After an interesting week of riding in Chamonix, it was time for the Spark crew to press on. So we headed back to Munich, just in time to throw Jeff on a flight to Tokyo for the SBJ and Interstyle trade shows. A quick 13 hours later, he was checking out the latest in shred, for the Japanese market.

Overall the trade shows went very well. It was great to see many of the Japanese based brands selling splitboards. Also representing were Rome, K2, Mervin, Burton and a few others. All in all, a great sign that splitboarding is gaining popularity in Japan. It was also great to be able to meet with some of our Japanese dealers. Jeff even squeezed in a couple interviews with a few Japanese snowboard mags.

After a few days of trade shows, it was time to head to the mountains. First stop would be Hakuba. While walking the trade show floor, all snow reports were increasingly positive. Finally! Rumor had it that 3-4′ of fresh snow had fallen the previous couple of days, and the sun was supposed to shine for the next few days.

Hakuba, Japan

We were able to spend a few days in the greater Hakuba area, riding a variety of different terrain. The sun was out each day, which was great. While riding the Iwataka resort, I bumped into a local guy rockin some Spark bindings. He was kind enough to allow me to do a little impromptu demo at lunch. It was a pretty big hit with the locals.

Splitboard demo. Iwataka, Japan

After a few too many days of sun, the snow in Hakuba got a bit heavy. So we decided to head to Tenjin. The snow here was amazing. A few feet of fresh right before we got there, then nothing but blue skies for the next few days. The terrain there was great and the side country splitting, even better. Easily the highlight of the trip.

Our zone in Tenjin, Japan

I would like to thank Toshi, Yosuke and Yoshi at Native Products for the hospitality. I would also like to thank Taku at Voltage and William at The Boarding Company. Its always great to be back in Japan and to meet some new friends.

After a hectic run of SIA and ISPO trade shows, and almost a month without riding, we felt it was about time to hit the snow. So we packed up our gear in Munich and drove to Chamonix, France to check out the splitboard scene and visit Zero G, our dealer in Chamonix. We had heard rumors all week long about how terrible the snow was out there, as it hadn’t snowed in well over a month. But we figured we would be able to find something fun to ride out there.

Zero G, Chamonix France

Sweet splitboard selection!

Despite the grim snow reports, the Zero G and Spark crew set out on a tour in the greater Cham area. The conditions weren’t all bad. It was sunny and very pleasant out. However the snow conditions would be best described as… well, “firm”. The touring was actually quite nice and the scenery was amazing.

We would like to thank Martin at Zero G for the hospitality, and Tom from Zero G for taking out. Hopefully next year the snow will cooperate a bit more. Until then, we can at least find solace in the fact that Americans are by far superior thumb wrestling champions. Thanks for the competition guys, if you wanna call it that. Jeff will be looking forward to defending his title next year.

Who has two thumbs and kicks ass at thumb wrestling... This guy!

MUNICH, GERMANY

We had 2 1/2 days after SIA to unpack and re-pack for ISPO, ship out the remainder of our orders, catch up with emails, change our auto-responders, and make sure none of our bags were over 50.0 lbs. It was a mad dash to the airport, but once we were sitting on the plane there was nothing left to do but sleep and get caught up on our Hollywood movies.

Welcome to Germany!

5 of our 6 bags ended up in Munich … the missing one of course with our 2011/2012 fleet of bindings. Doh! At least we budgeted an extra day before the show to deal with things like this so it wasn’t too much of a panic. Three train rides and three  flights of stairs later (lugging 100lbs+ each) we made it to Feldkirchen where we were staying. Our warm welcome to Germany started off with a random dog peeing on Jeff’s bag, which was even funnier than it sounds when you’re sleep deprived.

Our Booth at ISPO!

ISPO was amazing. Splitboarding has really gained popularity in Europe since last time. A year ago, many of our conversations started with “it’s a snowboard that splits apart to form two skis” … followed by silence and a perplexed look from the bystander. This year people were coming up to us “hey, that’s a splitboard! I’ve never seen one in person…and you’re the Spark binding guys!” We did much less demonstrating how a splitboard works and much more technical discussions on how our bindings and accessories improve the experience. With the word “splitboard” becoming everyday vocabulary, we saw many new board manufacturers catching on having at least one split in their line. What a difference a year makes …

Of course one of the best parts about our annual tradeshow migration is meeting up with industry friends and having some fun:

After the show we stuffed our 3 board bags, 3 roller bags, and 3 of us into a rental car and drove across Switzerland with plans to spend a few days riding in Chamonix…(photos and story coming next!)