Fernie and Kimberly - British Columbia

[Happy Feet]

We have been back a week, but the first week of February had fresh snow and blue skies at both resorts. The resorts are due north of Montana, and worth the trip. Both are owned by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, but couldn't be more different. Fernie is huge, and we 3 days this year and 2 last year and still have trails we want to try. It is definitely an intermediate and advanced level mountain. There are wicked fun runs above treeline, and since we are Eastern skiers we are cautious on them on flat light days. Grooming is good, but every trail is not groomed; in fact some are left ungroomed on purpose. We found that some of the "blue" runs were dark blue because of steepness. Not difficult, but not cruisers.

Kimberly is smaller, and a great mountain for intermediate skiers to gain more skills. There are plenty of groomers, but often one side of the trail is groomed and the other is natural so you can try bumps or loose snow or glades, and then pop back on the groomer when you had enough.

The downside of Fernie is the day lodge. It is old, small, noisy and very crowded at peak times. Lunch options are limited. The best advice is to eat early or late, but forget eating between 11:30 -1:30. The breakfast was awesome.

One good thing is the "Mountain Guide" option from the ski school. You can hire an instructor for the day (9:00 - 4:00), and they take you around the mountain and lead you to trails of your ability or curiosity. It saves a ton of time trying to figure trails and lifts, and you get ski school lift privileges.

The day lodge at Kimberly is newer, cleaner and brighter, but not huge. We had a bit of a lift line getting on the mountain, but the two lifts servicing the back had short lines - on a Saturday.

If you would like any specific information, drop me a post or e-mail.

 

[Lancic]

"Fernie is huge, and we spent 3 days this year and 2 last year and still have trails we want to try. It is definitely an intermediate and advanced level mountain. There are wicked fun runs above treeline, and since we are Eastern skiers we are cautious on them on flat light days. Grooming is good, but every trail is not groomed; in fact some are left ungroomed on purpose. We found that some of the "blue" runs were dark blue because of steepness. Not difficult, but not cruisers."

I would say that this is a fair and accurate reveiw of my home base. FAR is known for it's powder and terrain, and people come from every corner of the globe to ski here. Grooming would be conterproductive, plus a waste of the snow. As far as the terrian is concerned, it is actually quite dangerous for the snowcat drivers in some of the lower sections of the three bowls. As far as certain terrain, some days you have to be only so lucky because after a storm cycle, they gradually open areas due to avalanche safety. Our daylodge, ya, it sucks, but we did get a new floor..... plus, we spend a ton of money on avalanche control, Daily, you can hear the bombs going off, and even watch them helibomb the alpine areas. Our ski patrol are world class!

So, if you are coming for a groomed, more family orientated hill (as far a terrain and such) definately check out kimberly. I have seen little kids shredding the hill, but these are locals who were born onto skis.

Happy Feet, you didn't mention your thoughts on the snow....weren't you here during one of our storm cycles?

 

[geargrrl]

Grooming would be conterproductive, plus a waste of the snow

Thanks for saying this, as it's right on. I'm just a Fernie visitor on occasion... but the powder skiing is the whole point of Fernie! This is why it's so important to do homework on an area before you visit. Red Mountain is another good example. If you like nice groomers, you will hate Red. They hardly groom anything to begin with, and next to nothing on a powder day.

gg

 

[Happy Feet]

The snow conditions were awesome, and we came to FAR for the powder and challenge of skiing a big mountain without groomers. We had boot deep fresh powder the first day, and did a 1st tracks lesson. What a bummer when we had to share the slopes at 9:00 am. When we had the Moutain Guide on Sunday, we still found plenty of freshies and ungroomed snow to play in. We thoroughly enjoyed it, but many Eastern skiers used to "hard" snow below tree line won't.

 

[Lancic]

Good to hear you got in on the first tracks program! I feel the same about having to share the slopes, but really feel great joy when I see people high-fiving each other and screaming with delight once the snow and their skis click. The hill is definatley worth a quiver of skis. Right now I wish I had some fast little turny skis as we are in a snow drought!