Articles by Jack Christie.

Outside

Naturalists engage summer ferry passengers

Since 2006, B.C. Ferries has provided seven instructors who offer hourlong sessions on local ecology and camping etiquette to those travelling between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Sports

Badminton interest whips up across B.C.

Here’s a familiar summer scene: a family arrives at a neighbourhood park, unpacks for a day of picnicking, and out pops the sports gear. It’s practically a given that along with a soccer ball and a Frisbee will be a handful of badminton racquets.
Outside

Myra Canyon’s cyclists ready to roll again

The 12 wooden trestle bridges on the Kettle Valley Railway Trail that were burnt down during 2003's forest fires have been replaced, reinstating the 18 kilometres from Myra to Ruth stations as the diamond in the ring.
Outside

Feel the breeze on the Kamloops greenway

With beautiful parks and a revitalized heritage downtown core, a visit with no grander aim than to simply enjoy all that the city has to offer perfectly suits a weekend getaway.
Travel Features

Follow the scenic route to the Comox Valley

From affordable housing and a plethora of outdoor pursuits, to abundant seafood and lush farmland, this valley provides all the necessities of life. And there's high-speed Internet, too.
Outside

Skaha Bluffs purchase blunts urban sprawl

Crystal Klym’s efforts to rid Penticton’s Skaha Bluffs of invasive plant species has earned her the nickname “Noxious Weed”. That moniker might not suit everyone’s taste, especially a young woman’s, but during a tour of the bluffs last July, the South Okanagan Valley resident told the Georgia Straight that she proudly wore the handle.
Outside

Youngsters hit the slopes for Whistler Cup

From April 4 to 6, hundreds of brightly clad youngsters from 17 countries will take over Whistler's slopes to compete in North America's preeminent ski contest for their age group.
Outside

We brake for B.C.’s edible benchmarks

Whether your benchmarks pertain to the richness of coffee, the firmness of mattresses, or the crunchiness of fries, travellers have long used such standards to measure the pluses and minuses of an adventure away from home. The charm of travel benchmarks is that they can be applied to a universal range of tastes and expectations. There’s nothing necessarily snobbish or exclusive about personal litmus tests.
Outside

Snowcats near Whistler give more powder to the people

Winter travel has spawned innovations from dogsleds to snowmobiles, and nowhere more than in the True North.
Outside

Get pumped for spring with the North Shore Mountain Bike Association

Feeling pumped about the prospect of some spring bike action? The North Shore Mountain Bike Association has just the thing: the pump track. This freshly constructed wooden bike track debuted at the recent Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show at B.C. Place Stadium, where the NSMBA held its annual bike sale. Over the past five years, the swap has become the 3,400-member club’s major fundraiser, the biggest event of its kind in Canada.
Outside

B.C.'s active families take the rec room outdoors

With spring cleaning on the horizon, what kind of shape is your garage or storage shed in? If it’s anything like the 250-square-foot addition to adventure racer Dave Howells’s North Vancouver home, it’s jammed to the rafters with outdoors gear.
Outside

Gabriola’s galleries, gardens, and gunkholes

Travel has long been touted as enlightening, and truer words were never spoken. Especially these days in B.C. Whether your quest is to savour natural beauty or admire artistic expression inspired by the landscape, you don’t have to journey far from home to discover that fact. Even in the off-season, nowhere is that more apparent than in the Gulf Islands.
Outside

Olympics get liftoff with Cypress freestyle

Grab your tuques. The wizards of the white world are on their way. In February, the best skiers in both the freestyle and alpine World Cup realms are set to race in West Vancouver and Whistler. These events will afford athletes and spectators alike their opportunity to raise the curtains on two 2010 Winter Olympic stages.
Outside

Short walks to make the most out of winter

Winter is not a season, according to American author Sinclair Lewis, who considered these bleak months “an occupation”. And how are you occupying your time this year? Perhaps by taking short walks between weather systems? Or, throwing caution to the wind, storm-watching from a favourite beach or hilltop?
Outside

