SAM Magazine—Palmerton, Pa., Feb. 5, 2016—Following a variety of recent capital improvements, Blue Mountain Resort is planning yet another major project—a much-needed lodging property at the summit of the mountain. Described as a “4-star luxury condominium hotel,” the Vista Lodge Residence Club will be the only major lodging property within a 30-minute drive of the resort.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Feb. 5, 2016—Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc. reported a 26.9 percent decrease in skier visits across its mountain properties during the second quarter ending Dec. 31. Revenue across all divisions decreased by $16.9 million, to $104 million,  over the same period, with the challenging start to winter at its Eastern properties clearly the reason for the shortfall.

SAM Magazine—One Hundred Mile House, B.C., Feb. 5, 2016—The recently formed Mountain Playground Group—a consortium of community and independent small ski areas—has added a new member. The non-profit Mt. Timothy, located in the Cariboo Range of British Columbia, became the seventh such operation to join.

SAM Magazine—Manchester Center, Vt., Feb. 5, 2016—The International Skiing History Assn. (ISHA) is honoring several broadcasters, filmmakers, writers, and historians for their achievements during the 24th annual ISHA Awards in Aspen on April 7.

SAM Magazine—Timberline, Ore. Feb. 5, 2016—Registration is now open for the 2016 session of Cutter's Camp—the industry’s longest running gathering of terrain park professionals—which will be held at Timberline, Mt. Hood, Ore., May 9-13.

SAM Magazine—Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Feb. 4, 2016—It’s not every day a guy gets to own a piece of the resort where he learned to snowboard, but then again, Shaun White isn’t your everyday snowboarder. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and San Diego native now owns a minority stake in Mammoth Resorts, which recently acquired Bear Mountain and Snow Summit—the SoCal resorts where White, 29, began riding at age 6.

SAM Magazine—North Conway, N.H., Jan. 28, 2016—The biggest ski town/resort news could just happen at quaint, historical Cranmore Mountain in the coming years. In a group press conference on Wednesday, Boston entrepreneur Joe O’Donnell, along with his partner, the father-son team of Brian and Tyler Fairbank (of Jiminy Peak, Bromley, and Cranmore) detailed a $50 million project and improvement plan that they hope to break ground on this spring.

SAM Magazine—Sutton, QC Jan. 27, 2016—A group of Quebec investors has reached an agreement with the majority shareholders, the Boulanger family, to acquire Ski Sutton Inc., the owner of the Mont SUTTON ski resort. The investors include Jean Michel Ryan, Mont SUTTON’s General Manager, Sylvain Gervais of Enterprises Larry, and Pierre Chesnay, a former member of Uni-Select’s senior management.

SAM Magazine—Reno, Nev., Jan. 27, 2016—After 45 years as majority owner, Fritz Buser, 95, has decided it’s time to sell Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe and retire.

Marketing director Mike Pierce said resort staff was informed of Buser’s intention to put the property up for sale early last week before a statement was released on Saturday.

SAM Magazine—Snowshoe, W.Va., Jan. 25, 2016—The first headline-making winter storm to hit the eastern U.S. started with much fanfare on Friday morning and didn’t end for many until late Saturday night, leaving behind as much as three feet of much-needed snow at many Mid-Atlantic and Southeast ski areas.

While resorts welcomed the glut of snow, the timing of the storm and the sheer volume of it created some immediate operational challenges.

With plentiful snowfall across most of the West this winter, NSAA’s annual winter conference and trade show Jan. 19-21 at Squaw Valley’s Resort at Squaw Creek drew a large and largely upbeat crowd. NSAA reported a total of 660 attendees represented by 79 ski areas and 129 supplier companies.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 22, 2016—Whistler Blackcomb, Okemo, and Stowe were recognized recently as great places to work.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 22, 2016—The 2016 Assembly, focused on how North American resorts and communities can manage the peaks and valleys of summer visitation and increase visits overall, takes place Jan. 28 at the SIA Snow Show in the Colorado Convention Center. And it’s shaping up as the biggest Assembly yet.

