SAM Magazine--Wolf Creek, Colo., July 14, 2006--The Regional Office of the Forest Service upheld the Rio Grande National Forests' April 3rd decision to allow two access roads across Forest Service land that will access developer Red McCombs' proposed village site at Wolf Creek Mountain. Administrative appeals had been brought by Colorado Wild, t...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, July 14, 2006-The board of directors of American Skiing Company (ASC) has retained investment advisors to initiate a strategic review of business options for the Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation, including the potential sale of the resort. "Steamboat's status as a world-renowned destination resort, combined with...

July 12, Great Britain (Snow Hunter)--The UK's annual Ski Industry Report has been published by leading tour operator Crystal. The Report notes that the British ski market recorded one of its strongest periods of growth last winter, with seven per cent more UK skiers taking a ski holiday abroad than the previous winter. More than 1.15m ski holi...

SAM Magazine-Scranton, Pa., July 11, 2006-Snow Mountain LLC, a consortium of Philadelphia investment bankers, developers, and accountants, has agreed to purchase Montage Mountain Ski Resort from Lackawanna County. Sno Mountain LLC will pay a reported $5.1 million for the resort. Last month the group offered $4.1 million, but increased its offer ...

July 10, France (SnowHunter)--The first half of Compagnie des Alpes' fiscal year (October to March) combines the positive figures of the ski operations with the normally negative figures for the group's growing clutch of leisure parks, since most of the major sites are closed during this accounting period. However, first-half sales up to end Dec...

July 10, Italy/Switzerland (snowHunter)-- For the coming winter season 2006/2007, there'll be a re-launch of the 'International' ski area of Breuil-Cervinia and Valtournenche in Italy and Zermatt in Switzerland with the construction of six new lifts and an increase in the artificial snowmaking cover and therefore a total of 24 lifts in the Breuil...

SAM Magazine-Canmore, Alta., July 8, 2006-Canadian Mountain Holidays helicopter skiing founder Hans Gmoser, 73, died July 5, two days after he broke his neck and was paralyzed in a bicycling accident on the 1A highway near Lake Louise. Gmoser was riding alone when he apparently fell. Gmoser, 73, founded the heli-skiing business in 1965. In recen...

July 10, New Zealand (SnowHunter)--Lake Wanaka Ski Tourism Boost New Zealand's Lake Wanaka is looking forward to an increase in visiting skiers and snowboarders, thanks to a multi-million dollar investment in winter sports infrastructure. Over the last three years, the town's ski areas of Cardrona, Snow Park and Treble Cone have jointly inves...

July 10, Austria (Snow Hunter)--Year Round Skiing Ends at Sölden Sölden in Austria has followed other glacier ski areas like Tignes in France by deciding to end 365 day ski lift opening. The resort previously boasted that one of its twin glacier ski areas, either the Rettenbach or Tiefenbach glacier, was open for skiing on every day of ...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, July 7, 2006-The American Skiing Co. (ASC) is in a legal tussle with Wolf Mountain Resort, from whom ASC leases much of the terrain that makes up The Canyons, over who will control the resort. Wolf has alleged that ASC defaulted on its lease and that Wolf is therefore entitled to repossess the resort. A judge has issue...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., June 28, 2006-Mark Dorsey is the new executive director of the Professional Ski Instructors of American (PSIA) and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI), according to The American Snowsports Education Association (ASEA). Dorsey, previously the assistant executive director, replaces Stephen Over, who ...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., June 28, 2006-The National Ski Patrol's board of directors elected Dr. James DeWeerd Jr. as national chairman at the annual board meeting here late last week. DeWeerd is one of five new board members seated Mar. 1, 2006, as a result of the special election held in February. DeWeerd hails from the North Central regio...

SAM Magazine-Killington, Vt., June 20, 2006-Vermont ski areas recorded 4,147,467 skier visits for the 2005-06 season, a nearly 6 percent decline from 4.4 million visits in 2004-05, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association. Despite the decrease in skier visits, Vermont remains the number three ski state behind Colorado and California, the asso...

SAM Magazine-Steamboat Springs, Colo., June 19, 2006-Colorado resorts tallied 12.53 million visits in 2005-06, more than 500,000 better than the previous record and more than 700,000 better than the prior year, according to Rob Perlman, president of Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) at the organization's annual meeting here. Perlman noted that r...

SAM Magazine-Champion, Pa., June 19, 2006-After 74 years of ownership, the Dupre family is selling Seven Spring Mountain Resort to another longtime family business from the region, Ogden Newspapers, operated by the Nutting family. Ogden publishes 21 daily newspapers and 20 phone books with a circulation of more than one million households within a ...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, June 15, 2006--American Skiing Company (ASC) released its third quarter figures and the news was good on a quarter to quarter comparison, but the company's debt load still runs high. Net revenues for resort operations for the 13 weeks ended April 30, 2006 were $132.8 million, compared to $132.3 million during the s...

