Back in January, we scheduled a mid-March trip to Fernie, BC for some (what else??) skiing. By "scheduled" I mean we had booked and paid for hotel rooms, ski tickets, etc. We hadn't yet skied outside of Alberta, and we thought the temperatures would be a bit warmer and more enjoyable for the kids in March, so this trip would be perfect! Well, we were right...the temperatures had indeed been warmer. In fact, the temps in late February and early March had been so nice that most of the snow was gone...even in the mountains! We kept hearing from folks who "know" that this was one of the worst skiing seasons in about 30 years. Well, we didn't really have a choice at this point, so off we went to Fernie, BC. Fernie is about a 3 hour drive from Calgary, and as you can see, we did not find much of "the white stuff" on the way...
We arrived in Fernie to a gorgeous afternoon. Enjoyed a late lunch and then drove to Fernie Alpine Resort to check in and see if we might be able to move our lift tickets to a nearby resort. We had heard that Kimberly's resort is at a higher elevation and may have a bit more snow than Fernie. We made the switch, settled into our room, played some games, and then found some pizza for dinner. Then right to bed as we would be up early the next morning to make the drive to Kimberly.
We made it to Kimberly resort on Saturday morning. The conditions were not great...rain, fog, and very little snow. We got Nathalie checked into daycare and then hit the slopes after being told that we were "hardcore". Ha!! Nope, just too thrifty to throw a paid-for unused lift ticket in the garbage. We skied a total of 3 runs, and none of them were good. We were soaking wet, and the fog made it really hard to see where we were going. Ugh. We picked Nathalie up early and ate lunch. She did have a little lesson after lunch, and then we made our way back to Fernie...still in the rain. Ate dinner, took warm baths, and curled up on the couch to watch movies together. The day definitely did not go as expected, but by the time we were sipping hot cocoa that night, all we could do was laugh and be grateful for family time together...whether skiing or snuggling!
We enjoyed breakfast in Fernie before hitting the road back to Calgary. And that night, as luck (not ours) would have it, Fernie got about 15 to 20 inches of fresh snow. No, I'm not kidding. As I said to begin this post, alas indeed.
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