I was the maintenance manager for Fortress the year it closed when owned by RCR. With the GM (Brent but cant remember his last name) and I completed a repair list at the request of upper management. It was for opening the following season to bring the lifts up to pass AEDARSA. Repairs to the snow making system for Canada's aerial jump team to train. We had repairs to the hotel planned. We even had some events planned and mapped for the follow year. We had a core group willing to put in some seriously hard work and then boom. I can't remember the exact numbers for the repairs, but lifts and snow making were 1.2 million. I do remember the hours we were going to do. I would have been a hugely proud and crazy thing if we could have pulled it off!
I also worked the final season as a pro patroller at Fortress. I met some of my best friends at that resort and even married one of them! We were married on that amazing frontside ridge. This place is great example of short-sightedness on the the part of our provincial government. Charlie Locke drove a beautiful place into the ground and ignored the environmental stewardship that comes with managing a ski hill in a public park. Sadly, the provincial government and the MLA for the area are as as crooked as politics come. Where once No Development was allowed, they support profiting from the sales of scarce water resources in the Fortress Lease. I’d love to see families and in general, the public benefit from beauty up there. Instead, a handful of private groups are guided on the lease in the summer and winter. A huge playground for few high paying guests. Keep public lands in the public’s hands.
I suspect that repair list was not asked for to actually put together a list of repairs but rather for RCR to have justification to close the place. Get the cost high enough to say "we can't afford this! Close it" Sad.
Can I ask why the lodge was not winterized properly? What would it have taken to drain the plumbing? It seemed to us locals like an intentional sabotage of our beloved lodge. I hope you can shine some light on what really happened?
@@Mattymu good question, but normally the lodge would be open during the winter. I more suspect the issue with the basement flooding had more to do with the spring melt and the lack of pumps running in the spring to pump that water out of the basement. If you look at any of the pictures looking down on the lodge from the top of one of the runs it does appear to be in a bit of a valley. I've heard the "burst pipe" story before but something always seemed a little off about that. From what I understand Fortress had its own water system, so if the water system was not powered up then there would be little to no pressure in the lodge's water pipes. Sure, you can still end up with a burst pipe, but that pipe won't leak much water out until there is actual pressure in the line. Spring melt on the other hand is a different issue. We know Fortress receives some of the most snow for any of the ski hills in the region. If a pile of that melt ends up in the slight valley where the lodge sits, it'll fill the basement of the building if there is nothing pumping that water out as it comes in. Keep in mind RCR had considered that they were done with the resort, also they had limited $ at the time, so likely didn't want to spend anything on electricity or other maintenance.
@@gk9453I'm not sure if you would have remember me or not but I do remember a patroller named Owen. We watched a class 3 slide to rock on the glades to the left of the Canadian, I watched Owen and 2 other patrollers absolutely demolish the hike to the top of the out of bounds area above the gates. In 20 minutes in full gear, skis on his shoulders on the possibility that there were people in the out of bounds area. There wasn't. I packed a trail with my sled to avi guns for patrol to knock down A and B fans on the back side because of the slide danger.
I got to work and live there for a season. I was among the last group of staff before it closed. I remember when management did a big announcement that operations would be rolling back, everyone was so shocked and upset. Thank you Fortress for an incredible time I'll cherish forever.
I loved that mountain as a young kid. Never crowded and always seemed to have good snow. Plus the feeling of being a million miles away from anywhere was cool!!
Thanks so much for making this video. I had a dream last night about Fortress. I lived there for two seasons 1997 and 98. Some of the best days of riding of my life to this day. I feel so lucky as I hitchhiked from Whistler hoping for a job. I was 18. I got a job (with ski breaks) and a place to live as soon as I arrived. A big part of me will always be there.
There is a small part of me left at Fortress. The 80’s skiing there…awesome. Incredible memories. You reciting the names of the ski runs brought a smile to my face. You earned a subscriber.
Thank-you for the amazing recap of the history of Fortress. I was fortunate to grow up skiing at Fortress and then ski patrol there for nearly 10 years. Such an amazing hill, they would have a huge loyal following if they opened up again!!
I still remember winter 1994 when I lived in one of the downtown Calgary towers, and could rent a car for $20 a day on a weekend. The rental included a complimentary Fortress ski pass. It became my favourite resort around Calgary. The runs were short, but there was incredible variety to them, which made me never bored. It was really a heart-breaker, and a surprise, to see the place close down in 2006.
Yo this is super cool thanks for making this. I live closish and I hiked up once a couple years ago and was blown away. IT’s where I did one of my first powder board runs Kween.
Wow…. This video takes me back - totally my era, I spent many days through my youth here - I got excited a few years ago when I heard that Fortress might be opening again, only to be stonewalled by (you guessed it) the Alberta government. Such a great place to ski - as I was watching the video and seeing the old pics, I reminisced about the best runs there, skiing with my friends and eating the best fries of any of the ski resorts in Alberta. Backside runs were the best - taking the Canadian triple and then skiing down and back was the best. I really hope this place can reopen but sadly, I feel its time has come and gone… one can only hope that it might happen. Thanks for a great update on a treasured ski resort. 👍🏻
I started skiing at Fortress in 73 when I was 2 and skied there until it closed. I worked as instructor there throughout late high school and college. Lots of memories. Including the awful Santa colored uniforms. And having an entire class of four-year-olds blown over by the wind on Ridge run. Hiking for powder above Farside chair. Jumping into Devil's gulch.
One of my favourite places to ski growing up in the 80's. The best part was true fall line skiing off of the Canadian Chair ridge line. We would warm up on the groomed Canadian chute 2 and then head over to Palisade Park and Friars Tuck and ski perfect fall line bumps all day! Snow quality was excellent!
Brings back memories. I remember skiing there with my Dad back in the 90's and getting stuck in a sudden snow/windstorm on the top of the mountain. I have a couple of key skiing memories from Fortress! I'm sorry that it just couldn't stay open.
This was where I learnt to ski back in the early 70s. My all time favorite go to ski hill and resort. The lodge was amazing and the slopes have wide variety of skill levels. Loved this place. Skied there for decades.
Nice video. I learned to ski there in the late 60's and skied there every year. In my teens , Fortress was the hill I broke my leg on. In my late 20's, I worked at the CP Hotels and skied almost every week day for 2 years at Fortress putting in close to 130 days. Brings back memories, so thank you.
Fortress was wonderful. As a skier in Banff there are storms that come from the east and don't hit sunshine or Louise. Having Fortress simply meant more great pow skiing for locals. Some days there would be hoards of Banff skiers and snowboarders descending on these eastern pow days. I remember some of the biggest ski groups of excellent riders and skiers tearing up the far side making big clouds of snow. Nakiska only really has groomed runs and the terrain just isn't fun and Fortress was the opposite. Pow stashes lasted days. We used to say 4 days after a storm at Fortress offered the same skiing as 1 hour after Sunshine would open. The gullies and glades were wonderful. I think the terrain was perfect for young skiers who want to start skiing natural features that aren't too wild. One year there was a ski pass called the bow valley midweek. It was the first Monday to Thursday pass in the area but included Louise, Norquay and Fortress for $399. Maybe even $299. That would have been one of the last years it was open. They didn't police lift tickets very well and some people called it Freetris but the price was so reasonable anyway. I got in there a few years ago to drive athletes around for a Visa commercial. I also noticed the TV series Klondike was filmed there as have other movies. I really hope it opens again.
