Patti Larson, coordinator of the Community Connections' Food Bank, was all smiles as she received a cheque for $1,000 from (left to right) David Evans, Pam Doyle, Ken Jones, Catherine Bell, Garry Pendergast and David Johnson. The members of the Bygone Era Entertainment Society raised the money through last Christmas' Victorian Magic Lantern Shows. David F. Rooney photo

Sub-titled A Mad Dash Through Modern Global Ski Culture, the White Planet (paperback, Greystone Books, $21.95) answers the question raised by Olympic freestyle gold medallist skier Sarah Burke’s recent death while training for freestyle ski competition: why do they do it?

If you’ve already joined the revolution in extreme skiing, you’ll rejoice in this ride through some of the sport’s most air-gifting terrain. This is a true insider story by a freestyler who’s been there and done most of what skiing offers — with pro skier/photographers, movie-makers and guides. On the other hand, if you’ve never stopped shaking your head about the general craziness of skiers and boarders who think Kill the Banker might be bettered by going out of bounds, you’ll learn a lot about why freestyle snow sport now draws a bigger TV audience in the USA than NFL football. Truly.

Author Leslie Anthony, a Canadian living in Whistler, journalist, adventurer and extreme skier, takes you on a world tour of off-piste and alpine ski terrain from Chile to Greenland, Whistler to Newfoundland, through Iceland, Spain, Scotland, Bulgaria, China, India and the Swiss Alps. The tale combines pure excitement with fine observation and analysis, clear writing and a storyteller’s love for his passion. Here also is a history of how telemarking lost out as the benchmark of backcountry style, tales of political ups and downs of skiing at every level, and eye-witness reports of the some glorious, as well as some tragic, events of recent ski revolutions.

Anthony writes with an analytical understanding of terrain, weather and dynamic forces that makes this the most compelling book about skiing I’ve read.  It’s also both erudite and often hilarious. Consider this description of skiing in Scotland:

“Winter weather in the Scottish hills was uniformly miserable… Some kind of precipitation was falling sideways (a feature of most storms here) and although it was crystallized water, it wasn’t snow… it was neither sleet nor true ice pellet, but lighter, irregularly shaped masses, the size and consistency of Styrofoam packing that, in the driving wind, felt like hairbrush bristles being bounced off your face…  In the maelstrom, it was hard to tell which way was up, down, or sideways, and impossible to maintain balance while standing still on any low-angled ground. Though skiing blind quickly became art out of necessity, it was almost a godsend to find ourselves top a fifty-degree chute . . . where gravity took care of our orientation.

“…Five minutes at a Scottish ski field… and your expectations were so low that anything short of a full gale was considered pleasant.”

Bad trip make great stories.  But it’s the whole scene that Anthony conjures up: bushy-browed skiers wearing kilts and gaiters, bars boasting every malt whiskey produced in Scotland, overflowing platters of haggis and neeps, bedraggled snowboarders thrashing about until they’re knackered and upper lips made stiff by facial ice.

Honesty is essential in such stories, and Anthony doesn’t hold back: the tale is full of highs of various sorts, induced by altitudes, chemicals and an unrelenting quest for experience. Why does he write about freestyle alpine skiing? Why does he, or anyone else do it? What’s behind this passion for biting weather in the face of death-inducing risk?  For Anthony tells it as a fascination about “how the planet’s long-term forces combined with the momentary tantrums of the atmosphere in different places — geology, in all its multifarious forms, meeting meteorology, in all its angry outbursts.” The people who share his obsession also interest him: who are they and why do they do it?

The people he introduces are described with the same energy and insight Anthony applies to weather, mountain terrain and snow. My personal favorite is Larseraq, the Greenland Inuit who started a ski club at Apussuit (“big snow”) with whom Anthony spent happy hours:

“Travelling largely by boat . . . we scoured the coastline for likely looking slopes, climbing hundreds of feet above the ocean under hanging glaciers and leaden skies to explore unnamed peaks for the first time. Navigating crevasse-riddled glaciers and dealing with the ever-present risk of avalanches, each ski run involved a seeming season’s worth of snow conditions starting in the powdery high alpine and ending in mush at the edge of a shimmering copper fjord, the smell of the sea in our nostrils, whales breaching on the horizon.”

Then there are Fric and Frac, the trigger-happy Lebanese military guides who accompanied Anthony and Rich Elias, the founder of Ski Peace, across a planned traverse of the Lebanon Mountains — planned until they realized that not only did they not have a map, there were no maps — except those of the military. When they eventually spied one, they asked about the tiny tick marks layered across the route they had planned. “Ah, not to worry,” the military man said, “land mines, but now covered with snow. Perhaps.”

My one reservation about this book is that, necessarily, it tends to glamorize extreme sport. To be fair, Anthony doesn’t overlook the challenge, even naming one chapter “A Death in the Family.” Part of the revolution in freestyle skiing and extreme sport has led to the deaths of some of the ski community’s best-loved heroes. Anthony was there, watching, when Brett Carlson died in January, 2000. He tries to explain, not terribly originally, but with poetic enthusiasm, that the core community in Whistler

“…understood that those who fly too close to the sun in the mountains are the sacrificial lambs of our collective ambitions and how easy it was to die doing what you loved.”

