Legendary Fernie

Does the town live up to the legend in summer? After four days exploring Fernie’s goods the answer is definitely YES! I think most people suspect Fernie has great trails but the shear quantity of great trails in the bike park and beyond is truly mind blowing. With 37 lift accessed gems in the bike park and another 100 littered throughout the valley the possibilities are endless.

We arrived Wednesday evening got settled in our condo and headed out to Mount Fernie Provincial Park for an pedal on the XC bike to get the legs warmed up. When you roll into town be sure to pick up a copy of the Fernie Mountain Bike Guide from any of the local shops, it provides directions, difficulty ratings and maps to 54 trails in the valley.

Thursday morning we met Christine from Fernie’s marketing team who hooked us up with our passes and a guide to show us around the mountain on the first day. Our guide Steve received his training from Daren at Endless Biking and did a great job of connecting various trails together for a few hours. Everyone working at the resort was really friendly and genuinely nice.

Fernie employs chair mounted bike hooks which are loaded 2 at a time. This works fine but was definitely a bit more work for the kids and those lacking upper body strength.

We arranged for a sitter to watch Holden for a couple hours which allowed Amberlea and I do some exploring of our own. Amberlea picked up a bike from the rental fleet which was a 2011 Scott Voltage FR20 which is designed with bike park style free riding in mind. The Voltage FR20 offers a descent mix of components like the Rock Shox Domain fork, Fox Van R shock and SRAM X7 drivetrain. She was impressed with the confidence inspiring geometry and plush suspension, which allowed her enjoy some steeper and more technical terrain. I did a lap on one as well and would agree that it is a great rental but I decided to stick with my trusty V10. In the world of rental bikes I think the Voltage is a great choice and many of the other renters we spoke to raved about it.

Fernie has 2 lifts, the Elk and the Timber, with the Elk running Thursday to Sunday and the Timber running just Saturday & Sunday. The Elk provides 1000′ of vertical access to 20 trails that are mostly intermediate with some advanced terrain. Very few of the trails are machine built and most are single track. Whether you’re ripping the tight and technical roots of Power Carve or shredding the intermediate Mr. Berms you will have a smile on your face by the time you reload your bike in their line-up free lift. Fernie had received substantial rain early in the week and the lower trails were fast and tacky with a great mix of earth, root, rock and wood structures to improve flow.

We did a couple of laps of Top Gun together pumping berms and doubling the rollers. I would compare this trail to B-line and was a great place to get warmed up and find your flow.

The Timber chair is a high-speed detachable quad that only operates on the weekends, it provides an additional 1100′ providing over 2100′ of expert and technical terrain. We stuck around so that I could spend Saturday morning riding the expert only terrain serviced by Timber and I am really glad we did. The upper trails are very technical and rocky with many different options thanks to 17 different trail variations. As you progressed down the mountain the trails opened up to be fast and flowy with well built berms and plenty of jumps and sniper lips to boost. When I come back to Fernie I will definitely make sure to spend more time over on Timber.

One notable trail is Rumple Stumpkin, which is a 2100′ black trail that starts off with a half dozen rocky and tech switchbacks where you can find speed by doubling over rocks. As it descends it opens up into fast and rocky single track through the woods then opens up for some great turns and small jumps in the meadows. From there you jump back into the woods for more tech bits and bermed corners. Definitely a favourite trail of the day.

Steve mentioned that there were just 5 guys on their trail crew and with the amount of terrain they have to cover we were very impressed with the conditions across the entire park. I know they don’t get the traffic of other resorts, but either way they deserve huge props for their work.

Lift Ticket Price: $46.50/day incl tax
Bike Rental Price: $79/day + tax

Jer’s Favourite Trail: Rumple Stumpskin
Amberlea’s Favourite Trail: Top Gun
Best Jump Trail: Bin Logdin

Extra Credit – Shuttle Dirt Diggler

After riding the park Friday I asked Amberlea if she would mind shuttling me up a local epic downhill called Dirt Diggler. She was happy to oblige, so we loaded up the 4Runner and headed out up Coal Creek Road and then climbed to the microwave towers on top of Morrissey Ridge using Matheson Creek road which an extremely rocky FSR. A truck with good clearance is a must and the 4Runner crawled over the rocks and water bars with ease. Once you reach the towers sitting at 2140m (7020′) you are rewarded with a 360 degree view of Fernie and the surrounding mountain ranges.

Dirt Diggler is an extremely steep and knarly 4000′ descent. The first 100′ was still snowed in which created a few scary moments while tying to descend.

The pucker factor of several of the steep rocky swithbacks is huge especially combined with sub-alpine exposure that could result in significant tumbles. Riding this trail solo was a little frightening and definitely had me riding conservatively. I probably needed to replace my brake pads and shorts after the first 1500′.

Once you re-enter the forest you are treated to a 40degree coal sand slope that funnels you into a right hander. This felt a little like surfing and was an awesome section of trail.

The trail opens up and gets fast in the forest traversing across the lower Morrissey Ridge. Once you hit the old mining double track be ready for a dozen large gap jumps and hips ranging from 10-20 feet all of which are well built with nice transitions.

Dirt Diggler is a must hit for any serious downhiller visiting Fernie. Make sure you pack some armour and a full face as it is full on the whole way.

Our time in Fernie exceeded our already high expectations. We knew that it had great mountains but the volume and variety of trails in the valley is astounding. Combine that with friendly locals, a scenic town with plenty of nice pubs and eateries and you have one of Canada’s best mountain towns.

A huge thank-you to Ski Fernie, Tourism Fernie, Fernie Lodging Co & Bike Parks BC for an amazing time!