With such an exciting weekend wrapping up the Olympics in Vancouver, it is tough not to write something about hockey, patriotism, or how Canada has taken back any doubts that hockey is ‘our game’.

But you’ve read enough about the young hockey phenomenon known as Crosby and the debatable closing ceremonies showcasing Canada’s best, and worst musical acts to the world.

Instead I am compelled to write the story behind the snowboard photo in this week’s Fitzhugh on page 1.

Last week while up at Marmot Basin for an avalanche control story I went down to the terrain park in search of a second photo. As skiers and snowboarders went off the jumps, I positioned myself beside the end of the jump, watching the skiers fly past.

This apparently was a mistake. As the second snowboarder flew by, he came over the jump on an angle, landing a few feet from me, causing me to lean back – for good measure. While I could see every snowboarder the whole way down, he, surprisingly I thought, did not know I was there.

So, maybe I was too close for comfort. I will admit that. But from my point of view, I could see everything and was in a safe place – there was no accident, the snowboarder landed his jump, and no one got hurt.

What happened next, I can only say was embarrassing for anyone within 200 metres.

The snowboarder turned around (now at the bottom of the hill) and began yelling uphill, warning me that if I was still there when he came back, he would beat me. (Believe me, this is the censored version of the story).

Not only this, he also let me know my sexual orientation – which was news to me. In fact, he let everyone on the hill know, yelling from the bottom of the park as kids skied by and families listened overhead on the chair lift.

With nothing to do but shake my head, I began packing up my camera equipment, surprised at the young man (or teenager’s) reaction. But it didn’t end there. By the time I was strapping into my bindings the snowboarder was on the chairlift with his friends, once again screaming at the top of his voice what a f%*#@ing (insert homosexual insult here) I was.

In case not all the skiers, families and kids heard him the first time – and most importantly, me - he made sure that the rest of the skiers who might not have been around to hear his freak-out could listen to his offensive voice.

Now I can sympathize that this young man thought I was too close to the jump, and I have no problem with people’s freedom of expression, but it’s truly a disappointment that in this day and age the lack of vocabulary to express oneself leads to the offensive behaviour that this man was demonstrating.

To be swearing at someone is one thing, and to be doing it in public is another. But to be doing both, and choosing to discriminate against gays and lesbians is totally unacceptable. I find it unfortunate that some people have been raised to think that this behaviour is acceptable in society today.

Did this man feel better after his temper tantrum-like actions? Does behaving like that lead to satisfaction? Of all the people on the hill that day, the guy yelling at the top of his lungs from the chair lift was the one looking like an idiot.

Since the snowboarders were moving so fast, I did not get a chance to get their names or hometowns. Maybe they live in Jasper, or maybe they are visiting from the city. The photo used this week is not of the angry snowboarder, but his friend. If they do live in Jasper, maybe the parents of the boys will see the photo displaying the great athletic talent that these boys certainly have and stick it on their fridge. And maybe they will read this and be embarrassed by their son’s actions. For all I know, they could be proud.

What I do know is that is not how the rest of Jasper communicates, and for everyone’s sake, I hope those snowboarders don’t come back to Marmot Basin and act like that for the rest of the world to hear.

In the meantime, I better keep my head up before I get beat up by the next angry snowboarder.