Winter arrived in Fernie with 64 cm of new snow in the last seven days and it’s still snowing. Fernie plays in the snow and it’s absence had the town upside down until this week. Fortunately everything is back to normal—all the kids are playing!
Avalanche Hazard
The Avalanche Canada Southern Rockies field team have been busy evaluating the local snowpack. They commented, “The evidence of the natural avalanche cycle from last weekend is still around, but the storm snow is gaining strength and bonding to the old snow surfaces. That said, the bottom half of the snowpack is still made up of a series of crusts and weak sugary crystals that does not inspire confidence. It will have us keeping our terrain choices conservative as we learn more about it over the coming weeks.” If you’re heading into the backcountry read the bulletin, be prepared, and make good terrain choices.
Alpine Skiing & Boarding
With the fresh snow, Fernie Alpine Resort is excited to announce that all five bowls will be open Saturday, with all of the lifts running, except for Polar Peak. For the first time this season, the Boomerang Chair, Haul Back T-Bar, and Mighty Moose Platter Lift are expected to be open on Saturday morning with the Deer Chair and Mini Moose Carpet Lift open by lunchtime.
Fernie Wilderness Adventures is ready to begin catskiing next week. Their guides are trained and the team is ready to go.
Nordic Skiing
The volunteers have been been packing the Elk Valley Nordic Centre trails the past few days. The trail network was packed and groomed Friday and the snow coverage is thin but good to ski.
Fernie Alpine Resort has groomed the Silk trail, it’s ready to ski.
Snowmobiling
The Fernie Snowmobile Associations snowcats are being delivered to their winter homes and they anticipate commencing winter road building activities on Tuesday. The grooming will happen in the following order: Morrissey to Wranglers’s, the Notch, Summit Trail to the Rolling Hills Cabin, McEvoy East, Doug Dean Trail as well as Corbin from the staging area to the Rain Gauge.
Coal Creek will not be groomed until logging operations by private land owner are complete for the season – currently hauling from Martin and Matheson down to both Coal Creek and the Michel (roads are plowed, no snowmobiles permitted).
Fat biking
Lazy Lizard was groomed today and the trial should be set-up enough tomorrow to ride on the surface. Remember, if your making a trench give the trail some extra time to consolidate.
The Fernie forecast is calling for clearing next week with more snow over the next weekend. Happy Winter everyone!
Photos from Facebook
