Oh yes, it's ladiiiiiiiiiiiiiez night! (and day)

So, a lot of you must be thinking: "Cor, look at Jethro doing all this manly hiking stuff... but why isn't Alex up there too?"

It's a good question. Answered by the fact that I am mostly working. Which is a pain. But never mind.

But yesterday I had a day off, so I decided to have a girlie day out on the mountain with my buddies Lisa, Ally and Sarah. Simon and Jethro came along for the ride, under strict insructions that we were going for a leisurely hike, with lunch and lots of rest stops. Ally had never been skiing or snowboarding before, so she brought her skis up with her, safe in the knowledge that Simon is a level 2 ski instructor, so she was in safe hands! (although we were creasing up when Simon kept asking if he could "hold her tips". It sounds a bit different when you're yelling it down the mountain.) For the uniniated, he meant that he needed to ski backwards, holding onto the front/tips of her skis...

We hiked for about two hours on a mostly empty mountain, which was unexpected as we bumped into a load of people we know in the car park at the bottom. They decided to go over to the other side of the hill though. A lone grey-haired telemarker put us all to shame by overtaking us at some speed walking up, wishing us a good day. The locals here are super fit...

It's been snowing steadily for a few days, but nothing like the dump we had before. Hence the snow at the mid-way point is LOVELY. All soft and fluffy but not too deep so easy to ski/board on. By the time we got to the bottom it was hardpacked, with big lumps of ice littered about the place but still fun. I don't think I'll be going up too much to play around on the bottom slopes unless it snows a lot more before opening day - the lifts will be operating from December 10th so we're all looking forward to it (and taking the leisurely way up too!)

It's so much fun to ski/board with other girls as you tend to be much more supportive of each other and able to spur each other on without sounding patronising or bored - no offence boys. And because the hike up was at a slower pace, I was able to enjoy the ride down as I had a bit of energy left to push my carving and speed a little more without wiping out too badly! Ally was amazing... I take my hat off to her. She made it down to the base with no major falls and a big smile on her face, having loved every minute. I feel that she might become an excellent skier with that kind of attitude...

After a nice hot bath, I remembered that I had invited a few of the girls I'd met over for a ladies only night at the house to watch all-girl snowboarding movies and to drink cocktails and eat nibbles, so I made some brownies, chopped up some crudites and purchased some dips and chips. Jethro was banished to the boys house, after much speculation about whether we would be having pillow fights in our lingerie or getting into the hot-tub naked. Yes. Cos that's what a bunch of girls would do together, OBVIOUSLY. Boys... they can be so predictable sometimes... *sigh*

Word did spread fast that there was a girls night in full flow, and I had to turn away numerous young men who turned up at the front door in the vague hope that they might be admitted into the inner sanctum. No way boys... If Jethro gets banished from his own home, there's no way they were coming in... no matter how cute and Canadian they were.

It was a great evening - and the girls were all very appreciative and glad to meet each other. Fernie is a very masculine place, and we are somewhat outnumbered most of the time, so it was nice to have some female focus for a change. Get me, I'm turning into a feminist! ;-)

The girls get together in the carpark (with Simon and Jethro in tow)


The long walk up... with me at the front - a rare event! I'm usually at the back panting my little heart out


Lookee see - I can do gnarly hiking too!


The sun makes a valiant attempt to shine, but doesn't quite make it

Harry Potter induced homesickness

Fernie may be a small, yet perfectly formed, town in the middle of the mountains, but it does have a cinema, albeit a bit of a dinky one with two screens. We get most of the current releases here but they tend to last a week and then go again, so when we saw that the new Harry Potter film had arrived we hotfooted it down there to watch it.

We enjoyed the film immensely - stella cast! And lots of cool cameos, none of which I can give away as people that read this little piece of cyberspace have yet to see the film and I don't want to ruin it for them. Most amusingly - and rather spookily - I was surprised to see a black cat prowling along the middle aisle of the cinema while the film was in full swing. I thought I was imagining it but Jethro saw it too! No-one else seemed to bat an eyelid so maybe it's a cinema cat. A pretty fat cinema cat, that's for sure... he or she obviously lives on popcorn remnants!

The only slight downer of the evening is that Jethro and I walked home, feeling somewhat homesick. We sort of forgot where we were for a second, so when we immerged into the cold night air of Fernie, it was a bit of a wierd sensation. Usually we would watch Harry Potter films with our friends or family at Christmas time...

