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Hidden Valley Ski Area

Finally, there was natural snow. The weather conditions were ideal. And skiers were happy at Hidden Valley.

This was last weekend at the Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Elkwater, Alberta.

So far Hidden Valley has done an excellent job of making snow to keep the place running. Now we are being rewarded with natural snow – that soft powder every skier loves so much.

Hidden Valley is our jewel – right in the middle of the Prairies. It has family oriented ski hills which have done a lot for me and my family and for hundreds of other families who use it. I have met people from Medicine Hat, Brooks, Taber, Oyen, several places in Saskatchewan and sometimes Montana.

Hidden Valley has taught and continues to teach thousands of children and adults how to ski and snowboard – including an aging late bloomer like me!

During week days, it is busy with school trips coming from different places. It saves these children the expense of traveling to the mountains.

Winter can be very depressing because most activities are indoors. Hidden Valley is God’s gift to the people of this area –for fresh air and sunshine

Our population is increasing and it is time we see some more development at Hidden Valley. I think it needs another chair lift to service the Hidden Valley run where the t-bar is. Right now this run is underutilized as many skiers are reluctant to use the t-bar.

Adults don’t go there unless they have to accompany their children. This puts pressure on the main chair lift. On a busy day, there are long line ups and significant crowding on the Main and other runs.

Come to think of it, thirty years ago, there was only a toboggani hill about half-a-mile south of Hidden Valley used by local residents. Then there was a rope tow at the same site and beginning of skiing in this area. In 1967, a t-bar was installed with several runs.

In 1981, Dave Fischer, father of the current owner, Kevin Fischer, took over the operation and planning for the area. In 1987, at the beginning of the re-development, the area was renamed Hidden Valley.

The re-development was undertaken by the Government of Alberta. It included a Quad Chair, two Handle Tows, a full service daylodge, snowmaking system, run development and re-contouring of the entire base area. The combined lift capacity is 2400 skiers per hour.

Kevin Fischer indicates to me that Alberta Government had ambitious plans to enhance the Cypress Hills Ski facility by increasing snowmaking capability, install second chair lift to service the Hidden Valley run where the current t-bar is, and make additions to the existing daylodge facility.

Fischer says, “We hit 800 skiers and we are overloaded. Ultimate stage of development would get us to 1400 persons per day capability.”

So what happened to this ambitious plan? It became a victim of budget cuts when the government was trying to balance its books.

Now that the budget is balanced and we are in surplus – isn’t it time for the government re-invest in this project which promotes healthy life-style? It will fit quite well with government’s new campaign to promote Healthy U.

The investment will bring in more tourists and business for the local communities.

And we will be instilling life long healthy skills in our children, who will pass it on to their children and grandchildren. It is an investment of immense long term healthy benefits for generations to come.

Do you agree? If yes, then cut this article and send it to Premier Ralph Klein (Fax 780-427-1349), with copies to our local MLAs Mr. Lorne Taylor (Fax 403-528-2278), and Mr. Rob Renner (Fax 403-527-5112) or by mail at the Legislature Building, 10800-97 Avenue, Edmonton, T5K 2B7 or drop it off at their local offices.

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The Fat Land

Obesity is a disease.

About 40 per cent of Canadian forces members consider themselves fat.

About 48 per cent of Canadian children seven to 12 years old eat junk food for an afternoon snack.

About 50 per cent of Canadians are overweight compared to 61 per cent of Americans who are overweight.

About 25 per cent of all Americans under 19 are overweight, a figure that has doubled in 30 years.

World Health Organization estimates that in the most industrialized countries; at least one-third of all disease burden is caused by tobacco, alcohol, blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity.

Compare this to developing countries of the world; underweight alone accounts for over three-million childhood deaths a year.

Some die because they have too much to eat; others die because they don’t have enough to eat.

“Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World,” is a book recently published by Houghton Mifflin and is written by Greg Critser. I saw the book’s review in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and found the information interesting. Here are some interesting observations.

Critser blames the obesity epidemic on President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, who in 1970s delivered everything that the modern American consumer had wanted – plenty of cheap, abundant, and tasty calories.

This was done by vastly increasing corn production and thus boosting the manufacture of high fructose corn syrup used in sweetening cola drinks.

New technologies converted cheap imports of palm oil, into a viable commercial fat, one fit for everything from frying chips to making margarine to baking cookies and bread and pies.

Food became cheap. We saw the introduction of “super-sizing” of portions (“value meals”) 12 ounce Cokes, the Big Mac, and jumbo fries.

Fast food companies penetrated school lunch programmes by providing foods high in fats and sugars.

By 1999, 95 per cent of 345 California high schools surveyed were offering branded fast foods as a la carte entrée items for lunch.

Social forces have also expanded our waistline.

We work long hours, spend lot of time commuting, we don’t sweat much at work, we snack a lot, children spend more time watching television, playing on the computer and the video games.

Physical education does not get a priority in schools, and the rates of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes continues to increase.

What can we do about it?

Critser suggests reform of grade school lunch programmes, more physical education in schools and after school programmes, and involvement of parents of obese children in nutrition education.

