Two new ziplines in the Whitehorse area for 2011
Ziplines, with or without associated features such as “canopy tours” or “adventure parks”, are one of the hot items in the quest for tourist dollars. This year we have 2 new ones within easy driving distance of Whitehorse, bringing the total number to 4.
The 2 new ziplines are the Mammoth Waterfalls & ULTRA Zipline Adventure at Dyea, Alaska (130 miles south of Whitehorse, near Skagway), and an adventure park that’s now under construction at Mount Sima, close to downtown Whitehorse.
The biggest difference in these 2 facilities is “behind the scenes”. The Dyea operation was built by Alaska Adventures, a private company that focuses their marketing on the thousands of cruise ship passengers who arrive in Skagway from early May until late September every year. Mount Sima, on the other hand, is run by a non-profit society that’s heavily funded by Canadian taxpayers. The new adventure park alone has received government funding in the amount of over $1.6 million!
The Alaska Adventures facility is competing primarily with a similar operation along the South Klondike Highway just outside Skagway (it also has rock climbing). The taxpayer-funded one at Mount Sima, though, will be competing with a private operation near Whitehorse that has been in operation for many years (and is one of my long-time Web site clients). Equinox Yukon has their large zipline, as well as a climbing wall, out at Takhini Hot Springs. Their children’s summer camps have been very successful, and I think that it’s highly unfair that they now have to compete with a heavily-funded non-profit. Given the money that’s pumped into Mount Sima annually to keep it open, I think that it’s a safe bet that the required funding will only increase, as there’s no market for a facility such as that. The massive ziplines of the type being built are largely a one-off experience (“been there, done that, got the t-shirt”), and that requires huge drive-by (or sail-by) traffic which Whitehorse simply does not have.
This photo of the location of the new Dyea zipline operation was taken last week – the upper zipline platform is at the upper left corner of the photo.
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