SAM Magazine—Denver, Nov. 13, 2019—Alterra Mountain Company has entered into an agreement to purchase Sugarbush Resort in Vermont, bringing the company’s portfolio up to 15 resorts throughout North America. Summit Ventures NE LLC, owner of the resort since 2001, agreed to sell the majority of its Sugarbush assets to Alterra. Summit Ventures ...

SAM Magazine—Burlington, Vt., Nov. 11, 2019—For many skiers and riders across North America, the long wait is finally over. Dropping temperatures, aggressive snowmaking, and early-season storms have provided the goods, and more ski resorts across the country are opening for business. Colorado led the way, with several resorts opening by Hallow...

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Rangeley, Maine, Nov. 8, 2019—The owners of Saddleback, Maine’s third-largest ski area, have reached a new agreement to sell the mountain to Boston investment company Arctaris Impact Fund. The sale is expected to close in mid-December.  The resort went on the market in 2015, when current owners the Berry family determined t...

• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Nov. 7, 2019—Out of the dozens of talented mountain resort industry up-and-comers who were nominated this fall to participate in the third installment of the SAM Summit Series, 10 have been chosen and are already off and running. The 2019-20 mentees hail from resorts of all sizes located all over the country, and rep...

• Marketing
• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., Nov. 7, 2019—The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) has released its annual Sustainable Slopes report. Nine new resorts joined the NSAA Climate Challenge this past year, raising total participation to 45 resorts. The organization awarded more than $40,000 in grants to support sustainability initiatives. NSAA als...

• Racing
• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Durango, Colo., Nov. 5, 2019—Mountain Capital Partners (MCP) has entered into an agreement to acquire Brian Head Resort in southern Utah. The resort will remain under the current management and control until the acquisition closes.  Brian Head will be the eighth resort in MCP’s portfolio of properties, which includes Nordic...

• Area Management
• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Oct. 30, 2019—October storms have dropped temps and several feet of snow in the Colorado Rockies, allowing resorts across the state to start spinning lifts. In other parts of the country, ski areas are mostly still shut and looking toward November to bring better snowmaking conditions and, hopefully, some of last year’s Snovember...

• Ski School
• Racing

CRANMORE, N.H.Cranmore Mountain Resort, N.H., announced several staffing updates. In resort operations, Tricia Garcia has been promoted to director of base area operations. She brought on Gregg Ludvigson as the resort’s new mountain bike and ski rental shop manager. Linda Dean, former member services supervisor at the rec...

• Marketing
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Oct. 23, 2019—SAM has launched year three of its successful Summit Series. The season-long program, aimed at developing future leaders in the mountain resort industry, creates a public dialogue between respected industry leaders and up-and-coming resort staffers. These important conversations will be shared in the pa...

• Ski School

SAM Magazine—Denver, Oct. 22, 2019—Strong bookings made during the month of September helped boost the overall outlook for the summer season and upcoming winter months, according to the most recent DestiMetrics Market Briefing. Through Sept. 30, aggregated occupancy for the month of September was up a slight 0.8 percent compared to last Septemb...

• Lifts
• Snowmaking

SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 21, 2019—Katharina Schmitz has been named the next president of Doppelmayr USA, Inc., effective March 31, 2020. Schmitz will replace Mark Bee, who retires in March after 30 years in the ropeway industry.Bee will continue to serve on the board of directors for Doppelmayr’s North American entities once he...

• Miscellaneous
• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Portland, Maine, Oct. 18, 2019—Ski Maine executive director Greg Sweetser is retiring in May 2020 after 24 years leading the association that represents 16 alpine and 21 Nordic ski areas in the state. A search is already underway to find a suitable replacement.  Under Sweetser’s direction, Ski Maine has championed a healthy...

• Ski Area Profiles
• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Brooklyn, N.Y., Oct. 16, 2019—The Share Winter Foundation has created new partnerships with Snowsports Industries America (SIA), the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), the Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI), and the National Ski Patrol (NSP) as part of its e...

• Miscellaneous

 SAM Magazine—Burlington, Vt., Oct. 16, 2019—Burton is officially a certified B Corp: a company that meets high standards for sustainability, social responsibility, transparency, and accountability. One of 3,000 B Corporations worldwide, Burton is the first snowboarding company to reach these standards. “Now more than ever, companie...

• Ski Area Profiles
• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Jay Peak, Vt., Oct. 11, 2019—The third annual Mountain Technology Symposium, held Oct. 2-4 at Jay Peak Resort, Vt., drew more than 130 ski industry tech leaders and suppliers to discuss the future of technology in the ski industry. A pre-conference survey highlighted that, according to attendees, the biggest resort challenge and th...