Posted 19 October 2026

London Snow Show

We've arrived back from the London Show Show, which took place in Olympia again. Attending the Sunday show we noticed a lot of change from last year, some good, most tepid.

What Worked Well

They've doubled down on talks and stages, boasting six stages with content ranging from technical talks to fashion shows. The timetables for each stage were packed, and there was no shortage of things to watch.

As we were there on the Sunday, we attended the Eddie the Eagle talk with both Eddie and the writer of the film, Simon Kelton. This was a highlight for us, as were some of the talks on the POW Climate Action Stage.

Aside from the talks, there were various activities to take part in, with VR Snowballing making a return and Crystal Ski's new motion-tracking ski race, which was quite fun.

Again, if you were looking for resort stickers, you could have your fill this year! From the biggest American super-resort to the smallest Azerbaijan slopes, there was something sticky for everyone.

Where It Fell Short

The smaller venue felt notably vacant this year, with the number of exhibitors down to 50, compared with 70 last year. We managed to walk around the entire show in about 30 minutes, and that was with stopping at most of the stands!

Notably absent this year were the big French resorts: the 3 Valleys, Val d'Isère and Paradiski, despite the big marketing push around the new 'French Village'.

The number of gear shops actually selling products has not improved significantly from last year. Snow+Rock made an appearance, but didn't seem to be selling much.

One commenter suggested this could be because the London audience is a more mature crowd and already has most of the equipment they need. However, we feel the retail aspect of these shows is just as important as the resort aspect. Right now, it feels like 70% resorts, 10% charities, 10% dog food and 10% products people want. It's simply not a balanced experience for retail customers.

There are also some questionable non-ski brands starting to creep into the show too: pet food, food delivery, healing crystals and timeshares. This is normally a sign that the organisers are struggling to secure relevant and engaged exhibitors.

There were some rather obvious oversights for the second year running, too. There still isn't a map inside the venue! The upstairs area is barren and needs a better layout, particularly when half of the floor is reserved for un-themed catering.

50th Anniversary

We counted one sign mentioning this outside, but there was nothing inside to celebrate this, we were hoping for at least some classic photos of the show or a memorial timeline of all 50 years. All bets were off for the infamous indoor ski ramp however.

Looking Ahead

The talks are great, securing industry veterans helps the show feel more exclusive. They clearly are securing some heavy hitters. A stronger focus needs to be on the diversity of ski brands as well as having merchandise to buy.

Speaking again to some UK independents brands this year, DOUK (Home of the build your own snowboard) they said they could not justify the exhibiting cost this year. Unfortunately thats exactly the exciting home grown UK brand the show desperately needs.

We appreciate hiring Olympia is heinously expensive and dividing up the space is the cost of exhibiting, and maybe its just a symptom of the show getting priced out of london.

Luckily the show has persisted many off years in the last 50 and has stood the test of time, and things did look up when Mountain Trade Network took over last year, we lay optimistic of things to come in 2027.