Spectacular early season snowfall allows Fernie Alpine Resort to open one week early and all five bowls. You know the snow is deep when the talk in the local pub starts out like this "back in the day"... "before the road came through the cornices were 30 feet..." Often it's the old-timers from the railroad sharing the tales with the Pro Ski Patrol team at Fernie Alpine Resort. So far this season is shaping up to be one of those historic winters that the old timers tell tall tales about. We have snowbanks high in town now and Fernie Alpine Resort received 8 feet of snowfall in the month of November alone!

The weather for this year's annual Tree Light Up was a bit chilly, it was minus 20 something on the morning of November 19, and we almost decided to stay home by the fire instead of getting all bundled up and driving in to town, but we had arranged to meet some friends, so away we went. The City of Dawson Creek moved the Mile O Post to a temporary location at the Northern Alberta Railway Park, a block north of it's usual home and put up a 35-40 foot tree in it's place and draped it with multi-colored lights. The streets have been decorated with big white snowflakes and it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here. I'm glad we went because it turned out to be a great community party and the cold weather actually added to the fun. It's nice to offer events like this to both the people who live here and also the many who find themselves far away from home and staying in our hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts. Many of the local businesses were open for the light up celebration and some were handing out hot chocolate, hot cider, popcorn and even glow sticks. There were kids of all ages mingling around and of course Santa was there too.

One of my favourite activities in Fort Nelson is hiking or cross-country skiing in the Fort Nelson Demonstration Forest.