FSA 21/22 Start Up Plan

Dec. 14

As many of you know, Fernie received significant flood damage during the November atmospheric river weather events. While upper riding areas, trails, and infrastructure remained undamaged, all that water funneled at valley bottom chewing away roads/trails, damaging bridges, and changing the course of rivers. To further the (in)perfect storm - Fernie experienced a rather late arrival of winter with the first real snowstorm of the season arriving just this last weekend. It has been a long journey for the FSA this fall as we worked around the clock with stakeholders to come up with solutions to restore backcountry access this winter. This is still a very dynamic situation but here is what we can tell you so far…

CORBIN: Open Dec 17th

Our first scheduled groom of the season out Corbin is planned for the night of Friday, December 17th, 2021. Please note that the Corbin road / trail is CURRENTLY PLOWED FOR TIMBERHARVESTING TO THE BARNES ELLIOT TURN OFF. It is illegal to snowmobile on a plowed road in BC - doing so poses significant fines, is a serious safety issue, and damages our relationship with industrial partners and the government. Don’t be THAT guy. The FSA and Canfor will be working together to build a new snowmobile trail parallel to the existing road for recreation use this season to allow simultaneous operation. Snowmobilers MUST stay on the new trail and OFF the plowed road or we risk loosing access. The ‘new’ trail will be groomed Friday and Mondays each week and the regular trail is available for snowmobiling after the Barnes Elliot Lake turn off junction.

New this season: During peak visitation the FSA will be plowing the clearing over the bridge for use by trucks with decks to accommodate overflow parking. This lot will only be open when the ground is frozen and no fueling is permitted in this area so as to not damage underlaying vegetation. Trucks pulling trailers will not be permitted over the bridge. You MUST stop and see attendant before proceeding. When the berm is up beside the kiosk - vehicles are NOT permitted to use this far staging area. When the berm is down (moved farther up the trail) parking is permitted if required (use main lot as your first option unless full). This is a a privilege extended to us by RSTBC for the season - abuse it and we loose it!

MORRISSEY: Tentative Open Jan 15th

Please note that due to significant flooding damage there is currently NO access up the Morrissey trail / resource road at this time. The FSA is working with our partners and contractors to complete repairs to the missing bridge starting January 10rd, 2022. It is anticipated these repairs should take approx 5 days for a potential first groom the night of January 14th, 2022.

Once the bridge is restored, we will be grooming the Coal Creek and Morrissey loops 4 nights a week with bonus grooms over the Family Day week.

COAL CREEK: Tentative Open Pending

Please note that due to significant flood damage there is currently NO access up the Coal Creek trail / resource road at this time. The FSA is working with the City of Fernie, MOTI, and our contactor to build a new trail bypassing the missing bridge and damaged section of trail. We would like to extend a thank you to Canwel and the RDEK for their incredible support in this immense project. Once this FSA initiative is complete it will be a new multi-use trail for the public. We are waiting on final approvals from the City to start construction but anticipate the operating plan to potentially look like a temporary staging area built at River Road Extension, recreation users will travel up the old railbed (groomed 4 nights a week by the FSA) past the current FSA staging area and onto the new bypass trail to meet up with the existing Coal Creek road above the Matheson junction.

HARTLEY: Open

With this week’s new snowfall we now have sufficient coverage on the trail to begin grooming for the season. Grooming start up date to be announced shortly.

We are asking all users to please be patient with us at this time. Again, the FSA has been working around the clock to source permissions, permits, contractors, engineers, materials and the like to restore recreation access for you as soon as we can. Please continue to check back with us for updates!

Many Thanks,

The Fernie Snowmobile Association