In other news... our WONDERFUL budski Zoe of the Fletch has come up with the genius idea of recording us our very own radio show and wants to turn it into a regular thing. Boy oh boy! We are spoiled poodles indeed! If anyone out there has an idea of what we should call this brilliant radio show, answers on a post below please! She's also thinking of getting some of our friends on the phone to tell us what they've been up to lately. I cannot tell you how nice it is to hear voices. It makes you all seem a bit nearer to us, which we like. So thank you Zoe - we love the music, we love the anecdotes! PLEASE make it a regular thing! Pretty please with a cherry on top!

And while we're here - can we make a plea for more comments! ANYONE can post a comment. You don't have to sign up to anything - at least, we don't think you do. So get posting please!

It's my dog's birthday party, eh!

So, strange title you may be thinking... well, it all started about a week ago when we were handed a flyer at the Pub and invited to a party... to celebrate a dog's birthday! Only in Fernie!

On further inspection, we soon established the history behind it. Some guys that have been living here for a few years throw a party every season, and it's the biggest house party in Fernie. The proviso is that it's free to attend and everyone is welcome, but you must bring a bottle of Colt45 beer with you to get in. There's a few bands, a raffle, DJs and a huge bonfire in the back garden. Apparently, one of the boys wrote to Colt45 to tell that he threw a party for his dog every year and that they favoured this particular beer, and so Colt45, being the generous beer company that they are, decided to sponsor it, and have been doing so for a couple of years now!

Needless to say, after chatting to the guy in the liquor store down the road he suggested it would be a bigger party than last year as they'd nearly sold out of Colt45 beer! There are three off-licences in Fernie, and one of them doesn't stock this particular brand of beer. By late afternoon, all had sold out! Jethro and I, being the sensible chickens that we are, bought our bottles at 9am! (Yes, you can buy any kind of booze you want at 9am in the morning...)

(We were amused to discover that Colt45 is a super strong beer and doesn't come in dinky little cans, but HUGE great bottles. Oh dear... more on that later.)

So after a day of relaxation - no snow as yet so no snowboarding for the meantime - we headed off to Wing night at The Pub - it seems to be a weekly thing now! We opted for a plate of vegetables too, so as not to have a meat overload. We like to keep healthy y'know! By the time that was finished, it was only about 8pm, so we decided to go back to the house and have an improptu "Before the party" party with a few buddies which lasted until 10pm ish, by which time we were itching to go.

The party was on the other side of town, so as we walked (there were about 15 of us) we saw other bunches of folk going in the same direction. Following the noise and the smoke, we got to the house and went straight to the bonfire in the backyard where a good 20 or so people were already gathered. An hour later, there were about 100 people there and growing all the time. It made for a great atmosphere and was pretty warm too, considering it was about minus 2 degrees and snowing lightly!

Now, back to the Colt45... Having taken a little sip, I had to wonder why ANYONE in their sane mind would like this beer... it tastes like a combination of Tenants Super, fortified wine and dog wee! MINGING! But it's very, very strong, so I guess that might be why?!

Luckily a few of our more sensible buddies and brought nicer beer with them, so I just opted for that. Jethro managed to drink a whole bottle though! ;-)

We made our merry way home, giggling profusely and trying to keep warm, glad that we had been to the "biggest" house party in Fernie. I have to go to work today, so I'm not enjoying the headache that seems to have taken residence inside my bonce!


Revellers around the bonfire


A warm glow from the firelight - not from the Colt45, I can assure you!


The world's most EVIL beer...

Shock of the year... Jethro got skis!

Yes, tis true readers. Jethro has switched to the dark side and purchased himself a pair of skis. He is now endeavouring to learn the way of the two planker! (Which is most amusing to watch, I can tell you!).

In all seriousness, he got a bargain. We heard they were selling off all the rental kit at the hire shop on the mountain, so we skidaddled (geddit!) up there in the van with a bunch of people and went on a bit of a spending spree. Well, they all did. I refrained, being lucky enough to get free ski hire as a perk of the job at Fernie Sports. Snowboards and skis were going for the paltry sum of $80 (£40) and Jethro got a really spanky pair of ski boots for $40 (£20). Enough to make you sick really! He now says he has a great deal of respect for skiers as he finds the boots are pretty clunky! A few of our friends who ski also bought boards, so we had a fun afternoon messing around on the baby slopes, doing some haphazard teaching, being watched, laughed at and applauded by the staff who are making all the preparations on the mountain for opening day.

