 Poster: A snowHead
|
I can't find a recent review of Fernie on this site, so here's what I found on my first trip there.
Resort overview
Fernie is a small ski hill in western British Columbia with something of a cult reputation. It is famed for an abundance of snow and some breathtakingly steep terrain.
The good, the bad and the ugly
The good:
- Incredible choice of steeps and glades.
- Great snow quality that persists for days after a powder dump.
- Quiet slopes with no queues.
The bad:
- Few eating choices
- inefficient lift system
- A poor choice for unadventurous intermediate skiers.
- A long way from the UK.
The ugly:
- Trail map bears only a passing resemblance to the actual mountain with significant inconsistencies in grading and very poor signposting.
- Small mistakes could result in serious injury in places.
The slopes
The mountain map is helpfully divided into five bowls which significantly aids orientation. Most lifts drop you onto the ridges between these bowls and, unlike typical European resorts, you are actively encouraged to explore the entire mountain rather than follow the marked trails.
Traverses follow the ridge lines that separate the bowls, and much of the best skiing in the resort drops off these tracks. Some of the chutes are gloriously steep, narrow or densely gladed; some are a mixture of all three. Advanced skiers will have a ball.
The traverses are generally not groomed, not marked and not obvious to follow. The chutes and steeps that drop away from the ridges are similarly poorly labelled and, sometimes, difficult to find. Take a wrong turn, possibly following in the tracks of a daredevil local, and you could find yourself at the top of something very frightening with no obvious way out. This presents intermediate skiers with a dilemma: should they safely stick to the slopes they can see from the lift? Or should they seek the best lines at the risk of being trapped beyond their ability?
Anyone seeking to explore needs to be aware that Fernie's grading system is calibrated very differently from other resorts. Many single blacks in Fernie are more difficult than most double blacks in Whistler, for example. And some runs marked as single diamonds on the trail map are rightly marked as doubles on the mountain with corresponding levels of scariness.
Fernie's double blacks are not to be taken lightly. Some, such as the Window Chutes, are a fantastic blast through deep, steep trees. Others are exposed and treacherous; I personally baulked at one of the Knot Chutes, for example, given the severity of the adjacent cliff and the consequences of an unintended error. And I witnessed an exceptionally nasty fall on one of the Clown Chutes (graded double black on the mountain but, incredibly, single black on the map) where a skier slipped at the top, accelerated the full length of the chute and dropped several meters at high speed onto a compacted cat-track. Most resorts would have used netting to break a fall like this, but Fernie isn't most resorts.
The best ridge lines are accessed from the White Pass and Boomerang chairs. Both are slow lifts and it's often necessary to return via the base of the mountain. As a result, laps are slow and this is not a place to clock up days of big vertical. Fernie is about quality, not quantity.
If all this sounds negative, it's not meant to. If you're a strong skier with a sense of adventure, you will absolutely love Fernie. For me, it probably has the best skiing of any resort that I have yet visited. My time there has left me humbled but hungry for more.
So what were my favourite lines? It's all so, so good but, if I had to call out just a few, it would be the Mitchy Chutes, Window Chutes, Easter Bowl and Linda's Run. Corner Pocket must be experienced for the novelty value, too: you have to lower yourself into the bowl with a rope. But those few runs barely scratch the surface of a vast, incomparable playground.
Getting and staying there
Calgary is the nearest airport. Bus transfers are infrequent so, unless you've booked a package, a car is essential. The resort is an easy 3.5 hour drive from the airport.
Most people stay in town and drive to the hill each day. We stayed in the Best Western, which was a decent choice. There is a small choice of accommodation in the tiny base village but very few places to eat and drink.
I believe that Air Canada is the only daily option for direct flights fom the UK.
Our trip
We got lucky. We arrived on a bluebird powder day and, while we had no more of Fernie's famed snowfall, we had a week of sunshine and fantastic snow conditions. Maybe I would have been less effusive if we had been less fortunate with the weather, but I doubt it. Fernie is a real gem.