Thanks so much for this video. Fortress is probably my all-time favourite ski area, with Lake Louise coming in a close second. I also did a lot of skiing at Lyon Mountain / Wintergreen back in the day, not to forget the occasional days at Nakiska, Sunshine, and Norquay. A few points of interest - Fortress's base area has one of the highest elevations for a base area of any ski area in North America. Also where it is located it is in an area that usually gets more natural snow then the other ski hills in the area (including Nakiska, Sunshine, Lake Louise, and Norquay). I actually recall during the 88 Olympics when a chinook rolled through and melted a lot of the snow at Nakiska (they had to delay some of the downhill events while they tried to recover making snow) but Fortress still had great conditions. It may only be another 15 minutes up the highway from Nakiska but the difference in snow conditions between the hills is huge. I could almost always find fresh powder. As mentioned it was always less expensive then the other hills in the area and less crowded. The staff was great - much more open to allow you to try stuff that other hills might frown on. Plus everyone who skied there agreed that it had the best lodge - it was awesome to relax by that giant copper hearth / fireplace. The lease that the hill holds is for a much larger area then had ever been developed. In fact from an acreage standpoint if it ever becomes fully developed it would be similar to Sunshine in acreage size. But as pointed out it seemed to miss out on any significant investment over the years. The potential is still there, but it has yet to be fully realized. Your point about the farside chair is correct. That chair was windy and always cold. If my memory is correct it is also the one that they'd have to stop and then restart more often then the others. But it was worth it. The runs and powder off the farside was fantastic. I never did much lapping on the backside T-Bar. It was mostly a lift to get you back to the front side. The backside chair was great for lapping the backside runs or getting back to the frontside. The unique nature of the "ridge" was great for that. One other interesting bit of history that I've heard, but never been able to fully figure out, is how Fortress helped save Blackcomb. Apparently back in the early 80's when Aspen owned both Fortress and Blackcomb, Blackcomb was losing money (it was competing with Whistler at the time). The manager of Blackcomb was a former manager at Fortress and one summer moved a T-Bar from Fortress to install it on the glacier at Blackcomb. The story goes that this helped to turn the mountain around to become profitable, and of course years later Whistler and Blackcomb merged to become the resort it is today. I've read and heard this story enough to figure that it is probably true, but what I've never been able to figure out is where this T-Bar had been located at Fortress. It certainly was not the curved T-Bar, and the only other T-Bar I am aware of at Fortress / SnowRidge is the Beginner T-Bar which had been there all along and was still standing when Zrinko bought the hill. So that rules out the beginner T-Bar. I just can't figure out where this mystery T-Bar that got moved to Blackcomb was located. I'd love to figure this out! Anyways, great video, I loved the photos and video clips you managed to dig up. Enjoyed as always!
Thanks for your comment! I've heard of the Blackcomb T-Bar that supposedly originated from Fortress. I did find a link to the 1980 North American ski lift survey that lists a T-Bar built at Fortress. Certainly not much information on this lift at all though. (www.skilifts.org/old/install_na1980.htm) Edit: Take this with a grain of salt, but Wikipedia's page on Fortress claims that, "an additional surface lift was installed in parallel to the back side of the Curve T-bar to bring skiers from the base of the far-side chair back up to the front side"
@@Skier72 interesting! I have never found a map or any pictures indicating a parallel t-bar to the curved on the back side, but that is certainly possible. That would be a similar length to the one on the glacier at Blackcomb. It still seems strange to me that they would have installed a second t-bar in that location.
I went to Fortress for the first time in the winter of ‘84/85, I was in my early teens and skied there into my early adult years. Lots of great memories. A piece of me was left up there. So many of us are part of the Fortress story, and it sounds positive that many more will become part of a new chapter! I look forward to introducing my kids to the place I told them so much about.
Thanks so much for doing this. It brought back a lot of great memories. I grew up at Fortress and it was an awesome place. The Farside chair was a fun ride. You could almost touch the snow in spots on good snow years. You felt like you were in the backcountry. The terrain was a lot of fun. Every time I went I was always finding new runs to explore. Miss that place. Wish I took pictures.
Who remembers the zerenko cat pulls up to top of the far side? I was on the first one that went up and it was epic! I really miss the place. Hiking the farside shoulder was always fun.
I remember as a youngster going and visiting the Snowridge lodge under construction and almost finished on a rainy muddy summer day, my dad was involved somehow with one of the investors. Later I tried skiing as a 11-12 year old early 70’s and couldn’t even make it up the bunny hill T bar without falling down, my friend gave up on trying to ride on it with me. I laugh now when I realize what a little gentle slope that T bar terrain was. Enjoyed staying in the lodge on that visit as my dad had a bit of a connection with the operation. I skied there years later when it was Fortress and my skills had improved.
I used to take the Woodwards bus up there in the early 70s😊. Lessons in the mornings and sku after lunch. Have cat skied there many times since 2013. Super fun!
This is where I learned how to ski!! Even back in the early 80s the chairlifts seemed a bit sketchy, haha. I fondly remember warming up around that crazy fireplace in the basement. I do miss skiing at Fortress and would go back there in a heartbeat.
I skied here a lot in the 90's and had a lot of ski races here, too, it was one of my favourite places. Always had a lot of snow, amazing glade runs, really cool lodge. When it was too cold I remember playing the Golden Axe arcade game with my friends. Lots of great memories from here, it is definitely missed
I’m glad I stumbled across this video. I loved Fortress. I started snowboarding there in the early nineties, entered a snowboard contest there in ’94, worked there in the summer of ‘97, and spent as much time as I could there every winter. It’s cool to learn a little more about its history.
My stepfather Berry Panrucker was the head of the volunteer ski patrol at Fortress in the early to mid 80's. I was 14 years old at the time and was avid skateboarder. I was always hanging out in Kensington at the Snoboard Shop on 10th street. When Ken Achenbach heard my new stepfather was taking me skiing every weekend he gave me one of the Barfoot snowboards they were making in the back of the shop at the time and said try riding this next weekend. I remember standing in front of Joe with that snowboard and asking my stepfather if he should let snowboards on the mountain. and Berry saying "their money is just as good as anyone else's". I was the first kid in Canada and maybe even North America to ride a ski lift with a snowboard on his feet....
Ahhh the good ole days. There's NOTHING like the Farside Bowls out there - maybe Big White T-bar lines are close but without the pitch!! The Fort was an amazing place, from the massive fireplace in the lodge with cheap accommodations, to the unique terrain and short drive from Calgary. That mountain taught me how to snowboard and the memories will live with me forever... I hope I get to ride there again some day!
Loved it!! No lines, cheap tickets, awesome tree runs on the back. Lots of powder. We stayed for free overnight, in a gigantic room 2nd or 3rd floor. The "air force" were great to watch.
