Return to Fernie!

Friday Jan 23rd:

Friday evening was our first opportunity to do a snowshoe tour on our own. The other unusual thing about this tour was that it was the first time I was doing the guiding and Sarah was doing the food preparation for real. There were two ladies who had lived in Kimberley a number of years ago and had returned for a holiday. This was lucky for me as I was worried that I was going to have to tell them lots of town history, but instead I was filled in on all of the facts.

They were both really fun and made my first attempt at guiding a tour an easy task. I'm sure they had a similar effect on Sarah, because when we got into the Kootenay Haus, the table was immaculately laid with a spread of fruit and bubbling chocolate. Not waiting to even be told once we tucked into the sweet feast, and munched down seconds too. We headed down on the lift after my pre-practiced spiel on lift safety (The only fact we were able to tell them that they didn't know, was that the lights of Kimberley look like a brontosaurus when riding down on the lift) We then walked home to a relaxing evening.

Saturday Jan 24th: -14, fresh
Time was running short and chances were slim. A decision had to be made. We were going to return to Fernie.

We have been planning on taking a road trip to some of the surrounding resorts on our days off. It was part of the reason that we bought a truck. This was our last weekend before we were occupied on weekends by guests being around. And so we decided it was time to go and see our friends in Fernie. We woke up early that morning and started the hour and a half drive in the rising sun. It was amazing to see the familiar mountains on the horizon and recognise the sights as we drove into the resort.

Sunrise on the drive to Fernie

We parked up and got ready to go rip around Fernie for the day. As we walked from the parking lot into the resort proper we wondered who the first person we would see was. We has nearly made it out of the parking lot by the time we found out.

We made a friend in Fernie last season called Joe. Joe wore a bright blue jacket and bright yellow pants, as such he was fairly noticeable on the hill. Now you will be suprised to hear that he is by no means the only person who has decided on this odd fashion choice. On a number of occations whilst riding the lift we spot people in this eye-catching combo and jokingly point and say 'Hey look its Joe'. I guess one time it had to be true. Minutes after bumping into Joe we happened upon another friend walking around in her new Fernie Instructors outfit. Taming our jelousy at their all together more stylish uniform we caught up over a hot chocolate before actually getting out and doing some snowboarding.

It was an unsual feeling to ride the familiar terrain and as the memories came rushing back we chose our route down the hill. Fernie, like Kimberley, has not had its greatest season for snow and so a number of our favourite runs were now shaped differently from how we remember, and not carpeted in the fresh powder the resort is usually famous for. We still enjoyed cruising around our old stomping grounds and hitting familiar jumps and rolls.

Entries for the cardboard derby

We were also pleasantly suprised to find out that we had chosen to visit on the day of the Cardboard Derby. The Derby consists of teams building vehicles from cardboard and sliding down one of the runs on them. The majority of the vehicles fall apart before reaching the intended target but a fair few rocketed past and took out the fence marking out the course. Sarah had seen the Derby the year before but I had missed it and so was happy to be able to watch this time round.

One contestant trying their best to win

A couple of hours later we had done some more runs, had some lunch, Sarah had slipped on Fernie's icy mountain glaze and twisted her arm and didn't fancy trying to do it a second time before the day was out. So, as the lifts wound down and the guest went home, we decided to pop into the staff room to look for the few remaining people we had not seen on the mountain.

We met up with Mike who was a good friend from the previous year and who was more than happy to go to the Griz (the local bar) for a few drinks and some Nachos. It was really interesting to catch up on his season in New Zealand and also to find out how everything operated in Fernie compared to Kimberley. Jealous of how much nicer their uniforms look and the fact they get paid for their training sessions but pleased to hear that the uniforms are in fact, really cold and we seem to get much more free stuff than them! It was also interesting to find out how the size difference in resort makes for a much less community feel. We know everyone that works on the hill in Kimberley, whether they are lift staff, instructors, waitresses or snow patrol and we all go out and socialise together, whereas is Fernie they seem pushed to recall all of ski school and have much more divided social groups.

Mike and Christian in the Griz Bar

Offering Mike a lift back to his pad earnt us a cup of tea before the journey home began. We got to check out Mike's cozy home and saw: his icy front path (you have to slide the first half with your feet jammed against the edges and run the second half to make it up the icy incline), his coloured-in Rice Krispies packet, with all the puzzles completed (spot-the-difference, mazes, you know the kind!) and the bizarely named cat that he is baby-sitting over the winter.

The cat, who's name still escapes me, is the most beloved possession of Mike's landlord who is currently in Costa Rica. And Mike has been given 100 bucks off his rent each month to keep this pampered feline in the manner to which he is accustomed. The cat is 20, with an infected eye, chronic dandruff and dredlocks a rastafarian would be proud of! He seems friendly enough and appreciated the attention of 2 new people in the house, but as the conversation got going and we settled into the sofas for our cups of tea, he obviously felt he wasn't being stroked enough. So, to regain his position as centre of attention he decided to throw up something that looked not unlike mushroom stroganoff all over one end of the sofa. If only it had smelt like mushroom stroganoff! We quickly moved ourselves into the kitchen to finish our chat and tea.

Soon after we jumped back into Troy the truck to start the long journey home in the dark, sniggering only slightly at the prospect of poor Mike cleaning up the cats latest offering (was it really worth the 100 bucks?)

Sunday Jan 25th: sunny but cold

Back in Kimberley, we decided to spend our more relaxed day off, heading up our own sunny hill to check out the sunpit. The sunpit is an unofficial, over 18's venue on the hill that can be found a stroll away from the runs, through the trees. Over the years one of the locals has taken on the role as "creator of the sunpit". It is a snowy amphitheatre, dug into the piles of powder that gather in between the trees and is used by the locals for topping up the goggle tan, stopping for a drink with friends and not too infrequently carries the herbal aromas of the true snow bums reliving their heyday of the 80's.

The Sunpit

Despite having not partaken in any kind of performance-reducing substances, the ride back down felt pretty shoddy. Like Fernie, (but thankfully not as bad) the slopes are getting harder and icier as a result of the lack of snow and I just wasn't able to get a grip with my edges as we slid back down the hill. Time for a tune up we decided and chucked the boards in for a free edge sharpening and board wax.

Sarah and Christian in the sunpit

The riding may have been over for the day, but Jackie and Chris had invited us over for dinner at Chris' family cabin in Wasa. It is half an hour's drive away in the dark, but thanks to the rubbish snow conditions the roads are pretty safe and easy to drive on. We were treated to a yummy dinner of barbequed chicken in Chris' homemade sauce and Caesar salad. We were even given a starter of bread and garlic. No not garlic bread, that's not how Jackie does things. French bread, melted camenbert and roasted whole garlics, it was delicious.

After dinner and a long chat about the state of the world (Jackie's Chris always ups the intellect level of conversations - the other 3 of us could entertain ourselves watching clips of Fonejacker and debating the merits of peanut butter M&Ms) and our conclusion was, its pretty dire, we're very happy not to be in a position of power and Kimberley seems like as good a place as any to hide out and have fun whilst the rest of the world struggles by.

For dessert we had cupcakes from Calgary. They were very tasty, lime and strawberry flavoured, and were improved by being eaten in their indoor hot tub as we watched a movie of dubious quality, called Grilled (though you wouldn't have known from the font on the DVD box). We had brought along some peanut butter M&Ms as I found out at New Year that Jackie loves them as much as I do!

After the movie we drove back home through the patchy fog, avoiding the elk who like standing in the road.