Articles about Fernie and Fernie Alpine Resort
Words by: Andrew Findlay
Photos by: Robin Siggers & Fernie Alpine Resort
Published: March 15, 2015
Robin Siggers discovered Fernie some three decades ago long before someone conjured up that delicious sounding term Powder Highway. The Vancouver boy never left. It’s a Thursday afternoon, and I’m following Siggers as he drops into Corner Pocket, a spicy little couloir that squeezes into 
wide open Lizard Bowl, one of five bowls at Fernie Alpine Resort. The couloir features a fixed rope allowing people to hand line down the steep, often wind polished entrance that always gets the adrenaline pumping. Siggers goes first. He holds the rope, does a side slipping abseil to where the chute opens up. He releases the rope and after a trio of tight jump turns, exits the couloir then waits for me in the lee of a vertical limestone cliff that trims the bowl. This guy clearly loves skiing. As operations manager he probably bags more days on snow than an airline pilot logs time in the air. He loves skiing so much, that he’s out here today, on his day off, shredding like a 25 year old with a bunch of visiting writers.
For the already initiated, the Powder Highway needs no introduction. For the uninitiated, think of it as the place in British Columbia where you go to realize your skiing dreams, where the terms steep and deep are more than just platitudes on a brochure or website – they’re real, very real. Nature pays special attention to this corner of BC, a province already blessed from a snow sports perspective. As winter weather fronts march east from the Pacific Ocean, they discharge moisture on the rugged Coast Range. By the time these systems hit the Columbia Mountains and western slope of the Rockies, they have recharged with moisture from interior lakes. Snow falls again, this 
time in dreamy, fluffy, feather-light quantities. There are no guarantees; it’s weather after all, but the odds are on your side when you travel the Powder Highway. The ridiculous variety and concentration of world class destination resort, cat, backcountry lodge and heli skiing operations is a testament to the riches. Skiers are smart this way. Like Robin Siggers, they go to where the goods are. You’ve probably heard about the Powder Highway, and it’s now lodged in your brain. It won’t go away, so it’s time to act. Consider Fernie Alpine Resort and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort the southern and northern bookends to your Powder Highway road trip. Fernie overlooks the charming town of the same name, tucked into the Lizard Range, a magical piece of geology that puts the lie to the claim that it never really snows in the Canadian Rockies. Here, where the craggy Lizard Range sits perpendicular to the normal north-south axis of the Rockies, intensely local weather systems re-circulate over the mountains often dumping coastal quantities of snow on the resort’s array of wide open bowls, chutes and long meandering tree runs. By the time, you’ve zig zagged your way up Kootenay back roads and Columbia Mountain valleys, legs feeling fit and acclimatized to Powder Highway vertical, you’ll arrive on the western side of the Rocky Mountain Trench at Kicking Horse Resort. This is 
where you’ll get your game on – again. As you ride up the Golden Eagle Express gondola your eyes will scan the bony ridges that cut the Dogtooth Range, and divide the Kicking Horse into four main zones of downhill fun. Top to bottoms at Kicking Horse are legendary. Stack a few of these 1,260 meter vertical back-to-back and you’ll have no problem sitting at the Eagle’s Eye restaurant and tucking into a lunch of Elk Bourguignon or some good old Alberta beef. Or perhaps you’ll make dinner reservations at this peerless mountain-top dining room. You’ll watch the moonrise, and the first stars twinkle over the surrounding peaks. Or perhaps snowflakes falling in the amber glow of the outdoor lights. You’ll dream of the Powder Highway and when you’ll come back. Once experienced, never forgotten. Just ask Robin Siggers.
While there are many, many reasons to Mountain Bike (or learn to), here are (arguably) some of the best;
1) Bragging rights and Looking Cool
Can you ride the Binlogdin Wall? Or take on Rumplestumskin, the new Duff Dynasty trail, maybe perhaps even Phat Larry’s? You’re awesome – brag it up!
(Brag on social media – share your photos with Fernie on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter)
2) Impress your crush
Boys, girls will be impressed with your skills and girls..boys will be SUPER impressed with your skills!
