SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 12, 2016—According to Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA), total skier visits at its 21 member resorts through Dec. 31 were up 10 percent compared to the same period last year. This year’s skier visits also bested the five-year early-season average by 13 percent. CSCUSA attributes the surge in visitation...

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 11, 2015—On Friday, Jan. 8, at 10 a.m., school was in session at more than 160 resorts from New Jersey to Alaska in an attempt to establish a record for the World’s Largest Ski and Snowboard Lesson. While the final tally is still not yet complete, several thousand first-time skiers and riders of all a...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Jan. 6, 2015—SAM's seventh annual Summer Ops Camp, a hands-on educational, networking, and in-park demo event, will head to Park City Sept. 6-8, 2016. The camp gathers resort managers and operators from around North America and overseas to explore opportunities in four-season attractions.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2015—For those still waiting to see snow in the East, here’s a message from earlier this week: “Jiminy Peak in western Massachusetts plans to create a massive machine-made blizzard over the next 40 hours that snow-starved skiers and snowboarders will be able to see on NOAA weather radar if...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Jan. 6, 2016—A 2011 proposal by the U.S. Forest Service to require ski resorts to transfer water rights to the federal government has been abandoned by the agency. Instead, it will require only that resorts prove there is enough water available to support skiing through each permit term. Resorts will have to ...

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Jan. 6, 2016—A carrier traveling on the downhill side of Heavenly Mountain Resort’s North Bowl chairlift detached from the haul rope and fell to the ground on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 10:58 a.m. PST. A total of 65 passengers were taking the lift up, and were evacuated by ski patrol after the lift sh...

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2016—It was a tale of two sides. One side was bountiful with business up and deep snow. The other side did not repeat the success of a year ago due to a lack of snow and mild temps. As usual, Mother Nature dictated much of how Christmas week went for resorts across North America. The Western half of t...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Dec. 28, 2015—Stein Eriksen, the legendary alpine skier often credited as a founder of modern skiing, died on Sunday, Dec. 27, at his home in Park City, Utah. He was 88 years old. Erikson’s many accomplishments in competitive alpine skiing include winning Olympic gold in giant slalom and silver in ...

Photo credit: Park City Mountain. SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Dec. 23, 2015—Despite prolific snowfall since the beginning of November at western resorts, the most recent Mountain Market Briefing by DestiMetrics—a company that tracks resort performance in mountain destinations—found that early booking patterns are ...

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Dec. 23, 2015—SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is reinventing the SIA Snow Show with an updated format, and shifting it nearly two months earlier. Starting in December 2017, opening day of the event will be the first Tuesday of December, and will follow a shortened, three-day schedule—reduced from...

SAM Magazine—Gaylord, Mich., Dec. 23, 2015—Otsego Club & Resort has appointed Jeff Morrison as its new director of ski operations. Morrison’s responsibilities include overseeing all ski area operations and growing the resort’s summer business. Jeff’s ski industry career began in 1983, when he served as a ski ins...

SAM Magazine—Whistler, B.C., Dec. 23, 2015—Blackcomb has signed an agreement with the Whistler Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Club (WBFSC) and the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA) to build a national training center for freestyle skiing on Blackcomb Mountain. The facility will consist of a permanent mogul course, airbag training area,...

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Dec. 22, 2015—With the reality of this mild start to the winter in much of the eastern half of the continent sinking in, a handful of resorts are embracing it. Operating summer attractions during Christmas week may not be something any resort had in the plan, but Blue Mountain, Ontario, reopened a host of &ld...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Dec. 16, 2015—By a narrow margin, ski patrollers at Park City voted on Monday to unionize. The preliminary tally was 97-94. The vote means all of the nearly 200 patrollers at the resort—comprising both the Park City base area and Canyons Village base area—will be joining the United Profession...

SAM Magazine—Silverton, Colo., Dec. 9, 2015—Tim Petrick is joining Silverton Mountain Ski Area and Silverton Mountain Guides Alaska Heli with the kickoff of the 2015-16 season. Petrick, most recently president and CEO of K2 Sports, has spent the majority of his career in executive level positions for companies including Powder Magazi...