Fernie 11 Week Instructor Course 2015.16 - Week 9 Update from Jamie!

In the blink of an eye, another week has flown by here in Fernie, and it may just have been the best one yet!

Our All Mountain Pro course has seen us charging all over the hill and finding new places to ski every single day. I’m really chuffed to have conquered the super-gnarly Curry Headwall this week and can’t believe how much more confident my skiing has become over these past two months.

Now, there’s nothing Nonstop like better than a bit of friendly competition and giving us the chance to go tête-à-tête against our fellow comrades. So, on Friday afternoon, it was time for the dual slalom race. Thrills, spills and photo-finishes followed. Unfortunately I was not victorious and was seemingly better suited to taking photos. I’ve come to realise that I just don’t like to be told where to turn…..

On Monday I was lucky enough to shadow one of Fernie’s most experienced patrollers, Sue, to get a first-hand experience of the pivotal work they do to keep the rest of us safe on the hill. I’m sure it would come as no surprise that, whilst I most definitely enjoyed the sample taking and weather reporting, the highlight of the day for me was firing the ‘Avalauncher’. This awesomely named piece of kit is a cannon that uses compresses nitrous-oxide to fire an explosive charge at the headwall in order to trigger an avalanche. BOOOOM!!!

Fernie may be a small town but it still attracts big names and events, and so this weekend Monster Energy hosted their ‘Borderstyle’ competition. Four boarders would race at once and charge down a course that consisted of huge berms, jumps and even a pond over which they were supposed to skim!

As always there were just as many activities off the piste as on it this week. Unfortunately, two of these happened to involve sore heads, but for very different reasons. The first was the Dodgeball competition. I’m sure I remember that head-shots were not allowed in my day, but apparently I led a sheltered existence and should man-up. The second activity was St Patrick’s Day, which was celebrated with suitable gusto and paid for accordingly the morning after.

It pains me to think how close we are now to the end of the course, but luckily there is still a huge amount of skiing and fun to be had. Bring on Week 10!

See more of my ninth week on the Fernie 11 week Instructor course in my VLOG: