Welcome to the first issue of the Columbia Valley Adventures newsletter! Geoff Hill and I started a Facebook page with the same name

in early summer 2010. We want our own place where we post photos, events, and links about adventure in the Columbia Valley. Also, we want to connect with other people in the Valley we might not meet in our day-to-day lives and as you may know, Facebook is brilliant at connecting strangers with common interests. Furthermore, we want organizations and companies that organize adventures to post their events and photos on the page as well.

We really want the Facebook page to be a place where everyone participates. Everyone posts photos, everyone posts events, everyone shares ideas and links. Our hope and plan for the page is to become much larger and independent, much in the way www.calgaryoutdoorclub.com functions.

This newsletter is more of a formal aspect of our adventure project. We want to write articles about ideas, places, and activities focused around the spirit of adventure. We hope that the newsletter over time will grow with more content and contributors. For this first edition, we have an article by Geoff about the new night skiing at Panorama Mountain Village this winter. It’s going to be seven nights a week off the Mile 1 quad chair. Contributor Jocelyn MacGregor works for B.C. Rockies Adventures Centre, a group that helps individuals plan out their adventures. She’s written a piece about snowshoeing at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. There’s also a few submitted photos. I have written an editorial piece about my personal sense of adventure and its origin.

We hope you’ll enjoy reading our newsletter. Whether you live here or play here, look us up on Facebook! Just search “Columbia Valley Adventures”. Stay tuned in the spring for the next issue!

~Jess de Groot

Welcome!

columbiavalleyadventures.cacolumbiavalleyadventures@gmail.com

Brought to you by:Geoff HillProducer/WriterJess de GrootCreative/Editor

Take advantage of the Valley downtime.By Geoff Hill

Why do I like the off seasons? Nobody’s here! You get the whole place to yourself and you rarely have to share stuff with other people.

Not that I don’t like people, I do, but I also like it when you can walk down the road and not see or hear anyone else. It’s a little contradictory I know but stick with me.

Maybe the one or two other people you do see just smile and wave, even though you don’t know them, and you carry on.

There’s a sense of connection to other people that are here, too. As if you automatically qualify as

someone cool in the eyes of those around you because you’re in on the secret. This off season thing!

You run into your friends or someone you know and you bet there’s time for coffee or brew! What else have you got to do? You’re not racing to the ski school or trying to make a tee time – you’re relaxing!

Running into another local in the off season is when it gets really interesting. I just laugh when I pull up to two

people in their own cars or pick-ups smack in the middle of public highways having a conversation! With so few people around I think stunts like that are totally fair.

While driving the road home in the spring I always keep tabs on the Toby Creek to see how high the water is getting. We had so much snow this year, I’m pretty sure the adrenaline-seeking rafters and kayakers will be able to get their fix.

I rode my bike around the Valley Trail at Panorama recently with my dog, Stevie. It was a gorgeous, sunny day without a cloud in the sky. There were a few people getting the golf course ready for opening and I saw

one couple on the trail. Other than that, every bench, every view and every stick were for Stevie and I and we put them to use!

I get made fun of back home now, called Country Bumpkin, because I move slower than they do but I’d like to think I see more. Either way it’s a small price to pay for having the world in my hand and when you’re here in the off season that’s what you’ve got, too.

Off-Season: The new On-Season!

Summer Sneak Peak Sneaky, sneaky Summer 2011

Coming soon in our Summer Issue:

• “Wanna ride bikes?” Mountain biking gears up again.

• “Skate or Die” Roller Derby tackles local women.

• “Time to Shine” Feature photos from the Valley.

• ...and more!

SNEAK PREVIEW

of Summer 2011

issue!

Coming soon!

My take on adventureby Jess de Groot

When I was a kid, the only sense of adventure I had was delving into a book, letting my imagi -nation take me somewhere; however, there were some sparks of adventure in my later childhood and teenage years. Around age 14 I began to really love water skiing. Once I’d learned to ski slalom and streak across the smooth water, cut -ting it with my ski, I felt something new. A sort of exhilaration I’d never felt before. Then I began wakeboarding and the excitement grew more with the new sport I was learning. There was something about being pulled along water, on a board or ski, learning something physical, pushing my body, and �guring out what it could do. It was exhilarating.

It took a few more years for winter activities to come along. Once November 1 hit, I would be happy to never be outside. It wasn’t until my early twenties that I started venturing outside in the win -ter. At the probing of friends I had agreed to go downhill skiing. It took awhile, but once I started to ski regularly and began to gain control over my movements and my skis, I began to look forward to ski days! What I really enjoyed was working with my body, learning, falling and learning more. There was a great sense of accomplishment when I pushed myself, while fearful, and succeeded.

Since dedicating myself to skiing, I’ve tried my hand at some other sports I never thought I would. Kite boarding is one. A bit of downhill bik -ing, cross-country biking, snowshoeing, and snow -boarding.

I feel my sense of adventure really stems from the desire to learn, rather than thrill-seek. I have always loved learning; however, for most of my life it’s been reading and study -ing books, essays and j o u r n a l s . Even though it can be t e r r i f y i n g , it’s also exciting to stand at the top of a chal -lenging ski run, or a d o w n h i l l bike trail, or on the b e a c h , board in hand, and go for it. It’s about being in my body, �guring out how to move my muscles and my weight, learning new movements. When I come out the other side, I’m stoked because I’ve learned something new about what I can do physically.

Everyone’s sense of adventure is di�erent, and what people �nd adventurous is equally varied. It doesn’t always mean hucking oneself o� a cli�, or skiing vert in Alaska. Sometimes it’s a new food from a foreign land, or driving through a new town. In the end, all I know, and all that really matters, is what sparks my own individual adven -turous spirit.

Winter 2010 Columbia Valley AdventuresStay cool

Your Columbia Valley

Representative

Cell: 250.341.7600Email: connect@geoffhill.ca

Web: www.geoffhill.caMaxWell Realty Invermere

Keep tabs on us!Check us out online at

columbiavalleyadventures.ca

Stay informed about weekend rides and hikes, learn of some new camping spots, and post

photos and videos from your ad-ventures!

We’ll be posting loads of stuff, but we want to see

what you’ve got to share!

Brought to you by:Geoff HillProducer/Writer

Jess de GrootCreative/Editor

• columbiavalleyadventuires.ca• columbiavalleyadventures

@gmail.com

Summer Sneak Peak Sneaky, sneaky Summer 2011

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