Sierra Snowboard staff and community members expand Bruizzapalooza 2009 into a five-stop world tour for 2010.

How committed is Sierra Snowboard to fostering the connections forged in the SierraSnowboard.com community forums and chat rooms?

Committed enough to put together a five-stop Sierra Snowboard World Tour for 2010, expanding on the tradition of last season’s hugely successful Bruizzapalooza community meet-up and riding session at Sugar Bowl resort.

What started out two years ago as a get together of SierraSnowboard.com community members Bruizza and Saccomedybrian to go riding in Tahoe with a couple of Sierra Snowboard staff, evolved last year into the madness that was Bruizzapalooza — an all-out assault on Sugar Bowl resort with community members getting hooked up with free rooms at the Sugar Bowl lodge, free lift tickets, free demos provided by Burton, Capita, Line, Forum and Union, and plenty of debauchery that only the photos from last year can fully explain. (See the Bruizzapalooza Thank You thread for all the photos and stories.)

In Bruizza’s (aka Brian McCabe’s) own words, “Two seasons ago I flew out to Tahoe to ride with a few of the Sierra members and had one of the best times snowboarding I had ever had. So last year the plan was to do the same thing, only include a few more people.  Thanks to Mike and the rest of the Sierra crew, it grew from about 10 people the first year to around 100 people last year. Both trips rank in my top five snowboarding experiences.”

While the chance to demo 2010 Burton gear that, for the most part, only pro riders had seen up until that point was definitely a highlight, the chance to meet and ride with the community members who interact online every day was the best part of the weekend.

“It was really, really cool — almost like a team-building weekend.” Said Jenn Mahoney, Sierra Snowboard Web Content Supervisor, of last year’s event. “You get all these people together who have been online friends and really wanted to go ride together sometime, and they finally got the chance to go hang out...

“I think it really strengthened a lot of people’s devotion and commitment to the community.”

Hoping to build on that commitment, the Sierra Snowboard crew has expanded the party to the 2010 Sierra Snowboard World Tour, with stops in Breckenridge, Colorado; Stevens Pass, Washington; Stowe, Vermont; and Sugar Bowl, California; as well as plans for a New Zealand tour stop still in the works.

At each stop, members of the SierraSnowboard.com online community are invited to come ride with their fellow community members and Sierra Snowboard staff, and help celebrate the shop’s fifth anniversary.

"This year, we want to come out and ride with even more of our community members,” said Mike Harrosh, founder and president of Sierra Snowboard.

Starting in Breckenridge, the 2010 Sierra Snowboard World Tour will include the following stops:

• BRUIZZAPALOOZA: January 23-24; Breckenridge, Colorado. (Nearest major airport, Denver; nearest small airport, Vail.)

• SHAKAPALOOZA: February 27-28; Stevens Pass, Washington. (Nearest major airport, Seattle-Tacoma; nearest small airport, Wenatchee.)

• BETTYPALOOZA: March 27-28; Stowe, Vermont. (Nearest airport, Burlington.)

• SIERRAPALOOZA: April 10-11; Sugar Bowl, California. (Nearest major airport, Reno, or Sacramento if you want to stop by Sierra Snowboard on the way; nearest small airport, Truckee.)

• KIWIPALOOZA: Dates TBD; New Zealand. Details to come.

Each Sierra Snowboard World Tour stop will include two days on the hill with the staff and online community members who make SierraSnowboard.com the best community of riders on the web.

In addition, Sierra Snowboard is working on hooking up riders with free demos as well as discounted lift tickets at each stop.

So get the time off work, book those plane tickets now, and plan on meeting up face-to-face with your favorite people from the SierraSnowboard.com community this season.

For more information about who’s coming to each of this season’s tour stops, check out the official 2010 World Tour thread in the forum section of SierraSnowboard.com.

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