Fortress

When civilization has collapsed and the majority of the people of the world struggle to fulfill their basic needs, there will still be a tiny segment of the population that strap long, wooden boards to their feet and explore the remnants of the old world.

Fortress Mountain Resort is no longer in operation, and aside from one season where the slopes were serviced by snowmobiles, has not been for some time. There is always talk amongst skiers in the Bow Valley about when it will open again and how much work needs to be done for this to occur.

In the meantime though, it's an interesting place to practice your powder turns. None of the lifts are in operation, of course, so you have to earn the wind in your hair.

You can see a glimpse of the road on the far left and the powerline trail on the right.

When filming for Inception occurred in the area in 2009, the road leading in and the bridge crossing the large creek were improved, but the blockade is still up so we put on our skins and proceeded up the trail.

Kevin and Sarah turning the corner on the first switchback. All other switchbacks can be easily avoided.

There are markers along the road which, I am guessing, tell you how many kilometres you are from Highway 40. At the 3 km mark, we made a quick little short cut that took us directly to the 5km mark. At the 7 km mark, we headed west on the left bank of a gully, then slowly turned north. We spotted some nice looking glades on our left and, after crossing an avalanche runout, caught our first glimpse of the remains of the resort structures.

Stay ... stay ... stay ... stay ... COME HERE BOY!

All of a sudden, we broke out of the trees and saw the old lifts. I was quite surprised to see that the chairs were still on their steel cables. This is when I had my revelation about skiers in a post-apocalyptic future.

A strange sense of nostalgia came over me, although I had never been to Fortress before

As far as resorts go, Fortress is probably not the most interesting. The terrain is fairly straightforward and the runs are short. However, any consistent 40 degree slope with minimal avalanche risk, a 1.5m base, and 20cm fresh on top ... well, that's pretty good.

Heading up through the trees, coming down along the open slope

On the way back to the car, we traversed high along the line we had taken to get in and skied the trees. There are some nice glades on the slopes west of the road, and I will make a point of coming back and spending some time there.