KIMBALL -- The sport of snowboarding is gaining some national spotlight thanks to the extending media coverage during the Winter Olympics. Snowboarding became an Olympic sport in 1998.

Shelby Hedtke is the Group Sales and Marketing Director at Powder Ridge in Kimball. She says the Olympics has brought some extra chatter on the slopes.

"People are really talking about the Olympics. One of the Paralympic competitors, Mike Schultz, actually set up an Olympic course out here to train. Our guests were really excited to try out an Olympic course and know what that feels like."

Hedtke says they've had a great season despite the lack of natural snow. She says while they have slopes for both skiing and snowboarding, certain areas are dedicated to snowboarders.

"We have 15 runs, all the runs are great for both skiing and snowboarding. We do have terrain parks set up for our snowboarders so they can do jumps and other fun stuff tailored to just snowboarders."

Hedtke says they have an even mixture of skiers and snowboarders on the slopes, however the younger generation tend to snowboard. She says they have also received a number of phone calls of people wanted to learn the sport.

The Olympic Snowboarding competition ends Saturday.

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