 Poster: A snowHead
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Can anyone recommend an off piste course/holiday.im a confident red black run skier,looking to get into off piste ,I am middle 40s and sadly will be solo skiing next season due to February half term prices,so jan or March looks the best bet.would prefer a accomadation included package,any thoughts?.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Suggest you have a look at Snoworks or Mountain Tracks. Both are excellent and will offer exactly what you're looking for. Loads of other options, but they're a great place to start.
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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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How about the snowheads off piste bash? I've not been myself (yet) but it's usually in March at Serre Chevalier... 
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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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I'm looking at Cold Fusion Chalets for next season and I see that they're doing an off piste week in January at their Chamonix chalet
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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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Wot evski said - Have been on Snoworks and Mountain Tracks and would recommend either.
sH Offpisteskiing runs excellent courses in Chamonix in conjunction with Mountain Tracks and I learned a lot with him
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks all will check them out.
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SCGB's Ski Freshtracks holidays do a lot of good off-piste holidays with or without tuition for all levels. I have down several and have enjoyed them all.
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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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Hi Cefnycoed,
We have a powder camp in Niseko, Japan in Feb 2015. Not sure what your budget is?! Feel free to check out our website - has more info on there for all the holidays we are running this season.
Lottie 
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Dodgy Snowboarding Spammers, feck off with your tiresome spam
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Dave of the marmottes - I do not quite understand why you are getting so angry?! If somebody is asking for a particular type of holiday which my company can provide I really see no harm in replying. It isn't spam when somebody is asking for advice! It is absolutely no different to you replying with a holiday you would recommend.
It is a new company, I want to interact with people who are interested in the service we provide. Surely you should want to support small companies which are being set up and ran by people passionate about the sport - instead of the large corporate companies.
Thanks.... Lottie
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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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Hi Lottie
There are quite a few on here who are " in the business" and generally get a warm reception and in particular when the share their expertise with others. As a result I am also sure they establish a reputation and get a bit of custom. I'm not sure why Dave of the Marmottes, is so cross with you I suspect he feels that you might be just promoting your business. I guess it's a question of balance. It's in the rules somewhere that if you want to sell goods or services as a commercial concern then you need to pass it by admin. IMHO it's refreshing to see a new operator who also focuses on snowboarding.
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Dodgy Snowboarding Spammers, Lottie, what you're doing is dredging up a bunch of threads that you can get a plug in for your business. It's boring, it's unsubtle, it's spam and when others pay money to advertise on this site it's taking the wee wee unless you've specifically cleared it with admin in advance.
It's totally different from someone recommending a holiday they've had as they might be considered independent from the commercial interest. The OP here asked for recommends so you're not in a position to reply. You've just rudely barged in with a plug 3 weeks after the conversation was contemporaneous. Spare us the " fight the power" little guy bull poop and how as skiers and boarders we should want to support it, at the moment you're a start up with no track record, no apparent bonding and you've started off building negative brand equity here by your spam. Oh and your website is virtually unusable on a tablet.
I welcome your participation on this site if you want to share advice and insight or even banter but see if you manage it without plugging your business. So in your extensive experience, and without answering Dodgy Snowboarding Spammers who it appears have never actually run a course, who would you recommend for an off piste course you've taken?
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You know it makes sense.
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Dave of the Marmottes, +1
And to answer the original post, I had an utterly brilliant time on the Snowhead Offpiste bash, and couldn't recommend it enough. Details not yet released for this season, but check out previous threads in the Events forum.
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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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cefnycoed, had a great weeks off piste course in early December in Tignes a few years ago with inspiredtoski.com
Very good instruction and lots of fun. Lots of the tips we got are captured in Sally's pocket instructor book.
Since then have done quite a few of the off piste runs around Val and Tignes and 3 valleys. One of favourites is a memorable day on the north face of the fogglietta at st foy.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dave I have spoken to an admin on here who has informed me it is perfectly OK to comment on posts where my company could be of service.
I am not feeding you any ''little guy bull poop'' I am simply stating a fact that we are a new company, most people would prefer to support smaller companies run by people who love the sport instead of big corporate companies - that is just a fact. If you don't fit into that catagory then that is absolutely fine.
I really would not say this is ''spam'' - I have simply commented on posts where people are looking for holidays. I am not posting every single day, not even every single week or month to 'advertise' Nexus.
