The Rome Lodge 2015

This past weekend, the Method Mag crew rallied out to Diedamskopf, Austria to spend a few days board dogging and partying at The Rome Lodge. Now in its second year, The Rome Lodge serves as an alternative to trade shows - a choice destination to invite media, partners and retailers to try new product and gain a sense beyond typical PR talk of what the Rome brand embodies.

"The idea of doing something other than a regular indoor trade show has been in our heads for quite some time," says European brand manager Philip Kämmerer. "We did our first pilot project on a very small scale two years ago at Schmittenhöhe, Austria where we only invited a couple key retailers for a shred weekend. The feedback was so amazing that we decided to drop out of ISPO the year after and start our own private on snow trade show at the Diedamskopf, and so the Rome Lodge was founded."
A sampling of the new Rome line, ready to be ripped
We arrived at the Lodge for the media weekend where we bunked up alongside the Pleasure Mag dudes, the Source Mag posse (big cheers to Anna for holding it down as the only girl present, and for her twistable generosity) and the guys of EpicTV's "Daily Blizzard." A few of Rome's key account holders and veteran employees were also in attendance, rounding out an awesome crew hellbent on good times. We were greeted promptly with a generous offering of local eats.
locally sourced, locally devoured
Cheese is tight
Thanks for killing it in the kitchen dudes!
"The main idea of the Rome Lodge is very simple—we think it is a lot more fun (and productive) to ride with shops than it is to try to talk to them for a few minutes in a smoky trade show with four competing DJs nearby," says Rome's Co-Founder Josh Reid. "… In the end, the central idea is one that you see in our new catalog—F@*K Yeah, Snowboarding!  The Lodge is just one way to bring to life that concept and share it with shops.  So the central idea of the Lodge is the central idea of the entire Rome brand."
To our delight, Josh made sure we had time to watch the classics. Long live Boozy the Clown
Since the brand's inception, Rome has remained a tight-knit unit - an aspect that, in our opinion, has helped the company remain steadfast to its roots and founding ideals. A weekend of high speed turns and cases of Fohrenburger only furthered that notion. "Besides Paul (other Co-Founder) and I, there are a lot of original people still deeply involved—the reps you met, our Director of Sales, our Art Director, our Director of Operations and a bunch of other people," says Josh. "These people are the inner circle of the SDS.  From the beginning, I’ve always said we’re some weird mix of family and gang—one rooted in the idea of snowboarders running a snowboard company.  As you might have heard from Derek, Graham or me, for 14 years we’ve camped out together, we’ve busted our asses together, we’ve broken a few laws together, and of course, we’ve snowboarded together.  When you look at those people who have been here since the beginning, or shortly thereafter, we’ve bled together and that absolutely affects the direction of the brand.  With so many of us still here, it keeps us firmly rooted in being a brand based on the idea of the Syndicate—a diverse group of snowboarders creating and running a snowboard company."
One of the crew, sending tail
Can't really ask for much more...
Gotta earn 'em
The midday lunches were all time! This is the meal we were all served trout, and the trout heads saved for stashing in hoods, gloves, etc
The spring sun gave this guy some extra stank
The rare and elusive Hood Trout catching some rays on Noel, host of the Daily BlizzardMatt Stillman: Rome social guru, true american, trout handling extraordinaire
After a weekend of bluebird ripping, peak hiking, schnapps slammin', trout head hiding and a handful of hot pepper/tabasco/vodka shots that barely stayed down, we topped it off with a three kilometer Rodel ride to top 'er off. These Rome dudes are no slouches when it comes to getting a sled down the hill.
Before rodeling down, a mandatory pitstop at Gigi Ruf's uncle's lodge for...
... a few beers and a grip of these
Need for speed!!! Rome mainstay Derek, up front and ready to take that title
"I’d love to (make a custom Rome Rodel). Maybe there is a chance to do a custom OEM one from an Austrian manufacturer," says Josh. "The 3,000 vertical foot rodeling battle, while flirting with serious injury, was absolutely a highlight of the Rome Lodge.  Until you do it, it’s hard to explain it.  We make a variety of internal trophies here, and I was just saying that I want to make a rodeling trophy for next year that we somehow inscribe the names of winners on like the Stanley Cup."

Until then, a huge cheers to Rome!!!
Drink up and I'll tell ya!