British Ski and Board Show: Birmingham NEC

British Ski and Board Show: Birmingham NEC, 29^th-31^st October 2010

Come the start of the winter season and the British Ski and Board show is back in town with the usual combination of new equipment and the regular taster sessions that are run throughout the weekend. From the top brands right down to the smaller new companies that are making their name this year, anything and everything can be found at the show.

With many hundreds of people passing through the doors over the weekend, the show is the biggest of the UK shows, there is bound to be more British interest in the sport this year, especially as this is the first show to follow the Vancouver Winter Olympic games. As a rule the show is usually littered with the big releases of the season, the new Salomon Enduros and the Dynastar Sense range being the big news this year, but this year the presence of only two of the big ski names reduced the excitement rapidly. The same could be said about the clothing side of the market, the most interesting pieces seemed to be the neon ski suits that would certainly make you stand out from the crowd.

However, the comedy value of the various displays made the show much more bearable; most notable were the fifteen minute snowboard starter session through to the outstanding big air freestyle shows, but there was plenty to interest all lovers of winter sports. The freestyle show brought big European names to the air, Olympic champion Ales Valenta and European Champion Lucy Liberherr returning for another year as part of the show team.

As a whole, the show appears to be struggling within today’s economic climate, as is true of any sport at the moment, but is seemingly still popular with the British public. This year’s show appears to have issues competing with past years but has still made the grade and provided some spectacular sights (albeit some being highly hilarious).

- Hollie