SAM Magazine--Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 20, 2007--What a difference a year makes. New Mexico is enjoying great ski conditions with more than 15 feet of snow so far this year. Thanks to strong El Nino storms, New Mexico has seen a 60 percent increase in ski visits over last season, which was a season the region would rather forget. A storm l...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, February 20, 2007--American Skiing Company (ASC) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Killington and Pico resorts in Vermont to SP Land Company, a major area land owner, for $83.5 million. SP Land Company, which has been in partnership with Killington since 2004 on a large develo...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Feb. 16, 2007-Following weeks of speculation, Peak Resorts has entered a purchase agreement for Mount Snow and Attitash with American Skiing Company for $73.5 million. When completed, the deal will leave Peaks with 11 resorts in Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Ohio. The agreement comes on ...

SAM Magazine-Aspen, Colo., Feb. 6, 2007-Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) has promoted John Rigney to vice president, sales and events and Connie Hamlin to director of sales. Also promoted are Auden Schendler, to executive director, community and environmental responsibility, and Matt Hamilton, to manager of community and environmental responsibility and ...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., Feb. 2, 2007-The American Snowsports Education Association (ASEA, doing business as PSIA and AASI) and the National Ski Patrol (NSP) are ending their 17-year agreement for joint management, and will each have their own separate, dedicated management teams by July 1. Mark Dorsey, currently executive director for both...

SAM Magazine--New York, February 1, 2007--With state-owned ski areas already exempt from sales taxes on equipment and energy purchases, the time may have come for private ski areas in New York to reap some tax benefits of their own. Under a bill proposed by State Senator Elizabeth Little, private resorts could see tax relief from sales and use taxe...

SAM Magazine - Keystone, Colo., January 24, 2007 - Keystone resort has named Doug Lovell as the new director of mountain operations. Lovell makes the move to Keystone from Beaver Creek, and brings more than 13 years of mountain operations and guest services experience in the ski and snowboard industry to his new position. Lovell started at Beav...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Jan. 30, 2007-With one of the strangest winters on record making things tough for resort operators on both the west and east coasts, June Mountain shuttered its doors for the season on Jan. 29 due to a lack of snow. The mountain currently has a mere 3-18 inch base, and a reopening is unlikely even if the Sierra M...

SAM Magazine-New York, Jan. 26, 2007-Bonnier Magazine Group and its U.S. partner, World Publications, are buying the 18 magazines Time Inc. put up for sale last September. The group includes Ski, Skiing, TransWorld Snowboarding, and the rest of the TransWorld stable. Estimated sale price is $220 million to $230 million. Bonnier said the acquisit...

SAM Magazine - Les Arcs, France, January 25, 2007 - Intrawest is committing to a second project in the French resort of Les Arcs. The company, which is close to finishing its first project at the resort, Arc 1950 Le Village, has announced that the new project will be located at Arc 1800 and will be called Edenarc 1800. Edenarc will be a four-st...

SAM Magazine--January, 22, 2007, Flagstaff, AZ--A storm this past weekend brought the Arizona Snowbowl 12 to 18 inches of new and wind-driven snow to the slopes. The optimism is high that the resort will be able to open limited terrain this week. "We did experience a lot of wind last night into today and conditions on the slopes are looking ...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., January 22, 2007--Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. (Booth Creek), owner of six mountain resort properties and select real estate holdings, announced today that it has been purchased by three principals of the company: George Gillett, chairman; Chris Ryman, president; Elizabeth Cole, chief financial officer. Jeff Joyce, a lo...

SAM Magazine - Brighton, UT., January 20, 2007 - Utah's Brighton ski area has been purchased from Boyne USA by Orlando, Florida-based CNL Income Properties. The purchase includes the 850-acre ski and snowboard resort with its 66 marked runs and seven chairlifts, two restaurants, 20-room lodge, ski rental operation and retail space at the ski area's...

SAM Magazine-Alta, Ut., Jan. 17, 2007-With adult single-day tickets at Aspen and Vail rising to more than $80, it may come as a surprise that Alta has been offering free lift-served skiing and riding for years. The area's Sunnyside chairlift provides free lift access for the last 90 minutes of the ski day. The deal is designed to give lower inte...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 17, 2007-In an effort to bring the mountains to the people, Winter Park has started to make snow and install terrain-park features on Denver's unique Ruby Park. Located just outside of downtown Denver, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard is the first resort-built city terrain park for riders and skiers. The resort expects to make more...