 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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er - actually I wasn't aware of your previous post, I was aiming for that Private Eye lookalike thing. Nevermind.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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agw, OK
To avoid any further confusion ...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
agw, OK
To avoid any further confusion ... |
That's actually very helpful. Maybe they could print that in the SCGB Mag?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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........ Announcing ........
The New Ski Club of Great Britain Chat Forum
FIRST BIRTHDAY & CHRISTMAS CHAT 'FORTUM'
Toast the success of the NSCGBC Forum,
while filling your tum with good pub grub and ale. Yum!
Wednesday 18 December 6pm onwards
YE OLDE CHESHIRE CHEESE
145 Fleet Street, London, EC4A 2BU
A fine and atmospheric hostelry in an alleyway, built one year (1667) after the Great Fire of London.
A great place for a chat, since - for two centuries or more - the pub 'hydrated' Fleet Street's best (and worst) hacks, 'til they relocated to glass towers filled with computers and phone-hacking experts. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is run by Sam Smith's, has roaring fireplaces, richly historical rooms and is just around the corner from Sam Johnson's house in Gough Square: home of the founder of the English Dictionary.
This is a non-organised event. Just meet, eat, drink and be merry ... Christmas!
The earlier you get there, the better the chance of a seat at a table and a snowHeads party hat (if admin wishes to produce them!)
Food can just be ordered from the bar.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese
And a big thumbs-up from SipAdvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d559646-Reviews-Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese-London_England.html
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Surprised this hasn't been moved to the snowEvents forum 
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Count me in.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Party hats for the New Ski Club of Great Britain Chat Forum Christmas 'Fortum' Bashette will be closely modelled on the bicorne ski helmet worn by Napoleon (and subsequently Jef Wickes, 'the world's greatest skier').
Offering excellent side-impact protection in tree collisions (which account for 98% of all skiing deaths, according to a well-known national source), the Chat Forum Bicorne is available with internal speakers and Christmas musak.
You may attend Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese without wearing a Napoleonic bicorne, if you have amusing alternative headWear.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It seems the response of "Ski Club Leaders" hasn't quite satisfied OP Mark Dewdney, who has posted again at 13.14 ...
| Quote: |
| The pre-reg is actually to 15th Feb. Thanks for the info. But it was a simple question. The first reply took several days and the the second one now a week and counting. perhaps an investigation is warrented to ensure member queries are replied to promptly. cheers |
The SCGB has, when I last checked, 27 members of staff. Perhaps a new 'member response team' is needed.
[/end of running commentary]
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Actually, looking at this again (and I guess it's essentially none of my business, but is quite interesting), the SCGB member concerned is merely notifying the Club that he is arriving in Tignes on 20 December and is perhaps seeking 'leadership' until 15 Feb - i.e. 7+ weeks during which he would like the service.
Since I'm no longer a member it's of no great concern but it illustrates that, while 90% of SCGB members do not use the leader service at all in a given season, it may be available for weeks to a given member. Unless there's a maximum usage per season.
Can anyone shed any light on this, and how it fits with the budgeting/costs which we've discussed?
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 Poor chap, I suspect he would have got a quicker reply on snowHeads
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Seems a reasonable response by SC...........................
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
agw, OK
To avoid any further confusion ... |
Did you miss a name out? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Winterhighland wrote: |
| Did you miss a name out? |
Yes I did, but only for the reason that the name "Pippin" [almost certainly a further pen-name used by Gerry Aitken] only appeared on Winterhighland, and only for the first time on 10 June 2013 on page 10 of this 15-page Winterhighland thread ...
An open letter to the new CEO of the Ski Club of GB
http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/read.php?2,148384,page=10
[Go into "Forums" and then "Scottish Snow & Mountain Sports" to find the thread.]
Pippin writes:
"ONLY bothered to register because I wanted to tell you you're completely wrong. Ski Club Leaders have never been asked to measure snow depths. That's 'never' as in for at least the last 50-years.
Seems like you observed something and then lept to a conclusion."
That conclusion would have been reached because of the SCGB's own claims about its snow reporting over the years, which I'll come back to in due course. In a nutshell, the SCGB gives the clear impression that one virtue of having its reps ('leaders') in resorts is that they can report snow more accurately than the tourist office. The reality is that snow depths are sourced, in bulk, from the national networks of tourist offices ... as I understand it. I have a perfect memory of SCGB reps doing things very differently, as recently as the 1960s and 1970s - filing personal reports back to SCGB HQ on a daily basis. What's with this "50 years" thing, "Pippin"/Gerry?
An official clarification from the Ski Club of Great Britain on its snow reporting procedures - its daily acquisition of data - would of course, be very welcome.
Meanwhile, back to "Pippin" [almost certainly another Gerry Aitken name] on Winterhighland ...
| Pippin wrote: |
| I take it you want the full names of all the people involved in the information gathering for Scottish snow depths? |
Wouldn't be a bad idea, since the SCGB says it has specific sources/contacts supplying its Scottish snow depths.
| Pippin wrote: |
Leaders don't/have never measured snow depth, fact. Going back a few years they would give the Club the snow depth they got from the resort, however they don't do this now as the Club get those figures directly from the resorts'websites.