Given the scarcity of direct flights, we used KLM via Amsterdam. It was a huge mistake: bad weather is all too common in winter, and Schiphol airport is unable to cope when it strikes. Our return home was delayed by 36 hours when strong winds arrived in the Netherlands for a mere 2 hours, and our baggage didn't follow us when we were finally re-routed. KLM's transfer desk was in chaos all day with queues of 2-3 hours. I will definitely take a direct flight next time.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 25-02-20 18:04; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Very interesting to see an up-to-date view of Fernie, a place I visited twice around 2007 and 2008. The first trip was excellent, the second was really disappointing thanks to warm weather and poor snow. Agree the lift system was inefficient - has the relatively new Polar Peak chairlift made a difference? It seemed you had to return to base to get back up again and the locals were continually moaning that all the money was spent by the lift company elsewhere, leaving Fernie with an antiquated lift system. We seemed to spend a lot of the trip doing the same runs over and over again so I definitely agree it was about the quality not the quantity of the skiing. The raw nature of the skiing was great when conditions were good but I learned to loathe one run in particular, No 67, Boomerang (double black) which had a sort of reverse camber on it that made it feel almost impossible! Having been there twice, not sure I have a desire to return! Good to read someone else's views, though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
I agree with a lot of your comments. I wouldn't say fernies grading system is particularly different to others, or that it is known for its steeps in comparison to other places though.
People looking at fernie should know there are two other problems you didn't encounter. Due to the low altitude rain is not that uncommon, especially early or late season. Secondly, terrain is often closed due to high avalanche danger - some years parts of the mountain hardly ever open. For example the year I visited polar peak lift had rarely opened and while it was open when I was there you were only allowed to ski a single groomer down from the lift, not any of the "off-piste". I'm not complaining about things being closed for safety reasons, but it's perhaps a little misleading to show a trail map with lots of things that may not be open much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
@hd, @nbt, I should have added the word 'recent' to my post. Apologies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@boarder2020, not steep? The four skiers standing on the ridge below are peering into the Clown Chutes of Polar Peak, graded single black on the trail map but rightly double diamond on the mountain.
Apart from Corbet's Couloir in Jackson, I have honestly never seen a named run as steep as these. I've taken a protractor to the image, and the slope is about 50 degrees. This is where I saw the nasty fall that I mentioned in my earlier post.
Two of my boys went down and loved it. I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and made a dignmified retreat.
Regarding weather, i have only been to Fernie once so I can't speak in general terms from experience. I know they had a rainy spell in late Jan/early Feb this year, but so did almost every opther resort in BC. The weather gurus in snow-forecast.com suggest that during the course of a one week holiday, you will encounter an average of one rainy day at the base every five years in December to February, but the risk rises sharply during March. Rainy days in mid season at mid mountain or higher are statistically insignificant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm not saying fernie doesn't have any steeps, although there is plenty of terrain at whistler that matches that photo (surf's up, ladies first, exhilaration, Hawaii 5.0, glacier wall etc.). Whistler has a couple of very easy groomed blacks (raven, DMD), but I would say the average ungroomed whistler black/double black is pretty equivalent to fernie. For someone looking to ski steeps in interior BC kicking horse is a much more obvious choice than fernie. Go ski kicking horse and revy next year and see how they compare to Fernie 
Regarding weather I got rain there in march. I know others that have experienced rain during Jan and Feb. Perhaps they were just incredibly unlucky. I certainly wouldn't advise fernie for an early or late season trip though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
I had rain at low level, but snow from only a couple of hundred metres above base, in January maybe about 10/11 years ago. We also had a couple of good 30cm+ top to bottom dumps during the two weeks. I loved Fernie and would go back no worries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great report, thanks for posting. Fernie was on my possible list for next season but now thinking it may be beyond my abilities. I was happy enough on Jasper single blacks (i.e. got down but not always pretty...) as long as they weren't just massive mogul fields but this sounds quite a step beyond my ability...
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
After a week of lessons we just about got down Whitehorn behind Summit Platter at Lake Louise - I'm also thinking that Fernie would be on the very edge of my ability.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
Wonderful resort. Spent a season there some years ago and would love to go back. There is also a lot of superb and relatively easily hikeable terrain either side of the resort area boundary should the inbound terrain get too tracked out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm curious if the OP has skied at other Western Canada resorts? I've not skied at Fernie for a while and it's not somewhere I know well but I don't recall it being steeper than average. Kicking horse is the only resort where I've thought "wow this is nuts".
If by Whitehorn you mean the bit skiers right of the platter then that's barely a double black but if you mean the stuff skiers left and the letter gullys then they're properly steep.
