Vegas Baby, Vegas: On the floor at SIA

Vegas Baby, Vegas: On the floor at SIAEvery January the ski industry descends upon Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Snowsports Industry America Trade Show, where companies display their latest and greatest products and lines for shop buyers and press.

For a week, Las Vegas is the hub of the North American ski industry; it’s not exactly the pit on Wall Street, but there are plenty of dollars on the line at the Mandalay Showroom. Much of next season’s business depends on what happens here.

Of course, SIA is also an opportunity for the industry to party, gamble, mill about, shake hands, pat each other on the back and remark how great it is.

Tuesday, Jan 24 was actually Day 2 of the show, but it was the first time I had ever set foot in the behemoth. I landed in Las Vegas, along with managing editor Alex Pasquariello — also an SIA rookie — not knowing what to expect. So I kept a running diary of my day in the trenches …

9:41 a.m. We touch down in Las Vegas, exit the plane and become immediately lost in the airport. We struggle to find the cabstand through all the slot machines before realizing we have no cash for the cab anyway. A quick return to the slot machines has us further confused before we finally locate an ATM machine.

“I need some coffee,” mumbles Alex, shaking his head and heading for the Starbucks. We’ve been here for half an hour and haven’t figured out how to leave the airport. Vegas is awesome!

10:09 a.m. We finally get in a cab.

10:13 a.m. A real history buff, Alex asks the cabby to take us to where Tupac was shot.

10:24 a.m. Having ignored Alex, the cabby delivers us to the Luxor, our humble accommodations. Upon entering the pyramid-shaped, Egyptian-themed casino, Carrot Top points at me aggressively from a poster advertising his daily comedy show there. This poster will undoubtedly haunt my dreams.

10:25 a.m. Check-in isn’t until 11, so we check our bags and decide to walk to the show.

10:26 a.m. I stop at a Roulette wheel, and immediately lose $20 on black. That Wesley Snipes is a liar.

10:47 a.m. Turns out the walk to the show is like 3/4 of a mile. On the bright side, Alex claims to have just seen Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, walk past us in the opposite direction. Celebrity sighting No. 1.

10:49 a.m. We pass a stream of businessmen who, judging by the name tags hanging around their necks, are headed for the NATPE conference, also held at Mandalay Bay. The conference appears to have something to do with television executives. Striding purposefully, poking at their Blackberries, the group doesn’t seem all that concerned about the new line of twin tips.

10:50 a.m. Surrounded by these middle-aged men in suits and ties migrating through the halls, we wonder if we’re lost again. Then, like a shining beacon of hope, a scruffy-looking man in his mid-20s wearing a baseball cap and hooded sweatshirt appears among the masses. We trail him, suspecting he’ll take us to more of his kind. He does, and we’ve found the SIA show.

10:56 a.m. As rumored, the show is freaking huge. Booths stretch as far as the eye can see; walls are lined with skis, boards, helmets, coats, goggles, sunglasses, hats, heart monitors, dryland devices and gizmos you’ve never even imagined. The big ski and snowboard companies have slick displays of skis you haven’t seen yet; some displays are two-stories. There are numerous startup twin tips and freeride ski companies I’ve never heard of, and I’m a devout Freeskier reader (OK, well I pick it up every once in a while).

We do a quick tour of a corner of the show, which includes some impossibly bright, neon-speckled women’s wear from Rossignol, along with the familiar faces of Lindsey Kildow and Toby Dawson adorning massive posters. We head back to the Luxor to check in.

11:12 a.m. Carrot Top again. Why would a “comedian” need to be so ripped? Something else is going on here.

12:50 p.m. We return to the show. After getting a tutorial on the new featherlight Goode line of skis (the floor rep assures us these carbon fiber skis can do everything short of turning water into wine), the tour continues. We’ve managed to cover about half the floor by now, and decide it’s time for lunch. We get into line at the food court at the China Bamboo, but not before Alex claims to spot Richard Prior’s daughter. I begin to think he’s making these sightings up.

1:30 p.m. We sit down to eat after wading through a line that made Ellis Island look like a brief wait.

2:25 p.m. I’m getting caught up on e-mail in the pressroom when Alex spots a topless Niki Hosp ad for Fischer in the SIA Daily. Here’s to more podiums (and ads) for Niki Hosp.

2:45 p.m. Pack up the computer and leave the press room for the showroom floor.

2:59 p.m. Headed toward new territory — the snowboard corner!

