SAM Magazine--October 17, 2012--Sno Mountain, Pa., filed for involuntary Chapter 11 on October 15. In late August, the state of Pennsylvania filed a lien against the area for $516,503, most of which was for unpaid taxes. The area disputed the lien claiming that it only collected sales tax on rentals, so it did not owe  taxes for all other sale...

SAM Magazine—Arapahoe Basin, Colo., Oct. 17, 2012—Arapahoe Basin Ski Area opened today at 9 a.m., marking the start to the ski and snowboard season. The Black Mountain Express started at 9:00 a.m. and began serving the intermediate High Noon trail at mid-mountain. The area also has six features in the High Divide Terrain Park. Temperatu...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Oct. 15, 2012—Reservations for the fall and winter season through March 2013 are up .5 percent from year-ago levels, with future customers reluctant to book far in advance, according to the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). In addition, the pace of bookings during September was below the level of a year ago....

SAM Magazine--October 12, 2012--After a shaky 2011/12 season, Bear Valley Mountain Resort, Calif., has said that it will reopen this year. Typically, Bear Valley hosts 140,000 skier visits, but last season saw only 75,000. Also at issue was whether the resort would file a new operating plan with the U.S. Forest Service by October 15. According to M...

SAM Magazine—Breckenridge, Colo., Oct. 10, 2012—Two appeals were lodged against the Forest Service decision to allow Breckenridge’s Peak 6 expansion, giving the agency 45 days to respond. The proposed expansion would add 413 acres, much of it designated as intermediate, a six-pack chairlift, fixed-grip chair, and 143 acres of hike...

SAM Magazine—Ligonier Township, Pa., Oct. 10, 2012—State-owned Laurel Mountain Ski Resort will remain closed for at least another year. The 64-acre facility has been closed since 2005 despite efforts to reopen it. Seven Springs Mountain Resort has agreed to operate the area, and has been assessing the infrastructure needs, which incl...

SAM Magazine--October 9, 2012--Actor Bruce Wilis has handed over the reins of his small Idaho ski area, Soldier Mountain, to a nonprofit group. The actor announced last April that he was looking for a new entity to run Soldier, which includes two chairs and one rope tow on permitted Forest Service land, at the same time he announced the sale o...

SAM Magazine—Taylors Falls, Minn., Oct. 8, 2012—Wild Mountain, Minn., was the first resort to open for the winter season, as it began operations on Sunday, Oct. 7, with skiing, snowboarding, alpine sliding and go-karting. Opening day offered two slopes, a beginner run and a terrain park, served by two rope tows, with up to 24 inches ...

SAM Magazine—Keystone, Colo., Oct. 4, 2012—Keystone Resort is taking kid-friendly programming to new heights: throughout the entire 2012-2013 winter season, children 12 and under will ski/snowboard for free at Keystone, so long as their families stay two or more nights in one of Keystone’s owned and operated accommodations. If ...

SAM Magazine—Rossland, B.C., Oct. 4, 2012—Red Mountain Resort has begun developing a 1,000-acre expansion onto Grey Mountain that will bring total skiing acreage to 2,682 acres and make Red one of the largest resorts in North America. Full development will be completed by December 2013. The Grey Mountain expansion will open up a vast...

SAM Magazine--Vermont, October 4, 2012--After a rocky 54-year history, Sugarbush Resort and Mad River Glen have declared a détente and are offering joint season passes for the first time. The "Ski The Valley Plus" pass is available to skiers who book extended ski and stay packages and includes unrestricted access to all three mount...

SAM Magazine—Jay, Vt., Oct. 2, 2012—Jay Peak and Burke Mountain resorts will get a share of a $500 million investment of EB-5 visa funds that will transform the economy of the state’s “Northeast Kingdom." The overall development plan will bring new industries and a hotel/conference center to the town of Newport and expa...

SAM Magazine—Norden, Calif., Sept. 28, 2012—Sugar Bowl has signed an agreement with the Truckee Donner Land Trust to lease and operate the neighboring Royal Gorge cross-country ski area this winter, pending completion of the Trust’s purchase of 3,000 acres of Royal Gorge terrain. If all goes according to plan, Sugar Bowl will a...

SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, Sept. 26, 2012—A district court judge has refused to block Credit Suisse from foreclosing on Tamarack Resort, thus giving the bank leeway to request a sheriff’s sale for its portion of the resort—including the lifts and on-mountain facilities, golf course, and more than 2,000 homesites. According t...

SAM Magazine—Franklin County, N.Y., Sept. 26, 2012—Big Tupper ski area is closing its doors due to the cost of a lawsuit, according to Jim LaValley, chairman of Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving Their Economy (ARISE). The group has operated Big Tupper on a voluntary basis since 2009, while plans for a larger resort have been taking ...