SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., January 22, 2007--Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. (Booth Creek), owner of six mountain resort properties and select real estate holdings, announced today that it has been purchased by three principals of the company: George Gillett, chairman; Chris Ryman, president; Elizabeth Cole, chief financial officer. Jeff Joyce, a lo...

SAM Magazine--January, 22, 2007, Flagstaff, AZ--A storm this past weekend brought the Arizona Snowbowl 12 to 18 inches of new and wind-driven snow to the slopes. The optimism is high that the resort will be able to open limited terrain this week. "We did experience a lot of wind last night into today and conditions on the slopes are looking ...

SAM Magazine - Brighton, UT., January 20, 2007 - Utah's Brighton ski area has been purchased from Boyne USA by Orlando, Florida-based CNL Income Properties. The purchase includes the 850-acre ski and snowboard resort with its 66 marked runs and seven chairlifts, two restaurants, 20-room lodge, ski rental operation and retail space at the ski area's...

SAM Magazine-Revelstoke, B.C., Jan. 17, 2007-Revelstoke Mountain Resort, located on Mt. MacKenzie and in the process of being developed by Canada's Simpson Property Group, will soon feature a C$22 million gondola and high speed quad chairlift built by Leitner Poma Canada Inc. The signature lifts are scheduled for summer 2007 installation, in time t...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., January 16, 2007--Recent cold temperatures and reports of snowfall at several resorts in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast regions are welcomed news to the entire ski industry. Nevertheless, the 2006/07 season will be recorded as one of the most challenging for some ski area operators. Recognizing this, NSAA has re...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 17, 2007-In an effort to bring the mountains to the people, Winter Park has started to make snow and install terrain-park features on Denver's unique Ruby Park. Located just outside of downtown Denver, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard is the first resort-built city terrain park for riders and skiers. The resort expects to make more...

SAM Magazine-Alta, Ut., Jan. 17, 2007-With adult single-day tickets at Aspen and Vail rising to more than $80, it may come as a surprise that Alta has been offering free lift-served skiing and riding for years. The area's Sunnyside chairlift provides free lift access for the last 90 minutes of the ski day. The deal is designed to give lower inte...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Jan. 16, 2007-Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) member resorts posted record-setting skier visitation for the season through Dec. 31, 2006. Collectively, the 26 resorts hosted 3,285,649 skiers and snowboarders, an increase of 6.74 percent, or 207,533 visits, over last season's record. "To see such a positive increase over wh...

SAM Magazine-Wilmington, Vt., Jan. 15, 2006-The Haystack Mountain Club, an exclusive private ski area, golf and equestrian resort being built on the bones of the old Haystack ski area, has suspended operations and laid off all but a few employees, according to a report in the local Deerfield Valley News. Contractors working at the site have receive...

SAM Magazine - Steamboat Springs, Colo., January 13, 2007 - Observers of the industry will remember Colorado's Stagecoach ski area. The resort, outside of Steamboat, never got off the ground, although a cat skiing operation did find modest success on the resort's trails in the 1990s. Today, however, the resort is booming, with three times as many h...

SAM Magazine - Pinkham Notch, NH, January 8, 2007 - While common in Europe, zip lines are just starting to make inroads in North America. The latest resort that has announced plans to install zip lines is New Hampshire's Wildcat Mountain. Wildcat's zip line , which should be operational by June, will feature two cables, allowing for side-by-side...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., January 13, 2007--Vail Resorts' CEO Robert Katz has told the Vail Daily newspaper that the company is shopping. According the the Daily, Katz has said that acquisitions remain, "very much a priority." However, Katz isn't letting slip any hints as to who or what Vail Resorts is interested in purchasing, hinting only that t...

SAM Magazine - Vail, Co, January 5, 2007 - The worst on record? That's the question that eastern resort operators are asking themselves as warm temperatures continue to plague ski resorts across the region. With temperatures lingering in the 50's snowmakers are ripping out their hair as Mother Nature continues to stymie their efforts. The latest vi...

SAM Magazine-Paris, France, Jan. 4, 2007-Consolidation in the resort world is a global phenomenon. In the most recent chapter in Europe, ski resort operator Compagnie des Alpes (CDA) is holding talks with Groupe Sofival and its main shareholders in an attempt to merge the ski area management activities of the two groups. Groupe Sofival is a majo...

SAM Magazine-Golden, B.C., Jan. 4, 2007-Steve Paccagnan will replace Arijann van Vuure as president and general manager of Kicking Horse. Paccagnan, an experienced industry veteran, started his career in 1986 at Panorama Mountain Resort. In 1999, he became GM of Mont Ste. Marie in Quebec. When Intrawest sold Mont Ste. Marie in 2002, Paccagnan re...