Like many skiers, I have a soft spot for simple, authentic ski resorts — places where I feel connected more to the mountain and locals than to the bells, whistles or “scene” of the mega mountains. But herein lies a problem, because I also love big-mountain skiing, and most throwback hills in the United States are small operations with limited terrain or vertical drop.
All of which is why, last March, I pointed my skis toward Fernie Alpine Resort, which looms above the eponymous British Columbian town some 40 miles north of the Montana border. I’d long wanted to ski Fernie — one of eight resorts along B.C.’s famed Powder Highway — because it seemed to sit at that elusive intersection where big-mountain skiing meets authentic throwback vibe.
I got the sense that Fernie would deliver on that promise on day one, as I squinted at a trail map while waiting for my wife Cathleen, son Kai and daughter Christina to emerge from the lodge.
“What you want to do is take the Timber Bowl Express, cut left, ski those trees, then catch the White Pass chair to those bowls.” This advice emanated from a guy (I never got his name) who was standing five feet away watching me, which isn’t as weird as it sounds; we were two of the only people at the mountain base, on a beautiful morning with five inches of fresh snow on the ground.
He had stepped straight out of a bygone ski town brochure: a tall, lean man with wispy blondish hair and a graying, tobacco-stained mustache who said he’d been skiing Fernie “since before people knew it was here.” He looked up at the mountain and the serrated peaks of the Lizard Range, and then back at me and added, “But you really can’t go wrong today. It should be good everywhere.”
That was welcome news, particularly because “everywhere” at Fernie encompasses 145 named runs, splayed over more than 2,500 acres of skiable terrain and a 3,550-foot vertical drop — numbers that compare favorably to all but the biggest resorts in the American West. Among powder disciples, Fernie is known for a series of massive bowls up high and delightful tree skiing lower down, but the mountain also boasts groomers, moguls and semi-gladed zones.
The most prominent feature here is a colossal headwall that looms like a medieval fortress above the resort and the town. The headwall is permanently closed (although backcountry skiers occasionally ski it), but it’s an omnipresent factor at the resort, on account of both its grandeur and the significant avalanche control challenge it presents to ski patrol. Fernie averages around 350 inches of snow a year, and many storms outperform their forecasts here, a bonus known as the “Fernie Factor.”
The Powder Highway
Once we got to skiing, it became clear that it wasn’t in fact good everywhere — some dust-on-crust in the steep trees rattled both my knees and my confidence — but we found something to suit us all, including three miles of unblemished corduroy on Falling Star, the resort’s longest run. By late morning Kai and I unlocked what became our favorite zone: a steep, consistent fall line on a northern flank of Currie Bowl, which dissolved into a dense conifer forest beneath a massive limestone promontory.
Where Fernie doesn’t go big is in its main base area, a humble plaza with a rental shop, small retail store, classic ski bum bar/restaurant and the Slopeside Café & Deli, a gem of a casual lunch spot. We alighted here daily, for coffee and bites.
One afternoon, six women at the table behind us — all in their 50s and 60s, all with season passes dangling from their gear — shared stories and laughter. I approached with an awkward conversation starter: “You all must be locals.” To which one replied: “Oh, do we look that happy?”
That exchange could sum up my experience not only at Fernie but throughout the Powder Highway, a loop of small towns, gorgeous mountains, healthy living and bottomless conviviality. A generalization, sure, but I’ve skied around this region extensively over the past decade, including during a two-month stay in nearby Nelson, B.C., in 2022, and cannot recall a single negative interaction.
The Adventurer’s Guide to Staying Calm in Any Situation
They’ve led Everest expeditions and escaped shark-infested caves. Here are their 6 lessons on keeping your cool.Life in the Elk Valley
In our daily soak in our condo hot tub, we met a wine dealer from Toronto, a teacher from Kimberley and a young couple from Calgary — all easygoing and remarkably welcoming of us Americans (despite the fact that our government’s tariffs had upended Canada’s economy). That tracks with the history of Fernie where, as in all remote mountain settlements, people have long had little choice but to soldier through adversity.
The Ktunaxa First Nations lived in this valley for millennia, hunting mountain sheep, moose and elk. They fished from the Elk River, and “mined” mineral coal, which they carried along their travels for use as a fire starter. The town, alas, is named for a white pioneer: William Fernie, who in the 1880s helped launch the coal mining industry that spawned this community. But fires in 1904 and 1908 wiped out almost every structure, before residents built the “new” Fernie from brick.
A lot of that architecture stands today: one- and two-story businesses lining a picturesque Main Street, all dwarfed by the looming headwall of the resort. It’s the kind of small town that invites lingering, with the expected (outdoor gear shops, spa, dispensary) accompanied by galleries, a bookstore, an arts co-op, the Fernie Museum, plus locally crafted spirits and coffee.
The “Fernie Factor” in Action
On our third night, we slid into Yamagoya Sushi, scoring a table between the sushi bar and the cocktail bar, an après-ski space otherwise known as heaven. Amid waves of melt-in-your-mouth fish and dazzling cocktails, I wondered, as I have so often in British Columbia, why I don’t live here.
That night delivered a “Fernie Factor” storm, a four-inch forecast that manifested as nearly a foot of snow high on the hill. Kai and I hammered laps on the White Pass chair — shots through trees and into open spaces, back into trees, launching air off of cat tracks, rinse and repeat — before setting out for our adventure.
On the advice of another friendly local, we worked our way across the top of Currie Bowl and sidestepped up a ridge to Corner Pocket, a steep chute that aproned into yet one more powder playground: Lizard Bowl. But first we had to navigate one of the more innovative entrances to a ski run I’ve ever seen: 50 or so car tires, laid on their sides and mostly buried in snow, down which entrants sidestep while gripping a rope affixed to a tree.
The idea is to provide a grippy surface, versus the ice or exposed rock that must naturally prevail here, but regardless, the payoff is worthy: 25 turns through a canvas of buttery fluff, followed by a runout to the lower mountain.
It Isn’t Perfect. That’s Fine.
For all this, Fernie has its flaws. Only two of the resort’s seven chairlifts are high speed, and the Polar Peak chair, which rises to the 7,000-foot summit, is often closed due to wind or avalanche danger (it didn’t open during our four-day stay). Fog can also envelope the bowls, rendering them almost unskiable. And for a confluence of reasons, including the fact that warm air tends to pool in the deep, narrow Elk River Valley below, the ski hill is subject to occasional cycles of wet snowfall, or even rain.
But for my money, these tradeoffs are worth it. For a skier accustomed to big resorts, Fernie feels far removed, an enclave of deep snow, low stress, short lines and broad smiles.
On our final night, after dining at Cirque, an on-mountain, white-table-cloth restaurant with an in-house ice bar, we strolled into a swirling storm, snow already carpeting the A-frame chalet roofs. In another time and place, this alone would have spiked my cortisol: Powder is coming, but I’m leaving! No! But on that final night, sitting with the people I love, and acres of tracked powder in our wake, I felt completely at peace.
Meet your guide
More Like This
The Charge will help you move better, think clearer and stay in the game longer. Subscribe to our wellness newsletter today.
