Mt. Sima’s Superpower
Location does not appear to favor Mt. Sima. Forested slopes roll to a stumpy summit, accessed by a single quad chair with just 1,043 vertical feet of relief. Fifteen minutes from downtown Whitehorse, the capital city of Canada’s Yukon Territory, Sima is convenient to the region’s 42,000 residents. Anchorage, the closest major city, is a 13-hour drive away. Winters are endless and dark at 60-plus degrees north. Yet over the last decade, those same factors have helped turn Mt. Sima into a top North American pre-season training venue.
Skiers in the Yukon banded together in the ’90s to form the Great Northern Skiing Society, with the goal of developing a ski hill near Whitehorse. They chose Mt. Sima over bigger mountains to keep the project manageable, and the one-handle tow lift started spinning in 1993. The hill’s fortunes followed the local economy. Both swelled in 2007 when Whitehorse hosted the Canada Winter Games, which brought in funds to upgrade ski runs, install the resort’s one lift, snowmaking and a new lodge.
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