As I said, I am sorry if you feel this way, it was not my intention to upset you. How is our website unusable on your tablet? We have not had any previous issues with tablets, phones or computers.
I am glad you welcome my participation, and of course I can share advice & banter. For the record we have ran courses as Nexus.
Thanks, Lottie
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Lottie check the spam thread to see how many times people have flagged you. Your opinion that it isn't spam is hardly relevant here. And stats or evidence on your claim that most people prefer the little guy. For an unproven business with no apparent financial bonding £ 1600 is a big roll of the dice for the land leg of a hol in Japan with you.
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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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Dave, I think we have got off on the wrong foot. I appreciate your opinion. As I have stated above it was never my intention to upset you on here. I just felt that this thread was a suitable one for me to comment on. Sorry if you feel differently. I do not want to go around in circles, all I am saying is we are a cool new company trying to get off the ground. I have taken in what you have said so lets hope we can just move past this instead of going in circles
All that said, I really do not appreciate you making comments on my company saying it is a risk to book a holiday with us I find that a very unfair and potentially damaging statement to make.
Lottie
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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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I think it's useful on a forum like this for snowsport enthusiasts to learn about new product offerings in the market place. It might be of use to someone. There are obviously already trusted suppliers of services (instruction, accommodation etc) on here but shouldn't new providers be given a chance to promote their offerings if relevant? I personally wouldn't call the Nexus posts spam...
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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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juliad, +1. People can make their own minds up once they've viewed and considered what's on offer. I've availed myself of ski holiday providers other than bashes through this site, and glad I did so...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Dodgy Snowboarding Spammers wrote: |
All that said, I really do not appreciate you making comments on my company saying it is a risk to book a holiday with us I find that a very unfair and potentially damaging statement to make.
Lottie |
Do you offer financial bonding? If not there is some risk to the customer. Not saying that you are any more of a risk than anyone else in a similar position but you aren't risk free. I' m only offering this due to your "fact" that people like the little guys more than those nasty horrible big corporates with their insidious ATOL bonding etc.
Think of it as a free business lesson. What is true among your free spirit seasonnaire mates isn' t necessarily true of the whole of your market.
Otherwise tone it down be a little less single issue and you'll do fine. People buy from people not parrots.
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| Quote: |
Dodgy Snowboarding Spammers, Lottie, what you're doing is dredging up a bunch of threads
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Forgive me if this is social-media egg sucking, but timeliness is the key here: come by every couple of weeks and reply to dormant threads and it looks like advertising -- check daily and actively reply and have a conversation on only live threads and it looks like you're part of the community.
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mtsuit, You'd think people would intuitively get that but some would rather argue when they get called out than change their behaviour.
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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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Dodgy Snowboarding Spammers, while you are perfectly correct that it is OK to post offering something in response to another post, it is also good forum etiquette to take part in other discussions too without spamming your company. Many of us do that quite successfully, including me. mtsuit and Dave of the Marmottes do have a point.
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I can't suggest a company, but can offer the benefit of my experience in the same situation.
My first foray off piste was with a private guide/climbing instructor (Mark Seaton) hired for 5 days in Chamonix, shared with 3 others. We stayed in a budget hotel we arranged ourselves, Mark picked us up each morning,and gave us a fantastic & thorough initial training - less bouncy skiing than we'd hoped, we spent longer on avalanche training than one would expect.
The second year was a SCGB/freshtracks offpiste holiday, suited to all grades. no tuition included, poor mix of skiers, dreadful hotel, and disinterested guides - not an experience to repeat.
The third was a single week with Warren Smith in Verbier - excellent tuition, motivated instructor, fun students, and fair value for money. Accommodation wasnt organised, but I was encouraged to stay in one central budget hotel where most students stayed, and the post-ski video debriefs took place. As importantly, I followed this week up with a second week skiing with friends, and the benefit of a follow-through second week to practice the new tips became clear.
