SAM Magazine-Merrimac, Wisc., Dec. 18, 2009-At least 14 people were injured in a lift malfunction at Devil's Head Resort, Wisc., three of them seriously though not critically, after a lift rollback incident. The lift, a 1970s Hall double, was full when it stopped and then started to roll back last night at about 7 p.m. All three brake systems fa...

SAM Magazine-Mt. Crested Butte, Colo., Dec. 18, 2009-Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) has filed an appeal with the U.S. Forest Service, disputing the agency's decision last month to reject the resort's proposed expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain without conducting a public review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The propose...

SAM Magazine-Merrimac, Wisc., Dec. 18, 2009-A team of investigators including state inspectors, tramway experts and staff members of the Devil's Head resort are conducting an investigation into what led to the lift rollback accident at the resort on Thursday evening. Resort general manager Joe Vittengl said that the resort's entire staff was...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Dec. 16, 2009-Glen Plake, star of numerous ski adventure films and a frequent visitor to small ski areas on his annual Down Home Tours, will appear on NBC-TV's Today Show Jan. 4, 2010, to talk about learning a snow sport during the Learn a Snow Sport Month (LASSM) promotion. Plake is the national spokesperson for the initi...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Dec. 11, 2009-The snow sports retail market acheived a 12 percent increase in unit sales and a 10 percent increase in dollar sales compared to August through October 2008, according to the SIA Retail Audit. Apparel sales were up 13 percent overall to $242 million, with very strong growth in insulated parkas, apparel suits,...

SAM Magazine-Beaver, Utah, Dec. 11, 2009-Bowman Asset Management has won the bidding for the former Elk Meadows Ski Resort in Beaver County, Utah. The purchase price was approximately $1.6 million. The 1,138-acre property had been valued as high as $5 million. The purchase does not necessarily end the dream of developers who had hoped to rechris...

SAM Magazine--December 8, 2009--Les Otten, former head of the American Skiing Company, aired his first commercial in his bid to be governor of Maine. Otten is running for the Republican pick in a combined field of over 20 candidates. About his race, Otten told SAM, "I have spent 37 years on the business side of Federal and State Government laws...

SAM Magazine--December 8, 2009--Vail Resorts released its first quarter numbers for fiscal 2009, which were down from 2008. Overall revenue dropped 47 percent, from $152.8 million in the first quarter of 2008, to $80.8 million in 2009. In the mountain segment, revenue was $40.8 million, compared to $42.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 20...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., December 7, 2009--The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) today announced that Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and likely frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, will be the keynote speaker at its annual National Convention and Tradeshow to be held May 2 to 5 in Orlando. As preside...

SAM Magazine--Grand Junction, Colo., December 4, 2009--Jon Mauch is joining the Leitner-Poma of America team in late January in Grand Junction. Mauch comes with decades of industry experience, most recently at Vail Resorts where he was the lift director at Keystone and Breckenridge. This experience will contribute to improvements in Leitner-Poma's ...

SAM Magazine-Avon, Colo., Dec. 4, 2009-iPhone apps for skiers are starting to multiply. The latest to join the Apple universe: Resort Technology Partners (RTP), and Perfect North Slopes, Ind. RTP's REALSKI introduces augmented reality (AR), a new mobile phenomenon made possible by the iPhone 3GS, to navigate trails and on-mountain features at se...

SAM on the Road visited Woodward at Copper on a Thursday afternoon in late October, when the rest of the resort was closed up for the offseason. A snowstorm had snarled traffic on Interstate 70 from Kansas to the Continental Divide, and there was more energy and action at Woodward at Copper than just about anywhere else along the highway that day. ...

SAM Magazine--Reno, Nev., December 2, 2009--Sky Tavern's local ski program sustained damage to its lodge in a November 28 fire, but is slated to open for its normal program in early January. While the final report is not yet complete, the fire is suspected to have been electrical in origins. An employee apartment was completely destroyed, but much ...

SAM Magazine and www.skiinfo.co.uk-Woodbury, Conn., Dec. 2, 2009-Warm temperatures and lack of snowfall have delayed the season in eastern North America, but the season is underway in many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, from Whistler to Zermatt. In the eastern half of the United States, a prolonged warm spell that stopped virtually all ...

SAM Magazine--December 1, 2009--Skiset, a European ski and snowboard rental company, has expanded to North America and plans to partner with over 70 stores in the U.S. and Canada this coming season. Skiset has launched its North American websites, www.skiset.us and www.skiset.ca, and will sell directly to the consumer. Skiset allows customers to...