Check out Snowboarder Guide’s Google Plus page.

Do you use G+? What do you think of the service relative to Facebook? Will business pages make you use Google Plus more? Sound off in the comments

This is the original business card we hit the road with in 1999

I started SBG with two good friends in the fall of 1998 as we prepared to hit the road on a snowboard roadtrip. It’s been more than a decade since I started cobbling together bits of code to make a website that would catalog our trip as we traveled from Alaska into Canada and then down through Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado during what was to be one of the best seasons on record.

We started out as what would later be called a blog

In the years since, Snowboarder Guide has taken a number of forms. We started out as what would later be called a blog, an online journal chronicling the story of three 18-year-olds on the road with the sole mission of snowboarding. The journal turned into reviews, and the resort reviews we wrote and published were some of the first available on the web. Over the next few years we moved into product reviews as well, and before the term blogging had even been coined, we had adopted a web magazine format.

We’ve been as small as two people, and at times had ten contributors. Maggie joined our team, first writing reviews, then articles, and then taking on the role of women’s editor and overseeing the female half of the product world as the industry recognized the need for women’s specific gear. We married in 2001, and celebrated 10 years this year. We’ve traveled all over the US, attended incredible events, hung out with legends and heroes, and made friends throughout the snowboard industry, and along the way we’ve had more powder days than anyone really deserves. 

In the process, we lost our voice.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, two things happened: snowboard blogging really took off, and the print snowboard magazines started to put some real money into their websites. SBG was caught in the middle, more than a blog, but without the resources or print-revenue of a magazine. Stretched thin, we adapted by posting more press releases (because it was free content and search engines loved it), and opening our review system up for public reviews. In the process, we lost our voice. We were still here, snapping photos at events, publishing press releases to the website, and moderating user reviews, but it was no longer our words that made up the bulk of the site. The personality and character that our readers trusted and came to our corner of the web for, vanished.

At the same time, I was being pulled away by my other project, teaching, coaching, and guiding with Steamboat Guides. Steamboat Guides is awesome, and I’ll still be on-snow with SG many days of the week, but SBG is back.

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”

We’re still hammering out a number of details for this season, but I thought it was time to start laying some of it out. As Mark Twain so eloquently put it, “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” So here are a few of the changes:

Press Releases: We strongly feel that press releases are an important part of snowboard story, and so we’ll continue to post press releases. However, our goal is to do a better job of filtering the interesting and newsworthy (or things we want to make fun of) from the bland, generic press releases that fill up our inbox, and provide you that information with our voice. You can still read the standard press release at the bottom, but the top will be our words.

Contributors: Reviews and articles are back to a small team of on-snow reviewers. We hope to grow this and include more riders, but we’re starting small, and finding our voice again. If you’re interested in joining our team, feel free to get in touch.

Reviews: Reviews have been migrated out of the separate Censura review system and included within the main site. This makes for a site that runs faster, is actually searchable, and is far easier to update.

Review Scores: After ten years, we’re updating our review scoring. More on this soon.

A new look: This one is still a little ways off, but should be ready by the time snow hits.

SBG is a testament to years of hard work and great rewards, and is proof that if you work hard you can create something from scratch. It has been an incredible journey. I hope you’ll join us as we explore what’s next for Snowboarder Guide.

They’re 100% free, we’ll even front the postage.

To get your stickers, all we ask is that you:
1. Become a fan on Facebook and comment on a recent Facebook post
OR Follow us on Twitter and “retweet” one of our tweets (make sure to include @sbgmag).
2. Fill out the form, make sure to select Facebook or Twitter, depending on which you used, and enter your name/username, so we can tell you commented.
3. Click “Send Me Stickers!”
4. When receive the request we’ll check to make sure you’ve commented or tweeted, and then get your stickers in the mail.

Our 2010 sticker is 7″ long and 2″ tall:

2010 SBG Sticker

We have a few of the 2009 stickers still floating around that we’ll be mixing in as well.

