Fernie is full of passion. Arguably, first and foremost, many are die hard skiers or snowboarders and enjoy all the perks that come with having Fernie Alpine Resort in their backyard. However, outside of the resort there are plenty of other fun things to do and see in Fernie, B.C. If you’re looking to venture further into the Fernie culture, here are some suggestions to help you plan the perfect Fernie itinerary:
Ghostriders Hockey Game
Named after the Legend of the Ghostrider, the locals in Fernie are super into their hockey and extremely (borderline obsessively so) supportive of their team – similar to the rest of Canada. If you’re in town during a Ghostriders game it would be an outrage to not see it!
Check out the Ghostriders schedule on their website. Photo courtesy of Ghostriders flickr.
Read about the Legend of the Ghostrider.
Take a Hot Tub Time Machine Tour
That’s right, Hot Tub Time Machine. The popular 2010 John Cusack movie was filmed largely in Fernie, some of the filming locations include Main Street (2nd Ave), The Brickhouse on 2nd Ave, The Plaza at Fernie Alpine Resort. Stop by and see if you can recognize Fernie disguised as the fictional Kodiak Valley from the movie.
Visit the Miners Tour & City Hall
Fernie, like many B.C towns, owes a lot of their history to mining. Outside the architecturally pleasing City Hall is a shrine to the miners that made its history, paved with 300 bricks with the names of miners and mining families. Walk through the set up and read educational plaques and learn about history through interactive features.
Also nearby for a visit are the Fernie Courthouse, Museum, Arts Station and Heritage Library. More info.
Go for a Winter Bike
New this season, dedicated trails and rental bikes for Winter Fat Biking! Monster tires and low gearing means biking in the snow is easy and fun for both first timers and seasoned cyclists. Take a tour – the resort will offer rental bikes and tours/lessons with guides this winter. More info.
Eat Delicious Food
Like most cool little towns, Fernie has a thriving food industry. With many places to dine including some gems like The Loaf or The Brickhouse on ‘main street’ or Yamagoya Sushi. Stay tuned for another article featuring the best places to eat in Fernie!
Visit the Spa
With a few spas to choose from in Fernie, you can stay on mountain and enjoy the Lizard Creek Lodge spa or venture into town. What better way to feel great after a long day of riding the pow than to have a relaxing massage? For a full list of available spas visit the Tourism Fernie website.
Snowshoeing/Cross Country Skiing
Fernie Alpine Resort and the surrounding area has an extensive network of cross country ski trails and snowshoeing trails. The trails at the resort are regularly maintained (groomed & trackset) and are multi-use trails, free of charge. Snowshoe and Nordic ski rentals as well as guided tours are available at the resort, or roam around on your own and enjoy nature’s tranquility (maps and signage on the trails will let you know where to go). In addition, the Fernie Nordic Society maintains a great network of trails at the provincial park and golf course (membership or day use fee required).
For more information on what to do while visiting Fernie visit the Things to Do in Resort or Things to Do in Town sections on our website or the Tourism Fernie website.
Words by Cali Sammel
Photos by Fernie Ghostriders, Fernie Alpine Resort and Cali Sammel
For Immediate Release: November 13th, 2015
WARM UP THIS WINTER IN THE NEW VODKA TASTING ICE ROOM AT LIZARD CREEK LODGE
Fernie, BC – Lizard Creek Lodge- just got even better! In addition to the complete renovation and new restaurant & bar called Cirque Restaurant, Lizard Creek Lodge and Fernie Alpine Resort announce a new ICE Bar will be added to enhance an already incredible experience.
Come into the cold and experience an exhilarating line up of sub-zero vodka. We provide the Helly Hansen goose down parkas, all you’ll need to bring is your sense of adventure. At an ultra low temperature the elite Ice Room is a frozen vodka tasting room, with more than 20 vodkas from across the globe, this unique Lizard Creek Lodge experience is not to be missed.
Wrapped in our Helly Hansen, Ultra cold ready parkas, you’ll feel comfortable and cozy as our vodka expert explains how the intricacies of distillation and filtration affect the flavour profile of the finished product. Taste a Stoli Vodka and two more vodkas of your choice, and discover how the extreme environment enhances the flavour while minimizing the alcohol burn.
Official Website
Facebook Page
Twitter – @LizardCreek
About Lizard Creek Lodge & Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc.
