SAM Magazine--Denver, Colo., March 6, 2014--Like cell phone companies, Intrawest has roled out a new pass product designed for the "modern" family. Called the Intrawest Passport, the pass will offer children 12 and under free skiing and riding, as well as redefine who can be included in the product. The season pass includes six days of sk...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Feb. 28, 2014—With many resorts already selling season passes for the 2014-15 season, Vail Resorts (VR) is adding one of the snowiest powder skiing resorts in the world—Niseko, Japan—to its Epic Pass program. Epic Passholders will receive five complimentary consecutive days at Niseko, Japan, f...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Feb. 28, 2014—Olympian Tiger Shaw will take over as president and CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) effective Mar. 3 as part of a planned transition, replacing longtime USSA chief Bill Marolt. Shaw was named chief operating officer last fall. He has spent the last five months working c...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Feb. 26, 2014—Despite the legalization of private use of marijuana in Colorado, public use of pot remains illegal. And so, over the past several weeks, Vail Resorts (VR) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have destroyed a number of structures associated with prohibited marijuana use. The structures had be...

SAM Magazine—Sochi, Russia, Feb. 24, 2014—A record-matching 17 Team USA skiers and snowboarders left the Sochi Olympic Winter Games with medals, including a record eight gold in on-snow events. Of course, it helped that there were more events for skiers and snowboarders—a total of 30 in all, including new slopestyle and ski halfpi...

SAM Magazine—Sochi, Russia, Feb. 24, 2014—Canadian skiers and snowboarders racked up a dozen medals during the Sochi Games, nearly half of the 25 medals won by Canadian athletes. They also took home four of Canada’s 10 gold medals. All that helped Canada rank fourth in the overall medal count, and third in the gold-medal count, ju...

SAM Magazine—North Woodstock, N.H., Feb. 21, 2014—Winter resorts in New Hampshire generated $1.15 billion in direct and secondary sales for the 2012-13 season, according to Ski NH’s most recent economic study. That impact stemmed from visits by 3.26 million winter and summer guests at the group’s 33 member areas and more tha...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Feb. 19, 2014—Buffeted by the weather, destination lodging occupancy in the East and West was up 4.7 percent for the November-January period compared to a year ago, according to research firm DestiMetrics. With 85 percent of visits either completed or on the books, lodging properties surveyed by DestiMetrics appear ...

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Feb. 18, 2014—Heavenly Mountain Resort has formally objected to the U.S. Forest Service's 15-year land management plan for Lake Tahoe. In a letter, the resort said that the Forest Service plan would limit future expansion of the four resorts in the Tahoe Basin to just 200 acres in total and ign...

SAM Magazine--Hillsdale, N.Y., February 13, 2014--Catamount announced a 10-year master plan that includes a luxury ski in/ski out condominium complex called The Berkshire Mountain Club. The 66 fully furnished suites will have full kitchens and be available in studio, 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom unit configurations with amenities, such as a restaurant/loun...

SAM Magazine--Stowe, Vt., February 13, 2014--Spruce Peak Realty, LLC and Stowe Mountain Lodge, LLC, affiliates of Stowe Mountain Resort, along with a group of owners of 40 condominium units at Stowe Mountain Lodge, announced that they have reached an agreement in principle as to the terms of a settlement resolving a putative class action lawsuit al...

SAM Magazine--Petite-Riviere-Saint-Francois, February 12, 2014--Employees at Le Massif de Charlevoix voted yesterday for the right to strike. Management has been in negotiations with the union, which only includes mountain employees and not hotel or train employees, but were unable to come to an agreement. In the meantime, the resort said that it w...

SAM Magazine—Dixville Notch, N.H., Feb. 12, 2014—The owners of the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel and the Balsams Wilderness Ski Area have engaged American Skiing Company founder Les Otten to help redevelop the hotel and resort, which have been closed for the past three years. Otten, founder and former president of the American Skiing Co...

SAM Magazine—Sochi, Russia, Feb. 8, 2014—Acting on an idea first promoted by SAM five years ago, NBC Olympics, in partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee and national governing bodies including the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), has created the Olympic Gold Map to help newcomers take up Olympic sports and existing partic...

SAM Magazine—Woodbury Conn., Feb. 7, 2014—After years of circling around the conversion question, resorts across North America are deploying new and innovative approaches to the learning experience. Novel programs aimed at increasing trial and conversion are seeing big success at several resorts, and were all the rage at the NSAA East a...