SAM Magazine-Mountain Creek, N.J., July 19, 2007-Mountain Creek is significantly upgrading its freeriding facilities. It's part of a long-term commitment for the resort, which was one of the first ski areas to commit heavily to the freeride market. The resort's initiative focuses on redeveloping its South and Bear peaks into freeride zones, as w...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, July 18, 2007-Intrawest has named Andy Wirth executive vice president of sales and marketing and chief marketing officer. In his new capacity, Wirth will be responsible for all aspects of Intrawest's global sales and marketing and will assist in developing and communicating the company's vision and strategy, driving market s...

SAM Magazine-Ischgl, Austria, July 18, 2007-Two Austrian resorts are adding lift capacity this summer. Ischgl's lift company, Silvrettaseilbahn AG, is replacing its workhorse six-passenger Fimbabahn gondola with a two-stage eight-passenger model with heated seats. In Kitzbühel, a new eight-seater high-speed chairlift is replacing two fixed-grip ...

SAM Magazine-The Canyons, Ut., July 18, 2007-American Skiing Company (ASC) is selling The Canyons ski area to the Talisker Corporation, a privately-held global real estate development company based in Toronto, Canada, that has significant assets in Park City. Upon completion of the sale, expected to occur by the end of the third quarter, ASC will n...

SAM Magazine-Crystal Mountain, Wash., July 18, 2007-Crystal Mountain is adding a double chair that increases the resort's available terrain by a whopping 77 percent. The chair, a Doppelmayr, will have a 10-minute ride that will access approximately 1,000 acres, bringing the resort's total lift-served terrain to 2,300 acres. The Northway double will...

SAM Magazine-Salida, Colo., July 12, 2007- This winter, Monarch season passholders can ski free or at a discounted rate during the 2007-08 winter season at nine other Western ski areas. The resorts that Monarch has partnered with for this program also offer similar free or discounted rates at Monarch to their passholders. Colorado skiers have lo...

SAM Magazine-Concord, N.H., July 12, 2007-The New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development has hired John DeVivo to be the new general manager for Cannon Mountain Resort and Franconia Notch State Park.DeVivo assumes his new role on Friday, July 13th. DeVivo had previously been vice president of mountain operations at Attitash R...

SAM Magazine-Snowmass, Colo., July 11, 2007-The developers of Snowmass Mountain's new resort village are seeking to make the $2 billion project one of the first developments of its kind to be chosen for the new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Pilot Neighborhood Development certification program. Developer Related WestPac say...

SAM Magazine-San Francisco, Calif., July 11, 2007-The California Ski Industry Association reports that California resorts hosted 6.2 million visits last winter, a drop of more than 20 percent from the 7.8 million skier visits the areas recorded in the 2005-06 season. The state has averaged 7.3 million visits over the past ten years. "The culprit...

SAM Magazine-Crans-Montana, Switz., July 11, 2007-Swiss resort Crans-Montana has embarked on extensive improvements to the mountain's snowmaking system. The resort hopes the upgrades will allow it to provide adequate snow cover with only 70 hours of work when the weather cooperates. The aim is to provide a consistent skiing surface by the Christmas...

SAM Magazine-Carrabassett Valley, Me., July 11, 2007-Sugarloaf will host the 2008 U.S. Alpine Championships, the second time in three years it will host the championships. The resort also hosted the U.S. Alpine Championships in 2006. "Sugarloaf has been a great host for us and has a strong history of outstanding races," U.S. Alpine Director Jess...

SAM Magazine-Buffalo, Wyo., July 11, 2007-Big Horn Mountain Resorts, which had recently offered to sell the Big Horn Mountain Ski Resort, Meadowlark Lake Resort, Deer Haven Resort and the Wilderness Ranch through an auction process, remains the properties' owner. No bids were received for the purchase of all four resorts by a single bidder-Big Horn...

SAM Magazine - Steamboat, Colo., July 8, 2007 - Steamboat has announced that the northern Colorado resort will aggressively market itself to New York skiers and is putting its money where its mouth is by adding additional airplane seats on direct flights from New York to the ski town. The flights, scheduled for Saturdays, will have the potential to...

SAM Magazine - Whitefish, Mt., July 6, 2007 - Whitefish (formerly Big Mountain) CEO and President Fred Jones has announced that he is retiring. Jones, who is expected to be retained by the resort as a consultant, will be replaced by Daniel Graves. Jones leaves the resort during a period of transition for the brand. Last month the ski area change...

SAM Magazine-Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 5, 2007-The International Olympic Committee has chosen the Russian resort of Krasnaya Polyana and the adjacent town of Sochi to host the 2014 Winter Games, beating out Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. "The Winter Olympic Games in Russia for the first time in our history stand as a his...