SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., Sept. 15, 2004--SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and VERB, a national government-funded kid's marketing campaign, are launching the first-ever VERB SnowSports Day on Dec. 4, 2004. The event will take place in retail stores nationwide and will introduce kids of all ages to snow sports. Retailers across the nation wil...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo,, Sept. 13, 2004--Booth Creek Ski Holdings more than doubled its net income and boosted EBITDA by nearly 27 percent for the nine-month period ending July 30, despite a 19 percent decline in third-quarter revenues. Net income for the nine months more than doubled, to $12,089,000, an increase of $6,529,000 from 2003. Total...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, Sept. 14, 2004--Thanks in part to the creation of its Leisura real-estate partnerships, Intrawest reported a strengthened balance sheet for fiscal 2004, raising cash flow from continuing operations to $423 million, up $444 million from 2003, and reducing debt by $285 million. Income from continuing operations for the year w...

SAM Magazine--New Hartford, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2004--Springer-Miller Systems, Inc. (SMS), which provides property management software, is becoming part of PAR Technology Corp., another software company. The deal is expected to close in late 2004; terms were not disclosed. SMS will continue to be run by its current senior management team in Stowe, Vt. ...

SAM Magazine--Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2004--MasterFit University will bring boot fit instruction, including a course specifically intended to produce nearly instantaneous rental boot fitting, to eight locations this fall. SAM has once again teamed with MasterFit U to sponsor the organization's North American fall tour. Proper boot fitt...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Sept. 8, 2004--For the 13th time in 17 years, Vail tops SKI Magazine's annual Top 60 resort ranking. The list is based on a survey of more than 20,000 veteran SKI subscribers. Vail leads a group of six Colorado resorts in the top ten. Deer Valley and Snowmass each move up a notch in this year's poll, to the No. 2. a...

SAM Magazine--Ligonier, Pa., Sept. 6, 2004--Star-crossed Laurel Mountain Ski Resort, which failed to operate during the 2003-04 season, has defaulted on a $1 million loan, and several assets, including groomers and the area's snowmaking system, are going up for auction on Sept. 17. Owner George Mowl had borrowed the money from Somerset Trust Co. in...

SAM Magazine--Silverton, Colo., Sept. 6, 2004--Silverton Mountain was the first U.S. ski area to get skiers and riders onto its slopes for the 2004-05 season on Sept. 4 following heavy snowfall down to the area's 10,400-foot base elevation. The snowfall was fueled by moisture from Tropical Storm Howard. This is the third year in a row that Silve...

SAM Magazine--Boulder, Colo., Aug. 30, 2004--A report critical of the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA)'s Sustainable Slopes Program has itself drawn criticism from the resort industry. The report, authored by two university professors, concludes that the program amounts to little more than greenwashing. Resorts have criticized the report fo...

SAM Magazine--Bellaire, Mich., Aug. 30, 2004--Michigan's Shanty Creek Resort & Club has defaulted on a $20.35 million mortgage, according to its lender, Comerica Bank, which has initiated foreclosure proceedings on several properties, including the Schuss Mountain ski area. Also named in the foreclosure are the Schuss Mountain golf course (along wi...

SAM Magazine--Rumford, Me., Aug. 30, 2004--Black Mountain has banned use of all tobacco products at the resort, indoors and out. The policy may soon spread to other community-oriented areas owned by the Maine Winter Sports Center, in Mars Hill, Fort Kent and Presque Isle. The Black ban is total: it covers cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing t...

SAM Magazine--Crested Butte, Colo., Aug. 24, 2004--Crested Butte Mountain Resort has named Randy Barrett general manager and vice president. As GM, Barrett will take on some duties formerly handled by John Norton, who resigned in early August as the Crested Butte resort's president and CEO. Crested Butte co-owner Tim Mueller of Vermont-based Triple...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., Aug. 24, 2004--U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Yellowstone Mountain Club owner Tim Blixseth against the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to gain control of a parcel of land atop Lone Peak, home to both Big Sky and Moonlight Basin and neighbor to the Yellowstone Club. The judge rul...

SAM Magazine--Mont Tremblant, Que., Aug. 24, 2004--Daniel Cordier, a shareholder in the Gray Rocks ski area, is purchasing the area and will open it for the 2004-05 season. The purchase follows the announcement in early July that the area and its hotel would close for the coming winter season. Cordier has held the title of hotel vice president from...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., Aug. 20, 2004--Vail Resorts has signed contracts worth $43.8 million for the sale of 11 townhomes in the elite Gore Creek Place development in Vail's LionsHead neighborhood. The Gore Creek Place project includes 16 townhomes in all, ranging in size from 3,500 to 4,400 square feet. All 11 townhomes, part of Vail's New D...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 19, 2004--Several resorts are implementing the WinterKids' National Outdoor Learning Curriculum in in their local communities this season. The resorts include Crystal Mountain, Mich., Thunder Ridge Ski Area, N.Y., Cataloochee Ski Area, N.C., and Ski Areas of New York (SANY). In addition SkiTops, a Colorado-based ...

