 Poster: A snowHead
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jasonc, I am not aware that any of those who have posted in this thread being a rep, and many I know are not. Prepared to be proven wrong. Obviously there are snowHeads who are reps.
I suspect that there is some kind of ongoing legal action and statements by the club at this time might be seen as prejudicing that.
I think the real test will be how things shake down this season.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Latchigo, I wish I could get to the Ski Show but the dates just do not work for me. What are the dates of the AGM?
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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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I have searched the SCGB forum achives using the terms Death and Verbier. I failed to find anything about this alleged incident in Verbier.
Anyone know anything more about it?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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AGM is 29th November. There are usually a few Snowheads in attendance and it is informative and civilised.
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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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Latchigo, the meeting I went to was civilised. Can't make it this year. The more I think about the problem, the more I think I may have over-blown it. Happy to let the dust settle.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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jasonc, I think it's probably fairly obvious who of us are members. I think the only one who's owned up to being a Rep is Red Dave, and snowball has said he once did the Reps' course. I'm not one (a Rep that this), BTW; I have been idly thinking about it, and removing the 50yo drop dead limit made that more likely, but these shenanigans will make it less likely again.
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[deleted - not relevant]
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Wed 24-10-07 23:02; edited 1 time in total
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davidof, victim was a french boarder and member of the ski club, JP Marquette.
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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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A fair amount of talk about this subject at the ski show today. Had it mentioned to me (unprompted) by 2 people, what did I know etc. No mention made or knowledge of this thread but it seems that the implications have hit home and the mutterings were basically that the members will never stand for it, uproar, desertion, we'll fight them on the beaches etc etc. You can imagine. Verbier tragedy talked about as being the cause but nobody seems to know what happened. Had it suggested to me that the Swiss keep records in Davos of all Swiss off-piste fatalities whether caused by avalanche or not - perhaps someone here will know how to access that info.
The folks manning the SCGB stand, however, told my pal (in an effort to convert him) that the reps would happily be taking people off piste. He didn't push the point but perhaps someone had better enlighten them.
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brian
brian
Guest
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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brian, interesting stuff. Scary how often the avalanche danger was 2. No mention though of Verbier so best conclude it wasn't an avalanche.
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brian
brian
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Bode Swiller, ime, although the scale is theoretically the same, the Swiss tend to number the conditions one lower than their French counterparts, eg. 2 in Switzerland would more likely be 3 in France.
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brian, that's very useful to know. Bit like vanity clothes sizing 
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You know it makes sense.
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Here is the original SCGB news item on the poor man. May He Rest In Peace.
................................................
Jean-Philippe Marquette 1977-2007
Monday 16 April 2007
It is with deep sadness that we have to report the death of Ski Club member,
Jean-Philippe Marquette, who died on 23rd March following a fall whilst snowboarding with the Club in Verbier.
Jean-Philippe Marquette
1977-2007
Obituary for Jean-Philippe Marquette 1977-2007
Jean-Philippe Marquette, or JP, was a beautiful, intelligent, warm, passionate, sporty guy. He was known for his gorgeous smile and his enthusiasm for getting the most out of life. He’d taken time out, to snowboard and complete his thesis, after 10 years of accountancy study and work, two in London for Renault, the rest in Marseille, Nice and Frejus. JP loved nothing better than being on his snowboard. Introduced to the Ski Club in Mayrhofen, he found ‘The Snowboard Spirit’ too, having fun playing on and off piste on his board. He was hooked. He enjoyed being in the mountains every day, meeting new people, and took in good humour being told the French were arrogant by nearly every Brit he met. He could see their point. He wanted to be a Ski Club Rep, and to move to Austria. Proud to be French, with an Anglophile streak, he was a loving son and brother, and a wonderful father figure to my son. The world is poorer for the loss of JP in his prime, but I remember him saying that I shouldn’t stop my son from skiing because of the danger, as everyone should follow their passion in life. He most certainly did.