Having had enough of the skiing for one day, he went back to his beloved board on Wednesday and went for the LONGEST of hikes ever - all boys this time. They fully invited me along, but to be honest, I'm not fit enough to go as far as they wanted to and there is nothing worse than feeling like you're holding everyone up (not that they would ever make me feel bad, you understand!) I stayed at home in the cosy warm, planning on catching up with all my correspondence, but as is the way here, I had a few friends call round and ended up making tea and oatmeal cookies and watching snowboarding DVDs! Larry the plumber also came around to install our new humidifier which looks fab and works really well, and Frank popped by too, so I had myself a full house!

Back to the hike: Jethro decided to try and hire some snowshoes, as they make the going a little easier in deep snow, so he popped over to see Karen, my boss at Fernie Sports. Five minutes later he was back, looking very pleased with himself, clutching a pair of snowshoes. Karen is such a lovely lady that she let him have them for the day free of charge - seeing as he's the boyfriend of a Fernie Sports gal!

I waved them all off as they went on their merry way, hoping that they would steer clear of trouble. From the injuries sustained on Sunday's hike I couldn't help but worry a little, but hey, that's me! Well, I needn't of bothered. Jethro came home a few hours later, full of beans to tell me that they got about half way up the first slope before a large snowCAT drove past and they all stuck their thumbs out. Guess what? They got a lift on the back - RIGHT TO THE TOP! JAMMY JAMMY JAMMY GITS! (This rarely happens as it's a firing offence to carry randoms on the back of your CAT but this guy was obviously feeling in a generous mood that day.)

So he had no aches and pains whatsoever the next day, but Hammo did dislocate his finger yet again, and popped it back in AGAIN... nutter.

We went christmas shopping today in Kimberley and stopped by at the Walmart in Cranbrook on the way home. It's much less daunting when you've been there once already. It only took us about two hours to find everything we need and buy a lot more stuff that we didn't need! Oh well.

Tomorrow is hockey night - after a two week drought we need some stick and puck action. We're all getting withdrawal symptoms. But I gotta work on Saturday so it won't be the usual anarchy in Fernie on a Friday night for me...

(For those of you who are missing Choccy, have no fear. He has not been made into moose burger just yet. The journey over was terribly traumatic for him in the hold of the plane, squashed against my snowboard, so he's in recovery until his shape returns! He's looking a bit 'flat' shall we say!?)


The boys prepare for the hike of the century with their new guide, "Doggie"


Tony and Hammo hold onto the back of the CAT for dear life!


X marks the spot. This is how high they got. I told you... JAMMY!

This hiking malarky is tough!

We had a chores day yesterday, and the wind had picked up so we didn't much fancy going up the mountain... neither did my aching muscles... they were having none of it! Then again, the amount of chicken wings we both consumed at The Pub might have had something to do with it. We all opted to get 20 each... bad move. I was stuffed after about seven! But they were tasty, that's for sure.

It's stopped snowing now, so the roads are nice and dry and slightly less like an ice rink, which makes driving much more pleasurable. The van is great - it's a four wheel drive and copes admirably in the snowy conditions, for which we are super grateful.

Jethro went to see Kieron, the manager of Giv'er Tshirts, to ask about a job. This was the job that I went for originally, but got offered Fernie Sports instead. I've got my first shift tomorrow from 1pm-5pm so I'm a little bit nervous. Anywhoo, Kieron has got Jethro's details and he's interviewing people next week so we shall see. Fingers crossed.

After that, we piled into the van and picked up Matt and Lisa and went up the mountain for another hike. We took a slightly different route today and it was a lot steeper than the routes we've done before. Hence, very tough going so Lisa and I decided to stop about half way up and board down, where we met up with some other folk we know. However, Jethro and Matt, being the strapping lads that they are, decided to carry on and went pretty far up. Most impressive. Jethro says he went all wobbly and nearly passed out for a second, he was that tired, but I'm very proud that he made it all the way.

It's still pretty windy, and the powder has been compacted down, so it's very slow and sticky to snowboard on - not ideal really. It's supposed to snow tonight, so we'll see if we get some more fluffy powder to play on.

Me and Lisa, a little puffed out!


Jethro, almost falling over with sheer exhaustion!

My snow-called life!

(big ups to AlexFromBournemouth for the title - nice one boyo!)

Well, this is probably getting a little repetitive for you lot now, but take a wild guess... go on. We dare you....

Yup, it is STILL snowing!

Needless to say we've been taking full advantage and have been for not one, but TWO big hikes up the mountain - it's absolutely knackering but totally worth it. When you think that a five minute chairlift ride takes about an hour to walk, in deep snow, carrying boards and rucksacks, you get an idea of how puffed out we both are at the top, but the ride down is worth it!

