SAM Magazine—Taos, N.M., July 14, 2016—Resort industry veteran David Norden has been appointed chief executive officer of Taos Ski Valley and will begin work on July 25. He will oversee all existing Taos Ski Valley resort operations including The Blake, a new slopeside hotel, which is slated to open this winter.

SAM Magazine—Newry, Maine, July 13, 2016—In one of the more unusual lift failures to occur in recent memory, the upper terminal of the Sunday River, Maine, Spruce Peak Triple chairlift “detached” from the ground underneath it.

SAM Magazine—Centennial, Colo., July 11, 2016—Reviving an old concept, the Snöbahn indoor ski and snowboard center in suburban Centennial hopes to entice both new and veteran skiers and snowboarders to its revolving-deck facility. It’s the first of its kind in the Denver area, and it has the backing of some impressive skiing athletes: Bode Miller, Eric Schlopy, and Chris Anthony.

Welcome to this month’s update on happenings about people in the ski industry. Two former colleagues at the Tecnica Group return to the ski biz, inside and outside the Group, and two managers with Vail Resorts ties take on new jobs, inside and outside VR.

SAM Magazine—Northeast Kingdom, Vt., July 8, 2016—There have been several developments and goings on at Jay Peak and Burke Mountain in Vermont since the SEC came to town. Some relate to the SEC’s case against the resorts’ operators for alleged EB-5 fraud, some relate to general operations.

SAM Magazine—Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, July 8, 2016—Ski resorts have been built in war zones (Syria/Israel, Iraq, and Pakistan, for example), or in areas that have become war zones (Bosnia), and some war movies have been filmed at ski areas, but a plan to build a “war themed” ski resort is believed to be a first.

SAM Magazine—Vail, Colo., July 1, 2016 —Vail Mountain unveiled its new Epic Discovery summer mountain experience at a ribbon cutting ceremony June 28. Epic Discovery immerses guests in “learn-through-play” activities that provide big-time thrills, challenge guests physically, and guide them to explore and better understand their natural surroundings. Vail Mountain and Heavenly, Calif., are implementing the concept this summer, and in 2017, Breckenridge will follow.

SAM Magazine—Oliver, B.C., June 30, 2016—Mt. Baldy in British Columbia is about to get new owners, who plan to revive the ski area after several years of financial instability. The area was placed under receivership in 2014 and did not open for the 2015-16 season. The court approved the sale of Mt. Baldy to an investment group led by Vancouver-based lawyer Victor Tsao for $3.4 million, plus $300,000 for one serviced lot—a steal considering the booming real estate market in the province. The property will now do business as Baldy Mountain Resort.

SAM Magazine—Snowshoe, W.Va., June 28, 2016—Snowshoe Mountain and the Snowshoe Foundation have established a disaster relief fund to assist those affected by the devastating flooding in nearby parts of West Virginia. The resort and the foundation have each committed $5,000 to the cause, and are accepting donations through July 8, 2016. All contributions will be donated to the American Red Cross of West Virginia.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, June 24, 2016—Registration for SAM's seventh annual Summer Ops Camp opens today. The camp will take place at Park City Sept., 14-16, 2016, one week later than originally planned. Please make a note of the change! It's the ideal time and place to pursue this year's theme, "play. discover. profit."

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 21, 2016—Following a record-breaking winter, summer bookings at Western destinations are continuing at the same torrid pace. According to DestiMetrics, which compiles data from 290 property management companies in 19 western mountain destination communities, aggregated summer occupancy and reservations are up 10.5 percent and revenues are up a whopping 17.9 percent compared to the same time last year. Numbers are for the six months from May through October, tallied as of May 31.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, June 21, 2016—Powdr Corp has submitted plans to build a 52,000-square-foot indoor action sports center at Gorgoza Park outside of Park City that would be called Woodward Park City. This would be the fifth Woodward location in the U.S.

Welcome to this month’s update on important happenings about prominent people in the ski industry. The July issue of SAM will have a full list of people, awards, and obituaries in the Industry Report department.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., June 10, 2016—Vail Resorts (VR) saw net income rise to $157.6 million in its all-important third quarter, as visits jumped nearly 14 percent for the period. For the season overall, visits were up 18.2 percent from a year ago, to 9.7 million from 8.1 million. The company also reported very strong early season pass sales for 2016-17.

SAM Magazine—Mclean, Va., June 10, 2016—The staff at SnowSports Industries America (SIA) will all soon have skis hanging from the walls of their offices in Park City, Utah—a sight not necessarily seen at its current digs outside of Washington D.C. The decision to move SIA’s headquarters to one of the nation’s premier snow sports hubs came after a unanimous vote by the SIA board of directors in May, and an approval from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development for a post-performance Industrial Assistance Fund grant. The relocation will happen in August.