SAM Magazine--August 2, 2012--The owners of the Otsego Club in Michigan, Osprey S.A. Ltd., announced that they will not open for the 2012/13 season. Osprey's CEO, Michael Collins, wrote that after unsuccessfully trying to sell the 73-year-old ski area last year, the company was forced to make the decision to shut down operations for this coming...

SAM Magazine—Vail, Colo., July 31, 2012—Burton Snowboards is moving the Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships to Vail, where it will take place Feb. 25 to Mar. 2, 2013. The move is aimed at continuing the progression of the event. The US Open had been held at Stratton, Vt., for the past 27 years. The US Open, which first took pla...

SAM Magazine--July 31, 2012--Potential buyers of the shuttered Powder Ridge ski area in Middlefield, Conn., were given the go-ahead by Middlefield selectmen. The Town, which owns the ski area, received a proposal from Sean Hayes, the owner of nearby Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park, to purchase the area, but the Board of Selectmen first as...

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., July 30, 2012—The fifth annual January Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) initiative kicks off officially at the Midwest Ski Areas Association conference at Boyne Highlands, Mich., Aug. 5 to 8. Details of the new Bring a Friend (BAF) program and the national Bring a Friend Challenge will be unveiled a...

SAM Magazine—July 26, 2012—The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) issued two citations against Hunter Mountain, N.Y., following the January 18 death of a snowmaking employee who slipped on ice and slid 200 feet hitting a tree and a rock. The safety violations (each carry a fine of $4,250) claim that 1) Hunter did not...

SAM Magazine—Beaver, Utah, July 25, 2012—Eagle Point resort is so intent on expanding its market that it’s offering free, unlimited skiing to California residents next winter. And for everyone else, skiing and riding are free on Thursdays in January. To receive free lift privileges, visitors must simply provide a name and email...

SAM Magazine—Richmond, Utah, July 25, 2012—The proposed Cherry Peak ski area has been stalled by a group of local opponents here, who are appealing a county conditional use permit in Utah’s 1st District Court. The local planning commission approved the permit last February, and the board of adjustments upheld that decision. Opp...

SAM Magazine--July 19, 2012-- Vail Resorts, Inc. has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Forest Service for a comprehensive summer activities plan at Vail Mountain. Vail’s summer activity effort, named Epic Discovery, a Summer Mountain Adventure, will encourage “learn through play” by featuring environmental educational elements i...

SAM Magazine—Boulder, Colo., July 17, 2012—In a sign that sports consumers are investing in their favorite activities (when the weather cooperates), May retail sales at outdoor retailers and sporting goods chains were up from year-ago totals, according to the Leisure Trends Group. Outdoor and sporting goods sales got a solid boost fr...

SAM Magazine—July 17, 2012—Yesterday, U.S. Senator Charles Shumer of New York visited Greek Peak Resort to urge the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp) to push through a loan review for the beleaguered resort after its primary lender, Tennessee Commerce Bank, was closed by state regulators in late January of this year. "Due to...

SAM Magazine—Denver, July 16, 2012—Momentum for vacations at mountain destinations throughout the western U.S. showed increasing strength in both occupancy and daily rate in June, according to the latest data released by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). The average occupancy for the month was up 17 percent compared to the s...

SAM Magazine—Wrightwood, Calif., July 16, 2012—Mountain High Resort, Calif., and Stevens Pass Mountain Resort, Wash., have a new management structure for the two companies. There are several changes at each resort, and a new set of managers overseeing both. At the corporate level, Michele Roy has assumed the role of chief financial o...

SAM Magazine—Hood River, Ore., July 12, 2012—The Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association (PNSAA) board of directors have selected John Gifford as its new president. Gifford, until recently the GM of Stevens Pass, will assume his duties on Aug. 15. Gifford will be PNSAA’s fourth president. He succeeds Scott Kaden, who resigned a...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, July 11, 2012—While a long-term lease agreement for Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) remains elusive, PCMR leaseholder and Canyons owner Talisker said last week that it had assured PCMR that the resort will be able to open for the 2012-13 season. In fact, Talisker said it assured PCMR of this back in April....

SAM Magazine--July 5, 2012--John J. Frado, Jr., 67, died at home on June 20 in his wife's arms (Cross Country Ski Areas Association President Chris Frado) as a result of complications from a traumatic brain injury incurred in December while building a barn. John was a visionary who enjoyed planning and creating, whether it was a multi-millio...

