What I have learned in Fernie...

1. There is this thing called the 20cm rule. If it snows 20cm over night, everybody gets the day off...to play at the hill. YEAH. This is real. In Fernie there are some companies don't enforce this snow law but there are some towns that literally do shut down following a good dump.

2. 0° is not cold. In Vancouver 0° is as cold as it gets and at this temperature everyone is bundled up like they're in Alaska IF they leave their home. At the same time, Fernie doesn't get as cold as Alaska either but I have to look forward to lots of snow and -20°. Hooray!

3. Just 40 minutes from Fernie there is a very interesting little town called Frank. On April 29th, 1903, 90 million tons of rocks fell from Turtle mountain burying the little town of Frank and the people in it. The aftermath is still on the ground today. It's a little morbid but they've managed to make a friendly little theme park out of it. Tragedy preserved.

* photo by Gary Hebert in 2006