The Snowsports Industries America (aka SIA) is a tradeshow put on every year in Denver, Colorado based on the ski, snowboard, and ice climbing industries.  This year there were over 900 brands present displaying their 2012/2013 lines.  New trends in innovation, style, and product lines are seen by media, retailers, buyers, and athletes.

This was my first SIA with MountainEnthusiast.com and I was very excited to attend.  Not only was it based on my passion of snowboarding but it was based in Denver, a place I had never been.


The other reason is because we got free passes to Winter Park Resort!  Something I have never shredded before.  The cost of tickets to Colorado resorts are around $100 so I figured I might as well attend the show while I can and get a day or two of shredding in on top of it.  Win/win.

The show itself lasts 6 days.  This year it was January 26-29 for the actual show, then January 30-31 was the on-snow demo.  The on-snow demo is where you can take out the gear that you just saw on the snow and test it out.  Every brand usually ends up out there leaving a few who do not.  You are able to test out boards and bindings.  There were a few goggle companies but I did not feel the need to test their gear out, nor did I know if you could.

Time was a-wastin' and I knew that I only had 2 days at most to be in Colorado.  In my mind, I would rather test out a few boards and max out riding time, than do vice versa.

The show turned out to be great making a whole bunch of contacts and being able to test out some of the new products that will be sold next year.  Also, the free beer that companies bring to the show is a nice kicker as well!

This week I will be posting gear previews this entire week from some companies I met with and some I did not.  Stay tuned!