Nakiska

Nakiska is a ski resort in Kananaskis Country in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is located in the Rocky Mountains on the eastern slope of the 2819 m high Mount Allan, about 80 km west of Calgary.

Formation

The ski area was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Originally had the alpine competitions at Mount Sparrowhawk and Mount Shark, which are located more than 150 kilometers from Calgary, to take place. Due to the smaller distance and the expected better reuse of works from the Mount Allan was given preference. The new ski area was given the name " Nakiska ". The word comes from the language of the Cree word meaning " meeting place ".

The plans for the resort began in July 1983. A year later started the construction work on the slopes and three chair lifts, which were largely completed in the summer of 1986. The official opening took place on 5 December 1986. In the following months, a series of test competitions were conducted and found in March 1987 with the Ski World Cup men's and women instead of a dress rehearsal for the Olympics. In spring 1987, a fourth chairlift was built. At the 1988 Winter Games here every ten Alpine events as well as the demonstration competition in freestyle skiing were performed. During the Games, there was still an additional drag lift, which led to 2412 m altitude at the start of the men's downhill. It was then dismantled.

Ski resort

The ski area extends from 1525 m to 2260 m above sea level. The difference in altitude is 735 m. There are four chairlifts (one each of two and three - and two quad chairs ) and two conveyor belts for beginners. The maximum capacity of the lifts is 8620 persons per hour. Covering an area of 3 square kilometers, there are 29 marked ski runs of all difficulty levels, and more than two-thirds of intermediate runs are. 95 percent of the slopes are artificially snowed. The longest run has a length of 3.3 km. The ski season runs from early December to mid-April.