Fortress Mountain was the backdrop for parts of the Hollywood blockbuster starring Leonardo di Caprio.

The new Hollywood movie Inception was shot at the old Canadian ski resort of Fortress Mountain last fall, raising hopes among locals that the popular ski centre might be able to reopen for snowsports on the back of a presumed cash injection from the film company. Continue reading ‘Fortress Mountain was the backdrop of the summer Hollywood blockbuster Inception’

Tourist Office

Fortress Mountain Ski Resort
111-11 Avenue S.W.
Kakanskis Village
Alberta
Canada
T2R 0G5

Telephone: (403) 5917108
Email: sales@skifortress.ca
Website: www.skifortress.com

Description

Full-service ski area located 45 minutes from the facilities of Canmore and close to the Nakiska Ski Centre.
The base area complex at Fortress Mountain is situated at an altitude of 2040 m (6,692 ft), the highest in the Alberta Canadian Rockies. This lofty elevation ensures Fortress an annual snowfall 630 cm (21 ft) and a ski season that stretches from early November until late April. Fortress Mountain is thus often the first Alberta Mountain ski area to open for the winter and is the pre-season training site for the Canadian National Freestyle ski team. The casual and relaxed resort offers wide-open cruising as well as serious bumps.

Review

Fortress Mountain is located in Kananaskis Country, 80km/50 miles from Calgary and 70km/43 miles from Banff. Its base area at 2040m/6692ft is the highest of the Canadian Rockies resorts and its lofty elevation ensures an annual snowfall of 630cm/21ft and a ski season that stretches from early November through until late April. Often the first of Alberta’s ski resorts to open for winter, it is the pre-season training site for the Canadian National Freestyle Ski Team and hosts several freestyle skiing. This casual and relaxed resort offers wide open cruising, serious bumps, large gladed areas and natural halfpipes which make it popular with freestylers.

Fortress’s reputation as an unpretentious ski area with affordable prices has made it popular with families and those who appreciate powder snow, uncrowded runs and downhome friendly service amidst the ruggest scenery of the Canadian Rockies. Fortress has 2 curved T-bars which are among the world’s most unique ski lifts. The ski area covers 2 mountain sides and another on the backside with 55% of the terrain classed as intermediate, 25% for advanced skiers and 20% suited to beginners.

Within Kananaskis Country there are 4 provincial parks; Peter Lougheed, Bow Valley, Bragg Creek and Elbow/Sheep Wilderness. The area is a real winter playground with a host of winter activities including cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating and dog sledding as well as downhill skiing and snowboarding. Accommodation is directly adjacent to Nakiska in Kananaskis Village.

When Captain John Palliser led a British scientific expedition through this area between 1857 and 1860, he wrote in his journal about the legend of an Indian named Kananaskis, “giving account of his most wonderful recovery from the blow of an axe to his head, which stunned but failed to kill him”. Palliser gave the name Kananaskis to the Bow River tributary in the area. He named the Kananaskis River and the pass that he crossed, the Kananaskis Pass, which led him through the Rocky Mountains. The word Kananaskis is said to mean “meeting of the waters”.

Today Kananaskis Country is not only a multi-use recreational area, but other activities such as timber harvesting, ranching and natural gas operations also co-exist with the diversity of recreational uses. Nearby Canmore Nordic Centre, which hosted the cross-country skiing, biathlon and nordic combined events of the XV Winter Olympics is considered to have some of the best developed nordic ski trails anywhere in the world.

keywords

Calgary, Canmore, Fortress, Kananaskis, Alberta, Ski The Rockies, Canada, Rockies, Rockys, The Rocky Mountains