Then there’s the story of James Shane McConkey, “the most versatile and influential skier in history,” who died in March, 2009 filming a jump in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains. Most freestylers don’t stop skiing though, however high the risk.

White Planet goes a long way to helping non-GenXers get why they do it. More importantly, perhaps, it puts freestyle skiing on the map of sport literature — and possibly of serious sport. A phenomenal adventure — read it, pass it on to a friend.

And do take care.

White Planet,  by Leslie Anthony, is available at Grizzly Books and Serendipity Shop in Revelstoke

This is the first art show sponsored by the NCES and organizer Hailey Ross said she hopes for a wide variety of innovative and creative offerings from members of the city’s artistic community.

“I’m hoping we’ll have a show that will speak to as broad a demographic as possible,” she said.

The theme of the show is: What is our role, as mountaineers and community members, in the face of climate change? (I.e., What actions have you taken in the face of climate change? What would you like to see yourself doing to address climate change? What does a mountain community taking action for climate change look like?)

• All art mediums welcome. Film should be no longer than 10 min.
• Artwork available for sale, 50% proceeds go to artists, 40% to NCES, and 10% to Visual Arts Centre.
• Take in for all artwork: Tuesday, February 21 from 1 pm until 5 pm at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, located at 320 Wilson. Or, contact Hailey Ross to make alternative arrangements (contact info below). Films and any other digital works to be dropped off on labeled data stick.
• Spoken word offerings are welcome.

Some other event details you may like to know:
At the opening, Meghan Ward, author of the Alpine Club of Canada’s (ACC) latest State of the Mountain Report, will provide a short keynote address. This talk will introduce the theme and highlighting the importance of local knowledge – what we learn from people who have the experience and observations gained from intimate experiences in the wild places. Your creative interpretations of the show theme contribute to this dialogue.

Also, you can expect live music and refreshments.

Questions? Please contact Hailey Ross at haileysross@gmail.com or

250-837-3116.

An earthquake and fire in Mexico last month sent months of hard work by the Revelstoke Theatre Society up in smoke forcing the production team to cancel this Year’s Community Musical.

“It is with great regret that we announce that we will be unable to produce The Sound of Music this winter or spring due to unforeseen problems,” said Martin Ralph, vice-chairman of the Revelstoke Theatre Society.

In a statement released late Monday night he said construction of the new community theatre at RSS “has been significantly delayed resulting in an inability to either meet the scheduled production dates or set new dates that would work for everyone’s schedule.”

He said the fabric intended for the theatre chairs was coming from Mexico but an earthquake and fire just before Christmas destroyed the fabric.

Lyn Kaulback, the society’s former chairwoman, said there is no way to reschedule the musical for this year.

“We can’t ask people to reschedule plans they have made,” she said.

Kaulback noted that this cancellation will be particularly difficult for many of the children who have spent months rehearsing for the musical because many of them will be to old for their parts next year.

She also said that there is no way to stage this production of The Sound of Music in the Community Centre because the stage is inadequate. Nor can Graham Construction, which was nearing completion of the Community Theatre simply substitute another kind of covering for the seats.

“The theatre chairs are tied to the ventilation system and acoustics,” Kaulback said.

Ralph said “a number of alternatives were explored including finding a different venue, later dates and postponement or cancellation.”

“At this time, the best option seems to be to announce the Sound of Music has been cancelled. Revelstoke Theatre Company Executive and Directors will be meeting immediately to prepare for the current season slate and consider the fall 2012/2013 season, he said.

“On behalf of Anita Hallewas (Sound of Music Director), myself (Production Stage Manager), Alan Chell (Producer), our incredible Directors and Production Team, and Revelstoke Theatre Company my deepest thanks for everything you have done to bring this show to life, and foster the spirit of community theatre and performing arts in Revelstoke. I am so proud of each and every one of you for your remarkable work and achievements and consider you great friends and theatre family,” he said.

Shane Philip, master of the didgereedoo (and a number of other instruments, as well) is going to drive the crowd wild at the Last Drop on January 21. This will be one night when you want to get to the pub early. Gordon Rosso photo courtesy of Shane Phillip

The razor-sharp alternative folk group, the Pernell Reichert Band, will knock your socks off at the Big Eddy Putb on January 21. If you've never heard them before you can find out more at their website, http://www.pernell.ca. Photo courtesy of Pernell Reichert

The festival will bring filmmakers from around Canada to showcase their films about mountain culture, adventure and life.  The festival will provide local and national filmmakers of all ages a chance to see their film on the BIG screen in beautiful Revelstoke, British Columbia.

“Last years’ festival was great for Revelstoke,” Neills Kristensen, executive director of the Friends, said in a statement.  “With over 25 films entered and showed the great talent of film makers in our area.  The film festival is open for professionals, youth, and novice for any length of film from five minutes to feature length of 45 minutes or more.”

