Please list here any interest or support you can offer to help a Pakistani ski school that is recovering from control of their local region by the Taliban. There is a BBC interview with the head of the ski school which explains the situation they are in, and it would be great to help them out in some way.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 12-03-13 20:10; edited 2 times in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Fair play to him!
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?
martinm wrote:
Fair play to him!
The man's a skiing hero! Puts some of our popular issues (lift queues, ski hosting, airline baggage etc etc) in perspective.
I bet there's a fair few snowheads with some old spare poles and skis laying around in garages etc that could be packaged up and send out.
Is this something Admin could organise?
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
shoogly, I tried to donate my skis (only a few years old and in very good nick) to Disability Snowsports UK but no one ever got back to me. I'll happily donate my skis to Matee Ullah Khan's ski school!
After all it is free
After all it is free
Only question is whether you could get a parcel to them without it being intercepted, presumably the area is ok at the moment - worth a try, with poles at £8 a pair in Decathlon, a phone call to head office would probably get 20-30 pairs in various sizes to get out there in return for a bit of publicity.
I'm sure we've all got skis that would be better than home made attempts, particularly kids skis that many will grow out of and sit in the loft for years doing nothing.
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Got to hand it to him, he's a brave man....just for wearing these outfits to take on the Taliban!!
Mistress Panda wrote:
...a bit of publicity...
Although not the primary motive, but just imagine what it could do for s
How about some buffs??
What do ski hire shops do with their old, worn out stock?
It would be damned expensive to get the stuff out there, let alone collect it all in the UK.
Although, the kids would love it
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The ESF in Tignes replace their uniforms every 2 years and the old kit is donated and sent to guides in the Hymalayas(?)
Maybe we should send some to this guy although red will be an easy target for the taliban
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
ALQ, I know of 2 small companies in the alps that buy up the old stock from hire shops and then sell it on to Eastern Europe and i assume there are probably others that do the same thing.
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 was wondering if I could find a Pakistani businessman here in East London, willing to pay the shipping if a source of stuff could be found?
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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
I think it would be a great cause to become involved with if we could sort out the problem of getting equipment to one of the most remote areas of the world.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
First, lets see if we have any source of skis and stuff.
If we can get that end sorted, then I can contact the local paper who are sure to be interested, the area I'm in has a large Pakistani population.
Anyone?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Ham, just checked back through Buy, Sell, Exchange as someone had a job lot of ex-rental gear to get rid of, but they were sold before Christmas (he was offering them for free). I wonder if it is worth a PM though in case he has other stuff at the end of the season. I think he is in St Gervais.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Ham, I've started a new thread, and asked people to post any suggestions of sources of equipment in here.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
If the ski area is called Swat; do they eat in a mountain hut, hut, hut, hut, hut!!?
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?
Perhaps we could ship CEM out there for 6 months, after all we all know that the basis of any successful skier is half a grands worth of professionally fitted skiboot...
ok joke over.
Perhaps a good starting point is to contact the BBC, and see if you can get contact details of the guy in the article and find out what he actually needs on the ground...
I think the biggest challenge will be to get some sort of shipping arrangement in place. Even if some ex-rental gear can't be sourced I'm sure that there are enough old skis sitting in lofts that can be dusted off and provide some value for a ski school with what sounds like almost nothing. Anyone know anybody in FedEx, DHL, UPS, etc?
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
rob@rar, I believe the swat valley is where UN and Red Cross convoys get attacked fairly frequently, unfortunately I don't think UPS would take that on...
rob@rar, I believe the swat valley is where UN and Red Cross convoys get attacked fairly frequently, unfortunately I don't think UPS would take that on...
Sounds like a job for The Lardy Bus
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
UK aid 2010/11: £215m
UK aid in 2014/15: £446m
& change: +107.44
Total aid 2010-2015: £1.392bn
thats a fair few poles then.
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ropetow, I doubt aid is reaching a small ski school in Swat valley.
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Hells Bells wrote:
ropetow, I doubt aid is reaching a small ski school in Swat valley.
Very true, although those government types and their fat families do need at least 3 SUVs each you know...
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Hells Bells wrote:
ropetow, I doubt aid is reaching a small ski school in Swat valley.
I'd hope it wasn't.
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.
A ski resort will go nicely with their Nuclear Bomb project!
Closer to home Disability Snow sports UK are always looking for spare kit as are Special Olympics UK
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
Well, I've spoken to the local rag who have said they'd be interested to run the story with an appeal for a local business to pay for the travel.
All we need now is gear.
I somehow suspect that our homegrown groups, especially those aimed at less able, might not appreciate all cast-offs in the same way as those who nail shoes to lumps of wood
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Ham wrote:
I somehow suspect that our homegrown groups, especially those aimed at less able, might not appreciate all cast-offs in the same way as those who nail shoes to lumps of wood
Good point - 1980s rear entry boots and skis have still got to be a big improvement on what they're currently using out in Pakistan!
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Next time I'm up at hillend I'll ask what happens to all their kit that is clearly around 10 years old and never serviced... have a feeling they'll just say they're using it next year though.
Did glencoe not get lots of new hire kit last season? wonder what they did with their old stuff.
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?
I bought some ex hire skis in France a year or three ago and with another pair I can liberate from the attic I can donate three pairs (I think). But as someone has already said, transport is the problem. I'm in Carlisle (home of Eddie Stobart) and can probably enquire of someone whether they can find some spare space in a vehicle heading that way. I think they have done similar things in the past, getting toys to Romanian orphanages and the like. Pakistan is a bit further away than Romania though - but...
'don't ask, don't get'
... not worth asking yet, as its not clear what is needed there on the ground and what may be available here.
Or is it?
Small niggle here, don't want to poo on what is basically a sound idea but...I had a look at the various news reports and loads of pictures of the ski area etc and can't see any women. I don't think there's anything in the Koran forbidding women from skiing. Is it that they're just camera shy?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
robapplegate wrote:
Small niggle here, don't want to poo on what is basically a sound idea but...I had a look at the various news reports and loads of pictures of the ski area etc and can't see any women. I don't think there's anything in the Koran forbidding women from skiing. Is it that they're just camera shy?
I haven't looked at loads of pictures but a quick google found this.