• Lifts
• Grooming
• Trail Maintenance

SAM Magazine—Beech Mountain, N.C., Jan. 11, 2022—A snowmaking pipe under a chairlift at Beech Mountain ruptured on Friday, Jan. 7, blasting guests passing over it with water. Several people were caught in the high-pressure spray as the lift kept spinning, while others jumped 25 feet from the chair to avoid the water. Two guests were transported...

• Ski Area Profiles

SAM Magazine—Pinkham Notch, N.H., Jan. 10, 2022—On Saturday, Jan. 8, a chair carrying a 22-year-old snowboarder on the Snowcat triple at Wildcat Mountain, N.H., detached from the haul rope and fell nearly 10 feet to the ground. The guest was taken to a nearby hospital with serious rib injuries. According to state fire marshal Sean Toomey, the ...

• Resort Development
• Marketing

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Jan. 10, 2022—Online voting for the 2022 HKD and SAM “I AM a Snowmaker” contest is now open through midnight (EST) on Friday, Jan. 21. Since it debuted the winter of 2013-14, the annual I AM contest—sponsored by HKD Snowmakers—has highlighted the hard work, determination, and camaraderie of snowmakers, reco...

• Ski Area Profiles

SAM Magazine—Cambridge, Vt., Jan. 7, 2022—While many resorts grappled with the impacts of the Omicron surge over the holiday season, which left operators with already-reduced workforces even shorter staffed, visitors still flocked to the mountains in earnest to participate in their favorite winter activities. Angel Fire Fireworks 2022Extreme we...

• Resort Development
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Londonderry, Vt., Jan. 7, 2022—Magic Mountain, Vt., was not able to open today as planned after a member of its ski patrol tested positive for Covid yesterday, leaving the ski area with too few patrollers to safely operate. The news was shared last night in an online “Alpine Update” from Magic Mountain president Geoff Hatheway,...

• Resort Development
• Legal

SAM Magazine—Hancock, Mass., Jan. 6, 2022— Jiminy Peak, Mass., snowmaker Kimberlee Francoeur, 30, of Lanesborough, Mass., died after a snow groomer operator reportedly backed into the snowmobile she was operating during the day on Tuesday, Jan. 4. The Berkshire District Attorney’s office and Massachusetts State Police are investigating the in...

SAM Magazine—Lutsen, Minn., Jan. 6, 2022—Charles Skinner is now the sole owner and president of Lutsen Mountains, Minn., after acquiring co-president Tom Rider’s 50 percent ownership interest in the resort. The stock purchase was made under a process initiated by Rider pursuant to a longstanding buy-sell agreement between the parties. The sp...

• Lifts
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Longmont, Colo., Jan. 5, 2022—Staffing shortages, large crowds, long liftlines, limited terrain, overflowing parking lots, Covid restrictions, and more plagued many resorts during the holiday season, but none more so than Vail Resorts. Across its network of resorts, VR seemed to fare worse than many other resorts—and has dominate...

• Miscellaneous
• Legal

SAM Magazine—Enumclaw, Wash., Jan. 5, 2022—In response to high demand, especially amid ongoing snowfall, Crystal Mountain, Wash., will implement a reservations system for its limited on-resort parking on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for the rest of the season, beginning Jan. 15. It is also “significantly increasing” the use of its overfl...

• Ski School

SAM Magazine—Kimberley, B.C., Jan. 4, 2022—After a suspicious Dec. 18 fire destroyed the control system for the main chairlift at Kimberley Alpine Resort, the ski area managed to find an innovative workaround just in time for the holidays. The disabled chair is the only lift out of the base area village, but with help from neighboring resorts R...

• Lifts
• Area Management

SAM Magazine—Killington Vt., Jan. 3, 2022—A special testing site opened at Killington Resort on Sunday after 5 percent of its staff contracted Covid over the holiday period.  The Vermont Department of Health confirmed that, as of Thursday, 86 Killington employees had tested positive, making this the largest known outbreak currently affecting ...

• Personnel Issues
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Superior, Colo., Jan. 3, 2022—In response to the wildfire disaster that struck Boulder County just before the new year, local Powdr-owned resorts Copper Mountain and Eldora Mountain are launching an initiative to provide financial relief for those impacted. A view of a Boulder County neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire i...

• Marketing
• Ski School

SAM Magazine—Lakewood, Colo., Jan. 3, 2022—The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) has cancelled its in-person Western and Eastern Winter Conferences and Tradeshows, scheduled for mid-January at Snowmass, Colo., and early-February at Killington, Vt., respectively. The cancellations come as Covid cases surge across the country. Member feedba...

• Area Management
• Miscellaneous

SAM Magazine—Wintergreen, Va., Dec. 31, 2021—Due to unseasonably warm temperatures, Wintergreen Resort in Virginia temporarily suspended skiing and snowboarding operations Dec. 29. “While we wish our mountain was completely covered in snow with all outlets and operations in full swing, we are weathering the weather (or lack thereof), with ou...

• Resort Development
• Personnel Issues

SAM Magazine—Norden, Calif., Dec. 29, 2021—“WE ARE BURIED—it feels like March,” said Sugar Bowl general manager Greg Dallas on Tuesday as the resort was preparing to reopen after a historic, multi-day winter storm dropped more than 10 feet of snow since Christmas Eve, closing highways and forcing Sugar Bowl and several other California re...