Cohen Buys Glen Ellen for $2.4 Million; Second Major Vermont Purchase in a Year
On September 20, M. Roy Cohen, the dynamic coin-op laundry magnate, laid down $2.4 million for Glen Ellen ski area in Vermont. Just a year ago he got into the ski business with the purchase of neighboring Sugarbush for $4.2 million. Sugarbush Valley, Inc. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Solon Automated Services, Inc. of Washington, D. C., and Glen Ellen will be treated as a department of Sugarbush Valley.
Logic and speculation says the two areas will be physically connected in the future. Meantime, there will be free shuttles, the Sugarbush ticket ($16) will be good at both areas while Glen Ellen’s ($13) won’t transfer and Glen Ellen’s name will be phased out.
Like Sugarbush last year, Glen Ellen is being painted and spruced up for the coming season, but no major capital changes or additions. In fact, despite his reputation for buying and pumping up companies to look profitable, Cohen has made little capital investment at Sugarbush. The most visible alterations so far involve image: more signs for directions, labels and good will; employee uniforms and badges; and a public relations campaign aimed at skiers, employees and local residents.
Outside developers like Carl Creedon are talking about additional shops, condominiums and a sports center in Sugarbush Village, next to the ski area. Meanwhile, rumors are rampant about a large development in Slide Brook Valley on land owned by Sugarbush, Glen Ellen, the U. S. Forest Service and private interests. That would seem to be many years and dollars away, however, following federal, state, regional and local government approval, and huge water and sewage treatment plant construction.
Cohen, who commutes daily in his piloted plane between Waitsfield and Washington, made few management changes at Sugarbush after the purchase. The announced plans for Glen Ellen are to keep most of the employees and retain Harvey Clifford, former owner-manager, as an advisor.
“I’ll be second guessing my decision to sell for years, ”says Clifford, “but I think Roy will do a firstclass job. He thinks to compete in the ski business you have to be big and he could conceivably create the biggest ski complex in the country out of this. The summits of the two areas are two miles apart and they could be connected with a couple of lifts and a little village in the valley. Eventually both areas will disappear. The sum of the parts will become something else.”
Clifford says he would like to stay in the ski business and run an area again, but not for someone else. In the meantime he plans to relax and perhaps even go skiing.
Most residents of the Valley are reserving opinions about Cohen’s fiefdom. So far he has operated conservatively and within the “controlled growth pattern” of the region. Most important, they say he provides sound financial backing to a ski resort that has in the past responded adversely to business fluctuations.
He is known, though, as a fast man with a buck and some wonder about the possibility of a Mad River Glen purchase. Right now Cohen can claim to have the largest interconnected resort complex in the East with 13 lifts and 70 trails—although considerable bushwacking would be required to ski from Glen Ellen to Sugarbush and it couldn’t be done in the other direction.
When asked why he got into a marginal and risky business like skiing, Cohen shrugged and said: “There’s no glamour in the laundry business.”
Ralston Purina buys A-Basin ski area
Arapahoe Basin, situated five miles east of Keystone Resort, has been purchased by Ralston Purina Company and this winter will join Keystone Mountain in offering more advanced slopes and an additional two months of spring skiing. Keystone is a division of Ralston Purina Company.
Three chairlifts, two doubles and one triple, are under construction at Arapahoe Basin and are expected to be in operation by the start of this ski season, and will replace four of six existing lifts there.
Situated in a large basin on the west slope of the Continental Divide, Arapahoe Basin rises to almost 12,500 feet, the highest mountain elevation in the state. Because of its location, the area receives an average of 450 inches of snow a year, and for over 30 years has been the darling of the lovers of the steep and deep.
The Keystone lift ticket can be used interchangeably at Keystone and Arapahoe. The $250 Keystone season pass can be used at both mountains, but there is also an Arapahoe-only pass costing $175.
Squaw Valley Tramway accident: A report
On the afternoon of April 15, 1978, an accident occurred on the Squaw Valley aerial tramway in which four persons were killed and others injured. This report recaps factual data associated with the facility, as well as the accident sequence. The principal source of of the information is the accident investigation report of the California Division of Industrial Relations, the authority having jurisdiction in the area.
The Squaw Valley Aerial Tramway is a bi-cable double reversible system, having the following design and operational characteristics:
- Manufacturer: Garaventa, Ltd., Switzerland.
- First Public operation: Dec 18, 1968
- Design Capacity: 1100/hr each direction
- Cabin Capacity: (each of two) 120 passengers plus 1 operator
- Slope length: 7,381 ft.
- Vertical Rise: 1,886 ft.
