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Heath Ledger, fair hair swept back, in a dark jacket, looking off to one side
Heath Ledger, who played Ennis del Mar, in Berlin in February 2006, two months after the film opened. Siebbi · CC BY 3.0
Heath Ledger, Ennis, in Berlin, February 2006.

Set in Wyoming, 1963 · Shot in southern Alberta, 2004

Brokeback Mountain

One mountain, stitched from three.

Jake Gyllenhaal smiling at a film opening, dark hair, open-necked shirt
Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Jack Twist, at the opening of Proof in 2005. Tony Shek · CC BY 2.0
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jack, in 2005.

Ridge photographs: The Three Sisters, Jakub Fryš, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fortress Mountain, skille, CC BY 3.0 · Moose Mountain, Khoshhat, CC BY 4.0

There is no Brokeback Mountain. The film blended the Three Sisters, Fortress and Moose Mountain into one Wyoming summer, and shot the long years in between in three Alberta towns.

Where this comes from

The mountain, unpicked

Three peaks.
One mountain that isn’t there.

The release from Travel Alberta names the pieces. Lift one out of the ridge.

Three pieces, one mountain. Choose one to lift it out.

The film’s mountain is blended from several real peaks: the Three Sisters, Fortress and Moose Mountain.

Where this comes from

35,000 km

Location manager Darryl Solly drove 35,000 km (22,000 miles) for the shoot between February and August 2004.

21 m

More than 90 per cent of the film’s scenes were shot within 21 m (70 ft) of a road.

Where this comes from

Kananaskis Country, summer 2004

Strike camp.
Pitch it down the road.

The camp in the film moved round Kananaskis, and it never went far from a road. Fold the tent and pitch it at the next place.

Camp pitched at Kananaskis Village, the crew’s base. Strike it and move on.

More than 90 per cent of the film’s scenes were shot within 21 m (70 ft) of a road.

A snowy mountain face across a valley under a pale sky
The view from Kananaskis Village, February 2005, the winter after the shoot. D'Arcy Norman from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0

Kananaskis Village, at the foot of Nakiska

Kananaskis Village

Kananaskis Village is the crew’s base for the campsite shoots and King Creek.

The Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge, at 1 Centennial Drive, is about 45 minutes west of Calgary.

A small resort village off Highway 40, with the Pomeroy lodge. Parking anywhere in Kananaskis needs a Kananaskis Conservation Pass: $15 a day or $90 a year for a personal vehicle.

Where this comes from
Pomeroy Lodging

Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge

Kananaskis Village · Rates on booking · 888-591-6240

In Kananaskis Village, which was the crew’s base for the campsite shoots and King Creek. About 45 minutes west of Calgary.

Check rooms

The foothills and the city

The long years
were lived in town.

Between summers on the mountain, the film goes down to a trailer by a butcher shop, a flat above a laundromat, a hotel bar and a dancehall.

A small prairie village spread along a highway under a big sky
Cowley from the Crowsnest Highway, looking east. Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0

Cowley · Crowsnest Highway

Where they meet

Jack and Ennis first meet outside a derelict trailer, in a Cowley parking lot in front of the butcher shop.

Travel Alberta’s managing director said the film shows Alberta’s small towns and prairies, not only the Rockies.

A small village on the Crowsnest Highway. The street is public; the businesses and yards are private.

Where this comes from
A sandstone corner hotel with a metal cornice on a small-town main street
The Queen's Hotel on Fort Macleod's Main Street, under renovation in July 2024. Kkiefuik · CC BY 4.0

Fort Macleod · Main Street

The flat, the pie, the hotel

Ennis and Alma’s flat is filmed above a Fort Macleod laundromat; the tenant moves into the Red Coat Inn for the shoot.

Ennis eats pie at the Java Shop diner in Fort Macleod. Late in the film, Ennis meets Cathy at the Queen’s Hotel.

The hotel was built in 1903 of rough-faced local sandstone, on the north-east corner of 24th Street and Second Avenue, and was made a Provincial Historic Resource in 2012. Fort Macleod’s Main Street was Alberta’s first Provincial Historic Area, in 1984.

On Main Street at 24th Street. Look from the pavement: it was under renovation in 2024. Someone’s home: named here, not mapped. Walk Main Street instead.

A small-town main street of brick and sandstone fronts
Fort Macleod's historic Main Street, looking east, July 2024. Kkiefuik · CC BY 4.0
Where this comes from
Calgary’s downtown towers above the river and trees
Calgary from the river. Ranchman’s is on Macleod Trail, south of downtown. Sharon Hahn Darlin · CC BY 2.0

Calgary · Macleod Trail

The dancehall

Ranchman’s is one of the bars used; its saddles are the ones Jake Gyllenhaal looks over.

A Thanksgiving scene was shot at a house in Scarborough, an old inner-city Calgary neighbourhood. The characters’ clothes came from Divine Decadence, a vintage shop in Calgary and Edmonton.

Ranchman’s plans to close this site at the end of 2026 and reopen nearby, in a larger space, in 2027.

