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SAM's Top Stories of 2017

Ski Area Management magazine’s 55th year in print is officially in the books, but it’s too early to send all its content to the archives. To help readers catch up on articles they may have missed, we have compiled the following list. As always, we received incredible contributions this past year from so many people who don’t wear a SAM ...

SAM 2017 Terrain Park Contest Winners

 

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., Dec. 22, 2017—Josh Bremer’s “Junkyard Dog” feature at Whitecap Mountain, Wis., and the Scott Delforte Park Jam at Bristol Mountain, N.Y., are the winners of the 13th annual SAM 2017 Terrain Park Contest. The contest drew nearly 30 entries from around the world.

The Summit Series — Developing Future Leaders

The landscape of leadership in the mountain resort industry is poised for upheaval as the old guard retire and the new generation of leaders move up through the industry. To identify these future leaders and fuel a movement that fosters relationships between the old guard and the new, SAM has embarked on a pilot program called the SAM Summit Series.

Terrain Park Contest 2017

AFTER 13 YEARS OF HOSTING THIS CONTEST, WE CONTINUE TO BE AMAZED BY THE RANGE OF CREATIVE FEATURES AND EVENTS BUILDERS AND ORGANIZERS DREAM UP. WE RECEIVED DOZENS OF ENTRIES THIS YEAR, FROM ACROSS NORTH AMERICA AND AROUND THE GLOBE. WE HOPE THIS YEAR’S COLLECTION INSPIRE MORE PROGRESSION IN DESIGN AND EVENTS THIS COMING WINTER. VOTING FOR THE 20...

Season Pass Comparison Chart

        With Alterra Mountain Co.’s Ikon Pass replacing the MAX Pass, the season pass game has changed again. Several resorts have joined either Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass or Ikon, either for advantage or to limit losses. Who will emerge victorious over the other—or will both succeed? And will independent resorts gain or ...

Joe Hession, Founder of SNOW Operating, 2011 SAMMY Winner

Joe Hession, Founder of SNOW Operating, 2011 SAMMY Winner Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I was the GM at Mountain Creek, N.J. One of the biggest moments of my career was deciding to leave the resort I called home for 16 years to found SNOW Operating. It's crazy to think that SNOW Operating is about to tur...

Chris Bates, Cataloochee Ski Area President, 2007 SAMMY Winner

Best Day/Worst Day/Most Memorable in the business?My best day is anytime it’s cold, snowy, and the guests are having a good time. Worst day was the day the compressor building caught on fire. So many great days, I can’t pick one memorable one over the other. I have been fortunate to have a career in which 99 percent of the day...

Matt Mosteller, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Senior VP of Marketing, Sales, and Resort Experience, 2000 SAMMY Winner

Where were you in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?It was such a super exciting time for me and the industry (2000). I was working on the first two large-scale re-development resort projects in North America—Kimberley Alpine Resort and Fernie Alpine Resort. Working with the community, team and guests to create a ski-in ...

Rob McSkimming, Whistler Blackcomb Vice President Business Development, 2013 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I think I was one of the oldest SAMMYs—slow to mature, I guess. I was basically in my current role as VP business development for WB. The biggest moment since my SAMMY was announcing our long-term development plans: Whistler Blackcomb Renaissance in April 2016. Best Da...

John Rice, Sierra-at-Tahoe General Manager, 2001 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I was working for Booth Creek Ski Holdings in two capacities: as corporate director of human resources and general manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe. I was fortunate to hire Laura Moriarty to run HR, but continued on as an advisor, which allowed me to travel the country and spend ti...

Genevieve Gunnarson, Snow Park Technologies Vice President, 2003 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I was working as the marketing director for Bear Mountain in Big Bear Lake, Calif. Big moments since… · Accepting position with Booth Creek Ski Holdings, working with Northstar and Sierra-at-Tahoe · Being a part of the Northstar and Sierra marketing te...

Jody Churich, Powdr-Woodward EVP and Chief Operating Officer, 2012 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?When I won my SAMMY, I had just transitioned from being a ski resort president/GM to chief operating officer for Woodward. Big moments included a partnership formed with Hard Rock All Inclusive Collection, who are launching two new Woodward Action Sports Centers in Riviera Ma...

Bill Rock, Park City Mountain Chief Operating Officer, 2005 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?The NSAA meeting was in Phoenix when I won my SAMMY and I was moving from Durango, Colorado to Snowshoe, West Virginia to re-join Intrawest as the COO of Snowshoe. I had just finished two years at Purgatory as the COO, and it was the first time I had held that position in my ...

Jesse Boyd, Peak Resorts Senior Vice President of Operations, 2009 SAMMY winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY?General manager of Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania. Best Day/Worst Day/Most Memorable in the business?There are not very many bad days, and tons of good ones. It’s hard to pick just one. Who was/is a memorable mentor?My parents, Tim and Missi, are both “ski business” ...

Jeff Boliba, Burton Vice President Global Resorts, 2004 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when youwon a SAMMY, and big moments since?At that moment in time in 2004 I had come from a resort background having already worked at Brighton, Park City, and Purgatory resorts, and then been at Burton for four years. We were about to have our third child later in this year and kid’s snowboarding product and pro...

