Fernie

[shore_flea]

I know this is the Fernie thread, but thought since Panorama's in the vicinity, someone's probably been there. Pano-dude? We'll be stopping in Panorama for a few days enroute to Calgary.
What's the hill like? Is there good XC trails? Stuff for kids/ and big kids? Not normally a bike park rider, but can't wait to rip around on some new stuff.

[pano-dude]

We've got water slides, climbing wall, mini golf, bounce castles

For riding the bike park has a bunch to offer and there is a new xc loop that you can access from the lift. There is a great xc trail on the way up to pano across from Lillian lake called Along the Johnson. It's an 11km loop of sweet fast single track.

If the kids and wife want to ride, there is the valley trail that is paved and loops through the golf course and along the Toby creek.

Check out www.columbiavalleycyclingsociety.org

[shore_flea]

that sounds great! we'll be staying up on the hill, but i'm guessing there's lots of singletrack down in the valley too...any classic rides we should know about? any epics? is there a shop in town for maps,etc.? I totally appreciate the local knowledge!

[Bentleysuper8]

My big problem with Fernie is their stupid operating hours. Every time I roll through they are closed. The only time I rode there was post season. I spent a week hiking and biking trails in the area with my dog. Some very cool trails around there and I hope to actually hit the park when it is open some day.

[Freerange]

Hey folks, the last few years for the Fernie ski hill were rough. I had a few people I know show up into town without knowing the ski hill was reduced to being open 4 days a week. I felt terrible for them. Having said that, there are a few shuttle trails in town that are UNREAL! Also, the xc/all-mountain/enduro or whatever you wanna call it trails around here are so much fun. Anyways, to the point...Fernie Alpine Resort will be OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK this year. Yes I'm yelling because this is awesome news for so many people. A full season bike pass is $199 and from what I understand, if you pay another $40 a season pass for Kicking Horse is included. And no, I don't work for RCR, so this isn't an add. Looking foreward to a beauty summer shredding tech trails with (hopefully) some road trips for hot laps in Golden.
Later!
Oh yeah, apparently they just finished builing some kind of aerial skills park thing for jumping around in the trees and zip-lining the shit out of the forest if your're into that.

[jitenshakun]

Originally Posted by Freerange

Oh yeah, apparently they just finished builing some kind of aerial skills park thing for jumping around in the trees and zip-lining the shit out of the forest if your're into that.

An aerial skills park would be at odds with RCR's "No Jump" policy. The policy is why anything that looked like a jump wouldn't actually give you any lift, leading to very sketchy moments.

Has RCR really changed things up this year? Anyone know?

[Freerange]

http://www.skifernie.com/summer/news...ems.aspx?a=725

It's kind of funny how RCR thinks ski/bike jumping is unsafe and has essentially banned it from the hill. And then they go and freaking build this stuff way up in a bunch of trees. And yes, you are completely on point about the sketchy moments. I feel that it's way more dangerous now that they've half removed the jumps than if they just had continued to maintain them.

Originally Posted by jitenshakun

Has RCR really changed things up this year? Anyone know?

I guess in a way they have. I'm just thankfull this year they have made obvious improvements to the hill. Hopully this carries on well into the future. And, as far as I know, there's still technicaly no jumping allowed on bikes.