Snow Summit To Purchase Big Bear
The two southern California ski areas, separated by only a few miles, have long been in competition with each other, with Snow Summit generating, on average, 500,000 skier and snowboarder visits and Big Bear averaging 250,000 to 300,000 visits. In recent years, Snow Summit has stepped up its interest in purchasing Big Bear, especially in light of the growing competition from Mountain High resort, which has been posting 500,000-plus visits.
The sale of Big Bear is expected to close in mid- to late September, subject to final documentation and various closing conditions. Wells Fargo Bank is involved in the financing.
Peak Resorts Takes Over Crotched Mountain
The president of Peak Resorts, Tim Boyd, announced that they will re-open and operate Crotched Mt. Ski Area, near Manchester, N.H., starting in the 2003-04 season. The transaction, which was signed July 19, involves a 100-year lease.
This move by Peak is the first outside of their core operations in the Midwest, where they either own or operate four areas in Missouri, Indiana and Ohio.
Crotched, with 1,850 of vertical, will be operated as a day area, with emphasis on snowmaking.
Boyd announced that Felix Kagi, long associated with his operation of Paoli Peaks ski area in Indiana, will run Crotched Mt.
Seven Springs Feud Ends
After years of legal battles, the fate of Seven Springs ski resort in Pennsylvania has finally been resolved by the state’s Supreme Court. In a 4 to 1 vote, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the high court ruled that two of three families that own Seven Springs can sell their shares of the resort as part of a merger without offering them to the third family member first. The two family members, Herman Dupre and Luitgarde Dupre Sujansky, had an agreement with Booth Creek Ski Holdings in 1998 to merge Seven Springs into Booth Creek by buying out shares valued at $88.5 million. The third family member, Lois Dupre Shuster, widow of Phillip Dupre, opposed the sale and challenged Dupre and Sujansky in court. One year later, with no end in sight to the legal battle, Booth Creek backed out of the deal.
In the court’s decision, the 12-page opinion stated that a cash-for-stock merger would be “a corporate act, not a shareholder act, and therefore does not fall into…the buy-sell agreement’s restrictive transfer provisions.”
The Dupre-Sujansky families said that there is no pending merger or other transaction at this time.
Sunday River and Sugarloaf Unify
American Skiing Company has decided to consolidate functions at its two Maine ski areas: Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA. For starters, the senior management teams will unite under John Diller, previously the managing director at Sugarloaf. ASC plans to launch a joint marketing and skier development programs.
The two areas combined attract one million skier visits, which represents about 15 percent of the total visits in New England.
Snowbird Gets Court’s Approval for Expansion
The United States Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision that the U.S. Forest Service acted appropriately in approving Snowbird’s expansion plans.
The decision, handed down this summer, clears the way for Snowbird to begin construction on Hidden Peak and to go ahead with a land exchange in Mineral Basin between Snowbird and the Forest Service. Design approval from the Forest Service and Salt Lake city is still pending. Construction is not planned to commence before next summer.
Magic Sold at Auction
John C. Nelson, who held a $1,000,000 mortgage on Magic Mountain, Vt., placed a winning bid on the area at a foreclosure auction in August. His bid for $500,000 went uncontested. Nelson bought back the area to resolve fuzzy ownership issues at Magic—up to 40 entities had an interest. At presstime, Nelson, now the sole owner, was pursuing the sale of the 706-acre resort to a private party.
Snowboard Suit Takes Strange Twist
In a highly unusual decision on July 12, 2002, Judge Paul Alvarado of San Francisco Superior Court vacated a pain and suffering award of $713,000 to paralyzed snowboarder Charlene Vine and ordered a new trial on the non-economic (pain and suffering) damages.
Vine had filed suit against the Bear Valley Ski Company as a result of injuries suffered in April 2000 at an end-of-season employees’ party on a snowboard jump constructed for use at the party. The jury had awarded Vine $713,000 for pain and suffering, along with a $3.7 million economic award. The jury found Vine 54 percent at fault in the accident, leaving Bear Valley liable for $1.7 million of the economic damages. Vine’s attorneys moved for a new trial on the ground that the non-economic damages award was inadequate, and Judge Alvarado granted the motion, stating that “$713,000 is clearly inadequate in light of the catastrophic injury suffered by the plaintiff.”
Peter Koenig, lead defense attorney for Bear Valley, said the latest development will have no immediate effect. The defense is appealing the original verdict on several grounds, and Koenig said it will be at least 16 months before the case is closed. “This looks like a Teflon verdict—it’s non-stick,” he told SAM.
Steamboat Suit Goes On
The lawsuit set in motion by Diane and Tim Mueller, owners of Okemo, Vt., and principals of Triple Peaks LLC, against American Skiing Company (ASC) is still very much alive—it’s just hung up on jurisdictional issues.
The suit was filed after ASC pulled out of a deal at the last minute that would have sold Steamboat Springs to Triple Peaks. Triple Peaks is suing to force the $91.4-million deal through, claiming ASC breached its contract.
The holdup has been whether to try the case in Steamboat, where Triple Peaks wants it, or Denver, where ASC wants it. At presstime, no decision had been made.
Snow Monsters Join Ski Team
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team (USST) will join forces with the Snow Monsters this winter to help promote skiing and snowboarding to kids. The six mascots, Snow Tiger, Snow Snake, Mogul Gopher, Blizzard Baby, Snowboard Beaver and Powder Pig, will appear at major USST events, which will be televised on NBC, ESPN and Outdoor Life Network.
