving word of his luck, Meredith decided to donate his winnings to the municipality to finish community projects and facilities, such as the construction of municipal hall

Upon

and the Whistler Health Care Centre. His only stipulation was that it also be used for “a permanent hot-air balloon in the parking lot at the Blackcomb Day Lodge with a MacGregorPacific sign on the side.” A ceremony was allegedly planned to take place in Village Square on April 3, where Meredith would hand the cheque over to Mayor Pat Carleton.

The recession of the early 1980s came just as the development of Whistler Village was beginning to boom. Though some properties were completed, work on various lots was halted for a period, including the partially constructed Whistler Resort Centre (today the Whistler Conference Centre). Municipal budgets were reduced, municipal staff took a pay cut, and in July 1982, only 60 per cent of property taxes were paid on time. In this economic climate, a large donation to the municipality would probably have been very welcome.

The April 1 front page also featured two

more stories that, especially looking back, don’t seem all that plausible. One claimed the Ministry of Transportation had announced an experimental snow removal system for Highway 99 called Operation SNO (Surface Nuisance Obliteration) that would use solar heating to melt snow off the highway as it fell. A prototype of the system was reportedly installed in Mayor Pat Carleton’s driveway for the 1981-82 winter.

The other story claimed Colorado experts had solved the problem of snow falling off the Whistler Resort Centre roof, which became a public safety concern in March when large slabs of snow began shifting. The proposed solution was to “hyper-energize” the roof by installing a massive fireplace in the middle of the building to heat the roof, though it was still to be determined how the fireplace would be incorporated into the arena floor.

Of the three stories, only that of Meredith’s donation was followed up on in the next edition. Few people appear to have been

upset by the story, though quite a few readers were willing to accept it, despite claiming they would never be so altruistic themselves. According to Meredith, he “thoroughly enjoyed the escapade,” which he had not known about ahead of time, and was getting interesting responses from community members.

In the Question’s “Whistler Answers,” where six people were asked for their response to the story, Jack Cram claimed he initially believed it, because he “thought Drew is the kind of person to do something like that,” and was very busy when he read it, “so it took a while to sink in.” Ross Tocher thought if it was true, then either Meredith wanted a mountain named after him or he wanted to be mayor (Drew Meredith was eventually elected mayor, but not until 1986). Some, like Lisa Knight, believed the headline, but then recognized it as a joke as they read the article. According to Bob Currie, “It was just too much of a coincidence to have a story like that April 1.” n

LUCK OF THE IRISH The front page of the Whistler Question on April 1, 1982.

NOTICE OF ZONING AMENDMENTS

ELECTORAL AREAS A,B,C,D

Pursuant to Section 467(1) of the Local Government Act notice of the intent of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) to consider the subject bylaws at the April 24, 2024 SLRD Board meeting is provided:

“The SUBJECT BYLAWS”

- Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area A Zoning Bylaw No 670, 1999, Amendment Bylaw No 1851-2024;

- Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area B Zoning Bylaw No 1300-2013, Amendment Bylaw No 1852-2024;

- Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area C Zoning Bylaw No 765, 2002, Amendment Bylaw No 1853-2024;

- Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area D Zoning Bylaw No 1350-2016, Amendment Bylaw No 1854-2024.

PURPOSE OF THE SUBJECT BYLAWS:

The Local Government Act was amended on December 7, 2023, to require local governments to update their zoning bylaws to allow secondary suites or accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in all single-family zones and where applicable, permit a minimum of 3-6 units of smallscale, multi-unit housing (SSMUH) in zones otherwise restricted to single-family dwellings or duplexes Zones restricted to single-family dwellings or duplexes as of December 7, 2023, are referred to as Restricted Zones in the legislation.

Local governments are required to update their zoning bylaws before June 30, 2024 to comply with SSMUH legislation.

