Riding the Stairway to Heaven

Head to Fernie, Canada and you’ll find a host of companies offering you the chance to get out of the resort and into the backcountry. Where heliboarding and multi-day catboarding trips might be out of your budget, a one day catboarding trip gives you the chance to get into the wild for a much more reasonable amount - about $350 CDN per person.

We booked a day’s catboarding towards the end of our two week trip to Fernie last January. During the second week, more than a metre of fresh show had fallen – there was powder everywhere. But it got tracked out fast and we were keen to get away from the crowds.

One obvious difference between a catboarding trip and a day on the hill is the obstacles you’ll encounter. Fernie Wilderness Adventures operate their catskiing tours in tree farms which they lease for the winter. Trees mean branches, stumps and big old trees everywhere – and you can’t always see them until it’s too late! But it’s so exciting being in your very own forest – far from the ski school snakes and lift queues.

You’re also pretty far from the loos as well, mind you. One girl in our group brought a Shewee with her, which was pretty damn smart (www.shewee.com to find out what I’m talking about!). Another braved the cold while the rest of us just tried to drink as little as possible until we were heading back to humanity.

Before we hit the mountain, we get our safety talk at the rustic Fernie Wilderness Adventures base. We’re reminded to stay with a buddy at all times in the trees and are issued with avalanche transceivers and given a demonstration on how to use them.

Then we head out to the cat to meet our driver for the day. Al tells us the etiquette of boarding, riding and riding the cat –  the most important point being to stay out of its way when its moving.

Then our boards are stacked on the back of the cat and chained in and we’re off.  Thirty minutes into our drive we stop for some tranceiver training. The group is split into two and each group heads off to locate a transceiver that has been buried in the snow.

After that it’s back in the cat and 10 minute later we unload at the top of our first run. I’d never seen so much snow before. Pete jumped into the mounds by the side of the track to see how far he would sink – impressively deep. We all bounced around with excitement – ready to hit the best snow of our lives.

We’d all grabbed the biggest boards we could and pulled our stances right back. But with snow this deep, it was always going to be a challenging day.

Those confident in riding such deep stuff happily hooned around, slashing fresh tracks between the trees. Following them, you had the option of laying down your own tracks or using their tracks to give you direction and help you keep your speed up. However if you found yourself following tracks that had already been compacted by eight or nine people you ended up hitting fairly high speeds – a little terrifying at times when surrounded by trees.

It’s pretty crazy when you’re standing next to what looks like at 30 centimentre high tree when there are actually another three metres of it hidden under the snow. There are also hidden stumps, fallen logs, eye-level branches and other exciting things to keep you on your toes and occasionally knock you off them.

Another approach, which our guides recommended, was using the tracks but popping out into the fresh to slow yourself down a little and indulge in a few fresh turns, of course. That worked pretty well and helped those of us in new territory build up speed and confidence throughout the day.

Having had days of ubercold conditions, we were expecting another day of frosty toes and knees – and we’d all piled on the layers that morning. However after a couple of falls, it soon became clear that it was hot work clambering the right way up and out of tree wells – and being dressed like the Michelin man made it a little difficult to manoeuvre yourself into a sensible position to get going again.

So the second we hit the track at the end of the first run, the stripping commenced and we whipped off several layers. A definite bonus of catboarding is that there’s none of the frozen chairlift journeys that drain your body of heat and energy on cold winter days too.
 
A photographer follows each cat for a few runs each day. She would get ready in a good viewing point before we all set off down a slope and we were encouraged to get out best powder turns in infront of her.

Driving further into the farm and further away from civilisation, the landscape changes.  There are vast fields of powder dotted with giant snowghosts – trees so enveloped in snow there’s not a lot of tree showing through any more. They can get pretty flat in places so it’s crucial to try and keep moving in the deepest bits.

The next run I’ve humiliatingly re-run on camera several times. We’re all encouraged to take turns at dropping in first and grabbing the fresh tracks. I take my turn, dropping in third, using the two tracks laid in front of me to help me keep my speed. I get about five metres down the roll before I fall and get stuck. Shortly after another of the girls drops in and gets stuck to my left. We’re both lying their, flailing about like beetles on our back – and suddenly realise that there another nine people waiting to drop into the bowl. A few get their cameras out.

“You better not be taking pictures of this!” I shout.

“We’re not, it’s video!” one of them shouts back and they all fall about laughing.

Cheers guys.

Not that falling over is necessarily the end of the world. Real-life action man Graham (part ski patrol, part catski guide, part firefighter) is always on hand to dig us out of the snow, lay tracks to help us out of really deep spots or just help with a bit of vocal encouragement. If that man had a swear box for every time one of us shouted something while trying to get out of a hole he would have earned a fortune.

Suddenly the sun comes out and the air is filled with sparkly powder – it’s absolutely gorgeous. The shot I took at that moment, surrounded by untouched powder and misty sunshine has been my screensaver on my laptop ever since we got back and I don’t think I’ll ever get bored with it.

“Are you ready for a powgasm?!” – shouts Andre as we strap in for our second run. “I think I had a little one in the cat on the way up here” says Stu, grinning.

The new few runs became a blur of powder, wiggly trees and the occasional head-first tumble into a tree well. But the falls definitely became more spaced out, the screams of joy more frequent and the powder grins even bigger.

During one of the longer rides between runs we tucked into our heafty packed lunches which consisted of a couple of big rolls yummy humous and salad for veggie me), fruit, fruit juice, water and cake. Definitetley enough fuel to get us through the day.

The photo opportunities came thick and fast as the day went on and the last run has two options – one consisting of more trees and deep powder, the other involving a drop. Half the group opt for the drop, half opt for the tree run. In the silence of the trees, we can hear whoops and screams as the other plop off the drop into deep, fluffy stuff.  We all got to relive the carnage on our cameras after we climbed back into the cabin – amazing acrobatics.

After we plopped back onto the track at the end of our final run, the crew had one final way to check we’d been paying attention to their safety briefing.

We brought a few beers with us for the journey home and during our last run, driver Al buried the drinks in the snow with a transceiver. They were found in record time and guzzled by our thirsty gang as we headed back down the mountain.

Back at the lodge we head back to the cosy sitting room and strip off some soggy outerwear layers in front of the fire. There are vast pans of soup on the hob and we all tuck in to a warm bowl of chunky broth or lentil soup and a hunk of bread while we watch the slideshow of the day’s riding pictures. They’re fantastic – giving you the chance to own the kind of riding photos only professional riders get to keep.  We all immediately part with a totally reasonably amount of money to get copies of all the day’s shots. A couple of Fernie Wilderness Adventures t-shirts are also added to the haul before we head off back to reality.

Our powder day was a challenging but unforgettable day. It definitely took me most of the days to get my legs – I’d never ridden such tight trees and such deep powder before – and the combination of the two made for a steep learning curve. But I took it on and I think I won. Bring on the next cat trip.

A day’s catskiing or snowboarding costs $350 CDN per person. This includes lunch, use of transceivers and end of day snack. Fat ski rental, transfers and photography services available for an extra charge.

Visit Fernie Wilderness Adventures at www.powdercatskiing.ca for more info