SAM Magazine-Andover, N.H., Oct 25, 2010-Dalbello and Elan are ending their joint distribution agreement as of Jan. 1, when Alpina Sports Corp. in Lebanon, N.H., will assume responsibility for Elan. The two companies will continue to market the 4Factor rental system, although Dalbello also plans to offer its Vantage system boot for use with other b...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 24, 2010-Loveland Ski Area opened at 9 a.m. today, one day ahead of the scheduled opening of neighboring Arapahoe Basin on Monday. For both, this is the start of continuous operations for the season.The news brought an energized crowd to Loveland today, demonstrating that people are eager for ski season. Snowmaking eff...

SAM Magazine-Newry, Maine, Oct. 22, 2010-Sunday River Ski Resort became the first resort in the country to open as of 3:30 p.m. EDT today, with skiable terrain on its T2 trail from the top of the mountain down to the midstation of the Locke Mountain triple chair. This marks the first time the resort has been the first to open-that is, aside from...

SAM Magazine-Wildwood, Mo., Oct. 21, 2010-Peak Resorts has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire all Wildcat Mountain Ski Area assets and attractions in Pinkham Notch, N.H., from longtime owner Pat Franchi, pending approval by the U.S. Forest Service. Adding to its portfolio of resorts located in six U.S. states, including Attitash and Crotc...

SAM Magazine--October 20, 2010--A jury returned a unanimous defense verdict yesterday in the case of James Malaguit v. Ski Sundown, Inc., in the Connecticut Superior Court, Litchfield, Conn. James Malaguit was 15 years old on February 17, 2006, when he went off a terrain feature in Ski Sundown's terrain park. He reverse rotated and landed on the...

SAM Magazine-Boise, Idaho, Oct. 20, 2010- Federal bankruptcy judge Terry Myers has rejected a $2 million loan intended to allow Tamarack Resort to maintain facilities and reopen this winter while it finds a buyer, saying that the onerous conditions of the loan made it likely the resort would default once again. Whether Tamarack will open or not ...

SAM Magazine-Waterville Valley, N.H., Oct. 19, 2010-Less than a week after taking over, the new owners of Waterville Valley are buying 25 energy-efficient HKD tower guns and a new Prinoth Bison groomer. Total investment in the six weeks leading up to the area's planned Nov. 20 opening will hit $500,000. "We completed the purchase of Waterville V...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 19, 2010-Despite ongoing economic fluctuations and decreased consumer confidence, western mountain destinations posted a 15.8 percent increase in occupancy in September 2010 compared to September 2009, according to the latest data released by Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). This represents the biggest monthly inc...

In the latest installment of SAM's Summer Ops video series, the SAM CAM visited Nashoba Valley's Sunset Tiki Bar in western Mass., where guests are treated to summer fun on the ski area's snowmaking pond. Nashoba's success with the Sunset Tiki Bar this summer has surprised even its owners, the Fletchers. "The Tiki Bar has more than doubled our s...

SAM Magazine-Ishpeming, Mich., Oct. 14, 2010-World Champion ski racer Daron Rahlves, iconic skiing legend Glen Plake, and the late big-mountain freeskier Shane McConkey are among six skiers and builders named to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame's Class of 2010. They will be joined by Paralympic medalist and World Champion Muffy Davis, Olympi...

SAM Magazine-Whistler, B.C., Oct. 14, 2010-Fortress Investment Group is planning to sell a significant stake in Whistler Blackcomb within the month, via an IPO expected to net C$300 million, according to filings with Canadian securities commissions. Fortress will keep a stake of unknown size in the resort as well. The group of banks that are con...

SAM Magazine-Tahoe City, Calif., Oct. 13, 2010-Alpine Meadows is the first resort in North America to install the Magnestick chairlift safety system for kids, which will be used on the area's Meadow and Subway chairs during the 2010-11 season. The system uses an electromagnetic seatback and corresponding magnetic vest worn by children riding a c...

SAM Magazine-Waterville Valley, N.H., Oct. 11, 2010-The Sununu family is leading a group of local investors that has purchased Waterville Valley from Booth Creek Resorts. The assets include the Waterville Valley Ski Area, Waterville Valley Nordic Center, Waterville Valley Conference Center and Town Square. Waterville Valley, opened in 1966, was ...

SAM Magazine--October 1, 2010--It's the season for hiring, promoting and moving, so we have compiled the latest resort personnel changes...and will continue to do so throughout the year. Congratulations to everyone below on their new positions! Mt. Rose, Nev., hired sales and marketing director Sean Bakos. Bakos hails from Vermont and spent the ...

SAM Magazine-Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 30, 2010-It could only happen in California: last Friday, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger first approved a bill that required under-18 skiers and snowboarders in the state to wear helmets, but then vetoed companion legislation that would have required resorts to take a number of other actions to further safegua...

