Last Wednesday at Grouse Mountain in Vancouver, an 8-year-old boy was hanging from a chairlift about to fall. Bad! Two adults and a group of teens banded together to create a makeshift trampoline for the boy to fall onto. Good! The five teens who helped hold the netting then did an interview taking all the credit. Bad!
In the interview, one of the teens, James MacDonald, claimed he directed his friend to go get the net while he and his other friend grabbed padding for the net. In another interview, MacDonald claims he told a nearby adult, Peter Pian, to grab the netting. Oh, wow James. Tell me more. Did you then return to school where you were fed grapes and fanned with palm leaves by the hottest girls in your class?
As you may have gathered, both of these accounts were a lie. In the full video, it’s clear that the kids didn’t do anything until Peter ran to the lift with the netting and asked a second adult, Danielle McKinney, to help him. As the followup story reports, the kids only came to help after realizing what Peter and Danielle were doing.
“I just wanted to acknowledge Peter because the big story is about the boys, but this man is actually who grabbed the fence and brought it over to me and held it, so just want to give him the credit he deserves,” said McKinney.
“It’s amazing,” said Pian. “We worked together, with Danielle and the five boys… teamwork.”
According to Peter, he was skiing when he saw Danielle looking up at the kid about to fall. He was about to make a net to catch him with his jacket, but decided to grab the closest orange snow fence because it was bigger. He and Danielle both held opposite ends before the boys came. Danielle then told one of them to grab the yellow padding.
For their ability to follow directions and take the credit, the boys were given season passes for next year and $240 vouchers. Peter also received a season pass for next year but only $100.