SAM Magazine—June 11, 2012—According to published reports, a massive wildfire in New Mexico has damaged ski lifts at Ski Apache. The area fought the blaze, which has burned more than 35,000 acres in the Lincoln National Forest, with its own snowmaking equipment, setting up guns around its base lodge to ward off the flames. That effort, as of Monday, was successful. We will update this report as news comes in. In the meantime, here is footage from Ski Apache's webcam showing its firefighting efforts:

SAM Magazine—Evergreen, Colo., June 8, 2012—Echo Mountain Ski resort will be sold via a sealed-bid auction, with bids due by August 2. Racebrook and its auction affiliate, Sheldon Good & Company, are conducting the sale.

SAM Magazine—Kelowna, B.C., June 6, 2012—Big White and Silver Star resorts, which had been under a single ownership for a decade, have split apart following the death of former owner Desmond Robert Schumann in April.

Schumann, who bought Big White in 1985 and Silver Star Mountain Resort in 2001, is widely credited with making both resorts more successful by marketing them jointly. A son, Peter Schumann, now runs Big White, and a daughter, Jane Cann, runs Silver Star.

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—Valle Nevado, Chile, and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., are pleased to announce a new sister resort partnership effective May 2012. Valle Nevado, located 90 minutes from Santiago, and Mammoth Mountain, located in Central California, are two of the largest and most popular resorts in their respective countries, and an alliance between the two will provide customers and season passholders with unique cross-promotional benefits and greater awareness of each resort, opening an opportunity for skiers and snowboarders to live the legend of the endless winter.

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—The Vermont Ski Areas Association (VSAA) announced that Vermont ski resorts recorded 3,903,171 skier and rider visits, just 5% off of the ten-year average and 11% off of 2010/11, which logged 4,365,906 visits.

Despite low natural snowfall during the 2011-12 ski season, snowmaking and grooming enabled Vermont ski areas to have significant amounts of open terrain. “The 2011-12 season stands as a testament to the resiliency of our ski areas,” said VSAA president Parker Riehle.

SAM Magazine—June 6, 2012—Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) announced today that its 22 member resorts hosted 6.16 million visits, an 11.4% decline from last year. Vail Resorts, which is not a member of CSCUSA, reported a 9.8% decrease in visits at all of its resorts, including those in California. With Vail's Colorado resorts tallied in, Colorado tallied just over 11 million visits. CSCUSA reported that destination and international visits were still strong this past season, but the locals stayed away, accounting for much of the decline.

SAM Magazine—June 5, 2012—The Utah ski and snowboard industry announced 3,802,536 million skier day visits during the 2011-12 winter season, down 10 percent from the previous season’s 4,223,064. Low snow totals plaguing resorts nationwide and the persistence of a wavering economy are credited for the decrease at Utah ski and snowboard resorts this season. As snow totals have accumulated well above the state’s 500 annual inch average the past four seasons, this year’s below average snowfall didn't measure up.

SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, June 5, 2012—Bank of America has acted on its threat to remove the Wildwood Express chair lift at bankrupt Tamarack Resort. The bank has hired Highlander Ski Lift Services & Construction of nearby McCall to dismantle and remove the lift, and much of the work has already been completed.

SAM Magazine—Charleston, W. Va., May 30, 2012—Jim Justice, owner of The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, has agreed to purchase Wintergreen Resort. The Wintergreen Partners' board of directors approved the merger agreement last Friday. If, as expected, the Class A Equity members of Wintergreen also approve the deal at a meeting June 24, the purchase will close by June 30.

Justice said the details of the deal are "very complicated," but that the final purchase price will be between $12.5 million and $16.5 million.

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 resort for national titles in various divisions of the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships.

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 Mountain Resorts, which includes Jay Peak President and co-owner Bill Stenger, took ownership of Burke Mountain Resort May 22, 2012.

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 brief on June 1, with amicus briefs due by June 6. Those filings will bring the dispute into sharper focus, and indicate the level and type of support each side has.

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 average daily rate (ADR) rose 4.8 percent.

The data come from 265 properties in 16 destination resorts in Colorado, Utah, California, and Oregon.

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 snow to offer ample cover, and from favorable comparison to its destination competitors in Colorado, Utah, and California.

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.

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 and clubhouse/restaurant, all of Wolf Mountain Ski Resort (formerly known as Nordic Valley), Pineview Lodge Events Center, Discovery Center and future development land suitable for approximately 850 to 950 mixed use lots.

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, and in nearly every state—only Wyoming and New Mexico posted increases. Thanks to a warm, relatively snowless early season, visits were down 30 percent nationwide through the New Year’s holiday.

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.

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 attractions.

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 April 24, 2011. (The data excludes Kirkwood, Calif., which was acquired on April 12, 2012.)

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 in 2011, which was an above average year. Likewise the resort closed the season with over 294,000 total skier visits, well above its five year average and the fourth best ever.

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 circus” in North America, one that could equal the scale of several European mega-resorts.

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:

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 competitors Joe Pack, Eva Twardokens, and Tyler Palmer. K2, celebrating its 50th anniversary, received the Hall’s Legends of Skiing Award.

About the business inductees:

SAM Magazine—Squaw Valley, Calif., Apr. 18, 2012—Below average snowfall and snowpack, combined with record-breaking warm temperatures, led to a 3.9 percent decline in occupancy at Western mountain destinations during March compared to the same month last year, according to the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP). Similar declines were recorded for the season, with overall occupancy down by 2.3 percent through March.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Apr. 18, 2012—Vail Resorts has joined conservation groups in supporting Senator Mark Udall and Congressman Jared Polis in their efforts to designate additional wilderness and special management areas in Eagle and Summit counties, home to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone. The areas under consideration for wilderness designation would provide enhanced levels of protection and management for up to 175,000 acres.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, April 16, 2012—Continuing a three-year wrangle, Park City Mountain Resort and its landlord, Talisker, remain in negotiations regarding PCMR’s lease of much of its ski terrain, despite a series of legal moves in the courts.

SAM Magazine—Boise, Idaho, Apr. 16, 2012—Pension fund trustee and investment adviser Matthew Hutcheson, who bid $40 million for Tamarack Resort in 2010, has been arrested on 31 counts for defrauding two pension funds under his control. The indictment charges that Hutcheson used the money in his effort to buy the Tamarack resort as well as for his personal use.

In particular, the indictment claims the fund manager invested $3.2 million from the Retirement Security Plan & Trust pension fund to buy a bank note and interest in the golf course at Tamarack.

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Apr. 13, 2012—Snow sports retail sales were down 12 percent in units and 4 percent in dollars through the end of February, according to the RetailTRAK, released by SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and The Leisure Trends Group. Sales totaled $3.2 billion.

SAM Magazine--April 12, 2012--Vail Resorts, Inc. (VR) today announced that the company has closed on its acquisition of Kirkwood Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe, Calif. Vail Resorts now operates three mountain resorts in the Lake Tahoe region and together with Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar California. The transaction, which included the ski resort and undeveloped sites at the center of the base area, closed for approximately $18 million. The seller retains a participation interest in the base area parcels and continues to own the remainder of the real estate development sites.