I also feel however that these companies over shadow the underdogs who are selling bang for buck – take CAPiTA as an example, they make GREAT boards at a fair price. I think maybe less articles about the ‘bad’ parts of snowboarding and a forcus on promoting the smaller companies who have their game face on, from riders – for riders, would be a nice change. I’ve read so many things lately about these big bad wolves ‘Burton and friends’. If you really dont like them, make a concious effort to not buy their product and promote other brands to people who are looking.

As for the attitude, its not dependant on snowboarding… the attitude is the people. It’s a social thing that is not exclusive to a sport. Unforntunatly we find this baggage on the slops. In my area it doesnt seem to be a big problem, but I can still sympathise with it.The more people who take up snowboarding, the more cultured it becomes. there’s a ton of personalities out on the hill – and theyre not always ones you want to be around, or shred with. but its like anything else in life, those people are going to be there, so just ignore them. Those people are at your work, theyre on the bus, they live down the street from you… snowboarding didnt make them that way, it just brought them to the hill.

DEMOS! Would be so much better if there was someone other than Burton doing them! I wish more companies would make their products more accecible to test. I’m skeptical about dropping 500$ on a board not knowing if its ‘the one’ for me. Reading reviews will only get me so far, but actually testing the product would make the sale so much easier. Burtion has done a number of demos here this year, but I personally dont get super stoked over them. I would LOVE to see some other brands do demo days [ especially with women specific gear ]

I personally dont think snowboarding ‘went wrong’. I love it, I live it, I sherd.

Demos are so tough. Most demos are controlled by your regional sales rep who has to decide whether or not the demo is really going to be beneficial. They have to fund the event out of their own pocket, travel to the location, set up a tent in whatever weather conditions apply and hope that someone comes by to test out gear. It’s really hard to judge whether or not the process is going to be worthwhile, especially when so few people end up taking advantage of the demos.

I think the best solution to demo new gear is to talk to your local shop. Ask them to try and set up a demo day at your mountain. Reps are usually willing to put on a demo if they know that a shop is organizing it and promoting it. Especially if multiple brands will be present. If your shop doesn’t have the ability to organize an event, ask them if they have the specific board you want to demo in their shop demo fleet. If they don’t, ask them if they could get one from the rep. You might have to pay a fee to demo it from the shop, but they will most likely deduct that fee from the price of the new board if you decide to buy it.

Until companies can hire someone to specifically run a demo program (like Burton), they will continue to flitter in and out of the snow scene like the illusive Snype.

I definitely agree about demos not being properly advertised – and there are hardly any on the east coast.. at least in Ontario where I am. I’d love to try a mtx board, but I’ve never seen a mervin demo day advertised for any of the hills I go to – you’d think they’d be all over the ice coast when they have a technology that “turns ice into powder”.

Atomic does one every year, and people typically will go to that because they know it’s going to happen. However there was supposed to be a demo one day when a bunch of us went out, (I can’t remember what brand it was anymore.. maybe ride?) and we couldn’t find it anywhere on the hill. So advertising, and actually showing up would be a good start!