It’s been nearly a year since 600 people stripped down to their naturals and posed all over a Swiss Glacier for photographer and filmmaker Spencer Tunick. But by the beauty of YouTube, the event is being born again.

Tunick’s attempt to highlight the issues of global warming - basically asserting that the effects on the glaciers will be felt by humanity as well - was turned into a short, viral film.
On YouTube, that film has now passed the magic 1 million viewer mark. If you can stomach the creepy music and like the sight of lots of very white bodies on very white glaciers, then give three minutes to boosting the online rating of this short film by taking a view right here.

That’s the advice to follow for competitors in the inaugural Tour Divide Race, who on June 13 started pedaling out of Banff, Alberta, a whopping 2,711 miles all the way to …Mexico in the world’s longest mountain bike race.

Carrying their own supplies and gear, the racers are expected to take less than 25 days to pedal from Canada to Mexico along the spine of the Rockies, facing snow-packed passes, unnervingly large carnivores, and no cell phone signals whatsoever.

Following Adventure Cycling’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, the first crew of 16 riders set out on June 13, traveling along primarily dirt roads without any outside assistance. In classic touring tradition, they’re carrying everything they need — food, water, shelter — on their bikes and backs, with refueling stops in small-town stores along the way. “The riders are truly on their own, with no support crews, SAG vehicles, or massage-teams allowed,” says Advetnure Cycling’s Winona Sorensen. “It’s the longest, most-challenging cycling race in the world.”

Exactly one week later, on June 20, at the Montana/Canada border, another group of riders will set off on the route’s original race, the fifth annual Great Divide Race. Ridden in the same self-supported style but only covering the 2,490-mile American portion of the route, the race’s winners typically finish in a jaw-dropping 17 days or less.

Both races promise to deliver high-quality human drama and unparalleled long-distance adventure. Information on the Great Divide Race can be found at www.greatdividerace.com

Adventure Cycling supports all riders of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, but does not organize or officially sponsor either race. In fact, no one sponsors the races — both are grassroots by design, with exactly zero dollars in prize money for the winners.

Adventure Cycling Association is the premier bicycle travel organization in North America with nearly 44,000 members. A nonprofit organization, their mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle. They produce routes and maps for cycling in North America, organize more than 40 tours annually, and publish the best bicycle travel information anywhere, including magazine and The Cyclists’ Yellow Pages. With 38,158 meticulously mapped miles in the Adventure Cycling Route Network, Adventure Cycling gives cyclists the tools and confidence to create their own bike travel adventures. Contact them at (800) 755-BIKE (2453) or www.adventurecycling.org/

To celebrate Summer & the wild Huckleberry picking season, Fernie Brewing Company has come up with a delicious Huckleberry Wheat Beer called ‘What the Huck’.

Native to the Rocky Mountain region, the Huckleberry is prized for its sweetness and deep colour. When blended with wheat, it creates a smooth and creamy beer, with a light touch of huckleberries.

As a Micro-Brewery, Fernie Brewing Company can be creative with their brews. “Being able to brew unique & interesting brews is really what being a microbrewery is all about”, says Murray Pask, Sales Manager for Fernie Brewing Company. Pask adds, “We used real huckleberries in the fermentation process, allowing the beer to ’sit’ on the berries. The result is a great session beer, perfect for our Fernie patio season. And Huckleberries… it really doesn’t get more local than that.’
‘What the Huck’ is available on tap in Fernie, and in select locations in the East Kootenays.

In addition to Huckleberry, Fernie Brewing Company has three great year-round beers. Rocky Mountain Genuine Lager, Griz Pale Ale and First Trax Brown Ale are available on tap in the Kootenays, in 6-pack cans throughout BC & Alberta. Fernie Brewing Company is a member of the Craft Brewers Association of BC.

Brewed just a Huck, Skip and a Jump from Fernie’s fine dining establishments, at 26 Manitou Road, Fernie BC. Store hours are Monday through Friday 1pm - 5pm, and Brewery Tours run every Friday at 3PM.

For more information, please contact Lenka Hawrys, Marketing Manager, at 250-423-7797.

Red Tree Lodge and Restaurant welcomes Debra Brygadyr Cook to its kitchen. Debra is a local of the Elk Valley having worked in many of its restaurants in the past years in various positions, most recently as Head Chef of Mojo Risin. Debra will be continuing her Head Chef role in the Red Tree Restaurant utilizing her expertise to put her own Fernie flare on the restaurant’s International fare.

NONSTOP Ski & Snowboard, a family operated British company specializing in ski/snowboard instructor and improvement programs in Fernie purchased the Lodge in May 2007. The hotel and restaurant underwent an extensive refurbishment. The restaurant has been in operation since December 2007 and is quickly becoming a popular dining spot with locals and visitors for family dining, friendly get-togethers, meetings, parties and weddings.

“We are very excited to have Debra join our team as Head Chef. Her reputation as a great chef precedes her in the Fernie area. Having had the pleasure of tasting the great food she has produced at Mojo Risin, Lizard Creek Lodge and The Wood I know she will bring the Red Tree Lodge menu to the next level,” says Dave Richards, Director of Canadian Operations, NONSTOP Adventures.

