Ski season success benefits everyone

There were a lot of happy skiers on the downhill slopes this winter.

Outstanding snow conditions - a very welcome change from the dismal skiing a year ago - boosted Big Mountain Ski Resort to an all-time record for skier visits.

Boosted by a big surge from local skiers this season, Big Mountain tallied more than 300,000 skier days (a skier day is a single day of use per skier). That's a whopping 40-percent increase over 2004-05.

When skiing wrapped up for the year last weekend, Big Mountain still had 10 feet of snow on top.

Blacktail Mountain near Lakeside - which concludes its ski season Saturday - had a similarly impressive season.

Apart from the economic impact of a banner ski season and the satisfied snow fans, the return of a normal snowpack also is a positive sign heading into the spring and summer.

How do you make your prom memorable?

How about making your apparel by yourself - entirely out of duct tape.

When Nico Venteicher and Nellie Lutz strolled into the Columbia Falls High School prom on Saturday, they were regally bedecked in duct-tape finery.

His tuxedo and her dress were the result of 180 hours of work by the high school seniors. And the results were stunning: Lutz was radiant in a dress adorned with intricate scroll work and Venteicher was resplendent in a pin-striped outfit.

Their creative couture was part of an effort to earn a scholarship in a contest sponsored by a duct-tape manufacturer, but it also was a laudable exercise in creativity.

Creativity is at the center of other noteworthy achievements by local youths, too.

Four teams of students - two from Elrod School and two from Bigfork Elementary - won at the state level in Destination ImagiNation. Three of those teams now advance to global competition in Tennessee.

Destination ImagiNation is a program that stretches children's creativity in problem solving. The competition rewards brainpower and quick thinking.

One teacher said Destination ImagiNation, by fostering creativity, is particularly important in these times when classroom work (thanks to No Child Left Behind mandates) is leaving that creativity behind.

Congratulations to our winners (as well as several other local teams that fared well at state). Now the challenge for these teams of young minds is to raise money to go to global competition.