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The Alders Stood No Chance!

The Alders Stood No Chance!

by Emma Polit / Friday, 25 October 2019 / Published in Blog, Fernie, Summer, Winter

Did you know that in the summer, we have a whole team of people dedicated to preparing our skiable terrain for winter? We call them the Saw & Brush Crew and this year, the stars aligned, and they were able to take the resorts ‘haircut’ to a whole new level. The early season conditions will be incredible (what alders!?) and some of our most loved runs on the mountain, think Boom, Buck-shot, Suprize and Black Cloud will offer you a very different (FUN!) ski/ride experience.

North ridge mowed vs unmowed

The most significant change is thanks to the FrankenCat! That’s what we call the new mower-cat that was created here at Fernie Alpine Resort. Our Vehicle Maintenace Crew have outdone themselves by constructing a machine that can tackle terrain that was previously unattainable.

Blair and Alina (our grooming/mower-cat extraordinaires) were able to cut every inch of mowable terrain across all 5 of our bowls. In fact, thanks to the use of a winch, they were able to access very steep terrain that has never been mowed before (see below for a HUGE list of what runs were mowed). This is exciting news! If you combine that with the work that our saw and brush crew completed over the summer (see more here), the alders didn’t stand a chance. Our early season conditions are set up to be some of the best yet!

Mowing timeline over the years:

1987 – The first (recorded) mowing was in the Fernie Snow Valley days, by Fernie legend, and previous owner, Heiko Socher. They used a European hand mower (walk behind) to mow the Lizard and Elk runs.

1988 – We upgraded to a John Deere 350 Dozer with an attached ditch mower

1993 – We moved onto a bigger Dozer, John Deere 550 while using the same ditch mower

1996 – We changed to a Bush Hog Mower

2007 – The BR-350 #19 snowcat was converted to a mower with a mulcher on the front and fitted with a Winch on the back

2019 – Cat #19 BR350 and cat #33 BR350 were combined to create ‘FrankenCat’. It was fitted out with a THC Cancela TTH-350 Hydraulic mower. The #33 cat has been part of the FAR grooming fleet as a winch cat since the 15/16 season. This machine was a favourite for many of the operators in the Grooming department.

The #19 snowcat is a special machine to us as it was the first BR350 that Fernie added to their grooming fleet, and also the first BR350 with a winch. This machine even borrowed by Lake Louise for the FIS Alpine World Cup!

FrankenCat taking on the mountain!

The creation of the FrankenCat has allowed us to make our terrain even better, and a huge credit is owed to the Vehicle Maintenance Mechanics and Jeff’s entire team, who worked incredibly hard to make all of this happen for the Resort.

Another cool fun fact: Tim, who joined the Mechanical staff in April after many years of dreaming of being a mechanic at the ski hill, was assigned to work on FrankenCat as his first major project. FrankenCat was the first Groomer that he has worked on. Shane provided a ton of guidance during this project; Dan and Rob also had the lovely task of replacing the hammers inside the mower (which was not an easy job). The new hammers cut the alders like a Samurai sword.

Let’s hear it for the Shop Crew, Blair and Alina! Give them some yee haa’s when you’re cruising down Sib Ridge in the early season.

Runs that have been mowed:

Meadow

Silver Fox

Incline

Bambi

Downhill

Lower Bear

Elk

Emily’s

Lower Cruiser

China Mite

Tuck Out

Lower North Ridge

Ballet

Lower Ballet

Lizard

Bear

Lower Kodiak

Bear Cub

Lower Linda’s

North Ridge – winch

Upper Kodiak – winch

Bear Right

Bear – winch

Bear Ridge

Upper North Ridge – winch

Siberia Ridge – winch

Wallaby

Deer

Silk Trail – XC Short Loop

Lower Boom

Gilmar Trail

Upper Falling Star

Runs that were cut by the Saw & Brush Crew:

Sunnyside

Bomb Drop (upper Cedar Bowl)

Boomerang

Deep Space

Buck Shot

Upper Suprize

Lower Suprize

Stag Leap – up to Megasaurus

Decline – up to Megasaurus

Skydive – up to Megasaurus

Griz Lift line (in between China Wall and Ballet)

Incline Trail

Timber Lift line above Rock Landing to White Pass load

Black Cloud

Deep Sea

Currie Chutes

China Wall

Upper Puff

 

About Emma Polit

I spend my days in the mountains creating and sharing my favourite place in the world in the hope that it will inspire others to visit and love Fernie Alpine Resort and the wonderful town of Fernie as much as I do.

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Fernie, BC V0B 1M6
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