Nakiska Ski Area

Calgary's closest mountain! This is a great little mountain for skiing and snow boarding! There are long green runs for learning and the " Glades" for more advanced riders. 2 challet's, one at the bottom and one mid mountain. Great for family and kids . It can be busy on the weekends, if you can come in the week this is the best time .

I went on the silver chair; all the ski runs were fun. Conditions were somewhat icy on the steep spots. The slopes are very spacious and it's easy to get on the lift. Lift lines were very quick to get everyone through. The lodge was very full: of people's stuff everywhere. I imagine it's very busy around lunch time. Closing is at 4 pm, so don't wait until lifts are closed to come get something. Food and drinks are, as typical of a ski resort, very costly. I bought my ticket online 3 days in advance for a discount.

Great ski hill for family. Easily divided into skill levels chairlifts, Bronze for beginners, silver for intermediates and gold for advanced. We also love the glades - skiing between the trees. The family pass makes it affordable and although there is a discount for pass holder to purchase food, it's quite expensive. Good to bring your own lunch and snacks. We love the affordablilty for families but it's isn't a Sunshine or Louise. It isn't a comparison, they just cater to a different group. Nakiski is a close drive, affordable and great place for my kids to learn to ski.

Pretty fun but there was an avalanche while we were there. Helicopter was cool. Olympic chair is only open on Fridays and the weekend. Buying the season pass in the summer is a great deal. Also the fries at the Olympic lodge are amazing.

I started learning to snowboard last year at COP in Calgary. I had about 4hrs of lesson with my friend last winter. I had a foot surgery late April last year so I wasn’t even sure if I’ll be recovered enough to snowboard this year. I decided I’m recovered enough and would like to try snowboarding again. So we got the Rockies pass and went to Nakiska on Sat Jan17.2026. The weather was perfect but it was icy. We were there from 9am-around 1pm. Spent most of the time there on the Olympics Chair and the Bronze Chair for the green/blue runs. I had a lot of fun, so we went back on Sat Jan24.2026. Snow was amazing that day. We decided to try something different and went on the Silver Chair this time. The first 3 times were super smooth, lifties were nice and there was no lineup. When we went back for the 4th time, same gear (I had a butt pillow and a small waist pack. My bf had a 20L day pack.), same outfit, same people (my bf and I). When we got to the line, after our cards were scanned. I was asked to move my waist pack to the front and remove the butt pillow. I was confused and asked why my outfit wasn’t an issue the first 3 times I went on the same lift within the same day. The liftie was super rude (see picture), and told me that’s just the rules. I then asked him how come I just saw someone else with a butt pillow leaving a few chairs ahead of us, and I also asked him how come my bf or other people with backpacks don’t need to remove their backpacks which were all way buckier than what I got going on. And how is it safer to hold the butt pillow in my hand to ride and exit the chair as a beginner. He was rude and told me to step aside and would not let me go. I went to talk to customer services at the entrance about this situation. I explained that I was not mad about being asked to remove my gears to ride the chair. Instead, I was frustrated to see the double/triple standards. Their manager (?) came out and spoke to me. She said that I do have to remove the butt pillow and any backpack when riding any chairs. That she didn’t realize there were double standards and she’d go out there and make sure that doesn’t happen again and the same rules are followed/enforced. We took a small break back at the car, then went back again. We went to the Olympics Chair this time. No line up, went straight up to the lift. The liftie DID NOT say anything about my butt pillow this time, and the guy in front of us had a backpack on which they didn’t say anything about that either. After that run, my bf went back to the Silver Chair by himself as he’s experienced and would like to do a run without having to stop and wait for me all the time. The same liftie was there (he seems to be a supervisor), and was again rude to him like he remembered I was with him just an hr ago. I don’t wanna say this, but it almost feels like the liftie wanted to make us feel miserable because we had “fun outfits”. Or he could just simply be racist. Sure I look ridiculous with my butt pillow, but I stayed far away from everyone on the runs, didn’t have unpredictable moves when there’s people around. I minded my own business the whole time. We’d definitely go back to Nakiska, because we live in Calgary and it’s very convenient for us. Also very beginner friendly and I can learn in the mountains rather than at a snow park.

