SAM Magazine - The Canyons, Ut., December 26, 2007 - An in-bounds avalanche at The Canyons on December 23 has left one man dead and a child critically injured. The incident, which took place in the Red Pines Chutes area off the ski area's Ninety-Nine 90 lift, took the life of a 30-year-old man from Colorado and injured an 11-year-old boy. The Ca...

SAM Magazine - Vail, Co., December 21, 2007 - It's official. The most expensive adult daily lift ticket is $92 and it's at Vail. The resort reached the benchmark this week, edging out nearby Aspen ($87) and Deer Valley, Utah ($81). Last year an adult single day lift ticket cost $85 While it appears that the days of $100 daily lift tickets aren't...

SAM Magazine - Sugar Bowl, Ca., December 21, 2007 - With storms pounding ski areas from Utah to New Hampshire, the only part of the country yet to see substantial accumulations of snowfall is starting to catch up. Ski areas in the Sierra and Lake Tahoe areas have seen substantial accumulations over the past week. Alpine Meadows is reporting thr...

SAM Magazine - Denver, Co., December 20, 2007 - Three years of early season sales gains have come to an end, reports SIA in their first retail audit of the season. The industry group's audit shows a total of $468 million in sales for the August to October period. Specialty retailers suffered a 7 percent drop from the previous year, clocking in at $...

SAM Magazine - Taos, NM., December 14, 2007 - Burton can take one of four areas off its poaching list-Taos' management has decided to reverse a long-standing ban on snowboarding, effective March 19. "While there are many reasons why we have chosen this season to make such a significant change to our company's policy the foremost factor is we fee...

SAM Magazine - Broomfield, Co., December 12, 2007 -Vail Resorts has reported a net loss of $24.6 million (63 cents per share) in the first quarter of 2008. The amount is less than in 2007, when the company reported a loss $35.8 million during the same period. "Our fiscal first quarter is a seasonally low earnings period and historically a loss q...

SAM Magazine - VAIL, Co., December 11, 2007 -Vail's SOS Outreach, formerly known as the Snowboard Outreach Society, has been named by Vail Resorts to be the administrator of the ski company's Diversity Program. The Diversity program is spearheaded by Vail Resorts to introduce Denver and surrounding residents to the mountains. The announcement by Va...

SAM Magazine-Princeton, Mass., Dec. 6, 2007-What do french fries and snowcats have in common at Wachusett Mountain Ski Area? Cooking oil! Wachusett is one of only three ski resorts in the Northeast to convert 100 percent of its 2,500 gallons of waste cooking oil into environmentally-friendly biodiesel. To complete the transformation, Wachusett i...

SAM Magazine-Grand Junction, Colo., Dec. 6, 2007-Leitner-Poma of America and Prinoth, both Leitner Technologies companies, today began construction on a $15-million, two-building, 90,000 square-foot office, factory and warehouse here on an 18-acre site adjacent to the Grand Junction Regional Airport. Leitner-Poma of America, previously known as Pom...

SAM Magazine-Montpelier, Vt., Dec. 6, 2007-Several Vermont resorts will serve up Ski Vermont Burgers this winter as the result of a partnership between the Vermont Ski Areas Association, Vermont Agency of Agriculture and the Vermont Beef Producers Association. First to offer Vermont beef on the menu are Bolton Valley, Jay Peak, Okemo Mountain and S...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Dec. 5, 2007-Kirby Brown has been named president and COO for Intrawest's Panorama Mountain Village, B.C., effective Dec. 17. Brown will be responsible for all aspects of Panorama's resort operations, and will report to Dave Brownlie, president and COO at Whistler Blackcomb. Brown began his career with Intrawest in ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Dec. 5, 2007-Unsettled weather across North America has the season looking up in the East, but on the West Coast, areas are crossing their fingers and praying for snow. In Colorado, a strong storm system created epic conditions after a warm November delayed openings at some ski areas. The recent storm dumped more than two fe...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo.,, December 4, 2007--NSAA announced today that it has hired Ann George to serve as the association's education director. George hails most recently from Vail Resorts where she was the human resource director, but also worked in the East at Waterville Valley. George replaces Tim White, who now serves as executive directo...

