Nakiska Ski Resort, Canada Review

From yesterday. Lots of people but the lines moved well. Staff did a great job of organizing and enforcing covid rules

This has been such a convenient (coming from Calgary) learning ski hill for our kids. My 5 year old loves the Monster glades and there is plenty of skiing for my 3 year old. They both love the ski cross course, too. Very affordable, too with the early bird rate. I love what has been done with the magic carpet this year - fun little bumps...

It was alright, but the slopes get crowded quite easily, and there are numerous flat spots where you get stuck walking your board. If you're going to go I'd only do it for a single day, second day is not worth it.

Had a lovely experience at Nakiska yesterday. Much better than my previous experience on Tuesday. I now know never to pick the rude service of the female waitstaff in the formal dining lounge over the lovely service offered at the Mid Mountain Lodge. The girls up the hill are always friendly and happy to engage in a conversation. I m very pleased to see the tall lady is keeping up the excellent customer service she had from last seasons winter. 5 stars all round!

Perfectly groomed conditions, fast lifts, modern snowmaking equipment means you don't hit rocks unless you go off-piste. Lounge is good and occasionally has live tunes. Parking is a short walk. Sale on now at the shop too. Also some of the best pro-patrollers in the business.

Can't complain that the mountain is open so early and the runs are nice. Preview weekend has great rates. A bit more snow and this will be perfect. Limited food options this early in the season but the staff are great.

Awesome experience to be had at Nakiska.. Warm and friendly staff.

Awsome place. Tourist prices for food - not nice. The plenty Aussies - amazing :)

During weekdays is excellent. On weekends there is too many people.

Slowly becoming 1 of my favorite places to board. Never really too big of lineups, nice tree runs, still good snow and it's mid April. Closest mountain to Calgary which is another big bonus.

Great place for beginners like me, really close to Calgary. Come early if you want to avoid kids

Good Hill, friendly lifties. The food is pretty bland but not bad.

Close to the city, but beautiful scenery. Great family hill & during the week it's really good for us older skiers!

As a beginner (this was my 4th time boarding), I've never been on a silver run. It was manageable for me and can't wait to go back! This hill plus my boyfriend/coach helped build my confidence. We had lunch at the lounge on the 2nd floor, service was good. I had the The Albertan potato medallion dish, like a poutine, found the gravy to be quite salty. My boyfriend had the bison burger, he really liked it. My sister had the beyond meat option of the over-something burger, it was very tasty. We went on a Tuesday and it was so worth using vacation time instead of coming on the weekend as there were no lineups anywhere. See you on the slopes!

Can be extremely crowded on the easy runs but for the price and distance to Calgary it is definitely worth it

This hill never gets the huge amounts of snow that Sunshine or Louise does and it does tend to be a bit more icy, so if you're looking for good snow conditions this is not the place. The last time I was there 22 runs were closed due to lack of snow but this did not stop them from charging full price. This is a weird aspect of ski hills, amusement parks, water slides, etc., they can have any number of runs or rides closed but still feel that they can charge the consumer full price. Can you imagine any other industry doing this, "yeah we mounted and balanced three tires for you but we charged you for four." or "I see you reserved a king suite but all we have is a standard room but don't worry you still get to pay the king suite rate."

Price is right for a family pass, but too busy in the lodge to even sit sometimes.

Best ski hill for everyday skiing. Excellent for ski race training at the top of the hill, and casual skiing around the bottom. Love it.

Great grooming, cruising, coverage and close to Cowtown. This place has generally warmer temperatures than the other mountain resorts. A couple of things they could do better would be to install a high speed six person chair for Silver and introduce RFID. Some of their blue runs have some super steep spots without a roundabout and some lower intermediate skiers or boarders have a tough time with them when they get icy.

Great Hil and good mix of terrane. No need to go further west

Close to Calgary, but only the silver chair was open. The runs were a little icy due to most of the snow being man made.

