SAM Magazine--March 26, 2010--Brian Head Resort in southwestern Utah is on the block with an asking price of $34.75 million. According to CB Richard Ellis' Land Services Group, the company that has the listing, Brian Head averages 141,000 skier visits and total revenue from ski operations averaged more than $6.8 million over the past three years. E...

SAM Magazine--Quebec City, Quebec, March 25, 2010--Mont Orford, which is owned by the provincial government of Quebec, is on the block for $1. The catch? The buyer would have to put down a security deposit of $4 million and commit to running the resort and golf course for five years. As well, the government would still own the 1,100 acres. Accor...

SAM Magazine-Squaw Valley, Calif., Mar. 25, 2010- In honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley USA is hosting the first-ever U.S. Professional Ski Patrol Olympics Apr. 16 to 18, 2010. This will be the first time that ski patrollers from across the continent have gathered for one epic competition, with...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Mar. 19, 2010-Park City Mountain Resort, The Canyons Resort and Deer Valley Resort are hosting their 2nd annual Wasatch Backside Lifty Invitational (WBLI) Mar. 29-Apr. 2, 2010. The event is held "to recognize the hard work of our lift operations teams," said Jeff Marzka, lift operations manager at Park City Mountain Re...

SAM Magazine-Boise, Idaho, Mar. 19, 2010-A federal judge has declared Tamarack Resort bankrupt. The decision will allow newly named trustee Jeremy Gugino to begin liquidating the resort's assets and pay off creditors. Liquidation is expected to be a lengthy process. One major complication: Tamarack's largest creditor, Credit Suisse, is moving in...

SAM Magazine-Fresno, Calif., Mar. 19, 2010-Industry veteran Tim Cohee has signed an agreement to purchase Sierra Summit. The acquisition, which is expected to close by Apr. 30, will return Cohee to the area where he began his career nearly 30 years ago. Purchase price is said to be just under $4 million. Cohee, who has been an executive at Kirkw...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Mar. 16, 2010-Resorts in highly competitive markets continue to offer discounted passes with early-purchase incentives for 2010-11, often at 2009-10 prices. Many of these offers include additional perks, from discounted tickets for friends or summer activities to lodging and dining discounts. In Colorado, the Rocky Mountain ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Mar. 16, 2010-Lodging occupancy through February nudged up a scant 0.03 percent ahead of last season, continuing a very slow trend toward growth, according to the most recent Mountain Travel Research Program report. This "indicates the reversal of a long term down cycle," noted Ralf Garrison, founder and director of MTRiP. The ...

SAM Magazine-Chillan, Chile, Mar. 12, 2010-The Nevados de Chillan resort, and the hotel and conference center known as Termas de Chillan, experienced only minor damage from the earthquake, SAM has learned, and preparations for the upcoming season were not affected. The Chillan resort was the closest to the earthquake epicenter, about 110 miles, of ...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Mar. 11, 2010-A total of 18,932 attendees gave the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Snow Show its greatest attendance in six years, according to SIA. The show, with more than 3,100 booths representing 845 snow sports brands, was held at Denver's Colorado Convention Center Jan. 28-31 for the first time, after a 37-year r...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Mar. 11, 2010-Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) member ski areas saw visits dip 4 percent durin January and February compared to the same period last year. This puts visits for the season to date down 2 percent. After an encouraging start to the season, visitation slowed in January, as snowfall lagged across a large part ...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Mar. 10, 2010-Vail Resorts (VR) is continuing its popular season's pass programs and adding a new Epic 7-Pack as well as an unrestricted pass to Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. The Epic 7-Pack ($449) is a seven-day unrestricted ticket valid at Vail Resorts' five mountain resorts and Arapahoe Basin, about a 35 percent...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Mar.10, 2010-Vail Resorts (VR) reported mixed second-quarter results today, as a slight gain in mountain operations was offset by a slight decline in lodging revenues and a virtual absence of real estate activity this year compared to last, due primarily to the timing of real estate closings. Overall, the results sho...

SAM Magazine-Portillo, Chile, Mar. 9, 2010-Ski Portillo, located approximately 100 miles from Santiago, Chile's capital city, escaped the recent earthquake with no injuries and only superficial damage. Tierra Atacama, located in San Pedro de Atacama, more than 1,000 miles north of the epicenter, is also undamaged. Hotels, infrastructure, lifts, and...

