Ski Shows Fall 2017

[Jilly]

soSo tis the season.... the ski show. Some are great and some are just not. Did you go, where and what was your impression.

Me - Ottawa ski show. $8 to park the car, no other fees. So fill up the car! Venue...great place except there was also the Women's Show and a Wedding Show on in the same building. Having coffee and listening to a Jazz trio was kind of neat.

As for this show.....lots of travel stuff. Come to think of it...no Colorado. Jackson Hole and BC were the only western resorts. Lots of participation from the eastern resorts...Vermont, New Hamphire, New York, Quebec and Gatineau which are the locals. Big sale area, but this is one of the local retailers flogging last years left overs.

I've been to the big Toronto Snow Show. One thing that differs Ottawa from Toronto is the manufacturers. Ottawa has the reps set up booths. So you can talk to someone that really know about skis or boots. In attendance was Armada, K2, Head, Blizzard, Nordica, Dynastar and Fisher.

So in a conversation with the Blizzard/Nordica rep....what is "Pugski"? Really??? Out came the phone, on went the data...Brought up a few threads....really liked the rear entry one...So where does the name come from.....That explaination took some time to explain the history, Epic etc...

So some of these guys are really interested in what is going on out in the real world!

But what was your experience at the ski show like?? Any deals? Any good info?

 

[scott43]

I just got some boots for the kid at the Barrie ski swap. Looking for skis at the Toronto ski swap and show. I'll let you know, it's next weekend. Went last year, found it informative, but in the internet age, somewhat redundant?

 

[Jilly]

Always found Toronto a travel show and flea market....Haven't been for years. But good luck on the skis, shouldn't be hard. If you don't find anything let me know. Our local swap is the next weekend. I might find something, abet in the parking lot, not in the building. Anything under 100cm doesn't usually make it in.

 

[scott43]

Always found Toronto a travel show and flea market....Haven't been for years. But good luck on the skis, shouldn't be hard. If you don't find anything let me know. Our local swap is the next weekend. I might find something, abet in the parking lot, not in the building. Anything under 100cm doesn't usually make it in.

I'm inclined to just go Kijiji. There are a few pairs for $75 but really, if you factor in the costs, might as well just cough it up. We're off to Aspen or Breck in December..where we will push the gaffer around at 10,000 feet for 20 mins before he gives up and hits the pool! Baby steps.

 

[TrueNorth]

@Jilly, did you see any good "show only" discounts at the Ottawa show? Just wondering if I should go or just do my research on the internet. I feel like I'm already too late to find anything good at the ski swap part of the show.

 

[David]

West Michigan doesn't have a ski show or even a swap this year!

 

[graham418]

I'm going to hit the Toronto Show on Friday. I don't know that there will be anything any good there. A quick look at the vendors list looks like there will be the ski shops unloading least years leftovers, a couple of manufacturers displays, and some travel stuff. Tour operators and some resorts. Meh.
Im looking for a boot backpack, hopefully I can find something

 

[PTskier]

Ski shows are dead in Seattle. None last year & none this year. The year before last there were few exhibitors and few attendees.

 

[Jilly]

@TrueNorth - I didn't venture into the Kunstadt area. There were a couple of others, but they were XC. Tremblant was running a special on lift tickets. Some of the areas had special lodging/ski packages. Tremblant is working with MEC and will be doing an event later.

@graham418 - a boot backpack should be easy. And you are so right about the stores/vendors. That's why I call it a travel show and flea market. And FWIW - I have 2 backpacks. I like the boots on the outside, but for plane travel I have the Salomon Go to Ski. I know my Ski Diva friends all like the Transpak, but I've never seen an adult version for sale in Canada.

 

[Wolfski]

Went to the Chicago show this past Friday, I'm not sure where there rest of the show went but rumor has it that this one or next year will be the last.
There were some great deals in the swap for at least one or two skiers per size break.
The Manufactures were somewhat to extremely disinterested, at least the ones that were there, a few arrogant shops, no pros and they all wonder where all the attendees are???

 

[Ecimmortal]

I'm done going to our ski shows. We have a thing called Snowvana, and Ski fever. both require me to spend too much money/time to basically break even on any "discounted" purchase.

 

[jzmtl]

Tremblant is working with MEC and will be doing an event later.

Any idea on the price and when it'll happen? I have a friend who is looking for cheap Tremblant tickets.

 

[Jilly]

See this: https://www.tremblant.ca/things-to-do/events/mec-montreal

I don't see any info on the MEC site though.