- Number of Towers: 2
- Tower Heights: No. 1, 52.5 ft.; No. 2, 138 ft.
- Greatest span: Lower terminal to Tower 1, 3,149 ft.
- Speed (max.): 1,965 fpm (approx 22 mph)
- Lower Terminal Drive: 700 hp, D.C. Ward-Leonard system
- Track Cables: (2 per carrier) 2-in diameter, locked coil track strand
- Haul & Tail Ropes: 1 each, 1-15/32-in diameter, 6 x 25 construction
- Counterweights: Track cables at lower terminal; haul rope at upper
- Rescue System: Independently powered; 10-passenger carrier.
Essential the tramway operates with the carriers reciprocating between terminals. The carriers are supported in transit by two track cables per car. Track cables are anchored at the upper terminal, counterweighted at the lower terminal, and supported by saddles on the two intermediate towers. Carriers are propelled by a haul and tail rope connecting the two cars, passing through the drive and braking systems in the lower terminal, and through the counterweight in the upper terminal.
A conductor is present in each carrier. Principal control station is at the lower terminal. For this installation, tower number sequence is from the bottom; track cables are numbered from left to right looking uphill. The green car was on the left path of travel, the red on the right. The twin track cables are spaced and the haul rope supported by two slack carriers at approximate one-third points in the spans between the lower terminal and Tower 1, Towers 1 and 2, and between Tower 2 and the upper terminal.
The accident: Deaths and injuries to passengers occurred when the outside track cable No. 4 left its support on Towers 1 and 2, dropped down along the hanger of the red car and smashed through the top and sides of the carrier.
Sequence of events: At 3:30 p.m. on April 15, the weather was stormy in Squaw Valley. A cold front, accompanied by snow, was passing through. Area anemometer readings ranged from 20 to 50 mph, and a wind gust of 71 mph was recorded at nearby Alpine Meadows, Ward Peak, near the time of the accident. Record low barometric pressures for the month were recorded this date. A hygrothermogram showed an abrupt temperature drop in the afternoon with the frontal passage.
The tramway was operating at reduced speed (984 fpm) due to the wind and poor visibility. The green car left the lower terminal with 43 passengers as the red car left the upper terminal with 63. As the red car approached within approximately 72 feet of Tower 2 the system came to an abrupt halt. Passengers in that carrier were thrown violently to the floor and front of the carrier as it stopped suddenly and swayed violently. At this time track cable No. 4 left its tower support saddles, dropped down along the carrier hanger and smashed through the roof and sidewalls of the car.
With the system coming to rest, these
general manager for all federally-funded Olympic construction, said, “All the steel for the ski jumps is in fabrication and we expect all of it to be delivered during the first three weeks in September.”
At the ski jump site, the landing hills for the 70 and 90 meter jumps are complete, and stairs in both towers are complete. Work is progressing on the elevator in the 90-meter tower. Concrete work on the staging building is complete, and the electrical system is at the half- way mark.
At the judges tower, only siding, doors, interior work, and electrical work remains.
At the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center, which is also an Environmental Conservation project, the snowmaking system is about 75 per cent complete. All piping has been hooked up, and the system is currently being tested. Snowmaking will cover all Olympic trails. Trail cutting is complete, and crews are finishing the widening and grooming of the new giant slalom and downhill trails.
Three lifts are also being worked on: lift seven is being completely renovated, while work on lift two and the T-bar is proceeding. The expansion of the base lodge is on schedule, while four starting and two finish buildings are being constructed.
Salomon launches binding awareness program
Salomon Bindings has launched a National Binding Awareness Program to educate skiers to binding care and skiing safety. One facet of the program involves Salomon’s offer to ski areas of signs which say, “Bindings Correct? Have’em Checked!”
The styrene signs are 14” by 17”, pre-drilled, with rounded corners, blue lettering and white background. Salomon is offering three such signs free to ski areas, and additional ones at $3.00 each.
For more information, write to Salomon/North America, Inc., c/o Newsome & Co. 225 Franklin St., Boston, MA 02110.
Avalanche Seminar Slated for Reno
The Far West Professional Ski Patrol Association announces it will offer an Avalanche Training Seminar at Reno, Nevada this Fall. The five-day seminar will take place at the Pioneer Auditorium in downtown Reno, October 23 through 27, 1978.
Internationally known instructors will make their experience available to the participants during lecture, discussion and workshop sessions that will cover beginning through advanced classroom phases of avalanche knowledge.
The Seminar is organized and directed by Norman A. Wilson, Avalanche Consultant, for the Far West Professional Ski Patrol Association. The Seminar is open to all. For information call or write Dee Dulac, P. O. Box 13217, South Lake Tahoe, California, 95702. Telephone (916) 544-6770.
