INDEX Home & Garden _ Celelrations Seniors... Restaurants Popular Streetspori jacket is guaranteed waterproof YOU won’t hear Jonas Hulten com- plain about the wet weather. What makes the best of us want to crawl back into bed — grey days and driving rain — makes Hulten bristle with anticipation. “T love it,” he says with a wicked grin, There just has to be a hidden agenda. As manager of the Marine Drive Mark’s Work Wearhouse, Hulten is finding that November’s stormy weath- er is proving prime testing ground for the store’s hottest selling item: the Capilano jack- ct. A breath- able, water- proof three- quarter- length jacket, made in Vancouver by Streetsport, the “Capilano” is proving pcpular with everyone from soccer moms to seawall walkers, says Hulten, who had a hand in its design. Made in Vancouver by Streetsport, it’s a scaled down version of another Mark’s standard, the Rainforest jacket. Working with the Vancouver manufacturer, Hulten stripped away some of the costly features like pit zips and extra pockets to knock down the price of the Capilano to about $159 (it’s currently on sale for $120). It’s affordable but best of alf it’s truly water- proof, says Hulten. And that’s something he’s willing to put moncy on. When the jacket first landed in his store, beneath sunny skies in May, Hulten cold cus- tomers they could take it home, wear it in the shower and bring it back if they weren't satis- fied. With the North Shore under a storm cloud these past several weeks, the jacket has stood the test. Other manufacturers may claim their outer- wear is waterproof when that's not necessarily so. “Sure, they call them waterproof .... California waterproof,” he says with the slight- est hint of contempt in his voice. “With this stuff, we're quite confident to say that it’s North Vancouver waterproof or your money back.” The Capilano jacket is made from a high-tech fabric called Ultrex that blocks rain while allow- ing body moisture to evaporate to keep skin warm and dry, explains manufacturer Bill Hanna. Hanna and his wife Diane founded Streetsport in ’88. The company also manufac- turers outerwear for Mountain Equipment Co- op, Dockers and Performa. The jacket’s seams are sealed to prevent leaks Sunday, November 28, 1999 —- North Shore News - 15 E 3 e og iss 3 ee ee NORTH SHORE NEWS COMMUNITY LIFE photo Bike Waksfield THE Capilano jacket, created by Bill Hanna (right) and Jonas Hulten (centre), pictured with Christine Hulten, is specifically designed to stand up to the North Shore’s wet weather. and the fabric is coated with DWR (Durable Water Repellent) that withstands a minimum 20 washings. Hanna, who leads an active life — jogging the Capilano Forest Reserve, mountain biking local trails and skiing the North Shore slopes — says the jacket is a good basic item “for people who want to go hiking but also for mom and dad who may be standing around watching soc- cer.” Alberta climber Byron Smith will be wearing a high-performance variation of the jacket when he attempts to summit Mt. Everest in May. . Hanna plans to participate in the high-altitude trek to base camp. Hulten says that Hanna will be putting his performance wear to test in the harsh elements. Mark’s Work Wearhouse is a major sponsor of the expedition. The Everest jackets won't be made of Ultrex but a new high-tech fabric, Hulten figures. One that may prove a winner. One that may show up in stores next winter. Culver’s Everest saga set for book Bob Mackin News Reporter A book written by the first British Columbian to conquer Mt. Everest will be published in the new year. Victoria’s Sono Nis Press will posthumously release Afy Little Everest by Dan Culver, a North Vancouverite who climbed the world’s tallest Tnountain in 1990. In 1993 he died at age 41 after summiting K2, the world’s second highest peak. Proceeds from the book will help the Dan Culver Follow Your Dream Foundation set up a youth leadership = program = on Jedediah Island. The island, near Nanoose Bay, was saved by Culver’s estate and che provincial government in 1995 and protected tram develop- ment with marine park status. Culver was an cager adven- turer who wanted to inspire people to follow their dreams and achieve their goals. He was reluctant to become a celebrity for his achievements, accord- ing to sister Suki Culver Hammren. “He was never interested in promoting himself,” Hammren says. “Every time he had the spotlight for things like climbing Everest or K2, he always redirected the attention towards things like saving the Khutzemateen and Tsitika val- leys, never about himself. [f anything, he was interested in showing others through his actions how to achieve their own goals.” He eventually began to write a children’s book based loosely on his climb, featuring a character based on his step- son Ryan. “He used photographs See Culver page 24 Climb every mountain - over 8,000 metres ED Viesturs is to speak in North Vancouver tomorrow. Deana Lancaster News Reporter deana@nsnews.cont ED Viesturs hopes he will inspire you to climb your own mountains — not his. The world-class high altitude climber, and star of the IMAX film, Everest, is giving a slide show tomorrow night at Centennial Theatre. He'll be talking about his goal ro become the first American and the sixth person to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks without the aid of boutled oxygen. Bur he’s not trying to induct more of the uninitiated into the currently trendy realm of “extreme sports.” TDOOR “My hope is that I can inspire people to do something ... even if it’s just to get up and go outside — to have a goal,” said the 37-year-old last week, on the phone from his home in Seattle. “[m not worried that Ill convince a bunch of people to climb Everest, It’s not easy to climb a mountain and usually, if anything, thev realize just how hard it is, what it rakes, all the prepara- tion.” He would know. As a college freshman at the University of Washington in Seattle, Viesturs would study all week and spend weekends climb- ing in the Cascade Mountains. He cut his climb- ing teeth on Rainier and McKinley before heading to the Himalayas. In 1987 he and fellow climber Eric Simonson came within 300 feet of Everest’s summit betore turning around because of unfavourable condi- tions. He vowed he'd go back and since then has summited the world’s highest mountain — recently discovered to be seven feet taller than the 29,028 feet it was previously believed to be — five times, twice without oxygen. In the spring of 1996, he was the climbing leader and deputy expedition leader with David Breashears on the IMAX Everest expedition. On the morning of May 8, they were ready to See Climbing page