The Fortress Mountain closure has created a major hurdle for the freestyle ski community and the Canadian national freestyle team.
For decades, Fortress was the home of freestyle, with permanent aerial and mogul training sites for every level of competitor.
The search is on to find a new home.
"Fortress was just the best training facility anywhere while it was at its prime," said Peter Judge, the new chief executive officer of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association.
"The training was always consistent there -- our athletes had the run of the mountain, really. We need to find another venue that can provide that same quality atmosphere.
"Losing Fortress really puts a very big hole in our Alberta program because it was such an integral part of it in past."
Deidra Dionne agrees -- although her assessment is a little more blunt.
"It sucks," the Red Deer native, one of Canada's top freestyle aerialists, said of Fortress' closure.
"It puts a lot of things up in the air for us right now but I guess it's better to have it happen this year rather than next year, which is an Olympic year."
The national and Alberta provincial teams are heading to Apex Mountain near Pentiction, B.C., for their two-week pre-season training camp Nov. 14.
Apex is making an effort to become 'the new Fortress' for the Canadian team.
"Apex is building a freestyle site to our specifications and is willing to accommodate our whole national team," said Dionne.
"Apex is bending over backwards for us and wants us. Having someone want you really is a great feeling."
The question remains: Will Apex have snow this early in the season to train on?
It has four snow guns standing by ready to make snow but the elevation is a concern.
The national team is also exploring Fernie Alpine Resort, the host site of the World Cup the past two years.
"If it would be possible to develop an early- season training facility at Fernie, we would seriously look at that," said Judge.
"The early-season conditions at Fortress were always consistent and it had the infrastructure to fulfil all our early-season training needs, as well as those of other countries who came to Canada to train."
Alberta's provincial freestyle team is weighing two options for its future.
Both Castle Mountain near Pincher Creek and Sunshine Village will be used this winter for mogul and free-ride training. It also will use Nakiska, Lake Louise and Canada Olympic Park, plus the jump site at Canyon Ski Resort near Red Deer.
"Losing Fortress really hurt us because we now don't have an aerial site close to Calgary," said Alberta team head coach Jay Vaughan. "Hopefully, we can get a jump site built with a bigger table and landing area at some of the other resorts as well to give us some flexibility."
