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Vail Arsonists Plead Guilty
Chelsea Gerlach and Stanislas Meyerhoff, accused of involvement in arson that destroyed Vail’s Two Elk lodge in 1998, have cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for consideration in their sentences and cases pending against them. Both individuals were part of a group of 13 individuals responsible for 18 separate attacks committed between 1996 and 2001, including the Two Elk fire.

Meyerhoff pleaded guilty to 54 charges related to seven separate attacks in a plea deal that should result in a sentence of 15 years and eight months in prison. As part of the deal, authorities in Michigan, Arizona, Washington, Wyoming and California will not prosecute potential cases against him.

Prosecutors have asked that Gerlach receive a 10-year sentence as part of her deal, which also includes non-prosecution of potential cases in Wyoming, Washington and California. Gerlach pleaded guilty to 18 charges in five separate attacks, including the Vail arson.


Norquay Sold
An investment group has purchased Mt. Norquay Ski Area outside of Banff.

The group includes Ken Read, who currently serves as president of Alpine Canada Alpin, the governing body of ski racing in Canada, as well as Stephen Ross of Devonian Properties in Canmore, Jeff Kohn of Calgary and Peter, Robert and Len Sudermann of Fortune Resorts.

The new owners will maintain Norquay as a family ski resort. In addition to winter operations, the group hopes to enhance and expand the summer operations of the resort—a position that puts them at odds with Parks Canada, which has resisted summer operations at Norquay since it provides summer habitat for grizzly bear and elk.

The previous owners of Norquay, Peter White and Thomas Grandi, will continue to maintain an economic interest in the resort and provide support to the new management.


New Owner for Snow Ridge
Pennsylvanian Russell Horn purchased Snow Ridge Ski Area, N.Y., from Peter Harris, who also owns Song Mountain Resort in Tully. Horn is consolidating his position at Snow Ridge; he purchased the Towpath Inn at the base of Snow Ridge in 2005.

Horn will put Snow Ridge under the management of his son Keith and two daughters-in-law. His son Brad manages the Towpath Inn.

Harris will continue to operate Song, which he acquired in 2000, and the two areas will continue to honor each other’s season’s passes, a program Harris initiated in the past.


New SmartStyle
NSAA is introducing SmartStyle 2.0 this fall, sporting new information, a new logo, and an updated video. The program builds on SmartStyle’s three main messages (Look Before Your Leap, Easy Style It and Respect Gets Respect) with new information added to each. The video also includes new rider interviews, to update the athletes and keep the message fresh. The new logo and video are available from NSAA.


Hemlock Reopens
Ice hockey entrepreneur Ralf Berezan, owner of the Junior A Surrey Eagles ice hockey team, has purchased British Columbia’s Hemlock Valley Resort and expects to have the mountain open this season. Berezan, who also owns a variety of pubs in British Columbia, purchased the resort out of receivership.

The mountain, approximately 70 miles east of Vancouver, features four lifts serving 1,300 vertical feet and a modest 300 skiable acres. There is also a nordic center with 13 kilometers of groomed trails. The expected opening date is December 1, 2006.


Powder Ridge Closes
Powder Ridge, located in Middlefield, Connecticut, will remain closed this winter pending sale of the ski resort.

The announcement that the resort is ceasing operations comes on the heels of a decision by the town of Middlefield not to purchase the ski area. The town had considered purchasing the resort and then leasing the operation back to the owners to prevent development of the property.

According to owner Ken Leavitt, the appraised value of the ski resort and the excess land was over $6.8 million. The town proposed buying the underlying land for $3.6 million and leasing it back for the tax payments that would normally be paid—for up to 100 years—and a deal was signed. Leavitt was also planning on building a water park and zoning regulations allowed developing 77 two-acre units on the excess land.

However, the deal fell through with the town claiming that the $3.6 million price tag was too steep, and several of the members of both the town council and the community were highly against the proposed purchase of the property, citing a lack of detail in both the purchase and subsequent lease arrangements.

With the town pulling out of further negotiations, the threat of development looms large and the likelihood that Powder Ridge will remain a ski area is slim.


Obit
Robert “Bob” McLellan died on August 9 at the age of 84. McLellan was a charter member of OITAF-NACS and a prominent tramway engineer in the U.S. and Canada. The reversible tramway at Jackson Hole was his crowning achievement and it has operated successfully for over 43 years.


People
Mark Dorsey was voted in as the new director of the National Ski Patrol.

Jonny Moseley, Trace Worthington and Julie Parisien were elected into the Ski Hall of Fame. . .USSA president and CEO Bill Marolt was inducted into the University of Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. . .Ray Duncan, Henry Christian Hall, Barbara Ferries-Henderson, Mark Tache and Jim Temple were inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

At Attitash, N.H., John Lowell becomes managing director. . .At Loon Mountain, Molly Mahar is the new director of marketing. Booie Alward also joins Loon as snowsports director. . . Pats Peak announced the promotion of Nick Collemacine to mountain manager and Andrew Britt to assistant mountain manager.

In Vermont, Mount Snow hired Chris Lenois as its new communication manager. Jeff Sherwood was promoted to director of skiing services; Erik Barnes was also promoted to director of skiing services; and Greg Fisher was promoted to marketing and events manager.

Jiminy Peak, Mass., hired Jana St. Germain as the new conference sales manager. Donna McKinley was promoted to accounting supervisor.

In Pennsylvania, Whitetail Resort promoted Judy Boyd to director of resort services; Katrina Gayman was promoted to the new position of director of marketing and sales; Bob Koontz was hired as director of mountain services and Mac Jackson joins the team as director of the snow sports school. . .Jack Frost/Big Boulder announced that Jesse Boyd is the new GM. The area also hired Shawn Orecchio and Julian Arendarski to head up its freestyle terrain and product development.

Crystal Mountain, Mich., hired on Brian Lawson as the new public relations manager.

At Park City, Utah, Krista Parry was promoted to director of marketing.


Supplier People
Nicole Pelletier replaces Heather Ambrose as the new advertising/communications/PR coordinator at Rossignol.

At Fisher, Rick Hodge will handle Alpine and Nordic products in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.


Supplier News
Snow Monsters unveiled its newly-expanded “Next Snow” custom websites for all affiliate resort members. The feature is designed for kids ages 9 to 15 and comes with action photos and content to bolster a resort’s website while providing tools for customizing photos, video and text. Check out www.nextsnow.com.

Magic Carpet has moved. The address is 6750 East 46th Avenue Drive, Denver, CO, 80216. Phone and fax remain the same.

BEWI Productions has renamed its SnowSports Expos to Ski & Snowboard Expos. The Expos include Denver, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Boston.

FallLine announced that it will be offering a full line of ski racing products for the 2006/07 season. FallLine is the exclusive distributor for the DJC line of racing gates and gate accessories as well as Barry Cordages’ line of safety netting and poles.