SnowNews

US resorts welcome snowboarders

Snowboarders made up a full 30 percent of all ticket sales at resorts during the 2003-2004 season, according to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Resorts devote hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to build and maintain terrain parks, which were originally developed for snowboarders. That wasn’t the case in early 1980s, when resorts first began allowing snowboarders on their hills. Snowboarders were criticized for being reckless, ruining moguls and shearing snow off runs. The resentment has all but disappeared. Teenage skiers and boarders ride together in the parks and through moguls on steep runs. FourUS resorts still ban snowboarders: Taos in New Mexico, Alta and Deer Valley in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont.



Snowboarders, once shunned, now coveted by ski industry

posted by davidof @ 11:16 AM