SAM Magazine-Kiltarlity, Scotland, Sept. 29, 2010-The website www.skiinfo.co.uk reports that as the southern hemisphere's ski season continues to wind down, resorts in France, Switzerland and the USA are opening, or have opened, in the last seven days. Fresh snow in the Alps and the start of snowmaking in Colorado are further signs that the ski sea...

SAM Magazine-Alta, Wyo., Sept. 27, 2010-Grand Targhee Resort owner Geordie Gillett is assuming the role of president. He replaces former Targhee president (and general manager) F. Scott Pierpont, who recently left the resort to become vice president of sales for Doppelmayr CTEC. "We are very proud when our employees are recognized within the ind...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Sept. 16, 2010-The positive occupancy trend in mountain destinations continued during the month of August, according to the most recent data released by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). The data reflect activity at 265 lodging properties in 15 destination resorts in Colorado, Utah, California, and Oregon. August...

SAM Magazine-Cable, Wisc., Sept. 15, 2010-Telemark Resort, a well-known cross-country resort that dates back to the 1940s, is being taken over by its bank via foreclosure, after a planned sale fell apart last spring. The foreclosure, said to be "friendly," is set to be complete in October. Susan Wiik, vice president of the owners group, said the...

SAM Magazine-Donnelly, Idaho, Sept. 15, 2010-A unanimous executive committee of the Tamarack Municipal Association (TMA) homeowners today moved to launch a marketing campaign to offer a 2010-11 season at Tamarack Resort. The season is scheduled begin on Dec.20. Snowmaking is set to fire up in early November. "We need to move now to complete t...

SAM Magazine-Beaver, Utah, Sept. 15, 2010-The once defunct Elk Meadows Resort in Beaver, Utah, is stirring. It's been nine years since the southern Utah resort gave a lift up to riders, but new management has had the chairs recertified, the lifts painted, the runs cleared, and the lodges remodeled. The new Eagle Point Club, as it is tent...

SAM Magazine--September 9, 2010--A 66-year-old woman who was partially paralyzed at Mt. Baker, Wash., as a result of falling snow received a jury award of $300,000 yesterday. The award, however, is far from the $7.6 million the plaintiff was originally seeking because the jury put 85 percent of the blame on her. The woman had admitted to going a...

SAM Magazine--September 9, 2010--Snow Valley Mountain Resort declared winter early this morning when their automated fan guns started making snow shortly after 3 a.m. Nick Chatterton, snow surfaces manager, says, "Our records indicate that this is the earliest we have made snow and this proves that our system is prepared to make plenty o...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., Sept. 8, 2010-The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) is awarding $100,000 in grants and in-kind contributions through its Sustainable Slopes program. The grants were the primary focus of the ten-year-old program this year. The 10th Sustainable Slopes Annual Report, released yesterday, details the program and the ski...

SAM Magazine-Bolton's Landing, N.Y., Sept. 8, 2010-Winter resorts have long recognized that their greatest competition comes not from one another, but from other leisure activity industries. Disney is often held up as the ultimate competitor. Yet Disney openly shares its knowledge of and approach to customer service, and that expertise is featured ...

SAM Magazine-Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 8, 2010-F. Scott Pierpont will be joining Doppelmayr CTEC as vice president of sales in mid-October. Pierpont has spent his entire professional career in the ski industry, including president/managing director positions with Grand Targhee, Canyons, and Mount Snow. He has also been a part of the ANSI B77.1 co...

SAM Magazine-New Zealand areas appear to have emerged with no significant damage from the recent 7.4 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter of the quake was at Darfield, a town just east of the Porter's Heights and Mt. Hutt ski areas. Both resorts managed to open on Saturday. The worst damage from the quake seemed to be east of Darfield, toward Chr...

SAM Magazine-Christchurch, New Zealand, Sept. 3, 2010-An earthquake measuring 7.4 magnitude hit Christchurch, New Zealand, and the South Island, causing widespread damage and power cuts to most of the city. The quake was centered about 20 miles west of Christchurch and 20 miles underground. It hit at 4.35 a.m. Saturday. It is not known how the l...

SAM Magazine-Jay, Vt., Sept. 1, 2010-A three-way land swap at Jay Peak clears the way for base area and on-mountain expansions, including replacement of the area's old Stateside lodge and upgrading lifts. The deal also allows future development on the mountain while providing a buffer between the resort and the Long Trail, a 273-mile hiking trail t...

