Olha Akhmedova carefully snakes her way through a line of blue pilons, as her husband, Dmytro, follows closely behind, cheering her on as her skis slide ever-so-slightly out of the pizza position to a more parallel stance in between cones.
Skies are blue, the snow on Whistler Mountain’s learning area is packed-down but soft, and a ski instructor, Nikolaj, is standing close by to offer some pointers. Despite living in the Sea to Sky corridor for a few years—first landing in Pemberton for three before moving to Whistler last year—it’s Akhmedova’s first time skiing.
“Everybody here, they always told me, ‘Olha you should try, you should try,” she recalled later, standing outside the Roundhouse while waiting to load the Whistler Village Gondola back down to Midstation.
She was a little nervous—particularly after a recent trip to the emergency room where she was surrounded by skiers and snowboarders seeking treatment for the array of painful injuries they’d suffered on the slopes—but “now I can say it’s not [as scary] as I thought,” she said. “And maybe I will do this again, because I like it.”
Olha and Dmytro were among the 23 participants who turned up on Monday, March 6 for a free “initiation ski day” for Ukrainians living in or around Whistler. Each participant was treated to complimentary ski rentals, a lift ticket, a group ski lesson, and lunch from Whistler Blackcomb.
“I want to say thank you so much for this opportunity,” Akhmedova added, “because it’s amazing.”
The event was a joint effort between the Whistler Welcome Centre and Whistler Blackcomb. Camille Verdier has been working as a ski instructor with the mountain for a few years now, but joined the Whistler Multicultural Society’s Welcome Centre as a settlement and outreach worker more recently.
Thinking back to her experience organizing workshops and other similar events back home in France, “I was like, ‘It could be good, because I’m working with both companies, maybe we could do something together,” she explained.
“What happens right now in the world right now is crazy, and I was surprised to see how many Ukrainians were here in Whistler … so I thought, ‘Why not create something to help the Ukrainians, [however] we can.”
She first ran the idea past Welcome Centre staff, before bringing it straight to Bartosz Barczynski, general manager of adult programs and private lessons for Whistler Blackcomb’s snow school. He was in, immediately, as was now-former COO Geoff Buchheister.
In addition to snow school, Whistler Blackcomb’s rentals, snow school sales, food and beverage, and marketing departments also played an important role in putting the day together, with particular credit to snow school adult groups manager Nadio Hachey, product sales and services assistant manager Alexia Delas and Julie Liautaud.
“They were amazing … as soon as we got this idea, Whistler Blackcomb was really working with me on it,” said Verdier. “Because we had this idea maybe one month ago. It was really last-minute, so when I asked I didn’t have too much hope.”
In Whistler’s learning area Monday, there were children, teenagers and adults; some Ukrainians living in Vancouver and others in Whistler; some who had clipped into ski bindings before and others who have never stepped into a ski boot. Some, like Olha and Dmytro, have lived in the Sea to Sky for a few years, watching from afar as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of their home country a little over a year ago. “It is so difficult,” Akhmedova said. She has trouble sleeping when she hears about shooting in the region where her family lives, she added. “You feel helpless.”
Others landed in B.C. just a few months ago, finding themselves among the millions of Ukrainians who have been displaced by the ongoing violence.
According to data from Canada Border Services Agency, approximately 177,958 Ukrainian citizens and returning Canadian permanent residents of Ukrainian origin arrived in Canada by land or air between Jan. 1, 2022 and March 5, 2023.
Between March 17, 2022 and March 2 of this year, the federal Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel program received about 903,439 applications from Ukrainians or their family members applying for a visa to enter and stay in Canada temporarily, 592,405 of which have been approved.
One first-time skier, Illia Yeromenko, is a video editor who has been living in Vancouver for six months. He said he would love to “try out as many countries as possible,” but is happy settling into life in Canada for now, and grateful for the countless ways this country has supported him since he arrived—Monday’s “amazing experience” in Whistler included.
“I don’t know any different countries that help so much for Ukrainians,” he said. “We are lucky to be here.”
Said Verdier, “The idea behind all of this, for sure, is skiing, and to show how the community supports them, and that they are welcome. And [we] want also to give them some fun times during a time that for them is a little bit hard.”
Even the seven instructors were chosen carefully: mostly Europeans from countries like France, Spain, Poland and Denmark, who could empathize with living an ocean away from home, maybe even speak a few words of a shared language, plus one Canadian for good measure. Those instructors were thoughtfully armed with a few printed-off phrases in Ukrainian.
But beyond that, Verdier also hoped the event would introduce the newcomers to Whistler Blackcomb as a company. “It’s a big employer here in Whistler, and if in the future, they want to come and work for them, that can be also an employer for them to have more stability,” she explained.
That certainly resonated with one participant, Yeromenko’s housemate, who introduced himself as Dee K-P. He currently works at a ski resort on the North Shore, after arriving in Canada just two months ago. “I really want to stay in Ukraine,” where his family still lives, he admits, but he is enjoying skiing in between shifts and starting to think about, maybe, potentially, what it might look like to move north up the Sea to Sky highway.
“Skiing is like my love of my life,” he said.
With one successful “ski initiation day” complete and a handful of Ukrainians still on the waitlist, Verdier hopes to organize another instalment before the ski season comes to an end, and hopefully extend the opportunity to Ukrainians wanting to learn to snowboard. “I will negotiate,” she said with a laugh. Meanwhile, a Facebook group has been created not just to share photos from the day, but to help create those community connections.
