SNOWBOARDING -- CATCH THE WAVE, DUDE

     "What hot winter sport is burning up the slopes?
Snowboarding, dude," writes Penny Parker in the DENVER POST.
"It's a wild ride.  So wild, in fact, that metro-area ski
equipment retailers now estimate that snowboards account for up
to 30 percent of their business."  Lew Sapiro, owner of the 39-
store Breeze Ski Rentals chain opened a snowboard-rental-only
store yesterday, an example of the increase in the snowboard
rental market.  The number of snowboarders will grow to 30 to 40%
of everyone on the slopes by the year 2000, according to
projections by TransWorld SNOWboarding magazine.  Some marketing
predictions show that snowboarders may outnumber skiers by the
year 2012 (DENVER POST, 11/14).
     SEE YOU IN NAGANO:  The Nagano Winter Olympic Committee
(NAOC) will start studying the addition of snowboarding to its
'98 Games program.  In August, IOC President Juan Antonio
Samaranch requested the NAOC add snowboarding in its program, but
the NAOC then was reported to be reluctant to add any new sports
because of economic reasons (NAOC).