For the second year in a row, and for the third time in the last four years, Yellowstone National Park has set a new annual visitation record. During the calendar year, 3,640,184 people visited the world’s first national park. Recreation visits in 2010 were 10.5 percent higher than recorded in 2009, which itself was a record year. This past year the park set monthly visitation records in June, July, August, September, and October. All park entrances recorded annual visitation increases compared to 2009 levels. Double-digit percentage increases were recorded through the North and West entrances. The West Entrance continues to be the park’s busiest, which hosted nearly 1.5 million recreational visitors in 2010. Park managers believe the record visitation was due in part to the public’s recognition that visits to national parks represent a good value for their travel dollar. By: Livingston Enterprise Staff Writer

 "Ski with a Local" Mountain Tours

If you are interested in finding the best gladed tree runs, the finest groomers, or knowing about our secret powder stashes – don’t miss your chance to Ski with a Local. Whether it is your first time or you have been here many times before, our seasoned Mountain Ambassadors will provide you with a personalized tour of what makes Moonlight Basin special. Don’t miss this Moonlight Basin Experience!

• Madison Village Base Area everyday and the Moonlight Lodge on Saturdays starting December 12
• 10:30am and 1:30pm

 Snowshoeing As easy as walking, snowshoeing lets you experience what most people will never see. Get back to nature one step at a time with nothing but the wildlife, scenery, and snow blowing off the branches on Moonlight Basin’s own designated snowshoe trails. There is two main snowshoeing trails that we recommend for our guests. The Ulerys Lake Trail runs 2.5 miles between the Moonlight Lodge and Madison Village Base Area, looping around Lower Ulreys Lake. In addition, The Lee’s Pool trail is a 3 mile loop that winds through natural beauty starting at the Madison Village Base Area and down to the scenic Lee’s Pool.  Both trails are a must experience for those looking for a peaceful alternative to skiing. Our trails are open from 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., 7 days a week during winter season. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced loops are available.  Snowshoe rentals, trail passes and trail maps are available through the Season Pass office at the Madison Village Base Area or at the Skier Servi ...

  By STEPHANIE SIMON Landscape architect Robert Rock takes pride in talking to his clients to understand just how they'll be using the green spaces he designs. In his most recent assignment, however, he hit a roadblock. "You can't ask elk what they'd like for dinner," Mr. Rock said ruefully. View Full Image The Olin Studio A design from the Olin Studio in Philadelphia would cost about $12 million and span a six-lane highway. Nor can you ask them what would induce them to nibble that dinner while strolling across a lushly planted footbridge spanning a six-lane highway. Getting elk to cross highways safely—and encouraging lynx, bear, deer and bighorn sheep to follow suit—was the key challenge in an unusual global contest that concluded this month. The ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition asked engineers, ecologists and landscape architects to come up with an overpass bridge for pedestrians of the furry sort. The goal: to enc ...

  You can imagine what a bear does when it's trotting down a wooded path and suddenly approaches asphalt.    The bear might sniff it, but it's not afraid of it. It's not going to yield for pedestrians in the street or stop at a traffic light. In most cases it's going to see where it can get some dinner throughout the linear meadow it is met with in West Yellowstone.   Along with that search for food in town, bears will follow wherever a scent of food or memory of a previous snack takes them. Some say it's just part of the unique nature of living between two forests. But there's no denying the reality of a hungry bear creating conflict along the way to dinner, conflict that can damage property and threaten lives as it wanders down the streets that are also routes for children walking to school.   Reducing conflict isn't as easy as flipping a switch or putting up a fence or moving a bear to another spot in the forest. The bears aren't going to go away. Neither are the people. And ...

