SAM Magazine--April 12, 2012--Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) today announced that the company has closed on its acquisition of Kirkwood Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe, Calif. Vail Resorts now operates three mountain resorts in the Lake Tahoe region and together with Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar California. The transaction, which included the ski ...

SAM Magazine--April 11, 2012--Powderhorn, Colo., is celebrating the end of its first season under new ownership with good results. The season started on August 4, 2011, with the purchase of the 45-year-old western Colorado resort by Andy Daly and Ken, Tom and John Gart. While most resorts had to open late or close early this season, Powderhorn ...

SAM Magazine-Aspen, April 5, 2012-While many Colorado resorts experienced skier-day declines in the face of a warm, dry winter, Aspen/Snowmass saw visits increase through February, and they could end up for the season. The reason? Aspen's position as a true destination resort. Through the beginning of March, Aspen room occupancy was up 8.4 perce...

SAM Magazine--April 5, 2012--Actor Bruce Willis has announced that he would be willing to give his small Idaho ski area, Soldier Mountain, away to the right non-profit group. Soldier Mountain operates two chairs and one rope tow on permitted Forest Service land (about 1,150 acres). According to published reports, one such nonprofit group, the So...

SAM Magazine--April 5, 2012--Fifty-two years after the Olympic flame was first ignited in the Tahoe region, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Nevada Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki announced the formation of the Lake Tahoe Winter Games Exploratory Committee (LTWGEC) today, a new joint California Nevada initiative to develop an Olym...

SAM Magazine--April 3, 2012--TechnoAlpin, founded in 1990 in Bolzano (Italy) and a major player in snowmaking, (35% market share in Europe) has just formalized the acquisition of all the activities of Johnson Controls Neige (JCN) in France, Italy and the U.S. JCN is a snowmaking equipment market leader in France with 60% market share and 30% worldw...

SAM Magazine--April 3, 2012--Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker signed the "Skier Safety Act" today defining the responsibilities of both participants and ski area operators. Wisconsin Ski Industries Association (WSIA), representing 32 ski areas across the state, expressed gratitude to Representative Pat Strachota and Senator Glenn Grothman for thei...

SAM Magazine--March 30, 2012--According to the Cache Valley Daily, Utah's Cache County Board of Adjustment upheld the planning commission's approval of a conditional use permit for the proposed Cherry Peak Ski Area this week. Logan Checketts, who owns the property where Cherry Peak would operate, was first granted the permit in February, but sev...

SAM Magazine--March 28, 2012--The NY-state-owned Belleayre Ski Center has found a new overseer with the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), which operates both Whiteface and Gore Mountain for the State of N.Y. Until now, Belleayre was under the control of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The move is expected to benefit Be...

SAM Magazine-Newry, Maine, Mar. 26, 2012-Weather-challenged resorts in the East and West are declaring their commitment to guests by making snow, extending their seasons, or offering free skiing and riding. As most Eastern ski resorts are closing for the season in the wake of last week's unprecedented heat, Sunday River, Sugarloaf, and Loon Moun...

SAM Magazine--March 23, 2012--Bolton Valley, Vt., officials announced that the Vermont Land Trust has signed a contract to purchase the 1,161 acres of terrain that host the Bolton Valley Nordic and backcountry trails. The Vermont Land Trust's purchase price and related expenses is $1,850,000. Because of the property's statewide significance, th...

SAM Magazine-Invermere, B.C., Mar. 21, 2012-The B.C. government has approved development of the long-stalled Jumbo Glacier Alpine Resort, which could become the country's first year-round glacier-based ski resort if environmental appeals don't cause further delays. The resort will be located in the Purcell Mountains on an old sawmill site, not far ...

SAM Magazine--March 19, 2012--Colorado Ski Country USA's (CSCUSA) 22 member resorts reported a decrease in skier visitation during the second period of the 2011/12 ski season, which counts skier visitation from January 1 through February 29. During this mid-season time period, skier visits at CSCUSA resorts slipped by 5.2 percent compared to las...

SAM Magazine--March 16, 2012--The non-profit organization that runs Mt. Ashland, Ore., the Mt. Ashland Association, was granted the Forest Service permit to operate the ski area. Prior to the Forest Service decision yesterday, the city of Ashland held the permit, but the City Council voted last Fall to give it up in order to have better control ove...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Mar. 16, 2012-The Alpine World Cup finals are still to come, but already USST athletes are primed to conclude one of the most successful seasons in history. The list of accomplishments is quite long: • Lindsey Vonn won her 16th career Audi FIS World Cup title. She also won her 53rd race, fifth-best all-time am...

