SAM Magazine-Bend, Ore., May 22, 2008-GM Matt Janney and three other executives at Mt. Bachelor have lost their jobs after a disappointing season punctuated by persistent operational problems and customer dissatisfaction with a 30 percent increase in season pass prices over the past two seasons. The changes come less than a year after Janney, a...

SAM Magazine-Denver, May 19, 2008-With snow still falling in the Rocky Mountains and the bean counters working overtime at many resorts after record seasons in both snowfall and skier days, a few areas are keeping the good times alive by reopening or extending their seasons. New York State's Windham Mountain is reopening on Saturday, May 24 to h...

SAM Magazine-Mt. Buller, Australia, May 19, 2008-Australia's first sixpack highlights more than $25 million (AUD) worth of investment across the country as the 2008 ski season is primed for kickoff. The lift, at Mt. Buller, is the first of its kind for the nation. Other investments include a whopping AUD $16.25 million in snowmaking improvements at...

SAM Magazine--Woodbury, Conn., May 16, 2007--SAM Magazine has announced the recipients of the 2008 SAMMY Leadership Awards and the third annual SAM Diversity Award. They are: 1) David Amirault, Interactive Services Manager at Freeskier magazine. Dave, also known as Digi Dave, is a web genius who has been pioneer online for resorts and now freesk...

SAM Magazine - Denver, Co., May 15, 2008 - Colorado Ski Country USA President and CEO Rob Perlman has announced that he will be departing the industry marketing group to take a position at Steamboat Ski Resort. Perlman, who headed up the statewide marketing organization for six years. At Steamboat Perlman will assume the position of vice presid...

SAM Magazine-Portland, Me., May 15, 2008-The state of Maine, along with New Hampshire areas Loon Mountain and Bretton Woods, has joined the chorus of Eastern areas announcing record visits last winter. Maine's ski and snowboard industry tallied 1.42 million visits during the 2007-08 winter season. That beats the previous record of 1.36 million ...

SAM Magazine-Georgetown, Colo., May 15, 2008-Loveland ski resort is taking a look at the Dry Gulch area northeast of the ski area's lift-accessed terrain for a snow cat skiing operation. The Dry Gulch sector is part of the resort's permitted area, and a 1997 USFS master plan for the ski area identifies the area as suitable for guided skiing operati...

SAM Magazine-Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, May 15, 2008-Cardrona Valley has received approval to build New Zealand's first access gondola. The $16.6 million gondola project will transport visitors from the Cardrona Valley floor to the ski facilities on the Pisa Range-Snow Park NZ, Waiorau Snow Farm and a third planned ski area, Roaring Meg Resort. The ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Colo., May 9, 2008-With Maine's Sugarloaf and Colorado's Loveland ceasing operations last weekend, several resorts remain open: Arapahoe Basin, Snowbird, Mammoth, Squaw Valley, Mt. Hood Meadows, Mt. Bachelor, and Brundage (and of course, Timberline, which operates year-round except for a few weeks in September for maintenance a...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., May 9, 2008-The snow sports products market grew by $280 million to reach $2.97 billion for the 2007-08 season, up from approximately $2.69 billion in all channels last season, according to the SIA end-of-season Retail Audit conducted by Leisure Trends Group. Above average snowfall for the season, and an early start in man...

SAM Magazine-Telluride, Colo., May 9, 2008-You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. Colorado's only heli operation didn't get everything it wanted from the Bureau of Land Management, but still received a preliminary nod from the feds for expansion. Telluride Helitrax had asked the BLM for a ten-year permit to serv...

SAM Magazine-Queenstown, N.Z., May 9, 2008-While resorts in North America are winding down their seasons, New Zealand areas are gearing up for opening day next month. Storms are starting to roll into New Zealand's mountains as resorts in the southern hemisphere: both Mt. Hutt and Coronet Peak are reporting more than 10 cm of snow from the first rou...

SAM Magazine-Peru, Vt., May 2, 2008-John Cueman, president of Bromley Mountain, is assuming the position of vice president of real estate planning and ceding the president's post to Richard Wiseman, formerly GM of Camelback Ski Area, Pa. "Bromley's real estate potential is critical to Bromley's future," Cueman said. Cueman started at Bromley in ...

SAM Magazine-Telluride, Colo., May 2, 2008-A Leitner-Poma quad will highlight Telluride's expansion this summer into Revelation Bowl. The quad will access above-treeline terrain on the other side of the ridge from the area's existing Gold Hill terrain. Situated above tree line, the wide-open bowl offers advanced and expert skiing. Constru...

SAM Magazine - Orinda, Ca., May 1, 2008 - A web poll conducted by OnTheSnow.Com, threw up some surprises for those who watch the industry. While the choice of Whistler Blackcomb as the top resort in North America may have been expected (the Canadian ski resort consistently scores high rankings in reader's polls conducted by such stalwarts as Ski an...