B6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 04, 2002 7 7 — TERRACE STANDARD. — — SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN rere 638-7283 Campbell sisters. going to All Native Basketball tourney » SKEENA ANGLER ROB BROWN Ice he news is grim and absurd. The lea- l der of the last remaining superpower, a country packing the largest cache. of weapons of mass destruction — most of which were developed under its supervision — has his right hovering over his’ holster. He shouts for the Iraqi megalomaniac to drop’ his guns, if he has any. The demand, says the: Texas Bushman, is made in the defense of de-: mocracy even though that form of governance is: ‘scarce and endangered in the corporate theo- cracy he calls home, and notwithstanding the: fact that USAmerica Inc., claiming the spread. of communism as an excuse, has devoted an ‘enormous amount of dough and covert energy. _ over the last half century undermining freely elected governments and replacing them with ‘corrupt oligarchies and murdering despots, in- cluding the Iraqi Stalin wannabee. ‘Following on the heels of that ironic item comes an irony supplement in the form of a re-' port on the state of the Kyoto debate wherein: reformed oenophile, Ralph Klein, in a typical Kleinish whine, complains at the cost of hon- ouring our word, scoffs at the scientific majority and The Honorable Minister of the Environment, _then wonders if dinosaur flatulence isn’t at the. root of the problem. Enough. | turn off the radio in disgust, sparing myself the details of the most recent suicide ‘bombing. Only a short distance down the trail. » my mind is moving away from thoughts of Gas’ Age Men Bush and Klein to mére immediate-. ‘Concerns,’ like staying upright on the steep, icy path. , The ground is covered in a quilt of leaves. The jagged edge of each every leaf is framed in‘ frost. Their ted, orange, and yellow pigments are so anemic they are monochromatic from a dis- tance. ] choose a side channel over over the longer route alongside the river. There is water in the | channel. ] assume it is a long pool Jeft by the - heavy rain of the week before, but when I stop _to lake a picture of the iced leaves | hear the ‘gentle voice of moving water set against the distant roar of the river. It’s not a pool but a creek flowing almost imperceptibly under a ca- nopy of alder so completely covered in hoar frost they appear to be smoking. ' 1 look into the first pool. The white fungus on the edge of their fins reveal two salmon hover- ing there. Otherwise, they are as gray as the bottom under them. Coho are the only large fish that frequent such narrow confines late in the year. | move. they bolt, darting under an over- hanging bank, gone save for tip of one tell tale tail fin. I call the dog back. Stay close, I tell her. The, water ahead of me has turned copper in the afternoon light. There is a larger pool just ahead.: It’s deeper than the first pool but has no logs or. overhanging banks to shelter the pair of salmon. -holding there. As we approach, one af them qui- vers then bolts upstream. It finds no comfort there and races past me into the shallow riffle downstream. Almost completely out of water, it turns hard to the left and, leaving a spectacular trail of spray, beaches itself. . ] race downstream to where it sits, temporari- ly immobile, curved in the shape of a U. I pick it up by the tail. It is female, olive and gray with a hint of red, and still fairly firm, I race up- Stream and slip it back into the pool, then back off and circumnavigate the spot so as not spook her again. Alongside the next riffle I nearly step on ‘what may have been her mate: a big crimson coho with a black head and a green jutting jaw bristling with sharp teeth. Except for the large ‘bile taken out of his flank, he is intact. 1 peel ithe frozen leaves from his head expecting to see an empty socket but instead an unlit eye, green and recessed, stares back at me. [ realize that! the animal that killed this fish and hauled him ‘ashore, did so recently, before the birds could; find their way to that eye. [ hope he spawned before he died, not because he will go to waste but because everything he was and did was was Shaped by that act and because he survived so much turbulence to get here. There is a frazen beaver pond ahead. Below the pond there a pool with a fallen cottonwood tree hanging two metres above it. Between the panels of reflected light the surface bulges. The leaves crackle like paper as I move carefully * through the cold alders and onto the log bridge. I look down on another large, red male, sclitary and apprehensive in this deceplively secure and tranquil place. After watching him for a while, I make my way to the more complex waters of the river, my mind occupied with current events _ instead of news, a co “last week’s All basketball qualifying tour- By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN "WHEN the women’s bas- ketball team from Bella Bella nailed top spot at Native nament, they did it with a little help from Terrace’s Campbell sisters. Amanda, 31, Pamela, 33, and Yvanne Campbell, 29, grew up shooting hoops and they know what it’s like to be in top spot. They made their mark in 2001 playing for the Terrace Spirit Riders. Then in its first year as a team, the Spirit Riders dominated the November 2000 qualifier, earning themselves a spot at the main event — the February 2001 All Native Basket- ball Tournament in Prince - Rupert. The Spirit Riders went on to fight their way to the final game at the presti- gious tournament, taking - second place — not bad for ’ a team in its infancy. This year the Campbell sisters decided to play for their father’s home village of Bella Bella. “My dad’s from there so we have roots there so we're allowed to play for that team,” says Amanda Campbell. It was a good décision. Beila Bella annihilated its competition at the qua- lifying tournament Novy. 18-23 going undefeated to firmly stake its claim on the number one spot. The team won all four of the tournament’s games by at least 25 points. It picked up its first win against Kamloops — with a final score of 89-50 — de- spite Bella Bella having no subs, just five players going hard on the court. The challenge now is to maintain the magic while the team’s players are scatlered across the pro- vince. The Campbells are based out of Terrace while the rest of the women live in Bella Bella, Nanaimo and Kelowna. So how does a team made up of players far and wide do so well? “We just work well to- gether,” says Campbell. “We're just all smart play- ers and we all have a lot of experience under our belts.” The Campbells plan to move to Bella Bella after - Christmas to prepare for the main event. 1 * Sports ‘Scopé Demons lose big scorer THE KITIMAT [CE DEMONS are losing a valuable player later this month when Terrace’s Wade Balbirnie take a new job in Chilliwack. Balbimnie has 10 points, four goals and six assists: in 10 games this season, He is expected to play in the Demons’ next two out- ings in Mackenzie on December 7-8. Casual hockey Every Monday from 10:30 p.m. to midnight, ice time is available at the Terrace Arena for casual, fun-filled hockey. Full gear is needed byt pames are non-contact. Por de- tails call Ian at 635-9533 or Jon at 615-5577 or 615- 5509. Deadline looms for cross country sign-up THERE'S just under two weeks left before the deadline to register for children’s cross country ski programs. December 13th is the last chance to register. The lessons take place at the Onion Lake ski trails Sa- turday mornings beginning Jan. 11, 2003. There are six sessions aver eight weeks with the last courses running Mar. lL. The Bunny program lessons for children aged four and five is an hour and a half long while the two-hour classes are available for the Rabbit program (ages six- 12) and the Teen Ski program (13-18 years old). Bunnies learn for $25, Rabbits for $35 and just $20 for the Teen Ski. The club is offering discounts to club members as well, Registration and information forms are available at the Terrace Aquatic Centre. For more details call Karen at 635-0135 or Tanis at 635-9492. _ RICH FORGET crosses his fingers and prays for snow. Shames Mountain. is sat.to, open.— snow permitting - Dec. 13. SARAH A, ZIMMERMAN PHOTO Hill marks een on ted 13th year with two new runs and terrain park ~ By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN AFTER A mild fall in the Terrace area local skiers and snowboarders just can’t wait for the snow to fall. “It’s kind of a minor el nino year and nobody knows when it'll happen or when it'll start up so you just have to stand by,” says local ski buff Rich Forget. He’s one of 2,200 season pass holders at Shames Mountain this year. That’s the most passes the local resort has ever sold in advance and beats last year’s earlybird sales by 200. Shames mountain has a few changes in store for its 13th season. Two new runs have been developed in- cluding Tossed Salad —a short run be- tween Kermodei Kut and Short Cut. Python is the second new run which pot its name because of how it winds and weaves its way through the trees between Panhandler and Sternwheeler. Some extra work hus been done in the off-season to improve a few existing runs as well. The biggest change is sure to make "trick and jump-loving snowboarders and : skiers happy. That’s because a new and improved terrain park is planned for Panhandler and Little Dipper. Shames has hired local snowboarder Tyler Wilson to design and maintain the park throughoul the season, says Shames spokesperson Reyann MacDonnell. Highlights of the park include rails, hips, jumps and funboxes for all ability levels. The terrain park will be in place as soon as there is enough snow and will re- main throughout the season. This is Forget’s first winter skiing in Terrace, though he’s worked in this area during the summers for seven years. He says he’s looking forward to his. first year at Shames, which is scheduled to open - snow permitting —- Dec. 13 at 9:30 a.m. “[ just can’t wail to join the whole fa- mily up there and ski,” says Forget. “I just have a passion for skiing.” And he’s already got a head start. An avid backcountry skier, Forget has al- ready started hiking up into the back- country at Shames this year. “If you’re willing to hike up you can ski on a very supportive frozen crest right now,” he says. But as always, only experienced and - prepared backcountry enthusiasts should venture oul into the backcountry. For those people eagerly waiting for the white stuff to pile up at Shames, For- get has a bit of advice, “Have faith, pray to Ular (the Norwe- gian snow god), burn your old skis and the church of snow will soon be easy to pet to.” Under water tape helps swimmers A MEMBERS of the Terrace masters swim club and some local triathletes got a chance to see themselves in action under water last week. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO. A GROUP of local swim- mers recently had a unique opportunity to see them- selves in action — under water. Fifteen people gathered at the Terrace Aquatic Centre to get some unique feedback on how to im- prove their technique. ‘back swim club’s head coach Mike Carlyle and development coach Julie Vanderlee, The idea was ‘to use an under water ca- in the water, allow them to The clinic was headed” up by the Terrace Blue- meta to record swimmers . view the videotape and get feedback on what they are doing right and what needs work. “Part of the problem is people tell you to visua- | lize your stroke,” says’ masters swimmer John Da- ‘nado, adding the videotape helps the process along. “It gives you an idea of : ‘what your. body paris are doing.” -- Masters swimming is for anyone over the age of 20 all the way up to people in thelr 905. The ’- club meets Mondays at 8 - p.m. and Wednesdays at 9-. “p.m. For more information ~~: call John at 635-5637 -.