Birmingham ski show

Took advantage of my free ticket for the Birmingham ski show for a few hours. Although I enjoyed chatting to a few people and Henry's Avalanche Talks and Solutions4Feet presentations, I have to say it was disappointing overall.

Few attractions, no fashion show, for example, and limited use of the main slope/kicker thing.

The depressed state of the industry was clear to see. A few US/Canadian resorts, Aosta Valley, South Tirol, a very small French presence, a Swiss stand and the Zillertal was about the only tourist office attendance.

Only one major retailer, no Snow + Rock, a few untidy looking retail stands selling last year's gear and previous years' equipment.

Otherwise, it was mainly stands devoted to small chalet operators in all the usual resorts.

An uninspiring impression, I'm afraid. Although I was told it was busier than the London show in the afternoon, it was very quiet by early evening.

Thanks for the heads up Lota .
We went Saturday morning 10am ,drove straight in and parked up,walked straight in with no queuing then couldn't believe how small the show was . I knew of one shop that would be there and I new what I wanted to buy so came home with a Bataleon Goliath snowboard and than just before we walked out I spotted a nice Dainese jacket(I didn't even know Dainese did mountain gear and I've been using their motorbike leathers and jackets for over 15 years) which had to come home with me as well so as pants as I thought the show was I came home a happy bunny Woohoo !

I remember I brought my first pair of skis at the Birmingham ski show back in 1995, and I still have
the ski poles I brought with the skis although I packed the skis off to a charity shop when I last moved house, I did go back a month later to try and buy them back but some saddo had already brought them :evil:

It was very dissapointing, I'm certainly glad i didn't have to pay the £10 (x2) for the entrance fee. Thanks to CEM for the free tickets.

I needed a few bits and got most of what i wanted:

A wheelie ski bag.
Giro Tune ups for my brain bucket
A bobble and gloves for my little one.
Some lovely Salomon gloves
Ski ties
A little lock for my new skis (cheap and not that sturdy but would deter the opportunist)

I did want to get some goggles but they were all rubbish in my opinion, either cheap £10 pairs or expensive ones in loud colours. So i will get some in resort.

Also got to chat with the crystal guys about xmas dinner

We noticed how much smaller than previous years the show was this weekend.
We went with the plan to get a christmas / new year trip and came away with our first trip to La Rosiere over this new year.The bonus came with the money saved on the holiday I spent on new boots. :D