Wapiti Valley Ski Park creates $100,000 fundraising campaign

A brochure is being circulated and the GoFundMe was created to bring donations that would aid in reopening the gates for the Ski and Board resort in December 2021. The goal of the campaign is $100,000. The Wapiti Valley Regional Park chose the campaign route since in-person fundraisers are very difficult to plan during the uncertain times the province remains to be in.

“The early closure of last year and not opening at all in 2020, we haven’t really had a good operating year for the last two years,” Wiebe said. “We want our facility up and running again in the fall and maintain this service for the community.”

The ski-hill has been in operation for the past 36 years and was started by volunteers and donations.

There have been a few government programs that the board has been able to tap into, but Wiebe said that just helps to cover expenses until operations can begin again.

“We have December to March basically, so you have four months in which you are operating so you have to make your money in four months,” Wiebe said. “Some of those days are going to be cold too so it’s not even four months.”

The weekends and holidays within the four-month period is when revenue really comes in at resort. Wiebe noted that the extremely cold weekends in the winter of 2019, specifically in February and March which are typically the busiest months, also cut into revenue.

“You can weather one season like that but then having another where you are forced to shut down in the latter part of the season when you are really making your money, it’s tough,” Wiebe said. “Snow had been made, expenses were paid, and staff was all trained and it looked to be a good year.”

In the fall of 2020, the board made the decision to not open because there was still so much uncertainty.

“Funds were not exactly too lavish at that time and it would not be good to take the risk to open with reduced numbers,” Wiebe said. “The operation would have been possible under limited circumstances subject due to COVID restrictions, and we couldn’t see how we would break even.”

A large portion of clientele at the ski hill are school groups which would most likely not have been able to visit for annual ski trips so that also played a role in the decision not to open, Wiebe said.

The board is now putting their focus and efforts into the fall of 2021, which requires significant funds to make opening happen.

“Ordinarily, we would have that money but the last couple of years we just haven’t been able to make that amount of money that we have enough put away to start for the following season,” Wiebe said.

Donations are being accepted on the GoFundMe or through etransfer to wapitivalley@sasktel.net or cheque made out to Wapiti Valley Regional Park. Donations of $50 or more can receive an income tax receipt.

“I hope that people will consider helping Wapiti through a contribution, it would be greatly appreciated,” Wiebe said.

The two biggest factors in opening is the snow making, equipment service and maintenance which is done on an ongoing basis and the purchase of insurance.

“Those are things that just have to be done before we can have people coming through the door,” Wiebe said.

The Wapiti Ski Hill typically hosts 25,000 skiers per year.

Wiebe said the loss of jobs was another unfortunate part of the closures, having anywhere from 40 to 60 people employed on a busy weekend in the winter. Students and part-time staff serve as lift operators, ski instructors, kitchen workers, registration and pro-shop attendants.

“We have money to keep the bills paid in the fall and we are not in a bankrupt state, but we don’t have the money to make the considerable investment that is required to open,” Wiebe said. “Any funds that we do raise through donations will be going toward reopening this fall.”

The Wapiti Regional Park board which operates the ski hill also has 10 non-electrical campsites on their south campground with a boat launch and marina and an additional 17 non-electrical sites on north side that are leased from Saskatchewan Parks.

The sites are non-electrical due to flooding issues over the years.

“We replaced the wiring to have power on the south side once, but you can’t keep doing that every couple of years and risk having another flood,” Wiebe said. “There is the potential that they could be an ice jam and when it happens you get flooding in the marina.”

The north side camp sites were all taken as seasonal sites last year.

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angie.rolheiser@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser

by Angie Rolheiser

Wapiti Valley Ski Park creates $100,000 fundraising campaign

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