London ski show

I was at Olympia yesterday for about 5 hours, and thoroughly enjoyed the day, which was nicely finished off with a couple of beers with Admin, Skidaddle, Caron-a and her friend who wasnt previously aware of the forum.

I picked up some piste maps for St Anton and Serre Che, so I can start looking ahead to my trips there, and also chatted to a number of people from various companies about their brochures (I work in print) so it was a fruitful day.

It was also good to see the larger ranges of gear available, although I was disappointed that there were no real show deals available on hardware of clothing.

Some good action on the "hill" later on in the day though, which was good to watch.

A good day, which has now really got the juices flowing for the season ahead.

I was also there yesterday and I must say, I was thoroughly disappointed.

Having never been before I'm not sure what I expected, but I found it pretty dull. The fashion show was ok and the ski and boarders were pretty good for a bit but not worth the entrance fee (and i got free tickets).

The beer was £3.75 for a bottle. There were no decent offerrs at the stands at all. In fact, some stuff seemed deaer than normal !!

I entered about a trillion competitions tho.... my attitude will change if i win one though :lol:

Went to the pub accross the road with the intention of going back later hoping that the atmosphere would come alive later with the live music.

Got slowly trollied with load of ther nice peeps we met in the pub (who were equally disappointed) and was having a good time there so decided not to go back.

I wont be bothering next year.

I guess it depends what you went for, I wanted to talk first hand to some of the resort representatives and for that i thought it was good, not only for places I have considered visiting but several that i had not thought or even knew of before, even better i found the a company that could do a ski and ride (horse ride that is, my OH doesn't do winter sports, but keeps horses) holiday in a better resort, with better hotel for half the price I'd been quoted previously.

Can't really see the point of the fashion show - theres enough poseurs at the bottom of the lifts in some of the big resorts anyway! And the company staff didn't seem one bit interested on the fashion show stands (I was actually ready to splash the credit cared and buy a £500+ ski jaket from one brand but after three of their staff totally blanked me on on their stand for several minutes I decided to just use my money on another ski trip and use last years jacket).

Definetly not much in the way of bargains to be had kit/clothes wise, last years was way much better on that front.

So I felt it was worth going to and I got out of it what I set out to do - but overall maybe 2007 was better.

Dave

P.S. And like many others it was good to meet up with some old ski buddies and raise a glass to the new season.

I had a great day! Mine started with the j2ski drink and ended at last orders. Personally my favourite stand was the thunder toffee vodka one :D

In all seriousness though, there were two very useful stands for me. firstly I got to try on donjoy knee braces and got a fantastic offer (two for £550) which runs until february. secondly, I found www.realli-ski.com which is the perfect place for me to put on a pair of skis before getting back on the snow. Might be worth a go for someone who hasn't skied before?

thanks for the tickets admin :thumbup: nice to meet you guys

It was ok, I thought. A bit quiet, not a huge amount of interest to me and I was glad I hadn't paid for my ticket! Got some very useful info on a few resorts I will be trying in the coming seasons though.

Nice meeting Caron-a, her friend and of course Admin Dave. The beers with them was the highlight.

:D Roll-on winter.

Dont forget the mad French woman on the Seere Che stand who I made promise us she would give us free drinks if we turn up in her hotel for a beer in March. AND she has that bar where they trust you to pay for what you help yourself to. We might find we use that quite regularly )

Am I getting the impression that people go to this show expecting a whole lot more than they get? I always find it interesting chatting to enthusiastic people on their stands, and usually the more bespoke their business, the more enthusiastic they are. Snow & Rock and Ellis Brigham both has some really nice new season stuff on show, and good amounts of stock too. I was amazed by the number of people waiting for boot fittings at S&R.

One of the most intereting things was this software some bloke was going around demo'ing, which involved some kind of device you take out with you on the slopes, and when you get back, you plug it in like a dongle into your computer and it tells you how far you travelled, how much vertical you did, average and top speeds, and can even super impose your tracks onto google earth to show your exact routing. £99. I bet that sells once its on the market.

I have been to-day, really enjoyed it. Thanks Admin and thanks to my benefactor of the free tickets.
Found some useful information on Finland, loved the northern light experience and the huskies.
I could have spent a fortune on clothes but refrained, desperately saving for a second trip. Did manage to buy some Dakine ski mitts, they seem really warm.
This is the first time I have been to a ski show, would definately go again.