MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2018

WINTER 2018 ML BLUE 35 While in the glades, Paul Osak offers me some advice on my technique. It turns out I’m skiing in an awkward unconsciously defensive way that is causing me to work far harder than I should. Paul skis with me for much of the second day and his critical approach to my technique underscores something: he is proud of his terrain and wants everybody to be at their best in it. Before buying Selkirk Snowcat Skiing, Paul and Megan were running FIS races at nearby Whitewater resort for about five years. “In a roundabout way, it’s what piqued our curiosity,” says Paul. While consistently hooked on Kootenay powder since they moved to BC from their native Ontario and bought a video store in Nelson, they ended up wanting to do something, in Paul’s words, that was “entirely unique to this part of the world. That’s what led us to Selkirk Snowcats.” In December 2013, the Osaks became just the second owners of Selkirk Snowcat Skiing since 1975, when Barrie, Ontario–born Allan Drury opened the operation on Meadow Mountain. It is widely believed that Drury invented catskiing for the Selkirk operation when he proposed permanent use of the snow-grooming machines he first saw in action as people-movers in Colorado, taking skiers up the mountain while a chairlift was under repair. During the Selkirk’s early years, Drury worked ABOVE COURTESY OF SELKIRK SNOWCAT SKIING/ STEVE SHANNON PHOTOGRAPHY. BELOW COURTESY OF SELKIRK SNOWCAT SKIING