It really is as simple as you being confused by what you saw/heard. |
| Pippin 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? |
What we'd expect ... presumably ... is for the Ski Club of Great Britain to do what it officially claims it does. We'll come back to that.
| Pippin wrote: |
Fuck sake, I said they passed on the official snow depths recorded by the resorts to the Club, usually by FAX. Since the internet, however, the Club collect all the official depths directly from the resorts' websites.
This is what I actually said: "Ski Club Leaders have never been asked to measure snow depths."
What don't you understand about that statement? I certainly didn't say they never reported back what the resorts were publishing. There you go, if you cannot even follow a few posts on here, I can now see why you got so confused by what you saw the reps doing.
I did the Reps' course in 1989, and we were NEVER expected to measure snow depths ourselves. Fuck knows what you saw, but it clearly wasn't what you thought you saw. |
Now, that one's interesting, because Gerry Aitken says - on his SCGB profile - that he only joined the SCGB in 2001.
Maybe it's time that Gerry Aitken joined us at this table, using his own name, and explained a few things ... about a few matters ... over the past 12 years or so.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sat 7-12-13 11:11; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Just as a reminder ...
| Ski Club of Great Britain wrote: |
"What makes the Ski Club’s snow reports different is that it’s not just automated data from the resorts – we have a team that gathers and checks the information every day. This is how we can deliver unbiased and accurate snow reports to you."
[Alyn Morgan, SCGB Information Manager, SCGB Snowcast, 26 Nov 2010]
"The Ski Club’s snow reports are the best online ..."
[Statement on skiclub.co.uk]
"The most accurate and up to date snow reports around"
[Statement on skiclub.co.uk]
"Regarding depths, then there are no official depths available from the Scottish resorts so we aim to report representative depths as it states in our site. We do this through various means including talking to skiers in Scotland as well as people within the ski industry who are in Scotland."
[Alyn Morgan, SCGB Information Manager, SCGB statement on Facebook 3 May 2012] |
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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"Comedy" Goldsmith,
There is a lesson for you here:
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”
Nelson Mandela
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I can certainly remember the Ski Club Rep in Wengen phoning the club house in I think the 90's to report snow conditions, HOWEVER all they were doing was reporting the same values given by the tourist office (which to be fair to Wengen are consistent and in my experience pretty accurate, they might occasionally add something such as restricted to lower runs due to high winds or some such comment but that was it.
I'd take issue with the following:
"What makes the Ski Club’s snow reports different is that it’s not just automated data from the resorts – we have a team that gathers and checks the information every day. This is how we can deliver unbiased and accurate snow reports to you."
Not any more they just quote the resorts own reports
"The Ski Club’s snow reports are the best online ..."
They are no better or worse than the sources they take them from, they may however be one of the most comprehensive listings
"The most accurate and up to date snow reports around"
Err no that's a lie, the daily reports are updated after the individual resorts post their reports so they cannot be the most up to date
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However the information is obtained, Wee Frank claimed at the AGM that the SCGB site had the best snow reports and this would be used to win new members.
Recently many resorts had no information. This included leader resorts where I would expect closer ties to be maintained regardless of whether there was a leader in resort.
Users could obtain more uptodate information by going straight to the resort's own site.
If this becomes a common experience then people will not bother to consult the SCGB site in the first place.
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So I'm sitting here outside the hallowed portal in Wimbledon (not being facetious) thinking where or how can I find a SCUK rep in a resort I'm heading toward . . . what do I type into Google? Why would I be looking in the first place? Where is the SCGB on the vacation industry radar . . . from the viewpoint of being just a wannabe beginner skier?
Try it . . . and see just how further up their own butt and how deep you have to dig to discover where these idiots think they are 
Genuinely, the only thing keeping the SCGB open is legacy word of mouth and snowHeads. It's almost impossible to describe how naff their marketing efforts are . . . it's almost as if it is a deliberate intent to be insular, separate and insulting . . .
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Masque wrote: |
| So I'm sitting here outside the hallowed portal in Wimbledon (not being facetious) thinking where or how can I find a SCUK rep in a resort I'm heading toward . . . . |
I didn't know the SCUK (Snowboard Club UK) had reps, is this a new service? 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| richjp wrote: |
| “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.” |
I think you'll find that he fought quite hard until he actually won. That's kind of a prerequisite for the magnanimity business I'm afraid.
SCUK reps: it does sound like an insane concept, does it not? Not something you'd try to start a business doing today.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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halfhand,
| Quote: |
| I wonder do SCGB still count me as a member? Despite not renewing my membership at the end of 2005) I still get the newsmail The Edge. |
+1
Good question, which may account for the static membership figures?
