The extreme of the below zero F Arctic deep freeze was Monday-Wednesday, when we were fortunate to be in snowcats at Island Lake. Thursday we were back at Fernie, where the base warmed up some to 10-15F but it was still 0-5F up top. Overall it felt similar to the Island Lake days because we were riding chairlifts and it was only sunny for about an hour midday. The new snow from the weekend had been mostly packed down by now, but overall conditions were good. Groomers were mostly packed powder. Ungroomed areas had some stiff chalk, some settled soft snow. There were firm subsurfaces in the same places as Sunday.
We warmed up with Falling Star and Heartland on White Pass, then Down Right through Currie Bowl. Liz took a short break, so I decided to take a run out Snake Ridge (Craig Morris’ favorite area) to Gorbi Bowl. As at Alta, the grunt work getting out there cuts down traffic and tends to preserve powder. Looking back across Cedar Bowl to the top of Bear chair:
The catch is that the Snake Ridge runs have at least partial south exposure. View down Gorbi Bowl:
The irregular snow poking through is stiff and thus to be avoided. I could not tell at this point what the smooth snow lower down was like. Fortunately it was settled powder though the subsurface was refrozen, similar to many of the sun exposed runs at Island Lake.
View from below:
I first skied the wide open area upper center, then funneled into the deep diagonal gully. The gully had sheltered soft snow but was narrow so I had to ski it one turn at a time.
We had planned to meet at Lizard Creek Lodge at 12:30 for lunch with some of the Island Lake customers who recommended it. Unfortunately this season it's only open for lunch Friday-Sunday. So Fernie is not immune to the food and beverage staff shortages we have seen at numerous ski areas this season.
Liz and I took a lap through Cedar Bowl on Cruiser. Her hands got cold so we took Cedar Trail back to the base. I continued up Timber and White Pass as the Polar Peak chair had been in motion though not open this morning. This time I was pleased to see Polar Peak open for only the sixth day this season.
I got there about 1:30, not a great time in cold and flat light. The steep Polar Chutes have never opened this season due to the wind and snow instability, the same issues that have affected Island Lake. View west from the top of Polar Peak:
I had to take the top half of the zigzag catwalk, then ski the Polar Circus bowl in flat light. After Polar Peak I took the Reverse Traverse out to the Window Chutes, which had steep and soft snow as I had learned from Bill Handley in 2018. This was the best snow of the day, but my hand was too cold from the Polar Peak picture to take any there.
I finished up with another Timber/White Pass circuit, skiing Big Bang between the lifts, then Tom's Run into Currie Bowl. Total for Thursday was 21,400 vertical.
Liz was on her own at least half the time both Sunday and Thursday. Often she was running laps on the Timber chair, exploring some short tree shots and at least one run in Siberia Bowl. She is still enthusiastic about Fernie as in 2013 and 2018. We had quality skiing though the weather was not conducive to photography this time.
We warmed up with Falling Star and Heartland on White Pass, then Down Right through Currie Bowl. Liz took a short break, so I decided to take a run out Snake Ridge (Craig Morris’ favorite area) to Gorbi Bowl. As at Alta, the grunt work getting out there cuts down traffic and tends to preserve powder. Looking back across Cedar Bowl to the top of Bear chair:
The catch is that the Snake Ridge runs have at least partial south exposure. View down Gorbi Bowl:
The irregular snow poking through is stiff and thus to be avoided. I could not tell at this point what the smooth snow lower down was like. Fortunately it was settled powder though the subsurface was refrozen, similar to many of the sun exposed runs at Island Lake.
View from below:
I first skied the wide open area upper center, then funneled into the deep diagonal gully. The gully had sheltered soft snow but was narrow so I had to ski it one turn at a time.
We had planned to meet at Lizard Creek Lodge at 12:30 for lunch with some of the Island Lake customers who recommended it. Unfortunately this season it's only open for lunch Friday-Sunday. So Fernie is not immune to the food and beverage staff shortages we have seen at numerous ski areas this season.
Liz and I took a lap through Cedar Bowl on Cruiser. Her hands got cold so we took Cedar Trail back to the base. I continued up Timber and White Pass as the Polar Peak chair had been in motion though not open this morning. This time I was pleased to see Polar Peak open for only the sixth day this season.
I got there about 1:30, not a great time in cold and flat light. The steep Polar Chutes have never opened this season due to the wind and snow instability, the same issues that have affected Island Lake. View west from the top of Polar Peak:
I had to take the top half of the zigzag catwalk, then ski the Polar Circus bowl in flat light. After Polar Peak I took the Reverse Traverse out to the Window Chutes, which had steep and soft snow as I had learned from Bill Handley in 2018. This was the best snow of the day, but my hand was too cold from the Polar Peak picture to take any there.
I finished up with another Timber/White Pass circuit, skiing Big Bang between the lifts, then Tom's Run into Currie Bowl. Total for Thursday was 21,400 vertical.
Liz was on her own at least half the time both Sunday and Thursday. Often she was running laps on the Timber chair, exploring some short tree shots and at least one run in Siberia Bowl. She is still enthusiastic about Fernie as in 2013 and 2018. We had quality skiing though the weather was not conducive to photography this time.
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