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., Jan. 22, 2016—Rental World/Backshop, co-hosted by SAM Magazine and SnowSports Industries America (SIA), presents a broad overview of the rental equipment marketplace at the SIA Snow Show in Denver Jan. 28-31. The exhibit includes alpine and snowboard gear, helmets, XC, backshop tools and products, and racking systems.

SAM Magazine—Jackson, Wyo., Jan. 19, 2016— Five independent community ski areas have banded together to form the Mountain Playground Group, a new consortium created by the Mountain Rider’s Alliance to cultivate a viable niche market in small resort skiing by promoting “the authenticity and uniqueness of soulful ski areas,” according to a press release.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Jan. 19, 2016—Vail Resorts’ most recent acquisition in the Midwest has the Windy City’s estimated 800,000 skiers and riders within close proximity. Wilmot Mountain, Wisc., located 65 miles north of Chicago, is the third Midwest resort in VR’s portfolio. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 15, 2016—According to the most recent data released by Denver-based DestiMetrics, as of Dec. 31, actual occupancy and future reservations at Western destination resorts are up 2.5 percent for the season, with revenue up 3.7 percent compared to last winter. DestiMetrics credits strong snowfall in the Rocky Mountain and Far West regions for an uptick in bookings during December.

DestiMetrics’ data are drawn from 290 properties in 19 destination communities across the Western U.S. and Canada.

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., Jan. 12, 2016—Performance, demo, and backcountry rentals are helping to fuel growth in rental overall, according to a recent survey conducted by SAM Magazine and Snowsports Industries America (SIA). The two organizations combined efforts to survey rental shops regarding trends in equipment and the general rental market.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 12, 2016—According to Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA), total skier visits at its 21 member resorts through Dec. 31 were up 10 percent compared to the same period last year. This year’s skier visits also bested the five-year early-season average by 13 percent.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 11, 2015—On Friday, Jan. 8, at 10 a.m., school was in session at more than 160 resorts from New Jersey to Alaska in an attempt to establish a record for the World’s Largest Ski and Snowboard Lesson. While the final tally is still not yet complete, several thousand first-time skiers and riders of all ages turned out.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Jan. 6, 2015—SAM's seventh annual Summer Ops Camp, a hands-on educational, networking, and in-park demo event, will head to Park City Sept. 6-8, 2016. The camp gathers resort managers and operators from around North America and overseas to explore opportunities in four-season attractions.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2015—For those still waiting to see snow in the East, here’s a message from earlier this week:

“Jiminy Peak in western Massachusetts plans to create a massive machine-made blizzard over the next 40 hours that snow-starved skiers and snowboarders will be able to see on NOAA weather radar if the skies are as clear as predicted.”

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Jan. 6, 2016—A 2011 proposal by the U.S. Forest Service to require ski resorts to transfer water rights to the federal government has been abandoned by the agency. Instead, it will require only that resorts prove there is enough water available to support skiing through each permit term.

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Jan. 6, 2016—A carrier traveling on the downhill side of Heavenly Mountain Resort’s North Bowl chairlift detached from the haul rope and fell to the ground on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 10:58 a.m. PST. A total of 65 passengers were taking the lift up, and were evacuated by ski patrol after the lift shut down due to the malfunction.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2016—It was a tale of two sides. One side was bountiful with business up and deep snow. The other side did not repeat the success of a year ago due to a lack of snow and mild temps. As usual, Mother Nature dictated much of how Christmas week went for resorts across North America.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Dec. 28, 2015—Stein Eriksen, the legendary alpine skier often credited as a founder of modern skiing, died on Sunday, Dec. 27, at his home in Park City, Utah. He was 88 years old.

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Dec. 23, 2015—SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is reinventing the SIA Snow Show with an updated format, and shifting it nearly two months earlier. Starting in December 2017, opening day of the event will be the first Tuesday of December, and will follow a shortened, three-day schedule—reduced from the traditional four-day schedule. It will still be held in Denver at the Colorado Convention Center.

SAM Magazine—Gaylord, Mich., Dec. 23, 2015—Otsego Club & Resort has appointed Jeff Morrison as its new director of ski operations. Morrison’s responsibilities include overseeing all ski area operations and growing the resort’s summer business.

