 Poster: A snowHead
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I have read umpteen times in ski mags and websites the following terms which are really starting to annoy me.
"intermediate cruising"
"motorway crusing"
"high speed cruising"
What are they on about? The connotations to me are:
Intermediate cruising - piste suitable for good skiers who want to take a bit of a breather while still skiing. So what is expert cruising? Beginner cruising? Let's not even start on that old chestnut - what is an intermediate?
Motorway cruising - this is either heavily trafficked like an A road at best OR is as wide as a motorway. Then is it 3 or 4 lanes? Or is it 6 or 8 lanes assuming both sides of the motorway? Fast traffic coming in the opposite direction? Is there a hard shoulder? Will everyone slow down and look at me if I fall thereby causing everyone behind to slow down? God help us if its actually a "high speed cruiser" and everyone slows down to look. And there is no sign of a Little Chef.
High speed cruising - Is there a speed minimum? Can I go slow? Does this mean its steep and you can't help but go fast? Where are the "slightly slower speed" cruisers?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Peter Leuzzi, .........someone in a small room, with no natural light, is paid to come up with these and other idiotic terms.....
......also, Ski Resort Advertorials and their exclusive terminology are fast becoming a pet hate....but that's ammunition for another thread!
......just goes to show that 'Care in the community' was not entirely successful...... 
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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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BernardC, my point exactly.
Difficult to type in strait jacket and wooden bit in mouth...those peskie advertorialists.
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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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Peter Leuzzi, .....I'm sure there must be plenty 'tongue in cheek', behind the wooden bit in mouth......
By the way....if 'Motorway Cruising' ..do ensure that the planks in question have 'Digital bi-directional indicator devices' - fore & aft....
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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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BernardC, 
Not sure I should motorway cruise. Be so slow it'd be viewed as kerb crawling
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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......also, Ski Resort Advertorials and their exclusive terminology are fast becoming a pet hate....but that's ammunition for another thread!
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oooooh, let's start one now.
Trouble is that the UK mags are all caught up in a viscious circle they can't break... it goes like this... biggest source of advertising dosh? Resorts. So, resort says to magazine: "we'll support you with some advertising if you send out a writer and write us up". Ad Manager has targets so bends. Writer goes out, is shown a great time - mostly the "cruisy stuff" as that is trhe market the resort wants, comes home, thinks "what the hell am I going to say about the place" and ends up trolling out the same old "what I did on my holidays, cruisy intermediate motorways in the fabulous sunshine that is constant in this part of the world" rubbish. Or, the whole charade is bypassed by the resort buying their editorial space too! It's why, for example, a quite good looking mag like Ski&Board only sells an average of 2000 copies per issue on the news stand.
What I'd like to see is some proper investigative ski journalism. Someone needs to go down the bins, dig up the accident records, look for scandal among the resort staff, if a place is rubbish say so etc etc. Trouble is the revenue would evaporate and it's a business after all.
Anyway, to answer the original question... nobody reads past the first few lines anyway so it doesn't matter.
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.........it's remarkable just how quickly skiing has been enveloped by the 'Marketing People'... I have certainly noticed a fairly marked acceleration over the last 3-4 years. It's beginning to look almost like the automotive industry, with 'Model Year' creeping in - skis changing each year - well the graphics anyway & I bet it is a struggle to invent more descriptive rubbish to sell them - but sell they do. Boots and other 'accessories' are swiftly following suit. Smallzookeeper has recently bemoaned the fact that some skis for 2008 are being delivered to dealers, even though they have yet to sell the 2007 stock.
I found it refreshing, both to read Megamums excellent questions on this forum and the plain no-nonsense answers given by snowheads, explaining the basic functions of skis, bindings, boots, carving etc. Most of it is basic and when all the marketing hype is swept away, it is the individual skier alone with, or against , the mountain. Jonpim's has a favourite premise on skis, which he might share if asked nicely 
Technical improvements have undoubtly been made - certain manufacturers to the fore and with all credit due, but to seperate the wheat from the chaff........?
oh.....Bode ,
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... nobody reads past the first few lines anyway so it doesn't matter.
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.......you may be VERY surprised............I have heard conversations that would make you cringe.... 
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BernardC, the "equipment conspiracy" is something the media should go for. In my time I've been to a number of ski factories, yawned through the presentations and been mildly impressed by the inventive BS they need to communicate to sell more skis... actually to get folks to change equipment more frequently and thus sell more skis. I've witnessed the following proven... take identical constructions, same length, flex pattern, same sidecut, same prep, same everything apart from the graphic. One basically says "cruisy, nice, comfy" the other says "racer, street, gnarly". They get two completely different sets of test results. No names, no pack drill but we consumers most often hear what we want to hear and, in the case of skis, feel what we want to feel or what we're expected to feel - this is especially true once you have already shelled out for a pair. I generalise slightly in there but it is true.
Boots and boot fitting has its own unique and self-perpetuating BS system going on. I meet people all the time who are in dire "precision fit", who have spent 3 hours being fitted (up ), who just know they will have comfort and performance "after a few more days I'm told". Admitting you feel physically sick cos your sanguinous fluids can't circulate having just shelled out for an expert fitting, is as uncomfortable as the boots themselves. I like the natural athletes who can jump in virtually any old gear and outshine all the gear bores. Why don't the mags go into all this stuff... cos they'd lose the advertising that's why.
With resorts the mis-information is even worse but I'll save that for later.
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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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Intermediate is defined as 'being between two points'. In this case, between beginner and expert on the skill curve.
Cruising can be defined as 'traveling around for pleasure'.
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BernardC, I would suggest the "system" has been around for a lit longer than just the last few years...first time I was old enough to really notice was around the period of:
Vibration Absorbing System (Rossignol) and Dynastar's extraordinary "Course" (at least that included active engineering) and "Open" series (so, how does cutting a hole in the tip of an otherwise bog standard lump of foam make them easier to ski?).
'Twas always thus.
Should we appoint Megamum guardian of the Snowheads Wiki? Excellent questions indeed...
Bode Swiller, I will take small issue with the "boot fitting BS". I have never, ever, ever had a comfortable pair of boots (in 36 years and not a little bit of skiing). If someone out there exists (SZK your sword in stone moment is rapidly approaching) who can give me a pain free day in something a tad more supportive than a pair of snowboard boots, I'm prepared to pay. And I'll keep looking till I find them.
Core problem is that most skiers will believe what they read, only ski one week a year and don't really care too much about technique, etc. beyond that. It is, after all and rightly so, a holiday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Bode Swiller,
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What I'd like to see is some proper investigative ski journalism. Someone needs to go down the bins, dig up the accident records, look for scandal among the resort staff, if a place is rubbish say so etc etc. |
Well, you could always put that type of info on a website
As for sex and scandal
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| look for scandal among the resort staff |
The Courchevel Enquirer seem's to do quite well on that subject :-
http://www.courchevelenquirer.com/
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