Snowboarding

We won’t really mention much more than to say it’s been really, really hot lately. So hot that we’re forced to spend most of our afternoons in search of air-conditioned and/or shady wet spaces.

Yesterday, our hunt took us to a Barnes & Noble where, to our surprise, they still have a very large and seemingly vibrant newsstand filled with magazines. As we brought our core temps down out of the fever range, we had the chance to check out how the three majors (Snowboard, Snowboarder, and Snowboarding) handled their annual product previews. Firstly, we were astounded by how much time, energy, and creativity the went into reproducing all the manufacturer’s websites in print. Don’t think that anyone is coasting in the print biz these days. They’re all working their asses off.

After cruising through the issues we decided that our favorite was Snowboard Mag’s “The Product Collection” issue. Editor Susie Floros and her team got the product mix just right. They had to most visually compelling product shots and action images, but more importantly they got the story telling side of the product down. And that’s not easy when everyone just wants their new graphics to get some play. Our favorite features were the interviews and profiles on people who make the snowboard industry work. Sure, no one went off message, but it was nice to see what some snow heads are up to, where they came from, and where they think snowboarding is headed.

We’d have more to say, but the air con in B&N was so frosty that we nearly froze and had to put the magazine back and go outside to warm up. Mission accomplished.

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