Calgary 1988

Canada goes all in for the Winter Olympics. It arguably one of a handful of countries -namely Scandinavia, Finland, Austria and Switzerland- where there is more enthusiasm for the winter games than the summer games. Calgary 88 introduced the world to this passion and 22 years later in Vancouver it was reaffirmed.

Mascots, Heidi and Howdy greeting me on arrival at YYC

Returning special guest, Chris joined Mike and I for this trip. Mike assumed the role of I/C for this trip and wanted a trip that was one plane ride away for all participants and was in Canadian Dollars. Only Calgary could fulfill this requirement. We spent two days in Calgary exploring the venues before heading an hour west to Canmore, the nordic skiing hub for the games.

Attempt at a cliche 90's album cover

After staying awake for over 20 hours, getting some sleep and an early morning RV with Chris at the airport, we went made our way to the first Olympic Site, Calgary’s Olympic Park. First we went to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame which is near the bobsled track. It was a good exhibit and covered everything from bowling, horse racing, car racing and of course hockey, skiing and other Olympic sports. There was an extensive collection of Olympic items dispersed amongst the various displays. Here we saw one of the 88 Olympic torches. It is shaped to reflect Calgary Tower. The torch run was sponsored by Petro Canada. One of my memories from the games was the Calgary 88 Torch Run glasses you could be at Petro Canada stations. It seems almost every household had a few in the late eighties. The national enthusiasm for the games and indeed the torch run was evident when torch run organizers were looking for 6300 volunteers to take the torch on its record setting 18 000km journey across Canada, they were expecting 60 000 applications: they got 6.2 million!

The Calgary Torch - Design influenced by the Calgary Tower(right)

Calgary Olympic Park was, with some assistance from Hollywood, the scene where two modern Olympic Legends were made: Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican Bobsled Team. It was the most expensive site to be built for these games. We first went to the bobsled track. It had tourists going down it on luge sled. In my opinion there ride was a lot tamer than the Lillehammer tourist taxibob. It was only a 3-4 turns and then you were done! It also seemed more functional than the Lillehammer track which was surrounded by pine trees. After watching a couple of tourists go by we made our way to the ski centre.

Calgary Olympic Park - Bobsleigh Track

The Olympic Park Ski Area was where aerials events were held. Nakiska, one hour away in the Kannaskis Valley was where all the other alpine events were held It is very much an urban ski area with little greenery, but on this weekend it was well used. There was an impressive array of flags of the competing nations outside the ski centre. We didn’t actually ski here but we did watch a FIS freestyle skiing event was being held on the side of the ski jumping complex. We watched in very windy and cool conditions until a Swedish skier didn’t land a jump and let out a scream in pain. He had to be carted off the course after a lengthy period lying on the ground, I hope he made a speedy recovery. I found freestyle skiing, unlike downhill, quite spectator friendly, you can easily see the entire course. To a degree, this was a homecoming for moguls. Freestyle skiing disciplines, (moguls, aerials and ski ballet) made their debut at Calgary 88 as demonstration sports. Thankfully, ski ballet was dropped after Albertville. Aerials and moguls are still full medal events.

The abandoned large ski jump tower

The ski jump is an iconic local landmark. It is a tower jump unlike Whistler and Lillehammer which were built into a hill. The fact that a chairlift is now in the large hill out run indicated that it was no longer used. I later found out the other jumps are still in use but the large hill has been mothballed for a decade.

We then went to the Olympic Oval which is located on the campus of the university of Calgary. Calgary’s winter climate, which can vary from mild powerful Chinook winds to bitterly cold air from the Arctic, necessitated an indoor venue. It was the first indoor speed skating venue and it is known as the fastest ice on Earth. Numerous world records were shattered at the oval. Many credit this to the excellent ice conditions and the thinner air in the high altitude.

A "blur" past the camera with speed skate

Mike and I took advantage of the opportunity to try the fastest ice on earth and we rented speed skates. I thought it would be quite difficult compared to hockey skates. It wasn't’ that bad; however crossovers required a lot of concentration with those long blades. You can certainly move at quite a pace. After 5-6 laps I was done! The building, like the Vancouver 2010 Oval in Richmond, is expansive. It was well used with lots of pleasure skaters inside and outside of the oval and an ice hockey game also taking place inside the oval. We finished the tour with a drive to an escarpment to take photos of the downtown core and the iconic Saddledome which was the venue for Ice Hockey and Figure Skating. It is the current home of the Calgary Flames.

