We've featured dozens of articles highlighting community resorts and feeder areas across North America. Read a few of our favorite inspiring stories about small areas doing big things. Please note that archived stories can only be viewed with a subscription.

#MyFirstMountain articles will also be featured in the January, March and May issues of SAM. Enjoy!

A MOM AND POP SUCCESS STORY

Small areas matter, and can thrive—as Snowy Range, Wyo., shows.
Written by Morgan Tilton - SAM September 2018

Skiers and snowboarders can appreciate the fine dining, high-speed lifts, and Olympic-size half pipes of modern, high-profile winter resorts. But small ski areas are—and always will be—a storybook experience...

THE CHALLENE OF BEING SMALL

Six small-area leaders join a wide-ranging roundtable discussion. 
Written by Timothy Sweeney - SAM May 2016

A number of smaller ski areas struggle to find employees to fill roles that require training and expertise particular to the industry, such as grooming, snowmaking and lift maintenance...

REBIRTH OF A RESORT

Detroit Mountain was closed for a decade before a local non-profit found the will (and funds) to bring it back to life.
Written by Shelly Stowman - SAM July 2015

After years of planning and effort, Detroit Mountain in Detroit Lakes, Minn., reopened on Thanksgiving weekend 2014...

NEW AUDIENCE: OLD TIMERS

Crystal Mountain, Mich., has found that retirees can be the key to a chronic marketing challenge: increasing midweek business.
Written by Ron Shepard - SAM November 2014

Regardless of size or location, at some point in the season, all of us resort managers find ourselves staring out upon a nearly-empty slope...

WAKING UP SLEEPING GIANT

Community and state funds have relaunched this small-town, non-profit area.
Written by Claire Walker - SAM November 2010

If you’re going to reopen and expand a small, local ski area in northwestern Wyoming that closed after the 2003-04 season, it helps to have an angel buy the land...

NON-PROFIT SKI AREAS

Written by Moira McCarthy - SAM January 2019 (print only)

Local ski hills are the breeding ground for new skiers and riders. Increasingly, non-profits are taking control and running the show. First of a series...

PASSION STARTS HERE

Written by Moira McCarthy - SAM March 2019

Is it too mystical to say that every ski area has a soul and a reason for being? Some embrace steeps, powder, and tons of terrain. Others show families the love. Each has its own sense of glory.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Written by Moira McCarthy - SAM May 2019 (print only)

SAM asked folks across the industry to share their #MyFirstMountain stories, and the response was overwhelming. Everyone remembers that first time, down to the tiny details.