SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Aug. 9, 2005-SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is launching a pilot education seminar series, "Capitalizing on Today's Business Environment," in September. Workshops will focus on sales, marketing and effective small business practices, with separate tracks for retailers, suppliers, and reps. The seminars will take place...

SAM Magazine--Wrightwood, Calif., July 14, 2005--Mountain High Resort in southern California was bought by Valor Equity Partners and former GM Karl Kapuscinski and key members of his management team. Valor is a Chicago-based private equity investment fund and licensed Small Business Investment Company. Kapuscinski will now become president and CEO ...

SAM Magazine-Pinkham Notch, N.H., July 13, 2005-Wildcat Ski Mountain is for sale. The area, located across the valley from Mt. Washington, has 225 acres of trails on a 2,100 vertical , served by four chairlifts, including a base-to-summit detachable. Wildcat's owner for the past 20 years is Franchi Management, a Boston-based real estate firm he...

SAM Magazine-Sandpoint, Ida., July 11, 2005-The two partners who comprised Harbor Resorts, MIG and Harbor Properties, have dissolved their partnership. As a result, Schweitzer Mountain Resort is now wholly owned by MIG (the estate of Keith McCaw, whose family established a regional cellphone company later bought by AT&T). Stevens Pass, Wash., rever...

SAM Magazine-Big Sky, Mont., June 28, 2005-Big Sky Resort and its new neighbor on Lone Peak, Moonlight Basin, will give visitors next winter the option to purchase tickets and passes allowing unlimited access to both resorts. The resorts shared several trails and a lift in the past. But previously, it was necessary to purchase a ticket or season pa...

SAM Magazine-Jackson Hole, Wyo., June 28, 2005-Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will retire its Aerial Tramway, estimated to have carried over 2 million passengers winter and summer since 1966, in September 2006. A replacement for the lift has not yet been determined. Owners of the resort, the Kemmerer Family, and the mountain's management decided t...

SAM Magazine-South Lake Tahoe, Calif., June 24, 2005-Prodigious and early snowfall helped lift California ski areas to record visits of 8.1 million, far surpassing the previous mark of 7.6 million recorded in the 1997-98 El Nino season, according to the California Ski Industry Association. Among individual areas, Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at...

SAM Magazine--West Dover, Vt., June 17, 2005--The Vermont Ski Areas Association announced its skier/boarder visit numbers for the 2004-05 season, which were 4.4 million. The total makes Vermont the third largest ski/ride state behind Colorado and California. This year's numbers represent a five percent increase over the 2003-04 season, which cam...

SAM Magazine--Tannersville, Pa., June 16, 2005-- Camelback Ski Corporation, located in Pennsylvania's Poconos Mountains, was sold to a local entrepreneur, Arthur B. Berry III. In the acquisition, Berry will take over Camelback's winter operations and its large waterpark, which draws nearly as many visitors in the summer as the ski area does during ...

SAM Magazine--June 16, 2005--American Skiing Company (ASC) and Vail Resorts both announced their third quarter results and the numbers seem to be on the rise. ASC, thanks to good conditions across the board at all of it resorts, saw an increase in resort revenue of $16 million over the same period last year, and an increase in skier visits of 3 ...

SAM Magazine--June 10, 2005--David Rowan, founder of the industry's trade publication Ski Area Management (SAM Magazine) died on Wednesday, June 8, from a rare cancer, mesothelioma. Rowan started his industry career in 1949 when he joined Ski Magazine as editor, interim publisher and ad salesperson. Rowan stayed with Ski until 1961 when the maga...

SAM Magzine-Denver, Colo., June 9, 2005-Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) resorts reported their third best year ever as record numbers of international skiers and snowboarders helped drive visits to 11.81 million, up more than 550,000 from a year ago. International visits grew 28 percent, indicating that the after-effects of 9/11 have disappeared....

SAM Magazine-North Woodstock, N.H., June 9, 2005-New Hampshire resorts posted 2,270,106 alpine skier and snowboarder visits during the 2004-05 season, the state's second-best winter on record, just short of the all-time record of 2,357,000 visits in 2000-01. The season got off to a slow start with erratic weather in early December. But as the wi...

SAM Magazine-Vail, Colo., June 9, 2005-Vail Resorts (VR) saw total revenues grow by 13.5 percent in its fiscal third quarter ended April 30, and resort revenue rise by 10.1 percent. Net income, however, dropped to $58.8 million, compared to $62.5 million for the same period last year, due to a favorable one-time real-estate transaction in 2004. ...

SAM Magazine-Whistler, B.C., June 6, 2005-Whistler Blackcomb closed June 5 after a season of record-breaking highs and lows. Heavy snowfall through the latter half of March and early April delivered exceptional conditions that lasted well into the spring, and set the base for summer glacier skiing and riding. The resort had its share of weather ...