#ferniefactor

The Fernie Factor

This winter I have the opportunity to stay in British-Columbia for 3 months. Fernie, our home base, is one of the world’s snowiest ski resorts. And it is not just the amount, it is also the quality of the white gold which makes me feel that I’ ve done the right thing. Which also makes my stay here, 8′000 Km away from where I usually ski, so unforgettable, are the people of this ski town. I live in a 3x3 meter room of an old hotel which is a classic ski bum home to 28 people. There are holes in the walls and broken windows who are fixed with tape. Our kitchen turns to a dance floor sometimes with more than 40 people draining their Kokanee beer cans. Most of the guys I live with are working on the ski hill. There is a french guy scanning lift tickets (right, that is a job here), Australians who operate the chair lifts and Brits who learn toddlers from Calgary how to ski. We also have a few guys who work up in the far North of British Columbia on the oil rigs. 20 days on, 10 days off. Temperatures can drop down to -50 degrees Celsius there. But the pay check is really good I was told. On their days off they do what is best in Fernie: Skiing some deep powder. And draining some more Kokanee Beer cans at night.

The kitchen. Where french lawyer (right) and Canadian oil rig worker (left) meet. It is not a cliché, that canadians are a really friendly and helpful folk. I noticed that the first time at the beginning of my trip, where a women guided us to the train station when we where completly lost in Calgary with all our ski luggage. But recently I was more than amazed once again. My car did no turn back on after I parked it at the side of the street in Fernie down town. I told my dad – who was here with my mum for a visit – that I was going to get a starter cable and a friend back in our place. When I came back there was already a canadian guy with his equipment trying to fix my car. It took him 20 minutes till it was running somehow without the broken screw who connects the battery with the enginge (well, it is a 1994 GMC...). He refused to take the 10 dollar I wanted to give him for helping us so much. It is not even the end of the story: I drove to Canadian Tire. hoping to get a new screw for my 24 years old truck and a mechanic to help us. The guy sold me the screw for 5 dollar and told me: “You do not need a mechanic.” He lend me some equipment and so I repaired my truck together with my dad on the parking lot of canadian tire. In Switzerland I would paid easily 100 bugs.

Truck, Dad, Ellen, Mum and myself in Fernie downtown.

The holy place of full send Skiing here in Canada and the other resorts I have been is completly different to the Alps. Most of the runs are not groomed. The ski resorts do own some snow cats but much less than a comperable place in Switzerland. Propably this is a reason, why in my opinion the average level of riding is higher than back home. I am not talking about all the semi-professional ski bums who send massive cliifs and do backflips everywhere, I am talking about 55 years old Dad’s who charging it hard down bumpy runs. And 9 years old kids jumping off of everything. The huge amount of snow and a world class ski patrol, making Fernie the holy place of full send. The current snow base is 275cm and it just keeps getting better. Talking about ski patrol: As it is usual in North America, they are not just providing safety on the groomed slopes but also on all the so called inbound terrain we would call “off piste”. Some of the chutes are more than 40 degrees steep. There are fix ropes and ladders to help people to get there.

A double black diamon run in Fernie called “pocket corner”. The ski patrol installed a fix rope and put some old tires in the snow so you have grip will sliding down.

The desk can wait Skiing culture seems to be more different compared to Europe than I thought: On the down side there is now Aprés-Ski. This is mainly because of the strict alcohol rules in British Columbia. You are not allowed to drink your beer outside. But the stoke on the hill is pretty rad: People cheer from the chair lift if someone is going for that cliff or that drop. People cheer actually for every face shot they see. You do not hear complains about how bad the visibility is that day or that ice crust after the rain the day before. If it rains – and yes it does in Fernie – just get a free rain poncho or wear a trash bag and keep on riding. And on these really good days, half of the city takes off from work in the morning and gets a few laps in before heading back to the office. And there are many good days in Fernie, “The desk can wait”, told me a mid-age accountant the other day on the chair with a grin on his snow covered face.

“The desk can wait.” Mixed feelings 2 out of 3 month are already over here in B.C. I have mixed feelings to go back home. As I love the challenging skiing on steep terrain here but also miss the glacier runs back home. I made some videos – specially from our roadtrip on the powder highway to Revelstoke, Nelson and Golden. But I do not feel like it is the time to edit it together to a final edit. I prefer to wait till summer to made a season mixtape as I usually do.