Nobody gives Fortress Mountain a credit, yet it has played a dream level, a Jumanji sequel set and a stand-in for Wyoming.
Fortress Mountain sits in Kananaskis Country, and Hollywood keeps coming back to it. The deepest dream level in Inception, the final stretch of the story, was shot there in November 2009. According to Travel Alberta, the crew spent three months building a set nearby and then waited for a proper snowstorm before they rolled cameras. Imagine the person whose job was watching the sky.
Inception also visited Tokyo, the UK, Morocco, France and Los Angeles. The climax needed a mountain, and Alberta had one ready.
The hill kept working after that. The crew of Jumanji: The Next Level spent four days among the snowy peaks at Fortress in spring 2019. Brokeback Mountain’s main peak was digitally stitched together from three real Alberta mountains, Fortress among them, so that famous skyline of rock exists only in the edit. And when The Last of Us returned for its second season, the first episode used Exshaw, Highway 1A and Fortress Mountain to look like Jackson, Wyoming, as Travel Alberta points out.
One hill has stood in for a dream and for a Wyoming that isn’t Wyoming. Actors fly in, snow falls on cue, and the mountain keeps being a mountain. It’s high and it gets real snow, and it sits in the mountains west of Calgary. A location scout could hardly ask for more.
Take Highway 40 into Kananaskis on a clear day and watch the peaks stack up. The photo above shows Storm Mountain from that same Kananaskis Trail corridor, so you can see the sort of country we’re talking about. Then queue up Inception tonight and see if the snow looks a little more familiar. For more of Calgary’s screen history, read how set in Calgary differs from shot in Calgary.
Also on the site, the Banff Mountain Film Festival began with climbers in a basement, and Calgary once watched movies from the front seat of a car.
Quick answers
Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis Country, west of Calgary, appears in Inception, Jumanji: The Next Level and Brokeback Mountain. The Last of Us season two also used Exshaw, Highway 1A and Fortress Mountain to look like Jackson, Wyoming, as Travel Alberta points out.
The deepest dream level in Inception was shot at Fortress Mountain in November 2009. According to Travel Alberta, the crew spent three months building a set nearby, then waited for a proper snowstorm before they rolled cameras.
Fortress Mountain sits in Kananaskis Country, in the mountains west of Calgary. You can reach Kananaskis by taking Highway 40 on a clear day, and the peaks stack up along the way.
Brokeback Mountain’s main peak was digitally stitched together from three real Alberta mountains, and Fortress Mountain was one of them. That famous skyline of rock exists only in the edit, not as a single mountain.
Sources: Travel Alberta, 10 Hollywood blockbusters filmed in Alberta; Travel Alberta, The Last of Us in Alberta.
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