January 2017

Industry Reports

New Ownership at Magic Mountain... Mount Snow EB-5 funds Released at Last... People... Supplier News... Awards... Obituaries

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NEW OWNERSHIP AT MAGIC MOUNTAIN

Vermont’s Magic Mountain has begun a new chapter. Ski Magic LLC, a locally based ownership and operating group, acquired the classic New England ski area in late November, and plans to make immediate improvements. Beginning this season with a collection of new snow guns, over the next several years more than $2 million will be invested in additional snowmaking efficiency and expansion, lift upgrades, a new lower-mountain lift, and a better learn-to-ski environment to help attract families.

MOUNT SNOW EB-5 FUNDS RELEASED AT LAST

On Dec. 13, the USCIS approved the first I-526 petition submitted by an investor in Mount Snow’s EB-5 offering, releasing $52 million of investor funds that have been sitting in escrow for more than two years, which is an unusually long time for the process to be completed. The offering includes excavation of a 120-million-gallon snowmaking water reservoir—which is already complete—and related infrastructure, as well as a new 36,000-square-foot base lodge at the resort’s Carinthia area. The snowmaking project is scheduled to be complete by the 2017-18 season, and the lodge should be ready by the 2018-19 season.

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PEOPLE

In Vermont, Barry Pius is now president and COO of Stowe Mountain Resort, following the retirement of Robert McEleney. … BJ Donohue was promoted to director of sales at Okemo.


Elsewhere, Matthew Thomas has been named general manager of Roundtop, Pa. … Snow Time Inc. has hired Chrisanne Bowden as corporate director of human resources. Longtime Liberty Mountain GM Eric Flynn will transition to Snow Time’s vice president and COO.


In the Midwest, Bobbie Rathjens joined Boyne Highlands Resort as director of marketing.


Out West, Vail Resorts named Chris Jarnot executive vice president of its mountain division. Doug Lovell succeeds Jarnot as COO of Vail Mountain, and Beth Howard is now COO at Beaver Creek. … Doug Allen will be retiring from Steamboat at the end of the 2016-17 season. … Zach Pickett is now communications coordinator at Crested Butte, Colo.


Chris Lampe is now director of human resources at Deer Valley. … Laura Schaffer joined Powdr as head of sustainability. … Bogus Basin welcomed two new members to its board of directors, Michael Bourgeau and Ross Borden.


In California, Tom Feiten was promoted to VP of marketing and business development at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows. … Dave Rathbun is the new chief marketing officer at Sugar Bowl Resort. … Nadia Guerriero is now vice president and GM of Northstar.

SUPPLIER NEWS

Patagonia named Cory Bayers vice president of marketing and Ryan Shadrin vice president of global direct to consumer. … Jake Anderson of Mountain Wire Rope Service completed his MRT certification to become the youngest MRT technician in the country. … Jeff Mechura joined the team at Elan as director of brand development. … Matt Gold joined Christy Sports as chief executive officer.


Inntopia recently acquired Ryan Solutions and welcomed Corey Ryan as chief commercial officer, Ben Zeeb as senior vice president of product development, Gregg Blanchard as director of marketing, and Amy Josef as director of strategic account management. Additionally, Inntopia welcomed Keren Meital Kinner as senior scrum master/agile coach, Todd Hoffman as senior account manager, Johnathan Little as lead developer on the software development team, and Anthony Converse as director of IT. Melissa Jordan has been promoted to e-learning specialist, and Pascale Savard to full-time marketing manager.

AWARDS

The North American Snowsports Journalists Association recognized SAM contributor Moira McCarthy with the 2017 Mitch Kaplan Award for Excellence in Snowsports Coverage. NASJA’s annual Harold Hirsch award winners include: Wendy Clinch for the blog category; Marty Basch was recognized in the columns category; Iseult Devlin won in the feature category; and Dan Egan won in the video category. … Peter Graves was honored with the FIS Journalist Award.


Bill Stritzler, owner and managing director of Smugglers’ Notch, Vt., was selected as Citizen of the Year by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. … Waterville Valley, N.H., snowsports director Peter Weber received the Einar Aas Award for Excellence in Snowsports School Management from PSIA/AASI. …The California Ski Industry Association presented the inaugural Bob Roberts Award of Excellence to John Wagnon.


NSAA president Michael Berry is among ten members of the snowsports community who will be inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in April. Joining him are resort visionary Chuck Lewis, big mountain skiers John and Dan Egan, ski jumper and coach Jeff Hastings, snowboarder Shaun Palmer, freestyle athlete, instructor, and author Ellen Post Foster, freestyle skier Marion Post Caldwell, ski patroller and historian Gretchen Rous Besser, and organizer and ski show producer Bernie Weichsel, who will also be honored with the YES Lifetime Achievement Award.


The Laurentian Ski Museum in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, inducted five new members into its Hall of Fame: Jasey-Jay Anderson, Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder; John Fry, ski journalist; Roger McCarthy, alpine builder; Doug Pfeiffer, ski journalist and builder; Gerard Siegmann, alpine builder.

OBITUARIES

Richard “Dick” Kun, industry leader and former chairman and chief operating officer of Snow Summit, Calif., died Nov. 27 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. … Walter Fisher, owner of Nub’s Nob, Ohio, died on Dec. 11. … Joe Nowak, a member of the U.S. Ski Jumping Hall of Fame, died Oct. 27 at the age of 88. … Longtime Ski Racing senior editor Hank McKee died Nov. 5. … Ski writer and columnist Ted Heck died on Nov. 11 at age 94.

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