SIA and More

Oh boy! I definitely haven't been the most prolific writer, well, ever. But recently, I've been feeling especially slow. Thank you for your patience. At times I feel like I'm losing my mind and the words are going with it. I'm sure it's temporary. Just gotta get back on the horse. What better way to remount the steed than the good ole snowsports industry tradeshow, SIA? 

Right now you might be thinking to yourself, "But you weren't that prolific after last year's SIA, what's new this year?" Well, I'm glad I'm telepathic enough to hear you ask yourself that question, so I can provide the answer. Perhaps because of last year's shortcomings, I feel I owe it to you (and to myself) to produce more this year. It's what I should have done last year anyway. It wasn't snowing enough to ride as much last year, so why didn't I write more? I had the material. I had the time. I just got lazy. Sometimes that inertia is hard to overcome. But here I am.

In a stroke of  'better late than never,' here's a brief wrap up of 2015's SIA.

• GoPro accessories everywhere. More sticks and mounts than a polo match.
• Burton didn't have a booth, they had their own venue. Seriously. They held down a three-level warehouse/rave venue for the week and ran shuttles back and forth to the convention center. They're doing the same this year.
• Mervin didn't have a booth, they had a suite next door at the Hyatt. That one was weird. Not GNU weird, just strange. It was a two-bedroom hotel suite casually decorated in Lib Tech and GNU boards, bindings and clothes. They have a small booth this year.
• Skullcandy didn't have a booth, they just ran the show at the Hyatt bar. DJs and banners included. Same deal this year.
• Highlights from the on-snow demo were the Nitro Quiver MTN - a charging, all-mountain ripper - and the GNU Zoid - a directional, asymmetrical charging ripper. Also, I was a fan of the Electric EG3.5 goggles. It may be personal preference, but they fit my face well and the tupperware-like press-and-seal was intuitive, quick and confidence inspiring.
• A lowlight from the on-snow was the Lib Tech DUH - two edges per side (one inner, one outer), so different I probably should have ridden it more to truly understand what was going on, but with the time I gave it, it seemed like a big swing and miss.
• Airblaster and Celtek (two companies that gave me walk-in meetings after I didn't schedule appointments with them) knocked it out of the park. Both of these rider-run companies are crushing the big dogs. 

Now I'm off to the current SIA show. Look for a little something from me on YoBeat in a few days. Until then, check out this bib roundup I did for Transworld (remember what I said about Airblaster?). Drop any requests you have for SIA in the comments.

SIA Trade Show and On-Snow Recap

You'd never know it but there was a huge party here the night before.

How do you make a big ole gong show even bigger? Get your electronic devices to malfunction for about a week straight. That's how it went down for me. Equal parts freeing and frustrating. Not so great for you the reader and I apologize for that. Emergency paper clip surgery got things functioning again, so now I can tell you all about the end of the show. Now that it's been over for a while.

You undoubtedly saw the pics of adidas' new line, if not, I'm sure you can find them. Just not on this site. Interestingly enough, their biggest competitor was absent. Nike decided not to spend the time and money to show up. I have no idea why. This is a tactical error in my book. If you're Nike, why wouldn't you go toe-to-toe with Adidas as they roll out their first year's worth of snow gear? They've got the money. Bobby Meeks was there anyway. Oh and if you've always wanted a track suit-style one-piece snow suit, adidas will be producing that.

Now that's a product I can get behind.

I was happy to see some new snowboard companies entering the mix this year. Deviation out of Portland and Chugach Flyer out of Alaska. The FlaxFlex of Xboards. Weston and OZ representing Colorado. All are in their first few years of production. Turns out this economy is still supportive of new brands. It's great to see and I wish them all the best.

Deviation Snowboards, comin' straight outta Gresham, Oregon

One bit of advice, though, if you're going to show up at the on-snow demo, learn how to set up and tune your boards. When I rode an OZ board, the owner of the company set up my demo. He measured the stance from the inside of the bindings giving me flexibility-testing 25+ inch stance. There's a waste of a run. Upon inspecting the base, I noticed rust spots and general disrepair on the edges. Same story with the Weston board. The edges were almost fully rounded and the base looked and felt like steel wool. Guys, you aren't doing yourselves any favors by not keeping your boards tuned for such a big show. When you only have five or ten boards, it shouldn't be too much work to give them all an edge tune and hot wax before the demo where people might be seeing them for the first time. You know what they say about first impressions.

The other gear I got on included Capita's Totally FK'n Awesome, Never Summer's Cobra, Niche's Story and Slash by Gigi's Straight. Helmets and goggles got in the mix, too. No boots, no bindings. The conditions were pretty mediocre. Hard-ass groomers populated by hard-ass skiers. A couple stashes. Wind. I'll break them all down when I get back. Oh yeah, I'm in Japan!

Konichiwa!

SIA Day 1: Brain Rush

Just a giant blue bear looking in. Act natural. Check out my wares.

This is the first year I've ever attended the monstrous snowsports industry trade show known as SIA. It's intense. Not a great time for my wi-fi and phone to be flaking out because there are so many pictures to share, but I guess they'll have to come over a longer period of time. Follow me on twitter (@boredyak) and instagram (boredyak) if you want the up to the second updates. Here are some themes popping up this year.

Backcountry safety. Several different groups are getting out the message that we need to do more on this front. I'm fully backing AIARE's Project Zero. The goal: reduce avalanche fatalities to zero. The process: cohesive messaging across the industry with all stakeholders involved. This is nothing short of a full commitment by the entire industry to save lives. The process will be long, but nothing is more important. To that end everyone from Jeremy Jones to Glen Plake to Dean Cummings came out to speak at the specially constructed backcountry experience booth.   The message: get educated and be good stewards of the backcountry. Take responsibility and take care.

Board shapes. It's so refreshing to come out and see all the brands, big and small, toying and tinkering with different shapes. Base beveling is spreading. Think Bataleon's Triple Base. Here's a tiny - yet not so tiny - taste.

The limited run, noboard-only, Johan Olofsson-designed Venture Powder Pig.

There's too much to list it all right now. Name a brand and they have new shit. That's just what happens. Every year. Jones has a carbon Hovercraft splitboard. You have to hold it to understand how light it is. A new backpack manufacturer called Orion Packs is entering the space with a line of minimalist backcountry packs and big plans to expand. Another 'new exhibitor,' Adidas Snowboarding. Giro is debuting an innovative line of multiple-impact helmets. Everywhere you turn there's a new camber profile. Still. K2's Lifted line has my attention. Oh, and the graphics. Here's one that stopped me in my spot, speaking of K2.

The whole Happy Hour line has photo bases with incredible depth.

Like I said, though, lots of material and long hours/days. Check twit-stagram for the hyper-news and check back here for the details as the show goes on and beyond. Don't forget at the end of it all, we get two days of on-snow time to demolish the new gear. Any requests? Just leave them in the comments.

SIA Bound

No plane, just rain

I'm headed to the future of snowboarding. Slowly. Denver is the destination and the Snowsports Industries America (SIA) Snow Show. Right now I'm stuck at the airport with an hour delay, but free wi-fi. My question to you, fair reader, is a simple one. What do you want to see from this crystal ball? What would be the first booth you checked out if you were at the show?

I'm there for four days of convention crawling and two days of on-snow demos, so I'll have a good chance to see all of 2014. I'm sure by the end I'll be checking out handmade children's ski gear from Botswana. Or maybe I'll be rushing to fit in all the good stuff.

Did I mention it's my first time at this snow sports spectacular? Yep. Exciting. Stay tuned to the blog, the twitter (@boredyak) and the instagram (boredyak) for all the updates.