SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, June 30, 2026—The Idaho Supreme Court has reversed its precedent-breaking December 2023 ruling in Milus v. Sun Valley Co., reinstating a lower court’s summary judgment in favor of Sun Valley Resort in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the widow of a skier who died after colliding with snowmaking equipment. The De...

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 30, 2025—Outside’s second-annual Festival and Summit, May 29–June 1, drew roughly 35,000 visitors to Denver’s Civic Center Park. Attendance was nearly double that of the inaugural event in 2024, a sign the concept has room to grow and could yet become a meaningful way to promote participation in a wide range of ...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Madison, N.H., June 26, 2025—Longtime team member Amanda Buswell has been promoted by the Hoyt family—owners of King Pine Ski Area, Danforth Bay Camping & RV Resort, and Purity Spring Resort, among other businesses—to the role of regional general manager in charge of strategic operations and planning across the portfolio. ...

SAM Magazine—Alta, Wyo., June 26, 2025—The Intermountain Ski Areas Association (ISAA) hosted its annual conference atAward Winners, Paul Etcheverry, Tim Hendrickson, and Bill Cheney. Courtesy of Emma Calder with Thunderbird Enterprise. Grand Targhee Resort, June 9-11, drawing more than 320 participants from ski areas across Idaho, Montana, U...

SAM Magazine—Victoria, Australia, June 24, 2025—Mt. Buller added a new staff member to its ski patrol, 5-month-old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever Chilli, who is poised to pioneer a therapy dog program at the resort. Her handlers are experienced patrollers and married couple Tess Hoinville and Campbell Allen-Craig.  Hoinville was a driver ...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, June 24, 2025—Pacific Group Resorts (PGR) has promoted Zach Marlowe and Mike Manara to serve as general managers of Wintergreen, Va., and Mount Washington, British Columbia, respectively, effective July 1.Zach Marlowe and Mike Manara “These internal promotions reflect our ongoing commitment to cultivating leader...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Taos Ski Valley, N.M., June 20, 2025—Taos Ski Valley named longtime executive John Kelly as its new chief executive officer, with current CEO David Norden transitioning to chairman of the board in a planned leadership succession.John Kelly and David Norden “Since the resort was built 70 years ago by Ernie and Rhoda Blake, it’s...

SAM Magazine—Salem, Ore., June 19, 2025—Safehold Special Risk will no longer insure ski area clients in Oregon due to the state’s legal climate that has resulted in outsized losses over the past decade. The move appears to have, in part, helped advance a bill that would protect outdoor activity providers from legal action for ordinary neglige...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Granby, Colo., June 19, 2025—Indy Pass and Entabeni Systems have hired four senior executives to their C-suite: Alex Lahood as chief operations officer; Olga Grunskaya as chief financial officer; Nick Niebes as chief marketing officer; and Andy Shepard as chief purpose officer, a newly created role. Seth Ogden also joined the team ...

SAM Magazine—Rossland, British Columbia, June 18, 2025—Red Mountain Resort is undergoing a major leadership transition as longtime CEO Howard Katkov and resort president Don Thompson are both stepping down from their roles and, effective July 6, industry veteran Mark Schroetel will become the resort’s new president. Mark Schroetel and Howard...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Wilmington, Vt., June 18, 2025—The Hermitage Club at Haystack Mountain has appointed Joshua DeBottis as its incoming executive director and general manager, effective August 2025. DeBottis will succeed Bill Benneyan, who joined The Hermitage Club in 2020 and oversaw its successful transformation into a member-owned private mountai...

SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., June 17, 2025—Booking reticence for summer vacations persists while bookings by international visitors from Canada, western Europe, and now Mexico, continue to fall, according to the monthly Market Briefing from Inntopia’s DestiMetrics. The booking pace at 17 participating mountain destinations in seven wester...

SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, June 12, 2025—Utah’s 15 alpine ski resorts recorded 6,503,635 skier visits during the 2024–25 winter season. While down 3.6 percent from last season, it’s the third-highest skier-visit total in state history and a 3.3 percent increase over Utah’s five-year average, according to the state’s trade asso...

• Lift Operations News

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., June 12, 2025—The 2025 Ski California Lift Maintenance & Operations Education (LMOE) Conference drew a record 403 attendees to South Lake Tahoe, June 3-5. Under the theme “Back to Basics,” this year’s event aimed to reinforce foundational knowledge while addressing the evolving challenges of oper...

SAM Magazine—North Conway, N.H., June 10, 2025—Nearly 400 snowsports operators and industry suppliers gathered at Cranmore Mountain Resort, June 3–5, for Ski NH’s Annual Conference and Trade Show. Loon Mountain Resort employees Andrew Noyes and Ana Yacoubian (middle) and Ski NH's president, Jessyca Keeler (right). During the event, the trad...