SAM Magazine— Girdwood, Alaska, Oct. 24, 2016—After seven years as Alyeska Resort’s mountain services manager, Brian Burnett has been promoted to ski area general manager. His new responsibilities include general oversight of ski patrol, snow safety, lift crews, tram operations, mountain maintenance projects, mountain learning center, rentals, mountainside budgeting, CIP management, and guest relations.

SAM Magazine—York, Pa., Oct. 19, 2016— Snow Time Inc., the parent company of Pennsylvania’s Roundtop Mountain Resort, Liberty Mountain Resort, and Whitetail Resort, has made several key staffing changes.

SAM Magazine—Summit County, Colo., Oct. 19, 2016—Thanks to snowmaking efforts that began on Oct. 3, Arapahoe Basin now plans to open for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, Oct. 21.

SAM Magazine—Burlington, Vt., Oct. 18, 2016—In a blow to the status of the SIA Snow Show in Denver, Jan. 26-29, 2017, Burton has said it will not exhibit at the show. Burton had vastly reduced its presence two years ago, but is now exiting the show altogether.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Oct. 18, 2016—In an effort to solidify its identity, Powdr has undergone a company-wide rebrand that spotlights its transformation into an experiential adventure lifestyle organization with a diverse portfolio.

SAM Magazine—Whistler, B.C., Oct. 18, 2016—Vail Resorts has officially closed on its billion dollar acquisition of Whistler Blackcomb, which is now the tenth destination resort in the company’s portfolio. Both entities are coming off of their most successful winter ever in 2015-16, when each drew record skier visits and saw double-digit revenue growth.

SAM Magazine—Durango, Colo., Oct. 18, 2016—Less than a month after acquiring Hesperus, one of Colorado’s smallest ski areas, James Coleman has acquired the state’s largest snowcat skiing operation with access to more than 35,000 acres of permitted terrain located just outside of Purgatory Resort near Durango. Coleman is the managing partner of a group that owns Purgatory, Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort, N.M., Pajarito Ski Area, N.M., Arizona Snowbowl, Ariz., and Hesperus.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Oct. 17, 2016—The month of September continued the strong gains in aggregated occupancy and revenue that western mountain lodging destinations have seen all summer. Actual occupancy for the month was up 10.4 percent and revenues jumped 19.6 percent as of Sept. 30, according to the most recent report by DestiMetrics. This has been the story all summer, with aggregated occupancy for the season up 6.5 percent and revenues up 14 percent, including on-the-books figures for October.

Welcome to the October edition of Snow People, our monthly roundup of happenings to prominent ski industry and supplier personnel.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Oct. 17, 2016—The six properties owned by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies— Nakiska in Alberta, Fernie, Kimberley, and Kicking Horse in B.C., and Mont-Sainte-Anne and Stoneham in Quebec—are now accessible to M.A.X. Pass-holders. That brings the total number of resorts on the pass to 38.

SAM Magazine—Boswell, Pa., Oct. 14, 2016—For the first time in 11 years, Laurel Mountain in Pennsylvania will open for skiing and riding this winter. Thanks to a $6.5 million grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 2010, several necessary upgrades to the resort’s infrastructure are nearing completion.

SAM Magazine—Donnelly, Idaho, Oct. 14, 2016—Less than a week before a scheduled auction that would have sold off several of Tamarack Resort’s critical assets necessary for operations, including chairlifts and an unfinished mid-mountain lodge, a group of local homeowners swooped in and acquired “substantially all of the assets of NewTrac,” which owned a bulk of the property at the resort.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Oct. 6, 2016—In the aftermath of a chairlift incident in West Virginia last February, Outside Magazine’s website has cast a skeptical eye on the lift infrastructure at ski resorts in the U.S. The story, published Oct. 4, puts a spotlight on the age of currently operating lifts and questions their safety, even as it acknowledges that “mechanical lift failures remain exceedingly rare in the United States.”

SAM Magazine—Inkom, Idaho, Oct. 4, 2016—Nobody ever said you have to have ski resort operations experience to own a ski area. The latest example of that is Shay Butler, who is acquiring Pebble Creek Ski Area in Idaho. Butler is the man behind the popular YouTube channel called “Shaytards,” which has nearly five million subscribers.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 3, 2016—Vail Resorts, Inc. has reported net income of $149.8 million for fiscal 2016, an increase of 30.5 percent compared to fiscal 2015, and EBITDA of $452.6 million, an increase of 29.5 percent. VR expects an even better year in fiscal 2017, as its guidance range is for EBITDA of $480 million and $510 million, excluding results from Whistler Blackcomb. VR revealed its purchase of WB in August.