Associations
USSA establishes Brattleboro office
The U.S. Ski Association has established an office in Brattleboro, Vt., which will operate a national computer center — complete with IBM System 34 — a national marketing office to raise money from outside of skiing to support skiing, and a USSA News Bureau to help increase both the incidence and accuracy of information about skiing in all media.
The News Bureau, which is run by Jock Soper, will be providing both a priority news distribution system and a more traditional flow by overland delivery. The priority system involves some rather sophisticated electronic gear, and is designed to move deadline information such as race results, standings etc.
For instance, USSA can feed pre-race data directly into the typesetting computer libraries of all newspapers with such electronic receiving equipment. Others will be fed through wire service, Mailgram or mail. As the race is run, the race report will go directly into the AMFAX priority distribution system and properly formatted information will move directly to the newspapers within a few minutes of the events themselves.
The headquarters office of USSA will remain in Denver, and the administrative, public affairs and membership benefits functions will be handled at that office.
Touring group seeks safety
Next year’s ski tourer will be a more informed skier, according to Howard Peterson, President of the National Ski Touring Operators’ Association. At the organization’s Annual Meeting, NSTOA adopted new stamdards that would require member centers to use the International Trail Marking System, maintain a “Trail Board”, and warn skiers of trails that are closed or extra-hazardous.
According to Peterson, the operators are committed to helping educate the skiing public regarding the potential hazards and risks that are involvedi n the sport. “Though we have a very low accident rate compared to high hazard sports”, says Peterson, “there are inherent dangers. We cannot reduce all risks, but we can take a positive role in educating our skiing public about those risks.”
NSAA moves headquarters
On October 27, National Ski Areas Association is moving its national headquarters 25 miles north to nearby Springfield, Mass. The new office will have badly needed additional space for better efficiency and service to the membership.
The new address, effective October 27, is: NSAA, 20 Maple Street, P.O. Box 2883, Springfield, MA 01101.
The new offices are just 20 minutes from a major airport, and it is just a one-hour flight from there to Washington, D.C.
Seminar slated by ski writers group
The 1978 “How To” Seminar of the Eastern Ski Writers’ Association will take place Oct. 28 & 29 at Mount Snow, Vt., Kenneth A. Maloney, ESWA vice president and seminar general chairman has announced.
The ESWA seminars are dedicated to providing professional development for writers and photographers and marketing and public relations personnel in the ski industry.
I. William Berry, ESWA president, said the response to the seminars conducted by ESWA over the past several years has been “gratifying, both among members and ski industry management. We feel the seminars are helping to bring together creative and management people in a learning situation that fosters professionalism in the still-growing ski industry.”
Vail receives safety award
The U.S. Forest Service presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Vail Associates, Inc. at the Colorado Ski Country U.S.A. Annual Meeting held in Steamboat in June. The award was presented in recognition of a variety of lift safety procedures and devices developed by Vail Associates above and beyond the current testing requirements of the Forst Service and the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.
One of the tests performed by Vail Associates, was a track rope test conducted in Switzerland in May. The test established, in a laboratory situation, the Stress Relaxation Theory, which relates to verifying and understanding the behavior of ski lift track rope as it ages. The test provided verified data, previously unavailable anywhere. The test also established data on the particular behaviors of the outer wires, surrounding the track rope, when subjected to lengthy stress situations.
Also during May, counterweight sockets, which connect the lift track rope to the tension rope, were successfully tested. The sockets each withstood a predetermined load of 130 tons. Because this test had never been performed anywhere, the test equipment had to be designed and developed by Vail Associates with approval of regulatory agencies.
The award was presented to Jack Marshall, president of Vail Associates, who credited the maintenance and operations sections of the Lift Department for their performance. “They have done much in upgrading the lift standards and testing procedures in the industry,” he noted.
The Certificate was awarded for “ . . . willingness to develop and apply aerial passenger tramway monitoring and testing equipment and techniques which exceed the current standards of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service and the Colorado Passenger Tranway Safety Board, thereby making alpine skiing safer for the public.”
Tower protective devices to be concern of ASTM
In a quiet, but significant move by NSAA, the whole subject of tower padding has been officially introduced to ASTM (American Society Testing Materials). This non-commercial, non-governmental organization collects and generates objective data in countless areas of investigation.
A new subcommittee has been proposed that would study lift tower protective devices. Probably an offshoot of FA-14 (standards for skis, boots and bindings), such a group would not concern itself with hypothetical and philosophical questions as to whether or not it is a good thing to pad towers. Rather, it would collect objective data on how a tower can best be fitted with protective devices.
