 Poster: A snowHead
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The upper ranks of British ski writers are ranked according to how many ski mountains they've conquered. In ascending order ... [their respective claims, you understand] ...
Patrick Thorne, 'The Snowhunter' ... has "visited more than 250 ski resorts ... located nearly 6000 ski areas in 80 countries ..."
Source: http://www.thesnowhunter.com/#!he-knows-snow
James Cove, PlanetSki ... "has skied in over 400 resorts across the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rockies and the Andes."
Source: http://www.planetski.eu/about
Peter Hardy, WeLove2Ski ... "has been to some 500 resorts around the world."
Source: http://welove2ski.com/about
Arnie Wilson, The Huffington Post etc. ... "This year he notched up his 710th ski area worldwide."
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/arnie-wilson/
All other claims welcome.
I've skied all 5* Scottish ski areas! [plus maybe 80 others, including (from north to south ... Riksgransen in the Arctic Circle ... to Thredbo in New South Wales)
David G
* Though, it should rapidly be stressed, Scotland's developing a 6th at Lowther Hills: http://www.skiclub.lowtherhills.com/
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bully for them. I really CBA to add up those I've skied in; not that many.
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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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With pam w, on this.
What would be impressive is someone who skied that many and actually paid for the trips themselves, and had spent at least a week in each.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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What's this nonsense about, who cares what freebies journalist get to ski a couple of runs on one day get the photos and move on to the next "resort"who actually counts the number of resorts they ski/board, I am well into my 50's and ski for enjoyment and challenge not to boast about about numbers.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| Who actually counts the number of resorts they ski/board |
Er, me....  !! Other side of the coin for sad stattos like me is to ask "Why wouldn't you?"
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@mountainaddict is right "Why wouldn't you?"
After all I keep a log of all the French service areas with squat-and-drop toilets which I would happily use.
And all the Italian ones not staffed by a moustachioed woman, and a dirtry saucer containing three L100- pieces.
Must admit I not yet into the 250-700 range.
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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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Patrick Thorne above - with a modest 250 resorts claimed - has helpfully pointed out on SKI.HUB ...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SKI.HUB/permalink/1581250688828364/?comment_id=1583537068599726&offset=0&total_comments=4
... that we have another contender at twice that figure. Veteran American ski writer Jimmy Petterson - "home resort Saalbach" - claims to have skied in 69 countries and to have "skied more than 500 ski resorts."
Source: http://www.bornskier.com/partner/jimmy-petterson/#
As for whether ski writers (or other resort-baggers) should accept freebies, I can't deny having done a few jollies myself (not necessarily in the pursuit of Marxism) - back in the 1980s and early 1990s.
speed908 and richards521 may be delighted to know that outlets for hack-jolly ski articles seem to be on the decline. I've seen a few ski writers spin out some paragraphs for their mates on Facebook this winter, perhaps to appease the sponsors. Whether this earns them the next free lunch-flight-hotel-liftpass remains to be seen.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
| My point was it would be more impressive if you had paid for the trips yourself as that is what most of us have to do, and at significant cost so saying you have been to x hundred resorts when almost all have been all expences paid trips is not as impressive in my book. |
But this being snowheads, the forum where we bash the feckless and underachievers, and where we worship the wealth and fortune of 'successful people' even if they're pulling a fast one at the Inland Revenue's expense etc, surely anybody who can wangle a life-style getting paid to do the thing they love has to get our respect. After all, in any other snowheads topic, it would have been said that they had worked for 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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| speed098 wrote: |
With pam w, on this.
What would be impressive is someone who skied that many and actually paid for the trips themselves, and had spent at least a week in each. |
Who said we were meant to be impressed? Interested, perhaps; maybe jealous, even. But no-one asked you to be impressed so your lack of impressedness is distinctly unimpressive.
Travelling to several hundred resorts doesn't make someone a good journalist and it doesn't suddenly endow them with good taste or good judgement, but these statistics do put these hacks into a separate category from those who have merely been to a couple of dozen places. I don't mean that we should slavishly follow their opinion on the quality of resorts, but, when choosing where to drop a few grand on another family skiing trip, we would be unwise to fail to pay attention to those who have such a broad range of experience. They certainly have more to offer the skiing public than a casual skier who's been offered a handy freebie by a tour operator.
