Make your own Event
Make your own event this Holiday Season with Five Fernie essentials:
Every town holds special gems. Sometimes they hide around corners and in alleys. Sometimes they lie in plain sight, but unrecognized. We’ve picked five essential experiences for Fernie.
Take in Historic Downtown
Experience the heart of Fernie. The Historic Downtown offers a glimpse into the early boom years. British Columbia Magazine just featured the above photo of the Historic Downtown on their November cover.
Before walking the streets drop into The Fernie and District Historical Society Museum on the corner of Victoria Ave and 4th Street for all your information requirements. Be sure to pick up a copy of their Heritage Walking Tour booklet.
Start anywhere, but don’t miss the Edwardian chateau style Fernie Court House at 401 Howland Avenue. The Library on the corner of Pellatt Avenue and Cox Street offers a classic example of the predominate downtown architecture.
Continue strolling down Victoria Ave and grab a hot capuccino from a downtown café, or drop into one of the fine restaurants settled in the historic district. A multitude of choices pop up in every block.
Downtown Comes Alive
While walking Historic Downtown looking at the buildings and shops fills your day, the nights in Downtown are a completely different animal. The buildings come alive with dining, imbibing, and dancing. If one hotspot doesn’t suit you, another down the street will.
Fernie winters are known for great music. Bands traveling through BC often take a couple extra days to swing through Fernie, mixing their evening performances with memorable days on the hill. Check out the posters. The mix runs from funk, to hard rock, to bluegrass.
For a selection of Restaurants, Pubs and Nightlife see the Dining and Services section in the Fernie Guide.
Hockey with Heart.
Winter in Canada means one thing: hockey. This is real hockey, hockey for the love of the sport, not for a big contract. Fernie’s Ghostriders play in the Kootenay International Hockey League. These kids play their hearts out, hoping for a chance down the line somewhere, or at least a good time playing hockey until then.
Hockey is like Downhill racing and NASCAR. Played well, players finesse the edge of disaster courting a violent crash. As with DH and NASCAR, the finesse and crashes hold equal value.
See the Fernie Guide Calendar of Events for game times.
Prowling Cats Around Fernie
Fernie lies at the heart of the Powder Highway with easy access to some of the best snow cat skiing in Canada. With Island Lake Lodge minutes from town, Powder Cowboy and Fernie Wilderness Adventures close by and another half dozen operations within three hours, it’s powder cat heaven.
When compared to heli-skiing, cat skiing offers powder skiers a great value and more than enough vertical to burn your legs. Cats have the advantage of being able to drop their clients directly at the top of a run and pick them up right at the bottom. And on those days when it’s dumping, grounding the helicopters, the cats continue to pull laps. From a cat, you ski the terrain all day, every day.
Take a Hike, Ski, or Sled
Fernie folks are active. They alpine ski, snowboard, cross-country ski, snowshoe, hike, climb, run, snowmobile and a host of other outdoor sports. A great part of the joy of living in Fernie comes from the easy accessibility of everything outdoors. Look around, it’s all right here. While often the focus is on recreating in the alpine, Fernie offers immediate in-town access as well. A network of trails stitches together the neighborhoods of Fernie and connects us with the mountain parks surrounding the town.
Trails run along both sides of the Elk River, through and around town and up and down all of the surrounding mountains. For more information on how to get out there and play read '40 Things To Do' in the Fernie Guide or view the 2007 Winter Fernie Map for trail locations.
