So, one of our best ever female ski racers isnt actually allowed to 'race coach' ...........but hey ho there she goes, there is an undercurrent to this and it just goes to show what a crock of S88t the system is
AFAIU she'd be allowed to race coach but not to 'instruct'. Or at least she wasn't allowed to instruct until she did her BASI ticket and according to her, it was really worthwhile given she hadn't a clue what it was like to be a beginner adult skier and hence what they required.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
New SCGB website - "Line S".
There were murmurings that this would be launched later this year, but it seems to have 'soft launched'. The Facebook page dates from 14 April:
Nice a jizzfeed inspired stooughdent targeted side to make them young and hip and relevant. See they are looking for contributors. Perhaps you could apply DG to the ( nominatively determined) Ocean Belcher.
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.
Quote:
Welcome to Line-S. The new student ski website born from the après-fuelled, snow crazed, and generally disturbed minds of students from across the UK.
Welcome to Line-S. The new student ski website ...
Ah yes, I was a student at the University of Berlin from October 1836.
And then there was an avalanche in Lewes on 27 December 1836.
I wonder if the Ski Communists of Great Britain, or SKGB, would like a contribution from me along those lines? I see the offer is as follows ...
Quote:
As a contributing writer you will be responsible for crafting compelling copy and hilarious headlines, and will delve into the depths of the internet for outlandish and amazing stories to be developed. If you’re brimming with fabulous and original ideas that will be well-received by people like you, then we’re going to get on famously!
Send your pitches to ocean.belcher@skiclub.co.uk, and if you write our favourite piece of the month we’ll give you a bit of cash to fund your nights on the town.
... plant him in a chair at the British Library and watch what happens!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
A couple of updates to this thread. The main SCGB development for next winter - at least so far - which will affect relatively few members (1000 - 2000 over the season?) seems to be ...
... Because of legal challenges, we had to withdraw the Leading service in France last season. As a temporary measure, we introduced the Ambassador role. Our volunteer Leaders embraced this with good grace, however this role wasn’t able to include that crucial element of our Leading service – skiing with members ... we have made the decision ... to partner with the renowned Ski School Evolution 2 who will offer an alternative to the Leading service in France this season ... they will offer a programme of instruction-led guiding to replace last season’s Ambassador service ... we are introducing a regular programme of a minimum 3 sessions a week, a mix of half-days and full days that will suit the varied skiing or boarding ability of our members ... there will be an advance booking fee of £10 for the half-day sessions (£20 for a full day). This will contribute towards the additional administration costs in providing this service to members.
SnowboardClubUK (SCUK) - www.snowboardclub.co.uk - have revamped their site, put it under the umbrella 'ActionSports.club' - www.actionsports.club - and announced the imminent launch of a ski club called FreeSkiClubUK ... the URL is expected to be www.freeskiclub.co.uk
This may be a reflection of declining interest in snowboarding ... which began in the mid-late 1970s, built momentum when boards acquired steel edges 10 years later and boomed into the 1990s. With many snowboarders switching to independent planks on independent feet, SCUK's diversification is maybe to be expected and could have come sooner. Will it work?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:
the imminent launch of a ski club called FreeSkiClubUK
Loathe as I am to provide oxygen to this thread, SCUK is responding to the increasing number of UK based freestyle skiers which weren't being catered to in other areas.
Quote:
The vast majority of our club members are obviously snowboarders, yet a significant minority would rather ski, but still enjoy the benefits of our membership. When not on the snow many also happen to wakeboard, surf, skate and mountain bike, so it made sense to us to expand our appeal and membership benefits to include these other sports our members already enjoy, whilst taking the opportunity to refresh and enhance the website generally.
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?
Richard_Sideways wrote:
... SCUK is responding to the increasing number of UK based freestyle skiers ...
They don't actually refer to "freestyle skiers". They seem to be targeting skiers generally ...
SCUK wrote:
The vast majority of our club members are obviously snowboarders, yet a significant minority would rather ski, but still enjoy the benefits of our membership.
At last I catch up! All very entertaining. Many thanks to the SCGB for making it all possible by initiating the thread. Hopefully it will be good for at least another 43 pages with many contributions from loyal fans urging others not to read or post on it.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
An update on Line-S, the SCGB's latest 'new media' venture ... launched last April, last mentioned above in June ... latest content ...
A subject which has come up on this thread from time to time is the SCGB's 'Respect the Mountain' fund. I posted this yesterday, elsewhere, and thought it might worth noting here ...
SCGB "LONG TERM TREE-PLANTING SCHEME" : SHORT TERM?
£66,000 of £100,000 'Respect the Mountain' funds unaccounted for
A charitable fund established by the Ski Club of Great Britain in 2005 - to plant trees or undertake other environmental work - has yet to publish annual accounts. The 'Respect the Mountain' fund - which is estimated to total approximately £100,000 - levies 50p annually per SCGB subscription. Additional revenue has been raised from the general public via the sale of 'Respect the Mountain' merchandise such as green wristbands, 35,000 of which were manufactured for sale at £2 each. Approximately 50% of the fund was apportioned at the outset to The Woodland Trust for a "long-term tree-planting scheme" but the Trust reported in 2009 that the SCGB had ceased funding it in 2006.
A list of 'Respect the Mountain' funding is given here ... accounting for £34,000 of the estimated £100,000 raised to date ...
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/respectthemountain/environment/skiclub.aspx#.VdWncKgVikp
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Significant changes to SCGB membership marketing. Price of 'Platinum' membership - £69 - now includes annual insurance "European cover only - up to 45 days winter sports cover per year, including off piste skiing without a guide. Visit skiclub.co.uk/platinum for more details."
