SAM Magazine—June 21, 2012—Winter ain't over until it's over. Mt. Bachelor, Ore., announced that it will open for skiing and snowboarding June 29 through July 1, with intermediate and advanced terrain off the summit, snow and weather conditions permitting. Then, on July 6, the area will officially kick-off its summer activities,...

SAM Magazine—June 21, 2012—Scott Kaden announced he is stepping down as president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association (PNSAA) to pursue additional, formal education on a full-time basis. Kaden became the PNSAA's third president in July 2000 and his last day will be September 15, 2012. Under Kaden's leadership, PNSA...

SAM Magazine—Hartford, Conn., June 19, 2012—The Connecticut Appellate Court upheld a jury verdict in a case brought against Ski Sundown, Conn., by James Malaguit, who was rendered quadriplegic in a 2006 accident at the ski area. In October 2010, a jury found that the plaintiff was responsible for his own injuries and that the ski area w...

SAM Magazine—June 13, 2012—During its annual meeting, held yesterday at Mount Sunapee, Ski NH released its end-of-season numbers, which were down approximately 21%. New Hampshire hosted 1.9 million skier visits, down from 2.35 million in 2010/11. The state also hosted 96,000 xc visits and 93,000 tubing visits during the 2011/12 season. ...

SAM Magazine—June 11, 2012—According to published reports, a massive wildfire in New Mexico has damaged ski lifts at Ski Apache. The area fought the blaze, which has burned more than 35,000 acres in the Lincoln National Forest, with its own snowmaking equipment, setting up guns around its base lodge to ward off the flames. That effort, ...

SAM Magazine--June 11, 2012--According to NZCity, more than 6,000 skiers and snowboarders flocked to Queenstown's Coronet Peak and Canterbury's Mt Hutt—a record-breaking opening weekend in the South Island. NZ Ski CEO James Coddington says they've never had more than 3,000 people through for opening weekend at Mt Hutt before. ...

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 11, 2012—Several water districts and the Colorado petroleum industry have filed amicus briefs to support a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado against a 2011 Forest Service regulation requiring winter resorts to grant certain water rights to the Service. The original lawsuit, filed by the National...

SAM Magazine—Evergreen, Colo., June 8, 2012—Echo Mountain Ski resort will be sold via a sealed-bid auction, with bids due by August 2. Racebrook and its auction affiliate, Sheldon Good & Company, are conducting the sale. Echo, 35 miles west of downtown Denver, is situated entirely on private land. Owner Gerald Petitt paid $800,00...

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) announced today that its 22 member resorts hosted 6.16 million visits, an 11.4% decline from last year. Vail Resorts, which is not a member of CSCUSA, reported a 9.8% decrease in visits at all of its resorts, including those in California. With Vail's Colorado resorts talli...

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—The Vermont Ski Areas Association (VSAA) announced that Vermont ski resorts recorded 3,903,171 skier and rider visits, just 5% off of the ten-year average and 11% off of 2010/11, which logged 4,365,906 visits. Despite low natural snowfall during the 2011-12 ski season, snowmaking and grooming enabled Vermont...

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—Valle Nevado, Chile, and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., are pleased to announce a new sister resort partnership effective May 2012. Valle Nevado, located 90 minutes from Santiago, and Mammoth Mountain, located in Central California, are two of the largest and most popular resorts in their respective countries, and a...

SAM Magazine—Kelowna, B.C., June 6, 2012—Big White and Silver Star resorts, which had been under a single ownership for a decade, have split apart following the death of former owner Desmond Robert Schumann in April. Schumann, who bought Big White in 1985 and Silver Star Mountain Resort in 2001, is widely credited with making both re...

SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, June 5, 2012—Bank of America has acted on its threat to remove the Wildwood Express chair lift at bankrupt Tamarack Resort. The bank has hired Highlander Ski Lift Services & Construction of nearby McCall to dismantle and remove the lift, and much of the work has already been completed. According to Paul...

SAM Magazine—June 5, 2012—The Utah ski and snowboard industry announced 3,802,536 million skier day visits during the 2011-12 winter season, down 10 percent from the previous season’s 4,223,064. Low snow totals plaguing resorts nationwide and the persistence of a wavering economy are credited for the decrease at Utah ski and snowb...

SAM Magazine—May 30, 2012—NASTAR, the largest public grassroots ski race program in the world, announced a new partnership with Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., to serve as the host resort for the 2013 and 2014 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships. Skiers from approximately 45 states, ranging in age from three to 90, will compete at the re...