Final Skier Visits Down
NSAA reported that the final tally for skier visits last season was 55.1 million, which is down 6.5 percent from the previous year.


sale of canyons in dispute
In mid-July American Skiing Company (ASC) announced it was selling The Canyons to the Talisker Corporation, a privately-held global real estate development company based in Toronto, Canada, and that it would then dissolve. The sale price was approximately $100 million for The Canyons, as well as assumption of approximately $600,000 in debt.

However, the sale was held up when Vail Resorts filed a suit claiming that its bid had not been properly considered. A third suit was also filed by another interested party, Kenny Griswold. For more on the story, see the Blue Pages on page 61.


CNL on the move
CNL Income Properties Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), has acquired the assets of Sugarloaf and Sunday River, Maine. In a simultaneous transaction, Boyne USA Resorts acquired the stock of the American Skiing Company subsidiaries owning the resorts and sold the assets to CNL, which leased the resorts back to Boyne.

In addition, CNL has purchased Mountain High, Calif., for $45 million from Valor Equity Partners. Current management remains in place, with a 20-year lease with the option of two 10-year renewals.

Under the agreement, CNL gets a guaranteed yearly eight to eleven percent return on its investment (lease terms start at just over $4 million a year). For more on CNL, see the Blue Pages on page 61.


Hidden Valley sold
An agreement was reached in principle for the sale of Hidden Valley Resort in Pennsylvania to The Buncher Co., a Pittsburgh-based developer.

The sale was expected to be completed in August, after presstime.


Alpine Meadows SOld
San Francisco-based real estate investment firm JMA Ventures has completed its purchase of Alpine Meadows. No sale price has been disclosed.


Russia to Host Olympics
The International Olympic Committee has chosen the Russian resort of Krasnaya Polyana and the adjacent town of Sochi to host the 2014 Winter Games, beating out Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Former Breckenridge Resort co-president Roger McCarthy recently headed to Rosa Khutor to develop what will be the host of many of the Alpine and snowboarding events.


People
Chris Nyberg is the new president of Killington Resort and Pico Mountain, Vt., under the new managers, Powdr Corp. . . At Mount Snow, Peak Resorts, the new owners, announced that Kelly Pawlak will move from managing director to general manager.

Peak Resorts also bought Attitash, N.H., and announced that former managing director of the area, John Lowell, has become director of lodging operations at both Attitash and Mount Snow. Kent and Robin Graham, who ran Boston Mills/Brandywine for Peak, moved to N.H. to become general manager and administrative director, respectively, at Attitash. Kevin Kasten will oversee mountain operations at the resort. . .John DeVivo is the new general manager for Cannon Mountain Resort and Franconia Notch State Park. . .At Ragged Mountain, Bob Fries was named the new president.

Jody and Brandy Ream moved over from Paoli Peaks to run Boston Mills/Brandywine. Taking their place at Paoli is Sean Burton.

In Colorado, Vail Resorts announced that Beth Ganz is the new director of public affairs. . .Dave Riley will become the new president and CEO of the Telluride Ski and Golf Resort.

Ski Utah announced that Jessica Kunzer was hired on as director of communications.

At Whitefish, Mont., Fred Jones has stepped down as CEO. Jones will be replaced by Daniel Graves. The resort also announced that Nick Polumbus will be director of sales and marketing.

Jim Kercher is the new general manager of Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in California.

Intrawest has named Andy Wirth executive vice president of sales and marketing and chief marketing officer.

Glen Mountain announced the return of Pat Coté as general manager. Coté previously owned and ran the mountain 11 years ago.


Supplier News
Prinoth announced that Track, Inc. will become the Alpine product dealer for the Midwest. Personnel at Track, Inc., include Stuart Campbell, Steve Bauer, Christine McMichael in sales, Terry Throne in parts, and Bob Johnston in service. They can be reached at (952) 888-7372.

Dave Ensign was named the new sales manager for Zaugg/Ohara products in North America.

VacationGuard Inc., a company that offers niche travel protection products for the hospitality sector, has joined efforts with Nationwide Mutual Insurance. For more information, contact Brian Rock at (425)-458-4983.