Northern Rockies/Alberta Fortress Mountain, Alberta, set to reopen

[rustypouch]

The target is December, 2020. There's been talk about it for years, and this seems like things are really in motion.

If it will actually happen who knows? But I'm hoping so.

https://www.rmoutlook.com/article/fortress-mountain-ski-resort-eyes-2020-opening-20190207

 

[dbostedo]

Awesome. Any resort opening, or re-opening, is a good thing!

 

[RJS]

I did a long hike this summer that ended at the Spray Lakes Reservoir, and holy cow are those mountains gorgeous. I'm looking at Fortress Mountain on Google Earth and it looks very cool. Has anyone skied at Fortress before? I'm curious how it compares to the other resorts in Alberta. Wikipedia says it gets 236–354.5 in of annual snowfall, which is a lot more than the nearby Nakiska.

 

[rustypouch]

I did a long hike this summer that ended at the Spray Lakes Reservoir, and holy cow are those mountains gorgeous. I'm looking at Fortress Mountain on Google Earth and it looks very cool. Has anyone skied at Fortress before? I'm curious how it compares to the other resorts in Alberta. Wikipedia says it gets 236–354.5 in of annual snowfall, which is a lot more than the nearby Nakiska.

I skied a bit there back in the day. It was one of those places best described as quirky. Decent snow for the area. Nothing really steep, but lots of interesting terrain, especially on the far side, with a couple natural half pipes and lots of variety. The T-bar was unique, as far as I know. It served both sides of a ridge, but powered by one engine. A big loop that went up one side pulling people, down the other, back up again with people, and down to where it started. The lodge/hotel had a great design, with the ground floor being a lunch area with a big fireplace in the center, and hotel rooms on upper floor mezzanines, looking down on the tables.

 

[Mike Rogers]

Bit of a bump.

Fortress is in the news today. They are planning on using part of their water permit (snowmaking +potable) to sell K-Country water to a bottling company. Trucking it to Calgary. People don't seem too pleased.

I don't know if this means they are trying to raise money to get things going again, or what.

It seems opening is always two years away.

*I skied fortress a bunch in the past. The runs were short, but they got some nice up-slope storms....it was usually empty on powder days too. I'll definitely check it out when it is back up and running, but it certainly won't be a priority. In the old days, Fortress competed nicely with Sunshine, but the expansions to the Dive and Goats Eye have really changed that resort. Development at Fernie, Kicking Horse, and Revelstoke has really changed the scene around here.

 

[fatbob]

Glad I skied there while it was alive but despite the money from Inception it always seems to be a triumph of hope over reality in actually opening again.