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Mountain News: slacker snowboarders boarding less

MISSING BOARDERS The growth and popularity of snowboarding appears to be on the decline. SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Statisticians who monitor the ski industry report a continued trend that should disturb ski area operators.
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MISSING BOARDERS The growth and popularity of snowboarding appears to be on the decline.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Statisticians who monitor the ski industry report a continued trend that should disturb ski area operators. Young snowboarders, who boosted numbers at ski areas for 20 years as baby boomers began to cut back their visits, have become slackers.

Covering the annual meeting of the National Ski Areas Association, The Denver Post explains that snowboarders grew from 7.7 per cent of visits at U.S. resorts in 1991 to 32.7 per cent in 2009-210. But in the two seasons since then, the percentage has now fallen to 30.2 per cent.

"We got used to snowboarding becoming this giant engine of visitation, and they were our saviors. They are not anymore, and we ignore that at our peril," said Nate Fristoe, director of operations at RRC Associates, a Colorado-based research firm. The phenomenon is not limited to any one part of the country, Fristoe said.

The cause? Essentially, snowboarders are growing up and having their families — and not spending as much time on the slopes. Fristoe sees a further decline during this decade.

A glaring example of the drop-off can be found at California's Mountain High. Located a 45-minute drive from downtown Los Angeles, a decade ago the small ski area in the San Gabriel Mountains was attracting a multi-hued throng of visitors. Skate and beach culture was transferring to the slopes. But with nearly identical weather in November, the resort had roughly half as many visits as the same month in 2002, The Post says.

Banff griz lives good life at compost pile

BANFF, Alberta — One of the 60 grizzly bears in Banff National Park has been living the good life, chewing on steak bones and scarfing down corn on the cob at a composting facility near Banff.

Town officials said the composting operation had worked imperfectly. They erected a 9,500-volt electric fence to keep the bear out.

The bear had been outfitted with a GPS collar as part of a $1 million research project aimed at reducing grizzly bear mortality, particularly on the train tracks through Banff and Yoho national parks. Trains kill one to two grizzlies on average each year in the parks.

The GPS showed that this large, male grizzly had also visited the train tracks to eat grain and canola, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Crested Butte in talks with mining company

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Since the 1970s, efforts to develop a molybdenum deposit on Mount Emmons, Crested Butte's lovely backyard, have resurfaced about every 10 years.

Crested Butte has fought this with exceptional vigor. The local reverence for the mountain is reflected in its nickname, The Red Lady. But there's a very practical reason for their concern: from the mountain comes the water that flows through the town. Despite Crested Butte's legacy as a mining town, as seen from a local perspective, the new mining would produce nothing but disaster.

Now, local groups say that they are in discussions with the Wyoming company that owns the mineral rights. The sides are talking about a mineral rights swap that would remove the threat of mining.

"We are very pleased with the initial progress in these discussions after 35 years of working to protect Mt. Emmons from mining," said Dan Morse, executive director of High Country Citizens Alliance, a local environmental group. "There are a lot of details and negotiations still to come, but I can honestly say that we've never been as close to a permanent solution."

Crested Butte Mayor Aaron Huckstep said that the effort, if successful, will "result in one of the most significant events in our community's history." He stressed that a successful effort would return control of the watershed to the community.

A final agreement with the Wyoming company, U.S. Energy Corp., will likely involve a combination of federal, local and private interests coming together to create a mutually agreeable exchange of value for the mining rights, according to a press released issued by the alliance. Morse said the parties hope to achieve significant progress before the end of the year.

Trout Unlimited wants more river measures

HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS, Colo. — Representatives of Denver Water, along with government officials from the Winter Park area and Summit County, were scheduled on May 15 to sign an agreement governing future water withdrawals by Denver from their counties.

Denver tapped the Winter Park area for water beginning in 1936, and it began diverting water from Summit County in 1963. It has plans to return for more, but this time agreed to a far-reaching agreement with the Western Slope interests.

The water agency, which provides domestic water for about one-fifth of all Coloradans, gets more water without the expense and uncertainty of lawsuits. But there is a cost. The city has agreed to lessen the blow to local creeks and the Fraser River, which is a tributary to the Colorado River, by taking water at times that are less destructive to the riparian ecosystems.

It's probably fair to say that nobody is completely happy with the deal. The counties with ski areas — Grand County, where Winter Park is located, and Summit County, home of Breckenridge, Keystone, and Copper Mountain — have portrayed the agreement as an improvement over anything that has ever happened before. And that's true.

But Trout Unlimited issued a statement warning that additional measures are needed. "The Colorado River is still very much a river at risk," said Mel Whiting, an attorney for Trout Unlimited, in a press release.

Aspen High scores among elite in U.S.

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen High School ranks No. 59 among 22,000 public high schools in the United States in preparing students for college, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The Aspen Daily News explains that the rankings were based on test scores, enrollment and performance in advanced placement programs, and how less-privileged students performed compared to average rates.

The magazine's website says 85 per cent of Aspen High's students participate in international baccalaureate programs. The school has only 13 per cent minority students.

Relocating rabbits costs princely sum

CANMORE, Alberta — To make Canmore less attractive to cougars and other predators, Canmore decided to reduce the population of rabbits. But hewing to community sentiment, town officials agreed not to kill them.

Instead, 189 feral rabbits were trapped and then relocated elsewhere, away from Canmore. The Rocky Mountain Outlook reports that this came at a steep price, $157 per "bunny," as they are called locally, plus $130 that non-profits spent to spay and neuter the animals and house them.

Town officials have estimated the population of rabbits at 2,000.