SAM Magazine-North Woodstock, N.H., June 14, 2006-New Hampshire and New Mexico both saw visitor numbers drop for the 2005-06 season. Weather challenged skiers and riders in the two states. N.H. visits dropping 10 percent from last year's near-record level, to 2,021,098. New Mexico visits tumbled more than 50 percent, to 416,617 visits, down from 95...

SAM Magazine-Homewood, Calif., June 14, 2006-JMA Ventures, the company that built Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, has purchased Homewood Mountain Resort. The resort occupies 1,260 acres on Tahoe's West Shore. The move comes after 4th District Congressman John Doolittle, R-Roseville, blocked a possible sale of the property to the U.S. Forest Se...

SAM Magazine--June 1, 2006, Donnelly, Idaho--The newest four-season ski area, Tamarack in Idaho, announced the closing of a $250-million senior credit facility arranged by Credit Suisse. The financing allows for reinvestment of the proceeds from real estate sales against a pre-approved business plan for a period of five years, provided that certain...

SAM Magazine--Marco Island, Fla., May 25, 2006--The National Ski Areas Association announced that, based on prelimary estimates, national skier visits for the 2005/06 season will set an all-time record at 58.8 million visits. The previous record was set in 2002/03 with 57.6 million visits. Confirmation of the record will be made once all resorts...

SAM Magazine--Marco Island, Fla., May 25, 2006--The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) got a new chairman when Vail COO Bill Jensen was elected to the position during the national trade show and convention in Marco Island, Florida. Jensen most recently served as vice chairman and will replace outgoing chairman, David Crowley from Wachusett Mount...

Newry, Me., May 26, 2006-Dana Bullen has become president and managing director of Sunday River resort in Newry, Maine, effective immediately. He has served as GM of the resort since September 2004 and brings more than 20 years of ski industry and resort management experience to the job. Bullen, who spent several years working his way through the r...

SAM Magazine-Salt Lake City, May 16, 2006-Utah resorts achieved their third consecutive record-breaking year for skier visits in 2005-06 as they topped 4 million for the first time. Utah skier days are at 4,045,030, up 3.8 percent over the previous season, with Snowbird sure to add a few thousand more before it closes at the end of May. Visits to U...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., May 16, 2006-Overall sales for the winter sport market (including specialty and chain stores) rose 4 percent, to $2.3 billion for the August 2005 through March 2006 period, compared to $2.2 billion a year earlier, according to the SIA Retail Audit. Unit sales were up 6 percent. For the season, strong sales through December...

SAM Magazine--May, 15, 2006, Oregon--The Pacific Nortwest Ski Areas Association announced that Oregon is on track for a record-breaking year and Washington had its second best. On the heels of one of the worst seasons in memory in 2004/05, great snow conditions allowed areas in the Pacific Northwest to rebound nicely. Oregon still has three areas i...

SAM Magazine--Blakeslee, Penn., May 12, 2006--Peak Resorts announced that Jesse Boyd will take on the GM position at Big Boulder and Jack Frost ski areas. Peak Resorts took over the operation of both areas during the winter of 2005-06 under the direction of Dave Grenier, executive VP of Peak Resorts. Grenier will continue to be involved with Jesse ...

SAM Magazine--May 12, 2006, New Hampshire--Wildcat Ski Mountain in Pinkham Notch, N.H., is up for sale again. The area features 225 acres of sliding on 47 trails and 2,112 feet of vertical. Accessing the terrain are three triples and a quad. The area operates on a 40-year extendable lease and there are 37 years remaining on the current lease. ...

SAM Magazine--May 10, 2006, Vancouver, Canada--Thanks to the sale of real estate holdings at Mammoth Mountain, Intrawest saw its total company EBITDA for the third quarter jump to $136.5 million, up from $109.5 million for the same period last year. (EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, income taxes, non-controlling interest, depreciation an...

SAM Magazine--May 8, 2006, Portland, Maine--Maine's assumption of risk law was tested last week when a tuber brought her case all the way to the state's Supreme Court. The Court threw out the lawsuit and upheld the definition of skiing which includes "sliding downhill on snow or ice on skis, toboggan, sled, tube, snowboard..." In its decision, t...

SAM Magazine--May 8, 2006, Missoula, Montana--It's back to the drawing board for the proposed Bitterroot Resort in Montana. According to published reports, the Forest Service rejected, for the second t ime, a proposal by rancher Tom Maclay to develop Forest Service land above his ranch into a ski resort. Last year, the resort submitted a proposa...

