Ski Club of Great Britain Chief Exec resigns

A snowHead

@Pruman, They know their demographic and that's clearly "No riff-raff!". Either that or they've adopted a French pricing model - hmm no sales last year therefore double the price this year.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Of course stopping the forum just when the new FT prices are released is purely coincidental..........

I may still be tempted by one of the Flaine OP weeks, depending on the prices when they are released

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@Pruman, is £950 pppw available for single occupancy or only for 2 adults sharing, i.e. it is £1900 per 2-person room, half board? I don't know the Tyrolerhof but most hotels don't have many single rooms, and SCGB price is for single occupancy.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@philwig,

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@adithorp, https://www.skiclub.co.uk/ski-club-holidays/solden-ski-week

After all it is free

The Tyrolerhof website offers single rooms that week for 918 euros.
£1400 remains to cover flight, transfer and man to protect and assert entitlement of the group, since it is irksome to do so oneself while on holiday.
You might assume, if the value is not apparent, you are not best suited to the group.

Thought I'd dip my toe in . . .

On booking.com, I see that if I wanted (which I don't) I could get a single room half board in the hotel that week for £1,300 (6 still available today).

Seems then, unless my arithmetic is wrong, ignoring any discount SCGB might get on the room price, that I would pay at least £899 for:
- the BA Heathrow flights (probably at an ungodly hour);
- the transfers;
- the privilege of skiing and dining with SCGB types;
- the privilege of an SCGB rep taking me to pistes that I could have found for myself with the aid of a piste map and a couple of questions at the hotel reception.

No sale.

(By the way: 'Fresh Tracks' (sic)?? My *rse. On-piste???? At Sölden???? Cynical marketing or what.)

PS to the SCGB on marketing to the already-converted:

"Iceberg!"

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@Fat George, can’t help feeling a warm glow, as we have a direct comparator for that 8 Jan week quoted by @Pruman.

Fresh Tracks, 8-15 Jan, £2199pp, HB Shared Twin, Solden. LHR. 4**** central hotel.

Well Worn Tracks* 8-15 Jan,
< £1000pp, HB Shared Twin, Saalbach. Various conveniently timed flights from provincial airports. 4**** central hotel.

OK, no official guide. Is that worth more than double the cost?

Either I’m missing something here or I’m looking forward more than ever to 8 Jan 2022.

* An entirely imaginary trip conglomerate. snowHead

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@Pruman, seems the general info doesn't agree with that of the individual trips. Twice it says shared rooms here...

https://www.skiclub.co.uk/ski-club-holidays/holiday-information

...but is anyone surprised?

You know it makes sense.

@admin, I don't think its being unaccustomed to dancing to the Snowheads rhythm at all - indeed that could be read as reinforcing the unfounded cliche that Freshtracks clientele may be a little stiff, but simply a matter of the number of off-piste trips that are available under each option.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I see Snowheads as more of a DIY trip I'd organise for my mates whereas Freshtracks is more of a TO experience.

I've done neither though.

A snowHead

@Layne, well it’s about time you tried at least one of them wink

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Dave of the Marmottes, with the option of a full week’s off piste guiding? Of course if you’ve already got a group of peer mates lined up for OP then good for you

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Well most weeks it can be put together I think and there is always peer to peer but yeah for people who want a guide programme fully locked down and backed up by a rep in each group etc then maybe there is a clear use case for Freshtracks.

But the piste cruising hol above isn't it.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@Dave of the Marmottes,I’ve never seen the point of Freshtracks On piste holidays. And the Reps have not been a necessary part of off piste Freshtracks holidays, indeed on occasions they have been a hindrance. All I (and many others) want is a reasonable choice of venues and dates to ski off piste with others of similar ability and ambition. This is what Freshtracks offers and also the limited number of snowHeads off piste bashes. I’m not sure the other bashes do? Snow works offer similar but in a more rigid format. My ideal was when I used to enjoy unguided non taught off piste holidays with a bunch of my climbing mates, but unfortunately they’re into other things now.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

To be fair to them, I saw the £1399 Austria one with instruction and it seemed okay. Say £800 for hotel (single occupancy in that one), £100 for transfers, £200 for flights and you also get some instruction. And they need to make a profit. The others I agree, are expensive, but that is why I DIY.

Same as my last holiday. Glasgow to Hong Kong (Kowloon) for 4 days in the old 5* Langham (I think it is called Corvis now), Singapore for 4 days (4.5* boutique), then back to Hong Kong on a beach resort for 2 days. Flights were Lufthansa business (upstairs on 747 with beds). How much would that cost in a package for two? £8k? EG the flights are normally £2-3k in Biz so £4K each is not wild.

However, I got the flights in the Lufthansa BOGOF deal (£990 each = £120 more than economy). I know HK well so got a great deal on the hotel (and used points £230). I know Singapore well so didn't stay in the expensive centre but was in Katong (£300) (only £8 in a taxi to town). Probably £1500 each all in with business class flights and 11 days B+B. I've done it every months for 4 years going to Asia so I'm comfortable with it. However, not everyone is comfortable taking a chance on DIY.

So SCGB aren't doing anything different from other tour operators. It is just not me..... I would SH bash for ski and DIY for other holidays.

After all it is free

Some spam mail hit my junk mail folder this morning
4 May 2021

Dear "EX Member",

I last wrote to you with the Club’s annual report, presented to members during our online AGM in November. Six months later, there is news to share as we reach the end of the 2020/21 (non-) ski season. Summarised briefly here, my main reason for writing is to invite you to join Council, your staff and fellow members next week for an online catch-up and discussion. Details are at the end of this email.

