Fernie Alpine Resort’s Multi-Use Trail System

Important Update – June 25, 2021

Fernie Alpine Resort is excited to announce that, as of June 26, 2021, guests will once again have access to our complete multiuse trail system, which includes all trails outside our winter/summer operational boundaries.

All users will now be required to have a valid FAR Multi-Use Trails Access Pass ($5 including gst) and completed a waiver to be allowed access. The waiver needs to be done in person, so please come into our Guest Services office to complete it, and receive your Pass.

The Passes will not be valid for use on the lifts and do not allow the holder access to our Bike Park in the summer, or our ski area in the winter, at any time.

The Pass will allow access to the following trails –

Trails to the South – Silk, Manchuria, Scandia, Double Creek, Double Creek Extension.

Trails to the North – Hobbit, View, Black Forest, Megahurtz, Upper Old Goat, New Goat, Upper Gorby, Upper Verboten, Snakebite)

For more details on the location of trails, please refer to the maps below.

The Pass and waiver will be valid for the calendar year, expiring on December 31, and will cover all non-motorised use of the trails 12 months of the year. Motorised use is prohibited.

Passes are available for purchase at Fernie Alpine Resort’s Guest Services counter for $5. If you purchase a day ticket or multi-day ticket, the multiuse trail system is included for the date shown on your ticket.

If you require more information, please call us on 250-423-2435.

See you on the trails!

FAR Team

 

FAR Multi-use Trail Map

 

 

 

 

 

FAR Summer Trail Map FAR Winter Trail Map

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Pride Month in Fernie

It’s Pride Month, and here in Fernie, we love to celebrate LGBTQIA2S+! ‍🌈

Fernie has come a long way with its support of Pride. In 2016, the Fernie Pride Society was established, and it didn’t take long for the community to show their support. From the painting of rainbow crosswalks across town, the monthly Ears for Peers event, to the week-long Elk Valley Pride Festival held every year in September (best week ever!), it is inspiring to see people of all ages, genders, and sexualities coming together in support of each other.

 

 

This month, the Fernie Pride Society has a full schedule of online events:

  • Drag Story Time

    Photo by Vince Mo

    June 7th, at 10 am, is Drag Story and Craft Time with the one and only, Freida Whales. Head to the Fernie Pride or Fernie Heritage Library Facebook page to participate.

  • On June 14th, the magical rainbow crosswalks will be repainted onto the corner of 3rd Ave and 5th St (next to the Post Office/Library). This year, they are keeping the painting party small, but please reach out to Fernie Pride on their Facebook page if you would like to volunteer your time. These crosswalks have become a wonderful addition to Fernie’s downtown. Make sure you stop by to check them out.
  • On the 3rd Thursday of every month is Ears for Peers (via Zoom). Ears for Peers is a safe peer-to-peer place for conversation, support, gathering and more. This month it is on June 17, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm. The zoom link will be posted on their Facebook page leading up to the event.
  • Later in June, Fernie Pride will be hosting (via Zoom) their popular Rainbow Connections event. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more information coming soon!

  • Photo via Fernie Pride Society

    Continue celebrating pride through art by downloading this fantastic Day of Pink colouring page featuring Fernie Pride’s President, Kevin Allen. You can find it here. It is a part of Day of Pink’s latest colouring book that can be found here. This colouring book shares the stories of trans and queer folks who are creating safer spaces, celebrating our community, and advancing human rights. Learn about our past, present, and future while enjoying the art of colouring.

New events are continuously being added, so please show your support and follow the Fernie Pride Society on Facebook to join in on the fun.

 

Photo by Vinco Mo

If you are looking to support Fernie Pride Society’s initiatives, please donate to their membership drive, which is happening all month long. When you purchase a membership (only $20 for 3 years), you are supporting an essential local organization and helping them secure support and funding for some great programming and initiatives, which will continue to benefit the community. Get your membership here.

Pride month is when we celebrate diversity and LGBTQIA2S+ communities, acknowledge their history, the hardships they have endured, and the progress made. Fernie is a community full of strong Allies who really help make a difference. Let’s all fly the rainbow flag and show that EVERYONE is welcome in Fernie.

