 Poster: A snowHead
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Perennial question as yet unanswered to any satisfaction...
Endeavouring to check piste names around PDS, they have a new f*cking interactive piece of sh*t.
I do not want interactive wa*king.
I want information.
T*ssers.
Do they not have the first f*cking clue?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Download a PDF pistemap and have a look at that 
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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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Not a happy chappie today, @under a new name?  Some resort websites are OK. No problem finding the names of pistes, and relevant information about them, in the Espace Diamant.
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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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@under a new name, I think the LG website is too busy, music playing, things flashing about and difficult to find things out. The one that Tim Scott has started for LG is much clearer. I agree I don't want to faff about on a website, just find what I am looking for.
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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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Wow, you sound mad!!
I've just checked it out and if you click on "Status" it brings up the status of each run.....if you put your pointer on the cross (because its closed) it will give you the name of the run.
Hope that helps and you can calm down a bit 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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It's the French. French websites are stunningly poo-poo. They are at least 15 years behind in uptake of the internet.
They occasionally produce beautiful-looking, but still ultimately poo-poo sites. And music. They love music on websites. Mental.
Les Arcs at one point a couple of years back had a summer website divided into 4 or 5 sections which all had titles like "breath", "relax", "inspire", "excite". OK, but where are the fecking lift opening times?
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@under a new name, I really do sympathise. Supposedly you can figure out who has available accommodation on them. Supposedly.
And it's not just the French, I have been looking at Swiss ones.
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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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| stevomcd wrote: |
It's the French. French websites are stunningly poo-poo. They are at least 15 years behind in uptake of the internet.
They occasionally produce beautiful-looking, but still ultimately poo-poo sites. And music. They love music on websites. Mental.
Les Arcs at one point a couple of years back had a summer website divided into 4 or 5 sections which all had titles like "breath", "relax", "inspire", "excite". OK, but where are the fecking lift opening times? |
A lot of Austrian resorts (and other businesses) have awful websites too.
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Saas Fee, Engelberg and Arosa websites hit the target as far as I'm concerned. Nothing fancy - just pages with information on them!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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@Gämsbock, we gave up advertising on the Chamonix T.O. (we have 3 apartments to rent). It was just more hassle and cost than it was worth. Actually, in the 3 years we were with them they didn't achieve one single booking so there was no worth involved. It was just hassle and cost.
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My favourite are hotels where the booking option is to give you a PDF of a booking form for you to fax them your details. Or you can email the form - which would be ok except they ask for your credit card details to be sent in plain text. Err, no thanks.
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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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@Gyro, so...
I have to click on the interactive map
Then work out which option I want "Live", "Resort" or "Itineraries"
And then work out that I want "Status" and not, f'rinstance "Connections"
And then, then notice that mousing over gives useful information??
They are having a laugh.
Every Year.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@stevomcd, hahah!
When the SiL moved over she related being somewhat surprised at how much shouting you had to do, in France, to get anything to happen.
A few years later, in Geneva, they were redoing our water supply pipes. Some idiot decided that they'd park their palettes of piping, etc. in front of our drive. I didn't have to go anywhere by car till the end of the week.
I phoned Monday, no action.
Tuesday, no action.
Wednesday and I had to go somewhere the Thursday.
"Monsieur, did you insist?" said the nice lady at the construction company. "How do you mean "insist"?", I enquired.
"Oh, you have to shout at him, otherwise nothing happens". 
One quick, one-way, heated and irate call to the same bloke I'd spoken to twice already and 5 minutes later the materials were gone. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@stevomcd, The Les Arc website is designed to show the budding web designer everything you should not do when designing a web site. You go there for information (such as the opening times for the funicular) and what you are greeted with is an animation of two young ladies throwing feathers from torm pillows onto another young lady pretending to ski. There is lots of really useful on the site - somewhere, but at the moment I just cannot find it.
Sadly I am in total agreement with @under a new name, but I find all restaurant menus irritaing. "market vegtables" where else would they come from? "Home made" whos home? etc etc.
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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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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 "market vegetables" means you'll get whatever's cheapest today. "Pan fried"? Rather than in a pressure cooker?
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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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@Gaza, cheeky!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I went as far as letting our local web-design agency quote us for a new site. The sites they have produced for some other companies do look lovely. After guffawing at the obscene amount, I mentioned that I didn't like the animated transition between pages (does France own shares in Flash or something?) and would prefer simple clicks. After being given a look of utter disgust for criticising their artistic genius, I was advised that this was their standard format and any departure from this would result in a much higher cost. So it was ten-bazillion euros to have our text and images stuck into a completely fixed format. I declined.
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And it's not just resort websites! It's anyone who thinks "content first" isn't something they should pay attention to.
The web is a means of communication. Information should be clear, accessible and available on any device you care to use. 3D animating, musical, fading, pop-up, bandwidth-sucking crap should be consigned to the place where intro splash screens went. Although I do still get the odd request for those. The answer is always "no".
@stevomcd, pm me if you like. I can guarantee no extra charge for not putting in an animation!
