Fernie
Hey all,
We jet off to Fernie on December 2nd for the winter season. Who’s got all the local knowledge they’re willing to share and all the tips and tricks?
Cheers,
KP
Me… but what do you want to know?
just your general stuff, best runs etc? you get to do any back country/heli?
worth getting a car to get around?
General Stuff:
- Elk $4 drinks, The Pub has trivia on Thursdays, The Fernie has Wednesday Trivia, The Royal is the night club, The Northern has bingo Tuesday.
- The main street is 2nd Ave and there is a train crossing on 2nd and 2nd. If you live in Ridgemont or the Airport you’ll have to cross the train line and could get caught there.
Food:
- Big Bang Bagels is great for a snack. They have a shop downtown and on the hill and for $3 a cream cheese bagel is totally worth it. Fresh and delicious.
- Yama Goya is the Sushi restaurant, it’s awesome.
- Nevados is the mexican restaurant, it’s a bit expensive but again it’s really good.
- The Curry Bowl does a mix of Indian, Thai and Japanese curries. I’ve had times it’s amazing and times it’s been disappointing. Again, pretty expensive but worth it for a group night out.
- Elk valley pizza was my favourite pizza joint. Decently priced and lots of toppings.
Backcountry / Heli / Cat:
- Island lake lodge. More expensive but well worth it. They mainly do multiple day trips but sometimes you can get in for a day trip.
- Fernie Wilderness. Cheaper but only a day trip. Terrain is not as good but still worth a trip.
- The resort also has some good back country but you should definitely go with someone who knows where they are going. My favourite one was lost boys. You’d go from Whitepass top towards lost boys cafe but then go down falling star. When you get to the yellow sign, hike up to the top of the hill and stay close to the fence. It’ll be 5 minutes of glory with fresh runs till the flat. If you stay close to the rope it’s easy to get back without much hiking. People also build jumps out here and hike up and down. Good fun and generally a pretty soft landing haha.
- Another good run is hike up to snake ridge on the other side of the resort and drop into fish bowl. It is more dangerous but has some good runs and there is a cat track at the bottom to get back into the resort.
Favourite inbounds runs:
- Polar peak down the bear shutes then all the double blacks that take you into Lizard bowl. Corner pocket and High saddle into Easter are sick.
- Currie Powder which is the easy run down Currie bowl can be sick for hours after it opens. Everyone runs to the “sick” runs but the trees down the middle can be just as fun.
- Snake Ridge. Bit of a hike up there but if you get it before it gets tracked, OMG!
- Linda’s Run. Bit hidden near the boomerang chair but easy laps and super fun.
Other:
- Cars. Helpful yes but not required. If you work for the resort there is a free shuttle up there and hitching down is easy. There is a hitching spot just over the bridge near the bridge bistro to get up the hill. Depending how far you are from the hitching spot would be how keen I would be to get a car. I had a car which definitely helped getting up and down quickly.
- Road trips. Yes someone needs a car but if you can go on trips, definitely do it! My favourites other than Fernie are Revelstoke, Kicking Horse and Red. Though most resorts are worth a trip if you can do it.
Hope this helps.
@TJswish
Legend, thats perfect. Landed a gig on the hill at Rusty Edge and found a condo not far away on timberline crescent. So all set for a perfect season. Thanks for all your help.
Nice, the Rusty Sledge is a good place to work. Especially if you’re out the front of house. Good tips, decent hours, access to the hot tub lol.
Living up on the hill means you’ll have a lot less night life and getting down and back up again to shop is much harder (unless you have a car.) Though it’ll be much easier to get out for a shred, even if it’s just before or after work since you don’t need to get up and down etc.
Since not many people live on the hill, make sure you meet as many people as possible who are up there so you have a good time. You are at Fernie though so I wouldn’t be worried. If you do get a car, at least you can take turns with the others in the house to be dessy driver if required 