He was most of the way up a mountain tied to a tree with 60 pounds of camera, batteries and film on his back.
Camera operator Michael Varga trained his lens on an empty expanse of sky and snow.
In five minutes or two seconds he鈥檇 hear his cue and 鈥� Shoosh! 鈥� a skier would swoop over the horizon like a hawk with a hunger pang.
鈥淎nd if you blink, he鈥檚 gone,鈥� Varga says. And then you get screamed at by CBC producers, he adds with a chuckle.
For more than 40 years Varga has been behind the lens at World Cups, Stanley Cups, Grey Cups, Olympics, and curling. He鈥檚 trained his camera on Bill Gates, shared candy with the Dalai Lama and ordered a hamburger for O.J. Simpson.
His recollections, opinions, and ramblings are collected in Inside View: The Eye Behind the Lens, written by Varga and Roxanne Davies.
While the action of the book takes place across the world, the book itself was born in Lynn Valley.
As a semi-retired reporter, Davies says she has, 鈥渢his ability to sit and listen for hours to people鈥檚 stories.鈥�
Recently, she鈥檇 been helping a friend in Cloverdale write a book. The book was fine. The commute was awful.
鈥淒riving on Mondays behind those tractor trailers in the rain, in the snow, for two years,鈥� Davies recalls.
After deciding she would never do another book in Cloverdale, she found herself chatting with Varga during a Friday night concert in Lynn Valley.
鈥淗e starts telling me all these stories and I go, 鈥楧ing, ding, ding! Here鈥檚 my next project,鈥欌�� she laughs.
For his part, Varga seemed nonplussed by the idea.
He couldn鈥檛 spell and wouldn鈥檛 know where to start, he told her.
But Davies, Vargas says, was unswayed by his protests.
鈥淪he just said, 鈥楲ook, I鈥檓 going to do a book on you whether you like it or not,鈥欌��
he recalls.
Davies wanted to write about the efforts we enjoy but never see.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much we take for granted,鈥� Davies says, explaining she鈥檒l never watch alpine skiing again without sparing a thought for the 鈥減oor schmuck out there who鈥檚 freezing鈥� with a camera.听听听
The book is written in flashes and bursts and peppered with exclamation points, as though Varga is sitting across the table, trying to get in one more story before the bar closes.
In the space of one page, the narrative jumps from a mournful 1977 lunch with legendary DJ Wolfman Jack to chatting with songstress Celine Dion at the 1991 Juno Awards.
Varga鈥檚 career began in the early 1970s when he was hoping to parlay a summer job in CBC鈥檚 mailroom into a career as a camera operator. It was an ambition he鈥檇 nursed since he鈥檇 been a nine year old staring into a 21-inch black and white RCA Victor television.
The plan, however, was dashed in the time it takes a paper airplane to land.
Varga was waiting for his job interview at CBC 麻豆传媒映画when he saw a friendly face. His buddy, Mark Forrester, was folding envelopes into airplanes and firing them into mail slots.
鈥淗ere, you want to try?鈥� he offered.
Varga鈥檚 plane had just taken wing when the personnel manager walked in.
The ensuing interview was short but painful.
But while he didn鈥檛 get the mailroom job, his job application floated to the desk of a technical manager in need of a camera operator.
鈥淚f I hadn鈥檛 folded those paper airplanes, I鈥檇 still be working in the mailroom!鈥� Varga writes. 鈥淚t was fate and a little bit of luck.鈥�
He estimates he was sometimes working 100 hours a week, but he loved his job and the perspective it offered.
Early in his career Varga was shooting Quebec pop sensation Ren茅 Simard.
Simard was known for whipping fans into a frenzy, but the producers of the show assisted any way they could.
鈥淎wful as it seems by today鈥檚 standards, occasionally we would feed a live audience of kids chocolate and soda pop to help energize them,鈥� he writes.
But what he really loved to do was shoot sports.
Varga seemed most at home shooting hockey games in the unprotected space between the team benches. The spot was known as the suicide box, and for good reason.
Tiger Williams used to aim slapshots at him, Davies says.
鈥淚n those days there were characters,鈥� Varga smiles.
The mention of Tiger Williams stirs good memories for Varga.
He remembers Willliams skating over to him and talking about opposing player Lanny McDonald.
鈥淚 got the VCR going; second period, about the five-minute mark, I鈥檓 going to punch him,鈥� Williams told him. 鈥淢ake sure you鈥檙e on me.鈥�
In the interest of a fair fight, Varga got McDonald鈥檚 attention.
鈥淟anny, you know Tiger鈥檚 going after you?鈥� he asked.
鈥淗e said, 鈥榊eah, it鈥檚 the second period at the five-minute mark.鈥欌��
There was another time when Williams went into the boards and his stick popped up and slapped opposing coach Scotty Bowman in the head.
Later, the referee asked for Varga鈥檚 opinion on the hit.
Did Williams do that on purpose?
No, Varga told the ref, it was just one of those weird accidents.
Shortly afterward, he told a disbelieving Williams about the conversation.
鈥淚 told him I didn鈥檛 think you did it on purpose.鈥�
鈥淥f course it was on purpose!鈥� Williams yelled.
The schedule could be gruelling. After one of those multiple overtime 鈥渇or-goodness-sake-just-put-one-in-the-net-so-we-can-go-home鈥� games, Varga drove into a police roadblock by the Lions Gate Bridge.
He hadn鈥檛 been drinking, he told the officer. He鈥檇 been at the hockey game.
鈥淲hat was the score?鈥� the cop asked him.
Varga didn鈥檛 have a clue.
Sitting across from each other at a Marine Drive coffee shop, Davies asks Varga when he was the happiest in his career.
鈥淭he happiest time?鈥� Varga reflects.
There was a time he won an Emmy, but that wasn鈥檛 necessarily the happiest.
鈥淚 got it for doing nothing,鈥� he says.
He accepted it as a lifetime achievement award/doorstop, he says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 $450 US. You don鈥檛 get it for free.鈥�
Picking up the book and leafing through it, Varga drifts from one memory to another. There were moments when he hated the job, he says. There was backstabbing and incompetent producers, but ultimately, it was a comfortable place to be.
He鈥檇 wanted to call the book Privileged View, he says, noting he was privileged to be where he was.
Looking at the book, Varga stops at a picture of Princess Diana. It might have been the Santa Claus parade or the Calgary Stampede. But it doesn鈥檛 really matter which.
鈥淭hat picture tells it all. That鈥檚 how I felt every day. Happy.鈥�
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