From the Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0601280113jan29,1,5699007.story?coll=chi-travel-hed-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mountains and that movieA 'Brokeback' romance with Alberta and Wyoming
By Alan Solomon
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 29, 2006
This story contains corrected material, published Feb. 1, 2006.
There is no Brokeback Mountain. That doesn't mean people won't pay to see it.
The mountain, like the Annie Proulx short story in the New Yorker (later in a book) that spawned a much-honored motion picture bearing the name, is fictional.
Proulx placed it somewhere in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. The movie's director, Ang Lee--because it was cheaper--shot the film in Alberta, along the Canadian Rockies, primarily in the Kananaskis Country area near Banff National Park.
If you film it, people come.
Erica Backus of the Savannah Convention and Visitors Bureau witnessed firsthand the phenomenal interest created in the Georgia city a decade ago by the book, then the movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."
"It's amazing," she said, "what cinema can bring out in a person, how the need to go see and touch and hear scenes from their favorite movies can really influence their vacation decisions."
But where "Shane" brought Wyoming's Grand Tetons into national focus and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" generated detours to see Devils Tower, also in the state, "Brokeback Mountain"--a tale of cowboy-cowboy love expected to receive numerous Oscar nominations Tuesday--carries with it a unique kind of baggage.
Ten Sleep is a little town (pop. 300) at the base of the Bighorns that has drawn some attention as the nearest settlement to the country that likely inspired Proulx, who visited the area.
"It's a charming little place," said Diane Shober, director of Wyoming's state travel office. "It is absolutely breathtaking."
Nearest sizable town is Worland (pop. 5,200), 25 miles west. Mike Willard is executive director of the Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce.
"Hopefully, it will have a positive effect," Willard said. "We've got beautiful country out here, and a lot of great people, and we're very open to everybody and anybody--and come on out and visit."
Some of those great people, evidently, are more open than others.
"In this area," said Darell Ten Broek, who operates Ten Broek RV Park, Cabins and Horse Hotel in Ten Sleep, "we don't deal well with--whatever you want to call 'em. Not that it doesn't go on. There's a couple that have been in this town since I've been here and everybody leaves them alone, but it just isn't very well accepted here."
Ten Broek, 62, has been a rancher, cowboy, competed in rodeos.
"I've lived within 300 miles of here all my life," he said. He hasn't seen the movie, he said, and he won't.
"And I think most people that I talk to around here feel the same way about it. They don't feel it's depicting Wyoming or real cowboys or real ranchers at all. It's just kind of a slap in the face."
Even the chamber's Willard conceded not everyone is thrilled.
"My mother's family has been around the area since about 1893," Willard says, "and she's enjoyed the other books she's read by this gal, but this one did not impress her at all. She felt it portrayed us as a bunch of demented hicks."
Nonetheless, people of all persuasions, lured by the promise of pristine wilderness and, perhaps, by the unquestionably romantic setting, are sure to come on out and visit. Some may wind up visiting the Wyoming mountains shown in the movie's ads and posters, and they'll be dazzled--and wrong.
"Yep, that's the Tetons," said Jackie Skaggs, public information officer for Grand Teton National Park, about 275 road miles (150 as the eagle flies) west of the Bighorns. She was looking at the film's Web site. "It looks like it's taken from a point on the Snake River near Blacktail Ponds, and that is the classic full-range view. I had no idea they were using us."
Problem?
"No." She laughed. "The Teton range is used in a multitude of ways, because it's such an iconic mountain range and so picturesque. And we don't have ownership on the views of the Tetons."
At least they're in the designated state, where Shober said half the calls coming into her office are about Brokeback.
"`Is Brokeback Mountain a real mountain? Is there a place where we can go?' They're seeing the wide-open spaces that are indicative of Wyoming," she said, "so we're excited for what that could mean for us."
So is Alberta.
There may be no more beautiful stretch of mountain scenery in the world than the Rockies from Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which straddles the Montana-Alberta border, through Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Unlike most of Wyoming's Bighorn region, the Rockies along the Alberta-British Columbia line have been a serious tourist draw for generations, spawning world-class hotels, spas and ski resorts. Diversity, of all kinds, is nothing new.