I LOVED fortress snowboarding in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. As a broke student, I was there at least once a month as it was part of RCR Season Pass. I only went to Fernie, or Fortress - Fortress was where we went when Fernie was too far of a drive for our schedule. Always camped out on the mountain in Fernie in my brothers VW Bus, and just did day trips from Calgary when we went to Fortress… Best small mountain, natural terrain with a lot of natural hits, halfpipes, drops and trees. On fresh powder days, fortress was unbelievably fun. Only downside was the Canadian Aerials team was a little too ‘elitist’ for such a humble and down to earth resort…
My parents grew up skiing there, I hope to ski there one day, Hopefully reopening goes as planned, and that we get a new generation of people loving fortress, as hell I'd love to work there
I was fortunate to work there for two seasons on trail crew and patrol. It was a formative time in my life. I have gratitude. It was a blast. The best was the snowboad chute
Moved to Calgary in 1970 when I was 4. skied from 73 to 95. Fortress was my favorite. It was cheap and a shorter drive without Banff tourists. I remember in the 80s they had 2 for one Tuesday. Lift tickets were 10 bucks! We used to skip school and drive up on Monday night , sleep in the lodge it had 8 bunks per room. Bring your own sleeping bag, I think it was 20 bucks to stay overnight and ski on Tuesday 😂 I only skied at COP, Lake Louise and Sunshine. I remember Sunshine before the Gondola, riding the bus up the hill was as epic as the Fortress access road in my 72 Ford Meteor 😂 Sheeet that was fun in a RWD 🛥.
I lived in canmore back in 2000 i loved this mountain soooo much. Some of the deepest snow ive ever ridden. And ride all day and have fresh tracks every run. That road there tho was always an adventure just getting there.
One thing you never mentioned, that was part of Fortress' downfall. THE WIND !!!!!! I loved skiing Fortress as a kid/teenager/ right up til my young adulthood in the 90's. Being from Red Deer, we could either ski Canyon, or drive 2 1/2 -3 hours to ski Fortress for the same lift ticket price. Also, as a kid, the "hill" up to Fortress was some of the funnest times! There were so many days though, where you could hold your arms out with your jacket open, and the wind would blow you up the hill !!! This also made for some real icy conditions a lot of the times. Still though, It was a great budget friendly hill with many a fond memory skiing there.
Agreed on the wind. I had often thought that if they had put a windmill at the top of the Farside chair they'd be able to generate enough electricity from it to power the whole resort and never have another power bill again. But from a local's standpoint (Calgary that is), the wind never stopped myself or friends from skiing the Fort. I don't think it had a lot to do with the downfall - if you were going to the Fort you just dressed for the wind. The biggest downfall was the lack of investment over the years. Especially once Charlie Lock / RCR had bought Nakiska it meant it was pretty much running on borrowed time. From a business standpoint - maintaining a resort that was essentially new (built for the Olympics) compared to maintaining a 30+ (at the time of it being closed by RCR) year old resort (which from a ski resort standpoint is not all that old, but I digress), with the two resorts being all of about 15 minutes from each other, I can understand the business decision.
@@lornetyndale7974 A lot of my friends refused to ski fortress due to the wind. I on the other hand refused to ski Nakiska, and still to this day, have never been there.
I remember the wind on the Ridge Run, just down from the top of the Canadian Chair. You felt like it could tear your face off! 😂 Also that last stretch riding the Farside chairlift was just bone chilling especially if the chairlift stalled right before the top and left you dangling in the howling wind! Aside from that I never found the wind that bad. Good times! Lots of great memories skiing at Fortress.
Thanks for putting this together. So many memories and things that I'd forgotten since the hill closed. I went once in the final season - still excellent snow but you could see the maintenance had slipped. Those old newspaper articles are interesting - the cost of a yearly pass is unreal compared to skiing now (even adjusted to current funds). I didn't know about the connection with Greyhound but that would explain why it was so cheap to take the ski busses from Chinook Centre and SportChek to the hill - if I remember correctly it was $16 for the lift pass and about $5-7 for the bus ride to the hill and back.
Drove up there a couple summers ago. Super neat to see the buildings and parked under the old chair at the top. Pretty cool to see the history of this place.
I worked there in 1990. Best winter of my life living on the mountain. Great times. Lived in upper 3. I remember turning on the lifts at night and riding cafeteria trays down chute 1. Truly sad this hill is gone.
My parents owned a time-share on one of the condos, we got to go for a couple weeks in the winter and a couple weeks in the summer. A lot less to do in the summer, but at least the chalet had a little arcade. The skiing was great, you could walk out the back door of the condo, clip on your skis and start skiing right away. It's a bummer that it closed.
thanks ! that was a fun/sad tour through my memories. as an amateur Dad, I had the best rat pack of our son and two of his best friends to push our snowboarding skills with in the seemingly endless terrain, with some excellent out of bounds runs that dropped back into the resort area. in our last season there, it snowed 10-20 cm often, so the boys missed quite a bit of school, for outdoor science class ! a lot of movies and vehicle commercials are shot there these days.
I only got to spend one day here, the last month it was open! Place was great, and creepy! I loved that lodge man, the sunken central fireplace was amazing.
Another very awesome memory I have of Fortress, was when I was around 9 or 10 1980ish. After a day of skiing we went into the lodge for a quick bite(and so the parents could have a quick drink LOL) before heading home, and Mclean and Mclean was playing live. We actually stayed for around an hour of the show, and though at the time I didn't get much of the humor, When I became older I became a big fan of theirs!
I loved Fortress. It was our go-to. I even used to prefer it to Sunshine as the lift lines weren't plugged like Sunshine or Lake Louise. Also way closer to Calgary.
Oh the memories. I have been hoping someone could get something back together for years now. I skied up there a lot in late 70's and 80's as a kid and several times in the 90's. We even camped in our winterized motorhome up on the mountain. Now that was some nice ski in and out. The far side chair was indeed sooooo sketchy! It had steel cables with clips for retention, lol. Also if I recall correctly rumour was some of the damage to the bridge(s) happened during the 2002 G8 summit in the Kananaskis when they drove 60+ ton Leopard 2 tanks and/or other military heavy armaments over them for air defense emplacements. I almost got to ski there one of the last days. Drove up with my 6 year old but he didn't have skiis of his own at the point and I didn't realize there was no rental equipment to be had. Had I known that was the swan song I might have left him in the van for a few turns lol. Bailed for Nakiska but it was the end of an era. 😥
Me and my buddy have skined up multiple times however we did get chance out a couple times, but was some of the best terrain without driving out of the vally. (we were living/working at nakiaka)
Would have loved to have skied here. Their curved t-bar looked crazy and I love the design of the lodge. I'm guessing the Canadian Triple Chair was named after the train service of the same name.
The lodge was/is very iconic, sad that it's in its current state. I'm not entirely sure of the origin of the Canadian chair name, but your theory wouldn't surprise me if it was true.
Great video, though I am surprised that you do not make reference to the current day plans to revive fortress mountain. The group does seem quite committed and have a clear plan.
The current day plans would have taken quite awhile to discuss. I've been in contact with the ownership group. While it's true that they do have a plan, they lack the funding to follow through on anything. It's quite unfortunate, the Calgary ski market could definitely support Fortress.
