SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

Mid Winter
OMPACT SNOW SLUSH SLIPPERY
SECTIONS REDUCE SPEED. Even
through the large flakes of falling
snow, the luminous letters are promi-
nent. The rest of the sign, its black
supports and its black frame, combine with its
size and elevation, to make it ominous. The
slap of slush against the tires underscores the
warning. I lift my foot, slowing to 90, then to 80
by the time I pass under the arch.

I emerge from the flurry, It feels like I've dri-
ven out from behind a curtain. As I pass Spoke-
shute Road and Mighty Moe’s campground a
bank of thick dark clouds hanging over Old
Remo weakens. Shafts of pale light escape into
the valley. There is enough illumination to
make New Remo Riffle sparkle, and enough left
over to whiten the low lying gauze draped over
the river below that.

This Skeena is new to me. Normally covered
with ice in mid January, it is wide open, thin
and riffled, clear and intriguing with all its new
contours. The valley in winter is a world of large
flowing geometric shapes made of white and
black and greens so dark they might as well be
black. The fine detail is absent, except on days
like this one when a new fall of freezing snow
sticks to the branches creating a filigree of great
delicacy and complexity in the alder, willow,
and dogwood stands along roadsides and river-
banks.

An unkindness of ravens draws all of my atten-
tion to the highway. They’re spread over the

like mourners at the grave site, others with
heads down, devouring the corpse. Not one
corpse, I discover as 1 come within eyeshot, but
the bodies of something so small I can’t make
what they are.

I know from previous vehicular encounters
with their cousins that these inky birds will be
off just before impact. 1 don’t honk, They prove
me right, the last narrowly avoiding my front
fender.

I’m at Amsbury now. [ pass the road to Ron

Cote’s Mill, surprised to discover it plowed and
tracked. The steep rock filled creeks that clatter
down the mountain sides, then under the railway
tracks. to the northernmost side channel of the
Skeena, have new signs naming them Scree and
Talus respectively.

Good names, I think, but one of them should
have been called Cote Creek after the garrulous
and indefatigable saw milling trapper who has
operated a mill near them for so many years.

As I wonder who is given the task of naming
creeks, a flock of juncos bursts from the road
and sprays the front of the truck. Two hit the
windscreen and spin off toward the ditches
while | hear the soft pathetic thumps of the tiny
bodies of their companions against the grille.

Damn it.

Before 1 recover from the first calamity an-
other flock of hapless juncos is before me. |
slow to 50 kmh to avoid more slaughter, hope-
fully. What is it that these pathetic creatures
crave so badly that they risk death for it? Is it
grit from the sand trucks for their crops?

The next encounter occurs on the long flat
stretch before the approach to the Esker Over-
pass. This time I see the finches and slow down
giving them plenty of time to scatter skyward a
safe distance ahead of me. The birdlets have no
sense of timing. I watch helplessly as they go
tight back to where they were before the truck,
their engine of destruction has passed. More ca-
sualties.

I solve the problem and stop the carnage by
honking my horn at the next flock when they are
still airborne. This gives them a start, and sends
them up again just as they are about to begin
their descent into harm’s way.

Then it occurs to me,

These are the little nondescripts the ravens
were dining upon. I’d accidentally driven into,
and become an unnatural part of the natural
order of things. Ravens and crows like to dine
on the young of song birds. Here, in lean times,
my Chev had become the unwitting provider of
snacks for ravenous scavengers, Aided by snow-
plows and sand trucks, Chev trucks, and any
other fast moving motor vehicles, for that mat-
ler, are apparently good for ravens in lean times.
How quickly nature adjusts to flux.

I’ve fished the Skeena often. I’ve never fished
the Skeena when there wasn’t a wind of some
kind. Today, in mid January, when the wind
should be a hammer, there is none. Pleased to
be casting with bare hands, elated to be able to
shoot line through the guides of a one handed
rod, I think opportunistically, act like a raven
and note the changes. I fish a place normally
too deep and fast for a fly and catch a fine
steelhead that gleams in its muted surroundings.

road on a rise just ahead, There are more than‘a’~
dozen glossy blackbirds, some waddle about,”

SNOWBOARDERS and skiers got a little air time Jan. 27 as they -
launched themselves off a jump built above the t-bar at Shames
Mountain. Out-of-bounds kickers attract experienced boarders
looking for a challenge, but hill officials say people shouldn't go

TERRACE STANDARD |

638-7283

sledders rev it up

IT’S BEEN two
years since
Skeena MLA
Andy Burton sat
behind the con-
trols of a snow-
mobile, but that
didn’t stop him
from sledding to
Wells, B.C,
from Kitimat
last week.

He was riding
in the B.C.
Snowmobile Fe-
deration’s Ren-
dezvous Ride
Jan. 28-Feb, 1

raising awareness about the need for a

Best times splash in

By SARAH A,
ZIMMERMAN
OVER 100 swimmers from
the northwest packed the
Terrace Aquatic Centre to
compete in the Terrace
Bluebacks annual Dental
Invitational meet Jan. 19-

20.