Jeff’s ski industry career began in 1983, when he served as a ski instructor for both Shanty Creek and Boyne Mountain, Mich. Morrison’s experience also includes serving as a ski school supervisor, director of skiing, lift operations manager, executive director, and general manager.

SAM Magazine—Whistler, B.C., Dec. 23, 2015—Blackcomb has signed an agreement with the Whistler Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Club (WBFSC) and the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA) to build a national training center for freestyle skiing on Blackcomb Mountain. The facility will consist of a permanent mogul course, airbag training area, and event site, built to International Ski Federation (FIS) specifications.

The new training center will be adjacent to Nintendo Terrain Park, which will broaden the scope of athletes training at the center.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Dec. 22, 2015—With the reality of this mild start to the winter in much of the eastern half of the continent sinking in, a handful of resorts are embracing it.

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Dec. 16, 2015—By a narrow margin, ski patrollers at Park City voted on Monday to unionize. The preliminary tally was 97-94.

SAM Magazine—Silverton, Colo., Dec. 9, 2015—Tim Petrick is joining Silverton Mountain Ski Area and Silverton Mountain Guides Alaska Heli with the kickoff of the 2015-16 season.

Petrick, most recently president and CEO of K2 Sports, has spent the majority of his career in executive level positions for companies including Powder Magazine, Rossignol, and Booth Creek Resorts.

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Dec. 3, 2015—Vail Resorts came out with two major initiatives yesterday, each with the company’s employee base in mind: the EpicPromise Foundation, to support employees’ educational development and general well-being; and an employee housing program.

SAM Magazine—Campton, N.H., Dec. 3, 2015—Dan Egan, extreme skiing legend and founder of Degan Media, has received the 2016 North American Snowsports Association's (NASJA) Mitch Kaplan Award for Excellence in Snowsports Coverage.

The award is presented annually to the journalist whose work and spirit best captures the enthusiasm and dedication Mitch Kaplan brought to NASJA and to the coverage of snowsports. Phil Johnson, a ski columnist for Schenectady, N.Y.’s Daily Gazette, nominated Egan for the award.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Dec. 1, 2015—Gerald F. (Jerry) Groswold, longtime head of Winter Park resort and a former board member and chairman of both Colorado Ski Country USA and NSAA, died Nov. 26. He was 84.

SAM Magazine—Sheridan, Wyo., Dec. 1, 2015—The Antelope Butte Foundation (ABF), a non-profit organization dedicated to reopening Antelope Butte Ski Area, has received two significant donation commitments for its project to resurrect the facility, which has not operated in a decade.

SAM Magazine—Hunter, N.Y., Nov. 30, 2015—Peak Resorts has entered into an agreement to purchase Hunter Mountain, located in the Catskill Mountains of New York, for cash consideration of $35 million plus the assumption of two capital leases estimated at approximately $1.8 million. Hunter Mountain generates approximately $27 million (unaudited) in annual revenue. The purchase price is slightly more than six times Hunter Mountain’s adjusted EBITDA, which is estimated at approximately $6 million (unaudited) for its fiscal year ended April 30, 2015.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Nov. 19, 2015—Despite a relatively warm start to the fall, recent snowstorms out West and snowmaking conditions in the East have a number of resorts opening for the season just ahead of Thanksgiving weekend.

SAM Magazine—Boston, Mass., Nov. 17, 2015—David Ingemie, president of Snowsports Industries America (SIA), was presented with the 30th annual BEWI Award during a luncheon in his honor on Nov. 13 at the Seaport World Trade Center on Boston Harbor.

SAM Magazine—Truckee, Calif., Nov. 12, 2015—With storm totals in California being measured in feet, the ski and snowboard season is getting off to its best start in years on the West Coast. Nationwide, a number of resorts are already open and more are kicking things off, starting yesterday.

SAM Magazine—Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, Nov. 9, 2015—For the first time in the competitive atmosphere of the Quebec ski industry, two major players are teaming to offer a joint season pass. Ski Bromont and Mont Saint-Sauveur have created the Option Northeast, which gives anyone purchasing a season pass at either resort the opportunity to add access to the other for as little as C$20, plus tax.