In my school days I skied Fortress quite regularly. It was cheap and had varied terrain, plus it was close to Calgary. However, not all was ever well with Fortress. Although it occasionally got a spring storm that would make for outstanding skiing, snow was hit or miss. The season for the far side chair was usually short due to lack of snow, especially at the top where it would get blown off by the fierce winds. Riding that chair into the wind was not pleasant. However when there was snow and the weather was good it was an excellent little hill. I don't see it ever opening again. The vertical isn't sufficient for modern expectations, and there isn't enough terrain to justify modern high speed chairs. With high speed quads now the standard, we are in the age of the mega resort. Plus the access road and limited parking will always be a limiting factor.
Plus the ownership group doesn't seem to have the capital to keep it going. It's a shame it's no longer an option, but I also don't ever see it re-opening for lift served skiing though. If a miracle does happen and it does open, I'll be one of the first ones to buy a seasons pass.
It is amazing how "back in the day" these types of ski areas were seen by a visionary person, then a road was build (by government, no doubt), and there was momentum with the eventual creation of a ski area. What is amazing is how impossible that would be today. Every step would be met with "NO"...from the government allowing the land to be used, to the road being built, to a septic system being installed, to a financing of a lift. The 50's seemed like an amazing era were visionaries could do almost anything. Granted, many failed. But, countless resorts exist because of what they did. I would say that it would be impossible to create a new ski resort today. Both demand and liability would kill it. Back when I was a kid, skiing was cheap, but consumed my thoughts as I didn't have internet and lived through reading and doing. Now, it is a differnt world, one that is arguably worse.
Your thoughts echo mine. Look what happened to the resort they tried to start in Eastern BC a few years ago. Every possible group of enviros and other special interests fought bitterly to quash what would have been a world class destination. I recall the mayor of Rossland (a ski resort town) speaking about how terrible it would be if the project went ahead. Imagine trying to build the Trans Canada or the Coquihalla today.
I worked and lived there for the 87/88 season. Pretty much a party all winter. I lived in the lodge on the second floor,back left corner. Room 207 if I recall.
Awesome video man! You covered all the bases pretty much with the story off Fortress. I didnt even know they used it in Inception either! (didnt pay attention to credits lol)
Canadian Speed Skiing team use to train and run the Canadian championships out of there. I remember we had a cold front come through there in 1990, the timing gear kept braking and we froze our asses off.
We stopped there after it was closed and the owner was there clearing trees. We helped him clear some trees and he let us ski there. We had the resort all to ourselves all 2 of us. This was in 2008-2009 I believe.
I echo many others sentiments here on a great video for a true gem of a mountain. Great memories here and yes there were definitely wind delays and ice to contend with. Never took away from the sheer majesty of the view though.indeed there's good reason to be skeptical of a re-opening with the new ownership but honestly there is bound to be struggles on new investment money after a once in a 100 year pandemic. Much of the stock market still reeling from that let alone resort money investors coming back with capital. To their credit they have finished the new potable water system there. Lot more money and development to go but can keep the likes and subscribes up on videos like this to keep the hype and buzz up to maybe get more potential investors attention...
add another major complaint - the wind. It could rip packed snow out of the t-bar track. NB the Kananaskis highway (then gravel) was maintained for access by Calgary Power to Kananaskis Lakes.
It's a shame. Fortress had far and above the best snow being in the very tip of a snowbelt region that missed most of the other resorts in the area. Even though it was quite dated, the price was kept adequate where the value was always very good. The entry road into fortress was iconic, with the 13 corners, including Jerry's corner. Such great memories. Fortress was my go to place up until it's closure. Charlie Locke was the biggest downfall of this place and really killed it off.
IT WOULD BE A DREAM TO SKI HERE. I got a friend named Evan and his dad was lucky to ski it. Absolute dream to ski it. I have been very motivated to skin up it, I just don't know if I am allowed. Edit: life time passes was crazy. I would spend 8k for a lifetime pass to Nakiska ngl. Another Edit: I would love to blame RCR for all our problems.
I think it is interesting how financers often take over control of these endeavors. It is like the railway to the West in the US. People worked with lives, blood sweat and tears to build, but when revenue was not there, the banks took over and took everything along with collateral (mostly land given by the goverment). It was a windfall. It is like the people in power KNOW that they can take advantage of someone with a passion.
The problem with Fortress is that it would get bought out by these big holding companies like Aspen and RCR that would invest more money in their other ski properties and very little would go to Fortress.
Why would we do that? This is a video about Canadian culture and the history and development of Kananaskis Country. I guess you missed the part where the USA isn't the centre of the universe.
To be honest, there quite a bit that I cut out from the video. If the video had been a bit shorter, I would have included both the 1997 and 2002 avalanches.
@@Skier72 My friends were in the 1997 avalanche. The high school bought in grief councilors as they were pretty popular kids. Still very sad it happened so close to the runs but they were OB and hiked where they currently do the cat skiing.
I was the maintenance manager for Fortress the year it closed when owned by RCR. With the GM (Brent but cant remember his last name) and I completed a repair list at the request of upper management. It was for opening the following season to bring the lifts up to pass AEDARSA. Repairs to the snow making system for Canada's aerial jump team to train. We had repairs to the hotel planned. We even had some events planned and mapped for the follow year. We had a core group willing to put in some seriously hard work and then boom. I can't remember the exact numbers for the repairs, but lifts and snow making were 1.2 million. I do remember the hours we were going to do. I would have been a hugely proud and crazy thing if we could have pulled it off!
I also worked the final season as a pro patroller at Fortress. I met some of my best friends at that resort and even married one of them! We were married on that amazing frontside ridge.
This place is great example of short-sightedness on the the part of our provincial government. Charlie Locke drove a beautiful place into the ground and ignored the environmental stewardship that comes with managing a ski hill in a public park. Sadly, the provincial government and the MLA for the area are as as crooked as politics come. Where once No Development was allowed, they support profiting from the sales of scarce water resources in the Fortress Lease.
I’d love to see families and in general, the public benefit from beauty up there. Instead, a handful of private groups are guided on the lease in the summer and winter. A huge playground for few high paying guests.
Keep public lands in the public’s hands.
I suspect that repair list was not asked for to actually put together a list of repairs but rather for RCR to have justification to close the place. Get the cost high enough to say "we can't afford this! Close it" Sad.
Can I ask why the lodge was not winterized properly? What would it have taken to drain the plumbing? It seemed to us locals like an intentional sabotage of our beloved lodge. I hope you can shine some light on what really happened?
@@Mattymu good question, but normally the lodge would be open during the winter. I more suspect the issue with the basement flooding had more to do with the spring melt and the lack of pumps running in the spring to pump that water out of the basement. If you look at any of the pictures looking down on the lodge from the top of one of the runs it does appear to be in a bit of a valley. I've heard the "burst pipe" story before but something always seemed a little off about that. From what I understand Fortress had its own water system, so if the water system was not powered up then there would be little to no pressure in the lodge's water pipes. Sure, you can still end up with a burst pipe, but that pipe won't leak much water out until there is actual pressure in the line. Spring melt on the other hand is a different issue. We know Fortress receives some of the most snow for any of the ski hills in the region. If a pile of that melt ends up in the slight valley where the lodge sits, it'll fill the basement of the building if there is nothing pumping that water out as it comes in. Keep in mind RCR had considered that they were done with the resort, also they had limited $ at the time, so likely didn't want to spend anything on electricity or other maintenance.
