Kouvola weighs options for shuttered Mielakka ski centre

Kouvola must decide by the end of the year whether, and how, it will support the Mielakka ski centre, Yle reports. The slopes are set to remain closed for a second winter after the previous operator went bankrupt and a replacement withdrew.

The city has three options, according to city board chair Inka Häkkinen: sell the centre, look for another operator or leave it without financial support. Without city backing, winter operations are unlikely to resume, she said.

Kouvola has provided about 120,000 euros a year to support the centre in recent years. The city’s sports and culture committee decided last week not to seek a new operator, but the matter will also be considered by the city board.

Mielakka, a popular sports centre in Kouvola, was named Finland’s local ski slope of the year in 2021 by the Finnish Ski Area Association. Skiers and snowboarders last used its slopes in the 2024–25 winter. Some have since travelled to slopes in Porvoo or Vihti.

Elina Pasila, who worked as a ski instructor at Mielakka for about 20 years, said its ski schools typically had 500 to 800 students a year. She said users had hoped activity would resume, but the coming season was now on hold again.

Downhill mountain bikers have used the slopes in recent months. The Kymi Anti-Flow club negotiated to open one lift, enabling a volunteer-run season of just under three months, its chair Visa Linnala said.

City board members interviewed by Yle said Mielakka mattered as a sports facility but also pointed to Kouvola’s tight finances. Jukka Rajala, a former international-level alpine skier who represented Finland at the 2006 Turin Olympics and now coaches at Kouvola Ski Club, said the centre needed an entrepreneur with enough money to buy the entire area.