Squamish can be a transient place, between climbers dirtbagging in vans all season to weekend warriors clogging the Sea to Sky as they escape the city by hitting the slopes of Whistler. I get it. You’re used to seeing new faces.
I won’t be yet another new face, at least not for long. You might see me on the Stawamus Chief, but also in the pages of The Chief, as I help share the news and capture everyday life in Squamish.
This won’t be the first mountain town I’ve lived in. After spending most of my life by the ocean on the East Coast, I set my sights on the west after graduating from the University of King’s College in Halifax. First, I spent a summer farther east working as a CBC radio reporter in Newfoundland, before the mountains called and I moved to Banff. In Canada’s first national park, I helped develop podcasts for an arts centre and later wrote for a travel magazine.
Then I visited Squamish for the first time.
Here, I was in awe of the community nestled where the ocean meets the mountains.
Clearly, this was the best of both worlds. As a friend’s dad gave me the grand tour, we hiked to boulders and spotted bald eagles, and he shared some advice: Find a place that makes you happy and the rest will fall in place.
I’ve been thinking about this wisdom ever since, as I moved to B.C. to work for newspapers in Prince Rupert and Victoria. After more than a year of island life, I’m ready to reunite with winter — at least for part of the year.
I knew I was nearing Squamish on my drive from Victoria — with all of my worldly possessions packed in my car, not quite #vanlife style — when the snow started hitting my windshield. My first purchase in town was a shovel, although my new coworkers have informed me that sometimes the rain washes it away before shovelling is complete. It’s one of the many things I have yet to learn about this community. From covering SLRD to the school board and the news as it happens, as well as exploring outside on my downtime, I can’t wait to share what I find out.