@@gk9453I'm not sure if you would have remember me or not but I do remember a patroller named Owen. We watched a class 3 slide to rock on the glades to the left of the Canadian, I watched Owen and 2 other patrollers absolutely demolish the hike to the top of the out of bounds area above the gates. In 20 minutes in full gear, skis on his shoulders on the possibility that there were people in the out of bounds area. There wasn't. I packed a trail with my sled to avi guns for patrol to knock down A and B fans on the back side because of the slide danger.
I got to work and live there for a season. I was among the last group of staff before it closed. I remember when management did a big announcement that operations would be rolling back, everyone was so shocked and upset. Thank you Fortress for an incredible time I'll cherish forever.
Shout out downie!
What a bummer that must've been.
Do you remember what the name of the song that was stuck on the jukebox in the downstairs bar?
We used to love sitting around the fireplace after a day of skiing. Sure brings back good memories.
I loved that mountain as a young kid. Never crowded and always seemed to have good snow. Plus the feeling of being a million miles away from anywhere was cool!!
Thanks so much for making this video. I had a dream last night about Fortress. I lived there for two seasons 1997 and 98. Some of the best days of riding of my life to this day. I feel so lucky as I hitchhiked from Whistler hoping for a job. I was 18. I got a job (with ski breaks) and a place to live as soon as I arrived. A big part of me will always be there.
There is a small part of me left at Fortress. The 80’s skiing there…awesome. Incredible memories. You reciting the names of the ski runs brought a smile to my face. You earned a subscriber.
Thank-you for the amazing recap of the history of Fortress. I was fortunate to grow up skiing at Fortress and then ski patrol there for nearly 10 years. Such an amazing hill, they would have a huge loyal following if they opened up again!!
I miss the Fort, great snow and chill attitude. Mid 2000s timeframe
I still remember winter 1994 when I lived in one of the downtown Calgary towers, and could rent a car for $20 a day on a weekend. The rental included a complimentary Fortress ski pass. It became my favourite resort around Calgary. The runs were short, but there was incredible variety to them, which made me never bored. It was really a heart-breaker, and a surprise, to see the place close down in 2006.
Yo this is super cool thanks for making this. I live closish and I hiked up once a couple years ago and was blown away. IT’s where I did one of my first powder board runs Kween.
Wow…. This video takes me back - totally my era, I spent many days through my youth here - I got excited a few years ago when I heard that Fortress might be opening again, only to be stonewalled by (you guessed it) the Alberta government. Such a great place to ski - as I was watching the video and seeing the old pics, I reminisced about the best runs there, skiing with my friends and eating the best fries of any of the ski resorts in Alberta. Backside runs were the best - taking the Canadian triple and then skiing down and back was the best.
I really hope this place can reopen but sadly, I feel its time has come and gone… one can only hope that it might happen. Thanks for a great update on a treasured ski resort. 👍🏻
Another great video about Fortress i could recommend is The ghost ski resort | fortress by Black Crow Skis
I started skiing at Fortress in 73 when I was 2 and skied there until it closed. I worked as instructor there throughout late high school and college. Lots of memories. Including the awful Santa colored uniforms. And having an entire class of four-year-olds blown over by the wind on Ridge run. Hiking for powder above Farside chair. Jumping into Devil's gulch.
Thanks for your memories!
One of my favourite places to ski growing up in the 80's. The best part was true fall line skiing off of the Canadian Chair ridge line. We would warm up on the groomed Canadian chute 2 and then head over to Palisade Park and Friars Tuck and ski perfect fall line bumps all day!
Snow quality was excellent!
Another incredible video 🎉🎉 Thank you for your thorough research into Fortress Mountain. Fascinating history.
I'm glad to see you found one of the pictures of pieces of Glacier at Fortress!
Brings back memories. I remember skiing there with my Dad back in the 90's and getting stuck in a sudden snow/windstorm on the top of the mountain. I have a couple of key skiing memories from Fortress! I'm sorry that it just couldn't stay open.
I was lucky enough to work as a lifty for a season, a year or two before it closed. Best season i ever had. Such a great mountain.
These videos are so fascinating. Great job!
Glad you enjoyed!
Such a shame Amazing lodge, great skiing and wow views.
This was where I learnt to ski back in the early 70s. My all time favorite go to ski hill and resort. The lodge was amazing and the slopes have wide variety of skill levels. Loved this place. Skied there for decades.
Nice video. I learned to ski there in the late 60's and skied there every year. In my teens , Fortress was the hill I broke my leg on. In my late 20's, I worked at the CP Hotels and skied almost every week day for 2 years at Fortress putting in close to 130 days. Brings back memories, so thank you.
Great video about the best ski area ever…miss it 🥰
this is where i learnt to ski and began my ski racing career... oh how i miss Fortress!
I was really looking forward to this video because I grew up skiing here in the 70s. Great work, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed! This is definitely one of my favourite videos I've ever made
Fortress was wonderful. As a skier in Banff there are storms that come from the east and don't hit sunshine or Louise. Having Fortress simply meant more great pow skiing for locals. Some days there would be hoards of Banff skiers and snowboarders descending on these eastern pow days. I remember some of the biggest ski groups of excellent riders and skiers tearing up the far side making big clouds of snow. Nakiska only really has groomed runs and the terrain just isn't fun and Fortress was the opposite. Pow stashes lasted days. We used to say 4 days after a storm at Fortress offered the same skiing as 1 hour after Sunshine would open.
The gullies and glades were wonderful. I think the terrain was perfect for young skiers who want to start skiing natural features that aren't too wild. One year there was a ski pass called the bow valley midweek. It was the first Monday to Thursday pass in the area but included Louise, Norquay and Fortress for $399. Maybe even $299. That would have been one of the last years it was open.
They didn't police lift tickets very well and some people called it Freetris but the price was so reasonable anyway. I got in there a few years ago to drive athletes around for a Visa commercial. I also noticed the TV series Klondike was filmed there as have other movies.
I really hope it opens again.
I was in that Visa commercial.
Thanks so much for this video. Fortress is probably my all-time favourite ski area, with Lake Louise coming in a close second. I also did a lot of skiing at Lyon Mountain / Wintergreen back in the day, not to forget the occasional days at Nakiska, Sunshine, and Norquay.
A few points of interest - Fortress's base area has one of the highest elevations for a base area of any ski area in North America. Also where it is located it is in an area that usually gets more natural snow then the other ski hills in the area (including Nakiska, Sunshine, Lake Louise, and Norquay). I actually recall during the 88 Olympics when a chinook rolled through and melted a lot of the snow at Nakiska (they had to delay some of the downhill events while they tried to recover making snow) but Fortress still had great conditions. It may only be another 15 minutes up the highway from Nakiska but the difference in snow conditions between the hills is huge. I could almost always find fresh powder. As mentioned it was always less expensive then the other hills in the area and less crowded. The staff was great - much more open to allow you to try stuff that other hills might frown on. Plus everyone who skied there agreed that it had the best lodge - it was awesome to relax by that giant copper hearth / fireplace.
