Nakiska Ski Resort, Canada Review

Good for kids to learn how to ski. Didn't find the value all that exceptional though. Also closed the tube ride early. That was really disappointing

Had a awesome powder day in the glades . Go to Finnish Line Lounge for good eats!

Overcrowded. Bronze lift shut down in the early afternoon so we had to go home after only one run.

Great family mountain. Lots of fun terrain for all levels, nice chalet. It's been years since I've been but now that the kids are old enough to really ride, we'll be out here more often.

I've come here so many times when I lived in Calgary and took my son a few years ago (it was one of the coldest days). The runs are perfect for beginners like my son. Short enough that he doesn't get tired.

The closest place to Calgary for ski. Friendly place. Like it.

It was very good, great customer service. You got nice lodges to hangout after long day of fun. Awesome lifts and skiing, for tubing I would say it's ok, but they got magic carpet to go uphill to slide down. Great overall experience. If you new to Calgary, I would highly recommend it.

Great staff as always, and the best conditions I've ever boarded in today. They have a great system in place for Covid, and nobody moves lines of people like Marmot.

Great mix of runs enabling skiers of various abilities to enjoy themselves.

This is definitely a racers hill, but it also offers varied terrain to challenge you. The hill makes its own snow but it's never enough and so the natural snow is desperately needed here all the time which doesn't always happen, so conditions are spotty.

Very nice place.
Friendly Staff.
If you like good slopes, come here. I enjoyed my time at nakiska.

It's not a very big skiarea, but well prepared.

And it is not so far from calgary.

Excellent ski day! Snowed on and off while we were there. Starbucks coffee was marginal.

Amazing value for pass holders.

Note: Be prepared for run closures due to race training -> Find out which runs are closed before taking Gold chair to the top of the mountain to make sure you have a way down within your skill level.

Out of personal experience, this is my least favourite mountain that I have skied. The many times I ve skied here for ski races I ve had a strong dislike for it. It s a very flat mountain and the top chairlift is always cold and windy. I had one powder day here but the terrain just isn t there. I m sure it s great for learning and beginners but for anyone above that then I would recommend going further to any of the other resorts in the Rockies.

Went tubing it was awesome and the staff were so nice!

My snowboard binding buckle broke on my snowboard while I was riding at Nakiska. I went into the repair shop and an employee named Jake had my snowboard binding buckle replaced in a few minutes. I was back on the hill right away. Very friendly and helpful.

This is an incredible Ski Hill for families! Took my little ones here today and they had a blast learning how to snowboard and ski! The tube park was so much fun!

Close to Calgary, but the skiing area is too small. Chairs open late and close early. The gold chair was not ready even late Dec.

This mountain is icy everytime I go. The runs are designed more for skiers and dont have much variation.

Decent, well groomed runs for beginner to intermediate skiers. More advanced runs at the top of the mountain. Mostly man-made snow.

Not as fancy as the big resorts but just an hour away from Calgary, Great for family. Amazing deal on early bird season pass.

A perfect location. Based not to far from Calgary with a wide selection of ski runs it is perfectly located for those who want a days skiing that caters for all level of abilities without having to travel to far.

Closest mountain ski area to Calgary. Lots of great cruising runs. Well groomed and great glade skiing.

really had a great time at this resort. Smaller than most but not busy even on a Saturday and handy to Calgary.

Great proximity to the city. Had some mechanic ski problems and the staff were fantastic helping us out.

You know, if you ever wanted to go skiing or snowboarding, this is definitely the place. If it's not Nakiska, it just another ski/snowboarding resort. Nakiska is also known as the Calgary's closest mountain. Highly recommended.

Little bit icy , close and easy drive from Calgary.

5 mins from Kananaskis village. Good beginner/intermediate ski area. Seems family-friendly. Lodge food overpriced (but what ski hill isn't) and didn't love that the kitchen staff were making our food with bare hands.

It's definitely a bit different with COVID, but Nakiska is handling it well and we had a good time skiing. The lift line are a bit slower without full chairs going up. This isn't a big deal for Silver where there are people directing traffic, but Gold was a bit of a scramble.

We'll be going back this season and we're looking forward to better snow soon for a great ski year!

Awesome Ski area. Well managed and health and safety measures in place.

The snow is fresh to board on this week. Looking like a good year

Snow was good (a few icy patches) on the second week and they re actively working on getting some more runs open. They ve definitely managed optimizing the main lift give the restrictions with covid. Also, easy enough to get through the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat during non-peak times.

Try to grum slopes, runs are awful, not all people like mogul type surface

Their website says tubing is open all week. However, when you arrive on a Thursday with your coworkers for a team-building day, 4 of you don't ski/board and want to go tubing you find out at the wicket that tubing is only open Fri-Sun you end up trying to find other things to do. Would be nice if their website was up to date :(

My first time at Nakiska Ski Resort. We really like our day at Nakiska. The hills were great, the snow was really good because they got about 40 cm of snow the day before. We were there a couple of days before Xmas so it was busy. A couple of negatives were that the restaurant was very, very busy. They should of had more cashiers open. And one of the chair lifts was not open. I heard that it's only open on weekends but this was the Xmas break so it was very busy. I will go back but Lake Louise is my favorite ski hill.