A minimum of one secondary suite or one detached ADU must be permitted on lots zoned for single-family use. Local governments may decide to permit either a secondary suite or ADU, or both a secondary suite and an ADU on a lot.

Unless an exemption applies, three to six dwelling units must be allowed on each parcel of land zoned for single-family or duplex use that is:

a) wholly or partly within an urban containment boundary established by a regional growth strategy, or

b) if (a) does not apply, wholly or partly within an urban containment boundary established by an official community plan within a municipality with a population greater than 5,000 or

c) if neither (a) or (b) apply, in a municipality with a population greater than 5,000.

Exemptions from the three- to six-unit minimum requirements on lots zoned for singlefamily and duplex use include:

• lands that are not connected to a water or sewer system provided as a service by a municipality or regional district (must be connected to both);

• parcels of land that are larger than 4,050 m2 or lands in a zone for which the minimum lot size that may be created by subdivision is 4,050 m2;

• land that was protected, as of December 7, 2023, under the Heritage Conservation Act, or by bylaw under s. 611 of the Local Government Act; and

• land within a designated Transit-Oriented Area.

The subject bylaws propose to provide for the changes required by the Province Revisions include allowing secondary suites in all residential zones and an additional accessory dwelling unit in some residential zones (dependent on location, size and servicing), changes to setbacks in residential zones, height increases for single family dwellings and accessory dwelling units, new parking requirements for secondary suites, and residential density increases in SLRDserviced areas and areas within the urban containment boundaries of the Regional Growth Strategy

No density increases are proposed for land within the Agricultural Land Reserve except for increases to the size of secondary suites

All SLRD Zoning bylaws are being amended to address the required changes The subject bylaws apply to lands located in Electoral Areas A, B,C and D where the SSMUH requirements are applicable.

INPUT:

A copy of the subject bylaws may be inspected at the Regional District office, 1350 Aster Street, Pemberton, BC, during office hours 8:00 am to 4:00 pm from April 14 to April 24, 2024 not including weekends and statutory holidays. You can also learn more about the subject bylaws when the April 24, 2024 Board agenda is posted on the SLRD website (https://www slrd.bc.ca/inside-slrd/meetings-agendas) on Friday, April 19th. Additional information may be found on the SLRD website here:https://www.slrd.bc.ca/inside-slrd/current-projects-initiatives/ small-scale-multi-unit-housing-legislation-bill-44-housing-statutes

The SLRD Board will be considering first reading of the subject bylaws at theApril 24, 2024 SLRD Board meeting. All persons may provide written submissions respecting matters contained in the bylaws. Written submissions must be addressed to “SLRD Board of Directors,” and include your name and community of residence.

Until 4:00 pm on March 23, 2024, written submissions will be received at the following:

Email: planning@slrd.bc.ca

Hard Copy: Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Planning Department PO Box 219, Pemberton, BCV0N 2L0

ASTROLOGY

Free Will Astrology

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Now is a favourable time to make initial inquiries, ask for free samples, and enjoy window shopping. But it’s not an opportune time to seal final decisions or sign binding contracts. Have fun haggling and exploring, even as you avoid making permanent promises. Follow the inklings of your heart more than the speculations of your head, but refrain from pledging your heart until lots of evidence is available. You are in a prime position to attract and consider an array of possibilities, and for best results you should remain noncommittal for the foreseeable future.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Betty Bender said, “Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death.” Painter Georgia O’Keeffe confessed she always harboured chronic anxiety—yet that never stopped her from doing what she loved. Philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Anyone who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.”

