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Alta states: Inspiring the world one person at a time

Chris Hauserman remembered
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"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They waken us to new understandings with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for a while, leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same..."

Bit of doggerel uncovered in Newport, Oregon on September 9 th , 2005

 

He'd made his choice. Whistler was going to be home. And why not? He loved the mountains. Loved playing in the thick coastal snow - sliding through the forest, searching out the powder stashes, learning new alpine skills. It was all so new. So exciting. So elemental...

Sure, it was a long way from London and the high-pressure, big-exposure lifestyle he'd led there. But so what? Wasn't that the reason he'd come to Whistler in the first place? Hadn't this place taken him in and embraced him like a long lost son? Shown him things that he'd long wanted to learn?

At 40, Chris Hauserman felt like he'd been given his life back. And rather than hoard his newfound good fortune, he took every opportunity he could to share it with the people he lived and worked with. We often wax ironic about "living the dream" at Whistler. But there is a hard kernel of truth to the old saw. It's not easy to live the dream here. You have to have imagination and discipline and energy and talent - and a very healthy dose of good luck. Yet Chris made it all look easy. He was living the Whistler Dream in as large and as generous a way as anybody I've ever heard of.

Why do some people get involved and others stay on the sidelines? Why can some people connect immediately with a place while others need years to break in? Chris couldn't help himself. He loved it here. I think he was also irresistibly drawn to the people here. Something about this community touched his soul deeply. He loved the edgy nature of Whistlerites. Their enthusiasm for adventure; their thirst for new ideas and ways of doing things. He felt at home here. Among friends.

And he badly wanted to be part of it. He'd even found a place near the lake that suited his needs. But first he had to take care of business. The weeklong trip to London, he explained, was just to secure the necessary funds to buy his very own piece of the Whistler Dream. If it all worked well, he told his friends and colleagues at Cascade Environmental, he'd be back in the valley in time for the office Christmas party. And that, he assured them, was something definitely worth coming home for...

Hauserman never made it back for last Thursday's Christmas party. Fate had other plans. He became..."another Highway 99 casualty," as they put it so thoughtfully on the radio last week.

But this isn't a highway story. It's a story about a man who made a difference in our community.

"He was like a born-again Snoweater," says his boss Dave Williamson. "Here was this guy from Australia - who'd grown up on the beach surfing - who was now madly in love with sliding on snow. It was just so much fun to see..."

Hauserman's path to Whistler is an interesting one. Born, raised and educated in Australia - in the scenic beachside town of Byron Bay to be more precise - Chris eventually parlayed a Master's degree in Environmental Management into a London-based job in land-use planning that had him reporting directly to England's prime minister. But health issues quickly convinced him that eight years in the hot seat was long enough for him. So he decided to look for a more balanced environment where he could set down some roots.

"He showed up in my office in the fall of 2008," recounts Williamson. "Told me my firm was the only one in the Whistler phone book with 'environmental' in the title. So that's why he was here, he said. I was to give him a job..." He laughs. "I told him he was way over qualified for what I needed. And that, besides, I could never afford him." Another chuckle. "He told me he didn't care. He'd work for free." A pause. "So I hired him."

The match seemed a good one. "Chris brought a lot of skills to the table," says Williamson. "But more importantly, he brought a level of energy and an enthusiasm that was really infectious. He was a lot of fun to work with."

Writer and part-time herpetologist, Leslie Anthony concurs. "I first met Chris through a girlfriend when they both worked at Lululemon," he says. "Then we went out on a few jobs together for Cascade. I found him to be a very inspiring and positive person. His politics were good and he always managed to deliver his message in a humorous way..."

And it seems he was like that all the time - whether working or playing. Remembers another colleague at Cascade, Vicki Legris: "We were in International Trees a couple of weeks ago. It was a little early in the season and a little tight." Well, maybe a lot tight. "It was 45 minutes' worth of getting stuck and struggling," she admits. "At the end of it, I turned to my husband Ian and said 'Whew! That was rough...'. But Chris comes out of the trees with a big grin on his face. 'Wasn't that great?' he says." She pauses. "That was Chris... always up for an adventure."

Williamson calls him a "super-connector." "We were in Ottawa recently where Chris was presenting a white paper on the Trans Canada Trail," he explains, "and somehow we got invited to the Governor General's reception. Well..." He pauses. Chuckles at the memory. "Chris could case out a room and make it his own in minutes. I mean, there I was in the receiving line, fully briefed on how to act and just about to shake the governor general's hand when suddenly her top aide pulls her aside. 'Did I hear Cascade Environmental?' she says. 'Then you must meet Chris Hauserman.'" Williamson sighs long and loudly. "There I am, my hand outstretched and no governor general to greet, and there's Chris hugging Michaelle Jean like they're old friends. I wasn't sure whether I should be envious or proud..."

The best Chris Hauserman story, however, comes from his Cascade colleague and paddleboard buddy, Dan McDonald. And for the rest of this space, the words are his (with just a little editing). Read on:

"Capable of single-minded obsession and infectious enthusiasm, Chris managed to reverse my status from ex-has-been-surfer to stoked-stand-up-paddle-surfer frothing for the next surf trip on the horizon. After a few forays on a friend's board in Alta Lake, Chris talked me into buying my own stand-up board - in Oregon. Nope, the boards on offer in B.C. didn't meet Chris's criteria. We had to go to the States. So into the car we piled, Chris, myself, girlfriend Sorcha (eight months pregnant) and dog Niska - and down I-5 we headed towards Hood River...

"The next day we walked out of Hood River's Big Wind shop one paycheque poorer - but a paddle board richer. In the shop, Chris was on fire. His former compulsive sailboarder persona was in full revival and he was scurrying around the shop jabbering at gear, annoying the sales people and struggling to refrain from racking up even more charges on the haggard visa. We staggered out bearing boards, bags, wetsuits, booties, leashes, paddles, screws, washers, rash guards, ding repair, etc. With a trunk full of sales tax-free loot, we headed for Cannon Beach...

"It's pretty easy to talk up the surf lingo if you idly read the surf mags on the rack. Well, being an Aussie Chris was well-versed: he could recognize a dozen breaks just by the photos - no caption required - so I figured he'd be on it, no worries. We peeled into the parking lot, jumped into our wetsuits, tore the wrapping off the new boards, strapped on our leashes and headed for the head-high swell rolling in. Knee-deep in water, Chris jumped onto his board and paddled out confidently to meet his first wave - where his prized new board promptly jacked up as it hit the whitewater and smacked him in the forehead knocking him backwards into the soup...

"Chris came up howling with laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of it - first wave and he kooks out in spectacular fashion for the crowds on the beach. Sheesh! Once he got it dialled though, Chris lived up to his Aussie background, styling out his backhand and kicking out without falling in. Even though Chris hadn't surfed in years, it was obvious that he hadn't had a deprived childhood on the beaches and point breaks of his native New South Wales...

"Back on the road, the border loomed. We realized we were bringing thousands of dollars' worth of untaxed gear into Canada. Damn, hadn't thought of that. What to do? Lie? Tell the truth? Chris rolled his window down and without blinking an eye, said: 'Yeh mate. We were down at the Gorge in Oregon at a paddle boarding animal shelter fundraiser.' End of story. The border guard waved us through, no worries at all..."

Go in peace Chris Hauserman. Your Whistler friends miss you already.

A celebration of Chris Hauserman's life will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Whistler Public Library.