• leadership

SAM Magazine—Taos Ski Valley, N.M., June 20, 2025—Taos Ski Valley named longtime executive John Kelly as its new chief executive officer, with current CEO David Norden transitioning to chairman of the board in a planned leadership succession.John Kelly and David Norden “Since the resort was built 70 years ago by Ernie and Rhoda Blake, it’s...

SAM Magazine—Salem, Ore., June 19, 2025—Safehold Special Risk will no longer insure ski area clients in Oregon due to the state’s legal climate that has resulted in outsized losses over the past decade. The move appears to have, in part, helped advance a bill that would protect outdoor activity providers from legal action for ordinary neglige...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Granby, Colo., June 19, 2025—Indy Pass and Entabeni Systems have hired four senior executives to their C-suite: Alex Lahood as chief operations officer; Olga Grunskaya as chief financial officer; Nick Niebes as chief marketing officer; and Andy Shepard as chief purpose officer, a newly created role. Seth Ogden also joined the team ...

SAM Magazine—Rossland, British Columbia, June 18, 2025—Red Mountain Resort is undergoing a major leadership transition as longtime CEO Howard Katkov and resort president Don Thompson are both stepping down from their roles and, effective July 6, industry veteran Mark Schroetel will become the resort’s new president. Mark Schroetel and Howard...

• leadership

SAM Magazine—Wilmington, Vt., June 18, 2025—The Hermitage Club at Haystack Mountain has appointed Joshua DeBottis as its incoming executive director and general manager, effective August 2025. DeBottis will succeed Bill Benneyan, who joined The Hermitage Club in 2020 and oversaw its successful transformation into a member-owned private mountai...

SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., June 17, 2025—Booking reticence for summer vacations persists while bookings by international visitors from Canada, western Europe, and now Mexico, continue to fall, according to the monthly Market Briefing from Inntopia’s DestiMetrics. The booking pace at 17 participating mountain destinations in seven wester...

SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, June 12, 2025—Utah’s 15 alpine ski resorts recorded 6,503,635 skier visits during the 2024–25 winter season. While down 3.6 percent from last season, it’s the third-highest skier-visit total in state history and a 3.3 percent increase over Utah’s five-year average, according to the state’s trade asso...

• Lift Operations News

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., June 12, 2025—The 2025 Ski California Lift Maintenance & Operations Education (LMOE) Conference drew a record 403 attendees to South Lake Tahoe, June 3-5. Under the theme “Back to Basics,” this year’s event aimed to reinforce foundational knowledge while addressing the evolving challenges of oper...

SAM Magazine—North Conway, N.H., June 10, 2025—Nearly 400 snowsports operators and industry suppliers gathered at Cranmore Mountain Resort, June 3–5, for Ski NH’s Annual Conference and Trade Show. Loon Mountain Resort employees Andrew Noyes and Ana Yacoubian (middle) and Ski NH's president, Jessyca Keeler (right). During the event, the trad...

SAM Magazine—New South Wales, Australia, June 9, 2025—After a couple of disappointing winters in Australia, the 2025 season is off to a more optimistic start as snow blanketed the alpine regions of the country over the weekend and several ski areas opened for the season. Credit: Mt. Buller Falls Creek, Mt. Buller, Hotham, Perisher, and Thredb...

SAM Magazine—Warren, Vt., June 6, 2025—A total of 205 resort and supplier members gathered at Sugarbush Resort for the Ski Vermont annual meeting, June 4 and 5, where it was revealed that Vermont alpine ski areas welcomed more than 4.16 million skier visits during the 2024-25 season, up 1.1 percent year-over-year.Keynote speaker Mirna Valerio p...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., June 6, 2025 —Vail Resorts’ fiscal Q3 results were a mixed bag. While net income for the quarter ending April 30 rose roughly 8.5 percent to $392.8 million and year-to-date resort reported EBITDA ticked up 3 percent, Q3 resort reported EBITDA declined 1 percent, skier visits declined 3 percent across the compa...

• Technology Headline News

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., June 5, 2025—The Ski Resort AI Bootcamp is back with a new round of live sessions this summer, offering fresh insights into how artificial intelligence can be used across resort operations.  Presented by SAM and digital agency Eternity, and sponsored by Get Ski Bots, the Ski Resort AI Bootcamp delivers relevant AI ...

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 5, 2025—Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) projected 13.8 million skier visits in Colorado for this season, ranking 2024-25 as the state’s third highest on record for skier visits. Credit: Colorado Ski Country USA The numbers were realized despite variable snow conditions, according to CSCUSA president and CEO Melan...

• Lift Operations News

SAM Magazine—Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, June 3, 2025—Doppelmayr Canada plans to nearly double the size of its headquarters in Saint-Jérôme, Québec, over the next 18 months, adding 185,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space for training, production, and warehousing.  The expansion, said the company, is in response to the high demand for r...