SIA Recap

I spent part of last week in Las Vegas for the annual Snowsports Industry Association's show. You've probably heard it called SIA, and this was the last Vegas show before it all moves to Denver.

I arrived in Vegas late on Tuesday night and was picked up by Tali, our West Coast Correspondent and my partner-in-crime at the show.  We went to check into the Mandalay Bay and got upgraded from a regular room to a posh suite in theHOTEL. SIA was starting out well.

SIA is always a combination of partying, checking out gear, catching up with old friends, and making new ones. We got started with the partying and catching up by heading over to Luxor. I saw lots of people I knew and managed to stay up way too late for girl who was still on eastern time.

Wednesday we started bright and early and managed to check out Giro, Bula, Vans, Dragon, Skullcandy, Venture, eesa, The North Face, Option/NFA, 686, Bonfire, Salomon, Nitro, Holden and a few more.

This was Tali's first time at the show and I believe my 5th, so we did a few appointments together before she headed off to hit up the companies I hadn't secured appointments with.  We even checked out a Korean brand called Suga Point that is selling in the US for the first time. They said they are the top selling outerwear in Korea.

Wednesday evening was a busy one with the Transworld Riders Poll Awards at the Hard Rock and Skullcandy's party with Snoop Dogg and Mix Master Mike at Rain.  We headed to the Transworld Riders Awards first. They were hosted by Todd Richards and was pretty much a Travis Rice & Marie-France Roy show. After the awards we headed over to The Palms to the Skullcandy party at Rain to see Snoop.  The lines were long but we got in with plenty of time to catch Mix Master Mike and Snoop. The cab line was ridiculous as everyone headed out for more partying. Most headed back to the Hard Rock, where the Circle Bar is always the place to be.

Thursday started off with exhaustion and blistered feet, but for you guys we trooped on. We had appointments lined up with Rubber Duck, Forum, Foursquare, Special Blend, Burton, Cilla, Rome, Ride, K2, LibTech, Gnu, Nomis,  and more.

The show seemed somewhat tame but Rome and Volcom can always be relied on for some amusement. Rome's entire crew always dresses up in a theme. Last year they were bikers; this year they appropriately chose Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hawaiian print shirts, fishermans hats, and yellow aviators were de rigeur.

The rowdiest and most entertaining bunch was Volcom who put on a hillbilly extravaganza. They not only wore overalls and straw hats - they also played music....and got straw everywhere. I mean everywhere! Tali was finding it in her hair for days.

 Thursday's show closed up with a party in the Ride booth to celebrate their collaboration to Matix girls. 

Thursday night's big event was a lanch party for Snowboard Mag's women's annual thrown by Burton and featuring Redman.  It was held at Body English, which is a throwback to when Burton held rail jams at the Hard Rock and had their afterparties at the subterranean club.

Friday morning we gratefully slept in after a very late night.  Tali and I finally made it to the breakfast buffet before scooting to the show for a couple of errands and heading out. We had a long drive ahead of us to Tahoe! So long Vegas!

Stay tuned for party recaps, show trends, and brand product round ups!