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  1. #551
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    Its not because the hills are full its because the snow is wayyyyy better!

    The only positive to reopening Fortress is that the Gas Station at the bottom sells singles....Besides that RIP
    Exactly!!! Are Sunshine/Louise even really that busy? Seems to me its only the parking that makes it seem so.

    Don't forget Fortress fries and The Wall jump!

  2. #552
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    Quote Originally Posted by robnow View Post
    Exactly!!! Are Sunshine/Louise even really that busy? Seems to me its only the parking that makes it seem so.

    Don't forget Fortress fries and The Wall jump!
    Sunshine gets quite busy... Sometimes even during the week.

    Fortress had the best ski hill food deal in history with their $6 bacon double cheeseburger the size of your head.

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  3. #553
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shorty_J View Post

    Fortress had the best ski hill food deal in history with their $6 bacon double cheeseburger the size of your head.

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    Be prepared for $6 tap water with the cost to revive this pig...lol

  4. #554
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    Be prepared for $6 tap water with the cost to revive this pig...lol
    Yeah for sure... A lot of the character will be lost as well.

    The old lodge was a neat old building... But when RCR abandoned the place the turned the heat off and didn't drain the pipes.. They had a burst water main and the building filled up with mold and needed to be torn down.

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  5. #555
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    Nov 2006
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    ColoRADo
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shorty_J View Post
    Haven't been to Retallack, but every time if done any cat skiing in Nelson area (3 or 4 trips now) it's been relatively low tide, but I've always had a great time as they always seem to be able to find some fresh snow somewhere.

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    Thanks man! I am still on the fence. Just watching too many forecasts.

    Good info for sure.
    You should have been here yesterday!

  6. #556
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    Dec 2004
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    934
    Remember when we were kids and the snow was soooooo deep. Same effect.

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  7. #557
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    Nov 2018
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    67
    I think this has about a snowballs chance in hell of actually happening. Sunshine, Nakiska, and Lake Louise are going to come out swinging to stop this. RCR killed fortress once in 2004 and I don't doubt for a second that they can do it again 15 years later.

  8. #558
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    Dec 2011
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    Well hopefully we'll all get a bunch of discounts in the meantime because of it.
    Quote Originally Posted by XXX-er View Post
    the situation strikes me as WAY too much drama at this point

  9. #559
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    Jan 2013
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    Northern BC
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    Very fond memories of Fortress from back in the day. I was really into moguls back in the skinny days and that place would mogul up beautifully in the spring. hope it happens.

  10. #560
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    Aug 2006
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    the big dirty
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Rogers View Post
    "Fifty per cent of Albertan ski days are outside the province,” said Waddell. “That’s a huge number of skiers that leave Alberta to ski simply because Alberta’s ski hills are full.”
    So weekend trips to KH, Revelstoke, and Fernie, and weeks at SunPeaks/Silverstar/Bigwhite equals daytrippers from Calgary to SV and LL? I wouldn't say the hills are full, but there is a lack of affordable or ski in ski out accomodation in Jasper and Banff.

    Snow quality: Fernie, Revelstoke, KH will have better snow and coverage during Christmas break, and possibly family day if they can avoid rain, but SV and LL would have better snow quality during spring break.

    My girlfriend is an intermediate skier. She likes easy, chill off piste. Cheap hills like Norquay and Nakiska don't really offer this (except Monster Glades and Bruno's gully). So I could see Fortress filling this void for a lot of skiers.

  11. #561
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    Mar 2008
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    northern BC
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    "The issue in these regions is a weak layer at lower elevations, which means the snowpack at and below treeline is more dangerous than the alpine. Forecasters are concerned this unusual situation may catch some backcountry recreationists off guard. Many close-calls involving this layer have been reported over the past few days and with the coming weekend, more people will be heading out into the mountains."

    from avalanche.ca ^^

    I was in Sunrise hut last week the bad layer there was managable

    I kicked off a few small 8" thick slabs below treeline during the week maybe the size of a car

    Then a big dump on thursday was so reactive the guides did one ski cut just below the shitter and called off skiing

    nobody complained, there was pow everywhere but not a cm to ski
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  12. #562
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    I think you would change your mind about the terrain once you put fat skis on. It’s been closed for 15 years and it sucked back then so I don’t know how that would change. Just let it Rest In Peace... turn it into a hut access ski touring club or something along those lines. I’m convinced it will fail again as a ski hill.
    Have a buddy who proposed this the SRD when it closed the last time and they took back the lease. They insisted that the land use designation only allows for a public ski area. He has been hassling them ever since as the owners have been running it as anything but. I’ll be extremely surprised if it opens next year, or ever, they were supposedly all ready to go back in 2016, except for no money, or applications for building permits, or anything else that indicated they were really going to build.

  13. #563
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    Nov 2009
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    The great white north eh
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    Anyone have some beta on kicking horse conditions? Currently in Fernie and thinking of heading that way.

