B4-Sunday News, March 2, 1980 Low altitude skiing - NEWS pioneers new technique for dealing withbarrel slats By PAT RICH Out of 37 newspaper, radio, television and media-related teams that entered the third annual Andres In- ternational Media Slat Cup Race at Hemlock Valley last weekend, the North Shore News placed last. No blame at all can be attached to one member of our team or to our support staff. : Gill Shaw, West couver School reporter and some-time assignment photographer, completed the course in a very respectable two minutes. The fact that she hap- pened to miss a few gates and failed to close the door that was half way down the course can only be credited to over-enthusiasm. Besides, She rarely closes doors anywhere, let alone doors located halfway down ski slopes. And our support staffer? Weill, while it can be said he did very little to add any support to the team, at least he did not impede it in any way. Actually, for some mysterious reason he spent most of his time telling people that he was a railway engineer. No, sad though it is to admit, it is my fault entirely that the News put on such a poor showing. Far be it for me to give any excuses. However I will list a few here just to show that there are plenty of them. Most significantly, one could mention the fact that I had never worn downhill boots before. Car Rentals from $10.95 a day free mileage Van- Board Monthly Rentals trom S175 Oldies but Goodies ~ 980-1515 1528 Pemberton Ave. JUBILANT NEWS TEAM collects ‘its last place prize at Hemlock Valley. Name tags are on the team members in ordexto insure that they are not separated from | their cases of beer. (Kent Kallberg photo) The experience (for those _ who don’t know) is akin to standing in buckets of concrete which have set at an angie. Now imagine taking these boots (with me in them) and placing them on barrel slats. Yes, barrel slats, whose only purpose in life should be to carefully age fine cognacs or even finer beers. So, it is quite un- derstandable that when they fitted me up this way at the top of the race course, I was incapable of standing up. (Anybody who dares to suggest the complimentary bottle of Andres wine Il drank just beforehand to give me courage had anything to do with it, should still their venomous tongue) After hearing ail of this it should appear perfectly reasonable when I say I went down the whole course sitting down, using my hands to steer. At least it kept the crowd entertained and | was honest enough to go around all the gates and close the door. Try it sometime. Perched in pair of downhill ski boots on a pair of barrel slats, looking down a sheer slope at a huge crowd of people, it is physically impossible to stand up. But I said earher that I didn't have any excuses for my poor showing so you can ignore everything I just said . if you want to be cruel, mean and unsympathetic. The reason all us media ‘ Northwest Soccer League SOCCER vs Sunday, Mar. 2,2 p.m. VANCOUVER WHITECAPS Kinsmen Stadium FREE GOLD YES Hundreds of proven rivers and creeks in B. C. have been left virtually untouched since the price of gold was $20.00 an ounce NATIVE GOLD IS FREE AND ABUNDANT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Send today: Our ‘‘How To"’ books will give you the whole story, locations, panning methods ‘and how to file and mark claims. Our pans are of the highest quality NAME ADDRESS The Weekend Miner $1.95 Gold Fever $2.95 foold Panning in B.C $5.95 “ 12°° Steel Pan $5.95 14°° Steel Pan $6.95 167° Stee! 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