Fernie Customer Reviews

Visited with a group of 4 in March 2013. It took us about 4 and a half hours to drive from Calgary airport. There is enough good quality skiing in Fernie for 4 days for good skiers with good off piste available for the more advanced. We had great fresh powder for 2 out of 4 days and would expect that to be normal for this resort. There's only really one cafe on the slopes with pretty ordinary fast food offerings. The actual mountain resort centre is small with only 3 or 4 bars/restaurants, again typically Canadian/American in terms of food offered and they did all seem to close rather early (9ish). Fernie town centre wasn't anything to get excited about but we did have one really good meal at the Yamagama sushi place (very popular with big queues to get in) and one really poor Chinese meal at the Ginger Beef (not recommended) Overall, found Fernie to be a good place to visit as part of a multi centre holiday, more suited to good intermediates but we had pretty much done it all after 4 days.

We stayed at Fernie for a 9 day ski holiday in April 2010. We stayed at Snow Creek Lodge, which is right on the nursery slopes at Fernie Alpine Resort. This was the last week of the Fernie ski season, and just prior to our arrival it dumped about 50cm of new snow throughout the resort. Throughout our stay we had another 37cm at least of fine, light powder. Not a bad start! Despite being Easter weekend, the resort was quiet, and we didn't see a lift queue for the entire holiday. The terrain is vast, spread over 5 bowls, and the vast majority of each bowl is skiable. This made it really easy and fun, as with the exception of a few roped off areas with spring avalanche alerts, you could pick your own route down. Even on the 2nd day after snowfall it was possible to find new powder, although we were helped here by taking a Family ski lesson (effectively a semi-private lesson - good value for up to 5 members of your family) The terrain is all fairly steep, making it ideal for confident skiers, but none of the main pistes were terrifying! Due to this Fernie is probably not so good for learning, more timid skiers or younger children. Snow conditions on all but a few exposed slopes were very good while we were there, and where slopes were groomed, it was done really well. There have been criticisms in the past about poor piste maps and signage, however we didn't get too lost and it didn't really matter too much. Some of the black runs and gulleys were difficult to find, but you can always ask! There is a lot of back-country if you are into hiking (not for us!), although at this time of the year there is a high avalanche risk due to the steepness of the slopes. We particularly enjoyed the many tree runs, which were beautifully gladed (or just natural?) allowing lots of choice of route. The run-out to resort was getting very worn towards the end of the holiday, the resort is not high and so might suffer in warm weather. Other skiers were friendly and well mannered, mainly other Canadians, often out from Calgary for the weekend. We did hear that it is not a great resort for boarders because there are a number of traverses, however this did seem to be stopping the boarders that we saw! The ski-school was good - our daughter had a private boarding lesson when booked in for a group lesson, as there were no other candidates. Overall, a great ski holiday. Ski-in ski-out accommodation was great. There is a well-stocked, if expensive, grocery store a short walk across the nursery slope, and a few restaurants. A couple had shut prior to the end of season, and we did feel that everyone was winding down for the end of the week. You really wouldn't come here for the après scene. Very limited number of bars and early closing. Most people seem to adjourn to their hot tub with a can of beer! Still, there is an hourly bus service into the town of Fernie, a few miles down the valley, which has a few more bars, and a good choice of places to eat, including an excellent Japanese, a good Thai and a couple of good up-market restaurants. We'd definitely go back.

Fernie is awesome - the snow, slopes, lack of crowds and friendly ambiance are second to none. Fernie feels like a real town rather than a fabricated resort and has grades of slopes for every level - the bowls are great and give access to that off-piste feeling even for beginners. It's definitely worth the extra couple of hours on the plane. Even at peak times there are hardly any queues on the lifts - sometimes you feel that you have the mountain to yourself - perfect! We've been going for four years straight! Without a doubt my favourite ski resort, and I've been to a few!