June  2023

 Alterra Mountain Company to Acquire Schweitzer. Alterra Mountain Company has entered into an agreement to purchase Schweitzer, Idaho, from owner and developer MKM Trust. The transaction is expected to close later in 2023 and is subject to closing conditions such as regulatory approvals. More. SAM

Little Cottonwood Gondola Gains Conditional Approval. The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) has voted to approve a long-term regional transportation plan from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) that includes the widely-debated Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola. More. SAM

 Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe Consider Connector Gondola. The owners of Stowe Mountain Resort and Smugglers’ Notch Resort are in talks to install a connector gondola between the two properties. The proposed lift would link Spruce Peak at Stowe to Sterling Mountain at Smugglers’ Notch. More. SAM

Will Utah’s Newest Ski Area Be the Next to Ban Snowboarding? When completed, Mayflower Resort will be the first new ski area in the U.S. since 2004. Here’s the latest on the massive project. More. Outside

U.S. Ski Areas Set New Record for Skier Visits. U.S. ski areas recorded record visitation for the 2022-23 season with a total of 64.7 million skier visits, according to preliminary data from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). That is a 6.6 percent increase over last year’s record season. More. SAM

Winter Park Resort, CO, Donates All Proceeds From Uphill Armband Sales to Local Non-Profits. More than $70,000 will help outdoor organizations provide equipment and resources to help serve the thousands of people who adventure in Winter Park’s backyard every year. More. SnowBrains

NSAA Honors Best in Ski Industry at Annual Awards Ceremony. National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) named the winners of its annual awards in sustainability, safety, marketing, and beginner conversion (growth). The awards were presented to ski area members with the most innovative and successful programs in each category at the association’s National Convention and Tradeshow in Savannah, Ga. More. SnowBrains

US Ski & Snowboard Bring Paralympic Alpine and Snowboard Teams Back Under Umbrella. U.S. Ski & Snowboard (USSS) will add the Paralympic Alpine ski and snowboard teams back under its umbrella effective immediately. The U.S. Paralympic Alpine and snowboard teams have been under the management of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee since 2010. More. Salt Lake City Tribune via Google Alerts

Season Pass Plays. The 2023-24 season pass sale is underway with lots of new offerings and more multi-area passes than ever before. More. SAM Magazine

The Onlys. Meet the three ski areas that are the only ones in their respective states. Tennessee, Maryland, and Rhode Island boast only one ski area each. More. SAM Magazine

Crested Butte Lift Mechanics, Electricians Look to Unionize. Lift mechanics and electricians at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) have signed union authorization cards initiating a process to unionize. Resort management and leaders at ownership group Vail Resorts now have the option to voluntary recognize the union, a move that would bypass the need for the petitioners to vote in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union election. More. SAM

The post NSCF Newsbeat June 2023 appeared first on Ski Federation.

 May 2022

Bode Miller Launches Peak Ski Company with Six New Ski Designs. Miller is launching a new venture, Peak Ski Company, a direct-to-consumer ski brand leading with a line of six all-mountain skis designed for skiers like you and me—which is to say, skiable by mortal enthusiasts. Miller is joined by co-founder Andy Wirth, most recently the president and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings until 2018, who will serve as the brand’s CEO. More. Outside Online

Indy Pass Introduces New XC Pass. Indy Pass has introduced the new Indy XC Pass for 2022-23, which will include two days of access to seven cross-country ski areas in North America. The pass costs $69 for adults, $29 for youth ages 12 and under. Cross-country access will also be included on the regular Indy Pass ($279 adult, $119 youth) in addition to the two days at each of the 82 alpine partner ski areas. More. SAM

Vail Resorts to Add Housing for 875 Employees Across Four Resorts. Vail Resorts has planned four new investments in employee housing at Park City Mountain, Utah, Whistler Blackcomb, B.C., Vail Mountain, Colo., and Okemo Mountain Resort, Vt. The new housing will in total provide affordable housing options to more than 875 VR employees, an increase of more than 10 percent across the company’s resorts. More. SAM

