Secondary Access at FAR

The easy solution is just get the tow trucks to drag the offending vehicles out of the way and let traffic resume. Most of the accidents on the ski hill road are fender benders or someone going into the ditch. If all ski areas had secondary access requirements it would mean for a lot of road construction. How about secondary access for silverstar, hemlock valley, cypress bowl, mount norquay, sunshine village, nelson, panorama. They don't need it... neither do we.

For fire safety, a secondary road is necessary for FAR. I know it is of major concern to both the City and local fire department. I'm sure if they were to ever be annexed, it would be a priority.

With developments behind Ridgemont and in Alpine Trails, a secondary access is necessary for it to move forward. It only makes sense for the safety of the residents and visitors.

All drivers should pay attention to the "Carry Chains or use good Winter Tires beyond this point" sign at the bottom of the hill.

mtnrat.. your comparisons, while good, are not quite fair to compare Fernie to. Cypress, norquay, sunshine and nelson do not have multiple subdivisions, hotels and condo complexes. While silverstar, hemlock and panorama all have their own fire safetey stations (mini fire departments)

Fernie Alpine Resort has the highest density of accommodation and housing of all the resorts you mentioned and has neither a secondary access road or an in resort fire saftey team.

In this months Fernie Fix "letter to the editor" a local businesswoman tells us to stop slandering FAR and start appreciating their efforts. I am at a complete lack of words when it comes to appreciating FAR's effort to address this issue, as they simply seem to be ignoring it and I can't see anything to appreciate.

Yet again, FAR will not respond to this line of questioning. They simply take no notice of the community's requests for answers or explanations, and carry on their merry way doing whatever they please. (And don't even get me started on the Peak season ticket pricing in April...)

I have no influence over the people at FAR who make the decisions, and no access to Murray Edwards or the CEOs at RCR. It's high time someone with some pull started putting the pressure on for FAR to actually accept their responsibilities and do the work they have a legal obligation to complete. Construction continues to get approval on at the hill, and yet this road has not yet been built. Mike Delich clearly has a vested interest in the Resort, and therefore must have at least some access to the appropriate people and possibly some influence in the right direction. It's clear that these letters and emails have no effect whatsoever, so I'm asking Mike, or someone in a similar position, to take up this challenge and start exerting some pressure on FAR & RCR to get on with things, before someone dies in the First Aid station waiting for an ambulance to get up the hill, or in a condo fire waiting for a fire truck to get up there.

All over the planet, communities are having mock disaster response tests - even Cranbrook is having a mock pandemic (this week I think). Fernie is not immune from the possibility of a disaster, just because we are a small friendly town. I don't care about all those other resorts and what they do or do not have. We need this road, end of story.

and hopefully they put some places for people to walk when (if) they put in the road. I dread the day that someone is injured walking back to their condo along the road that is barley wide enough for two vehicles.

I live up here on the ski hill and love to take walks with my young children up the hill to the Mountain Pantry to get the newspaper and my mail or just to get out for some exercise... that is in the spring, summer and fall. One day this winter I got the children in their snowsuits, got out the sled and proceeded to the end of the street, only to look up the Ski Hill Rd., stop dead in my tracks and think to myself "there is no way I am taking my children up this hill to go get the mail" Even my neighbour who was out shoveling, shook his head and said, don't do it. With all the cars coming down the hill and no where safe to walk on the side of the road... there is an unfortunate accident waiting to happen.

RCR has a responsibility not only to the residents of the ski hill but also to the visitors who are staying here. Not only is it dangerous to walk on the side of the road, the people who do chose to walk up from Timberline Cres. get splashed with dirt from the passing cars.

How sad is it that in a place like Fernie, where we are fortunate enough to have a multitude of outdoor adventures right at our doors, I need to drive 2 minutes up the street to get my mail instead of walking it like I should and want to be doing.

Von thats what snowshoes are for.

Who's Von and how are snowshoes going to help me walk up Ski Hill Rd with my children without getting hit by a passing car because there are no sidewalks??

mtnrat - have you ever seen a 2 year old walk in snowshoes?

You are clearly against any kind of expansion on the ski hill - I'm guessing you are one of the old locals who remembers Fernie when nobody else knew about it but I'm afraid those days are gone. The people are here, and RCR is claiming Fernie to be "world class". I don't think a basic facility like a 3 foot sidewalk on the resort's main drag is really going to make any difference to your time on the hill, and would improve both the look and the facilities of the resort. There are already dozens if not hundreds walking up and down the hill from Timberline Crescent/Condos every day - putting in a sidewalk is just going to make it easier for them, less frustrating for both walkers and drivers, and safer for everyone involved.

I can see why you are against the secondary access road as it will cut through precious forest that nobody wants to see destroyed, (although I think when lives are at risk, sometimes sacrifices are neccessary, even to the environment) but I really can't understand what you have against a sidewalk.