'- SKEENA ANGLER: ROB BROWN (With Rob Brown taking a week off from his column, this week's offering comes from Matcotm Baxter. Normal service will be resumed next week.) Mark’s moment Y GRANDFATHER was never big on attending church. He was too busy casting lures in the Kilimat River in pursuit of salmon. His answer to any criticism on this apparent failing was he got as close to God fishing as he ever would kneeling in the pews, He taught me to fish when [ was a mere fingerl- ing...and outwardly made great show of dis- pleasure when years later I was the one to pull in the fat coho on the Kitimat when he, past salmon derby winner, was going through a two-ycar . drought. He also had some good fishing stories which made me wish, still-more years later, he’d been there when | hooked the best tale of my un- spectacular angling career, Mark was out from Ontario for the summer and determined to catch a a mighty B.C. salmon be- fore he left. I volunteered to assist, careful noi to reveal my own poor catch record, No poiat in depressing him. With just three weeks left in Mark’s sojourn we attacked the river, alarms sounding at 4:30 a.m. each day, With just three days left we hadn't even had a nibble, That was the day Alberto joined us. We fished lazy ‘style, weights anchored on the river bottom leaving ihe spin-n-glo twirling i in the current. All we had to do was prop up the rod somehow, lay back and wait for the dream fish to hit I cast and set the rod in rocks-so not even a Great White could budge it Mark propped his on a forked stick culled from the bush. Alberto didn’t even get that far, bis weights and lure tangling in the brush behind him on the back cast. Being closest, and a helpful kind of guy, Mark promptly sct oul to help Alberto, yelling at me to keep an eye on his ‘rod. Which I did. Sort of. Well, I did have my own to a watch as well. The salmon’ 's run for freedom was dragging the rod it into ther river. But | did spot Mark’s rod move out of the corner of my cye a couple of minutes-later. At least I thought ] did; but when 1 whipped my head around to walch il intently, it was quite still, So I went back to watching my own. And his moved again. And] whipped my head around again, And his stick ftl! over, the rod fell flat on the beach and the salmon’s run for freedom was drag- ging it inlo the river, [made a valiant effort, sprinting as s best I could over the rocky shore only to have the rod dis- appear into the. depths | before I could close my hand on it. : Gone. Did I mention this rod was brand new and bor- rowed? While we cotimiserated with a mortified Mark, his bouyant lure suddenly popped to the surface some 20 [ect oul. I immediately: deduced the line, and therefore the rod, had to'be beneath it. T dipped into-Grandad’s tackle box — willed to me to show. there were really no hard feelings about that coho —.and found a heavy lure equipped with a huge and long-since banned tri- ple hook, -_ Mark went to work. casting in-the area of the bobber, desperately ‘trying ‘to snag the line and thus retrieve the rod that didn’t belong to him, On the third attempt he felt tesistance. "T think I’ve gal it," he cricd, just a millisecond - before the salmon leapt clear of the water in a perfect, fighting ares ‘You've gota lish," 1 yelled back, “What dot do- naw,’ Mark wailed. “Don't panic’? | screamed, which of course really helped him relax. 2 Despite. all the bootin’ and hollerin’, Mark did land the fish and posed with a valley-wide grin for the mandatory photos. : * We never did recover: the rod, “but Mark w was past caringy | 20:7 You should’ ve been 1 there, Grandad. 638-7283 Surfing the slopes | “You get this feeling. It’s like, ] don’t know. Other riders have told me about it too. Once you start to link turns, everything comes to- gether and you feel like there’s no stopping you.” ‘Kristian Grey tugs at his tuque and leans back in his chair. The lean 22-year-old is talking about snowboard- _ ing — the fastest-growing winter sport in the world: ~ Grey has been boarding for six years and is one of the organizers of the snow- boarding events at the com- ing Northern BC Winter Games. Originally from Vancouver, he was just passing through town when he heard about how much snow Shames gets. “That’s the main reason | slayed,”’ he says. “‘Terrace is great for snowboarding.” Now Grey is organizing two events at Shames — boardercross and the aerials. Boardercross is similar to motocross in theory, only it’s on snow, Athletes head down the mountain in groups of four, following a set course over jumps and through gates, The first two to cross the line advance to the next round. ‘Basically the idea is to get to the bottom as fast as you can,’’ Grey says. “‘It’s pretty exciting because the corners are really tight.”’ The competition will beat up even more on the next day of the games, when the popular aerials will be held: That-event- involves board- ers flying off jumps to do twists and turns in the air. In the qualifying round, each rider will get two jumps. The riders are judged for height and distance (air time), for technical dif- ficulty, for style and for their landing. The top six boarders will advance to the finals. Grey points oul that none of the tricks at this year’s competition will involve . tiders flipping upside-down AVID SNOWBOARDER Kristian Grey is‘ excited about the start of the season and the boarding events at the coming Northern BC Winter Games. — those are too risky for the games. That leaves things like 360 degree spin-grabs and corkscrews. The acrials are a big deal that’s where most sponsorships come from, _ and Grey is expecting quilc an audience, “It’s great to watch,’’ he says. “It’s even greater to do, but I can’t compete this year because ?’m organizing the lhing,’” But even without his par- ticipation, Grey says thal Terrace should do well at the Games. ‘There are a lot of snow- boarders here who are start- ing to come of age,’’ he says. ‘‘Some of these guys are really determined and [| can see them improving,’ That means that the future of snowboarding in Terrace is pretty rasy, Grey says that Shames is comparable to Mt. Baker in Washington State — a mountain known for turning out a high num- ber of pro riders. He says that the varied terrain, snow conditions and weather on the two mountains forces boarders to adapt. And hav- ing that flexibility makes you a better rider, That’s’ not to say that leaming to ride is particular- ly tough ‘here, It’s never easy, but Grey says most people pick up on it pretty quickly. ‘‘Tve laught all ages of people to -ride,’’ be says. ‘One. guy was 67-years-old. - The next time I'saw bim he was out with a whole new set of gear. He was hooked.’’ Grey cautions that new riders should be in fairly decent shape, and they Should wear something water-proof because they will spend plenty of time sitting in the snow. And les- sons definitely help. “With a-lesson they will get you tuming in about an hour,’ ‘Grey says. ‘‘That’s something that could take you all day to figure out by yourseif,’” Grey estimates that by the year 2000, 60 per cent of those on the slopes will be skiers, and 40 per cent will be boarders. He says there's room for both, “Skis work awesome in hard-packed snow and dry powder,’? he says. ‘‘But boards are really good in the wet powder and sloppy snow.” Of course, thai might change with a new ski that Grey thinks could revolu- tionize the industry. The new ‘‘hourgiass’? design takes advantage of the strengths of both skiing and snowboarding — making the skis very versatile in all types of conditions. Still, Grey thinks he will stick with snowboarding. He hopes to pick up some sponsors in the future so he can keep bombing through the powder and the trees, doing what he loves, It’s the only way to get that feeling —a feeling that only other snowboarders can under- stand. Critchley crash ends World’s bid TERRACE’S STEVE Critchley went down to the World Wakeboarding Championships in Florida three weeks ago with high hopes, only to have them torn away just days before the event, Critchley was sel to per- form several new tricks at the championships. He was practicing one of those tricks on his last pass of the day when he fell. “‘T put my arm through the handle and it tore the mus- cles ins my ___ biceps,” Critchley says. ‘'] was out for a week."’ Unfortunately that was the week of the championships —- where Critchley thought he had a chance to do well. “Points-wise I had a couple of new tricks,”” he says. ‘It’s hard to say, but I think I could have been in the top five.” Critchiey is now back in Terrace for the next few months, hoping to hit the slopes for some serious snowboarding. Centennial champs at zones THE BOYS at Centennial Christian never faltered at the Junior A volleyball Zone Championships in Prince Rupert two weekends ago. In spite of facing some of the stiffest com- fetition this zone has scen in years, the boys slill came home champions. For the tcam, the victory is especially sweet since this was the first season the school has ever compeled at the tough ‘‘A’’ level al the Zones. Usually Centennial Christian is a ‘‘B” school, “| was really impressed,’? says coach Julia Tuininga. “It was a really tough tournament. All the teams were very closely ranked,” Centennial Christian was up against teams from Rupert, Smithers, Kitimat Hazellon, as well as local tivals from Skeena Jr, Secondary. Their first match-up saw Centennial go up against a very tough Prince Rupert Secondary squad. PRSS had been the winner of the last tournament and they showed their stuff again, pushing Centennial to the very end, But the Visiting team had the finish and Centennial won in straight sets 16-14 and again 16-14, The boys then went up against Hazelton, and they continued their winning ways, cruising to victory with 15-6 and 15-13 wins. The next match, against Mount Elizabeth from Kitimat, was the toughest. Centennial came out slong, taking the first set 16-14. But MESS came back with a 15-9 victory, That sent the SEE PEA ho OEP * he WES CHAMPIONS 4506 ~ 19a? JR Bows TAT VOLLETBREL THE JUNIOR BOYS at Centennial Christian fought a tough battle to take the zone championships. That’s Jay Foster, Josh Benson, Levi Froese, Aaron VanGeloer, Josh Straw, Greg Nutma, Nathan Freeman, Terry Froese, Kevin Braam, Chris Mantel and Jeremy Nutma, with manager Daniel Talstra and coach Julia Tuininga. match toa third-and-deciding game, which Centennial dominated, winning 15-9, That win put Centennial into the semi-finals against Charles Haycs of Rupert. The: Terrace squad looked solid as they cruised to 15-9 and 15-10 victories, sending them into the finals. ° And it was no surprise to meet Mount Elizabeth there. The two tcams were well- matched, but MESS fell a step behind aad coulda’! catch up. Centennial won 15- 10, 15-11. to take the championships. Since junior teams don’t go to provincial finals, Centennial’s super season is now over. And coach Tuininga says she | is very impressed with her squad. ‘*They were just great,’’ she says, Especially ‘the way they stuck together and supported each - - other,” :