The last month has rapidly disappeared in a haze of snowboarding and socialising and suddenly the end of the season is only three weeks away. It's hard to know where all the time has gone...but then looking back through our photos it's clear that most of it has been spent doing silly things in the great outdoors. We're so lucky to be living in this beautiful mountain town.
At the beginning of March we took part in the first offical 29 feet deep swop day: all of the snowboarders in our house and at our sister house in Fernie threw down their boards, stepped into some unwieldy boots and strapped on a pair of skis for the day. Needless to say, there were a fair few stacks! By the end of the day we were straight-lining it down black runs and throwing ourselves off jumps with abandon - definately a good time had by all!
Local folklore holds that the 'legendary' powder of Fernie is provided by the Griz, a kind of yeti figure who lives in the mountains. The story goes that.... "whilst hiking in the resort, a group of ski-tourers spotted a man who had shoulders six feet wide and carried an enormous musket eight feet long! The bulk of this man was made to look even more awesome by the bristly grizzly coat he wore. A bear hat was pulled down shadowing his eyes. As the skiers watched, he stood shooting that giant musket into the clouds and still more snow fell from the clouds. This, of course, delighted the skiers who loved that special brand of powder snow".
In honour of the Griz and his snow-making abilities a week long festival is held in Fernie in March, and as January and February were so dry snow-wise we were keen to get involved with the festivities and show him some respect! Susie was even lucky enough to meet the man himself. Anyhow, it seemed to do the trick as we have had a few powder days since.
On March 7th Susie celebrated her 31st birthday in sophisticated style (at least at the beginning of the night) with cocktails and dancin'. Unfortunately, she committed one too many crimes against sobriety and ended up in the Griz Jail...one of these days older will start to equal wiser.
Luckily our friends Carmen and Georgie arrived the following week to keep us on the straight and narrow. We had loads of fun on the snow, and made sure we took them to as many Fernie eating establishments as possible in the evenings. A snowboarding novice at the start of the holiday, Carmen is now a signed-up convert to the way of the board. We still reckon she'd make a great luger in that outfit though!! We are also pleased to report that Georgie made it through the week in one piece, and didn't get stuck upside down in a tree even once.
Spring is definately in the air now, despite the occasional snow flurries. It's been 15 degrees at times, so we're all getting goggle tans and working on our slush surfing technique. The upside is that we were able to have the first BBQ of the year this week, complete with obligatory burnt sausages and scrappy football match for afters. Seeing as the pistes are starting to deteriorate we've now moved on to honing our jumps...here's how it should be done, pics of us will follow when we finally nail a good one!
Finally, there were some interesting outfits to be seen on the piste yesterday in honour of St Patrick's Day. We loved these likely looking characters!
Finally, there were some interesting outfits to be seen on the piste yesterday in honour of St Patrick's Day. We loved these likely looking characters!
Unfortunately the local ice hockey team (the Fernie Ghostriders) didn't have the luck of the Irish on their side as they were knocked out of the league play-offs yesterday evening. It's a real shame as the fixtures had become a key feature of our social life here. They put in a valiant effort though, and we especially liked the fact that most of the crowd chants were led by a six year old girl. They start 'em young round here! After that they was nothing for it but to drown our sorrows in some jugs of green lager at the local pub, imaginatively called The Pub. These Canadians like to say it how it is.
Our priority now is to get ourselves a vehicle that will make it across Canada and through the States. Given that most of the vans in Fernie were made before 1982 and have collided with at least one deer at some point this is no mean feat. We'll keep you posted on it and our other adventures....
Hope you are all well, keep in touch.
Susie and Phil xxx
