Helsinki closes the ski resort of Kiviko

The city of Helsinki will close the popular ski hall in the Kiviko district after this season.

– The decision is not only influenced by increased energy costs. We have been thinking about it for several years, says the sports director of the city of Helsinki Tarja Loikkanen.

He estimates that the popularity of skiing in Kivikko remained small.

– The number of users is seasonally 3,000–4,000 people and the number of visitors is 16,000–20,000. Making and transporting snow costs money, so this is one service where you simply have to save.

Among avid skiers in the capital region, the solution has been enthusiastically received.

– This is a death blow to the skiing hobby. With climate change, winters will become warmer and the proportion of natural snow will decrease. Of course, Helsinki has invested in Paloheinä’s cannon snow production, but Kiviko’s hall has been a bomb-proof destination throughout the season, exclaims the fitness skier from Helsinki Jarmo Kuusisto.

Sports director Loikkanen says that he has not received any contact from skiing fans.

– I believe that people will understand this rational solution due to the energy crisis. You have to save somewhere, he states.

– We make every effort to maintain swimming pools, ice rinks and artificial ice rinks, which have a total of up to millions of customers during the year. We think it is best to take savings from there, which affects as small a customer group as possible, the sports director continues.

Crashed into town

Kiviko’s ski resort, completed in 2009, was originally a privately owned Ylläs hall, but it fell into the hands of the city of Helsinki in the 2010s. Heavy snow winters affected weak business.

– It is unlikely that the city would have started a ski hall operation otherwise, Loikkanen states.

How does Helsinki plan to maintain the city’s main ski resort Paloheinä’s cannon snow slopes in the 2022–23 season?

– Generally, the tracks have been built since the beginning of winter. We hope that the price of energy is not so expensive that they could not be done now. The starting point is that a basic service is produced, Loikkanen answers.

He says that cannon snow production has a weather reserve.

– If there are long periods of frost, then tracks are made. We have to look at the situation in a different way if the average daily temperature is too warm for snowfall.

There are other activities in Kivikko’s hall than skiing, but no new use has yet been planned for the ski space, which will remain empty after next February.

– It has to be used somehow. It doesn’t make sense to keep the space empty.

The problem at Kivikko’s ski hall has been the melting snow. After the first couple of hours of the day, the platform has become too soft. The poor conditions partly explain the small number of visitors.

Bad business

Just like Helsinki, Jämijärvi’s ski tube is owned by the municipality. In the beginning, private investors were also involved in the business, but currently Jämijärvi municipality owns 100 percent of Jämin Hiihtotunneli Oy. Chairman of the board of the company Antero Karppinen says that operations will continue normally for at least this season.

– Let’s see what the costs will be. We’re trying to make use of cheap electricity from the exchange. Even last night, stock exchange electricity was in the red, says Karppinen.

The financial situation of the ski tube located in Satakunta has been challenging.

– It has been calculated that a loss of 25,000 euros can be made, so a disaster will not happen yet.

In the three previous accounting periods, the turnover has been 77,000–119,000 euros and the profit has been 14,000–52,000 euros in loss.

– Really, this is not a business, but our purpose is to maintain the institution. The municipality’s starting point is that if one tourism asset is lost, it will have a big ripple effect, says Karppinen.

– If Huusholli were to go bankrupt, there would be 60,000 euros in lost income every year for the next ten years. It’s better to maintain with a loss of, say, 25,000 euros, he continues.

Difficult everywhere

The Vuokatti ski pipe is part of the Vuokatti sports college, so the almost year-round skiing opportunity will continue in the future. That is one of the tasks of the college.

Vuokatti Sport’s financial director Jukka Hartonen estimated a year ago for Iltalehti that in the 2020–21 season Vuokatti’s ski tube and first snow slope caused a loss of 4–5 euros per use. There were almost 25,000 customers.

Paimio’s ski pipe went bankrupt in 2011, but the operation has continued under the ownership of Finnfoam, a construction industry company from Salola.

The ski resort built in an underground rock cave at Leppävirta is part of Sport & Spa Hotel Vesileppi. In the most recent fiscal year, the company made a profit of around 400,000 euros with a turnover of 3.3 million.

Uusikaupunki’s Vahterusring is owned by Vakka-Suomen Kuntoputki Oy. In addition to skiing, the company also offers other sports services.

– Our situation is quite good. We have split ownership like a golf company. When all events are included, we have 20,000–25,000 visitors per year, executive director Jarno Ihala tells.

The fiscal year ending in 2021 produced a profit of 8,000 euros with a turnover of 380,000 euros.

“Kaputs without a tube”

Winters with little snow are increasing, but at the same time artificial snow production and storage are developing.

It is worth considering whether ski tubes will become the same desolate landmarks as abandoned ski jumping towers.

– It must be honestly admitted that the pipes were children of their own era – they are not far-fetched. The other side is that when the snow runs out in the south, how much people miss cross-country skiing, Karppinen comments.

– With hard work, Jämijärvi’s ski tubing operation will continue, if it continues, he adds.

The pipeline is very important for Uusellekaupunki, located in the very corner of Finland.

– This is the enabler of many great skiing stories, because natural snow is such a rare treat here. Although this is not the easiest business in the world, without a tube, the skiing hobby in these regions would be completely dead, Ihala states.