Have you noticed who seems to ski? I see 40 and 50 and above (like me) traditional skiing, and the occasional younger child with a parent. The skate skiers are all teens or younger adults, and all training for their next race. And many of those teenage racers never ski again unless it is competitive. I am worried about the number of people using the trails, their average age, and how we pay for ski trails if we ever have to support them using only or mainly a "users fee".
What do you see and what do you think?

I kinda see the same trend. I have skied at French Park three times and see the same demographics you described. It's not because young people are exercise averse because they flock to Lake Calhoun in droves all summer long blading, biking, running, and walking. I think the younger people probably are more inclined to go to the fitness club in the winter and I can see the allure with all that the clubs have to offer.

I sometimes wonder if many young people are getting into BWCA trips after they leave home and the annual family trips come to an end.

I know the hunting and fishing industries are working very hard to generate renewed interest in their sports among young people.

There are so many more options for young people now. Maybe one day we'll just do "virtual canoe trips and ski trips. :)

weird, around here it seems that the skate skiiers I see are the older 40s or 50s people (always wearing spandex for some reason) while the traditional skiiers are more diverse.

maybe just a fluke in this area.

Don't know the answer to your question, but I do know that seeing this on a trail at Larson Lake last winter did my heart good...

Every Sunday in Ely loads of kids spend the afternoon with the youth ski league that fills the Hidden Valley trails, Very encouraging to see.

Banks, that is very encouraging. Shows what kids can find to do when there is no mall to hang out at.

I just returned from a few days of skiing the N. Shore where the snow is less than stellar. Anyway, I skied the Korrki Nordic Center trails for the first time and ran into a couple of twenty somethings who told me they'd rather cross country ski than downhill ski. They said that they thought downhill skiing was boring.

Pic of two of my kids taken winter 08. Hope they got the bug and it stays with them, even if it goes dormant for awhile:

Cute kids, Tremelo. Start them early, maybe they'll take you in later years.

I hope so. Went skiing tonight with Hazel-- bought her skis today at Midwest Mountaineering. Fun to ski at night in the dark-- an adventure. Think tomorrow I need to stick closer to home. Too much work to do. I would like to try Lake Maria State Park so maybe sometime in the near future...

Everybody and their brother were out at French Park last night. The parking lot was FULL. Must have been the warm weather.

By the way, French has some really nicely lite evening skiiing.

A shout out for the Youth Ski League in Ely.

Yesterday at the State Cross Country Meet the Ely High School (2010 graduating class size in the low 40's) Boys took first, the girls took second.

Ely had a great showing at state. If they have two other winter sports, like basketball and hockey, about every kid in the school must be on one team or the other.

hyland park, in bloomington, MN has a full parking lot almost every time i go out there. the diversity of skier types is amazing, ex olympic team skiers, high school racers training and people out on their vintage wood skis. the future of skiing looks really good down here. our local high school nordic ski team, richfield, has over sixty kids competing. a huge number compared to the past, many of these kids are minorities or recent immigrants from climates where they didn't even have a word for snow. the ski teams from the affluent suburbs are always a bit perplexed to see this very diverse crew.

many of these competitive skiers will continue to ski after high school. some may keep competing, many will find that nordic skiing beats the heck out of working out at the gym, and some may just go out to have fun. last night, skiing at highland, there were quite a few skiers, mid to late twenties, who were just standing around on the trails, often right in the set classic track, they were just having fun outdoors, obviously weren't ex high school racers or they would have realized that you don't stand in the tracks. i happily skied around them and hope I have to do this again.