Explore the seashore on a Gibsons gambol

Even residents of the world’s most desirable city occasionally need to sneak out of town to a little hideaway. Summer or winter, Gibsons provides just that. When the weather report doesn’t sound promising, it stands to reason that if any place close to Vancouver might get a break from storms, it will be the Sunshine Coast.
Outside

Burnaby Velodrome hosts U.S./Canada fixie grudge match

Canada's only covered bike track plays host to the annual Burnaby Six Day Challenge, where participants and audiences alike can learn the benefits and intricacies of European-style track racing on fixed-gear bikes
Outside

A winter safari in Smithers

Wildlife outnumbers humans by a wide margin in this land of knee-high powder
Outside

Bowen agleam in red and green

Bowen Island’s 11th annual Lighting Up the Cove celebrations bring lantern magic to the richly green oasis
Outside

Meet the folks behind the Cowichan Valley's wineries, orchards, galleries

The Straight recently paused to visit the weekly Saturday farmers market, held year-round in the square beside Duncan’s red-brick City Hall. At this time of year, stalls feature baked goods, preserves, locally raised lamb, knitwear, and handcrafted furniture, among other items. As the pulse of Christmas shopping picks up, expect to find the square packed with goodies much like a European Advent market. If your visit doesn’t coincide with the market, allow several hours, minimum, to stroll the downtown streets. The more you ramble, the more you’ll discover
Travel Features

North Shore ski clubs cozy up to 2010 Games

Cypress Mountain may have trumped Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour as the site for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games freestyle ski, ski cross, and snowboard events, but North Shore alpine ski clubs have their eyes on the bigger picture
Travel Features

Cypress Mountain adds nine new runs, keeps old trees

As Cyprus GM Linda Swain spoke to the Georgia Straight, helicopters were flying the last towers into place for the new chairlift as well as for the repositioned lift that formerly ran on Mount Strachan and now sits on Black Mountain’s eastern slope. Renamed the Raven Ridge, the chairlift services nine new intermediate and expert runs to the east, the first ones cut in the park in 20 years. "We’ve got three weeks to button things up with the light towers and snowmaking. We could be making snow by early December."
Outside

Four reasons to head to Salt Spring Island this rainy season

Unlike some islands in the southern Gulf chain, there's more to see and do on Salt Spring than you can comfortably fit into a short visit. Don't get too ambitious and you'll do fine when you trade your umbrella for a shadow.
Outside

Juryn's legacy lingers on mountain-bike trails

Whether mountain biking or driving a vintage sports car, Richard Juryn personified the North Shore ethos. Juryn, who died in a kayaking accident on Howe Sound on October 7, wore a signature grin as he roamed the trails with the acumen of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. And if there was something the dynamic 50-year-old Lynn Valley resident and father of two didn't know, he knew who to ask, like biking buddy Jay "Hoots" Krantz or District of North Vancouver mayor Richard Walton.
Outside

Let Nanaimo charm you into distraction

Funny things can happen these days en route to Gabriola Island. You just might be waylaid in Nanaimo. In times past, that maybe wasn't such a good thing. After all, Gabriola-based musician Bob Bossin once composed a ditty entitled "It's So Nice Not to Be in Nanaimo". Malcolm Lowry even made a fuss about the journey in his posthumously published novel October Ferry to Gabriola.
Outside

A dose of nature is good for body and soul

Do you or does someone you know suffer from nature-deficit disorder? If so, there's a quick fix: head outdoors. And if you've got kids, take them by the hand and bring them along. After all, studies have shown that children are the ones most prone to this 21st-century malady, and most are in need of more free time to experience the wild magic of nature.
Outside

Labour Day's not the end for two-wheelers

June is traditionally bike month around Vancouver, but don't try to tell that to September. Or October, for that matter. The calendar of cycling events over the next two months is quickly filling up with mountain bike, BMX, and cyclocross races, plus a mass community road ride led by none other than seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
Outside

