The 12 of us were split into 4 or 5 groups to allow us to keep an eye on each other in case anyone got into trouble. I spent most of the day partnered by Elaine and Graham and we worked well together, making sure each other was OK and hadn't fallen into a tree well or lost a ski. We had 2 guides with us at all times, one of which would ski down first and the other who would wait at the top of the run until we'd all emerged safely at the bottom.

It got pretty steep at times

The terrain at Fernie Wilderness Adventures is predominantly trees, or at least the stuff we saw was, so if you're not a tree fan I'd stick your name on the waiting list for Island Lake Lodge and start saving up. The weather in the morning was bitterly cold and windy, but it was snowing heavily which allowed us to do the same runs over again once our tracks had filled in. Considering this was Fernies worst snow year for quite some time there was plenty of untracked powder for everyone. The runs varied in length from 900 to 1200 vertical feet and we did 9 in all. From what I could gather off some of the others who had done this sort of thing before, this is the usual length of a snowcat run. This is because if the runs were any longer, you would have to wait for the cat at the bottom of the run. This way, the time it takes the cat to descend is the same time that you take, which allows more vertical feet to be skied in a day.

To be honest I wasn't expecting the snow to be as good as it was and it was undoubtedly the deepest powder I'd seen on the whole 2 week trip (which included a heli day). The trees ranged from relatively well spaced to tighter than tight, but there was always a relatively open way down each run if you like that sort of thing. We were restricted to the less steep areas due to avalanche risk, but I would imagine that on a more stable snowpack there will be something to please even the more advanced powder hound. Despite this, Fernie Wilderness Adventures do seem to be aiming themselves squarely at the intermediate market as the majority of their terrain is most suited to intermediate skiers and boarders. All in all, the day was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and I'd recommend the experience to anyone.