  14. #564
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    https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_con...&v=UN6Aqx_kIR8

    Can’t wait for lift 15 to be installed in the year 3000...where are they going to get the $ to control all this avy terrain while staying a small family ski hill? I like the idea of the family biathlon?

    This idea looks doomed! Another story of investors dooped....guess the investors will find that out when they start asking where that awesome skating lake in the promo video surrounded by glaciers is and find out it is Lake Louise 2.5-3hrs away...
    Last edited by teamdirt; 02-08-2019 at 06:04 PM.

  15. #565
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_con...&v=UN6Aqx_kIR8

    Can’t wait for lift 15 to be installed in the year 3000...where are they going to get the $ to control all this avy terrain while staying a small family ski hill? I like the idea of the family biathlon?

    This idea looks doomed! Another story of investors dooped....guess the investors will find that out when they start asking where that awesome skating lake in the promo video surrounded by glaciers is and find out it is Lake Louise 2.5-3hrs away...
    yeah, ok, you don't like it. we get it. now fuck off and post about this the next time this happens, don't sully the thread with 15 posts on the same subject.

  16. #566
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    Quote Originally Posted by f2f View Post
    yeah, ok, you don't like it. we get it. now fuck off and post about this the next time this happens, don't sully the thread with 15 posts on the same subject.
    Investor? Lol

    I couldn’t care either way if this happens.

    I’m sure most would appreciate the promo video.

  17. #567
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    Investor? Lol
    i'd ski there if it opened, but fortress insider info isn't why i'm visiting this thread, at least not until it opens. pump the brakes on the posts.

  18. #568
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    Sep 2010
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    Golden, BC
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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny P View Post
    Anyone have some beta on kicking horse conditions? Currently in Fernie and thinking of heading that way.
    You need to walk to find the good stuff.

  19. #569
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
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    Canada
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    Its not because the hills are full its because the snow is wayyyyy better!

    The only positive to reopening Fortress is that the Gas Station at the bottom sells singles....Besides that RIP
    I think there are a number of reasons for 50% of Alberta ski days are outside the province. Skiing is typically a relatively high cost venture, middle class , more accurately upper middle class. A lot of those folks have places either in the Invermere Valley, Fernie, Golden or even Montana. I know even more that are getting places in the Okanagan. If you have vacation property, if you are Calgarian, it is likely in BC or Montana for skiers.

    For me, sitting in Calgary, it is a major ordeal to pack up all the gear, load up the car and head to the mountains with an 1.5 or 1.75 hour drive to a hill for a day skiing. It seems odd, but that was why we put the kids into the BAR program at Norquay, it forced us to get out at least once a week for 10 weeks in winter. Add some trips to visit my brother in Invermere and then Golden, we got some good days in. My daughter taught at Nakiska for a winter and that was hellish. Overcrowded, bad skiers, and IMO, very poorly designed trail system. Dangerous place IMO. My kids spent two years in the freeskiing program at Sunshine after we were done with BAR (none wanted to race). Very crowded, and seldom lived up to its’ name prior to mid-March.

    Like many in ur neighbourhoods, having a place in PAno, Fernie or KH, with shorter drives to the hills, it is easier to drive out Friday night, back Sunday and be that much closer to the hills.


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  20. #570
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    Oct 2003
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    Banff
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    -34 this monring in banff, big inversion and looks like the cold is being pushed out too.


  21. #571
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    Sep 2009
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    N side, Terrace, BC
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    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    I think you would change your mind about the terrain once you put fat skis on. It’s been closed for 15 years and it sucked back then so I don’t know how that would change. Just let it Rest In Peace... turn it into a hut access ski touring club or something along those lines. I’m convinced it will fail again as a ski hill.
    Quote Originally Posted by robnow View Post
    Just let Fortress die already. I'm nostalgic too, used to coach and spent many of my university days there but I'm convinced like TD, that if we ever went back there, it would be BORING AS FUCK!
    While I think you may be overly harsh Rob and Dirt, I wonder if you may have some semblance of a point... I haven't skied there since 1992. Having said that, my first ski day was there in 1977, my first season pass was there, I have such great memories of the place... I can't help but wish it well. And, it is in a snow pocket...
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Rogers View Post
    This seems to be optimistic at best. Maybe a misunderstanding of the market.

    "Fifty per cent of Albertan ski days are outside the province,” said Waddell. “That’s a huge number of skiers that leave Alberta to ski simply because Alberta’s ski hills are full.”
    I'd say that the Alberta ski hills being full is bullshit. I've been skiing Castle, Louise and SSV for the last 6 seasons and have perhaps twice in a couple of hundred days seen lineups that have made me cringe. People aren't leaving Alberta to ski because of the lineups, they are leaving for the reasons dufferdan explained below:

    Quote Originally Posted by dufferdan View Post
    I think there are a number of reasons for 50% of Alberta ski days are outside the province. ...A lot of those folks have places either in the Invermere Valley, Fernie, Golden or even Montana. I know even more that are getting places in the Okanagan. If you have vacation property, if you are Calgarian, it is likely in BC or Montana for skiers.