The lease that the hill holds is for a much larger area then had ever been developed. In fact from an acreage standpoint if it ever becomes fully developed it would be similar to Sunshine in acreage size. But as pointed out it seemed to miss out on any significant investment over the years. The potential is still there, but it has yet to be fully realized.
Your point about the farside chair is correct. That chair was windy and always cold. If my memory is correct it is also the one that they'd have to stop and then restart more often then the others. But it was worth it. The runs and powder off the farside was fantastic.
I never did much lapping on the backside T-Bar. It was mostly a lift to get you back to the front side. The backside chair was great for lapping the backside runs or getting back to the frontside. The unique nature of the "ridge" was great for that.
One other interesting bit of history that I've heard, but never been able to fully figure out, is how Fortress helped save Blackcomb. Apparently back in the early 80's when Aspen owned both Fortress and Blackcomb, Blackcomb was losing money (it was competing with Whistler at the time). The manager of Blackcomb was a former manager at Fortress and one summer moved a T-Bar from Fortress to install it on the glacier at Blackcomb. The story goes that this helped to turn the mountain around to become profitable, and of course years later Whistler and Blackcomb merged to become the resort it is today.
I've read and heard this story enough to figure that it is probably true, but what I've never been able to figure out is where this T-Bar had been located at Fortress. It certainly was not the curved T-Bar, and the only other T-Bar I am aware of at Fortress / SnowRidge is the Beginner T-Bar which had been there all along and was still standing when Zrinko bought the hill. So that rules out the beginner T-Bar. I just can't figure out where this mystery T-Bar that got moved to Blackcomb was located. I'd love to figure this out!
Anyways, great video, I loved the photos and video clips you managed to dig up. Enjoyed as always!
Thanks for your comment! I've heard of the Blackcomb T-Bar that supposedly originated from Fortress. I did find a link to the 1980 North American ski lift survey that lists a T-Bar built at Fortress. Certainly not much information on this lift at all though. (www.skilifts.org/old/install_na1980.htm)
Edit: Take this with a grain of salt, but Wikipedia's page on Fortress claims that, "an additional surface lift was installed in parallel to the back side of the Curve T-bar to bring skiers from the base of the far-side chair back up to the front side"
@@Skier72 interesting! I have never found a map or any pictures indicating a parallel t-bar to the curved on the back side, but that is certainly possible. That would be a similar length to the one on the glacier at Blackcomb. It still seems strange to me that they would have installed a second t-bar in that location.
@@lornetyndale7974Possibly a cost savings? Didn't need to re-survey or something like that? Or snuck it in under the radar?
Just guessing though.
I went to Fortress for the first time in the winter of ‘84/85, I was in my early teens and skied there into my early adult years. Lots of great memories. A piece of me was left up there. So many of us are part of the Fortress story, and it sounds positive that many more will become part of a new chapter!
I look forward to introducing my kids to the place I told them so much about.
Great job on the video. That's the most detail I have ever heard about Fortress. Very interesting. Here's hoping that one day it will open again.
I hope so too, glad you enjoyed!
Blissful memories of all the amazing connections that were made at Fortress Mountain ❤ in the early and mid 90's !!!!
Thanks so much for doing this. It brought back a lot of great memories. I grew up at Fortress and it was an awesome place. The Farside chair was a fun ride. You could almost touch the snow in spots on good snow years. You felt like you were in the backcountry. The terrain was a lot of fun. Every time I went I was always finding new runs to explore. Miss that place. Wish I took pictures.
The Farside looked like it was really fun. I wish I could have experienced it without having to pay KPOW $510/seat.
Who remembers the zerenko cat pulls up to top of the far side? I was on the first one that went up and it was epic! I really miss the place. Hiking the farside shoulder was always fun.
Skiing there in the late 60's. The road from Chief Chiniki to the hill was brutal. hope some new money sees its way to Fortress.
I remember as a youngster going and visiting the Snowridge lodge under construction and almost finished on a rainy muddy summer day, my dad was involved somehow with one of the investors. Later I tried skiing as a 11-12 year old early 70’s and couldn’t even make it up the bunny hill T bar without falling down, my friend gave up on trying to ride on it with me. I laugh now when I realize what a little gentle slope that T bar terrain was. Enjoyed staying in the lodge on that visit as my dad had a bit of a connection with the operation. I skied there years later when it was Fortress and my skills had improved.
I used to take the Woodwards bus up there in the early 70s😊. Lessons in the mornings and sku after lunch. Have cat skied there many times since 2013. Super fun!
Ski😮
This is where I learned how to ski!! Even back in the early 80s the chairlifts seemed a bit sketchy, haha. I fondly remember warming up around that crazy fireplace in the basement. I do miss skiing at Fortress and would go back there in a heartbeat.
I skied here a lot in the 90's and had a lot of ski races here, too, it was one of my favourite places. Always had a lot of snow, amazing glade runs, really cool lodge. When it was too cold I remember playing the Golden Axe arcade game with my friends. Lots of great memories from here, it is definitely missed
This place was a BLAST to ride! The Farside was beautiful and that devils half pipe was amazing !
I’m glad I stumbled across this video. I loved Fortress. I started snowboarding there in the early nineties, entered a snowboard contest there in ’94, worked there in the summer of ‘97, and spent as much time as I could there every winter.
It’s cool to learn a little more about its history.
Loved skiing there back in the 80's/90's! I remember some real windy days tho!
Used to ski at Fortress lots as kid and into my 20s ! It was a great place to Ski !
My stepfather Berry Panrucker was the head of the volunteer ski patrol at Fortress in the early to mid 80's. I was 14 years old at the time and was avid skateboarder. I was always hanging out in Kensington at the Snoboard Shop on 10th street. When Ken Achenbach heard my new stepfather was taking me skiing every weekend he gave me one of the Barfoot snowboards they were making in the back of the shop at the time and said try riding this next weekend. I remember standing in front of Joe with that snowboard and asking my stepfather if he should let snowboards on the mountain. and Berry saying "their money is just as good as anyone else's". I was the first kid in Canada and maybe even North America to ride a ski lift with a snowboard on his feet....
I was an assistant ski patrol leader at Fortress and patrolled with Barry for years. Miss that place.
Ahhh the good ole days. There's NOTHING like the Farside Bowls out there - maybe Big White T-bar lines are close but without the pitch!! The Fort was an amazing place, from the massive fireplace in the lodge with cheap accommodations, to the unique terrain and short drive from Calgary. That mountain taught me how to snowboard and the memories will live with me forever... I hope I get to ride there again some day!
Loved it!! No lines, cheap tickets, awesome tree runs on the back. Lots of powder. We stayed for free overnight, in a gigantic room 2nd or 3rd floor. The "air force" were great to watch.
I LOVED fortress snowboarding in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. As a broke student, I was there at least once a month as it was part of RCR Season Pass. I only went to Fernie, or Fortress - Fortress was where we went when Fernie was too far of a drive for our schedule. Always camped out on the mountain in Fernie in my brothers VW Bus, and just did day trips from Calgary when we went to Fortress… Best small mountain, natural terrain with a lot of natural hits, halfpipes, drops and trees. On fresh powder days, fortress was unbelievably fun. Only downside was the Canadian Aerials team was a little too ‘elitist’ for such a humble and down to earth resort…
I started my snowboarding time at Fortress. I loved that mountain. Very sad the year they closed it.