Get your buns in the sun for fun at Lund

Ahoy, land–or Lund–lubbers. The red-and-white Raggedy Anne is about to set sail. What better way to appreciate the waters of Malaspina Strait and Desolation Sound than aboard the sturdy water taxi as it forays from Lund, 27 kilometres north of Powell River, around the northern Sunshine Coast?
Outside

The hills are alive with the sound of rattlers

There's nothing like a rattlesnake–even one in a docile mood–to command an audience's attention. Bob Etienne understands his star attraction's magnetic appeal. When the Georgia Straight stopped in at the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos for a tour recently, the reptile specialist skillfully toyed with the onlookers' mixture of fear and fascination while conducting one of the daily snake interpretive sessions.
Outside

Small-town Galiano is a joy to hop around

To take the true gauge of a small town, visit on a festival day, preferably one featuring a parade. Typically, half the citizenry is in the procession of floats and fire trucks while the other half cheers from the roadside.
Outside

Warm up to holiday hot spot Christina Lake

Snap quiz: which is the warmest lake in B.C., Osoyoos or Christina? In truth, this is a trick question. The right answer depends on whether you live in the Okanagan Valley, home to border-straddling Osoyoos Lake, or in the southern Interior's Boundary region, the site of Christina Lake. Both lakeside towns claim bragging rights as the province's aquatic hot spot. Until someone offers definitive proof one way or the other, this dispute remains.
Outside

Building a network of green

The new Pitt River greenway is just one of several under development.
Outside

Life’s not a beach? But in summer it can be

Everywhere you turn in Vancouver, people are taking time out from discussing housing prices to exchange summer plans. A common refrain heard this year is to spend more time in Stanley Park. By all means, visit the grande dame of local parks (according to the park board, eight million visitors do annually), but head further afield too, to discover more open spaces and wider vistas than you can possibly experience downtown.
Outside

Stanley Park revives after last year's storms

An extra-rich fragrance of wood resin hangs in the air of Stanley Park these days. It's a pleasant byproduct of the havoc wreaked on the park's forest by windstorms and snowstorms last November, December, and January. Just as unexpected are the upbeat comments from those who are intimately connected with the well-being of Vancouver's green jewel, such as Eric Meagher, supervisor of park maintenance. "My winter grieving process is over. I now realize that the storms were one of the best things to ever happen to Stanley Park."
Outside

Bike courses help kids over life’s obstacles

When it comes to outdoor innovations, ours is a city of firsts. For example, in 1976, PD’s Hot Shop in Nanaimo, now the home of the Skull Skates brand in Kitsilano, became Canada’s first skateboard store. In 1980, the Vancouver-based Outdoor Recreation Council launched B.C. Rivers Day, which spawned the first World Rivers Day in 2005. And in 2001, the City of Port Moody created North America’s first urban bike-trials park.
Outside

One peak just isn’t enough for gutsy climber

Mountaineer Rob Hill is on his way to joining the exclusive Seven Summits club while raising awareness for intestinal diseases.
Outside

Pause for the beauty of the Pemberton Valley

The Sea-to-Sky Highway runs north of Horseshoe Bay like a spinal column past Howe Sound and into the Coast Mountains. Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton are its not-so-metaphysical chakra centres. And just like a current of kundalini energy, the farther up the spine you travel, the more enlightening your journey becomes. As the congestion of the city evaporates, open skies and fresh mountain air flood in.
Outside

Botanical Beach dazzles with marine jewels

There is a treasure that makes Cartier's glittering riches look drab. One of the world's premier jewel boxes is on open display at Juan de Fuca Provincial Park's Botanical Beach, a two-hour drive northwest of downtown Victoria. But there's a catch: viewing hours vary with the tides. In the beach's case, the lower the better. Only then can you venture into the heart of the vault.
Outside

Squamish rings with whistles of railways past

All aboard! This train is bound for glory, or at least the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish. Whether it's a venerable locomotive like the Royal Hudson (part of the park's permanent collection) or the children's storybook classic Thomas the Tank Engine (set to pay a return visit in June), rolling stock from steam and diesel rail's past has found a resting place there.
MindBodySoul

