You may have noticed a beautiful wooden map of the Kimberley ski hill at Mark Creek Market. It was made by local woodworking business Slopeside Design and it is going to be given away to the lucky winner of a draw that is underway now and ends on Saturday, Feb. 8.
Slopeside Design was started by Ash Olsson and his wife Jiselle. Jiselle is an electrician who grew up in Kimberley. Ash is originally from Australia and the two met while snowboarding at Kelowna's Big White Ski Resort.
She actually had plans to move to Australia, but as the COVID pandemic hit and the borders started closing up, the two were separated for several months and they were forced to change their plans.
Ash has since moved to Kimberley and they've been here ever since. They were married during the pandemic at St. Mary's Lake and now have a four-month old daughter, Joy.
"Before moving here, I worked in the agriculture industry as an inventor and industrial manufacturing engineer," Ash told The Bulletin.
"But after settling in Kimberley, I wanted to work on something with more community connection, that I could manufacture myself locally. That’s how the idea for these wooden topographic maps came about. The method I’ve developed is quite unique (patent pending), and it’s taken a lot of work—writing custom software and designing specialized equipment to make them.
"But I think the result is worth it."
They are currently focusing on making local ski hill maps, but in the spring they intend to start creating designs of the local golf courses.
"In the future, we’d love to expand into other types topographic maps as well," Ash added.
Make sure you swing by Mark Creek Market before Saturday to enter for your chance to win this one-of-a-kind, locally-crafted work of art.
