Snowboarding's fizzling out in U.S. and that's hurting the winter resorts

After exploding onto the scene about two decades ago, snowboarding is now sputtering in the United States, according to a recent study by RRC Associates...Snowboarders accounted for nearly one-third of visitors two years ago. Now that surge has fizzled.

The causes of the slowdown are many...Chief among them is age: the young “grommets” who fueled the sport’s explosion have matured..fewer young people seem to be taking up snowboarding. In the 2003-4 season more than 42 percent of all beginners on the slopes ages 14 and younger started out on a snowboard.

If nothing is done to reverse the slip, visits by snowboarders to resorts could plunge by one-third from its high by the winter of 2021-22.