SAM Magazine—Mammoth Lakes, Calif., July 3, 2012—The town council here voted Monday to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection against a $43 million judgment in state court. The judgment stems from a property development fight involving the local airport and Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition (MMLA). The judgment is more than twice the ...

SAM Magazine—Jay, Vt., July 3, 2012—Sister resorts Jay Peak and Burke Mountain are introducing combination season passes valid at both areas. Two-mountain access will be available across many of the resorts’ season pass and ticket categories, along with a number of shared special benefits. The new passes go on sale July 9. &ldq...

SAM Magazine—July 3, 2012—The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) decided today that it would not put forth a bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, but to instead concentrate on a 2024 summer bid and a 2026 winter bid. Both Denver, Colo., and Lake Tahoe, Calif., had formed task forces to put their names in the hat as possible U.S. ve...

SAM Magazine—McLean, Va., July 2, 2012—Both Snowsports Industries America (SIA) and the National Ski & Snowboard Retailers Association (NSSRA) have declared their support for Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) and challenged their members to get involved, financially and personally. “After coming off one of the toughes...

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., June 29, 2012—The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to uphold the health care reforms passed in 2010, commonly known as Obamacare, saying the law was justified under the taxing power of the Federal government. The ruling leaves the law almost entirely intact, and means that companies will have to continue pr...

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., June 29, 2012—With an extremely high threat of forest fire at Lake Tahoe, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Northstar California Resort and Kirkwood Mountain Resort have instituted a number of precautionary measures, including banning all smoking on their respective mountains for the summer. “We w...

SAM Magazine—Scranton, Pa., June 27, 2012—Sno Mountain ski resort and Sno Cove water park are in foreclosure and a sheriff's sale is set for July 17, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune. The owners, Sno Mountain LLC, say they are in the process of refinancing the property and hope to complete the process before that time. Nat...

SAM Magazine—Aspen, Colo., June 26, 2012—The Aspen Skiing Co. (ASC) is investing $6 million in a 3MW methane plant that will generate 25 million kW of electricity annually and, in the process, eliminate greenhouse gases equal to three times the company's yearly carbon emissions. In the past, methane emissions from the Somerset, C...

SAM Magazine—June 22, 2012—On the heels of a terrible winter season in California, Rusty Gregory, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area Chairman and CEO, announced yesterday the company will not operate June Mountain this summer and for the upcoming 2012-13 winter season. "June has operated at an annual deficit each year since its purchase ...

SAM Magazine—June 21, 2012—Scott Kaden announced he is stepping down as president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association (PNSAA) to pursue additional, formal education on a full-time basis. Kaden became the PNSAA's third president in July 2000 and his last day will be September 15, 2012. Under Kaden's leadership, PNSA...

SAM Magazine—June 21, 2012—Winter ain't over until it's over. Mt. Bachelor, Ore., announced that it will open for skiing and snowboarding June 29 through July 1, with intermediate and advanced terrain off the summit, snow and weather conditions permitting. Then, on July 6, the area will officially kick-off its summer activities,...

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 21, 2012—Summer travel is sizzling in western mountain destinations. On-the-books occupancy for the month of June was up 16.2 percent compared to the prior June as of May 31, according to data from the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). Bookings for the six month period, June through November, are up 17....

SAM Magazine—Hartford, Conn., June 19, 2012—The Connecticut Appellate Court upheld a jury verdict in a case brought against Ski Sundown, Conn., by James Malaguit, who was rendered quadriplegic in a 2006 accident at the ski area. In October 2010, a jury found that the plaintiff was responsible for his own injuries and that the ski area w...

SAM Magazine—June 13, 2012—During its annual meeting, held yesterday at Mount Sunapee, Ski NH released its end-of-season numbers, which were down approximately 21%. New Hampshire hosted 1.9 million skier visits, down from 2.35 million in 2010/11. The state also hosted 96,000 xc visits and 93,000 tubing visits during the 2011/12 season. ...

SAM Magazine—Denver, June 11, 2012—Several water districts and the Colorado petroleum industry have filed amicus briefs to support a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado against a 2011 Forest Service regulation requiring winter resorts to grant certain water rights to the Service. The original lawsuit, filed by the National...