SAM Magazine-Bretton Woods, N.H., April 28, 2006-The Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods, which includes the ski resort as well as the Mount Washington Hotel and golf course, has entered into an agreement with Celebration Associates and CNL Income Properties, Inc., to sell the resort, subject to the completion of further due diligence. U...

SAM Magazine-McCall, Ida., April 28, 2006-Brown's Industries, Inc. and Snowy Peaks, LLC, both owned by long-time Brundage Mountain Company co-owners Judd and Diane DeBoer and their family, have purchased the 50 percent ownership stake previously held by the J.R. Simplot Company. The purchase givefs the DeBoer family full ownership of the resort. ...

SAM Magazine-Government Camp, Ore., April 25, 2006-Richard L. Kohnstamm, who transformed Timberline Lodge into a national skiing institution in the 1950s, died last Friday after becoming ill at his family's cabin on Mount Hood. He was 80 years old. Kohnstamm assumed management of the Depression-era Timberline Lodge in the early '50s, after it h...

SAM Magazine-Missoula, Mont., April 25, 2006-Rancher and would-be resort developer Tom Maclay last week resubmitted a special-use permit application for a scaled-down resort on National Forest land adjacent to his 3,000-acre property in the Bitterroot Valley. Maclay seeks to develop 1,780 acres in the Bitterroot National Forest for skiing and ri...

SAM Magazine--Woodbury, Conn., April 20, 2006--SAM Magazine is pleased to announce this year's SAMMY Future Leadership Awards. First up is Alexa Bernotavicz, mountain operations director at Wildcat Mountain, N.H. Next is Yves Juneau, sales and marketing director of Quebec's Mont-Sainte-Anne and Stoneham resorts. Third is Steve Kruse, director of mo...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va.. Apr. 19, 2006-Retail winter sports sales remained sluggish in February, but overall sales for specialty and chain stores nonetheless totalled $2.2 billion for the August 2005 through February 2006 period, up 6 percent from $2.1 billion a year earlier, according to the SIA Retail Audit. Unit sales were up 7 percent. Sales r...

SAM Magazine-Calaveras County, Calif., April 10, 2006-A court here ruled late last week that Bear Valley Ski Company is not liable for a 2000 terrain park accident that left former employee Charlene Vine paralyzed from the waist down. Vine had sued the ski resort after she broke her spine in 2000 during an employee party while attempting to ride he...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Lakes, Calif., April 10, 2006-Three Mammoth Mountain ski patrollers died last Thursday while working to fence off a geothermal vent following a heavy snowfall. The snow they were standing on collapsed and they fell into a 20-foot-deep well around the vent. Two patrollers, John McAndrews and James Juarez, were attempting to r...

SAM Magazine--April 4, 2006--Crotched Mountain, N.H., was refinanced for $8 million with Entertainment Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust. Crotched Mountain was resurrected in 2002 when Missouri-based Peak Resorts signed a lease to run the area. Peak made significant investments in snowmaking, lifts, a new base lodge and more, and...

SAM Magazine-St. Sauveur, Que., Mar. 21, 2006-Jacques Hebert, chairman of Mont Saint Sauveur International, which operates Jay Peak and several Quebec areas, died Mar. 17 after a brief illness. He had been involved in managing the company since the 1960s and was an icon in the Quebec ski industry. Under his leadership, the company purchased Jay Pea...

SAM Magazine-Londonderry, Vt., Mar. 20, 2006-An investment group led by a Connecticut lawyer is set to purchase Magic Mountain ski area here for about $3 million, according to the current owners. A report in the Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer termed the deal "imminent." The sale would give Magic its fourth owner in the last 10 years. Magic general ...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Ut., Mar. 16, 2006-American Skiing Company (ASC) reported total consolidated revenue of $112.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2006, up 6 percent from $106.1 million for the year-earlier period. Revenue from resort operations was $109.9 million compared with $103.4 million in 2005. This year's total represents a rec...

SAM Magazine-Flagstaff, Ariz., Mar. 14, 2006-The Arizona Snowbowl will open on Friday, Mar. 17, after a recent storm cycle dropped 56 inches of snow. Snowbowl had received just 22 inches in the 2005-06 season prior to the recent storms, leading to the latest opening in the resort's history. "We are happy to finally open for the skiers and snowbo...

SAM Magazine-McClean, Va., Mar. 14, 2006-Overall sales for the winter sport market were up 9 percent to $1.8 billion for the August 2005 through January 2006 period, compared to $1.7 billion a year earlier, according to the SIA Retail Audit. Unit sales were up 8 percent. Sales at specialty ski and snowboard shops were up 8 percent, to $1.4 billi...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Colo., Mar.14, 2006-Colorado resorts hosted a record 5.2 million-plus skiers and snowboarders from Jan. 1 through Feb. 28, according to Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA). This represents an increase of more than five percent over the same time period last season, and more than 230,000 visits ahead of the state's previous best J...

