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David Goldsmith


Posts: 1283
Joined: Feb 2003
Last Visited: 08:28
6th Nov 2018
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 17.44hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
Pippin Wrote:Pippin is my family name, you imbecile. Do you want my address and bank details as well


No, I wasn't planning on sending you money. Why not share with us your first name, Mr/Ms Pippin?

I don't believe any bona fide representative (or ex-rep) of the Ski Club would fling around insults and expletives for no obvious reason.

In the meantime, maybe a credible person could enlighten us as to what the SCGB defines as an "unbiased" snow report or an "official" snow report. Is a report from a tourist office "unbiased"?

I'm amazed to have to ask these questions, having first joined the Ski Club 51 years ago ... but such is the opaque nature of the beast!
Gorminator


Posts: 667
Joined: Jan 2011
Last Visited: 15:45
11th Aug 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 18.33hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
David, I think the time has come to cease this thread. It is particularly obvious that you are getting no-where (apart from the possibility of being put in the back of a van, wearing an "I Love Me Jacket" by some chaps in white coats !!

Perhaps you have sustained damage by long term exposure to Downtown Abbey !

Go and get yourself four spare wheels with winter tyres for your Noddy-car for driving round the ancient Roman settlement of Londinium next winter. A week from today we start heading for Winter 2013/14.

Have a good one.
alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 18.34hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
Yeah, they copy and paste the official snow depth. What do you expect them to do, go and drill 50 cores samples to get an average?


Perhaps you can explain for us who aren't all here, how a copy and paste job makes the SCGB snowreports better than an automated data feed? eye rolling smiley
tupp


Posts: 234
Joined: Apr 2010
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 18.37hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
And a dog George. Don't forget the dog.
Pippin


Posts: 21
Joined: Jun 2013
Last Visited: 14:23
3rd Mar 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 20.42hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
alan Wrote:
Yeah, they copy and paste the official snow depth. What do you expect them to do, go and drill 50 cores samples to get an average?

Perhaps you can explain for us who aren't all here, how a copy and paste job makes the SCGB snowreports better than an automated data feed?


For feck sake, it's a private club, you either take it or leave it.
Pippin


Posts: 21
Joined: Jun 2013
Last Visited: 14:23
3rd Mar 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 20.43hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
Gorminator Wrote:
David, I think the time has come to cease this thread. It is particularly obvious that you are getting no-where (apart from the possibility of being put in the back of a van, wearing an "I Love Me Jacket" by some chaps in white coats !!

Perhaps you have sustained damage by long term exposure to Downtown Abbey !

Go and get yourself four spare wheels with winter tyres for your Noddy-car for driving round the ancient Roman settlement of Londinium next winter. A week from today we start heading for Winter 2013/14.

Have a good one.


It's not just me then, he is a bit odd?
alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 22.19hrs on Fri 14 Jun 13
For feck sake, it's a private club, you either take it or leave it.


I don't know of anyone involved in Scottish Snowsports that is a member of the SCGB or cares what the SCGB spends it's members money on. That is a matter for members and as you say they can raise their concerns and then as far as membership goes take it or leave it.

However those whom their snow reports cover can not take it or leave it. Thus people do care about the frequently completely wrong and thus potentially damaging 'information' from the SCGB's supposedly "most accurate and up to date snow reports around"!

These issues with their web snow reports were first raised directly with the SCGB way back in 2002 (including by some of the Snowsport Areas). The first time it was raised in 2002 was regarding the listing of Scottish Resorts as yet to open for the season several weeks into the season, with the same data being broadcast on the ITV Teletext platform at that time.

Did the club apologise for the mistake and discuss how together we might rectify it? Did they hell.... They were arrogant and condescending! Hell I should know - I made several of the phone calls from CML and was told I didn't know what I was talking about (despite the fact I was calling from an OPEN ski area), that I was wrong and that they were right because they were 'the absolute authority when it comes to skiing matters in the UK'!

The fact is there has been little improvement in the reporting situation over the intervening period. Over that time data feeds to provide accurate up to date reports for the Scottish Snowsport Areas have been offered several times, the club refused them on the basis that they had a single reporting platform and format and because their reports were "unbiased" and "produced in house". As a Club they seem wholly incapable of grasping the different information needs of a regular and particularly weekend day-trip skier vs a once a year one week holiday skier. (Report format and updating week days and non holidays only).

Over an 11 year period they have either been unable or unwilling to provide a straight answer to the simple question of where their snow depth figures for the Scottish areas come from. Nor explain how they so often seem so completely out of touch with reality. The depths often quoted for lower slopes in-particular even in good conditions would simply not provide skiable snow cover on the majority of marked terrain at the Scottish areas.

