Cross Country Skiing in Spectacular Fernie
The club invites all skiers, young, adult, families, to our annual Fernie Community Fun race event on Saturday Feb 22 at the Nordic Centre. It is open to club members and non-members alike. The fun starts at 10:30 with the Hot Chocolate Run followed by relay and solo races plus short sprints to finish. It is totally FREE to participate. Read the details on our page (click to open).
Last Saturday was another Skill Development Program lesson for 46 young skiers at the Nordic Centre.
The new Family Friendly Ski event followed on Sunday afternoon at 4 pm. We inaugurated the new and very long string of lights along the kids loop by the staging area. A fun place to ski after dark! About twenty adult skiers participated in the event as well as a few children either on dad’s back or in a chariot. The trails were well groomed and the skiing was great!
The January 25-26 weekend was also the time for our Fernie Nordic Racers to shine at the Teck Kootenay Cup in Nipika.
Twenty racers from Fernie completed the classic races on Saturday and 17 did the skate races on Sunday. In total the racers received 9 podium positions. Three young racers did amazingly well in their first cross country ski race ever. The trails were well groomed and track set although hard and very icy. Good participation by our young racing team and several adults from Fernie.
The results of the classic races are HERE and the ones from the skate races are HERE. The current standings in the Kootenay Cup are on this page. Go Fernie Racers!
The Family Friendly Ski is coming up! This Sunday is an opportunity for anyone, kids, adults, families, to ski on the trails of the Nordic Centre. Meet at the Elk Valley Nordic Centre at 4 pm for a group ski for all ages. Headlamps may not be needed! Free for members, day pass required for non-members.
UPDATE: Great fall weather on a cool Saturday morning. Plenty of mud also! Many families came to enjoy the wooded surroundings of the Nordic Centre while the young ones looked for pumpkins. About 500 hot dogs were served!
Join the Fernie Nordic Society for Fernie’s 5th Great Pumpkin Hunt, our annual autumn fundraiser event! Children 9 years and under (you don’t need to be a Fernie Nordic Member) are invited to scour the forests surrounding the Warming Hut at the Elk Valley Nordic Centre for their own pumpkin. When the search is finished, each pumpkin hunter can enjoy hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows by the bonfires. It promises to be a great morning of autumn fun!
New this year: Tickets to the event will be sold ahead of time. Come by Heaven Boutique on 2nd Avenue in Fernie to get tickets for your prefered time slot. For more details, check our Facebook page.
This is an outdoor event, so please dress your children appropriately and bring camping chairs or blankets if desired. We’re tough Fernie folks so a little rain (or snow!) won’t deter us – but if the weather turns really gnarly, we may postpone it – check our Facebook page the day of for an update.
In the past many families chose to bring wienies to roast on the bonfires and enjoyed a walk on the trails around the Warming Hut after the Hunt. Please plan to do this again!
The Fernie Nordic Society thanks Our Sponsors for supporting this great annual event!
Our 5th Annual Great Pumpkin Hunt is planned for Saturday October 19, 2019 starting at 11:00 am at the Elk Valley Nordic Centre near the Mt. Fernie Provincial Park. The event should end by 3:00 pm.
The season got to a good start even considering how little snow is on the ground. Volunteers began grooming the trails of the Elk Valley Nordic Centre in late November and many skiers have taken to the trails since.
– – – Ski Lessons
The ski lessons program for children is now fully booked. Several coaches, all volunteers, will lead the lessons on Saturdays and Tuesdays starting in January. This year, fourteen young skiers are part of the Fernie Racers. Their training started back in September and their goal is to enter all eight Teck Kootenay Cup races this season with the first ones in Rossland on December 15-16.
Ski lessons for adults will be available again this year starting in January. Amy Wyatt and Tarah Leggott will be coaching to groups on weekday mornings as well as at other times for private lessons. There is more information on the this website.
– – – Trail Ambassadors and Volunteers
Many of the club members are volunteering their time to be at the Nordic Centre for a few hours during the weekends. The program started this past weekend and will run to the end of the season on Friday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays between 10 am and 4 pm. The warming hut will be open during most of the Holidays period as well. There are additional volunteering opportunities for the upcoming Kootenay Cup event that the Fernie Nordic Society hosts on January 5 & 6. Let us know at volunteers[at]fernienordic.com
– – – Upcoming Activities
The Fernie Nordic Society has planned several events during the season. There is an early start this week with the first Toonie race on Tuesday Dec 11 at 7 pm at the Nordic Centre. No booking is necessary. Participants gather at the hut, drop their toonie and go for a fun ski. It all ends inside the warming hut by the woodstove. This event is aimed at older teens and adults.
On December 17, is the first activity planned for kids. Participants in the fun Little Critter race do as many short laps in a given time. Sign up starts at 5:30 – free to enter – and the event starts at 6 pm at the Nordic Centre.
And just before the Holidays an event for adults, the first Full Moon Ski and Social at the Nordic Centre on Saturday, December 22 starting at 7 pm. A headlamp is useful to have for this outing under the moonlight. Then end the evening inside the warm hut.
Non club members only need a day pass to participate in these events
– – – Fundraiser
The fundraiser for our newly acquired – and good looking – snowcat is still running. The official page is at https://chuffed.org/project/welcome-home
– – – Buy and Sell
There is Facebook page HERE to use for looking to buy or sell gear locally.
Ad from Heaven Boutique on 2nd Ave
Fernie Nordic Society members get a 10% discount on these brands: **Skhoop (skirts) **NOSO (adhesive patches) **Turtle Fur (hats/headbands) **Auclair (gloves/mitts) **Goodr (sunglasses) Club members MUST show their actual membership card with the 2018/19 sticker on it for the discount to be valid.
Trail
passes are now available from any of our kiosks at the trails and at
the warming hut – single $10 or family $20. They are good stocking
stuffers for anyone!
Enjoy the many trails that Fernie has to offer!
This year it is so easy to purchase your membership that you can do it at work or at home … just kidding – about registering at work that is! We’ve been working with Zone4 Registration to get our membership online this year and now you can join the Fernie Nordic Society from the comfort of your couch. Visit us HERE (click link) to register now. Your annual membership assists in meeting grooming expenses so be sure to get yours and your family’s online now! Our early bird prices end this Wednesday November 15.
There are only a few days left to get savings off at LAST YEAR”S membership prices! So make sure you and your friends are ready … because the trail prep has begun!!
We still have several spots left in our lessons program for kids aged 3 to 16. This Saturday Nov 18 is the time to get the kids sized up for rental gear. The Skill Development Program (SDP) offered to our young skiers by the Fernie Nordic Society was actually developed by the nation-wide organization Cross Country Canada. The program is standardized across the country. All our volunteer coaches are trained according to the established structure to provide a consistent level of training to our skiers. Would you like to see your little ones learning to ski? You can register for the SDP Program online HERE (click link) together with your membership and rental gear if desired.