Greg Meredith handed out nearly 200 half-day passes to Mount Sima on Christmas Eve, but he's still waiting for the weather to co-operate so skiers can use them.

"It's getting pretty frustrating," the hill's area manager said in an interview today.

"But there's no way anyone would want to be on the mountain when it's this cold."

So far, Whitehorse's ski hill has only been open for one day this year, Christmas Eve.

Otherwise, it's just been too cold to open. And a lousy bit of luck on the day Sima was open has left Meredith fielding a lot of questions about a broken chair lift.

"It's not broken, it's in perfect condition," he said when asked about the lift, which stopped working at around 2 p.m. on Dec. 24.

"We blew a breaker and when it went, it shut down the chair lift and the rope tow."

The breaker, he said, was on one of Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd.'s major power poles. The company was quick to respond, but the chair lift didn't come back on with the power.

"All it was was a reset switch that needed to be flicked (on the chair lift)," Meredith said, "but we didn't locate it until the next morning. By that time, it was too cold again."

Almost 200 skiers and boarders waited around in hopes the lift would open again, he said.

Although they could still use the diesel-run T-bar, they were all given free passes to make up for the lost chair lift.

"When we only run the rope tow and T-bar, we only charge for half the day," Meredith added. "We don't want to gouge anyone."

Meredith said he doesn't expect the hill to open this weekend, as the forecast is calling for continuing chilly weather.

The facility was only able to operate for a few days last January before closing for the season due to financial and equipment problems.

The City of Whitehorse and Yukon government subsequently gave the Great North Ski Society, the hill's operator, significant grants to help it open this winter.