Such a great nostalgic video thank you! As a teen in the 90s I had so much fun at Fortress and Wintergreen, those were the days...
This is maybe one of THEE most beautiful views a ski resort can have! Incredible! Great video dude.
My parents grew up skiing there, I hope to ski there one day, Hopefully reopening goes as planned, and that we get a new generation of people loving fortress, as hell I'd love to work there
Great recap. Memory lane for many.
I remember most, the impressive powder.
I was fortunate to work there for two seasons on trail crew and patrol. It was a formative time in my life. I have gratitude. It was a blast. The best was the snowboad chute
Moved to Calgary in 1970 when I was 4. skied from 73 to 95. Fortress was my favorite. It was cheap and a shorter drive without Banff tourists.
I remember in the 80s they had 2 for one Tuesday. Lift tickets were 10 bucks!
We used to skip school and drive up on Monday night , sleep in the lodge it had 8 bunks per room. Bring your own sleeping bag, I think it was 20 bucks to stay overnight and ski on Tuesday 😂
I only skied at COP, Lake Louise and Sunshine.
I remember Sunshine before the Gondola, riding the bus up the hill was as epic as the Fortress access road in my 72 Ford Meteor 😂 Sheeet that was fun in a RWD 🛥.
Made some great memories there as a child.
I lived in canmore back in 2000 i loved this mountain soooo much. Some of the deepest snow ive ever ridden. And ride all day and have fresh tracks every run. That road there tho was always an adventure just getting there.
Worked there back in winter of 93/94. Lodge was pretty run down back then but the skiing was great.
One thing you never mentioned, that was part of Fortress' downfall. THE WIND !!!!!! I loved skiing Fortress as a kid/teenager/ right up til my young adulthood in the 90's. Being from Red Deer, we could either ski Canyon, or drive 2 1/2 -3 hours to ski Fortress for the same lift ticket price. Also, as a kid, the "hill" up to Fortress was some of the funnest times! There were so many days though, where you could hold your arms out with your jacket open, and the wind would blow you up the hill !!! This also made for some real icy conditions a lot of the times. Still though, It was a great budget friendly hill with many a fond memory skiing there.
Agreed on the wind. I had often thought that if they had put a windmill at the top of the Farside chair they'd be able to generate enough electricity from it to power the whole resort and never have another power bill again.
But from a local's standpoint (Calgary that is), the wind never stopped myself or friends from skiing the Fort. I don't think it had a lot to do with the downfall - if you were going to the Fort you just dressed for the wind. The biggest downfall was the lack of investment over the years. Especially once Charlie Lock / RCR had bought Nakiska it meant it was pretty much running on borrowed time. From a business standpoint - maintaining a resort that was essentially new (built for the Olympics) compared to maintaining a 30+ (at the time of it being closed by RCR) year old resort (which from a ski resort standpoint is not all that old, but I digress), with the two resorts being all of about 15 minutes from each other, I can understand the business decision.
@@lornetyndale7974 A lot of my friends refused to ski fortress due to the wind. I on the other hand refused to ski Nakiska, and still to this day, have never been there.
In my opinion you haven't missed much.
And just like you I have never skied nakska and refuse to support it@@djteako
I remember the wind on the Ridge Run, just down from the top of the Canadian Chair. You felt like it could tear your face off! 😂 Also that last stretch riding the Farside chairlift was just bone chilling especially if the chairlift stalled right before the top and left you dangling in the howling wind!
Aside from that I never found the wind that bad. Good times! Lots of great memories skiing at Fortress.
Outstanding my brother ⛷️
some of the best glade runs anywhere... it was a hidden gem for pow stashes!!! rip
That place is legendary. Hopefully, I get the chance to shred there.
Thanks for putting this together. So many memories and things that I'd forgotten since the hill closed. I went once in the final season - still excellent snow but you could see the maintenance had slipped. Those old newspaper articles are interesting - the cost of a yearly pass is unreal compared to skiing now (even adjusted to current funds). I didn't know about the connection with Greyhound but that would explain why it was so cheap to take the ski busses from Chinook Centre and SportChek to the hill - if I remember correctly it was $16 for the lift pass and about $5-7 for the bus ride to the hill and back.
This was the resort that i skied in the late 80's before I moved to BC. I was curious as to what happened to it. Thanks for the update.
Drove up there a couple summers ago. Super neat to see the buildings and parked under the old chair at the top. Pretty cool to see the history of this place.
I worked there in 1990. Best winter of my life living on the mountain. Great times. Lived in upper 3. I remember turning on the lifts at night and riding cafeteria trays down chute 1. Truly sad this hill is gone.
Ahh yes, good old traybogganing.
My parents owned a time-share on one of the condos, we got to go for a couple weeks in the winter and a couple weeks in the summer. A lot less to do in the summer, but at least the chalet had a little arcade.
The skiing was great, you could walk out the back door of the condo, clip on your skis and start skiing right away. It's a bummer that it closed.
thanks ! that was a fun/sad tour through my memories. as an amateur Dad, I had the best rat pack of our son and two of his best friends to push our snowboarding skills with in the seemingly endless terrain, with some excellent out of bounds runs that dropped back into the resort area. in our last season there, it snowed 10-20 cm often, so the boys missed quite a bit of school, for outdoor science class ! a lot of movies and vehicle commercials are shot there these days.
Awesome video. Brings back so many good memories. Skied everything there for many years. Thank you!
I only got to spend one day here, the last month it was open! Place was great, and creepy! I loved that lodge man, the sunken central fireplace was amazing.
The central fireplace is amazing. Still there after all these years
Another very awesome memory I have of Fortress, was when I was around 9 or 10 1980ish. After a day of skiing we went into the lodge for a quick bite(and so the parents could have a quick drink LOL) before heading home, and Mclean and Mclean was playing live. We actually stayed for around an hour of the show, and though at the time I didn't get much of the humor, When I became older I became a big fan of theirs!
Great video, thanks for posting!
I didn't realize it was closed. We used to go there every winter for school trips and youth group trips. Sad to see it go ❤
Great Video!
Awesome to see your channel getting the views it deserves
Nice job really enjoying these videos
Great video and fascinating history. It would be so cool if they could bring it back to life.
I loved Fortress. It was our go-to. I even used to prefer it to Sunshine as the lift lines weren't plugged like Sunshine or Lake Louise. Also way closer to Calgary.
Oh the memories. I have been hoping someone could get something back together for years now.
I skied up there a lot in late 70's and 80's as a kid and several times in the 90's. We even camped in our winterized motorhome up on the mountain. Now that was some nice ski in and out. The far side chair was indeed sooooo sketchy! It had steel cables with clips for retention, lol.
Also if I recall correctly rumour was some of the damage to the bridge(s) happened during the 2002 G8 summit in the Kananaskis when they drove 60+ ton Leopard 2 tanks and/or other military heavy armaments over them for air defense emplacements.
