Yellowstone sees steady stream of visitors during holiday

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Tourist visits to Yellowstone National Park remained steady during the traditionally busy Christmas season, with more than 10,150 people using snowmobiles or snowcoaches to view the park between Dec. 20 and Dec. 31.

That's comparable to the 2005 Christmas season, which was one day shorter and saw just over 9,730 visitors, Yellowstone spokeswoman Stacy Vallie said.

Snowmobile riders in December 2006 totaled 6,050, while coach riders totaled about 4,100.

As usual, the entrance at West Yellowstone was the busiest, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the traffic with 6,410 visitors. Of that number, 3,650 rode on 2,550 snowmobiles, while the other 2,760 rode on 290 snowcoaches.

That's a west-gate increase of 300 snowmobilers and 200 snowcoach riders from 2005, park officials said.

Yellowstone is operating under temporary winter use rules while the National Park Service prepares a new long-term winter use plan. The temporary rules, in place through 2007, allow a maximum of 720 guided best-available-technology snowmobiles in the park each day, including a limited number through the east entrance.

Over the Christmas holiday, an average of about 360 sleds entered the park daily, 210 of them from West Yellowstone.

West Yellowstone bills itself as the "snowmobile capital of the world," but confusion about snowmobile use in the park caused by competing court rulings has put a crimp in businesses there in recent years. Entrepreneurs have since been putting increasing emphasis on snowcoaches, designing and building new, more comfortable machines.