SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Jan. 25, 2017—Registration is now open for 15th anniversary of the spring session of Cutter's Camp, May 16-20, 2017, at Timberline, Mt. Hood, Ore. The weeklong spring program for terrain park professionals features on-hill and classroom workshops, including the return of one-on-one customized operator coaching and the Park Challenge workshop.

SAM Magazine—Squaw Valley, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017—Joe Zuiches, a 42-year-old resident of Olympic Valley and a member of the Squaw Valley professional ski patrol since 2012, was killed in an incident at 8:35 a.m. this morning during avalanche control activities. The cause of the incident, which occurred at the top of Gold Coast Ridge at Squaw Valley, is believed to be the detonation of an explosive charge, the resort said in a statement this afternoon.

SAM Magazine—Plattsburgh, N.Y., Jan. 23, 2017—Gov. Andrew Cuomo is committing $28 million for capital enhancements at two of New York’s state-owned facilities—Whiteface and Gore Mountain. Both ski areas are located in the Adirondacks, and Cuomo said the goal is to attract more tourists to the areas so they can rival ski resorts in nearby Vermont and Canada.

SAM Magazine—Granby, Colo., Jan. 20, 2017—Preliminary investigation into the death of Texas mom Kelly Huber in a chairlift accident at Ski Granby Ranch Dec. 29 now suggests that the likely cause was an independent contractor’s modification to the lift’s electrical drive/control system, according to a statement released by the resort.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 20, 2017—Considering how long it took the ski season to get rolling in Colorado, it’s not surprising that total skier visits for the period Oct. 21 through Dec. 31 are down year-over-year at Colorado Ski Country USA’s 22 member resorts. The fact that they’re only down by single digits compared to last year, and actually up 3 percent over the five-year average, is a testament to how good things have been of late.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 19, 2017—With the Christmas holiday season and the month of December now officially in the books, many western mountain lodging properties have much to cheer about, according to the most recent data released by DestiMetrics. As of December 31, while actual occupancy for the month of December was up a scant 0.6 percent compared to last December, revenues jumped 13.2 percent.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Jan. 16, 2017—Before the snow started piling up this month at its properties in western North America, the ski season got off to a slow start for Vail Resorts’ destination areas in Colorado, Utah, California, and British Columbia. According to an interim period report from VR, skier visits were down more than 13 percent since the beginning of the season through Jan. 8, 2017, compared to the same period ending Jan. 10, 2016.

SAM Magazine—Incline Village, Nev., Jan. 13, 2017—After serving as Diamond Peak’s interim general manager during the 2015-16 season, Mike Bandelin had the “interim” removed from his title in October, and now serves as the resort’s full-on GM.

SAM Magazine—Tahoe, Calif., Jan. 11, 2017—Is it possible to have too much snow? Ask anyone in the Sierras or Colorado right now, and they’ll say yes. A storm of rare strength, moisture content, and duration has been dumping feet of snow on many areas in the West, causing major roads and resorts to close until they can dig out and manage severe avalanche danger.

SAM Magazine—Granby, Colo., Jan. 10, 2017—The investigation into the fatal chairlift accident at Ski Granby Ranch Dec. 29 has “identified issues within the chairlift’s electrical drive/control system that contributed to a rare dynamic event that occurred on the lift at the time of the incident,” according to a report from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board. In addition, the report said that the chair in which a Texas mom and her two daughters were riding struck a lift tower a third of the way up the mountain before the three fell 25 feet to the ground.

SAM Magazine—Killington, Vt., Jan. 9, 2017—A longtime Killington lift mechanic died after he reportedly fell 13 feet from the catwalk while working on Killington’s Skyeship gondola at its North Brook terminal on Saturday.

SAM Magazine—Truckee, Calif., Jan. 5, 2017—Mountain resorts continue to make progress combating the ongoing housing crisis, with Northstar California the most recent to step up. The resort will participate in the newly emerging Truckee North Tahoe Regional Housing Council, kicking in $30,000 to its Housing Solutions Fund. The money will be used to prioritize opportunities, support resident assistance programs, and leverage capital funding.

Welcome to Snow People. This time, our monthly roundup of happenings to prominent people in the mountain resort industry is a combo of December and early January.

SAM Magazine—Riviera Maya, Mexico, Jan. 5, 2017—Powdr plans to open its newest Woodward center in October 2017 at a location nowhere near the snowy slopes—Riviera Maya, Mexico. The new facility will operate as part of the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.

SAM Magazine—Durango, Colo., Jan. 5, 2017—Purgatory Resort has appointed Colin McBeath as its new general manager, taking over for interim GM and company CFO Mark Seiter. McBeath brings more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, most recently as general manager of the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa in Alaska. His first day on the job will be Jan. 10.