SAM Magazine-Wellington, N.Z., Feb. 9, 2009-With travelers worldwide staying closer to home, Tourism New Zealand is mounting an early run of TV commercials in Australia to promote New Zealand's ski resorts. The move is aimed at promoting early bookings, and marks the first time that New Zealand has gone into Australia with ski ads this early. The c...

World Snow News--February 6, 2009--Statistics published by tour operators, ski resorts and even airlines continue to reflect increased sales this winter, contrary to mainstream media reports. Figures released by easyJet indicate a 17 percent increase in customer bookings in a bid to escape the UK for destinations across Europe in December 2008, ...

World Snow Resort News--February 6, 2009--Although the snow arrived a few days later in Scotland than the south of England, domestic resorts have received up to two feet of fresh snow over the past 36 hours, which falling on top of an established base has led to extremely good powder and what Nevis Range describes as, "Near alpine conditions." C...

SAM Magazine-Duluth, Minn., Feb. 5, 2009-A move by Duluth to obtain $6 million as part of the economic stimulus package being debated in Congress to improve the city's water supply is drawing fire from privately-held resorts in the region, as the money would pay for a new source of water for city-owned Spirit Mountain's snowmaking system. The new s...

SAM Magazine - Incline Village, NV., February 3, 2009 - The snow is falling and jobs in the ski industry are hot. At least that's the experience of educators at Nevada's Sierra Nevada College. The private, four-year residential college on the shores of Lake Tahoe has seen a huge increase in enrollment in its Ski Business and Resort Management (SBRM...

SAM Magazine--Grand Junction, Colo., February 2, 2009--On January 26, Leitner-Poma of America and Prinoth held the grand opening ceremony for their new 90,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the Grand Junction Regional Airport. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter attended the opening and said a few words to the crowd, praising Leitner Technologies for b...

SAM Magazine - Vail, Colo., January 29, 2009 - A suspect in the 1998 arsons on Vail Mountain has been seen in Canada. Rebecca Rubin, who participated in the fiery eco-terrorism attacks on the Colorado ski area that burned the Two Elk Lodge and other structures including lift shacks and ski patrol rooms, has been seen near Vancouver, British Columbi...

SAM Magazine--January 27, 2009--Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort has entered into a long-term capital partnership with CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on lifestyle properties. Through a sale leaseback agreement, CNL Lifestyle Properties has acquired all of the resort's fixed assets for a total of $27 millio...

SAM Magazine - Denver, Colo., January 23, 2009 - Colorado skier visits dipped slightly says Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA). The industry organization, which represents 22 resorts in Colorado, reports total skier visits down 7.7 percent during the first period of the 2008-2009 ski season, defined as October 15, 2008 through December 31, 2008. How...

SAM Magazine-Boulder, Colo., Jan. 23, 2009-In a report that has long-term implications for western resorts already battling a plague of beetles and beetle-killed trees, a Colorado University scientist says that there is a trend of increasing tree deaths across the west. The deaths encompass a variety of species-not just the lodgepole beetle-killed ...

Denver, Colorado, Jan. 22, 2009-A combination of factors including timely snowfall, discounted lodging, incentive packages, and aggressive marketing campaigns helped destination resort minimize their losses over the holidays, according Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP) data. As a result, "While the results are not as good as previous years, ...

SAM Magazine-Aspen, Colo., Jan. 22, 2009-As this year's ESPN Winter X Games ramp up in Aspen, the Aspen Skiing Company has reached an agreement that will keep the Winter X Games in Aspen/Snowmass through 2012. Winter X has been in Aspen since 2002. Winter X began at Snow Summit Mountain Resort, Calif., in 1997 then moved to Crested Butte, Colo....

SAM Magazine-Crested Butte, Colo., Jan. 22, 2009-The U.S. Geological Survey has made public the agency's Snodgrass report after a lengthy review process by the US Forest Service and provides the basis for Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) to revise its Master Plan. Both CBMR and the US Forest Service conducted in-depth geological hazards inve...

SAM Magazine-Welch, Minn., Jan. 21, 2009-Welch Village is opening its Back Bowl slopes and new quad chairlift to all guests daily beginning Thursday, Jan. 22, until the end of the season in March. The quad is the first installation of a "cookie cutter" design created by Doppelmayr in conjunction with Welch Village specifically for smaller resorts. ...

SAM Magazine-Vienna, Austria, Jan. 21, 2009-The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has criticized Sochi, the 2014 Olympic site, and other Central and Eastern European ski resorts over their development plans, claming they will irreparably damage some of Europe's last pockets of wilderness. In addition, the WWF claims that many of the resorts are unsustainab...