The workshop will be hosted at Barrier Lake Station, Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. This venue belongs to the University of Calgary and provides accommodations, work facilities, and dining.

Barrier Lake

About the venue#

Accommodations#

Barrier Lake Station is mostly dormitory style housing.

Each dormitory has a shared washroom, and each bedroom in the dormitories has one bunk bed.

There will be a male dormitory and a female dormitory (each dormitory has its own washroom).

If you are unable to stay in dormitory style housing, there is a limited amount of duplex housing available. Each duplex has a loft with two single beds a bedroom with four bunk beds, and one washroom. The duplexes will be co-ed. If you are unable to stay in the dormitories and require accommodations in the duplexes, please indicate so on your registration form.

See the videos on Barrier Lake’s website for more details.

Dining and food restrictions#

Meals are provided by Barrier Lake Station. From their website:

The dining room is nut-free, and caters to vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free (please note, gluten products are used in the kitchen). We are unable to cater for Kosher or Halal, air-born allergies, and extreme dietary restrictions.

What to bring at Barrier Lake Station#

Bring a laptop (see Requirements).

Please note that soap, shampoo, bedding, linens, and towels are provided by Barrier Lake.

We encourage participants to bring extras like hiking boots, or anything that could be of interest for the non-working time. For example, we will try to bring a guitar.

Accessing Barrier Lake Station#

The closest airport is Calgary International Airport (YYC). The venue is less than 1h30 away by car from the Calgary airport.

We will organize ground transportation from the University of Calgary to the venue on the afternoon (Sunday June 7th) before the workshop starts (Monday June 8th). Therefore, participants are encouraged to stay a total of five nights at Barrier Lake Station.

The University of Calgary is easily accessibly by public transit. Participants are responsible for arriving at the meet-up point in Calgary on time on their own.

Depending on the flight times available to you and how far you are travelling from (and your likelihood of flight delays), you may wish to arrive in Calgary the night before and stay at a hotel at your own expense. There are several hotels in Calgary near the Banff Trail CTrain LRT station, which is only one stop away from the University of Calgary station.

Cost#

We estimate that the cost of attending will be between $500 and $600 CAD. We will update this website with more precise information as soon as we have it. This includes both accommodations and meals for the duration of the workshop.

Child care#

We are applying for funds to help cover child care costs for participants with children. Depending on the age of your children and venue space, this could mean offering reimbursements to offset childcare costs, or having your children and a caregiver stay at Barrier Lake.

As we have not received a decision on all funding applications yet, we cannot make any promises about childcare yet. If you are considering attending the workshop and will require support with childcare, please contact us at sagedays.westerncan@ucalgary.ca as soon as possible.

Alternative venues#

Participants are welcome to look for alternative accommodation nearby, at their own cost. Please note that if you do so, you will need a car, as there are no public transportation options to Barrier Lake in the area. The workshop registration fees are just to cover the costs of accommodations and meals at Barrier Lake, so if you are staying at an alternative site then your registration fee will be prorated to the cost of the meals you have at Barrier Lake.

Here are some possible alternative venues:

  • The closest and cheapest hotel is the Stony Nakoda Resort & Casino, only 10 km from the Station. Booking directly on their website is expensive, but third-part websites (e.g. Expedia, Hotels.com) have lower rates.
  • The next closest options are Kananaskis Village (18 km by car) and Canmore (39 km by car).

This area is a popular tourist destination in the summer, so booking early is strongly recommended!