This point might be up for debate, but I'm of the opinion that there is zero advantage to riding a 29er for people who are shorter like me (5'3"). And I've seen some short women on these bikes and they look ridiculous; their bikes do not fit them.

Toe overlap on a mountain bike....forget that. I don't even have toe overlap on my CX bike....

People could easily cushion up their hardtails with a set of tubeless tires and run some lower tire pressure.

I'm lucky, I live in WI. We have the similar types of terrain as people in Colorado do, but we don't have the sustained climbing. So there is not much advantage of racing with a hardtail over a full. So no 29ers or HT's for me!