The Blog

Archive for February, 2010

Spark Debuts at SIA in Denver!

Posted on February 26, 2010

We’ve been at SIA (Snowsports Industries America) for the last two years just to walk around and check it out. This year we decided it was time to have a booth and show off the product line for 2010/2011. The response was overwhelming. Really, we were blown away by the love! Our little 10×10 booth was packed from 9-6 everyday. It was fantastic to meet with our retailers, customers and pros. We were just flattered with positive feedback and support for our small but growing business.

Some highlights of the show:

->We heard some interesting rumors that we were bought by a larger company! We had no idea! Wow, looks like we can go shred more and stop working 14 hours a day! Seriously though, if you’ve heard this rumor, it’s not true. We are very much a local family owned and operated business.

->We were honored to meet DCP, Dave Downing, and Steve Klassen, as well as spend time with some of our favorite pros Jeremy Jones, Mike Basich, and others

-> We won a snowpress innovation award for our dynafit adapters! All you hardbooters out there would be impressed by the interest for this lightweight setup. Even the skiers came by to check it out. You should too. (Although this picture they used is of the Fuse, not the Dynafits)

->Unfortunately, Jeremy’s one and only Jones Snowboards splitboard was stolen attached to a  pair of mis-matched green small and bronze medium Fuse binders. Bad karma for the person who took it. If you see it out there in the world, let us know …

->We handed over a $200 donation check to Protect Our Winters from the sale of some specialty Fuse bindings with POWgraphics that were bought by an anonymous stoker in Maine.

-> We got to show off our new product line for 2010/2011. We’ll spare you the details for now …

Hangin’ with Mike Basich

Posted on February 24, 2010

After visiting the OR tradeshow in SLC and before driving the 8 hours to SIA in Denver, I got an unexpected treat: riding Snowbird with Mikey Basich and Dalton Paley! Having watched Mikey in all sorts of videos during my grom days, it fulfilled a childhood dream to get out and ride with him for a day. This was after the ‘bird’ had gotten a crazy dump of snow and had been ridden pretty hard, so mobbing with Mikey and Dalton through pow moguls all day was a serious workout. Mikey and Dalton put together “Open Space: The untold stories of Mike Basich” this year, which you can watch for free at Mike’s website: http://www.241-usa.com/index.html. This amazing film chronicles Mike’s life through 25 years of snowboarding, and his struggles and triumph over epilepsy as a child.

I left for Denver and Mike and Dalton headed up to Bozeman for the Cold Smoke Awards http://coldsmokeawards.com/, a festival celebrating winter photography, film and culture. Open Space won the “most innovative” award, and ironically, a pair of our Fuse bindings. Congrats to Mikey and Dalton!

(they were also at the X-Dance Festival)

What’s been going on at Spark? We’ll start with the Jib Party …

Posted on February 23, 2010

We’ve been busy here at Spark R&D – busting out bindings and traveling the world to trade shows and demos – spreading the good word about splitboarding. So much has happened in the last two months we barely had time to catch our breath and reflect, let alone share all the goodness with you!

So here we go… we are going to post something everyday for as long as it takes to catch you all up on the fun.

Starting with our sweet end-of-the-year Jib party in an undisclosed residential area in Bozeman!
Deep fried turkey and snickers bars? Check.
Ramp built off of shed? Check.
Fun box lit up with Christmas lights? Check.

Take a look: (all photos courtesy of our very own Chris McIntosh)