|
| Catboarding - Fernie, BC, Canada
After a lack of fresh snow, I decided to book a day in a snow-cat as
it was my buddy Mark's birthday and figured it'd be a nice present. We
rolled up to the offices of Fernie Wilderness Adventures on the main street
of downtown at just before 07:30. At this stage my buddy thought we were
going hiking for the day, so had a suprise in store. More and more people
turned up, and soon the guides were leading a convoy of cars into the woods
and up to their lodge.
Three big yellow snow-cats stood outside the lodge, and still it hadn't
quite dawned on Mark, although he was getting suspicious. We went into the
lodge to sign waiver forms and get some coffee meet the other people in our
cat. After a roll call and briefing, the cats were loaded up and we were off.
By this time, Mark had pretty much sussed what was going on.
|
John checks out the graphics on my board as it sits
patiently for the day to begin.
|
Mark enjoys the powder run so much he films it.
|
Our cat was made up of 4 boarders, myself, Mark and John plus a
typical jovial Aussie, with the rest of the group being Canadian skiers
from various places but mostly Toronto (or so it seemed). The skiers were
giving us the usual ribbing about snowboarders going slow on the flats,
but given that we have way more fun in the powder, we let it go. :-)
Some of the guys had been doing the same thing the day before and liked
it so much they figured it was worth another day. This was an encouraging
sign.
|
We managed about 7 runs over the day, and whilst it wasn't all face
shots, considering the conditions at Fernie Alpine Resort the guides
did us proud and we had some awesome runs. Nearly all of it was in the
trees, but there were the usual clearings where you could really open it
up and charge. The snowpack was pretty stable, so jumping off small
cornices was possible, although big drops weren't because the snow wasn't
that soft.
The visibility wasn't so good for a lot of the day, as it was mostly
snowing lightly. Being in the trees this wasn't a problem most of the
time, but like a moth to a flame, both Mark and I had charged down a section
rolling straight over a 10ft drop onto a flat. Thankfully no harm was done
and we even escaped a serious ribbing from the skiers as there were some
trees in their line of site when it happened. They only saw us both
emerging covered in snow.
|
Me doing my usual back hand trace in the snow.
|
John sprays a rooster tail on his descent.
|
The standard of everyone was pretty good and all had obviously done powder
before, so there weren't many delays during the day. One or two of the run outs
to get back to the cat were pretty flat though and despite best efforts,
it wasn't always possible to make it unaided to the end. Had I thought
about it, I would have taken my collapsible poles to help out in those
situations. Still it wasn't a problem and we were nearly always waiting
for the cat to turn up.
|
A cracking day with a great bunch of people. If you're stuck in Fernie
with a dry spell (I think it had been 12 days without snow for us), then
look up one of the great cat operators in the area. Fernie Wilderness
Adventures were good because they had space at short notice and allowed
single day bookings. Perfect for us, and I would certainly use them again.
|
|
