On Tuesday, Aug. 27, Keystone Resort announced that Shannon Buhler has been appointed as the new vice president and general manager at the resort.

Taking effect on Sept. 16., Buhler will replace the former vice president and general manager, Chris Sorensen, who served in the position at Keystone since 2021.

“Chris Sorensen left Vail Resorts in June 2024,” Keystone Resort communications manager Max Winter said. “We appreciate the various roles Chris played during his tenure with Vail Resorts and all that he has done here at Keystone. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.” 

Most recently, Buhler led Stowe Mountain Resort as vice president and general manager. The move to Keystone resort will be a homecoming of sorts for Buhler after she spent her formative professional years in resort roles throughout Summit and Eagle counties.

Buhler began her career with Vail Resorts nearly 20 years ago in product sales and services at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Since then, Buhler led various departments at additional mountains within the Vail Resorts network, including Vail Mountain and Keystone Resort.

During her last role at Keystone from 2018-2020, Buhler led the resort’s product sales and services team, where she piloted innovative programs like express lift ticket fulfillment. In summer of 2020, she was appointed to her first resort general manager position, and she moved to Missouri to take the reins at Snow Creek Ski Area.  

After leading Snow Creek, Buhler served as senior director of mountain operations at Northstar in North Lake Tahoe, California, where she led a team in overseeing all aspects of mountain operations for the resort’s 3,170 skiable acres in the winter and robust operational offerings in the summer, including the world-class Northstar Bike Park.

Buhler most recently led the Northeast’s Stowe Mountain Resort as vice president and general manager, where she emphasized the importance of fostered both community and stakeholder relationships. While at Stowe, Buhler also led the team to one of Stowe’s longest continuous seasons in history. 

In addition to her work within operations, Buhler is the co-lead of Vail Resorts’ companywide Women & Allies Employee Resource Group (ERG) and is a champion and advocate for diversity within the company and the industry. 

As the general manager and vice president as Keystone Resort, Buhler will now be one of four female general managers leading Vail Resorts ski areas in the Rockies Mountain region, out of six total. She joins the ranks of Beth Howard at Vail Mountain, Deirdra Walsh at Park City Mountain and Tara Schoedinger at Crested Butte Mountain Resort.