Lizard Creek Lodge is a boutique ski in/ski out hotel property located at Fernie Alpine Resort in British Columbia. Fernie Alpine Resort is one of the Top 5 Ski Resorts in North America, and is home of up to 37 feet of legendary powder each winter, the “Griz” and more. Lizard Creek, www.lizardcreek.com, is part of the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) family. Proudly Canadian, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) is the largest private ski resort owner/operator in North America, owning six ski resorts across Canada, including Nakiska Ski Area in Alberta; Fernie Alpine Resort, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Kimberley Alpine Resort in British Columbia. RCR also owns and manages a number of hotels and golf courses, including Trickle Creek in Kimberley, and Wintergreen Golf and Country Club in Bragg Creek. RCR aims to provide each and every guest The Ultimate Experience.
For more information, please contact:
Matt Mosteller
Senior VP Marketing & Resort Experience
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies
[email protected]
Twitter – @PowderMatt
Powder Matt’s Blog
Powder Matt on Pinterest
Powder Matt on Google +
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- Published in Press Releases
For Immediate Release: November 12th, 2015
DISCOUNT SKI CARDS FOR RESORTS OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES ON SALE
ONE, TWO, FREE! THREE FREE DAYS OF SKIING!
Now that we have your attention – it’s easy as 1, 2, 3 to get FREE skiing at the biggest and best resorts in the Canadian Rockies this season! Ski what? Yes, that’s right! The biggest vertical, the deepest snow and the most runs in the Rockies! Experience Fernie Alpine Resort’s deep powder and vast terrain, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort’s famous Champagne Powder, Kimberley Alpine Resort’s glades (tree skiing) and abundance of sunny days and last but certainly not least, Nakiska Ski Area’s immaculately groomed runs and Monster Glade’s, tree skiing terrain.
Now, it’s simple just;
1) Buy the RCR Rockies discount card at a low cost.
2) Register your card online.
3) Enjoy more savings! Get 3 FREE ski days plus discounts of up to $30 on regular price lift tickets purchased all season long!
Purchase a discount card online or by calling 1-800-258-7669 – don’t forget to purchase yours before they go off sale on December 26th!
RCR Rockies Card
Get 3 FREE days and discounts at 4 great resorts for only $94.95.
WINTER EARLY BOOKING
Ensure your vacation is relaxing from, beginning to end. Start by booking with our knowledgeable agents and trust in them to find the best resort and hotel property for your winter experience. Call 1-800-258-7669 to book over the phone, chat online with an agent and view all package at www.skircr.com/vacations. Book before November 30th to save up to 35%!
About Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc.
Proudly Canadian, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) is the largest private ski resort owner/operator in North America, owning six ski resorts across Canada, including Nakiska Ski Area in Alberta; Fernie Alpine Resort, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Kimberley Alpine Resort in British Columbia. RCR also owns and manages a number of hotels and golf courses, including Trickle Creek in Kimberley, and Wintergreen Golf and Country Club in Bragg Creek. RCR aims to provide each and every guest The Ultimate Experience.
For more information, please contact:
Matt Mosteller
Senior VP Marketing & Resort Experience, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies
[email protected]
Twitter – @PowderMatt
Powder Matt’s Blog
Powder Matt on Pinterest
Powder Matt on Google +
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- Published in Press Releases
Imagine this; you wake up from your slumber early, really early. And you’re not getting back to sleep. What do you do? What do most of us do? Grab our smart phones. Now, when you grab your phone you’ll have the ability to get the most up to date information for snow conditions, weather reports, trail maps, resort info and more from one handy app for Fernie Alpine Resort (and our other RCR resorts).
Your next problem – it’s going to be a powder day!! Time to call in sick and head out to the mountains!
For more information on our App read our Press Release.
For Immediate Release: November 3rd, 2015
FERNIE ALPINE RESORT WHAT’S NEWSCAST FOR 2015/2016 WINTER SEASON
Fernie, BC – Each season at Fernie Alpine Resort we strive to make improvements and upgrades to our existing services to ensure you have the best vacation and recreational experience possible! Here’s what to look forward to for this season;
– Major Renovation at Lizard Creek Lodge – Fernie’s Ski in/Ski out Boutique hotel
Lizard Creek Lodge just got even better, undergoing a huge renovation to the Great Room where a new bar and lounge area for 110 guests will be added to the room with the already famous giant fireplace. There will also be a new Ice Bar named Cirque, where 19+ guests can taste vodka in sub zero temperatures like it’s really meant to be enjoyed!
Get more information and ongoing updated from the Lizard Creek Lodge website.
– NEW Ski App
This season you’ll be able to check the weather conditions, snow report, mountain status updates and more, from the NEW RCR Ski App! More info.