 

 

 

Fernie Pride Society

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Thank You for a Great Winter!

Hello Everyone!

And with that, our winter season has come to an end.

The 2020-21 winter was a unique one, to say the least. We are so happy that we had the opportunity to open and that you, our valued guests, were offered 123 days of skiing and riding.

Thank you for your patience and understanding this season. Thank you for following all of our safety protocols and respecting our staff and each other.

We all worked hard to get to the end of the season, and it was the combined efforts of our community, our staff and our guests that successfully got us here. We are grateful and hope that all of this translated to a great winter season for you and your family.

We are getting geared up for our Early Bird Winter Pass Sale for 21/22 – keep an eye on our website and social media for details!

Stay safe. Enjoy our wonderful outdoors, and we hope to see you on the mountain soon!

Andy Cohen & the Fernie Alpine Resort Team

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Announcing our Winter 20/21 Bonus Week!

Snowboard Euro carve at Fernie Alpine Resort
We have an exciting announcement regarding our season here at Fernie Alpine Resort.
 
In celebration of our passholders, your patience, understanding and commitment to us, and our Fernie community, who rallied together when the chips were down, we are moving our closing date to April 11th, 2021 (weather/conditions permitting).
 
This winter has been one like no other. Our community was one of the fastest to recover from a COVID-19 cluster, from 97 to zero cases in a few short weeks. The hard work and perseverance of our community was commendable.
 
Thank you for saving our community and our ski season. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.
 
We hope to see you enjoying the wonderful spring skiing!
 
Thanks all,
 
Andy Cohen and the Fernie Alpine Resort Team
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The #FernieStoke Ski Shuttle 2020-21

Fernie Stoke Shuttle

Catch a ride from Fernie to the Ski Hill!

A Shuttle Season Pass is available for $299 plus tax.

Only available from the Fernie Alpine Resort Guest Services desk.

#FernieStoke Ski Shuttle Schedule 2020-2021 

The daily #FernieStoke Ski Shuttle will operate daily between 7:50 am and 11:30 pm from December 16, 2020 – April 4, 2021. Please see the schedule for bus stop locations and pick up/drop off times. 

Fares:

  • $5 cash only each way
  • Kids 5 & under ride free with paying adult/caregiver
  • $35 for a 10 Ride Booklet*
  • A Shuttle Season Pass is available for $299 +tax

The individual bus fare can be paid in cash on the bus with exact change only, no change is provided, or with a voucher from a 10 Ride Shuttle Booklet*.

*Booklets cannot be purchased from the shuttle drivers. Please pre-purchase them at the Guest Service desk at Fernie Alpine Resort.

Need to Know –

  • Masks are mandatory
  • Window seats only
  • The Buses are sanitized throughout the day
  • No Storage on the hill, so please avoid bringing extra luggage on board
  • Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. No pre-booking of seats is available.
  • Reduced capacity during COVID-19 restrictions.
  • Bus pull over locations may vary slightly due to excess snow or parking/pull-over ability.

All details and schedule are subject to change without notice.

Please call Guest Services for more information, 250-423-2435.

The shuttle program is a partnership between the City of Fernie, Fernie Alpine Resort, Tourism Fernie and the Fernie Chamber of Commerce.

Two 24-passenger buses will be used in the operation.

The service is being operated by Fernie Alpine Resort. Funding for the purchase of the two buses was through the Resort Municipality Initiative.

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OPENING DAY – DECEMBER 10TH!

FERNIE ALPINE RESORT ANNOUNCES OPENING FOR WINTER SEASON 2020/21!

Fernie Alpine Resort will open for skiing & snowboarding on December 10th, 2020 at 9 am.

Our team has worked tirelessly to prepare our operations for your arrival, and we are looking forward to kicking off the 2020/21 skiing and riding season.  While we all share the joy for sliding on snow, this season will look different.  We have put in place a comprehensive COVID-19 Safety Plan developed in collaboration with the Canada West Ski Area Association.  

This set of rigorous procedures and operating plans is to help ensure our guests, staff and community have a safe winter in Fernie. Our plans have been reviewed by Interior Health, the Elk Valley Hospital and they lead the way in North America for Best Practices for Winter Operations 2020/21. 

