8 THE VOICE, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30, 2016 EDITOR SCOTT FORBES High school boy's basket- ball tips off Lower Mainland schools dominate pre-season se- nior boys AAAA rankings By MICHELE PAULSE back, and this season several Van- couver teams are optimistic about their chances of winning it all. The high schools are ranked in one of four tiers, A to AAAA, depending on how many grade 11 and 12 boys are en- rolled in the school. The AAAA level is the highest, and the Vancouver Prov- ince’s rankings released on Nov. 27 has eight lower mainland schools ranked in the top 10 AAAA teams in B.C. Ted Cusick, a spokesman for the BC High School Basketball Association said the level of competition among the teams is better than it’s ever been be- cause players are playing year round in clubs. “Tt used to be basketball would start Nov. 28 and end in March and students would go on to play track and field in the spring and rugby in the fall,” Cu- sick said. “Now with outside clubs, they finish up in March with the high school, and then they have a spring league with the clubs, summer travel, fall leagues and they then start basketball in high school again, in November,” he added. The AAAA Kitsilano Blue Demons are ranked third in the province, and their coach Sylvester Noel is feeling positive about the team’s ranking. “T don’t think about the ranking so much, it’s more about how we finish the game at the end of the season, but I’m comfortable with that ranking for now,” Noel said. The Walnut Grove Gators and the Kelowna Owls are the first and second ranked teams. Noel said the top group of teams are a tightly packed and competitive group. “T think on any given day any of those teams can beat each other,” said Noel. “So as long as we play well, they play well, any team can beat each other...it will come down to who is the best and who is the healthiest at the right time.” The Blue Demons are intent on bet- tering their preseason ranking as the season progresses. “Our vision statement for our team is [the team] focuses on playing for each other. The team becomes a family, and the season a success,” Noel said. Be: high school basketball is ROBERTO TEIXEIRA photo A Skier and a snowboarder about to head down the Heaven’s Sake run in the early morning at Grouse Mountain on Nov. 29, 2016. Grouse Mountain ramping up Early winter snowfall leads to optimism for busy holiday season By KRISTYN ANTHONY t might be raining in Vancouver, but up on Grouse Mountain Tuesday morning, it was a winter wonder- land. Thanks to an early snowfall, the mountain opened for its 90th season last weekend. Three open lifts took skiers and snowboarders up to the three runs in operation Tuesday, where 19 centime- tres of fresh snow had fallen in the pre- vious 48 hours. Jodi Westbury, director of marketing and communications for Grouse Moun- tain said additional snow in the forecast will allow for operations to continue to open terrain heading into the holidays. "What we're seeing this year is a more sustained snowfall so that really bodes well, especially for building up a base for the mountain," she said. This year, previously unavailable glade areas are opening for advanced riders looking for fresh powder. "We have also added a new terrain park called Grouse Woods and it's Can- ada's first natural feature terrain park, on Buckhorn run,” Westbury said. David Onak took advantage of a day off from school to get on the mountain with a group of friends. "I know there's a lot of fresh snow so I'm excited to basically just practice snowboarding cause it's the first time of the year,” he said. For Gerry Rahn, Tuesday was an op- portunity for a hike in the snow. Rahn runs Grindaholic, an independent com- munity group he founded to get hikers up to Grouse, year round. Rahn, who averages 200 days a year on the moun- tain, was headed for the BCMC trail. "Use it or lose it," he said. "At 62, I don't dare stop, you've got to keep in shape." After 20 years exploring the moun- tain on foot, Hahn said this year he's strapping on the skis again. "We're very fortunate to live here, and I hope I can set an example to a younger generation to get out and stay fit." CHECK OUT A GOPRO VIDEO at langaravoice.ca 66 What we’re seeing this year is a more sustained snowfall JODI WESTBURY GROUSE MOUNTAIN MARKETING CLARE HENNIG photo Tanner Alden, a climber for nine years, scales the boul- der wall at the Hive Climbing Gym in North Vancouver. Climbers reach for Olympic dream Hive Climbing Gym in North Van will host one of several qualifying events in the lead up to nationals By CLARE HENNIG a chance to become part of the Ca- nadian national climbing team and potentially end up at the Olympics at the upcoming Tour De Bloc National Se- ries event in North Vancouver. For the first time, climbing will be in- cluded in the 2020 Olympics. Iain Stew- art-Patterson, president of Sport Climb- ing B.C., said the inclusion of climbing in the Olympics is increasing support and awareness for the sport in Canada. “With sport climbing getting added to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, there’s a huge drive to increase the profile and R:: climbers will be competing for resources for our athletes,” he said. This means more competitions, rec- ognition and opportunities for athletes. Saturday’s competition is the first of two for climbers to join the national climb- ing team. There will be 55 climbers vying to get to the final round of competition that will be held in Edmonton in early March. After paring down the competitors in a series of heats, eight men and eight women will square off in the final to de- termine the national team members. When the Canadian Olympic team is chosen in the lead-up to the 2020 Games, the climbers will be selected from the national team. The competition is a set of ten “prob- lems” — five qualifiers and five finals — that each climber has five minutes to complete. They are judged for how far up the wall they get as well as the amount of attempts and time it takes. There is also a recreational “scram- ble” competition in the morning, which accepts on-the-day registration from the general public. Kate Bell, the event coordinator at the Hive Climbing Gym where the event takes place on Dec. 3, said that it’s not just for climbers hoping to make the na- tional team. “It’s also for people who just want to compete at a higher level,” said Bell. “There are a couple of foreign nationals who will be competing as well for brag- ging rights, and there is a little bit of prize money as well.” Andreas Lerch, one of the route set- ters for the competition, said he creates problems that challenge different as- pects of a climber’s technique without being impossible to complete. “We try to challenge each competitor differently so they have to be well rounded,” said Lerch. “We'll challenge them on volume, on balance, technique, power and reading sequence.”