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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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Also on a similar note Feratel (or whoever it is who does the webcams for the majority of resorts) have really screwed up their webcams this year.
Just look at this crap (the top one): http://www.axamer-lizum.at/de/winter/webcams.html
In all previous years there was a bar so you could click/scroll along to get to the relevant part of the video the check conditions at whichever point is of most interest. Now you have to sit through 30 seconds of cowdoo first. Seriously, what f***wit thought that was a good idea? Ok it's more annoying at Axamer than many places due to the building in the way, but it's still a ballache on many other webcams too.
Removing useful functionality just to look a bit prettier and more modern
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@under a new name, I've tried a number of times to make bookings on resort websites and always failed. As you say, all hassle and no benefit. I feel like they could do it well if they tried though. The aggregate sites are similarly difficult for different reasons. I'd love it if resort websites could sort it out.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Gämsbock, I've booked hotels and guesthouse very satisfactorily through the Solden, Alpbach, Grindelwald, Engelberg, Saas Fee and Arosa websites; simple, clear and easy. 
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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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@LOTA, hmm, I've been looking at Engelberg. It seems to have only the big hotels and their own Titlis Resort apartments on it, which aren't what I am looking for. They do have another section for 'private apartments' and 'guesthouses' but that's just a list of names and phone numbers, and a very limited list at that. If I wanted to ring every guesthouse and ferienwohnung in Engelberg I wouldn't be on their website - and in fact I'd be better off with a telephone book, as at least that would list them all. I at least want to know who has availability and the size of the place before I pick up the phone. I'd agree that the Engelberg website is generally easy to use compared to a lot of resort websites, but it's hardly a useful resource for booking accommodation. I guess that they charge a prohibitive amount for the smaller places to afford a listing.
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You need to remember that websites are not there for the convenience of the user but to display the level of clever coding that the developer is capable of!
It will be completely intuitive to him because that's the sequence he thought of it, not the way you want to use it!
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You know it makes sense.
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Val d'l, interactive map only works on home computer, not tablet or work puter. No downloadable map to be found... Arrrrrgh.
Fortunately tignes website has a PDF right there so all OK!
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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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@Gämsbock, Interesting. The brochure that I ordered via the Engelberg website lists loads of self-catering flats and apartments (many with websites of their own). For my last two visits to Engelberg, I booked small hotels with no problem and cheaper than advertised on at least two of the major hotel aggregate sites.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have a little iPhone app called Piste Maps. You simply tell it which ones you want to download then it lets you zoom in and view them easily. The map I have for La Plagne has all the piste names on
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@under a new name, they all seem to sacrifice function on the altar of style. I feel your pain
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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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@LOTA, that is interesting - I will have to try and order the brochure. It's still not going to help with availability though.
My experience is based on comparison - I used to live in Germany and ski in Austria most weekends. Often just for the day, but a few times a season for the the whole weekend. We'd look on say, the Ischgl website on a Thursday, see who had availability and end up staying in some tiny private pension with two rooms in Mathon (village down the road) or whatever. These are the kind of places I'm looking for now, and the Engelberg website just comes back with 4* hotels at many times what I am looking to pay. Or a list of places I have to phone just to find out if they have availability.
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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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Not just France and Switzerland – the Courmayeur one drove me mad last winter. Every time I went to it I couldn't find what I was looking for (opening dates, lift open times, piste status etc.) – just flashy banners and menus flying out and disappearing all over the place. I got better info on their FB page every time.
I'm ok with the Val Thorens one though, but that’s possibly just because I'm used to it.
And yes – they are ALL awful for checking out accommodation, and researching/comparing ski schools.
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
Perennial question as yet unanswered to any satisfaction...
Endeavouring to check piste names around PDS, they have a new f*cking interactive piece of sh*t.
I do not want interactive wa*king.
I want information.
T*ssers.
Do they not have the first f*cking clue? |
It probably has to work on Minitel
oh that should be Tosseurs btw, if they are French.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Gämsbock, Yes, I've done that myself with Solden and Alpbach! The Engelberg brochure lists some small places in surrounding areas like Grafenort (one stop down the railway line), Wolffenschiessen and Bannalp. They have their own websites where you can check availability.
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@davidof,
ROFLMAO
I'm quite sure you are right ... on both counts.
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I sent a deposit to a place in italy recently. They were excited to tell me that the new website could now directly accept my credit card.
Well i guess i was the first person to test it because no it could not. After 3 rounds of overnight fixes we got success finally.
I mean do they not even test things ?
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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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@LOTA, so the conclusion is that it's only the Austrian resorts who have got their accommodation service sorted . Thanks for the tip about the brochure for Engelberg, I will try to get hold of that. I was looking specifically for Wolffenschiessen last night, though unsuccessfully (how about this apartment in Giswill, only 19k as the crow flies?). I'll check out those other villages too, thanks very much.
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A number of the equipment manufacturers have fallen for the 'dynamic appearance over substance' approach as well. I'll mention Dynafit and Mammut as two of them, both of whom when clicking on products, show the first 8 or so, then give you a show more button. Maybe they are concerned about the viewers mobile data contract.
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FAQ
