Master the Mountain Improvement Course Diary #1
Hi- I’m Graham and I’m on the 6 week MTM course here in Fernie. After thinking about a course like this for some time, I finally took the plunge and booked up, and I can honestly say I have no regrets whatsoever!
We arrived in Fernie on Tuesday night and after a day of exploring the town and sorting our ski gear, we got onto the hill to enjoy the legendary powder snow that Fernie is famous for. I’ve never skied in Canada before; and being more used to European pistes, am loving the change of domain, amazing tree-runs and having the mountain to ourselves!
There are 24 skiers and boarders on the course who divide into 5 groups, with lessons Monday-Thursday. We’ve already seen some massive improvements, with a number of us having had ‘Eureka’ moments and working out what we’ve been doing wrong all these years! Our instructors never seem to run out of ridiculous drills to help us with technique – designed to make us look as stupid as possible (and usually directly under a chair lift!). I’ve certainly never done an exercise designed specifically to make you fall over! Maurie has taken this drill particularly seriously – practicing it religiously (but unintentionally) on a daily basis and never failing to win fall of the day… “I may never be Master of the Mountain but I’m already Master of the Fall!”
The format of the lessons has been great – stripping us right back to basics and taking away any idea we could ski or board already to get rid of all our bad habits. To be honest, it’s been exactly what we’ve needed, with the instructors then pushing us harder so our newfound skills can be used to full effect on as much of the mountain as possible. Some of our powder turns have been hard-earnt (with some fairly tough, sweat inducing boot-pack hikes) but they’ve all been completely worth it – the feeling of carving fresh lines in virgin snow, with all of us shouting with excitement, pure choice.
Thirsty Thursday got off to a rocking start after a hard day on the slopes and continued through some eventful curling and on to The Brickhouse to see birthday girl “Steph” debut her singing career on stage. Dave meanwhile took his drinking games as seriously as tracking down his AWOL luggage…
Saturday brought The Olympic torch to Fernie, which I’m sure is something many of us will experience only once in our lives. Despite the -10°C temperatures and early start, it really was a great sight, with a brilliant vibe in town.
We then rushed back to start our Avalanche Safety Training and after an informative classroom lesson on Saturday we were let loose on the mountain on Sunday, all geared up with transceivers, shovels and probes. The day was spent digging pits and looking at the layers of snow already there in the 2.5m base, burying people alive, probing and “whoomping” snow!
The weekend was rounded off by a “spag bol off “ between two of the houses… It was technically declared a draw on the night, but having spoken to most of the people since, I think it is pretty clear who the real winners were…
Well, Week 1 is over and most of us have survived (some with a little more help than others from Morphine and Ibuprofen)… Bring on Week 2!!!
Graham Miller