Lots of catches and small print. For an intro. to all that, here's a few links for the chattering and clubbable classes ...
So, who can pick out all the significant 'small print' ... e.g. how old are you, in relation to the average policeman (or maybe ski instructor)?
After all it is free
After all it is free
@David.Googlesmith, now that is interesting. £69 inc off piste without a guide up to 45 days isn't a bad deal, plus inevitably one or two other benefits of some sort from the club.
What are the catches and small print you mention? Specific exclusions that are likely to affect your average joe occasional off pister?
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.
Well for me individual membership is £129. The thing captures your age and works out the fee. Obviously age is important for the insurance aspect. I'm not old! And it isn't 45 days, it's 24. Lead in price is a con and the details are wrong. And I need to cover USA anyway so I'm far better sticking with what I've got. If something looks too good to be true it always is.
Maybe it means you could do - say - a 24-days trip, plus a 21-days trip, in a single year.
The age threshold is interesting. A 34-year-old pays £69. A 35-year-old pays £119.
David Platinumsmith
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
So most of the people attracted by the lead in £69 will quickly discover its nearly double that for them. Very poor marketing, it disappoints and annoys all at once. People are unlikely to transact after that.
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.
Pruman wrote:
So most of the people attracted by the lead in £69 will quickly discover its nearly double that for them. Very poor marketing, it disappoints and annoys all at once. People are unlikely to transact after that.
Actually, for those over 70 it's well over double that rate.
More information on the age factor:
Under 35s pay the £69 rate
35s to 69s pay the £119 rate
70s to 75s pay £169
Above 75, the screen goes blank ... so maybe the Platinum membership is not available for that age bracket.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Another big change to the SCGB's subscription selling is the apparent dropping - after countless decades - of 'family' membership. This is the new join page ...
... which omits any mention of the words "family", or "family membership" as an offer.
If one then clicks through to recruit adults and children, the price of a membership for one adult (say, aged 40) and one child is £95 for standard membership, and £189 for platinum membership (including insurance).
The subscription for two adults and five children is the same, including insurance for all.
The SCGB continues to count a 'child' aged up to 23 in a single subscription unit. Two adults aged 50, plus two children aged 23, pay £189 for the insurance-included 'platinum' subscriptions, all in.
How the SCGB is now marketing membership to those under 24, joining independently, isn't clear. The 'under 24' membership also seems to have been dropped as a 'headline' offer, but the Club has launched a 'student website' called 'Line-S' ... https://www.line-s.co.uk/ . It's not clear how Line-S generates membership interest, since there's no click-through or overt mention of the SCGB. However, the SCGB join page gives a rate of £24 for standard membership for age 23 (and below), or £64 for age 24 and above. So the deal is still there, but it isn't immediately obvious in terms of 'headline' rates.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
i go away for 2 weeks, and... well the sig probably explains all.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
SCGB 2015 Annual General Meeting
The annual general meeting of the SCGB is a month earlier than usual this year - on 29 October. There will be two vacancies on the club's council - made available by the retirement of Gerry Aitken and Alan Lyons - but no fewer than 9 candidates are contesting the election. They are:
Oliver Bennett, Bridget Cassey, Tony Clarke, Andrew Herries, George Lawrence, Hilary Napier, Mark Norris, Andrew Poodle and Sarah Williams.
By tradition the count has been independently scrutinised (with close attention to the membership list - electoral roll) by Electoral Reform Services. Last year the vote/count was conducted by 'Survey Monkey'. In 2013 the SCGB's executive handled it. With 9 candidates standing, the count is likely to be closely watched.
The SCGB stated, back in July ...
Quote:
... our online Report and Accounts, which will be emailed to all members approximately one month before the AGM, and will include details of all those standing for election.
Details of how to vote will be emailed to all members, along with the Annual Report and Accounts, approximately one month before the AGM.
It's now 9 October, and the AGM is 20 days away. No sign of the annual report on the SCGB website as yet, which continues to link to the 2014 report ...
"Details of how to vote will be emailed to all members, along with the Annual Report and Accounts, approximately one month before the AGM, which takes place on 19 November 2015."
No error on my part. The notice of the meeting said 29 October 2015, and that fixed the deadline for nomination of candidates for SCGB council ... three months earlier at 29 July 2015 ...
No error on my part. The notice of the meeting said 29 October 2015, and that fixed the deadline for nomination of candidates for SCGB council ... three months earlier at 29 July 2015 ...
Fair enough. I guess that means anyone who might have applied between the 29th July and the 19th August might have a case that their application should be reinstated . Proper Citizen journalism. All because of sloppy clerical work. It just won't do. Maybe a Judicial review of the election and AGM ? Justice must be done and seen to be done. Anyway, past my bedtime, Good luck Don Quixote!
I guess that means anyone who might have applied between the 29th July and the 19th August might have a case that their application should be reinstated.
Are you saying that you know of candidates who submitted nominations after 29 July?
This looks like more self-generated legal confusion for the Skeeb.
Is it known why the AGM date was switched?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
The delivery date of the fluufy white cats and swivel chairs for the board was delayed.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Surely this is a matter for members and no one else?
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.
Surely these are matters for members to raise within the Club and no one else?
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@FFIRMIN, if the SCGB was not the self-declared "spokesbody of British skiers" and "voice of UK snowsports" then of course I'd agree that its affairs would be best kept within the family. The fact that it adopts this stance, and relates to the media in those terms, makes it a publicly accountable organisation.
The Club has put its AGM information into the public domain - as evidenced by the links above - so that's another fairly obvious reason why it's being raised here.
Only members can attend the AGM and actually influence the Club in electoral terms etc. ... so you can relax in that sense.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