Pippin admitted already that producing unbiased non automated reports in house is simply code for 'we haven't got an automated system so we just copy and paste'. Those that ski regularly in Scotland treat their reports as a joke, but that isn't the case to non regular Scottish riders who search for snow conditions in Google. That is the problem, not just through the SCGB website but the fact this data is regurgitated around the web and worse in traditional media.

Myself and several forum members used to regularly provide STV with mountain / snowsport photos for the STV Friday weather bulletins - this stopped because STV signed up to the SCGB for exclusive provision of Scottish Snow Reports. People have been tearing their hair out over some of the frankly 'nonsense' that has been broadcast as a result. SCGB is providing information to mass market broadcasters as the best and most accurate and up to date information around - yet they simply can not back up that data with any credible explanation or source.

It is simply not good enough, it is bad enough on the website, but spreading around other media outlets makes the matter worse. If they can not do it right, then stop - please.

Gorminator


Posts: 667
Joined: Jan 2011
Last Visited: 15:45
11th Aug 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 09.44hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
To me it sort of sums up the SCofGB when they could not initially reply to David Goldsmiths letter. I just keep getting the over-riding impression that they are not interested in Scottish Skiing.

The Media are just as bad. Remember the situation a few weeks ago when the Scottish BBC announced that skiing was finished for the winter. And yet just about every run was complete in Scotland and England !

I and a few others complained through the appropriate channels, and quite frankly all we got back was Corporate generated "Guff"

Where is this leading ? Well if the SCofGB are not interested in replying just forget about them and start another forum thread - Snow Ramping for example !

PS The SCofGB chap we met in Tower Gully all these years ago was a perfectly affable chap. He even had a beard !!
DonaldM


Posts: 871
Joined: Jan 2009
Last Visited: 20:58
10th Aug 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 10.08hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
To be honest I can't really find fault with the SCofGB. It's more an indication of society these days where people in Scotland don't equate, as much, the concept of GB and Scotland being the one and same thing but down south the terms "GB" and "England" are interchangeable in one's head.
Hipennine


Posts: 1061
Joined: Dec 2005
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 11.24hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
DonaldM Wrote:
To be honest I can't really find fault with the SCofGB. It's more an indication of society these days where people in Scotland don't equate, as much, the concept of GB and Scotland being the one and same thing but down south the terms "GB" and "England" are interchangeable in one's head.


On the contrary, I think it's more a case of the SCGB hierarchy being a bunch of middle class home-counties bubble inhabitors, whose only real interest in Scottish, Welsh or English skiing is when they can report a weekend morning of splendid fun, huzzar, on Bunker Hill (that's Surrey btw). The problem is that the bubble they inhabit probably has neighbours in tewwwibly important jobs, like editors of ITV or the BBC, and the SCGB has managed to position itself with this small minority as the independent voice of skiing for the nation (well they have some splendid parties in Maybel and Vel d'espair don't you know). Resorts and commoners from oop north are either classed as biased or irrelevant.
walydug


Posts: 45
Joined: Jan 2011
Last Visited: 19:12
5th Jun 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 12.58hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
^ Different or nuanced explanation, but by no means 'contrary'
igloo4you


Posts: 522
Joined: Oct 2009
Last Visited: 16:28
22nd Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 15.29hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
I'm sure you will all be delighted to know that Frank McCusker the CEO of the SCGB was recently in Scotland to meet with representatives from all the ski areas and the club are now working to ensure that the information they broadcast in future is up to date and relevant. It may be a long slow process but I believe we are now moving in the right direction. Andy
Pippin


Posts: 21
Joined: Jun 2013
Last Visited: 14:23
3rd Mar 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 17.14hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
igloo4you Wrote:
I'm sure you will all be delighted to know that Frank McCusker the CEO of the SCGB was recently in Scotland to meet with representatives from all the ski areas and the club are now working to ensure that the information they broadcast in future is up to date and relevant. It may be a long slow process but I believe we are now moving in the right direction. Andy


That's good news. Just a shame about the overtly anti-English comments being made in here.
Gorminator


Posts: 667
Joined: Jan 2011
Last Visited: 15:45
11th Aug 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 17.17hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
So Frankie baby either can't write or he is peed off with decades of ranting from Mr Goldsmith.

Totally agree with what Hipennie posted btw and I have seen it myself over the years.
tupp


Posts: 234
Joined: Apr 2010
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 18.03hrs on Sat 15 Jun 13
Pippin Wrote:

That's good news. Just a shame about the overtly anti-English comments being made in here.


I thought Franko was/is a Scot?
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