 Poster: A snowHead
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Ski resorts do you think there are on this little mudball we call home.
Ignore the fact that many are now linked via an interlinked lift infrastructure or their size. Just how many do you think there are that have a ski holiday income, however small?
I have a figure (that is still growing), but take a guess . . .
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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900
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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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Cedric, not even close
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Fri 20-01-06 15:51; edited 1 time in total
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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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more in the order of 50,000 or more I'd guess but I've no idea really.
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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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ise, I'm approaching that number and expect to go beyond. It's really stunning that within Snowheads we've probably mentioned ... what, maybe 100?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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65,536? (and I've only been to about 35 of them)
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How's a resort defined? At least one lift and real snow?
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Wear The Fox Hat, I'm at just over 47K and I'm certain I've a long way to go. This is connected in a loose way to the tread I started about ski-in-ski-out.
Have we as ski tourists become responsible for the 'Disneyfication'(sic) of ski resorts? Are we responsible for the economic death of many small resorts?
We want absolute convenience ... but that's as easy to call laziness as it is to describe as satisfying customer needs. Have we become so immured in the (faux?) ideal of absolute service that we've forgotten why we go to the mountain in the first place?
AND ... has the isolated environment of the ski resort been influenced by our demands to become a generic entertainment complex that has no relationship to its geographic location? ... Tignes, Val Claret could be anywhere depending on the predominant visitor language ... and that applies to many resorts ... even the ones that lay claim to a 'traditional' tag.
Is the Snowheads community interested in some open research about how we are part of our sport's recreational development?
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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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Snowhunter (Patrick Thorne) on www.snow24.com claims information on 5,700 ski centres in 80 countries.
I seem to recall from his 1998 World Ski and Snowboard Guide that he has quite a strict definition of what constitutes a resort, so depending on one's definition, a different number could be obtained.
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RobW, I am being very loose. as long as there is one lift (of any sort) and a designated piste it is a 'resort'. How well it performs as such may well be down to marketing and knowledge, but is not part of this question.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| RobW wrote: |
Snowhunter (Patrick Thorne) on www.snow24.com claims information on 5,700 ski centres in 80 countries.
I seem to recall from his 1998 World Ski and Snowboard Guide that he has quite a strict definition of what constitutes a resort, so depending on one's definition, a different number could be obtained. |
I can't see that's even close as a total number though. Finding some of the small stations is very difficult in some countries of course.
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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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| Masque wrote: |
| RobW, I am being very loose. as long as there is one lift (of any sort) and a designated piste it is a 'resort'. How well it performs as such may well be down to marketing and knowledge, but is not part of this question. |
Under that definition, would Milton Keynes be included?
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rob@rar.org.uk, realistically, yes and why not?
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You know it makes sense.
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Chatting to davidof earlier this afternoon coincidentally, and there was mention of a couple of draglifts and a small piste or two on the sunny side of the valley just above the 'real' Aime. Still opens occasionally. Was going to seek it out! Does that count as a resort?
I've got a lot of pleasure from some of the really tiny stations de ski around France, their welcoming, if laid-back approach, good cheap food and costs generally...
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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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Masque, How have you treated resorts like La Plagne that claims 10 connected villages, 11 from next season no doubt, Is it one resort or 10 or 11? How do you define connected? Is LDA one resort or two? How long is a piece of string. I don't envy you on this one!
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Poster: A snowHead
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According to RSN, there are 557 resorts they report on in the US.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PG, On the button, thanks. This is part of the the argument. Have we ski tourists become so immersed in convenience skiing that we're no longer prepared to visit the smaller resorts or ski pistes that are rarely if ever pisted?
Is it possible that we snowheads could be the saviour of the small resort or the murderer?
It's not a joke, how many of us are prepared to spend time and money somewhere that none of us talk about?
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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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Wear The Fox Hat, there are more than 2000 'resorts' in Pa and NY
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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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Masque, I could well believe that!
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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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boredsurfin, above Moutiers there is a single lift and piste ... you can see it as you come out of the tunnel. Lord knows how you can get there and has anyone here ridden it?
That's the point, have our expectations of a ski holiday grown larger than many resorts can provide?
Will that destroy the smaller resorts?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sometimes a resort with one good lift, even if its not that long, can provide plenty of good off-piste (often tree skiing).
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| Masque wrote: |
| rob@rar.org.uk, realistically, yes and why not? |
No objection from me.
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If you define resorts as only needing a permanent lift and a piste, then there are six in England - and that's without counting any artificial slopes.
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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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There used to be a farmer near the Spittalof Glenshee who, when the access road was blocked, would loop a rope around a tractor wheel and use it as a tow. Charged for the privelege. Benefited from it one school trip.
Does that count??
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David Murdoch, If it's there every year and it touts for tourists, even local ones then yes, but that's pushing the envelope.
I'm wondering how our desires for higher, deeper, faster, longer and to be feted with comfort and convenience have and are affecting the sport. Now we're creating über resorts are the little ones dying because people who used to use them are drawn away or are they still thriving.
St. Foy being a case in point, small with a tiny infrastructure and very little accommodation, used to be described as a jewel. Now its base is blanketed by a nouveaux rich half timbered pastich of traditional. I gather its slopes are littered with merchant *ankers getting in the way of the local freeriders. St. Foy is thriving. What's happening to the others, are we looking for the next St. Foy and do they even want us.
How long can they survive? Does anyone care if they don't?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
| Does anyone care if they don't? |
I'm not too bothered. If there's no call for them, what's the point?
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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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| Masque wrote: |
David Murdoch, If it's there every year and it touts for tourists, even local ones then yes, but that's pushing the envelope.
I'm wondering how our desires for higher, deeper, faster, longer and to be feted with comfort and convenience have and are affecting the sport. Now we're creating über resorts are the little ones dying because people who used to use them are drawn away or are they still thriving.
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Well, if you manage to count the number of stations you can tackle this for your next challenge  Take a level for a large station, say 200km of skiing, calculate the number of ski days it provides, I'll bet it's a drop in ocean in the global number of days the bulk of which are spent at small stations.
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Personally we tend to book based on amount of piste available, then snowsure factor. So a week in a "resort" with one lift would soon get pretty boring, and if the snow doesnt arrive, the lack of bars, resaurants, shops to browse would drive us nuts.
I experienced this in Bulgaria (pamporovo) back in the 80's and it turned into a week of drinking.
However if some enterprising person were to research some of the smaller resorts an put together a "tour" of sorts I'd definately consider it, the feeling of skiing/boarding somewhere different each day would be very cool.
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