SAM Magazine—Victoria, Australia, Aug. 4, 2020—Vail Resorts (VR) will not reopen lift operations for skiing and snowboarding in 2020 at Falls Creek and Hotham in Australia following the Victorian government’s introduction of Stage 4 restrictions for Melbourne and Stage 3 restrictions for regional Victoria, which will be in place for six weeks...

• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Kelowna, British Columbia, Aug. 3, 2020—The Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA) has submitted a proposal for specific carve-outs in the province’s CAN$1.5 billion recovery plan to support resort communities. Revelstoke, Credit: Hywel Williams The Mountain Resort Community Emergency Funding Program (MRCEFP) asks the pr...

SAM Magazine—Spokane, Wash., July 30, 2020— Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, a 501(c)3 non-profit ski area, has named Jim van Löben Sels as its new general manager, effective Aug. 3. Van Löben Sels succeeds longtime GM Brad McQuarrie, who is retiring after 18 years at the helm.  Van Löben Sels was the general manager at Arbor Cres...

• Rental
• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Aspen, Colo., July 30, 2020—In open letters published this week, Aspen Skiing Company CEO Mike Kaplan and Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz discuss the reality that the pandemic will be ongoing throughout this winter, operational changes are immanent, and everyone must do their part to ensure there can be a safe winter season. Rob Kat...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, July 23, 2020—In response to the ongoing pandemic, the 2020 Snowbound Festivals in Boston and Denver have been cancelled and organizers are working on new ways to digitally connect with the events’ audiences as winter approaches.  Snowsports Industries America (SIA) acquired the Boston and Denver Ski & ...

• Marketing
• Rental

SAM Magazine—Jacksonville, Fla., July 23, 2020—As summer business returns to mountain resorts, road trips, mask wearing, second-home use, and proactive health programs headline the key trends, according to the weekly briefing sheet from the recently formed Insights Collective (IC), a destination travel think tank. Most means of trans...

• Lift Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., July 22, 2020—For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began shutting down mountain destinations, lodging properties at Western mountain destinations are seeing an appreciable uptick in bookings and occupancy for the summer months—although they remain at levels well below previous years, according to the...

• Ski School
• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., July 22, 2020—The Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI) have partnered with the Professional Mountain Bike Instructors Association (PMBIA) to bring year-round educational opportunities to ski, snowboard, and mountain bike instructors. The par...

• Miscellaneous
• Lift Maintenance

Wintersteiger, and its BootDoc and Hotronic division, have prepared detailed suggestions for rental operations and retail bootfitting to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 among staff and customers. Here are links to documents for rental and retail: Best Practices for Rental Best Practices for Retail Want more on rental? Li...

• Ski Area Profiles
• Ski School

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., July 14, 2020—A handful of state and regional trade organizations have cancelled their scheduled in-person conferences and trade shows in response to safety concerns amid the ongoing pandemic. Trade Show floor from SANY/PSAA Expo 2019. The Midwest Ski Areas Association (MSAA) board of directors voted to cancel ...

• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Hotham Heights, Vic., Australia, July 9, 2020—Vail Resorts is suspending operations at Hotham and Falls Creek Ski Resorts in Victoria, Australia, due to a new restrictions related to a recent COVID-19 outbreak. The suspension is effective July 9, 2020 and follows the stay-at-home order for the Melbourne metro area. Reopening will b...

• Ski Area Profiles

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., July 9, 2020—Mountain resorts in North America that are open for summer operations didn’t really know what visitation would be like over the typically busy 4th of July weekend due to limited/modified operations and rising COVID-19 concerns. As it turns out, several areas were pleasantly surprised with how loud the ...

• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Wausau, Wis., July 8, 2020—Granite Peak Ski Resort has hired industry veteran Greg Fisher as its new general manager and marketing director. Fisher will be responsible for the overall operations of Granite Peak, including overseeing mountain operations, skier services, food and beverage, ski school operations, facilities, and resor...

• Rental

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., July 1, 2020—Vail Resorts (VR) took a major step toward its 100 percent renewable electricity goal as a new large-scale wind farm, enabled in part by VR, has come online. VR will purchase 310,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of wind energy annually from the new 82-turbine Plum Creek Wind project, which will address more ...

• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Boulder, Colo., July 1, 2020—Active Interest Media (AIM) has sold SKI, Warren Miller Entertainment, Nastar, and SNEWS to Pocket Outdoor Media (POM). The winter sports-related properties are part of a much larger package of three divisions of AIM—fitness, outdoor, and healthy living—purchased by POM. Both AIM and POM are based i...