Vail Town Council Halts Vail Resorts Affordable Housing Project. The Vail town council voted 4-3 on Tuesday to begin possible condemnation proceedings on a 23-acre parcel of Vail Resorts-owned land in East Vail, citing concerns over the wellbeing of a herd of bighorn sheep in the adjacent natural preservation. The land was selected in 2019 as an approved site for a $17 million affordable housing development to house 165 employees. Vail Resorts had pledged an additional $100,000 for habitat improvement aimed at preserving the herd of bighorn sheep, which uses part of that parcel for critical winter range at times. More. SAM

Indy Rebrands Core Pass Product, Reduces Blackout Dates. Indy has rebranded its primary pass product as the Indy Base Pass. The Indy Base Pass—not to be confused with the similar-sounding Ikon Base Pass—will continue to provide two days at Indy’s roster of independent partner resorts, subject to newly reduced blackout dates. The Indy+ Pass will remain unrestricted at all resorts. More. SAM

Winter Park Proposed Master Plan Calls for Gondola to Connect Town and Resort. A proposed 10-to-15-year master development plan for Winter Park Resort, Colo., includes a series of gondolas spanning nearly three miles that would connect downtown Winter Park to the Winter Park Resort village, among a variety of other elements that include new and replacement lifts, expanded terrain, new facilities, and more. More. SAM

NY Olympic Regional Development Authority Plans $91.7 Million in Improvements. The state Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) board of directors approved more than $91.7 million in upcoming capital projects, including nearly $20 million for construction of a new lodge at the North Creek Ski Bowl and $38 million for seven new or upgraded lifts at ORDA’s Whiteface, Gore, and Belleayre mountains. More. SAM

Stowe Mountain to Implement Paid Parking. Stowe Mountain Resort will implement a new parking plan for the 2022-23 season that includes paid and free parking as well as carpool incentives. The new strategy aims to reduce traffic congestion on the resort’s two-lane access road, a topic of much discussion this winter. More. SAM

More H-2B Visas Released for This Summer, NSAA Sets Sights on Winter Period. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released 35,000 additional H-2B visas for employers with start dates between April 1 and Sept. 30. The release more than doubles the 33,000 H-2B visas authorized by statute. NSAA director of risk and regulatory affairs Dave Byrd said that additional H-2Bs will also be needed for this winter season. More. SAM

Vail Resorts’ Rob Katz and Sugarbush’s Win Smith to be Recognized by NSAA. Win Smith and Rob Katz will receive the 2022 National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) Lifetime Achievement and Industry Impact Awards, respectively. Smith owned Sugarbush for more than 19 years before selling the resort to Alterra Mountain Company in January 2020. After 15 years as CEO of Vail Resorts, Katz stepped down in November 2021 and assumed the role of executive chairperson. More. SAM

Former Jay Peak Owner Ariel Quiros Sentenced to Five Years. Ariel Quiros, the former owner of Jay Peak Resort, was sentenced to serve five years in prison and pay more than $8 million in restitution for his role in a “Ponzi-like” scheme that misused $200 million of EB-5 investor funds raised to support capital projects at Jay Peak and Burke Mountain, as well as a biomedical research center in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Projects at Jay and Burke came to fruition, but the biomedical research center never did. More. SAM

Lake Tahoe Chosen for Latest Monopoly Game. Makers of the game, Top Trumps USA, will replace the famous Atlantic City squares (from Boardwalk to Park Place) with representations of much-loved Lake Tahoe historic landmarks, treasured natural destinations, and summertime favorites. Under license from Hasbro, the games will be out in February 2023, and the public can help select the features on the board game. More. SnowBrains

Taos Ski Valley Looks to Reach Net-Zero Emissions with Help of a 100% Electric Snow Groomer. Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico recently became the first North American ski resort to use a fully electric snow groomer by putting a PistenBully 100 E into operation. This is just one of several actions the mountain village is taking to promote sustainability and achieve its pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. More. Electrek via Google Alerts

