Milly - Week two of my ski holiday in fernie!

So my first week in Fernie was amazing, a bit too amazing because I then spent the next week dreading leaving - managed to fit in some fun too though...

Week two of the Improvement and performance Camp

After my week one adventure I had high expectations for week two. I'd already made a whole heap friends, improved my skiing technique, discovered a profound love of trucks and been on a bus pub crawl around a few of the more redneck bars of the Fernie area, so what more could week two possibly bring? Well...
 

The Skiing

After a weekend of trying out the local cuisine and free skiing with friends it was back into lessons on Monday. I was hoping to really cement the progress I had made in my first week and apply it to my skiing in all the varied terrain Fernie has to offer. Our two ski instructors, Dwight and Wendy, were pretty damn awesome skiers. Wendy was also a great source of mountain knowledge, telling us all about the local wildlife. She frequently abused her powerful position of all-knowing-mountain-woman by doing things like making me believe (for a whole day) that there are such things as Canadian mountain snakes. They have completely white eyes and like to breed when the snow is deep, apparently. Just like to point out that I was the only one of my group who believed in these mythical creatures, not all Nonstoppers are so gullible. After four more days of instruction in the second week I feel more confident about my skiing than ever. I've been skiing for a very long time, but it has been a while since I had any formal instruction, so I reckon I've made some pretty overdue break-throughs.
 

Come the last day of classes I did feel quite emotional saying goodbye to Dwight and Wendy. They both came to the farewell dinner at the Red Tree Lodge and it was great to have a good chat about  all the things we had achieved as a group. The Canadian culture of tipping had become a topic of conversation and debate throughout the two weeks and witnessing a bunch of British people trying to to give their instructors a tip was actually quite funny. We had no idea how to hand the cash over, whether to do it discreetly, or make a speech, or put it in a card, or make it into a fetching money jacket. In the end we decided Aussie Jonno should be responsible for the tip, he did a great job, making a little speech and handing over the cash with a graceful appreciation for all the Wendy and Dwight's hard work. Thank goodness for the multinational Nonstop clientele!

Extra Activities

There were more Hockey matches to get excited about in the second week. I have consequently learned that if you don't want the sugar-shakes to mix with an excited manner towards a somewhat aggressive team sport, do not drink more than one Mike's Hard Lemonade. The Fernie Ghost Riders won the game 3:1, causing much happiness and celebration from me and my fellow Nonstoppers, although I'm not sure if I was elated at the win or just on a relatively pleasant sugar-high.


One amazing discovery of my second week was that Curling is not boring! Who knew? Before last week I had little experience of Curling, other than being unfortunate enough to stumble across it whilst flipping through TV channels, watching less than a minute and then changing channels again. I wasn't all that excited at the prospect of an evenings Curling but it turned out to be one of the funniest evenings I've ever had, for a few reasons: 1. I'm terrible at Curling, 2. my fellow Nonstopper Kate was great at Curling but terrible at walking on ice, 3. we beat the boys' team despite both of these things, 4. I really am terrible at curling and 5, Kate really, really can't walk on ice. I think everybody was surprised at how much they enjoyed Curling, the learning of the sport as well as the laughing at other people falling over. After a few hours on the ice we headed to the rink bar, ordered pizzas from the local takeaway and relived the hilarity of the evening over whiskey and munchies. The bruised knees I woke up with the next day were completely worth it.

Another highlight of my final week was witnessing all the preparation the 11 weekers did for their synchro competition. My group and I went to the Corner Pocket for a spot of lunch and walked into the restaurant to find an odd mix of fancy dressed people preparing for the competition. There were pink princesses, a wedding party (the females of the group becoming the Groom and Groomsmen and the male contingency donning dresses and lipstick for the occasion), a strange mix of skiers who looked like a cross between superheros and an old woman's laundry basket and a group of 'robots', the dressing up of which consisted of wrapping all their equipment in tin foil. The competition was a great success and at the end the cheer of 'to the bar!' for Thirsty Thursdays echoed round the mountain, calling all to the fun of apres ski.

Saying Goodbye

I ended my second week in Fernie on a patriotic high. A few of us arranged to watch the Wales v England Six Nations match on Saturday evening, avoiding social media at all costs during the day. In the lead up to the match there was a much banter and being the only Welsh person on the course, I was heavily outnumbered. However, come the end of the match I was doing victory laps combined with my 'happy dance' around the coffee table at the Old Nurses Home (one of the lovely houses available to stay in), while the English in the room hung their head in their hands, or looked upon me with the puzzled expression of questioning my sanity ('happy' is a gentle way of describing my 'happy dance').

Then it was time to say goodbye. I have to say I am hugely jealous of the Nonstoppers staying on for the extra three weeks and the 11 weekers that have made Fernie their home over the course of the winter, but I'm immensely thankful I was able to spend two weeks in such a wonderful place, with such great people. In two weeks I've been buried up to my chest in snow, bruised my knees Curling, had a BBQ in the snow, laughed until my stomach hurt, eaten the best Sushi I've ever had, accidentally growled like a cat at a waitress offering me spiced rum, improved my skiing, done a bus pub crawl around some of Canada's more redneck establishments, skied in powder up to my waist and in between the trees, made some lovely friends and some amazing memories and fallen head over heals in love with the town of Fernie. Experience of a life time and it was only two weeks long!



If you want this kind of two week ski holiday experience then Nonstop is definitely the company for you!