SAM Magazine-Pine Island, N.Y., Mar. 9, 2010-Partek has issued a service bulletin for Borvig lifts manufactured from 1975 to 1982. Affected chair grips from this era must be removed from service in stages due to issues with the jaw area on the main grip body. The bulk of these grips were supplied on Borvig lifts from 1976-1980; some lifts built in ...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Mar. 9, 2010-Snow Sports market sales reached $2.26 billion in January, eking out a .4 percent gain in dollars sold compared with the dismal August through January period a year ago, according to the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Retail Audit Report released today. Fewer carryover sales, coupled with more purchases o...

SAM Magazine-Boston, Mar. 5, 2010-The Boston Globe Ski & Snowboard Expo, staged by BEWI Productions, moves to the Seaport World Trade Center, close to downtown Boston, Nov. 11-14. The new site replaces the Bayside Expo Center, which had been the show's home for 26 years. The Center was recently bought by the University of Massachusetts. Which re...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Mar. 5, 2010-Despite a sluggish ski season hampered by the ongoing U.S. recession, mountain resort communities from around the U.S and Canada are sending hundreds of sales representatives to Banff, Alberta for the 35th annual Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS) Week Apr. 11-17. The Symposium's two trade shows allow marketers and tr...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Mar. 4, 2010-American Olympians are auctioning a variety of gear to benefit causes ranging from earthquake victims in Haiti to a cancer victim at Lake Tahoe. Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn has teamed with TV host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres to continue the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti by auctioning a sign...

SAM Magazine-Seven Springs, Pa., Mar. 5, 2010-With skiers and riders till feeling the pinch of the recession, areas are ramping up efforts to lock in passholders for next season. Seven Springs Mountain Resort is offering season passes for the 2010-2011 ski/board season starting at $399 if purchased by June 1, 2010. New skiers and snowboards who ...

SAM Magazine-Lake Placid, N.Y., Mar. 4, 2010-Winter resorts across America are celebrating Winter Olympians for representing the U.S. and often winning medals at the Vancouver Games. Local officials in Lake Placid declared Feb. 26 "Andrew Weibrecht Day" and held a parade in his honor. Weibrecht, who earned a bronze medal in the super G, rode ato...

SAM Magazine-Hancock, Mass., Mar. 4, 2010-The Presidents' Week holiday period drew 48,924 skier visits to Jiminy Peak, the highest visitation for the week in the history of the resort. In addition, the resort's SKIWee and Explorers Children's Programs taught a record 2,575 kids during the nine-day holiday period. "It was a great holiday week for...

SAM Magazine-Santiago, Chile, Mar. 4, 2010-The earthquake that hit Chile earlier this week did little if any damage to resorts north and east of Santiago, from what SAM has been able to learn, but nothing is known about the situation at Nevados de Chillan, formerly called Termas de Chillan, and other resorts to the south. The quake's epicenter w...

SAM Magazine--March 2, 2010--Woodbury, CT--Time is running out to send in nominations for the SAMMY Leadership Awards. Nominations close on March 15, 2010. Nominees for the SAMMY Leadership Award can come from both the resort side of the industry and the supplier side. The SAMMYs honor people who, at mid-career, demonstrate the innovation, leade...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 27, 2010-Fortress Investment Group and its lenders have agreed to a framework for restructuring $1.2 billion in debt for Intrawest, Bloomberg News is reporting. The new plan is said to call for $1.2 billion of debt to be split into a senior tranche of $800 million and a mezzanine tranche of $400 million. The le...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 26, 2010-Nordic combined gold medalist Billy Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.) will be the flag bearer for the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team at the Closing Ceremony. Demong, who earned the first-ever gold medal for a U.S. skier in Nordic combined, was selected for this honor by his Olympic teammates. Demong becomes the four...

SAM Magazine-Squaw Valley, Calif., Feb. 25, 2010-C.R. Johnson, 26, died yesterday while skiing at his home mountain, Squaw Valley, after he fell several hundred yards through exposed rocks. Ski Patrol were on the scene within minutes, but efforts to revive Johnson failed. He was reportedly wearing a helmet. Johnson was a pipe and park legend. He...

SAM Magazine-Whitefish, Mont., Feb. 24, 2010-In response to a large increase in after-hours uphill traffic, Whitefish Mountain Resort will restrict uphill traffic within the resort's Special Use Permit boundary to a single route on the mountain, as well as limit the hours when the activity is allowed, starting Mar. 1. As traffic has increased, r...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 24, 2010-For the first time, TV audience measurer The Nielsen Co. has been tracking audience ratings for individual Olympics events, and skiing came out on top during the first few days of the Games. Freestyle skiing, in particular the moguls events, achieved an average of 26.9 million viewers during prime time...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Feb. 23, 2010-Winter Trails on Jan. 9 attracted approximately 10,700 participants, nearly all of them new to winter sports, according to program director Mary Jo Tarallo. The free learn to snowshoe and cross country ski program was a chief Nordic component of Learn a Snow Sport Month. Some of the largest events took pla...

