Park City, UT (Wednesday, July 3, 2002) - American Skiing Company (OTC: AESK) announced yesterday that its Board of Directors and Audit Committee had reached a decision to dismiss its independent auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, and appoint KPMG LLP as its new independent auditor. The change is effective immediately.

The Company reported that the decision was not based on any disagreement between it and Arthur Andersen on any matter of accounting principles and practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedure. In addition, the audit reports that Arthur Andersen completed on the Company's financial statements for the fiscal years ended July 30, 2000 and July 29, 2001 did not contain any adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope or accounting
principles.

Arthur Andersen is presently undergoing an investigation in the U.S. over accounting practices in the Enron debacle. American Skiing Company is one of the largest operators of alpine ski, snowboard and golf resorts in the United States. Its resorts include Killington and Mount Snow in Vermont; Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA in Maine; Attitash Bear Peak in New Hampshire; Steamboat in Colorado; and The Canyons in Utah. It has recently announced the relocation of key corporate positions from Newry, Maine to Park City, Utah.