The staff and management at Nakiska Ski Area would like to thank you, our gusts and visitors, for a great ski season – we can’t wait to see you again in the fall!
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Treat yourself to a day at Nakiska Ski Area! Our Ladies Days include transportation to Nakiska and back from Calgary, your lift pass and guided instruction and a gourmet lunch at the Finish Line Lounge! The whole package is just $139.99 (or $104.99 with a season pass). Next event is coming up on Wednesday, other dates available are March 2nd & 10th – sign up is available online!
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I’ve tried to teach my child a number of sports on my own and it’s usually ended with tears, frustration, and a severe dislike for the activity on a few occasions. Even when I’ve been moderately successful in teaching the “basics,” I’ve always chosen to call for outside help to reinforce proper technique, build skills, and take my child to the next level.
When it comes to skiing, I know I am far from being an expert. I am an intermediate skier (at best) and still fear wiping out on an easy run while my son passes me and gets to the bottom of the hill without me. Teaching him to ski by myself is therefore not an option I am willing to entertain.
Thankfully, we chose to start off correctly with skiing and we placed our son in lessons from early on. The first lesson was only an hour and a half long but it gave our son a good “first impression” of the sport in a positive supportive environment. The teacher was fun and relaxed, didn’t get angry or show frustration, and kept the pressure light. My child responded well to the lesson and was able to work on the skills he learned with us in the afternoon.
I have many reasons for being a ski school supporter but below are my top five:
- Quality training from a professional instructor. We all know that kids usually learn best when somebody else is the teacher and skiing is no exception. The Nakiska Ski School instructors have years of experience under their belts and are prepared with games, activities, and fun tricks to make your child’s ski experience a fun one.
- Ski School Offers a Relaxed Start to the Day. I find the first hour at a ski resort to be the most stressful. Just getting the family and gear to the day lodge exhausts me and I need a few minutes to sip a coffee and relax before hitting the slopes. Fortunately, I’ve learned that if I put my son in morning lessons, I will get that quiet time to unwind once the lesson starts and I can slowly work at getting my own skis on and making my way on to the hill.
- Ski School Offers Adults Time to Ski on their Own. My husband will tell you that as long as he gets a couple of hours to ski the more advanced runs in the morning, he’s happy to take it easy in the afternoon cruising down the easier terrain with the family. Ski school allows the adults in the family some time to ski on their own or to ski with older children while the younger ones are in their class.
- Nakiska Resort Offers Family Lessons. I took a mountain biking lesson with my son this summer and it was a lot of fun learning new skills together. I can imagine that for a family who is new to skiing, it would be a lot of fun to learn together. Nakiska offers affordable packages for the whole family to take a lesson together with individual tips offered to each member of the family.
- Ski Lessons Can Be Paired with Daycare. For the toddlers and little ones in your family, an hour on the hill might be all they can handle. Nakiska’s daycare program includes a lesson along with indoor and outdoor play time while the rest of the family enjoys their time on the hill. Packages can be purchased for the whole day or for just a half day if you still want to ski with your munchkin in the afternoon for a while or if you have a season’s pass and just want to spend a half day at the hill.
My son has taken a few private lessons now and has tried a resort daycare program as well with nothing but success and happiness. I don’t think there’s been a single tear and we still remember our first instructor’s name. Ski School has contributed greatly towards my child’s enjoyment of skiing and I’m grateful that we’ve chosen to invest in this program.
Follow Tanya’s adventures on her blog.
Words by Tanya Koob
Photos by Tanya Koob & Abbydell Photography
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The RCR Rockies Card
The Best Deal in the Rockies
It’s simple – buy the card at a low cost and save all ski season long! Purchase a discount card online, by calling 1-800-258-7669 or through one of the retailers listed below – don’t forget to purchase yours before they go off sale on December 26th!
- 3 FREE Days
- 4 Great Resorts
- Up to $30 daily savings
- Direct to lift option
- FREE Kids Card (with purchase of adult)
The RCR Rockies Cards are only on sale until December 26th! Don’t miss out!
For more information and to buy online visit the RCR Webstore.
Also available at;
- Sport Chek
- Calgary Co-op
- AMA
- Sobeys
- IGA
- Ski Cellar
- Ski West
- Sundance
- Technosport
- Alpenland
- Gerick Sports
- Out of Bounds
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Nakiska is now operating 7 days a week with Top to Bottom skiing.
Nakiska Opening Schedule:
Regular 7 day a week operations begin today Friday, December 4
For more information see our schedule page.
Photos from November 18th.
For the latest snow conditions visit our Snow Report.