We understand that many of us in our community feel the uncertainty of this pandemic. We recognize that opening the resort will make some of us anxious and stressed.  That is why it is everyone’s responsibility to follow the guidelines that we have put in place, as we all want a long season, and a safe skiing and riding experience.

Due to our safety protocols surrounding the COVID Virus and looking to create a safe environment for our guests, this season we will be closely monitoring lift capacity and ticket sales to help ensure that we can manage daily the number of people at Fernie Alpine Resort.  Day lift tickets will be available at our resort ticket windows daily.  On high demand days, only a certain number of day tickets will be sold – so one should use the opportunity to pre-purchase your lift tickets online to guarantee you get the ski day’s you want on those days.  We do anticipate some periods of higher demand, so to avoid disappointment, it is recommended that you pre-purchase your lift tickets online and in advance as some dates may sell out.

Skiing and snowboarding provide a much-needed outlet in winter, providing mind and body benefit, and we are looking forward to sharing our wide-open spaces with each of you.

To adapt our operations for this winter, we have made many changes, including the following:

1. Masks are required to be worn throughout the entire resort, inside all buildings, in lift lines, while riding lifts, in shuttle buses, parking lots and our Plaza.
2. Reservations are required to dine in any of our indoor restaurants.
3. We have eliminated all outdoor shelters and gathering places, like the fireplace at Bear’s Den, Slopeside Café Patio, Yurts, etc.
4. Our lift loading procedures will ensure physical distancing.
5. We have eliminated touch points in systems and transactions.
6. We have eliminated bag storage in all buildings.
7. Seasonal lockers will be for ski/snowboard storage only, no boots or clothing.
8. Our teams are required to be fully outfitted in masks with filters, shields where needed, and Plexiglas barriers to protect all.
9. Dining spaces will be separated by Plexiglas where needed.
10. Washrooms will have reduced capacity to ensure no crowding.
11. Childcare will not be offered.

This season will look very different. By following these procedures and with your patience and respect, we will have a snowy, fun ski & snowboard season.

Please take the time to read the Know Before You Go section on our website for more information and any updates – https://skifernie.com/covid-19/winter/.

Please keep in mind that early season conditions do exist on the mountain. Take your time and continue to pray for snow.

Thank you!

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Culvert City

If you follow us on any of our social media platforms, then you will see all that our Resort has to offer through the summer and winter months. What you don’t always see is all of the work that goes in behind the scenes to make it happen.

We have a lot of Crews – Trail Crew, Bike Trail Crew, Lift Ops Crew, Lift Maintenance Crew, Saw Crew, Brush Crew, Shop Crew, Patrol Crew – who all work together through the summer and fall to make it all come together.

This summer, our Trail Crew, who are the Swiss Army Knife of employees (they can do anything that’s needed on the mountain), have replaced the old wooden culverts with sparkly (👈 my word, not theirs 😉) new ones.

This culvert at the bottom of Lower Bear at the Boomerang Chair was installed in 1984.

HISTORY LESSON – Back in the ’80s, to make a culvert the Trail Crew used their only machine, the skidder.  They would find a couple of the huge old Larch trees (24″-36″ diameter) that were lying around in the forest and lay those along either side of the creek.

They would then place timber – mostly from Cedar trees (12″-16″ diameter) – across the Larch to cover the creek. They had a gin pole rigged on the back of the skidder so that they could pick the trees up and back them into place.

Along with a peavy, and some brute force, they could build a bridge over the creeks that would then be buried with dirt. Most of these culverts lasted about 30 years before the top logs began to fail.

That brings us to this past summer; it was noticed that the culvert near the Boom Chair was starting to fail, so our team went in, dug the whole section up, and replaced it with a new one. No trees were harmed in the making of this culvert.

One of the biggest changes happening at the resort is going down in lower Currie Bowl. This past spring, May 31st to be exact, we had very heavy rainfall that followed some very hot weather, and a consequential mudslide in Currie Bowl. As the debris flowed down, it damaged and plugged multiple culverts. Our Trail Crew, along with assistance from Fiorentino Bros and Ground Tech Engineering were able to get in there to repair the culverts.

