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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’
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Nakiska
P.O. Box 1988
Kananaskis Village
Alberta
Canada
T0L 2H0
Telephone: (403) 5917777
Website: www.skinakiska.com/
Purpose-built to stage the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics Alpine events, accommodation is centred on Kananakis Village, close to Canmore and Calgary.
Located in the heart of the spectacular Kananaskis Valley, Nakiska was specifically designed to host the alpine events of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Also known as Mount Allan, Nakiska is set within Kananaskis Country, a popular 4250 sq km/1615 sq mile) outdoor recreation area located an hour’s drive southwest of Calgary (110km/68 miles) spanning both the foothills and the Rockies. 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. Alberta’s youngest Rocky Mountain resort, Nakiska was designed using computer technology to best create long, wide, fall-line runs, perfect for ski racing during the Olympics and now a cruiser’s paradise.
The layout of the ski trails is simple and very user-friendly with expert terrain primarily at the top of the mountain, intermediate runs in the middle and beginner areas at its base. Skiers and snowboarders can depend on quality snow coverage as Nakiska is equipped with extensive and sophisticated snowmaking systems. This combined with a commitment to world class grooming makes Nakiska a great choice for those that enjoy long cruising runs on the “picture-perfect” corduroy daily snow reports consistently speak of.
Only 30 minutes drive away through some spectacular wilderness is the neighbouring ski resort of Fortress Mountain. Lift tickets are transferable so you can ski the 2 areas in one day. The town of Canmore 60km/37 miles is considered to be the residential community of the area with an established infrastructure geared towards an outdoor lifestyle. 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.
Calgary, Canmore, Kananaskis, Nakiska, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Alberta, Rockies
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Mont-Sainte-Anne
Case Postale 400, 2000 Boulevard Beau Pré
Beaupré
Québec
Canada
G0A 1E0
Telephone: (418) 8274561
Email: info@mont-sainte-anne.com
Website: www.mont-sainte-anne.com
The biggest night-skiing vertical in Canada ( 625 M ), located thirty minutes ( 25 miles ) from historic Québec City with it’s rich range of facilities. Mont – Sainte – Anne also boasts the largest cross-country ski centre in Canada and a wonderful backdrop of the St Lawrence River. The resort is host to many international competitions in Alpine skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking.
Québec has three main skiing areas; the Laurentians, the Eastern townships and the Greater Québec area which is where Mont-Sainte-Anne is located along with nearby Stoneham Mountain Resort. Both are only 30 minutes from downtown Québec. The average snowfall is 400cm/160in and from mid-November to late April each year the entire surrounding area turns into a vast winter wonderland for all sorts of outdoor activities.
Mont-Sainte-Anne’s development as a ski resort began in 1943 when a group of pioneer skiers began the initial steps. The exceptional situation of the mountain, overlooking the majestic St Lawrence River and just 40km/25
miles from historic old Québec City marked it as a major attraction point for skiers as well as visitors. These local pioneers undertook, on their own, the development of an alpine skiing trail on the mountain and, in April 1944, the first skiers took to the slopes. Hosting the Canadian Downhill Championship in 1947 marked the beginning of major competitions at the mountain.
The access to the summit was not easy at the time and racers as well as officials climbed on foot packing down the snow on the way up. No question of a “rerun” as the journey up took about 3 hours! Some 200 skiers took part in this Canadian Championships and some of the winners have since become legends of the Canadian skiing history; Pierre Jalbert, Rhoda and Rhona Wurtele, Hector Sutherland, Lucille Wheeler. For almost 20 years Mont Sainte Anne became a sleeping beauty, awakening only once or twice a year to play host to a downhill race.
In 1963 the town of Beaupré, in co-operation with the Provincial Government, set up the Commission du Parc du St Mont Anne to begin the development of the mountain and the surrounding area. These combined efforts
resulted in the official opening of Park du Mont St Anne as a modern ski resort in 1966.
