• Ski School
• Summer

Ski Area Management magazine’s 55th year in print is officially in the books, but it’s too early to send all its content to the archives. To help readers catch up on articles they may have missed, we have compiled the following list. As always, we received incredible contributions this past year from so many people who don’t wear a SAM ...

The landscape of leadership in the mountain resort industry is poised for upheaval as the old guard retire and the new generation of leaders move up through the industry. To identify these future leaders and fuel a movement that fosters relationships between the old guard and the new, SAM has embarked on a pilot program called the SAM Summit Series.

• Summer
• Research
• Rental
• Retail
• New Products

AFTER 13 YEARS OF HOSTING THIS CONTEST, WE CONTINUE TO BE AMAZED BY THE RANGE OF CREATIVE FEATURES AND EVENTS BUILDERS AND ORGANIZERS DREAM UP. WE RECEIVED DOZENS OF ENTRIES THIS YEAR, FROM ACROSS NORTH AMERICA AND AROUND THE GLOBE. WE HOPE THIS YEAR’S COLLECTION INSPIRE MORE PROGRESSION IN DESIGN AND EVENTS THIS COMING WINTER. VOTING FOR THE 20...

• New Ideas

        With Alterra Mountain Co.’s Ikon Pass replacing the MAX Pass, the season pass game has changed again. Several resorts have joined either Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass or Ikon, either for advantage or to limit losses. Who will emerge victorious over the other—or will both succeed? And will independent resorts gain or ...

Joe Hession, Founder of SNOW Operating, 2011 SAMMY Winner Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I was the GM at Mountain Creek, N.J. One of the biggest moments of my career was deciding to leave the resort I called home for 16 years to found SNOW Operating. It's crazy to think that SNOW Operating is about to tur...

Best Day/Worst Day/Most Memorable in the business?My best day is anytime it’s cold, snowy, and the guests are having a good time. Worst day was the day the compressor building caught on fire. So many great days, I can’t pick one memorable one over the other. I have been fortunate to have a career in which 99 percent of the day...

Where were you in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?It was such a super exciting time for me and the industry (2000). I was working on the first two large-scale re-development resort projects in North America—Kimberley Alpine Resort and Fernie Alpine Resort. Working with the community, team and guests to create a ski-in ...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I think I was one of the oldest SAMMYs—slow to mature, I guess. I was basically in my current role as VP business development for WB. The biggest moment since my SAMMY was announcing our long-term development plans: Whistler Blackcomb Renaissance in April 2016. Best Da...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I was working for Booth Creek Ski Holdings in two capacities: as corporate director of human resources and general manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe. I was fortunate to hire Laura Moriarty to run HR, but continued on as an advisor, which allowed me to travel the country and spend ti...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?I was working as the marketing director for Bear Mountain in Big Bear Lake, Calif. Big moments since… · Accepting position with Booth Creek Ski Holdings, working with Northstar and Sierra-at-Tahoe · Being a part of the Northstar and Sierra marketing te...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?When I won my SAMMY, I had just transitioned from being a ski resort president/GM to chief operating officer for Woodward. Big moments included a partnership formed with Hard Rock All Inclusive Collection, who are launching two new Woodward Action Sports Centers in Riviera Ma...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?The NSAA meeting was in Phoenix when I won my SAMMY and I was moving from Durango, Colorado to Snowshoe, West Virginia to re-join Intrawest as the COO of Snowshoe. I had just finished two years at Purgatory as the COO, and it was the first time I had held that position in my ...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY?General manager of Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania. Best Day/Worst Day/Most Memorable in the business?There are not very many bad days, and tons of good ones. It’s hard to pick just one. Who was/is a memorable mentor?My parents, Tim and Missi, are both “ski business” ...

Where you were in your career when youwon a SAMMY, and big moments since?At that moment in time in 2004 I had come from a resort background having already worked at Brighton, Park City, and Purgatory resorts, and then been at Burton for four years. We were about to have our third child later in this year and kid’s snowboarding product and pro...

Where you were in your career when you won a SAMMY, and big moments since?When I came to Mountain Creek as general manager in 1994, I had migrated from U.S. Skiing, then navigated through Burton during the halcyon years of Craig Kelly, Jeff Brushie, and Terje’s first teenage arrival on U.S. soil, and found myself in New York City producing ma...

  This year we published more than 75 articles in print and online. And while we're not obsessed with clicks or eyeballs, it was interesting to see what resonated with our readers and editors. We've presented the top 10 stories you spent the most time with, commented on and what we thought were some of the most thought provoking pieces put to...

• Personnel Issues
• People
• leadership

From making snow at Eldora to running a ski school in China, this group of 20-somethings is a highly accomplished lot.

Check out Whistler's teaser video below... The full-length edition will be released in March along with the full-length videos from the five other crews recognized this year. In March the industry will be invited to vote on the snowmaking crew whose story is most inspiring.      Connect with Whistler Blackcomb...    ...

...

