You can almost see the snowboarders and skiers licking their lips when the first snowfall arrives in the territory each fall.

After the first few inches fall to the ground, it's usually only a matter of weeks before the larger snowfalls descend on the Yukon, and usually just a matter of a month or two before the local athletes are able to hit the slopes at Mount Sima.

This year, the anticipation is especially high, despite the fact most of the snow that's fallen in town over the past week has melted and the forecast is for warmer temperatures this weekend.

With a new ski lodge under construction at Sima, and the Canada Winter Games just over four months away, skiers and snowboarders can't wait to get the season started.

For some boarders, there's even an extra bit of incentive, as Snowboard Yukon (SY) gets set for its first full year of competitive action.

The association only became incorporated last March. In previous years, competitive boarders fell under the Alpine Ski and Snowboard Association of Yukon (ASSAY). ASSAY, explained Chris McNutt, the new president of Snowboard Yukon, really had an emphasis on skiing, rather than boarding.

'We decided it was time to become an individual governing body,' said McNutt, in an interview earlier this week.

The move also means the previous snowboarding club, Fresh Tracks, has been dissolved, as local boarders, parents and organizers have decided it's time to get more competitive.

'Fresh Tracks was born with sort of a recreational slant to it,' explained McNutt, who has a son keen on competing in the sport.

'We're trying to make the move to competitive snowboarding ... half-pipe, slopestyle.

'Everyone grows up doing it, but nobody really competes much. We have Arctic Winter Games every couple of years, that's a decent competition. But we're trying to get more in tune with the Canadian world of snowboarding.'

McNutt said SY has been working with the Canadian Snowboard Federation (CSF) on development programs and ideas.

The main focus for the local association right now is definitely the Canada Winter Games, said McNutt. Their first challenge will be getting Team Yukon athletes trained and ready to roll for February of next year, as snowboarding will be a demonstration sport at the Games in Whitehorse.

Yukon had a development team already, which worked together all of last season as well, and they've recruited Level 3 CSF coach Dustin Heise, who was in the territory last spring as part of a snowboarding test event for 2007.

'He's decided to take on Team Yukon as a project this season,' said McNutt. 'He won't be here permanently, but he'll be coming back and forth for various training sessions leading up to the Games.'

Heise will make his first appearance of the season in Whitehorse next week, as the local athletes will take part in a four-day dry-land training session, a lot of which will feature trampoline work at the gymnastics gym in Riverdale.

McNutt said SY is looking for an assistant coach to work with the team at Sima while Heise isn't here, as well as travel with the team Outside over the next few months, as they plan to take part in at least two competitions.

'The Games are going to be a significant level of competition,' stated McNutt. 'We're going to have some great snowboarders here, there's no doubt about it.

'So the idea is to get Yukon athletes riding to the best of their ability.'

The improvements to Mount Sima over the past couple of years, particularly the addition of the half-pipe and the freestyle area, will certainly help them out. Not many hills of the same size in Canada have the equipment Sima does now.

'The half-pipe is huge,' said McNutt. 'It's essential. Last year, the kids could train for Arctic Winter Games, which was huge. Before that, some of them had never been on one before.'

And the difference of having a good training ground certainly showed in Kenai, Alaska, as the Yukon snowboarders took home some serious hardware, including two bronze medals all-around.

'There's some definite talent here,' said McNutt. 'There's kids that can really ride, that's not an issue. It's getting them focused on competitive snowboarding.

'It's more than just going out and riding on the weekend. It's about training, dedication, increasing flexibility. That's what high-performance athletes do.'

Snowboard Yukon will hold it's first general meeting at the end of November, but the season will officially get underway next week, with Heise's first training session Oct. 25, as well as an officials training clinic on Oct. 28. The officials clinic will be a one-day event for beginners.

'(The clinic) is more for post-Canada Games, so we can have more local competitions with trained judges,' explained McNutt.

For more information on the athletes training session with Heise or the officials clinic, visit snowboardyukon.com.