The second most intimidating moment on a heliskiing trip, (after the Burning Walk of Scrutiny) is not actually watching the safety video, where all the perils that face you are articulated in graphic, litigation-proof detail, but the instant where, standing atop the untracked snow of your first run, the guide says, “Okay. Buddy up.” Having…
Category: lisa richardson
Choose Pemberton
Pemberton Feature Promo from Randy Lincks on Vimeo. From trailhead to tailgate, farmgate to dinner plate, a million adventures await. Choose Pemberton. It’s where your next adventure begins. Last summer, photographer Randy Lincks invited me to collaborate with him on a project for Tourism Pemberton, to storyboard a narrative arc and develop a script for…
Busting through heliskiing’s powder ceiling – chicks in the chopper
There’s nowhere else that men will look you over so aggressively, quite as overtly, as when you walk into a heliskiing operation. They are trying to suss out if you are one of the support staff – a cook, a massage therapist, an assistant – because that’s what most of the women are. (Of the…
A different way of looking: the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre
Without textbooks or diagrams, an oral culture shares technology by apprenticeship. Working alongside a master. A direct transmission of knowledge, person to person. It’s a slow-paced way to accumulate expertise, and vulnerable, but that sense of steadying slowness infuses the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre from the moment one pushes open the huge carved entry doors…
Releasing my inner Evil Knievel is as easy as lying down and letting go
One year after Jon Montgomery won his 2010 Olympic gold medal, I lower myself face-first onto a narrow metal toboggan. Called a skeleton because its 1892 prototype resembles a human bone-rack, the 80 pound frame is more like an exo-skeleton and I am counting on it to keep all my bits properly in place, as…
“Celebrating” the one year anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games
This time last year I was cursing El Nino, stalking the Weasel Workers and realising why the world has such a crush on Lindsey Vonn as I donned my best “I’m a serious sports journalist” face and joined the online reporting team covering the Games for NBCOlympics.com. It was, in all likelihood, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity….
Shooting for stress relief, for vegetarians
I’m the only girl at shooting class. Actually, I’m the only person over 14. I think most people assume I’m a parent arriving to pick up my kid from the 7:40pm class, when I walk into the musty old classroom in Pemberton’s old community centre at 8:10pm, where 6 targets have been set up against…
Robin O’Neill goes deep for Deep Winter
Dear Robin, I was 100% in your corner last night at the Deep Winter Photo Challenge, but damn, was I nervous for you. “First woman competing for the King/Queen of Storms title.” Girlfriend, that’s a lot to carry on your shoulders. I love that you owned that, telling the Pique “I hope I can rock…
In Defence of App-less Skiing
I wrote a rant for Skier magazine recently, arguing that ski days should be app-less and device free. I wasn’t being deliberately provocative. I really do think that app-games, of which Vail’s new Epic Mix is the Grand Poobah, take away some fundamental aspect of the mountain experience. But as I wrote, If you need a…
Inspiring Moments: 5 Ways in Which 2010 Blew My Mind
So the year’s over. Did you learn anything? Some. Like what? I learned that things other than obligations and deadlines have power… Guess you’re ready for 2011 then. May the force be with you. Power of water. The second largest landslide in Canadian history happens up the road in August. The Meager Mudslide travelled at an…
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