Ep.7 - Sam Oettli of Mt. Sima - How a community ski hill north of 60 became an international training center.

How do you build a financially sustainable ski hill in a small northern market while keeping skiing accessible and affordable for locals? That’s the challenge the team behind Mount Sima in Whitehorse, Yukon has been solving by leaning into what they do best. Today’s guest is Sam Oettli, General Manager of Mount Sima. Sam has been skiing the mountain since day one before stepping into the GM role. In 2013, the society that originally built Mount Sima ran into financial trouble and ultimately folded. A new non-profit group, Friends of Mount Sima, stepped in to take over operations with a renewed vision go answer the question,  how do you make the economics of a small, northern ski hill work? The answer was leaning into what the Yukon does best, cold, early winters. By investing in and positioning the mountain as an early-season training destination, Mount Sima began attracting national and international ski teams looking for reliable snow in November. That strategy brought new revenue to the hill, helped stabilize the nonprofit model, and allowed the organization to reinvest back into the mountain while keeping skiing accessible for locals. In this episode, we talk about rebuilding a ski hill after financial collapse, turning extreme northern conditions into a competitive advantage, and how a small community mountain with just one main lift has become an important training hub for elite athletes. So grab a coffee, put your handwarmers in, and let’s head north of 60 for a conversation with Sam. We pulled 12 actionable insights from this episode. Get them all at www.sellingsnow.com.