SAM Magazine--February 23, 2010--The Ski Maine Association reports that Maine ski and snowboard areas posted good numbers over the February school vacation week. Snowmaking was the hero, sustainibng the industry as snow storms tracked south, through the mid Atlantic states. According to Shawnee Peak's owner, Chet Homer, "with our conversion to h...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 18, 2010-The lenders who have threatened to auction Intrawest's debt have postponed any such action for a week, according to Reuters. The auction, originally set for Feb. 19, has been rescheduled on Feb. 26. Intrawest and its parent company, Fortress Investment Group, have been negotiating with creditors for month...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Colo., Feb. 17, 2010- Reservations and occupancy in mountain resorts continued to edge up in January, though they remain slightly behind last year's low figures, according to the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). The report is based on reports from more than 200 resort properties in 15 resorts across Western North Ameri...

SAM Magazine-Aviemore, Scotland, Feb. 17, 2010-Despite the fluctuating weather conditions in Vancouver for the Olympic Games, most of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere is reporting great ski conditions, according to www.Skiinfo.co.uk. Mt. Washington, B.C., not far from the Games sites, currently reports the greatest reported snow depths (15...

SAM Magazine-Truckee, Calif., Feb. 17, 2010-East West Resort Development, an affiliate of East West Partners which has built luxury resorts in the Tahoe area, filed for bankruptcy yesterday. The filing primarily affects three Tahoe-area properties: Old Greenwood, Gray's Crossing and the Northstar Highlands, along with Tahoe Mountain Club. It doe...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Feb. 9, 2010-Intrawest today announced a definitive purchase agreement to sell its interests in Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort to the Becnel family of Destin, Florida. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed; the transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2010. The purchase agreement inc...

SAM Magazine-Louisville, Colo., Feb. 8, 2010-Olympic bronze medalist Jimmie Heuga, a star of the 1964 Olympic Winter Games and one of the U.S. Ski Team's greatest ski racers, died today, on the eve of the Olympics in Vancouver and 46 years to the day after he won his medal. Heuga was 66. "Jimmie Heuga was a champion in every sense of the word," ...

SAM Magazine--Squaw Valley, Calif., February 2, 2010--Late last week, Squaw Valley USA announced that it has completed the acquisition of The Village at Squaw Valley, a four-season mountain resort village at the base of the ski resort, from Intrawest. The Village was started in 2002 and was developed by Intrawest. Last week's transaction include...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, B.C., January 28, 2010--Intrawest and a newly formed company, Panorama Mountain Village Inc. (Panorama Inc.) announced today that they have entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement that will enable Panorama Inc. to purchase Intrawest's interests in Panorama Mountain Village. Panorama Inc. is made up of area homeow...

SAM Magazine--Golden, B.C., January 26, 2010--Canadian Premier Gordon Campbell announced the approval of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort's New Master Plan. The 40-year plan includes 20,000 bed units, an 18-hole golf course, a multi-use trail system with 11 proposed lifts and 4,188 acres of skiable terrain. "At the Provincial level we have now appr...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Colo., January 26, 2010--Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) reported that its 22 member resorts saw a one-percent increase in skier visitation for the first portion of the 2009-2010 winter season over the same period last year. The period, which runs from October 7, 2009 through December 31, 2009, saw some early snowstorms in t...

SAM Magazine-Boyne Falls, Mich., Jan. 22, 2010-After the devastating earthquake in Haiti last week, winter resorts joined the worldwide response by staging a variety of charitable fundraising events over the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend. More than 15 resorts across North America set up donation funds to help aid the people of Haiti. Boyne ...

SAM Magazine-Granby, Québec, Jan. 22, 2010-Prinoth is taking over direct distribution of its Alpine products in the Midwest, assuming responsibility that was previously handled by Track Inc. Prinoth will open its own facilities to manage Midwest sales, service and parts distribution for all Alpine groomers, and incorporate this new site into its...

SAM Magazine-Colorado Springs, Colo., Jan. 22, 2010-The U.S. Olympic Committee has bestowed its highest honors on three U.S. Ski Team athletes on the eve of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn was named 2009 USOC SportsWoman of the Year, Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick was honored as SportsMan of the Year, an...

SAM Magazine-Steamboat Springs, Colo., Jan. 20, 2010-In a statement released this afternoon, Intrawest disputed published reports about an impending foreclosure action and asserted that it remains in control of all its resorts. "There have been inaccurate and misleading media reports surrounding Intrawest today," the statement says. "Fortress In...

