• Lifts
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Conway, N.H., June 7, 2019—Ski New Hampshire hosted its annual conference and trade show in Meredith, N.H., June 4-5. At the conference, Ski NH president Jessyca Keeler reported that total visits—including alpine, cross country, and tubing—for winter 2018-19 were an estimated 2.3 million, up more than 100,000 over last year, or...

• Resort Development
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, June 7, 2019—Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. (PGRI) has joined the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) Climate Challenge. The voluntary program has been helping ski areas inventory, target, reduce and report greenhouse emissions since 2012. “The health of the environment is something I have been sensitive to for a...

• Miscellaneous
• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

By Dave ZookThe California mountain resort industry gathered in Squaw Valley for the Lift Maintenance and Operations Education Conference (LMOE) for the second year running on June 4-6, 2019. The underlying theme of the content-rich conference was working together to create a safer, better industry. Topic areas were addressed through three days of ...

• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 6, 2019—Total skier visits to the 23 member ski resorts of Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) increased 13 percent over last year, finishing nearly 12 percent above the state’s five-year average. The numbers reflect the current makeup of the association, adjusted for the departure of Crested Butte Mountain Resort in 2...

• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Sun Peaks, B.C., June 5, 2019— Sun Peaks Resort and SilverStar Mountain Resort have partnered in a season passholder reciprocal program that benefits both winter and summer passholders. The resorts are located about two hours apart in interior British Columbia. Through the new program, winter alpine season passholders from each de...

• Lifts
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Bromont, Quebec, June 5, 2019—Preliminary results for the 2018-19 winter season show the 75 member resorts of the Quebec Ski Areas Association (ASSQ) saw 6.4 million total skier visits, up 4.6 percent year over year. It’s also a 10-year high for visits in Quebec, beating the 2010-2019 average of 5.97 million visits by 7.2 percent...

• Snowmaking

SAM Magazine— Oliver, B.C., May 30, 2019—Baldy Mountain Resort is the latest ski area to join the Enhanced Reciprocal Agreement (ERA), an alliance in southern British Columbia that gives passholders access to four other independent ski areas in the region: Apex Mountain Resort, Manning Park, Mt. Seymour, and Mt. Washington. ERA offers passhold...

• Marketing
• Lifts

In SAM’s monthly Snow People, we highlight recent personnel moves that have been made in the mountain resort industry. MIKE FERGUSON, ALTERRA MOUNTAIN COMPANYAlterra Mountain Company named Mike Ferguson as chief human resources officer. Ferguson will lead the development and implementation of attracting and retaining talent. His responsibil...

• Snowmaking
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Ludlow, Vt., May 23, 2019—The summer season at winter resorts is about to begin: Memorial Day Weekend openings abound. But Mother Nature seems to have missed the memo. May has seen unexpected snowfall across the country, particularly in the West, with recent dumps measuring in feet. As a result, several resorts are slated to open f...

• Marketing
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—May 23, 2019, Washington D.C.—A coalition of outdoor businesses and associations converged on Washington D.C. this week to advocate for climate legislation that will help protect the outdoor recreation economy.May 22 was the Lawmaker Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) on carbon pricing. And the Outdoor Business Climate Partnership (...

• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Burlington, Vt., May 22, 2019—The U.S. attorney’s office in Vermont is levying federal criminal charges against four of the people allegedly involved in defrauding foreign investors as part of the EB-5 program, which funded significant infrastructure developments at both Jay Peak and Burke Mountain in Vermont. Those indicted incl...

• Lifts
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, May 21, 2019—Utah ski resorts recorded 5,125,441 skier visits during the 2018-19 season, breaking the previous record of 4.58 million set in 2016-17 by 12 percent. Visits were up 24 percent over last season. Consistent snowfall was a major contributor to the busy winter—every ski resort in the state recorde...

• Lifts

  SAM Magazine—Denver, May 21, 2019—Snow brings people, and this winter’s abundant snowfall resulted in a new all-time aggregated record for occupancy, rate, and revenue among participating destination mountain resorts in six western states. For the full winter—November through April—actual occupancy was up 5.6 percent compared to t...

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., May 15, 2019—According to a report in the latest NSAA Capitol Watch, recently released 2017 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) data show “skiing facilities” have the third highest incidence rate of non-fatal occupational injuries among all industries in the U.S. The 2017 rate of 10.1 injuries...

• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Wildwood, Mo., May 10, 2019—Consolidated initial sales for Peak Resorts 2019-20 season pass products increased 20.8 percent on a unit basis and 19.8 percent on a dollar basis over the prior year through the springtime sales window, inclusive of Snow Time (Liberty, Roundtop, and Whitetail in Pennsylvania) pass sales in both periods....