In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:
Being brutally honest, your list sums up how I felt about ISPO.
1) A down puffer that came out decades ago, brought out again so people can go to the pub in it.
2) A fleece much like any other fleece but with a slightly better water repellent coating on it than before.
3) A pair of boots for Ueli Steck priced at £380 but that nobody else can work out quite what they're for. Nuff said.
4) A genuinely pretty decent piece of kit that addresses a real issue, but which came out for last ISPO.
5) A company makes yet another pair of really good gloves, just like they have done for the last 20 years.
6) A posh ikea bag.
7) A coat that uses an insulation that is slightly different to how it was before but made so it looks like something much more expensive.
8) A helmet whose USP was that it was made from different stuff, but which has now been made from the stuff helmets used to be made from as well as the new stuff. Not really sure why.
9) A buffalo jacket which doesn't look rubbish.
10) A waterproof that's lighter and most likely even less durable and which weighs so little it'll blow off into the abyss the moment you take it off.
Maybe I'm just being grumpy but it was dull as hell. For me the only thing I saw of any real note was this:
http://mountainhub.com/ - a ski pole which links to your phone which you push into the snow and which then gives you a report on hardness layers etc which you can then download to a database to give a report of avalanche risk on varying aspects - great for ski patrollers, guides and avalanche services. Really cool tech and apparently next year they will improve it by putting a camera to record crystal shape as you plunge it... some good innovation there. PS, my list is a touch tounge in cheek so don't get yer knickers in a twist
Post edited at 18:31