SAM Magazine--June 11, 2012--According to NZCity, more than 6,000 skiers and snowboarders flocked to Queenstown's Coronet Peak and Canterbury's Mt Hutt—a record-breaking opening weekend in the South Island. NZ Ski CEO James Coddington says they've never had more than 3,000 people through for opening weekend at Mt Hutt before. ...

SAM Magazine—June 11, 2012—According to published reports, a massive wildfire in New Mexico has damaged ski lifts at Ski Apache. The area fought the blaze, which has burned more than 35,000 acres in the Lincoln National Forest, with its own snowmaking equipment, setting up guns around its base lodge to ward off the flames. That effort, ...

SAM Magazine—Evergreen, Colo., June 8, 2012—Echo Mountain Ski resort will be sold via a sealed-bid auction, with bids due by August 2. Racebrook and its auction affiliate, Sheldon Good & Company, are conducting the sale. Echo, 35 miles west of downtown Denver, is situated entirely on private land. Owner Gerald Petitt paid $800,00...

SAM Magazine—Kelowna, B.C., June 6, 2012—Big White and Silver Star resorts, which had been under a single ownership for a decade, have split apart following the death of former owner Desmond Robert Schumann in April. Schumann, who bought Big White in 1985 and Silver Star Mountain Resort in 2001, is widely credited with making both re...

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—Valle Nevado, Chile, and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., are pleased to announce a new sister resort partnership effective May 2012. Valle Nevado, located 90 minutes from Santiago, and Mammoth Mountain, located in Central California, are two of the largest and most popular resorts in their respective countries, and a...

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—The Vermont Ski Areas Association (VSAA) announced that Vermont ski resorts recorded 3,903,171 skier and rider visits, just 5% off of the ten-year average and 11% off of 2010/11, which logged 4,365,906 visits. Despite low natural snowfall during the 2011-12 ski season, snowmaking and grooming enabled Vermont...

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) announced today that its 22 member resorts hosted 6.16 million visits, an 11.4% decline from last year. Vail Resorts, which is not a member of CSCUSA, reported a 9.8% decrease in visits at all of its resorts, including those in California. With Vail's Colorado resorts talli...

SAM Magazine—June 5, 2012—The Utah ski and snowboard industry announced 3,802,536 million skier day visits during the 2011-12 winter season, down 10 percent from the previous season’s 4,223,064. Low snow totals plaguing resorts nationwide and the persistence of a wavering economy are credited for the decrease at Utah ski and snowb...

SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, June 5, 2012—Bank of America has acted on its threat to remove the Wildwood Express chair lift at bankrupt Tamarack Resort. The bank has hired Highlander Ski Lift Services & Construction of nearby McCall to dismantle and remove the lift, and much of the work has already been completed. According to Paul...

SAM Magazine—Charleston, W. Va., May 30, 2012—Jim Justice, owner of The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, has agreed to purchase Wintergreen Resort. The Wintergreen Partners' board of directors approved the merger agreement last Friday. If, as expected, the Class A Equity members of Wintergreen also approve the deal at a m...

SAM Magazine—May 30, 2012—NASTAR, the largest public grassroots ski race program in the world, announced a new partnership with Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., to serve as the host resort for the 2013 and 2014 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships. Skiers from approximately 45 states, ranging in age from three to 90, will compete at the re...

SAM Magazine—May 24, 2012—QBurke Mountain Resorts, LLC, a company headed by businessman Ariel Quiros has acquired Burke Mountain Resort, Vt. Quiros, along with Bill Stenger, president and co-owner of Jay Peak Resort, Vt., purchased the Jay Peak Resort from Mont Saint-Sauveur Valley resorts in June 2008. The ownership of QBurke Mou...

SAM Magazine—Denver, May 24, 2012—The U.S. Forest Service, responding to the NSAA lawsuit regarding water rights, claimed last month that the Forest Service has the legal right to attach restrictions to the water rights included in ski area permits. The issue will eventually be settled in the courts, with NSAA due to file its legal brie...

SAM Magazine—Denver, May 18, 2012—Despite a 15 percent decline in skier visits in the 2011-12 season, lodging properties at 16 western mountain destinations experienced only a 2.8 percent decrease in actual occupancy for the season, according to the most recent data distributed by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). The averag...

SAM Magazine—Jackson Hole, Wyo., May 17, 2012—Despite receiving below-normal snowfall last season—100 inches less than average, and 200 inches less than in 2010-11—Jackson Hole recorded its second-highest skier visits total ever, 479,000, just a few thousand short of its all-time high. The area profited from having enough sn...

