In praise of the soul lap, the undocumented adventure. Stephen Hui has taken thousands of photos of pristine backcountry vistas. But these days, he’d rather leave his camera behind, especially if he’s hiking a trail he’s been on before. Even though his work, as author of the just-released and already-a-bestseller guidebook, 105 Hikes in and…
Where the girls ride
File under Things I Love About Pemberton… which really boils down to How This Town is Full of Amazing People… This little homage to Bree Thorlakson and Pemberton Bike Club is out now in Craft MTB, a free zine dedicated to Northwest Mountain Bike Culture, from the good people at Freehub magazine. Photos by Kat…
The pleasure of not thinking
To the farmers, firefighters, day camp coaches, event workers, frontline service people, road re-pavers, emergency responders, investigative reporters, I need to apologize. I’m sorry. I see how hard you’re working to keep the wheels turning. I’m not pulling my weight. “No thinking in August” is my friend Mike’s mantra, and the moment I heard it,…
The bravest day of the year
This story ran in the Whistler Question on July 5 2016. The online archives are no longer available, so I’m happy to repost it here. Photos courtesy of Randy Lincks. Signal Hill has one of the highest ratios of aboriginal students in the province – 40% of the elementary age kids come from a First Nations…
Falling therapy
“Advanced Women’s Climbing”, an all-day clinic offered at the Arc’teryx Climbing Academy in Squamish July 21-22, seems innocuous enough when I sign up. I have taught enough women’s only ski clinics to know that an all-yin environment can instigate some great breakthroughs. What I hadn’t anticipated was that our guides, Arc’teryx endurance athlete and mountaineer…
How to be a safe place in a dark moment
Suicide prevention training being offered in Pemberton, August 16-17 In the seventeen years that Nada Shureih, now 34, has been living in the Sea to Sky corridor, she has been personally affected by at least a dozen suicides. The most recently released figures from the BC Coroners Service, (from a summary of suicide deaths between…
Across the Divide
When I saw the book on Emma Gillis’ desk, I laughed so hard, I snorted. “Shall I put your name on it?” asked Pemberton’s Library Director, in her fantastic Irish brogue. “Sure.” When I pick it up from the Holds Shelf a few weeks later, I sneak it into the house and hide it under…
Know Thy Hoe – Delta’s Farm Roots Mini School deserves extra credit for breaking ground
I was pretty stoked to discover Farm Roots Mini School via a friendly tweet from Brooke Moore, about her enjoyment of my story about Pemberton in Kicking Horse Coffee’s Full Press Journal. I had the chance to follow up with her a year later, and learn more about the program, for this Coast Mountain Culture piece….
Breaking Points
Once, when I was really under pressure, blocked by my own ambition, I plagiarized. I stole an entire paragraph of someone else’s writing and offered it up as my own. The story ran in the newspaper. I was sent a cheque. And cashed it. No one ever found out. Except my mother, who was suspicious…
On the gift of attention: Best of Pemberton 2018
Once a year, this really nice thing happens to me. I genuinely thought this year, my time was past, so it was truly a surprise to open this week’s Pique newsmagazine, which celebrates some of the grooviest things about the place I live. And take a moment to realize this weird work I do, locked…