I hope these testimonials inspire you to bolster your grit, Taurus. In the coming days, you may not have any more or less fear than usual. But you will be able to summon extra courage and willpower as you render the fear at least semi-irrelevant.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199) was a medieval king of England. How did he get his nickname? Scholars say it was because of his skill as a military leader. But legend tells an additional story. As a young man, Richard was imprisoned by an enemy who arranged for a hungry lion to be brought into his cell. As the beast opened its maw to maul the future king, Richard thrust his arm down its throat and tore out its heart, killing it. What does this tale have to do with you, Gemini? I predict you will soon encounter a test that’s less extreme than Richard’s but equally solvable by bursts of creative ingenuity. Though there will be no physical danger, you will be wise to call on similar boldness. Drawing on the element of surprise may also serve you well.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Will the adventures heading your way be unusual, amusing, and even unprecedented? I bet they will have at least some of those elements. You could encounter plot twists you’ve never witnessed or imagined. You may be inspired to dream up creative adjustments unlike any you’ve tried. These would be very positive developments. They suggest you’re becoming more comfortable with expressing your authentic self and less susceptible to the influence of people’s expectations. Every one of us is a unique genius in some ways, and you’re getting closer to inhabiting the fullness of yours.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): At least for now, help may not be available from the usual sources. Is the doctor sick? Does mommy need mothering? Is the therapist feeling depressed? My advice is to not worry about the deficiencies, but rather shift your attention to skilful surrogates and substitutes. They may give you what you need—and even more. I’m reminded of The Crystal Cave, a novel about the Arthurian legend. The king, Ambrosius Aurelianus, advises the magician Merlin, “Take power where it is offered.” In other words: not where you think or wish power would be, but from sources that are unexpected or outside your customary parameters.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The rest of the story is not yet ready to emerge, but it will be soon. Be patient just a while longer. When full disclosure arrives, you will no longer have to guess about hidden agendas and simmering subtexts. Adventures in the underworld will move above ground. Missing links will finally appear, and perplexing ambiguities will be clarified. Here’s how you can expedite these developments: Make sure you are thoroughly receptive to knowing the rest of the story. Assert your strong desire to dissolve ignorance.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the coming weeks, you can ask for and receive more blessings than usual. So

please be aggressive and imaginative about asking! Here are suggestions about what gifts to seek out: 1. vigorous support as you transform two oppositional forces into complementary influences; 2. extra money, time, and spaciousness as you convert a drawback into an asset; 3. kindness and understanding as you ripen an unripe aspect of yourself; 4. inspiration and advice as you make new connections that will serve your future goals.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Read the two help-wanted ads below. Meditate on which appeals to you more, and treat this choice as a metaphor for a personal decision you face. 1. “Pedestrian, predictable organization seeks humdrum people with low-grade ambitions for tasks that perform marginally useful services. Interested in exploring mild passions and learning more about the art of spiritual bypassing?” 2. “Our high-octane conclave values the arts of playing while you work and working while you play. Are you ready and able to provide your creative input? Are you interested in exploring the privilege and responsibility of forever reinventing yourself? We love restless seekers who are never bored.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): What is a gourmet bargain? What is a discount marvel? How about an inspiring breakthrough that incurs no debt? Themes like those are weaving their way into your destiny. So be alert for the likelihood that cheap thrills will be superior to the expensive kind. Search for elegance and beauty in earthy locations that aren’t sleek and polished. Be receptive to the possibility that splendour and awe may be available to you at a low cost. Now may be one of those rare times when imperfect things are more sublime than the so-called perfect stuff.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in,” wrote novelist Graham Greene. For me, it was three days near the end of third grade when I wrote a fairy tale about the unruly adventures of a fictional kid named Polly. Her wildness was infused with kindness. Her rebellions were assertive but friendly. For the first time, as I told Polly’s story, I realized I wanted to be an unconventional writer when I grew up. What about you, Capricorn? When you were young, was there a comparable opening to your future? If so, now is a good phase to revisit it, commune with your memories of it, and invite it to inspire the next stage of its evolution in you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Even when you are your regular, ordinary self, you have a knack and fondness for irregularity and originality. And these days, your affinity for what’s unprecedented and uncommon is even higher than usual. I am happy about that. I am cheering you on. So please enjoy yourself profoundly as you experiment with nonstandard approaches. Be as idiosyncratic as you dare! Even downright weird! But also try to avoid direct conflicts with the Guardians of How Things Have Always Been Done. Don’t allow Change Haters to interfere with your fun or obstruct the enhancements you want to instigate. Be a slippery innovator. Be an irrepressible instigator.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Below are truths I hope you will ripen and deepen in the coming months. 1. Negative feelings are not necessarily truer and more profound than positive ones. 2. Cynical opinions are not automatically more intelligent or well-founded than optimistic opinions. 3. Criticizing and berating yourself is not a more robust sign of self-awareness than praising and appreciating yourself. 4. Any paranoia you feel may be a stunted emotion resulting from psychic skills you have neglected to develop. 5. Agitation and anxiety can almost always be converted into creative energy.

