by Craig Munro, CAIRP Annual Conference Chair
July 6, 2015
Welcome to the CAIRP Annual Conference inaugural blog post! The Annual conference is just two months away and the home of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games awaits you.
My family are not big skiers, so for us Whistler makes a much better summer destination. There truly is something for everyone. I like to rent bikes and go trail riding with my daughters. There is a myriad of trails ranging from novice (for me) to the ski runs converted into mountain bike trails for those seeking more adventure!
[caption id="attachment_113" align="alignleft" width="266"] Whistler doesn't look like this in summer...[/caption]
On one of our trips we were on a trail that was following a creek with a sloping hill on our other side. Suddenly as we were coming down an incline, two bears ran across the trail about 50 feet in front of us.
I think I was more startled than my daughters and the bears were more concerned about getting to the creek than they were with us. Growing up in Toronto it was pretty exciting for me to experience bears in their natural habitat, but at the same time sobering to think we were on their “turf” and needed to respect that and give them their space.
And while I’m on a bear theme, one of my favourite experiences in Whistler is the Ketel One Ice Room in the Bearfoot Bistro. Bundle up in a Canada Goose down filled parka and enter the arctic temperature room to sample four vodkas of your choice, as selected with assistance from the vodka expert! After four shots of vodka, the room doesn’t feel so cold.
Now, how’s this for keeping on topic. One of our conference’s guest speakers is Chief Darcy Bear of the Dakota First Nations who will participate on the panel dealing with lending to First Nations groups. We are honoured to have such a distinguished guest attending the conference and I am looking forward to listening to his commentary.
[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignright" width="500"] ... it looks a lot more like this![/caption]
Be sure to book your accommodation early as rooms are booking quickly. Your planning committee has been working extremely hard on the conference and putting aside my personal bias, I think we are going to be “Soaring to New Heights”!
See you in Whistler.
Craig Munro is CAIRP Annual Conference Committee Chair and a Managing Director with FTI Consulting in Vancouver. Despite his eastern roots, he has embraced the West Coast lifestyle and recently started cycling into work and took up salmon fishing last summer.
