Fortress Mountain is a ski resort

Ski resort

A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...

 in Kananaskis Country, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Located on the face of The Fortress

The Fortress (Alberta)

The Fortress is a mountain located in the Kananaskis River Valley of Kananaskis Park of the Canadian Rockies. When viewed from Highway 40, the north face presents a fortress like appearance...

, the resort spans over 3.8 km² from a top elevation of 2369 m (7772 ft) to the base at 2040 m (6693 ft), and is serviced by 3 chairlift

Chairlift

An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...

s (one triple, two doubles) and 2 T-bars. The longest run, at 2 km, has a vertical rise of 329 m (1079 ft).

The resort is situated on a 15 km² (3311 acre) Provincial Crown Lease surrounded by two Provincial Parks.

The resort is located on Kananaskis Trail (115 km west of Calgary). It is owned and operated by Fortress Mountain Holdings Ltd.

History

Before being purchased by Fortress Mountain Holdings Ltd., the area had previously been owned by Banff Rail Company, as well as Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR). Aspen Skiing Co. owned the resort in the 1970s and 80s.

In early December 2009, scenes from the film Inception

Inception

Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...

were shot there. The area has been featured in many other movies such as Van Helsing

Van Helsing (film)

Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...

, Brokeback Mountain, RV

RV (film)

RV is a 2006 comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, written by Geoff Rodkey, and starring Robin Williams, Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, Cheryl Hines, Josh Hutcherson, Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth and Will Arnett. It was released on April 28, 2006 in North America...

, The Claim, as well as many television commercials.

Fortress’ Legacy Lives on at Blackcomb

In the 1980s, an additional T-bar 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. One summer Hugh Smyth, then manager of Blackcomb who also worked at Fortress, took this additional T-bar apart and took it to Blackcomb and installed it on Blackcomb glacier, thereby making Blackcomb’s high alpine glacier more accessible.

Current status

Fortress Mountain Holdings Ltd. is headed by Joey O'Brien. Mr. O'Brien's ski industry experience includes formerly owning Ski Martock in Nova Scotia for 25 years, and performing as COO for Alpine Canada Alpin.

The resort requires substantial upgrades and will remain closed until they are completed.

Fortress Mountain Holdings will release periodic updates via Ski Fortress

External links

• Ski Fortress official website