Kananaskis Country in the context of "Nakiska"

The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (French: XV Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the most recent time that two consecutive Olympic Games were hosted in North America (with the 1984 Summer Olympic Games hosted in Los Angeles, California, United States). It was the first Winter Olympic Games to be held for 15 days, like the counterpart Summer Olympic Games. The majority of the events took place in Calgary itself. However, the snow events were shared by Nakiska ski resort in Kananaskis Country at the west of the city and the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park in the town of Canmore.

In 1988, a record 57 National Olympic Committees (NOC) sent a total of 1,424 athletes to these Games. These Winter Olympics would be the last attended for both the Soviet Union and East Germany NOCs. Just like the 1976 Summer Olympics, host country Canada failed again to win a gold medal on their home soil (They won three gold medals in demonstration events, but they are not added at the official medal table). The Finnish ski jumper, Matti Nykänen, and the Dutch speed skater, Yvonne van Gennip, won three individual gold medals each. The 1988 Winter Olympics were also remembered for the "heroic failure" of both the British ski jumper, Michael Edwards, and the debut of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team. Both of them became subjects of major feature films about their participation in these Games: Cool Runnings by Walt Disney Pictures in 1993 and Eddie the Eagle by 20th Century Fox in 2016.

Banff National Park is Canada's first national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 110–180 kilometres (68–112 mi) west of Calgary, Banff encompasses 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. Provincial forests and Yoho National Park are neighbours to the west, while Kootenay National Park is located to the south and Kananaskis Country to the southeast. The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley.

The mountains were formed from sedimentary rocks that were pushed east over newer rock strata, between 80 million and 55 million years ago. Over the past few million years, glaciers have at times covered most of the park; today they are found only on the mountain slopes, though they include the Columbia Icefield, the largest uninterrupted glacial mass in the Rockies. Erosion from water and ice have carved the mountains into their current shapes. Archaeological evidence at Vermilion Lakes indicates presence of Indigenous peoples for more than 10,000 years in the Banff area.

Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park is a provincial park in Alberta, Canada, located immediately west of Canmore, 105 km (65 mi) west of Calgary.

This provincial park is situated at the foot of Mount Rundle within the Canadian Rocky Mountains along Bow Valley and the Trans-Canada Highway, at an elevation of 1,400 m (4,600 ft), and has a surface of 4.5 km (1.7 sq mi). It is part of Kananaskis Country's park system.

Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately 81 kilometres (50 mi) west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Country to the west and south and the Municipal District of Bighorn No. 8 to the north and east. With a population of 17,036 in 2023, Canmore is the fifth-largest town in Alberta.