SAM Magazine--Ishpeming, Mich., Aug. 12, 2004--Olympic champions Picabo Street and Donna Weinbrecht, who both collected titles at the Olympic, World Championship and World Cup levels, headline the 2004 inductees for the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. Street earned an Olympic silver medal in downhill at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, then won gol...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, B.C., Aug. 12, 2004--Intrawest is forming a partnership with CNL Income Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust, in which CNL will acquire an 80 per cent interest in commercial properties at nine Intrawest resort villages, with a total value of $160 million. Intrawest will continue to manage and lease all of the re...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., Aug. 11, 2004--U.S. ski areas tallied a total of 57.07 million visits during the 2003/04 season, according to the NSAA's final 2003/04 Kottke End-of-Season Survey. That represents the third best season in the industry's history and continues a hot streak: The past four seasons include the industry's three best seasons...

SAM Magazine--Big Sky, Mont., Aug. 11, 2004--The Yellowstone Club will pay $1.8 million and complete a list of resoration projects to settle claims brought against it by the Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act during 2001. Although the Club denies wrongdoing, it agreed to pay the penalty and replace or repa...

SAM Magazine--Oliver, B.C., Aug. 9, 2004--Mount Baldy ski area is on a fast track for modernization, thanks to new owners and the pro-resort efforts of the B.C. government and the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB). The B.C. government is encouraging new investment in the resort industry and was "instrumental, if not indispensable" in supporting new owne...

August 9 (SnowHunter)--The Mills Corporation, leading developer of innovative retail and entertainment destinations, today announced a September 29, 2004 groundbreaking for Meadowlands Xanadu in New Jersey, USA. Following on from the company's completion of the Madrid Xanadu last year, it is hoped that this new development will house the first U...

Dear Jennifer: I am writing in response to your open letter in the July 2004 SAM. As always, I respect SAM's role as an independent voice in the industry and I appreciate your willingness to voice your concerns on the future of NSAA and the industry. At the same time, I respectfully disagree with your opinion that the leaders of the industry hav...

SAM Magazine--Crested Butte, Colorado, August 5, 2004--John Norton, president and CEO at Crested Butte, announced that he will step down from that position to pursue a career in consulting. Norton will continue to work on projects for the ski resort as the point person for planning and approvals of expansion projects. Tim Mueller, the new owner ...

SAM Magazine--Silverton, Colorado, August 5, 2004--The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has given the OK to Silverton to host unguided skiers, up to 475 a day. The Bureau conducted a survey of the area, concentrating on avalanche safety, for three years before it rendered its recommendation. The fly in the ointment, however, is the recommendation...

SAM Magazine--North Conway, N.H., Aug. 4, 2004--The Threedom Pass, good at Booth Creek areas Cranmore, Loon, and Waterville Valley, offers increased benefits and options for the coming season. Unrestricted passes include college and youth passes ($199), teen passes ($249) and adult passes ($459). An adult pass with holiday blackout dates costs $319...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., August 4, 2004--Vail Resorts' quest to find a buyer has been put on hold, according to a story in the Denver Post and other sources. According to reports, the investment firm of KKR withdrew its bid, and the offer from Texas Pacific Group was well below VR's asking price. Nobody from the companies involved has commente...

SAM Magazine--Sherbrooke, Que., Aug. 3, 2004--Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. is selling its industrial vehicle division, including snow groomers, to Quebec component-maker Camoplast Inc., which produces rubber tracks and components for groomers and other heavy-duty tracked vehicles. Terms of the transaction were not released. The sale is exp...

Vail, Colo., July 30, 2004--Two large buyout firms are finalists in the possible sale of Vail Resorts, according to a report in the Denver Post. Sources have told the paper that Texas Pacific Group and Henry Kravis, a principal in New York investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), both submitted proposals this week. Sources said that VR's b...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., July 27, 2004--SnowSports Industries America (SIA) has joined the VERB campaign, a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focused on motivating kids ages 9 to 13 to get more physically active. VERB is a comprehensive, multicultural campaign that reaches out via kid-cool advertising, promotion a...

