new photos

we thought we would give you a taste of everyday living, enjoy!

new photos

Merry Christmas from the two of us! x

'tis the season to be jolly...

tra la la la la...

Cabin fever may be setting in soon. The snow has been less than forthcoming, it's a bit like being at home without working or heating or running water or, ok so it's very different and we should be greatful. Well, we are but there is a constant nagging sense of frustration as every morning, like an expectant school boy, I look out the window to see if it's snowed. Just as when you discovered there was no Santa Claus or when you found out it was your mum who put the money under your pillow not the tooth fairy, my illusions have been shettered! There's been no snow to talk of and after the disasterous rain that wrecked what was a great snowpack the day the resort opened we have a bare mountain with poor conditions, still skiable but not the legendary conditions we've heard so much about. We've had three good days over the last week, which were really good. Lots of confidence boosting runs and lots of flailing about to boot! We've had a warm spell up to about 6C which created nice spring conditions, soft snow, confidence boosting crashes and we're not freezing our bottoms off, which helps. The pisted sections are good but the off-piste is a hard crust overlying softer snow. When it gets cold everything goes bullet hard, just like last night. Bullet proof pistes are no fun especially on snowboards, hence the new posting.

The snow is almost gone from Fernie town which is odd to say the least. But it is the season of good will and the snow will come, yes it will come! We've booked into the RV park for another five weeks, I can feel our bank accounts draining as we speak, in expectation of amazing conditions over January 2005. We've watched a lot of videos and played a lot of Back Gammon, the score is currently 37 to Hannah and 33 to Patrick. Mmm, some catching up to do.

We're trying to work out were to go for New Years which won't drain our bank accounts. Any ideas to the usual address please.

Red Cross packages to the following address

Patrick & Hannah, Snow Valley Motel, PO BOX 1530, Fernie, BC, CANADA. VOB 1M0

check out our snow

Early morning Fernie

...Nice

OPENING DAY

...was a disaster.

We were late as we decided to drive the RV up the hill, mistake. There was still lots of snow on the approach roads so we got a bit stuck and it took a lot to get out and get the RV parked. There were only three out of the ten lifts open and lots of the hill was closed. I think to be near the front of the que you would need to get up at 7:00am, were never going to amke that! We got a few runs in when we finally got on the lift, there was low cloud so you couldn't really see or get your bearings. Then at about 10:30am it started to rain!! We tuffed it out for a bit and had a few more runs but the snow was terrible, we dived to the resort for lunch and then out for one more run, by which time we re were loathing it and getting drowned. We made it back to the RV and headed straight for the RV park were we attempted to dry off. Absolutely awful...

The rain didn't stop until 8:00am the following morning by which time the snow conditions were ruined. It's now got really cold so the pistes are bullet proof ice which is no fun at all. On the upside we've done our avalanche course over the last few days which is probably the best time to be doing it. The skiing is awful.

Now were praying for snow and lots of it.

here's keeping our fingers crossed...

I fixed the link as well...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

FAR (Fernie Alpine Resort) opens tomorrow, it feels like we have been waiting for ever for this to happen. Opening day, kids have the day off school, I suspect it will be busy. Not sure if thats by Canadian standards or europena standards, it's not exactly peak season yet. There's been a big dump of snow over the last few days which was well needed, the lower slopes are looking a little bare still but that will be fixed by another good dump.

Check out the web cams...

So it's up early tomorrow, get the bus up to FAR and spend the day on our hill. This should be a far more pleasent experience then the hike we made on Tuesday. On Tuesday we drove up to the resort and hiked up the mountain from bottom to top, a vertical gain of about 1500m, with our snowboards on our backs, snowshoes on our feet and leaning heavily on our poles. It hurt quite a lot but the ride down was amazing, there weren't many people doing the same thing and the snow was amazing, about thigh deep in places and super light. The ride down was much quicker than that going up but well worth the effort. there was talk of doing it again today but hey the lifts open tomorrow and the swimming pool with hot tub is such a nice option instead.

Photo's on their way...

here's our starting effot on the photo front, bare with us as we are struggling top get to grips with the technology...

New photo's