Crested Butte Joins Lid Campaign
Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) will now require kids ages 12 and under to wear helmets while participating in ski and snowboard school programs.
“We support NSAA’s Lids On Kids Campaign, but feel strongly enough about the benefits of wearing helmets to take it one step further and mandate helmet use while kids are under our care in the Ski and Snowboard School,” said Randy Barrett, CBMR senior vice president of resort operations.
Outdoor Retailer Shuts Down Magazine
Outdoor Retailer (OR) magazine ceased publication this past August after 20-plus years. Owner VNU Business Media will continue to run the summer and winter Outdoor Retailer trade shows and will also continue an OR web presence.
ISF Closes Doors
The International Snowboard Federation (ISF) shut down this summer due to financial problems. The organization was the first to bring snowboarding to the international competition level, but lost its battle to the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) to be snowboarding’s governing body. The feud between the ISF and FIS split the snowboarding community for many years and it remains to be seen whether ISF loyalists will take to the FIS circuit.
People
Colorado Ski Country USA named Rob Perlman chairman and CEO. Perlman was executive director of marketing and sales at Mammoth Mountain, Calif. The organization also promoted Sue Baldwin to vice president of business development… The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) has named Alan Bender the new alpine coach for the disabled team. Also at (USSA), Tim Ross retired as coaches education director… At the National Ski Patrol (NSP), Judy Over, education director, has announced her retirement. Leif Borgeson will take over the role. The NSP also voted to shrink its board from 24 to 13 members… Bill Beerman has been elected the new president of the Professional Ski Instructors of America Eastern division… At the Cross Country Ski Areas Association, Janet Gates of Hardwood Hills, Ont., was named chair of the North American group for the 2002-2003 season.
The U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame announced this year’s inductees: Georgene Bihlman, Hans Gmoser, John P. Litchfield, Dr. Robert Oden, Carroll P. Reed and Nikki L. Stone.
Ski Racing International magazine announced the addition of Sarah J.M. Tuff to its staff as managing editor. Also, Nathaniel Vinton has come aboard as a staff writer.
At Wachusett, Mass., Jonathan White was hired as the new director of food and beverage and Aline Albee was named special events and function sales director.
Up in Vermont, Okemo announced that Dan Bergeron was promoted to director of the Cutting Edge Learning Center… Kelly Pawlak takes on the role of vice president of marketing and sales at Mount Snow.
Further north, Sugarloaf/USA, Maine, named Bill Swain communications manager and Tom Butler was promoted to director of the ski and snowboard school.
Moving west, Jackson Hole, Wyo., welcomes Ben Rifkin as communications coordinator.
In Colorado, Bob Kunkel of Durango Mountain was named the ski industry representative on the Colorado Tourism Office board… At Aspen, Greg Boyd becomes the new terrain park manager.
At Angel Fire Resort, N.M., Ken Stone has joined the company as its new director of sales and marketing.
Heading up to Utah, Park City named Jim Mangan its new freeride manager and promoted Kat Kirchhoff to events manager… At The Canyons, newly-arrived F. Scott Pierpont was promoted to interim managing director to replace Blaise Carrig, who resigned to become the new CEO at Heavenly Resort in California. Carrig replaces Dennis Harmon who stepped down.
Also in California, Brad Wilson, assistant general manager at Mountain High, resigned to become the new GM at Dodge Ridge… At Mammoth, both Pam Murphy and Bill Cockroft were promoted to senior vice presidents.
Supplier Personnel
Leitner-Poma of America announced that Rick Spear will assume the position of president, J.F. Mugnier will become vice president/engineering and Bud Haupt takes on the role of vice president/finance. Prior president Dean Anderson moves to the board of directors of Leitner-Poma.
Snow Economics has announced that Robert Stott has rejoined the company as its western HKD technology sales manager.
Luke Edgar is now the director and general manager of snowboarding for Atomic Snowboarding USA.
At Anon Optics, which is associated with Burton, Stephen Clearly becomes the new category product manager.
Reliable Racing Supply has announced the addition of three new reps for Acerbis helmets: George Crown (N. California and N. Nevada); Ned Johnson (Washington, Oregon and Alaska); and Rich Koshimizu (S. California, S. Nevada and Arizona).
Supplier News
Keeplan International has entered into a strategic alliance with Perpetual Products Company and will become the exclusive distributor for the company’s ski and snowboard racks, tool benches and accessories. (www.keeplan.com)
AMI Group’s OnTheSnow.com, has undergone a re-tooling to make it more user friendly, accessible, easier to navigate and more relevant.
Burton has also announced a revamping of its site, www.burton.com, which now features hundreds of videos, in-depth product info, technical details, an on-line board museum and news.
Lastly, Toko USA has designed a new website to address the specific needs of the U.S. market, including all cross country, snowboard and alpine-related products, R&D and wax recommendations.
Alpine Canada has signed a multimillion dollar skiwear agreement with Spyder Active Sports Inc.
ColorID, LLC announced that they have expanded their service bureau program to include a free photo ID software package that allows small businesses to design their own photo IDs and have them sent to ColorID for printing. To find out more, go to www.colorid.com.
Wintersteiger purchased Spirakut shop tools and accessories. Spirakut products will continue to be sold under the Spirakut name.
