SAM Magazine—May 30, 2012—NASTAR, the largest public grassroots ski race program in the world, announced a new partnership with Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., to serve as the host resort for the 2013 and 2014 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships. Skiers from approximately 45 states, ranging in age from three to 90, will compete at the re...

SAM Magazine—May 24, 2012—QBurke Mountain Resorts, LLC, a company headed by businessman Ariel Quiros has acquired Burke Mountain Resort, Vt. Quiros, along with Bill Stenger, president and co-owner of Jay Peak Resort, Vt., purchased the Jay Peak Resort from Mont Saint-Sauveur Valley resorts in June 2008. The ownership of QBurke Mou...

SAM Magazine—Denver, May 24, 2012—The U.S. Forest Service, responding to the NSAA lawsuit regarding water rights, claimed last month that the Forest Service has the legal right to attach restrictions to the water rights included in ski area permits. The issue will eventually be settled in the courts, with NSAA due to file its legal brie...

SAM Magazine—Denver, May 18, 2012—Despite a 15 percent decline in skier visits in the 2011-12 season, lodging properties at 16 western mountain destinations experienced only a 2.8 percent decrease in actual occupancy for the season, according to the most recent data distributed by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). The averag...

SAM Magazine—Jackson Hole, Wyo., May 17, 2012—Despite receiving below-normal snowfall last season—100 inches less than average, and 200 inches less than in 2010-11—Jackson Hole recorded its second-highest skier visits total ever, 479,000, just a few thousand short of its all-time high. The area profited from having enough sn...

SAM Magazine—Vernon, N.J., May 15, 2012—Mountain Creek Resort has filed suit against Everest Indemnity Insurance Company in an attempt to force the insurer to pay a claim under the resort’s weather insurance policy. The court’s ruling could have a broad impact on how such insurance is written in the future. The Mountain C...

SAM Magazine—Eden, Utah, May 11, 2012—Wolf Creek Utah Resort, Wolf Mountain Ski Resort and a number of buildings and other assets, including development property, will be sold at auction on Friday June 1. In all, more than 3,000 acres of mountain valley property is for sale. Auction parcels include an 18-hole championship golf course...

SAM Magazine—San Antonio, Tex., May 10, 2012—National resort visits totaled an estimated 51 million this past season, a decline of 15.7 percent from the previous year’s record total of 60.54 million, according to the Kottke National End of Season Survey. The total was the lowest since 1991-92. Visits were down in all regions, a...

SAM Magazine—Waterville Valley, N.H., May 7, 2012—The Boston Red Sox and Waterville Valley Resort are teaming up via a three-year deal that makes them corporate partners through 2014. The deal includes Waterville Valley lift ticket giveaways, exposure on the centerfield scoreboard and in the EMC-level suites, presence in the Fenway P...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, May 2, 2012—Now in its third year, SAM's Summer Ops Camp will head west to Canyons, Utah, from September 4 to 6. The Summer Ops Camp is a hands-on educational and networking event that gathers resort managers and operators from around North America to explore the exciting opportunities in four-season at...

SAM Magazine--May 2, 2012--Vail Resorts, Inc., released lift ticket sales, ski school and other ancillary results from the 2011/12 season, as compared to the same approximate time period last year. The measurements are from the beginning of the ski season through April 22, 2012, and are compared to the beginning of the ski season in 2010 through Ap...

SAM Magazine—April 26, 2012—In spite of postponing its opening by one week due to minimal snow conditions, Whitefish Mountain Resort, Mont., is more than pleased with the finish of the 2011/2012 ski season. Although snowfall and skier visits were down in December, the resort reported more snow in January, February and March in 2012 than...

SAM Magazine—Salt Lake City, Utah, Apr. 24, 2012—Twenty prominent business and community leaders have formed a coalition to support SkiLink, which would connect Canyons and Solitude via gondola. They hope the project will pave the way for additional links between resorts and the eventual creation of the largest multi-area “ski cir...

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., April 18, 2012—SAM Magazine is excited to announce the winners of the 2012 SAMMY Leadership Awards. The three recipients prove that to be successful in the mountain resort industry takes a lot of energy, enthusiasm and, above all, passion. The 2012 SAMMY winners are: Jody Churich, ...

SAM Magazine—Seattle, Apr. 18, 2012—Eight legends of skiing were inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall Fame in a ceremony here last Saturday. Among the honorees were ski area developers Nick Badami and Phil Gravink, ski show producer Harry Leonard, ski historian Mason Beekley, speed skier and writer Dick Dorworth, and competitor...