Of course conditions matter (at least for me). Good light and soft snow completely different to flat light and hard snow. I remember once following a very good skiing friend into the area who started with "stay close to the cliff as you get better slope definition...."
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
West Jet do fly to Uk direct too, but not daily. WE flew with KLM to Europe recently, Calgary via Amsterdam to Geneva. On the way there, they lost a bag. On the way back they bumped us off the flight, and routed us back through London with BA and then Air Canada. Although we got some nice compensation for being bumped off and the practical delay was only 1.5 hrs really, I still think I would really think twice about flying KLM ever again. Their customer service was very poor throughout the lost bag incident. Not all their planes over are dreamliners and suffer from very poor overhead space, which means that bags which pass their requirements, don't really fit and the boarding is chaotic because of that and delayed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| Quote: |
I'm curious if the OP has skied at other Western Canada resorts? I've not skied at Fernie for a while and it's not somewhere I know well but I don't recall it being steeper than average
|
That's kind of my point. In this area of the world fernie is definitely considered a good hill for intermediates, plenty of stuff for everyone including some steeps. I'm sure the people that enjoyed lake Louise, whistler, or Jasper would enjoy fernie and find plenty of terrain to ski. On the other hand somewhere like kicking horse is definitely a place where unless you enjoy steeps you're going to have very limited options.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
I would say if you think Fernie has an inefficient lift system go to Kicking horse. Worst system I've come across.
A road trip to find out yourself is the only option. Also westjet are pretty awesome on pricing often.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| sweaman22 wrote: |
| If by Whitehorn you mean the bit skiers right of the platter then that's barely a double black but if you mean the stuff skiers left and the letter gullys then they're properly steep. |
Only the former 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| Quote: |
would say if you think Fernie has an inefficient lift system go to Kicking horse. Worst system I've come across.
|
Kicking horse gondola is pretty divisive. Personally I'm in the camp that likes the set up. 12 minutes to gain 1200m, and the entire resort can be accessed by that gondola and a single chair. It's fast, simple, and efficient. Rather that than having to ski from chair to chair to get from point a to b. Practicalities aside, I would argue that fernie putting in a kicking horse style gondola from base to the top of polar peak would make things a lot more efficient, ofcourse you would still need to take 3 lifts to get from cedar bowl to any advanced terrain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| boarder2020 wrote: |
| Quote: |
I'm curious if the OP has skied at other Western Canada resorts? I've not skied at Fernie for a while and it's not somewhere I know well but I don't recall it being steeper than average
|
That's kind of my point. In this area of the world fernie is definitely considered a good hill for intermediates, plenty of stuff for everyone including some steeps. I'm sure the people that enjoyed lake Louise, whistler, or Jasper would enjoy fernie and find plenty of terrain to ski. On the other hand somewhere like kicking horse is definitely a place where unless you enjoy steeps you're going to have very limited options. |
My reference points were Blackcombe, Jackson Hole, Panorama, big Sky and various guided off piste runs in the Espace Killy and Les Arc. I don't think on-piste in Europe is a helpful comparison
I love steep runs so I wasn't remotely complaining about Fernie. I and all my family loved the resort because it had so many steep runs that weren't all over on a few short seconds. You can find steep pitches in Blackcombe, for example, but your choice is limited compared with Fernie - unless I've somehow failed to find the interesting skiing there. Again, Jackson has the Alta Chutes and the Expert Chutes - but they are frustratingly short compared with, for example, Fernie's Window Chutes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Just to bump with a 2022 report from Jan. Was there from boxing day to 22nd Jan and had -35 deg c PLUS wind chill for the first 2 weeks, and then a huge change. Rain (only at the bottom of the mountain), then getting colder again. No sun the entire time. Fabulous place, but you need someone to show you round.
Food: Yamagoya? sushi: v nice. The mexican next to the Northern has a really good pork thing going. Banksole? like a wine bar with small bites.
An addition to the food: I'm not quite sure how to put this without pushback from others. The general choice in all of Fernie is "Burgers, soup, caesar salad". The only place that did even mac and cheese was Lost Boys, and it was reported to be inedible. Sorry, and of course chips, or "poutine" whatever that is.
Final edit: Heiko Socher
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
