The ski season at Ski Portillo, Chile is starting one week early due to epic conditions after six feet of early season snow covered the ski area.

Ski Portillo will be opening on June 14 instead of the original date of June 21.

The oldest and most exclusive resort in South America, Portillo combines old-world elegance, breathtaking scenery and epic skiing, all in an intimate resort that accommodates only 450 guests a week, offering an exclusive and hassle-free winter vacation.

Warren Tanner is the first freestyle skier to go Carbon-neutral thanks to David Suzuki’s ‘Play it Cool’ program. ‘Play It Cool’ is an innovative environmental program that teams high profile summer and winter athletes concerned about global warming with the David Suzuki Foundation. These athletes are committed to making changes in their lives to reduce their climate impact, and to inspiring others to do the same.

“I think that right now, environmentalism is on everyone’s minds, but a lot of people (like myself) who care about the environment don’t know exactly what to do,” says Tanner. “That’s where Play it Cool comes in, because they offer such an easy way for athletes to take action.”

Flying, driving, and heating buildings all produce polluting carbon emissions. These emissions create a heat trapping blanket in the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. Carbon neutral means having no net impact on the climate. The first step is reducing your own carbon consumption. Ride your bike, instead of driving, etc. Then, your remaining carbon footprint is offset by purchasing carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are simply credits for reductions in the carbon dioxide (CO2) achieved elsewhere by projects such as wind farms or solar installations.

“I have been on the Canadian team for 10 years and I have seen first hand glaciers in Europe and Canada getting smaller and smaller each year. The problem is real,” continued Tanner. “Something needs to be done, and this program is a great way for me to make a real change in my own life. It’s something I feel really good about… I think I feel that way because I know it is the right thing to do.”
For more information, please visit www.playitcool.ca.

Fernie Alpine Resort will kick off its summer operations on June 28th. With a summer full of exciting activities, Fernie will be the place to be for mountain biking, hiking and more. Buy early and save, adult summer season’s passes are just $189 until July 1st.

What’s New This Season?

With one of the largest lift-accessed trail networks in Western Canada, Fernie Alpine Resort’s variety of 42 trails offer something for every skill level. The trails are very natural, and wind through spectacular forest and mountain terrain. In the rentals department, new for 2008, the SCOTT “Gambler” Freeride bike is a sure bet, allowing riders to take full advantage of the mountain.

Two new trails will make their debut this summer, including a short green run called “Peep Show” under the Elk chair, and Fernie will welcome a long intermediate blue trail on the Timber side, called “Rumple-stumpskin”.

Highlights of Fernie’s Summer Events Schedule include:

June 28th – Summer Opening Day

July 3rd – First Installment of the Thursday Night Race Series, presented by Scott and Kelsey’s.
This fun weekly mountain bike race series is for all ages! Weekly and series prizes. Register by 6:30pm at the Mountain Adventure Centre, race starts at 7:00pm.

July 6th – Summer Community Appreciation Day
We will say “thanks” to our local communities for their support! Residents of Fernie, Sparwood, Elkford, Elko and Jaffray are invited to come out and experience summer at Fernie Alpine Resort. Enjoy a complimentary single ride on the Timber Chair, and a $2 burger at the spectacular Lost Boys Café. For locals who wish to ride all day long, we are offering 50% off full day lift tickets and 25% off rentals (subject to availability). Area residents must show valid ID to qualify for local benefits.

July 26th – Lost Boys Lungbuster Mountain Bike Hill Climb
The ultimate challenge for hardcore climbers! This exciting new race will start at the base area and climb to the top of the Timber Express Chairlift, finishing at Lost Boys Café, 2100 vertical feet up!

August 23rd – 24th – 3rd Annual Fernie Full Throttle Mountain Bike Festival
This festival is an annual favourite. Weekend events and activities will include the Dual Slalom Contest, Super D Enduro Downhill Race, Rossignol Multi-sport Challenge, Reels of Wheels Film Contest, family all-mountain Amazing Chase, live music, kids activities and more! Schedule and details to follow.

Best trails for the downhill mountain biking newcomer: Deer Trail – Part road, part single track, this trail offers just the right variety for the novice rider. Eville is loved by all levels of riders, as it is a wide and flowing trail. Once better acquainted with riding, Hollow Tree is a fun blue trail that provides a single track challenge.

Best trails for the expert: The entire Timber side trails network will challenge the best technical riders. The Canada Cup Downhill course is still revered by athletes as one of their favourite venues. Like to go fast? Top Gun is the most popular trail.

