Fernie 11 Week Snowboard Instructor Course ‘06 – Week 1
By Ross Monaghan
Where to start? The first week of the official NONSTOP course has just ended, we’re all pretty tired, a bit bruised, ridiculously excited at the prospect of spending another three months here. This is my second week in Fernie and in the spirit of NONSTOP we have been trying our hardest to have the unofficial NONSTOP party, which I am glad to inform has been going very well.
So far we have had several house parties, drum and bass night at the Royal (fantastic night out), Australia day which I found hard to keep up with, drinks around the town on a few very long occasions, the official non stop dinner followed by our impromptu gathering, and plenty of other random get togethers. I have met loads of people, a real mix of locals, seasonaires, tourists, and of course other nonstoppers all of whom have been infected with the Fernie sprit of relaxation, friendliness and party fever, and most of whom I cant actually remember the name of which always makes for interesting nights out around town. We have all been having a great time, including the odd prank or two on each other, convincing some of the new arrivals they should go out and get their bear bells before they head up the mountain, promptly followed up by bear noises in the middle of the night, and a few stories probably not appropriate for the official web site.
I guess you are probably wondering what the mountain is like, well it’s amazing. Such varied terrain from nice easy flowing green runs to as they say in Fernie steep and deep and they mean steep, natural kickers and hips every where to throw yourself, beautiful tree runs, amazing gullies and bowls, all really great for bringing your riding on. And the snow? Wow I have never seen so much snow and the season is only just starting, the locals tell me to expect much more, already riding knee deep powder almost daily. I haven’t been able to get this stupid grin off my face since I got here. The lessons this week were pretty hard on everybody but really great fun, apart from breaking down our riding and pointing out our hundreds of bad habits our instructors have made it very easy to learn and have an incredible knowledge and experience they are eager to share with us, as well as a great knowledge of the mountain that they are passing on. Well if this is week one bring on the rest, I can’t wait.
