SAM Magazine-Breckenridge, Colo., Nov. 7, 200 -Skiers will have plenty to celebrate this weekend as the ski season kicks off in earnest, with resorts opening across North America. In Colorado, Arapahoe, Loveland and Copper Mountain have already been hosting skiers and snowboarders for the past few weeks, with Arapahoe Basin leading the early season...

SAM Magazine-Driggs, Id., Nov. 7, 2007-Grand Targhee Resort has purchased new employee housing just north of town here, in the Buffalo Valley Condominiums. The 16 three-bedroom, two-bath units are fully furnished and contain a washer/dryer and central vac system. Monthly rents start at $300 per employee and include Wi-Fi Internet service. Both sin...

SAM Magazine-North Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 7, 2007-Grouse Mountain is launching a groundbreaking-or at least snow-moving-program called Build Your Own Park. This gives passholders and park locals the opportunity to design the parks through a series of season-long surveys. Riders will vote on what features should be built next and provide feedback on ...

SAM Magazine-Windham, N.Y., Nov. 6, 2007-A mere eight miles apart, Hunter Mountain and Windham are offering visitors an inexpensive way to sample the disparate vibe of both with a single ticket package. The resorts are offering guests The Winter Card ($119), which gives skiers two days of skiing and riding at Hunter and two days at Windham. The dea...

SAM Magazine-Keystone, Colo., Nov. 2, 2007-Keystone's 2007-2008 season started today at 9 a.m., a week earlier than planned, thanks to more than two feet of natural snow and efficient snowmaking. Terrain park. Photo by Leisa Gibson.  The mountain is operating from the River Run Village base area for the intermediate run of Spring Dipper, ...

SAM Magazine-Canmore, Alberta, Nov. 1, 2007-Colorado-based East West Partners and Morgan Stanley Real Estate have acquired Three Sisters Mountain Village, a 1,800-acre partially completed Canadian Rockies resort community near Banff, adjacent to the historic mining town of Canmore (site of Nordic events at the 1988 Olympics). East West Partners wil...

SAM Magazine-Sunday River, Me., Oct. 31, 2007-What a difference a year makes. Unlike last fall, when snowmaking across the East was stymied by unseasonably warm temperatures, this year seems to be on track. At Sunday River, where consistently cold nights have allowed the mountain to pump out the white stuff, the area is open for one day, making it ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 30, 2007-Snowsports Industries America is moving its annual trade show to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver in 2010, ending more than three decades in Las Vegas. For SIA, the new location offers more space and a closer connection with the mountains-not to mention the higher visibility that comes with being one of t...

SAM Magazine-Green Valley Lake, Calif., Oct. 29, 2007-Trinity Mountain Resort was burned last week by the Slide fire. No lives were lost, but ten percent of the homes in Green Valley Lake were destroyed, and the one and only chairlift at Trinity was also burned. The damage could have been worse. The area had recently remodeled the base lo...

SAM Magazine - Telluride, Colo., October 29, 2007 - Dave Riley, Telluride's new CEO, is creating controversy in this southern Colorado ski town. Riley has raised eyebrows with his contention that the operators of the Mountain Village to Town gondola do not deserve a raise, as they are already getting paid too much. While the town of Telluride...

SAM Magazine-Bethel, Maine, Oct. 29, 2007-Sunday River and Sugarloaf, Maine, and Bretton Woods and Attitash, N.H., are among the handful of Eastern areas that began snowmaking operations last night. Low temperatures and humidity created good conditions for making snow. Temperatures bottomed out at 15° F. at the summit of Sunday River, while 18 h...

SAM Magazine-Red Lodge, Mont., Oct. 26, 2007-An affiliate of JMA Ventures, LLC has purchased Red Lodge Mountain Resort. JMA has, in the past eighteen months, also bought Homewood and Alpine Meadows, Calif. JMA is a San Francisco-based real estate investment company.     "We're very excited to be involved with Red Lodge Mountain Resort,...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 23, 2007-After Vail spent approximately $2 million in an attempt to prevent the American Skiing Company (ASC) from selling The Canyons ski resort to Talisker Corporation, a Denver judge has backed Talisker and ASC and nixed VR's attempts to stop the sale. ASC now plans to proceed with the sale to Talisker, and anticipat...

SAM Magazine - Whistler, B.C., October 9, 2007 - As anyone who has skied Whistler in the past decade knows, the ski resort relies on an annual influx from Down Under. If any evidence is needed, look no further than the raucous celebrations on Australia Day, where the town - and the bars - are taken over by people with funny accents and an affinity ...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 10, 2007-Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) will serve natural, hormone-free meats and poultry and organic dairy products in 40 on-mountain restaurants at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly during the 2007-2008 ski season. VR says it will serve more meals made with natural meats and certified organic d...