While watching the last few winter Olympic Games, I was fascinated by Curling.  This week Ankie and I had the opportunity to experience Curling first hand.  There is a Curling rink in Fernie, with a club running drop in evenings every week.  At first glance the game definitely seemed to be related to bowls, which we are more familiar within South Africa.  I must say we had great fun playing about 4 ends. I guess, like many other sports, it was a little trickier than it looked.

Curling in Fernie – Ankie is clearly better with a broom!

As usually Ankie and I were a little early, so we started chatting to some of the club members hosting us at the Curling rink.  They were very friendly and helpful.  The Fernie Curling Club has about 8 teams that play regularly.  The city of Fernie also supports the club to keep this popular sport in Canada in Fernie.

As we chatted we quickly did some research on the game of Curling. It originated in Scotland more than 500 years ago!  In the last Olympic Games in Vancouver the Canadian teams won the Gold in the men’s and silver in the women’s competition. There were only 10 countries competing.  What was very interesting to me is that the team that represent their country at the Olympics is not the combination of the best individual players but rather the team who won the national championship. For example: 4 club players from Edmonton won the gold medal in 2010.

Another of the club members gave Ankie a little help learning the game before the other NonStoppers arrived.  The sliding to release the Rock was a lot trickier than I expected.  We had to put on a special plastic slider underneath one foot to help with the sliding.  The power control was not easy as I tended to slide the rock to fast, which would make it go over the target.  Sweeping the ice to help the rock go further did not come as naturally to me as to Ankie.

If we ever find ourselves in a country where they play curling, I might well take the time to learn to play it properly.  With only ten countries competing in the Olympics the odds are better than most other sports once you get in. Have you ever gone Curling? Tell us below:

One of the kids’ favourite places in Fernie is the Fernie Aquatic Centre.  The Fernie Aquatic centre has two pools, hot tub, a slide, diving boards, tarzan swing and steam room.  We spend most of our time in the leisure pool that is nicely heated and shallow enough for the kids to still stand.

Outside view of the Fernie Aquatic Centre

At first the kids was so scared they did not want to leave our arms, but they have progressively gained more confidence.  It is also amazing to see the peer pressure at work.  Christopher was curious about the slide from the first visit but could not get himself to go down.  The first visit with Diane they both went down the slide and didn’t want to stop.  They ended up going down on their own.

Needless to say we prefer the hot tub at 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) after a day out on the very cold mountain. Another great benefit of the time at the Fernie Aquatic Centre is the way the kids handle washing their hair at bath time.  This used to be a mission every time, now they hardly notice water all over their faces when we do it.

The Fernie Aquatic Centre has a big 6 lane competition pool

The change room facilities at the Fernie Aquatic Centre are fantastic. There are a male, female and family change rooms. All equipped with 50 cent lockers, showers and toilets. There is also a swimming school and life guards on duty all the time.  There are ample parking, vending machines for snacks and drinks, and a small shop selling swimming accessories.

The Fernie Aquatic Centre is located over the railway tracks from the historic town centre at 250 Pine Avenue, Fernie, BC: (Google maps have it under Fernie Leisure Services)

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I think the times spend at the Fernie Aquatic Centre will be some of the fondest memories our kids will take back home from Fernie.

I will updated the post with the operating times and prices later.

One of the great benefits of being here for the whole season is that we can teach Christopher (4) and Sarika (2) to ski. We knew Christopher would be fine, but we were not really sure if you could get a 2 year old to ski. There is a day care center here in Fernie, but they only allow kids to take ski lessons from 3 years old.

So when we had the De Jager’s (Friends from South Africa) over for a visit, we decided to send Christopher and Diane (3) to the day care for 5 days to see if they can get the hang of skiing. They loved it. The 3 hours they spent there were divided into 1 hour ski, hour play inside and then again 1 hour ski.

Christopher (4 years old) starting to turn on his own – Tips for teaching kids to ski

Seeing that Christopher was getting better really fast we decided to try and teach Sarika (2) ourselves. Here is some tips for teaching kids to ski from our experience:

1)      You can do it yourself

Sarika is not there yet, but it has turned out much easier than I was expecting to get her smiling down the bunny slope! She is progressing every time we go up there, and I expect she will go up a chair lift with us before the end of the holiday. You can definitely do this without the help of a ski school or day care.

2)      Keep warm

The first and most important thing is to make sure the kids are warm. If they are cold it turns into an unpleasant experience for everybody. Their hands seem to be one of the most important things to keep warm, so make sure you get decent waterproof gloves that prevents from snow getting in, by overlapping the sleeve. The full body suites we got them also worked like a charm. I would recommend them highly! (Got them from Mountain Equipment Co-op in Calgary)

3)      Equipment

We didn’t want to spend a fortune on the ski equipment for the kids, especially for Sarika (2) since we were not even sure that she was going to get the hang of it. We could not really find a rental option for her, but we found great shop with second hand equipment in town. We were able to get everything we needed for less than $150 for Sarika.

4)      Short burst

We found that the kids learned best and enjoyed it most in short bursts of 30 – 60 min. So we would go skiing in the morning and then go pick up the kids after their afternoon nap and then head back to the mountain. Between 1500 and 1600 is usually really quite on the carpet lift (mini moose).

5)      Harness

The first time we took Sarika we didn’t take the harness with. She really struggled, she could understand what to do, every time we try and help, she would completely relax and collapse. So the next time we took the harness and pointed her down the mountain and she took it right away. It also helped her to learn to shift her weight to turn by pulling one side. It was worth the money to get one of those.

Sarika (2 years old) smiling all the way down!  – Tips for teaching kids to ski

6)      Tie the ski tips together

Sarika also struggled to keep the tips of her skis close together. We saw some of the other kids with a little attachment that kept the toes of the skis together. After visiting every ski shop in town, I eventually found some at the ski shop on the hill. They work well and made it much easier for her.

7)      French fries – Pizza

The first day Christopher came back from day care he kept saying French fries – pizza, French fries – pizza. We didn’t understand what he was on about, but then he explained the ski instructor had told them to make French fries   Skis parallel and Pizza – skis in a wedge. Sarika didn’t get it immediately on the snow, but once somebody went in front of her and showed her how to do French fries and pizza she started to copy quickly.

There you go, I hope these tips for teaching kids to ski come in handy when you need to get yours on the mountain.