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Last year was my first year ever snowboarding and first time going to the SkiFever & Snowboard Show. I enjoyed it (after the first two days of brutal falls) and want to get right back to it this year. We have snow at the resorts already and an early season. I am quite happy about that. I bought all new equipment and clothing last year so I don’t need much now. I was mainly looking at helmets. Well, I was looking at everything, but only in the market for a helmet. My brother was nice enough to go with me on Sunday, even though he already gone on Friday. I appreciate that. it was great to have his company. He bought a new snowboard for the first time in 9 years or more. That is a big deal for him. He also got a great deal on it.

Thank you to my frugal brother for printing out a coupon so I got $2 off my admission.

I tried some helmets there. The one I had seen in the REI sale ad sent to my house turned out to be the most comfortable. It was an ’09 model, originally $100, on closeout for $49.48. It was $75 there so I didn’t buy it. It was nice to try on all the helmets though. It turns out that a lot of really expensive helmets were more uncomfortable.

With so many choices it would have been fun to pick out a new board, but I cannot afford it and don’t need one. The one I have is nice.

Here my brother is getting some advice about Burton EST bindings. The board he was buying would need them. The board has a channel that the bindings mount to instead of the traditional 3 or 4 holes.

http://www.burton.com/mens-snowboard-bindings/mens-bindings,default,sc.html

I love seeing all the art on the boards.

This is my brother paying for his beautiful new Burton Custom ICS board. He paid less than anywhere I could find online, and that didn’t even count shipping. I am excited he gets to ride a new board after so long. He deserves it.

I think those kits to turn your dirt bike into a snowmobile bike are pretty darn cool.

Little kids watching older kids having fun.

No surprise those boards were so heavily discounted. They are high on the list of ugliest I have ever seen.

I enjoy the booths about ski resorts in other places. I sure would like to get to travel. My life is stuck in a rut, at least until this horrible recession ends.

It was the last day of the year to get pre-season prices on season passes and 10-time passes to Mt. Hood Meadows. I certainly didn’t have the money for it. The next day the price for a season pass would go from $499 to $999. Yikes. When I get the money I am buying a 10-time pass. It will bring my shift lift tickets down from $57 to $40. That is a deal. A lot of the people on the computers there were getting passes and photos.

For once my brother did not have his eyes closed and the photo was not ruined.

I want to go to Mt. Bachelor. I haven’t been near there since before I started snowboarding.

My brother mentioned that there was no jump with the ramp like last year. I went back and looked at my post for last year’s show and I see no jump. Dennis?

Not many people buying beer. Too much shopping and browsing to do. That ice cream sounds good right now.

A lot more helmets to check out. I never found a better fit for me than the ’09 Smith Venue.

It is so fun to take pictures at the show because of all the great colors.

My brother helped talk me into buying a fine pair of $12 sunglasses. I don’t often wear them but it would be nice driving into the sun.

Check out great DVD title, “Turd Life, a crappy piece of crap” Wow.

The women selling the UofO and Oregon State hats with built in scarf were nice, but come on. Those take a special kind of person to wear. I am not that person.

No, I do not want to try the ski training machine. No, I do not want to buy a boat. As I asked last year, what is a wakeboard boat doing at a ski/snowboard winter show?

I have never been to Timberline in the winter. I would actually like to try Ski Bowl first. I have mostly snowboarded at Meadows and once at Bear Valley in CA.

My brother said that area was full of merchandise and people on Friday. They must have had good deals.

I want to start snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. I love hiking and would love to keep doing it in beautiful snowy wilderness. I like just thinking about how peaceful it would be. My brother started cross-country skiing last season and likes it.

My brother is always cold. I told him he should buy a heated jacket. My problem snowboarding has been being to warm. I ditched the big coat for good and never wear more than my softshell now.

I think the metal dog should have a whole head and face. That is kind of weird.

Finally someone was jumping on the trampolines to make the photos more interesting.

On our our way to leave a guy stopped my brother and said, “It’s you!”. He said he was looking online for info about the show and found my photos from last year. That was cool. It is nice to know people look at my work. I appreciate that it is not for naught. It takes a lot of time and effort.

Thank you most of all to my brother for going with me and being willing to take his time while I hurried to take photos along the way. I am glad he got a nice new board. I also found the right helmet for me, even though I bought it somewhere else. It is ready to pick up at REI in Portland.

I hope everyone else who went to the show enjoyed, and that everyone has a great ski/snowboarding season. I also hope that my friends will finally start going to the mountain with me like they said they wanted to last year. Let’s go play in the snow.