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SAM Taps Whistler Blackcomb to Host 2025 Summer Ops Camp
SAM Magazine—Whistler, British Columbia, March 18, 2025—SAM’s Summer Ops Camp will be held at Whistler Blackcomb, Sept. 2-4, 2025, offering three days of education, networking, and hands-on learning focused on the future of summer operations at mountain resorts. This year’s camp will also feature a partnership with the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA), bringing together a dynamic mix of resort professionals from across North America. Whistler Blackcomb has been at the forefront of year-round recreation development, balancing business innovation with environmental sustainability. With a robust lineup of summer attractions—including the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Peak...
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SAM Magazine—Denver, April 10, 2017—Aspen Skiing Company and KSL Capital Partners have formed a new entity and entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Intrawest in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.
SAM Magazine—Kansas City, Mo., April 6, 2017—Och-Ziff Real Estate, EPR Properties, and CNL have completed the sale of CNL’s ski area and attractions portfolios. The deal leaves Ski Resort Holdings LLC, owned by funds affiliated with OZRE, with 14 former CNL ski resort properties. EPR, the REIT that has funded Peak Resorts, adds Northstar California resort to its portfolio, along with 15 of CNL’s water and amusement parks, and five smaller family entertainment centers.
SAM Magazine—Killington, Vt., April 4, 2017—[UPDATED] Killington has entered into a two-year agreement with USSA to get a FIS World Cup event back to the resort over Thanksgiving weekend in 2017 and 2018. The spot on the race schedule has not been firmed up by FIS yet, but the resort hopes FIS will confirm it as a stop on the calendar at the federation's meeting in May. This comes after a tremendously successful initial foray in 2016, when the event drew an estimated 30,000 spectators.
Welcome to the March edition of Snow People, where we highlight happenings to prominent ski industry and supplier personnel.
SAM Magazine—Auburn, Maine, March 30, 2017—Kässbohrer ATV, Inc., the North American Division of German parent company Kässbohrer AG and distributor of PistenBully snow grooming equipment, has chosen Lost Valley ski area in Auburn, Maine, as the site of the company’s future regional headquarters, which will include construction of a new facility.
SAM Magazine—Granby, Quebec, March 28, 2017—Industry veteran Charles Blier has been named Prinoth’s vice president of sales, snow grooming North America. He will start in this new role April 3.
SAM Magazine—Copper Mountain, Colo., March 28, 2017—Several improvements for both winter and summer are on the docket at Copper Mountain in Colorado. The resort plans to install a new high-speed quad chairlift and RFID gates at the lifts in time for the 2017-18 winter season. New warm-season activities include an alpine coaster, obstacle course, and a mountain biking trail.
SAM Magazine—Cheyenne, Wyo., March 22, 2017—Wyoming has become the 29th state to adopt ski safety legislation after Gov. Matt Mead signed the Wyoming Ski Safety Act into law earlier this month. According to an NSAA report, the bill defines inherent risks involved with skiing and snowboarding, immunizes ski areas from claims resulting from these risks, and places operational requirements on ski areas to improve mountain safety.
SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., March 22, 2017—Today, the Forest Service will host an ADA webinar for ski area and agency personnel from 2 to 3 p.m. EST. The subject of the webinar is Accessibility for Resorts and Areas with Four Season Uses.
SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., March 21, 2017—At the end of the day on Friday, March 31, Winter Park Resort president and CEO Gary DeFrange will retire from the post he’s held since 1997. Intrawest COO Sky Foulkes will succeed DeFrange as president.
SAM Magazine—Aspen, Colo., March 21, 2017—FIS should be thrilled with Aspen after the resort hosted a tremendously successful World Cup finals event that drew huge crowds, had excellent TV ratings, and garnered compliments from competitors, right? Not according to FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis.
SAM Magazine—Denver, March 20, 2017— The list of accessible ski areas on the M.A.X. Pass continues to get longer, with six new properties hopping on-board for 2017-18, including Windham, Belleayre, Gore, and Whiteface in New York, Lutsen in Minnesota, and Granite Peak in Wisconsin. That brings the grand total up to 44 ski areas in roughly 22 states and provinces that M.A.X. Pass-holders will have access to next season, with five unrestricted days at each.
SAM Magazine—Denver, March 20, 2017—With less than a month remaining in the winter 2016-17 booking season, overall aggregated occupancy for 19 western mountain resorts remains essentially flat, up 0.3 percent as of Feb. 28, compared to the same time last year. In contrast, overall aggregated revenue is up 7.3 percent for the same time period, according to a report by DestiMetrics. The data also revealed that 90 percent of all of last season’s business has already been booked or “banked” for this season.
SAM Magazine—Denver, March 20, 2017—Visits to Colorado Ski Country USA’s 22 member ski areas were up 1 percent during the second period of the 2016-17 season, which runs from Jan. 1, 2017 through Feb. 28, 2017, compared to the same period last year.
SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., March 13, 2017—Vail Resorts fiscal 2017 second quarter results for the period ending Jan. 31 show growth in just about every category compared to the same period last year, with Whistler Blackcomb driving much of the increase. The slow start to the winter season in Colorado dragged the results a bit for the rest of the company.
