SAM Magazine--Idaho Springs, CO, November 6, 2006--Colorado's Clear Creek County has delayed a crucial planning meeting on the rezoning of the former St. Mary's ski area and the opening of the new Eclipse ski resort on the property. Eclipse, which is headed by Michael Coors of the Coors brewing dynasty, hopes to open this winter. The County Plannin...

SAM Magazine--Woodbury, CT, November 6, 2006--It may come as a surprise to those enjoying some balmy fall days in New England, but the region is open for skiing, courtesy of plucky Woodbury ski area, which pulled out all the snowmaking stops to open on Friday. With man-made conditions and a solid base, the ski area clocked a record attendance on it...

SAM Magazine--Findley Lake, N.Y., November 6, 2006--The new ownership group of New York's Peek'n Peak Resort and Conference Center expects to pump massive infusions of cash into the resort over the next ten years. The investment is part of a revitalization plan for the resort implemented by Kiebler Recreation, LLC and Kiebler Properties. The group,...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, Nov. 2, 2006-Joe Houssian, Intrawest founder and CEO, is retiring, and Intrawest president and chief operating officer Alex Wasilov replaces him effective immediately. Wasilov, who joined Intrawest two years ago, will report to Fortress Investment Group CEO Wes Edens and managing director Bill Doniger. Houssian will serve in...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Nov. 2, 2006-A series of early storms have allowed Colorado resorts to get the jump on the ski season. Currently Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Wolf Creek and Copper Mountain are open, with more resorts planning to fire up the lifts soon-including Keystone tomorrow. The state benefited from substantial October snowfall, which left u...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Utah, Oct. 30, 2006-American Skiing Company cited strong season pass sales, continued growth at The Canyons resort, and excellent performance at Steamboat resort as factors behind a record-setting revenue year. Significantly, ASC also made payment in full of the principal balances of all real estate-related debt as a result ...

SAM Magazine - Champion,Pa, October 31, 2006 - Scott L. Bender has been promoted to the Chief Executive Officer position at Pennsylvania's Seven Springs Mountain Resort. A familiar face in the organization - he has been employed with the resort since 1983 - Bender's prior positions include President, Chief Operations Officer and Chairman of the Bo...

SAM Magazine - Lakewood, CO, October 30, 2006 - Alpine Meadows, Calif., Grand Targhee, Wyo., and Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Vt., have recently joined 16 other ski areas that are offsetting 100 percent of their energy use by purchasing renewable energy. Together, these 19 resorts are purchasing 258,574,498 kWh of green energy and their purchases ...

SAM Magazine--Londonderry, VT, October 26, 2006--Magic Mountain is set to open for the 2006/2007 season under a new ownership group which has revamped several aspects of the resort. The group, JLS Magic LLC, a partnership headed by Jim Sullivan, agreed to purchase the resort from Magic Mountain Management LLC. Although the deal is expected to be fi...

SAM Magazine - Wilmington, VT, October 26, 2006 - Vermont's Haystack Ski Area is on its way to becoming a private club. The ski area, which was sold approximately one year ago by the American Skiing Company to a group of local business people, is slated to undergo a five-year, $450 million dollar makeover, including new lifts and 100 percent snowma...

SAM Magazine - Midland, MI, October, 26, 2006 - Snowmaking equipment manufacturer Snow Machines, Inc. (SMI) has introduced the quietest, lightest design in its more than 35-year history, the SMI Kid PoleCat. In addition, the machine also is light, and, according to manufacturers, has a delivery capability and throw of up to 100 feet, making it idea...

SAM Magazine--Londonderry, VT, October 26, 2006--Magic Mountain is set to open for the 2006/2007 season under a new ownership group which has revamped several aspects of the resort. The group, JLS Magic LLC, a partnership headed by Jim Sullivan, agreed to purchase the resort from Magic Mountain Management LLC. Although the deal is expected to be fi...

Founder Of Mt. Hood Retires SAM Magazine-Mt. Hood, OR, October 25, 2006-The founder of Mt. Hood Meadows Resort, Franklin Drake, has announced that he is turning management of the resort over to his two protegees. Drake, who was the president/CEO of Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort in addition to the founder of the ski area, has managed the mountain s...

SAM Magazine- Alta, Utah, October 25, 2006 - Alta ski resort has committed to purchasing 900,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) of renewable energy over the next 12-month period. The purchase will offset more than 23 percent of the ski resort's annual energy usage. The move marks the latest effort by the Utah resort to limit the environmental impacts of...

SAM Magazine-Park City, Ut, October 23, 2006-US Skiing has announced the 2006 Nor-Am Freestyle Schedule. The season opens with a selection round at Park City, Utah. These December events will determine which freestyle athletes compete on the Nor-Am Circuit, which officially opens with events at Mont Gabriel, Quebec. A surprising addition to this ye...