SAM Magazine—Vernon, N.J., May 15, 2012—Mountain Creek Resort has filed suit against Everest Indemnity Insurance Company in an attempt to force the insurer to pay a claim under the resort’s weather insurance policy. The court’s ruling could have a broad impact on how such insurance is written in the future. The Mountain C...

SAM Magazine—Eden, Utah, May 11, 2012—Wolf Creek Utah Resort, Wolf Mountain Ski Resort and a number of buildings and other assets, including development property, will be sold at auction on Friday June 1. In all, more than 3,000 acres of mountain valley property is for sale. Auction parcels include an 18-hole championship golf course...

SAM Magazine—San Antonio, Tex., May 10, 2012—National resort visits totaled an estimated 51 million this past season, a decline of 15.7 percent from the previous year’s record total of 60.54 million, according to the Kottke National End of Season Survey. The total was the lowest since 1991-92. Visits were down in all regions, a...

SAM Magazine—Waterville Valley, N.H., May 7, 2012—The Boston Red Sox and Waterville Valley Resort are teaming up via a three-year deal that makes them corporate partners through 2014. The deal includes Waterville Valley lift ticket giveaways, exposure on the centerfield scoreboard and in the EMC-level suites, presence in the Fenway P...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, May 2, 2012—Now in its third year, SAM's Summer Ops Camp will head west to Canyons, Utah, from September 4 to 6. The Summer Ops Camp is a hands-on educational and networking event that gathers resort managers and operators from around North America to explore the exciting opportunities in four-season at...

SAM Magazine--May 2, 2012--Vail Resorts, Inc., released lift ticket sales, ski school and other ancillary results from the 2011/12 season, as compared to the same approximate time period last year. The measurements are from the beginning of the ski season through April 22, 2012, and are compared to the beginning of the ski season in 2010 through Ap...

SAM Magazine—April 26, 2012—In spite of postponing its opening by one week due to minimal snow conditions, Whitefish Mountain Resort, Mont., is more than pleased with the finish of the 2011/2012 ski season. Although snowfall and skier visits were down in December, the resort reported more snow in January, February and March in 2012 than...

SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, Apr. 24, 2012—Twenty prominent business and community leaders have formed a coalition to support SkiLink, which would connect Canyons and Solitude via gondola. They hope the project will pave the way for additional links between resorts and the eventual creation of the largest multi-area “ski cir...

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., April 18, 2012—SAM Magazine is excited to announce the winners of the 2012 SAMMY Leadership Awards. The three recipients prove that to be successful in the mountain resort industry takes a lot of energy, enthusiasm and, above all, passion. The 2012 SAMMY winners are: Jody Churich, ...

SAM Magazine—Seattle, Apr. 18, 2012—Eight legends of skiing were inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall Fame in a ceremony here last Saturday. Among the honorees were ski area developers Nick Badami and Phil Gravink, ski show producer Harry Leonard, ski historian Mason Beekley, speed skier and writer Dick Dorworth, and competitor...

SAM Magazine—Squaw Valley, Calif., Apr. 18, 2012—Below average snowfall and snowpack, combined with record-breaking warm temperatures, led to a 3.9 percent decline in occupancy at Western mountain destinations during March compared to the same month last year, according to the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). Similar declines w...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Apr. 18, 2012—Vail Resorts has joined conservation groups in supporting Senator Mark Udall and Congressman Jared Polis in their efforts to designate additional wilderness and special management areas in Eagle and Summit counties, home to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone. The areas under cons...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, April 16, 2012—Continuing a three-year wrangle, Park City Mountain Resort and its landlord, Talisker, remain in negotiations regarding PCMR’s lease of much of its ski terrain, despite a series of legal moves in the courts. Last week, Talisker responded to a lawsuit filed by PCMR in early March, in ...

SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, Apr. 16, 2012—Pension fund trustee and investment adviser Matthew Hutcheson, who bid $40 million for Tamarack Resort in 2010, has been arrested on 31 counts for defrauding two pension funds under his control. The indictment charges that Hutcheson used the money in his effort to buy the Tamarack resort as well ...

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Apr. 13, 2012—Snow sports retail sales were down 12 percent in units and 4 percent in dollars through the end of February, according to the RetailTRAK, released by SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and The Leisure Trends Group. Sales totaled $3.2 billion. Sales declined most for accessories, down 15 p...