The first long hike we did was on Sunday. We got to the car park, to find about 15 other cars there - a busy day, then! The powder was knee deep at the base, but the snowcats had bashed the side of one of the runs which made the walking a bit easier on compact snow. We were soon joined on our solitary walk by about 20 other assorted skiers, hikers, telemarkers, boarders and doggies! It made for a great atmosphere with everyone chatting, laughing, and encouraging each other up the side of the steep slope. With a few water and chocolate stops, we made it to the top and were astounded to see those crazy Canadian locals hiking even further up. To be honest, there has been so much snow that we would be foolish to go much further. We don't have avalanche transceivers and we don't know the conditions or the mountain as well as the locals.

Hammo came with us to the top, bearing in mind he's never set foot on a snowboard before. Everyone steamed off, leaving me and him behind, so I figured no-one was going to give him any pointers - the general bit of advice seemed to be "Just point the board down, dude!". I spent a few minutes explaining where his weight should be and what his stance should be like, but he didn't need any of it. He executed a textbook heel to toe turn within the first second, and carried on at some speed, tearing past everyone else. Sickening!

The ride down was worth all the effort on the hike up. I still find riding in deep powder extremely hard work, so I dipped in and out. There were a few handmade jumps (kickers) on the way down which the boys were keen on taking, but they were a tad huge for my liking. Maybe next time! ;-)

We had a rest day yesterday. Well, I had a rest. Jethro went over to the boys house and built an 8ft kicker in their back garden. I was extremely glad I stayed at home though, as I got a visitor in the form of Lisa from the Powderroom forum. She's just arrived for the season so it's great to meet her and show her around a bit.

Today was another snowboarding day, particularly as we got another few centimetres of wonderful light powder overnight and the skies were blue this morning. We loaded up the van with a bunch of friends and drove up to the hill, nearly being anihilated by two massive logging trucks who thought it would be fun to overtake us. The truckers around here are NUTS. They drive so fast on icy roads, but I guess they're carrying a heavy load so they don't need to worry about skidding off to the side. They're either speeding, or stopping to let you cross the road! Crazy. Jethro drove up the hill beautifully. His driving skills on the snow are getting better by the day.

We did a different hike today, and got halfway up to see the chairlift above us was suddenly operational with two guys sitting on it. Thinking we'd just knackered ourselves out for nothing, we despaired. But we soon found out that they were engineers going up the top, and no-one else was allowed which made us feel a bit better.

Again, the effort to hike up paid off, and the snow was soft and fluffy and WONDERFUL on the ride down. It was much quieter today and we met some nice locals on the way up. One chap was telling us that he does all his skiing pre-season as he works as a CAT operator during the winter. He prefers to hike the mountain when it's empty! We asked him how far he was going and he told us he was going to the rock line, so he had a good three hours to go. Superfit!

By the time we rode down, I was somewhat tired and had the genius idea of building the World's Smallest Kicker TM so I could practice my jumping skills. Sarah joined me, to practice her turns, but ended up going over my jump a few times which was very impressive as she's another beginner. Jethro and the others sessioned a larger kicker at the top of the slopes and came down to join us. I am pleased to report that I got much bigger air of my baby kicker than Jethro did!

Well, we've just got out of the hot-tub (world's best invention) and had some scrambled egg. It's Wings Night at The Pub tonight - 30 cents for a chicken wing, so we're heading there later to sink some beer and have a good natter about the epic powder day we just had. Life is good.

Matt, me, Sarah, Peta and Hammo


A bit further up!


Word up, homes! J'boy is hiking the mountain fo sho!


Moi looking a little less steeeezy and a lot more tired!


Coming down again sure is fun... Jethro getting some big air!

Yet more snow!

Howdy again! It's been a mere 12 hours since our last post, but we thought we'd better let you know that it's been snowing yet again and we got a couple of inches last night...

When we stepped out of the Central Bar at 1am it was coming down thick and fast, which made for an interesting walk home (if a little trecherous on wobbly legs)! And when we opened the curtains this morning, we were greeted with a fresh blanket of white. WONDERFUL!

The hockey match last night was the best yet. Fernie beat Creston 7-2 and there was lots of inappropriate chanting going on, none that I can put on this blog for fear of getting censored. Possibly the funniest (and cleanest) was "NUMBER 27! YOUR MOM PHONED AND SHE SAID YOU SUCK!" along with "WARM UP THE BUS CRESTON, YOU'RE GOING DOOOOOOOWN"

A woman's work is never done.... *sigh*


Where'd the van go?