SAM Magazine - Kingston, NY, October 24, 2006 -- The chalk boards at the base of ski lifts across North America have been an institution for decades, providing lift ops the opportunity to scrawl cryptic jokes, the ski patrol a forum for tracking down lost kids and the place to view-at least in Vail -updated NFL playoff scores if the skiing was too ...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Oct. 20, 2006-Intrawest laid off 200 full-time employees, primarily managers, across its several divisions and resorts earlier this week as part of an effort to improve its bottom-line performance in the coming year. The move was made the day before Intrawest shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the company's ...

SAM Magazine-Andover, N.H., Oct. 20, 2006-In a move that could have a big impact on the retail and rental ski equipment markets, Dalbello Skiboots and Elan Skis are beginning a new strategic global alliance as of Jan. 1. Clint Lyon, CEO of the newly formed Dalbello~Elan Sports, said, "Dalbello and Elan firmly believe that focused, specialized co...

SAM Magazine--October 20, 2006--Pennsylvania's Seven Springs Resort has announced that it will be withdrawing its limited Category 3 gaming license application after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board determined that the reworked proposal would not comply with the current requirements of the gaming regulations. The inability to secure a g...

SAM Magazine--Burlington, VT, October 20, 2006-- The Vermont Snow Sports Research Team has received a $20,000 grant from the Fletcher Allen Community Health Foundation to expand its program to increase voluntary ski helmet use among children to prevent serious head injuries. The snow sport research team is a partnership of the University Of Vermon...

SAM Magazine--Wolf Creek, Colo., October 20, 2006--Colorado Wild and the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service's decision to allow two access roads accessing the proposed Wolf Creek Village to be built. Both groups contend that the roads, which would cross public lands, are only two dominos in th...

SAM Magazine-Portland, Ore., October 15, 2006--Salomon North America is expected to announce that the company will relocate from Portland, Oregon to Ogden, Utah in the summer of 2007. The move is part of a reorganization by Salomon's parent company, Finland based Amer Sports Corp, which will consolidate the groups North American holdings, which als...

SAM Magazine--Beaver Creek, Colo., October 17, 2006--Plans by Vail Resorts to build an Alpine slide on Beaver Creek have local homeowners up in arms. The slide, proposed for Beaver Creek's Haymeadow area, has been aggressively opposed by local property owners, including the Beaver Creek Property Owners Association, with approximately 2,000 voicing ...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, BC, October 17, 2006-- Fortress Investment Group is expected to become the new owner of Intrawest after Intrawest shareholders approved the sale of the company to the private investment firm. The deal, worth $2.8 billion needed the approval of two-thirds of Intrawest shareholders to be consummated. The decision to sell was ...

SAM Magazine-Summit County, Colo., Oct. 13, 2006-This is what they were hoping for when they installed snowmaking four years ago. And today, for this year, they are the champions. Colorado's Arapahoe Basin beat out perennial champion Loveland for the first time, chalking up the earliest opening ever for the 60-year old area and claiming boasting ri...

SAM Magazine-Mammoth Lakes, CA., Oct. 11, 2006-Last April, a tragic accident at Mammoth Mountain resulted in the deaths of three ski patrollers. James Juarez, John "Scott" McAndrews and Charles Walter Rosenthal all died from a fall into a volcanic fumarole inside the ski area boundary. The California Department of Industrial Relations' Division of ...

SAM Magazine--October 11, 2006--Ski Utah has announced a new initiative to combat global warming. Called KeepUtahCool.com, the new website offers information on global warming, how warming impacts the ski industry and what individuals can do to help combat global warming. In addition, the site also has coverage of what Utah ski resorts are doing to...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Oct. 10--The National Ski Area Association (NSAA) has announced that 45 ski resorts across the nation are currently buying green energy. The list of mountains that have taken this proactive step is diverse, and ranges from Aspen, Colorado to Okemo, Vermont. Green power is generated from renewable and nonpolluting en...

SAM Magazine-Beaver, Ut., Oct. 5, 2006- CPB Development has proposed a $3.5 billion plan to local planning authorities for a Yellowstone Club-style resort at Elk Meadows, which hasn't operated for four years. Resort property owners, who would lose their access to the mountain, are rising in opposition. The resort, which opened in 1971, went ...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo., Oct. 5, 2006-Vail Resorts, Inc. reported record net income of $45.8 million for the fiscal year ended July 31,2006 compared to net income of $23.1 million for fiscal 2005, a rise of 98 percent. Much of the increase stemmed from mountain operations, plus reduced depreciation and interest expense and a gain on the sale...

SAM Magazine-Banff, Alta., Oct. 3, 2006-An investment group which includes legendary Canadian skier Ken Read has purchased Mt. Norquay Ski Area outside of Banff. The group includes Read, who currently serves as president of Alpine Canada Alpin, the governing body of ski racing in Canada, as well as Stephen Ross of Devonian Properties in Canm...

