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--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-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-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--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-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-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--July 22, 2010--Whether it was the abundance of snow that fell right into June, Ski Lake Tahoe resorts-Alpine Meadows, Heavenly, Kirkwood, Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Squaw Valley USA reported a 17 percent increase in skier and snowboarder visits during the 2009-2010 season. With some resorts reporti...

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...

SAM Magazine--July 22, 2010--The beleaguered development of a new ski resort in Minturn, Colorado--Battle Mountain--has been downscaled even further. Originally, the Ginn Co., bought the land and planned for a world-class ski area, golf course, condos, second homes and retail space, all of which was approved preliminarily by the town council in ear...

SAM Magazine-Rangeley, Maine, July 15, 2010-Saddleback, Maine, is offering a limited number of its new Decade Passes as part of its 50th anniversary celebration this upcoming season. The Decade Pass ($5,000) will provide unlimited skiing and riding for ten consecutive years. Only 50 passes will be available. "Saddleback is excited to offer this ...

SAM Magazine-Crested Butte, Colo., July 15, 2010-Gloria Manning, reviewing officer for U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, yesterday upheld two earlier decisions to reject a proposal by Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) to develop lift-served skiing on Snodgrass Mountain. The decision is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's final administrati...

SAM Magazine--July 15, 2010--Last night, July 14, ESPN presented its annual ESPY awards, honoring athletes across all sports, and skiing and snowboarding came out on top. Out of 35 awards chosen by the viewers, winter sports took home five: Best Female Athlete: Lindsey Vonn Best Male Action Sport Athlete: Shaun White Best Female Action Sport...

SAM Magazine-Durango, Colo., July 14, 2010- Tori Ossola, former VP of marketing for the Vermont Ski Areas Association, has been named managing director for Snow Monsters and NextSnow, the national ski and snowboard programs for kids with more than 100 affiliate resorts and industry members. "We have spent months redesigning both Snow Monsters an...

SAM Magazine-New Westminster, British Columbia-In response to the failure of a lift tower of Blackcomb's Excalibur Gondola in December 2008 due to ice jacking, the B.C. Safety Authority (BCSA) has issued new regulations intended to avoid a repeat incident. They are: 1. All operators of passenger ropeway installations must assure towers are fitte...

SAM Magazine--July 13, 2010--Nancy Cushing, retiring CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Corporation, Calif., announced the appointment of Andrew (Andy) D. Wirth to the position of CEO at Squaw Valley USA. Wirth will be responsible for all aspects of resort operations at Squaw Valley USA, and he will report directly to the Board of Directors at Squaw Valley Sk...

SAM Magazine-Baker City, Ore., July 12, 2010-The owners of Ski Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort have offered the assets of the ski area to the county government, including the rest of its 30-year Forest Service lease, the Baker City Herald reports. Skiers and businesses that rely on winter visitors back the idea. So does County Commission Chairman ...

SAM Magazine-Laramie, Wyo., July 12, 2010-Aaron and Becky Maddox are buying the Snowy Range Ski Area, which has been owned and operated by the First National Bank for the past two seasons. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The husband and wife team are longtime skiers but new to the resort business. However, Aaron grew up in Steamboat, and p...

SAM Magazine-Snowmass Village, Colo., July 12, 2010- On Friday, July 9, District Judge Gail Nichols put the Base Village project at Snowmass into receivership. The move, effective today, July 12, transfers operational control from the Related Companies of New York to Destination Snowmass Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Lowe Enterprises of Los Angel...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., July 8, 2010-Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month in January 2011 will have a new graphic look and messaging this season. The campaign is built around the theme, "Humans were never meant to hibernate." The ad campaign reaches out to current participants to "bring a friend" to try skiing and snowboarding, and encourages nev...

SAM Magazine--July, 7, 2010--The Burlington Free Press reported that a Vermont federal judge says Powdr Corp., the owner of Killington ski resort, doesn't have to honor 1,243 lifetime ski passes first issued to people who invested in the ski area almost 50 years ago ago. Powdr Corp. and SP Land Co. bought Killington in 2007 and announced the dec...

SAM Magazine-Vienna, Austria, July 6, 2010-The Organisation Internationale Des Transports a Cables (OITAF) will hold its tenth worldwide congress Oct. 24-27 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in conjunction with Companhia Caminho Aéreo Pão de Açúcar, which operates two reversible cableways in the city. OITAF has also issued its call for pape...

SAM Magazine-Angel Fire, N.M., July 6, 2010-Angel Fire Resort has named John Kitts CEO, effective July 23. He will oversee Angel Fire's five principal businesses-operations, membership, timeshare, resort development and real estate sales. Kitts had been the resort's CFO for the past two years. Kitts succeeds Pat Brunstad, who had been CEO and di...

SAM Magazine-Harbor Springs, Mich., July 1, 2010-Are Superpipes becoming an endangered species? As at some other resorts around the country, Nub's Nob's Superpipe was the least-used piece of real estate at the area. So the area reshaped the walls and built a new race arena slope to provide a home for aspiring racers. The venue is specifically de...

SAM Magazine-Stratton, Vt., July 1, 2010-Stratton Mountain Resort will stage the first Vermont Solutions Festival Aug. 27-28, held in collaboration with the state of Vermont, to celebrate sustainability, sport and wellness. "The Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing is excited to be a partner in the new development of the Vermont Solution...