Photos: Sophie MacMillan
If you haven’t yet skied B.C.’s Fernie Alpine Resort…well, my friend, the time has come. Its terrain is immense: five open bowls, hectares of trees and the most snow in the Canadian Rockies (11 metres annually). Ski off one of the highest summits in the Lizard Range—Polar Peak’s views stretch all the way to Kananaskis—or drop down a powder-filled chute, there’s a bunch to choose from. But there is also plenty to keep you occupied off-piste, too: good food, great hiking, curvy fat-biking trails. You can watch TV and check your Insta when you’re dead—or at least, no longer in Fernie. Here are five ways to have fun in Fernie, even when you’re not skiing.
1. Step, slide, and roll
Want a mid-week break? There’s wicked good fun on Fernie’s multi-use trails. Fat bike, snowshoe and skinny ski rentals are available to test Fernie’s Silk and Manchuria trails, or the Scandia Loop. Ridetheory will see to your biking needs: private coaching, youth camps, guided tours—ask for Jena Greaser, a nationally ranked U.S. champion (if you think you can keep up). The new NHL-sized hockey rink, donated to Fernie by the Calgary Flames, is by the Old Courthouse and delivers Canuckia in spades.
2. Visit the Cottonwood Cathedral
Just 10 minutes’ drive from Fernie Alpine Resort, take a hike through the ancient cottonwood forest along the Elk River—even in winter (snowpack depending). Here rise some of the biggest black cottonwood trees in the world, interspersed in an old-growth forest of western red cedar. A short walking trail weaves among the trees that tower as high as 10 storeys and measure up to 10 metres around. Look for the gnarled bark that testifies to four centuries of repeated lightning strikes.
3. A really big roadside attraction
Just 10 minutes’ drive from Fernie Alpine Resort, take a hike through the ancient cottonwood forest along the Elk River—even in winter (snowpack depending). Here rise some of the biggest black cottonwood trees in the world, interspersed in an old-growth forest of western red cedar. A short walking trail weaves among the trees that tower as high as 10 storeys and measure up to 10 metres around. Look for the gnarled bark that testifies to four centuries of repeated lightning strikes.
4. Sniff out purr-fect powder
Scot Schmidt, Glen Plake, Greg Stump, Craig Kelly—the legends weren’t wrong about Island Lake Lodge, its turnoff only minutes from Fernie. The names may have changed (Justin Timberlake is a relative newbie) but the terrain that first attracted some of the sport’s most revered athletes and photographers remains the same. This cat-skiing op features ridgebacks and bowls on repeat—20 square kilometres of prime Lizard Range terrain and powder measured in metres (not centimetres). Yes, a standby list for day-skiing is possible but you’d miss the gastronomy and overnight pampering the lodge is now known for. Combine with an evening of Hungarian Moor Mud Wrapping in the lodge’s spa, along with something nice from its 3,000-bottle wine cellar. If you can’t find contentment here, you just might need a new hobby.
Lizard Creek Lodge: Roll out of bed and onto the Elk Quad Chair for first tracks in the morning and roll back home for lunch or dinner at the Cirque Restaurant and Bar. These impressive digs (all with kitchens) range from cosy studios to suites that sleep a dozen.
Luke Macdonald grew up skiing Fernie but his brothers both claim to be much better.
4. Sniff out purr-fect powder
Scot Schmidt, Glen Plake, Greg Stump, Craig Kelly—the legends weren’t wrong about Island Lake Lodge, its turnoff only minutes from Fernie. The names may have changed (Justin Timberlake is a relative newbie) but the terrain that first attracted some of the sport’s most revered athletes and photographers remains the same. This cat-skiing op features ridgebacks and bowls on repeat—20 square kilometres of prime Lizard Range terrain and powder measured in metres (not centimetres). Yes, a standby list for day-skiing is possible but you’d miss the gastronomy and overnight pampering the lodge is now known for. Combine with an evening of Hungarian Moor Mud Wrapping in the lodge’s spa, along with something nice from its 3,000-bottle wine cellar. If you can’t find contentment here, you just might need a new hobby.
NO LOST BOYS HERE:
A Day of Touring the Lizard Range
“Do you have any idea of the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person?” I ask my pal Errol, who’s hot on my skin tracks and driving me crazy. Without missing a beat, our ski guide Mel jumps in: “Snip snap, snip snap, snip snap!” completing the ridiculous Michael Scott quote from The Office—while simultaneously demonstrating a perfect kick-turn.
Melissa Makepeace (just call her Mel) is the affable and patient owner of Mountain Addicts in Fernie, a ski guiding and instruction operation. She’s led trips all around B.C, as well as in New Zealand and Japan. Her team of six ski guides provides avalanche courses, mountain safety programs and guided day and multi-day hut tours in and around both Fernie and Revelstoke.
On our visit last February, during B.C.’s strange weather winter of 2022, the soggy morning that greeted us meant a delayed departure, but it also allowed a more in-depth safety training session at the base. Somehow, Mel was not only able to maintain discipline with our group’s distracted and fidgety boys, they actually learned something about mountain-travel safety. On the chairlift later my sister Sophie asked, “Have you ever seen them so well behaved?”
We started our tour at the Lost Boys Pass, just off the top of Fernie Alpine Resort’s Timber Chair. We took our time skinning, slipping and passing one another. One minute we would stop to talk about snowpack science, the next we’d take turns telling dirty jokes. Even though we were all there to witness the spectacle, for the rest of the day we’d each offer our own descriptive version of our pal Jonah’s double-eject faceplant.
We skied mostly in the trees, barrelling through the powder. With Mel joining the choir we sang the entire soundtrack of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which, oddly, helped to ensure no boys were actually lost. Like most days of ski touring, our ascent was equally as enjoyable as the ski out—a day for the books, or rather, the magazine. mountainaddicts.ca