Colors available: Black, Blue – Electric, Blue – Royal, Gold, Green – Kelly, Green – Neon, Hot Pink, Orange, Purple, Red, Silver, White, and Yellow

2010 Sticker Colors

Pile of new SBG stickers

If you need a bunch of stickers, for your shop, club, brand, or what-have-you, hit us up with the contact form and we can sort something out.

Our friends at ID Vinyl do all our custom vinyl; if you need custom stickers, they’re the shop to go see. There’s a discount for SBG’s readers, so tell them we sent you.

What are you waiting for, head over to the Sticker Request Form and get your stickers!

You can add a comment and enter to win in the current contest, read some reviews, submit a review, read some articles, or ask a question on the discussion board.

If you run into any problems on the site, please let us know via the contact form or send an email to bugs@sbgmag.com

We’ll be updating this post with our coverage of the show.

Monday, Jan 26, 2009
SIA Pre-show Jan 26

Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009
Day 1 Overview
686 Outerwear
Burton, Anon, R.E.D.
The North Face
Oakley
Ride & Cappel
K2
686 and New Balance Collaboration launch party

Wednesday, Jan 28, 2009
Day 2 Overview
DC
The Program
10th Annual Transworld Riders’ Poll Awards
Skullcandy’s Snoop Dogg & Mix Master Mike Concert

Thursday, Jan 29, 2009
Day 3 Overview
Dakine
Salomon & Bonfire
Helly Hanson
Snowboard Mag Party with DJ Muggs & Redman

Friday, Jan 30, 2009
Day 4 Overview

For the month of October we’ll be giving away snowboard movies every week to the reviewers who post the most reviews. No set numbers, it might be one movie each to four different reviewers one week and something else the next.

We have multiple copies of: All Day Every Day, Down With People, Ready, Finger on da Trigga, Knockout, Boned Age, Double Decade, Heart Films Vol 3, Stack Footy, Gold Country, Working Out The Kinks, Let It Ride, Thanks In Advance, Technicolour, It’s Always Snowing Somewhere, My Own Two Feet, Knock On Wood, and several others to give away.

While we do now allow anonymous reviews on SBG, you must post reviews from a registered account to be eligible for contest giveaways, anonymous reviews are not eligible. But that’s okay, account registration is free and easy!

Here’s how to post a review on SBG:
Open your closet and find some snowboard gear you want to review. This can be just about anything, from boards, boots, and bindings, to outerwear, helmets, and goggles, or even electronics like cameras and music players. We also have a resort review section if you would rather review a resort.

1. First you’ll need to register an account on SBG:
Register Account
Make sure to use a valid email address to be notified if you win.

2. Once you’ve got yourself an SBG review account, go to:
www.snowboarderguide.com/reviews

3. Choose product or resort reviews.
Navigate through the categories, to the category that best describes the item you want to review.
If your item isn’t already listed, then click “Suggest New Product.” Fill out the details. If you have a picture of the item, go ahead and upload that too, but it isn’t required.

4. When you’re done, hit submit, it will now let you review your item.
Fill out the fields, write your review of the product, and hit submit. You’re done!

5. Reviews will then be moderated by our staff, so they won’t show up on the site right away. Feel free to submit more than one review.

Each review you write that is approved by out moderators gets you one entry into our monthly drawing. In addition, there is a prize for the reviewer with the most accepted reviews each month.

If you have any feedback, positive or negative, on the process. Please drop us a line at info@sbgmag.com or use the Contact Form.

Reviewed Videos:
Think Thank “Stack Footy” Reviews
Autumn Line “Technicolour” Reviews
First Tracks Productions “Knock on Wood” Reviews
Burton “It’s Always Snowing Somewhere” Reviews

Coming Soon:
Rome SDS “No Correct Way”
Park City “I Ride Park City”
Leeward Cinema “My Own Two Feet”
Team Thunder “Gold Country”
Heart Films “Volume 3″
At Once Productions “Working Out The Kinks”
Sandbox Films “All Day Every Day”
Standard Films “Aesthetica”
Runway Films “See What I See”
Mack Dawg Productions “Double Decade”
Mack Dawg Productions “Down With People”
Grenade “The Boned Age”
“That’s It That’s All”
“Against The Grain – Tara Dakides”
Alterna Films “Knockout 10th Round”
FODT “Familia”
Absinthe Films “Ready”
Forum “Forum Or Against Em”

If you’ve already seen a few of this years videos jump in and start reviewing, you can even win new gear just for writing reviews.
Click here for instructions on submitting reviews.

