Why I chose grit over glitz for my B.C. ski trip | Canada Voices

On powder mornings in Fernie, B.C., skiers are often woken by a series of echoing booms at first light. The big bangs portend a snow-pocalypse: It’s the avalanche control team at Fernie Alpine Resort setting off charges high on the mountain to move potentially dangerous stockpiles of snow before the resort opens for the day.

But all I hear this winter dawn is the rumble of a snowcat grooming the run outside my room at Lizard Creek Lodge. After weeks of regular storms, Fernie is enjoying a run of sunny days that mean I’ll be flying down manicured slopes very soon and enjoying views of the snow-capped peaks of the Lizard Range.

As far as I’m concerned, powder or hard pack snow, it’s good to be back at Fernie.

Revelling in the snow-blessed slopes of Nagano, Japan

When my husband and I lived in Calgary – a 3½ hour drive from Fernie, which is located in southeastern B.C. – we were loyal “Califernians,” the nickname for those who crossed provincial lines to ski Fernie’s deep snow, enjoy its lack of lift lines and find better value than what we’d encounter at Banff resorts. Fernie is where our children learned to ski and where I earned my powder legs.

After moving to Kelowna in the B.C. interior nine years ago, I tried nearby resorts such as Big White and SilverStar, but none could replace Fernie’s big mountain terrain. I also missed its laid back small-town vibe, and main street packed with heritage brick buildings built during its mining heyday. Recently, my husband, Blake, and I jumped at the chance to return and see what had changed in the intervening decade.

“It’s exactly the same!” I exclaim to Blake as we click into our skis. Beyond a new “Legendary Fernie” sign greeting guests and a food truck selling candy, it hasn’t changed. It feels like travelling back in time, and it helps that I’m still sporting the exact same ski outfit.

I’m honestly relieved. Part of Fernie’s appeal is its old-school elements: a crowded day lodge that smells like wet fleece, and a few old, slow chairlifts that force you to slow down and appreciate the lower mountain’s ancient cedar forest between runs. Like many Gen-Xers feeling their age, I’m hoping for a nostalgia trip and Fernie delivers.

We spend the day cruising down groomed runs in four of Fernie’s five wide bowls, playing a game of “Spot the Difference“ to see if we can find 10 new things.

From Cedar Bowl – where a retro T-bar still hauls us up – we work our way south across the resort and the entire day feels like a ski down memory lane. I carve gleeful turns, pausing to catch my breath and admiring the Elk Valley below. I remember my son’s first tentative turns on the bunny hill, and the pride I felt when my daughter tackled the steep runs on the resort’s “experts only” Polar Peak for the first time.

But the best part is being here with my original ski partner. Blake and I romanced the snow together in Fernie years before our kids were born. Now that we’re almost empty nesters, it’s a joy to test out our return to a twosome in a familiar place we love.

By the time we stop for lunch I’ve counted only a handful of subtle changes, most notably a new Fernie Skiing Heritage Wall of Fame inside Cornerstone Lodge, a hotel in the resort village. There, framed photos honour local legends such as resort pioneer Heiko Socher and the mythical Griz, Fernie’s mascot, who purportedly shoots a musket into the clouds to make it snow (every March, a festival pays tribute to the Griz).

Ski patroller Kevin Giffin joins us for lunch at a slopeside cafe. He’s lived in town for more than 25 years and chalks up Fernie’s enduring popularity to the friendly community and its throwback vibe.

“It’s this world-renowned resort that stays the same,” he says. “We have this history of having good snow and that’s what brings people here, but what makes it Fernie are the characters who have stayed for decades. People feel like they’re being welcomed home when they visit. When you add more bells and whistles, you lose that.”

It feels like a homecoming off the slopes, too. On this visit, we start après early at the legendary Griz Bar, where “naked table sliding” still takes place on occasion, according to long-time server Cheryl Paulson. New renovations have opened up the space and modernized the washrooms, but the same racy photos of outdoor enthusiasts skiing and partying decorate the walls.

We linger over pints of hazy IPA from Fernie Brewing (an upgrade from the Kokanee of yore) and giggle that we could actually drink all afternoon, strip down and prove Paulson right.

In town, the sushi rolls at Yamagoya are as delicious as ever. The Fernie Arts Co-op is still run by local artists such as Karin Wardle, whose warm welcome and colourful giclée canvases of Fernie in winter reflect the place that’s loomed so large in my memory.

The town’s population has risen 17 per cent since 2016, to more than 6,000 residents. There’s a new gas station and distillery, more condos and a day spa downtown that would fit right in at any chic resort. But the growth and changes feel organic.

We end our stay a few days later much as it began – under a cobalt sky gliding on snow that sparkles in the sun. This time, however, we’re cross-country skiing at Elk Valley Nordic Centre in Mt. Fernie Provincial Park, located between Fernie’s downtown and the ski resort. The conditions are perfect for an hour-long route with views of the peaks crowning the ski hill in the distance.

A decade ago, I never would have traded vertical thrills for a meditative flatland ski, but my hips and back appreciate the undulating trails. I wonder if the biggest change in the past 10 years isn’t Fernie, it’s me.

If you go

Fernie is about a 3½-hour drive southwest of the Calgary International Airport (YYC), or a one-hour drive east of the Cranbrook, B.C., airport (YXC). Rent a car, or book a shuttle from either airport to reach Fernie. Once in town, the Fernie Stoke Shuttle transports skiers ($5 a person, one way) from downtown hotels to the ski hill on a regular loop.

Fernie Alpine Resort is a partner resort on the Epic Pass, daily lift tickets are $185 for adults with advance purchase discounts found at skifernie.com/tickets.

The writer was a guest of Kootenay Rockies Tourism, Tourism Fernie and Fernie Alpine Resort. They did not review or approve the story before publication.