FALL/WINTER2016
MLCM
91
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Adventure is out there and Eric Pehota is getting after it.
ABOVE
Turns like this never get old, even after 30+ years of ripping theCoastMountains. ERICBERGER
Eric Pehota and his oldest son, Logan, were in Revelstoke
backcountry,snowmobiling,skiingandgettingshotsfortheir
upcoming film,
ThePehotaProject
.BasedoutofPemberton
and less familiarwith theRevyarea, thePehotashadenlisted
a local friend toshow them thegoods.Stopped foramoment
on theedgeofasnowy loggingroad, their friendoutlined the
options forgetting togood filming terrain.
“We’renot far,”he said, “it’s theother sideof thismountain.
We can go over the top, but it’s quicker to stay on the road
andgoaround, about 20moreminutes.”
“Going around is not the Pehota way,” Eric interjected.
“We’llgooverthetop. It’smore funand itwillkeepussharp.”
Eric Pehota is also a throwback to those classic outdoorsman
adventurers from a bygone era. As a pioneer of Canadian ski
mountaineering in the 1980s and 90s, he notched dozens of
firstdescentshere in theCoastMountains (some sayasmanyas
40, Eric doesn’t keep track.)
He’s driven every highway in British Columbia, skied every
mountain range and explored almost every river. He hunts,
fishes and makes the best elk jerky you’ll ever eat. He built
his home entirely out of wood he milled himself and when
somethingbreaks down you canbet your ass he fixes it himself.
He drinks beer, shoots guns, keeps chickens, chops wood and
if the world ever does end, youwant to hope it happens when
you’re up visiting at the Pehota property because Eric probably
wouldn’t even notice. If ChuckNorris could ski, he’d drop in
after EricPehota.
Eric’s wife, Parveen, is badass too. Twenty-five years of
bartending at legendary Whistler watering hole Citta’ means
Parv’s seen it all and takes no shit. She’s equal parts athlete
agent, businessmanager, and comic relief but also100per cent
mom. Parv’s the secretweapon that holds it all together.
Logan Pehota is 21 andDalton just turned 20. They’re fourth
generationBCkidswithboth skiing and thewilderness in their
DNA.Their great grandparents and grandparents were loggers
inSquamish as far back as the 1930s and their dad grewupon
the slopes of Azu Ski Village (later known as Powder King) in
NorthernBC.
And there’s something to be said for good genetics–Loganwas
on track to possibly win the World Freeski Tour last winter
until the last event was cancelled due to weather. His younger
brother,Dalton, ski racedup to theFIS level until he got bored
with competition anddecided to ski just for fun. Bothof them
can pitch a tent in a windstorm, get a campfire going, frame a
cabinor rebuildacarburetor faster thanyouor I. If there is such
a thing as a “PehotaWay,” it seems tobeworking.
Eric chuckles at the whole “we don’t go around” Revelstoke
story, but he neither denies nor confirms it. “That sounds like
him though,” says Logan. “He’s a pretty skilled sledder and he
definitely has his own ways of doing things, and he’ll stick to
them. Plus, it
is
more fun, noonewants to go around.”
“There’s a Pehota Way all right,” Dalton adds. “His way or
the highway.”
I caught up with Eric, Parveen and the boys at their home in
Pemberton tohopefullyget some insight into thePehotaWay.
“There’saPehotaWayall right.
Hiswayor thehighway.” –DaltonPehota
