Daytrip to Castle Mountain

Castle Mountain is a skiresort about 1,5 hours from Fernie. On tuesday, Ingrid and Caroline suggested for Amund that we should go to Castle Mountain. Fortunately for me Amund has a Cheverolet with 8 seats, so there was one seat for me. On wednesday we (Caroline, Ingrid, Josefin, Amund and me)left Fernie at 0745 heading for Castle Mountain. There were flurries in the air when we left Fernie, and it snowed more and more the closer we got to Castle Mountain. The chairlift from the base was closed due to maintenance, so we had to take a looong t-bar instead the first part to get up. So no rest after powder heaven all the way down to the bottom. There was so much snow falling so that our tracks were filled again when we got to the top again. We were all giggling like schoolgirls and having the time of our lifes all day. We were so happy that we didn't really realize how cold it was. The sign mid-hill told us that the wind chill temperature was -50! The staff warned us about the cold and told us to look for frostbites. The snowbase was not really solid. Most of the snowbase had blew away above the treeline, resulting in alot of rocks and wounded skis:

From Fernie 2009

We were having a small debate about staying in Castle Mountain that night, but since Amund had to show up at work at 1500 the next day, we decided to go back to Fernie. Halfway back we were stopped due to an accident and they told us that the road would open 2 hours later. We went to The Rum Runner for dinner and dessert (for someone. Since I was the only one who didn't want dessert, the waitress brought me a fork to eat of the others plate). After half an hour at Rums Runner, the waitress told us that the road was closed for the night and that all rooms were full around so that we had to go back towards Calgary to get a bed. We decided to call Castle Mountain Ski lodge and Hostel, and they had 5 beds for us. So we went back in the dark and heavy snow, buying some Jarlsberg cheese and bread for breakfast, a red wine for the evening and toothbrushes since the original plan didn't really include staying the night.

From Fernie 2009

The weather report the next day told us that 64 cm snow had fallen the last 48 hours in Castle Mountain. The day started with some low clouds and not really as cold as previous day. I bought me a face mask anyway. After a couple of hours the sky cleared up on the top with the clouds laying low in the valley. Check out these awesome views:

From Fernie 2009

From Fernie 2009

The snow was still fantastic dry and light, so the pow pow skiing was amazing. Look at me almost drowning in the pow here:

From Fernie 2009

I've compiled a video from the 2 days in Castle Mountain. The soundtrack is not a random pick...


I'm quite sure that this was not my last trip to Castle Mountain on a pow day.

Curling and strained muscle update

There was a Norwegian westcoast - eastcoast showdown in the curling arena in Fernie yesterday. The westcoast team with Torgeir, Stig, Steffen, Dagfinn and Turid was an easy match for the eastcoast team consisting of Tor Einar, Johanne, me and Elise.

From Fernie 2009

From Fernie 2009

Last saturday I strained a muscle in my arm after a poor drop off a rock up in the mountain. I was way to defensive and tilted backwards in the drop landing on my back and dragging my left arm behind me resulting musclefibers teared off in my arm. Se pictures below.

From Fernie 2009

and from day 2

From Fernie 2009

I can still ski, but it hurts when I use the muscle in my arm. It's getting better for each day :)

New Avalanche Equipment

Even though the snow has decided to fall all other places than the canadian rockies, like all over Norway, London, California and so on, I've purchased my 3 part avalanche kit.

From Fernie 2009

I bought the Mammut Pulse Barryvox, a showel and a probe. I will probably also do a 2-day Avalanche course in a couple of weeks.

The snow is still missing in action here in Fernie. Some of the locals and the people staying here for the season are getting quite depressed because of the lack of heavy snow. The conditions in the slopes are quite good, but people come here to ski powder and not groomed pists.

Lets hope for some heavy snow, and that I won't have to use my avalanche equipment :)

11 Reasons it's cool to have friends who ski

I read something by Porter Fox in the last edition of Powder - The Skier's magazine  that I have to put here. Here's a list of 11 reasons why it's cool to have friends who ski.  

1

EATING AN ENTIRE PLATE OF NACHOS BY YOURSELF CAN LAND YOU IN THE HOSPITAL.

Comment:  Today I bought nachos at the Griz Bar here in Fernie, and the waitress suggested half a serving, which I agreed.  After eating half the plate of nachos I can't really imagine how big the normal size would be.  If I had eaten the whole plate I got served, I might have ended up at the hospital ;)  

2

IF YOUR FRIEND STEALS YOUR LINE, YOU GET TO STEAL HIS NEXT.

3

WINDING DOWN YOUR FRIEND'S DIN OFFERS ENDLESS ENTERTAINMENT.

4

EVERY POACHER NEEDS A SPOTTER.

5

EVERY JUMP NEEDS A GUINEA PIG.

6

ONE TRANSCEIVER WON'T SAVE YOUR LIFE

7

SOLO POWDER 8'S ARE INCREDIBLY HARD.

8

WEARING A SPEEDO IN A HOT TUB FULL OF STRANGERS JUST MAKES YOU GAY OR EUROPEAN. WHICH IS OK IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE GAY OR EUROPEAN, BUT NOT IF YOU'RE NOT

Comment:  I'm wearing bermudas and don't own a speedo.

9

PROPS ARE MORE REWARDING, AND MORE BELIEVABLE, WHEN THEY COME FROM A WITNESS.

10

BEER TASTES BETTER WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS PAYING FOR IT.

11

EVEN WHEN THEY'RE NOT AROUND ANYMORE, GREAT FRIENDS INSPIRE YOU TO DO GREAT THINGS.

Excellent Dining in Fernie - Old Elevator

I'm just home from the Old Elevator, the best restaurant in Fernie. I went there with Lars and Erik, two Norwegians I met earlier today. The Old Elevator served very good food, and I recommend everyone stopping by in Fernie to have dinner at the restaurant.
And BTW, the new skis were perfect! I felt like Bambi on ice the first turns since I'm used to skis with aprox half the turn radius, but now that I'm used to them I think they're great both off piste and in the piste. Good night! (new personal best tonight, previous nights I've been to bed before 2100, but now its close to 2300)

New skis and bindings

From Fernie 2009

Today I bought me new skis, 4Frnt VCT 182 with the Marker Duke bindings for easy climbing when doing backcountry skiing. I had thought about buying the Armada JJ's, but they're sold out all over town (country?)

From Fernie 2009

Nice view of the currie bowl

First blog from Fernie

Hello everyone!

Fra Fernie 2009

I have now slept my first night in Fernie after arriving yesterday. The flight from Frankfurt to Calgary with Air Canada was excellent with premium onboard interactive entertainment. I saw a couple of movies and several HBO series episodes. In Fernie I was picked up by Earl from a local Fernie shuttle company.

Fra Fernie 2009

He took me on a scenic route to Fernie and told old stories about the area. An excellent car-trip! This morning I've been out shopping some shampoo, soap and shaving gel and took a picture from the main street of Fernie towards the Alpine Resort.

Fra Fernie 2009

Now I'm on my way out to get a lift from Fernie and up to the ski-resort. See you soon!