July 29, New Jersey (SnowHunter)--The joint developers of the $1.3 billion Xanadu project in New Jersey, Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali, have launched a website atYÂ¥ www.meadowlandsxanadu.com to showcase their plans. Xanadu would comprise five themed 'districts' over the 104-acre Continental Arena site.YÂ¥ The entertainment district will be the ...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, July 21, 2004--OLN will broadcast 22 hours of original ski and snowboard event programming annually, with multiple re-airings, according to terms of a multi-year agreement between the sports channel and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). OLN is in 59 million homes and televises events such as the Tour de F...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., July 21, 2004--Vail Resorts has committed approximately $600,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to the Alpino 10,000 Project, which aims to introduce 10,000 Denver-area youth to snowsports in Colorado over the next two years. For each of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, Vail will contribute $5,000 a year to the Alpi...

SAM Magazine--Lakewood, Colo., July 15, 2004--The ski industry has made substantial progress in its efforts to reduce environmental impacts, according to the Sustainable Slopes Annual Report prepared by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). The report is based on information from 62 resorts representing 19 states and three Canadian provinces. ...

SAM Magazine--Copper Mountain, Colo., July 13, 2004--Summit County Commissioners have denied Intrawest's long-term development plan for doubling the size of Copper Mountain after a three-year planning process. Intrawest was seeking land-use approval for 1,155 additional residential units at Copper, beyond the 500 remaining units in its current p...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, July 13, 2004--In a move that entrenches discounted season's passes in the Northeast, American Skiing Co. (ASC) is introducing an All for One Pass valid at the company's six Eastern resorts, at prices ranging from $349 to $599. The passes are based on a similar offer introduced last winter at Attitash Bear Peak and Su...

SAM Magazine--Mont Tremblant, Que., July 13, 2004--Gray Rocks Inn and ski area will close its doors on Oct. 10, marking the first time in a nearly a century that the Gray Rocks Inn will close for the winter and shuttering one of the pioneering ski areas of the region. Owner Phillip Robinson blamed the extreme cold and the general tourism slump f...

SAM Magazine--Ludlow, Vt., July 13, 2004--American Skiing Company (ASC) will pay $5.1 million to settle its lawsuit with Triple Peaks, LLC, stemming from ASC's last-minute termination of the proposed sale of the Steamboat Ski Resort to Triple Peaks in 2001. In return, Triple Peaks has agreed to a full dismissal of all claims relating to the sale. ...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., July 9, 2004--Vail Resorts has been actively seeking a buyer for some or all of its assets, according to reports in the Denver Post and the Vail Daily, based on several unofficial sources in Vail valley. Speculation about a possible sale has also been fueled by a recent runup in the price of Vail stock (currently about $1...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, B.C., July 7, 2004--Intrawest has acquired an equity interest in the Abercrombie & Kent Group (A&K), a leading luxury adventure-travel company. The companies will offer a range of high-end travel, leisure and vacation experiences at destinations around the globe. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Abercrombie &...

SAM Magazine--Wrightwood, Calif., July 6, 2004--Mountain High Resort is purchasing neighboring Ski Sunrise for about $375,000. The sale of the 97-acre area, located about one mile from Mountain High's existing East and West areas, is set for mid-July. Mountain High GM Karl Kapuscinski told SAM that, in the short term, Sunrise will be used as a t...

SAM Magazine--June 28, Tully, N.Y.--Ski Areas of New York announced that New York State ski areas received 4,034,325 skier/snowboard visits for the 2003/04 season, making it the third best season on record. The 50 ski and snowboard resorts that call New York home had a record season last year with 4,256,507 visits and attribute the drop off this ye...

SAM Magazine--Juneau, Alaska, June 15, 2004--In addition to the $300,000 the City and Borough of Juneau gives to Eaglecrest Ski Area each year, the resort was granted another $100,000 in order to offset a projected shortfall of $652,000 next year. Eaglecrest is a municipally-owned area that relies on local users to cover 70 percent of operating exp...

SAM Magazine--Donnelly, Idaho, June 15, 2004--Tamarack resort had its second straight sell-out when it unloaded 64 real estate products, raising approximately $33.4 million for scheduled development. Homebuyers from Idaho (58 percent), California (28 percent), Oregon (4.6 percent) and Georgia (3.1 percent) bought 10 cottages, 18 resort-built chalet...

SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., June 14, 2004--Vail released its financial results for the third quarter ended April 30, 2004, and the news was all good. In fact, it was their best third quarter ever thanks mainly to a jump in the company's mountain segment, a 10.2 percent growth in average realized price for the ski season and record visits for Beaver ...

SAM Magazine--Hood River, Ore., June 14, 2004--The Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association (PNSAA) announced that the region is on track for its third best season ever with 4.71 million visits forecast. Washington state recorded 1.86 million and Oregon is projecting 1.63 million once the summer season ends. PNSAA encompasses resorts in Washingto...