But may I please begin by thanking you for staying with your Club during a season when for most of us no on-snow activities were possible. For me, the winter of 2020 is the first in 31 years during which I haven’t been on skis. No club can survive for long without the continuing support of its members and all of us – our staff, your Council and fellow members – really do appreciate your loyalty during this extraordinary and tough period.

Your support has been especially important as we worked to return the Club to financial stability and deal with the impact of a full season during which we have been unable to provide on-snow activities or run holidays for our members. I am therefore pleased to be able to tell you that, after incurring losses of £2m in the two years to April 2020, the Club expects to finish the year to April 2021 with a small surplus. This is the result of much hard work by a smaller staff team, reducing overheads and limiting operating losses in the absence of a holiday programme, and the satisfactory performance of the Club’s investments during the period. The value of the Club’s assets has been maintained for the first time in many years and this should provide a stable foundation for our return to the mountains next winter.

Your Council has been strengthened by new directors elected in November and each is playing an active role in moving our Club forward. In January we created a number of advisory groups for Council, involving both directors and staff and providing additional focus and manpower for each of our activities.

For much of 2020, our staff were very capably managed by Angus Maciver. Angus returned to Council as a full (co-opted) member at the beginning of 2021 and has our grateful thanks for a job well done. From a large number of suitable applicants, his successor has today been appointed. Before a formal announcement is made, members will first have an opportunity to meet the Club’s new General Manager during next week’s meeting.

One of our significant concerns in returning to financial stability has been the annual cost (£220,000) of our premises at Connect House in Wimbledon. The lease runs to 2025 and we are currently in discussion about a possible buyout of the remaining term. This would be expensive but, if successful, provide certainty about future costs at a much reduced level. I will say more about this at next week’s meeting.

I am writing this email to you as governments across Europe consider how to plan a return to their beaches and (in our case) mountains. There is still no certainty, but you can be assured that your Club will be with you every snow step of the way. I hope that you will be able to join other members next week to meet and discuss our plans. The catch-up will be on Wednesday 12 May at 17:00 (UK time) and a Zoom link will be sent to you at the beginning of the week.

With my best wishes,

Trevor Campbell Davis

Chairman

Ski Club of Great Britain

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@snowornever, I just got the same one! I'm also an ex-member, so am amused by the wording Smile

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@snowornever, As an "ex-member" you have received more emails than I ever received when I was a member!

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SCGB makes it's first profit in a season it provides zero to members. Hmm maybe there is a lesson here........ wink

All ex-members invited should join his Zoom call to make the point that they are EX members for a reason and really challenge them on what they are going to do about it......

And they've actually appointed a new servant leader ....should be entertaining

Oops.

Digital ineptitude aside, perhaps they have worked out that freebies for foul mouthed racists are quite expensive?

They've managed to find their next blame carrier, then.

You know it makes sense.

I got same communication.

Of course it is very easy to make a small surplus if (a) your investments are doing well (b) you collected membership fees, provided almost nothing in return and failed to offer full or part-refunds or deferments like other clubs have done, (c) you've had furlough monies and rate rebates and (allegedly) a huge discount from the landlords (d) you couldn't run holidays and therefore not make the usual losses on them. I'm sure there's more. It's just fake financial stability. Point (b) is the elephant in the room by the way.

The lease of £220k pa has 4 years to run. So how much to buy out an almost £1m liability? Any guesses? If they are really lucky, the landlords have someone lined up so might go for 50% but they can just sit tight for 4 years and do nothing.

Meanwhile, can you imagine what the paying membership numbers look like? The graph was heading south east even in the good times but must be almost vertically south by now.

I wish the new GM Servant the best of luck, she (someone has suggested) is going to need all of that and more besides.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

@Super Chap Great Bloke, Laughing

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Why is there enough interest in this club to fill nearly 30 pages of this forum? As far as I am aware, SCGB is what it says, a club for Brits who like skiing. No one has to join it, it has no and claims no authority over where skiers go or what they do. If people do not consider it is something in which they have any interest, fair enough. There is UK Hand Knitting Association which I have no interest in joining but I do not take to websites or social media to bang on about what they do wrong or paint caricatures of its members. Am I missing a juicy scandal, such as a SCGB chairman having an affair with a Snowheads eminence. Puzzled

Or is it an attempt at inverse marketing, arouse interest by saying something is awful and more will try it?

Of course I do not need to read this thread, but it keeps rising to the top of the list which made me curious.

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Well to be fair SCGB keep sticking their nose in non members business by their inability to manage a mailing list of current members.

But this thread is probably doing a better job of holding the leadership to account than their own now non-existent forum (plus it no doubt irks @Gerry so silver linings and all that).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Thorney,

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@Thorney, there has always been quite a large intersection between the sets: snowHeads and SCGB members, for a number of reasons, some of which are pretty obvious.
There may well be an intersection of snowHeads and UKHKA members too but I don't doubt it's a much smaller subset.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

This forum has since its inception been a much more useful (for me, at least) source of information about skiing in general and the SCGB in particular than the SCGB's own website. I did not renew my SCGB subscription in October so it was a nice surprise to receive the letter from the Chairman. I may renew it for next winter in order to go on one or, hopefully, two of their off-piste holidays.

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I can't believe I was not aware of the UKHKA! It is a shame about the HKAGB but that's just how things go in these modern times. Same needles, same thread, new grannies in town. RIP.

Help!!

Ski Club of Great Britain Chief Exec resigns

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