• Lift Maintenance
• Legal

SAM Magazine—Manchester, N.H., Aug. 27, 2018—The Fairbank Group labor audit and subsequent recent publicity appear to indicate a heightened focus on child labor laws. That’s noteworthy, as it coincides with historically tight labor markets nationwide and uncertainty over the status of J-1 and H-2b foreign worker visas in the Trump administrat...

• Snowmaking
• Lift Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Durango, Colo., Aug. 23, 2018—The southwest region’s only mountain coaster is making its debut this Saturday, Aug. 25, at Purgatory Resort, Colo. The Inferno Mountain Coaster, built by Aquatic Development Group, is located in the base area and will be a summer and winter attraction at the resort. The Inferno is 4,000 feet long w...

• Lift Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Aug. 22, 2018—Following the departure of Gail Barille, the National Ability Center’s (NAC) chief executive officer for the last eight years, former NAC chief operating officer Kevin Stickelman has been appointed by the board of directors as interim CEO. Stickelman joined NAC two years ago as its first COO. Prior...

• Snowmaking
• Ski School

SAM Magazine—Denver, Aug. 22, 2018—As of July 31, the midpoint of the summer season for western mountain destinations, occupancy growth is slowing slightly, but overall metrics continue to edge upward toward a seventh consecutive record summer, according to Inntopia’s monthly DestiMetrics Market Briefing. The Market Briefing aggregates lodgi...

• Ski School
• Lift Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 21, 2018—How much access to foreign workers will U.S. resorts have under the J-1 and H-2b programs this winter? According to NSAA’s monthly Capital Watch, hiring conditions could be favorable. Both houses of Congress are preparing legislation that would protect current levels of foreign workers or even expan...

• Ski School

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Aug. 21, 2018—Registration for SAM’s ninth annual Summer Ops Camp—a series of seminars, on-hill workshops, demos, and networking events that explore the current state of mountain resort summer operations—closes Saturday, Aug. 25. A few spots are still available for Camp, Sept. 4-6 at Aspen Snowmass, Colo. Here...

• Ski School

This is the August edition of Snow People, where we highlight happenings to prominent people in the mountain resort industry. Sunday River, Maine Sunday River has made a variety of staff changes, elevating several members of its team to new positions. Jim Largess was promoted to executive director of the Sunday River Community Fund. Largess join...

• Lifts
• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Aug. 17, 2018—Deer Valley’s longtime leader and current president and chief operating officer Bob Wheaton will be transitioning into a senior strategic advisory role with the resort’s owner, Alterra Mountain Company. Hospitality Bob Wheatonindustry veteran Todd Shallan will be Wheaton’s successor, working alo...

• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Aug. 17, 2018—Vail Resorts this week closed on its acquisition of Stevens Pass Resort in Washington from Ski Resort Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Oz Real Estate. The final purchase price, after adjustments for certain agreed-upon terms, was $64 million. The 2018-19 Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Epic Australia Pas...

• Marketing
• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Iron Mountain, Mich., Aug. 15, 2018—An anonymous buyer recently purchased Pine Mountain Ski & Golf Resort in Iron Mountain, Mich., and has already begun making improvements to the year-round resort while business operations continue uninterrupted. The same anonymous buyer also purchased the nearby Four Seasons Resort, a hotel a...

• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Olympic Valley, Calif., Aug. 15, 2018—Ron Cohen is now officially president and chief operating officer of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows after four months of serving in the position in an interim capacity. Cohen succeeds Andy Wirth, who vacated Ron Cohen, president and COO of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows. Photo: Ben Arnstthe position ...

• Marketing
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—La Conner, Wash., Aug. 13, 2018—The Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association (PNSAA) has hired Jordan Elliott to succeed John Gifford as the association’s president. Elliott will begin transitioning into the new role in mid-October, and officially take the seat on Jan. 1, 2019, after Gifford retires on the last of the year. Giffor...

• Lifts
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Jeffersonville, Vt., Aug. 10, 2018—Resorts are investing bigtime in their summer operations. It seems to be paying off: Despite wildfires and wet weekends, summer business levels across North America seem to be steady. Many resorts have reported slight growth, and those who are off target are only shy by a small percentage. In both...

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Denver, August 7, 2018—Longtime finance industry executive Tim Donahue has been appointed as Alterra Mountain Company’s new chief financial officer and executive vice president. Donahue spent the last 19 years at JPMorgan Chase & Co., most recently serving as head of the company’s Leveraged Finance Capital Markets Group, he...

• Lifts
• Legal

SAM Magazine—Vail, Colo., July 30, 2018—Vail has become the first U.S. destination and the first mountain resort in the world to achieve certification as a "sustainable destination" by Sustainable Travel International. Certification efforts took more than five years, and required work and involvement by the resort, the town of Vail, and the U.S...