A great place to learn to ski, and I still have fun coming back a couple times every year to revel in the Nostalgia. Very dependent on weather conditions, or you may end up riding ice

Awesome selection of beginner terrain, but on a good snow day the Gold area can be amazing.

Went to Nakiska to do an afternoon of tubing. It was fun and not too busy! Staff were friendly.

Not too expensive, a season pass is only 200$ if you get it early enough. Super close to Calgary but still in the mountains

Great place to ski. Be warned that there is a lot of ice here and the ice is often more prevalent at the end of the day when the snow has all been pushed to the side.

Let's start with the good. Easy access off the highway, lots of parking and a large facility with multiple chair lifts. Lodges and facilities were clean and we had no issues with the staff.

The experience itself was another thing entirely. It was extremely cold the night before and apparently caused issues with their chairlifts. These issues were not noted on the website as closed and the front desk staff assured us they were working on it when we got there.

Turns out only one chair lift (bronze) that serviced the green area was open all day. That chair lift barely worked, it stalled almost everytime I was on it. Also, having skiers and boarders of all skill levels going to one area was a disaster. How do you advertise and open an Olympic caliber resort yet only have one working chairlift? All the staff we talked to aside from the front desk seemed to think they were not prepared to open the other lifts so they certainly should have considered closing.

Of course that did not stop them from charging our lift tickets and giving us the buyer beware speech. We got a small discount on a ticket if we return for our troubles.

And if you are a beginner skier do not come here. The bunny area is small and set up for small children. The green chair lift dumps you on top of a hill with steep slopes off it. If you are not experienced you will have a bad time.

Next time don't open or don't charge people full price when the majority of your resort is inoperable. The staff did their best but management put them in a terrible position.

Anything other then the groomed runs are a waste of time unless you want to replace your gear. They stop making snow shortly after December even though they boast about their snow making abilities. The hill clearly shows the neglect that has gone on for a number of years and the little bit of powder they do get is gone in less then a week. They have access to the entire mountain but have completely abandoned and restricted the majority of it. I suggest at least going a little farther out of your way and trying out Norquey.they seem like they care more about your experience at the hill and less about creating a false image to profit from.

Probably the best resort for practicing downhill ski. Lots of wide groomed runs with steady slope.

Decent slopes. Close to the city. Needs better area for storage while skiing. Hard to find a table to eat at when all the bags take up all the table space.

Great for beginners.
Close to Calgary.
Prices for food and beverage are crazy but probably not out of line with other hills.

The new monster glades is an absolute blast! Overall it is a great ski hill and is ideal for families. However, last time I was there the Gold chair going up to the top of the mountain was closed for 2/3 days I skied.

Nice Ski resort and the best part it is not far from calgary. Have activities for kids as well who can't ski.

Great family atmosphere, friendly staff, fun runs with good variety. Great prices and a relatively short drive and plenty of parking. We had a great first experience and are glad to have purchased season passes. They will be used -- many more visits to come!

When they have had a recent snowfall this place is awesome! Otherwise it can get icy in a lot of places. Not crowded and close to Calgary

Very nice during the week with a family because lots of room. Nice facilities and not super busy. Trees block some of the wind.

Fun hill. Pretty good terrains. Runs are well groomed and they also have a very fun tree area. Just have to be aware of several flat areas. Also would be nice if they had a few days during the season with good specials for lift tickets. Great place for beginners to advance skiers/snowboarders.

Family ski resort. Handy to Calgary. Long season. Groomed nicely. Nice lodge and ski school.

Great place for families. Paid 700 ish for a family pass (me my wife and two kids), I think they are giving the incentive for kids to learn how to ski. Other thing having a ski mountain under one hour drive is priceless, I've been there already 4 times this year.

World-class destination resort, this is not.

What Nakiska does offer is a host of cruisy, groomered blues at competitive prices. Perfect for repetitive practice of high-speed carved turns for the obsessive ski racer, where slope and surface conditions stay consistent for scores of back-to-back edge transitions. Also plenty of space for the beginners of the family to notch first laps.

