And That's a Wrap!

The cherry trees are in full bloom and spring has arrived in all its glory.
This is always a difficult transition for me, as winter and spring are my favorite seasons.
Despite the great snow runs I’ve had recently, I’ve been feeling the lure of spring beckoning. Ahead are the warm greens of new birth and new life, yet behind is snow and strong working dogs, and I feel like for a while I straddle the seasons, one foot in each, not quite ready to say good-bye to my friend winter, yet feeling the heady pull of the joy of spring.
Yesterday was my last snow run of the season. We spent the day on Cypress Mountain, filming a commercial for the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was my first time working with The Animal Department, and neither them, nor I, knew quite what to expect from each other.
I knew the day would be at least interesting, when the security guard stopped me at the bottom of the mountain, and asked “are those lawn mowers up there?” Yep, spring has sprung, but those were dog sleds on my truck!
After breakfast and a huddle to learn the plan, we unloaded dogs, sleds, gear and while everyone and everything else was transported up the mountain by snow mobile, I decided to have young Erin (who was along for muscle – and did a tremendous job, thank you Erin!!!!) ride in my sled for extra weight to make the long steep climb up to the shoot site. Having a little experience with film there is a lot of stop and wait for a couple of moments on camera, and this can be stressful on a team that is fit, strong and raring to go. Those dogs took that mountain at a charge, despite the extra 100 lbs in the basket.
Arriving at the film site there was noise and chaos, but the team handled it all extremely well, adding their noise to the din, and they were eventually transferred from my sled to the “dress” sled, which was an old wooden basket sled weighted and dressed for the commercial. This sled was very top heavy, so when they turned it over to me to drive up to the staging area I was a bit alarmed at how tippy it was, as the track they set me off on meant an initial 500 meters of side hilling. What happens when you have an overloaded sled on a side hill? You start to slide sideways down the hill! As I took off with the team and started sliding there was a collective “NO NO NO NO NO” from the cast and crew behind me as the sled started to slide. I threw all my weight into the inside and tried desperately to keep the sled upright and on trail, and as I managed to keep it upright there was a “Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh” from the crew, followed by another series of “NO NO NO NO NO” as the sled started to slide again, followed finally by a hearty “YEAH” as I kept the sled upright through the area without tipping and destroying the art department’s handiwork.
This was the start of hours of running up and down hills on foot, sending the team back and forth along the film area as they adjusted their shots. Eventually they decided that the older first nations actor could be replaced by a stunt driver….. ME….. and then I got to drive the team and sled through various trails as they shot their angles until the shot was “golden” (film speak for perfect) and we were done! And, done much earlier than anyone had anticipated. The entire crew was full of praise for the dogs, which for me was “golden” as I know how good this little team is. Not one tail stopped wagging during the entire shoot.
Switching the dogs back to my sled meant their job was over and I could drive them back down the mountain, while giving a ride to a stranger, to a much deserved rest at the truck.
As the ride came to an end, dogs still running at a strong lope, I called the “woah”, parked the sled, helped my beaming passenger out of the sled, and turned to thank 8 happy dogs with tails still wagging for doing me so very proud.
As we drove back down the mountain, the snow receded into spring color and flowers. My heart felt a little sad as I softly whispered “good-bye my friend Winter, I’ll see you soon”

And "That's A Wrap"