SAM Magazine--January 11, 2013--Squaw Mountain, Maine, is hoping to reopen over the Martin Luther King weekend after two years of being closed. The small ski area boasted an impressive 1,700-foot vertical when its summit lift was in operation, but an accident in 2004 that injured four skiers put the lift out of action and it has not operated since....

SAM Magazine—McLean, Va., Jan. 10, 2013—November 2012 was another difficult month for snow sports retailers, with double-digit declines in dollars sold compared to sales in November 2011, according to the SIA RetailTRAK. Specialty-store sales in the Midwest declined the least, about 9 percent; in the West, sales were off 27 percent from...

SAM Magazine--Girdwood, Alaska, January 10, 2013--On New Year's Eve, a powerful wind gust hit Alyeska's tram just as it was passing a tower, causing a collision. Thankfully, there were no major injuries. As a result, however, extensive repairs are required making the tram inoperable for several weeks. On top of the collision, unstable sn...

SAM Magazine—Homewood, Calif., Jan. 8, 2013—Homewood Mountain Resort’s expansion plan has been put on hold temporarily. U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb ruled that Placer County and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency approved the Homewood plan without considering whether a smaller (and less environmentally impactful) project w...

SAM Magazine—Teton Village, Wyo., Jan. 7, 2013—Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) recorded above-average snowfall and unprecedented business levels for December and the holidays. The snowfall fueled record skier day numbers for the month of December and the best-ever holiday period for the Mountain Sports School, where business was dri...

SAM Magazine—Aspen, Colo., Jan. 7, 2013—Snowmass ski patroller Patsy Hileman, 49, triggered the avalanche that killed her Dec. 30 at Snowmass, in the same area where the ski patrol had performed control work three days before the accident, according to a report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Ski patrol had used explo...

SAM Magazine--January 2, 2013--Jim and Kim Engle, owners of Sunburst in Wisconsin, announced an agreement to sell their resort to Rob and Jennifer Friedl, who, according to the Engles, will "continue to focus on families and to take Sunburst to a new level, even better than what we know now." The Engles plan to help with the transition...

SAM Magazine--December 26, 2012--Brian Head Resort in southern Utah, announced that as of December 20, the area is under new ownership. The resort was purchased for an undisclosed amount out of receivership from Zion's First National Bank. The new owners are Brian Head Acquisition Partners, LLC, formed out of two groups, one from California and...

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., Dec. 19, 2012—A federal district court in Colorado has struck down a U.S. Forest Service water policy that would have required resorts to transfer ownership of valuable water rights to the U.S. government without compensation. “Given how critical and valuable water is to ski area operations, we are...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Dec. 19, 2012—The Rental World, Backshop, and Uniform Gallery exhibits presented by SIA and SAM Magazine, along with a series of seminars and breakfast meetings, promise to give resort rental operators plenty to think about and see at the annual SIA Snow Show in Denver Jan. 31-Feb. 3. Rental World/Backshop...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Dec. 18, 2012—As of Nov. 30, advance reservations at 16 Western mountain resort destinations were down a sharp 12.3 percent for December 2012 compared to the same time last year, although the average daily rate rose 2.6 percent, according to the most recent data released by the Mountain Travel Research Progra...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Dec. 18, 2012—Vail Resorts (VR) has closed on its acquisitions of Afton Alps, Minn., and Mount Brighton, Mich., making them the eighth and ninth resorts owned by the company. The price for the two family-owned resorts was a combined $20 million. Vail officials now intend to upgrade both facilities an...

SAM Magazine—Bear Valley, Calif., Dec. 18, 2012—Environmentalists, Bear Valley owners and Stanislaus National Forest officials have resolved issues that threatened to delay a planned expansion at the resort. Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center said on Monday it was withdrawing its appeal of the Forest Service approval of the...

SAM Magazine—McLean, Va., Dec. 13, 2012—The snow sports retail market declined 2 percent season-to-date (August through October) compared to last year. But it still reached $616 million in sales, despite significant disruptions in retail sales in the South and Northeast regions due to Hurricane Sandy, and lack of momentum from the snow-...

SAM Magazine--December 13, 2012--Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. (WBH) reported financial results for the three months and year ended September 30, 2012. The corporation, which has been publicly listed for two years now, holds a 75% interest in the entities that operate Whistler Blackcomb. Thanks to its downhill bike park and Peak2Peak gondola,...