Snow volume and quality is mediocre, and tends toward hard-packed throughout winter, though rarely ventures into truly icy territory. Lack of diversity of terrain means a serious skier/rider will soon yearn for the bigger boys deeper into the Rockies.

Solid hill with very reasonable day access from Calgary (1 hr 15 min one-way) worth checking out for young families learning to ski, early season shakedown laps, and the occasional mid-season visit when conditions cooperate and one wants a beautiful day out in the eastern-most Rockies.

Cheap and a great place to learn skiing. Not great for novice skiiers like myself. The snow isn't amazing, and a lot of the more difficult runs are constantly closed

My favorite ski hill for carving and cruising. Wide groomed runs with good length. Friendly lift operators and a terrain park that has features divided for skiers and snowboarders. The lifts are nice for loading and unloading without steep ramps and it shows that the operators keep the snow level and smooth.

Keep in mind that a lot of families come here on the weekends but get here for an early chair and you'll have a few hours before it gets overly busy. On the week days they don't have all of the lifts running but you can still ride most of the mountain and the lower number of people means it's really enjoyable.

The only downside here, and it's a big one is the food quality. You expect to pay more for food at a hill but if you also expect it to be at least on par with a convenience store. The sandwiches they make to order have very few options beyond meat and lettuce with onions. The burgers have been pre cooked and left soaking in water so long they taste and have the texture of canned dog food. Who ever manages this part on the main floor obviously does not care or is incompetent.

So much fun for the entire family year round. Love the tubing!

Wonderful place for a family. Easy parking and unloading. Fun runs. Great ski school. Nice lodge at the bottom and up the mountain. Beautiful and wild area.

Nakiska is a great family friendly hill that offers lots of variety for everyone. Usually tskes until Christmas for there to be enough snow to enjoy the entire hill.

Decent sized mountain close to Calgary with early opening. Good variability in run levels too for learning families.

We loved nakiska so much. I love how friendly the silver chair was and how the runs were groomed were awesome. We had a blast even tho we went in a snow storm and it was -20!

Great beginner to intermediate hill. Feel the price is a bit high for what it is when compared to Louise and Sunshine, also less snow. But a much better hill for beginners or people with young children than Norquay and much closer to Calgary for an enjoyable day trip in the actual mountains.

When the weather is awesome it is very busy. Nice hill for families.

Mostly for kids and families learning to ski that have outgrown Calgary Olympic park, but there aren't many runs open. Sometimes it's like trying to wade through a crowd of cats without touching them, but nakiska doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. Good for families starting out.

Great hill for proximity to Calgary and accessibility. Can get a bit busy from time-to-time.

Good price but can be pretty crowded on the mountain

We loved visiting the Nakiska ski area, having only ever skied in Europe it was incredible to have such wonderful piestes all to ourselves. Great day, looking forward to some fresh powder overnight and some more time on the slopes tomorrow

Nice place! Close to calgary! Small mountain but does have a trick park!

Great people. Well maintained. Lots of choice. Good for kids.

Closest mountain to Calgary, with enough variety for the whole family. This year has been great for natural snow, but they always have groomed runs for the beginners and pros a like.

Tends to be a lot of families and ski teams (major training venue).

One of the best things is the easy parking all around the base, just put your gear on at the car and it's 50-100m walk until you're skiing. Also a great drop area if you're not into walking with your boots on.

Perfect day. No lines, great snow, beautiful weather

Reasonable amount of terrain variety, with groomers, glades, moguls. Good for families, young children, and beginners as there's an extensive beginners area. Caution, there's a pretty steep bit in the middle of the main runs that gives people pause fairly often. Pretty close to Calgary (less than an hour). Not much (nothing) in the way of terrain that would be considered diamonds at other resorts.

Rental shop is open. Not so crowded today. Very nice weather to ski.