The Bluebacks man-
aged to keep the momen-
tum flowing by posting a
whopping 77 per cent per-
sonal best times.

And over 20 per cent of
the Blueback swims were
an improvement on the
swimmers’ existing quali-
fying times.

“That’s tremendous for
this time of the year,” said
coach Mike Carlyle,

Allistair Beddie, 11,
Breanna Benzer, 13,
Nadia Benzer, 11, Marlee
Cater, 11, Adam Derow, 9,
Katelyn Gascon, 14,
Christopher Morris, ° 16,
Amy Peltier, 12, Emily
Reinbolt, it, Jason Ru-
chotzke, 11, Hayley Smei-
del, 11 and Conor Simp-
son, 13, all posted 100 per
cent best times.

Guy Evans, 12, kicked
off the meet in excellent
form posting a 22:17,10
time in his 1500 metre
freestyle event. The time
qualifies him for the AAA
age group provincials,

It also earned him a
gold medal at the meet.
He added that medal to
three other first place fi-
nishes and swam his way
to two second place fi-

_ nishes.

That means that he
picks up a second place
overall finish in the 11-12

Andy Burton

Burton said.

network of snowmobile trails in BC.

“I’m a little stiff and sore,” Burton
said, “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Riding a 600 cc Arctic Cat Powder
Special, Burton and roughly 20 other par-
ticipants rode for five days and covered
over 1,000 kilometres.

Burton said sledding is a growing sport
that could mean big money for tourism in
the northwest,

“It’s a huge boost for the economy,”

The average machine costs upwards of
$10,000 and sledders going on long trips
spend their money in our restaurants, ho-
tels and gas stations.

- “There’s a lot of people out there that

snowmobile and I just wanted to show my

support for the industry,” he said.

KYLE

MORRIS, 11, and Fernanda Polanco, 12,

joke around between races at the Terrace Blue-
backs’ annual Dental Invitational swim meet Jan.
19-20, SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO.

boys division at the meet.

He came in just seven
points behind Bulkley Val-
ley swimmer Damon
Hines.

Allison Knoedler, 12,
swam her way to a silver
medal in the 11-12 girls
division.

She was edged out of
first place by Kitimat’s
Angela Tam,

But it was the Blue-
backs in the 15 and over
division who truly domina-

ted.

They nabbed the top
four spots of the seven
competitors in that age
group.

Thomas Demetzer, 16,
took the gold and Edmund
Swan, 15, nabbed the sil-
ver medal. Blueback
Christopher Morris, 16,
picked up the bronze.

Joshua . Lozinski, 15,
rounded out the top spots
with a fourth place overall
finish. ee

“out of bounds unless they're properly trained to deal with the ha-
zards of backcountry travel. Snow conditions at the mountain are
superb and outdoor enthusiasts have been flocking io the hill tc
hit the slopes. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO.

Sports Scope

Peewees suffer |
losses at PG tourney ©

CHALK it up to experience. That’s what the Terrace
Peewee rep hockey team has to do after losing four of
five games played at a Prince George AAA Peewee
rep tournament Jan. 24-27.

The boys met Fort St. John in their first game of
the tournament going down 4-7. Jan. 25 saw Terrace
take on Kamloops, but they weren’t able to keep it to-
gether and lost this one 12-5,

Next up was the Quesnel squad. This time Terrace
was able to put up a strong fight but came out on the
losing end by a close margin of 8-9. The next day the
Peewees were picked on by Kelowna losing 5-12,

But the boys bounced back in their last game of the
tournament defeating Fort. St. John by five goals,
winning 8-3,

A GROUP of little skiers get set to hit the slopes.
They'ra part of the Nancy Greene ski and snow-
board development program. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO.

Numbers soar as more
tots learn to ski

LEARNING how to ski can be a daunting exper-
ience, especially when you’re still in Grade school.

But over 120 kids from the Terrace area are doing
just that through the Nancy Greene development pro-
gram at Shames Mountain.

Last year there were just 73 children aged 6-12 tak-
ing part in the program. This year that number has
skyrocketed to 121.

“We have 11 different groups this year including
two snowboard groups,” says program coordinator
Dennis Lissimore.

Twenty-four kids aged seven years and older are
strapping on a board this year instead of skies and
Lissimere says more may do the same next year.

This is the first year there’s been two snowboard
groups in the program. This Sunday, Feb, 10, the
mountain plays host to the Smithers Ski Club in a
series of races,

“It’s a great program for kids, and the kids attract
the parents and the whole mountain js going crazy
this year, which is great,” says Lissimore.

Squash tourney takes off

GET OUT your racquets squash players because The
Oasis Open is coming up in just two weeks,
The double-knockout, four-flight format guarantees
that everyone gets a shot at four matches.
The event is set to go at the Oasis Sports Club Feb,
22-24, Entry is limited to 24 players. .
For more information call David D. Hull at 638-

. 1327 or 638-7320,