3) Skip the gym but stay in shape
Have you ever tried Mountain Biking? If you have you’ll know how hard it works your core, similar to snowboarding in the winter, so stay in shape and outside while doing so!
4) Get in a tan
Soak in the sunlight, not the fake lights – Now that you are in shape, get your tan to match that bod! (You might have to work on this during your lunch break)
5) The truth about mountain biking
The truth about mountain biking here is it doesn’t have to be intimidating. Over the last few season Fernie has made a huge effort to increase the amount of trails for the beginner and intermediate rider as well as offering a variety of lessons and brush up courses (although we still have plenty of hardcore trails for those looking for an intense ride).
6) Sun, Mountain Air, Views
A day in the Fernie bike park with the gently rolling mountain views with the town of Fernie in the distance and the sunshine on your face, is always better than a day in the city or office. Hands down. No Contest.
Get into Mountain Biking in Fernie this summer! Check out our First Timers Guide, available Lesson Programs or book a vacation Online.
By Cali Sammel
@california1530
Photos by Nicole Matei & Henry Georgi
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic. It takes determination, sweat and hard work.
– Colin Powell
Another legendary summer is well under way at Fernie Alpine Resort. We are now two weeks into bike park season yet it seems like only yesterday we were breaking ground on spring trail work. It is a major task to open over 2505 acres of hiking and biking trails; and this year we accepted the additional challenge of preparing our upper mountain Timber side trails as well. Opening weekend always brings a level of anxiety, trepidation, and excitement for our crew as we look forward to seeing familiar faces out on the trails and hoping that our month of hard work earns a certain level of #ferniestoke. Despite significant amounts of rain fall, there were many muddy smiles and high fives flying to our relief.
After a quick respite, the Bike Crew headed back into the forest to finish our new green trail “Duff Dynasty”. One of our main goals this season was to create a fun, flowy way for novice riders to access lower mountain green trails without having to ride the gravel road. While bike parks these days are taking a lot of flack for ‘dumming down riding’ or making things ‘too green’ the reality is that;
1. These 10% grade trails are more environmentally and fiscally sustainable than tech fall line trails
2. More people, including families, are entering the sport and looking for enjoyable (not hostile-on-the-brakes-scary) descents
3. These wide, machine made flow trails can be enjoyed by all abilities and promote progression that allows bike parks to attract, retain, and convert people to life long bikers which is great for the industry in general. We altered the route and grade of upper Mr. Berms to assist with this access and have now completed and opened Duff Dynasty top to bottom. We have also done some substantial work to Ben’s Big Rig including resurfacing, rebuilding the berms, and widening the traverse across the Dipsy which provides an alternative green route down to Eville and Honey Bee. Crews will continue to revisit and improve these new sections as the season progresses and the trails wear in.
The remainder of our time over the past two weeks has been spent improving all the small stuff that usually goes un noticed. Tasks like weed whacking, pulling out stubborn boulders, cutting roots, and pruning back trees is not glamourous work, but it is definitely hard work worth doing. This should translate to better flow, improved sightlines, and less stinging nettle burn to the shins. There are also a few new connector lines out there to assist with the choose-your-own-adventure style riding we all love; keep your eyes our for a lower TNT to Duff Gardens connector (cuts over to lower Rumplstumpskin above all the wood work); and a steep loamy alternate route on Rumplstumpskin just before the slow tech rock section with the small bridges.
Moving forward, you will see our crews out this week improving the hiking trail out Lost Boys Pass, working on a total rebuff of Canada Cup Downhill to repair major winter erosion issues and alder overgrowth, in addition to ongoing buffing of all your favorite rides. There are a few other projects in the works but you will have to keep checking in for the latest updates and sneak peak photos.
In the meantime, keep on slaying it Loam Rangers. The Scott Thursday Night Race series continues with our third race of the year on July 17th and our Kids Intermediate Freeride campon July 24th. See ya out there!
Sincerely,
Your Fernie Alpine Resort Bike Crew
Lizard Creek Lodge is known for its luxury accommodations including everything from Hotels to Condos, as well as providing an exception dining experience for guests as well as the public to enjoy. With an outdoor patio and a gorgeous great room to enjoy, it makes a great date night idea or dinner out with the family.
