Founder Of Mt. Hood Retires SAM Magazine-Mt. Hood, OR, October 25, 2006-The founder of Mt. Hood Meadows Resort, Franklin Drake, has announced that he is turning management of the resort over to his two protegees. Drake, who was the president/CEO of Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort in addition to the founder of the ski area, has managed the mountain s...

SAM Magazine- Alta, Utah, October 25, 2006 - Alta ski resort has committed to purchasing 900,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) of renewable energy over the next 12-month period. The purchase will offset more than 23 percent of the ski resort's annual energy usage. The move marks the latest effort by the Utah resort to limit the environmental impacts of...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Ut, October 23, 2006-US Skiing has announced the 2006 Nor-Am Freestyle Schedule. The season opens with a selection round at Park City, Utah. These December events will determine which freestyle athletes compete on the Nor-Am Circuit, which officially opens with events at Mont Gabriel, Quebec. A surprising addition to this ye...

SAM Magazine - Kingston, NY, October 24, 2006 -- The chalk boards at the base of ski lifts across North America have been an institution for decades, providing lift ops the opportunity to scrawl cryptic jokes, the ski patrol a forum for tracking down lost kids and the place to view-at least in Vail -updated NFL playoff scores if the skiing was too ...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Oct. 20, 2006-Intrawest laid off 200 full-time employees, primarily managers, across its several divisions and resorts earlier this week as part of an effort to improve its bottom-line performance in the coming year. The move was made the day before Intrawest shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the company's ...

SAM Magazine-Andover, N.H., Oct. 20, 2006-In a move that could have a big impact on the retail and rental ski equipment markets, Dalbello Skiboots and Elan Skis are beginning a new strategic global alliance as of Jan. 1. Clint Lyon, CEO of the newly formed Dalbello~Elan Sports, said, "Dalbello and Elan firmly believe that focused, specialized co...

SAM Magazine--October 20, 2006--Pennsylvania's Seven Springs Resort has announced that it will be withdrawing its limited Category 3 gaming license application after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board determined that the reworked proposal would not comply with the current requirements of the gaming regulations. The inability to secure a g...

SAM Magazine--Burlington, VT, October 20, 2006-- The Vermont Snow Sports Research Team has received a $20,000 grant from the Fletcher Allen Community Health Foundation to expand its program to increase voluntary ski helmet use among children to prevent serious head injuries. The snow sport research team is a partnership of the University Of Vermon...

SAM Magazine--Wolf Creek, Colo., October 20, 2006--Colorado Wild and the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service's decision to allow two access roads accessing the proposed Wolf Creek Village to be built. Both groups contend that the roads, which would cross public lands, are only two dominos in th...

SAM Magazine-Portland, Ore., October 15, 2006--Salomon North America is expected to announce that the company will relocate from Portland, Oregon to Ogden, Utah in the summer of 2007. The move is part of a reorganization by Salomon's parent company, Finland based Amer Sports Corp, which will consolidate the groups North American holdings, which als...

SAM Magazine--Beaver Creek, Colo., October 17, 2006--Plans by Vail Resorts to build an Alpine slide on Beaver Creek have local homeowners up in arms. The slide, proposed for Beaver Creek's Haymeadow area, has been aggressively opposed by local property owners, including the Beaver Creek Property Owners Association, with approximately 2,000 voicing ...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, BC, October 17, 2006-- Fortress Investment Group is expected to become the new owner of Intrawest after Intrawest shareholders approved the sale of the company to the private investment firm. The deal, worth $2.8 billion needed the approval of two-thirds of Intrawest shareholders to be consummated. The decision to sell was ...

SAM Magazine-Summit County, Colo., Oct. 13, 2006-This is what they were hoping for when they installed snowmaking four years ago. And today, for this year, they are the champions. Colorado's Arapahoe Basin beat out perennial champion Loveland for the first time, chalking up the earliest opening ever for the 60-year old area and claiming boasting ri...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Lakes, CA., Oct. 11, 2006-Last April, a tragic accident at Mammoth Mountain resulted in the deaths of three ski patrollers. James Juarez, John "Scott" McAndrews and Charles Walter Rosenthal all died from a fall into a volcanic fumarole inside the ski area boundary. The California Department of Industrial Relations' Division of ...

SAM Magazine--October 11, 2006--Ski Utah has announced a new initiative to combat global warming. Called KeepUtahCool.com, the new website offers information on global warming, how warming impacts the ski industry and what individuals can do to help combat global warming. In addition, the site also has coverage of what Utah ski resorts are doing to...