"There's always been a gay-friendly community here," said Judy Love Rondau, representing Travel Alberta. But she insists the increased interest in her region has little to do with the gay story line.
"The beauty of the scenery actually overwhelms the story," she said. "Everybody I know who's seen the movie, whether they like the story line or not, says, `My gosh, it looks like it goes on forever.'
"I don't think people realize there's countryside like this left."
Calgary, major airline port of entry for the region, is excited.
"It'll help our tourism a ton," said Joe Connelly of Tourism Calgary. "People are already talking about seeing that movie and that fact that the vistas are absolutely beautiful, and we want to make sure nothing impedes individuals from having a look at that."
Mirroring the response of some Wyoming residents to "Brokeback Mountain," much of Savannah was scandalized by "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," whose story involved murder, high society, homosexuality and prominently featured a black drag queen.
"When the book first came out," said Backus, "people did have that feeling about it, like, `Oh, my God, they've aired all our dirty laundry.'
"But then people started to say, `Hey, there's 10 million people in town eating at our restaurants, shopping in our shops, patronizing our businesses.'"
So it became . . .
"`Sure, we have voodoo and crazy people in this town--and we love it!'"
Backus' message to Alberta and, yes, to Wyoming:
"Embrace what you can. Everyone benefits. All tourists are good tourists."
From Annie Proulx: "The mountain boiled with demonic energy, glazed with flickering broken-cloud light; the wind combed the grass . . . "
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IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
Wyoming: Ten Sleep, western entryway to the Bighorn country that was the setting for the fictional "Brokeback Mountain" short story, is about a 1,250-mile drive from Chicago, all but the last 65 miles on Interstate Highway 90 (once into South Dakota, a wonderful drive). Alternatively, United, American and Northwest fly one-stops out of O'Hare into Casper, about 190 miles away; quoted fares (late spring; subject to change) were in the $425-$450 range.
Other air options: Gillette, 135 miles, about $475 (one-stop) on United; and Rapid City, S.D. (home of Mt. Rushmore), about 280 miles, with a non-stop on United priced around $388.
Alberta: Air Canada and United fly non-stops into Calgary, gateway to the Canadian Rockies and about 70 miles east of Canmore, a good base; lowest price quoted (again, subject to change), $399 on Air Canada.
STAYING THERE
Wyoming: Best selection of lodgings can be found in Worland, 25 miles west of Ten Sleep; Buffalo, 65 miles east; and Sheridan, 100 miles northeast. Plenty of camping opportunities in state parks and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
Alberta: A plethora. Calgary, being a real city, has plenty of options, but best selection near the mountains would be in Canmore, Banff (just west of Canmore), Lake Louise and on Alberta Highway 93 along the mountains between Banff and Jasper National Parks. Plenty of camping opportunities in the national parks and adjacent recreation areas.
THE KEY "BROKEBACK" SITES
Wyoming: The Bighorn Mountains, especially north and east from Ten Sleep. (There is no Brokeback Mountain; Annie Proulx says she was inspired by seeing a reference to "Break Back Mountain" in the state, but there's no record of the mountain; closest name to it are several references to Brokenback--creeks, a dam, a reservoir, a narrows--all in Big Horn and neighboring Washakie Counties.)
Alberta: Most scenes were filmed on private land, but check out Kananaskis Country near Canmore; "The Three Sisters," a mountain grouping also near Canmore featured in the film; Ft. Macleod, near Lethbridge; and, for the town scenes, the Crossfield/Blackie area, about 20 miles north of Calgary.
THE GREAT DRIVES
Wyoming: Cloud Peak Skyway, from Ten Sleep to Buffalo, 65 miles; Red Gulch/Alkali Backway, between Hyattville and Shell, 32 miles.
Alberta: Icefields Parkway (Alberta 93), from Banff to Jasper National Park, 143 miles.
INFORMATION
Alberta: 800-252-3782 (800-ALBERTA) (the phone number as published has been corrected in this text);
www.travelalberta.com. For Calgary, 800-662-1678;
www.tourismcalgary.com.
Wyoming: 307-777-7777;
www.wyomingtourism.org. For Worland-Ten Sleep: Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce, 307-347-3226;
www.tensleepworlandwyoming.com.
-- Alan Solomon