SAM Magazine--Seattle, Wash., Mar. 11, 2005--The ski and ride season is winding down in Washington state this weekend. Today, only Mission Ridge and Mt. Baker are operating, and both plan to close at least for the midweek period following the weekend. With little prospect for a change in the warm, dry weather that has plagued the Northwest since la...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Mar. 10, 2005--Vail Resorts achieved a revenue gain of 7.2 percent in its fiscal second quarter compared to the year-earlier period as both mountain and lodging revenue grew. However, increased expenses served to offset much of the gain. Mountain revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2005 was $214.2 million, a 7 per...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., Mar. 8, 2005--Overall sales for the entire winter sport market (including specialty and chain stores) were up 2.8 percent in dollars to $1.76 billion for the August 2004 through January 2005 period, compared to $1.71 billion reported for the same period last year, according to the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Retai...

SAM Magazine--Oceanside, Calif., Mar. 4, 2005--The second-ever Snow Industry Summit will focus on growth markets--ethnic Americans, women, kids, and "Generation Active"--Mar. 29-Apr. 1 at Copper Mountain. And it will address the key means of reaching these markets: one-to-one marketing, advertising, websites, and branding, with advice from sources ...

SAM Magazine --- Jackson Hole, Wyo., Mar. 1, 2005 --- A 16-year-old snowboarder was charged with manslaughter Feb. 25 following a fatal collision with a 28-year-old woman at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, according to published reports. According to the Teton County Sheriff's Office, the crash occurred just after 11 a.m. Feb. 24 near the bottom o...

SAM Magazine --- Ludlow, Vt., Mar. 1, 2005 --- The snow gods blessed the Northeast for the all-important President's Birthday holiday week, helping to fuel a strong turnaround in resort visits and a solid President's holiday nationwide. However, low snow has continued to dampen visits in the Pacific Northwest. In Vermont, Okemo set single-day, f...

Just how bad has it been? The Summit at Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass have operated for three weeks or less for the season. In Oregon and Idaho, areas have fared better--though some areas have been closed for long stretches here, too. Among those operating in early February were Timberline, Mt. Bachelor, Mount Hood Meadows, Mt. Ashland, and Anthon...

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (February 11, 2005) -- From February 2-3, 2005, Ski Area Management (SAM) and Pepsi hosted a small group of senior executives from established corporations in the travel, communication and winter sports industries to discuss the subject of multi-cultural diversity as it relates to winter resorts. Companies and organizations...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Feb. 16, 2005--Storm Mountain Publishing Company, parent of Freeskier Magazine, is launching a national ski title this fall aimed at the hard-core youth market, ages 12 to18. The new magazine complements Freeskier, which targets skiers ages 18-30 with more diverse editorial. The as-yet-unnamed magazine will have a r...

SAM Magazine--Salt Lake City, Utah, January 25, 2005--The lift supplier field just got smaller as Doppelmayr CTEC announced its acquisition of certain assets of Partek Ski Lifts, effective January 22, 2005. The acquisition includes the design and manufacturing rights of Partek lift systems, as well as Partek's rights to the older Borvig lift system...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Colo., Jan. 17, 2005--Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) reports 2,928,353 skier visits for the period from Oct. 15 through Dec. 31, 2004, an increase of 8 percent compared to the same period last year. "We are encouraged by strong patterns in out-of-state visitation for domestic and international markets alike," said Rob P...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., Jan. 17, 2005--Overall sales for the winter sports market were flat at $651 million for August through November 2004 compared to the previous year, according to the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Retail Audit. Higher dollar sales per item were offset by lower unit sales, with overall unit sales down 5.5 percent. S...

SAM Magazine--South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Jan 12, 2005--Snowfall of up to 19 feet in the past two-plus weeks has left many Sierra resorts stocked with nearly a winter's worth of snow and created a publicity bonanza. But in the short run the storms have dampened travel and visits. The snowfall total in the Tahoe area is the greatest since 1916, acc...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Colo., Jan. 8, 2005--In spite of up-and-down weather in the East and Midwest, massive snows in California, and a snow drought in the Northwest, holiday traffic at ski areas nationwide was on a par with, or above, last year. And despite some continuing nasty weather in the week after the holiday, most areas are optimistic for a...

SAM Magazine--Durango, Colo., Jan. 8, 2005--Snow Monsters and Monster Cable have amicably resolved their dispute over any possible trademark infringement over the two companies' use of the word "monster." As a result, Snow Monsters has withdrawn its complaint against Monster Cable. According to Jack Turner of Sirdar, Snow Monsters' parent compan...

