The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - A5 _ Untouched snow tantalizes - mags, movie makers --. By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN . TERRACE locals have known for years our mountains are home to backcountry skiing and snowboarding opportunities that are simply outstanding. With an annual average snowfall of 40 feet at Shames Mountain and seemingly endless backcountry terrain, it’s no wonder locals like keep-" ing it Terrace’s little secret. But the secret is out. In the last three months. ‘alone, industry photographers and ski and snowboard filmmakers have spent no less‘than three weeks filming .. jaw-dropping sequences for upcoming videos and magazine articles. _ What sets the Terrace area apart from many other, more high profile, - backcountry skiing locations is its terrain, a relatively reliable back- country snowpack, its proximity to a town complete with amenities, airlines that provide daily service to and from’ Vancouverzand a heli- skiing operation located close to.town. Making movies ° “We produce one film a year, that’s what we’re working on right now,” says Mike Hatchett of Standard Films, who left Terrace late last week aftér two weeks here. > His company produces visually stunning snowboarding movies that are primarily distributed as videos through snowboard, skateboard and surf shops around the world. Standard Films and other production companies, such as Matchstick Productions, are among the top five companies. making movies of this genre, distributing more than 50,000 copies a year. Those videos usu- ally end up being passed around from friend to friend, meaning the viewership extends far beyond its initial distribution numbers. Finding new places to shoot is key to giving audiences a glimpse of untouched areas around the world, featuring the world’s most talented ob (The, terrain here. is its biggest draw,,Hatchett,says. free skiers and snowboarders. Hatchett expects a two to three-minute segment from the Terrace trip to appear in Standard Films’ new release in September 2005. And he also anticipates seeing a full segment featuring Terrace on_ the Standard Snowboard. Show, a half-hour weekly program on Fox network’s satellite channel called Fuel, a°24-hour-a-day action sport television channel. Terrace terrain TEE Cathe. “The mountains, are gigantic but if. -YOu | break down. the mountain : * visually and look at a small section of it that’s only 300 vertical feet long or 500 vertical feet long, there’s very workable terrain features — one of the best thing about Terrace is the amazing terrain features to. work with.” Those features range from soft pillowy lines, to steep, jagged cliff drops, long run-outs and tree skiing. Jim Barr, a writer for the Edmonton Sun and employee for Edmon- ton-based adventure travel wholesaler Downhill Riders, was here in early February and was awed by the snow. . “Two ‘days before we got there they got 200 cm of snow,” he re- calls. “At Jasper, if | we get 50 cm in three days ., we’ re stoked.” Barr ‘was _ in- vited to - Terrace by his friend Ted’. Allsopp,’ who also works: for Down- “& hill Riders, but is also part owner of J Terrace’s Northern * Escape Heliskiing. _-Barr’s experience heli-skiing was sim- ply incredible and che raved about it’ in an article pub- lished in the Ed- monton Sun. “Tt was outstand- _ ing,” he says. “It was the best. day of my life, actu- ally.” ao “] think it’ s the terrain as — well, I mean, you're skiing a mountain range there that is. just endless — we were skiing runs there that had never been skied be- fore.” ‘The concept of hitting virgin runs is a major draw for professional skiers, snowboarders and the media who report on what they do.. Tapping SCOTT GAFFNEY, a cinematographer for Matchstick Productions, produces visu- | ally stunning ski'and snowboarding movies featuring the world’s tope athletes. The S, Matchstick crew was here for two weeks this month, filming. . 7 ‘Terrace’s little secret is out and skiing and snowboarding industry representatives are 2 heading for our hills. A special report by. Sarah A. Zimmerman and Margaret Speirs | SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO a into a frontier that has yet to be fully discovered makes the Terrace area unique and very attractive to the industry. “It’s a huge draw for us because you know, in Alaska there’s so much hype and there are so many skiers now and snowboarders and film crews,” . other. snowboarders heli-skiing is definitely a draw — 7 Boing toa small : place and going to some place new.” Alluring ammenities 0 Scott Gaffney, a cinematographer for Matchstick Production agrees. He and his crew of professional skiers that included Canada’s ace free skier Hugo Harrison, was at the Northern Escape along with the Stan- dard Film crew. Filming some of the extreme shots that his company looks for is, by nature, an endeavour that takes his crew to remote locations. Some- times, he says, his crew has spent days cooped up in a fly-in hut on a mountain in a remote mountain range, waiting for the weather .to clear. . Northern Escape’s lodge, located less than 15 minutes from the City of Terrace, makes it an at- tractive home base for his team. Being near an amenity-rich city means athletes and film crews can get out and enjoy what it has clear blue skies create the perfect conditions for shooting. To facilitate their shoots, both Hatchett and Gaffney agree its critical to have a heli-skiing operation that understands the needs of the film- making industry. | And with bills for a week’s stay at the local lodge topping $40,000 for. each of the film crews that translates into a substantial amount of money coming into the local economy. Combine that with money spent by visitors in local restaurants, - bars and other venues and the contribution to the economy is significant. 