SAM Magazine—Denver, Aug. 25, 2016— The Winter Park Express will once again ferry skiers and riders round-trip from Denver to Winter Park every mid-winter weekend this season, for the first time in seven years. The ski train was a popular mode of transportation from the city to the resort and back from 1940 to 2009.

SAM Magazine—Wildwood, Mo., Aug. 24, 2016—Peak Resorts has reached an agreement to sell $20 million of its Series A cumulative convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock to CAP 1 LLC, a family client of Summer Road LLC. Summer Road will also have the right to nominate a person for election to Peak’s board of directors. Peak plans to use the proceeds from this offering for working capital and for future growth, including expansion through acquisition.

SAM Magazine—Rossland, B.C., Canada, Aug. 24, 2016—Red Mountain, the oldest ski resort in Western Canada, is turning to a new funding source: the internet. In what may be an industry first, it is turning to equity crowdfunding.

SAM Magazine—Telluride, Colo., Aug. 24, 2016—In addition to the return of regular commercial flights into Telluride Airport (see earlier report), increased traffic into nearby Montrose will also ease access to Telluride this winter. Montrose is getting new Denver service with the addition of twice-weekly Allegiant Air flights. In addition, the region will see a major jump in service to Montrose on the American Airlines network.

SAM Magazine—Valemount, B.C., Canada, Aug. 17, 2016—The Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd. master plan for a proposed ski resort on Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau in interior British Columbia has been approved by the government. The proposed project has gotten tremendous local support, which developers say helped expedite the recent approval.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Aug. 17, 2016—Occupancy figures nearly reaching winter levels during the summer? It’s true. Western mountain destinations participating in DestiMetrics’ tracking program have reported visits and reservations that are expected to eclipse last summer’s record, which reached 92.5 percent of occupancy rates for the winter of 2015-16. This would be the fifth consecutive record summer for aggregated lodging occupancy and revenues at western mountain resorts.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Aug. 17, 2016—Apparently, everybody wants in on the M.A.X. Pass. One of the newest products in the rapidly growing space of season passes that offer access to multiple, mostly unaffiliated properties, M.A.X. is adding 10 more resorts to its roster.

SAM Magazine—Squaw Valley, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016—A controversial $1 billion, 25-year development plan for Squaw Valley cleared a major hurdle after the Placer County Planning Commission approved the plan in a 4-2 vote last week. Now, the plan moves on to the Placer County Board of Supervisors for the final verdict.

SAM Magazine—Londonderry, Vt., Aug. 16, 2016—Magic Mountain, a classic New England ski area that has stuck to its roots—both out of preference and financial limitations—appears to finally have stable ownership taking the reigns.

The August edition of our monthly highlight of happenings to prominent people and suppliers in the mountain resort industry.

SAM Magazine—Telluride, Colo., and Revelstoke, B.C., Canada, Aug. 9, 2016—The collection of destinations accessible via The Mountain Collective just grew to 14, for now, with the addition of Telluride, Colo., and Revelstoke, British Columbia.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Aug. 8, 2016—After filing for bankruptcy in February, Echo Mountain owner Nora Pykkonen appears to have found a buyer for the small ski area just outside of Denver.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Aug. 8, 2016—In revealing its plan to acquire Whistler Blackcomb (see separate report), Vail Resorts (VR) outlined some initial intentions:

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., and Whistler, British Columbia, Aug. 8, 2016—Vail Resorts (VR) is purchasing Whistler Blackcomb, the largest ski resort in North America. In what the company calls a “strategic business combination,” VR will acquire 100 percent of Whistler Blackcomb stock in a cash and stock deal worth a total of about USD$1.056 billion. The transaction is expected to close in fall of 2016.

SAM Magazine—Telluride, Colo., July 28, 2016— Commercial air service to Telluride Airport will resume Dec. 17 following a two-year hiatus, now that Colorado Flights has completed a deal with Great Lakes Airlines to reinstate its service from Denver.