Two weeks before SIA, Never Summer sponsors the Rail Riot at Loveland Ski Area, an amateur event presented by the Boulder Snowboarding Group. Adam Schmidt founded BSG as a Meetup.com group in September 2008, and it already has more than 1,000 members; nearly 100 of them show up for the Rail Riot.
Loveland is using the phrase "Core Colorado" this season to attract riders like Schmidt, and BSG makes for a good core-market case study: Members use the RideBSG.com website to find riding buddies and carpool crews, and Schmidt has leveraged the group's numbers to wrangle discounts at local ski areas and big-name sponsors for parties and other events. When new snowboard videos premiere in Boulder or Denver, promoters call up Schmidt to help get the word out, and when a company like Never Summer wants feedback on its boards, it organizes a demo for BSG members. Nearly half of the Rail Riot competitors show up on Never Summer boards, proof that the Canadays are connecting with their core constituents.
Tony Gallagher
Jose Doton works on boards for the 2011 line at Never Summer's north Denver factory.
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"We're a regional group and we've got regional pride — what can I say?" Schmidt says. "Everybody loves that they're a local company, and a great percentage of our group has already been down to the Never Summer factory, met the local workers, seen the boards being made, tested the boards at a demo day, and then gone out and bought one once they've seen what the company is all about and seen that the boards are legit. It's an easy company for a local riders' group like BSG to get behind."
Never Summer team riders Cooper Sclar, Lakota Sage and Heather Baroody are on hand for the Rail Riot, representing for the company and enjoying a bluebird day on the mountain. Sclar, a fresh-faced freshman from Evergreen High School, wins the Grom division. Sage, who sports a burly mountain-man beard, takes dozens of casual laps through the terrain park over the course of the day, all the while fielding questions about the new board he's riding. Baroody wears snowboard binding screws for earrings and is content to ride the rails between powder expeditions to places like Silverton Mountain; no matter what kind of riding she's doing, she uses the same board: Never Summer's SL all-mountain freestyle model.
Based on her experience with Never Summer, Baroody has some sage advice for the businesses coming to SIA. "For a company to make it these days, I really think it's about getting out there and showing people what you have," Baroody says. "It's not enough anymore just to have pictures in the magazines and have the best riders on your team. You have to get out there, do demos, let people try the boards and show them firsthand, 'This is the stuff.' And you've got to bring it. For someone to want to buy a $500 snowboard these days, you have to have the goods. Give them a board they can ride in the powder and ride in the park, and they'll shell out. No matter what's happening with the economy, snowboarders are going to want to buy snowboards, you know? You just have to try a little harder now."
