Alberta's Rockies
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Alberta's Rockies
Alberta's Rockies comprise the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. On the southwestern part of the province along the British Columbia border, the region covers all but the south of Census Division 15. The main industry in this region is tourism. Geography This human region is almost identical to the Alberta Mountain forests ecozone. The region contains the Central Front Ranges and the Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and includes the Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, as well as the Kananaskis Country park system and the Willmore Wilderness. The main transportation corridors run through the Kicking Horse Pass and the Yellowhead Pass from east to west, while the Bow Valley and Athabasca River valley are followed by the longitudinal Icefields Parkway. Another important waterway that crosses this region is the North Saskatchewan River. Tourism Some of the best ski resorts of the Rockies are located in this region, and are important tou ...
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Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, which is the northern segment of the North American Cordillera, the expansive system of interconnected mountain ranges between the Interior Plains and the Pacific Coast that runs northwest–southeast from central Alaska to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. Canada officially defines the Rocky Mountains system as the mountain chains east of the Rocky Mountain Trench extending from the Liard River valley in northern British Columbia to the Albuquerque Basin in New Mexico, not including the Mackenzie, Richardson and British Mountains/Brooks Range in Yukon and Alaska (which are all included as the "Arctic Rockies" in the United States' definition of the Rocky Mountains system). The Canadian Rockies, bein ...
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Yellowhead Pass
The Yellowhead Pass is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas in the Canadian Rockies. It is located on the provincial boundary between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and lies within Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. Due to its modest elevation of and its gradual approaches, the pass was recommended by Sir Sandford Fleming as a route across the Rocky Mountains for the planned Canadian Pacific Railway. The proposal was rejected in favour of a more direct and southerly route, through the more difficult Kicking Horse Pass, which was opened in 1886. However, both the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways used the Yellowhead Pass for their main lines, built c. 1910–1913, and the main line of their successor, the Canadian National Railway, still follows the route. Via Rail's premier passenger train, the ''Canadian''; the Jasper – Prince Rupert train; and the Jasper section of the ''Rocky Mountai ...
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Wapta Icefield
The Wapta Icefield is located on the Continental Divide in the Waputik Mountains of the Canadian Rockies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The icefield is shared by Banff and Yoho National Parks and numerous outlet glaciers extend from the icefield, including the Vulture, Bow and Peyto Glaciers. Runoff from the icefields and outlet glaciers supply water to both the Kicking Horse and Bow Rivers, as well as numerous streams and lakes. The icefield is one of the most studied in the Canadian Rockies and all evidence supports the conclusion that the icefield is shrinking in area, especially near the lowest altitudes of its outlet glaciers, including Peyto Glacier, in which the glacier has become both shorter in length and thinner in thickness. In the 1980s the icefield covered an area of approximately . The icefield is easily accessible by mountaineers in both the summer and winter. Both ski trips in the winter and glacier hiking trips in the summer often combine a ...
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Columbia Icefield
The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in North America's Rocky Mountains. Located within the Canadian Rocky Mountains astride the Continental Divide along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the ice field lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and partly in the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about in area, to in depth and receives up to of snowfall per year. History The Columbia Icefield was formed during the Great Glaciation, or Illinoisan period (238,000 to 126,000 BCE).Sandford 1993, p. 23. The initial advancement of the ice field ended during the latter millennia of the Early Wisconsinan period (73,000 to 62,000 BCE), around the time ''Homo sapiens'' began to appear on the earth. The next major advance of the ice field occurred during the Late Wisconsinan period (18,000 to 9,000 BCE), which marked the end of the major intercontinental land mass bridges. During the Crowfoot Glacier advance (9,000 to 7,000 BCE) ...
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Sunshine Village
Banff Sunshine Village (formerly Sunshine Village) is a ski resort in western Canada, located on the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies within Banff National Park in Alberta and Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia. It is one of three major ski resorts located in the Banff National Park. Because of its location straddling the Continental Divide, Sunshine receives more snow than the neighbouring ski resorts. The Sunshine base area is located southwest of the town of Banff, Alberta, Banff. By car, it is about a ninety-minute drive from the city of Calgary; the Sunshine exit on the Trans Canada Highway is west of the town of Banff. Banff Sunshine ski runs and lifts are accessed via an eight-person high-speed Gondola lift, gondola. It moves passengers from the parking lot (or bus terminal) to Goat's Eye mountain in 10 minutes and to the upper Village area in 18 minutes. There are 9 chairlifts and 134 trails within the alpine valley formed by the three mountain ...
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Nakiska
Nakiska is a ski resort in western Canada, in the Kananaskis Country region of the province of Alberta. It is located from Calgary, west on Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) and south on Highway 40 (Kananaskis Trail). "Nakiska" is a Cree word meaning "to meet" or "meeting place." Set on the east face of the southern end of Mount Allan, Nakiska has 64 trails with four chairlifts (3 high-speed quads and 1 double), 1 Reg Magic Carpet and 1 Monster Carpet) set up over an area of . The longest run has , from a top lift-served elevation of to the base at . Nakiska is owned by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, which also owns the Fernie, Kimberley, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, Mont Sainte Anne, and Stoneham ski resorts. History The site was selected in 1983 and opened for skiing in the fall of 1986, in preparation for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Pre-Olympic races on the North American Cup circuit (Nor-Am) were held in December 1986 and World Cup downhill and super G races were h ...
