Spring Skiing

Spring is in the air, which is always a welcome feeling. The days are longer, you can feel the warmth of the sun as it appears more often, and best of all, we get spring skiing!

The mountain environment starts to change hour by hour this time of year, and guests begin to search out their favourite conditions. Firm groomers first thing in the morning, or softer spring snow later in the day. There are so many choices which is such an amazing part of our resort with its five bowls, varying aspects and numerous runs.

At the snow school, we are busy offering camps for community kids, which run during spring break. This includes participants from Elkford to Jaffray as well as kids vacationing in Fernie.

During the regular operating season, we offer No School Ride Days (NSRD) on Fridays and Mondays when school is out, so that our local community kids can choose to spend their day at the hill. It is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of having a ski resort right in your backyard, and the program is priced so that anyone can participate. We package in a lift pass and rentals for those who need the add ons and also offer a supervised lunch, so parents can drop off the kids for the whole day.

One of our other community focused programs is our “Get on The Snow” program, which is a three-day lift /lesson/rental package. When I was designing this program, I was thinking about the many locals who perhaps never get a chance to ski at the resort and wanted to offer an affordable, flexible program that would give everyone the opportunity to participate. 

With this program, participants choose whichever three days they want, based on their work schedule, and progress at their own speed.

I have mentioned in other columns the multi-week programs that run 6 or 12 weeks through the season. These programs are well attended by many from Fernie, Sparwood, Elkford, Elko and Jaffrays. The local Emily Brydon Youth Foundation is a huge supporter of participants in our programs and helps individuals with financial barriers to participate.  

Many of us in the Fernie Snow School have been part of our family for more than two decades. Of course, every year we are blessed with many new pros who come and join us, which creates an ever-changing, vibrant community of people sharing what we love to do. During the off-season, those who live here get to enjoy all this time of year has to offer including the long summer days, floating on the river, Wapiti Music Festival, Annual Show and Shine, Demo Derby, mountain biking, hiking, fly fishing…. and just the vibrancy of the community. 

Photo by Nick Nault