SAM Magazine--July 29, 2010--Showdown Ski Area, Mont., was given the go-ahead by the Lewis and Clark National Forest to remove 180 acres of dead trees. According to published reports, the trees were killed by the mountain pine beetle, white blister rust and other pests and were threatening lift lines and other ski area infrastructure....

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., July 29, 2010-Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) has revamped the senior leadership teams at Beaver Creek, Keystone and Heavenly. Keystone Resort COO Doug Lovell is now vice president and COO of Beaver Creek; John Buhler, director of skier services for Breckenridge, has become vice president and general manager of Keystone; and...

SAM Magazine-Burr Ridge, Ill., July 26, 2010-The Winter Dew Tour, which showcases top skiers and riders in slopestyle and superpipe, begins at Breckenridge, Colo., Dec. 16-19, moves to Killington, Vt., Jan.20-23, and concludes with the Toyota Championship at Snowbasin Feb. 10-13, 2011. Breckenridge will also stage the Open Qualifiers, where would-b...

Last summer SAM Magazine kicked off a series of resort profiles featuring summer attractions across the country. These profiles were also covered in more depth in the pages of SAM. We continue our summer ops series here with a trip to Northstar-at-Tahoe in California. SAM's assistant editor, Liz Eren, strapped on the head cam to test out the area's...

SAM Magazine-Las Vegas, Nev., July 26, 2010-Jerold Stanton Simon, 79, a trailblazer in the promotion and development of snow skiing for more than 30 years, passed away at his Las Vegas home on July 24. In 1964, Simon began co-producing consumer ski shows in major U.S. cities, featuring such superstars as Olympic medalists Stein Eriksen, Jean-Cla...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, July 23, 2010-The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) will stage a showcase big air competition in Denver Jan. 25-26, just prior to the annual SIA Snow Show and the X Games in Aspen. The aim is to maintain the visibility of USSA athletes and highlight the addition of slopestyle and ski halfpipe to the list of USS...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Colo., July 23, 2010-After a sluggish start for summer mountain travel destinations across the western U.S., reservations have ticked up, according to the latest report released by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP) in its monthly Mountain Marketing Briefing. Occupancy for June was down 2.5 percent, but reservation...

SAM Magazine--July 22, 2010--The beleaguered development of a new ski resort in Minturn, Colorado--Battle Mountain--has been downscaled even further. Originally, the Ginn Co., bought the land and planned for a world-class ski area, golf course, condos, second homes and retail space, all of which was approved preliminarily by the town council in ear...

SAM Magazine--July 22, 2010--Whether it was the abundance of snow that fell right into June, Ski Lake Tahoe resorts-Alpine Meadows, Heavenly, Kirkwood, Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Squaw Valley USA reported a 17 percent increase in skier and snowboarder visits during the 2009-2010 season. With some resorts reporti...

SAM Magazine--Ski Areas of New York, Inc. (SANY) is announced that total skier and tubing visits for the 2009-2010 season were 4,118,000, which represents an increase of 1 percent over the 2008-2009 season. The increase in visits in NY is worthy of note as the northeast as a whole was down 2.7%. "Visits throughout New York, with a few exceptions...

SAM Magazine--July 15, 2010--Last night, July 14, ESPN presented its annual ESPY awards, honoring athletes across all sports, and skiing and snowboarding came out on top. Out of 35 awards chosen by the viewers, winter sports took home five: Best Female Athlete: Lindsey Vonn Best Male Action Sport Athlete: Shaun White Best Female Action Sport...

SAM Magazine-Crested Butte, Colo., July 15, 2010-Gloria Manning, reviewing officer for U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, yesterday upheld two earlier decisions to reject a proposal by Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) to develop lift-served skiing on Snodgrass Mountain. The decision is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's final administrati...

SAM Magazine-Rangeley, Maine, July 15, 2010-Saddleback, Maine, is offering a limited number of its new Decade Passes as part of its 50th anniversary celebration this upcoming season. The Decade Pass ($5,000) will provide unlimited skiing and riding for ten consecutive years. Only 50 passes will be available. "Saddleback is excited to offer this ...

SAM Magazine-New Westminster, British Columbia-In response to the failure of a lift tower of Blackcomb's Excalibur Gondola in December 2008 due to ice jacking, the B.C. Safety Authority (BCSA) has issued new regulations intended to avoid a repeat incident. They are: 1. All operators of passenger ropeway installations must assure towers are fitte...

SAM Magazine-Durango, Colo., July 14, 2010- Tori Ossola, former VP of marketing for the Vermont Ski Areas Association, has been named managing director for Snow Monsters and NextSnow, the national ski and snowboard programs for kids with more than 100 affiliate resorts and industry members. "We have spent months redesigning both Snow Monsters an...