SAM Magazine--March 9, 2012--Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) today filed a lawsuit against Talisker Land Holdings, LLC. The suit seeks to resolve a lease issue. "After extensive and, sadly, unsuccessful negotiations, we reluctantly took the initiative to file this lawsuit," says Jenni Smith, president and general manager of Park City Mountain ...

SAM Magazine-Washington, D.C., Mar. 7, 2012-Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) 2012 taught nearly 100,000 beginner lessons during January, program organizers estimate, up from 75,000 the previous year, despite a widespread lack of snow. To counter the uncooperative weather, many resorts focused attention on their snowmaking expertise to hel...

SAM Magazine-Salt Lake City, Mar. 7, 2012-The Utah legislature has passed a resolution supporting the long-dreamed-of Utah Interconnect, which would link Deer Valley, Park City, Canyons, Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton. The resolution passed the Utah State Senate on Mar. 5, 22 to 7, and the House of Representatives on Mar. 6, 58 to 16, large...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Mar. 6, 2012-Vail Resorts (VR) saw its fiscal second-quarter net income drop 15 percent as the mild, low-snow winter kept customers away, especially at its Tahoe resorts. Increased ticket prices and room rates mitigated the drop in visits, or the decline would have been greater. This winter's weather has been espe...

SAM Magazine--Londonderry, Vt--March 6, 2012--One month after selling its 300th share, the threshold needed to begin the skier-owned Magic Partnership LLC at Magic Mountain was met. The ski area finished raising the maximum shares allowed for the investment with 333 shares sold at a price of $3,000 each for a total of $999,000. Much of this capital...

SAM Magazine-Big Sky, Mont., Feb. 24, 2012-For the first time, Big Sky will run the Lone Peak Tram to give guests access to the 11,166-foot peak and its 360-degree views, and offer guided Lone Peak Expeditions, starting in July 2012. The outings will involve riding a chairlift, the tram, and safari vehicle. The Tram has operated winters only since ...

SAM Magazine-Wildwood, Mo., Feb. 24, 2012-Peak Resorts plans to spend $2 million on a variety of improvements at Hidden Valley ski area for the 2012-13 season. Hidden Valley plans to expand skiable terrain by 30 percent, including a new 2,000 foot-long run that will be the resort's longest; blanket the new terrain with snowmaking; and add a quad ch...

SAM Magazine-Middlefield, Conn., Feb. 24, 2012-The town of Middlefield's Board of Selectmen last week approved a $1 million bid to purchase and reopen Powder Ridge ski area in the latest attempt to revive a hill that has been closed since 2007. The bid was made by the owners of nearby Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park. Brownstone's managin...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Feb. 22, 2012-Vail Resorts will acquire Kirkwood Mountain Resort in a deal expected to close within the next month, making Kirkwood VR's third property in the Tahoe area and seventh overall. Purchase price is approximately $18 million. Vail Resorts is purchasing the ski resort as well as the undeveloped sites at t...

SAM Magazine-Stevens Pass, Wash., Feb. 20, 2012- Three skiers died in an out-of-bounds avalanche on the back side of Stevens Pass Sunday, including Stevens marketing director Chris Rudolph. The others were professional freestyle skiing judge Jim Jack and local John Brenan. A fourth person caught in the slide, pro skier Elyse Saugstad, deployed an a...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Feb. 17, 2012-Recent shifts in storm systems that brought much-needed snow to many western resorts came too late to boost early season destination travel, with hotel occupancy declining 3.7 percent during the month of January, according to the most recent data from the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). The booking pace ...

SAM Magazine--February 16, 2012--Peak Resorts has announced its plan to build a new 48,000-square-foot main base lodge at Brandywine Ski Resort, Ohio. The new lodge is estimated to be a capital investment of upwards of $5 million that will replace three existing buildings resulting in all skier services being combined in one location. The lodg...

SAM Magazine--February 13, 2012--Two unfortunate incidents took place this past weekend in the ski industry. First, on February 11, three people were injured at Coffee Mill Ski and Snowboard Resort, Minn., when a chair fell from the rope thirty feet to the ground. The ski area was hosting a racing tournament when the accident happened around 1 p.m....

SAM Magazine-San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 9, 2012-Arizona Snowbowl and the U.S. Forest Service gained another court victory today as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District affirmed a district court decision upholding the Forest Service's 2005 Record of Decision regarding snowmaking at the Snowbowl, rejecting a suit brought by the Save the ...

SAM Magazine-Amherst, Va., Feb. 8, 2012-Wintergreen Resort is cutting expenses, collecting 2013 membership dues early, and asking its 1,800 members for a $6 million cash infusion to help the resort meet financial challenges stemming from this winter's warm weather and below-average snow, according to several news sources. Wintergreen Partners In...