Melanie Gulliver
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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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Moving and dignified.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Latchigo wrote: |
| Here is the original SCGB news item on the poor man. May He Rest In Peace. |
Thanks for clearing up that bit of misinformation.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| .......The folks manning the SCGB stand, however, told my pal (in an effort to convert him) that the reps would happily be taking people off piste. He didn't push the point but perhaps someone had better enlighten them. |
Hello dear heart. I understand the reps will still be going off piste. Perhaps the stand folk did not need your enlightenment. 
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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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achilles, I wasn't offering any enlightenment, not my issue. Perhaps they need to be offering some clarity then - being allowed to take people "a little bit" off-piste isn't the same as off-piste now is it? Unless you have breaking news. I refer you to the opening post on page 1 and everything that's followed. If the letter that went out to reps is correct then what they said to my pal this afternoon is straightforwardly misleading. And, bearing in mind they were trying to mug him for a membership fee, perhaps it isn't being entirely straight. Tut tut.
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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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Bode Swiller, "isn't being entirely straight"? Are you homophobic? 
Night night.
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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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achilles, I'm fast becoming gnomeophobic
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bode Swiller, 
I am a lot less concerned than I was about the situation - though I think the rules for reps will need further clarification so that everybody is clear what is and what is not available. That said, now that I have read the Chief Exec's letter*, nowhere did she mention "a little bit off piste". Taking into account James Cove's comments (James is both a Council member and a rep) in the Club forum, and the letter's content, I don't think most punters will be adversely affected.
So I doubt if I'll be contributing further to the wild speculation in this thread. I know, I have been part of it, but it's time to let events unfold, I think. Meantime thank you sooo much for having the best interests of the Club at heart. 
* Ah, the letter. Do you ever get letters that don't look urgent? No markings on them but somehow don't look like a bill or a bank statement or a personal letter. I did, and dropped it into a group of others which then got covered with other papers. That'll teach me to think before I whinge. 
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| achilles wrote: |
| * Ah, the letter. Do you ever get letters that don't look urgent? No markings on them but somehow don't look like a bill or a bank statement or a personal letter. I did, and dropped it into a group of others which then got covered with other papers. That'll teach me to think before I whinge. |
I did a similar thing with a letter from DVLA telling me that I had a fixed penalty for non-taxation of my car. By the time I opened it, the fine had doubled. Fortunately they overturned it on appeal.
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I think people should bear in mind that this new directive is not a bolt out of the blue or a change in direction. One of my friends used to rep for the ski club but has given up due to the increasing restrictions on off piste skiing of recent years, expressed particularly in a lack of support given to reps if they get into any trouble going off piste. That had been the area in which he particularly felt he had something special to offer the members - and he enjoyed doing it.
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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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snowball, I believe it is a deliberate change of direction - in part caused by risk assessment, and in part due to the ratio of on-piste to off-piste activities of members, and taking into account their standard. Very few are genuine gold standard (as I suspect you are) for example.
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brian
brian
Guest
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I guess they might sell a few more freshtracks holidays if their reps are restricted, every cloud and all that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Not that this really concerns me as I am not a member, but I can't really see what they can do about this potentially dangerous situation. They are sitting ducks, aren't they..? and so therefoer, as brian says, people will have to pay more. They should get better skiing out of it..!!
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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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brian, all off-piste Freshtracks holidays have either instuctor or guide anyway, so have always (at least as long as I've known them) been more serious propositions. Skiing with a rep was always the kind of terrain you'd consider doing yourself without a guide anyway. So slightly different propositions. It may well make the non-off-piste holidays even less attractive for competent skiers though, as it souns like ther will be fewer off-piste forays on those.
achilles, as I said above, it all depends on what the rather wooly words quoted in the OP actually mean. Is "a short ski" 5 metes, 5 or 15 minutes? And if timed, is that for a competent fit skier, or one whose a bit flaky and suffering the after-effects of a big fall? It certainly says that it will be less than before. James Cove says it won't affect him, as he hardly went much off piste anyway, but it may affect others.
