IBM Drops Olympic Sponsorship for 2002
The vacancy left by IBM could be filled by dividing the services they provided among several companies—for example, having one TOP sponsor for hardware, one for software and one for systems integration. Frank Zang, spokesperson for the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, says that they are optimistic about taking advantage of the growing technology market and emerging hardware and software providers.
Another organization that could benefit from new sponsors is the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), which has been hard at work beefing up their sponsorship programs. “IBM’s departure doesn’t impact us much as we never had a relationship with them,” says USSA spokesperson Tom Kelly, “But any company coming in certainly opens up opportunities for us.”
Papers Selected for Presentation at OITAF 99
After meeting at Marco Island in May and in Munich in July, the Reading Committee for OITAF (the international organization for transportation by wire rope) has selected 63 papers to be published for the International Congress in San Francisco in May 1999. Many of the papers, whose authors hail from 11 countries, will also be presented at the conference in technical sessions that will include a discussion period following the 15-minute presentation of each paper. Sessions may contain more than one paper for similar topics. Papers fall into the following categories: resort design, economics, regulatory issues, environment, technical developments and peoplemovers. (A complete listing of papers can be found on the Web at www.oitaf.com and www.saminfo.com)
Olympian Ned Gillette Killed in Pakistan
Former Olympian cross country skier Ned Gillette was shot and killed while trekking in Pakistan. His wife, Susie Patterson, was wounded in the attempted robbery. They were asleep in their tent in northern Kashmir when they were attacked. Local police have charged two suspects with murder and assault.
Gillette, 53, was on the A team for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team from 1967-69 and participated on the 1968 Olympic team. He then went on to organize adventure excursions, including circumnavigating Mt. Everest on skis and rowing from southernmost South America to Antarctica with three colleagues.
Patterson, also an Olympian, won the 1974 U.S. slalom championship and the national downhill title in 1976.
$57 Million Marketing Initiative Revised
The $57 million national marketing initiative announced in ads in SAM and Wintersport Business this past spring has taken a new direction. The original concept called for all NSAA members to donate a percentage of ticket sales into a national marketing war chest. However, at the urging of NSAA President Michael Berry, the initiative’s originators—Les Otten of American Skiing Company (ASC), Adam Aron of Vail Resorts and Alexander Gillett (representing his father George Gillett) of Booth Creek Ski Holdings—made the decision to back off of this goal. Instead, Rick Shoup, president of the California-based Advice Group, has been hired to draft a Request for Credentials, seeking ideas and approaches for stimulating the growth of winter activities.
The request will be sent out to as many as 40 ad agencies, PR firms and marketing specialists. An industry committee will review proposals submitted by the agencies with the goal of choosing one by January ’99 and charging them to develop a campaign to be presented to the industry at the NSAA national convention in May ’99. The campaign would be in effect for the 1999-00 ski season.
At presstime, the committee included: David Crowley of Wachusett Mountain, Mass.; Vern Greco of Purgatory, Colo.; Karl Kapuscinski of Mountain High, Calif.; Hank Kashiwa of Volant, Bruce Mainzer of Vail, Julie Maurer of Booth Creek, John Norton of Aspen Skiing Company; Les Otten of ASC; Ed Pitoniak of Intrawest and Michele Reese of Big Mountain Ski and Summer Resort, Mont.
Bolton Valley Back on the Block
After a long and frustrating journey, Mason Dwinell has backed out of the $2.5 million agreement to purchase Vermont’s Bolton Valley Ski Area from Lyndonville Savings Bank and Trust Co. A foreclosure has not been completed because of labyrinthine financial problems, although one is expected this fall.
Amid the tangled financial web put together over the years to keep the resort afloat: condo associations are still claiming stakes in the resort, the owner of the base lodge refused to negotiate with Dwinell for its use and the name “Bolton Valley” is separately owned, forcing Dwinell to use a variation while operating the resort.
In the meantime, Lyndonville Savings is seeking a new buyer so the area can open this season. So far, the bank has met with six buyers, but no deal had been announced at presstime.
Ski Hall of Fame Selects Four Inductees
Electors for the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame selected four out of 10 nominees for entry: Anna McIntyre, of Waterville Valley, N.H., William Tanler (posthumously), of Santa Fe, N.M., Warren Witherell, of Hobe Sound, Fla., and John Woodward of Mesa, Ariz. Induction ceremonies are scheduled for September 18 and 19 at the Hall in Ishpeming, Mich.