What about obese middle aged and older men and women?

In a letter to the BMJ editor, a doctor suggests that obesity may be controlled in older people by more sexual activity which would replace gratification derived from eating and drinking, a sort of reversal of the libidinal shift from genital sexuality to the alimentary tract exhibited in advancing age.

Wow, not a bad idea! Have you tried it lately?

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High Blood Pressure

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the diseases of mass destruction.

World Health Organization says that hypertension causes 7-million premature deaths worldwide each year.

It is estimated that 25 percent of the 42 million people with high blood pressure in the United States are unaware that they have hypertension.

Hypertension affects 22 percent of Canadians.

If untreated, hypertension is deadly.

Hypertension can damage your heart, brain, kidneys, and retina. You may have high blood pressure but may have no symptoms. It is a silent killer.

For close to 100 years, it is known that hypertension causes premature death. That is why it is important to have blood pressure checked on a regular basis.

Why is hypertension on the rise (pardon the pun!)? Partly because we are eating more and moving less. And we are living longer. Our blood vessels become harder and less compliant with age. When the blood is pumped out of the heart into less compliant blood vessels, the blood pressure goes up. So the heart has to work harder – and eventually it becomes tired, weak and fails.

Normally, systolic blood pressure should be less than 140 mm Hg (mercury) and diastolic pressure of less than 90 mm Hg. It is written as – systolic over diastolic (for example 120/80 mm Hg).

Blood pressure is lowest in the early morning, rises as the day progresses, and then dips down during the night and earliest hours of the morning.

Blood pressure also varies from minute to minute, depending on levels of stress and physical activity.

“White-coat hypertension” means a person’s blood pressure is up in the doctor’s office but not elsewhere.

Hypertension can be prevented and treated with lifestyle changes – with or without medication.

Eat a healthy diet, lose weight if you are overweight, do not smoke, limit alcohol intake, eat a low salt diet, minimize sugar intake, do regular exercise, relax and learn to manage stress with laughter and meditation.

Here is a medical joke to reduce your blood pressure. It was published in Stitches, a humor magazine for doctors.

A motorcycle mechanic was removing the cylinder head from a Harley Davidson’s engine when a well-known heart surgeon came into the shop. The doctor was waiting for the service manager to have a look at his bike.

“Hey Doc, can I ask you a question?” the mechanic called out. The surgeon was bit surprised but walked over to the mechanic.

The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands and said, “So, Doc, my job is just like yours. Look at this motor, I open it up and take out the valves, fix them or put in new parts, and when I’m done it will run like a new one. So how come I work for almost nothing and you get the really big bucks when you and I are doing basically the same work?”

The surgeon thought for a moment, then smiled, leaned over and said, “Try doing it while the engine is running.”

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Alcohol

“The premier now knows, or has been reminded, that misery is real and can and does happen to anyone. No matter how hard you work, how smart you are, how right you think, bad things happen”, writes Paul Sullivan, a columnist with the Globe and Mail and a reformed alcoholic for 21 years.

By the time this column appears, Gordon Campbell may still be premier of British Columbia. But almost every Canadian now knows who he is and what he did.

Was it a momentary lapse of judgment while under the influence of alcohol? Or an act of irresponsibility (while under the influence of alcohol) which could have endangered his and other people’s lives?

Let us briefly remind ourselves of the good, the bad and the ugly side of alcohol.

What is good about alcohol?

-Alcohol reduces sickness and death from coronary artery disease
-Makes the blood thinner
-Reduces the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia

What is bad about alcohol?

-Alcohol causes fetal alcohol syndrome in the new born
-Causes cirrhosis of liver, liver failure and pancreatitis
-Causes gastritis and bleeding
-Causes cancer of the esophagus, breast and other cancers
-And is very heavy in useless calories

What is ugly about alcohol?

-Alcoholism is considered a disease
-It is a compulsive addictive behavior
-It is a drug with complex behavioral effects
-It causes traffic or work related accidents
-It is a major cause of death and disability
-It destroys a person’s personal life, family life and capacity to earn a decent living

The good side of alcohol is sometimes abused by individuals who get addicted to it. Therefore physicians are reluctant to encourage or promote alcohol as a panacea for major health problems.

Critics of alcohol use say that much of the protective effect gained from alcohol use in coronary artery disease can be achieved by other means – exercise, diet, avoiding smoking, and control of cholesterol level.

What is moderate drinking? Is it one, two, or three drinks a day? It depends on how much you are used to drinking. Moderation for a non-drinker is different than for a habitual drinker.

What is alcoholism?

The term alcoholism first appeared in 1849 in an assay written by a Swedish physician, Magnus Huss, titled “Alcoholism Chronicus”.

Alcoholism means excessive and repeated use of alcoholic beverages. Ten percent of the population is dependent on alcohol.

“Alcohol is like love: the first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you just take the girl’s clothes off” – Raymond Chandler (1888-1959).

So, let us be smart and say, “No driving after more than two drinks of alcohol!”

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!