It’s Friday afternoon and Squamish business owner Chris Harper is tinkering on a dirt bike at the back of his shop as a Monster Energy Supercross off-road motorcycle race blasts from the flat screen TV on the wall in the front of his store, On The Pipe (OTP) Performance, in the Squamish business park. OTP specializes in all things related to motorsports, from dirt bikes to snow machines to all the accessories in between.
Harper’s yellow Labrador retriever, Booter, wanders the store with an old black glove between his teeth. He is wet from his morning walk in the rain that is threatening to turn to snow.
The Chief sat down with Harper, 40, for a chat about coming to Squamish, his business and his very Squamish lifestyle – doing what he loves, outside.
Q: When did you come to Squamish?
A: I moved to Whistler in ’94 to ski, snowboard and mountain bike from Putnam, Ontario, a little town between Ingersoll and Woodstock. I moved here from Whistler in 2001 and opened this shop in 2002.
Q: How do you view how things have changed since you first came to Squamish?
A: It used to be a lot more about forestry and the pulp mill and at one point there was all the highway work, so there were a lot more [blue collar] working types. It has changed a little bit. It has gotten a little bit flashier, a bit more touristy. When I moved down here, a lot of people would say, “Why would you leave Whistler?” Now, I think across the globe, Squamish is getting a lot more attention.
Squamish is great. I ride snow machines in the winter, jet skis in the summer and dirt bikes in between.
Q: You have quite the lifestyle – no kids and no spouse and you do all these fun sports?
A: I have arranged quite a unique little lifestyle, it is fun. I guess it is all I really ever wanted.
Q: What do you ride?
A: A Honda CRF 250R and a Yamaha 450, my motocross bike and snow bike. I’ve also got a couple of jet skis and watercraft and a couple of peddle bikes too. I just got a new Norco hardtailer, which I am really happy about.
Q: Have you seen a change in interest in dirt biking?
A: There’s definitely a different demographic between the very much old school, traditional logging family of the past and now there’s a little bit more mountain bike and rock climbing. But still, dirt biking seems to be growing, even though there isn’t a motocross track here. There’s good trail riding and there’s a motocross track just on the other side of Whistler, less than an hour away (Green River Motocross Park).
Q: You don’t have any employees right?
A: No, it has primarily just been me. I have occasionally had some high school co-op students. I have been doing this for 15 years so I guess I have just gotten used to doing my own schedule and people have been accepting of that. I just kept focused on doing the best I could while I am at work and then trying to enjoy myself when I am not at work – and even while I am at work.
Q: What do you think of all the development and the way Squamish has been growing?
A: I guess I am indifferent. I enjoyed Squamish in the early years that I was here and I guess I quite enjoy it now. Other than more traffic and trying to find parking – that has definitely changed!
Q: Some of the old-time Squamish residents say they miss when they used to know everyone in town, do you find that?
A: I still know a lot of people because of my lifestyle and work, but it definitely used to feel like Cheers all the time in Squamish. You would know a lot more people. It used to be a tighter knit community. Now there has been so much change and so quickly people don’t have as long a history together. People used to know the families of the people they saw, now that isn’t always the case.
Q: What is one of your favourite memories of your time in Squamish so far?
A: I guess all the friends I have met and been able to go riding with. A lot of people here enjoy the hobbies that I enjoy.
Q: What do you hope for in say 10 years? You will be 50…
A: I can see myself doing a very similar thing, as long as I continue to have my health. I can’t really say I would rather be doing anything else.