Family friendly, get here early or later in the pm otherwise it's going to be crowded especially on the weekends. The lodge can get real chaotic but skiing/snowboarding wise, pretty good for families. Runs are not super advance.

I come here every weekend for snowboarding, but each season I go it get increasingly more busy and longer waits for the lifts, Especially SILVER!! Fantastic hill for beginners and intermediates but for high level skiers or snowboarders I would recommend lake Louise or sunshine!

It's a fine local hill. Season had been a slow start but they get a few runs open quickly early on. Ideal hill for new skiers to intermediates with some steeps, trees and bumps to push your skills a bit. Advanced skiers will be bored to tears with the limited terrain. But the groomers are nice to work on carving technique to keep you entertained, and the glades are pretty fun. The racer kids are impressive to watch and there is always some sort of training happening on hill. Lifties and staff are all great, folks on the hill are chill. It's a fun place to ski even with the drawbacks. Facilities are more than fine if you time your lunch break off peak it's not much of a problem even on weekends. Likewise the lifts have been virtually empty with minimal waits Cons, some brutal flats on the north side of the hill. Snow is just nowhere near the hills in the park, lots of runs still not yet open. And that attached lift on the greens area sucks for beginners not used to the speed of loading required for the most mellow If you are starting out, value the shorter drive or are heading out with younger skiers it's a great choice. If you are more advanced you may not have the best time, but it's enjoyable.

This resort has been always one of my favourites. It's close to Calgary and it doesn't have a lot of green area. To tell the truth even the blues are closer to black diamond! Which makes them even more attractive and fun for me! :) They had limited runs open due to the quantity of the snow and the temperature but those that were open were fantastic. If you're lucky and have a sunny day and lots of fresh snow, you'll experience something amazing! :)

Do you like 1000 children running into you while their parents are like 'oh damn, I was just over here not paying attention, but sorry...'? Because that's what you'll get. Do you also like paying $43 for 2 cheeseburgers and beers just to have some dude rub his nose and then put together your meal? Because then this place is for you. Also, I hope you like $5 semi-adequate cookies. Basically, I spent so much damn money for 2 lift tickets, hill daycare, daycare lunch, our lunch, coffee and snack- all for ungroomed icy af hills that I was lucky not to die on. Lineups for lifts were garbage, you'll be slowly moving up one foot at a time for half your day. If you want a cheap option for a family of 20, I suggest you check this place out.

Ski season is coming. I'm practically vibrating as I'm writing this. I love skiing in the Rockies, and so I thought I'd start with one of the hills closest to Calgary, our Olympic leftover Nakiska. Nakiska is a decent hill. For me its main appeal is that it is less than 45 minutes out of the city, and it is very accessible. It's also less expensive than some other hills. The lodge has great food, and is fairly conveniently located. Nakiska doesn't have the best powder, but it gets a decent snowfall. It does get icy, and fast. The terrain isn't overly varied, but there is a decent distribution of green through black. I tend to think of it as more of a beginner's hill, but that's because this is where I really learned how to ski! It is definitely a step up in difficulty from Canada Olympic Park, but not as difficult as some mountains further in. It is very efficiently run, and the lift lines go quickly.

