FERNIE'S SO COOL IT'S HOT WITH ROLLING STONE

Maybe you thought Whistler is the coolest town in B.C. Or Nelson, Rossland
or Tofino.

You'd be wrong. It's Fernie.

This is the hype from Rolling Stone magazine, which reports that the little
East Kootenay ski town is the new ground zero of cool in 2001.

The former coal town is now cool Town, according to a special catalogue of
cool in the magazine's current issue.

Fernie, according to Rolling Stone, has what many college-age kids want in
a ski town: fresh powder, cheap lift tickets and a ready supply of marijuana.

The magazine tells its young audience that you can ski in Fernie for two
days for the price of a single day at Vail.

"What you'll find," it gushes, "is an only-now-whispered-about ski town
where powder hounds in tattered vests aren't yet outnumbered by Bogner-clad
tourists."

Rolling Stone raves about Fernie's powder -- "Thanks to a rare confluence
of atmospheric circumstances, Fernie measures its daily snowfall in feet."
(Ironically, this rave comes at the tail end of a ski season that was
sub-par for snow).

And the magazine cites the region's allegedly plentiful pot. "Mother Nature
also has something to do with the area's other great natural resource: a
fragrant green plant known to aid relaxation and enhance appreciation of,
you know, pretty trees and stuff."

The article tripped slightly over the facts by overplaying the marijuana
angle. Writer Josh Dean erroneously noted: "It's no coincidence that
Olympic gold-medal snowboarder Ross Rebagliati grew up here, just as it's
no coincidence that he nearly had his medal stripped after testing positive
for weed."

Fernie Mayor Evelyn Cutts said Rebagliati did not grow up in Fernie. And,
as is widely known, the pot residue found in his lungs at the Nagano Games
came from smoke-filled parties in Whistler.

Cutts described the article as a "mixed blessing." "It's not factual in
some of its statements. But it's certainly generated a lot of publicity for
us."

Cutts said Fernie's mountain valley is not conducive to pot growing because
"we are in a narrow valley and we don't have a long growing season.

"But we do have the bountiful snow they talk about."

Cutts said the coal industry remains the area's major employer although the
tourism sector grows every year.

Chamber of Commerce president Heiko Socher called the article's marijuana
reference "outlandish," saying "there may be pot-growing going on, but it
doesn't happen here more than anywhere else."

Terry Miller, owner of the Jamochas Coffee House, said many of his
customers found the Rolling Stone piece "humourous."

"It certainly is a cool town," said Miller, "but the dope smoking is as
discreet here as it is anywhere. We don't notice any in the coffee shop."

Miller added: "If you want to find it [pot], you're going to find it. But
it's not like there are dealers on the streets."

The mention in Rolling Stone isn't the first time Fernie has been mentioned
as one of the world's great, little-known ski towns.

In 1997, Men's Journal listed Fernie in a special report called Dream
Towns, saying "this picturesque town in the Canadian Rockies is an
irresistible discovery." In 1999, the London Daily Mail pegged Fernie
seventh in its top 10 list of the hot ski resorts for the 21st century.