Bill Benneyan, Mountain Creek President, 2003 SAMMY Winner

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?When I came to Mountain Creek as general manager in 1994, I had migrated from U.S. Skiing, then navigated through Burton during the halcyon years of Craig Kelly, Jeff Brushie, and Terje’s first teenage arrival on U.S. soil, and found myself in New York City producing ma...

Top Stories :: 2016

  This year we published more than 75 articles in print and online. And while we're not obsessed with clicks or eyeballs, it was interesting to see what resonated with our readers and editors. We've presented the top 10 stories you spent the most time with, commented on and what we thought were some of the most thought provoking pieces put to...

10 Under 30 :: 2016

From making snow at Eldora to running a ski school in China, this group of 20-somethings is a highly accomplished lot.

Whistler Blackbomb, B.C.

Check out Whistler's teaser video below... The full-length edition will be released in March along with the full-length videos from the five other crews recognized this year. In March the industry will be invited to vote on the snowmaking crew whose story is most inspiring.      Connect with Whistler Blackcomb...    ...

Test gallery

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test

Fill out my online form. var q1hz987q0m2qpnv; (function(d, t) { var s = d.createElement(t), options = { 'userName': 'saminfo', 'formHash': 'q1hz987q0m2qpnv', 'autoResize': true, 'height': '386', 'async': true, 'host': 'wufoo.com', 'header': 'show', 'ssl': true }; s.src = ('https:'...

Park Diggers

Park Diggers brings cutting edge design and technology to terrain park tools.

NSAA 2015 Winter Conference - Snowbird, UT

On Feb. 10-12, more than 400 ski area attendees representing 87 areas gathered at Snowbird, Utah, where 105 exhibitors filled the show floor. Attendees had a variety of educational sessions to choose from as presenters tackled everything from drone technology, freestyle terrain resource updates, minimum wage exemptions and the future of electronic incident reporting. Snowbird itself received close to six inches of snow during the conference, which many attendees took full advantage of during first tracks on Wednesday and Thursday. 

10 Under 30 --€” Young Guns 2014

Click on a Young Gun to read their full profile, complete with full interviews and nominator statements. We think you’ll agree that it’s an impressive group.

Adam Thatcher

director, food and beverage, squaw valley / alpine meadows, calif. Age: 29 Education: Bachelor of Arts, University of Richmond First job in the industry: dishwasher Super power: Perfect memory. That would serve us all so much better than flying. Six-word bio: "C'mon, we can finish it together." THE NOMINATION Since 2008, Adam has se...

Timothy Stone

ski school director,

MOUNTAIN CREEK, N.J.

Age: 25

Education: Architectural Design and Construction, SUNY Orange, N.Y.

Jordan Spear

Manager, Ticket Sales, Season's Pass, Pico Sports Center & Ambassadors,

KILLINGTON & PICO SKI RESORTS, VT.

Age: 26

Jessica Pezak

Director of marketing,

alyeska resort & The hotel alyeska, alaska

Age: 29

Tommy Long

Snowmaking manager,

pajarito mountain ski area, n.m.

Age: 28

Dallas Leonard

 

Employee Housing Manager, Copper Mountain Resort, Colo.

Age: 28

Education: B.A., Management; Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan.

Erik Kerr

Web and art director,

red mountain, b.c.

Age: 28

Erica Kelleher

interactive marketing manager,

crested butte mountain resort, colo.

Age: 27

Tyler Hollingsworth

Resort services manager,

telluride ski resort, colo.

Age: 29

Tess Hobbs

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER,

WOODWARD TAHOE AND BOREAL MOUNTAIN RESORT, CALIF.

Age: 28

Lauren Everest

PUBLIC RELATIONS SUPERVISOR,

WHISTLER BLACKCOMB, B.C.

Age: 28

Web Cams are a Popular Page on Any Resort Site, but is the Widening Gap an Issue?

May 21, 2014 -- Gregg Blanchard

Webcams. The vast majority of destination resorts have them front and center on conditions pages giving web visitors a virtual look at the mountain.

They’ve been around for years.

The Value of Marketing Hiding: Klout Gets it, Most Resorts Don’t

May 8th, 2013 - Gregg Blanchard 

Ten bucks says you played “hide and seek” when you were a wee lad or lass.

The game only works because you can’t see everyone from the beginning. Spot a toe poking out from behind a tree or a toosh to the side of the sofa, and the game (and fun) is up.

Before spoiling the surprise with your next email, let me suggest a lesson from this childhood game.

What’s the Solution to the Portrayal of a Bleak Future and Brilliant Past for Skiing?

Gregg Blanchard -- March 26, 2014

For a while I’ve been intrigued by the idea that I’m going to call “last generation nostalgia” until I find a more official moniker. The belief that 30 or so years ago life, society, morals, and culture were all better. That any changes between then and now have been for the worse.

TPP Update #3 – If I’m Honest, My Skiing Has Almost Nothing to do with Lift Ticket Prices

Gregg Blanchard - March 19, 2014

Last week my little one (or L.O. as I’ve heard the lingo goes) hit the 9-month mark. This means two things.

First, she can almost crawl. Second, it’s time for another “Parent Project” update on ways I feel resorts can reach young parents as I traverse this life-stage myself.

Conversion Camp Wrap up

 

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