Please send us a note if you need any additional information. One of our volunteers will be in touch with you shortly.
Get in touch with us!
volunteers
Season 2019 – 2020 opens!
It’s already September and the school programs are getting started. The registration for the Fernie Nordic Society membership is now open. Whether you just want to renew your membership or purchase one for the first time, this is a good opportunity. Take advantage of our early-bird fees before December 1st and you will save about $10 per person. Head to the webpage on the Zone4.ca website and search for Fernie. Everything may be done quickly online all at once: membership, ski lessons and rentals for children, enrollment in the race team and payment by credit card. We will announce the details about adult ski lessons when this program is finalized. Visit our website at www.fernienordic.com for more details.
Come to the Fernie Community Centre on Monday September 9 between 5 and 8:30 pm and our volunteers will be happy to answer your questions about the club and the many activities planned for this winter season. Our volunteers have been busy to improve the drainage along the trails of the Nordic Centre and to enlarge the staging area around the warming hut. All this so we can get an early start on our skis. The Society is currently looking for volunteer coaches (training provided), helpers with events, grooming and more, so get in touch with us to make your mark!
Season 2018 – 2019 starts
The season got to a good start even considering how little snow is on the ground. Volunteers began grooming the trails of the Elk Valley Nordic Centre in late November and many skiers have taken to the trails since.
– – – Ski Lessons
The ski lessons program for children is now fully booked. Several coaches, all volunteers, will lead the lessons on Saturdays and Tuesdays starting in January. This year, fourteen young skiers are part of the Fernie Racers. Their training started back in September and their goal is to enter all eight Teck Kootenay Cup races this season with the first ones in Rossland on December 15-16.
Ski lessons for adults will be available again this year starting in January. Amy Wyatt and Tarah Leggott will be coaching to groups on weekday mornings as well as at other times for private lessons. There is more information on the this website.
– – – Trail Ambassadors and Volunteers
Many of the club members are volunteering their time to be at the Nordic Centre for a few hours during the weekends. The program started this past weekend and will run to the end of the season on Friday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays between 10 am and 4 pm. The warming hut will be open during most of the Holidays period as well. There are additional volunteering opportunities for the upcoming Kootenay Cup event that the Fernie Nordic Society hosts on January 5 & 6. Let us know at volunteers[at]fernienordic.com
– – – Upcoming Activities
The Fernie Nordic Society has planned several events during the season. There is an early start this week with the first Toonie race on Tuesday Dec 11 at 7 pm at the Nordic Centre. No booking is necessary. Participants gather at the hut, drop their toonie and go for a fun ski. It all ends inside the warming hut by the woodstove. This event is aimed at older teens and adults.
On December 17, is the first activity planned for kids. Participants in the fun Little Critter race do as many short laps in a given time. Sign up starts at 5:30 – free to enter – and the event starts at 6 pm at the Nordic Centre.
And just before the Holidays an event for adults, the first Full Moon Ski and Social at the Nordic Centre on Saturday, December 22 starting at 7 pm. A headlamp is useful to have for this outing under the moonlight. Then end the evening inside the warm hut.
Non club members only need a day pass to participate in these events
– – – Fundraiser
The fundraiser for our newly acquired – and good looking – snowcat is still running. The official page is at https://chuffed.org/project/welcome-home
– – – Buy and Sell
There is Facebook page HERE to use for looking to buy or sell gear locally.
Ad from Heaven Boutique on 2nd Ave
Fernie Nordic Society members get a 10% discount on these brands: **Skhoop (skirts) **NOSO (adhesive patches) **Turtle Fur (hats/headbands) **Auclair (gloves/mitts) **Goodr (sunglasses) Club members MUST show their actual membership card with the 2018/19 sticker on it for the discount to be valid.
Trail
passes are now available from any of our kiosks at the trails and at
the warming hut – single $10 or family $20. They are good stocking
stuffers for anyone!
Enjoy the many trails that Fernie has to offer!
Welcome our snowcat home!
Today we are launching our “Welcome Home” campaign for our new (to us) snow cat. Anyone can contribute to it by visiting https://chuffed.org/project/welcome-home This campaign will run to the beginning of November.
Since 2015 the Fernie Nordic Society have been renting a snowcat to augment grooming done by our snowmobile groomer? Last year we were the only facility renting the snowcat and the opportunity to use it more often meant some truly fabulous grooming for the 2017-2018 season. We had arranged to rent the snow cat for one more year, but…
In September we learned that we would not have access to the snow cat that we have been using over the last number of years. While it added some unexpected pressure to find an alternative, we are happy to announce that the Fernie Nordic Society and you, our members and trails users, are about to be proud new owners of our very own snowcat! She’s a beauty and is almost ready to help us achieve the quality of trails we all dream of. This purchase is one step in a long-term vision that you have helped create and we were fortunate that all things aligned to make it a reality just in time for the 2018/19 season!
Both the groomer and related costs were not accounted for at the 2018 Annual General Meeting and we have always been committed to ensuring our fees stay as low as possible while providing the best quality nordic skiing possible. Through our surveys and strategic planning processes, we’ve also heard that members would be willing to pay more to improve the club. We are asking that our members help us now with donations to support this additional cost. Already having an amazing volunteer crew of groomers and mechanics means that full-time access to our own groomer, with no additional monthly cost, will result in the best grooming program we have seen at the Elk Valley Nordic Centre to date.
Our long term vision sees us offering more programs and facilities in a venue that is sustainable, welcoming and secure for long-term access. Achieving our goals will require a series of exciting campaigns over the coming years, but we are confident that working together, we can see our nordic community of 850+ members become even stronger. We want you, as members, to feel ownership in the club because we truly couldn’t do this without you!
Our ultimate goal for this campaign is $85,000. This will cover purchasing the cat, shipping and initial upgrades ($50,000) as well as the start of our shelter and operational costs for the winter. That means that if all of our members contributed $100 we could raise $85,000 that quickly! It’s really that simple. We welcome contributions of any size, and all contributions $1000+ will be recognized with their name on the shelter once completed.
The nature of the purchase and our goal to groom this fall gives us an element of urgency, so we’d like to see how far we can get by November 1st. Please share the campaign far and wide. We encourage participation from the entire nordic and trails community!
If you are part of an organization or company that would like to contribute a more significant donation, we will be recognizing game changer partners by applying their logo on the machine. Minimum game changer level is $10,000.
We are SO excited about the future of this club and are so pleased you’re with us for the ride. Let’s Welcome Home our new cat!