Missing Link: parti

 

by Michele L. Gray

October 21, 1982
My dear Louise,

I’m sure that after all these
years, you are shocked to hear
from me. I am still unsure of what
has kept us apart, but I'd like to
bridge the gap for a moment while
I share something with you. This
is very hard for me and I hope you
can try to understand my situa-
tion.

When I was nineteen, I spent the
summer with my aunt and uncle
in Montana. Do you remember

   

About four years ago, Billy had an
incident where two snowboarders
went into the Australian Gully and
found themselves in dire straits. “One
guy walked out,” said Billy, but the
avalanche conditions prevented
Search and Rescue from going in
and attempting to save the other. As
Search and Rescue operates on a risk
basis, operations are stalled if a
volunteer’s life could be taken.
Consequently, the second
snowboarder never made it out of the
gully.

Many snowboarders have horror
stories to tell about being alone in the
backcountry. One in particular was
posted on the ‘ride of the week’ link of
Blackcomb’s website. On March 24,
1992, a snowboarder indicated to
others on the mountain that he knew
of some particular “awesome rock
drops, powder chutes, and log slides.”
A trusting snowboarder decided to
follow him. He relates a traumatizing
experience. “I shouted ahead to the
other riders but my loudest shouts
were sucked up by the trees and the
snow. They could have been fifty feet
away and not heard me. I was alone. I
was lost....I pictured myself laying in
the snow dead with my Sims board on
my feet.”

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tom?
Anyway, my parents wanted to be
sure that I knew more of the world
than my little town, so they sent
me off to expand my knowledge.
While I was in Montana, I helped
Tom on the farm and we got along
well. I found a part-time job in
town working out of a local
merchandise shop and managed to
save up some money. At the end of
the summer, I asked Sarah if I
could stay and use some of my
earnings to pay my. board. De-
lighted to have me around, she
said yes.

Situations like this are typical
within the snowboarding crowd. The
author of this experience ended up
boarding down to the lower road in
the village—almost 8 miles from
where he had set off. This story has
become almost cliché at Blackcomb.

nlike skiing, which has

been traced back to 2000

BC, snowboarding is a new
sport. It is associated with surfing
and skateboarding in that the
rider’s hips are positioned parallel
with the board. The concept of
snowboarding began to really take
off in the late eighties when
companies like Burton, Sims, and
Kemper started manufacturing
boards. Now, snowboarding is
growing in massive proportions not
only in British Columbia, but all
over the world.

Surprisingly, even though
snowboarding is now a serious sport,
its induction onto the ski hills is often
greeted with hostility. USA's National
Ski Patrol has changed its guidelines
to incorporate snowboarding into its
ranks, but some mountains are
hesitant to allow patrollers to work
on snowboards. The arguments are
that snowboards don’t work as well
as skis in avalanche conditions, and
that long flat stretches are problems
when both feet are bolted to a board.
But it comes down to prejudice. Jack

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OPinion

One day, while I was doing a
delivery for the store, I met a very
pretty lady by the name of
Catherine Louise Andrews. She
was the most precious thing I had
ever laid my small-town eyes on.
She had soft blonde hair that
curled up around her face, and the
most beautiful brown eyes you
could ever imagine. When she
spoke, time seemed to stop and her

voice was so sweet I could make

honey from it. To this day, I still
have the order form from that
delivery.

After seeing this woman I would

Mason, president of the National Ski
Patrol and ski-patrol director at
Winter Park Ski Resort in Colorado,
said, “we know that our clientele
wouldn't feel right about being
treated in a medical situation by a
snowboard rider.” However, growing
in popularity is the opinion that there
are drawbacks to all types of equip-
ment. Ultimately, the actual perform-
ance of the patrollers is the determin-
ing factor, not what they ride.

Just last June, 1996, Alpine Mead-
ows in Northern California lifted its
ban on snowboarding. Heralded as
“the one unspoiled place left in
Tahoe, a place for skiers, and ONLY
skiers,” the mountain’s policy to
restrict boarders stemmed from,
again, rather prejudiced viewpoints:
snowboarders are young, rude kids
who mess up the snow;
snowboarders are completely out of
control. It comes down to a clash of
culture carving up the same moun-
tain.

