Ski Toruing from Mount Fernie Provincial Park

I tried driving Mount Fernie Park Road to check out access to the Thunder Meadows hut from valley bottom but there was a locked gate for the ski cat operation. I was able to park just past the campground in Mount Fernie Provincial Park at the Lizard Creek bridge. From there the skin track diverged from my pre planned route but worked out well anyway. There are probably a few options to get to the outskirts of the resort where the bigger terrain comes into view. I would like to explore other routes to access next time and other potential ski outs from the resort. It was a fun day overall considering I was unsure if going into the resort was the right call but everything seemed to line up on this one. The snow conditions were pretty good for spring explorations with wet isothermal snow but not too deep that made the travel slow. No melt freeze crust and extra sticky snow like Kimberly resort made it easy to control speed. Another option for a backcountry ski objective nearby for a day trip could be the 2000 foot hill indicated on the map. 

Day 1 GPS

Parking at a plowed site along the road

Lizard Creek

Skinning was not bad through the trees at all. I was using the backcountry skiing Canada map series of Canada to navigate and had transferred a few waypoints to my GPS. The route I was supposed to follow was the Verboten summer trail but it felt like it made more sense and there was a faint skin track ahead of me that went towards the ridge before Lizard Lake. 

I had reached another smaller creek and the going was smooth to parallel it rather than make my way up to the ridge between the 2 trails. 

Emerging into some big terrain with many wet loose avalanches

First view of Fernie after emerging out of the forest 

A ski run that is probably a closed portion of the resort west of the haul back T bar and potentially accessed from Cedar bowl. It was clear that this area had been closed for a few days now at least. 

Big cracks in the closed and hard to access terrain

Wet loose avalanche season

The run I did to make my way into the resort. I remember not being sure if I should commit to this considering my car was being left at the trailhead away from the resort. The skin back out this way should not have been too bad either but the resort made for a cool switch of pace

One of the many distinct 5 bowls on Fernie 

"She Jumps" non profit doing an event with Fernie Ski Patrol

The base

The highest of the lifts called Polar Peak which is apparently often closed but it gives access to those staying at the Thunder Meadows hut 

I enjoyed skiing next to these cliffs off the White Pass Quad chair. A good last run sticks to the outer boundary called Falling Star

Now I had to figure out how to get back to my car...

Taking the shuttle back to town was my go to option but then I met someone hired to shuttle a ski group around and no one was there at the designated pick up area so he offered to drop me off. I mentioned that my car was up a dirt road and he still dropped me off where the pavement ended and I was able to walk from there. 

Otherwise my walk would have been 5 km in either ski boots or sandals from the airbnb! 

Thanks again

Finishing the walk along the Park Road and getting splashed by the cat skiing vehicle traffic 

Reunited with Puma and watching Rogue Heros - wahoo!