I have to say that I've generally found Peter Hardy's opinion on resorts to be very fair and accurate, for example.
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Nice figures. I like the idea or 2-3 days in a resort. Variety is the spice of life n all that.
Who gives a damn who has paid for them, it's not a wealth contest.
And had you visited that many then you would definitely count and anyone who has been to that many is going to that many to notch up their number.
It's like a bird watcher going to see a bird they haven't seen before.
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You know it makes sense.
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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've got a good memory for most things, and certainly remember everywhere I've skied. About 25, depending how you count linked resorts. About half my skiing has been in one large-ish resort.
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Poster: A snowHead
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This is like a speed dating when you can speak to a number of people in couple of hours without actually talking to them  How much do they know now these 700 resorts?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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According to the Liftopia app on Facebook I have skied 35, but I'm sure there are some missing from there.
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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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@queen bodecia, come on, you're not even trying, I can remember 17 fron NA alone
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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've had a list of resorts emailed to me by someone we could call The Archbishop.
The Archbishop is someone I've known for around 30 years - a non-religious type, someone who's worked very extensively in the ski business, travelling widely, slaving for media and other essential elements of the ski economy. His total runs to 106 ski resorts "actually skied" (plus "a further 50+ visited commercially"), give or take a couple.
So, quite a span of experiences is revealing itself here.
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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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Carnt see where these skiers have listed the resorts they have been to, which might be more interesting (slightly) than just talking about it ? 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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An update re. Arnie Wilson [see opening post]
The Huffington Post says 710 resorts, but another site (SnowCarbon) to which Arnie contributes says ...
| Quote: |
| Arnie is living proof that you can take up skiing relatively late (30 in his case) and become an expert. Mind you, he has skied rather a lot – in more than 725 resorts in 30 countries – including an entire year in 1994 when he skied for 365 consecutive days, earning a place in the Guinness Book of Records. |
Source: http://www.snowcarbon.co.uk/our-writers
Now, this is particularly interesting in relation to Jimmy Petterson (also previously mentioned above). To repeat the quote ...
| Quote: |
| Number of countries skied in: 69 ... he has skied more than 500 ski resorts. |
So, one writer says he's skied more than 725 resorts in 30 countries, but another writer has travelled to more than twice that number of countries to ski two-thirds of the number of resorts.
I'm contacting a few other ski writers to see if we can get any more data on this.
Maybe another Alpine adventurer - admin - could also give us his vital statistics?
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UPDATE
Patrick Thorne (one of the above: 250 resorts) has an article on InTheSnow about Jimmy Petterson (also above) ...
http://www.inthesnow.com/interviews/10-mins-with-jimmy-petterson/
... so here's an update on the latest data/rankings, as claimed:
Arnie Wilson: "More than 725 resorts" ("30 countries")
Jimmy Petterson: "More than 550 resorts" ("71 countries")
Peter Hardy: "Some 500 resorts"
James Cove: "Over 400 resorts"
Patrick Thorne: "More than 250 resorts"
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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 brief update on James Cove's progress. As of today, he's claiming 50 resorts skied this winter - up from 35 on on 8 March - including an attempt today to ski all areas of Les Trois Vallées ...
http://www.planetski.eu/news/6907
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since when do travel writers got rank NOT by their writing but by their travel?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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yep, they should be good enough by now to tackle Glencoe 
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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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@Peter S, Snowhunter (Patrick Thorne) lives not so far away from Glencoe - around 90 miles I think, unless he's moved recently.
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@Karl Marx, @David Goldsmith, I have avoided the odious thread on apres where you are holding a dirty protest and smearing yourself in layer upon layer of excrement, whilst the sharks and vultures circle. No one is doing themselves any favours. But please don't ask for 'real names only' then use two on this thread (maybe more?). There are tens of thousands of snowheads, you have ideas above your station if you think all of us know all your usernames (the same applies to anyone with multiple usernames). You have been called a hypocrite often enough on that thread, don't make it so obvious.
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FAQ
Though I doubt that's the case for all/most of their trips.
??