SAM Magazine--Seattle, Wash., Dec. 31, 2004--Winter resorts nationwide report strong visitation for the Christmas holiday week. The only exception to this cheery news is the Pacific Northwest, where low snowfall kept several resorts closed until Christmas Day or later. Several resorts are reporting the largest crowds in years. Learn-to programs are...

SAM Magazine--Beaver, Utah, Dec. 28, 2004--The Nimbus Loan Fund has repossessed Elk Meadows ski area in southwestern Utah from former owner Wayne Case for $1 million, with hopes that new management can turn it into a going concern. Nimbus is said to be seeking a new management group for the 450-acre area, located 250 miles northeast of Las Vegas. ...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Colo., Dec. 22, 2004--Sirdar, the company that created the Snow Monsters skier/rider development program, is seeking a declaratory judgment action for non-infringement and non-dilution of a trademark in Denver Federal Court. Monster Cable, a manufacturer of speaker wire, audio, video and other electrical cables, is trying to c...

SAM Magazine--Bretton Woods, N.H., December 22, 2004--The Mount Washington Cog Railway fired up its engines this past weekend and transported the first sliders part way up the hill for a 500-foot beginner run. The company anticipates being able top open the entire length of the track by December 26. The main trail, which is groomed and has snowm...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., Dec.17, 2004--Retail sales for skiing and snowboarding for the August through October period were up 3 percent in dollars to $323.3 million while unit sales declined 3.6 percent, according to the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Retail Audit. Strength in carve skis, integrated ski-binding systems, Twintips, tele gear, ...

SAM Magazine--Enfield, N.H., December 15, 2004--Whaleback Mountain has seen a lot of tire kickers since it closed in 2001. Many have viewed the small hill, which is tucked in behind Sunapee off of route 89, as a failing prospect given all the competition in Vermont and New Hampshire for snow sliders. Others see the small area as an untapped resourc...

SAM Magazine--Wrightwood, Calif., December 15, 2004--Oaktree Capital Management, owners of southern California's Mountain High ski area, have retained a financial advisor, Houlihan, Lokey, Howard and Zukin, to explore all of their options as it relates to returning invested capital to the original investors. This could include a sale, a merger or a...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, Dec. 2, 2004--American Skiing Company (ASC) has completed its long-sought goal of refinancing its existing resort senior credit facility and its 12 percent Senior Subordinated Notes (both due in 2006). The result is a new $230 million senior secured credit facility co-led by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and GE Co...

SAM Magazine--Denver, Colo., Nov. 19, 2004--Despite warm and/or dry conditions across much of the U.S. for the past week, more resorts are opening this weekend, ahead of the Thanksgiving onslaught. Here's a roundup of the upcoming action. Today, Vail joins several other Colorado areas that opened previously. Skiing and riding are underway off th...

SAM Magazine--Bridgton, Me., Nov. 12, 2004--Shawnee Peak Ski Area is offering free 2004-05 family season passes to the spouse and children of deployed soldiers. To encourage new or lapsed skiers and riders to take advantage of the offer, family are also eligible for $10 first-time lessons and $10 rental equipment. Shawnee's program is open to sp...

SAM Magazine--Dillon, Colo., Nov. 12, 2004--Resort openings are beginning to grow at an exponential rate as more areas across the country will join the ranks of the operating by tomorrow. Keystone opened today with 36 hours of continuous skiing and riding, thanks to its lighted slopes. This is the first time Keystone will launch with an all-nigh...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, Nov. 9, 2004--Intrawest saw revenue decline for the fiscal 2005 first quarter ended September 30, 2004 to $206.5 million from $276.6 million for the same period last year, due to an expected drop in real estate sales. But revenues and profits increased in the resort, travel, and management services divisions. The company in...

SAM Magazine--Copper Mountain, Colo., Nov. 5, 2004--Copper and Snowbird, Ut., have joined the ranks of open areas in the U.S. today, with Killington, Vt., planning to open early next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday. Copper opened with 2,300 vertical feet of top-to-bottom skiing and riding, nearly 60 acres of terrain and 20 inches of man-made a...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Ut., Nov. 1, 2004--American Skiing Company improved its financial results for the 2004 fiscal year and fourth quarter ended July 25, 2004, compared to year-earlier periods. But the company also acknowledged that its independent accounting firm, KPMG, had not been able to determine "whether substantial doubt exists about the...

SAM Magazine--Oceanside, Calif., Nov. 1, 2004--Freeze Magazine will cease publication with its January 2005 issue, TransWorld Media (TWM) vice president/general manager Brad McDonald told SAM. In addition to the Freeze staff, TWM has cut loose director of marketing and business development Mike Jaquet and vice president of marketing and sales Al...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Oct. 27, 2004--Areas have been opening at a record clip across the West as a series of storms and favorable snowmaking weather have cloaked the mountains in the white stuff. Loveland, Colo., was first, on Oct. 15. Loveland had a solid manmade base, plus nearly four feet of natural snow over the previous month. Arapa...