SAM Magazine--February 3, 2012--Last night, February 2, the Cache County Planning Commission granted a conditional use permit for the proposed Cherry Creek ski area in northern Utah. The proposal for the new ski area includes 203 acres of terrain, base area and mid-mountain facilities, four lifts, a terrain park, a zipline, three water storage ...

SAM Magazine--February 3, 2012--Peak Resorts, the parent company of Crotched Mountain, N.H., announced the acquisition of the high speed detachable quad at Ascutney Mountain, which has closed its doors. Crotched will install the 5,000+-foot lift this coming summer. The Garaventa CTEC lift will replace a fixed grip lift and access an additional 2...

SAM Magazine--January 28, 2012--Yesterday marked the start of the 2011-12 winter season for Utah's newest ski resort Eagle Point. The opening signifies that every Utah ski and snowboard resort is open for the season. A fresh blanket of snow during the past 24 hours added two to eight inches to resort snow totals. This snowfall, in addition to the p...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 25, 2012-The meeting of the terrain park task force of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F27 Snow Skiing Committee at the Denver Convention Center yesterday failed to produce the anticipated fireworks. There was general agreement that most of the variables in terrain park jumps are user-generated, and t...

SAM Magazine--January 25, 2012--After filing for bankruptcy two years ago, the assets of Moonlight Basin, Mont., were sold last week to the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. According to the Wall Street Journal, Lehman began lending to Moonlight in 2007 under a $100 million credit agreement between the area and the Lehman Brothers Commercial ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 24, 2012-What a difference a week makes. Winter returned across most of the U.S. in the past seven days, bringing several feet of snow to the snow-starved Lake Tahoe areas and padding snow depths across the Rockies. Eastern areas also received fresh snow, adding to base depths there as well. Clearing the decks at Mt. Ro...

From January 17-19, ski areas and suppliers alike descended on Squaw Valley, Calif., for the NSAA Western Conference and Trade Show. Understandably, the number of attendees was off by about 150 over previous years, but that didn't stop those who did attend from taking part in informative sessions and a little trade show shopping. Sixty-two resorts ...

SAM Magazine--January 20, 2012--Colorado Ski Country USA's (CSCUSA) 22 member resorts reported a decrease in skier visitation for the beginning of the 2011/12 ski season. Skier visits at CSCUSA resorts were off by 10.65 percent during the first period of the ski season, defined as opening day of the season through December 31, 2011, compared to the...

SAM Magazine-Woodbury, Conn., Jan. 18, 2012-Terrain parks have come a long way over the past decade and Cutter's Camp has been at the forefront of this movement by creating a program where best practices are shared, technology discussed, and ideas exchanged. But freestyle terrain is ever-changing and improving, so we still have much to discuss. To ...

SAM Magazine-Boulder, Colo., Jan. 13, 2012-Unseasonably warm and dry weather cooled off snowsport retail sales in November, and more broadly, curbed sales of overall outdoor products in December. Preliminary Outdoor RetailTRAK data from Leisure Trends Group indicate that outdoor retail sales declined a little more than 2 percent from December 2010....

SAM Magazine--January 11, 2012--SIA and SAM Magazine are partnering again at the upcoming SIA Snow Show in Denver, Colorado, January 26-29, 2012, to deliver a comprehensive program for rental buyers and suppliers. The Backshop + Rental + Uniform exhibit will provide a close-up look at the latest rental equipment and backshop innovations. Additi...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 11, 2012-With a below-average snow year leaving many areas short of their usual snow coverage and trail count, resorts are taking a variety of measures to lure customers-mostly by offering a variety of package deals and ticket discounts. And some of those areas blessed with good snow are seeking to profit from the snow ...

SAM CAM checked out Jay Peak's impressive new indoor water park in December. From aqua loops to lazy rivers, Jay has officially entered a whole new world in guest options. And the grand opening couldn't have been more timely-despite a slow start to the season, Jay Peak has been at peak capacity since opening. Move over snow, water has come to town!...

SAM Magazine--January 10, 2012--The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) filed a lawsuit in Federal court in the district of Colorado today against the U.S.D.A. Forest Service (USFS) to challenge a new water rights clause that results in "an unconstitutional taking of property." At issue is a new water rights clause enacted by the USFS late las...

SAM Magazine--According to published reports, a federal lawsuit was filed late last week against Homewood Mountain Resort, Calif., by The Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore. The suit was filed against the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and Placer County for approving, in their words, "an ill-conceived, inadequately studied, and enviro...

