 Poster: A snowHead
|
Just up from Money Week ...
A heli-ski holiday that won’t break the bank by James McKeigue
http://moneyweek.com/a-heli-ski-holiday-that-wont-break-the-bank/
Our Money Week ski correspondent goes to a heli-ski lodge near Val Despair and then - wait for it - uses the £299 chopper to visit local bunny slopes!
| Quote: |
| I doubt my tales of re-mastering the snowplough and other beginners’ skiing techniques had as much impact as my companions’ “epic powder” jaunts, but with the lodge’s wine and beer in full flow I was in no mood to argue. |
Indeed. Cheers! The article concludes with a breathtaking final day ...
| Quote: |
| It was almost time for our flight, but no need to worry – helicopter to the rescue again. It sped us from the slopes to Geneva airport in less than 40 minutes. The only downside, perhaps, is that it doesn’t give you much time to accept that your holiday is over. |
Yes, the 4-hour traffic jam back to Geneva - essential to fully appreciating any ski holiday!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Aaargh, my mistake, I thought this was going to be a thread about DG!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
Comedy Goldsmith, FB jokes only work for people that are on FB !
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
I dont see why it's so absurd, its a piece about the lodge and the service they offer, at what seems to be a reasonable price?
As someone who wasnt a good skiier it would have been dumb to drop him anywhere else other than on the slopes 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
It was supposed to be a piece about a Heli ski holiday. The interest in a Heli Holiday is - how does it compare in the Heli department with other Heli Holidays (that's mostly what you are paying for). I still don't know what you are actually offered and he didn't even tell us what the others told him..
How many drops per day (or how much vertical) and quality of guiding. He presumably paid a great deal for the heli trips to and from the resort which he wouldn't have needed if he had stayed in the resort. €299 per heli drop!! That isn't cheap. Normally on a heli holiday you get about 7 per day. Lets say 6: that's €1,800 per day plus the ordinary cost of the holiday - so over €2,000 per day?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
dont go then 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
eddiethebus, you asked why the article was absurd. It didn't tell you what you need to know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Nick Leeson breaks the bank on a heli-ski trip Actually, snowball, the prices are quoted in £sterling, not Euros, so the heli rates are even more impressive. But as the headline of the piece promises it "won't break the bank". Unless you take Nick Leeson with you.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Fri 18-10-13 16:08; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| snowball wrote: |
| eddiethebus, you asked why the article was absurd. It didn't tell you what you need to know. |
I dont need to know any more information, it gave me all the information I want about the place.
If you in the market for a Heli holiday give them a call.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| Quote: |
I dont see why it's so absurd, its a piece about the lodge and the service they offer, at what seems to be a reasonable price?
|
Gulp £1500 and you still have to get to Geneva with your skis. Mind you I suppose it is reasonable for a helicopter transfer from Geneva and a week's half board with a lift pass for somewhere not specified, and it implies a helicopter lift to and from the slopes each morning. Personally I would save the money by staying a a ski in/out chalet
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
I can't get this article out of my mind, it's so bad. Turned Money Week into Monkey Week.
Let's decontruct the ... 'journalism' ...
1. Did James McKeigue pay for the trip? This is maybe a relevant question for a financial magazine ... because it says the trip did not "break the bank".
2. If the trip was paid for, and all partipants had to pay for the heli rides, did our James really invest £299 in a heli-hop to the bunny slopes? If not ... as above ... we know that this excursion did not "break the bank", which is reassuring to know.
3. If a PR company was involved on behalf of the tour operator (Val Heli-Ski) ... was it sensible to take a writer who needed a bit more experience (understatement) to enjoy heli-skiing as we know it? Or is there something we havent' been told?
[that's enough questions. Ed]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As snowball said
| Quote: |
| €299 per heli drop!! That isn't cheap. Normally on a heli holiday you get about 7 per day. |
Having once done 7 drops in a day in NZ averaging over 1,100m of vertical for a total cost of less than £300 (very good exchange rate at the time), I don't think I'll be one of their customers!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
So, minimum of £3300 per week (not including travel) is "not breaking the bank"? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
Comedy Goldsmith,
I'm about 99.9% sure from what I know of ski/travel/holiday journalism (journalism having been my trade in an earlier life) , that the answers to your questions are:
1.No
2.No
3.No
It's almost certainly a freebie, particularly as the writer is a novice. In newsrooms, these sorts of trips get handed out to reporters as rewards for other stories well done and sometimes, as a way to also keep advertisers sweet. The fact that a reporter doesn't know one end of a ski from the other (and the arrival of twin tips has not helped this problem) will not have been considered at all relevant. It happens on all papers, even the big "respectables". It's pretty much par for the course as the media industry undergoes massive restructuring and job losses. Very few media organisations have real, specialist "Travel Editors" anymore - I think the Indie might be the only one.
There a few ski/alpine journos (or more likely, journos who happen to know a lot about skiing) writing occasionally in mainstream media but the emphasis is on "few" (5? 8?).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| Big Paua wrote: |
| Very few media organisations have real, specialist "Travel Editors" anymore - I think the Indie might be the only one. |
I very much doubt if things are really that dire. I wrote quite a number of ski articles for the Sunday Times between 1986 and the early 1990s, and I'd be surprised if its travel division (editor, sub-editors etc) has been disbanded. Don't the Guardian, Times and Telegraph have travel editors? The Mail's ski coverage is particularly wanting at the moment, so they clearly don't have one! [I'm joking - I'd be surprised if a media org of that scale doesn't have one]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Having just found this - http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/oct/18/bavaria-munich-off-piste-skiing-resorts - on second thoughts, I stand corrected.
What I should've said is that I don't think you can describe them as "travel divisions" or "departments" any more. More like one hack and one or 2 subs seconded in from other duties. That's certainly the way they were heading when I left ten years ago and from much of the stuff I read now, it looks like it's only got worse and is unashamedly advertiser driven - there used to be at least an attempt to hide that influence. That's why I was so chuffed to discover sHs and some real information.
Speaking of which, the Guardian article above appears quite useful and written by someone (bound to be a freelance - like the basis on which you used to work, CG) who knows what they are talking about. A minimum of puffery in return for the freebie and useable information that can be checked out further.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
