Skiing on Fortress Mountain has a deep history, running all the way back to the 1960s. Its story begins with one man, Arnold Choquette, a Calgarian who spent over 10 years searching the mountains of Kananaskis for a suitable spot for a ski resort. Spending summers hiking and winters backcountry skiing, Choquette finally settled on a ridge right below Fortress Mountain in 1965. It was then that the Snowridge Ski Development Company was formed. The following year, an access road, including a bridge was constructed.

In 1967, the company announced the construction of a double chairlift, two T-bars, and a 2 million dollar day lodge. Featuring a hotel, the supremely unique lodge was designed by architect J.K. English, and originally was supposed to be one of several similar buildings, all to be connected via a series of sky bridges. Utilizing a hyperbolic parabloid design, this building was truly a masterpiece of architecture, and is perhaps the greatest ski lodge ever built in Canada. The chairlift was constructed by Alpine Lift, aka Doppelmayr and was one of the earliest Doppelmayr-brand chairlifts installed in Western Canada. The T-Bar was a one of a kind design, running in a diamond pattern up and over the mountain, servicing both sides of the ridge.

Now, despite the best intentions of the Snowridge Ski company, Snowridge did not open in 1967 due to construction delays. That summer, the resort added a second beginner T-Bar, providing access to much needed beginner terrain. The resort finally opened in January of 1968. 

There was lots to love about the newly opened resort. Both hotel and ski guests praised the design of the futuristic ski lodge. The skiing itself was incredible, the lifts were modern and the views were spectacular. However, guests had one major complaint about Fortress - the horrific access road. You see, back in the 1960s, the paved Highway 40 we all know and love did not exist. Instead, the only access was through a series of decommissioned gravel logging roads. With other competitors, such as Norquay or Sunshine boasting paved roads all the way up, many guests preferring to make the drive elsewhere. 

Initially, the Snowridge Ski Development company was owned by shareholders. In 1969, Greyhound Leasing and Financial of Canada Ltd. purchased a 15% interest in the company. Greyhound indicated that they would be interested in potential further development of the ski resort.

In 1969, the company also began offering Heli-ski tours, using Snowridge as a base camp. Using a Bell 205A-1 Helicopter, skiing tours were offered around various glaciers. It was proclaimed that “The Jet Age has Come to Snowridge.”

Later that year, looking for more space, the iconic hyperbolic lodge was expanded on 4 of the 5 sides of the building. While the original plan called for additional buildings, management opted for the cheaper route, installing 4 additions with basements. 

Snowridge grew in popularity, though not as much as its competitor resorts. It was here that management made a mistake. To rase funds, the resort offered lifetime season passes for $1,000 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, this would be $8,071.16 in today’s currency. This lifetime pass gave the holder benefits which I won’t go through, but you can read them here.

In March of 1970, Snowridge announced the addition of a second chairlift. The proposed Kananaskis chairlift would have been approximately where the current Canadian chair was later installed.

In October of 1970, Greyhound Leasing and Finance Company took complete control of Snowridge, though they leased out operations to Brewster Transport Co. All planned capital expenditures, including the Kananaskis chairlift were canceled, though the company declared that there would be future investments made. However, Greyhound began running weekend busses from various locations in Calgary to the ski resort.

It was around this time that the access road began to be a major problem. In 1971, the government promised the resort that the 30 miles of the 36 miles would be paved sometime. Looking to cut costs, the ski resort operated weekends only for the 1971-72 ski season.

By July of 1972, the Alberta Supreme Court ruled that Snowridge be put up for judicial sale. The resort owed more than 1 million to the Business Development Bank, and had never made a profit. The ski resort blamed that lack of profit from the access road. 

Snowridge remained closed until the summer of 1974, when the famed Aspen Skiing Company purchased 50% of the resort from the Business Development Bank. By then, the provincial goverment had agreed to pave, and maintain 30 miles of the access road, with the last 6 miles under the resort’s management. In an effort to re-brand the resort, Aspen renamed Snowridge to Fortress Mountain. Aspen also had to contend with the lifetime seasons passes that were sold under previous management. Aspen simply chose not honour them, angering many who had purchased them.

Now, Aspen quickly sold the ski lodge to Skivest Ltd., who owned and ran Fairmont Hot Springs Resort and ski area. This group was headed by Joe Coullard. Aspen SkiCo created a smaller entity called Fortress Mountain Resorts Ltd. to run the resort. 

In 1975, to expand the resort, a new Doppelmayr triple chair was installed, servicing expansion terrain. The lift loaded right near the bottom of the beginner t-bar, making access relatively easy. The resort also added a separate staff housing and rental shop unit, right next to the main lodge. The main lodge was remodled with new restaurants, shops and an outdoor pool, while the administrative offices were moved to the new building. Aspen kept up with running busses from Calgary to Fortress.

