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Snowboarding

Report From the Toronto Ski & Snowboard Show

By Adam ⋅ October 12, 2006 ⋅ Email this post Email this post ⋅ Print this post Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

As promised, I hit the Toronto Ski and Snowboard Show earlier today. I showed up around 6:30, about three and a half hours after doors opened.  I was surprised to find a fairly a large crowd outside lined up for tickets; I didn’t think many people would head down on a Thursday evening. When I left a couple of hours later, the lineups were getting longer and the crowd was getting even bigger.

When I got inside, I did a fairly extensive walk around the floor, and chatted with some booth personnel. Nothing was going on at the Jib Jam, which was set up right in the middle of the floor, so there was no indoor riding action to check out when I was there. The theatre upstairs playing snowboarding flicks was also rather dead; it quickly became apparent that the real action at this show was in the shopping.

Most of the clothing and equipment vendor booths were completely jammed, and I quickly found out why. Lots of clothes, boots and bindings were half price. At the ski and snowboard swap upstairs, there were many deals to be had; rows and rows of lightly-used board and binding setups were for sale between $150 and $300. And these weren’t crappy brands; I’m talking about Burton, Flow, Forum, Option and a host of others. Virtually all boots were a hundred bucks. I almost walked out with a Burton hoodie ($50) and a Burton snowboard bag ($25) but found that the line to pay was very long, and I was a little pressed for time at that point.. so I gave up. But still, I saw some great deals worth waiting for.

So, if you need snowboarding equipment and you can handle big crowds, you need to head to this show. There are serious deals to be had on equipment that make it worth the price of admission alone.

The show floor had over 200 exhibitors.

Of course, there was plenty of other stuff to do at the show - namely check out all of the different ski resorts and tour operators. Virtually every major North American ski region, from Colorado to New York, was represented at the show (I can’t recall which resort it was, but a Chilean ski area was there, too). Each had trail maps, travel discounts, packages and literature on their respective areas. Blue Mountain was selling season’s passes in an area dedicated entirely to skiing and riding in Ontario, and the line to get a pass was nuts. That was a sight to see among the booths for the Whistlers, Kicking Horses and Sunshine Villages of the world.

Speaking of Whistler, I also ended up hanging out in the Whistler Blackcomb booth for a while (of course) to see what I could find out about their new lift. I was pleased to emerge with their 2006-2007 trail map, which provides all the details. Access to the area, called Symphony Bowl, is kind of limited (it’s accessible via Harmony or Peak chairs on the Burnt Stew Trail) but the runs look excellent. I’m very excited to check it out. I also said hello to the Jay Peak booth, which was giving out awesome free posters and the new edition of their magazine, which is always a fun read.

Other random notes:

-I don’t have an official statistic on this, but my impression was that the show had more of a snowboarding focus to it than skiing; I seemed to observe more boards than skis, but I could be wrong. I think it was an even split at best.
-When I say shopping areas were crowded, I mean it. I got stuck in a few aisles I couldn’t escape because people on either side of me were browsing, and not budging
-Overall, an excellent show. If you need equipment, go. If you don’t - well, go anyway. The show, combined with the snow and cold wind we’re getting up here in Toronto, will put you in the mood to hit the slopes.

Click here for hours and admission rate information.

Discussion

2 comments for “Report From the Toronto Ski & Snowboard Show”

  1. [...] out our coverage of last year’s Toronto Ski, Snowboard and Travel [...]

    Posted by Highly Obsessed: The Snowboarding & Cycling Blog | October 6, 2007, 5:24 pm

  2. [...] like last year’s show, the Automotive building was jammed with people and vendors. We got in relatively early after work [...]

    Posted by Highly Obsessed: The Snowboarding & Cycling Blog | October 12, 2007, 9:52 am

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