Nakiska is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

in western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, in the Kananaskis Country region of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. It is located from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

, west on

Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

(

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

) and south on Highway 40 (Kananaskis Trail). "Nakiska" is a

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

word meaning "to meet" or "meeting place." Set on the east face of the southern end of Mount Allan, Nakiska has 64 trails with four chairlifts (3 high-speed quads and 1 double), 1 Reg Magic Carpet and 1 Monster Carpet) set up over an area of . The longest run has , from a top lift-served elevation of to the base at . Nakiska is owned by

Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. (RCR) is the largest private ski resort owner/operator in Canada, owning six ski resorts across Canada. __NOTOC__ Current properties The company owns Nakiska in Alberta as well as Fernie Alpine Resort, Kimberley ...

, which also owns the Fernie, Kimberley, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort,

Mont Sainte Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation of above sea level with a vertical d ...

, and Stoneham ski resorts.

History

The site was selected in 1983 and opened for skiing in the fall of 1986, in preparation for the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

. Pre-Olympic races on the North American Cup circuit (Nor-Am) were held in December 1986 and World Cup downhill and

super G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

races were held in March

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. At the 1988 Winter Olympics, Nakiska hosted the ten

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

events, as well as

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Lab ...

moguls skiing, then a demonstration event. A temporary

surface lift A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher- ...

to the gusty top of the mountain was used for the men's downhill event. This

poma Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, peop ...

can be seen from the top of the "Gold Chair" and is sometimes used for avalanche control. The starting gate of the men's Olympic downhill was at , above the present lift-served summit. That race was postponed a day due to winds at the summit. In 2008, Nakiska was named the official training centre of

Alpine Canada Alpine Canada (french: Canada Alpin) is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. Alpine Canada represents coaches, officials, supporters and athletes, including the racers of the Canadian Alpine Ski Tea ...

(ACA). Each year Nakiska welcomes alpine teams from around the world for early season ski training. During the summer of 2008 the ski area embarked on a series of renovations. Snowmaking enhancements increased capacity by 33%. The 100 metre Monster Magic Carpet was added and the creation of a dedicated Training Run was completed on Mapmaker. In 2009, in preparation for the 2010 Olympics in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, more enhancements occurred. A new high-speed quad lift was installed (Gold Chair Express), replacing the original fixed-grip (Gold) triple chairlift. The ride time is 4.7 minutes, less than half of the previous chair's 9.7 minutes. In 2009 new ski trails were also created with the addition of the new Monster Glades (trails in the trees). The Olympic flame still burns at the entrance to the resort. Of note is that the men's downhill shown on the board inside the restaurant is not the actual run used. With test skiers saying the proposed run was too easy, the men's downhill course was changed with only 3 days to go, leaving no time to change the course board which has already been painted and mounted on the wall inside the restaurant. On November 13, 2017, the French Alpine ski racer David Poisson died in a crash during training.

Climate

A weather station located west of the ski area records temperature and wind speed. The station is above the tree line at an elevation of . It has reported wind gusts as high as

References

External links

*
1988 trail map
– Olympic runs
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies
– company site {{Olympic venues freestyle skiing Venues of the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiing venues Olympic freestyle skiing venues Ski areas and resorts in Alberta Kananaskis Improvement District

History

Climate

See also

References

Further reading

External links