The following day we experienced the full force of Calgary’s Chinnok winds. It was really warm out 10C in late January and the sun was out. Unfortunately there was a food shortage in downtown Calgary, the diner we ate at for breakfast had no flour for pancakes and the restaurant for lunch had essentially nothing on the menu except pulled pork and coffee, so we left. Fortunately the Tim Horton’s logistics system came through and we had lunch there.


We drove for an hour and a half to Canmore Alberta, which was the secondary Olympic Hub. We would be staying here for a week. In the morning we woke up to a dusting of snow and bitterly cold temperatures. The following 3 days we did some skiing on the world class Sunshine Village and Lake Louise, both which were not used for the 88 Winter Olympics.


Skiing: Bronze

The funding of the Olympics was split between the Federal Government, Alberta Provincial Government, and City of Calgary. Nakiska on Mount Allen was seemingly a pet project of the provincial government. It was fully funded by the provincial government and I think Nakiska along with a conference centre and hotel was an effort to turn the Kananaskis area into a destination. The selection of Mount Allen was controversial. The IOC requested that all venues be within 100km of Calgary ruling out Banff and Lake Louise. The Kananaskis Valley is in a rain shadow and suffers from low snowfall and warm Chinook winds. The terrain is also relatively flat (easy). The FIS had to request several modifications to the downhill courses to make them more challenging and safer.

The crowded slopes of Nakiska

Nakiska was built with Canada’s first high-speed detachable quad and extensive snow making. We benefitted from this with excellent groomed hard packed powder – an East Coast skier's idea of heaven. There was plenty of corduroy to ski on up until lunch. The pistes were wide and empty, excellent for blue cruising. For Mike and Chris Nakiska could be a high silver or even a gold. For me I enjoyed the blue and black runs, (mostly blue) many of which were generous blues. However the lack of variety meant by the second day it was getting quite repetitive. The upper sections of the downhill course was not runnable, only the lower easy section. The lower section was probably the easiest section of a downhill course I skied to date.

Nakiska - home of noon corduroy

I explored the gladed area which was of poor quality, it just seemed to be scraggy with exposed rocks, branches and straight cuts rather than a slightly thinned out forest. The chalet reminded me of Viceroy style homes common across cottage country in Canada. It was quite attractive and done in the Calgary 88 style.


Nakiska is a high bronze, and a far better skiing experience than Norefjell but it is not up to the same variety and number of runs as St. Moritz or other Silver pistes. Calgarian are very lucky to have this as their local hill, a fantastic place for beginners and intermediates.

Off Piste Gold

Nordic for a change at the excellent Canmore Nordic Ski Centre

Canmore was our base in the Mountains. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains, Mike observed that the valleys in the Rockies were a lot wider than in the Alps. It was the site for cross country skiing and biathlon. On our final day, Mike and I rented some skis and spent two hours going to the end of the green trail and back. It was really invigorating to exercise in the alpine forest surrounded by mountains. The lodge was similar to the one at Nakiska, it had a wood fire in the fire place people were relaxing around. Like Lillehammer the buildings for Calgary have aged well.

Calgary and Canmore have lots to do when one is not skiing. I am glad we used Canmore as our base. It is not raucous party scene like some resorts in Europe but there are plenty of restaurants and pubs to get a good meal at. Craft beer is all the rage with a handful of “pubs” (bars) offering beer tasting flutes.

Calgary, like Sapporo is a big city experience with a lot of winter sports to do. It is not a beautiful city and it is surrounded by suburban sprawl. There were not that many tourist attractions in town, but there was a good selection of restaurants. Calgary’s main attraction is its proximity to the mountains.


Overall Silver


Calgary would be a very solid gold if the organizers staged the Alpine events in the world class Lake Louise ski area, but at the time, the IOC required Alpine events to be held 100km from the city.

McMahon Stadium- Site of the opening and closing ceremonies

Unlike a lot of other host cities, we could easily participate in pretty much every winter Olympic sport without having to make any prior arrangements (with the exception of Ski Jumping). No mistake about it, Calgary is a big sprawling city that lacks the small town alpine charm (and apparently it lacks food in some of its restaurants) that many Olympic sites have. Canmore however, is quite quaint surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery.

The revitalized Olympic Plaza - 30 years later and Calgary is still a proud host city

By all accounts the Calgary 88 was a model Winter Olympic Games, the citizens fully embraced them, the venues were completed on time to a good standard, the games made a surplus and the legacy of the games endure to this day. I have little doubt Calgary could easily host another edition of the Olympics with the same enthusiasm and success.


Mike Says "I can do empty blue cruisers for days mate"


Marc Says "That was the easiest downhill, where are the black runs? Not challenging enough"


Chris Says "This is an exchange rate I can live with"