So here we are, the first blog from Fernie! We have already been here 3 weeks but time has flown and it's hard to beleive. We arrived on 5th January to a cold, cold Calgary (minus 20something!) and transfered to our home for 3 weeks, a lovely lodge in the town of Fernie. The first couple of days involved getting used to the cold, time difference and we generally found our feet around town. We also set upon buying our equipment for the season which was highly exciting! For those with a technical interest Dan bought a 157 Tech Nine MFM classic board with matching bindings and Celsius boots and I bought some 160 Rossignol Vodoo BC 90 skis which above all are very pretty!!
We settled in pretty quickly and hit the slopes and explored the ski hill for the next couple of weeks. The ski area in Fernie is only 15 mins from town and absolutely fantastic. It comprises of 5 main 'bowls' in which many ski runs ranging from green to double black make their way downhill to the base. All 5 bowls have different charracteristics and the range of terrain and type of snow is unbelievable. The mountain conditions change on a daily base so ski training here is amazing. We have also been able to experience some of the famous Fernie Powder, which is the deepest, most amazing snow and hopefully more will be on the way soon!
The instructor courses started the end of last week but the real work starts this week as our lessons get more serious in terms of preparing for our first examinations in a few weeks. We have been lucky enough to meet some really nice people here already, both on the course and locals. Fernie is a fantastic little town where everybody is extremely nice and helpful-its almost considered rude not to say 'Hi' to someone passing in the street! There is a real community spirit which was really emphasised on the weekend when the Olympic torch passed through on its way to Vancouver. The whole town came out to celebrate in a street carnival at 8 in the morning. We have also experienced some great apres-ski which I'm sure we will have more of in the weeks to come!
So for now that will do. The next few weeks consist of skiing, skiing and more skiing! We have also got some great activities to look forward to including Avalanche training, Dog Sledding, Cat Skiing and Winter Camping (well Dan has the last one, I'm not spending the night in a snow hole when I have a heated lodge with hot tub and sauna thankyou very much!)
TTFN, Rhan xx