Homework: What’s your best method for dissolving bad habits? Tell me so I can benefit from your wisdom! Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES

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

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Communications Coordinator

(Regular, Full-Time)

Looking to contribute to your local community?

Consider a career in local government. Join the SLRD’s team of dedicated staff who work 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 4 member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and 4 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 seeking a collaborative and detail-oriented communications professional to fill the full-time position of Communications Coordinator. Reporting to the Director of Communications and Engagement, the Communications Coordinator provides communications, engagement and grants support in a fast-paced and collaborative environment. The position includes a wide range of responsibilities in the areas of communications and engagement administration and planning, content creation, public, community and media relations, management of brand standards and communications during emergencies.

Qualified candidates possess a minimum of 2 years of related experience including working with web-based content management systems, social media and online engagement platforms, and other forms of electronic communication. The ideal candidate will also have excellent oral and written communication skills. The full job description for this position can be viewed at www.slrd. bc.ca/employment

The salary range for this position is $74,263 - $83,584 annually. Also available with this position are: a comprehensive benefits package; participation in the Municipal Pension Plan; a compressed work week (9-day fortnight); learning and career development opportunities; and eligibility to work from home in accordance with the SLRD’s Remote Work Arrangements Policy. Interested candidates are invited to submit their cover letter and resume (preferably in .pdf format) by email to careers@slrd.bc.ca. This posting will remain open until filled, with application review commencing on April 29, 2024.

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates under consideration will be contacted.

Our team of people is what sets us apart from other builders. As we continue to grow as the leader in luxury projects in Whistler, our team needs to expand with us.

We are currently hiring: Experienced Carpenters $30 - $45.50/hourly. Wage based on experience. Red Seal is a bonus, but not mandatory.

EVR is committed to the long-term retention and skills development of our team. We are passionate about investing in our team’s future.

We offer:

• Top Wages

• Training & Tuition Reimbursement (Need help getting your Red Seal?)

• $500 Annual Tool Allowance

• Extended Health and Dental Benefits (Also includes Family Benefits.)

• Flexible Schedule - Work Life Balance. (We get it. We love to ski and bike too.)

• Assistance with Work Visa and Permanent Residency (We can help.)

• Positive Work Environment

We promote from within and are looking to strengthen our amazing team. Opportunities for advancement into management positions always exist for the right candidates. Don’t miss out on being able to build with the team that builds the most significant projects in Whistler.

Send your resume to info@evrfinehomes.com We look forward to hearing from you!

Lil’wat Nation Employment Opportunities

Ullus Community Centre

• Social worker ($80,371.20 - $91,673.40 per year)

• Band Social Development worker ($38,038 - $53,599 per year)

• Housing Administrator ($46,683.00 to $63,973.00 per year)

• Transition House Support Worker ($20.90 - $29.45 per hour)

Xet’òlacw Community School

• Social Worker/ Counsellor ($80,371.20 - $91,673.40 per year)

Lil’wat Health & Healing

• Nurse Manager ($59,787 - $99,717.80 per year)

• Professional Development

HELDERBERG HOLDINGS Ltd. dba

P O Box 546. WHISTLER. BC. CANADA. V0N 1B0

A commercial cleaning company, in Whistler. BC, is looking for full-time, long-term employees/cleaners

Competitive wages, starting at $27.50 per hour (reviewed after 3 months)

Must have a valid Driver’s License

A high school diploma and fluent in English are prerequisites

Working hours: must be available to start early – 5am

Duties will include the following:

• General cleaning of commercial properties and offices.

