SAM Magazine--August 17, 2009--Big Sky, Mont.--The Big Sky sales team received a phone call from the White House a few weeks ago to find out if it was available to host a special unnamed guest the evening of August 14. And so it was that the Summit Hotel at Big Sky hosted the President of the United States and the First Family for a night's rest be...

SAM Magazine--August 12, 2009--The operators of Ski Denton, Pa., and owners of Swain Recreation Center, LLC reached an agreement to lease Swain Resort, N.Y., with the intention of completing an acquisition of the resort as soon as feasibly possible. Ski Denton owners Scott and Jodi Carts and Shawn and Celeste Schoonover will continue ski operati...

SAM Magazine-Portland, Maine, Aug. 5, 2009-Maine ski areas posted their second-best season on record in 2008-09, with 1,366,752 ski/snowboard visits. The previous 2007-08 season set an all-time record with 1,401,043 visits recorded. Early season snowfall and extensive snowmaking systems allowed Maine to maintain strong numbers in spite of the ti...

SAM Magazine-Olympic Valley, Calif., Aug. 4, 2009-Squaw Valley USA has named Mike Livak as senior vice president and general manager, starting in early September. He will report to chairwoman and CEO Nancy W. Cushing. Livak succeeds Ernst Hager, who is retiring after working at Squaw Valley on and off since the early 1970s. Hager will continue to a...

In every issue of SAM we run a section called "SAM on the Road"-- a photo wrap up of happenings in the industry. Now, with the help of a helmet cam, SAM on the Road will be... in Action. This video is second in a series of resort profiles featuring summer attractions across the country. These profiles will also be covered more in-depth in our Summe...

SAM Magazine-Whistler, B.C., Aug. 2, 2009-The Ministry of Forests & Range and the Whistler Fire Department have declared Blackcomb Mountain safe to re-open to guests. The Crystal Ridge fire, located on Blackcomb Mountain, was 85 percent contained by this morning. It is in an isolated area that does not interfere with the summer operating area on Bl...

SAM Magazine-Cody, Wyo., July 31, 2009-Sleeping Giant Ski Area, which plans to reopen by Thanksgiving after several years in mothballs, has hired Hamilton Bryan as executive director. Bryan's duties will include overall management of Sleeping Giant as well as fundraising, marketing and strategic planning. Bryan was owner-operator of the UXU Dude...

SAM Magazine-Whistler, B.C., July 31, 2009-A wildfire started by a lightning strike Thursday afternoon at Blackcomb Mountain led to the evacuation of mountain. The fire, which covered about 75 acres as of Friday afternoon, has been burning since approximately 3 p.m. local time Thursday near the Crystal Chair, according to a Whistler Blackcomb spoke...

SAM Magazine--July 28, 2009--American Eagle announced that it will add a second daily flight between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Santa Fe Municipal Airport in New Mexico. This is good news for Ski Santa Fe, Taos Ski Valley, Angel Fire and Red River Resorts, as the new service will kick in before the ski season starts. In addit...

SAM Magazine--Snow24--July 28, 2009--The Compagnie Des Alpes (CDA), the world's largest ski lift operator with more than a dozen leading French ski areas, has released its third quarter results, which include the last month of the 2008-09 ski season--April 2009. The group reported record business with ski-lift ticket sales up 38 percent, thanks ...

In every issue of SAM we run a section called "SAM on the Road"-- a photo wrap up of happenings in the industry. Now, with the help of a helmet cam, SAM on the Road will be... in Action. This video kicks off a series of resort profiles featuring summer attractions across the country. These profiles will also be covered more in-depth in our Summe...

SAM Magazine--July 21, 2009--The purchase of the Yellowstone Club by Cross Harbor Capital Partners, LLC, was completed on July 17. Boston-based CrossHarbor, which includes several members of the private ski and golf club in Montana, will manage the property with Discovery Land Company. "Today the Club emerges from Chapter 11 as a well capitaliz...

SAM Magazine-Telluride, Colo., July 14, 2009-While Telluride Ski Resort is keeping its base 2009-2010 season pass pricing the same as last season, those who buy early can receive substantial discounts. For example, if four adults purchase season passes (the 4Pass) together during the annual Pass Sale Aug. 3 to Oct. 30, the price drops to the 2007 r...

SAM Magazine-Bariloche, Argentina, July 13, 2009-Catedral ski area in Bariloche, Argentina, the biggest ski area in South America, is selling an online ski pass this winter enabling guests to purchase ski passes wherever they are with a credit card. The online ski pass then automatically downloads to a KeyCard or Proximity Card electronic lift tick...

SAM Magazine-Mount Prospect, Ill., July 13, 2009-According to data in the NSGA Sports Participation survey, there were 6.5 million Americans age 7 or older who skied more than once in 2008, along with 5.9 million snowboarders. Those figures represented increases of 1.9 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively, from 2007. Snowboarding was one of six s...