By Andrew McCredie Sports Editor IT was a year to the day her father passed away and Kelly Ringstad could feel his presence as she stood in the starting gate atop Fortress Mountain. “Before my contests this vear, if the sun was shining -— my dad loved skiing on sunny days — Ud look up and Pd know he's our there,” the 23-year-old Ringstad said recently, “Pm not a religious person, but [just know he's on my shoulder.” And as Kelly stood on the podium receiving the Nor-Am gold medal later thar day for her Winning performance, ber father no doubt was wearing a bigger smile than his daughter. Fans of the West Vancouver skier had plenty to smile about this past scasuii as Ringstad, competing as a Canadian Development team member, dominated Nor-Am events and trav- elled with the World Cup team in Europe and io Blackcomb. And the biggest reason te smile came just last month when Ringstad was selected as a fuil- fledged mensber of Canada’s elite World Cup team for the 1997-98 season — a season which includes the Winter Olympics in’ Nagano, Japan. “It’s all come up so fast that Pve never real- ly had time to focus on the Olympics,” Ringstad said during a rare quiet moment over coffee at Brewster’s in Dundarave on a recent rainy afternoon. “It will be great if it-happens, and I think at the evel Pm skiing at I should make it.” Sound cocky? Try confident. “There’ve been so many things thar have held me back, thar [ve overcome,” she says. “And I know now that P’'m strong enough to do whar I want.” Ler’s back up a little to the beginning. And what better place to start a ski story than on the local mountains. At the age of three Ringstad hit the slopes with her ski-crazy family, and three years later headed north for her inaugural schuss down Blackcomb. Three years after that her parents, living in Lynn Valley at the time, bought a place in Whistler. Kelly entered the world of weekend Whistlerites. “T never went into racing, just basically ski- ing with my parents and my friends,” she recalls of her early days. “Then we (herself and a friend) heard of this program called Fibreglass Canada Bump School, so we joined up,” she says of her first official foray into the moguls. “We were 14 and we were terrible that first year. I was like tra- versing the runs, crashing, it was really pathetic. “And then the next year we were like ‘Well, should we join the Blackcomb Freestyle team?’ We really, really liked the suits — that’s terrible to admit — bur we really liked the suits and we're like ‘Well, if we get a cool suit that will be all right’.” So the fashion conscious duo signed up, but: “The suits the next year were terrible. So that served us right.” Unlike many of her contemporaries, Ringstad did not show early promise as a mogul skier. “I crashed every contest in the first two years,” she admits, but she had fun in the club and liked the social aspect of it. “The club at that vint had more older members... well, older boys.” But a funny thing happened on the way down the mogul runs. She started winning. By the time she graduated from Argyle sec- ondary, Ringstad was considered an up-and- comer on the B.C. mogul scene. “When I graduated from high school and told my parents | wasn't going tv go to univer- sity the next vear — Pm going to trv this thing out and see what I can do — they were like... the Dundarave Cafe: Realisn: and Whimsy. Paintings by Margaret Key. To April tl. Ferry Building Gallery: Painted Surfaces, a wwo per- son exhibition by painter Carole Arnston and ceramie artist. Lewis Kryzkowski Artis’s’ dialogue April 15, p.m. Hours: TP aim. to p.tit, closed Mondays, Into: 290. ‘o Marshall Curriculum Centre, Artists for Kids Gallery: Bigs, Birds and Beasts, Jack Shadbolt’s first young people’s exhibition. Weekends, noon to 4 p.nt. To April 26. 987-6667. North Vancouver City Hall: Kenneth Patrick Butler presented by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council to April 17. Business hours. North Vancouver District Halk Aorrreness of Aging. N photographic exhibition pre- sented by othe North Vancouver Community Arts Couneil, Part of the exinbi- tion is the result of a photog, raphy competition sponsored by the district. Business hours. Norwh Vancouver Museum and Archives: Fire! Firefighting through othe ages. A major exhibit orga- nized iy conjunenon with the West Vancouver Museuin and Archives and the theee North Shore Fire Departments. April TOO 12. Fhomes. 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Best Dressed Cow Contest (main floor), Mother Narure (Or See mure page 16 ride West Van's Kelly Ringstad named to World Cup squad sky is falling,” she says of her decision to take her mogul skiing to the next level. That first year out of school proved to herself —— and possibly her parents —- that a future on the slopes could be a reality. After thar first year out of school, Ringstad was chosen to the Canadian Development ‘team (which wanslates to about $400 a year in funding). Ringstad had graduated to the next level of skiing, but now came the realities of funding that dream. Fees are about $3,500 a ski season year per skier on the development squad, which covers coaching and ground transportation (the KELLY Ringstad, 23. is the newest member of the Canadian Freestyle Mogul Skiing team. NEWS photo Terry Peters season on the read is usually one month long). “Basically, when vou're on the development feam it costs vou berween seven and 10 grand avear.” Ringstad savs. So where did Kelly get that kind of money? “[ worked. A lot. Waitressing a lot in the summer. I started here (on the North Shore) at Chez Michel and Beachside Cate, then Fmoved up to Whistler, and worked April through November.~ Fate smiled on the skier in the form of her mother’s occupation, She works for Canadian Airlines and has passed on lots of air mile points to Kelly. As Ringstad progressed up the talent ladder, the costs also escalated: “I think this past year has cost me between $17 000 and $18,000.” However, with the announcement last month that she will be a member of the World Cup team next season, shell no longer have to pay the development team fee and should have niure opportunities to attract’ sponsorship to offset the cost of com- peting. With the Canadian women’s mogul team searching for new stars — both Tami Bradley and Jossee Charbonneau have said they will nor compete next year — Ringsted is poised to take her skiing to the next level. Again. Canadian ski fans got a taste of that potential in Janusry in Blackcomb as Ringstad, the defi- nite home-town favorite, finished fifth in the dual mogul event — the top finish by a Canadian. New to the freestyle world are dual moguls, where nwo skiers ski-off head-to-head. Some believe it is difficult to watch rwo skiers at once, bur judging from the spectator reaction at the Blackcomb World Cup, dual moguls has a bright future. A classic made-for-TV kind of sport. “Two years ago the Canadian women’s team had six or seven spots on the World Cup tour,” Ringstad said of the team’s sagging fortunes. “This past vear we had five, and next year we only have three.” The number of skiers each country is allowed is dependent on how many top-20 finishes the team posted the year before. “They cut four girls off the team this year, so everyone was really shocked when thar hap- pened.” But Ringstad has learned to ride the bumps both on and off the slopes pretty well. Her off-season plans include coaching the Blackcomb team, training with the World Cup team... and waitressing. Kelly’s father never saw her ski in a World Cu race, but you can bet he'll be right on her shoul- der next season as she takes that next turn on that bumpy ride to Nagano, Japan. And beyond. — andrew@nsnews.com NEWS photo Paul McGrath CHRISTOPHER Grignard (left) plays a Romanian priest and Nacia Nascimento an angel in the Capilano College Theatre production of Mad Foresi, Cary! Churchill's tale of Romanian society in pofitical turmoil, April 10, 11 and 12 in the mew theatre.