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
It seems the response of "Ski Club Leaders" hasn't quite satisfied OP Mark Dewdney, who has posted again at 13.14 ...
| Quote: |
| The pre-reg is actually to 15th Feb. Thanks for the info. But it was a simple question. The first reply took several days and the the second one now a week and counting. perhaps an investigation is warrented to ensure member queries are replied to promptly. cheers |
The SCGB has, when I last checked, 27 members of staff. Perhaps a new 'member response team' is needed.
[/end of running commentary] |
Mark Dewdney sounds like an r.sole - 'I have reported your post'.
You would not want to ski with him.
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You know it makes sense.
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Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sun 8-12-13 14:43; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| halfhand wrote: |
| Do reps have to be SCGB members? |
A very interesting and relevant question. I seem to recall a prominent worker for the SCGB saying he was not a member of the Club, which amazed me.
This is exactly what the SCGB says are the criteria for becoming a rep ('leader'):
Become a leader
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/skiclubleaders/becomeaskiclubleader/default.aspx#.UqR1oyff5xU
Take note of the panel on the right "Does the following apply to you". Click "View full list of criteria". Didn't work for me.
I can't find anything, in what seems a pretty comprehensive description, specifying that SCGB membership is a prerequisite to becoming a SCGB leader.
Perhaps someone 'in the loop' could explain the official position on this.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| D G Orf wrote: |
I can certainly remember the Ski Club Rep in Wengen phoning the club house in I think the 90's to report snow conditions, HOWEVER all they were doing was reporting the same values given by the tourist office ...
I'd take issue with the following:
"What makes the Ski Club’s snow reports different is that it’s not just automated data from the resorts – we have a team that gathers and checks the information every day. This is how we can deliver unbiased and accurate snow reports to you."
Not any more they just quote the resorts own reports |
Now that the SCGB is largely independent of the tourist offices, as we understand it [where it is paying rent to house the rep in the resort, rather than being hosted] ... it is surely in a more independent position to report the snow independently of the TO.
A lot of independent (fully independent, in the sense that the correspondent is paying fully for the ski holiday and not hostage to the tourist office at all) snow reporting now takes place on social media.
At one time (premium phone lines, pre-internet) the Ski Club of Great Britain made a great deal of money out of giving people snow information. The game has certainly changed in a radical way over the past 20 years.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Can I ask why my messages on the Ski Club forum have been copied onto here? It's rather rude!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
Now that the SCGB is largely independent of the tourist offices, as we understand it [where it is paying rent to house the rep in the resort, rather than being hosted] ... it is surely in a more independent position to report the snow independently of the TO.
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Except they would be run out of resort if they took too much of an independent line I expect.
| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
A lot of independent (fully independent, in the sense that the correspondent is paying fully for the ski holiday and not hostage to the tourist office at all) snow reporting now takes place on social media.
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Admin tried organising snowhead's reports into an email, but it is very sporadic so I guess doesn't really warrant the time to do.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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And he has the cheek to call it from Weatherheads
A phrase I coined donkey's years ago (well in Internet speak at least) when I first started doing a weather blog along with one of the first WeatherCams in the UK (also pretty sure that was a phrase not being used either), in fact I registered the domain on 06-may-1999 !
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| MrD wrote: |
| Can I ask why my messages on the Ski Club forum have been copied onto here? It's rather rude! |
MrD, you have the option (you must be a member, given what you're commenting about) to comment in the public domain ... as you've chosen to do ... or in one of the two SCGB forum sections which are 'members only' and not visible to non-members. There's a little padlock symbol next to those sections of the forum.
Anything in the public domain is fair game for 'copy 'n pritt', as far as I can see (within the laws of copyright and 'fair use')
[/end of SCGB members' advice line]
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
| MrD wrote: |
| Can I ask why my messages on the Ski Club forum have been copied onto here? It's rather rude! |
MrD, you have the option (you must be a member, given what you're commenting about) to comment in the public domain ... as you've chosen to do ... or in one of the two SCGB forum sections which are 'members only' and not visible to non-members. There's a little padlock symbol next to those sections of the forum.
Anything in the public domain is fair game for 'copy 'n pritt', as far as I can see (within the laws of copyright and 'fair use')
[/end of SCGB members' advice line] |
You may be correct legally however what you are repeatedly doing is simply bad manners.
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A lot of this thread is a masterclass of bad manners, bitterness and small mindedness.
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yes, very bad manners, as far as I am concerned; very un-gentlemanly, regardless of the law. Had I wanted my message put on here then I would have put it here in the first place. I had been warned about the internet but I foolishly expected better standards from the skiing community.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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MrD, I'm sure you are a very nice bloke, kind to animals etc, but I think you have to consider whether or not you are cut out for this forum lark. Luckily, unlike the school playground, you can simply leave. If your pain threshold is so low you report someone for saying "DIDUMS", you are in for a bumpy ride. Save yourself.
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If you don't want stuff to be public, then perhaps you shouldn't post it on the internet. 
Please don't call me a skier or a gentleman, both of which are derogatory.
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FAQ
knows what you saw, but it clearly wasn't what you thought you saw.
... however 
