SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Sept. 8, 2004--For the 13th time in 17 years, Vail tops SKI Magazine's annual Top 60 resort ranking. The list is based on a survey of more than 20,000 veteran SKI subscribers. Vail leads a group of six Colorado resorts in the top ten. Deer Valley and Snowmass each move up a notch in this year's poll, to the No. 2. a...

SAM Magazine--Ligonier, Pa., Sept. 6, 2004--Star-crossed Laurel Mountain Ski Resort, which failed to operate during the 2003-04 season, has defaulted on a $1 million loan, and several assets, including groomers and the area's snowmaking system, are going up for auction on Sept. 17. Owner George Mowl had borrowed the money from Somerset Trust Co. in...

SAM Magazine--Silverton, Colo., Sept. 6, 2004--Silverton Mountain was the first U.S. ski area to get skiers and riders onto its slopes for the 2004-05 season on Sept. 4 following heavy snowfall down to the area's 10,400-foot base elevation. The snowfall was fueled by moisture from Tropical Storm Howard. This is the third year in a row that Silve...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Aug. 30, 2004--A report critical of the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA)'s Sustainable Slopes Program has itself drawn criticism from the resort industry. The report, authored by two university professors, concludes that the program amounts to little more than greenwashing. Resorts have criticized the report fo...

SAM Magazine--Bellaire, Mich., Aug. 30, 2004--Michigan's Shanty Creek Resort & Club has defaulted on a $20.35 million mortgage, according to its lender, Comerica Bank, which has initiated foreclosure proceedings on several properties, including the Schuss Mountain ski area. Also named in the foreclosure are the Schuss Mountain golf course (along wi...

SAM Magazine--Rumford, Me., Aug. 30, 2004--Black Mountain has banned use of all tobacco products at the resort, indoors and out. The policy may soon spread to other community-oriented areas owned by the Maine Winter Sports Center, in Mars Hill, Fort Kent and Presque Isle. The Black ban is total: it covers cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing t...

SAM Magazine--Crested Butte, Colo., Aug. 24, 2004--Crested Butte Mountain Resort has named Randy Barrett general manager and vice president. As GM, Barrett will take on some duties formerly handled by John Norton, who resigned in early August as the Crested Butte resort's president and CEO. Crested Butte co-owner Tim Mueller of Vermont-based Triple...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., Aug. 24, 2004--U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Yellowstone Mountain Club owner Tim Blixseth against the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to gain control of a parcel of land atop Lone Peak, home to both Big Sky and Moonlight Basin and neighbor to the Yellowstone Club. The judge rul...

SAM Magazine--Mont Tremblant, Que., Aug. 24, 2004--Daniel Cordier, a shareholder in the Gray Rocks ski area, is purchasing the area and will open it for the 2004-05 season. The purchase follows the announcement in early July that the area and its hotel would close for the coming winter season. Cordier has held the title of hotel vice president from...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Aug. 20, 2004--Vail Resorts has signed contracts worth $43.8 million for the sale of 11 townhomes in the elite Gore Creek Place development in Vail's LionsHead neighborhood. The Gore Creek Place project includes 16 townhomes in all, ranging in size from 3,500 to 4,400 square feet. All 11 townhomes, part of Vail's New D...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 19, 2004--Several resorts are implementing the WinterKids' National Outdoor Learning Curriculum in in their local communities this season. The resorts include Crystal Mountain, Mich., Thunder Ridge Ski Area, N.Y., Cataloochee Ski Area, N.C., and Ski Areas of New York (SANY). In addition SkiTops, a Colorado-based ...

SAM Magazine--Ishpeming, Mich., Aug. 12, 2004--Olympic champions Picabo Street and Donna Weinbrecht, who both collected titles at the Olympic, World Championship and World Cup levels, headline the 2004 inductees for the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. Street earned an Olympic silver medal in downhill at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, then won gol...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, B.C., Aug. 12, 2004--Intrawest is forming a partnership with CNL Income Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust, in which CNL will acquire an 80 per cent interest in commercial properties at nine Intrawest resort villages, with a total value of $160 million. Intrawest will continue to manage and lease all of the re...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 11, 2004--U.S. ski areas tallied a total of 57.07 million visits during the 2003/04 season, according to the NSAA's final 2003/04 Kottke End-of-Season Survey. That represents the third best season in the industry's history and continues a hot streak: The past four seasons include the industry's three best seasons...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., Aug. 11, 2004--The Yellowstone Club will pay $1.8 million and complete a list of resoration projects to settle claims brought against it by the Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act during 2001. Although the Club denies wrongdoing, it agreed to pay the penalty and replace or repa...