Vol. 2 * Issue 2 * February 2015
An occasional newsletter for residents and visitors to Silver Star, published winter and summer.
Distributed throughout the village and via email.
Next stop Latin America, for a few years of skiing
and instructing in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Then
in 1966, fate struck in the form of a free ticket to
Vancouver to check out the new mountain called
Whistler. There he appeared in ski movies by filmmaker Jim Rice, an early rival of Warren Miller. Always up for a challenge he pulled stunts like skiing
the Gondola run, moguls and all, on one ski, left leg
one day, right the next.
Perhaps his most notorious escapade, a ski descent
of the south face of the North Vancouver Lions, is
best described by Vancouver Sun photographer
Deni Eagland. Dag, then 27, was helicoptered to a
crested ridge between the peaks. “We watched in
awe as Aabye plunged down the slope leaping off
mounds and gracefully avoiding trees in beautiful
sweeping turns,” wrote Eagland. “But in a split second the beauty turned to horror as a section of
snow about 100 feet wide started to slide, carrying
Aabye with it. We stared in horror as the seething
mass of snow engulfed Aabye.”
—photo Barry Hodgins
A Silver Star legend
“I fell into a tree well. Everything I had was broken: my skis, everything. But I was alive. Pure
luck,” Dag recalls.
—excerpt from an article by Patti Lefkos published
(Aabye Road is named after Dag Aabye, a legend of in North of 50 magazine
Silver Star, noted for straight-lining Caliper Ridge,
climbing village trees to decorate with Christmas
lights, tucking atop a car on Silver Star road, trainHinky Heights—former owner John Hindle’s nicking for speed racing.)
name Hinky.
Not much about Dag’s life to date has been what
Holy Smokes—after former GM John Gow let out a
most would call ordinary. Born in Sigdal, Norway,
similar expletive.
west of Oslo, he started skiing at the age of two
and has never stopped, except for five childhood
Spirit Bowl—for the snags left standing after the
years in Argentina where his parents had gone to
1929 forest fire.
farm. After finishing high school in Norway he studied gymnastics in Denmark, followed by a stint with Attridge Face—Bill Attridge, one of the original
stakeholders and a driving force behind developthe special forces ski section in the Norwegian Army. “The army was a great time to figure out what ment of Silver Star.
I was going to do,” he says.
Betty’s Bypass-- Betty Campbell, one of the five
His story, well-known in the BC skiing community,
original "Ski Partners". Partnered or Hosted 1989begins in the early 60’s with Dag as a ski instructor 2014. Betty would tell skiers, “If Zypper looks too
in Scotland. Fast forward to a party in London
steep, we’ll just take this bypass back to Sunny
where he was spotted walking downstairs on his
Ridge.”
hands by a talent agent and offered a job as a
movie stuntman. That led to work in about 20 mov- White Elephant—old mining claim.
ies, most notably Goldfinger with Sean Connery.
What’s in a name
Ski Patrol Fundraiser
It’s triplets
Congratulations to Jeremy and his Ski Patrol
team on the arrival of the newest members of
their life saving “gizmos”. Both Silver Star
Mountain Resort and the Silver Star Community
Volunteers are overjoyed to welcome Lucas,
Bair Hugger and LP12, which will further enhance the level of care that Ski Patrol can provide.
On January 19, for the Ski Patrol FUNdraiser,
the Town Hall was transformed into a magical
place. Everyone arrived wearing red and white,
mirroring the spectacular decor of the room. Not
only was it a fun filled and entertaining evening
(what happens at Silver Star stays at Silver
Star) but the incredible generosity of our Silver
Star community resulted in successfully raising
an amazing $30,000.
Remember this number:
250.558.6048
Ever wonder about those folks in red helping skiers/boarders off the Comet chair. There’s more
to their job, and here are some numbers to make
you feel safer.
Professional patrollers make up a daily team consisting of senior leader, team leader, snowmobile
driver, nine patrol, and one dispatch. Two teams
share the week, including Friday and Saturday
nights.
In addition, volunteers include 7 paramedics, 9
physicians (including 3 emergency and 1 orthopedist) and approximately 60 certified Canadian
Ski Patrol.
Of the six helicopter winch rescue techs in the
valley, five are from Silver Star.
Many patrol are also members of Vernon Search
and Rescue and Silver Star fire department.
Speaking of numbers, put this one into your cellphone bank: 250.558.6048, ski patrol dispatch
to report accident.
Did you know?
January 1961 MacKenzie's Men's Wear in Vernon
advertises a full line of ski pants and jackets with
quilted lining. Jackets for $15.95, pants $11.95.
Winter Season 1962 Silver Star Ski School Director
and holder of the Canadian Ski Instructors' Alliance
pin, Willie Leitner, offers private lessons in the Austrian Short Swing Technique, "the easy way to ski" for
$7 per hour. —Source: Vernon Museum Archives
Bair Hugger, Lifepak, Lucas
Money raised at the recent Ski Patrol fundraiser enabled purchase of three new pieces of equipment.
The Bair Hugger is a forced air warming blanket to
warm injured skiers, who are often hypothermic.
Lifepak is a semi-automated and manual defibrillator.
The Lucas chest compression system is designed to
improve outcomes of sudden cardiac arrest victims.
The machine can perform at least 100 compressions per minute to a depth of two inches, better
than manual CPR.
Lets cook
Hungarian mushroom soup
(from Excelsior Café, Telluride, Colorado, 1984,
8 servings)
4 c. chopped onions
1/4 c. butter
1 1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms
2-4 tsp dill weed
2 tbsp. each paprika, soy sauce, dry sherry
1 c. stock or water
Saute onions in butter, salt lightly, add mushrooms.
Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 15 minutes.
1/4 c. butter
6 tbsp. four
2 c. milk
3 c. stock or water
Melt butter, add flour, stir until smooth. Add milk,
stirring constantly. Cook until thick. Stir into mushroom mixture, add remaining stock. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes.
Before serving, whisk in:
2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
4 tsp. fresh lemon juice (I usually add more to
taste.)
1 c. sour cream (ditto the sour cream)
—Elaine Gruenwald, who writes: We were skiing in Telluride, Colorado in March of 1984. One of the reasons we
chose Telluride was because of the mining connection.
We both worked in the mining industry and were intrigued by the name. This was long before Telluride became the celebrity mecca it is today! Anyway we ate at
this little "hippy cafe", had the Hungarian Mushroom
Soup and absolutely loved it. When we got home I told a
friend about it and she suggested we write and ask for
the recipe, which I did right away. I never heard a
thing—until the start of the next ski season. They were
cleaning up the cafe, found my letter in the rubble and
sent me the recipe. It is still one of our favourite soups.
The STAR. Published occasionally, distributed free throughout the village
and by email. Editorial: Heather Cameron, Marjorie Dickson, Susie Dumbrille,
Elaine Gruenwald, Patti Shales Lefkos, Linda Peterat, Trish Reid, Patti Wild, .
Printed by Silver Star Mountain Resort. To receive email issues:
[email protected]