Fernie, Master The Mountain 2

WEEK 1

Met off the plane by Hermione, our host, Sam, an ex-client, and Kirsty, one of our instructors, who rather forwardly, greeted us with valentines kisses

- Hershey’s chocolate kisses, that is we were dropped at our respective houses and settled down to unpack.

The next day brought a whole realm of information and advice, ranging from choosing ski boots to the best pubs – all vital knowledge for a successful 6 weeks!

Most of us were itching to get on the slopes, but the reins were held tight – apparently day 1 is when most injuries occur and we didn’t want to go wrecking ourselves just yet. Sadly, the lesson was illustrated rather brutally for us, as Christina tore a cruciate ligament and had to fly home before lessons even kicked off. Now that is what I call bad luck!

The snow was perfect for finding our feet, good consistent groomers but sadly no sign of the pow from the last few months.

On the social side of things, we got really stuck into Canadian culture, supporting the local team at the ice hockey on Sunday and then testing our skills at curling on Thursday.

WEEK 2

This week kicked off with two days of hard study – learning all about avalanches, how to avoid them and how to survive them. Interesting but hopefully we’ll never have to put it into practice…

The sun continued to shine, the snow banks in town are slowly shrinking but the hill is still in good shape.

We changed instructors and at the end of the week had a lesson on touring gear. It’s amazing how different it is and how much there is to learn, especially for the boarders - split boards are pretty damn fiddly… really they should switch to skis full time!