Fateful weekend in Fernie

A long weekend. YAY. Having now got the ski bug we are once again keen to hit the slopes. Friends from school Matt and Ange invited us to spend the weekend with them in Fernie. Reports had been done, PT interviews had finished and Book Fair was over so off we headed. We decided to take the 'cowboy trail' to see some sights along the way.

Black Diamond at Black Diamond

Cowboys at Longview along the cowboy trail

The jerky store at Longview

The jerky selections.

We had elk and bison jerky for something completely different.

Some awesome sights along the way. We really did feel like cowboys and such beautiful countryside.

Reminded us of a summer drive between Wello and Dubbo

Hats along the fenceline.

Still a little snow

As we got closer to the mountains the snow was back. We stopped at Frank where in 1912 there was a massive landslide off turtle mountain and buried nearly the whole town. We all enjoyed the interpretive centre and it made us realise the impact of coal mining in such a fragile environment. Weirdly enough there are still a number of coal mines in the Rocky Mountains.

Where the town of Frank used to be.

We crossed through the mountains via Crowsnest Pass and past Sparwood where Joeys Grade 3 teacher grew up - she asked us to take a picture of the World's largest truck - so Tracey, here it is.

We arrived in Fernie and had a good nights sleep before hitting the ski slopes early Saturday morning.

The adventure is now on hold. At 12.09pm on the Saturday Ali gets brought down the mountain by the ski patrol with a suspected broken arm. She had mastered the bunny hill at Fernie and felt slightly confident about attempting a green run. Unfortunately she made it about 200m down the slope before she fell on her arm. A sled ride from the first aiders down the slope, an ambulance ride to the hospital, copius amounts of happy gas and a shot of morphine confirmed the worst - a fractured humerus.














In the ambulance she suggested that the family keep skiing as it cost so much money to be there.
















Ali was very brave and didn't cry one tear the whole time. Trying to keep it together so that the boys were not too scared. Ange and Matt took them home so that no more injuries could have occurred that day. They had lots of fun building forts and playing air hockey in the meantime.