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SAM Taps Whistler Blackcomb to Host 2025 Summer Ops Camp
SAM Magazine—Whistler, British Columbia, March 18, 2025—SAM’s Summer Ops Camp will be held at Whistler Blackcomb, Sept. 2-4, 2025, offering three days of education, networking, and hands-on learning focused on the future of summer operations at mountain resorts. This year’s camp will also feature a partnership with the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA), bringing together a dynamic mix of resort professionals from across North America. Whistler Blackcomb has been at the forefront of year-round recreation development, balancing business innovation with environmental sustainability. With a robust lineup of summer attractions—including the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Peak...
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In SAM’s monthly Snow People, we highlight recent personnel moves that have been made in the mountain resort industry. STEVE BOULANGER, MAINE Sunday River promoted Steve Boulanger to VP of mountain operations. Prior to the promotion, Boulanger served as the ski operations director since 2015, and patrol director before that. He started at S...
SAM Magazine—Denver, March 19, 2019—A winter season that began on a downward trend in the wake of last year’s disappointing snow conditions is now moving toward new records for lodging occupancy and revenue, according to the monthly DestiMetrics Market Briefing from Inntopia. DestiMetrics, part of the Business Intelligence platform for Innto...
SAM Magazine—Lead, S.D., March 19, 2019—A ski resort in the Black Hills of western South Dakota is up for sale. The former Deer Mountain ski area shut down two years ago while going through bankruptcy proceedings. The current owners, the Milan Investment Club, made repairs and upgraded the water system for the 440-acre property, according to t...
by Evan Reece With a bold announcement last week, Vail gifted the ski industry an opportunity to broadly correct lift ticket pricing problems that have been building for many years, and to more quickly leap toward becoming wholly e-commerce/pre-sale businesses. While the announcement of “Epic for Everyone” paints a picture of some legitimatel...
SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, March 14, 2019—Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) resort partners provided more than 150,000 beginner lessons in January, bringing the total to more than one million lessons provided by the initiative since it launched in 2009. As reported earlier, 6,200 of those lessons were provided on Friday, Jan. 11, ...
SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., March 12, 2019—The nomination period for the 2019 SAMMY Leadership Awards closes tomorrow, March 13, 2019. SAM encourages members of the winter sports industry to nominate leaders who they believe deserve to be considered for this recognition, and do it today. Now in its 22ndyear, the SAMMY Leadership ...
SAM Magazine—Portland, Ore., March 8, 2019—A planned season pass product called the Indy Pass is partnering with a growing roster of small-to-medium sized independent ski areas with the goal of offering an alternative pass product to casual skiers and riders. Set to go on sale Sept. 1, 2019 for $199, the Indy Pass has 11 western ski areas signe...
SAM Magazine—West Dover, Vt., March 7, 2019—’Tis the season for season pass sales for 2019-20, and the offers and deals are piling up. Among the latest multi-area companies to unveil their mostly East-facing offers are Peak Resorts and Boyne Resorts. Peak Resorts' Peak Pass, valid at 10+ Eastern, mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern areas, will retu...
SAM Magazine—Denver, March 5, 2019—Alterra Mountain Company’s Ikon Pass and Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass are both offering new products, payment plans, and benefits for the 2019-20 season. Both passes went on sale today. Epic Pass The full 2019-20 Epic Pass is $939, the Epic Local is $699, and the Military Pass options are $129 for active and ...
SAM Magazine—Copper Mountain, Colo., March 5, 2019—Copper Mountain is planning more big capital improvements ahead of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 winter seasons as part of a multi-year, $100 million investment plan by parent company POWDR. Copper will add lift service to the expert high-alpine terrain on Tucker Mountain, construct a new mid-mountai...
SAM Magazine—Denver, March 5, 2019—Alterra Mountain Company will invest $181 million in capital across its 14 North American resorts ahead of the 2019-20 season. This is round two of a multi-year plan totaling $555 million that began before this season, when the company invested $171 million at its resorts. Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory said, “W...
SAM Magazine—Ludlow, Vt., Feb. 25, 2019—Resorts across the country experienced historic snow totals and record-breaking visitation numbers through Presidents’ Day weekend and into the holiday week. A generous snowstorm leading up to the holiday and comfortable temperatures had many resorts in the East up over previous years. In the Midwest, ...
SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Feb. 25, 2019—Vail Resorts (VR) has entered into an agreement to acquire Falls Creek and Hotham ski resorts in Australia from Living and Leisure Australia Group (LLA), a subsidiary of Merlin Entertainments, for AU$174 million (approx. US$124 million). The purchase price is based on a multiple of roughly 10-times ...
SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Feb. 21, 2019—The nomination period for the 2019 SAMMY Leadership Awards is now open. SAM invites members of the winter sports industry to nominate leaders who they believe deserve this recognition, and do it soon—nominations close March 13, 2019.The SAMMY Leadership Awards honor individuals who, at mid-c...
In SAM’s monthly Snow People, we highlight recent personnel moves that have been made in the mountain resort industry. MICHAEL VAN EYCK, The Fairbank GroupMichael Van Eyck has been promoted to the newly created role of chief revenue officer for the Fairbank Group, which owns Bromley, Vt., Jiminy Peak, Mass., and Cranmore, N.H. In his n...
