• Lifts

SAM Magazine—District of Columbia, March 21, 2018—Resort partners in the 10th annual Learn to Ski and Snowboard (Month)/Bring a Friend initiative provided nearly 90,000 beginner lessons during January. Since its inception in 2009, participating resorts in the program have taught roughly 960,000 beginner lessons.

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., March 21, 2018—NSAA is encouraging resorts on public land to help line up co-sponsors for the Ski Area Fee Retention Act of 2018, which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate earlier this month. According to the NSAA “Capital Watch,” the bill would earmark a major portion of USFS permit fees, roughly $22 million to $24 million of the roughly $37 million resorts on public lands pay in permit fees, for improving ski area permit administration, processing of ski area proposals, and addressing any backlogs in permit administration or processing. The fees can also be used for interpretation, visitor services and support of USFS Avalanche Information/Education.

SAM Magazine—Wilmington, Vt., March 20, 2018—The members-only Hermitage Club, which until yesterday operated a ski area on Haystack Mountain in southern Vermont, was closed by the Vermont Department of Taxes on Monday for failure to pay a “progress payment” on taxes it owes to the state. Last Thursday the state took the same action, but the club made a payment of $112,000 for unpaid meals, rooms, and sales taxes in time for it to be allowed to open for the weekend.

• Lifts

Welcome to the March edition of Snow People, where we highlight happenings to prominent ski industry and supplier personnel.

• Lifts

SAM Magazine–Denver, March 16, 2018­–The snowfall throughout the month of February boosted lodging numbers for resorts throughout the West. However, it was not enough to deliver a year-over-year increase in occupancy compared to the 2016-2017 season according to Inntopia’s monthly DestiMetrics Market Briefing.

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, March 15, 2018—Snow Park Technologies (SPT) founders Chris and Genevieve Gunnarson are joining the leadership at POWDR—Chris as the senior vice president of youth development, and Genevieve as vice president of Woodward brand and marketing. Both will focus on the evolution and integration of the company’s Woodward brand and experiences.

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., March 14, 2018—Vail Resorts launched sales for its 2018-19 Epic Pass products last week, but that didn’t stop it from entering a “long-term alliance” this week with Triple Peaks, LLC, adding the portfolio of Okemo, Vt., Mount Sunapee, N.H., and Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Colo., to next season’s Epic Pass.

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Boyne Falls, Mich., March 13, 2018—Boyne Resorts has entered an agreement to acquire six mountain resorts and a scenic chairlift attraction that the company currently leases from Ski Resort Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Och-Ziff (Oz) Real Estate.

• Lifts
• Safety

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., March 12, 2018—Alterra Mountain Company will invest $555 million across its portfolio of 12 mountain resorts over the next five years, including $130 million for the 2018-19 winter season.

• Safety

SAM Magazine—Aspen, Colo., March 9, 2018—SAM's ninth annual Summer Ops Camp will be held at Aspen Snowmass, Sept. 4-6, 2018. The hands-on educational, networking, and demo event gathers mountain resort managers and operators from around North America and overseas to explore opportunities in four-season attractions and revenue growth. The format ensures a constant stream of insights from experts, manufacturers, colleagues, and personal experience.

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Big Sky, Mont., March 8, 2018—Big Sky Resort plans to install North America’s first eight-passenger chairlift ahead of the 2018-19 winter season. The “Ramcharger 8” will be a deluxe Doppelmayr D-line high-speed lift, featuring heated seats and blue bubbles. The new lift will replace the existing Ramcharger high-speed quad.

• Rental

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., March 6, 2018—Yesterday, Vail Resorts unveiled a partnership with Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) to include seven total days at RCR properties—Fernie, Kicking Horse, and Kimberly in B.C., Nakiska in Alberta, and Mont Sainte Anne and Stoneham in Quebec—on the Epic Pass. The pass went on sale today for the 2018-19 season, with the top tier priced at $899—the same price as Alterra Mountain Company’s Ikon Pass.

• Ski Patrol

SAM Magazine—Killington, Vt., March 6, 2018—A variety of projects will be taking place at Killington for the 2018-19 season, including the installation of a new six-passenger high-speed bubble chairlift, relocation of an existing quad chairlift, upgrades to the K-1 gondola, trail work, new RFID gates, and the addition of a Woodward Wrecktangle ninja obstacle course to its summer operations—all to the tune of $16 million.

• Lifts
• Ski Patrol

SAM Magazine—Gillingham, U.K., March 2, 2018—Chatham Ski and Snowboard Centre, an outdoor dry ski slope in the United Kingdom, was forced to close for two days at the end of February due to snowfall in Southern England. Yes—snow closed a ski slope. Oh, the irony.

• Marketing
• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Aspen Snowmass, Colo., March 2, 2018—The latest news in the dizzying world of season pass alliances is that the Mountain Collective—which includes a good number of resorts that are part of the new Ikon Pass from Alterra Mountain Company—will remain mostly the same for the 2018-19 season. The biggest change: Big Sky, Mont., replaces Telluride, which is included on next season’s Epic Pass.