I almost got to ski there one of the last days. Drove up with my 6 year old but he didn't have skiis of his own at the point and I didn't realize there was no rental equipment to be had. Had I known that was the swan song I might have left him in the van for a few turns lol. Bailed for Nakiska but it was the end of an era. 😥
Great video . Ty
Me and my buddy have skined up multiple times however we did get chance out a couple times, but was some of the best terrain without driving out of the vally. (we were living/working at nakiaka)
Would have loved to have skied here. Their curved t-bar looked crazy and I love the design of the lodge.
I'm guessing the Canadian Triple Chair was named after the train service of the same name.
The lodge was/is very iconic, sad that it's in its current state. I'm not entirely sure of the origin of the Canadian chair name, but your theory wouldn't surprise me if it was true.
Great video, though I am surprised that you do not make reference to the current day plans to revive fortress mountain. The group does seem quite committed and have a clear plan.
The current day plans would have taken quite awhile to discuss. I've been in contact with the ownership group. While it's true that they do have a plan, they lack the funding to follow through on anything. It's quite unfortunate, the Calgary ski market could definitely support Fortress.
In my school days I skied Fortress quite regularly. It was cheap and had varied terrain, plus it was close to Calgary. However, not all was ever well with Fortress. Although it occasionally got a spring storm that would make for outstanding skiing, snow was hit or miss. The season for the far side chair was usually short due to lack of snow, especially at the top where it would get blown off by the fierce winds. Riding that chair into the wind was not pleasant. However when there was snow and the weather was good it was an excellent little hill.
I don't see it ever opening again. The vertical isn't sufficient for modern expectations, and there isn't enough terrain to justify modern high speed chairs. With high speed quads now the standard, we are in the age of the mega resort. Plus the access road and limited parking will always be a limiting factor.
Plus the ownership group doesn't seem to have the capital to keep it going. It's a shame it's no longer an option, but I also don't ever see it re-opening for lift served skiing though. If a miracle does happen and it does open, I'll be one of the first ones to buy a seasons pass.
Fortress was My favorite hill. Sad when it was closed
south chutes and triangle rock! OG crew. Watching the michael-huck be invented, what a place.
It is amazing how "back in the day" these types of ski areas were seen by a visionary person, then a road was build (by government, no doubt), and there was momentum with the eventual creation of a ski area. What is amazing is how impossible that would be today. Every step would be met with "NO"...from the government allowing the land to be used, to the road being built, to a septic system being installed, to a financing of a lift. The 50's seemed like an amazing era were visionaries could do almost anything. Granted, many failed. But, countless resorts exist because of what they did. I would say that it would be impossible to create a new ski resort today. Both demand and liability would kill it. Back when I was a kid, skiing was cheap, but consumed my thoughts as I didn't have internet and lived through reading and doing. Now, it is a differnt world, one that is arguably worse.
Agreed, the 50s and 60s were the golden era of new ski resort development.
@@Skier72golden era of lifts too, lots of startup companies that I would really love to ride today
Your thoughts echo mine. Look what happened to the resort they tried to start in Eastern BC a few years ago. Every possible group of enviros and other special interests fought bitterly to quash what would have been a world class destination. I recall the mayor of Rossland (a ski resort town) speaking about how terrible it would be if the project went ahead. Imagine trying to build the Trans Canada or the Coquihalla today.
We need a good long recession here in Canada.
We need more ski areas and new ones. We keep getting more skiers and closing resorts.😢
I worked and lived there for the 87/88 season. Pretty much a party all winter. I lived in the lodge on the second floor,back left corner. Room 207 if I recall.
Awesome video man! You covered all the bases pretty much with the story off Fortress. I didnt even know they used it in Inception either! (didnt pay attention to credits lol)
Canadian Speed Skiing team use to train and run the Canadian championships out of there. I remember we had a cold front come through there in 1990, the timing gear kept braking and we froze our asses off.
Fond memories skiing the moguls and open tree runs.
I boarded here in 2004. Was a sweet hill. But that road was still bad haha.
We stopped there after it was closed and the owner was there clearing trees. We helped him clear some trees and he let us ski there. We had the resort all to ourselves all 2 of us. This was in 2008-2009 I believe.
I echo many others sentiments here on a great video for a true gem of a mountain. Great memories here and yes there were definitely wind delays and ice to contend with. Never took away from the sheer majesty of the view though.indeed there's good reason to be skeptical of a re-opening with the new ownership but honestly there is bound to be struggles on new investment money after a once in a 100 year pandemic. Much of the stock market still reeling from that let alone resort money investors coming back with capital. To their credit they have finished the new potable water system there. Lot more money and development to go but can keep the likes and subscribes up on videos like this to keep the hype and buzz up to maybe get more potential investors attention...
add another major complaint - the wind. It could rip packed snow out of the t-bar track. NB the Kananaskis highway (then gravel) was maintained for access by Calgary Power to Kananaskis Lakes.
Good point, I've heard stories of the wind up the farside!
I miss fortress bros 😢
It's a shame. Fortress had far and above the best snow being in the very tip of a snowbelt region that missed most of the other resorts in the area. Even though it was quite dated, the price was kept adequate where the value was always very good. The entry road into fortress was iconic, with the 13 corners, including Jerry's corner. Such great memories. Fortress was my go to place up until it's closure. Charlie Locke was the biggest downfall of this place and really killed it off.
IT WOULD BE A DREAM TO SKI HERE. I got a friend named Evan and his dad was lucky to ski it. Absolute dream to ski it. I have been very motivated to skin up it, I just don't know if I am allowed.
Edit: life time passes was crazy. I would spend 8k for a lifetime pass to Nakiska ngl.
Another Edit: I would love to blame RCR for all our problems.
Agreed, my dad skied here from the mid 80's to the late 90's. He said it was one of the best mountains he ever skied at.
Fortress really stood out from the rest from what I have been told.@@Skier72
I think it is interesting how financers often take over control of these endeavors. It is like the railway to the West in the US. People worked with lives, blood sweat and tears to build, but when revenue was not there, the banks took over and took everything along with collateral (mostly land given by the goverment). It was a windfall. It is like the people in power KNOW that they can take advantage of someone with a passion.
The problem with Fortress is that it would get bought out by these big holding companies like Aspen and RCR that would invest more money in their other ski properties and very little would go to Fortress.
Grew up here, anyone from annie gale will know what a special place this was
You should definitely check out the ski resort that used to be at Lassen National Park in Northern California. Its quite a cool spot
Why would we do that? This is a video about Canadian culture and the history and development of Kananaskis Country. I guess you missed the part where the USA isn't the centre of the universe.
Interesting and sad story. No mention of the 2002 avy that took the lives of two snowboarders?
As I recall they were significantly out of bounds, far out of avi controlled terrain.
To be honest, there quite a bit that I cut out from the video. If the video had been a bit shorter, I would have included both the 1997 and 2002 avalanches.
@@Skier72 My friends were in the 1997 avalanche. The high school bought in grief councilors as they were pretty popular kids. Still very sad it happened so close to the runs but they were OB and hiked where they currently do the cat skiing.
After watching the video I feel old. It was early 2000s...
I hope it reopens. #trentwalker