SAM Magazine-Broomfield, Colo.-Sept. 29, 2006-Vail Resorts (VR) is creating a new program focused on ethnic youth in Eagle and Summit counties as well as the Front Range. The program is intended to expand on the Company's joint effort with Alpino over the past two years to introduce skiing and snowboarding and the winter mountain experience to peop...

SAM Magazine-Eugene, Ore., Sept. 29, 2006-Chelsea Gerlach and Stanislas Meyerhoff, accused of involvement in arson that destroyed Vail's Two Elk lodge in 1998, have cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for consideration in their sentences and cases pending against them. Both individuals were part of a group of 13 individuals responsible for 18 se...

SAM Magazine-Sugarloaf, Me., Sept. 28, 2006-As part of a $1 million summer makeover, Sugarloaf is enhancing its terrain parks, recreational racing facilities, and base village. A new terrain park, 400 feet wide and nearly a half a mile long, will accommodate a series of jumps, features and rails. "This new park will let us build bigger, better, ...

SAM Magazine-Princeton, Mass., Sept. 26, 2006-Wachusett Mountain, the most accessible ski area in the eastern USA according to SKI Magazine, is becoming more so. For the 2006-2007 season, the area is teaming with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Company (MBCR) to operate commuter rail service to...

SAM Magazine-Turin, N.Y., Sept. 26, 2006-Pennsylvanian Russell Horn is purchasing Snow Ridge ski area from Peter Harris, who also owns Song Mountain Resort in Tully. Horn is consolidating his position at Snow Ridge; he purchased the Towpath Inn at the base of Snow Ridge in 2005. Horn will put Snow Ridge under the management of his son Keith and ...

SAM Magazine-Keystone, Colo., Sept. 26, 2006-Keystone will open Independence Bowl, almost 300 acres of expert-only hiking and snowcat terrain south of the summit of Dercum Mountain, for the 2006-07 season. The U.S. Forest Service issued the final approval Sept. 21, just before early-season storms dropped more than a foot of snow on the resort. The ...

SAM Magazine-Hemlock Valley, B.C., Sept. 25, 2006-Ice hockey entrepreneur Ralf Berezan, owner of the Junior A Surrey Eagles ice hockey team, has purchased British Columbia's Hemlock Valley Resort and expects to have the mountain open this season. Berezan, who also owns a variety of pubs in British Columbia, purchased the resort out of receivership....

SAM Magazine-Alta, Utah, Sept. 25, 2006-It is one of the very few areas in the U.S. that don't allow snowboarding, and, it appears, doesn't need a terrain park, either. While most resorts have been pumping investment dollars into their parks, contrarian resort Alta has decided to ax its park altogether. "We found that our skiers were curious abo...

SAM Magazine-Silverton, Colo., Sept. 23, 2006-Silverton Mountain Ski Area hosted the first skiers of the year yesterday after receiving two major storms Thursday and Friday. Skiers and snowboarders were waiting and ready to ride Friday when they woke up to what looked like February storm conditions. After two days of heavy snow, Silverton Mountain'...

SAM Magazine-September 22, 2006--Powder Ridge, located in Middlefield, Connecticut, will remain closed this winter pending sale of the ski resort. The 500-vertical-foot mountain featured 18 trails spread over 75 skiable acres served by six lifts, including two triple chairs and two double chairs. The announcement that the resort is ceasing o...

SAM Magazine-Georgetown, Colo., Sept. 21, 2006-Over the past twenty-four hours, a cold front has moved through Colorado, dropping snow across the state and allowing Loveland to start snowmaking operations. Loveland, which has been the first resort to open on an ongoing basis for the past seven seasons, is aiming to extend that record. Last year, th...

SAM Magazine-Pagosa Springs, Colo., Sept. 21, 2006-Wolf Creek is replacing its venerable 34-year old Dickey lift with a Doppelmayr-CTEC detachable quad. The new "Raven" lift will have an initial capacity of 1,200 skiers per hour and should be operational by the start of the the coming season. The lift, which will serve approximately the same terra...

SAM Magazine-Truckee, Calif., Sept. 20, 2006-In an innovative program designed to allieviate some of the problems its employees face when looking for seasonal housing, Northstar has developed the "Rental Rewards Program," which offers free lift tickets or season's passes to homeowners who rent to the resort's employees for the season. The program r...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., Sept. 18, 2006-NSAA is introducing SmartStyle 2.0 this fall, sporting new information, a new logo, and an updated video. The program builds on SmartStyle's three main messages with new information added to each. The video also includes new rider interviews, to update the athletes and keep the message fresh. The new log...

