Opening Day at Mammoth Mountain  SAM Magazine-West Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 10, 2011-Cypress Mountain, B.C., opened Nov. 8, its earliest date ever, highlighting a week in which several Western areas are launching the season, along with a few others around the country. La Nina has brought early natural snow to the West Coast, from B.C. down to sou...

SAM Magazine-McLean, Va., Nov. 9, 2011-The Winter Trails program of Snowsports Industries America (SIA) is hosting educational workshops, animal tracking and a variety of fun activities at its nine anchor site locations on Winter Trails Day, Jan. 7. Winter Trails offers children and adults new to snow sports a chance to try snowshoeing and/or cr...

SAM Magazine-Red Lodge, Mont., Nov. 9, 2011-The installation of the Magnestick system on the Miami Beach chair lift makes Red Lodge the third U.S. resort to adopt it. The system uses an electromagnetic seatback and corresponding vest. The vest, which will be worn by children enrolled in ski and snowboard programs, contains a metal plate that secure...

SAM Magazine-Homewood, Calif., Nov. 9, 2011-The multi-area season's pass concept, which gives customers access to other resorts that are not corporately related, has been catching on in recent years. The strategy has been most aggressively pursued by Monarch, with its 26 partners, but many other areas East and West are following Monarch's lead, and...

SAM Magazine--November 8, 2011--Senator Mark Udall from Colorado announced that President Obama signed the summer recreation bill into law yesterday, November 7. The bipartisan Ski Area Recreational Opportunity Enhancement Act makes a small change to the National Forest Ski Area Permit Act of 1986 to allow the Forest Service to permit ski areas t...

SAM Magazine--November 4, 2011--Cockaigne Ski Area, N.Y., recently announced on its website that it would not open this year and is actively looking for a buyer. "For the first time since 1965 Cockaigne Ski Area will not be open for skiing this winter!," says the area's website. "The search for a new owner who will operate Cockaigne next year...

SAM Magazine--November 4, 2011--Sno Mountain, Pa., (formerly Montage) has defaulted on a $5 million loan according to published reports. The ski area has not made a payment on its state loan in almost a year, and county records show the resort owes at least $1.55 million in unpaid bills, a third of which are real estate taxes. The Times-Tribu...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Nov. 3, 2011-In the latest variation on the multi-area ticket, Aspen/Snowmass, Steamboat and Winter Park have unveiled a new Colorado Triple Play pass, good for two days at each of the three resorts during the 2011-12 season. Cost is $299 for adults, $249 for children 12 and under. The passes go on sale Nov. 4 at the Colorado S...

SAM Magazine-Aspen, Nov. 2, 2011-Aspen Skiing Company (ASC) is instituting a new employee helmet policy tas an integral part of its commitment to safety. ASC currently recommends that all snowsport participants wear a properly fitted snowsports helmet whenever they are skiing or riding. To further instill that habit this season, all ASC employees w...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Nov. 2, 2011-Copper Mountain and Keystone Resort join the ranks of open areas in North America this Friday, Nov. 4, bringing the total in Colorado to five, and the North American total to roughly a dozen. At Copper, The American Eagle and Excelerator chairs will be running; the area has hosted race teams and the PSIA fall tr...

SAM Magazine-Rutland, Vt., Oct. 28, 2011-Early snow and cold temperatures have encouraged several areas across North America to begin operations this weekend. Among them are Killington, Vt., and Sunday River, Me., in New England; Boreal, Calif.; and Nakiska, in Alberta. They join perennial early-operators Timberline, Ore., Loveland and Arapahoe Bas...

SAM Magazine--October 27, 2011--Powder Ridge, Conn., has once again lost the opportunity to reopen. Last week, Alpine Ridge LLC withdrew its offer to purchase the ski area for $1 million. The deal was first approved last spring and the summer was spent getting permitting and surveys in place and going through the mandatory 90-day due diligence p...

SAM Magazine--October 27, 2011--Burke Mountain, Vt., hosted an official ribbon cutting of the new wind turbine with Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin on Wednesday, October 26. The new wind turbine, installed in August 2011, was designed by Vermont-based Northern Power Systems. Burke Mountain is one of only four mountains in the country to have a wind ...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Oct. 27, 2011-Despite two negative ballots on a proposal to broaden its scope to include standards-writing for some terrain park features, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F27 Snow Skiing Committee is likely to do just that in the near future. ASTM bylaws changes, such as the proposal to broaden the scop...

SAM Magazine--October 25, 2011--The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) announced that it has partnered with the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) with the shared aim of increasing visitation and improving summer mountain biking experiences at U.S. ski areas. As part of the agreement, IMBA will make available expertise and re...