• Replenishment of essential supplies where relevant.

• Reporting of supply status at the various commercial properties and offices.

• Reporting of deficiencies in any of the working locations

Send resume to: teamcwhistler@telus.net

Or call: 604 935 8715

Plumber / Gasfitter

We are hiring qualified plumbers and/or gas fitters. Ideal candidates would have Red Seal plumbing and a BC gas ticket.

Our work is varied and covers custom new build homes, residential plumbing, commercial plumbing, service plumbing, renovations and more.

• Community Health Nurse ($90000 -$100000)

• Home and Community Care Nurse ($90000 -$110000)

• Clinical Services Manager ($100000 - $125000)

About Us: SSHS is a non-profit Indigenous Health Organization dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities. Our organization provides culturally appropriate healthcare services, programs, and initiatives to support the holistic health of Indigenous individuals and families.

Learn more at sshs.ca/careers/ Send your application to Julia.schneider@sshs.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. Part-time or Full-time positions available.

Please call 604-935-8771 or email straightlineplumbingandheating@gmail.com for more information.

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.

Front Desk Agent $23.25 per hour

(**THE ABOVE POSITION PLUS SIGNING BONUS** $1000 FT)

Owner Relations Manager $55,000 per year

Full Time all year round

We’re Hiring! Experienced Carpenters!

Come and join our team and see why we are consistently voted Whistler’s # 1 Construction Company.

$30-$50 an hour, Wage based on Experience

TM Builders is a leader in the Sea to Sky construction industry. We specialize in high-end architecturally designed homes and commercial construction projects. Our wide variety of work offers opportunities to advance your career and grow your knowledge. Experience a culture of transparency, high-quality craftsmanship, and solution-oriented attitudes.

Why work with us?

Competitive Compensation Packages

Annual Tool Allowance

Extended Health and Dental Benefits for Employees and their Families

Continued Education and Professional Development Opportunities

We promote from within and are committed to the long-term development of your career

We support apprenticeships and will help you get your Red Seal

• Great Team Culture

Positive Work Environment

Apply to connect@tmbuilders.ca tmbuilders.ca/careers/

CIVIL CONSTRUCTION AND SNOW SERVICES

BUILDING AN EXCELLENT COMPANY, PEOPLE, RELATIONSHIPS, AND RESULTS

www.whistlerexcavations.com

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

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

Construction Labourers

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

HYDROVAC OPERATOR - Valid Class 1 or Class 3 with air brakes Manual transmission. 2 years experience preferred. $32-$37 per hour.

HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, Squamish - Minimum 5 years or 5,000 hours operating experience on excavator. Full-time, Monday – Friday. $33-$42 per hour.

HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT MECHANIC, Whistler – Red Seal Certified, Commercial Truck & Transport, Transport Trailer required. CVSE Inspector’s ticket, Air Conditioning ticket, Class 1 or 3 with air brakes preferred. Toolbox available for rent. $37.70-$39.80 per hour.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SPECIALIST – Keen eye for detail and proficiency in data entry and management required. Completion of accounting courses preferred. $26-$35 per hour.

ACCOUNTANT – Prepare financial information, statements, reports and develop internal control procedures. CPA or working towards designation preferred. $32-$42 per hour.

ACCOUNTING & PAYROLL SPECIALIST, Whistler – CPA, PCP or working towards certification preferred. Full-time, Monday – Friday. $27-$36 per hour

Looking to adopt?

For an updated list of who is available, check out our website.

www.whistlerwag.com

DOUG BUSH SURVEY SERVICES LTD.