It was around this time that Fortress, looking to rebrand their image, started running the beginner T-Bar completely free of charge, as well as offering select free beginner lessons. This program was met with huge success, with many people learning how to ski at Fortress. Additionally, around this time, Fortress started hosting many freestyle and racing events. All this built an incredible loyalty following for Fortress over the next few decades.

In 1976, additional black runs were opened on the frontside. In keeping with Aspen’s grooming tradition, Fortress boasted 3 modern Thiokol Packmasters, ensuring world-class grooming. The hotel had become nationally recognized, and the ski resort experienced huge visitation. This was truly the golden era of Fortress.

However, in February of 1976, a woman suffered injuries after the haul rope of the beginner T-Bar derailed, falling on her. High winds were reportedly blamed for the accident. The woman sued the resort, and won $15,000 in 1978.

By 1977, the resort had begun to install a snowmaking system along critical runs to aid in early season openings. A complete system was proposed, that would have covered all the front side runs.

It was also in 1977 when the Aspen Ski Corporation sold a 40% stake in their firm to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. This deal meant that much of Fortress was now controlled by Twentieth-Century holdings.

In 1978, the British Columbian government agreed to sign a 40-year lease with Aspen-owned Fortress Mountain Resorts Ltd. to develop skiing on Blackcomb mountain. Blackcomb opened in 1980, and it was operated by Fortress until 1986. Aspen installed a new Doppelmayr double in 1978, marking the last true expansion the resort undertook. Opening up the backside, the lift serviced 4 existing runs and opened others, eliminating a long runout. 

By 1979, Joe Coullard of Skivest Co, who owned and operated the lodge had received preliminary approval from the provincial government to develop a $10 million dollar alpine village at Fortress. This would have given the mountain 100 condo units, an expanded base lodge, swimming pools and tennis courts, transforming the mountain into a year-round destination. The Fortress village was not the only one proposed, there were an additional proposed 3 villages in the Kananaskis valley. This rush on development was all boosted by Calgary’s bid on the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.  However, by 1980 the government had decided that no condo units would be built anywhere in the Kananaskis valley, which essentially quashed Couillard’s dream.

It was around this time that the government started to get serious about developing a new ski resort for the Olympic Games. It had become obvious that Fortress Mountain did not have the qualifications to host the games. Proposals for ski resorts on Mt. Sparrowhawk, Mt. Allen and Mt. Shark, as well as 3 new alpine villages all came to the table. While no condos would be present, the alpine villages would have had hundreds of rental units. There was even a plan in 1982 to build, and link all 4 ski resorts via a series of trams and chairlifts. 

Fortress itself had expansion plans, including the replacement of the original Curve t-bar and Farside double, and a new base at the bottom of the mountain with a 2-stage lift system that would bring skiers to Fortress Village. This would have eliminated the 8 kilometre access road, though obviously this never came to fruition.

By 1983, the provincial government had indicated that they themselves would develop a ski resort on Mt. Allen. There is a lot I could say about the development of Nakiska, but I won’t get too deep here. I will however say that literally no other resort operator was happy. Coming off a high year of 1980,  Fortress had low skier visits the past 2 years. However, manager Bill Williams claimed that Fortress had found a niche by offering affordable lift tickets, and that this market would always have a place in the Alberta ski scene regardless of the new ski resort.

In 1986, Joe Couillard, who had previously owned the lodge, purchased Aspen’s 50% share in the resort. Charlie Locke, owner of Lake Louise purchased the Federal Business Development bank’s 50% share. Under the new management, Fortress began actively marketing itself as the most affordable mountain to ski, which did help raise skier visit numbers somewhat. This is summarized best in this 1986 article which says, “No glossy trail maps, just photocopies. A $20 bill will buy a lift ticket, with change returned. And there are no crowds to contend with.” Fortress also embraced the new sport of Snowboarding with open arms. At a time when snowboarding was widely shunned by other ski resorts, many Calgarian boarders flocked to Fortress, partly due to the terrain layout and the management’s stance.

The 1987/88 winter season was extremely warm, which caused Fortress to only open for a handful of weeks. Additionally, the 1988 Winter Olympic Games ensured that ski traffic to Fortress was minimal.  Other ski operators faced similar conditions.

By 1991, Charlie Locke purchased Joe Collard’s 50% share in Fortress, making him the sole owner of the resort. This period started the rapid decline of Fortress Mountain. Compared to other resorts, even Nakiska, Fortress struggled to attract skiers to its aging facilities.

By 1992, Charlie Locke had announced that he was planning to construct 25 ski-in, ski-out units, as well as a new chair lift on the Far Side. However, Locke’s focus was the construction of a golf course at Wintergreen in 1992, putting the Fortress expansion plans on the back burner. Locke told the press that he intended to start construction of the new lift and townhome units in 1994.

