SAM Coverage
Linda Goodspeed
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Staffing Up in a Pandemic
With unemployment higher than it has been in years, locals and college breakers are showing up to staff the front lines. Surprisingly—or maybe not,…
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Resorts Going Retro, Futuristic
Resort visitors will find a combination of old-time, bare-bones facilities and new-age online reservation systems this winter. Plan ahead, pack a lunch, and rev…
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Learning from Summer Ops
Resorts experienced some pleasant surprises from their summer activities and gained insights into winter ops. As ski resorts around the country slowly reopened for…
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Early Pass Sales Fall Flat
In response to the abrupt end to the 2019-20 season, and uncertainty about the economy and the 2020-21 season, skiers and riders held off…
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Sudden End Sinks the Season
A look back at a promising season that fell victim to the coronavirus shutdown. The coronavirus pandemic brought what had been shaping up as…
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Year-Round Passes
Winter guests are buying into summer in the mountains. Once upon a time, Camelback, Pa., included a free ski lift ticket, and a…
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Making a Pass
Independents feast while the big guys battle. Season passes have become like chocolate pie in my family lore. While my dad and his older…
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Life After LSSM
Without the Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month initiative to drive awareness, resorts are taking new approaches to promoting entry into winter sports. After…
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Finding Staff
A tight labor market is forcing resorts to rethink and expand their staff recruitment efforts. With the nation’s unemployment rate hovering below 4…
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A Peak, Even Epic, Year to Remember
The best snow in years and the explosion of multi-area passes push visits to new highs. Multi-area passes collided with massive snow in the…
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Snowmaking Upgrades Make a Difference
More-efficient systems are transforming the on-snow experience across the continent. Brendan Ryan, VP of projects for Peak Resorts, has spent the last three years…
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Season Pass Partners
Do multi-area passes benefit everyone? Epic and Ikon partners weigh in. Now that the season pass courtship is over and partners chosen, it’s time…
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Pass Sales Keep Rising
Despite Epic and Ikon, pass sales are growing at many smaller and independent resorts. With the entrance of the Ikon and the presence of…
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Urgent Aims: Growth, Diversity
Forget the pass wars for the moment. What is being done to actually grow winter sports? Growing and diversifying the sport are the industry’s…
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North America’s Pass Time
Even with two Goliaths in the game, early-season pass sales went gangbusters for most. Never has there been a better time to be…
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Better Late Than Never
March snow helped offset a slow start to the season for many resorts, but didn’t erase the early deficit. Forget the lion. March was…
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Riding the Olympic Wave?
Despite an expected spike in visibility and interest from the Winter Games, resorts weren’t planning extraordinary measures to channel that awareness into trial. The…
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Pass Sales on the Rise
One day, season pass sales will plateau, or even fall. But this is not that day. All across the country, early season pass sales…