The area opened with 10 trails and four lifts, including the only gondola in Eastern Canada. A 90km network of cross-country trails was added to the increasingly popular alpine centre for the presentation of the Junior World Nordic Championships in 1972, thus creating a major cross-country centre complementing the alpine facilities. At the end of the 1970′s, these facilities included 27 alpine trails on two faces and 14 lifts with an hourly capacity of 10,750 skiers.
The resort plays host to many international competitions from downhill skiing to mountain biking and snowmobiling. Indeed, Québec is the home of the snowmobile and its inventor Joseph Armand Bombardier was a local of the city. The snowmobile, or Ski-Doo as it was originally known, is an essential means of winter travel for many in this area as well as a funmobile par excellence. Big snowmobile events and major competitions attract the best amateurs and professionals in North America as well as thousands of spectators.
The winter of 1982/83 was the shortest on record for the resort and disastrous for all Eastern Canadian and US resorts due to lack of snow. At this point it was decided to invest a massive $13 million on a state-of- the-art computerised snow-making system covering 80% of the skiing terrain. This move put Mont St Anne firmly in the major league easily competing with top American ski areas due to its exceptional location and especially long ski season. This investment and commitment to snowmaking has continued through subsequent decades with nearly 300 new guns added in the 2004-5 season which use much less energy than coinventional guns.
Mount Mont Sainte Anne, Mount Mont Ste Anne, Beaupré, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Québec, Canada, Greater Québec City Area, Laurentians, Laurentides
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Mont-Sainte-Anne and Stoneham Mountain Resort
PO Box 400
Beaupré
Québec
Canada
Beaupré
Telephone: (418) 8482411
Email: info@ski-stoneham.com
Website: www.ski-stoneham.com/
Year round destination resort with comprehensive snow-making, night-skiing, ski-in accommodation and a ski school employing over 150 instructors. The big city facilities of Québec are only 20 minutes drive away.
Stoneham Mountain Resort is the closest of three ski areas local to Quebec City, only 20 minutes from the city centre. It is the ski hill that many Quebec locals call home.
Along with Mont-Sainte-Anne, it participates in a joint lift ticket so it is easy to stay in central Quebec and enjoy the shopping, nightlife and facilities of the historic city then head out for your day on the slopes. Alternatively you can do it the other way round and stay close to the slopes and enjoy the après-ski scene there, then head in to the city whenever you like.
Apart from a reputation for a happy, lively après-ski scene; Stoneham has built notoriety as a snowboarding centre and for operating the largest network for night skiing in Canada, with 16 trails illuminated covering nearly 10 miles (16km) of piste.
The 2004 season was a memorable one in Stoneham’s history. The resort celebrated 40 years of existence and one of the highlights of the celebrations was, without a doubt, the naming of the resort’s 32 trails. Visitors were asked to contribute by sharing their favourite memories of Stoneham, and over 700 suggestions were received. Among those to remember is trail #1, which was named after Walter Moisan, the founder of the resort in 1964. Other trails were named after the resort’s pioneers and figures representing Stoneham’s local heritage.
Subsequently the resort has spent $6m on a new snowmaking system which helps the resort to open early and sustain operations through the winter.
Stoneham Ski and Summer Resort, Québec, Canada, Laurentians, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Laurentides, Carte Blanche
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Kimberley Alpine Resort
Box 555
Kimberley
British Columbia
Canada
TOL 1E0
Telephone: (403) 5333611
Website: www.skikimberley.com
Full service ski-in resort located 2.5km (1.5 miles) from the ‘Bavarian’ town of Kimberley with its additional amenities. The resort offers a ticket refund if skiers don’t like the conditions after up to an hour on the slopes. There are 3km (2 miles) of floodlit cross country skiing trails.
Kimberley ski resort is a full service ski-in resort located 2.5km (1.5 miles) – or a five minute drive – from the ‘Bavarian’ town of Kimberley with its additional amenities. The ski area has improved dramatically in the past few years with modern lifts, a big terrain expansion (more than 50%) and the creation of a base village. The original town of Kimberley is a now vibrant former mining-town with a rather surreal feel to it, thanks to the strong onus on Bavarian Germany in some of the bars, restaurants and shops. The crowning glory is Canada’s largest Cuckoo clock.
