When I was younger and my knees worked, Winter was never long enough. Weeks after the lifts closed I traveled to ski Tuckerman’s Ravine on New Hampshire’s 6800 ft Mt Washington and the Gaspe’s Mt Albert in the Chic Choc Range.  Later in life while living on the Coast I skied every month of the year, because I loved skiing.
These days with my turns limited and my desire to ski equally matched I frequently find myself South on beaches surfing the break and sucking compressed air in the blue depths of the ocean.

This year was no different and a last minute trip to Hautulco Mexico was great break for my knees and my kids loved the marine life and the beaches.

On my return a couple of top to bottom powder runs in Fishbowl and a run off Polar Peak  have stirred my appreciation of skiing!

The Griz is extremely happy with this years celebration in his honour, Griz Days, being correctly focused on Snow. And to communicate his pleasure with the new tag line”A Celebration Of Snow”, the Griz has blessed the community with the best powder of the season.

Lets make sure the Griz is happy with our participation by attending as many festivities as possible.

Festival Events Schedule
Friday March 6
6:30 pm Parade Downtown, starts at 6:30 p.m. sharp
7:30 pm Skating Party on outdoor rink at the Aquatic Centre
7:00 pm Texas Hold’em at the Legion, $20. advance tickets required
7 – 9 pm Late Swim at the Aquatic Centre
Saturday March 7
8:30 am Pancake Breakfast at community centre
All Day Extreme Griz competition at various pubs/hotels
10 am - 4 pm Craft Fair at Community Centre
10 am Bridge Tournament @ Senior’s Centre - $18. Lunch included
11 am Baby Griz competition at Community Centre
NOON Snowmobile Drag Races behind the Stanford Inn – $5. per.
NOON Scavenger Hunt around community – starts at the Fernie Museum
NOON Men’s Street Hockey Tournament at Park Place Lodge
NOON Youth Hockey Tournament at the Aquatic Centre
NOON Snow Sculpture Challenge at the Aquatic Centre
2:30 -4:30 Griz Days Pool Party @ Aquatic Centre - Reg. admission
4 pm Arm Wrestling Competition at The Fernie Hotel (men & women)
6 pm Ukrainian Supper @ Ferine Family Centre Adults: $12, 6-12 yrs: $6, under 6 Free
6 pm Pig Roast at The Fernie Hotel $10.
7 pm Griz Days IDOL at the Fernie Legion (contact: rosanna1@shaw.ca)
8 pm Crowning of the Extreme Griz – Park Place Pub – music by the Todd Band
8 pm Snow Ball @ Community Centre (semi-formal, live bands & DJ’s) $25. adv. tickets
Sunday March 8
12:30 Dummy Downhill at FAR
1:30 pm Euchre Tournament at The Fernie Hotel – teams of 2

The first and most obvious thing that came to mind today as I was cruising around Fernie was that it seemed sort of like skiing at whistler, great at the top, albeit a little heavy, but as we neared the lower mountain the snow warmed up to the consistency of wet cement.

We arrived just in time for the bear / boomerang to open around 9:30 am and were up on the top for first(ish) tracks through the classic inner triangle runs (Bear, Boomerang, Cedar Ridge and everything in between). The 20 cm rule was clearly in effect today as the mountain was quite full for a mid week day, and the triangle runs were quickly skied out.

As the day wore on a lot more white fluffy stuff fell, and we made our way over to white pass just in time to catch a run on mitchy’s and hop on about the 20th chair up. We were greeted with, near powder, heavy but still a lot of fun to play in, Currie was closed but surprise trees were open and we were able to catch some good tracks in there before the masses devoured the whole hill.

Finally we finished the day off with a big hike up the siberia / mongolia ridge and found some great first tracks. On my way out I encountered a pretty good slide, showing just how unstable some parts of the mountain are, but it was good to note that they were appropriately fenced off.

All in all a great day and the forecast for the next few days is looking great!

report by joe gaudet