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...

August 9 (SnowHunter)--The Mills Corporation, leading developer of innovative retail and entertainment destinations, today announced a September 29, 2004 groundbreaking for Meadowlands Xanadu in New Jersey, USA. Following on from the company's completion of the Madrid Xanadu last year, it is hoped that this new development will house the first U...

Dear Jennifer: I am writing in response to your open letter in the July 2004 SAM. As always, I respect SAM's role as an independent voice in the industry and I appreciate your willingness to voice your concerns on the future of NSAA and the industry. At the same time, I respectfully disagree with your opinion that the leaders of the industry hav...

SAM Magazine--Crested Butte, Colorado, August 5, 2004--John Norton, president and CEO at Crested Butte, announced that he will step down from that position to pursue a career in consulting. Norton will continue to work on projects for the ski resort as the point person for planning and approvals of expansion projects. Tim Mueller, the new owner ...

SAM Magazine--Silverton, Colorado, August 5, 2004--The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has given the OK to Silverton to host unguided skiers, up to 475 a day. The Bureau conducted a survey of the area, concentrating on avalanche safety, for three years before it rendered its recommendation. The fly in the ointment, however, is the recommendation...

SAM Magazine--North Conway, N.H., Aug. 4, 2004--The Threedom Pass, good at Booth Creek areas Cranmore, Loon, and Waterville Valley, offers increased benefits and options for the coming season. Unrestricted passes include college and youth passes ($199), teen passes ($249) and adult passes ($459). An adult pass with holiday blackout dates costs $319...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., August 4, 2004--Vail Resorts' quest to find a buyer has been put on hold, according to a story in the Denver Post and other sources. According to reports, the investment firm of KKR withdrew its bid, and the offer from Texas Pacific Group was well below VR's asking price. Nobody from the companies involved has commente...

SAM Magazine--Sherbrooke, Que., Aug. 3, 2004--Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. is selling its industrial vehicle division, including snow groomers, to Quebec component-maker Camoplast Inc., which produces rubber tracks and components for groomers and other heavy-duty tracked vehicles. Terms of the transaction were not released. The sale is exp...

Vail, Colo., July 30, 2004--Two large buyout firms are finalists in the possible sale of Vail Resorts, according to a report in the Denver Post. Sources have told the paper that Texas Pacific Group and Henry Kravis, a principal in New York investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), both submitted proposals this week. Sources said that VR's b...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., July 27, 2004--SnowSports Industries America (SIA) has joined the VERB campaign, a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focused on motivating kids ages 9 to 13 to get more physically active. VERB is a comprehensive, multicultural campaign that reaches out via kid-cool advertising, promotion a...

July 29, New Jersey (SnowHunter)--The joint developers of the $1.3 billion Xanadu project in New Jersey, Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali, have launched a website atYÂ¥ www.meadowlandsxanadu.com to showcase their plans. Xanadu would comprise five themed 'districts' over the 104-acre Continental Arena site.YÂ¥ The entertainment district will be the ...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, July 21, 2004--OLN will broadcast 22 hours of original ski and snowboard event programming annually, with multiple re-airings, according to terms of a multi-year agreement between the sports channel and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). OLN is in 59 million homes and televises events such as the Tour de F...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., July 21, 2004--Vail Resorts has committed approximately $600,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to the Alpino 10,000 Project, which aims to introduce 10,000 Denver-area youth to snowsports in Colorado over the next two years. For each of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, Vail will contribute $5,000 a year to the Alpi...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., July 15, 2004--The ski industry has made substantial progress in its efforts to reduce environmental impacts, according to the Sustainable Slopes Annual Report prepared by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). The report is based on information from 62 resorts representing 19 states and three Canadian provinces. ...

SAM Magazine--Copper Mountain, Colo., July 13, 2004--Summit County Commissioners have denied Intrawest's long-term development plan for doubling the size of Copper Mountain after a three-year planning process. Intrawest was seeking land-use approval for 1,155 additional residential units at Copper, beyond the 500 remaining units in its current p...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, July 13, 2004--In a move that entrenches discounted season's passes in the Northeast, American Skiing Co. (ASC) is introducing an All for One Pass valid at the company's six Eastern resorts, at prices ranging from $349 to $599. The passes are based on a similar offer introduced last winter at Attitash Bear Peak and Su...

SAM Magazine--Mont Tremblant, Que., July 13, 2004--Gray Rocks Inn and ski area will close its doors on Oct. 10, marking the first time in a nearly a century that the Gray Rocks Inn will close for the winter and shuttering one of the pioneering ski areas of the region. Owner Phillip Robinson blamed the extreme cold and the general tourism slump f...