Dan spent last winter out in Fernie on our 3 Week Level 1 Instructor Course, before scoring a job as an instructor. We caught up with him to find out what it was like making the jump from student to working life in the mountains…
What were you doing before Fernie and why did you decide to take a Nonstop course?
Before Fernie I’d mainly been focusing on my education. I finished school after A-levels and went to the University of Bristol to study Physics after that summer, without taking a gap year or anything like that. I remember it was sometime around Christmas of that first year that I decided I really wanted to do a ski season, having heard about some of the amazing experiences my friends had had whilst skiing on their gap years; so I decided I was going to make it happen before I got too involved in a career. When the three years of my degree were up, I got a job the day after I got home and worked full time until two days before my flight out to Canada. It certainly wasn’t a glamorous job, I just packaged and sent orders from a warehouse, but as a means to an end it served its purpose because six months later I was in Fernie ready to start skiing.
What was your first day on the course like?
Well, it was so much fun I still remember it all in detail even now, six months down the road!
There was a lovely cooked breakfast first thing (which I managed to miss the majority of because I was sleeping…fail!) and after that we took one of the Nonstop buses to get to Fernie Alpine Resort itself, which is about a five minute drive from the Red Tree Lodge. I was one of about a dozen people on the 3 Week Instructor course and we were split into two groups – as far as I could tell this was based on our skiing experience so there were no huge differences in the abilities of people in the groups. The first lesson (in fact every lesson) began at 10am, so that gave us time to get a couple of runs in and warm up beforehand. I found the lesson extremely eye-opening, I couldn’t believe how much I’d learnt by the end of the day compared to the amount I’d tried to learn in my first three weeks skiing in Fernie. It was pretty intense but not overly so, and our instructor, Wendy, was such an amazing skier and a genuniely lovely person – it was an absolute joy having her teach us all day!
By the end of it, we were all pretty tired and ready to call it a day and grab a beer in the bar. Then we were given what must have been the best cooked meal I had in Fernie throughout the entire season, followed by more socialising and sleep so that we’d be prepared for lessons the next day.
Tell us a bit about your Nonstop course experience? What are the days or experiences you particularly remember?
New Years’ Eve was one of my favourite experiences – even though I was ill at the time (I drank past that to deal with it)!, It was literally all-you-can-drink champagne at the Red Tree which is always good. Then we went out to a bar called The Northern and proceeded to have just a generally amazing night out together.
One of my favourite memories has to be of the hot tub. Just about every day after skiing it is so relaxing to be able to go and chill out in the hot tub with a beer (no glasses but cans are fine!). It was a part of the daily routine for a good eight or so of us. Also, sadly some people left before my course finished (those on the two-week programmes) and I remember the leaving party for one of my roommates, Kieran, just being an absolutely hilarious time at The Fernie’s Industry Night. Another great moment would be when we all got our results from the exams – it was a complete success as every single person on the Nonstop courses passed!
Finally I’d say one of the best days was doing catskiing with Fernie Wilderness Adventures. The views were absolutely stunning, as we were lucky enough to go on a bluebird day after great snow, so it was just perfect. There’s a particular moment that stands out in my mind: getting first tracks down untouched powder (as in you can’t even see tracks if you look for them) between tight trees on the final run. Just that single run alone made the whole day worth it but we had nine of them, it was such an incredible day!
How did you get hired as an instructor? Was there an interview process?
I was actually pretty shocked at just how easy it was to get hired, but that’s probably all because of the Nonstop program. Generally there is an interview process, and in fact for those of us that hadn’t already had an interview (people doing the FernieUniversity course with guaranteed jobs had to do an interview already with the ski school) there was a group chat with our future supervisor, Kelly. However, all of the Nonstop instructors are well-respected senior instructors within the Fernie Winter Sports School and had already spoken to Kelly about us. They clearly said very nice things because we all got hired just minutes after receiving our certificates and becoming qualified ski instructors. So, effectively, the exam was our interview process, and the ski school wanted to hire us as soon as we were qualified! Honestly, it couldn’t have been any easier.
