The annual Park City Ski and Snowboard Ski Swap kicked off for the 52nd time Friday evening, with Saturday and Sunday sales still to go.But Friday meant the best chance to find an even better deal, so people began lining up outside the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation Fieldhouse hours before the doors opened at 7 p.m.Last year’s first in line family — Bill, Michelle, Zane and Aliya — were bumped down to second this year by Jason Bowen, who’d grabbed the first spot at 2:45 p.m., fully equipped for the cold wait with a folding chair, sleeping bag, gloves and hat.“I thought maybe I picked the wrong day or something, because I sat here for 45 minutes before someone else got here,” Bowen said with a laugh.This was Bowen’s eighth year attending the Ski Swap, not nearly as seasoned as his line-mates: Bill now at 36 years and Zane at 16. This year, the family had ordered a pizza for their wait, and Bowen’s friend brought along dinner. “It’s just fun. It’s just the tradition. You meet people. I met more last year,” he said. His goal was to find a jacket for his wife, and if he saw a really good deal on some skis? Well, can’t say no.People waited in line for the Ski Swap event on Friday hours before the doors opened. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordFurther down the line, young ski racers Mika and Kai Van Lindenau were waiting with their dad and ski coach, up from Salt Lake City hoping to find some new gear. “I’m using his old (skis) and we’re hoping to get race skis for him, like giant slalom skis,” said Mika, 9, gesturing to her older brother. “And probably boots, because they’re small.” The siblings both competed in giant slalom, and Kai, 11, said he’d even made the podium last season. This was their first year attending this Ski Swap in Park City.“I started (skiing) when I was young, but last year was my first season ski racing,” said Kai. “So I’ve been used to skiing normally, but last year me and my sister started racing.”Inside the Fieldhouse, volunteers and vendor employees set up amid the rows of skis, boots, helmets, gloves, jackets, snowshoes and more. The selection offered huge discounts on new and unused gear brought in from vendors, and even better deals on used gear brought in on consignment by the public.Scott Denney, owner of Hughes Ski Hut in Chico, California, said it was his 25th year at the Park City Ski Swap. His first visit was when he was 19. “We do these pretty much every weekend, from mid-September all the way through early December. A lot of the other guys that have brought stuff here, we see them almost every weekend. We’ve developed relationships, we know what their kids’ names are, and all sorts of stuff like that,” Denney said.In his experience, a quarter of a century in, Denney said the ski swap tradition in the industry has evolved. Originally, it was a literal swap, where individuals would bring the gear they outgrew or no longer needed and trade it for something else.“Then it became like, everybody’s looking for the next size up, everybody’s looking to get rid of the smaller stuff, so they started inviting vendors in to provide the missing products,” Denney said.Vendors are still able to provide good deals by approaching manufacturers for past-season styles. This method is a win-win, Denney said.“We say, ‘Hey, what do you have left over that you didn’t sell?’” he said. “So we buy it at a discount, we bring it here, we sell it at a discount. So the manufacturer cleans out their warehouse. We sell something and make money on it. The percentage of the sale goes to the club so they make money, and then the consumer gets a discount from retail.”The goal is to help people get out and explore the mountains more, and Denney said his team is knowledgable and can answer questions about the gear, and match people’s needs with the available products. “What I do is I ask you a couple questions about who you are as a skier and who you aspire to be as a skier,” he said. Questions like, “What excites you about skiing? Are you going in the deeper powder, in the trees and the crud and stuff like that or are you sticking on groomed snow? Are you riding in the terrain park and jumps and boxes? How much of your time are you going to dedicate to skiing?”Then, in a room full of gear at different price points, he can help the customer find the right fit.Denney and other volunteers will be working the rest of the weekend, with the Ski Swap open Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tickets are still available on the Park City Ski and Snowboard Ski Swap website, parkcityskiswap.com, at $12 entry for Saturday and $5 or canned-goods-donation entry for Sunday.Shoppers look at discounted and used skis for sale at the Ski Swap in Park City. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordThe post Line for opening of Ski Swap wraps around Snyder Basin Fieldhouse appeared first on Park Record.