After beloved local artist Chili Thom died of cancer in the fall of 2016, Chris Prior, Whistler's first snowboard manufacturer, wanted to honour his legacy.
Prior, founder of Prior Skis & Snowboards, planned to use some of Thom's designs as top sheets for limited edition skis and snowboards that he would sell in a silent auction to raise money for Thom's legacy fund, as well as to support his young daughter.
Sadly, Prior passed away nearly a year after Thom, before he could put his plan into action.
However "the team at Prior Skis & Snowboards have honoured these two local legends with 15 stunning, limited editions featuring Chili's art on Chris' Whistler-tested designs," according to the company's website. "These truly are pieces of pure local art that can hang on a wall or drop into the West Cirque (or both!)."
The boards are on display now at Sushi Village until April 13, when they'll move to the World Ski and Snowboard Festival's Art + Soul exhibit (where Thom displayed his art for many years). After the festival, they'll return to Sushi Village until April 21.
You can bid on the pieces online now at chilithom.com/auctionproducts. The auction closes at midnight on April 20.
Whistler Writers Festival reveals reading event lineup
The Whistler Writers Festival has unveiled the lineup for its spring reading event.
The Outdoor Endurance & Survival event is set to take place at the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre on Friday, April 13 at 7 p.m.
It will feature five memoirists, including Erik Bjarnason, a North Vancouver firefighter who wrote Surviving Logan, his story about being trapped on the second-highest peak in North America; Kate Harris, an award-winning author who wrote Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road; Jan Redford, a Squamish resident and author of End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage and Motherhood and Paul Suter, Whistler resident and endurance athlete who wrote Flat Out in Pieces.
Whistler-based editor, biologist and Pique columnist Leslie Anthony—author of the books Snakebit and The Aliens Among Us: How Invasive Species are Transforming the Planet—And Ourselves—will moderate.
"We've had requests to present a reading event that showcases the writing of outdoor adventures, explorers and athletes, so we're very excited to bring these four writers together for a spring reading event," says Stella Harvey, artistic director of the festival in a release. "The four authors have all endured and survived the unexpected that can happen when exploring the physical and mental boundaries of the outdoors and wilderness."
The event will also feature the winners of The Outdoor Endurance & Survival reading contest.
Tickets are $22 at whistlerwritersfest.com.