What was your first lesson as an instructor like?
I remember it being nerve-wracking, but after a few minutes I was well into it. Because I wanted to do the cat-skiing and the dates just didn’t quite align, I started a week after the other Nonstoppers that had continued on to be ski instructors. That meant I was lucky enough to be able to shadow one of my friends, Roddy, before I started teaching. Together we did two one-hour lessons with daycare (skiing for kids aged three to five); Roddy led the first lesson and I led the second lesson. We had such a good time! Basically, teaching kids is like being paid to play on your skis, and I can’t fault that at all because it’s all I want to do, personally! We just shouted and messed around whilst actually teaching the kids a thing or two (pizza became French fries), and at the end of it all me and Roddy were grinning as much as the kids, who had clearly all had a great time.
How did you find accommodation for the season?
That was one of the advantages of arriving in Fernie before the course started, it gave me a chance to meet people I’d potentially live with for the rest of the season. There’s a hostel in Fernie I thoroughly recommend called The Raging Elk, it costs $500 per month and has all the facilities you could possibly need. That’s where I first met most of the people I shared a house with after the course also. So I booked accommodation for a month before the course started as well as the month afterwards (the month afterwards so that I had time to sort out housing after the course) and then lived with friends of mine I’d met over the season until I left Fernie. I was staying at the Red Tree Lodge with the rest of the Nonstoppers during the course, and that was just awesome. I loved all the meals provided as well as having facilities like a hot tub, cinema and bar all within twenty meters of my room, and it was really convenient to have a bus take me to the hill every day.
What did you think of Fernie as a resort/town?
Fernie is an incredible, beautiful place and easily the friendliest place I’ve ever lived too. You have a stunning view of the surrounding mountains everywhere you are in the town (technically it’s a city, but it has a population of 10,000 so I’m sceptical…), and it’s absolutely beautiful with all the snow around you.
The best thing about the place, I found, is the small-town feel I got from the place. By the end of the season, having met people from Nonstop, the hostel and the ski school, I don’t think there was a single night out where I didn’t feel like I knew half the people there, which is something I really enjoyed. For the majority of the season every weekend there was an U20 ice hockey match which was also great fun and really felt like a good community get-together; considering they were kids it was pretty brutal, with lots of swearing and some very mean chants from the crowd (harassing our rival team’s goalkeeper with five minute chants of “Miiiiiitchell! Miiiiiitchell!” goes down as one of my favourite memories of the season).
Also, the bars in Fernie are great, offering many different types of music as well as open-mic nights. Depending on where you go some places can be absolutely crazy and others really chilled out, industry night at the Fernie on Sundays is great because the only people there are seasonnaires so it’s like a night out at a bar where everyone’s your mate, and bingo night at The Northern (yeah, bingo) every Tuesday is probably the most fun routine night out I think I’ll ever experience!
Of course the main thing about Fernie is the snow. The temperature is never too cold in Fernie, it seems really quite different to other Canadian ski resorts in that respect as it was barely ever below -20°C, and its temperature range gives it ideal conditions for snow. The terrain available (in-bounds, side-country and back-country) can give you whatever you want, it’s phenomenal. Overall, I really think if you want to do some serious skiing, Fernie is the most sensible choice – but perhaps I’m a little biased!
And finally what advice do you have for people thinking of taking a course/gap year?
Stop thinking and do! If you’re already thinking about it, it’s probably something you really want to do – don’t put it off so that it turns into one of those things you always wish you’d done. You will inevitably have a great time on a year abroad whatever it is you’re doing, but a course with Nonstop I think has to be one of the best ways to do it. You’re guaranteed to meet people you’ll love, and I’ve never had a better time in my life – in fact I’m going back for another season (along with a fair few of my coursemates). Until then, I’m living in Canada with my girlfriend – as chance would have it we met for the first time on the flight over here, talk about a great seating allocation! – which is just an awesome icing on the cake. Go get yourself booked onto a course and I look forward to seeing you in Fernie!
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