SAM Magazine--Vermont and Maine, December 4, 2007--Both the Vermont Ski Areas Association and the Ski Maine Association are reporting strong early season business thanks to a weekend storm that dumped on the two ski states. Vermont areas are off to a stronger start than the last four years combined. A total of 369 trails are open, which accounts fo...

SAM Magazine-Blowing Rock, N.C., Nov. 29, 2007-Appalachian Ski Mtn. is offering free skiing to encourage guests to support efforts to fight global warming. On Dec. 8-9, Jan. 5-6, and Mar. 1-2, each guest at Appalachian Ski Mtn. who purchases a ski ticket and a $3 Green Ticket will receive a voucher for a free ski ticket redeemable any night in Marc...

SAM Magazine-Vail, Nov. 27, 2007-When Vail Resorts delayed Vail's opening by a few days earlier this month, the resort sent idle workers out on the town for a city-wide cleanup effort. A group of approximately 70 employees, ranging from mountain safety staff to ski patrollers, cat drivers and lift ops, roamed the Vail streets collecting rubbish. ...

SAM Magazine-Rossland B.C., Nov. 27, 2007-While terrain parks are common in resorts across the globe, dedicated skier and boarder cross courses are few and far between. But the Olympics could change that. Snowboardcross was one of the most popular disciplines at the Torino Olympics, and skier cross is slated to debut at Vancouver in 2010. To suppor...

SAM Magazine-Vail, Nov. 23, 2007-After a warm November in many parts of North America, resorts from coast to coast are swinging into action, thanks to the belated arrival of both natural snow and colder snowmaking temperatures. Delayed openings in the Rockies have been a major departure from prior seasons, when ample natural snowfall allowed resort...

SAM Magazine - Mt. Crested Butte, Colo., November 19, 2007- Crested Butte sees an opportunity in November's Rocky Mountain dry spell. With many Colorado and Utah ski areas postponing opening days and limited terrain at many of the resorts which are open, the 'Butte,--which opened as scheduled on November 17--is offering half price tickets to the co...

SAM Magazine - Vail, Co., November 15, 2007 - It's hot! Too hot, actually. In a mirror image of last year's slow start for Eastern ski resorts, Rocky Mountain ski areas are struggling to make snow and open on time. While both Loveland and Arapahoe Basin opened in October, November has been unseasonably warm. Some resorts have been able to make due....

SAM Magazine-Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 12, 2007-Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR), is giving big air a big kiss-off. "All man-made snow jumps will be eliminated from RCR terrain parks this season," Matt Mosteller, senior director of business development for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, has announced. The six-area company cited its core valu...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Mountain, Calif., Nov. 9, 2007-More ski resorts are announcing openings by the day, if not the hour. In the Midwest, Ski Brule started winter operations Nov. 7. Another notable addition to the up-and-running club is Mammoth Mountain, which fired up the lifts on Nov. 8 and offers skiers one run with an 8- to 14-inch base of man-...

SAM Magazine-Breckenridge, Colo., Nov. 7, 200 -Skiers will have plenty to celebrate this weekend as the ski season kicks off in earnest, with resorts opening across North America. In Colorado, Arapahoe, Loveland and Copper Mountain have already been hosting skiers and snowboarders for the past few weeks, with Arapahoe Basin leading the early season...

SAM Magazine-Driggs, Id., Nov. 7, 2007-Grand Targhee Resort has purchased new employee housing just north of town here, in the Buffalo Valley Condominiums. The 16 three-bedroom, two-bath units are fully furnished and contain a washer/dryer and central vac system. Monthly rents start at $300 per employee and include Wi-Fi Internet service. Both sin...

