In PLP we were given a mini side project to research and film a part of Vancouver that we thought was interesting. I really like to be outdoors so I chose something that is very close to me. I chose Mt Seymour because I grew up spending a lot of time on this mountain and I live very close to the base of the mountain. This project happened to be a group project and I was in a group with Simon, Calum and Reid.

This was a mini project so we only had a short time to do it. Simon and I went up to Seymour to try and shoot some video of the mountain. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t good and it was raining very heavily when we got up there.  Simon and I tried to get the best video that we could but the video quality wasn’t up to par. So Simon and I looked in our archive of videos that we had collected over the years when we were up there and used a lot of those videos. When it comes to videos it is important to break up the information with different shots. For example, I went looking for drone footage of Mt Seymour. Simon and I would have liked to have done our own drone footage but there was three factors that didn’t line up for that to happen. One of these factors was that the filming day that we had was not great in the weather aspect. Factor two was if you didn’t ask the establishment’s owners for their permission then technically it would be illegal. The last factor was that, at the time, we didn’t have access to a drone. So we took some great footage off the internet. Then it was time to start editing the video. When editing I always find that it will take double the planned time if not longer, so it is good to leave lots if time to finish it by the deadline.   This also helps if there are technical difficulties.

While doing this project I learned a lot about Mt Seymour. For example, did you know that Mt Seymour opened its doors in 1938 under the ownership of the Swedish emigrant, Harald Enqvist? Years later the government of British Columbia ended up buying the mountain from Harald. The government held ownership up until the mid 1980s when it was sold to the present owners, the Woods family. The Woods family made some upgrades in the 1980’s such as putting in the lodge chair as well as the Brockton chair. Lately the mystery chair lift was upgraded from a two seater to a faster four seater chair lift which was a great improvement. One of the biggest stories in the news about Mt Seymour was a tragic one. A highly decorated search and rescue volunteer, Tim Jones, passed away from a heart attack while up on the mountain. His contributions to saving lives and rescuing people on the North Shore was commendable and he left a great legacy.

Mt Seymour is an awesome mountain and I’ve enjoyed many hours of mountain biking, skiing and snowboarding on it.  Feel free to watch our video below.