SAM Magazine-Boulder, Colo., Sept. 18, 2006-Vail has returned to the number-one spot in Ski Magazine's annual "Top 50 Resort Guide." Vail has taken the top spot in 14 of the survey's 19 years. Perennial Eastern favorite Tremblant, Que., is ranked No. 1 on the East Coast for a record-setting tenth consecutive year. Results of the highly influential ...

SAM Magazine-Sandpoint, Ida., Sept. 14, 2006-Add Schweitzer Mountain to the growing list of areas whose summer operations are growing. Labor Day Weekend marked the grand finale of the area's summer season. Measured by chairlift rides and hotel occupancy, Schweitzer had record-setting summer traffic. Fall Fest, held on Labor Day Weekend, was the big...

SAM Magazine-Bridgton, Me., Sept. 14, 2006-Shawnee Peak has joined the growing ranks of wind-powered ski areas. The electricity consumption of Shawnee's lifts, snowmaking equipment, lights, lodges and administrative offices will be supplied entirely from zero-emission wind power through an agreement with Community Energy, Inc., a wind energy market...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, Sept. 13, 2006-Intrawest Corporation reported its full-year profit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006 rose to $115.2 million from last year's $32.8 million, largely on gains from the sale of Mammoth Mountain. Income from continuing operations totalled $55.3 million, compared with $24.1 million in 2005. Total company EBI...

SAM Magazine-New York, Sept. 13, 2006-Time Inc. has put 18 of its titles, including Ski, Skiing, and Warren Miller Entertainment and the TransWorld group, up for sale. A spokeswoman said the company hopes to complete a deal by early 2007. "While these titles are good performers, Time Inc. is focusing its energy, resources and investment on our l...

SAM Magazine-Lakewood, Colo., Sept. 13, 2006-The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) and Snowsports Industries America (SIA) are working with the U.S. Congress to secure a White House Proclamation declaring January "National Ski and Snowboard Month." The designation is intended to call attention to the need for all people to exercise and get outs...

SAM Magazine--Ashland, OR, September 14, 2006--Mt. Ashland is jumping on the renewable energy bandwagon by announcing that the area is purchasing enough renewable energy to offset 100 percent of its annual electrical use. The program is called the Green Chair Renewable Energy Program and under that name, the ski area has contracted to purchase 780,...

SAM Magazine--Donnelly, Idaho, September 8, 2006--Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf, through their company Agassi Graf Development LLC, and Bayview Financial LP, finalized an agreement to develop a luxury mountain project at Tamarack Resort. Called the Fairmont Tamarack, the development will include a resort and spa, with 285 units, located in Tamarac...

SAM Magazine--Wrightwood, CA, September 9, 2006--Mountain High kicked off its season pass sale with 80 tons of snow, seven features and a few thousand riders--giving guests a small taste of winter in the 90-degree heat. North Hollywood Ice Company trucked in 80 tons of blocked ice to Mountain High's East Resort, then ran the ice through giant chipp...

Sept. 1, Great Britain (SnowHunter)--On the 5th September the British Snowlife Schools Tour, now in its second successful year, hits the road again to educate and inspire over 8,000 school pupils to give snowboarding and skiing a go for the first time. The team of professionals - among them Olympians and British Champions - will visit a lucky 16 sc...

SAM Magazine-Vancouver, B.C., Sept. 1, 2006-Intrawest Corporation has acquired Whistler Heli-Skiing in a transaction that increases Whistler Blackcomb's skiing and snowboarding terrain to more than 500,000 acres. The purchase adds Whistler Heli-Skiing's permit area of 494,000 acres to Whistler Blackcomb's 8,171 acres of in-bounds skiing. The pre...

SAM Magazine-Beaver Creek, Colo., Sept. 1, 2006-Beaver Creek plans to open 180 acres of new terrain in the Stone Creek area for the coming season. By bringing these expert-oriented south facing chutes and glades within the resort's patrolled and controlled terrain, the resort removes a favorite poaching shot from the "off-limits" category. In prior...

SAM Magazine--Utah, August 31, 2006-- Three consecutive record breaking seasons for skier days in Utah have afforded ski areas the capitol to continue adding new features and making improvements. From new lifts to more terrain to North America's first ski area tunnel, Utah's ski resorts will welcome visitors with a host of new amenities for both wi...

SAM Magazine-Donnelly, Ida., Aug. 31, 2006-Tamarack Resort will offer guided backcountry services on 5,000 acres of terrain north and south of the resort boundaries this season under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. The permit expands Tamarack's available terrain five-fold. The new National Forest terrain includes chutes, cliff...

SAM Magazine-Mount Prospect, Ill., Aug. 31, 2006-Wonder where resort prospects are likely to reside? The density of snowboarders is twice as high in California and New York as in other states; skiers are twice as likely to call New Jersey home than other states, according to a new report from the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA). The "...