Short Turns – Travel Guide 2009 Issue
POLE JOKES
It’s pretty tough to find a lift-line around Big White if you have to do some busking for your dinner so Wiegele heli-guide and visiting street entertainer Ron Betts prefers hanging out in front of restaurant exits for scraps. “So far I’ve been able to make two letters from the alphabet with my ski poles” said Betts proudly, “but not yet at the same time.” Advice from Ron’s mother on really cold days? “Balance your pole on your chin, not your tongue.
A road trip—with no fuel surcharge!
Ultimate Ski Vacations may book a lot of skiers on flights to Tremblant and Quebec City (and this season,they’re flying in style aboard posh Porter Airlines), but the tour operator also arranges plenty of other holidays near and far. And if this is the year for a classic Quebec or New England road trip, they’ll even top up your tank! Plug your vehicle info, group size, destination and gas price into Ultimate’s litre-beater website and cost out your trip before it begins. A Chevy Tahoe from London to Tremblant, for example, means the troupe will pay about 60 cents a litre. Ultimate won’t pick up the speeding tickets though. Details: Ultimate Ski Vacations
Marmot U
The GAP year between school and university, especially for Brits, can be played out very differently around the world. Spending it at the Canadian Rockies Academy in Marmot Basin and Jasper, for instance, involves an 11-week curriculum with similarities to winter sports courses in Quebec, B.C. and abroad, but in a unique Parks Canada setting. “Our objective was to create the most comprehensive winter education program possible,” said Dave Gibson, president and CEO of Marmot Basin. Some of the courses include emergency first aid, avalanche safety training, CSIA, CASI and CSCF training and examination, equipment maintenance and tuning, and a selection of Parks Canada-approved classes ranging from GIS/ GPS navigation to Human Impact & Trail Etiquette to Astronomy. Last season’s trial program at Marmot Basin, which welcomed 16 students, obviously went well—more than 100 British and beyond young men and women signed up at the CRA this season. Canadian Rockies Academy