SAM Magazine-North Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 7, 2007-Grouse Mountain is launching a groundbreaking-or at least snow-moving-program called Build Your Own Park. This gives passholders and park locals the opportunity to design the parks through a series of season-long surveys. Riders will vote on what features should be built next and provide feedback on ...

SAM Magazine-Windham, N.Y., Nov. 6, 2007-A mere eight miles apart, Hunter Mountain and Windham are offering visitors an inexpensive way to sample the disparate vibe of both with a single ticket package. The resorts are offering guests The Winter Card ($119), which gives skiers two days of skiing and riding at Hunter and two days at Windham. The dea...

SAM Magazine-Keystone, Colo., Nov. 2, 2007-Keystone's 2007-2008 season started today at 9 a.m., a week earlier than planned, thanks to more than two feet of natural snow and efficient snowmaking. Terrain park. Photo by Leisa Gibson.  The mountain is operating from the River Run Village base area for the intermediate run of Spring Dipper, ...

SAM Magazine-Canmore, Alberta, Nov. 1, 2007-Colorado-based East West Partners and Morgan Stanley Real Estate have acquired Three Sisters Mountain Village, a 1,800-acre partially completed Canadian Rockies resort community near Banff, adjacent to the historic mining town of Canmore (site of Nordic events at the 1988 Olympics). East West Partners wil...

SAM Magazine-Sunday River, Me., Oct. 31, 2007-What a difference a year makes. Unlike last fall, when snowmaking across the East was stymied by unseasonably warm temperatures, this year seems to be on track. At Sunday River, where consistently cold nights have allowed the mountain to pump out the white stuff, the area is open for one day, making it ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 30, 2007-Snowsports Industries America is moving its annual trade show to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver in 2010, ending more than three decades in Las Vegas. For SIA, the new location offers more space and a closer connection with the mountains-not to mention the higher visibility that comes with being one of t...

SAM Magazine-Green Valley Lake, Calif., Oct. 29, 2007-Trinity Mountain Resort was burned last week by the Slide fire. No lives were lost, but ten percent of the homes in Green Valley Lake were destroyed, and the one and only chairlift at Trinity was also burned. The damage could have been worse. The area had recently remodeled the base lo...

SAM Magazine - Telluride, Colo., October 29, 2007 - Dave Riley, Telluride's new CEO, is creating controversy in this southern Colorado ski town. Riley has raised eyebrows with his contention that the operators of the Mountain Village to Town gondola do not deserve a raise, as they are already getting paid too much. While the town of Telluride...

SAM Magazine-Bethel, Maine, Oct. 29, 2007-Sunday River and Sugarloaf, Maine, and Bretton Woods and Attitash, N.H., are among the handful of Eastern areas that began snowmaking operations last night. Low temperatures and humidity created good conditions for making snow. Temperatures bottomed out at 15° F. at the summit of Sunday River, while 18 h...

SAM Magazine-Red Lodge, Mont., Oct. 26, 2007-An affiliate of JMA Ventures, LLC has purchased Red Lodge Mountain Resort. JMA has, in the past eighteen months, also bought Homewood and Alpine Meadows, Calif. JMA is a San Francisco-based real estate investment company.     "We're very excited to be involved with Red Lodge Mountain Resort,...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 23, 2007-After Vail spent approximately $2 million in an attempt to prevent the American Skiing Company (ASC) from selling The Canyons ski resort to Talisker Corporation, a Denver judge has backed Talisker and ASC and nixed VR's attempts to stop the sale. ASC now plans to proceed with the sale to Talisker, and anticipat...

SAM Magazine - Whistler, B.C., October 9, 2007 - As anyone who has skied Whistler in the past decade knows, the ski resort relies on an annual influx from Down Under. If any evidence is needed, look no further than the raucous celebrations on Australia Day, where the town - and the bars - are taken over by people with funny accents and an affinity ...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 10, 2007-Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) will serve natural, hormone-free meats and poultry and organic dairy products in 40 on-mountain restaurants at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly during the 2007-2008 ski season. VR says it will serve more meals made with natural meats and certified organic d...