SAM Magazine-Durango, Colo., Aug. 31, 2010-Jack Turner, the producer of the soon-to-be-released "Cheap Ski Movie," has launched a ski movie trivia contest with a grand prize of $40,365.79. The first eligible person to correctly answer 100 trivia questions based on "Cheap Ski Movie" and the history of skiing/snowboarding takes home the cash prize. ...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Aug. 31, 2010-Vail Resorts is launching EpicMix, an online and mobile application that lets guests at the company's five resorts digitally capture their ski and ride experiences and share them. "EpicMix takes the fun of playing and sharing online and marries it with the very real experience of skiing and riding," sai...

SAM Magazine-Carrabassett Valley, Maine, Aug. 31, 2010-Sugarloaf is expanding onto neighboring Burnt Mountain in a development that will eventually add 655 acres of terrain over the next decade, effectively doubling the area's size. For the coming season, the area is adding 270 acres. The expansion is part of a comprehensive, 10-year plan for devel...

SAM Magazine--August 26, 2010--A proposed helmet law (SB 1652) for minors in California passed the state Assembly last week and the Senate yesterday and will now head to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for sign-off. The bill would impose a $25 fine on parents of kids caught skiing or snowboarding without a helmet. Ski areas will be required to po...

SAM Magazine-La Veta, Colo., Aug. 26, 2010-A newly formed Cuchara Valley Recreational Metropolitan District has taken ownership of the Cuchara Mountain Resort in southern Colorado, and officials there hope to redevelop the dormant former ski area into a year-round sports facility. Huerfano County established the special recreation district to op...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Aug. 24, 2010-Canyons is adding two state-of-the-art Doppelmayr quads, including the first in the U.S. with heated seats and orange bubble enclosures, improving access to the gondola from the village, expanding terrain and expanding its snowmaking capabilities. This is the first phase in the redevelopment Canyons under...

SAM Magazine--Trenton, N.J., August 24, 2010--In a 33-2 vote yesterday, the New Jersey state Senate passed a bill requiring kids under the age of 18 to wear helmets at ski areas. Under the proposed law (it heads to the state Assembly now), parents, legal guardians and supervising adults will be fined $25 for the first offense and up to $100 for rep...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Aug. 17, 2010-Despite growing signs of economic weakness, the overall travel industry continues to rebound. Mountain destinations participating in the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP),* experienced sharp increases in July occupancy, as well as increases in the advance reservations for the next six months. Destinatio...

SAM Magazine-Billings, Mont., Aug. 19, 2010-A federal judge has ruled that Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth caused the Club's bankruptcy in 2008. However, the judge also found Credit Suisse partly to blame for the spectacular collapse, and it seems likely that Blixseth will be liable for "only" $20 million to $65 million of the more than $200 ...

Last summer SAM Magazine kicked off a series of resort profiles featuring summer attractions across the country. These profiles were also covered in more depth in the pages of SAM. We continue our summer ops series here with a trip to Amesbury Sports Park in Amesbury, Mass., where publisher Olivia Rowan takes a ride in the OGO. Amesbury Sports ...

SAM Magazine--August 17, 2010--According to the Wall Street Journal, Snowmass base village developers, Related Cos., J.E. Roberts Cos. and Istithmar, filed suit this week against the lenders that started foreclosure proceedings last month. The suit alleges that the banks reneged on $520 million of promised financing, thereby derailing the build-out...

SAM Magazine--August 17, 2010--Two city-owned ski hills in and around Toronto were given a lifeline by David Miller's executive committee, which voted to restore $600,000 in funding to keep the Centennial Park Ski and Snowboard Centre and Earl Bales Ski and Snowboard Centre open this coming season. Originally, the city was looking to privatize t...

SAM Magazine--Middlefield, Conn., August 9, 2010--The former owner of Powder Ridge Ski Area in Connecticut, Ken Leavitt, has filed a lawsuit against the town of Middlefield and several officials after they used "bullying tactics" to take over the ski area and its 278 acres. According to the Middletown Press, Leavitt, who owned the area from 1997 un...

SAM Magazine-Hunter, N.Y., Aug. 9, 2010-Hunter Mountain is receiving a $4.8 million federal guarantee for a loan that is funding the purchase and installation of its new base to summit six-pack. The loan will also cover the refurbishing and relocation, in summer 2011, of the high-speed quad the six-pack replaces. The loan, held by Hunter's longt...

SAM Magazine-Fernie, B.C., Aug. 4, 2010-Island Lake Resort Group has made Doug Feely its CEO. Feely, who has spent more than 30 years in senior positions within the hospitality industry in the United States and Canada, will be responsible for all aspects of operations of ILRG, which include snowcat skiing, hiking and backcountry adventures combined...

SAM Magazine-Hot Springs, Va., Aug. 4, 2010-Sepp Kober, known as the "Father of Southern Skiing," died Aug. 3. He was 88. Kober was one of the greatest pioneers in the development of Southern skiing. He introduced snowmaking at The Homestead, Va., which he managed for several years, and brought organized ski instruction and master planning t...