SAM Magazine--January 13, 2010--After filing for bankruptcy protection, the East Coast retail chain, Ski Market, was granted permission by the bankruptcy court to find a buyer by February 12. According to published reports, the future buyer would get Ski Market free and clear of its current debts. Ski Market owes more than $4 million to its loca...

SAM Magazine--January 13, 2010--The Canadian Ski Council (CSC) released its policy on helmet usage at Canadian ski areas. It reads: "The Canadian Ski Council recommends wearing helmets for skiing and riding. Skiers and snowboarders are encouraged to educate themselves on the benefits and limitations of helmet usage. The primary safety consideration...

SAM Magazine--Stowe, Vt., January 8, 2010--On December 31, 2009, Chartis acquired Stowe Mountain Resort from the beleaguered AIG. Chartis was formed in the summer of 2009 as a separate subsidiary of AIG that took over AIG's property-casualty and general insurance business. For its part, AIG is spinning off many of its programs following the $182 bi...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Jan. 8, 2010-Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) has seen a slight decrease in business levels from a year ago, according to data released by the company today. Lift ticket revenue through Jan. 6, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue, was down approximately 0.4 percent compared to last year's comparable perio...

SAM Magazine--January 5, 2010--On Monday, January 4, 2010, NPR's "All Things Considered" aired a piece on a report that found that ski resorts exaggerate snow reports, especially on the weekends. Two researchers from Dartmouth College, Eric Zitzewitz and Jon Zinman, studied industry snow reports from 2004 to 2008 and found that resorts report 23 p...

SAM Magazine--Boston, Mass., January 4, 2010--On December 29, 2009, wintersports retailer Ski Market filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the Boston Globe, Ski Market employs 170 full- and part-time employees in seven retail stores in New England. From April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009, the retailer reported $22.5 million in gr...

SAM Magazine--January 4, 2010--Two-time World Champion Lindsey Vonn was named Female Athlete of the Decade by NBC's Universal Sports. Vonn joins Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt who was chosen best male athlete of the decade. "It's incredible to think about where I was as a person and an athlete in 2000 and then compare that to where I am now, says...

SAM Magazine-LASSM kicked off today with Glen Plake appearing in a segment on The Today Show (see it at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34687728#34687728). The four-minute-plus segment shows cohost Hoda Kotb getting a lesson from Plake, along with some pre-tween kids. It also shows a stunt double sliding a rail and catching serious air. All in all...

SAM Magazine-Bozeman, Mont., Jan. 4, 2010-Property owners at four Western resort developments, including the Yellowstone Club and Tamarack Resort, have sued Credit Suisse Group AG for $24 billion in losses and damages, claiming the banking giant attempted to defraud investors through its lending practices. The suit also names realtor Cushman & Wake...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Dec. 29, 2009-Iowa Pacific, the company that hoped to keep the Winter Park Ski Train running for a 70th year, has pulled the plug on the operation for 2010. The company has been unable to reach an agreement with Amtrak to operate the train due to insurance and other issues. With service postponed until at least Jan. 6, Iowa Pac...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Dec. 29, 2009-Intrawest's current debt negotiations will not have any impact on the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, an Intrawest spokesman emphasized to SAM today. "Our venues are finished, preparations are nearly complete and we look forward to welcoming the world to Vancouver," added Dave Cobb, deputy chief executive ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Dec. 28, 2009-The Winter Park Ski Train has been put on hold until at least Jan. 6 after a U.S. district judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order that would have forced Amtrak to operate the Rio Grande Scenic Ski Train between Denver and Winter Park. Iowa Pacific Holdings, which has been trying for months to tak...

SAM Magazine-Juneau, Alaska, Dec. 28, 2009-A refurbished chairlift at Eaglecrest Ski Area was shut down Dec. 23 after only a few days of operation due to a broken shaft on the auxiliary side of the gearbox. Eaglecrest general manager Kirk Duncan said the broken part affected two of the lift's four braking systems, but that safety of the lift was no...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Dec. 28, 2009-Having missed a $524 million payment Dec. 23 on a $1.4 billion loan, Intrawest is continuing negotiations with its lenders, according to The Globe and Mail. Lenders had reportedly granted Intrawest a 60-day extension on the loan, which had been due Oct. 23. "Intrawest continues to be in active dialogue...

SAM Magazine-Merrimac, Wisc., Dec. 28, 2009-The primary cause of the lift accident at Devil's Head Resort Dec. 17 was a massive failure of the chairlift's gearbox, according to the resort. Fourteen people were injured when the lift rolled backward after a stop. Exterior of gearbox With the gearbox out of commission, the lift's service brake...