Canadian Tuxedo
We drove there in the dark, on long, unlit sections of highway running in straight lines from Calgary, Alberta, down to the southern border of Canada and the small coal mining town of Fernie. Our destination: the eponymous British Columbia resort, an under-appreciated operation with some of the most easily-accessible, awe-inspiring bowl, chute and glade skiing you’ll ever experience.
Hank steered our rental car away from the airport as gusting winds swirled snow from the ground into the air and blew uninhibited across the flat landscape. I sat sandwiched between ski bags and my friend, John, in the backseat. Into the abyss we drove, our headlights the only way to illuminate the country roads. Passing cars and trucks spat up a whirlwind of white. We rode three hours from Calgary to Fernie with the forecast calling for a couple of inches along the way.Our crew was seven strong with two cars full of luggage and skis. We were college buddies and friends of friends, and everyone had the same attitude: Let’s hit this mountain as hard as possible for three days straight. For a small group with a ski-dedicated mindset, there was no better place to end up than within reach of Fernie’s five legendary bowls, spanning more than 2,500 acres in the Lizard Range…
