'
i] A ant acebnoipecel ae dle, thy

Shames ski school - personal attention

by Betty Barton

Shames Ski School Director
Andrew Rushton is on the job and
enthusiastic about the Ski School
program planned for this season at
Shames. Rushton is a long-tirhe
Terrace resident who began his
career in skiing as a youngster on
the old Bormite Mountain ski hill
and at Northern Heights on the
Birch hill. He is best known for
his coaching and instructing at
Kitsumkalum ski area in past
winters and fish guiding in the
summers. He also spent two
seasons instructing at Hudson Bay
Mountain in Smithers, one year at
Panorama in the Kootenays, and
was ski school director at Purden
Village near Prince George. Like
everyone else in the area, he says,
"I've been waiting for Shames for
a long time!"

Andrew Rushton is looking for-
ward to managing the ski school
program on Shames, "a commun-
ity-oriented hill", He adds, "We'll

give personal attention and culti-:

vate trust with our students." A
new dad himself to 22-month old
Jeffrey, Andrew likes "watching
the kids progress through the pub-
lic school lessons" and he.has the
patience of Job in teaching the
late-blooming ski athletes (I speak
from personal experience) and
those who just need a little brush-
ing up.

Andrew’s primary goal this sea-
son is to get as many people inter-
ested in skiing as possible, "I want
1o make people realize. that skling
can be for everyone! Introducing
people io the sport is cxciling. It’s
fun and it’s not that expensive. It
really gives you a lift in the win-
ler."

and the sun was shining. Dec,
ae

i

The Shames Public School
program, for all schools in the
region, is designed to give skiing
opportunities’ to all youngsters,
whether their families ski or not.
Letters are being sent to all the
schools including outlying areas
like Hartley Bay and Kincolith.
Andrew extols the virtues of the
program, "It gives them a chance
to go up with their friends and
introduces them to a healthy, extra
curricular activity."

Shames will be offering one full-
day or 4 1/2-day packages to the
public schools and will be tailoring
the programs to the needs of the
individual schools from the out-
lying areas. Once board approval
is obtained, it will be up-to the
individual schools to determine
how they want to fit this into their
curriculums. Parents are encour-
aged to contact their children’s
schools to find out more about the
program. The packages will

include the ski lesson, lift ticket, -

equipment rental, bus transport and
progress reports. In its first year of
operation, the Public School Pro-
gram will be concentrating on
students from Grades 5 through
12,

Andrew describes the beginner’s
area at Shames as “excellent! It’s
fenced and wide; it’s superbly
groomed; there’s little. grade; it’s
protected from the rest of the
mountain; it’s visible from the
lodge; and you can ski between the
beginners’ area and the lodge
without having to ski down or
walk up a hill." Also, a handic tow
much superior to the old rope tow
will easily transport beginners up
the beginner run,

“The Adult Race League (for
over-18s) and Fun Races, for

@ Natalie Monteith was one of the first skiers on Shames Mountain
last weekend. Conditions were perfect, the runs groomed by the
new Prinoth snow machines (one in background of photo), no win
15 is opening day. See you ther

of

everyone - tots, teens, oldsters,
broken down inlo age categories
and taking place every Sunday at
Shames, will work on overall
skiing abilities, gate turns, etc to
keep skiing interesting and chal-
lenging for the more advanced
skier.

This could lead to the Masters
Program, an adult fun league with
races for all age categories over

18, Participants can travel to dif-
ferent hills and participate in races
in their age categcries.

Another one of many fun activ-
ities at Shames this winter will be
the Corporate Cup Challenge.
It’s an opportunity for local busi-
nesses and organizations to get
teams together and race against
one another at Shames. Andrew
felt it had good success when he
introduced it at Kitsumkalum and
other ski areas where he’s worked.
Look forward to many special
events during the ski season at
Shames this winter, including Hat
Day and Spring Break-Up.

Andrew hopes to develop a Snow
Play Area for youngsters on the
mountain near the daylodge. That
way, the parents can keep an eye
on them from the lodge and the

youngsters can have a safe, fun §

place to play. Jt will be completely
fenced and contain play characters,
bumps and burms for sliding over
and a Terrain Garden. Keep your
eyes open for this exciting new
feature.

A final note from Andrew Rush-
ton as Shames gears up for open-
ing on or near December 15, "I'd
just like to thank the directors of
Shames and the members of the
community who have supported
the Shames project. Without their
super efforl, we wouldn’t have it."

The, Ferace:

I

Includes:

oki & Sleep
Packages

en 4900

Per person/per night
Double occupancy —

Shames Mountain 1990/A supplement to the Terrace Review 7

*modern room accommodation for

one night

*FREE breakfast
*Complimentary Pass to the

Terrace Aqua

¢ Centre

*All-Day Ski Pass

_ Weekender &

Ask about
Mid-Week Ski Packages

at the Terrace Inn

4551 Greig Avenue,
Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7
For Reservations,

Call (604) 635-6630 or

Toll Free 1-800-663-8156

Fax (604) 635-2788