Final Days in Fernie

Just a few photos and thoughts at the end.
Around town.

Some crazy head wall skiing. If you look hard in the middle at the top you can see his tracks.
A cool sunset.
The avi-launcher. Launching bombs with a compressed gas cannon into the headwall to bring down avalanches before they open the mountain for the day.

A picture of the ski hill from town. The 5 bowls are numbered. Not a huge resort by American standards, but plenty of terrain for the numbers it gets. Polar peak,, which is from a previous entry is between bowls 2 and 3. The head wall skiing shot from before is basically straight beneath the number 2.
We we arrived.
Mid-season. The grass was nearly showing again by the time we left.

Spring Silliness

While early March was sunny and warm, we thought Spring had finally arrived. However, Fernie had other ideas and gave us about 3 weeks of snow to finish the season (which ended on April 6). In the end we had over 11 metres of snow for the season. They closed the mountain with a 3.5m snow base (that's over 3 metres of snow above the ground, covering the whole mountain). Crazy.
The sign of a good day to come, as long as you don't have to work.
This is where you go down.
And this is where you come out. The dot is Bella making her own tracks. By the end of the season there wasn't a run on the mountain she wouldn't attempt. Not bad from starting from nothing 4 months ago. It takes the right snow conditions (as in, lots of it but enough time to clear it for avalanches, normally the day after) and a long traverse to reach this run. Although it is well worth it.

The river that runs through town that was once snowed over is now running well.

DUMMY DOWNHILL

Take a couple of skis, a variety of designs, a bit of arts & craft time and launch them over a jump. Result is the dummy downhill.



This entry made it to the snow bank on the far side of the parking lot. Others barely got air and some veered of course and obliterated into the side walls sending carnage everywhere.

HOT DOG DAY

For some the highlight of the season. A day to celebrate the roots of skiing in the 80's in all its spendour. Just one big party.

This is where its at.
Denim. As Canadian as maple syrup. Say no more.
Fatties on blades.
The midway party. Just a small gathering of cool cats.

One cool skier.The big party, on a quieter run, out the back.
And entertainment for all.
Spread Eagles were the order of the day.
Back scratches too.
And one big party back at the Griz Bar after they closed the lifts.

Revelstoke

Start here for the updates.

Another road trip to the latest thing in canadian resorts. This place only opened this year and has big plans over the next 10 years. With an average snowfall of 12-18m it is definitely in the right spot. At the moment it only has 2 chairs open but still has a vertical of 1400m from the top of the chair to the bottom, making it the biggest vertical of any resort in North America. It's steep.
Bella at the top. The resort nearly goes all the way down to the river.Plenty of snow up top.

It has previously been a catskiing and heli-skiing area. But the companies made enough money out of that that they can afford to create a ski resort. Plenty of pow and back country opportunities.This is the North bowl. No lifts out from the botom of this at the moment. The 3 skiers are in the middle as 3 ants.Some people having a look over the cornice. Serious cornices with serious avalanche risk in this area. The size of the person versus the size of the cornice (snow lip built up on the edge of the ridge) shows how big it is, and this was only a little one compared to some of them up there.
Crazy Euros have interesting avalanche skills. Banging the cornice with their ski pole while leaning over the edge to see if its stable.

Hiking and Riding

With the spring weather and lack of snow dumping on us every second day, the ski patrol are able to open up some more terrain for us to play around in. But this stuff takes a bit of effort to get to. A lot of hiking for a little bit of riding. Well worth it.This was the first one. Just a small one that they normally open from the top but not this year due to instability, so up from the bottom it is. The boot track starts just above the two trees on the bottom left. 15 minute walk straight up for about 4 or 5 turns.

The next one took a bit more effort. A good 35 minute walk up on the left, all the way to the top. We rode down on the right.
A lot bigger when you are standing at the bottom of it.
Some cool snow sculptures shaped by the wind on the way up.
From the mid-way point. The chair lift is the flat groomed bit. A long way from where we started.Some snowed in trees.
A view out the back.
On top.
Halfway down.
Kate on a fresh line.Kate's line on the right, mine on the left. 2 chutes, 2 fresh lines. Well worth the hike. All on a 2 hour lunch break from work.Polar peak from the bottom.

For the next one I took Bella along with me.
Hard to make out but it is the upper part on the far ridge line. Hiking up a ridge line with a bowl on either side. One out of bounds the other in bounds.
This was a week earlier. It was closed then. Now it is open.