Some of our suggested delectable dishes to try include;
The Steelhead Salmon
The Grilled Rack of Lamb
The Braised Beef Poutine
Truffle Mushroom Cannelloni
Complimenting your meal with a Fresh Watermelon Cocktail and this view, this is the opposite of a problem
And top it off with a Tiramisu Desert
So make this your hangout this summer, stay, play, dine and cool off at Lizard Creek Lodge.
Photo by Powder Matt Mosteller
Get more information on Lizard Creek Lodge online or by call 250-423-2057.
Do you have what it takes to compete in the Lost Boys Lungbuster?! This years race is on Saturday – compete on bike or foot! Register by calling 250-423-2401 or email [email protected].
Online registration is now open for the Timber Chair Walking Yoga/Lunch on Sunday, a part of the Feel Good Fernie Yoga and Wellness Festival.
More information about the Timber Walking Yoga/Lunch class this Sunday is on the Online Events Calendar, or jump right to the registration link.
Visit the Bears Den & New Nature Bob Interpretive Centre! Located at the Yurt (top of the Elk Chair), the interpretive centre is full of picture boards & information as well as fossil displays to check out!
Our Fernie Alpine Resort Bike Crew have been working non stop on our trails in anticipation of opening this Saturday, check out what’s going on and get stoked to ride the bike park this summer!
Mr. Berms
With the recent glading in upper tree island under the Elk Chair, the start of Mr Berms has been moved off the open ski run into this tree island with a brand new section of trail – machine made with wide flowy berms, mellow grade, suitable for all abilities.
New Green Trail
Our trail crew is busy working on a connection off Mr. Berms and going to base. The new trail will hopefully be called Duff Dynasty. Look forward to wide, machine-made, mellow, fun berms and rollers though cedar forests on this new trail.
Ben’s Big Rig
Ben’s Big Rig is being re-machined thoughout, berms and transitions re-shaped, and a new traverse at the Elk top to eliminate need to ride down summer road.
L’il Miss Buff It
The singletrack off Cedar Trail (built 2 years ago) is now rebuffed and named “L’il Miss Buff It. The goal is to eventually connect this trail with Hobbits Trail for the ultimate beginner loop (Boom-Cedar-L’il Miss Buff It-Hobbit Trail-Base).
And There’s More!
• New connector from Mr. Berms to Hornet
• New connector from TNT to Bin Logdin (no uphill pedaling on the road)
• Double Creek and Far Out now a multi-use trail (hike and bike)
• Re-tune on mid-Rumplestumpskin in progress
• Bike Thief below Diamond Back corner was re-worked last fall before the BC Cup race…riders can enjoy it this season!
Keep up to date by reading the Fernie Bike Crew Blog – See you soon!
Fernie Alpine Resort will open on Saturday – Join the Facebook Event.
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt” – Margaret Atwood
This is the time of year where dirt is everywhere. It stows away in pant cuffs, boots, coat pockets, travels into trucks, washing machines, stains the floor of your shower, and somehow even manages to find its way into that delicious P B & J sandwich you brought for lunch. Escape is futile as we decidedly surrender the battle of cleanliness in exchange for battling time, Mother Nature, and host of other challenges to bring you Legendary Summer 2014 at Fernie Alpine Resort.
With just one week left until opening day on June 28th, we are feeling the crunch. After a week with some sort of rain almost every day, our trails were a soupy mess with the new cuts specifically being totally unworkable. Instead, we spent our time amping up high traffic favorites like Top Gun and Bin Logdin, and rebuilding the berms and widening the upper section of Ben’s Big Rig. Now with a weekend of sunshine and warm temperatures under our belt, we can move forward to put the final touches on the all new sections of Mr. Berms and Duff Dynasty, albeit a week later that planned.
