Strawberry

When I was little I thought I was allergic to strawberries. My symptoms would always start in second half of June, and they would last for a month. I was convinced that the culprit were strawberries - every time after I ate them, my eyes were itchy, my throat was sore, I had a running nose and I was sneezing. I was deprived of this tasty fruit for a while, until I did allergy test, that actually revealed that I was allergic to grass and 3 types of trees, during its blossoming period.

I was happy that I could eat strawberries now, and I did - I ate them a lot, especially the wild ones.

That's how strawberries became significant fruit for me.

Later, strawberries became significant again, in a form of one chair lift at one skiing hill. People who've skied Banff's Sunshine Village will know that I am talking about Strawberry chair lift.

I personally didn't like this chair lift. It was slow, it didn't gain any sufficient altitude for my taste, it didn't offer any steep terrain, it wasn't comfortable, it would always stop and make you waste your time...There were so many things that I didn't like about it.

I liked though, the fact that I could go to Strawberry and get some rest, as its ride was very long, and the hill below it was not demanding. My leg muscles were always thanking me after I chose to go to Strawberry lift.

Strawberry chair lift was a place where I took Yanna first or second time to ski. It was her favorite chair lift.

Its green runs, wide open area and blue "Strawberry Face" enabled her (and countless others) to ski without fear, and to feel safe and comfortable. For people who started learning any new sport activity, and especially if that was skiing, this feeling must be very much known.

Yanna always called Strawberry, "My Strawberry", and liked to go back. Even after she lost her ski once, when somehow her leg got stuck while boarding the lift.

I learned how to enjoy Strawberry, more and more with years passing. As I was becoming less hard core skier, and more of content skier, I realized that Strawberry lift was giving me something that all other chair lifts were not.

Strawberry was retro, Strawberry was old, and that meant that Strawberry owned a piece of Sunshine and Alberta's skiing history. I thought about skiers who skied on Strawberry lift in 1970, 1980, 1990....Perhaps many of them were not alive anymore.

They would come to ski here, sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy, sometimes upset, sometimes with big smiles on their faces. They didn't know at that moment that their beloved or be-hated Strawberry will not be standing there one day. They also didn't know that all reasons that they were upset or happy about, won't be relevant one day. I am sure that wise ones were enjoying their Strawberry triple chair lift unconditionally.

Strawberry was aging, and somehow, it has offered its 'experience' and wisdom, that we, as people unfortunately rarely demonstrate during our aging process. Somebody might ask, how some piece of metal can offer experience and wisdom - well, it cannot directly, but it can trigger those feelings in us, when we think about people who passed through its chairs and ski runs. Their accumulated knowledge and values they propagated, can only reminds us how important is to enjoy every minute during 24 hour period.

Just couple of days ago I took my last ride ever on "old" Strawberry. On the last day of season, during Slush Cup, I boarded this piece of history, took couple of pictures, and stored these memories into my memory bank.

When new season starts in November, there will be "New" Strawberry chair lift on Strawberry Face.

On Jan. 7, 2010, Sunshine received federal approval to replace the Strawberry lift with a new lift being used at Whistler Blackcomb for the 2010 Games. The installation has begun in April, and the lift will be in operation for the 2010-'11 snow season. The Doppelmayr CTEC detachable quad will carry 1,800 skiers/snowboarders per hour, with a ride time of only 2.7 minutes. It will provide a second high-speed option on Mount Standish, home to the Sunshine's area's halfpipe.

I am looking forward to new Strawberry, as it will have an Olympic legacy built in - it was used to shuttle Olympic and Paralympic spectators during February’s Games in Vancouver.

At the same time I will miss old Strawberry.