9615 Macleod Trail S. Go before the end of 2026: the dancehall plans to move nearby in 2027.

Where this comes from

Two shirts on one wire hanger: Jack’s denim over Ennis’s plaid.

Los Angeles, 2009

Two shirts.
One hanger.

Collector Tom Gregory had bought them about three years earlier, in a charity auction on eBay, for $101,000, and hung them in his office.

In 2009 the two shirts, Ennis’s plaid button-down and Jack’s blue denim draped over it, went on show in the Autry’s Imagination Gallery, which is given over to the western in popular culture.

Gregory asked that the shirts always stay entwined.

Open Tuesday to Friday 10am–4pm, weekends 10am–5pm; adults $20. The shirts were shown here in 2009: ask whether they are out before you go.

Where this comes from
Autry Museum

Autry Museum of the American West

Los Angeles · Adults $20 · Tue–Fri 10am–4pm, weekends 10am–5pm

Where the two shirts went on show in 2009, in the gallery given over to the western in popular culture. Ask before you go whether they are out.

Plan a visit

Winter 2005 to spring 2006

Ennis, Jack
and the man who filmed them.

Heath Ledger, fair hair swept back, in a dark jacket, looking off to one side
Heath Ledger, who played Ennis del Mar, in Berlin in February 2006, two months after the film opened. Siebbi · CC BY 3.0
Jake Gyllenhaal smiling at a film opening, dark hair, open-necked shirt
Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Jack Twist, at the opening of Proof in 2005. Tony Shek · CC BY 2.0
Ang Lee in glasses and a dark jacket, smiling
Ang Lee, who directed the film, in October 2007. Mai Le from San Francisco, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0

The film opens in a limited release in the United States in early December 2005. By March 2006 Alberta Film is taking dozens of calls a week about where the film was shot.

Ang Lee wins Best Director, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana Best Adapted Screenplay, and Gustavo Santaolalla Best Original Score.

Heath Ledger is nominated for Best Actor, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams for the supporting awards.

Where this comes from

Heath Ledger dies in January 2008, aged 28. The role of Ennis had brought him an Oscar nomination, and on the film he met Michelle Williams, the mother of his daughter Matilda.

Where this comes from

The road back up.
Every place, as it is now.

Where it is now

12 places you can visit, from the Three Sisters above Canmore to a dancehall in Calgary and a museum in Los Angeles. Ennis and Alma’s flat in Fort Macleod is someone’s home: named, not mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from all over Canmore: the Engine Bridge over the Bow, the Policeman’s Creek Boardwalk, the West Bow River Pathway.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The old lift-served ski hill is not open. Look up at it from the Kananaskis Trail.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A 7.3 km climb each way from the end of Moose Mountain Road, with 470 m of ascent. Kananaskis Conservation Pass to park.

  1. Three snow-streaked peaks above a still creek and spruce
    The Three Sisters over Policeman Creek, Canmore. Jakub Fryš · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Above Canmore, Alberta

    The Three Sisters

    Many of the film’s shots of Brokeback Mountain are really the Three Sisters, the peaks that frame Canmore.

    Seen from all over Canmore: the Engine Bridge over the Bow, the Policeman’s Creek Boardwalk, the West Bow River Pathway.

    Where this comes from
  2. A wide, flat-topped rock fortress of a mountain above forest
    Fortress Mountain, Kananaskis Country. skille · CC BY 3.0

    Kananaskis Country, off the Kananaskis Trail (Highway 40)

    Fortress Mountain

    The film’s mountain blends several real peaks, from the Three Sisters at Canmore to Fortress and Moose Mountain in Kananaskis Country.

    The old lift-served ski hill is not open. Look up at it from the Kananaskis Trail.

    Where this comes from
  3. A broad rounded mountain over forested foothills
    Moose Mountain, Kananaskis Country, in May. Khoshhat · CC BY 4.0

    Elbow Valley, Kananaskis Country

    Moose Mountain

    The sheep scenes were filmed on Moose Mountain, about 45 minutes west of Calgary.

    A 7.3 km climb each way from the end of Moose Mountain Road, with 470 m of ascent. Kananaskis Conservation Pass to park.

    Where this comes from

Stay

Sleep where the crew did.

The lodge in Kananaskis Village, which was the crew’s base for the camp scenes.

Pomeroy Lodging

Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge

Kananaskis Village · Rates on booking · 888-591-6240

In Kananaskis Village, which was the crew’s base for the campsite shoots and King Creek. About 45 minutes west of Calgary.

Check rooms

Go there

A trail, a creek, a waterfall, a museum.

Moose Mountain, the Galatea trail, Elbow Falls, the Autry in Los Angeles, and guided days out of Kananaskis.

Alberta Parks

Moose Mountain trail

Elbow Valley · Free · Kananaskis Conservation Pass to park ($15 a day)

The sheep range. An old fire road up Moose Ridge to the lookout: 7.3 km each way, 470 m of climb, the last kilometre steep and loose.

Trail report
Alberta Parks

Galatea Creek Trail

Spray Valley · Free · open all year · pass to park

Ennis’s supply run was shot at a bridge on this trail. It starts at Galatea Day Use and crosses several large bridges through the forest.

