ALPINE MEADOWS AND SQUAW VALLEY COMBINE... TWO N.Y. AREAS SOLD... WISP FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY... PRIVATE CLUBS OPEN AND CLOSE... OBITUARIES... PEOPLE... SUPPLIER NEWS ALPINE MEADOWS AND SQUAW VALLEY COMBINE Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, Calif., agreed to combine operations under common ownership and offer season passes and lift tickets that will allow guests to enjoy skiing and riding on both mountains. Andy Wirth, president and CEO of Squaw, will take the helm as the president and CEO of the new combined entity of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. TWO N.Y. AREAS SOLD Peek’n Peak Ski Area was bought out of bankruptcy at an auction in late August for $11.3 million by local developer Nick Scott. Titus Mountain was purchased by Brian, Bruce and Christopher Monette from the estate of the late owner, Paul Augustine. WISP FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY The owners of Wisp Ski Resort, Md., DC Development LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. Wisp’s parent company was struggling to refinance a $28.5-million loan used to fund the development of a golf community that floundered in the current economy. Private clubs open and close The Haystack ski area in Vermont was purchased by local business owner Jim Barnes, who hopes to revive it as a private club. Barnes plans on building out and selling real estate, operating the golf course and ski area, and selling memberships, which will go for $25,000. Meanwhile, Spanish Peaks, Mont., a private ski and golf community on Lone Peak, closed its doors and laid off its staff on October 10. The 5,700-acre resort cited the troubled real estate market and substantial operating losses for its closure. OBITUARIES Max Dercum, who helped create Arapahoe Basin and Keystone in Colorado, died in late September just two days shy of his 99th birthday. Lynn Newcomb Jr., who managed and owned Mt. Waterman Ski Resort in California, died at the age of 91. PEOPLE Ben Rifkin was promoted to publisher of Ski, Skiing and Skiing Business. At Shawnee Peak, Maine, Rachael Wilkinson will head up marketing. Stacey Lopes is now the marketing manager at Ragged Mountain, N.H. . . Loon announced that Tim Wolfgram is the new snowsports director. At Jiminy Peak, Mass., Amy Conway is a new conference sales manager. Hidden Valley, Pa., added Rachel Powel as sales manager and Leslea Eckhardt as HR manager. Mark Lentini is the new GM at Mount Bohemia, Mich. In Wisconsin, Highlands of Olympia will open with new management: Casey Bingham and Brent Milke. In Colorado, Ethan Mueller was named VP/GM of Crested Butte. . .Darren Cole is the new GM at Powderhorn Resort. . .Lucy Kay was appointed strategy and business development consultant for Winter Park. . .At Copper, Martin Gray is the new competition manager. . .Telluride hired Jake Linzinmeir for its F&B department. . At Vail Mountain, George Bigley and Paul Wade became GM and executive chef, respectively, for the resort’s new Mid-Vail restaurant, The 10th. In California, Mountain High promoted Ben Smith to VP of resort operations and Robert Chacon to mountain operations manager. Bert Cook was hired as the new rentals manager and Todd Proffitt joins the marketing team. . .At Squaw Valley, Michael DeGroff is the new VP of resort services and Todd Kelly is the new ski and snowboard team program director. . .At Diamond Peak, Brad Wilson is the new GM. At the Summit-at-Snoqualmie, Wash., Kyle Muench is the new manager of accounting and Joe Muench will manage parks and special events. At Eaglecrest, Alaska, Matt Lillard is the new GM. Whistler Blackcomb has a new executive chef in Wolfgang Sterr. SUPPLIER NEWS TechnoAlpin announced the addition of Jay Collins to its snowmaking team. Collins can be reached at jaycollins@technoalpin.us. Trask-Decrow Machinery (TDM) moved to a new facility that the company built and renovated for better service and customer support. The new address is 52 US Route #1, Scarborough, Maine. Superior Tramway Co. moved its engineering office and part of its fabrication shop into a new building. In addition, Russ Stone, PE, has joined the engineering staff and can be reached at rstone@superiortramway.com. Jena Coffey joined the business office staff and Guthrie Boleneus is in parts. Liftopia raised $1.3 million in funding, led by First Round Capital, along with Chris Sacca, Dave Morin, Erik Blachford and Sam Shank. The funding will allow Liftopia to spend more time and resources improving technology, analytics, distribution and marketing tools. Snow Park Technologies (SPT) will be working with Squaw Valley, Calif., to improve all facets of the resort’s terrain park program.