How The Ski and Snowboard Industry is Changing in 2022 (and What Comes Next). The 2021-22 snow season was marked by immense change as the industry continues to grapple with the ongoing effects of Covid-19 and climate change, but also sees increasing advancements in technology, sustainability and retail. More. Forbes via Google Alerts

Skier Sets Fastest Known Time on Mount Hood in Just His Underpants. Skier Jack Kuenzle just redefined the concept of going fast and light in the mountains. On Kuenzle skied up and down Oregon’s 11,249-foot Mount Hood in 1 hour 31 minutes 31 seconds—a mark that is believed to be the new fastest known time. More. Ski Magazine

The Last Best Ski Bars in the World. A completely opinionated list of the last great ski bars across the globe. These classic ski bars have been around long enough to earn a spot on this list, and a visit to any of them promises a true après-ski experience you’ll remember—and want to revisit. More. Ski Magazine

The post NSCF Newsbeat May 2022 appeared first on Ski Federation.

June  2021

Indoor Snowsports Facilities Finally Catching on in U.S.; Developer Alpine-X Plans to Open 20-Plus Destinations. Alpine-X’s first venue—Fairfax Peak—will open in Northern Virginia, with 20-plus additional metro markets to follow. The ski dome will be the anchor, but the complex will also include an upscale hotel, a gravity-powered mountain coaster, zip lines and multiple restaurants. More.  Forbes via Google Alerts

Top Snowiest Ski Resorts in the USA. It’s no secret that the West gets the most snow.  Cold fronts come down from the Gulf of Alaska, hit our north-south oriented mountain ranges, and orographic lifting does the rest. There are 10 ski resorts in the west that average over 500” of snow. See the list here. SnowBrains

Major Resort Ownership Groups Band Together to Fight Climate Change. Alterra Mountain Company, Boyne Resorts, POWDR, and Vail Resorts have joined forces to develop the Climate Collaborative Charter, a unified effort to combat climate change through shared sustainability and advocacy commitments. More. SAM

NSAA Releases Skier Visit Numbers & Other Metrics for 2020-21 Season. The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) announced that skier visit numbers to U.S. areas totaled 59 million for the 2020-21 ski season, the 5th best season on record and a strong recovery from the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. More. NSAA

NSAA Issues Annual Report. In spring 2020, NSAA released its first-ever Annual Report. President and CEO  Kelly Pawlak said, “Our goal with this document was to inform our members of the health of the association, and of the outcomes of our year of work. Now, we’re releasing the 2020-21 Annual Report, taking a look back at what NSAA has achieved this past season.” Read the report here. NSAA

NSAA Honors Best in Ski Industry. The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) presented awards in sustainability, safety, growth and marketing to members with the most innovative and successful programs in each category. They also give Sustainable Slopes grants to winning resorts, as well as safety awards. See all the award winner here.  NSAA

Jared Smith Named Alterra President. Jared Smith will serve as president of Alterra Mountain Company, effective June 7, 2021. Smith, who will report to CEO Rusty Gregory, will be responsible for overseeing and developing Alterra’s 15 mountain destinations. Smith comes to Alterra from Live Nation Entertainment. There, he most recently served as president and global chairman of Ticketmaster. More. SAM

Cohen Named Mammoth, June President and COO. Alterra Mountain Company named Ron Cohen president and COO of Mammoth Mountain and June Mountain, Calif., effective immediately. He will oversee all operations at both resorts, and will lead significant developments planned for Mammoth, Alterra’s largest and most visited destination. Cohen has served as president and COO of Alterra-owned Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, Calif., since August 2018. More. SAM

National Ski Patrol Names New CEO Amid Continued Staff Turnover. National Ski Patrol (NSP) named Chris Castilian as its new chief executive officer. Castilian succeeds former executive director Meegan Moszynski as the head of the non-profit organization. More. SAM

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