Nakiska

Photo: skinakiska.com

home to the calgary 88 olympic alpine events

COZY AND FAMILY-FRIENDLY RESORT

Located in Kananaskis Country, in the front ranges of the breathtaking Canadian Rockies, Nakiska is a family-friendly resort offering a variety of terrain including perfectly groomed Olympic-length runs and a secure beginner’s area. The mountain, which was home to the Calgary 88 Olympic Alpine Events, is just 45 minutes west of Calgary and close to the world-class dining, accommodation and spas found in Kananaskis Village.

It is a fairly small and simple ski resort, but it’s a favourite amongst local Calgary families. It doesn’t see too many international visitors considering it has to compete with the nearby Banff ski resorts of Lake Louise and Sunshine Village. Nevertheless, if your family prefers a petite and easy to navigate resort, then Nakiska is worth a visit.

The presence of Olympic length runs is a good sign that the Nakiska ski resort terrain features decent vertical. Considering Nakiska was specifically designed and built for ski racing, it also has a lot of investment in infrastructure. There’s state of the art grooming and to make up for the lack of natural snowfall, most of the skiable area is supplemented with snowmaking. The wide corduroy runs are fun for cruising (or racing!).

The 413 hectares of skiable terrain is mostly suited to intermediates, but there are enough runs for beginners, and a few challenging runs for advanced riders. For freestylers, there's a terrain park and a half-pipe.