Anna McIntyre is a towering figure in the field of running top-level alpine and snowboarding events and was largely responsible for snowboarding’s inclusion in the USSA competitive program.
Bill Tanler is best known as the founder and editor of a number of ski publications that played significant roles in the development of the sport, including: Ski Racing, The Ski Industry Letter and Wintersport Business. Other editorial posts included executive editor of Ski and editor of Ski Area Management.
Warren Witherell made his mark as an extraordinarily dynamic ski racing coach over a 30-year period, whose two books, “How the Racers Ski” and “The Athletic Skier” were extremely influential, not only in racing circles, but also in all the instructional disciplines.
John Woodward was active in the ski equipment and clothing industry as a partner in Anderson and Thompson. He retired in 1975.
In other Hall of Fame news, Diana Golden, the extraordinary Olympic champion on the U.S. Disabled Team, was inducted July 23 into the Hall in a special ceremony in Providence, R.I., witnessed by a sizable crowd that included many ski industry notables. Scheduling conflicts had prevented her from attending the regular induction in the fall of 1997.
Ski Area Sales
Anthony Lake Mountain Resort, Ore., was sold by majority shareholders to Parke and Gail Ball and Lee and Connie Kearney of Vancouver, Wash., and Kim and Dana Kutsch of Albany, Ore. Richard Pignone, formerly at Hoodoo Ski Area, is the new general manager, while Joseph Batty was hired as operations manager.
The new owners, all locals who grew up skiing at the resort, are developing a master plan for future upgrades to increase utilization of the area’s 2,000 skiable acres. For this season, a handle tow is being installed on beginner terrain and a Bombardier snowcat was purchased.
Management control at Swain Ski and Snowboard Resort, NY., has been transferred to a Rochester-based group, Ski and Snowboard Area Management, L.L.C., while purchase negotiations are underway. The five-investor group is led by real-estate developer David Flaum. Sharon Smith, former wife of previous owner Robin Smith, has been named general manager of the resort. Improvements for this season include a tubing park and handle tow, as well as increased snowmaking.
In Canada, Charlie Locke has added the third largest ski area in Quebec, Stoneham Resort, to his six Rocky Mountain ski resorts. Locke bought the 400,000-skier-visit area out of the Canadian version of Chapter 11 for an undisclosed sale price.
People
Peter Roth has been hired as the vice president of marketing and sales for Sunday River, Maine. . .Chuck Allen is the new director of snowboarding and special events at Mountain High Resort, Calif… Carl Williams leaves Stratton, Vt., to become general manager of June Mountain at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., and Jack Copeland, a 25-year Mammoth veteran, was named general manager of recreation services. Rob Perlman, previously the marketing manager for Vail and Beaver Creek Resorts, was named senior director of marketing for Mammoth, filling the vacancy left by Pam Murphy’s promotion to general manager of Mammoth Mountain West.
Bill Murphy has been promoted to executive vice-president of Silver Creek Resort, Colo. . .Priscilla Coffin, former director of financial planning at Vail Associates, was hired as the corporate director of financial planning at Booth Creek Ski Holdings. Also at Booth Creek, Kim Wall is now corporate director of purchasing, Bill Carr takes over as corporate purchasing manager for eastern resorts and Vicki Silvera is the new corporate information manager. . .At Aspen, Craig Ferraro accepted a new position as director of business development. . .Erin Bernall has been hired as communications manager for Northstar-at-Tahoe, Calif…At Copper Mountain, Colo., Hilary Fadner was promoted to director of communications and Wenda Huseman was named director of marketing.
Mark Wren has been appointed director of lodging for Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, Utah. . .Warren Cook has been promoted to chief operating officer for ASC. ..Tim and Diane Mueller, owners of Okemo, Vt., who recently took over the lease for Mount Sunapee, N.H., announced several staff changes. Don MacAskill, VP and general manager of Okemo, will oversee all operations at Mt. Sunapee. Bill Ulinski, a longtime Sunapee employee, was named director of operations. Dyke Shaw moves from Okemo to become Sunapee’s director of marketing and sales, while Chris Corliss, was named mountain manager.
