11 replies to this topic

[teachme]

This funky little mountain is about 90 minutes outside of Calgary. It has had a rather mixed ownership history and was basically neglected in favour of other mountains also owned by the same company. I think it has been closed since about 2001, but may have opened as late as 2005.

Two links on the history if anyone is interested.

http://www.vueweekly...w-reopens-2016/

http://forums.beyond...d/t-187953.html

Wikipedia also has lots of stuff if you dig through the historical pages (current page is rather bare)

https://en.wikipedia...Mountain_Resort

With rumours of it reopening, i went hiking up there last weekend before the snow flies to see what the place looks like and how things are holding up. The mountain has three faces with basically one chair up each face. To get the the third face you need to go up the first and down the backside then up.

Was surprised to see that the lifts had not been sold and that chairs were still on the line. (with photos below). The place looks a bit rough. Apparently all the buildings are condemned and need to be replaced for next year. The lifts looked OK but cables were rusty and windows broken. The front triple and backside double are Dopelmars. The triple has chairs on the line, I assume for the past 10 years. The double had chairs in the grass. The last double (farside) also had chairs on the line for 10 years I assume. The curved t-bar was gone.

I did see evidence of construction and survey pegs so it seems something is happening. Reading of the plans, it seems the farside double is beyond repair but the two front ones will be fixed. Although I also read that one reason it closed was lack of money to replace all the lifts as they were approaching end of life.

Apart from the interesting (I hope) story and pictures, I have two questions:

1. What would it take to get the lifts running again after so many years of neglect?

2. Who built the farside double? There was no name on it anywhere at all

I have many more photos if anyone is interested.

Take care,

TME

This post has been edited by teachme: 15 October 2015 - 08:32 PM

[teachme]

Photos

1-3 Lift A Dop. Tripple
3-5 Lift B Dop. Double
6-9 Lift C Unk. Double

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This post has been edited by teachme: 15 October 2015 - 08:38 PM

[Mike12164]

I would assume the lifts have been condemmed, same as the buildings. No machine can sit idle for years without any maintenance and be expected to work as though it were powered off yesterday. Haul rope and carriers are rusted, sheave bearings are probably seized and if any if any parts that rely on pump or splash lubrication (ie the gearbox) were not properly mothballed then there's proably severe internal corrosion on them. Also the machine rooms don't look well secured, eaily removable parts containing a lot of copper such wiring, contactors, etc. are a prime target for theives.

Plus even if the work required to make the lifts operable again was minimal they'd have to pass inspection as new lifts, given the age of them that'd mean a lot of expensive upgrades.

The farside double looks like it could be a very old Doppelmayr, don't know of any other manufacturer that used rear-mounted centrepost carriers, those don't look like Doppelmayr sheaves though.

I'm assuming no work has been done on the lifts since the mountain closed?

This post has been edited by Mike12164: 17 October 2015 - 10:45 PM

[liftmech]

I'd second the guess on an older Doppelmayr. Their oldest lifts did have bolt-together sheaves.

[Doug]

These bring back memories of Fortress Mountain Ski School between Christmas and New Years of 1981 when I was 9 years old.

Fortress had strange lifts. The curved TBar was basically a diamond. It went up one face, down another and returned on a different path. The Farside had bungy cord like seat belts instead of a safety bar.

[iceberg210]

Is the triangle T Bar still up there? Twas a funky lift

[doubrown]

New video posted on Fortress masterplan. Very impressive if it actually happens. Given the adverse investment climate in Alberta right now, I can't see this vision materializes anytime soon.

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

[_litz]

It would seem clear from that video that the existing lifts will be replaced ...

[teachme]

Interesting video. Yes, when I hiked there at best the one triple was salvageable, but even that was questionable. The plan has good bits, though many challenges.

1. Highest base in Canada - yes but vertical from there is limited (800 ft??? from village to top) So top of Louise and Sunshine both higher with FAR greater vertical (Sunshine 3500 ft from base / 2000 from main part of mountain when lower and ski out closed / Louise about 3200 total??).
2. Fortress can have very rough weather
3. Agree 90 minutes to Calgary, but so is Sunshine on a MUCH better road (4 lane freeway 95% of the way). Louise is only 1:45 on same 4 lane freeway the whole way
4. Disagree on why people ski other resorts.
4a. Not aging infrastructure! Sunshine 7 HSQ, 1 8 Passenger Gondola, 2 FGQ. Louise 2 HSQ, 1HSS, 1 8 passenger gondola, 1 FGT. 1 FGQ
4b. Not overcrowded / long wait times: Sunshine with 5500 on mountain the longest wait I have seen is 5 minutes (20 000/hour). Louise does get busy though.
4c. If their competition is Nakiska (1988 winter Olympics) then yes, aging and crowded, but Nakiska markets itself as the cheap place with family season passes around 700 I think. One also has to drive past Nakiska to get to Fortress.

Overall if they are competing against Sunshine or Louise they must overcome less easy driving and much less vertical on a much smaller mountain for equal snow quality. Tough. If competing against Nakiska they have to be about the same price, and that seems too low to build the new mountain. Equally tough. Best may be a middle route (Norquay with better snow?), but that is not what the video suggests.

I would not invest, but would ski there at least a few times.

TME

[doubrown]

Not sure what the vertical would be from the top of the Whiskey Bowl platter to the base, probably at least 2,000 ft

Main reasons Albertans ski out of province:
-on hill accommodation
-better mid season snow (but not early or late)
-generally milder temperatures
-sometimes cheaper (ex. Whitefish)
-more variety of resorts

[teachme]

Doubrown,

Looked at topos and best would be 500 meters / 1600 feet from top to a road loop. Agree though on reasons for out of province. On hill accom, more variety, and more consistant fall-line skiing for longer runs (flats at Sunshine are a killer!). Milder temps a big one too. Not sure about cheaper though once travel cost is included.

TME

[SkiDaBird]

The exchange rate right now favors Americans going north. I'm looking into a Revie/Kicking Horse trip and Revie tickets are 50USD compared to the usual ~100USD or more price point.