We're looking to book our usual February boarding holiday. There are usually around 10 of us that go for ten days, with a mix of skiers and boarders and a large spectrum of abilities.

In the past two seasons we've been to Banff and Whistler, both of which have been great, so we're thinking about trying Fernie.

Anyone been?

Sounds like they generally get good snow with lots of powder and off piste, but:

– is it suitable for novices as well?
– is it as small as it looks on the piste map?
– have they built a terrain park yet or is it still just some rails?

I was there ten years ago (before it was listed in UK travel brochures) and had an amazing time. This was partly because we had a foot of fresh snow every night for a week and there was no-one there and we never had to queue for a lift..

This probably doesn't help you much so hopefully someone who's been there more recently will be along in a minute…

– As far as I remember the slopes even off at the bottom of the hill so should be fine for novices.
– We were there for 2 weeks and didn't get bored, there was so much snow we were off-piste all the time (and some of the off-piste we hiked to is now lift-accessible). If you have fast skiers going with you who only do groomed pistes then they could well get bored..
– No idea on the terrain park, I rarely leave the ground voluntarily as gravity and I have an unhappy relationship.. 🙂

My brother was there for a bit, he said it was amazing for off-piste and powder, probably the best place he'd been to. Not sure about the other stuff sorry.

I was there two years ago for three weeks. It is quite small but the entire area is available for riding so it's unlikely that you'll get bored with the riding. As for novices, they are likley to find it challenging as it is the most undergraded place I've ever been to. Steep and Deep was what they claimed and when I was there the 20cm of powder every day for two weeks meant that it was both. I barely managed to ride on any groomed runs as they were always covered in deep snow. There isn't (or certainly wasn't) a terrain park or half pipe. something to do with companies being sued however there is so much the way of natural features that you're unlikely to get bored if you want to get air.

The main problem would be access to the slopes if you are staying in Fernie itself. There is a bus service, although it is in addition to the lift pass or you'll be driving there and back every day. The town itself was quite quite too.

We're probably going with these guys: http://www.canadianpowdertours.com/
and they offer a lift to/from the slopes every day so access should be okay.

All the pow sounds amazing, but I am a tad worried about our beginners/novices. One has only had a couple of weeks skiing and only ever ridden groomed nursery slopes. 😯

The town it'self is a bit like a Western with the grid layonut with all the facilities that you need. However we stayed up in the village by the lifts. Hiring a fantastic house (there were about 10 of us).

This was 4 years a go and we didn't get any snow for 2 weeks. We did go 6 years ago (on a road trip) and got loads of snow, so you never can tell. It is small but if you get the snow (I think we were unlucky the second time) you will not be bored.
It's fine for beginners and experts alike.
As said above it wasn't too busy and we didn't have to queue.

The powder is fantastic.
Food fairly cheap in the restaurants.
A good bus servie to Fernie town.
Friendly people.
Very Canadian (not many Brits).
Oh yes good hospital (as I found out).
Not sure about the terrain park. You'll have to google.

If you think it will be too small why not consider a raod trip. We flew to Calagary, hired a large van and drove to Golden (kiccking horse), Panarama, Sunshine, Banff where in Norquay we had the best powder ever.

You probably know this having to been to Canada many times yourself, it can get really cold.

Don't know about canada but we've been to Winter Park, Colorado twice and it's awesome! we've only been for 7 days and it's fine as the time is moving the right way, plus it's only a 2 hour drive when you land at Denver. definately worth looking into! we also had some real bargain holidays there last minute £800 EACH everything in!!!!!

If you do go I think the novice will do very well with the Canadian style of teaching.
Sorry about the spelling , my typing is really bad.

I went back in 2002 and it was great. The pistes aren't that extreme, although there's some real leg-burners. The pow was excellent, move yr bindings back and keep yr nose up! The locals were really friendly, definitely compared to Europe. We stayed at the Wolf's Lodge in the resort which was comfortable, and way more spacious than anything I've stayed in Europe. Go for it.

Look here:
Resort Guide Linky

hello

I did a whole season there in 2006 – was rather good… Its friendly and chilled with a lot of good terrain – aimed at everyone however better if you are of a reasonable standard… I also love Kicking horse in golden – that would be my bet but thats because its quiet and challenging – not that great for newbies… terrain park at fernie was insane and way too hard for me – i am more hike a plank and the powder was superb in canada but as always it depends on the weather. If you want some challenging stuff theres plenty if you are prepared to hike…

I would go canada over europe any day – as long as its affordable. Kit is cheaper out there too. If anyone in the group is proper good in pow then I would highly highly recomend a day trip to the fabulous Island lake resort for some cat skiing – i did both 'powder cowboy' and 'island lake'…

happy times – email me if you want a proper in depth resort review…

Great place, not a huge ski area but its all quality and lots of trees/steeps. We had warm temps for first day, then it went REALLY cold overnight then it dumped everyday, up to my nuts in fresh 2 weeks straight.
We stayed on the hill in that cheap place, wolfs den or something. A few locals warned us about some hotels in town where rooms got broken into regularly.
Town itself seems a very real place as opposed to Disney Whislter but theres not loads to do, which is the trade off. Fantastic steaks in the Old Elevator restaraunt. I serpantly intend to go back.

Damn I knew I shouldn't have asked this. Now I'm going to be spending the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about powder.

Thanks for the answers – sounds great!

A couple of more useful reviews here:

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewpost.php?p=21273

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewpost.php?p=846313

Worth the visit? In the right conditions, yes, but then so is anywhere in the right conditions. It certainly helped improve my skiing. First resort I ever went back to.

Did 2 weeks there in February 2003. Some of the worst conditions I've ever had on a snowboard trip. Grass, rocks and dirt on most of the lower mountain. Obviously, it started dumping 2 days before we left and from what I heard didn't stop again until the end of the season.

I wouldn't consider the terrain there to be particularly harder/easier than anywhere else. There are decent areas for beginners lower down. Some wicked off-piste options even if we were making the best of a bad deal.

The resort is quite low altitude but often has a bit of a micro-climate going on, hence when they have a good season it's very, very good, but when they have a bad season it's very, very bad.

one of my mates has lived there for about 6yrs, fantastic boarding in winter and biking in summer. git.

it is good if you get the weather, the same as any resort.
quite different to banff, its a proper small town that has not been taken over by the ski hill yet. it seems like most of the people in town for the snow stay for the season and are not on package tours.
it never got that busy when i was there and you could always find areas with few people about.
make sure you take enough spare cash to do the catski tour it costs the wrong side of £100 but worth it.

My favourite resort until I went to White fish which is 2 hours south in Montana.

Fernie has everything you could wish for and is generally plentiful in powder. I've never been when it isn't dumping and I've been about 20 times

That said – take a trip to Whitefish and Castle Mountain if you are in the area.

Louise is shit in comparison.

Plum

but I am a tad worried about our beginners/novices

Now now, it's ok, we know one of them is you. In fact, didn't we work out from your sore-foot-must-be-my-stance post that it was because you is crap! 😛

Actually… I spent an hour in snow+rock (Metrocentre) with a very helpful bloke trying to sort my feet out. He reckoned that because my feet are quite wide, my boots are about half a size too long and high. He also warned me off full skier-style custom-molded footbeds as I pronate quite a lot, so it would actually be more uncomfortable.

In the end I got the boots heat-molded and fitted with Superfeet beds to take up the extra room and support my pronation.

Jury is still out, but definitely seems to give me more control without having to overtighten the boots, which helps.

Got to have a look at previews of the new 2010 boards while I was there. Banana boards are where it's at this season apparently.

But yeah…

I is crap 😛