April 2026

Indy Pass Adds 16 Resorts for Next Season. Indy Pass continues to grow, which is a good thing, because it offers bargain rates and other perks to smaller, independent areas at less than half of other multi-destination season passes. More. Seniors Skiing

Ikon Pass Adds SilverStar, Giants Ridge. SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia has joined Ikon Pass as a partner resort and Giants Ridge, Minn., has been added as a bonus mountain on the 2026-27 pass. More. SAM

MCP Details $37.5M in Planned Capital Improvements. Mountain Capital Partners (MCP) plans to invest more than $37.5 million in capital improvements across its Power Pass network ahead of the 2026-27 season in the United States and the 2026 season in South America, with projects focused on snowmaking expansion, lift infrastructure, and terrain development. More. SAM

Ikon Pass Adds Partners, Benefits, and Other Changes for 2026-27. Alterra Mountain Company’s 2026-27 Ikon Pass suite of products is on sale  with new partners, access, benefits, and numerous other changes. More. SAM

A New Lift Will Unlock 1,000 Acres of Steep Expert Terrain at Powder Mountain (UT).  Powder Mountain’s new expansion will bring a chairlift to the steep “DMI” (short for Don’t Mention It) terrain pod while adding a new base lodge and other amenities. More. Ski

$1 Billion Expansion Plans Could Make Nordic Valley, UT, One of the Premier Ski Resorts in the State. Nordic Valley has long been one of the state’s more low-key ski areas. If built as envisioned, Nordic Valley would go from a modest ski hill to one of the more dramatically reimagined resorts in the West. More. SnowBrains

Mont-Sainte-Anne Details Lift Replacements, Other Improvements. Mont-Sainte-Anne has ordered three new lifts to replace four existing lifts as part of a CA$100 million investment plan that operator Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) is undertaking in partnership with the Québec government to modernize the resort’s lift infrastructure. More.

Pico (VT) Ski Resort Retires Historic Chairlift. Pico Mountain announced that the Outpost Double chairlift is now closed for good. Earlier this ski season, it experienced a main drive-shaft failure. After further review, an engineering analysis revealed that further repairs are no longer possible. More. Unofficial Networks

Berkshire East and Catamount Join Bear Den, New Mountain Alliance Formed. Berkshire East and Catamount Resorts in Massachusetts have joined Bear Den Partners, formalizing an ownership transition that brings the Schaefer family’s two ski areas into a growing portfolio alongside Vermont’s Burke Mountain and Smugglers’ Notch. More. SAM

Mountain Collective Pass Adds Referral Bonus for 2026-27. The 2026-27 Mountain Collective pass is on sale and has retained all the resort destinations around the world that it offered in 2025-26. More. SAM

New Hampshire Will Become Headquarters for Indy Pass and Parent Company. Erik Mogensen has announced that he will buy out all early investors in Black Mountain and return the ski area to 100% private ownership. He will also permanently relocate the headquarters of Entabeni Systems to the Jackson, New Hampshire, site, as well as the headquarters for the Indy Pass. More. SnoCountry

Oregon Legislature Passes Waiver Reform Bill. Oregon lawmakers finally passed a bill that strengthens the enforceability of liability waivers in the state after several previous attempts to quell what had amounted to a crisis for the state’s outdoor recreation providers failed to progress over the past decade or so. Senate Bill 1517 passed the Oregon House 55-2 on March 5 and the Senate 29-0 on March 6. More. SAM Ed. Note: The Northwest Ski Club Council carried out an extensive letter writing campaign to support the legislation.

Vail, Alterra Named in Antitrust Class Action over Pass Pricing. Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company have been named in a federal antitrust class-action lawsuit challenging pricing and competitive practices tied to their Epic and Ikon passes, respectively. the complaint alleges the companies engaged in anticompetitive conduct by bundling multi-resort access and setting single-day lift ticket prices high enough to steer consumers toward season passes. More. SAM

Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz Opens Up About Expensive Lift Tickets, Crowding In Wall Street Journal Interview. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz gave some insight into how he and Vail Resorts view high ticket prices, crowding, and dwindling Epic Pass sales. Katz seldom gives interviews, so his conversation with WSJ Correspondent Roberto Ferdman gives a rare glimpse into his thinking on some of the more contentious issues facing skiers today, More. Snowbrains

Ski Helmet Usage Just Hit An All-Time High of 91% In The 2024/25 Season. According to a report from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), overall helmet usage among U.S. skiers and snowboarders reached a national all-time high of 91% during the 2024/2025 skis season, up from just 25% back in the 2002/03 season. That’s a generational shift in behavior playing out over two decades. More. Unofficial Networks via Google Alerts

