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What a season we had Fernie. We had over 10 metres of snow! It was unreal, with so many powder days and heaps of them over 30cm. One week in early February everyday was a powder day with one of them being 44cm…out of control! Mind you on that same day it was pretty cold, nearly -40 C with wind chill. Though when there is that much powder I don’t think anything would have kept us away! We did call it quits early when the end of Karl’s nose turned white from frostbite though. Luckily by the time he got down to the day lodge it had turned back to normal. All up Emma did 51 days of riding and Karl did 60 days.
We both improved a lot in the time. Emma did her first Double Black Diamond run which whilst she was ultra nervous made it and loved it. Karl in the end was flying down and popping 360s. Anyway we could go on and on about but won’t bore you with all the stories (for example being stuck up to your chest in powder, but long story!). We did find ourselves admitting when you are in the
boundaries of the Fernie Alpine Resort and riding through powder up to mid-thigh, why would you need to go pay exorbitant dollars to go backcountry?
We have also headed down to the States a couple of times, as when living in Fernie we were less than an hour from the border so headed down to Montana and went boarding at Big Mountain in Whitefish. It was great to get away for a couple of nights and the mountain was so fun. It was interesting to compare the two actually as it made us realize how steep Fernie must be compared with other mountains, as black runs there were not like black runs we had become accustomed to, they were actually pretty easy.
Other than snowboarding we haven’t been up to too much else. The girls and I went snow-shoeing at a place called Island Lake Lodge in March. We got to have a 30 minute CAT ride up to the resort, a couple of hours of snow-shoeing followed by a delicious lunch and dessert.
The snow did slow down for a few weeks towards the end of the season and we had some sunshine and
spring like conditions, which was nice for a change. Karl towards the end of the season bought a new board on sale so he had heaps of fun breaking it in. The season ended on the 6th of April which was pretty sad, can’t believe how quickly it went. It was still snowing after the mountain closed! Overall we had a blast, met some great friends and feel lucky to have had such a great experience.
As most of you know, Emma went back to Australia for a few weeks for her Grandfather’s funeral. She didn’t think she would be able to make it back in time so it was an honour to be involved. It was great to catch up with family and friends in that time also. Her flight back was an interesting one (sitting next to loud mouthed alcoholics for 12 hours who did not shut up the whole time, being harassed by customs in LA when I was not even in the wrong and as a result coming close to missing her connecting flight, and her luggage being lost AGAIN) but she made it back safe and sound.
After her return Karl had finished
up work and Fernie, which was pretty deserted and feeling like a bit of a ghost town, so we decided to move on. We spend our last weekend with our good friends Emma and Brent and went across the border to Eureka for a local Rodeo. It was a pretty small one, a ‘rough-stock rodeo’ so not as entertaining as the Stampede but we all had a lot of fun and were stoked with the cheap alcohol (pre-mix Bacardi cans $1.50 and Beer $2 or $2.50!!!) so decided to make a night of it and hit the local bar. It was a fun night mixing it up with the local cowboys/girls.
We drove from Fernie to Victoria on Vancouver Island over a couple of days. The little car made it; it still had winter tires on it so it sounded as if we were about to take off, but overall made for a pretty smooth journey! Along the way we encountered more snow and got to see some wildlife such as a fox, long-horned sheep, and loads of deer. We loved it in Victoria when we came here to start our cycling expedition so decided to give it a
go for a couple of months or so to save some money for more travels, ideally South America. For the first two weeks we stayed at the backpackers and then we lined up share accommodation in James Bay (funky area near downtown) from mid May to July. Em has got some admin work for the government which is keeping her pretty busy. Karl is doing some landscaping. We are both pretty stoked to be near the ocean, Karl in particular as Em had a taste when she went back to oz. Whilst he loved being in the mountains not seeing the ocean for 7 months was pretty hard and he was having withdrawal symptoms!!
We had an exciting encounter with a black bear last weekend at Port Renfrew (couple hours drive on the west coast of the Island). After walking down the track to Botanical Beach we were heading back when we were told by a family that there was a black bear in the bushes. We couldn't see it at first but then saw the bushes moving and were suprised to see the bear munching away and looking straight at us. He knew we were there as we
all made lots of noise but he wasn't too worried by us so kept munching away and we stood in awe. He was only about 10 feet away from us so it was very surreal. So finally.....we can say we have seen a bear!!
So till next time, hopefully keep you guys more up to date now that we’re not shoveling lots of snow each and every day. Take care to all.
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Chris
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Sooooo when are you coming back home?????????????