SAM Magazine-Revelstoke, B.C., Oct. 9, 2007-Revelstoke Mountain Resort, the massive development in British Columbia's interior, is expected to open on schedule by Dec. 22. Upon completion, the resort will boast the longest vertical in North America at a whopping 7,000 feet from top to bottom. For the coming season, two major lifts will serve 4,7...

SAM Magazine-Salt Lake City, Oct. 9, 2007-Utah may have another major ski resort soon. The proposed resort, 18 miles from the Salt Lake City Airport, would be a first for the Oquirrh Mountains to the west of the city. The resort would be developed by Kennecott Land, part of the Kennecott Utah Copper Company. The proposed ski area would have a b...

SAM Magazine-Arapahoe Basin, Colo., Oct. 9, 2007-Arapahoe Basin will open on Oct. 10 for the 2007-2008 ski season. This marks the Basin's earliest opening in its 61 years of operation and the second year it has been the first area in the country to open. The Exhibition chair will open to the public at 9 a.m. Skiers and riders will find an 18-inc...

SAM Magazine--October 8, 2007--Ski resorts across North America are scrambling to find workers after the H2-B visa cap was hit. The cap, which limits H2-B visas to a total of 33,000 workers was reached on October 1. While many resorts and other hospitality companies had expected that returning workers would be exempt from the cap, Congress failed t...

SAM Magazine--Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2, 2007--As of yesterday, October 1, the president of Doppelmayr CTEC, Jan Leonard has left his position. Leonard has worked in the ropeway business for more than 35 years and oversaw the merger between Doppelmayr and Garaventa/CTEC in 2001. Leonard will continue his association with Doppelmayr CTEC an...

SAM Magazine-Vail, Colo., Sept. 27, 2007-Colorado ski areas have started to blow snow. Both Loveland and Arapahoe Basin fired up the guns this week, with Copper Mountain expected to start snowmaking operations shortly. Breckenridge has announced that the ski area will start making snow in October. Loveland has traditionally been the firs...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Sept. 27, 2007-Michael Goar has been named managing director of The Canyons. He has 31 years of ski resort industry experience, most recently as executive vice president and general manager of Solitude Mountain Resort. Goar joined Solitude in 1981 and has held a variety of management positions; since 1991 he has been r...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Sept. 27, 2007-Vail Resorts posted a net income gain of 34.2 percent for 2007 over the 2006 fiscal year. The company netted $61.4 million in 2007, with increases across the board. Mountain revenue grew $44.9 million, or 7.2 percent, for the twelve months ending July 31, 2007, to $665.4 million from $620.4 million for...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Sept. 27, 2007-Charles Massicotte has been named president and CEO for Intrawest's Mont Tremblan. In this newly created position, Massicotte will be responsible for all aspects of Tremblant's resort operations, including real estate development and sales. Massicotte will report directly to Alex Wasilov, president and C...

SAM Magazine-Squaw Valley, Calif., Sept. 21, 2007-A trenched superpipe headlines terrain park improvements at Squaw Valley for the 2007-2008 season. The in-ground pipe will be lit for nighttime pipe riding, making it the only illuminated pipe in the Lake Tahoe area. The pipe was constructed on the site of the resort's original trenched pipe to redu...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Sept. 21, 2007-In an effort to promote advance bookings, Intrawest's new early-season Destination: Snow vacation package deals lure travelers with discounts up to 44 percent at Blue Mountain, Mont Tremblant, Panorama Mountain Village and Whistler Blackcomb. Prices are valid for bookings made through Nov. 15. Intra...

