Fernie or Kicking Horse?

[muck]

I haven't been for a few years but I love Fernie.
Fernie was my favorite stop on the 6 mountain snowboard trip me and some buds did a few years back.

[mike31154]

I've been to Fernie once and Kicking Horse several times. Both are excellent particularly if you haven't had the taste of a larger chunk of vertical in some time. Being in Vernon I'm a bit spoiled with Silver Star almost in my front yard, so not much need for me to travel too far, but once in a while, a change of pace is in order. While it's not huge in comparison with vertical to some of the larger resorts, I get plenty of mileage on excellent snow due to non existent lineups during the week. Even weekends are not that busy once the holidays are over.

Anyhow, back to the bigger Kahunas. I'm a bit biased to Kicking Horse since they offer a discount to Silver Star season's pass holders whereas Fernie does not. Both resorts could do with some lift upgrades since they're charging close to the same price for lift tickets as the likes of Whistler Blackcomb! It's nice to have the 'little' mountain feel of non detachable, low speed chair lifts, but don't be charging ticket prices of areas running predominantly high speed lifts. At least Kicking horse has a modern high speed gondola to get you to the summit.

Back to the sunny Okanagan. Silver Star and Big White are both owned by the same Aussie family, the Schumann's, so I have the choice of upgrading my season's pass to dual mountain for an extra $90 or so. I chose to move to Vernon in 2004 after I discovered Silver Star. I absolutely love the terrain and the snow pack has been very reliable over the years. Other choices in the Okanagan are Sun Peaks to the north outside Kamloops, Apex near Penticton, and a little gem called Mount Baldy not far from Oliver. If you're looking for the small mountain friendly feel, with some great terrain, Baldy is a little secret for sure and the lift ticket price is a pleasant surprise. They're closed Tues & Wed for most of the season so they have what's called Big Powder Thursday. If you catch the right Thursday it's almost like a great day in the backcountry.

Finally, if you're looking for a longer trip, and it's really only an hour or so farther west of Kicking Horse, you owe it to yourself to check out Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Huge expansion several years ago and now boasts the longest vertical in North America. The area gets one of the most reliable snow packs in the interior. Only near the valley bottom, you can sometimes get a little rain to dampen the enthusiasm.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort - Revelsoak, due to frequent rain at relatively low elevation of the original resort, no longer an apt descriptor at it's higher elevations
Sun Peaks - three mountains to explore and senator Nancy Greene is your host
Silver Star - my hill and I love it
Big White - sometimes referred to as Big Whiteout due to foggy conditions, hard to beat on a sunny day though
Apex - Scrapex, sometimes the snow pack is iffy at the top
Mount Baldy - like I mentioned, a little hidden gem on the right Thursday, or any other day it's open for that matter

There's another small area just south of Kelowna (Westbank) called Crystal Mountain. Never been there so can't provide any advice. Kamloops also has another smaller area called Harper Mountain I know nothing about.

Have fun in Fernie, you'll be blown away by the terrain and the surrounding peaks. If they'd just upgrade a couple of the lifts, or maybe I'm out of touch and they already have since I visited a couple of years ago.

[Triggz]

WOW! Thanks for all the great info Mike I really do appreciate it. The main reason for myself moving to Calgary was to enjoy the mountains and get in as much quality riding as I could in the winter. That and I am a die hard Stampeders fan ... Went to every home game this year it was great!

I was actually talking to someone from Fernie today at work. He said there was lots of good snow close to the top but the bottom of the mountain is a little rough. Keeping my fingers crossed for some fresh powder while I am there!

[mike31154]

Not a problem and I'm sure you'll have great conditions at Fernie. My avatar should give some indication of how I spend a lot of my time in the winter months. If you ever decide to check out the hills in the Okanagan, I'll be happy to show you around Silver Star. You could probably get a reasonably priced flight from Calgary to Kelowna and save yourself the driving hassles over the mountain passes, not to mention a lot of travel time.

Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure. They're from several years ago, but it's all I have handy online at the moment.

At the top of a run called 'Where's Bob' at Silver Star



The trees are loaded with champagne powder



Same idea at Big White



... and Mt. Baldy. Note the absence of any other powder hounds.

[Triggz]

Fernie was a good call! Here are a couple pics I took at the top of the Siberia bowl.