SAM Magazine-Golden, B.C., Aug. 3, 2010-Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is opening a fourth bowl for winter 2010-11, its tenth season of operation. Known as Super Bowl, the new terrain will introduce "an epic selection of advanced and expert skiable terrain," the area said in a release. The expansion demonstrates "the resort commitment to improvin...

SAM Magazine--Baker City, Ore., July 29, 2010--As SAM first reported on July 12, the Baker County commissioners were looking at voting to take over control of the Ski Anthony Lakes resort. Two days ago they did and unanimously agreed to take over the local area. According to published reports, it has yet to be decided whether the county will ope...

SAM Magazine-Sunshine Village, Alberta, July 30, 2010-Sunshine Village was not at fault for the accidental death of one of its ski resort workers in 2004, an Alberta court has ruled. The decision overturned a lower court decision that found the resort failed to protect the employee's health and safety, according to the CBC. Maintenance worker Ka...

SAM Magazine-Choteau, Mont., July 30, 2010-Teton Pass Ski Resort has been purchased by kiwi Nick Wood, who, along with two investors, plan to spend $3 million over the next two years to transform the area into a regional destination. Sale price was reported to be around $300,000. Wood, a skier who has been in the high tech and hotel businesses, ...

SAM Magazine-Pagosa Springs, Colo., July 30, 2010-Developers of the Village at Wolf Creek have presented a new plan for a proposed land swap near the top of Wolf Creek Pass, where they hope to create a ski-in, ski-out village with up to 1,700 residential units at an elevation of 10,300 feet. The developer acknowledges that the new plan will stil...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., July 29, 2010-Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) has revamped the senior leadership teams at Beaver Creek, Keystone and Heavenly. Keystone Resort COO Doug Lovell is now vice president and COO of Beaver Creek; John Buhler, director of skier services for Breckenridge, has become vice president and general manager of Keystone; and...

SAM Magazine--July 29, 2010--Showdown Ski Area, Mont., was given the go-ahead by the Lewis and Clark National Forest to remove 180 acres of dead trees. According to published reports, the trees were killed by the mountain pine beetle, white blister rust and other pests and were threatening lift lines and other ski area infrastructure....

SAM Magazine-Aspen, Colo., July 29, 2010-On the heels of an announcement by Colorado Ski Country USA saying the association would no longer be releasing skier visits for its member resorts, Aspen Skiing Co., went and released them anyway. According to Aspen Daily News Online, Aspen tallied 1,338,210 at its four areas, which was 4.3 percent over ...

SAM Magazine-Washington, D.C., July 29, 2010-Legislation introduced into the U.S. Senate this week would encourage the development of more summer activities at ski areas around the nation by revising the National Ski Area Permit Act of 1986, which governs ski area use of public lands. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Diana DeGette...

SAM Magazine-Las Vegas, Nev., July 26, 2010-Jerold Stanton Simon, 79, a trailblazer in the promotion and development of snow skiing for more than 30 years, passed away at his Las Vegas home on July 24. In 1964, Simon began co-producing consumer ski shows in major U.S. cities, featuring such superstars as Olympic medalists Stein Eriksen, Jean-Cla...

Last summer SAM Magazine kicked off a series of resort profiles featuring summer attractions across the country. These profiles were also covered in more depth in the pages of SAM. We continue our summer ops series here with a trip to Northstar-at-Tahoe in California. SAM's assistant editor, Liz Eren, strapped on the head cam to test out the area's...

SAM Magazine-Burr Ridge, Ill., July 26, 2010-The Winter Dew Tour, which showcases top skiers and riders in slopestyle and superpipe, begins at Breckenridge, Colo., Dec. 16-19, moves to Killington, Vt., Jan.20-23, and concludes with the Toyota Championship at Snowbasin Feb. 10-13, 2011. Breckenridge will also stage the Open Qualifiers, where would-b...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Colo., July 23, 2010-After a sluggish start for summer mountain travel destinations across the western U.S., reservations have ticked up, according to the latest report released by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP) in its monthly Mountain Marketing Briefing. Occupancy for June was down 2.5 percent, but reservation...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, July 23, 2010-The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) will stage a showcase big air competition in Denver Jan. 25-26, just prior to the annual SIA Snow Show and the X Games in Aspen. The aim is to maintain the visibility of USSA athletes and highlight the addition of slopestyle and ski halfpipe to the list of USS...

SAM Magazine--Ski Areas of New York, Inc. (SANY) is announced that total skier and tubing visits for the 2009-2010 season were 4,118,000, which represents an increase of 1 percent over the 2008-2009 season. The increase in visits in NY is worthy of note as the northeast as a whole was down 2.7%. "Visits throughout New York, with a few exceptions...