Georgetown, Colo., October 15, 2004 -- Loveland kicked off the 2004-05 US ski season today with record opening-day traffic. "We don't like to talk about specific numbers, but we sold over 1000 tickets," said marketing director Kevin Wright. The previous record opening was about 800 tickets. It was Loveland's fifth consecutive year as the firs...

SAM Magazine--Oceanside, Calif., Oct. 15, 2004--Whistler tops the TransWorld Snowboarding Resort Guide list as the best overall area for snowboarding in North America. The magazine guide includes ratings on 56 areas across the continent on pipes, parks and overall quality. The Resort Guide hits newsstands Oct. 19. Rounding out the top three are ...

SAM Magazine--Pennsylvania, October 14, 2004--Laurel Mountain Ski Area has had its fair share of problems lately. The state-owned ski area, which has lived through several different concessionaires, may have finally found a home with Seven Springs Mountain Resort. The most recent concessionaire, George Mowl, took over operations in 1999. After inve...

SAM Magazine--Durango, Colo., Oct. 6, 2004--The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition (SACC)'s annual Ski Area Environmental Scorecard has fingered the top and bottom 10 areas in the West based on their environmental performance, according to the group's rating system. Among those receiving A ratings in SACC's report-card-style system are Aspen Mountain,...

SAM Magazine--Ludlow, Vt., Oct. 6, 2004--Top executives Bruce Schmidt, Jay Gamble, Dave Wilcox and Jim Remy have new positions at Okemo, Vt., and Mount Sunapee Resort, N.H. Schmidt becomes VP and general manager at Okemo, where he will oversee Okemo's summer and winter operations. He has been with Okemo for 27 years in a variety of positions in ...

SAM Magazine--San Diego, Calif., Oct. 4, 2004--Future Network USA is launching a new Future Action Sports group that will include consumer and trade snowboard magazines. The group is headed by Fran Richards, former VP sales and marketing, publisher at TransWorld Media. Both publications will be based in San Diego. The quarterly Snowboard Trade N...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Oct. 1, 2004--Vail Resorts reported improved results for fiscal 2004 compared to the previous year. VR posted a 7.4 percent rise in resort revenue, to $676.8 million, for fiscal 2004 compared to 2003. Resort expense increased just 1.7 percent, to $530.1 million. Despite a warm March and an early end to the 2003-04 season,...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Oct. 1, 2004--Apollo Ski Partners plans to convert its Class A shares to common shares and to distribute its holdings to its limited partner investors, ending Apollo's reign as controlling partner in Vail Resorts. Apollo held 17.8 percent of Vail's shares, but nearly 100 percent of the Class A stock that gave it the r...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., Sept. 15, 2004--SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and VERB, a national government-funded kid's marketing campaign, are launching the first-ever VERB SnowSports Day on Dec. 4, 2004. The event will take place in retail stores nationwide and will introduce kids of all ages to snow sports. Retailers across the nation wil...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo,, Sept. 13, 2004--Booth Creek Ski Holdings more than doubled its net income and boosted EBITDA by nearly 27 percent for the nine-month period ending July 30, despite a 19 percent decline in third-quarter revenues. Net income for the nine months more than doubled, to $12,089,000, an increase of $6,529,000 from 2003. Total...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, Sept. 14, 2004--Thanks in part to the creation of its Leisura real-estate partnerships, Intrawest reported a strengthened balance sheet for fiscal 2004, raising cash flow from continuing operations to $423 million, up $444 million from 2003, and reducing debt by $285 million. Income from continuing operations for the year w...

SAM Magazine--New Hartford, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2004--Springer-Miller Systems, Inc. (SMS), which provides property management software, is becoming part of PAR Technology Corp., another software company. The deal is expected to close in late 2004; terms were not disclosed. SMS will continue to be run by its current senior management team in Stowe, Vt. ...

SAM Magazine--Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2004--MasterFit University will bring boot fit instruction, including a course specifically intended to produce nearly instantaneous rental boot fitting, to eight locations this fall. SAM has once again teamed with MasterFit U to sponsor the organization's North American fall tour. Proper boot fitt...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Sept. 8, 2004--For the 13th time in 17 years, Vail tops SKI Magazine's annual Top 60 resort ranking. The list is based on a survey of more than 20,000 veteran SKI subscribers. Vail leads a group of six Colorado resorts in the top ten. Deer Valley and Snowmass each move up a notch in this year's poll, to the No. 2. a...