*Competitive wages, extended health benefits (after 3 months)

Email resume to: info@whistlerexcavations.com

is looking for a SURVEY FIELD TECHNICIAN:

Preferably with a technical school program in geomatics

DOUG BUSH SURVEY SERVICES LTD.

Experience and Proficient in the use of robotic survey instruments and GPS equipment is an asset.

is looking for a

SURVEY FIELD TECHNICIAN:

We are currently seeking a detail-oriented and driven individual to join our team as a FIELD SURVEYOR.

Preferably with a technical school program in geomatics

Work in engineering and building construction layout, topographic site surveys, site improvement surveys and precise monitoring.

Experience with AutoCAD Civil 3D also an asset to assist in office with computations and drawing preparation.

In this role, you will be responsible for collecting data and conducting surveys in various locations. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys working outdoors, has a strong attention to detail, and possesses excellent problem-solving skills.

Experience and Proficient in the use of robotic survey instruments and GPS equipment is an asset.

Work in engineering and building construction layout, topographic site surveys, site improvement surveys and precise monitoring.

Please call Ian @ 604-932-3314 or email @ ian@dbss.ca

Send Resumes to Ian@dbss.ca

Please call Ian @ 604-932-3314 or email @ ian@dbss.ca

RED DOOR BISTRO IS SEEKING A FULL TIME LINE/GRILL COOK.

• Duties include prepping/portioning/cooking steaks, seafood and pan cooking.

• Imagine working in a well respected fine dinning bistro which is well run, fun, and does 60-70 covers a night.

• Wage is $25-$28/hour based on experience, plus tips. Medical & Dental benefits and staff discounts in Roland’s Pub. Email resume to info@reddoorbistro.ca

•

Full Time Meat Manager

($64,480 – $76,960 (+ benefits) depending on experience)

Full Time Assistant Meat Manager

($54,080 – $70,720 (+ benefits) depending on experience)

Our Team enjoys:

ü Flexible schedules

ü Training and experience

ü Substantial Employee Discount Card & Benefits

ü Prime location in Pemberton

ü Short commute = less time, more $$$

Download or fill out our online application at https://www.pembertonsupermarket.com/ about/employment/ or stop by the store and we will give you an application to fill out. You can also email us at jobs@pembertonsupermarket.com or call us at 604-894-3663.

(The

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Is it safe?

PREPARING TO LEAVE the Village early Saturday afternoon I heard a game-changing sound. Changed my plan to leave Lot 4 via Lorimer Road. Changed someone’s plan to have a great ski day.

It was the whoomp-whoomp sound of a chopper landing on the pad at the Whistler Health Care Centre.

Someone’s day was not ending the way he or she planned. Not with a soft ski down and

BY G.D.

maybe an après snack and beverage at one of the base watering holes. Far from it.

By the time I got to my car, the chopper was shutting down. Good to go on Lorimer after all.

Stopped at the intersection, I watched a massively bundled-up person being carted away by a team of emergency nurses and paramedics. Possible causes reeled through my mind from other helivacs I’ve either witnessed or heard about. High-speed encounter with rock, tree, other immovable object? Cliff huck gone wrong? Heart attack? High-speed encounter with another skier or rider?

Not great conditions for hucking cliffs. Looked heavily bundled up for heart attack. Busy Saturday afternoon left me favouring the physical impossibility of two people trying to occupy the same space at the same time with mass and momentum behind them. Collision. Highest probability.

There’s a perception in the community and in many other ski towns that sliding down the mountains isn’t as safe as it used to be. Nostalgia? Maybe. But in popular culture, perception is reality.

Of course, perception is not reality in a literal sense. But perception can become our own and even a collective reality— there is a difference—because perception has a potent influence on how we look at reality.

