It truly was a busy Saturday for snow lovers. Mt. Sima opened their preseason terrain park to the public on the bunny hill, which saw skiers and snowboarders alike enjoying the rails and boxes.

Park builder Tyler Nichol says since everything is focused on the park it gives it a really cool vibe.

“The cool thing with this park is it kind of has that skate park feel,” said Nichol. “Everybody is here. People riding the handle-tow are watching and cheering for you when you land a trick. Everyone can see it and has a really good community feel. Where the upper park on the mountain no one can really see it. It’s got a really good vibe to it and that’s why I think it’s so special. There is so much attention on it.”

Sima will soon be welcoming freestyle athletes from across Canada to begin training at the park. Nichol says the bunny hill is where it all started.

“Four years ago we built this preseason park for the public, then we got recognized as a place that can make snow early. The next season preseason training for athletes started,” says Nichol. “The athletes show up on the 14th (November). This rail park on the bunny hill is for preseason training, and then later on they will use the big air and the triple line for jump features. This is nice because it’s super simple and they can lap it really quickly and spend as much time as possible on snow.”

Nichol said the snowmaker’s kicked-butt making snow this year, so he was able to make two lines of five down the hill.

The features he can put into the park depends on the amount of snow he has.

Mt. Sima will officially open to the public on the 30th. The preseason terrain park will then be moved elsewhere on the mountain.