Where Is 'Brokeback Mountain'?

"Brokeback Mountain" remains one of the most egregiously snubbed films at the Oscars, ever. The loss of the Ang Lee film in the Best Picture category still stings to this day, especially to LGBTQI+ audiences pining for a little crumb of representation in the 2000s.

The titular mountain is pure fiction; homophobia in rural 1990s Wyoming was not. “Brokeback Mountain” author Annie Proulx, who used to live at Bird Cloud ranch in the ironically named Equality State, overheard someone here go on a bigoted rant about a pair of "homos" who had dined the night before in a bar. On another occasion, also in a Wyoming bar, she spotted a middle-aged man, with an expression of longing on his face, watching younger men play pool. 

"The story was not 'inspired,' but the result of years of subliminal observation and thought, eventually brought to the point of writing," she said.

Proulx published "Brokeback Mountain" as a short story first on The New Yorker in 1997, and it journeyed to the screen in 2005. 

Lee hoped to be faithful to the source material and came close to filming at the Wind River Valley in Wyoming. He fell short of funds, complaining: “This is not a low-budget film. This is a no-budget film.” (Most estimates put "Brokeback Mountain's" budget at $14 million.)

And so the Albertan side of the Canadian Rockies eventually passed for "Brokeback Mountain." The production team combined shots of Moose Mountain, The Fortress, The Three Sisters of Canmore, and the Windtower summit near Mount Lougheed to create the fictional peak. 

The campsite scenes were filmed on the Kananaskis Range of the Rockies, especially the picturesque Upper Kananaskis Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Other campground scenes were shot at Canyon Creek and Elbow Falls.

Moose Mountain was important to production as it was the only place where Alberta let the team's American sheep loose. Authorities feared the sheep might be carrying livestock-threatening bacteria with them. 

A herd of LGBTQ content have since trotted on the trail blazed by "Brokeback Mountain," a few of them even coming close to that all-important Best Picture title. It took just 20 years, but they're here, they're queer: We just can't quit it.