It was several years ago when, in one of those moments of clarity, I realized I was skiing the same way I always rode a motorcycle, which is to say hyper defensively. There is no margin of error on a motorcycle. You’re never going to come out ahead in a collision, no matter what you collide with. You’re likely to suffer an injury from minor—road rash—to fatal just going down on one without being hit or hitting anything other than the road.

You learn to watch and be aware of everything. Road conditions, debris, drivers, weather, all potential threats. Like other risky endeavours, there are old riders and there are bold riders... but there are few old and bold riders.

And so it has become, or seems to have become, with skiing and boarding. I get more emails about unsafe conditions on the mountains than any other single topic. Reports every week about someone having been hit, people I know, people I don’t. I’ve visited intake at the Whistler Health Care

Centre in the early afternoon. Looks like they’re having some kind of sale so many people are lined up, some on crutches, some in wheelchairs, some just hobbling toward the nearest open seat.

Skiing and snowboarding can be hazardous and involve the risk of physical injury or death. It says so in big, bold letters right on the waiver of liability we all agree to, either explicitly or implicitly. Having waived legal rights to sue for injuries—legal niceties aside—we’re on our own.

Whether you believe Whistler Blackcomb could do more to make conditions safer isn’t up for debate this

causes is long. Some are technical; most are human.

Popular ski technology is one. Fat skis, particularly rockered skis, give their users a false sense of their own ability... or lack thereof. Useful in deep powder, worthless on groomed runs, it’s impossible to not see skiers smearing their way down the slopes at high speed with absolutely no ability to carve a needed turn or stop quickly. The popularity and ubiquity—it’s almost impossible to rent anything else—make them dangerous on the feet of lesser-skilled skiers.

Of which there seem to be many. The decline of snow-sport popularity has been

Fat skis, particularly rockered skis, give their users a false sense of their own ability... or lack thereof. Useful in deep powder, worthless on groomed runs…

week. We ski; we’re on our own. That’s the reality every day we head up to slide down.

You can complain about the increased uphill capacity without a concomitant increase in skiable acreage. Or the extent of grooming—understanding this year’s low snow has made grooming difficult. Or the fewer safety people who seem to be on the mountains at strategic points.

But WB can’t, and never has been able to keep us safe. The litany of problems and

greatly exaggerated. Call it the Coefficient of Epic if you want, but there seems to be a higher proportion of lesser-skilled people here than there used to be. And conversations with visitors often get around to the more challenging terrain dished up by WB than many other resorts they’ve visited because they’ve purchased an Epic Pass.

I’m not a member of the I Hate Snowboarders club. I’ve had nearly as many close calls from skiers as boarders. But the

inescapable fact is snowboarders have a blind side. Approach it at your peril.

Antisocial media is often fingered as a culprit. So many poseurs; so many bubbles. Go-Proing their way down the slopes oblivious to the surroundings that fall outside their camera’s field of vision. The kindest thing you can do is snatch their selfie stick as you ski past them and throw it in the trees.

Unlike reports from many of the most-visited ski areas in the U.S., I tend to believe drunken and stoned sliding isn’t the biggest problem here. I don’t see that many people pounding drinks at the mountain establishments and then skiing down. Maybe the folks in emerge have a different take on it. Don’t know.

All this is important to me and has taken on even greater importance now that I’m trying to teach a seven-year-old grandson about safety on the mountain. We talk about the importance of looking over our shoulders to see what’s coming before we drastically change the pattern of our skiing. Of the importance of having a discernable pattern when skiing, that is, staying in our lane. Of not stopping below a high point. Of looking uphill before starting from a stop. Of helping people when they’ve fallen. Of not taking those tempting hits on the side of the runs when they’re crowded or blind air ever. Of not treating a crowded run like it’s a closed race course... even when he sees the club kids doing exactly that.

Of being considerate because it’s more important to his own safety even than it is to other people’s safety.

Not the easiest lesson to learn when you see so many people who ignore it. ■

MAXWELL

FILE PHOTO BY BRADEN DUPUIS