2006/07 Visits Down
Preliminary estimates put nationwide skier visits at 54.8 million, down 6.9 percent from the record-setting 58.9 million visits last season. Abnormally warm temperatures and below average snowfall were the culprits in many regions: The Southeast and Pacific West were down 16.5 percent; the Northeast was down 6.7 percent; the Midwest was off 5.9 percent. The bright spot was the Rockies, which increased visits to 20.9 million.


Boyne Buys in Maine
Boyne USA is purchasing Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA, Me., from American Skiing Company (ASC) for $77 million in cash. Boyne will also assume $2 million in debt and other liabilities.

Headquartered in Michigan, Boyne USA, Inc. is a privately held company that has interests in seven North American resort properties, including Big Sky, Mont.; Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands and Bay Harbor, Mich.; Brighton, Utah; Crystal Mountain, Wash., and Cypress Mountain, B.C.

The sale leaves ASC with one remaining resort, The Canyons, which is tied up in litigation regarding resort ownership.


Ragged Sold
Ragged Mountain ski resort and its 18-hole golf course are now owned by RMR-Pacific, an affiliate of Utah developer Pacific Group. Sale price was not disclosed, but is believed to be about $10 million. RMR-Pacific bought Ragged from Al and Walter Endriunas, who had been facing foreclosure for months. The two have owned Ragged for nearly 20 years, and had made some recent improvements, but were unable to keep up payments on a $4.75 million loan.

RMR-Pacific has teamed with Hart/Howerton, a firm that specializes in planning, architecture and landscape design, to make improvements to the ski area and golf course, and to plan the expansion of the resort village.


awards
NSAA honored brothers Orville and Izzy Slutzky, founders of Hunter Mountain, N.Y., with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Former president and GM of New Hampshire’s Wildcat Mountain, Stan Judge, received the Sherman Adams Award.

The Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association honored the founder of Mt. Hood Meadows, Ore., Franklin Drake, with the Mel Borgersen Lifetime Achievement Award.

In Canada, Guy Desrosiers, GM and VP of Eastern Resorts for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, received the Jimmie Spencer Leadership Award from the Canadian Ski Council. Chris Robinson, host and producer of the “Pontiac World of Skiing” television program, received the 2007 Judith Kilbourne Founders Award.


People
Raymond C. Tuthill, Jr., 83, died on May 6, 2007. Tuthill founded Little Gap Ski Area, Pa., in 1975. The area later changed its name to Blue Mountain.

Ski Maine’s Bo Bigelow was promoted to project director.

Alexa Bernotavicz was appointed assistant director of ski operations at Bretton Woods, N.H.

Dan Frank, president of Windham Mountain, N.Y., stepped down from his position on July 1. Frank will continue his role as a member of the ownership group. . .Scott Brandi is the new president and executive director of Ski Areas of New York.

Lucy Kay is the new COO of Breckenridge, Colo.

Powdr Corp. has a new COO in Herwig Demschar.

Mt. Bachelor, Ore., hired Matt Janney as president and GM.

Intrawest named Michael Forsayeth as CFO.


Correction
In a May 2007 piece, “Pump Up the Volume,” we left out the fact that Ratnik Industries, Inc., designed and supplied the high capacity 7,000 GPM automatic pumping system with a VFD (Variable Speed Drive) System at Camelback Resort, Pa. The pump controller automatically starts and stops pumps per demand and the computer system tracks and records the snowmaking production.

We also left out that Camelback further addressed the global warming trend and added low compressed air consumption Ratnik Baby Snow Giant X-2 and low energy Sky Giant snow guns to their snow gun fleet.
We apologize for the omission.