January 23, 2006
Snowfall
24 Hour: 0cm (0in)
48 Hour: 0cm (0in)
7 Day: 26cm (10in)
Snow Pack: 301cm (119in)
Text by Krista Turcasso
Photo by John Paonne
Weekend Fun
The town of Fernie is surreal Friday night. Flakes of snow illuminate the skies and cover trees, vehicles, buildings and people. The beauty of this effect and the reality of skiing the next day have everyone in bed early with dreams of 37 cm of powder.
Cars line the road and fill the parking lots at Fernie Alpine Resort early Saturday morning. There are first tracks to be had over the vast mountain and we decide our strategy. Ski the obvious and leave the traversing for late morning or early afternoon when the main runs have been skied out. We hold out for as long as we can, but by 10:30am we are already making the long and hard lower traverse across Cedar Bowl to the much anticipated runs in Snake Ridge and Fish Bowl. 20 minutes of up hill traversing is worth the lung burn. Papas Run and Red Tree are unbelievably bountiful with deep powder and first tracks. Blinded by face shots we giddily make our way down and ignore the burn in our thighs. As we head back to the Triple Chair with bright smiles we nod to one another and agree “one more time.”
At noon we take advantage of “lunch hour” and decide to cross Lizard Bowl towards Sky Dive. Once again there are just a few tracks in the steep terrain and we decide on some deserted and narrow chutes. At this point we hear that Currie Bowl is close to being opened. We head to the Timber Chair and on our way up notice the skiers lining the ridge….sudden flashbacks of a Chinese Downhill I once witnessed fill my mind. Needless to say we decide on Siberia Bowl.
The stash in Siberia Ridge is so amazing we decide to ski it for the remainder of the afternoon. The snow is so unexpectedly deep that our adrenaline takes over to near stupidity. Suddenly the steep committing lines we’ve been eyeing up for years look inviting. I watch below as my friends come down the most steep and narrow of the bunch, and anxiously witness our friend Matt launching himself off a 25-foot cliff. I cheer as he flies through the air and laugh as he disappears in a huge puff of snow. His skis also disappear and the next thirty minutes of waiting while he wades through powder are both painful and humorous…. frankly I’m thankful for the break and know we have reached the end of our adventure. We congregate and make our way to the base for a latte and a lot of water at Slopeside. No words are spoken as we sit and think about which lines of the day were our best.
|