We were able to plow the road to the Timber Chair unload last Thursday…a momentous occasion when you consider that we had over 4 meters of settled snowpack this winter. Our Bike Crew, the Saw Crew, Mechanics, Cat Drivers, Carpenters, and Millwrights labored away to ensure we can deliver the dark side on opening weekend. The uppermost section of Timber sidetrack will remain closed for now (still completely buried under snow) but riders can expect to have Rumplestumpskin from the 100% road to base, Bike Thief from top to bottom, and TNT from the four way intersection with Rumplestumpskin (above the White Pass Load). There will be occasional snow, and there is still much work to do but we figure that the stoke factor may blur some of those blemishes as your slay your favorite Timber trails for the first time ever on opening weekend.
The final countdown is among us. I, for one, can’t wait for the day when I am moving less dirt and riding more of it. I hope you fellow Loam Rangers are also dreaming about crushing berms, dreaming of some new trail combo’s, or sampling some of our new trail improvements. Just a reminder that as part of the Fernie Trail Alliance Roll and Sole Trail Festival, the resort will be hosting a DH race on opening Saturday. For more information or to register check out the events section of our webpage www.skifernie.com/summer . In the meantime, we have got lots more dirt to move. See you in five days.
Sincerely,
Your Fernie Alpine Resort Bike Crew
Bless me Bike Park for I have sinned, it has been one week since my last Trail Crew Confession. We have been bombarded this week with requests for the inside scoop on what has been happening in the Bike Park. It feels like a public flogging some days but I assure you, it is not sloth, we are just toiling away with our heads down, eyes on the prize only a short few days away. We are proud to say this will be the most legendary summer at Fernie Alpine Resort yet.
The Bike Crew set forth unto the mountain this week with a solid schedule of machine and hand work but our plans quickly changed. Unfortunately, we were plagued by machine issues and lost a few discouraging days waiting for parts. Rising above our wrath, the time out enabled our crew to chase the Timber side snowline. Our alpine trails are usually out of consideration this early in the season as deep snowpack and heavy blow down can take weeks to mitigate. But, with newly found “free time”, we headed up, shovels and snow pants in hand. Discouragement soon turned to lusting about rousing these epic trails back to life from their winter sleep and we began digging. The drier sections received some detailed buffing, with most of our focus being on the middle section of Rumplestumpskin. Looks like we will be able to offer TNT, Rumplestumpskin, and Bike Thief for the first time ever on opening weekend.
As we speak, the mini hoe is back in service and working in the rain to cut the last new stretch on Mr. Berms. What now looks like a swath of destruction will start coming together this week as hand crews move in to shape the lips and berms. A sneak peak at the new work left the Bike Team wiping drool from our dirt stained faces, lusting on who will get the first ride. We love a loamy single track descent here at Fernie Alpine Resort, but this new machine made trail will be manageable for less confident riders to access Eville and Honey Bee yet will still allow advanced riders to “flow and show” their way to base.
The crew has also been greedily fixing a few of our own personal arch nemesis sections of trail – confident that if it bugs us – it bugs you too. There is a small route change to the Deer Trail around a previously rooty and eroded fall line section. We continue to pick away at repairing some other tired sections of trails as well. Alternate Flight Pattern needed dirt work and root removal; there is new rock armoring additions in some chronic bomb holes; and the usual minor wood work repairs to old technical terrain features. As always, we are on a mission to ensure the trails at FAR are sustainable; able to handle high levels of traffic though out the dry season and, of course, ensuring your #ferniestoke meter is revving on high all season.
On another unusual, but very cool note, deep, late melting snow packs are holding grizzly bears lower down in the valley than usual this time of year. It is hard not to be envious of them watching us from the ski runs, lazing in the hot summer sun, gorging their furry bellies on dandelions. We are kicking it into high gear with just two weeks until opening day. Taking a lesson from these gluttonous bears as we too, fill our bellies and fuel our muscles for the final trail work assault.
Hopefully, our hard work this week is retribution for the lack of Bike Park updates and photo posts. We look forward to seeing your rejoicing dirty grins in BOTH our lift lines on June 28th, 2014. This mountain is our church, biking is our religion, and for all you fellow believers… welcome home.
Sincerely,
Your Fernie Alpine Resort Bike Crew