– Trees are for Glades movement
We’re keeping Trees for Glades this season! Not only are we not printing a brochure, we’re also having a tree planted for each email signed up on our new Trees are for Glades website. Enter a contest to win a ski vacation on the website too!
– Even easier to get to
Starting in November, Integra Air will fly a 16 passenger aircraft appropriately named “Spirit of the Kootenays” 8 times a week from YYC (Calgary International Airport) to YXC (Cranbrook International Airport).
– Resort Lifestyle Real Estate Subdivision
With the limited release of the first new mountain resort development at Fernie Alpine Resort called Snow Pines, selling out even before we created any sales or promotional material shows the strength of the Fernie brand in the market place.
Read more about What’s New this season on our website.
Official Website
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter – @SkiFernie
About Fernie Alpine Resort & Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc.
Fernie Alpine Resort is one of the Top 5 Ski Resorts in North America, and is home of up to 37 feet of legendary powder each winter, the “Griz” and more. Fernie Alpine Resort www.skifernie.com is part of the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) family. Proudly Canadian, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) is the largest private ski resort owner/operator in North America, owning six ski resorts across Canada, including Nakiska Ski Area in Alberta; Fernie Alpine Resort, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Kimberley Alpine Resort in British Columbia. RCR also owns and manages a number of hotels and golf courses, including Trickle Creek in Kimberley, and Wintergreen Golf and Country Club in Bragg Creek. RCR aims to provide each and every guest The Ultimate Experience.
For more information, please contact:
Matt Mosteller
Senior VP Marketing & Resort Experience, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies
[email protected]
Twitter – @PowderMatt
Powder Matt’s Blog
Powder Matt on Pinterest
Powder Matt on Google +
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- Published in Press Releases
Tyler Werry is on the ‘Road to Korea’! Tyler, born and raised in Fernie is about to start his second year on the Canadian National Ski Team – his goal is to make it into the XXIII Olympic Games being held in Korea in 2018. Help support Tyler on his Road to Korea by attending a fundraiser to help offset his Alpine Canada Team fees on November 1st in Calgary.
More about Tyler Werry;
Tyler grew up skiing in Fernie where he joined the Fernie Alpine Ski Team (FAST), from a young age he always had a desire to go fast! Making the provincial team in 2008 and moving onto the national team in 2014, Tyler has had two very successful seasons at the NorAm level.
In 2014, he placed 1st in the Super G standings, 2nd in the Alpine Combined standings, and 3rd overall in the NorAm Standings, winning his first Canadian Championship Title in GS that same year.
In 2015, Tyler finished 1st in the Downhill standings, 3rd in the super G standings, and 2nd overall in the NorAm Standings, this past season he also had my first top 30 result on the World Cup circuit, finishing 26th in Wengen’s Alpine Combined!
For more information about the fundraiser contact – [email protected]. We hope to see you there!
Images courtesy of Tyler Werry.
Snow, that’s why! We’re off to a snowy start here at Fernie Alpine Resort, with the snow in fact first falling at the beginning of September right as we were closing down our summer operations! While it made a brief disappearance so far in October, it returned this week and is a great sign for the upcoming ski season.
It started with a brief dusting overnight the weekend
And continued into Tuesday!
So get ready to get in line for first chair! Opening date is tentatively scheduled for December 4th, stay tuned to our online events calendar for updates closer to the date.
We like white on green here at Resorts of the Canadian Rockies; lots and lots of snow on our mountains and all over the trees on those mountains too. Because if you’ve never come rocketing through the glades, ripping up and down the natural moguls with powder hitting you in your grinning face until you blast back onto the trail, you really haven’t lived. And we kind of want to keep that around for a while, for future skiers and riders, for our kids, and for our kids’ kids too.
That’s why we decided to take a stand and be the first ski resort company to refuse printing a brochure this year, to do what we can to lessen our environmental footprint. On top of that, we’ll plant a whole tree for every email sign-up to our online newsletter. We hope this helps reiterate to consumers everywhere, that taking paper maybe isn’t the answer any more, especially if you can find that information online anyways.
So, help do your part and keep the Trees for Glades! Sign your email up on our Trees for Glades website and read our full story (plus enter our contest for the chance to win a spring event ski trip for you and 3 friends)!
Success So Far:
- 75,000 pieces of paper saved by this initiative alone
- So far: 3000+ trees planted – thanks to you!
Photo courtesy of Trees for the Future Facebook.
Imagine this; you wake up from your slumber early, really early. And you’re not getting back to sleep. What do you do? What do most of us do? Grab our smart phones. Now, when you grab your phone you’ll have the ability to get the most up to date information for snow conditions, weather reports, trail maps, resort info and more from one handy app for Fernie Alpine Resort, Kimberley Alpine Resort, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Nakiska Ski Area. Your next problem – it’s going to be a powder day!! Time to call in sick and head out to the mountains!