3:01 p.m. Oh my god! We’ve walked into a frat party! No joke, trash (literally, trash), empty PBR beer cans and pizza boxes line the filthy carpeted floor. Multi-ethnic blowup dolls hang from the tent, Gun’s n’ Roses’ “Right Next Door to Hell” pounds, and youths (some of these kids can’t be older than 19) and want-to-be youths slouch on the side of the booth in uniform: baggy, sagging pants, hoodies and flat-brim trucker hats. There must have been a memo. It’s unclear who works here, and who’s just here to steal your wallet.

Apparently, the Volcom marketing initiative this year is: Who needs slick marketing and presentation!? Just get drunk, puke in someone’s shoe and buy one of our snowboards! At least I hear someone say it’s Volcom, I can’t even tell whose booth this is.

3:02 p.m. Could swear I smell …

3:03: p.m. Yup, someone is definitely smoking pot on the floor room. Those wacky snowboarders!

3:05 p.m. They’re blowing shredded paper up into the air, and some blond guy near the Sessions setup is running around with a two-foot-high trophy. I think he won it. He’s kind of freaking me out. These snowboard companies are taking the stereotype and just running with it.

3:07 p.m. We re-enter the cold, sterile “professional” corporate world at the Tecnica/Volkl apparel booth. It’s a bizarre transition. I’m left wondering if that whole bit at the Volcom booth really just happened.

3:13 p.m. We stumble upon a priceless “fashion show” from Karbon, complete with male models strutting around on a makeshift runway in front of the Karbon booth, trying to look serious in a coat that looks straight out of 1994. Derek Zoolander would be proud. Seventeen people look puzzled as they observe.

3:14 a.m. We walk across the way to visit the Kjus line of clothing, a side project for Lasse. The cool, orange coat Lasse rocks up there on the wall in a poster has a real slimming effect on the Norwegian.

3:28 p.m. As we inspect the Norwegian national speed suits from Phenix across the hall from Kjus, rep Phil Sustrank informs us that “the cool stuff is over here.” He then shows us the freeride line from Japan that includes a coat called the Feel One’s Feet – a name coming from a Far Eastern Ying and Yang-type saying from Japan. This coat features a slot for your mp3 player, and a transmitter that sends its signal from controls on the outside of the coat’s arm. It’s designed from a “second skin” material that closes its pores when it’s colder and opens them to breathe when its warm.
Retail? Oh, $1,400. If you have $1,400 kicking around, it’s pretty cool.

3:43 p.m. Railz rep Brad Birdsell tells me they started with half a snowboard and “just went out and hurt ourselves,” during the prototype years of their product, a skateboard with four different runners beneath the board, so as to enable a skateboarder to take to the slopes. I kind of thoug
ht they already had that capability when they made the snowboard. It looks like good fun, but I’m not sure it’s on the IOC’s radar.

3:45 p.m. Arrive at Burton booth. It’s more like a portable store — two levels, organized, a glamorous Hannah Teter adorning the walls. Apparently, Burton is the Michael Jordan of the snowboard world – polished, professional, a bit dull comparatively, but filthy rich. They’re all business. The Burton Air model has little mini spinning rims, the T6 has a built-in atmosphere monitor and the Vapor has a substance in its core that’s 90 percent air.

3:55 p.m. Head back toward the frat corner and a woman at the M6 snowboarding booth is dispensing some sort of drink from a hospital IV bag set up on a metal pole. Toy army men with little parachutes liter the floor. Nothing is impossible over here.

4:02 p.m. I meet up with Jaime from High Gear, who gives me the lowdown on their new lines of watches equipped with altimeters, compasses, heart rate monitors, workout memory and a laser in case Oddjob jumps out from behind a potted plant to take your life. The barometric pressure reading on the Access model watch/altimeter calls for showers. Seriously.
I think Jaime told me they have a watch model that can do your taxes. The pedometer with a body fat reader informs me I really should spend some more time at the gym.

4:32 p.m. Alex crashes on Fitter First’s Bongo board.

4:40 p.m. We spot Glen Plake (celebrity No. 3) loitering near the K2 setup. He’s wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, which is a bit puzzling until we turn the corner and see the graphics for K2’s new hokey “Alliance” Western-themed campaign.
Part of the new line is the Shane McConkey-designed Pontoon powder ski. Like the Spatula model he did with Volant a couple years back, the thing is a freak of nature. It’s got reverse camber, and is ungodly fat (it measures 160/130/120).

Some of the helmets feature audio systems that have a two-way radio, mp3 capabilities, a microphone (you could look like Britney Spears in action) and a weird strapless goggles setup.

4:48 p.m. The Aspen Snowmass twins and their respective, uh, twins, stroll by in skimpy tank tops. The Alpina Snow Angels consider crowbarring their knees.

5:09 p.m. Stumble out of the showroom having seen probably something like 1/100th of the products at SIA. Good thing it’s only 3/4 of a mile back to the room.