The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 19, 2001 - 85 TERRACE STANDARD SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN -__ S SKEENA ANGLER. ROB BROWN Les Mouches de Nai h my gawd! You guys are about to hook onto a lot of steelhead!” Jean the Radiologist cocks his head, obviously confused. He looks at his colleague, Guy the Gynecologist, who displays the international shrug of incom- prehension, Drs. Jean and Guy know about a dozen words of English on-a day when they’re particularly alert. Despite the most excellent tutelage I re- ceived in prades eight and nine from the endur- ingly patient Monsieur McLean (par example, M. McLean: “Repetez. Je suis un garcon.” Moi: “Wee, wee, just sweeze oon garkon.”) I’m equally inept at French . The language barrier between the Frenchmen and me is considerable and creates all sorts of knotty problems. I find myself uttering idiotic pidgin French like, “Non, non, don't get out of that side of the bateau!” or “Ne wadez pas too deep!” Finally, I’m forced to stand within reach of one of them, and pray to the river gods that the other doesn’t have a mishap. 1 point down from the bluff overlooking the Red Rock Pool, “Mouche du Mai!” I exclaim, doing my best impression of the large charcoal mayflies with my hands as they shed their. shucks, float around on the surface of the river in the cool damp air, at the mercy of the cur- rents as their wings dry before lift off. I’ve seen this phenomena a few times; only someone who spends a lot of time on the river is likely to. For all the Frenchmen know, it is an everyday occurrence, which is why they are confused — and probably a little::;concerneds-by: “the wild-cyed enthusiasm-of their-guide: over:the =| fact that some bugs are popping out of the water and swirling around in the back eddies next to the steep bank of shot rock below them. Bait fishers dig around in compost piles for worms, Fly fishers dig around in entomological tomes for pictures ta guide in the construction of flies, These bugs, I found out after a lot of dig- ging, belong to order Ephemeroptera, creatures as ephemeral, delicate, and as fleeting as the random thoughts of which daydreams are made. This particular genus is part of the ephemeridae family. It belongs to the ephemera clan and goes by the species name Ephemera simulans. Ephemera simulans and his close relations, are usually about five-eights of an inch, which is large by mayfly standards, and the Copper River variety (Ephemera simulans, Zymoetz?) is even larger than that. Their wings are half the width of cigarette paper and look like miniature stained glass windows with half of the panels . Stained a translucent gray. In their nymphal stage, these flies use their mandibular tusks to tunnel into and under the fine sand behind boulders. At night, they emerge from the catacombs to prey upon smaller insects and other creatures smaller than they. After a year cr two of this behaviour, 2. sinulans leave home and make for the surface. This usually happens at night, but in the case of the Ephe- ‘mera simulans of the Copper River, a gray sky and a windless period stimulates the emergers. The swim to the top is a short and troubled adolescence. Attracted by their undulant, eel- like movements, fish feed upon the emergent nymphs heavily, In the surface film, the emer- gers strugple to break free of the exoskeleton they wore as nymphs. When that is successfully achieved, a lucky emerger will find it has hat- ched on a warm, dry day and take off after a few seconds. A damp day means a perilous float as its wings dry. The shucking and the floating are as dangerous for the may flies as the swim from the bottom. In the Copper, a few char will take the hapless mayflies; so will steelhead. Scient- ists will tell you that steelhead don’t feed. For the most part, they are right, but when E. Simu- fans are on the move, they are wrong. “Voila!” I shout, pointing to a large bulge in the tail of the pool. “See!” I enthuse, as another steelhead breaks water to take a mayfly dun moments later. Now Jean and Guy are interested, I dig into “my vest and pluck a pair of small gray surface flies and hand the doctors one each. “Zymo-mays,” 1 tell them as they knot my caricatures of E. Simulans onto their ten pound test tippet with the special loop knot I'd taught them the day before, Guy, who is first to cast, has four different fish boil at his fly before he hooks one. As J goad him to play the fish vigorously, Jean hooks ‘another. When Guy’s fish is free, J move over to help Jean clambering over the red rocks like an old billy goat. When I get to Jean, Guy fastens onto another, The Frenchmen know one thing: cast far. They land six fish and lose. that many more. “C’est bien, non?” Task. _ “Crest bien!” they agree. 7 ough ~ with a lot more ‘training in the next three new det inition of | normal | A year and a half after becoming a quadriplegic Alexis Ahrens is on the road to recovery and hitting the hiking trails in the process. BY SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN ALEXIS AHRENS knows normal isn’t what it used to be. The 32-year-old former Terrace resident was paralyzed from the neck down in a car acci- dent in Venezuela Feb. 18, 2000 and her life hasn't been the same since. An avid hiker and outdoors person, Alexis thrived on getting out into the mountains. Before the accident, her husband Rolf and their two friends, Troy and Nadene Butler, would hike and camp together every chance they got. “We first moved to Terrace four years ago and we met up with them and used to go hik- ing with them all around Terrace,” recalls Troy Butler. But that was cut short when Alexis and Rolf moved fo Vancouver so they could recover from their injuries and Alexis could learn to live her life as a quadriplepic. It seemed like the group's hiking days were over. That is until about six months ago, when Alexis heard about an event called the Access Challenge while at a rehabilitation centre. The Access Challenge, in its third year, is an opportunity for able-bodied people to team up with wheelchair-bound people and get into the mountains in a hiking race. “It’s tike a mini eco-challenge,” says Alexis Ahrens. The Challenge is put on by an organization called B.C, Mobility Opportunities Society, that works to enable disabled people to get out into the wilderness, : The society owns eight sp * Wheéeléhiairs "called" Trail-Riders that are sturdy enough to negotiate rocky and root-infested trails. This