    For me, sitting in Calgary, it is a major ordeal to pack up all the gear, load up the car and head to the mountains with an 1.5 or 1.75 hour drive to a hill for a day skiing.
    Like many in ur neighbourhoods, having a place in PAno, Fernie or KH, with shorter drives to the hills, it is easier to drive out Friday night, back Sunday and be that much closer to the hills.
    Quote Originally Posted by Shorty_J View Post
    I'd ski there again if it does actually open.
    My understanding of why it failed was almost entirely due to needing bridge repairs that suddenly came up.
    Yeah, I'd ski there too for old times sake. I think the reasons it closed were explained quite well in the article https://www.rmoutlook.com/article/fo...ening-20190207. I've no reason to doubt them.

    Quote Originally Posted by reckless toboggan View Post
    I think that all of us who used to ski it BITD with its legendary upsloap dumps, have money and kids now...and would take them to Fortress in a hot second.

    You're being given the chance to avoid Sunshine or Nakiska, or god forbid COP...as are all the other Calgarians who have nostalgia for skiing there and now have kids.

    I think there's a market for this.

    You're in the parking lot in less than an hour. You're home in less than an hour. Do people really want to drive with their kids all the way to Sunshine for snow? Or Nakiska for ice? ...when you could go to the Fort for either, with less drive and likely for less money? For putting around with your 5 year old, or ripping laps with your teenager who's starting to kick your ass?

    This seems like a no-brainer, given how much it costs a Calgary family to go for a full weekend to Golden, or the time spent driving whiny, tired kids back and forth to Sunshine.
    I agree Reckless.

    Quote Originally Posted by teamdirt View Post
    Its not because the hills are full its because the snow is wayyyyy better!

    The only positive to reopening Fortress is that the Gas Station at the bottom sells singles....Besides that RIP
    No it's not. It's because of the reasons stated by Dufferdan. And yes, the singles at that gas station are tits.

    Quote Originally Posted by robnow View Post
    Are Sunshine/Louise even really that busy?

    Don't forget Fortress fries and The Wall jump!
    No they are not. And the fries and the wall jump were great.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shorty_J View Post
    Sunshine gets quite busy... Sometimes even during the week.
    Shorty, I haven't seen the busyness myself even on weekends.

    Quote Originally Posted by Pass Rat View Post
    I think this has about a snowballs chance in hell of actually happening. Sunshine, Nakiska, and Lake Louise are going to come out swinging to stop this. RCR killed fortress once in 2004 and I don't doubt for a second that they can do it again 15 years later.
    Good point.

    Quote Originally Posted by f2f View Post
    i'd ski there if it opened, but fortress insider info isn't why i'm visiting this thread, at least not until it opens. pump the brakes on the posts.
    It's the fucking rockies thread, you don't want to read about a resort in the rockies potentially re-opening, then ignore/skip/don't read the posts about it.
    Fuck.

    Quote Originally Posted by mntlion View Post
    -34 this monring in banff, big inversion and looks like the cold is being pushed out too.
    Same going on at Castle. -30 at the bottom, -13 at the summit. Fuck. Oh well, the Red didn't spin yesterday so there will be pow up top.
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  22. #572
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    I guess busy is relative. SSV and Louise aren't busy compared with big US resorts, but I've experienced two days with some pretty decent lift lines just this season.

    And the article has only 1 short paragraph on the reasons it shut down. I'm sure that was part of it but seems pretty simplistic. I think it's safe to say there were likely other factors as well.

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  23. #573
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    Feb 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by garyfromterrace View Post
    It's the fucking rockies thread, you don't want to read about a resort in the rockies potentially re-opening, then ignore/skip/don't read the posts about it.
    Fuck.
    lol, investor much?

    i read about it once, twice, three times a lady! didn't care about it the 15th time. you're not helping either.

  24. #574
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    Aug 2006
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    Calgary
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    Wow, what a sleeper of a day at the Shine. 15 degree inversion and the Dive skied great for once this season.

  25. #575
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    Aug 2006
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    Calgary
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shorty_J View Post
    I've experienced two days with some pretty decent lift lines just this season.
    But even those two days at the Lake weren't that bad. Ok, my friends bitched that Big Friday (January) was bad (due to not much opening?) but Day After Saturday was busy but fine IMO, skied fresh lines at the end of the day still. Same with last weekend's dump, Saturday was busy but nothing compared to what all of us experience in Fernie/Kicking Horse.

    I can't remember any lines at SSV once up on the hill. Even rope drops/Dive opening (last season) have been mellow affairs.

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