As the host of the upcoming 2025 Invictus Games, former home of the 2010 Paralympics and the base for a lively adaptive sports community, it’s fitting that Whistler has made it into Postcards from…, a travel documentary series by Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) that showcases Canadian cities with one question in mind: “can accessibility and adventure coexist?”
Host Christa Couture visited the Sea to Sky alongside places like Drumheller, Alta., Fredericton, N.B. and Dawson City, Yukon for the filming of season 5. She didn’t have much prior experience in Whistler, but quickly grew to love it.
“I am not a sporty person—even when I had two legs,” Couture admits. “I am an artist. But it's been fun with this show because they really pushed me to try things. After spending four days in Whistler this January, I was like: ‘now, I get it. I see why people want to be here and I get why for outdoorsy, active people, this is the place to be.’”
As a bone cancer survivor, Couture’s left leg was amputated above the knee at 13 years old after initial radiation and chemotherapy treatments failed. In the three decades since, she’s received acclaim for her music, writing and broadcasting career, but also experienced the lowest of lows in the tragic deaths of her two infant sons.
It’s all moulded her into the woman she is today: a multimedia artist familiar with loss, yet brimming with passion for stories about the handicapped.
“I was very lucky that there was a cure for my cancer, of course, because for many people, there's not,” Couture says candidly. “It sent me to a new life, a different life in a disabled body. [On the show], we try to encounter people with other disabilities than my own as well.”
Why people love Whistler
One of Couture’s most eye-opening Whistler experiences came in the form of Nordic skiing.
As she met up with local quadriplegic Olivia Rey and Whistler Adaptive Sports Program (WASP) coach Eliska Bezsarosti, Couture got her first taste of Nordic sit-skiing in Callaghan Valley. Three decades of walking on crutches have made her upper body robust, and she took to the sport with unexpected aplomb. In the process, she found inspiration from Rey and Bezsarosti as they spoke of how the local adaptive community embraced them.
“I want to find a place where I can go sit-skiing near Toronto [where I live],” says Couture. “I think I might become a skier because it was so fun. Through this show, I absolutely got an understanding of why people love Whistler and why the culture is so vibrant.”
Couture also rendezvoused at Green Lake with adventure chef Jen Wong, who sources her ingredients across the corridor from Howe Sound to Pemberton. She then got to blow a traditional alpenhorn courtesy of two Swiss expatriates she met atop Blackcomb Mountain.
“You can’t help but appreciate the landscape,” Couture says, adding on camera that she’d never previously seen a world-class ski hill outside of movies and television.
She also hopes that Postcards from… will continue to be well-received by a variety of demographics.
“For non-disabled people to watch the show, it might make them think differently about the travelling they do, or they'll notice places that are accessible or not accessible,” Couture comments. “I think the show is not very heavy-handed as far as being an ‘accessible’ travel show. The [theme of accessibility] is just built into the writing, which is partly what I love about it.”
Season 5 of Postcards from… will conclude on July 10 with the airing of its Whistler episode. Learn more about the series and catch up on more episodes at https://www.amiplus.ca/m/0/episode?seriesId=qvZHiKIn&app-config=ami-tv.
