Show Snowboarding Taking Utah by Storm By Rusty Anderson Contributing Writer Snowboarding has become bigger and bigger every year but this year it itis itis is huge Many of the top snowboarders snowboard- snowboard ers nationally were asked where some of their favorite places to board were Utah was on the list One resort in particular was Snowbird In various various various vari vari- ous snowboarding magazines Snowbird was rated number one inthe in hi hithe inthe the nation Utah Snow Snowboard board Association Co- Co President John Webster said The 97 1996 season might be the year that Utah is recognized as a serious snowboard stop Utah's wide variety of steep mountain bowls seem to bring in boarders from everywhere With 11 resorts welcoming snowboarders Utah's mountains are attracting many visitors to test ride the greatest snow on earth I mm- mm tJ t i This year there ther are more areas open to boarders with fewer This means wherever skiers go you can bet boarders go too Some boarders say after experiencing experiencing experiencing different resorts the vast terrain terrain terrain ter ter- ter- ter rain open bowls and deep powder many will be converted to Utah boarding Now it seems that resorts are focusing on meeting the needs of snowboarding In March 96 John Cummings the president of Park City's new holding company Powder Corporation was hesitant to allow snowboarding at Park City Cummings received hundreds of letters letters letters let let- from people desiring to snowboard snowboard snowboard snow snow- board there but he felt Park City was doing just fine without snowboard snowboard- ers erst This year the International Olympic Committee named snowboarding snowboarding snowboarding snow- snow boarding as an Olympic event in the 2002 Olympics They will be held here in Utah Snowboarders were hoping this would open the door for them but Cummings was still reluctant He could not see the conflict with the resort hosting the snowboarding events while not allowing snowboarding snowboarding snowboarding snow- snow boarding in the immediate future Shortly after Cumming Gumming changed his mind A press release was sent out quoting him as saying Snowboarding is emerging as a viable winter market for Park City and presents tremendous opportunity Besides snowboarding is fun and our business is selling fun Snowboarders say they do not care why the change was made All that matters is they can snowboard at Park City In preparation to the big season resorts have made some significant changes Park City invested almost 35 million for improvements One of their additions was a new chair lift named It is a six passenger passenger passenger pas pas- high speed chair that carries skiers up the mountain 1000 feet per minute Park City has a combined lift capacity of skiers per hour Snowbird will open the GAD II H chair lift to snow snowboarders boarders giving them access to the entire mountain This year Solitude will open to snowboarding snowboarding snowboarding snow- snow boarding seven days a week also giving boarders access to all the runs Wolf Mountain has a special grooming grooming grooming groom groom- ing machine which perfectly shapes a to meet competition stan stan- dards This season many resorts will host some time big competitions which will help market Utah's snowboarding snowboarding snowboarding snow- snow boarding terrain Among these are the Beach Break Santa Clause Grand Prix Snowboard Series Look of California Extreme and the Big Air Jam 97 All three of these events will be held at Brian Head Wolf Mountain will also host six different snowboarding events For more information on these and other events contact Mike Grass the communication manager of the Utah Ski Association at 1779 or visit their home page at http |