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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There’s just one week left to save up to 35% on your ski vacation this winter season! Book one of our packages online, chat online with a reservation agent (during business hours) or give us a call at 1-800-258-7669 to book your vacation over the phone with one of our vacation specialists.
Don’t miss out the savings – book now!
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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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Skiing and Snowboarding season kicked off yesterday and was an amazing day on the slopes! Check out some of social media posts from our guests enjoying their first Nakiska turns of the season;
Big news for this upcoming Saturday we’re going to have the largest family friendly learning area open, Kids’ World, at Nakiska – we’ll have a perfectly groomed snow surface ready for first timers or kids and adults just wanting to hone their skills before they head up on the mountain. We know this is important early in the season and the Mountain Operations team at Nakiska has been working hard to get our Magic Carpet and Kids’ World ready earlier than ever! As one of the first family learning area in the Canadian Rockies to open, we’re proud to support getting everyone a chance to try skiing and snowboarding!
See when we’re open in November.
Feature photo by @SJSob14 from Twitter.
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Some liken it to the night before Christmas. There’s that sense of anticipation in the air – will it be better than last year? What are you wishing for? What surprises are in store? Who will you share it with?
But it’s not really Christmas, it’s the weeks before the onset of ski season, when there’s snow in the mountains, but it hasn’t quite reached the city, and where we start planning the upcoming winter trips and adventures in our Rocky Mountain backyard.
Thursday, October 29 marked the first Canadian “Mappy Hour”, at the Village Brewery in Calgary and hosted by “Powder” Matt Mosteller and SnowSeekers.
Mappy Hour started in New York, and it’s a monthly urban gathering for outdoor enthusiasts. And there’s no shortage of those in Calgary – close to 100 people showed up for the inaugural event, which featured a talk and presentation by local athlete and backcountry skier Ian Holmes.
Holmes got the crowd excited for winter with a slideshow of his favourite backcountry spots in the Alberta and BC Rockies – many of which are located within a couple of hours of Calgary. Naming off known and obscure places, the crowd joined in with plenty of questions about backcountry safety, getting ready for the season, and where to go.
The room was filled with a huge variety of enthusiasts, from out-of-town visitors, to backcountry novices, through to expert skiers, the common thread was the passion for our mountains and the experiences we can share together this winter.
When the snowflakes started to fall in the city a few days later, while many were cursing the frosted windshields and cold winds, I have no doubt the Mappy Hour folks smiled, knowing the countdown to snow season was in full force.
Many thanks to Village Brewery for hosting the first-ever Canadian Mappy Hour.
After a packed reception to Canada’s first ever MappyHour, Powder Matt, Paula Worthington, the folks from OutdoorFest, SnowSeekers and others welcome new friends and neighbours back to the Village Brewery on Monday November 16 at 7pm. Set some tire to rubber this season and get planning for your winter adventures over $4 craft beers.
Author/Writer Tom Babin speaks about what he’s discovered in his quest to love winter biking. Winter biking has become Babin’s happy place and from his book, “Frostbike”, he describes the sport as “the unique kind of bliss that can only come by pedalling through softly falling snow on a quiet winter night”.
Babin’s take on winter biking kind of sounds really similar to the zen we score when we move through fresh snow on the slopes. Mappy Hour YCC November 16 will be anouther great night to fuel our soul full of adventure inspiration.
For more details check out the Mappy Hour website and to book your spot, RSVP for FREE here.
Interested in checking out Mappy Hour? Share this page with your crew and bring them along!
Words: Paula Worthington
Photos: Cali Sammel
October Mappy Hour on October 29th at Village Brewery
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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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Location, location, location. A mantra for real estate agents and brokers everywhere, but also a great (unofficial) slogan for Nakiska Ski Area as location is perhaps one of Nakiska’s greatest assets.
Nakiska Ski Area is located in Kananaskis Country, Alberta – being a unique ski resort it’s not located in a stereotypical Canadian Ski town, in fact it’s not even located nearby one, it is however still in one of the best locations a ski hill could be in. Nakiska is the closest mountain to the dynamic city of Calgary and also within close driving distance to Canmore, Alberta’s outdoor adventure centre, as well as Banff and Lake Louise – both destinations sought out by travelers from around the entire world.
You might be wondering some things about Nakiska. For example – Why is Nakiska located where it is? Why was it built? What the heck is up with the name anyways?
Now, to tackle these questions one at a time. Nearly all of these questions can be answered by looking in Nakiska’s somewhat brief, yet rich history.
Nakiska was built from the ground up for the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games’ Alpine Events, being the closest ‘real’ 
mountain location to Calgary it was the most convenient and sensible option. (1988 Olympic games’ fun fact – it broke a record at it’s time for having 57 nations competing)! Since it was built to host the world’s best alpine athletes, it is home to Olympic sized groomed runs and also a state of the art snowmaking system, still continually upgrade for increased improvement every year. With such a great snowmaking system built in from the very beginning Nakiska’s time it ensures great snow coverage throughout the season and is often the first ski resort in Canada to open and close to the last to close.
Okay, what is up with that name? Alberta is the home to the Cree First Nations tribe. Nakiska: (Na-kiss-ka) is a Cree word which means ‘to meet’, chosen to respect the people of the region and to designate the ski 
resort in its birth year as the host of the 1988 Olympic Games. Do you wonder where some of the name of Nakiska runs came from? Check it out on the About Nakiska section on our website.
These days, Nakiska is Calgary’s Closest Mountain and a family favourite, especially with the recent addition of a Tube Park to the base area of the resort. Being driving distance to Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise only add to its vacation appeal and contribute to its great location.
If it’s your first time to Nakiska this winter, read about one family’s experience and get some helpful tips on “Family friendly guide to skiing/snowboarding at Nakiska, Calgary’s Closest Mountain”.
Words by Cali Sammel
Photos by Nakiska, Abbydell Photography and Cali Sammel
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