Guests will experience dishes in the “spirit of the 100 mile diet”. Served in a relaxed, friendly Fernie atmosphere, the goal is to provide excellent quality food at an affordable price while utilizing as many local flavors as possible. Debra has reinvented the menu with her own personal spin and the mouth-watering dishes will be available July 1. Highlights of the new menu include a larger breakfast selection that will be served 7:30 a.m. daily as of July 5. The delectable tapas menu will be appealing to everyone with a large variety of selections great for sharing. Come try it out on the NEW patio with a beverage and a friend!!

“I am excited to continue my career at the Red Tree Lodge and look forward to seeing all my favorite people,” comments Debra.

The Restaurant is open year round for breakfast, lunch, dinner and tapas daily from 7:30 am to 11 pm. The hotel guestrooms are now in full operation for the summer season. Until July 15 stay at Red Tree Lodge for a flat rate fee of $79 per room (maximum four people; taxes not included). The Lodge is located at 1101 7 th Avenue and can be reached at 1-800-977-2977 or online at www.redtreelodge.com

Columbia Sportswear Company and California-based High Road Sports, Inc., the owner of Team High Road, announced a new team sponsorship agreement that places the Columbia brand at the starting line of the 2008 Tour de France on July 5.
Team High Road, one of professional cycling’s most successful young teams with star riders such as George Hincapie, Kim Kirchen and Mark Cavendish, will compete as “Team Columbia” for the remainder of the 2008 season and will unveil its new uniforms in Brest, France on July 3, two days before the start of Europe’s largest sporting event, the 95th Tour de France.

“Columbia Sportswear Company’s sponsorship of Team Columbia provides an ideal opportunity to elevate the positioning of Columbia in multiple European markets by communicating our authentic, outdoor, active, American brand to our target demographic,” said Tim Boyle, president and chief executive officer of Columbia Sportswear Company. “By sponsoring one of the top men’s and women’s cycling teams in the world, we leverage the international popularity and broad media reach of the cycling sport among enthusiast and recreational audiences, promote Columbia’s outdoor brand leadership in Europe and the U.S., and support our seasonal product initiatives, such as Omni-Shade(TM) apparel and accessories for sun protection.”

The three-year sponsorship agreement runs through 2010 and includes both the men’s and women’s professional cycling teams.

Inside, the BC Liberals sat down to a $100 fund raising dinner at their Cranbrook caucus meeting. Outside, local residents rallied to draw attention to three environmental issues facing southeastern British Columbia.

“Voters want a wild Jumbo valley—with a final NO to the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort, an immediate moratorium on water license and power purchase agreements on our wild rivers, and a firm NO to coalbed methane exploration and extraction,” said Dave Quinn, one of the rally organizers.

As B.C. premier Gordon Campbell began his speech to 250 Liberal supporters inside the Royal Alexandra Hall, the crowd outside began chanting “we want Jumbo wild”, “our rivers are not for sale” and “tell the government of B.C. that we are coalbed methane free.”

“This event gives us a rare opportunity,” said Quinn. “We can’t all go to Victoria, so we are forced to send our message like this when Victoria comes to the Kootenays.”

Nearly 200 East Kootenay residents were there to ask the B.C. government to say a final “no” to a developer’s proposal that would place a 6,500-bed ski resort on and around the rapidly receding Jumbo Glacier, near Invermere and Panorama, B.C.

“The Jumbo debate has been dragging on since 1991,” Quinn said. “The people of the Kootenays have spoken out loudly on these issues again and again, but so far our plebiscites, environmental assessment responses and polls seem to have fallen on deaf ears. That’s why we’re asking Premier Campbell and his cabinet to take a strong stand, do what’s right, and say no to the resort proposal for once and for all.”

Quinn noted that the Jumbo Valley, located in the heart of the Purcell Mountains, is key grizzly habitat and that last year 80 per cent of local residents rejected the $450 million resort proposal in a Regional District of East Kootenay poll.

The group also protested the recent Glacier-Howser River Damming proposal, which would dam and divert 12 kilometres of the West Kootenay’s Glacier and Howser Creeks—as well as five tributaries—and cut a transmission line right-of-way across the Purcell Mountains, through protected old-growth and critical grizzly habitat, to Invermere.

“This wouldn’t be a run-of-the-river project,” Quinn said. “It would divert 10 kilometres each of the Howser and Glacier creeks—and affect six other tributaries—and remove 80 per cent of the flow from these streams.”

The group Citizens Concerned About Coal-bed Methane were at the rally to voice concerns about recent proposals by British Petroleum (BP) to drill in the Flathead and Elk valleys for coalbed methane.

Casey Brennan, a spokesperson and Wildsight program manager said “Coalbed methane exploration and extraction is not appropriate in a biologically diverse, critical wildlife corridor like the southern Rockies.”

Brennan noted that BP isn’t the only corporation interested in coalbed methane exploration in the southern Rockies.