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Imagine this; you wake up from your slumber early, really early. And you’re not getting back to sleep. What do you do? What do most of us do? Grab our smart phones. Now, when you grab your phone you’ll have the ability to get the most up to date information for snow conditions, weather reports, trail maps, resort info and more from one handy app for Nakiska Ski Area (and our other RCR resorts).
Your next problem – it’s going to be a powder day!! Time to call in sick and head out to the mountains!
For more information on our App read our Press Release.
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There are few things that get skiers and snowboarders as excited as the thought of the first turns of the season! See the regular operating schedule below for Nakiska skiing and riding.
Information;
Hours: 9am – 4pm
Conditions:
- Groomed runs in excellent shape with Top to Bottom Skiing and Boarding.
- A wide selection of perfectly groomed and natural terrain runs available.
- Great beginners area on Kids World and the Silver Chair Area
Lift Operations:
- Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December 2015 – 9:30am – 3:30pm ***depending on business – SILVER CHAIR / OLYMPIC CHAIR / GOLD CHAIR and MAGIC CARPET
Available services:
Base area Daylodge:
Open 8:00 – 17:00,
Day lodge lower level with food/beverage services from Cafeteria and Slopeside. Retail store, wash-rooms, lockers, coin lockers
Guest services:
Open 08:00 – 16:30, in Administration building, ready to answer any question, print season passes, book programs etc.
Winter Sports School:
Open 08:30 – 16:00, full menu
Rentals:
Open 08:30 – 16:30, renting ski and snowboard gear, offers specials on repairs, waxing and tune ups, early season used equipment sale
Retail:
Open 08:30 – 16:30, new arrivals and early season discounts on last year’s product available
Ticketing:
Open 09:00 – 14:00
Food/beverage:
Base area Slopeside Cafe, open 08:00 – 16:30, with enhanced menu and usual coffee products, pastry etc, De Luxe sandwiches, “beer on tap” special for Apres ski. Nakiska Cafeteria open at 11:00 for lunch (burgers, fries etc)
Base area Cafeteria, open 10:00 – 16:00 full service
Mid Mountain Lodge, open 10:00 – 16:00, with full menu
Schedule of Opening;
Regular 7 day a week operations begin today Friday, December 4
Check out our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for recent video, pictures and daily updates to opening.
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We got to try Nakiska’s brand new Tube Park while we were at the resort before Christmas. First impression, I honestly thought it looked like a miniature toboggan hill. It didn’t look like much and it wasn’t very big. I’d never tried tubing at a resort before so I guess I had built it up in my mind to be something much larger. I quickly changed my opinion after the first ride down though. It was the most fun I’ve had on a sled or tube – EVER. And it didn’t hurt!
I’m not generally a big fan of sledding because honestly, this body is just too old to handle all the bumps and jarring anymore. Tubing at Nakiska on the other hand was completely gentle, smooth, groomed, and adult-friendly! I’d go back again any day!
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Nakiska Ski Area is well known for a few things, including its super long ski season and often being the earliest resort in Canada to open as well as it’s immaculately groomed, wide, Olympic sized runs and also its snowmaking abilities.
Nakiska is a public ski resort today, however, it owes its entire existence to Calgary winning the bid to host the XV Olympic Games in 1988. Being constructed to host to world’s best alpine athletes, a state of the art world class snowmaking system was built into the resort. Often opening for skiing and snowboarding right at the beginning of November (sometimes even at the end of October) the credit is owed in part to Mother Nature, of course, and also largely to the snowmaking capabilities.
Nakiska Snowmaking Fact – depending on the time of year the system can produce between 1 and 2 feet of snow over an acre in an hour. In terms of football fields, (the North American variety and including the end zones), Nakiska’s system can cover one of them in between an hour and a half and 45 minutes!
Each season, Nakiska makes upgrades and improvements to the snowmaking system to ensure it’s the most cutting edge it can be. This season, the focus was on environmentally friendly improvement. Some of the work done over this summer and fall including installing a new cooling system to save water and reuse it back into snowmaking and building a new mid mountain pump house with a continuous pipe from the base to bring the water saved and turn it into snow.
Nakiska Snowmaking Fact – our water license gives Nakiska the capacity to make 6 feet of snow to cover the entire mountain!
Visit Nakiska this season to enjoy it’s Olympic caliber terrain & great snow – don’t forget to check out the Monster Glades where there is no grooming required and often powder stashes to be found for days after a natural snowfall!
Read more about how our snowmaking system upgrades in our Getting Ready for Winter news post and read more about our Commitment to the Environment and new Trees are for Glades project on treesareforglades.com.
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Is your dream job in the mountains? We’re having recruitment sessions across Canada from September 13 to 22 – pre apply for an interview from the Employment Section on our website.
Wondering what it’s like to work a ski season at Nakiska? Check out what real employees said on our Youtube Channel.
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