A pre-season pilot project for pre-season training for alpine and freestyle skiers and snowboarders will continue at Mount Sima this year.

This week the Yukon Government announced it would give $145,000 in funding to the Friends of Mount Sima Society to continue the pre-season program this year.

Last year the ski hill received $160,000 for the first year of the pre-season training. It proved successful, with 113 athletes making the trip north for pre-season training.

This year that $145K will be used to purchase a new groomer and the remainder will be for making snow.

The snow-making process is an expensive one, said Mount Sima general manger Cindy Chandler, but it’s important to have the base for the visiting and local elite athletes. The artificial snow also provides an ideal base for the natural snow they receive later in the season.

This year Sima is aiming to have three areas open for early-season training: the terrain park and two alpine runs – up from one last year.

“Last year’s pre-season training was a fantastic opportunity for provincial and national-level athletes from across the country,” said Snowboard Yukon head coach Mary Binsted. “However warm temperatures hindered snowmaking capacity and the freestyle terrain park was limited to the large jumpline.”

This year Snowboard Yukon applied for a Community Development Fund grant to add dirt to that jump line. With that work done, it means Sima won’t have to make the jumps entirely out of snow, and can instead cover the dirt jumps with snow, using fewer resources.

Chandler estimates it will cost around $180,000 to get those sections of the hill ready. Sima will start snow-making mid-October until the beginning of November. Weather allowing, they will make the snow-making effort a 24/7 operation.

As of press time, 160 athletes had booked with Mount Sima for pre-season training and the inquiries were still pouring in. Teams are expected from Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec. A team from Nova Scotia has also expressed interest.

Among those 160 will be a downhill skiing team of about 40 athletes and six to seven coaches from Panorama, B.C.

This will be Panorama’s second year doing their pre-season training in Whitehorse. Since a group of those athletes are the same age and calibre as the Yukon alpine athletes, coach Yves Titley said his local team can train directly with them.

“They see better skiers and they can look at different techniques,” said Titley. His athletes will also get to train with world-class Panorama coach Mark Sharp.

A team from Mont Blanc, Que. will also be trying out their pre-season training at Sima. Titley said word of mouth is helping spread Sima as a pre-season destination.

Some of the hills down south are getting early snow, but aren’t open for pre-season. The ones that are, are often booked up by a lot of teams, limiting the amount of time athletes get on the snow.

Here, he expects his team will get at least four hours a day on the snow.

By December the skiers will all be at their own training centres.

“It gives us a little bit of an advantage to be early on snow," he said.

The pre-season also benefits the public. In addition to bringing in tourism dollars to Whitehorse, “by offering pre-season we make snow earlier and can open the hill earlier to the public,” said Titley.

The cooperation between the three Yukon sport bodies has been integral to the success of pre-season training,” said Chandler.

On Nov. 26 and 27, Sima will host a Freestyle Ski Canada Cup, the first race on the roster this season.

The tentative public opening date for Mount Sima is Dec. 2.