SAM Magazine—Fairfield, Idaho, Nov. 6, 2015—Matt and Dianne McFerran, a couple from Bend, Ore., are the new owners of Solider Mountain. More than 2,100 people had inquired about the resort, which was put up for sale on Oct. 14 at the price tag of $149,000, the amount of money the non-profit area owed to the bank.

SAM Magazine—Nov. 5, 2015—While Killington Resort, Vt., was the first ski resort to open in the U.S. this season on Oct. 18, and Loveland and Arapahoe Basin, Colo., were the first to begin daily operations Oct. 29, several additional ski areas have opened or plan to kick-start their 2015-16 winter operations in the coming days.

SAM Magazine—Donnelly, Idaho, Nov. 5, 2015—In a sign of Tamarack’s return to normal resort operations, the resort is launching Tamarack Lodging Co., the official reservation and property management company for Tamarack Resort, according to resort operator Replay Resorts. Tamarack is also resuming operation of all food and beverage facilities. These various services had been run by third parties for the past several years as Tamarack worked its way through bankruptcy proceedings.

SAM Magazine—Comox, B.C., Nov. 4, 2015—A Canadian subsidiary of Pacific Group Resorts Inc. (PGRI) has purchased Mount Washington Alpine Resort located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. According to Vern Greco, PGRI president and the CEO, the transition had been in the works for a few years.

PGRI owns all 81 alpine runs and 22 Nordic trails at Mount Washington, as well as most of the development land located near and around the base of the mountain. However, the previous owners have kept two parcels of land.

SAM Magazine—Las Vegas, Nev., Nov. 4, 2015—After more than a decade of trying to rebrand itself as Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, the area is switching back to its original name, Lee Canyon, as of Nov. 9.

SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Nov. 3, 2015—After nominations were collected last month for the I Am a Snowmaker competition, sponsored by SAM Magazine and HKD Snowmakers, six resorts were named 2016 finalists: Copper Mountain, Colo.; Okemo, Vt.; Sunday River, Maine; Whistler, B.C; Cataloochee, N.C.; and Stowe, Vt.

SAM Magazine—Auburn, Maine, Nov. 2, 2015—Scott Shanaman, a New Hampshire-based tramway inspector, is the new owner of Maine’s Lost Valley Ski Area. Home to 15 trails, two chairlifts and one lodge, the ski hill plans to open for the 2015-16 season on Dec. 18.

SAM Magazine—Avon, Colo., Oct. 30, 2016—A group of ski and snowboard instructors at Beaver Creek resort are looking to form a union, as early as this winter. If they are successful, the union would be the first of its kind in the United States. The instructors have asked the Communication Workers of American (CWA) in Denver to help them with the process.

SAM Magazine—McCall, Idaho, Oct. 28, 2015—Brundage Mountain Resort is offering free lift tickets for its beginner chairlift this season in hopes of attracting newcomers of all ages.

“We want to give people a free sample of the Brundage Mountain experience because we’re confident that they’ll fall in love with the sports of skiing and snowboarding,” said communication director April Whitney.

SAM Magazine—Garden Valley, Idaho, Oct. 28, 2015—Idaho’s X-Sports Tubing Hill is now under the ownership of Jason and Kelly Sawin. X-Sports is home to 900-foot long tubing lanes ranging from beginner to advanced. The facility also has 15 miles of Nordic ski trails. The couple, who also own CHS Snowmakers, will be moving to Garden Valley, an hour north of Boise, to oversee operations.

SAM Magazine—Arapahoe Basin, Colo., Oct. 28, 2015—Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin will open for the 2015-16 winter season Oct. 29, matching the plan of neighbor Loveland Ski Area.

“The recent cold weather and currently snowy conditions allow for a tremendous start to the season,” said Alan Henceroth, Arapahoe’s CEO. “Despite what will be a later-than-average opening, both natural snow and our snowmaking efforts have given us a great snow surface to start with. We cannot wait to have our guests back to enjoy the mountain.”

SAM Magazine—Georgetown, Colo., Oct. 27, 2015—Loveland Ski Area will be the first resort in Colorado to open for the 2015-16 season on Thursday. That is, unless Arapahoe Basin gets open before then.