 We often do not connect the dots--between the preservation of our precious state and the reality that those who are attracted to come here to vacation, travel, recreate, and live part of their life, base their decisions on the high quality of our wild spaces and the abundance of our great wildlife resource.   Big Sky's luxury buyers are also people who are keenly focused on helping to preserve the wild spaces of their new Montana home; whether that is at the Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, Spanish Peaks or Moonlight Basin.   By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Posted: 12/12/2010 09:36:57 AM PST Updated: 12/12/2010 09:44:51 AM PST       BILLINGS, Mont.—Philanthropist Hansjorg Wyss grew up in Switzerland and now spends the bulk of his time outside Philadelphia, but it is the wild landscapes of the Rocky Mountains where he could leave his most lasting mark. In recent years the publicity-shy billionaire has quietly donated tens of millions of dollars to the preservatio ...

 El Nino/La Nina Defined and Ski Areas Favored by El Nino The El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been studied extensively for its impacts upon climate.  The shorthand definition of El Nino is an abnormal warming of the normally cold ocean waters of the Humboldt Current off the coast of Peru.  A more formal measure used by many meteorologists is The Multivariate ENSO Index , which tracks both sea and air temperatures along with wind, pressure and cloud cover across the tropical Pacific.  The data is combined and normalized to a monthly value where +1 = one standard deviation above normal (El Nino condition) and -1 =  one standard deviation below normal (La Nina condition).  I'll refer from now on to the MEI index, which is graphed below since 1950:     As most of us have observed, skilled weather forecasting has become very accurate in th ...

  L adies and gentleman, it's time to put away your stash of powder porn in favor of the real thing. That's because this week, three of your favorite spots to carve and shred are opening for your skiing and snowboarding pleasure. On Thu., Nov. 25, aka Thanksgiving, Discovery Ski Area near Georgetown Lake opens at 9:30 AM and Big Sky Resort in Big Sky opens at 9 AM. According to info on their respective websites, Big Sky Resort plans to have 19 lifts open, while Discovery plans to have three. Tickets are $55 for adults at Big Sky Resort, and $29 at Discovery. Then, on Sat., Nov. 27, you can get gnarly on the gnar closer to home when Montana Snowbowl tentatively plans to open around 9:30 AM—and, as far as I can tell, most runs will be available for you to hit up. Tickets for adults at Snowbowl cost $40 for a full-day pass and $35 for a half-day pass. Of course, the snow goddesses might change things for better or worse, so be sure to check the snow reports at each hill before you head out.

  A snowstorm prior to Thanksgiving followed by frigid single-digit and sub-zero temperatures ushered in the ski and snowboard season in Montana. Accumulating natural snow caused several resorts to open for the holidays to the delight of skiers and snowboarders anxiously eyeing the slopes. Memories of several consecutive winters of scant early season snow faded fast with what Big Sky Resort touted as "the best conditions in 10 years." Thanksgiving Day saw the lifts start turning for the season at Big Sky. Discovery Ski Area expected to open 35-45 percent of their terrain with three chairlifts running Thanksgiving Day on what it called "high quality snow." Silver Chief, the resort's new backside chair, was not operating, but will run Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays for skiing 200 new acres when conditions permit. The resort is planning to groom some of the steeper runs on Granite Lift by closing the lift to skiing Thursdays. Bridger Bowl opened two weeks early with what the resort ...

  WHITEFISH, MT--(Marketwire - December 6, 2010) - The Montana Ski Company announced the launch of its new website www.montanaskicompany.com today. "The new website is very exciting, but we're focused on a far more important initiative this holiday season," says Pat Corrick, board member of the company. "We are committed to sharing the excitement and happiness that skiing offers by helping some of America's true heroes -- disabled veterans." The Whitefish, Montana based ski company has committed that for every pair of skis it sells between now and Christmas, it will donate a set of adaptive skis to a disabled veteran through Vets-Help.org. In addition, the company has pledged that if 10,000 people 'friend' the Montana Ski Company Facebook page between now and December 24th, those 10,000 friends will be entered into a drawing for one of five pairs of Montana Ski Company skis, whose names will be drawn and announced on the company's new website Christmas morning. The Montana Ski Compa ...