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Eric Pehota — still happily pushing the envelope

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller He's one of Whistler's truly iconic characters.
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Eric Pehota and his Subaru rally car.

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

- Helen Keller

He's one of Whistler's truly iconic characters. Along with the likes of Jim McConkey, Nancy Greene, Dave Murray and Rob Boyd, tough-guy Eric Pehota played a unique role in the development of Whistler's brand-identity during the resort's formative years. On this point there's no doubt — the town wouldn't be the same without him.

Know what I mean? In conjunction with his photogenic partner-in-crime, Trevor Petersen, Pehota showed the extreme-ski world of the late 1980s and early '90s just what West Coast Canadians could do in scary alpine settings. Petersen was the front man, the handsome pony-tailed skier whose picture everyone wanted for the cover of their magazines. But it was Pehota who set the beat. And with his mountaineer's squint and his northern B.C. straight-talking ways, he brought an edge to the duo's hairball ski adventures that harkened all the way back to the crazy days of Dag Aabye.

Some of those exploits — now over 20 years old — have yet to be matched. Some likely never will be. But don't try asking Pehota about his skiing legacy. He's far too busy with his own life to stop and contemplate his place in Whistler history. And as far as he's concerned, that's exactly the way it should be.

"There's more to life than being famous or making a lot of money," he says. "For me it's all about balance and sustainable living. I'd like to think that if the grocery store closed tomorrow, my family would still be able to survive through the winter without starving."

And he's not just spewing here. The Pehota family — Eric, Parveen, and sons Logan and Dalton — is virtually self-sustaining. "We have a pretty sizeable garden," he explains, "and Parveen does a lot of her own canning. We also raise chickens year-round and turkeys in the summer. In the fall I go out hunting with the boys and try to fill the freezer with some game." He smiles. "I built a sawmill on my property and I have an extensive workshop too — so I can pretty much do the building and maintenance stuff myself. It all works out in the end. We work hard, sure, but we're more independent because of it."

I decided to catch up with Pehota after he'd proudly posted a Facebook message about 16-year-old Logan being named to Powder Magazine's "Top twenty Skiers Under Eighteen." We hadn't crossed paths in years. Time to re-connect. Besides, it might be fun to find out what that old coot was up to. I mean, the guy was 47 now. Surely he'd slowed down some. I should have known...

"Just trying to avoid you," was the way he finally answered my squadron of messages. So his sense of irony had remained intact. Hmm. Still the driest humor around — could make for a fun story. And as far as slowing down, well, you be the judge. "Skied Mt. Currie on Super Bowl Sunday," he continued, "and I'm building a new back-up engine for my rally car, and I'm putting the finishing touches on the blueprints for my new workshop. Basically I'm waiting for new snow or good ice on the lakes so I can play hockey again. So yeah — call me in the morning. It would be nice to catch up..."

So that's what I did. And of course we had to talk about the elephant in his backyard first. "I hadn't skied Mt. Currie in over two years," says the man who probably boasts the most descents down its rugged flanks. "A buddy of mine — Rudy Rouszypalek, who runs the Pemberton Soaring Centre — badly wanted to do it. And I figured he was ready. So I called up a few friends and booked the helicopter for Super Sunday." He stops. Grabs a quick breath. "Rudy did fine. Just like I knew he would. We skied around the backside, found a sneaky little entry into the northwest face's central couloir and skied it as far as it would go."

He doesn't fight the smile that suddenly appears on his face. "It had gotten pretty warm the week before, and the sun had really hammered the south-facing slopes. But the northwest face of Currie doesn't even see the sun in wintertime! We had a stable snowpack and great snow..." He says they were able to ski almost all the way back down to their parked truck. "We only had to walk a half-mile or so. Very cool."

Still, he admits he never takes a Currie run for granted. No matter how great the conditions might seem. "I don't sleep much the night before," he concedes. "And I still get the same exhilaration from skiing it as I always have. Well, maybe not like the first time down, but it's still a good rush."