Tom Spangler, former general manager of Eldora, Colo., and project manager for Jenlynn/ Kimley-Horn, has joined Jackson Hole, Wyo., as general manager, while Rick Dow has been promoted to food and beverage director. . .Sheila Greeno has been named director of sales and marketing and Jim Kirstine is the new slope maintenance manager at Diamond Peak, Nev… Matthew Sawyer was named director of marketing and sales for Butternut Basin, Mass. . .The new position of training and employee relations manager at Sierra-at-Tahoe, Calif., has been filled by Brittany Clelan…At Squaw Valley, Calif., Katja Dahl was named the new community relations coordinator, Mike Livak the director of marketing and administration and Robert Frohlich was hired as communications consultant.
Technology at ASC and Vail Hits New Levels
American Skiing Company (ASC) and Vail Resorts have both chosen WorldRes, Inc., an Internet-based hotel reservation network, to handle online reservations. According to WorldRes, their technology allows resorts to combine real-time lodging inventory with sales of other products and services, including lift tickets. WorldRes partner Resort Sports Network will handle the installations.
Also at Vail Resorts, a $700,000 Alpha Server 8400 computer system was purchased from Denver-based Digital Equipment Corp. to speed up automated transactions—lift ticket sales, rental and retail operations—at its four Colorado resorts. It is one of only four such systems in the world; the others are at NASA, Microsoft and Hill Air Force Base in Utah. —reporting by Ken Castle
Insurer Willis Corroon Goes Private
Willis Corroon, the world’s fourth-largest insurance broker and one of the largest insurers of ski areas, will be taken private in a $1.6 billion buyout by a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company (KKR). According to Willis Corroon executives, it will be business as usual in the ski industry. This is the fourth turnover in ownership for the company in recent years.
Supplier News
American Locker named Ted Redding regional sales manager in its southeast region. . .Ride Sports has announced several new vice presidents: Scott Mavis in marketing, Mark Brasier in sales and Greg Cook in operations. G.Scott Stewart is CFO/VP of finance. . .Patrick Rosier, former vice president of marketing for Walt Disney Attractions in Europe, has been named president of Bollé Europe.
Delaney Snowboarding has moved its camps from Vail and Aspen to Copper Mountain, Colo., and expanded the programs. . .Mountain High, Calif., announced the purchase of a fully-integrated Ski Data ticket system to provide direct-to-lift access using magnetic strip and RF technology. . .Promotions at The Skiing Company include Bill Grout to Chief of Skiing Company Properties and Brian Metzler to managing editor of STN Online. . .Peterson Companies has added Surfer Publications, including Powder and Snowboarder magazines to its newly-formed Raw Sports Group. Former STN editor Bruce Stoff was hired as editorial director for the group’s seven Boulder-based magazines, though the Surfer magazines will remain in Southern California.
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 9-10 | Snowmaker’s “TI” | Jiminy Peak, Mass. |
| Sept. 14-16 | New England Ski Industry Meeting and Trade Show | Sunday River, Maine |
| Sept. 16 | Ski New Hampshire Meeting | The Balsams, N.H. |
| Sept. 17-19 | SANY/PSAA Conference and Trade Show | Holiday Valley, N.Y. |
| Sept. 27-28 | Southeastern Ski Areas Assoc. Fall Meeting/Trade Show | Banner Elk, N.C. |
| Sept. 27-Oct. 1 | International Snow Science Workshop 1998 | Sunriver, Ore. |
| Oct. 8 | PNSAA Annual Meeting | Portland, Ore. |
| Oct. 8-10 | 13th Interalpin | Innsbruck, Austria |
| Oct. 24-26 | Colorado Cross Country Ski Areas Association Meeting | Snow Mt. Ranch, Colo. |
| Nov. 4-5 | Cross Country Ski Areas Association Eastern Meeting | Eastman XC, N.H. |
| Dec. 1-5 | Ski Industry Week | Vail, Colo. |
| Dec. 11-15 | TransWorld Snowboarding Conference | Steamboat Springs, Colo. |
| Date | Location |
|---|---|
| Sept. 10-11 | Wintergreen Resort, Va. |
| Sept. 14-15 | Sunday River, Maine |
| Sept. 17-18 | Holiday Valley, N.Y. |
| Sept. 21-22 | Northstar-at-Tahoe, Calif. |
| Oct. 2 | Copper Mountain, Colo. |
| Oct. 5-6 | Deer Valley, Utah |
| Oct. 8-9 | Portland, Ore. |
| Oct. 19 | Angel Fire, N.M. |
Corrections
Please note the corrected dates in the Industry Calendar (p. 16) for the New England Ski Industry meeting/trade show at Sunday River. The correct dates are: Sept. 14-16.
Also, the new contact for all BEWI consumer ski shows is Brenda Doll.