SAM Magazine--June 11, 2004, North Conway, N.H.-- Tom Day, acting GM at Booth Creek-owned Cranmore Mountain Resort announced today that Ben Wilcox will become the new GM of the resort starting June 18, 2004. For the past 11 years, Wilcox was the marketing director at Bretton Woods Resort and the Mount Washington Hotel. ...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, May 14, 2004--American Skiing Company (ASC) has restructured its real estate debt, cutting $80.4 million from its balance sheet. The restructuring creates a new partnership between ASC's Killington Resort and SP Land, a newly formed affiliate of Eiger, Inc., one of the lenders under ASC's Real Estate Term Facility,...

SAM Magazine--Aspen, Colo., June 10, 2004--Colorado Ski Country USA reported the state hosted more than 11.2 million skier visits this season as in-state visits fell, destination numbers stabilized, and several international markets rebounded. The total represents a 3.4 percent decline from the 2002-03 season. "For the first time in seven years,...

SAM Magazine--Park City, Utah, June 10, 2004--American Skiing Company reported a loss for the nine months ended April 25 of $38.4 million, slightly less than the $42.8 million loss a year earlier. The company credited increased season's pass revenues, cost controls and coordinated marketing for the improved financial performance despite a slight de...

SAM Magazine--Rossland B.C., June 4, 2004--A private investment group led by Howard Katkov of San Diego has purchased Red Mountain Resort for an undisclosed amount. With a recently approved community plan in hand to guide future development, the new ownership expects to construct 1,300 dwelling units and 70,000 square feet of commercial space ov...

SAM Magazine--Rossland B.C., June 4, 2004--A private investment group led by Howard Katkov of San Diego has purchased Red Mountain Resort for an undisclosed amount. With a recently approved community plan in hand to guide future development, the new ownership expects to construct 1,300 dwelling units and 70,000 square feet of commercial space ov...

SAM Magazine--McLean, Va., June 7, 2004--Overall sales at ski and snowboard specialty and chain stores for August through March increased a mere 0.6 percent in dollars during 2003-04 season, to $2.21 billion, compared to $2.20 billion for 2002-03, according to the end-of-season SIA Retail Audit. In snowboards, both equipment and apparel sales in...

SAM Magazine--Savannah, Georgia, May 19, 2004--Seven new members were elected to the National Ski Areas Association's board, along with a new chairman. Taking on the top spot is David Crowley, president of Wachusett Mountain, Mass. Crowley previously served on the executive board as vice chair. He replaces Sugarbowl's Rob Kautz. Also elected are...

SAM Magazine--Savannah, Georgia, May 17, 2004--The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) released the preliminary skier visit numbers for the 2003/2004 season which are projected to be 56.8 million, the third best season on record. The numbers are down 1.3 percent from the 2002/2003 season which set the all-time record of 57.6 million. The Pacif...

SAM Magazine--Big Bear Lake, Calif., May 14, 2004--Big Bear Mountain Resorts (BBMR) areas Bear Mountain and Snow Summit totaled nearly 800,000 visits this past season. As a result of positioning Bear Mountain as a snowboard and ski pipe and park mountain and downplaying those features at sister area Snow Summit, the two areas have developed two ...

SAM Magazine--North Woodstock, N.H., May 14, 2004--New Hampshire recorded its third best winter in the past decade, posting 2,044,422 alpine skier and snowboarder visits. The figure is slightly above the state's 10-year average and down just 9 percent from last year, the state's second-best ever. Mid-season estimates were for visits to fall by 10 t...

SAM Magazine--Oceanside, Calif., May 13, 2004--TransWorld Media is launching TransWorld Business, a new monthly trade magazine for retailers, that will cover the skate, surf, and snowboarding industries. The new title will debut in September and incorporate elements of, and replace, TransWorld SNOWboarding Business, TransWorld SKATEboarding Busines...

SAM Magazine--Vancouver, B.C., May 13, 2004--Intrawest recorded improved revenues for the fiscal 2004 third quarter ended March 31, 2004 despite reduced skier visits. Total revenue for the quarter was $437.3 million compared with $402.5 million for the same period last year. Total Company EBITDA was $128.1 million compared with $125.5 million in...

SAM Magazine--Scranton, Pa., May 10, 2004--Montage Mountain Ski Area, owned by Lackawanna County, is for sale. The minimum sale price is $9.6 million in cash. Three potential bidders have shown interest, including one group led by Joe Aichholz Jr., owner of nearby Blue Marsh Ski Area. A northern Poconos ski area is also said to be interested. The c...