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Mount Norquay Ski Resort
Mt. Norquay is a mountain and ski resort in Banff National Park, Canada that lies directly northwest of the Town of Banff. The regular ski season starts early December and ends mid-April. Mount Norquay is one of three major ski resorts located in the Banff National Park. History The mountain was named in 1904 after John Norquay, premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. Norquay climbed the mountain that now bears his name in 1887 or 1888 but, contrary to some reports, did not actually reach the summit. The mountain can be scrambled on the western side but involves a number of difficult steps and some exposure. Ascent is not advised while snow persists on the route. The first ski runs date as far back as 1926, with the opening of the ski lodge in 1929. Rope tows were installed in 1942 and the mountain was the second in Canada to install a chairlift in 1948 (Red Mountain Resort was the first, in 1947), with a vertical drop of . Norquay offered three regular big vertical daily awards ...
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Marmot Basin
Marmot Basin is an alpine ski area located on Marmot Mountain in Alberta's Jasper National Park. It has 91 named runs on four mountain faces with 3,000 vertical feet of drop. The area has a lift capacity of close to 12,000 skiers per hour on seven lifts. The season runs from mid-November to early May. It is located twenty minutes south of Jasper and sees two million visitors a year. Amenities The Rental & Repair shop offers rentals of skis, snowboards, boots, and poles. The Snow Sports School offers lessons, clinics, and a variety of children's programs. There are three mountain day lodges: Caribou Chalet at the base area and Eagle and Paradise Chalets at mid-mountain. There is no current overnight on-mountain lodging at Marmot Basin. Marmot Basin has three terrain parks on the mountain, which feature various rail slides, table tops, and jumps. Marmot offers a terrain park in the Lower, Mid, and Upper Mountains. Lift system Former lifts * Tranquilizer Chair (Double Chair) - ...
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Lake Louise Mountain Resort
The Lake Louise Ski Resort & Summer Gondola is a ski resort in western Canada, located in Banff National Park near the village of Lake Louise, Alberta. Located west of Banff, Lake Louise is one of three major ski resorts within Banff National Park. The resort is situated on the southern slopes of the Slate Range, between the heights of Mount Richardson, Ptarmigan Peak, Pika Peak and Redoubt Mountain, all around above sea level. The base of the slopes is defined by Pipestone River, a tributary of the Bow River, immediately north of the intersections between Highway 1A (Bow Valley Trail), Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway), and Highway 93 (Icefields Parkway). History Lake Louise has been a home to skiing since the 1920s, as the gateway to the Skoki Ski Lodge. The first lift was constructed in 1954, and a poma was added in 1960. Until autumn 2008, the ski resort was owned and operated by the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) company. In 2008, Charlie Locke, a former ...
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Fortress Mountain Resort
Fortress Mountain was a ski resort in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada. The resort is situated on a Provincial Crown Lease surrounded by Spray Valley and Peter Lougheed Provincial Parks. The original lease was granted in 1967 which pre-dates both Kananaskis Country itself by 11 years as well as the Provincial parks which now surround it. The resort is located near the Kananaskis Trail (115 km west of Calgary). It is owned and operated by Fortress Mountain Holdings Ltd. History Before being purchased by Fortress Mountain Holdings Ltd., the area had previously been owned by Banff Rail Company, as well as Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR). Aspen Skiing Co. owned the resort in the 1970s and 80s. In early December 2009, scenes from the film ''Inception'' were shot there. In December 2011 the resort hosted the cast and crew from '' The Bourne Legacy''. The area has been featured in many other movies such as '' The Claim'', ''Van Helsing'', ''Brokeback Mountain '' ...
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Ski Resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North America, it is more common for ski areas to exist well away from towns, so ski resorts usually are destination resorts, often purpose-built and self-contained, where skiing is the main activity. Ski resort Ski resorts are located on both Northern and Southern Hemispheres on all continents except Antarctica. They typically are located on mountains, as they require a large slope. They also need to receive sufficient snow (at least in combination with artificial snowmaking, unless the resort uses dry ski slopes). High concentrations of ski resorts are located in the Alps, Scandinavia, western and eastern North America, and Japan. There are also ski resorts in the Andes, scattered across central Asia, and in Australia and New Zealand. Ext ...
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North Saskatchewan River
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventually into the Hudson Bay. The Saskatchewan River system is the largest shared between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Its watershed includes most of southern and central Alberta and Saskatchewan. Course The North Saskatchewan River has a length of , and a drainage area of . At its end point at Saskatchewan River Forks it has a mean discharge of . The yearly discharge at the Alberta–Saskatchewan border is more than . The river begins above at the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier in the Columbia Icefield, and flows southeast through Banff National Park alongside the Icefields Parkway. At the junction of the David Thompson Highway (Highway 11), it initially turns northeast for before switching to a more direct easter ...
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