Stirling Bancroft - Ski Instructor, Mount Seymour

Everyone's heard of those legendary Vancouverites who ski in the morning and sail, golf or kayak in the afternoon. Meet Stirling Bancroft, a 24 year-old Mount Seymour ski instructor. Stirling gives his thoughts on winter, summer and skiing in Vancouver - and he really has skied in the morning and sailed in the afternoon.

How long have you been at Mount Seymour?
I've been a ski instructor at Mount Seymour for five years.

I've got five hours to spend on Mount Seymour. What should I do?
Seymour offers great ski and snowboarding lessons, fantastic snowshoe fondue tours and soon we're starting a telemark program. But for me, a perfect day is skiing all afternoon and then stopping in at Elevation 1020 (the mountain restaurant) for an après ski drink.

Vancouver summer or Vancouver winter?
I can't answer that. In winter I love to ski, but in summer I do a lot of sailing and windsurfing. I like to flow with the seasons.

So have you ever gone skiing in the morning and sailing in the afternoon?
Yup - I'm that kid!

Do Vancouver's local ski mountains attract a lot of tourists or are they a local's secret?
At Mount Seymour, there are a lot of tourists that come up. However this is definitely a local's hill. It's smaller, locally owned and has a lot of heart. But is it a secret? Yeah it's a secret! You're gonna keep the secret, right?!

When not tearing up the slopes followed by a string of bobbing five-year-olds, Sterling can be found in English Bay at the helm of a sailboat. He's also in training to make the Canadian National Sailing Team for the 2008 Olympic Summer Games.

www.mountseymour.com

March 2007