Pretty deep!

Blimey! We're in Bavaria!

We took a little drive to nearby ski resort Kimberley yesterday, and ended up laughing for most of the day. Kimberley is soooooo different to Fernie, it's not true! Imagine an entire town that's been modelled on a small village in Germany, with yodelling music being piped into the streets, and you're pretty much there. We almost felt like slapping on the lederhosen and nibbling on some bratwurst, but we managed to refrain, going for some soup and a sarnie in the local cafe. We were a bit worried about the drive as it was snowing in Fernie when we left, but the journey across the flatter plains was snow-free until we got to the outskirts of Kimberley when it started snowing heavily again. We took a little wander around the town, which was DESERTED and drove a little way up to the main area where the ski lifts start. It's exactly the same layout as Fernie, but then again, it's owned by the same people so that's no surprise. We're looking forward to doing some skiing there as it looks great, and our season passes include Kimberley so we might make some regular trips in the future. Like Fernie, there's a lot of development going on around the mountain with log cabins springing up left, right and centre. We felt a wee bit sorry for the workmen having to carry on building in the heavy snow but I guess they're used to that over here. Hardy folk indeed.

Look, it's so quaint!


Hansel and Gretel (aka Alex and Hammo)


The Kimberley clock - it aint no Big Ben, but it sure is pretty!


It's still snowing intermittently around Fernie, so we decided to take a little drive up to the mountain to take a look at the snow level today. I had the genius idea of taking a sledge along for some fun, and boy was that a good idea! The snow is shin deep on the hill and it's a mixture of sticky pack snow and weird little bits of ice that look like the polystyrene beads you get in beanbags! But the sledge was moving pretty quickly over the top of it so the lads decided to use some of the mountain bike paths to get some air - craaaaazy boys! We had a great time, playing in the snow like a bunch of kids, but it helped to pass the time on a Friday... Jethro and I also picked up our season passes so we are now primed and ready to get skiing, as soon as they open the lifts. Woo hoo!

Tis hockey night tonight, so we're off down The Pub for some grub, followed by a good hour and a bit of men sliding about on ice and punching each other... just another Friday in Fernie I guess!

Freaky Fernie snow


Bit of a difference from last week on the mountain!


Jules catches some serious air, sledge style!


Alex eats snow, quite literally!


Three men and a sled (no dog)

Rain, rain go away!

We're beginning to get aquainted with the Fernie weather pattern unique to this area. It dumps a shed-load of fluffy white powder snow and then proceeds to rain for a good few hours afterwards, turning it all to slush... bummer!

However, all is not lost. Rain in the town inevitably means snow on the mountain and this will be our mantra for the coming months. We heard reports from those who had ventured further afield that it was knee deep in places on the hill and this is good news indeed. Whilst we won't be waxing our boards just yet, there are some intrepid locals who can be seen loading up their trucks with shovels and snowboards, looking to get some backcountry action.

We decided to head out for another BLW today (Bloody Long Walk) and toddled over to the boys house for some fortifying pancakes with banana, honey and peanut butter (sounds minging, but it's well yummy!).

The walk was great fun and skirted around the Fernie golf course. Apparently, if there's enough snow they turn it into a skidoo park! How much fun is that going to be!??? Many snowballs were thrown, including a monster one from Jules that soaked Jethro's left trouserleg. (It landed in a puddle right next to where he was innocently taking a photograph. Cue much laughter from us unsympathetic types).

We finished up in Hang Loose Juice for some smoothies, washed down with some rather fabulous home-made oatmeal and raisin cookies. The lady behind the counter was fantastic and made Jethro a special Vitamin C smoothie when she heard that he was feeling a litte under the weather (he's got the sniffles). We are going to go back and sample some of her home-made lasagne for $5, with garlic toast. If it's anything like her cookies, she won't be able to get rid of us for the next 6 months...

Tonight is curry night. We're going to head down to the Curry Bowl with carpenter Mike and possibly some others. I am looking forward to drinking some decent indian lager and feeling the warmth of a tikka massala coursing through my veins.

Look at those lovely snow-filled clouds... hopefully it'll dump again tonight.

Jules, Mark, me and Jethro (pre-trouserleg incident)

It might look barren and cold, but it's actually not too bad.

The golf course is behind us, with a great view of the Fernie mountains

Jethro teeing off at the ninth hole... where's the ball?!!!