The summer season at Fernie Alpine Resort opens on June 28th and lift operations will continue daily from 10am - 5pm until September 1st, 2008. Thursdays will offer extended lift hours from 10am-7pm for the Kelsey’s Race Series. Purchase your early bird summer season’s pass for only $189 plus GST, before July 1st. Visit www.skifernie.com/summer for summer lift rates, activity schedules and more information.

Set in a beautiful mountain paradise, Fernie Alpine Resort offers extensive summer programs for all visitors with a wide range of activities available. Whether it’s mountain biking, scenic hiking, fly fishing, horseback riding, kayaking, river rafting, tennis or interpretive guided walks that you’re after, Fernie Alpine Resort has something for everyone this summer. Plan your getaway today!

Fernie Winter Early Bird Seasons’ Pass Sale Now On Until June 13th

Still reminiscing on Fernie’s incredible winter with 37 feet of powder? Get ready for another legendary season. The RCR Early Bird Ski Pass Sale is now on until June 13th. Take advantage of the lowest pass rates of the season. Visit www.skircr.com/membership; to purchase your ski pass today.

For the past seven years, Fernie has enjoyed great community support for its annual “Trash Bash”. Originally organized by Marella Falat, and later by her younger sister Tanisha Falat, the Fernie Secondary Leadership group has now taken on the challenge. Due to a large snowfall this winter, the event has had to be scheduled later in the spring. Based on observations of Fernie’s parks and trails it is easy to realize the necessity of this years Trash Bash.

Volunteers for this event are meeting at Fernie Secondary between 9 and 10am on Saturday May 31. Areas of town will be chosen for groups to clean. Afterwards the school will be serving a hot and healthy lunch. During lunch there will be many prizes circulating for volunteers.

This is a great event for everyone including children, parents, students, seniors, and especially family’s. Get outside for a morning, explore Fernie’s beauty, and do something nice for they environment!

Anyone interested in taking part is asked to meet at Fernie Secondary Saturday morning. For more information please email fssleadership@gmail.com

Seventy-five-year-old Japanese skier Yuichiro Miura has started his latest bid to climb Mount Everest. Famed as the skier in the 1970s flick, The Man Who Skied Down Everest, Miura hopes to summit Everest again May 26 to become the oldest person to climb the world’s highest peak.

Miura scored international fame in 1970 when he became the first person to ski down the South Col of Mount Everest, using a parachute as a brake. Canadian Budge Crawley produced the film that won an Academy Award in 1975.

Miura again set a record in 2003 as the oldest person to conquer the 8,848-metre (29,028-feet) peak at the age of 70 from the Nepalese side.

As shown in the film, in his first decent, Miura skied 6,600 feet (2000 m) in two minutes and 20 seconds, and fell 1320 feet down the steep Lhotse face from the Yellow Band just below the South Col.. According to Wikipedia, he used a large parachute to slow his descent. He came to a full stop just 250 ft. from the edge of the crevasse. Eight died during the expedition’s ascent.

Think skiing bottomless powder is a rush? Well Canadian Mountain Holidays has figured out a warm weather way to make your heart really pump.This summer they’ve set aside two special trips designed exclusively for those seeking an adrenaline rush. This is your chance to gulp — and experience life to the fullest.

The first afternoon will provide a chance for guests to test their mountain legs and gain some personal insight into how this Heli-Hiking adventure will unfold. But, don’t get too comfortable because each morning, your guides and awaiting helicopter will transport you out into the field for a full day of mountaineering thrills.

You may find yourself summiting a craggy peak you never before believed accessible, or roped up with your team of fellow travelers traversing a massive snow-covered glacier, or rappelling over sheer rock-face. No matter what, you will find yourself pushed beyond your comfort zone to a place where you will discover a deep sense of pride and achievement.

Kari Medig, winner of the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival 2008 Pro Photographer Showdown, is among this year’s Shipton-Tilman Grant recipients.

The Canadian team of Steve Ogle, Medig and Dean Wagner were awarded $5,000 to attempt the Darwin Range Traverse. They will venture to a part of the globe where the Ice Age is still in full effect. The Darwin Range, located in the Tierra del Fuego region of Patagonia, thwarts most attempts at exploration with its moody weather, unpredictable snowpack and broken glaciers. The team plans to ski across a formidable 120-kilometer portion of the Darwin Range between Chili and Argentina. This will be the first recorded traverse of this major range.

The recipients of the 2008 Shipton-Tilman Grants plan the ascent of new summits, prepare to cross glaciers or dig deeper into inhospitable jungle. To help these small teams pursue their goals, W. L. Gore & Associates, inventors of GORE-TEX® fabric, is once again awarding grants totaling $27,000 to help finance the expeditions.