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| achilles wrote: |
| snowball, I believe it is a deliberate change of direction - in part caused by risk assessment, and in part due to the ratio of on-piste to off-piste activities of members, and taking into account their standard. Very few are genuine gold standard (as I suspect you are) for example. |
The holidays are another issue, I was talking about the odinary leading by reps in the resort, where the off-piste is angled at people with limited off piste experience. Another friend of mine does this with the young kids from a group of families who holiday together each year. They are usually soon much better at it than their fearful parents.
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You know it makes sense.
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| snowball wrote: |
| .......I was talking about the odinary leading by reps in the resort, where the off-piste is angled at people with limited off piste experience. Another friend of mine does this with the young kids from a group of families who holiday together each year. They are usually soon much better at it than their fearful parents. |
The problem is, I think, that the vast majority of members/casual day visitors do not want to venture off-piste. I suspect that is true of sHs as well, BTW. So the the nature of the rep party days need to be catering for the majority a good deal of the time. Don't get me wrong, I would love every day to be off-piste - but I can see the case for ensuring that is not so.
As you say, the holidays are another issue.
No doubt all of this will get a good airing at the AGM - or you could always lobby a council member in the meantime - after all, you voted (I hope) on the Council membership (there were more applicants than vacancies last year).
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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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I have just had a conversation with a rep whose wife has just received her letter (Spain) his comment was that he might as well send a blowup doll to do his repping stint 
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Poster: A snowHead
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I know a rep (one of their best skiers) who I am fairly sure will give up on it now (I haven't talked to him yet but I'm going by what he was saying before this).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowball, might be the best thing for him to do, if he was mainly interested in going off-piste, and not take the punters around on on-piste days.
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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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achilles, I think you're being a bit too down on off-piste days. Whenever I've been with them there've normally been a good 5+ in the group. I see no use in having a rep in resort just to guide you around the pistes. I'm sure a blowup doll would be far more useful  .
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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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What a fabulous new product... blow up Pammy Anderson attached to your front that inflates just as the avalanche strickes and wraps her legs around you (if you're female or otherwise inclined substitute with George Cloony etc). Hopefully you'll stay on the surface. If not, what a way to go. I'm just off to the Patent Office, thanks all.
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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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GrahamN, I didn't say anything about not having off-piste days. I don't think the rep should be exclusively skiing off-piste with a group of mates when probably the majority of days should be aimed at a lower standard. Sure, I have skied all week off-piste with reps. I like to think that that was because lower standard skiers were not wanting to ski with the rep - but it was probably unfair. There should be very clearly days available for all skiers beyond beginner standard - so probably the majority of days should be on piste.
Bode Swiller, XX.
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GrahamN, you'd still need an official Ski Club doll-blower to blow up the doll.
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snowball, yes, cos they're all puff (duck)
Please insert jokes about blow up dolls here: ( )
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snowball, will they be taking undue risks though if they're still not qualified at IDBA or IDBTD level? And if there are any holes you could inadvertently slip into won't you need to go for someone with IFBUDGA anyway?
Not sure where you're going with this achilles; what you have described as should be happening is exactly the situation as exists prior to the change. Following the change (if it's really only a couple of metres away from the piste) then there'll be little need for anyone to be better than a half decent silver - and that's all the club will end up with  .
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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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GrahamN, they might be able to include the appropriate qualification in the Reps' training.
However my Doll Blowing days are long over - I'm a married man.
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GrahamN, I have just looked again at C S-T's letter. Can't see anything about a 'couple of metres'. I do see 'a short ski'; the question is about what that means. You've interpreted it as a couple of metres. I have been thinking of something like 10-15 minutes skiing, with maybe some of the really exposed steep runs you may like doing - but could have serious consequences in the event of a fall (which seems to have happened in Verbier) being out.
I do think the letter should have been written more clearly.
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FAQ
