• leadership

SAM Magazine—Revelstoke, British Columbia, Oct. 30, 2024—Dave Morrison is the new CEO of Mica Heliskiing, a boutique heliski operation and lodge in the Canadian Rockies. Morrison has more than 25 years of ski industry experience.  “Dave Morrison is a proven leader with a remarkable track record in managing and growing luxury ski resorts and...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Bear Valley, Calif., Oct. 29, 2024—The California Mountain Resort Company (CMRC) has appointed new general managers to two of its ski areas: Brad Cumberland was promoted to general manager of Bear Valley, and Troy Cohee was promoted to general manager of China Peak.Brad Cumberland and Troy Cohee “At Bear Valley, we've restructu...

SAM Magazine—New York City, Oct. 24, 2024—Indy Pass has added access to 30 more alpine, cross-country, and indoor ski areas for the 2024-25 season, including Loveland Ski Area, Colo., and 12 resorts in Innsbruck, Austria. The additions were revealed at a media event in New York City Wednesday night. With the additions, Indy Pass will release a...

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Oct. 23, 2024—SAM invites ski area operators to participate in a new survey aimed at gathering insights into summer business and operations. The survey, launching today, seeks to capture the latest trends and challenges faced by ski areas as they continue to evolve their operations. Responses are requested by Monday,...

• sustainability

SAM Magazine—Jackson Hole, Wyo., Oct. 24, 2024—Mountain Towns 2030 gathered 540 attendees from the ski industry, government entities, and other stakeholder groups in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Oct. 14-16, for the annual Climate Solutions Summit. The event focused on innovative solutions to combat the effects of climate change and issued a resoundin...

SAM Magazine—Shrewsbury, Mass., Oct. 21, 2024—Thanks to its all-weather snowmaking system, Massachusetts’ Ski Ward has staked its claim as the first ski area in North America to open for lift-served skiing and snowboarding for the second year in a row.Courtesy of Ski Ward Several Colorado ski areas also appear ready to drop ropes in the comin...

SAM Magazine—Homewood, Calif., Oct. 14, 2024—Homewood Mountain Resort will not operate for 2024-25 after its financial partner withdrew its support for this upcoming winter season, the Lake Tahoe ski area said in an announcement published on its website. Homewood cited financial viability and delays in approvals to proposed updates of the resor...

SAM Magazine—Jackson, N.H., Oct. 5, 2024—At a standing room only crowd at Black Mountain, Indy Pass and Entabeni Systems announced they have purchased Black Mountain from the Fichera family, who have owned and operated the ski area for the past 30 years. Indy Pass managing director and Entabeni Systems founder Erik Mogensen, who spoke at the co...

• Weather

Photo courtesy of Kim Jochl.SAM Magazine—Banner Elk, N.C., Oct. 2, 2024—Ski areas in the mountains of western North Carolina appear to have suffered relatively minimal damage from Hurricane Helene, which caused historic flooding after dropping 1-2 feet of rain, or more, through a wide swath of mountain communities in a short time, Sept. 26-27. ...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Oct. 2, 2024—Eleven up-and-coming industry leaders have been selected to participate as mentees in the SAM Summit Series leadership development program. Hailing from resorts of all sizes across North America, the mentees represent many different departments and roles.   The 2024-25 Summit Series mentees are: Jos...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 1, 2024—Vail Resorts has unveiled a "resource efficiency transformation plan" that will save $100 million over the next two years, and then $100 million a year after that. The plan is designed to improve organizational effectiveness through a combination of scaled operations, global shared services, and exp...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 1, 2024—Vail Resorts' Epic Pass product sales through Sept. 20, 2024, for the upcoming 2024-25 North American ski season decreased approximately 3 percent in units and increased approximately 3 percent in revenue in sales compared to the prior year through Sept. 22, 2023. Pass sales dollars are benefiting...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 1, 2024—Vail Resorts reported its Q4 and full-year 2024 results last week for the fiscal year ending July 31, detailing what was a difficult 2023-24 season across North America and in Australia. Even so, VR fared relatively well compared to the record fiscal year 2023 that preceded it. VR also revealed a "r...

• leadership

SAM’s Snow People highlights personnel moves in the mountain resort industry. From resort hires, promotions, and retirements to awards, obits, and supplier news, we celebrate the people that make this industry thrive. PEOPLE:  Nelson Wingard and Corey Peterson COREY PETERSON and NELSON WINGARD, STEAMBOAT SKI RESORT, CO Steamboat Ski Resort ha...

• Snowmaking News

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Sept. 30, 2024—Ski areas across North America are invited to nominate their snowmaking teams to participate in the 10th annual “I AM a Snowmaker” contest, presented by HKD Snowmakers. The “I AM” contest offers the opportunity for a handful of resorts to showcase their snowmaking teams and the work they do via...