SAM Magazine - Vail, Co., November 15, 2007 - It's hot! Too hot, actually. In a mirror image of last year's slow start for Eastern ski resorts, Rocky Mountain ski areas are struggling to make snow and open on time. While both Loveland and Arapahoe Basin opened in October, November has been unseasonably warm. Some resorts have been able to make due....

SAM Magazine-Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 12, 2007-Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR), is giving big air a big kiss-off. "All man-made snow jumps will be eliminated from RCR terrain parks this season," Matt Mosteller, senior director of business development for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, has announced. The six-area company cited its core valu...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Mountain, Calif., Nov. 9, 2007-More ski resorts are announcing openings by the day, if not the hour. In the Midwest, Ski Brule started winter operations Nov. 7. Another notable addition to the up-and-running club is Mammoth Mountain, which fired up the lifts on Nov. 8 and offers skiers one run with an 8- to 14-inch base of man-...

SAM Magazine-North Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 7, 2007-Grouse Mountain is launching a groundbreaking-or at least snow-moving-program called Build Your Own Park. This gives passholders and park locals the opportunity to design the parks through a series of season-long surveys. Riders will vote on what features should be built next and provide feedback on ...

SAM Magazine-Driggs, Id., Nov. 7, 2007-Grand Targhee Resort has purchased new employee housing just north of town here, in the Buffalo Valley Condominiums. The 16 three-bedroom, two-bath units are fully furnished and contain a washer/dryer and central vac system. Monthly rents start at $300 per employee and include Wi-Fi Internet service. Both sin...

SAM Magazine-Breckenridge, Colo., Nov. 7, 200 -Skiers will have plenty to celebrate this weekend as the ski season kicks off in earnest, with resorts opening across North America. In Colorado, Arapahoe, Loveland and Copper Mountain have already been hosting skiers and snowboarders for the past few weeks, with Arapahoe Basin leading the early season...

SAM Magazine-Windham, N.Y., Nov. 6, 2007-A mere eight miles apart, Hunter Mountain and Windham are offering visitors an inexpensive way to sample the disparate vibe of both with a single ticket package. The resorts are offering guests The Winter Card ($119), which gives skiers two days of skiing and riding at Hunter and two days at Windham. The dea...

SAM Magazine-Keystone, Colo., Nov. 2, 2007-Keystone's 2007-2008 season started today at 9 a.m., a week earlier than planned, thanks to more than two feet of natural snow and efficient snowmaking. Terrain park. Photo by Leisa Gibson.  The mountain is operating from the River Run Village base area for the intermediate run of Spring Dipper, ...

SAM Magazine-Canmore, Alberta, Nov. 1, 2007-Colorado-based East West Partners and Morgan Stanley Real Estate have acquired Three Sisters Mountain Village, a 1,800-acre partially completed Canadian Rockies resort community near Banff, adjacent to the historic mining town of Canmore (site of Nordic events at the 1988 Olympics). East West Partners wil...

SAM Magazine-Sunday River, Me., Oct. 31, 2007-What a difference a year makes. Unlike last fall, when snowmaking across the East was stymied by unseasonably warm temperatures, this year seems to be on track. At Sunday River, where consistently cold nights have allowed the mountain to pump out the white stuff, the area is open for one day, making it ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 30, 2007-Snowsports Industries America is moving its annual trade show to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver in 2010, ending more than three decades in Las Vegas. For SIA, the new location offers more space and a closer connection with the mountains-not to mention the higher visibility that comes with being one of t...

SAM Magazine-Bethel, Maine, Oct. 29, 2007-Sunday River and Sugarloaf, Maine, and Bretton Woods and Attitash, N.H., are among the handful of Eastern areas that began snowmaking operations last night. Low temperatures and humidity created good conditions for making snow. Temperatures bottomed out at 15° F. at the summit of Sunday River, while 18 h...

SAM Magazine - Telluride, Colo., October 29, 2007 - Dave Riley, Telluride's new CEO, is creating controversy in this southern Colorado ski town. Riley has raised eyebrows with his contention that the operators of the Mountain Village to Town gondola do not deserve a raise, as they are already getting paid too much. While the town of Telluride...

SAM Magazine-Green Valley Lake, Calif., Oct. 29, 2007-Trinity Mountain Resort was burned last week by the Slide fire. No lives were lost, but ten percent of the homes in Green Valley Lake were destroyed, and the one and only chairlift at Trinity was also burned. The damage could have been worse. The area had recently remodeled the base lo...

SAM Magazine-Red Lodge, Mont., Oct. 26, 2007-An affiliate of JMA Ventures, LLC has purchased Red Lodge Mountain Resort. JMA has, in the past eighteen months, also bought Homewood and Alpine Meadows, Calif. JMA is a San Francisco-based real estate investment company.     "We're very excited to be involved with Red Lodge Mountain Resort,...