Films will be screened at the Roxy Theatre on Saturday February 11 at 12 noon and 3:30 pm and Sunday, February 12 at 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm with Best of the Fest at 7 pm. Shows are $10 each and the awards gala $15. Weekend passes are available for all films and including the awards gala for $40.

The most up-to-date information can be found online at www.mountainroots.ca  There you will find application forms, rules and regulations forms along with information on what films will be shown during the times and anything else you need.  So get out there and start filming! Entry deadline is January 13. 

The Friends of Mount Revelstoke and Glacier would like to thank their 2012 presenting partners EZ Rock 106.1, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Revelstoke Arts Council and our many award sponsors.

The Mountain Roots Film Festival is just one of many great events that will be happening during Revelstoke Spirit Festival February 3-11, 2011.  The festival is being lead by the Revelstoke Arts Council and will have many great events happening all week long around Revelstoke including top bloke, musical entertainments at local pubs and so much more.  Watch for more information and full schedule of events in mid-January.

In a move that shocked her staff at the Community Centre, Parks, Recreation and Culture Director Kerry Dawson has resigned her position and will be moving back to Alberta in the New Year.

Kerry Dawson, shown here shortly after she took the post of Director of Parks and Recreation in February 2010. Less than two years later she's moving back to Alberta. Revelstoke Current file photo

“I have been offered a great opportunity in Alberta,” she said in an interview Friday while she was leaving for a visit to Scotland to see her daughter.

“It’s in Morinville, not far from Edmonton. I’ll be director of Community Services — a similar kind of thing to what I was doing here.”

Dawson joined Revelstoke’s municipal government after a stint as Arts Director for the City of Red Deer. She has also worked in Edmonton, Calgary and Hinton.

While here she was expected to cut costs and increase revenues in the Parks, Recreation and Culture Department, something she attempted to do but which met stiff opposition from several community groups.

She also ran afoul of citizens upset by her decision to relocate old photos and the Duke of Arrowhead which had for years adorned the Community Centre walls.

Most recently Dawson had formed an ad hoc committee of local community centre users and artists to explore ways of cheaply renovating and modernizing its interior. She said she expects that committee will continue to work towards that goal.

“There are a lot of people from this community that I’ll miss,” Dawson said. “However, there are also aspects of the community that I won’t miss. I don’t think the community was as ready for me as I had hoped.”

Chief Administrative Officer Tim Palmer said Dawson’s departure was entirely her own decision and staff at the Community Centre they did not know she was planning to leave until Dawson told them on Tuesday.

The choral concerts at the United Church this past weekend had moments where the audience shivered in awe and laughed in merriment.

Revelstoke Community Choir director Lida Carey announced to the audience that they would enjoy songs that were, at times “spine tingling” and sometimes hilarious and she was right.

The choir, which once again teamed up with the popular Revelstoke Secondary School choir – also directed by Carey – filled the United Church with such beautiful sound Monday night that several audience members could be heard saying “I want to join.”

Some of the highlights were a clever Jingle Bells version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, a ‘spine tingling’ song that combined an English hymn and an anti-apartheid song from South Africa, and a masterful piano solo by RSS student Greg O’Hagen.

Unfortunately, those eager to join the choir will have to wait as the concert marked the end of the Community Choir season until the fall. Carey is taking a break to devote her talents to the upcoming musical, Sound of Music.

Meanwhile here are some photos from the Monday night concert:

The Revelstoke Community Choir filled the United Church with beautiful harmonies. Laura Stovel photo

RSS student Greg O’Hagen masterfully performs the song Forbidden Friendship. Laura Stovel photo

Director Lida Carey and pianist Rosemary Klein. Laura Stovel photo

The popular Revelstoke Secondary School choir gathers around the piano. Choir is a credit course at the high school in which students learn to harmonize, read music and work together to produce some wonderful sounds. Laura Stovel photo

Chick Sharp is three books into his amusing children's series, My Twelve Brothers and Me. David F. Rooney photo

By David F. Rooney

Chick Sharp is three books into his amusing children’s series, My Twelve Brothers and Me. Beautifully illustrated by his daughter Cara, this series has captivated the hearts of many local people.

The series tells the tales of his 12 brothers in a one-by-one fashion.

“It’s true, when I was younger I had twelve brothers,” says the opening line of the 40-page book, My Twelve Brothers and Me featuring Giant George. “Each of them was exceptional and each of them has disappeared in the most astonishing and sometimes mysterious way. Creely, my youngest brother, was swept out into the ocean while surfing on a giant maple long john. Marty Two Shoes made a left hand turn around a corner no one else could see. He disappeared without a trace. This story is about Giant George. Though it saddens me to say so, he was the next to go.”

These stories are all ones that Sharp told his own daughters when they were growing up. They never forgot them and encouraged their dad to publish them, which he did with the help of his daughter Cara.

Chick’s books are available locally and on the web at www.mytwelvebrothersandme.com. They will also be on sale at the Christmas Farmer’s Market at the Community Centre this Saturday.