77 JIM BARR, a freelance w writer for the Edmonton Sun, says the heli-skiing experience he had here was the best day of skiing of his life. TED ALLSOPP PHOTO Easy access While access to the backcountry is just minutes away by helicopter, access from the Lower Main- land i is attracting more and more people here as says Hatchett.. “To come .to a small spot where, there is:no, to offer while waiting for what avid skiers and. boarders call “bluebird” days — days with crystal’ well. Jim Barr was amazed at just how easy it is to get from Vancouver to Terrace. “I caught a flight at 6:30 a,m, in , Vancouver a and was in the ¢ chopper : by, like, 11:30'a.m.” Barr recalls: “That” Sa really. ‘cool, ‘feature.”, h John Forrest, Northern’ Escape’ S president; says’ *the “quick | tip“to Terrace from Varicouver is a major selling point ‘for his guests’ frbin the Lower Mainland. “The access is really good here,” Forrest says. “We're selling season passes to people because they can get here faster and more safely than Whistler.” Clients have told Forrest they’ d prefer to fly from the south terminal to Terrace than drive the often-dangerous Seato Sky highway. > And it’s not just high-paying heli-skiing clients that are impressed - with the easy access to backcountry skiing. 5 Several people who’ve been here this winter have been impressed with how easy it.is to get from Vancouver to Terrace and then just a quick drive to Shames for lift-serviced skiing. . Barr says he hears good things about Shames through the adventure travel company he works for. ““T hear a lot about Shames and again, it’s about the snow and i iv s about the backcountry.” ‘Locals have known for years that a short hike above ‘the bar: at the top of the resort gives people access to untouched powder and Steep ter- rain that is usually accessible only by helicopter. For skiers here, it’s all in a day’s work, but for people from outside the region, the easy access _ _to the powder in the backcountry i is nothing short of overwhelming. “Basically, I was just blown away by the backcountry access,” says Jordan Manley,‘a photographer who visited Shames in February af- ter hearing that the snow here was good, while Whistler was suffer-_ ing from a serious lack of the white stuff. “There's only that one little’ lift but it provides you,with.this massive area you've got access to. I thought it was just the greatest thing.” What the future holds | With the increase of ‘exposure for this area soaring, more fimmakers, television crews and magazines are bound to start coming this way. “ Both Matchstick and Standard are entering into an agreement with Northern Escape to return to Terrace on a regular basis next year. Hatchett says his company will essentially be on:-24-hour notice. When the conditions are right, the snowboarders and shooters will: get ona flight to Terrace and start shooting. ; By MARGARET SPEIRS - OUTDOOR tourism is blasting onto ski slopes all over and extreme tourists could soon be coming to town in droves if Terrace Tourism has its way. Last winter’s excellent snow conditions here . and lack of snow at other ski hills, including Whistler, led Jennifer Lewis, executive director of the Terrace Tourism Society, to contact all the major newspapers in Vancouver, as well as B.C. Tourism, which resulted in a flood of phone inqui- ries from travel writers and photographers. Her e-mail to the lower mainland was simple: “..we have 90 cm of fresh powder at our local ski hill and why aren't you up here?” Lewis ex- plains. . B.C. Tourism received requests for travel ; ar- rangements and helped organize and fund three separate trips here. Those inquisitive travellers included people from the Edmonton Sun, Adventure West Maga- _ zine, Northshore News, Skier magazine, Doglo- tion from Whistler, Matchstick Productions from ’ Colorado, and Canadian professional free skier Hugo Harrison, to name a few. The upshot of the trips saw those people not just hitting the slopes but checking out local res- . taurants, spas, sports facilities and stores. And feedback from the travellers indicate they were very impressed with the local services avail- able here. - “Tf anything, that was what they were the most surprised about: the diversity of the food they ._ could get here,” says Lewis adding visitors were particularly impressed with the availability and variety of ethnic fare here. The potential exists for more skiers and snow-. boarders to come to town thanks to the stories that have already been written about these trips, she. says. . _ Jim Barr, also known as Dr. Pow, wrote a rave review of his experience heli-skiing in Terrace which was printed in February in the Edmonton Sun. Jamie Bond, an avid backcountry skier who hosts a web site for free skiers (people who hit . backcountry slopes rather than lift-assisted runs) also wrote a stunning review of his trip here in February. That trip came soon after a huge dump of snow hit the slopes here and he was awed by the quality of runs at Shames Mountain and its easy access to the backcounty. His stories appeared on his web site doglotion. com and in the Whistler Question newspaper. “Hopefully we'll get lots of coverage in next year’s ski magazines,” Lewis said. And those Whistler based skiers were amazed Tourism head seeks out exposure how many of their own were here this winter. “People from Whistler couldn’t believe how many people they saw that were local (from Whistler),” Lewis said. Terrace Tourism is currently calculating the to- tal number of winter tourists as a baseline, which ” will help determine future increases. - Staff are. placing different 1-800 telephone numbers on tourism publications to learn how and * where tourists hear about Terrace. Each market- ing area has its own number to call which allows Terrace Tourism to track interest geographically.’ “If we know nobody came from Edmonton and ‘nobody phoned the visitor info centre, we’ Il mar- ket another place where people are interested, ”” Lewis says. Lewis believes Shames Mountain could be- come a vacation destination for “ski addicts” — die hards who appreciate a back country ski hill with a two-seater chairlift and chalet. As for attracting certain age groups, Lewis believes age isn’t the main factor with action sport tourists. “T think it’s actually the personality more than ‘the age,” she said. “It’s the addicted skier that at any age, whether a young or older person, if they can’t ski because their mountain isn’t open, theyll start looking for another place.” PRINCE RUPERT skier Jake Palmer is caught on film by professional photographer Jordan Manley in the back bowl near Shames Mountain. 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