"Hey. You gonna finish eating that?"

​How many times have you seen a mountain lion? Egg-freaking-xactly: Those furry buggers are nature's ninjas, and if they don't want you to see them, they usually won't let that happen.

But that doesn't mean they aren't around: In fact, you're probably more likely to see one off the Pearl Street Mall than by a lake in the Weminuche. The Colorado Division of Wildlife just released a study documenting between 4,500 and 5,000 mountain lions in the entire state, and they discovered that the big cats are moving through urban areas in the Front Range at an increased rate. More >>

​Get your resumes ready, fast: Two of the three top spots in Outside Magazine's annual list of the 50 Best Places to Work went to Colorado companies this year, and we imagine there will be several more when the full list drops. The issue hits stands April 27.

Natural Habitat Adventures (based in Louisville, CO) claimed the top spot: Apparently working for "the world's premiere nature travel company" has some travel perks. They're accepting resumes for both office staff and field staff.

New Belgium Brewing, the Fort Collins "beer company with a biking problem," also topped the list, and - believe it or not - they're actually hiring: To get your foot in the door, apply now for a seasonal job on the Clips of Faith Beer & Film Tour (now there's a resume you can up with) or a summer internship crunching numbers with the Sustainability Department data collection team. 

Clif Bar, based in Berkeley, CA, rounds out the podium, and they're hiring, too.

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​A U.S. Geological Survey employee with nothing better to do on vacation than pore over old maps in the Library of Congress made an astonishing discovery last year: a Colorado map from 1894 that reveals previously-unknown ghost towns all over the state.

So far, the Colorado Historical Society counts about 150 ghost towns and they thought there were about 400 to 500 in total. This archaic map, however, reveals the location of 1,096 total communities, mining camps, and ghost towns across the state, exponentially increasing the number of estimated sites. More >>

Burton announces closure of South Burlington factory, US manufacturing presence

​As if you needed another excuse to support the three companies making excellent snowboards right here in Colorado, The Burlington Free Press reports today that snowboard giant Burton is closing shop on its Vermont manufacturing facilities in South Burlington, cutting 43 US jobs and moving the last of its US manufacturing business overseas to China and Austria (where it had been making most of its boards for the last decade anyway).

Nothing against Burton - I've been riding their boards on and off since I started snowboarding in 1986 and the Burton P1 bindings on my current setup are the best I've ever had - but let's all agree to take another look at some sweet rides made a little bit closer to home.

Here are the three Colorado companies we've recently featured in our Local Boards for Locavores series:

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Skye McNeill's "Dwindle" design is a finalist in Venture x POW art competition

​This week Venture Snowboards announced the five finalists in its Protect Our Winters art contest, and voting is online now. The winning design will be made into a top sheet graphic for a limited edition run of Venture x POW boards in the 2010/2011 line, raising environmental awareness and benefiting the Boulder-based non-profit (Venture currently contributes a portion of all sales of its POW-branded Euphoria-R solid and split boards to the organization).

We've previously featured Venture in our Local Boards for Locavores spotlight (made in Silverton, CO, Venture's one of three Colorado-based companies actually manufacturing their boards in-state), and recently caught up with company co-founder Klemens Branner to learn more about the tiny company known for making the best split boards and backcountry bombers in the biz.

I've been seeing your boards in local shops and got a good look at next year's line at the SIA Snow Show. Can you tell me a little bit more about the company and where you're coming from?

We've been at it for 10 years, and we're a mom and pop operation: Lisa does the sales and marketing end, and I handle the design and production end. We basically build boards to ride the mountains that surround us and inspire us. The real mountains in Colorado are in the Southwest corner, in the San Juans. It's much steeper than anything else in Colorado, for sure. Outside of Alaska, I don't know that there's anything in the U.S. steeper than what we're used to, and the mountains are burly too. So that's where we're coming from, and that's what the boards are built for: Lots of rocks, all kinds of obstacles. Our boards get what we call the San Juan Mountain stone grind around here: They take lots of abuse, and we make them so they can handle it.


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​Heads up, artsy types: Rocky Mountain Underground is running a contest to design the top sheet for the Guyot backcountry skis in its 2011/2012 line. Winner gets a pair of the skis, serious bragging rights, and props in Skiing Magazine.

Rocky Mountain Underground is a membership-based community-support ski manufacturer for based in Frisco, Colorado, and their sticks (special orders only) are made right here in Denver by Never Summer Industries.

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​In my mission to piece together head-to-toe snowboarding gear sourced from Colorado companies showing their wares at the SIA Snow Show, one stop was a no-brainer: Steamboat Springs-based Smartwool is my pick for socks, base layers, and mid-layers. The Merino wool in these products comes from New Zealand, mostly, so we're not exactly talking locavorism here, but a Colorado company is a Colorado company.

I left the Smartwool booth at SIA with one pair of swag socks from the PhD Snowboard Sock "Park Artist" line, featuring a graffiti-inspired design by Denver artist Debbie Clapper. The socks will run you $26.95 in the real world, but I think it's a justifiable expense: 71 percent Merino wool with extra wool in the high impact zones and a 4-point compression system means socks that actually fit and will keep my toes warm without my feet getting sweaty or stinky.

Staying warm on the slopes is half the battle for my kids and my partner Sarah, newbie snowboarders all, and Smartwool has plenty of midweight base layer gear and apparel to suit the purpose. I actually have a different but related problem: I overheat when I'm riding, and if I'm not careful about my layers I'll freeze my sweaty ass off riding up on the windy high elevation lifts I always seem to end up on. Smartwool has a solution for that too: Lightweight and Microweight base layers that are 100 percent Merino wool, wick moisture like crazy, and keep me dry without sweatboxing me.

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Photo: Colin Bane @ SIA Snow Show

Cirro by Vans x Protect Our Winters, with Boa Focus System

​Walking around the SIA Snow Show this week, I made a project for myself to see if I could come up with head-to-toe snowboarding gear sourced solely from companies based here in Colorado.

Although I came up short on boots, I did discover one cool local company working behind the scenes with most of the major boot brands: Denver-based Boa Technology provides customizable steel lacing systems for snowboard boots from Vans, K2, DC, Ride, Flow, Nidecker, Rome, Thirty Two, Salomon, and several other brands (as well as a handful of ski boots, and closure systems in outerwear, helmets, hats, and other gear).

​My pick? The Vans Cirro x POW Boot, constructed of sustainable materials (recycled PET textiles and solvents, recycled cork footbed), features three adjustable closure zones using the Vans Boa Focus System for support and custom fit. A percentage of sales of the Cirro (and the women's Veil boots) benefit Protect Our Winters, a Boulder-based non-profit "dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community and focusing our collective efforts towards a common goal."

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