SAM Magazine--January 9, 2012--Oak Mountain Ski Area in the Adirondacks is for sale. The 230-acre area, which is owned by the Hamilton County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), has a 650-foot vertical drop, 14 trails serviced by a CTEC quad and two T-Bars, a base lodge, tubing facilities, and 50 percent snowmaking coverage. Oak Mountain is also h...

SAM Magazine--January 4, 2012--The operators for the past two years of Swain Resort, N.Y., have announced the purchase of the area, completing a lease-to-own agreement that was reached in August 2009 with the owners of Swain Recreation Center, LLC. The purchase was made by Denton Hill Family and Ski Resort Inc. whose officers are Scott and Jodi...

SAM Magazine-Slinger, Wisc., Jan. 1, 2011: After months of negotiation, Schmitz Brothers, LLC has purchased Little Switzerland Ski Area from Wayne Erickson. Schmitz Brothers consists of veteran resort owner/manager Rick Schmitz and two siblings, all of whom grew up skiing at Little Switzerland. They plan to invest heavily and open for the 2012-13 s...

SAM Magazine-Red Lodge, Mont., Dec. 29, 2011-A chair on the Willow Creek chairlift detached from the cable and fell to the ground at Red Lodge Mountain Resort yesterday afternoon. Two guests riding the chairlift at the time were injured and taken off the mountain. The chairlift was safely unloaded and shut down. The chairlift will remain closed unt...

SAM Magazine-Golden, B.C., Dec. 29, 2011-Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) has completed its purchase of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, buying the area from Ballast Nedam, the initial owner and developer. RCR is one of the largest private ski resort owner/operators in North America. The two companies first revealed they were in negotiations reg...

SAM Magazine--December 26, 2011--Peak Resorts Inc. has purchased Jack Frost Mountain and Big Boulder Ski Area from Blue Ridge Real Estate Company. Peak Resorts has leased and managed the ski resorts since 2005, the contract has a purchase price of 9 million dollars for the two resorts. Peak Resorts operates 12 ski areas through the Midwestern, N...

SAM Magazine--December 17, 2011--Calgary-based, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies have entered into discussions to potentially acquire Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, based in Golden, B.C. Subject to certain regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is the first, four-se...

SAM Magazine--December 16, 2011--Homewood Mountain Resort, Calif., got approval of its redevelopment plan by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) on December 14. Homewood, which is owned by JMA Ventures, a minority investor in Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley, will undergo a transformation to an "upscale boutique resort" with a five-star hotel,...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Dec. 11, 2011-A first-ever winter concert, Winter on the Rocks, will add a new wrinkle to the SIA Snow Show in Denver Jan. 27. Hip-hop dynamo Atmosphere headlines the event, along with actor-rapper Common, Grieves & Budo and Get Cryphy. Local boutique ski manufacturer Icelantic helped bring the show to fruition, along with its ...

SAM Magazine-Los Angeles, Dec. 11, 2011-The L.A. Ski Dazzle wrapped up a successful season for the nation's consumer ski and snowboard shows. The event drew 90,000 Dec. 1-4. Once La Nina kicks in and starts to deliver snow and colder temperatures across the U.S., resorts, too, should see evidence of pent-up demand. The Ski Dazzle was "above aver...

SAM Magazine--December 8, 2011--Nova Scotia's government plans to pass legislation introduced on December 6 that would require all skiers and snowboarders to wear helmets. The proposed law, which would not go into effect until next season, would fine individuals CDN$250 each time they are caught without protective headgear. The bill would requir...

SAM Magazine--December 8, 2012--Peak Resorts, Inc., announced that it has postponed its Initial Public Offering that was expected to price and close this week, due to volatile market conditions. Peak Resorts owns and manages 12 resorts in the East and Midwest. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securiti...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., Dec. 6, 2011-Several new product suppliers and a growing list of organizations are backing Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) this January. The support broadens the program's outreach to newcomers and adds to the promotional possibilities. LSSM executive director Mary Jo Tarallo anticipates that this growing suppo...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Dec. 6, 2011-Snowsports retail sales jumped 14 percent in dollars during the pre-season sales period, August through October, compared to very strong sales in the same period in 2010, according to SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and The Leisure Trends Group. Total snow sports pre-season sales increased from $565 millio...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Dec. 2, 2011-Colorado-based Eco-Groomer is initiating production of its first 60 energy-efficient snow processing units. These units add two additional "outrigger" tillers to a standard snowcat and increase the coverage area by 200 percent. The units are said to increase the fuel efficiency of grooming operations by 35 percent ...