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Snowweasel


Posts: 395
Joined: Oct 2006
Last Visited: 11:14
16th Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 10.39hrs on Wed 7 Jan 15
I've been a member of the SCGB and found their resort guiding serviceI (in Europe) really useful in the past.But their information on Scotland is awful and that angers me. It is so lazy. I just wonder, though if ,David, you've ever tried a straightforward letter to the SCGB setting out your concerns? Or was the open letter a product of your frustration?
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: 14.40hrs on Wed 7 Jan 15
Snowweasel, this is my impression of the way things have panned out:

1. The Ski Club of Great Britain was very active on Scottish mountains in its formative decades (1903, through the 1950s and the opening of its prestigious clubhouse on Eaton Square in London). A deep knowledge of Scottish skiing is recorded in the SCGB's publications of that time.

2. Commercial aviation made the Alps more accessible in the 1950s, but a high percentage of skiers continued to travel by rail - either to Scotland or Europe.

3. There was a very important turning point from the late 1950s, and much more strongly in the early 1960s:
a. The construction of ski lifts at Glencoe, Cairngorm and Glenshee.
b. The mass-marketing of packaged ski holidays, with charter flights reducing the cost of them.

4. The SCGB increasingly turned its nose up at Scottish skiing from the early 1960s (perhaps preferring the glamour of jetting off to Switzerland or Austria) - the very time that it had a perfect opportunity to part-base itself in (perhaps) Aviemore and get friendly with the thousands of new skiers taking to the slopes. This had the collateral effect that the SCGB did not recognise the immediate need for ski instructors in Scotland and did not become the training/qualifying body (as distinct from the Royal Yachting Association, as an example). So BASI (originally BAPSI) was founded.
At the same time the SCGB lost its role as governing body of British ski racing.

5. The SCGB also turned its nose up - to some extent - at the new 'mass market' of skiers from more general classes, enjoying package holidays. As early as the 1960s it tried to make itself a 'cut above', rather than a populist organisation.

Given that long background and pivotal change from the early 1960s (followed by pronounced membership decline, relative to the UK skier population, over the past 5 decades) ...

... I saw it as very interesting and promising that a Scottish chief executive was to take the helm of the SCGB in July 2012. That's why I decided to write the open letter on the first page of this thread to welcome Frank McCusker to the scene. I would have thought it was a piece of cake for him to sort out the Scottish snow reporting - a bit of staff time, probably from home, simply relating Scottish snow information to the Club's website.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 20.10hrs Wed 7 Jan 15 by David Goldsmith.
jabuzzard


Posts: 885
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 11:02
16th Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 16.22hrs on Wed 7 Jan 15
DonaldM Wrote:

No, the drivel I was referring to was you idea of racism being a factor against SCGB. That is pure drivel.


Quotes from this thread

An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of 'Little Britain'

£9000 tae plant 600 trees?? They seem tae spend a lot outside the UK, another good reason tae vote YES!

These statements reveal a pejorative attitude to those who come from south of the border and the first one is offensively racist as defined by the Equality Act 2010. I wish the racist element of Scottish nationalism didn't exist but it does and those who deny it are self-delusional.
growwild


Posts: 3550
Joined: Oct 2005
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 19.35hrs on Wed 7 Jan 15
Woop woop that's the sound of da police

Does his postcolonial lordship really think that's racist?

Your statements reveal just what I expected fae your superior race..

Yer katie hopkins doll is in the post for trying to twist things to save yer wee club from the abuse it deserves...



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: 20.34hrs on Wed 7 Jan 15
jabuzzard Wrote:
DonaldM Wrote:

No, the drivel I was referring to was you idea of racism being a factor against SCGB. That is pure drivel.

Quotes from this thread

An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of 'Little Britain'

£9000 tae plant 600 trees?? They seem tae spend a lot outside the UK, another good reason tae vote YES!

These statements reveal a pejorative attitude to those who come from south of the border and the first one is offensively racist as defined by the Equality Act 2010. I wish the racist element of Scottish nationalism didn't exist but it does and those who deny it are self-delusional.


There isn't even a single mention of anyone or any part of England in your quotes. You are totally paranoid and the bit about racism was drivel.
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: 20.56hrs on Wed 7 Jan 15
Strikes me the wrong creature was left tethered at Ayr Station with their suitcase !!
WeeSam


Posts: 110
Joined: Sep 2014
Last Visited: 00:53
5th Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 12.54hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
Wrote:
£9000 tae plant 600 trees?? They seem tae spend a lot outside the UK, another good reason tae vote YES!

wtf.

Is there no depth to the pettyness one can sink? How is it possible to shoehorn nationalism into every crevice?

Get a grip for fcks sake.




This is about an organization and its ability (or lack of) to publish accurate data. Accuracy is essential for customers and business.

Incorrect data is worse than no data. It is damaging.

If the ski club cannot publish accurate data, then the simple solution is to stop doing so, and redirect queries to sources that can, like here.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 12.58hrs Thu 8 Jan 15 by WeeSam.
tim


Posts: 197
Joined: Oct 2003
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 15.29hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
Actually the fact that the vast majority of the UK snowsports industry ignores Scotland is rather a good reason for independence.

If it's nationalism you're interested in (as opposed to the democracy and self determination that independence campaigners are after) check out Britain First, the BNP, EDL & UKIP - that's real nationalism!

Get a grip for f**ks sake LOL!
WeeSam


Posts: 110
Joined: Sep 2014
Last Visited: 00:53
5th Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 16.27hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
Thanks for the heads up on the organisations I may or may not be interested in, but seriously, please do get a grip on the subject at hand.


This is a thread about the ineptitude of a ski club, not about nationalism.




