Mount Sima ski hill saved by fundraising efforts

A concerted effort to raise money for the troubled ski hill has worked, as news came out Tuesday that Whitehorse ski hill Mount Sima will open this season. After months of uncertainty a decision about opening the Mount Sima ski hill has now been made.

At a press conference at noon local time on Tuesday, a group called Friends of Mount Sima delivered the news that it had come up with more than $200,000 through fundraising and advanced sales of season's passes — enough to open the ski resort for a year.

Fundraising efforts

"It is a beautiful day outside and it is a great day for us to be able to announce that Mount Sima will be open this year," Friends of Mount Sima board president Laurie Henderson said. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we could not have done this without significant support from the Whitehorse community."

The board says it is now in a better position than any previous season with over half of the operating budget in place before the hill opens. 

That's a far cry from how things looked only a few short weeks ago, when the city said the ski hill wouldn't open this year because government coffers couldn't afford to cover losses anymore.

The financial difficulties were so bad that the previous board of directors resigned en masse and closed the hill earlier this year.

Once word was out that the ski hill was under threat, Henderson said fundraising efforts went even better than had been hoped.