If you’re a free-riding addict who loves powder and crowd free slopes then you will most likely feel right at home at the Fernie Alpine Resort.
Like Kicking Horse, which we profiled last week, there isn’t much for the Freestyler but, unlike Kicking Horse, there is more for the beginner and would be a great resort for beginners to learn on.
That doesn’t take away from the experience for the advanced & expert riders though. With 5 gigantic bowls (Siberia Bowl, Timber Bowl, Currie Bowl, Lizard Bowl & Cedar Bowl) dominating the trail map’s landscape, and plenty of glades, chutes, trees and steep slopes, there’s something for everyone here – in the downhill stakes anyway.
Fernie’s Mountain Stats
A large resort with 2,500+ acres of ride-able terrain and a 1,082 metre vertical drop. Whilst this doesn’t quite match it with Kicking Horse it’s not too far off.
Access is via 10 lifts and with 142 named runs there is plenty of variety.
FERNIE MOUNTAIN STATS |
Resort Elevation: 2,134m (7,000ft) |
Vertical Drop: 1,082m (3,550ft) |
Ride-able area: 2,500 acres |
No. of Lifts: 10 (7 chairlifts, 3 surface lift) |
No. of trails: 142 |
Trail proportions: |
43 (30%) Beginner (Green) |
57 (40%) Intermediate (Blue) |
43 (30%) Advanced (Black Diamond)/Expert (Dbl Black Diamond) |
No. of parks: 1 |
Night Riding: Yes |
Free-riding
Love powder? Who doesn’t. Well it looks like Powder loves Fernie! Apparently Fernie gets the highest annual snowfall of all the mountains in the Canadian Rockies (up to 11m [37ft].
There are plenty of trails to choose from, plus ample backcountry (off-piste) and tree runs.
Add to that all the bowls, chutes, crowdlessness & endless powder and it all adds up to some free-riding paradise.
Click here for more details on Fernies free-riding
The Terrain Parks
There is 1 park but fairly limited by the sounds of it. If you’re going to Fernie and wanting to ride freestyle you are probably better off finding natural hits on the mountain.
If you have the choice I would make the effort to get to Whistler-Blackcomb or Big White to satisfy your free-style needs – or if you are in Vancouver check out the local mountains Mt Seymour or Cypress which both have some decent parks too.
Night Riding
There is some limited night riding which goes nightly between Dec 26 and Jan3 and then every weekend from Jan 10 and every night between Feb 14 and 21.
Night riding during these times runs from 4pm to 9pm.
How to Get There
Flying:
Fernie is located around 3.5 hours drive (depending on traffic) from Calgary International Airport, the closest large airport nearby.
There is also an Airport at Cranbrook, B.C. – around a 1 hr 15 minute drive with a more limited range of flights – and more expensive ones I imagine!
The other option is to land on the US side of the boarder in either Kalispell, Montana (2 hours 15 minutes drive away) or Spokane, Washington (4 hrs 40 minutes drive). I have no idea about times for border crossings so this may need to be factored into timings as well.
Driving:
Calgary International Airport – 3hrs 35 minutes
Cranbrook (Canadian Rockies International Airport) – 1 hr 15 minutes
Kalispell, Montana – 2 hrs 15 minutes
Spokane, Washington – 4 hrs 45 minutes
Where to Stay?
Check out my separate post on Fernie Accommodation for info on where to stay.
Usual opening date
Fernie pretty uniformly opens in the first weekend of December each year.
Past 5 years opening dates:
2010/2011 Season: December 4, 2010
2011/2012 Season: December 2, 2011
2012/2013 Season: December 1, 2012
2013/2014 Season: December 1, 2013
2014/2015 Season: December 5, 2014
Usual closing date
And closes pretty uniformly in the middle weekend of April.
Past 5 years closing dates:
2010/2011 Season: April 16, 2011
2011/2012 Season: April 17, 2012
2012/2013 Season: April 14, 2013
2013/2014 Season: April 23, 2014
2014/2015 Season:
Opening Hours
The lifts run from 9am to 4pm.
See the night riding section above for night riding times of the season.
Have you Ridden Fernie Resort?
Let us know your experience of Fernie in the comments below. Other comments, questions etc, as always, are welcome too.
Photo credit
By John Johnston (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Ryan says
The break down on this hill is perfect. You have given all of the information some one would think about and then more! This is an excellent hill to ride for all levels of experience! We don’t call it Powder Valley for nothen… you are almost certain to get a fresh pow day almost any day of the week!
Good job on the site!
-Ryan
Nate says
Hey Ryan – thanks for stopping by and great to hear your thoughts on Fernie. Ahhh the very mention of fresh powder makes me long for it…. still a slow winter here in Vancouver.
John says
Great info on Fernie. I’ve been looking into ski vacations in Canada and you really made me want to check this place out. I probably can’t afford to chopper in but how cool would that be? Thanks for letting me know about Fernie!
Nate says
Thanks John. The chopper in would be awesome! Though I think I’d rather use that money to spend longer on the mountain.
Kendrick says
That looks like a cool place to snowboard and I mean literally lol. I would really consider doing this if I get a chance to like the sport. Thanks for the information. 🙂
Nate says
Hey Kendrick – Yeah they get a lot of snow so I don’t imagine it’s warm most of the time. A small price to pay for all that snow! Like they say – there’s not such thing as bad weather – just bad clothes 🙂
Michelle says
This is definitely a large resort with so much opportunity! Would love to get there and do some night riding. Maybe one of these days my family can make it to Fernie Alpine Resort, it would be a fantastic vacation. Great information!
Nate says
Hey Michelle – yeah sounds awesome allright – with the most snow in the Canadian rockies you’d have a pretty good chance of getting a powder day too. Definitely a vacation on my list also.