#day smith

By Melissa McKenzie There was only one place to find one million dollars worth of equipment, local wineries and breweries, winter sports vendors, professional athletes, and discounted season passes this past weekend. It was at the Ski and Snowboard Festival. The festival, which was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center, was the place to be for snow sport enthusiasts November 12-13. On Saturday, BMX flatland specialist Day Smith, skateboarder Phil Hajal and BMX biker John Parker participated in the half-pipe stunt show where they showed off tricks and stunts of various degrees of difficulty. The half-pipe was located just outside of the wine tasting area where over 40 wineries from Bear Valley to Napa had samples of everything from Cabernets to Moscatos and offered discount prices on some of their special labels. On Sunday, there was another half-pipe stunt show as well as a concert by Zepparella, an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band. The wineries were replaced with local breweries like Black Diamond, Santa Cruz Mountain and Gordon Biersch. “We really tie in and cross market. It’s not just skiing and snowboarding. It’s the communities around skiing and snowboarding,” said Collier Cook, vice president of sales and marketing for SnowBomb, the festival’s main sponsor. Northstar ski resort was on hand to promote their recent acquisition by Vail Resorts and their “Learn More on the Northshore” package which allows people to learn how to ski or snowboard for $35. Northstar was also promoting the resort’s season pass good for both the north and south shores of Lake Tahoe’s Vail Resorts. After receiving 2.5 feet of snow last week, Mammoth Mountain opened on Veteran’s Day. Mammoth was promoting the mountain’s partnership with Horizon Air and the seasonal service from Bay Area airports, including San Jose, to the Mammoth-Yosemite airport. The flights, which are $59 each way, were created to prompt more Bay Area skiers and snowboarders to choose Mammoth Mountain Resort. 25 world class resorts including local locations like Kirkwood, Sugar Bowl, Squaw Valley and Royal Gorge as well as vacation destinations like Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Taos, New Mexico, Big Sky, Montana, Steamboat, Colorado, Snowbird, Utah Mt. Ashland, Oregon, Sun Valley, Idaho, and Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia attended the event. Subaru, Any Mountain, Clif Bars, Wahoo’s, Lake Tahoe Heli Skiing, Cabot, Southwest Airlines, Sports Basement and Radio Disney were among the non-resort vendors. Over one million dollars of equipment was sold at up to 70 percent off to the estimated 20 thousand attendees during the festival’s winter blowout sale and each ticket came with three free lift tickets and additional resort deals worth far more than the $20 admission fee. Information on the breweries, wineries and vendors as well as links to their websites can be found at sfskifest.com.