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March 2009

Industry Reports :: March 2009

CNL BUYS JIMINY... SNOW SPORTS SALES DOWN... ENVIRONMENTAL BOOK RELEASED... X GAMES STAYS AT ASPEN... OBITUARIES... PEOPLE... SUPPLIER NEWS

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CNL Buys jiminy
Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort has entered into a long-term capital partnership with CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc.

Through a sale leaseback agreement, CNL Lifestyle Properties has acquired all of the resort’s fixed assets for a total of $27 million and signed a 40-year operating lease with Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, LLC, owned by Brian Fairbank, Tyler Fairbank and Joseph O’Donnell.


Snow Sports Sales down
According to the second SIA retail audit, the snow sports market saw a 1.5 percent decrease in dollars, to $1.875, billion from August to December 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. Hardest hit was Alpine equipment with sales of skis down 17 percent. Snowboards, boots and bindings fell 5 percent from 2007 and cross country sales dropped 2 percent.

Apparel sales were down four percent over the same period last year, but accessories increased by four percent.


environmental book released
Auden Schendler, the Aspen Skiing Co.'s executive director for community and environmental responsibility, released a book about going green, “Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution.” He relates the pitfalls Aspen endured in translating theory into practice, as well as the resort’s successes and makes a case for why the journey to sustainability is ultimately worth it for corporate America.


X Games Stays at Aspen
The Aspen Skiing Co. has reached an agreement that will keep the Winter X Games in Aspen/Snowmass through 2012. Winter X has been in Aspen since 2002.

Winter X began at Snow Summit Mountain Resort, Calif., in 1997, then moved to Crested Butte, Colo., for 1998-99 and to Mount Snow, Vt., for 2000-01.


Obituaries
Brian Mahon, GM at Eldora, Colo., was tragically murdered on the job by an employee. Brian worked at Eldora for the past 17 years and leaves behind a wife and two daughters. Donations in memory of Brian can be made to the Brian Mahon Memorial Fund, c/o Mutual of Omaha Bank, P.O. Box 69, 26 South Highway 119, Nederland, Colo., 80466.

Kay Bryan, 85, died in late January. Bryan, along with her husband, opened Fun Valley Ski Area in Iowa.

Donald Brady Larson died in early February from complications of ALS. Larson worked as a project engineer at Poma of America and then opened his own business, Ropeway Technical Services.


People
Terry Harron heads back to Cascade Mountain, Wisc., as mountain manager.

Joe Micheletto has retired from Vail Resorts as the company’s chairman of the board. Also at Vail, Adam Sutner was named director of marketing for Vail Mountain and Caragh McLaughlin is the new director of marketing for Beaver Creek. . .At Aspen Skiing Company, Kevin Hagerty was promoted to mountain manager of Buttermilk.

Paige Lund was named VP of lodging at The Canyons, Utah.

At Diamond Peak, Nev., Jay Abdo was appointed sales manager.

In California, Alpine Meadows named Brad Barth as sales manager. . . Jon Mahanna is the new director of mountain ops at Bear Valley.


Supplier News
The Leitner Technologies Group has acquired Camoplast Track Machine Group, which will be integrated into Prinoth. With this transaction, Prinoth will manage production and sales of all utility and municipal vehicles, as well as the existing Alpine business.

PistenBully has opened a new outlet for sales, parts and service to serve the Pacific Northwest. The 6,000-square-foot facility is located in a suburb of Portland, Ore., and Colin Hayes is the new operations manager.

Wells Fargo Insurance Services Resort and Recreation Division is now Wells Fargo Special Risks, Inc. Sports and Recreation. The change puts all programs related to the ski and recreation industry under one umbrella, which will allow the organization to use the carriers and reinsurers of these programs more effectively and to achieve greater economies of scale and increased stability.

Resort Technology Partners, LLC (RTP), and SkiData announced that SkiData acquired 25 percent ownership in RTP.

Wiegand Sports reports that the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines will install a mountain coaster at its Haiti port of call.

OnTheSnow.com announced that Nielsen/NetRatings reported that the website captured 53.6 percent of the snow sports portal market by logging 1,592,879 million unique visitors in January 2009. This is up from 49.6 percent during the same period last year.