Puffing to freedom

Most of us hardly give breathing a second thought. Inhale, exhale, all day, every day. On the other hand, disabled sailors like Terry LeBlanc are keenly aware that the life-sustaining routine of sipping and puffing air is also a key to liberation.
Outside

Victoria a beacon for cyclists and BMX racers

As much as Vancouver prides itself on being bike-friendly, our city is no Victoria. A 2001 Statistics Canada study found that 6.2 percent of commuters in Greater Victoria cycle to work, almost four times the number in the GVRD. It helps that most residents of the Capital City live within a 30-minute ride of work. And they are a prudent lot. According to Stats Canada, more than nine in 10 riders sport brain buckets, which makes Victoria one of the bike-helmet-wearing capitals of the world.
Outside

Backcountry racers see a whole new Whistler

The Spearhead Traverse: even if you never ski or hike this 40-kilometre alpine route, remember the name. The next time you're in Whistler, pick out the jagged peaks that define the skyline surrounding Blackcomb, the best-known member of this range. Together, the Spearhead and companion Fitzsimmons Range peaks overlook the trio of rolling Musical Bumps summits on Whistler Mountain's side of the valley. Crossing the horseshoe-shaped route that links them can take as much as a week or as little as four hours.
Feature Articles

Trail running really is a total body workout

Runners and mountains are two things Vancouver boasts in abundance. Blend them together and you get mountain trail running, a concoction that outdoor enthusiast Kathryn Stanton took to in a big way, so much so that four years ago she and her husband, Mark Warsaba, purchased 5 Peaks Adventures, a company that began staging trail runs locally in 1998.
Feature Articles

Kayak into the land that only the animals recall

Care for a touch of adventure, B.C.-style? Then come stand in a place that time forgot (or at least overlooked): the Brooks Peninsula. Mention the name to most Vancouver Islanders, let alone Lower Mainland residents, and be prepared for them to draw a blank. Where?
Outside

Sandhill cranes are sanctuary's ancient souls

A flock of sandhill cranes strides forward at a stately pace. Take measure of yourself against their stiletto-shaped beaks held chest high. The first thought to cross your mind is likely as primal as the birds themselves: should you stand your ground or take flight?
Outside

Love and snowshoes in the heart of Seymour

Would you recognize your mate’s voice if it sounded like a birdcall floating from deep in the forest? Better yet, how easily could you track it down, especially when the night air is filled with other such calls?
Outside

Winter at Cypress leads to summer of change

One place that definitely knows how to weather the brunt of a storm is Cypress Provincial Park. Just as Stanley Park has been shuttered this winter, so too were West Vancouver’s principal peaks—Black, Strachan, and Hollyburn—that bulwark Cypress’s southern flank. Some of B.C.’s (and the world’s) oldest trees crown the trio and proved their mettle again recently. The worst the nearly 1,200-year-old forest has to show for the tempests is a deeper than average snowpack, almost four metres.
Outside

Embrace winter with ziplines and dogsleds

The problem with winter sports is that they generally take place in winter. That is, according to humorist Dave Barry. His take on the white world is undoubtedly shared by those who have yet to appreciate the rewards of layering up with more than a hoodie and who think that winter sports begin and end with skiing and snowboarding.
Outside

Whistler’s green lift hits new white stuff

Built with enviro-friendly construction methods, the recently opened Symphony Express whisks people to high alpine terrain
Outside

Foot pain gets the boot this holiday season

Common wisdom says that if the shoe fits, wear it. For years, skiers have accepted that if the boot hurts, bear it.
Outside

Diff'rent strokes move swim-club members

When it pours as hard as it has this past month, Chena North Shore Swim Team youngsters probably blithely glide between the raindrops. After all, when you spend upwards of 24 hours each week in the pool, water becomes a second home. By the time these kids reach the senior ranks, they’re as fluid as the motion in local creeks and rivers, with nary a hint of turbidity to cloud their dreams.