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...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Feb. 4, 2003--Vail Resorts has named Ian Arthur, senior director of marketing and brand management for Frontier Airlines for the past two years, as vice president of marketing for Vail and Beaver Creek resorts. He replaces Chris Jarnot, who has been elevated to head of marketing and sales for Vail Resorts. Arthur will ...

SAM Magazine--Whitefish, Mont., February 17, 2004--Big Mountain announced that Frederic Jones has been named the new president and CEO, effective April 1, 2004. Jones replaces Michael Collins who resigned after 15 years at the helm. Most recently, Jones worked for Ski Country Advisors, a business valuation and financial consulting firm in Salt L...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, Feb. 19, 2004--Powdr Corp. has named Peter Curtis to be president and general manager of Park City Mountain Resort. Curtis replaces Vern Greco, who became chief operating officer of Powdr a week ago. "Peter is a seasoned industry veteran and has demonstrated strong leadership qualities in his six years at Park City...

SAM Magazine--Tupper Lake, N.Y., Feb. 19, 2004--A group of investors from Philadelphia has agreed to buy 6,400 acres, including the defunct Big Tupper ski area and thousands of acres around it, with the goal of creating a year-round resort. The Big Tupper ski area has been closed for the last four winters. Michael Foxman, one of the project's ei...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., February 24, 2004--Boyne USA, the owners of Big Sky resort, have filed a suit against neighboring newcomer, Moonlight Basin Ranch. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the suit alleges that Moonlight Basin is trespassing on Big Sky property and endangering its employees and clients. The two areas share a boundary ...

SAM Magazine--Ludlow, Vt., March 2, 2004--As of March 1, Tim and Diane Mueller are the proud owners of Crested Butte Ski Resort in Colorado. The Muellers, who own Okemo, Vt., and run Mount Sunapee, N.H., purchased the resort from the Callaway and Walton families for an undisclosed amount, though speculation puts the figure at about $50 million. ...

SAM Magazine--Killington, Vt., Mar. 3, 2004--In their continuing protest against high taxes on second homes, Killington voters approved a proposal to secede from Vermont and join the state of New Hampshire at the town's annual meeting Mar. 2. Vermont's Act 60 and Act 68, passed years ago, set higher tax rates for second-home properties than for ...

SAM Magazine--Fraser, Colo., Mar. 3, 2004--Marise Cipriani is repositioning her SolVista ski area again, changing the name to The Granby Ranch and marketing the ski area and its related real estate as an affordable mountain resort community. Cipriani purchased the SilverCreek ski area in 1995, and renamed it SolVista in 2000. The Granby Ranch co...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, Mar. 10, 2004--American Skiing Company (ASC) lost $21.7 million in its fiscal second quarter ended Jan. 31, 2004, compared to a loss of $16.7 million for second quarter of 2003. For the first six months of fiscal 2004, net loss totalled $62.9 million, compared with a net loss of $55.8 million in the corresponding peri...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Mar. 10, 2004--Vail Resorts, Inc. reported a net loss for the six months ended Jan. 31, 2004 of $32.1 million, compared to a net loss of $8.4 million for the same period last year. Excluding charges for early extinguishment of debt and mold remediation at the Breckenridge Terrace employee housing, Vail's expected net l...