SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Dec. 17, 2003--A woman and her deceased husband's family won a $17.5 million award yesterday stemming from carbon monoxide poisoning at Vail Resorts' Snake River Lodge and Spa in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 2001. The award, the largest personal injury award ever in Wyoming, included compensatory but no punitive damages. Pla...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Dec. 24, 2003--Vail Resorts and Intrawest have reached an "amicable agreement" to divide the remaining developable assets, liquidate remaining partnership inventory, and ultimately to dissolve their Keystone development partnership. The partnership stems from Vail Resorts' purchase of Keystone in the mid-1990s, at which t...

SAM Magazine--Storrs, Ct., December 29, 2003--Marvin W. Kottke, 80, died of a sudden massive stroke on December 26, 2003. Kottke's work in the ski industry is well known after 14 years of preparing the Kottke End of Season Report for the National Ski Areas Association. Though the report has been assembled by RRC Associates since 1994, it still bear...

The East decidedly had it the hardest during Christmas week, but the news gets better out West. Rain on Christmas Eve for southern New England, then temperatures that soared into the 50s and 60s over Christmas and the following weekend, made for a less-than-stellar holiday week for many ski areas in the Northeast. At Ski Bradford, just north of ...

SAM Magazine--Bozeman, Mont., January 2, 2004--The ownership of the summit of the 11,166-foot Lone Peak, which is home to Big Sky, the Yellowstone Mountain Club and the new Moonlight Basin, is the subject of what is to become a court battle. According to the Billings Gazette, Tim Blixseth, owner of the Yellowstone Club, has filed suit against th...

SAM Magazine--Ludlow, Vt., Jan. 8, 2004--Tim and Diane Mueller, owners of Triple Peaks, LLC have entered into a Definitive Purchase and Sale Agreement to buy Crested Butte Ski Resort from the Callaway and Walton families, owners of Crested Butte Mountain Ski Resort, LLC and it subsidiaries. The Muellers signed a Letter of Intent for the purchase...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Jan. 7, 2004--Weather--too much snow, too much rain--dampened visits on some days during the Christmas-New Year's period. But the longer-than-usual holiday (from December 20 through January 4) and determinedly upbeat customers made this a strong, and in some instances record, holiday season for many resorts across the ...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, Jan. 9, 2004--Park City Mountain Resort will no longer host the "America's Opening" World Cup races in November, which has the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) looking for a new host site. "The challenges of an early season date are extraordinary," said Park City president and GM Vern Greco in explaining t...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Colorado, Jan. 12, 2004--Visits at Colorado resorts declined nine percent from year-ago totals, according to figures released today by Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA). From the start of the season, Oct. 28, through Dec. 31, 2003, total skier visits were 2,671,532, compared to 2002-03's record 2,942,555. This season's tota...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., Jan. 1, 2004--Strong sales of junior gear and apparel and a rebound in the sales of snowboard gear during August through November kept retail sales at ski and snowboard outlets nearly flat with 2002, according to the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Retail Audit. Overall, sales for the entire winter sports market (i...

SAM Magazine--Portland, Maine, Jan. 15, 2004--Maine ski areas have taken advantage of New England's subzero freeze to make snow ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. "The Maine ski industry has been able to make snow during every single day in 2004," said Greg Sweetser, executive director of Ski Maine. All areas are opening new terrain for t...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Jan. 23, 2004--The saga of the failed sale two years ago of Steamboat ski area to Triple Peaks LLC, an investor group headed by Okemo owners Tim and Diane Mueller, is getting longer. On Thursday, the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered the issue back to trial, a ruling that Steamboat owner American Skiing Co. (ASC) plans to appe...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colorado, Jan. 30, 2004--Booth Creek has reported a loss of $5.4 million for fiscal year 2003, which ended Oct. 31, compared to a loss of $1.9 million in fiscal 2002. A decline in skier visits contributed to the wider loss. The company said that skier visits declined nine percent, from 2,154,000 visits in 2002 to 1,953,000 i...

SAM Magazine--Keystone, Colo., Feb. 4, 2004--The U.S. Forest Service approved a 577-acre terrain expansion for Keystone Resort yesterday, making the above-treeline Erickson Bowl and Little Bowl available for snowcat skiing operations. The resort's Keystone Adventure Tours (KAT) will begin operations within in the next few weeks. "We are really e...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, Feb. 4, 2004--Powdr Corporation has named Vern Greco senior vice president-chief operating officer. He will report to Powdr president and CEO John D. Cumming. "This change is intended to accomplish three things," said Cumming. "First and foremost it is our intention to capitalize on the success we have had the past...