Just got back from a weekend in Fernie. No real fresh snow, but the weather was warmer than it has been, and the snow was pretty good. On Saturday, it was pretty windy, which was not so great on the chair or out in the open, but was awesome in the trees, where the snow would sift and settle into the tracks and dips. The morning was especially great, riding with my brother and his friends-- great, but exhausting. Little bro really knows the hill, and the places where the snow is good, and I almost had a tough time keeping up! The afternoon, I found an excuse to go from black and double-blacks to ride more of the open spaces, and the wind was vicious, stinging, and made it really hard to see where you were going, because there was a thin, mist-like layer of snow blowing across the ground, plus the light was flat.
Sunday was even warmer (hovering around 0 celsius), which was nice, but the light was for the most part still pretty flat, and the snow was much heavier, though not quite slushy. In the afternoon, the clouds really moved in up top, and it was like being in a big fog bank-- actually, the clouds were just so low! Once again, the best riding was in the trees.
Looking forward to going back in two weeks!
Photos are: brother and friend at the base on Sunday morning (top), most of the crew, somewhere under the Bear chair, lower Arrow maybe? (middle) and me at the top of Timber chair, next to the Lost Boys Cafe on Sunday afternoon.
