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Skipress - TWSSF Special Edition 2008 - Index

SNOLIFE
Photos: Robin O'neill /Tourism Whistler
Whistler hosts two major events: the Whistler
World Ski & Snowboard Festival every April and
the Winter Olympics in 2010. At both, “You
gotta eat a breakfast, Marge.” Here’s how to fi nd
your way to sustenance…
Start your fi rst day with breakfast and java at
Behind the Grind, a tiny café that’s a locals’
fuel stop and java jolt.
On Whistler, lunch at the Roundhouse Lodge
above the gondola. Quick pizza? Fresh salad?
Fancy seafood? All of the above.
Tonight, dine at one of the iconic Sushi Village.
The sushi’s as good as Tokyo, and the sake margaritas
are better.
Then, end the night at Dubh Linn Gate in the
Pan Pacifi c Hotel. Between the Guinness stout
and live music, well, no one’s ever had a bad time
in an Irish pub.
Plan B, for Guinness haters, is the full monty at
the Vida Wellness Spa at the Fairmont Chateau
14 THE TWSSF ISSUE 2008
EAT IT
Whistler. Besides Swedish and Shiatsu, Vida offers
Ayurvedic treatments based in ancient healing
techniques of India. Multicultural pleasure.
OK, you’ve survived Day One. Here’s Day Two.
Have the Big Breakfast at the Wildwood Café.
Order Eggs Benedict and banana bread
French toast.
Ski hard all morning, then drop down to the
Village for lunch at Elements in the Summit
Lodge. Elements calls itself as an “urban tapas
parlour.” It serves fresh Pacific seafood, and
for dessert, apple cheesecake with butterscotch
sauce.
For dinner, a change of pace. Head south to
Dusty’s and the best ribs in the province. Then,
it’s a quiet drink at the Mallard Lounge back at
the Chateau. Or, rave your eardrums out in half
the clubs in the Village.
There’s your map. From Day Three forward,
you’re on your own, Marge. — JO
SNOWSHOES VS. SKIS ON THE UP-AND-UP
Photo: Stano Faban/WBFJ
They call it the toughest sprint race in Canada.
Closing the Fest on April 20 is the North Face Canadian Ski Mountaineering
Championships — a 6.3-km ascent from the base of
Whistler to the Roundhouse. Last year the fastest time was 1:03:30
— just over an hour’s run up nearly 4,000 vertical feet.
This year there’s an extra tough twist: Racers on skis will be pitted
against racers on snowshoes. The event will go down — make that
up — as the greatest vertical snowshoe race in Canada.
It’s all part of the Diamir World Backcountry Freeride Jam (WBFJ), a
totally fee-free and all-inclusive collection of backcountry events to
encourage more people to try big-mountain, off-piste skiing. The Jam
includes free product demos and skills clinics, plus The North Face
Spearhead Passage 26km race and The North Face Whistler Dash
(10km), both on April 19.
Read all about the trials and tribs, agonies and ecstasies of skiing uphill
in Peter Kray’s Is Pain Really a Sport? on p.28 FoMoInfo: wbfi .ca
Photo: Randy Lincks /Tourism Whistler
Photo: Christina Nick
THEY CALL IT
SERIAL PULP FICTION
Christina Nick’s Chapter 3 illustration
for the Serial Pulp Fiction project
Whistlerites said they wanted 2010 to be a
chance to tell their stories to the world.
It might not be exactly what they had in
mind, but this winter, Whistler’s Pique newsmagazine
partnered with The Vicious Circle
writers’ group and TWSSF to collaborate on
telling one seriously juicy tale in the form of
a serial-scandal-fi lled novel.
The fi rst chapter, written by Cindy Filipenko,
appeared in the Pique in January. It launched the
story with the murder of an ambitious property
developer and the mysterious disappearance of
Whistler’s most successful Realtor.
Nine chapters followed, scribed by writers
who stepped up for the challenge. Once
assigned a chapter, the writers had 72 hours
to write their 1000-word contribution.
This Serial Pulp Fiction is the third generation
collective work penned in Whistler, following
the 2005 and 2006 Collective Novel
experiments, which were written on-site,
marathon-style, in gondolas and king-sized
bedroom suites of past festivals.
All participating writers and illustrators will
receive a special limited-edition copy of the
complete work. The rest of us can see it
displayed at the festival’s BRAVE Art exhibition,
April 11-20.