“Energy corporations Stormcat and EnCana are seeking to expand their coalbed methane drilling in the Elk Valley,” he said. “Toxic waste water continues to be dumped into the Elk watershed despite a provincial government policy of re-injection of all coalbed methane wastewater.”

People carpooled and bussed to attend the rally, and many carried homemade signs.

Inside the BC Liberal caucus meeting, it was business as usual.

World Championships medallist Allison Forsyth (Calgary, AB), who had been rehabbing a knee injury sustained during a 2006 Olympic Winter Games training run, announced her retirement today from Canada’s alpine ski team.

A two-time Olympian, Forsyth’s career highlights include five World Cup podium results and a bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 2003 FIS World Alpine Ski Championships in St. Moritz, SUI.

Forsyth, 29, is a leader in Canadian ski racing and one of the longest serving members of Canada’s alpine ski team, having been on the team since 1996.

“Of course I am sad and disappointed that this is the result after a two year effort to return to competition. That being said, I am confident that we did everything possible medically and otherwise to get me back. I can retire with a clear conscience,” said Forsyth.

“I always believed strongly in my goals but recently it just became obvious that my goals and my reality were too far apart. I am excited to set goals and pursue them in other areas of my life now,” said Forsyth, who is an eight-time Canadian champion in three different disciplines.

Forsyth suffered a severe left knee injury including a torn ACL during the second downhill training run Feb. 13th, 2006 at the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, ITA, exactly three years to the day of her podium result at the World Championships. Forsyth would return to compete in a FIS race in La Parva, CHI prior to the 2007/08 season but did not compete in a World Cup race in the past two seasons.

“Allison was an extremely hard-working and dedicated athlete who was known for her leadership abilities within the team and her drive to be the best in the world,” said ACA Chief Executive Officer Ken Read.

“Her performance at the 2003 FIS World Alpine Ski Championships was especially important because it came at a critical time in which Alpine Canada Alpin was looking to re-establish its credibility. Allison was always focused on achieving excellence and she proved that she had what it takes,” said Read.

“I have the highest respect for Allison, her results, her leadership, for what she continues to put back into the ski racing community and the community at large through her support to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation,” he added.

Forsyth was joined by several teammates and friends at retirement announcement, which took place at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, AB.

“I think the thing I will miss the most is my team. My teammates and coaches are my family and it will be difficult to not be able to travel and spend time with them,” said Forsyth, who added that she is considering a career in broadcasting following today’s announcement.

“As with many retiring athletes I am nervous about the transition in to ‘real life.’ However, I am confident that the skills I have acquired through elite athletics will ensure my success in the future,” she said.

Famous for postcard-perfect panoramas, powder skiing, mountain peaks and glacier-fed lakes, the Canadian Rockies are now also becoming famous for world-class golf. The Canadian Rockies Golf Trail features a series of stunning golf courses, each offering their own unique and stunning panoramas of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta and British Columbia.

The Trail begins either from the gateways of the Calgary International Airport in Calgary, Alta. or the Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook,

The Canadian Rockies Golf Trail includes the Alberta golf courses of Wintergreen in Bragg Creek, Kananaskis Country Golf Course, Silvertip in Canmore, and the world-famous Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course in Banff. Just over the border in British Columbia, the Trail’s courses include Copper Point in Invermere, Grey Wolf at Panorama, Trickle Creek Golf Resort, St. Eugene Mission, Kimberley Golf Club and Bootleg Gap in the Kimberley area, and the Fernie Golf Club in Fernie.

Plan your Canadian Rockies Golf Vacation today!

New Zealand’s venerable Coronet Peak was scheduled to open for the season. Didn’t happen. Despite the presence of snow-hungry skiers and snowboarders, overnight rain and fierce winds closed the mountain before it opened.

But the next day dawned clear, bright and with 5 cm of fresh snow. About 2,000 sliders were there for the delayed opening day. Coronet spokesman David Ovendale said, “There are so many skiers and boarders, we are thinking of opening a second major lift.” He added, “The core terrain is looking superb for this time of year.”

The ski area has spent $30 million on major improvements to the base area and snowmaking. These changes will be celebrated in a two-day on-hill extravaganza June 28-29.
FoMoInfo, http://www.nzski.com/mountain.jsp?site=coronetpeak.
— Jules Older

Instant Karma: The Heart and Soul of a Ski Bum was chosen by ForeWord Magazine as the winner in the Adventure Category of the 2007 Book of the Year Awards. The winners were determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers from across the Nation. Awards were presented this afternoon to 212 winners in 60 categories, as well as to two Editor’s Choice Prize Winners.

Sheldrake examines his place in the close community of ski bums, people who give up “normality” to live on their own terms. Sheldrake’s is a life of recklessness and restlessness, dedicated to adventure, courage, and the pure joy of second and third chances. He maps the hidden trails of virgin snow and conjures the rush of hucking off cornices and skiing blind in sudden snowstorms with exacting detail, all the while finding his way to understanding and accepting the powerful bonds of romance, friendship, and learning to let go.