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• Finance
• History

Fill out my online form. var q1hz987q0m2qpnv; (function(d, t) { var s = d.createElement(t), options = { 'userName': 'saminfo', 'formHash': 'q1hz987q0m2qpnv', 'autoResize': true, 'height': '386', 'async': true, 'host': 'wufoo.com', 'header': 'show', 'ssl': true }; s.src = ('https:'...

Park Diggers brings cutting edge design and technology to terrain park tools.

On Feb. 10-12, more than 400 ski area attendees representing 87 areas gathered at Snowbird, Utah, where 105 exhibitors filled the show floor. Attendees had a variety of educational sessions to choose from as presenters tackled everything from drone technology, freestyle terrain resource updates, minimum wage exemptions and the future of electronic incident reporting. Snowbird itself received close to six inches of snow during the conference, which many attendees took full advantage of during first tracks on Wednesday and Thursday. 

 

 

Click on a Young Gun to read their full profile, complete with full interviews and nominator statements. We think you’ll agree that it’s an impressive group.

director, food and beverage, squaw valley / alpine meadows, calif. Age: 29 Education: Bachelor of Arts, University of Richmond First job in the industry: dishwasher Super power: Perfect memory. That would serve us all so much better than flying. Six-word bio: "C'mon, we can finish it together." THE NOMINATION Since 2008, Adam has se...

ski school director, MOUNTAIN CREEK, N.J. Age: 25 Education: Architectural Design and Construction, SUNY Orange, N.Y. Read More Jordan Spear Manager, Ticket Sales, Season's Pass, Pico Sports Center & Ambassadors, KILLINGTON & PICO SKI RESORTS, VT. Age: 26 Read More Jessica Pezak Director of marketing, alyeska resort & The hotel alyeska, alaska Age: 29 Read More Tommy Long Snowmaking manager, pajarito mountain ski area, n.m. Age: 28 Read More Dallas Leonard   Employee Housing Manager, Copper Mountain Resort, Colo. Age: 28 Education: B.A., Management; Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. Read More Erik Kerr Web and art director, red mountain, b.c. Age: 28 Read More Erica Kelleher interactive marketing manager, crested butte mountain resort, colo. Age: 27 Read More Tyler Hollingsworth Resort services manager, telluride ski resort, colo. Age: 29 Read More Tess Hobbs MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, WOODWARD TAHOE AND BOREAL MOUNTAIN RESORT, CALIF. Age: 28 Read More Lauren Everest PUBLIC RELATIONS SUPERVISOR, WHISTLER BLACKCOMB, B.C. Age: 28 Read More Web Cams are a Popular Page on Any Resort Site, but is the Widening Gap an Issue? May 21, 2014 -- Gregg Blanchard Webcams. The vast majority of destination resorts have them front and center on conditions pages giving web visitors a virtual look at the mountain. They’ve been around for years. Read More The Value of Marketing Hiding: Klout Gets it, Most Resorts Don’t May 8th, 2013 - Gregg Blanchard  Ten bucks says you played “hide and seek” when you were a wee lad or lass. The game only works because you can’t see everyone from the beginning. Spot a toe poking out from behind a tree or a toosh to the side of the sofa, and the game (and fun) is up. Before spoiling the surprise with your next email, let me suggest a lesson from this childhood game. Read More What’s the Solution to the Portrayal of a Bleak Future and Brilliant Past for Skiing? Gregg Blanchard -- March 26, 2014 For a while I’ve been intrigued by the idea that I’m going to call “last generation nostalgia” until I find a more official moniker. The belief that 30 or so years ago life, society, morals, and culture were all better. That any changes between then and now have been for the worse. Read More TPP Update #3 – If I’m Honest, My Skiing Has Almost Nothing to do with Lift Ticket Prices Gregg Blanchard - March 19, 2014 Last week my little one (or L.O. as I’ve heard the lingo goes) hit the 9-month mark. This means two things. First, she can almost crawl. Second, it’s time for another “Parent Project” update on ways I feel resorts can reach young parents as I traverse this life-stage myself. Read More Face it, Cherry Peak, Skiing is Simply Not Going to Be Enough to Succeed Gregg Blanchard - March 14, 2014 Read More Conversion Camp Wrap up   News Magazine Events Contests & Awards Mountain Departments Classifieds About Us Media Kit Contact us Privacy Policy News SAM Headline News Sign up for Headline News Faces and Places podSAM Social Good Ownership Timeline Magazine Current Issue Search Archives Subscribe Events Ski Resort AI Bootcamp Cutter's Camp Register for Cutters Camp Summer Ops Camp The Summit Series The Huddle INDUSTRY CALENDAR Contests & Awards I AM A SNOWMAKER SAMMY Awards SAMMY Hall of Fame 10 Under 30 Rise Up Challenge Terrain Park Contest My First Mountain Mountain Departments Technology Grooming Lift Operations Snowmaking Leadership Development Summer Operations Classifieds Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Login × Login to your account You have successfully logged into saminfo.com. Enjoy! Whoops! It looks like your subscription to SAM Magazine has expired. Click here to renew your account. Logout Don't know your account number? karolyn@saminfo.com 603-714-2964 saminfo.com Close