Regrettably I again tried a ski club of GB week, this time their tuition week, one Dec in Tignes. I thoroughly enjoyed the social aspect, hated sleeping (or not) in the unsound-proofed bedroom above the hotel kitchen, liked the personality of the 3 paid instructors, bt only found one who clicked with me in the tuition sense - sadly we couldn't choose which instructor to have, and daftly we had to swap instructors every 2 days which wasted 2 of the 6 days of tuition, as each instructors' first day with a new group of 8 seemed to be spent with them assessing rather than teaching. I left with the conclusion that SCGB courses could be fun, but private lessons were a more cost effective way to go if one counted time off work & entire holiday cost against the net technical gains.
The next year was a series of private lessons (3 hrs daily) with ESF & Oxygene in Val D'Isere - the instructors were charming & fun, retired local ski racers who enjoyed demonstrating their own skills and recanting their stories but no interest in teaching & best avoided. That was a fun but expensive mistake.
This year I coughed up for 3 day's of private 1:1 lessons with a recommended independent privately employed instructor in Argentiere/Chamonix (£ 250/day) and again followed with a week's leaisure skiing - progress wasn't in leaps & bounds, but steady & rewarding, and concluded that a carefully selected individual instructor is better value for the gain than group lessons, or an agency booked unrecommended instructor.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Try ucpa in French resorts. You can book through their English website action outdoors. They offer great value weeks and weekends with full board, hire and instruction or guiding. It is a French non profit making org to encourage outdoor sports
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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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Dave of the Marmottes, have you not ambushed the OP thread with an opinion then an argument followed a creation of dialogues. If you don't like what Lottie has to say just move on. May not be easy, I don't know. For me I read! I wasn't interested but I wasn't interested in the dialogue either.
I hope OP gets the good advice wanted.
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1969jma, so you've bumped a thread that has been dormant for over a week with an off topic post to complain about it being off-topic despite its most recent posts being back on topic - are you the Professor of Irony at the Ironic University?
| juliad wrote: |
| I think it's useful on a forum like this for snowsport enthusiasts to learn about new product offerings in the market place. It might be of use to someone. There are obviously already trusted suppliers of services (instruction, accommodation etc) on here but shouldn't new providers be given a chance to promote their offerings if relevant? I personally wouldn't call the Nexus posts spam... |
There is, "Introducing yourself to the locals" and there is "Plonking yourself in the village square with a megaphone trying to sell them stuff".
The latter, I would consider 'unsolicited marketing' and with respect to their posting up to this point, I would say that's what NC were doing.
They were cross-posting the same message into multiple threads, dredging up old topics purely as an excuse to do so, posting responses only tenuously appropriate to OP's and only posting to promote their product.
Moderators have removed over 20 such posts by them.
Less tolerant forums would have just deleted their account forthwith but, as they are 'on topic' we let some of their posts stand in the hope they see the error of their ways and become good snowHeads
"Exploiting snowHeads for free advertising" is what they were going for and with some vigour. They were, quite rightly, knocked back. They appear to have since modified their approach, for the better 
It's important that the community helps assert the values here. Moderators can't be everywhere, especially as traffic ramps up on the way into Winter.
Yes, it's a shame in this particular case that the topic has been slightly derailed but it would be a worse shame if snowHeads became prey to every wet-behind-the-ears-post-grad-everso-out-of-the-box-thinking-guerilla-merketeer.
If people want to market here without making the effort to be polite and engage with the community socially, they can buy advertising and so help support the forum that way.
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You know it makes sense.
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Shwmae, Cefnycoed. Your situation sounds very familiar (mid 40s, getting into off-piste, er... Welsh). For the past couple of years a mate and I have done Evolution 2's All Mountain Course in Chamonix. It's not quite as good value as it used to be (3 days now, not 5, and Vallee Blanche an add-on, not inclusive). But it worked perfectly in transitioning (horrible noun-verb) us from piste skiers to L-plate powder skiers - not expert, but at least able to have a crack at it. Personally, I spent a lot of the early days upside-down/exhausted/frightened/in pain/all of the above. But it's quietly life-changing - once you feel what it's like to float up in powder, there's no going back on-piste. Onwards, upwards.
Quick word on Vallee Blanche: it's often written off as a Blue slog, but we struck lucky last year - a foot of overnight snow, followed by a perfect sunny day. Fresh tracks in deep powder pretty much all the way down. The walk out IS a Fitzwilliam, though.
Anyway, good luck and enjoy.
p.s. ahh, swearing filters. Well done. I certainly didn't type that as 'Fitzwilliam'
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FAQ
