SAM Magazine-Lake Wanaka, NZ., Oct. 9, 2008-As North American resorts gear up for winter, the ski and ride season in the Southern Hemisphere is drawing to a close. And it was a good year for the four resorts at Lake Wanaka-Treble Cone, Snow Park NZ, Cardrona Alpine Resort and Snow Farm. All are reporting strong visitor numbers and great snow condit...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., Oct. 9, 2008-A special NSAA report prepared by RRC Associates concludes that snowfall will be a greater indicator of visits this coming season than the economy. The report is based on an analysis of visits, snowfall, economic conditions, and consumer confidence over the past 30 years. RRC outlines two different scen...

SAM Magazine-Big Sky, Mont., Oct. 8, 2008-CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc. is providing capital to Boyne Resorts to, in large part, refinance some credit facilities Boyne had at the corporate level. The agreement includes an option to purchase Big Sky resort within the next two years, where Boyne expects to invest some of its capital. CNL already own...

SAM Magazine (SnowHunter) - October 6 --The world's largest ski resort operating company, Compagnie des Alpes, which manages 17 leading resorts in the Alps, decided it needed to publish a statement underlying its financial stability after Fortis, an international provider of banking and insurance services, published a report on the debt situation o...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 6, 2008-To help offset added airline fees, Vail Resorts is offering a "Baggage Bailout" for skiers and snowboarders staying at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly this winter. Guests will receive a $50 credit when they book a stay of least four days and nights by Dec. 1 through Vail Resorts r...

SAM Magazine (SnowHunter) - October 6 --Burton will open the fifth of its natural Stash concept parks this winter, the second in Europe, at Fachauwinkl ski area in Austria's Salzburgland province. The Stash, scheduled to open in January, will be the first run of its kind in Austria, which is also home to Burton's European headquarters. The forst ...

SAM Magazine (SnowHunter) - October 6 --Perisher Blue in Australia finishes its 2008 winter this weekend. The resort was able to offer excellent riding conditions across its four resort areas for the majority of the southern hemisphere's 2008 season. Despite a slow start for snowfalls, the resort managed to open its first lifts on Saturday, 7 June...

SAM Magazine--October 2, 2008, Orlando, Fla.--Baxter Underwood was named senior VP and CIO at CNL Properties, Inc. In this role, Underwood will lead the acquisitions team in identifying new business opportunities and increasing the company's $2.3 billion portfolio of assets. Prior to his promotion, Underwood was VP of investments and oversaw the ac...

SAM Magazine-Snowmass, Colo., Oct. 2, 2008-The Aspen Skiing Company (Skico) has successfully installed a 164-foot-tall wind tower at the top of the Snowmass Ski Area to determine if wind turbines are feasible there. The initial installation of the tower was delayed last month when a winch failed, resulting in damage to the original tower and a slow...

SAM Magazine-Highmount, N.Y., Oct. 2, 2008-In the wake of budget cuts by New York State agencies, state-operated Belleayre Mountain Ski Center will restrict lift and snowmaking operations for the 2008-09 ski and snowboard season. However, all programming will remain available, including "Kidscamp," racing programs, and new this year, the adaptive s...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 2, 2008-Vail Resorts has elevated John Garnsey and Blaise Carrig to co-presidents of the company's Mountain division, while Stan Brown has been promoted to president of the Lodging division, all effective immediately. As co-president, Garnsey remains chief operating officer of Beaver Creek Resort and has dire...

SAM Magazine - Queenstown, New Zealand, October 1, 2008 - New Zealand's Coronet Peak has announced that the ski area will reopen this week. The resort had shuttered operations for the season last Saturday, but with additional storms pounding the area, management decided to extend the winter. "We've had a big dump of snow and there's more in the ...

SAM Magazine - Big Sky, Mt., October 1, 2008 - A potentially dangerous situation was avoided when aggressive action by wildfire crews contained a fire at Big Sky ski resort. The Spanish Peaks Fire, located in the Spanish Peaks Subdivision near Big Sky, was contained Monday night at approximately 10:00 p.m. The fire burned near the base of the Sout...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Sept. 26, 2008-Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) on Thursday reported record fiscal 2008 net income of $102.9 million, a 67.6 percent increase over the prior fiscal year, as well as record fiscal 2008 resort revenue of $855.6 million and record total revenue of $1.15 billion, increases of 3.4 percent and 22.5 percent respectiv...

SAM Magazine - Georgetown, Colo., September 25, 2008 - Colorado ski resort Loveland has commenced snowmaking operations. The resort fired up the guns last night, making the ski area the first in North America to start snowmaking operations for the 2008-2009 ski season. A key ingredient in the mountain's ability to be the first to start snowmaking o...