The annual Shipton-Tilman Grant program was established by Gore as a tribute to the spirit of adventure embodied by legendary explorers Eric Shipton (b. 1907) and Bill Tilman (b. 1897). Now in its 18th year, the program provides funds to be divided among expeditions that are most in harmony with Shipton and Tilman’s philosophies.

Applications are accepted from small, unencumbered teams of friends with daring and imaginative goals. The expedition team must plan to accomplish their feat in a self-propelled, environmentally sound and cost-effective way.

“Exploration requires a great deal of resolve, bordering on stubbornness, whether the goal is a virgin summit or a new solution to meet the needs of consumers or industry,” said Cynthia Amon, Gore spokesperson. “Gore is proud to support teams that share our passion for pursuing adventure and the undiscovered.”

The teams with “unfinished business”:

Beka Brakai Chhok: Take 2, awarded $4000
In 2007, Patricia Deavoll was part of a two-woman team of New Zealand mountaineers that attempted to reach the unexplored peak of Beka Brakai Chhok (BBC) in the northern territory of Pakistan. Conditions and dwindling supplies forced the pair to turn back less than one kilometer from the peak. Deavoll will return in 2008 with partner Malcolm Bass to complete the “unfinished business” of reaching the 6,940-meter summit of BBC.

Paititi Expedition, awarded $4000
Expedition leader Greg Deyermenjian and his team return to the high jungle area of southeast Peru to continue their exploration of camino de pierdra, the ancient Incan road of stone. This area is not only unexplored, it is a blank on the map. The team will pick up the ancient trail where they left it in 2006 and move deeper, each step taking them farther than anyone since the Incas themselves. The expedition will also investigate the legend of Paititi, the fabled ultimate refuge for the Incas and attempt to confirm its existence and location.

Tordrillo Range High Traverse, awarded $2200. In 2007, Joe Stock and Andrew Wexler were unable to overcome the Great Wall, a 14-mile, 2,000-vertical-foot wall running east to west along the Tordrillo Range in Alaska. The team intends to return to the region and climb and ski the 85 miles and 30,000 vertical feet of the Tordrillo Range that proved unreachable. A new route and experience for the previous expedition will help them achieve this goal as well as the planned summiting of four peaks in the range—Mount Spurr, Mount Torbert, Mount Talachulitna and Mount Gerdine—all 11,000 feet or greater.

The new expeditions:
First Ascent Dojitsenga SE Tibet, awarded $4000
Micah Dash and Jonny Copp head to South Eastern Tibet to attempt the first ascent of Dojitsenga, a triangular peak standing 5700 meters between Rawu and Lhagu in the Kangri Garpo range. The peak has never been attempted, let alone reached by climbers. The region is one of the most remote and least explored of the world. This will continue a string of first ascents for the team including the Shafat Fortress (1,000 meters) in the Zanskar Range of India.

Oxford University/Tian Shan Expedition, awarded $2500. The spirit of adventure and exploration that has historically gripped Oxford University continues as a group of six students plans an expedition to the Tian Shan region of Kyrgyzstan. The Khrebet Borkoldoy Range remains largely unexplored and was closed to western teams until the country’s independence in 1991. The team will explore the southeast portion of the range and will attempt to be the first to set foot on the summit of Peak 5169.

UK/Canadian Distaghil Sar, awarded $4000
Distaghil Star is the 20th highest peak in the world, located in the remote Hispar Range in the far northwest of Pakistan. This summer, climbers Bruce Normand, Peter Thompson, Ben Cheek and Don Bowie will attempt the first ascent of the 7,883-meter summit along the unclimbed North Ridge. They will climb in a lightweight manner without oxygen or porters on the mountain.

April 27th marked the last day of skiing of the inaugural season at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. With an abundance of snow and skier visits 44 percent higher than anticipated, it was an incredible opening year for North America’s newest ski resort. RMR-owned and -operated Selkirk Tangiers Helicopter Skiing (STHS) also had a tremendous season with skier visits up 20 percent.

“People came from all over the world to visit Revelstoke,” says the mayor of Revelstoke, Mark McKee, “and the feedback has been extremely positive.” The resort opened on December 22nd, 2007, to international acclaim with ski media calling it the biggest thing to happen in North American skiing in years.