It is assumed that data from ASTM committees on padding for sports equipment (goal posts etc.) would be studied, as well as data on protective devices on highways.
The enabling steps are expected to be taken at an ASTM meeting in San Diego in November.
Glens Falls adds to its C-Country trails
The country’s most active municipal cross-country program is being expanded still further, thanks to the purchase by Glens Falls, N.Y. of an additional 35 acres to be incorporated into that city’s Crandall Park cross-country trail system.
First opened in 1971, it was the first lighted trail system in North America.
The new land acquisition will allow a lighted trail of 5 kilometers in length instead of the previous 2 kilometer, lighted cross-country loop. The newly acquired terrain offers nicely rolling wood lands and gentle hills located along historic Half-way Brook where troops were mustered during the Revolutionary War.
The purchase of the additional land for the expanded trail system was made possible through a donation of $44,000 by the Kamyr Corporation of Glens Falls, N.Y. The city of Glens Falls used matching funds from the Federal Government to complete the purchase of the land. The Crandall Park cross-country ski trail system has designation as part of the National Trail System from the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. As such, the city qualified for the matching funds program.
Glens Falls has been a hot spot of cross-country skiing for a number of years. The Annual Glens Falls International Nite Cross-Country Ski race has been run for seven years. The top racers have expressed a fondness for the annual night race in Crandall Park because of the large turnout of cross-country ski fans and the hospitality of the local people over thy years.
With the recent purchase of the additional land and the expanded trail system, the local Adirondack Ski Club is planning to have the new trail homologated by the FIS. It is hoped that satellite night races tied in to the Olympic Games in Lake Placid, an hour and a half drive away from Glens Falls, will be featured during 1979 and 1980 in Crandall Park.
People
Tschudi named Director of Skiing for Winter Park
Professional ski racer Otto Tschudi has been named the Director of Skiing for the Winter Park, Colorado ski area. Tschudi has previously been associated with Winter Park through his representation of the area on the World Pro Skiing circuit of professional ski racing.
In his new duties, he will assist the area with race oriented special promotions, and will also be conducting several racing clinics next season for recreational skiers.
Tschudi, 29, was born in Norefjell, Norway, and was on the Norwegian National ski team from the age of 15 to the age of 23, when he turned professional in 1972. During this period, he was among the top seeded slalom racers in the world.
“Darcy” Brown announces retirement plans
At a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Aspen Skiing Corporation held in Aspen on August 4, D. R. C. Brown announced his intention to retire as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation at the end of the coming ski season.
His decision was accepted with regret by the Board and, on his recommendation, the Board elected Thomas W. Richardson President, to become effective April 30, 1979. Mr. Richardson is currently Vice-President in charge of the Company’s ski areas in Aspen.
Steve Rieschel plans non-profit touring center
The Vail Trail put it succinctly: “An institution is leaving Vail.” It summarized the departure of Steve Rieschel, founder and director of the Vail Ski Touring School, and a widely quoted expert in ski touring.
Rieschel is opening a Christian, non-profit ski touring and summer sports ranch on 160 acres of land in Crested Butte.
Michael Goetz dies
Michael Goetz, president and general manager of the heavy equipment firm of A. Goetz & Son, Inc. of Sacramento, CA, died suddenly early this summer.
His wife, Barbara, now serves as president, and Bert L. Knudson, who has been with the firm for many years, is the general manager.
Among the several lines handled by Goetz are Kassbohrer Pisten-Bully and Valley Engineering.
Kurz replaces Gagne as Vail Ski School Director
Vail Ski School Director Bob Gagne has resigned his position “for personal career reasons,” and has been replaced by Ludwig Kurz, who was assistant director. Gagne’s resignation was accepted by Vail’s Bob Parker “with extreme regret.”
Kurz, a native of Austria, has been with the Vail Ski School for 14 years. He announced that Horst Abraham will continue as Technical Director, and that Bob Dorf would serve as the school’s Administrative Director.
Clifton D. Zwirner appointed manager of hotels by Mt. Mansfield Co. Also, Bill Brehmer appointed to newly-created position of Director of Marketing . . . Peter Welch and Dennis A. Eshbaugh the new Directors of the Holiday Valley Ski School in Ellicottville, N.Y. . . . Barry Segal has been named Public Affairs Assistant for the U.S. Ski Association . . . Steve Crabill appointed News Bureau Director at Mount Snow, Vt. . . . Rick Owen is new Marketing Director for New Hampshire’s Loon Mountain . . . Sun Valley has appointed Joan Telford to Winter Sales Manager . . . Peter Duke, formerly from
