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Local mom wins writing award

Best mountain memory
memoircontest
Writer Lindsay McIvor checks out competing submissions on awards night at the GLC.

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.