A brand new eight-person gondola and high-speed quad chairlift carried skiers to an impressive elevation of 4,735 vertical feet with 27 runs covering 1,500 acres of lift-serviced terrain. Whether skiing in the vast alpine bowls, cruising on the long groomers or ripping through the trees with Revelstoke Cat Ski, there was something for everyone.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort will have even more to offer for the 2008/2009 ski season:
* The gondola will extend an additional 885 feet to the village site, making Revelstoke Mountain Resort the longest lift-serviced vertical descent in North America at 5,620 feet.
* The new village will be completed with a full-service restaurant; retail and rental shops; lift ticket and skier facilities; and additional parking for 1,000 vehicles.
* The first of three buildings in Nelsen Lodge will open with 56 condo units, ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms; it will be managed by Boutique Hotels and Resorts of British Columbia. By 2009 there will be over 200 condos in Nelsen Lodge plus 24 townhomes and 50 single family lots, some with private helicopter landing pads.
* A new high-speed quad chairlift in the North Bowl area will open up an extra 900 acres of intermediate terrain (ski runs and tree skiing), as well as 300 additional acres of expert skiing.
* Extended glading and trail cutting will expand both the ski area and the existing 500,000 acres of Selkirk Tangiers Helicopter Skiing terrain.
* Cat skiing terrain will increase to 2,210 acres.

No doubt about it, driving a vehicle costs money and causes pollution. But by ‘greening up your car’, you’ll be able to reduce emissions and save a little ‘green’ at the pumps.

Come out to Wildsight’s ‘Green Your Ride’ event on Thursday May 22nd @ 7pm at David Thompson Secondary School in Invermere. You’ll learn how to reduce pollution and save money by improving the efficiency of your vehicle.

“The evening will offer something for every current and soon-to-be driver interested in curbing vehicle emissions and improving fuel efficiency,” says Wildsight Program Facilitator Amanda Fedrigo.

Presented in honour of National Clean Air Day on June 4th, the ‘Green Your Ride’ event will feature presentations from Mister Tire and the new East Kootenay Idle-Free Ambassador. As well, the event will feature a free screening of the documentary film, ‘End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion And The End Of The American Dream.’

According to the federal government’s Office of Energy Efficiency, a poorly maintained vehicle can cost up to 15% more to operate. With the proper maintenance, the average Canadian driver can save the equivalent of two weeks worth of free gas each year.

“There are simple things every driver can do to improve their vehicle’s efficiency to save money and reduce their emissions,” says Fedrigo. “This event is a perfect opportunity to learn a few new tips and have fun at the same time.”

For more information, contact:
Amanda Fedrigo
Wildsight Program Facilitator, Kootenay Climate Solutions Program - Invermere
250.342.2683
amanda@wildsight.ca

It seems B.C. governments and municipalities are beginning to see the light through the smog: A difference can be made to stop climate change. Wildsight believes it’s time for the industries in the energy sector to show the same leadership and focus on making a change.

“Governments, municipalities, and citizens choosing a clean future is a great start, and we’re excited about the difference that will be made,” says Megan Walsh, Wildsight’s Climate Solutions for the Kootenay Program Manager. “Now, right here in our region, industries such as the Elk Valley Coal Corporation can seize the opportunity to show leadership and create a worldwide industrial climate change model.”

The provincial government is getting ready to pass its Carbon Tax legislation, and has pledged $1 billion over four years to fight climate change. As well, 113 B.C. municipalities (including Fernie, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Golden, and Elkford) have signed on to the B.C. Climate Action Charter – a pledge to become carbon neutral by 2012.

“But these efforts from governments and individuals only go so far,” says Walsh. “Industry must acknowledge their contribution to provincial and global emissions, and steps need to be taken to reduce their impact.”

According to a November 2007 study by energy foundation The Pembina Institute, the emissions that occur within Canada from the entire coal cycle of Elk Valley Coal Corporation’s five mines are equivalent to 9% of B.C.’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – equal to the yearly emissions from 15 million cars or heating 23 million homes.

As well, the most recent Environment Canada review of nationwide GHG emissions showed that 84% of British Columbia’s sector-specific emissions arose from the energy sector. Within the energy sector, the majority of emissions are the result of stationary practices (such as burning of fuel for electricity, etc.), as well as transportation sources.

Wildsight recognizes the historical value of industry in B.C., and understands its importance to the continued success of the province. Yet, Walsh believes looking directly at the problem will ultimately benefit B.C. and demonstrate that industry is concerned with the wellbeing of the province’s citizens.

“The reality is we have to adjust how we do things,” says Walsh. “The good news is that we can do it. And we can lead the way.”

For more information, contact:
Megan Walsh, Wildsight Program Manager, Climate Solutions for the Kootenays
megan@wildsight.ca 250.423.7212 (H) 250.531.0690 (C)