That first time was on New Year's Eve 1987. And he, Petersen and friend Shawn Hughes struggled through a ten-hour epic before making it safely back to their cars. "We didn't take the smartest way down," says Pehota with a straight face. "We also had to deal with a really gnarly exit — lots of bushwacking through slide alder and old avalanche debris."

But Pehota's day was still far from complete. "I had to bartend at the Beagle that night," he continues. And sighs painfully at the memory. "I think I served drinks till 3:00 in the morning. I was just wasted..."

Time passed. The duo's reputation grew. By the mid 1990's, Pehota and Petersen were at the top of their game. And then disaster hit. When Petersen was swept away in a Chamonix avalanche in February of '96, a part of Pehota died too. But he rarely let the pain show. When time came to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their epic Currie descent, Eric decided to mark it by leading Trevor's 17-year old son Kye and his own son, 12-year old Logan, down the very same line. Say what? "The kids did a really great job," he assures me. "They were totally solid."

Still, the objective risks on a face like Currie's can defeat even the most prepared. "We'd just finished skiing the main chute," remembers Pehota. "We'd been out maybe five minutes or so, when this big chunk of cornice calved off and came tumbling down the chute." He stops. Smiles. There's no irony in his voice now. "I remember saying to the kids: 'Don't tell your mothers about this!' I guess we were all a little excited at first..."

But enough on skiing and Currie. I also want to hear about Pehota's newfound passion for rally car driving. "I started racing about two years ago," he recounts. "I was mortgage-free and looking for something new and challenging. So I stripped down a Subaru and rebuilt it from the wheels up — except for the roll-cage, I just didn't have the technology to do that myself..." He shrugs. "This is not a cheap sport — you need two and three of everything." Another big smile. "But if you do the work yourself, it's not so bad."

Pehota says he gets a huge rush from piloting a rally car. "You have to be really quick, really fast with your decisions," explains Pehota. "And you need superior reflexes." He stops for a beat. "It really suits my particular talents. You know, between my skiing and my jet-boat piloting, well, let's just say they both develop pretty good reaction skills."

No surprise then to hear that success came pretty fast for the rookie driver. "Yeah," he says. "I already have a few trophies on my shelf. Even won my class last year." He laughs. "I guess you could say I'm reasonably competitive — as long as I don't end up high-sided on a stump or blowing out my motor..."

But let's go back to the jet-boating for a moment. "It's my life," he exclaims. "It's how I make my bread."

Indeed. For four months of the year, the Pehotas' summer business — Whistler Jet Boating Ltd — totally dominates the family's waking hours. "It's pretty much 24/7," says Eric. "A friend of mine maintains that I work more during the summer than a normal guy does in a full-time job." He shrugs again. "But I don't mind working hard all summer especially when I love what I do. To me that's the key."

Eric's summer job, essentially, is to pilot a jet-boat full of tourists through the rapids of a Class 3 stretch of river — in Pehota's case, it's the Green — while providing an insider's take on the local flora and fauna. "It's like an eco-tour with an adrenalin component," he says. "We do the same grade of white water as rafters do — only we go up and down the river. We launch at The Meadows At Pemberton, my dock is right by the putting green, and the first part of the trip is easy. Then it gets really exciting." I bet. Pehota says he can get his clients within 150 metres of Nairn Falls' final cascade. Must be really, really exciting.

"It is," he says. "And the great thing is that everyone in the family gets involved. I do the piloting, Parveen does the marketing, booking and the bus driving while the boys help with the loading of the guests and other associated chores. And now that we're all into surfing, well, if we have a successful summer we do a bonus surf trip in the fall too."

He laughs. "I couldn't be happier with my life. I'm as strong and fit as I was in my mid-twenties. The boys are doing great — Dalton is in his first year of FIS racing while Logan is focused on Olympic slopestyle. And Parveen is the perfect partner." A final shrug. "As I said — it's all about balance and sustainable living. I can't see it working any other way."