APP INFORMATION
Available on iTunes and the Google Play store the new app will be released in time for ski season and will be completely FREE! Information found on the app will include snow reports and trail maps, conditions, webcams and weather reports, event updates as well as handy resort info for Fernie Alpine Resort, Kimberley Alpine resort and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in British Columbia as well as Nakiska Ski Area in Alberta. New features will be constantly added throughout the season, stay tuned for the official release and to download the brand new App!
FREE WIFI STATIONS
Access your APP from FREE TELUS wifi in our resort base areas and from certain hot spots on the mountain.
WINTER EARLY BOOKING
Ensure your vacation is relaxing from, beginning to end. Start by booking with our knowledgeable agents and trust in them to find the best resort and hotel property for your winter experience. Call 1-800-258-7669 to book over the phone, book or chat online with an agent at www.skircr.com/vacations. Book before November 30th to save up to 35%!
About Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc.
Proudly Canadian, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) is the largest private ski resort owner/operator in North America, owning six ski resorts across Canada, including Nakiska Ski Area in Alberta; Fernie Alpine Resort, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Kimberley Alpine Resort in British Columbia. RCR also owns and manages a number of hotels and golf courses, including Trickle Creek in Kimberley, and Wintergreen Golf and Country Club in Bragg Creek. RCR aims to provide each and every guest The Ultimate Experience.
For more information, please contact:
Matt Mosteller
Senior VP Marketing & Resort Experience
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies
(403) 209-3323
[email protected]
Twitter – @PowderMatt
Powder Matt’s Blog
Powder Matt on Pinterest
Powder Matt on Google +
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- Published in Press Releases
Dogs have been man’s best friend since they were domesticated some 40,000 years ago. Since then their role in society has been shaped by their loyalty and ability to work closely with their human owners. Dogs have been used in avalanche rescue situations since at least the early 1900’s. With their heightened sense of smell, tracking abilities and agility outdoing all human efforts they are some of the greatest rescue assistants.
Meet our avalanche rescue dogs who live and train with lucky members of our ski patrol team. They are a vital asset when there is an emergency situation on the mountain and have helped out on more than a few occasions.
Tarn
(ski patrol assistant – Forest)
Like many avalanche dogs, Tarn started training to be able to find people in an avalanche situation at just 8 weeks old. Now 6 years old (turning 7 in January 2016) him and his human assistant Forest are daily companions. They ride the lift together in the morning, (occasionally mixing it up with a snowmobile instead) and ski down to the base at the end of the day. On a usual day at work for Tarn, there’s time for a little bit of play at the patrol shack at the top of the mountain although he’s always ready for a rescue mission if need be. Watch our Youtube video to learn more about the ski patrol program at Fernie and to see Tarn working and playing around on the mountain.
Neko
(ski patrol assistant – Steve)
Another one of our veteran avalanche rescue dogs, Neko – now 5 years old, has taken part in several rescues. Working closely with his human assistant Steve, they have over 35 years of combined search & rescue and ski patrol experience.
Neko is an extremely friendly and personable dog, here he is (below) teaching us about his job during our Avalanche Awareness Days, held annually each January (and getting in a photo bomb while he’s at it). This season’s event is scheduled for January 16th, 2016, check out our online events calendar for more information closer to the event date.
And now introducing some of our junior program members, training to take their certification courses soon;
Mogul & Tabor
Mogul is a one and a half year old German shepherd (left) he’s in training to become an avalanche rescue dog and has his exam this January on Whistler. His human assistant, Megan Kelly, has been a ski patroller for nine years at Fernie. When not training, Mogul loves playing with his favourite toy a ball on a rope. You can see him and Megan from Wednesday’s to Friday’s at the top of the mountain practicing his obedience and having lots of fun! Tabor and his human assistant Sean (right) are training for his exam, coming up soon. This will be Tabor’s first winter season at Fernie Alpine Resort – welcome to the team Tabor! Tabor fun fact – him and Neko are half brothers!
Find out more about our Avalanche dog & ski patrol program at on our Ski Patrol page.
Did you know?
Cats also assist our team at Fernie, watch this super serious and definitely informative video here.
Words by Cali Sammel with contributions by Steve Morrison, Jeni Pearson & Megan Kelly.
Photos by Fernie Alpine Resort Ski Patrol & Vinnie Mo.
Feature photo by Dave Watts.