Skiers and snowboarders occupy
two totally different worlds. Typi-
cally, snowboarders are 15-23 years
in age, while skiers are 23-45. And
the ratio to men and women who ski
is more or less even, while the
majority of snowboarders are young
men. Many females enjoy boarding,
but are somewhat overshadowed by
the enthusiasm guys pump into it.

Technically speaking, skiers take

 

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find reasons to talk to her and be
places where she would be just so I
could see her red, pouty lips. I
began to eat, sleep, dream, and live
Catherine Louise Andrews.

One day, I managed to strike up
a conversation with her, and when
I asked to take her for an ice cream
cone, she miraculously agreed. I
could not believe it. 1 was floating
on air. Here I was, just a common
young man, and I was escorting
the prettiest girl in town to the ice
cream parlour.

She ate so delicately that I was
awed by her completely. We talked

plain old “jumps,” while boarders hit
“blindside alley oops.” Skiers
converse in poised, regular English. If
you're a core boarder, you talk like,
“dude, I was, like, riding duck down
the fork, just rippen it up. Seeerious
powder, dude. I totally boned out a
method, stuck out the landing—
goofy style. I’m catching the most
awesome, fattest airs...” Due to this
miscommunication, many skiers feel
that snowboarders are immature and
reckless.

ob Kerr, from Cypress Ski
Patrol, thinks
snowboarders should assess

their skill before going out of
boundary. “Snowboarders,” he
says, “should get a grip on their
abilities. Just because they can pull

   
 
 

i

Sarah Blyth

of our families, my mob and my
home in Estevan, Saskatchewan.
She told me of her music tutor and
her hopes.to become a dancer.
Although we both knew it was not
likely that she would become a
dancer, I marvelled in the idea of it
and I dramatized it for her. She
was perfect; she was everything I
had dreamt her to be. Luckily for
me, her wealthy upbringing had
not spoiled her.

After the ice cream, I could think
of nothing but Catherine.

We met two days later for lunch.

Third installment next week...

a fakey in the snowboard park
doesn’t mean they can handle the
backcountry.” Not only does Kerr
perceive an absence of measured
skill, but he also notices that many
snowboarders are unwilling to
listen.

Last Saturday, March 1, 1997,
Cypress Bowl received a beautiful 360
cm of new snow at its base. However,
the avalanche conditions were so high
that parts of the groomed runs were
designated as hazardous. Kerr
remembers standing beside the Sky
Chair- Cypress’s highest lift, and
noticing a snowboarder followed by
his tracks that extended back into the
trees. “I said to the guy, ‘look, are you
totally nuts? How many warnings do
you need before you're sent home ina

body bag?”

United Snowboards: Sarah Blyth

At 24, Sarah Blyth is an unusual case study. Snow and
skate boarders in Vancouver are hampered by prejudice
and stereotype: they're lazy punks either on UI or
welfare, they’re into drugs and booze and parties, they’re
rude and disrespectful. As a result, city hall doesn’t
interact warmly with issues regarding them. So when
ig Blyth’s Clubhouse, an indoor skateboard club on Clark
o 8 Drive, got shut down last year, her future out looks
€ working as an advocate for her clan diminished—that is,
¢ until she became manager for United Snowboards.

“T'll always be 21. Once I was old enough to get across
the border, I stayed 21. I can’t imagine myself getting any

older than that,” says Blyth. Staying young for Blyth
translates into being there for her beloved skaters and
boarders. But the closing of her Clubhouse has enraged
Blyth- because the closure demonstrated how popular
opinion is sometimes stronger than fact.

“The Clubhouse was closed basically because of people’s
perception of skaters, that they do a lot of drugs, get drunk
and act like idiots. And we were also in a bad area, lots of
after-hours going on. So...the city decided to shut us
down,” says Blyth, temporarily despondent.

Partly by luck, mostly because of her savvy in the
snowboarding realm, Blyth was scooped up by United
Snowboards, a Vancouver-based snowboarding outfit
notorious for its hard-core riders. Blyth’s new job involves
organizing their sponsored snowboarders to go riding and
promote United Snowboard products. “What I do is
basically make sure everyone's having fun, while at the
same time our products are being tested and are getting
out there to the public.” @

(CHINESE ee JISINE*

omb idee Taye) Bel ia

ein

TA (y pm

FRE

daily soup vith any purchase of Chinese
Combo, Sandwich or Burger

See ON UNS TDS i

 

 

The Other Press March 10,1997 5