SAM Magazine--Ligonier, Pa., Sept. 6, 2004--Star-crossed Laurel Mountain Ski Resort, which failed to operate during the 2003-04 season, has defaulted on a $1 million loan, and several assets, including groomers and the area's snowmaking system, are going up for auction on Sept. 17. Owner George Mowl had borrowed the money from Somerset Trust Co. in...

SAM Magazine--Silverton, Colo., Sept. 6, 2004--Silverton Mountain was the first U.S. ski area to get skiers and riders onto its slopes for the 2004-05 season on Sept. 4 following heavy snowfall down to the area's 10,400-foot base elevation. The snowfall was fueled by moisture from Tropical Storm Howard. This is the third year in a row that Silve...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Aug. 30, 2004--A report critical of the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA)'s Sustainable Slopes Program has itself drawn criticism from the resort industry. The report, authored by two university professors, concludes that the program amounts to little more than greenwashing. Resorts have criticized the report fo...

SAM Magazine--Bellaire, Mich., Aug. 30, 2004--Michigan's Shanty Creek Resort & Club has defaulted on a $20.35 million mortgage, according to its lender, Comerica Bank, which has initiated foreclosure proceedings on several properties, including the Schuss Mountain ski area. Also named in the foreclosure are the Schuss Mountain golf course (along wi...

SAM Magazine--Rumford, Me., Aug. 30, 2004--Black Mountain has banned use of all tobacco products at the resort, indoors and out. The policy may soon spread to other community-oriented areas owned by the Maine Winter Sports Center, in Mars Hill, Fort Kent and Presque Isle. The Black ban is total: it covers cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing t...

SAM Magazine--Crested Butte, Colo., Aug. 24, 2004--Crested Butte Mountain Resort has named Randy Barrett general manager and vice president. As GM, Barrett will take on some duties formerly handled by John Norton, who resigned in early August as the Crested Butte resort's president and CEO. Crested Butte co-owner Tim Mueller of Vermont-based Triple...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., Aug. 24, 2004--U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Yellowstone Mountain Club owner Tim Blixseth against the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to gain control of a parcel of land atop Lone Peak, home to both Big Sky and Moonlight Basin and neighbor to the Yellowstone Club. The judge rul...

SAM Magazine--Mont Tremblant, Que., Aug. 24, 2004--Daniel Cordier, a shareholder in the Gray Rocks ski area, is purchasing the area and will open it for the 2004-05 season. The purchase follows the announcement in early July that the area and its hotel would close for the coming winter season. Cordier has held the title of hotel vice president from...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Aug. 20, 2004--Vail Resorts has signed contracts worth $43.8 million for the sale of 11 townhomes in the elite Gore Creek Place development in Vail's LionsHead neighborhood. The Gore Creek Place project includes 16 townhomes in all, ranging in size from 3,500 to 4,400 square feet. All 11 townhomes, part of Vail's New D...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 19, 2004--Several resorts are implementing the WinterKids' National Outdoor Learning Curriculum in in their local communities this season. The resorts include Crystal Mountain, Mich., Thunder Ridge Ski Area, N.Y., Cataloochee Ski Area, N.C., and Ski Areas of New York (SANY). In addition SkiTops, a Colorado-based ...

SAM Magazine--Ishpeming, Mich., Aug. 12, 2004--Olympic champions Picabo Street and Donna Weinbrecht, who both collected titles at the Olympic, World Championship and World Cup levels, headline the 2004 inductees for the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. Street earned an Olympic silver medal in downhill at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, then won gol...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, B.C., Aug. 12, 2004--Intrawest is forming a partnership with CNL Income Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust, in which CNL will acquire an 80 per cent interest in commercial properties at nine Intrawest resort villages, with a total value of $160 million. Intrawest will continue to manage and lease all of the re...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 11, 2004--U.S. ski areas tallied a total of 57.07 million visits during the 2003/04 season, according to the NSAA's final 2003/04 Kottke End-of-Season Survey. That represents the third best season in the industry's history and continues a hot streak: The past four seasons include the industry's three best seasons...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., Aug. 11, 2004--The Yellowstone Club will pay $1.8 million and complete a list of resoration projects to settle claims brought against it by the Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act during 2001. Although the Club denies wrongdoing, it agreed to pay the penalty and replace or repa...

SAM Magazine--Oliver, B.C., Aug. 9, 2004--Mount Baldy ski area is on a fast track for modernization, thanks to new owners and the pro-resort efforts of the B.C. government and the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB). The B.C. government is encouraging new investment in the resort industry and was "instrumental, if not indispensable" in supporting new owne...