More Than Just a Sticker: How Mips Is Changing Helmet Safety in Skiing. SnowBrains spoke with Mips CEO Max Strandwitz to better understand what the technology does and why it has become increasingly common across snow sports and beyond. More. SnowBrains

La Niña Fades as NOAA Expects El Niño by Summer With Significant Impact on Winter 2026-27. The climate pattern that has shaped global weather for the past year is nearly done. La Niña is weakening quickly, and by summer, its warm-water counterpart El Niño could take over. More. SnowBrains

 Germany’s Last Glacier Ski Resort Disappears as Zugspitze’s Platt Lift is Torn Down. An era in German winter sports is drawing to a close as the final ski lift on the Zugspitze glacier area is being dismantled this week — a sad sign of how climate change is reshaping alpine landscapes. More. SnowBrains

Don’t Knock ’Em Till You Ski ’Em. Why Appalachia’s Resorts Are Worth Exploring. Once you get past the stigma, the Southern Appalachians are an unexpected ski region that doesn’t deserve the overlook it gets. More. Ski

I Thought It Was a Gimmick—Until This $60 Boot Hack Saved My Toes at Zero Degrees. Bootcaps, low-tech toe wraps for your ski boots, add a crucial 20 degrees of warmth to keep you on the mountain all day .More.  Ski

November  2023

 Late October Snow Primes the Pump for More Ski Area Openings. More North American ski areas are opening for the season after late-October snowstorms pummeled various regions this past week and cooler temps allowed other areas to fire up their snowmaking systems. Here is a rundown of some recent and soon-to-come opening dates. More. SAM

Windham (NY) Unveils Rebranding, New Master Plan. The Windham Mountain Club, formerly known as Windham Mountain, unveiled its rebranding and capital upgrades for the 2023-24 winter season and beyond. More. SAM

Mountain Capital Partners Inks Joint Venture with Sandia Peak, NM. Mountain Capital Partners (MCP) and Sandia Peak Ski Company have entered a joint venture agreement for the operation of Sandia Peak Ski Area, located 35 miles northeast of Albuquerque, N.M. This is MCP’s third New Mexico ski area.  More. SAM

California Mountain Resorts Company Buys Bear Mountain. California Mountain Resorts Company (CMRC) has acquired Bear Valley. It’s the third acquisition in three years for the growing Golden State conglomerate, which is headed by CEO Karl Kapuscinski. CMRC, which has owned Mountain High since 1997, purchased California’s Dodge Ridge in 2021 and China Peak in 2022. More. SAM

Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe Connector Lift Plans Withdrawn. Plans for a proposed gondola connecting Smugglers’ Notch Resort and Stowe Mountain Resort have been withdrawn following initial disapproval from the Agency of Natural Resources, according to reporting by the News & Citizen. Stowe, owned by Vail Resorts, and privately held Smugglers’ Notch have reportedly been in discussions with Vermont state officials about building the 2,600-foot lift since 2017. More. SAM

Alterra Purchases Mike Wiegele Heli Ski Operation. Alterra Mountain Company has initiated the purchase of Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing (MWHS) in Blue River, BC, Canada. Officials at Alterra said the addition will complement the company’s BC-based CMH Heli-Skiing and Summer Adventures operation, and is expected to be completed late this year, pending closing conditions that include regulatory approvals. More. SAM

Black Mountain (NH) to Open, Assisted by Indy Pass. A week after announcing that it would not open for the 2023-24 season, owners of New Hampshire’s Black Mountain have reconsidered after reaching an operating agreement with Indy Pass and its parent company Entabeni. Black Mountain officials announced on Oct. 11 that the ski area would remain closed due to “circumstances beyond our control,” citing soaring energy costs, staffing shortages, and unpredictable weather among other factors. More. SAM

New Owners for Alberta, Canada’s Rabbit Hill. Rabbit Hill Snow Resort, founded in 1955, has transitioned to new ownership—business partners Chuck and Lara Amerongen and Derek and Anna Look. The independently owned ski area is located about 20 miles southwest of Edmonton. More. Ed. Note: Although not of general interest, I just love the resort name.