We have copies of the latest snowboard videos, socks and underlayers from Hot Chillys, goggles, watches, bandanas, fleece-lined bandanas, hats, gloves, stickers, wax, and tons of other stuff. At some point this fall we’ll even be giving away a snowboard.

Here’s how to post a review on SBG:
Open your closet and find some snowboard gear you want to review. This can be just about anything, from boards, boots, and bindings, to outerwear, helmets, and goggles, or even electronics like cameras and music players. We also have a resort review section if you would rather review a resort.

1. First you’ll need to register an account on SBG:
Register Account
Make sure to use a valid email address to be notified if you win.

2. Once you’ve got yourself an SBG review account, go to:
www.snowboarderguide.com/reviews

3. Choose product or resort reviews.
Navigate through the categories, to the category that best describes the item you want to review.
If your item isn’t already listed, then click “Suggest New Product.” Fill out the details. If you have a picture of the item, go ahead and upload that too, but it isn’t required.

4. When you’re done, hit submit, it will now let you review your item.
Fill out the fields, write your review of the product, and hit submit. You’re done!

5. Reviews will then be moderated by our staff, so they won’t show up on the site right away. Feel free to submit more than one review.

Each review you write that is approved by out moderators gets you one entry into our monthly drawing. In addition, there is a prize for the reviewer with the most accepted reviews each month.

If you have any feedback, positive or negative, on the process. Please drop us a line at info@sbgmag.com or use the Contact Form.

Check here to see monthly winners

We have socks and underlayers from Hot Chillys, goggles, watches, bandanas, fleece-lined bandanas, hats, gloves, stickers, wax, dvds, and tons of other stuff.

Here’s how to post a review on SBG:
Open your closet and find some snowboard gear you want to review. This can be just about anything, from boards, boots, and bindings, to outerwear, helmets, and goggles, or even electronics like cameras and music players. We also have a resort review section if you would rather review a resort.

1. First you’ll need to register an account on SBG:
Register Account
Make sure to use a valid email address to be notified if you win.

2. Once you’ve got yourself an SBG review account, go to:
www.snowboarderguide.com/reviews

Choose product or resort reviews.
Navigate through the categories, to the category that best describes the item you want to review.
If your item isn’t already listed, then click “Suggest New Product.” Fill out the details. If you have a picture of the item, go ahead and upload that too, but it isn’t required.

3. When you’re done, hit submit, it will now let you review your item.
Fill out the fields, write your review of the product, and hit submit. You’re done!

4. Reviews will then be moderated by our staff, so they won’t show up on the site right away. Feel free to submit more than one review.

5. Reviewers will receive one entry into our weekly drawing for each review that is accepted by our moderators. In addition, the reviewer with the most accepted reviews each week will also receive a swag bag.

If you have any feedback, positive or negative, on the process. Please drop us a line at info@sbgmag.com or use the Contact Form.

Here’s how to submit a review:

1. Make sure you’re logged in to your account. If you don’t have an account yet, you can register for one here: Register

2. Head on over to the Reviews section of the website: Reviews

3. Navigate to the category of product or resort you wish to review. For example, Resorts -> California, or Products -> Outerwear -> Snowpants.
   *If the category your item is in does not exist, click on the “Suggest a Subcategory” link.

4. Find the item you wish to review, either in the list, or by searching for it, and navigate to the item’s page by clicking on its name, and then click the “Write a Review for this Product” link.
   *If you cannot find the item you wish to review, click on the “Suggest new Product” link.

5. Fill out the forms, hit submit, and you’re all done. Your review will be sent to a moderation que, and posted shortly.