Edited 1 times. Last edit at 16.28hrs Thu 8 Jan 15 by WeeSam.
tim


Posts: 197
Joined: Oct 2003
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 16.31hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
get a grip (LOL) it was you who brought up nationalism :roll eyes:


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: 17.50hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
WeeSam Wrote:



This is a thread about the ineptitude of a ski club, not about nationalism.



Agreed. It was Jabuzzard who brought it up in his bizarre belief that people slagging off SCGB (and they deserve a solid slagging in my view) are anti-English WTF indeed.

It could be any organisation that gets it wrong. Plenty do in Scotland. It nothing to do with nationalism. Just rubbish and damaging reporting.

I think the main cause is the lack of care and remoteness from Scottish Skiing. I voted Yes btw :-)
growwild


Posts: 3550
Joined: Oct 2005
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 19.26hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
Jabuzzard has blamed someone else for the smell of his own clubs fart...

There was a snowboard club that hardly took notice of Scotland in the past, after a bit of greeting they seemed to change their ways. I think their excuse was geography and the folk they earn from the most go abroad as it's easier and faster for them..

Scotland should pull it's finger out too, the ski club here and the resorts would be recognized by Neanderthals and the Victorians would think aliens had landed and the transport and accommodation is shit, this thing at Nevis looks awright,though it's years too late...

But if a club is gonna use UK or GB (boulk) they really should be making more noise about the mountains in their northern colony and getting facts right...


mdearman


Posts: 242
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 07:28
11th Jan 2019
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 21.06hrs on Thu 8 Jan 15
DonaldM Wrote:I voted Yes btw :-)


Really? Can't imagine anyone would have predicted that...
WeeSam


Posts: 110
Joined: Sep 2014
Last Visited: 00:53
5th Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 16.18hrs on Sun 11 Jan 15
tim Wrote:
get a grip (LOL) it was you who brought up nationalism :roll eyes:



How? by quoting and replying to a previous post? Bringing the BNP and EDL into this (which is just bizarre) suggests that you are a insecure in your own indentity



There are two real factors at play here:
The ski clubs lack of interest (real or perceived) in Scottish areas. Is this because the are reflecting what people want and are doing with their leissure time? This has been described well in previous posts. Its a trend that has continued from the 60s. People - especially working class people that made the bulk of the population - started to holiday abroad. This has had a massive effect on the tourism industry across the whole of Britain. We are subject to a maritime climate which gives us unpredictable and often - frankly - rubbish weather. In the summer people head to the Med, and in the winter, the Alps (generalising). The weather is (usually) better (especially if you have only a week and want the best probability of good weather); and the hospitality is often miles better - more bang for your buck.

The other factor probably comes from the previous - inaccurate reporting of conditions. Is it because conditions at Glenshee are often of less importance to the member of the ski club than conditions at Meribel?


Being devil's advocate, there is obviously a feedback of some sort here: people holidaying abroad leads to a decline in investment at home, which leads to more people holidaying abroad and so on.


However, snow sports in the Highlands is very important to many people, none more so than those running business there that want to provide a decent service (we might want to disclude Cairngorm given the worsening experiences people are "suffering" there). So it is VITAL that any information given to customers is up to date and accurate.

If the ski club are not interested in providing this, then the least they could do is to stop providing innacurate information, and instead provide no information at all, and forward enquiries to a site like this, that is run by people who "love" skiing at home and WANT to provide a decent service.
WeeSam


Posts: 110
Joined: Sep 2014
Last Visited: 00:53
5th Apr 2021
Re: An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
Date Posted: 16.27hrs on Sun 11 Jan 15
growwild Wrote:Scotland should pull it's finger out too, the ski club here and the resorts would be recognized by Neanderthals and the Victorians would think aliens had landed and the transport and accommodation is shit, this thing at Nevis looks awright,though it's years too late...



I think that is entirely correct.

Holidaying in Britain - be it a seaside resort in the South West, of skiing in the Highlands - can be, if you don't know your way around, a dismal experience. Take out the crap weather, and we are often left with a terrible Fawlty Towers experience. Cold, 70s decorated B&Bs, expensive food - which is often crap -, expensive beer; and then you have the infrastructure of the resorts, which are often old, decaying and unreliable.

A mate of mine visited from Australia last winter, and we went on a tour of the Highlands, and it was embarrassing. We turned up at a hotel (in the Kyle) - we were the only guests, spent £100 each to stay, bought a few beers, and then asked for some food. NO was the answer. He didn't start cooking until 7pm (it was about 5pm). Can he turn the channel so we can watch the football while we wait for food? No, he only had one signal and his missus upstairs was watching. So, we had spent £250 quid in this place, we are the only customers, and the miserable old basket wouldn't make some fish and chips (he wouldn't put the fire on either, and it was freezing). It seems he would rather we were not there. My mate was going to lamp him! Luckily, it became a running joke. Sadly this sort of customer experience was not uncommon. By the time we got to Cairngorm mountain, I had given up apologising. We are used to crap service, littered streets, crap food etc. so it becomes invisbile to us: no wonder people go abroad.


But it is difficult, because of the feedback effect. Its a shame that when the ski areas have bumper years, that the money is not invested in upgrading infrastructure. What can be done? Would it be better for a big area to go out of business to allow more money to be concentrated somewhere else? Unfortunately, Cairngorm tends to be the most snow sure, tends to have the most skiing throughout the winter, but also has a terrible lift system. In this day and age, somewhere like Cairngorm really needs hi-speed 8 seater chairs, and several of them. Sure, they will be closed in the winds, but when the mountain is open, you need to get people around.



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 16.36hrs Sun 11 Jan 15 by WeeSam.
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