Trailhead details
Alberta Parks

Elbow Falls

Elbow Valley · Free · pass to park · Highway 66 beyond closes 1 Dec–14 May

One of the film’s campsite locations. A short, mostly paved trail with stairs to several viewpoints; open all year.

Plan a visit
Autry Museum

Autry Museum of the American West

Los Angeles · Adults $20 · Tue–Fri 10am–4pm, weekends 10am–5pm

Where the two shirts went on show in 2009, in the gallery given over to the western in popular culture. Ask before you go whether they are out.

Plan a visit
Viator · Ad / affiliate

Kananaskis and Canmore tours

Kananaskis

Live marketplace results for guided days in Kananaskis and round Canmore. None is a Brokeback Mountain tour as such: check each itinerary.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

Ten days in July.

The Calgary Stampede, 9–18 July 2027. Not a film event, but the best reason to be in Calgary.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

The story, the screenplay, the score.

Annie Proulx’s story, the book of the screenplay, and the soundtrack album. There are no original posters for this film in our store, so we haven’t listed any.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Brokeback Mountain

Annie Proulx

Annie Proulx’s short story, in Scribner’s 2005 paperback.

Find the book
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay

Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana

The story, the screenplay and essays by all three writers, Scribner, 2005.

Find the book
eBay · Ad / affiliate

Brokeback Mountain: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Various Artists · CD, Verve Forecast, 2005

Gustavo Santaolalla’s score and the songs, released by Verve Forecast in November 2005.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

Three peaks. One mountain. Go and see them.

Where this comes from

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

13 of 13 places · 22 of 22 Moments

  • The Three Sisters

    Above Canmore, Alberta

    • The skyline

      Many shots of Brokeback Mountain are really the Three Sisters above Canmore.

    • The release

      The film opens in a limited release in the United States in early December 2005.

    • The calls

      By March 2006 Alberta Film is taking dozens of calls a week about where the film was shot.

    • Three Oscars

      Ang Lee wins Best Director, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana Best Adapted Screenplay, and Gustavo Santaolalla Best Original Score.

    • Three actors nominated

      Heath Ledger is nominated for Best Actor, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams for the supporting awards.

    • Heath Ledger

      Heath Ledger dies in January 2008, aged 28. The role of Ennis had brought him an Oscar nomination, and on the film he met Michelle Williams, the mother of his daughter Matilda.

  • Fortress Mountain

    Kananaskis Country, off the Kananaskis Trail (Highway 40)

    • One mountain, several peaks

      The film’s mountain is blended from several real peaks: the Three Sisters, Fortress and Moose Mountain.

  • Moose Mountain

    Elbow Valley, Kananaskis Country

    • The sheep

      The sheep scenes are filmed on Moose Mountain.

  • King Creek

    Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, off Highway 40

    • The bear

      Ennis meets the bear at King Creek. The bear comes from a zoo farm outside Innisfail.

  • The Galatea trail bridge

    Galatea Day Use, Spray Valley Provincial Park

    • The supply run

      Ennis picks up supplies at a bridge on the Galatea trail.

  • Upper Kananaskis Lake

    Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

    • The campsites

      Campsite scenes are shot at Canyon Creek, Elbow Falls, Upper Kananaskis Lakes and Mud Lake.

  • Elbow Falls

    Elbow Valley, Highway 66

    • Elbow Falls

      Elbow Falls is one of the four campsite locations.

  • Kananaskis Village

    Kananaskis Village, at the foot of Nakiska

    • Base camp

      Kananaskis Village is the crew’s base for the campsite shoots and King Creek.

    • Never far from a road

      Darryl Solly drives 35,000 km finding and running the locations, and more than nine scenes in ten are shot within 21 m of a road.

  • Cowley

    Cowley, on the Crowsnest Highway, Alberta

    • The first meeting

      Jack and Ennis first meet outside a derelict trailer, in a Cowley parking lot in front of the butcher shop.

  • The Queen’s Hotel, Fort Macleod

    Second Avenue at 24th Street, Fort Macleod

    • Pie at the Java Shop

      Ennis eats pie at the Java Shop diner in Fort Macleod.

    • Cathy

      Late in the film, Ennis meets Cathy at the Queen’s Hotel.

  • Ennis and Alma’s flat

    Fort Macleod (a private home)

    • The flat

      Ennis and Alma’s flat is filmed above a Fort Macleod laundromat; the tenant moves into the Red Coat Inn for the shoot.

  • Ranchman’s

    9615 Macleod Trail S, Calgary

    • The saddles

      Ranchman’s is one of the bars used; its saddles are the ones Jake Gyllenhaal looks over.

    • Thanksgiving

      A Thanksgiving scene is shot at a house in Scarborough, Calgary.

  • The Autry Museum

    4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, Los Angeles

    • The auction

      Collector Tom Gregory buys the two shirts in an eBay charity auction for $101,000.

    • The shirts on show

      The shirts go on show at the Autry, Jack’s denim draped over Ennis’s plaid.

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