Turning adversity into improvements, the spring mudslide remediation enabled us to improve the exit from Currie Bowl and widen the Gilmar trail.

From 👈 to 👉 with wonderful assistance from Fiorentino Bros and Ground Tech Engineering.

As we move closer to winter, we will continue to bring you updates from around the resort, and the work that goes in before we can open our doors lifts.

 

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Elope to the Mountains

Have you always dreamt of getting married in the mountains with breathtaking views all around you?

The world may have changed, but the magical mountain views at Fernie Alpine Resort have stayed the same!

We know that it’s an uncertain time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have your dream mountain wedding – it just has to happen on a smaller scale. Our team has worked hard this year adapting to the changes and developing protocols that are in line with the government orders to ensure that you, your guests and our staff stay safe while you and your partner celebrate the beginning of your new life together.

Your happily ever after starts here…

A highlight for us this year is the newly developed Elopement Package that caters to the small and intimate weddings. We understand the appeal of small, intimate weddings with only your closest family and friends in attendance. Rest assured that you can still have all that our magical mountain settings have to offer. We have loved seeing the creative ways that our wedding couples have brought together their intimate ceremony and have the mountain wedding that they have always dreamed of.

Our Wedding Guide provides you with information on all of the available options. Whether your wedding is intimate or extravagant, rustic or elegant, there’s a magical mountain setting to create the wedding of your dreams.

Our Catering Guide provides you with all the options available for your food and beverage needs. Have your heart set on something that’s not in here? We can get you working with our catering team to customize a menu.

We look forward to talking to you about all the options that we have available and finding what works best for you!

Our weddings are now booking into summer, 2022 with but do still have limited availability for next summer so please visit our wedding page, and contact Stacey Charest, our wedding coordinator, for more information.

Stacey Charest
Weddings & Groups Coordinator
Phone: (250) 430-7163
E-Mail: [email protected]

 

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O’Bellx comes to Fernie Alpine Resort

RCR is proud to partner with MND Safety Solutions on a Remote Avalanche Control System (RACS) for the installation of an O’Bellx hydrogen exploder for the Dancer 5 slide path off of Polar Peak at Fernie Alpine Resort.

 

The O’Bellx Unit will provide the Fernie Alpine Resort Snow Safety Team with a remote control device to stabilize the Dancer Slidepath which runs from the top of the headwall off of Polar Peak, down into Lizard Bowl.  This will improve safety for our Ski Patrol and provide confidence for opening the Lizard Bowl.

The O’Bellx will be operational for the 2020-21 Season.
Thanks to AvaTek Mountain Systems Inc., MountainTek, and  6point Engineering who are onsite performing the installation process.
We are very excited to have this new state of the art RACS system here for demonstration and use here in Fernie.
Watch the following video for a demonstration on how O’Bellx works.

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NEW Uphill E-Bike / Enduro Route

Why take the chairlift if you’ve got an e-mountain bike! New this summer, we now allow uphill bike traffic (e-mountain bikes* or regular mountain bikes) on our specified uphill route at the Fernie Alpine Resort Bike Park.

E-mountain bikers will love the convenience of quick laps on this uphill only route, which accesses the Elk Side downhill trails as well as Lower TNT (from Rock Landing only) on the Timber side.  Your laps can be short – deke off at access point A to rip down Honeybee, Eville, Holo Bike and Phat Larry’s – or take the longer pedal on up to access point B or C to access the rest of the DH trails in the bike park.  Of course, those who like to pedal under their own power are also welcome!  It’s a great way to stay and get fit, and enjoy the adrenaline of our DH trails too!

Uphill riders MUST have a valid Uphill E-Bike/Enduro ticket, or mountain bike season pass/day ticket in order to access our bike park trails.  Please visit Guest Services to purchase your ticket.

*E-mountain bikes permitted in the bike park are Type 1 (pedal assist) e-mountain bikes.

Please note that the uphill route is open only during regular bike park hours:

Monday – Friday:  10:30am to 4:30pm (to 7pm on Thursdays)

Saturday & Sunday:  9:30am to 4:30pm

Please visit our website’s bike park trail map to see the new uphill route.

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