Booth Creek Sells
CNL Income Properties bought four of the six resorts currently part of Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc., as part of a complex deal that will net three current Booth Creek principals ownership of two of the resorts, along with a long-term lease for the other four areas.

The deal: Booth Creek’s six mountain resort properties and select real estate holdings are being purchased by company principals George Gillett, chairman; Chris Ryman, president; and Elizabeth Cole, CFO. Jeff Joyce, a long-time business partner of Gillett, is a fourth principal involved in the purchase. Upon closing, Booth Creek will sell Northstar Resort, Sierra Resort, Loon Mountain and The Summit-at-Snoqualmie to CNL, which will then lease the properties back to Booth Creek under long-term agreements. That will leave the Booth Creek group owning Cranmore and Waterville Valley, N.H. outright.

CNL is no stranger to the industry. The company bought an 80 percent stake in nine Intrawest villages for $160 million in 2004. It also bought Cypress Mountain, B.C., from Boyne Resorts in 2005 (and leased Cypress back to Boyne), and purchased a major share in Bretton Woods earlier this year.


Alyeska Sold
Alaska’s Alyeska resort has been sold. The purchaser, John Byrne III, a hardcore skier who regularly tops 100 days each winter, says he’ll be a very hands-on owner who will play an active role in the resort. Byrne, who currently lives in Alta, Utah, purchased the resort from Japanese company Seibu Holdings Inc., which has owned and operated the resort since 1980.


Tenney Not to open
The ownership of Tenney Mountain Ski Resort, who purchased the area in January 2006, has decided not to open the ski operation this winter. Instead, it is focusing on future planning for the entire resort including an outdoor adventure partnership plan with Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS). The decision came as the resort management and staff was preparing for the 2006-2007 ski season.


People
At Killington, Vt., Tait Germon moves up to director of ski patrol and Tim Reiter up to lift ops service manager.

Jiminy Peak, Mass., announced the hiring of Jana St. Germain as conference sales manager and Donna McKinley was promoted to accounting supervisor.

Scott Bender was named CEO at Seven Springs in Pennsylvania.

At Aspen Skiing Company in Colorado, CEO and president, Pat O’Donnell, retired at the start of the season. Mike Kaplan took over as CEO. David Perry was promoted to senior VP, mountain division; Rich Burkley moves up to VP mountain ops; and Jeanne Mackowski was promoted to VP marketing. . .At Vail, Martha Dugan Rehm, executive VP and general counsel, will step down on March 31, 2007. . .At Keystone, Patricia Campbell was promoted to COO.

In Utah, The Canyons hired JR Reinhardt as director of lifts and Lew Stringer as snowmaking manager. Jim Powell comes on board as director of brand management, Stacey Zavadil joins the company as interactive services manager and Elizabeth “Libby” Dowd is the new director of communications. Lynne Offret moves from ski patrol supervisor to ski patrol manager. . .At Alta, John Duncan was hired as supervisor of retail operations. . .At Park City, Krista Parry moves up to director of marketing.

Mountain High, Calif., made some key additions and promotions in personnel. First up, they hired Jennifer Roach as the new human resources manager; Christen Hinkley comes on board as F&B manager; Brent Townley was promoted to Mountain High North manager; Scott Hoffman moves up to risk manager; Sidney Jensen became retail and rental manager; Ken Showalter was hired on as snowmaking manager; Ben Smith was promoted to lifts manager; Scott Felt moves up to lift maintenance manager; Dave McDonald joins the team as lift ops manager; Mike McKay is the new patrol director; and last, but not least, Ben Grimes moves up to security manager. . .Moving north to Kirkwood, Allon Cohne was hired as director of marketing and sales.

At Mt. Rose, Nev., Krista Haggott became sales and marketing coordinator.

In Oregon, Dave Riley and Matthew Drake inherited management of Mt. Hood Meadows from founder Franklin Drake, who will remain on the board. . . At Ski Anthony Lakes, Becky Brown is the new marketing director.

At Intrawest, CEO Joe Houssian announced his retirement. Taking over his leadership role is Alex Wasilov.

At Le Massif in Quebec, Daniel Blais was named director of mountain operations.


Supplier People
Acordia Resort and Recreation announced that Joyce Pascoe will be rejoining the team as an account executive/manager in the Seattle office.

Willis Group Holdings appointed Richard Donahue to senior VP, director of claims and loss control, in its New Hampshire operations for the MountainGuard program.

Burton Snowboards promoted Clark Gundlach to executive VP and GM; Greg Dacyshyn became senior VP and creative director of product; Bryan Johnston is now senior VP of global marketing. Leaving the company is Edward Giard, senior VP of product management, who was replaced by three people: John Lacy is now VP of outerwear, bags, gloves and accessories; Bob Burbank moves up to VP of engineering and quality; and Scott Barbieri was promoted to VP of hardgoods.

At Flow, John Colonna is the new director of product design.

Dolomite hired Gary Petrich as president and CEO.

At Nordica, Kirk Langford was named VP of sales.


Supplier News
Dalbello Skiboots and Elan Skis began a new strategic global alliance as of January 1. Clint Lyon was named CEO of the newly formed Dalbello~Elan Sports, which is a joint venture of Dalbello Sports LLC and Elan, Slovenia, with Elan becoming a minority shareholder in the U.S. operation. Elan’s U.S. operations will relocate from West Lebanon, N.H., to the Dalbello Sports facility in Andover, N.H.

John Cumming, the CEO of Powdr Corp, is part of a group which has purchased Resort Sports Network (RSN), the television network dedicated to the creation and distribution of outdoor content in ski resort communities. Cumming is joined by Mark A. Burchill of 24/7 Media, an Internet advertising company; Len Conway, a former equity partner in Telluride Ski and Golf Corp.; and John Cooney, an owner of EUE Screen Gems, Ltd., one of the largest film production companies in the U.S.