Great Hill close to the city. Good skiing and good Snow, mostly artificial but still very enjoyable. Food is regular for a ski hill, nothing out of the ordinary.

I want to first say that I have been snowboarding for about a little over four years now I have purchased a Nakiska Season pass 3 times, so I have a fair amount of experience in what the mountain offers. I live in Calgary and Nakiska being the closest mountain to Calgary was very enticing, it makes it easier to be out there every weekend.

Experiencing the past 3 seasons, first I want to say that Nakiska favors more skiers than snowboarders, with that being said it favors even more on the racer's side of skiing. So if you're an intermediate snowboarder looking for a mountain to progress in, Nakiska might not be the mountain for you. Don't get me wrong I believe that Nakiska is great for beginner snowboarders that are just learning how to turn and carve but in terms of progressing after that probably not.

I say this because of a number of factors. Like I said before my first 2 years at Nakiska I was just learning how to carve, ride fast and controlled and Nakiska was great for that. But after the years now I am looking to progress into park and improving all aspects of my riding from jumps, jibs, and butters etc.

So one of the factors that slowed down my progression would be Nakiska not prioritizing the park. I have been here 3 seasons now and it is very apparent that they prioritize Green runs> Blue/Black runs > Racer Course > Park. Most of the time even closing off a full run for the racers training. So as a snowboarder trying to progress I always have to wait until mid-season or even longer for the park to open, and with COVID this year it is now Jan 14 and the park run has yet to see any kind of plans of being built.

The other factor would be is Nakiska does not like side hits, any side hits that's formed from riders they will break it down. So now you have no park and any efforts to create some form of jump will be taken down by your next visit or even the same day.

Another factor and this might be a make or break for some people is Nakiskas weather, it being closest to Calgary, Nakiska doesn't really get a lot of "powder". It could be dumping pow at Banff but Nakiska will only get 5 cm of snow. With the placement of the mountain, you will not get a lot of sunlight either, due to how Nakiska is placed the sun will rise from the mountains in front of Nakiska and set behind Nakiska not giving you a lot of sunlight during the day, which results in icy conditions.

So with that being said if you are just starting to learn how to carve and ride fast, Nakiska is a great stepping stone for you, well worth your investment for the price they offer for their season pass. But if your an intermediate rider that's looking to learn how to jump, jib, do butters etc, I would suggest looking into a different mountain that favors more towards that side of riding.

Best race mountain around. Perfect grooming and lots of B net. Yahoo!

As always, they treat you very well, the runs are well taken care of.

Had a great day of snowboarding, lines moved fairly quickly. 2 complaints, the crazy steep drop coming off of 2 person lift from bottom right of mountain, and the group taking a lesson that as not properly instructed to not go right in front of chair off ramp causing my husband to have to try to avoid them causing himself to be injured.

What a wonderful place to visit. Fresh air, white snow and the beauty of the mountains. Many things to do for free, hikes, skating, cross country and of course the ski hills.

Great for skiing and snowboarding, highly recommended.

Had a great time skiing here. The hour drive from Calgary was super convenient and since the ski hill is located outside of Banff National Park I didn't have to pay park admission. I will definitely return

Great place for beginners and intermediate levels to ski and snowboard. This is the closest mountain from Calgary. Although smaller with less runs than Sunshine or Lake Louise, the price is better and no Banff pass is required.

Must visit place. No entry fee. Big hills, rivers, falls, lakes, wood and beautiful.

Decent conditions but not enough snow on several runs on the gold chair for me. Needs to up their game on the ungroomed runs and get snow making going there like on the groomed runs. No lack of cold weather should mean one could produce snow constantly and create great conditions overall yet there are bare spots. Raise prices if that is what it takes to expand snow making and lifts and take advantage of more of the mountain. Same with the women's downhill track...bare spots despite over a meter of total snowfall. Hence make more... other than that main hills were in great condition... anything off silver really and Olympic.

Skiing at Nakiska is great. The hill offers something for all levels of ability, including the 1988 Olympic downhill run experience.

Great mountain, not very big, great groomed runs. Really close to the city. Can get busy on the weekend, weekday skiing is great though.

It can get icy and it is expensive. Food is certainly overpriced. The turain is fantastic but you will be skiing on manmade snow. Also the racers can become a bit aggresive here. Tgat all said, After a good snowfall when the racers are elsewhere, then this is my close to Calgary favorite.

Runs can get icy sometimes, but a great place to ski. Closest mountain resort to Calgary!

Always fun great family hill as the runs all end up mostly at the same place. Not sure why people crank on the food in a resort lodge. It s expensive and moderate pub food. Eat it or don t. Come ski have fun meet people. Close to Calgary and make snow! We already have 7 days in !

Its CRAZY the hills have the Snow on yhem and ur slidong really fast down the hill ctazy stufff man

I Bring my 3 girls skiing at Nakiska on weekends and truly have a ball, I don't think lineups are that bad, 15 minutes at the most , gives my legs time to rest , thanks Nakiska for managing this ski resort so close to Calgary.

Cheapest ski resort with many great runs. Also liked the layout much better then other places charging twice as much.

Good hill for beginner skiers or boarders. Easy access from Banff and calgary. It depends on the day but sometimes they don't get the most snow so it is pretty icy. Cheap riding and close proximity to calgary make it a great place.

It's a smaller hill, but still some fun runs to be had