By 1995, Charlie Locke had taken control of Nakiska, purchasing it from Rocky Mountain Skiing Inc. Looking to cut overhead, Locke merged the operations of Fortress and Nakiska under one manager. Locke did end up building 6 townhome units in 1995. Cat Skiing on Fortress was introduced in 1996, which perhaps was foreshadowing to the future.

By 1997, Locke had become increasingly frustrated by the Alberta provincial government’s buerocratic red tape on development in the Kananaskis valley. Locke had planned to sell his built units as condos, which was subject to a lengthy government review. Locke eventually announced that he was done with Alberta, and purchased Snow Valley, which became Fernie. Locke’s relationship with the government degraded when he threatened to close Fortress and Nakiska in 1999. This came after the provincial government shut off Fortresses water, claiming that Locke’s sewage lagoon overflowed with snowmelt. Nonetheless, Locke continued to build up Resorts of the Canadian Rockies with his purchase of Kimberly in 1998.

By May of 1999, the provincial government had announced that there would be no further consideration for development in the Kananaskis valley. This put an end to Locke’s plans for condos and expanded ski terrain at Fortress. Locke responded to this by diversifying his assets, purchasing Mont-Ste-Anne in Quebec.

Now, around 2001, Locke’s Resorts of the Canadian Rockies began to crumble. While I won’t get into all the details of RCR’s near liquidation, I will have a video on this topic coming out soon. All you need to know now is that oil billionaire N. Murray Edwards purchased RCR, shuttering Wintergreen in 2003.

Now, the winters of 2001/02 and 2002/03 were extremely poor. Every major Alberta ski resort faced warmer than usual temperatures, which resulted in a significant drop in skier visits. After closing Wintergreen following the 2002/03 ski season, RCR announced that Fortress would only operate on weekends, then changing their minds, announcing the permanent closure of the mountain. RCR also announced that Nakiska was likely to close within the next few years.

However, RCR changed course later that year, announcing that they would keep Fortress operational. Additionally, RCR announced they were in talks with the provincial government to expand the skiable terrain on Fortress within the next 2 years. Zrinko Amerl also came on as the new general manager. However, after an application for a provincial tourism grant was denied to Fortress, RCR announced the closure of the resort in April of 2004. According to general manager Neil Jackson, “We cannot justify operating a resort that has lost in excess of one million dollars cash over the last two years…”

RCR initially proposed building a year round environmental education centre at Fortress. However, by September of 2005, RCR announced that the resort had been sold to former General Manager, Zrinko Amerl. Amerl created the Banff Rail Company to operate the resort. By February of 2006, Amerl had re-opened limited skiing on Fortress through only the Canadian chair. Burst pipes in the basements of the Lodge had created unexpected damages, though the damage was fixed that summer. Amerl purchased Lake Louise’s retired Glacier Triple chair, which he reportedly wanted to use to replace the Farside lift. 

By September of 2006, the provincial government had ordered Amerl to stop selling seasons passes to Fortress after informing the public that the hill “may not fully be in operation by its December 1 opening date.” The government told Amerl to stop advertising services it may not be able to provide.

By November of 2006, the government condemned the bridge to the resort, cutting off all access to the mountain. Amerl was confident that he would be able to open by January of 2007, and submitted a new operating proposal to the government, as well as promising to fix the bridge. Fortress did not open in 2007, leaving season pass holders angry. However, Amerl kept on promising that Fortress would be operational for the 2007/08 ski season.

By September of 2007, Amerl had landed in legal trouble after he was accused of fraudulently using credit card information to pay off debts from the operation of the ski hill. One month later, the provincial government canceled the ski hill lease over Amerl’s failure to repair the bridge, along with unpaid taxes. Amerel sued the provincial government, which went nowhere. In 2009, scenes of the movie Inception were filmed at Fortress. Warner Brothers built a new one-lane bridge, and sections of the road were completed.

Though Amerl announced that the resort might open for the 2009 ski season, it ultimately did not happen. In 2010, Amerl sold the resort to Fortress Mountain Holdings. The new owners created KPOW Cat Skiing in 2011 - which offered guided Cat skiing tours in and around the old ski hill. In 2013, a new resort area structure plan plan was created, and subsequently approved in 2014. By 2020, to raise capital, the owners had begun trucking water off their land.

I visited Fortress back in 2020 and 2022. I was struck by the natural beauty of the resort, and the striking location. While Fortress didn’t have a major vertical drop, the resort offered quite an impressive selection of terrain variety. Unfortunately, the mountain has not been kind to the iconic ski lodge. The four basements are either flooded, or mouldy. After visiting the mountain, I really don’t know what’s next for Fortress. I can only hope that this iconic Albertan gem can re-open for skiers and boarders once again.