Nakiska is a great place to take your family or friends to have a fantastic time. I like that they have bronze, silver, gold and, Olympic. It helps when u first start skiing to go on bronze and work your way up to gold or Olympic. Love the place so much that I go every year, so much fun

the ski hill can be sometimes icy to ski on but if you are a good enough skier you can do okay but always never try to ski alone ski with friends or family as it can be of help in any situation day lodge cozy to eat in being own food yes it's from the 1988 Olympics so history is here as well

Resorts of the canadian rockies or RCR as they are often known operate Nakiska, as well as some other canadian ski resorts. RCR offers poor customer service and completely ripped me off. I purchased a ISKI discount pass directly from their HQ in Calgary, was required to activate the card online but when I did so, their website would not let me. I emailed them asking for help only to have a person named Erin reply four days later and conveniently the day following the season closure of the resort telling me the card is now expired and non refundable. Such poor service is inexcusable fraud since I am out the $45 I paid fo the ISKI card and received nothing in return. Deal with them and their resorts (Fernie, Kimbeley, Nakiska or Kicking horse) at your own peril knowing that if you have a problem, their customer service will give you the run around and rip you off. As for me, Alberta is spoiled for choice as far as other ski resorts go and many others closeby (Sunshine or Lake Louise) offer better service, skiing and all round value. Ski conditions on the hill are often poor, lack snow and very icy since Nakiska is not actually in the rocky mountains.

Today I give Nakiska zero stars for their FALSE advertising. They sent out an email this week saying 4 ski lifts open. I even went to their website to double check , ant it also says 4 lifts open so we packed up the kids and all the gear and drove all the way out here and low and behold the bronze chair which is the only one with green runs which the kids are able to ski is NOT open. At the ticket booth they told me "we'll we really hoped it would be open." BRUTAL. Terrible business acumen to LIE to your customers. Definitely starting the season and my lifetime of patronage off on the wrong foot!

Nakiska (2014-15) is departing from the profile known for years - "drive less -ski more", the perfectly groomed runs -what regulars are looking for- are shrinking in numbers and quality. Parking lots are full and closed really early in the day; main lodge is not accessible due to excessive overcrowding. The overcrowding on the limited number of runs (pistes) results in unpleasant and unsafe skiing. Mixing skiers with completely different skills on the same icy run, closing frequently the limited available number of runs for racing-training - only part of what one gets there. Having designated some of the main runs for "free skiing"?!? as Red Crow (ungroomed for second year) -makes very little sense for the skiers there and depicts a management approach of spending cuts and arrogance. Even with the record revenue this year. In total - this year Nakiska is nothing known for years, but something that is far away from the spirit of it, with management that is not able to address the overcrowding or to deliver services which are expected there, the fundamental results are unsafe skiing, negative experience with critical accidents that might be just around the corner. Bottom line - stay away (at least on the weekends) from Nakiska if you value your time and emotions.

I must say that this year I got VERY disappointed with Nakiska ski resort. I had to deal with the most rude and unhelpful customer service. My family and I decided to go skiing at the beginning of December. I went to skinakiska.com website to check if the lifts were open and I found the advertising saying that on December 6, 2014 Nakiska was holding an event - National Ski Day and that the lift tickets were $10 per person. The Nakiska event calendar was saying "National Ski Day is a fundraiser in partnership between Alpine Canada and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies. Our goal is to raise awareness for ski racing, get people to try the sports. We want to share the fun of World Cup racing with our guests, so come cheer on the athletes and enjoy the benefits of time outdoors in winter! All $10 lift tickets the proceeds from each ticket sale are donated to Alpine Canada!" (All words are original and taken from skinakiska.com website/things to do/events calendar). When we got on the hill and spent an hour in line to get the lift tickets (the lineup was huge), we were told that we needed to give them the coupon in order to get the deal. I showed them on my iPhone the information from THEIR website and the response that I got shocked me. The girl told me that the event was held by Alpine Canada and Nakiska was not responsible for specifying on their website the details. I requested to see the supervisor and asked her the same question, besides I asked her if they could print the coupon for me. She refused to print the coupon and she refused to give me explanation about their advertising on their website. She kept repeated the same thing - that this was Alpine Canada's event and Nakiska was not responsible for anything. TERRIBLE way of doing business: post on ad on your website, hold the event and not be responsible for ANYTHING. Definitely will NEVER go back!!!