year’s challenge saw seven teams from throughout British Columbia converge on Dia- mond Head Mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park Aug. 24 and 25. The teams consisted of four-able bodied people and one disabled person. The goal: descend an 11 kilometre hiking trail in the fastest time possible. Troy and Nadene didn’t need to be asked twice, They arranged for the time off, packed up their gear and headed south for the chal- lenge. “This was kind of neat because it was the first time since the accident that we've been able to get out and do the things we used to do,” says Tray Butler, Alexis’ father, Roger Chicoine, was the fourth able bodied team member. But before the race down could start the group had to get to the top of the trail where they would spend a night camping with the other 31 competitors. The 1]km slog up the trail presented a gruelling challenge for the motley crew. “It was a fairly wide trail but very bumpy, lots of little logs, tons of rocks,” says Troy. “But it was wide enough to have one person on either side of the chair.” Heinricks goes global LOCAL arm wrestler Alan Heinricks is getting geared up for some exciting inter- national competition. That’s because he’s on ing at pictures of smooth are rapped, pled and raw. “You hear tha ecially: designed. | side of his right knee. Bits of ligament that are supposed to be flat and ALEXIS AHRENS is all smiles during the Access Challenge in Garibaldi Park Aug. 24- 25, Shown above are Half Ahrens (top lett) Roger Chicoine, Troy Butler (bottom left) Alexis Ahrens and Nadene Butler. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO. Ahrens’ team packed all their food, gear, camping stove and supplies on their backs from the bottom up. Meanwhile other teams opted to have their gear brought in to the half way point up the trail, we're never going to keep up with them! But then they picked up their packs and we flew past them,” she recalls laughing. adopted the role-of team -motivator.....1.,.. “As people are getting aches and pains and sore museles it’s sort of because of me. It’s me sitting in the chair thinking, ‘Oh my God I'm sorry, all the time.’ But they are all saying “We're having fun, shut up!”" 7 — _ +, »Alexisquickly: stopped::feeling badly and. “Those. teams were just.kicking.-our asses :- on the way up there and we thought: geez, Lie ., “You, don’t know how to;.act because it’s ” not normal and you can't ask ioo much,” she says. ‘You feel that talking is the only way you feel like you are contributing.” “You don't know how to act because it’s not normal and you ean't ask too much.” It took the team five hours to get to the top of the trail, Gathered in camp, Alexis was aware of the toll the hike had taken on her partners, Because Alexis is in a wheelchair her teammates had to pack not only their own gear but hers as well — not to mention hauling her up the mountain. “As you're hiking up the trail you don’t worry about the weight on your back because your legs are burning so much from pushing the wheel chair up the trail,” said Butler. “When we finished, I was the most drained I’ve ever felt after any hike.” Despite the thrill of being in a mountain en- vironment again with her friends, Alexis con- cedes the experience was bittersweet, Feeling dependent on others is not her forte. “A year and a half ago I would have been walking but now I’m just sitting in the chair,” she says. As Ahrens starts telling the story of the race down, her competitive streak shines through. "We were going ta pass a team and my dad was getting tired and I had to hold myself back and I was like, ‘Come on please pass them,’” she says. And her teammates say her cheers, good spirits and encouragement was key to keeping them going at a good pace. - The Terrace contingent made it down the trail in two hours and 10 minutes. They placed second overall and they have every intention . of signing up for next year's race. The Access Challenge was more than a hiking trip. It was a big step toward a new definition of normal. One that includes doing the things Alexis used to love, just doing them different- ly. . “T know I have to get to a new understand- ing of what normal is now,” she says, merece Wakeboarder misses out on nationals By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN TYLER WILSON is look- the in- crum- ( term UP his way to Poland in De- cember for the World Arm Wrestling championships. He participates in the Canadian championships in Prince Albert, Saskat- chewan Sept. 1-2. He competed in the Disabled, Masters and Professional categories. Though he didn’t place in the top three of those divisions, he says the ex- perience was valuable. He advances to the Worlds on a defauit and he’s looking forward to having a broader field of disabled athletes to com- pete against. “T know [’m good en- months 1 know I'll be ready,” he. said. - ‘blown knee’ and you don’t really know what that means,” he says holding up the photos. “That's a blown knee.” The 22-year-old wake- boarder was trying out a new trick early in August when he landed it wrong and wrenched his knee. That was two weeks he- fore the national wake- boarding championships he was pitted to compete in. Earlier this summer he placed second overall in the B.C. Water Sports As- sociation’s provincial championships. He also competed for the first time in the Pro di- vision on the tour, Things. were looking good and then came ‘the blown knee. oo ¥ 7“ 7 © Pa TYLER WILSON in action on his wakeb tore ligaments in his right knee. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO. oard before the August accident that “I was pretty bummed,” says Wilson. “Right when I was learning the most and riding my best — then everything went wrong.” . A month after the accl- dent Wilson had micro- scopic surgery and is sla- ted for another round of surgery this winter. ‘Since the. surgery,’ he has been hitting the gym trying to build up more strength in his. knee, His goal for this winter ‘is to get well enough to compete in next year's wakeboarding season. At first he was con- cerned that he wouldn't be able to wakeboard again and the thought of not doing the sport he loves made him go through what he calls a “kind of mid-life crisis,” But with the help of a knee brace he'll be able to snowboard up until his surgery — he'll just have to take it easy. And if all goes well he'll be on the water again next season. “I've dedicated this | year to get it back for wa- keboarding.”