Autumn is here, the leaves are falling, the first glacier ski resorts in the Alps are opening and Britain’s ski show season is upon us once more!
The shows remain the best place to meet resort staff face to face and to find the widest choice of kit with the best deals and the most experts in one place to advise on what’s best for you. Then there are the shows, the advice clinics and you can even find a job in the mountains if you like at one of the on-site job fairs. But most of all there’s the vibe – it’s great to escape to a place full of people as snow-obsessed as you for a few hours on a grey October afternoon!
The good news for those living north of Watford Gap is that Birmingham’s British Ski and Board Show is better than ever, and that first up this autumn is the welcome return of Scotland’s own Ski and Snowboard Show over the weekend of 15 – 16 October.
A recent survey found that Scotland actually boasts the highest percentage of skiers and boarders per head of population and no doubt a sizeable chunk of them will be making their way to the SECC in Glasgow.
As last year, the show will be packed with the latest kit, resorts, shows and discount offers. In terms of entertainment there’ll be a freestyle show featuring some of the UK’s best free ski lessons on offer on the artificial ski slope. The show’s ‘World Resorts’ section features Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland in the Alps, along with Andorra and Spain from the Pyrenees and North America’s Canada and USA. You can even find out more about skiing in Scotland!
Savvy skiers who pre-order tickets at www.scotlandsskishow.co.uk get a discounted ticket, a free goody bag and entry into a contest to win an all-expenses paid skiing holiday. Ski-Scotland will have a major presence at the show and people buying tickets in advance and registering at the Ski-Scotland stand will receive a special offer from the Glencoe, Cairngorm and Nevis Range ski areas of a free mid-week ticket. This essentially means a ski pass valued at around £30 is on offer for the cost of your £10 ski show advance purchase ticket!
London is now the second show, sandwiched between Glasgow and Birmingham, this year returning to Earls Court, kicking off on 19 October and set up around the central hip kicker.
Old favourites like the Les 3 Vallees sponsored resort bar will be back as will the K2 Highest Ollie Tournament. As with Scotland’s show, there’s a World Resort Village and a Jobs Fair, plus London has a World Food Pavilion where you can pre-taste the food you might be eating in resort, depending on where you decide to go – will it be Bavarian sausage, a cheese fondue or sushi?
There’s a new arena where Land Rover sponsored fashion shows will be staged regularly and real snow will be provided by indoor snow centres SNO!zone for a rail jam. A new UK Pavilion will also aim to support the best in Britain, including dry slopes and our no-longer-publically-funded international athletes.
Last, but with 20,000 visitors each year certainly not least, in the UK October Snow Show calendar The British Ski and Board Show (www.globalsnowshows.co.uk) is back from 29 – 31 October at the NEC in Birmingham. To encourage early attendance a special ‘Slope Off Friday’ deal is available on opening day with an adult ticket costing £6.50 in advance (£7 on the door).