 August 2022

Vermont Ski Area Ditching Its Controversial Name. Suicide Six will become Saskadena Six to alleviate any negative impact the current name could have on visitors. More.  Ski Magazine

Keystone Bergman Bowl Restoration Approved, But Lift Will Not Open for 2022-23. Work on Keystone Resort’s Bergman Bowl Express will move forward after the U.S. Forest Service approved the resort’s plan to restore environmental damage to a high alpine area incurred during construction. However, the lift will not be completed as scheduled in time for the 2022-23 winter season due to construction delays. More. SAM

Mt. Hood Meadows Joins Indy Pass. Indy Pass will now include Mt. Hood Meadows, Ore. The ski area is Indy’s largest resort partner by skier volume, and it brings the pass’ total resort partners to 105 for the 2022-23 season. More. SAM

Mountain Collective Adds Marmot Basin. The Mountain Collective Pass has added Marmot Basin, Alberta, to its winter 2022-23 roster. Marmot Basin is the seventh Canadian resort to join the pass partnership. (Le Massif de Charlevoix in Quebec signed on in June.) Its addition brings the total number of Mountain Collective resort partners to 24 worldwide More. SAM

Indy Pass Adds Black Mountain of Maine, Meadowlark, Aomori Springs in Japan as Full Partners; Paul Bunyan, King Pine, Cherry Peak as Allied. The Indy Pass has added Black Mountain of Maine; Meadowlark, Wyoming; and Aomori Spring, Japan as full downhill partners. Black’s Nordic center will join the pass as a separate entity, becoming the fifth ski area to add both operations to Indy, and the 13th Nordic partner overall. King Pine, New Hampshire; Paul Bunyan, Wisconsin; and Cherry Peak Utah will join the pass’ new Allied Resorts program. More. The Storm Skiing Journal

Motion Filed to Sell Jay Peak, PGRI Begins Bid Process. A motion for approval has been filed for Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. (PGRI) to enter into a $58 million asset purchase agreement (APA) to acquire Jay Peak Resort, Vt. A judge has 10 days to accept or deny the motion; if accepted, the asset purchase agreement would become the initial bid in a potential auction to purchase the resort. More. SAM

Schweitzer Breaks Ground On $22 Million Employee Housing Development. Schweitzer, Idaho, is amongst a growing list of ski resorts across North America that are investing millions of dollars into employee housing initiatives. More.  Unofficial Networks via Inntopia | Destimetrics

Vail Town Council Blocks Permits for Vail Resorts Employee Housing Project. The Vail town council approved an emergency ordinance this week that suspended all permits for any activity on Vail Resorts’ 23-acre property in East Vail where the company planned to build a $17 million affordable housing development. The housing project was already in limbo after the council began proceedings earlier this year to condemn the property, citing the development as a threat to a local herd of bighorn sheep that range on the land. More. SAM

Two More European Glaciers Close for Summer Skiing Due to Warm Temps, Melting Snow. Austria’s Mölltaler Gletscher and France’s Val d’Isère are the latest resorts to suspend summer operations. More. Ski Magazine

Italian Glacier Resort Closes as Glaciers Melt. Passo Stelvio is the latest summer ski resort to close as warm temperatures take their toll. Some question how many more years glacier skiing in Europe will be able to continue. The freezing level in Switzerland is currently over 5,000m (~16,250 ft.) – higher than any alpine peak. More. Planet Ski via Inntopia | Destimetrics

New Zealand Ski Resort Closes Due to Too Much Snow. Ski resorts in the southern hemisphere are having a great season with massive snowstorms dumping feet of snow on the mountains. In fact, there was too much at Mt Lyford Alpine Resort near Christchurch, New Zealand. More. SnowBrains via Inntopia | Destimetrics

The 13 Largest Ski Resorts on Earth. So, where are the biggest ski resorts on Earth?  Mostly in the Alps, it’s true, but there are a couple of others outside of the Alps in North America. More.  SnowBrains

Online Marketplace Takes the Hassle Out of Buying and Selling Used Gear. Got old skis and packs hanging around? Geartrade will take used gear off your hands and cut you a check in the process. More. Ski Magazine

World’s Oldest Skier Turns 105. “I’ve been able to ski consistently for 61 years, including a few runs this year at Sugar Bowl, but I can no longer ski at my favorite resorts in Utah because I can’t handle the altitude. I still do my 45 minutes of exercise every morning to keep limber, and that helps my mind, too,” he told Stanford Business School’s journal in July last year, after turning 104. More. InTheSnow.com

Europe’s Largest Dry Ski Slope Opens in Ukraine, Despite War. A huge dry ski slope has gone into operation near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Work on the facility began last autumn and was completed in early summer, despite Russia’s invasion. More. InTheSnow