By Vivian Moreau
It wasn’t a dark
and stormy night, but a 30-year ski chronology that won Sara Leach a season’s
pass as part of Whistler-Blackcomb’s favorite mountain memory writing contest.
Spokesperson
Christina Moore called out Leach’s name after reading aloud the local mom's 200-word
memoir about learning to ski on Whistler as a four-year-old and passing on that
experience now to her three-year-old son. About 30 people attended the
presentation at the Garibaldi Lift Company Wednesday evening.
More than 50
people submitted their favorite Whistler anecdotes. A five-person Whistler-Blackcomb jury chose Leach’s submission as
“the one that most embodied the spirit of the mountain.”
A second
winner’s name, North Vancouver-resident Frank Plechaty, was drawn from a hat by
Leach. He also received a season’s pass.
Stories ranged
from how one Vancouver office worker was lured away from the cubicle to the
mountain by the prospect of fresh powder to a memoir about saving a goat while
hiking the backcountry. But it was Leach’s memoir, New Frontiers, about passing
along the skills of the slopes that she learned at her dad’s knee to her
preschooler son that earned her the parent ski pass, valued at $1,639.
“I guess I’m
going skiing tomorrow,” Leach said accepting the award with her son, Ben, in
her arms.