• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Milwaukee, Wis., July 18, 2022—In a claim involving an unseated passenger who fell from a lift at Sunburst Ski Hill, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals recently ruled that the waiver signed at the time the plaintiff purchased her lift ticket could be enforced for part of the plaintiff’s claim because the day-pass release included bif...

• Snowmaking
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Winter Park, Colo., July 18, 2022—The booking pace for lodging at Western mountain destinations improved slightly during June, but occupancy is still down compared to both last summer and the pre-pandemic summer of 2019—and bookings remain below the pace of 2021—according to DestiMetrics, the business intelligence division of I...

• Racing
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Roxbury, N.Y., July 14, 2022—A direct lightning strike on July 12, 2022, started a fire in the bottom lift shack of the Plattekill Mountain Northface double, destroying the structure and its contents, including the lift’s drive control. No one was injured in the incident, but the Hall double chair will need a new low-voltage cont...

• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Woodstock, Vt., July 14, 2022—Suicide Six, one of the oldest ski areas in the United States unveiled its new name yesterday: Saskadena Six. The ski area, which is operated by the Woodstock Inn & Resort, Vt., said earlier this year that it would retire its former name because of concerns over its insensitivity to mental health....

• Snowmaking
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Roxbury, N.H., July 14, 2022—Keith Kreischer will join Granite Gorge ski area as its new general manager. New ownership group Granite Gorge Partnership, LLC (GGP) acquired the mountain—which has been shuttered since 2020—at a foreclosure auction on June 3, 2022, for $430,000 and aims to reopen the property this coming winter. ...

• Ski Area Profiles
• Racing

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, July 13, 2022—Todd Bennett will become president and chief operating officer of Deer Valley Resort, Utah, effective Aug. 1, 2022. A ski and hospitality industry veteran of 23 years, with experience at The Walt Disney Company and Vail Mountain, Bennett brings an extensive leadership background to the Alterra Mountai...

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., June 27, 2022—SAM's twelfth Summer Ops Camp—an immersive, hands-on networking and educational event—is heading to Tremblant, Quebec, Sept. 7-9, 2022, for three days of learning about the serious business of summer fun. This year’s camp curriculum will focus on developing a sustainable year-round business mod...

SAM Magazine—South Pomfret, Vt., June 29, 2022—Vermont’s Suicide Six ski area will retire its name this summer due to its negative connotation.A new name has already been determined and will be announced in the coming weeks. “Our resort team embraces the increasing awareness surrounding mental health and shares the growing concerns about t...

• Marketing
• Environment

SAM Magazine—Truckee, Calif., June 24, 2022—Amy Ohran will join Vail Resorts as the new vice president and general manager of Northstar California, effective July 25. She will report to Tom Fortune, VP and COO of the Tahoe Region and Heavenly Mountain Resort. Ohran has been a ski industry leader for 22 years and was previously with Powdr Corp....

• Legal

SAM Magazine—Rangeley, Maine, June 22, 2022—Saddleback Ski Resort has named senior vice president of mountain operations Jim Quimby as the resort’s new general manager, effective immediately. Quimby succeeds Andy Shepard, who stepped down from the role this spring to expand the mountain’s philanthropic mission; Saddleback is owned by the Ar...

• Resort Development

SAM Magazine—Aspen Snowmass, Colo., June 21, 2022—Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) senior vice president of strategy and business development, Rich Burkley, will leave the company to take on the role of CEO at Lake Louise, Alberta, in the coming months.  Burkley joins the Lake Louise team as it moves toward the completion of a major lift, terrain, ...

• Environment

SAM Magazine—Portland, Ore., June 21, 2022—The Indy Pass will now offer two free days of skiing, riding, and cross-country skiing at 100 resorts for winter 2022-23 with the addition of eight new partners—five alpine and three cross country—in the Upper Midwest, New England, and the Pacific Northwest.  Alpine ski areas joining the coalitio...

• Resort Development
• Legal

SAM Magazine—Cambridge, Vt., June 17, 2022—Although the Summer Solstice—the official start of summer—is still a few days away, summer operations are in full swing at resorts across the United States.Sugar Mountain Resort Festivals, barbecues, concerts, clinics, and more fill resort activity schedules. There are, of course, a few exceptions ...

• Resort Development
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, June 16, 2022—The Park City Planning Commission granted an appeal of a previous decision to approve two Park City Mountain (PCM) lift upgrades in a 3-1 vote on Wednesday night, effectively blocking the projects until 2023.  The upgrades were appealed on the basis that the proposed eight-place and six-place chairs...

• Lifts

SAM Magazine—Palisades Tahoe, Calif., June 16, 2022—The Ski California Lift Maintenance and Operations Education (LMOE) Conference drew 329 attendees to Palisades Tahoe for three days of educational sessions, a trade show, and networking.  “The theme of the conference was ‘leadership,’ and we offered several classes on the theme,” sai...