Mt. Waterman reopens
Mt. Waterman, Southern California’s oldest ski resort, reopened in mid-February after a five-year layoff. A group of investors, led by Rick Metcalf, took over the mountain 18 months ago and started to work on bringing the three doubles and facilities up to code. With no snowmaking, the resort relies on natural snowfall. Mother Nature didn’t disappoint this year, with about eight feet of snow on the hill, which reaches up over 8,000 feet and has a 1,000-foot vertical. The area’s facility, the Warming Hut, did not have L.A. County Health certification at presstime, but a caterer was brought in to fulfill the food available clause of the Forest Service permit, and the area opened on President’s Day Weekend.


Retail sales up
August to December snowsports sales reached $1.9 billion, reversing a seven percent drop for the August to October period. Preliminary figures showed a year-to-date 13 percent increase through December, according to SnowSports Industries America (SIA), which released the sales figures.

Thanks to great December snow, specialty store sales jumped 17 percent in units and 15 percent in dollars from December 2006 to December 2007. Internet sales surged 47 percent ahead of December 2006.

Twintips remain a hot category, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Equally interesting: women’s twintips accounted for 42 percent of sales at specialty shops, and 64 percent of online twintip sales.


Yellowstone Club to be sold
The members-only Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Mont., is reportedly being sold to Crossharbor Capital, a company run by a long-time member of the resort. Current owner Tim Blixseth cites the demise of his 25-year marriage to Edra Blixseth as the reason for the sale.

The terms of sale are to be between $400 and $600 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Should negotiations go as planned, the deal would close over the next couple of months.


A-Basin UNveiLS terrain expansion
Arapaho Basin nearly doubled in size with the opening of Montezuma Bowl on January 11. The expansion increased the ski area’s terrain by 80 percent, with an additional 400 acres. The expansion is the largest in the nation for the 2007-2008 season.


Grand Targhee expands
Grand Targhee, Wyo., got final approval for a real-estate buildout. Grand Targhee was able to rezone 120 acres at its base from “rural” to “resort,” allowing the area to go from 96 units to 450 units. Still, the area needs to develop a land-use plan before construction can begin.


People
Fran Mullin is the new executive director of WinterKids.

Jay Scambio has been named terrain park development manager of Maine resorts, Sunday River and Sugarloaf and New Hampshire’s Loon Mountain.

Charles Blier is the new GM and executive VP at Camelback, Pa. . . .Also in Pennsylvania, Iwan Fuchs became snowsports director and Bob Kuban took on the role of technical director at Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

Welch Village Resort, Minn., announced several promotions. First, Perry Eisert moves up to VP of operations. Next, Chris Walch is the new CFO. Peter Zotalis was promoted to manager of ski and board services and Stephanie Prink is now manager of communications, group sales and human resources.

In Colorado, the top positions at Vail Resorts have shifted. First, the president of the company’s mountain division and COO of Vail, Bill Jensen, departed to become CEO of Intrawest. Jensen starts that position in June 2008. Moving in to take over his responsibilities are John Garnsey and Blaise Carrig. The two were promoted to executive VPs of the Mountain Division, with Garnsey overseeing Beaver Creek and Vail and Carrig overseeing Heavenly, Breckenridge and Keystone. Taking over the COO position at Vail is Chris Jarnot. Also, at Vail Resorts, Dave November adds Breckenridge to his current role as environmental coordinator at Keystone.

At Grand Targhee, Wyo., David Hudacsko will assume PR duties and take on the newly-formed position of strategic alliance manager.

Mt. Hood Meadows, Ore., named a new GM, Tom Spangler, who moves over from Jackson Hole.

Howard Pickett is the new chief marketing officer at Mammoth, Calif.

At Intrawest, Mara Pagotto is the new chief people officer.


Supplier News
In 2000, Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners evaluated the potential of the Caucasus Mountains for the Federal Government of Russia and prepared the Master Plan for the Rosa Khutor Mountain Resort. These two projects are now under construction. In 2005, Ecosign assisted the Head of the Federal Sport Agency and the Russian Olympic Committee in the evaluation of the potential of Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana to host the Olympics. Ecosign’s study and concept for the snow-based Olympic venues led to the nomination of Sochi/Krasnaya Polyana to host the Olympic Winter Games in 2014, which was subsequently selected to be the host city in 2014.

SkyTrans Mfg., a New Hampshire-based company specializing in aerial tramway design, manufacture and service, announced the addition of Walt Read to the team as manager of field services.

Prinoth LLC reached an agreement with ESPN to be the preferred supplier of grooming equipment for the Winter X Games XII, which took place in Aspen early this year. Also at Prinoth, Tony Roberts was promoted to assistant regional sales manager for the New England region.

EDAW’s global design, planning and environmental practice announced that Chris Dunn has joined the Denver office as director of mountain resort planning and design.

Congratulations to Ericksen and Associates for 30 years in the business. In that time, the Ericksen team has completed over 1,400 ski-related projects in 26 states and four foreign countries.

At RTP, LLC, Nathan Sutterer is the new CFO and Michael McDermott is senior VP of sales, marketing and product management.

Wells Fargo Insurance Services, Inc., has acquired the third largest provider of ski resort insurance, The Richardson Group. The acquisition closed in early December. The agency will continue to serve its clients from its Dover, N.H., office.