Fortress Mountain Resort
Fortress Mountain Resort is permanently closed.
Fortress Mountain Resort is a ski area located in the province of Alberta in Canada. The resort is in the town of Kananaskis, AB.
We recently ranked all of Alberta's ski resorts, so you can see where Fortress Mountain Resort stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Fortress Mountain Resort is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Fortress Mountain Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Fortress Mountain Resort's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Fortress Mountain Resort around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Fortress Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Fortress Mountain Resort has a total of 47 ski trails, which are serviced by 6 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 3,300 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 1,335 hectares, 5.2 square miles, or 13.4 square kilometers.
Fortress Mountain Resort's slopes see on average 250 inches (6.4 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 20 feet every year!
Total Runs
47
Lifts
6
Skiable Acres
3,300(13 km2)
Annual Snowfall
250"(635 cm)
Fortress Mountain Resort Elevation
Fortress Mountain Resort has a summit elevation of 8,400 feet, or 2,560 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 5,905 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 2,495 feet (760 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 8,400 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
8,400'(2,560 m)
Vertical Drop
2,495'(760 m)
Base Elevation
5,905'(1,800 m)
Fortress Mountain Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
57.3out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Fortress Mountain Resort has 3,300 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Fortress Mountain Resort's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 50% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 27% as expert.
Beginner
23%(759 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
50%(1,650 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
27%(891 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Fortress Mountain Resort good for beginners?
Fortress Mountain Resort is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 73% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.
Fortress Mountain Resort Location
Fortress Mountain Resort is located in the province of Alberta, Canada. This ski area is nearest the town of Kananaskis, AB.
Address:
Kananaskis, AB T0L Canada
View on Google Maps
Website:
skifortress.com
GPS Coordinates:
50.82900, -115.21100
Getting to Fortress Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Fortress Mountain Resort), its coordinates of 50.82900, -115.21100 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Kananaskis, AB to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Fortress Mountain Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary International Airport | YYC | Calgary, AB | 89 km |
| Edmonton International Airport | YEG | Edmonton, AB | 297 km |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Fortress Mountain Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport | YXC | Cranbrook, BC | 141 km |
| Lethbridge County Airport | YQL | Lethbridge, AB | 217 km |
| Castlegar/West Kootenay Regional Airport | YCG | Castlegar, BC | 242 km |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Fortress Mountain Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Fortress Mountain Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nakiska Ski | Kananaskis, AB | 7,415 ft | 60% | 13 km |
| Mount Norquay | Banff, AB | 6,998 ft | 53% | 50 km |
| Banff Sunshine Village | Banff, AB | 8,957 ft | 68% | 50 km |
| Fairmont Hot Springs Resort Ski Area | Fairmont Hot Springs, BC | 5,200 ft | 44% | 70 km |
| WinSport (Canada Olympic Park) | Calgary, AB | 4,100 ft | 32% | 75 km |
| Panorama Mountain | Panorama, BC | 8,038 ft | 87% | 83 km |
| Lake Louise | Lake Louise, AB | 8,650 ft | 66% | 95 km |
| Kicking Horse | Golden, BC | 8,218 ft | 90% | 139 km |
| Kimberley Alpine Resort | Kimberly, BC | 6,500 ft | 62% | 139 km |
| Pass Powderkeg | Blairmore, AB | 5,183 ft | 32% | 147 km |
| Fernie Alpine Resort | Fernie, BC | 7,000 ft | 66% | 152 km |
| Castle Mountain | Pincher Creek, AB | 7,463 ft | 82% | 159 km |
| Innisfail Ski Hill | Innisfail, AB | 3,133 ft | 14% | 159 km |
Fortress Mountain Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 8,400 ft |
| Base Elevation | 5,905 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 2,495 ft |
| Trails | 47 (23% Beginner, 50% Intermediate, 27% Expert) |
| Lifts | 6 |
| Skiable Acres | 3,300 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 250 inches |