 

[kayco53]

We are having our Winter Extreme Ski show and swap in Abbotsford On Nov 17 you can bring in gear in the evening. On the Nov 18-19 We are open to everyone.
We use the gear swap to raise funds for the Canadian ski Patrol. In this zone we patrol Cypress,Seymour,Sasquatch ski hill and Manning park. All close to the Vancouver BC area. There is quite a lot of new gear as well. Good promos for lift passes as well from the different mountains. I hope this is alright to post.

 

[pchewn]

I went to Snowvana in Portland Oregon. Once into the show, it was good. They had the premier of the movie "Drop Everything" and it was very good. Won a free ticket to Mt Bachelor, so that made the entry fee ($9) well worth it. The beer was good, lots of fun people to talk to at the booths. I had a blast.

The only downside was the rate of line movement to get into the event. The model of inefficiency, it took about 45 minutes to process the line. But once inside, a good show.

 

[TonyC]

Ski shows are in steady decline. My former workplace was 4 blocks from the L.A. Convention Center so it was easy to go to SkiDazzle every year. Since retirement a lot of my non-ski travel has been in November or early December so I've missed quite a few. I'm home this year so will probably check it out. But I would guess less than half as many resorts send reps as in the 1990's.

The most interesting ski show I attended was in conjunction with ICER Air in San Frnacisco in 2006: http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2365
There are comments in that thread about the Bay Area's conventional ski show already being in deep trouble.

 

[mikel]

For me it seems like you need to hit one of the CO events Labor Day weekend for the best deals. There are still deals to be had but maybe not at the best price. Also, the non VR event (Christy Sports) seems to be mostly last year's gear vs the VR event (Colorado Ski and Golf) does have some of the new gear. It's possible now you don't even need to attend the event once you have your pass established. Login and reload.

And as @TrueNorth was asking above, it is possible there may be deals offered by places that you can only get while attending an event they are at.

The ski expo is coming up in a couple of weeks in Denver but there is a cost for admission and parking. You could end up paying as much as $25-$30 depending if you pay full price and where you park.

Tony mentioned the steady decline in vendors in attendance in LA. Here is the current list for the upcoming Denver event.

Ski & Snowboard Equipment & Accessories
Anon
Atomic Ski
Black Crows Skis
Breeze Ski Rentals
Burton
Colorado Ski & Golf
Dynastar Lange
Giro
Head Snowboards
io Merino
Icelantic Skis
K2 Skis
K2 Snowboarding
Kulkea
Line Skis

Marker Dalbello Volkl
Meier Skis
NeckHats
Nordica
Oakley
Orsden
Phunkshun Wear LLC
Powder7
Ride Snowboards
Rossignol
Ruroc
Salomon
SIA Nordic
Smith Optics

Mountain Resorts & Travel Companies
Arapahoe Basin
Armada Skis
Aspen Skiing Company
BGV Marketing
Club Med
Colorado Ski Country USA
Copper Mountain
Crested Butte Mountain Resort
Echo Mountain
Eldora
GetSkiTickets.com
Global Travel Network
Grand Targhee Resort
Hokkaida
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Loveland Ski Area
Monarch Mountain
Mountain Collective

Panorama Mountain Resort
Powderhorn Mountain Resort
Purgatory Resort
Red Mountain Resort
RK Heliski
Silverton Mountain
Ski Cooper
Ski.com
SnoCountry
Steamboat
Sunlight Mountain Resort
Taos Ski Valley
Telluride Mountain Resort
Vail Resorts
Winter Park
Whitewater Ski Resort

 

[GregK]

Been to the Toronto Snow Show as well the last few years and always find it worthwhile going. Huge selection of great cheap skis in their ski swap area (lots of Corbetts and Asogear stock it seems), lots of shops selling discounted gear and nice to get ski resort info to leaf through later.

Going Friday and I don’t need anything for myself but will buy boots for my GF if there are Atomic Ultras on a deal.

 

[Bill Clark]

Went to the Chicago show this past Friday, I'm not sure where there rest of the show went but rumor has it that this one or next year will be the last.
There were some great deals in the swap for at least one or two skiers per size break.
The Manufactures were somewhat to extremely disinterested, at least the ones that were there, a few arrogant shops, no pros and they all wonder where all the attendees are???

Agreed! I was there Friday night with my Girlfriend and thought the same thing. It's getting smaller every year.

 

[TonyC]

That list from Denver looks quite healthy vs. what I recall in recent years in L.A. This year SkiDazzle is hyping a fire sale on equipment from the Sport Chalet and Sports Authority bankruptcies in 2016. During the two months after the Sport Chalet announcement, I swung by their flagship store every week or two. Prices declined gradually and of course by the end inventory was well picked over. I don't recall seeing much ski stuff because the in store liquidation was in May/June. Our best deal was a new scuba regulator for Liz.