In the winter, the new building primarily serves skiers, and in the summer, among other things, downhill cyclists and swimmers. You may already be ready for the ski holiday season.
A new main building is currently being built for the Simpsiö cross-country skiing center.
The over 1,000-square-meter building rising on the lower slope houses, among other things, a ticket office, a rental office and a restaurant with no fewer than 300 seats.
Roof elements have been installed in the building this week.
In winter, the new building primarily serves skiers, and in summer, among other things, downhill cyclists and swimmers.
– The restaurant has shared space, so it can be considered smaller when it’s quieter. On weekends, skiing holidays and Easter, the restaurant offers a sufficient setting even during rush hours.
The construction of Simpsiö’s new center will cost almost two million euros in total. Lapua city council has guaranteed a loan for the project.
– It’s a big investment, because the turnover is not that huge now. Let’s hope that the income will increase when the conditions improve decisively.
Services for the downhill
According to CEO Turja, the essential thing is that the services are now finally at the bottom.
– That’s where customers, visitors and parents transporting their children arrive at the bottom of the slope. It has been a big problem that there haven’t been proper services down there. Now the building is right on the parade ground. In the restaurant you can eat, sip coffee and watch Turja paint while the view of the slopes opens up from the window.
A ski trail is also coming to the lower slope.
– It’s been asked a lot, because many people throw their children skiing and go skiing themselves. In the future, you can get to the track with the same stop, when you don’t have to drive to the track separately.
At least in the season that is still starting, the restaurant Taivaanpankko on the upper slope will be open well into spring.
– No decisions have yet been made about the future of Taivaanbanko. It is in high demand for rental use. Now renting to private individuals has been challenging in winter, when there have been sales to skiers.
Simpsiö attracts customers from a wide range of nearby areas. There are always visitors, especially from the coast.
– Even in new services, we invest in bilingualism, it has been a lifeline for us for a long time.
A golf course for the Simpsons?
Lapua has plenty of plans and dreams for Simpsiö. The new main building enables dreams to come true.
Even now, the four-wheel and two-wheel lift lines have been renovated to be even more user-friendly. Next summer’s big goal is to start downhill and mountain biking at full capacity in the area.
– Probably the first thing that will be implemented after these investments is, as it were, the children’s world. It would be on the training slope side. There would be different activities for the very youngest.
For the summer, there are plans to add a variety of experiential activities, such as cable cars and nature trails.
– On the other hand, there has been a message from the private side that when the new infrastructure is ready, they would start planning a nine-hole golf course for Simpsiö, Turja reveals.
Simpsiö has been dreaming of a golf course for more than a decade.
– Then the working group considered it, but in the end the project was not implemented. The golf course is in no way concretely progressing yet, but the general plan will certainly take into account where the courses could possibly go.
Turja emphasizes that the city will not implement the golf course itself, but that it requires the activity of a private operator.
– The city will certainly play a part in making the project possible, if it ends up being that way.
The city is currently preparing a master plan.
– At the same time, perhaps the station zoning around Simpsiö’s center will already be started. Cottage plots and other things are also going to be planned on the lower slope side.
The area is trying to increase the user base in a variety of ways.
– At the moment, this is clearly a day skiing center. Turja knows that if Simpsiö wants more long-term guests, then the accommodation capacity must definitely be increased.