SAM Magazine-Angel Fire, N.M., Sept. 21, 2007-Angel Fire is embarking on a multi-million dollar facelift of the resort's 120- room base area hotel. The 18-month project starts this fall and will include a new fitness center, upscaled common areas, and four "showcase" hotel rooms providing a preview look at the finished product. The finished remodel...

SAM Magazine-Gavarnie, France, Sept. 21, 2007-French Pyrenees resort Gavarnie is expanding its terrain by nearly a quarter as the ski area adds 12 new runs for the 2007-08 season. The expansion brings the resort's total to 32 miles of marked trails. Additional improvements include the BuzzPark, Gavarnie's new terrain park. In other news from Fra...

SAM Magazine-Whistler, B.C., Sept. 20, 2007-Construction of Whistler's massive Peak to Peak gondola is wrapping up for the season. The project, which will link Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, is being undertaken in two phases, with the second phase occurring next summer. It's part of an extensive makeover of the resorts in anticipation of hosting...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Sept. 20, 2007-The Colorado Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled against a massive village at the base of Wolf Creek ski area. The Court upheld a lower court ruling that voided Mineral County's approval of the project, which could have resulted in approximately 2,000 units on 288 acres. Davey Pitcher, Wolf Creek Ski Area pre...

SAM Magazine-Teton Village, Wyo., Sept. 20, 2007-A Swiss crew from Doppelmayr CTEC is in the final stages of dismantling the old Jackson Hole Ski Resort tram. Crews will demolish the lower terminal of the old tram in October, and work on the new terminals will continue through the winter. The project also involves removing the tram's cable and two ...

SAM Magazine-Bethel, Me., Sept. 20, 2007-Sunday River, Sugarloaf, and Loon are offering a new New England Pass, which offers skiing and riding at all three areas. The pass results from the recent addition of Loon to Boyne USA's group of areas in New England.   The New England Pass comes in three versions. The Bronze Pass ($369 for all ages) ...

SAM Magazine--September 19, 2007--Vail, CO--Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc., entered into an agreement with Boyne USA for the sale and transfer of Booth Creek's equity interests in Loon Mountain, N.H., and the Summit-at-Snoqualmie, Wash. Upon closing of the stock transfer, Loon and the Summit will continue to operate the respective resorts under lon...

SAM Magazine-The Canyons, Ut., Sept. 12, 2007-In the latest twist to The Canyons saga, Vail Resorts (VR) has sweetened its offer offer for The Canyons. VR offered an additional 30 percent of the net cash flow that VR makes off any real estate it would get in the deal. According to VR CEO Rob Katz, this could result in earnings of up to $650 million...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Ut., Sept. 12, 2007-American Skiing Company (ASC) has filed a Certificate of Dissolution with the Delaware Secretary of State in accordance with its previously announced plan of complete dissolution and liquidation. The dissolution will become effective as of Sept. 13. Trading of ASC's stock on the OTC Bulletin Board w...

SAM Magazine-Varna, Italy, Sept. 12, 2007-Kaser Srl, manufacturer of belt conveyor lifts, has restructured its North American operations as of Sept. 1, following the retirement of former U.S. general manager Bruno Beinder. Mad River Snow, Inc. is now responsible for sales in the eastern region-which stretches as far west as the Dakotas, Nebraska...

SAM Magazine-Grand Targhee, Wyo., Sept. 11, 2007-Scott Pierpont has been named general manager of Grand Targhee. Pierpont has spent more than 30 years in the the ski industry, and makes the move to Targhee from Utah where he held positions as president and managing director of The Canyons, president of the Park City Chamber of Commerce and chairman...

SAM Magazine-Scheffau, Austria, and Hafjell, Norway, Sept. 11, 2007-Austria's Ski Welt has scored another six-pack, bringing the mega-resort's total to 8. The Ski Welt, which includes Brixen im Thale, Going, Hopfgarten, Itter, Kelchsau and Söll and Westendorf, is Austria's largest lift-linked ski region. With the addition of the new detachable l...