SAM Magazine--March 13, 2006, Vancouver, B.C.--After the sale of Mammoth Mountain to Starwood Capital, Intrawest announced today that it will sell the majority of its real estate holdings in the town of Mammoth Lakes for $60 million pre-tax profit to the same company. The real estate comprises the future development of over 1,100 residential units ...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., March 13, 2006--Vail Resorts released its second quarter results today (three months ended January 31) and the snow gods were kind. First, the company reports that skier visits increased 7.9 percent over the same period last year, giving Vail Resorts a new skier visit record--2,875,000 million versus 2,664,000 during the...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Feb. 28, 2006-Overall sales for the winter sport market (including specialty and chain stores) rose 13 percent, to $1.5 billion, for the August through December period of 2005, compared to $1.3 billion a year earlier, according to the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Retail Audit. Unit sales were up 14 percent. Sales...

SAM Magazine-The U.S. has the world's most expensive six-day lift pass, priced at more than $500, according to the 2005-06 World Lift Ticket Price Survey. The survey, the fifth annual such report from Snow Hunter Ltd., presents a broad review of six-day lift ticket prices from more than 300 ski areas in 30 countries. For bargain-hunters, Iran is...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 28, 2006-Intrawest has initiated a review of strategic options for enhancing shareholder value, including, but not limited to, a capital structure review, strategic partnerships or business combinations. The company has retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. to assist in the review, which is already underway. No timetable ...

SAM Magazine-Avon, Colo., Feb. 28, 2006-Vail Resorts has named Robert Katz as chief executive officer, effective immediately, and promoted several other executives, including Vail VP/COO Bill Jensen and Breckenridge and Keystone VP/COO Roger McCarthy. Last but not least, Joe R. Micheletto has been elected chairman of the board. As part of its reorg...

SAM Magazine-Steamboat Springs, Colo., Feb. 28, 2006-American Skiing Co. (ASC) is selling the remaining units in its Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel & Condominiums on Mar. 18 during a live and online auction Mar. 18. The auction will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units and penthouse residences, including more than 200 fractional shares and more t...

SAM Magazine--Montpelier, Vt., February 8, 2006--The Vermont Ski Areas Association announced that Parker Riehle has been named the new president of the trade association. Victoria Provost was also promoted to VP of marketing. Riehle replaces departing president David Dillon, who has accepted the head position at the Haystack Club. Riehle has rep...

SAM Magazine--February 7, 2006--This is a reminder that on February 11, the Sports Illustrated for Kids Next Snow All Stars program will lead NBC's opening-day coverage of the Winter Olympic Games. The show will air at 2 p.m. EST, 1 p.m. Central, 12 p.m. Mountain, and 11 a.m. Pacific time. The Next Snow event, which was created by Jack Turner of...

SAM Magazine-Vail, Colo., Jan. 30, 2006-Vail Resorts, Inc. chairman and CEO Adam Aron will resign June 28, ten years after he first accepted the position. Vail will immediately commence a search for Aron's successor, which will include external and internal candidates. Aron said he will work closely with the company's board of directors to ensur...

SAM Magazine--Wilmington, Vt., January 25, 2006--After six years as president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, David Dillon will move into the head position at the Haystack Club starting in mid-February. Haystack was purchased from the American Skiing Company last spring for $5 million by 2Cornell, Inc., and will be renovated and turned int...

SAM Magazine--Findley Lake, N.Y., January 25, 2006--According to published reports, after being on the market for a year, Peek'n Peak Resort has announced the sale of their western New York ski area to Kiebler Recreation, LLC, a real estate development and management company. Peek'n Peak has been owned by brothers Eugene and Norbert Cross since the...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Jan. 12, 2006-If early retail sales are a barometer for resort visits, this could be a banner year. Overall sales for the winter sports market were up 8 percent in both dollars and units for the August through November period of 2005. Sales totaled $696.9 million for the period, compared to $647.8 million reported last yea...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Colo., Jan. 11, 2006-The 25 member resorts of Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) set a new record for skier visits during the first part of the 2005-06 ski and snowboard season. Collectively, the areas hosted more than three million skier visits through Dec. 31, 2005, up 5.6 percent from last season and nearly 11 percent ahead t...

SAM Magazine-Lawrenceburg, Ind., Jan. 11, 2006-In a truly freak act of nature, the headwall at Perfect North Slopes fractured and avalanched Jan. 4 after a warm spell destabilized the machine-made snow at this Midwestern resort. The slide took out a lift tower on one lift and the electrical system on another. (SAM will provide photographic evidence...