Re: Winterhighland reports on ski conditions in Other (Please Specify)...
matchstick1 Wrote: ^ the ski club of SEE didn't sample the Scottish slopes, IIRC it was 2 American journos who presumably sold their story to the mag. I see they've added Scotland to the survey now so at least they've responded to criticism here (and I believe elsewhere). When you answer the "did you ski abroad last year" question with a no though you get asked why you didn't ski last season, presumably Scottish snow and all the domes and dry slopes don't count as skiing then hmmmm! At least they're trying I guess! Anyway, if anyone wants a totally Scotland free target (as in you'd never ever guess there was anything for skiers or boarders north of the border if you read their publications) try the ever insular and Alpine focussed Snowsport England. It wouldn't be so bad if their magazine wasn't distributed free to the public at some domes and quite a few dry slopes in England so 'normal'people get read this not just their members. I've seen many copies of their glossy scribblings over the last 5 or more years and not once have I noticed any mention of Scottish skiing, not even over the last couple of seasons when there was every reason to mention the great conditions and not even when there are FIS races running on Cairngorm or elsewhere in Scotland. Their attitude to Scottish snowsports more than sucks IMHO, the insular little %$£&...!
The yank jornos might have sold the story to the SCGB, but SCGB must have had some level of interest to buy it and run it in the mag in the first place.
The clue is in the name 'snowsport england', their remit is snowsports in england. They rarely ever report on anything outside england apart from where it relates to some of their performers or coaches. Scotland has its own snowsports body and I doubt they ever report on anything in england, they never did when I was a member,and why would they? It's outside of their remit. They probably feel they don't want to step on each others toes.
In reality it's ridiculous that there is an HNGB for every home nation. They should amalgamate into one body. At the end of the day they won't as people won't give up their little 'fiefdoms'. My understanding is that snowsport england are pretty much on their knees now anyway, having lost the 'instructor war' with BASI.
SCGB did actually do a couple of led days at cairngorm and glenshee last season to see if there was any interest and people did turn up and ski with them. So hopefully they'll repeat it this year and into the future.
They do still need to do further work on being more broadly british based than home counties though. There aren't nearly enough events outside of london and the south east and the yearly leader training only happens in london making it difficult to attend for anyone not in the south east as well as making it less likely they will attract new leaders from other parts of the country. Which might give them a better chance at grass roots level in other regions if they had volunteers living there.
It's a chicken and egg scenario for them really. Until they put the effort in nationally they won't attract more significant numbers of members from other parts of the country than the south east.
