Fortress Proposes Gondolas, Zip Lines, and Mountain Coasters in New Resort Plan

Fortress Mountain has been talked about for years in the abstract: a comeback story, a pressure valve for overcrowded ski hills, or a line in the sand for people worried about what comes next for Kananaskis.

This week, the conversation moved into a new phase.

The Alberta government has posted its first formal public notice for a proposed all-season resort project at Fortress, opening a 30-day window for public feedback. Comments are being accepted until February 27, 2026.

And for the first time, we have a detailed, plain-language look at what Fortress says it wants to build.

A 103-page master plan lays out a five-phase blueprint to transform the former ski area into a “world-class, all season mountain resort” complete with a pedestrian-oriented base village, ski-in/ski-out accommodations, and a long menu of summer and winter attractions.

The plan is not an approval. It is a proposal. But it is the most complete picture yet of the scale, sequencing, and on-the-ground reality of “Fortress 2.0.”

The master plan in one sentence: start as a summer attraction, then build toward a full resort village

Fortress’s phasing strategy begins with a day-use model, anchored by a sightseeing gondola and warm-weather activities, before expanding into overnight accommodations and a full resort village over time.

The plan explicitly anticipates that Phase 1 will be summer-focused, with day trips peaking in the warm season.

Phase 1 is designed to accommodate roughly 3,000 guests per day, according to the plan’s phasing overview and parking capacity assumptions.

At full buildout (Phase 5), the plan says the mountain facilities would support a daily capacity of 9,650 guests, paired with a significantly expanded lift network and activity zones spread across the mountain.

Phase 1: gondolas, summer attractions, and day-trip volumes

Phase 1 reads less like a traditional ski hill reopening and more like a mountain amusement and sightseeing hub, with winter offerings layered in.

The “centerpiece” is a sightseeing cableway, with guests riding to the alpine for viewpoints, trails, interpretive experiences, and food and beverage at the top.

The plan also lists a via ferrata and a long zip line descending from the top station.

At the base area, the plan includes a long list of summer activities: a mountain coaster, climbing walls, suspension bridges, a canyon swing, a net park, mini golf, playground and obstacle course style elements, e-bike rentals, electric ATVs, multi-use trails, mountain biking, and “mountain slides,” plus an “immersive nighttime multi-media experience.”

Winter activities in this first phase are more modest, at least on paper: a toboggan hill, snowshoeing, cat skiing, snow tubing, and fat biking.

Parking is a big part of how Fortress models impacts and capacity from day one. In Phase 1, the plan provides 1,100 vehicle stalls across four lots, plus space for buses and a designated RV lot that allows overnight parking.

The parking estimates a capacity of 2,545 visitors and 300 employees, with turnover lifting daily visitor capacity to roughly 3,054.

The Phase 1 map also shows temporary employee housing (listed as 30 to 50 beds), tied to septic.

The buildout vision: a resort village, real estate, and a much larger footprint of activity

If Phase 1 is about proving demand and getting people onto the mountain in summer, later phases are about turning Fortress into a destination, with overnight accommodation, a resort core, and extensive infrastructure.

The master plan’s base area identifies 59.5 hectares of developable land and a total program of 2,517 units. In this context, a unit means an individual accommodation or housing space, such as a hotel room, condo suite, hostel room, glamping cabin, or staff housing suite.

A large share of the accommodation is concentrated in what the plan calls the “Resort Core,” designed for hotel or “condotel” style buildings with public-facing commercial space and skier services.

The plan says 1,196 units are planned within resort core areas, and that overnight accommodation in this category should be publicly rentable either through hotel operations or rental covenants.

There are also two hostel buildings, positioned as lower-cost options for groups, youth, athletes, and training programs, totaling 76 units.

Glamping is included too: 32 units planned within the cross-country facility area.

Employee housing is described as a core part of the base area program. The plan outlines multiple employee housing developments, including a large East Plateau employee housing area described as 691 units and 1,519 beds.

On the mountain, the infrastructure picture changes dramatically by buildout. The plan says that by Phase 5, the resort would include five gondolas or cabriolets, five chairlifts, two surface lifts, and three moving carpets.

Summer activities also spread beyond the base area into five major zones: Resort Core, Whiskey Ridge, Farside Valley, Mt. Baldy, and East Plateau.

The plan ties those zones to activities like suspension bridges and a canyon swing (Farside Valley), access to Fortress Lake and a wedding venue (Mt. Baldy), and cross-country trails plus glamping and the nighttime multimedia experience (East Plateau).

What locals should be thinking about now

If you are a Bow Valley resident, you do not need to have a fully formed opinion to participate in this comment period. The government’s own feedback form asks a simple prompt: how you are affected by the proposed application.

The master plan offers several obvious fault lines where public feedback often matters most:

• Traffic and access along Highway 40 and the approach road, especially with Phase 1 day-trip volumes and an RV overnight parking component.

• The pace and sequencing of buildout, since overnight accommodation begins in Phase 2 and accelerates into a full village and real estate program by Phases 3 to 5.

• Workforce and housing, given the scale of employee beds being planned and how those workers would be managed, transported, and supported.

• The overall intensity of development, with 2,517 units and peak-period occupancy in the thousands.

• Environmental and wildlife questions that residents have been raising for months, now anchored to a defined set of activities, zones, and infrastructure rather than vague hypotheticals.

How to comment, and the deadline

The public notice period runs January 28 to February 27, 2026, and the province says public comments received during that period will be considered as part of the department’s review and decision.

You can submit feedback through the Alberta.ca all-season resorts public notice process.

For Bow Valley, this is the practical moment the debate has been waiting for: not “should Fortress reopen someday,” but “what do you think of this specific plan, right now, while the record is still being built.”

Want to see the full Fortress Mountain proposal? Download it here.