The ski resort is jointly owned (with about half a dozen other ski areas) by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies group, the relative proximity of Fernie and Kimberley (90 minutes drive apart) in the south East corner of British Columbia, has led to several UK tour operators offering the two as a joint package (rapidly expanding Intrawest resort Panorama and Big Mountain, south of the border in Montana, are all in the vicinity too, if you have transport).
Kimberley Alpine Resort, British Columbia, BC, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Rocky Mountains, Rockies, Rockys, North Star, Canada, Purcells, East Kootenay
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Lake Louise Ski Resort
Box 5
Lake Louise
Alberta
Canada
T0L 1EO
Telephone: (403) 5223555
Email: info@skilouise.com
Website: www.skilouise.com/
Lake Louise is a stunningly beautiful place to visit summer or winter, but especially vibrant during the ski season. Located in the vast wilderness expanse of Banff National Park in the heart of the romantic Canadian Rockies, Lake Louise offers world-class ski terrain. With 4200 skiable acres, Lake Louise is one of the largest ski areas in North America. The layout accommodates every ability, with novice, intermediate and expert runs from every chairlift.
For scenic grandeur, imaginative terrain design, and sheer size, the Lake Louise Ski Area ranks with the finest ski resorts in the world. Encompassing eleven square miles, spread over four separate mountain faces interconnected by a lift and trail system that is comparable to the European ski circuit concept, this is the largest ski area in Canada. Visitors from Europe, who may have been somewhat disappointed by the rather gentle rolling hills on which some of North America‘s most famous ski resorts are located, will be mesmerized by the spectacular beauty of the place. In addition to over 100 named runs, some more than five miles in length, Lake Louise offers thousands of acres of open powder bowls, glades and chutes. When it comes to reliable snow, ‘The Lake’, is again hard to beat. With copious amounts of natural snow augmented by Canada‘s largest snow making system, Lake Louise’s season runs from early November to mid-May. Thirty years’ average temperatures see a drop to -5 degrees Celcius in December and -7 in January. With dozens of long, protected tree-lined runs, and 65% of the terrain below treeline, you can comfortably ski Louise even when it’s snowing hard up top. Skiers and ‘boarders skiing Louise usually stay either in Banff, a 45-minute drive away, or in Lake Louise village located five minutes from the lifts and linked by a free bus shuttle service. Within the village you’ll find more than 1,000 lodging units, along with twenty restaurants and bars. These thousand units include the palatial bedrooms (suites?) of the world famous Chateau Lake Louise, one of the world’s greatest hotels, built in 1890 when the railway arrived in one of the most beautiful locations on Earth for any hotel – on the shores of the lake with the Rockies rising majestically behind. The hotel was extensively refurbished for its centenary. Lake Louise itself has offered cross-country skiing since the 1890s and downhill for 80 years. The first downhillers were a group of youngsters from Banff who, having learned to ski downhill on Mt Norquay and slept the night in the Lake Louise train station, headed out onto the slopes. A decade later the same youngsters who had skied Louise in 1920 teamed up with some of the original Swiss guides who had led cross-country tours in the area for 40 years and built the Canadian Rockies’ first chalet, Skoki, in the summer of 1930. More huts followed and the first lift, a poma, was installed in 1954. A few years later, when the Trans-Canada Highway passed through the area, the gondola tramway was installed in 1958. The rest, as they say, is history. Grand plans for a big 6500-bed resort in the 1960s were blocked as ‘too big’ in 1972, largely due to the area’s location in the precious National Park. However, slow and controlled growth has continued with new lifts gradually bringing the resort to a level where it attracts skiers from all over the world. The growth restriction is considered by many to be a major asset and helps Lake Louise to remain so special to its many fans.
Banff, Lake Louise, Ski The Rockies, Alberta, Banff National Park, Canada, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Rockies, The Rocky Mountains
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