Downhill Only Club

A snowHead

Just got my nicely bound 84 page DHO 2004 journal. Best laugh I've had for ages! (Sorry, D G Orf!)

I've waited all year to learn who won the Toblerone Relay, the International Inferno and the Roped Race, to read shiny page after shiny page about the Wengen Curling Club, various historical anecdotes, the DHO-organised schoolboy and schoolgirl races, etc, etc.

So how about the two half-French DHO girls who actually took podium places, including one win and two seconds, at the British Championships last Easter? How many pages do you think they merited? One, two?

None. Not so much as a paragraph, or even a single line. Not a mention! Oh well, we're definitely not part of the in-crowd, so that must explain it. Far more important to list the ten pages of membership names, no doubt, including a not insignificant number of Lt Col this, Brigadier that, Commander, the Hon. other.

So much for the modern face of British skiing!

A snowHead

That's sad. Confirms my perceptions of the 'upper echelons' of British skiing.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

PG, no need to be bashful here. Are you, by any chance, referring to your own children? If not, my apologies. If they are, congratulations to them!

Does the circulation of snowHeads now exceed the circulation of the DHO 2004 Journal?

Perhaps a communication with the editor of this book would yield a worthwhile response. It's only a personal opinion, but I think impartiality is a useful virtue for an editor.

The facts you've expressed would seem a little unfair to a pair of ambitious kids who've achieved something. Maybe they're being given an early lesson in life about something or other?

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Actually the biggest issue is the ....... editor, year before this issue I sent in a CD with photos of the races and prize givings, not a single pic of mine was used, the reason none of the editors relatives took the blasted pictures Mad

To be fair if nobody told the editor about the two half-French DHO girls he wouldn't know any better.

I offered to do the editing the last time the editorship came up and I've repeated the offer since but I doubt it will ever come to me as I'm not an ex military officer or an hon. somebody.

Not everyone is happy with his efforts, in several cases he has altered articles sent in to him, in some cases upsetting both the writer and the persons/organisations written about.

We're not all a bunch of food fighting upper echelon berks

P.S. I'm not sure what P. Von Allmen will think when he reads the Alpenrose related story, he's not known for his sense of humor Shocked

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

David Goldsmith, No - I'm responsible for just one out of two, the other has an English mum and French mountain guide dad, lives up in Les Houches.
D G Orf, I spoke to the Editor a couple of years ago, suggesting that he might include the efforts of the DHO racers, and he came out with some excuse or other. I'm sure he's fully aware of the DHO British Championship successes.

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PG, I'm afraid that he seems to regard the magazine as his own way of getting 15mins of fame or something Confused

He may be aware of the succes or he may not, more likely he just does not care Sad

By the way just in case anyone thinks that I sent the CD mentioned above in late or that the pictures were not of sufficient quality to reproduce, the CD was handed to the DHO the 2 days after the prizegiving in February and I have subsequently printed one of the pics at A3 size with no loss in quality, as a student I spent 2 years doing photographic work for the weekly Student Union magazine, one of those years as Photo Editor so I know what I'm talking about Little Angel

I was told by another senior DHO member just why my pictures would probably not be used, before I handed the CD over.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

D G Orf, out of interest, why did you join? In our case it was by accident - we just needed a British club affiliation, were in a hurry, and they seemed one of the biggest around...

If it wasn't for the support of the Racing Manager, Ingrid Christophersen, a lovely lady, we would have left ages ago, and joined a Scottish club Shocked

. They seem to be the only down to earth ones on the slopes at the competitions.

After all it is free

PG, Oh come on, with my love of Wengen it was almost inevitable snowHead

, besides I was a coggin once and my late Father was also in it and took part in some of their competitions. Little Angel

You might say I come from a line of snowHead

's

I know exactly what you mean about Ingrid snowHead

I expect to now get it well and truly as other members of the DHO also read and post here Shocked

D G Orf, lol

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May I just say that I have been a DHO member for some years and I have no regrets and few gripes.

I know someone who has been the editor of the magazine for some 10 years and he was neither an hon or a military figure.

I don't know - without knowing the full facts of this I could not make a judgement as to whether the editor even knew the results of the British Championships races. Not that I am defending him either.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Annehillskiing, the editor of an annual ski club journal should make it his business to find out. The Racing Manager contributed an historical article, and Chemmy gets her obligatory couple of pages, despite having little or nothing to do with the club for years. It either is a deliberate exclusion, or is as good as one.

snow reports

PG, I find it odd that you believe the scottish clubs to be the only down to earth ones on the slopes at the competitions and that one of your reasons for joining DHO is that they are one of the biggest clubs.
I know of several smaller English based clubs who are as down to earth as the scots.
I run one of the smaller clubs, we are dedicated to racing and training (nothing else) and keep our size small deliberately to maximise quality and continuity of coaching.

philbski1, From the perspective of a parent new to the British racing scene some years back, we needed a licence quickly (within a week). Size wasn't a particular incentive to join, but the DHO appeared to have the training infrastructure and was one of only two clubs to respond to the 15 or so emails I sent out to English clubs.

I'm sure that there are some non-elitist English clubs that take part in the international scene, but at the Championships in Europe (I was only thinking of clubs that attend these) over the past four years, I've always ended up with the impression that they are in a small minority. Whereas the Scots, with their limited mountain terrain, seemed to have quite a few 'ordinary folk'. Trouble is most of them were excessively Scots nationalist, or so it seemed to me!

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Counting up the listed members gives a total of 1518

A snowHead

As an outsider this editorial team sounds a bit like the guys who did/didn't start the Grand National.

A snowHead

I heard of the DHO club before, apart from a mad ski race I saw once what do they do?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Also as an outsider to the DHO, though I've had the pleasure of visiting their little HQ in Wengen and knowing a number of members, I'll just make the following diplomatic comments:

- "Downhill Only" (or is it "Down Hill Only"?) is the best name ever for a ski club.
- The club is a model of English eccentricity at its most exquisite.
- Any journal of a club of this sort should obviously reflect its loopiness.
- I gather there's an ancient and sometimes vicious rivalry with the Kandahar Club, over the valley in Murren. Perhaps we should know more about this.
- The DHO unwittingly gave birth to the funniest TV documentary on British skiing ever, the name of which I've forgotten: "On the Piste" or something? It made a total mockery of the organisation, but it has survived and thrives!

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Well going from the journal, apart from hang around in Wengen pretending they're the last outpost of the British Empire, not a lot.

To be fair they have a small, enthusiastic, and relatively well organised race section, if populated to a large degree by the offspring of rather well-off members of the 'old-style' British skiing scene.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

snowball, it's not a team just a single person, he gets from the end of April to the middle of September to produce one magazine of just over 80 pages, of those he has to produce the index page and a one page editorial, plus do the layout for the other pages. He couldn't even manage to get it out on time this year, it eventually turned up on the 25th October or about a month late !

Now not knowing the details the lateness of the magazine could be down to the printers, but in my experience printers are usually pretty reliable and give accurate estimates of how long it will take to do a run.

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Russell: Now the Downhill Only Club are just a ski club based in Wengen, but originally they pioneered the idea of getting a lift up the mountain instead of spending most of the day climbing up.
They did this by using the Grindlewald/Wengen railway for the uphill.
The way I heard it they persuaded the Swiss to open the railway in winter, but this was disputed when I mentioned it before.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

DGO on DHO. Don't underestimate the horrors of book production. As you say, printers are great, but they don't have the nightmare of 'publishing and being damned'.

And this editor is certainly being damned! Who is this unfortunate person, and does anyone have anything nice to say about him? What's the best thing in the book, for instance?

After all it is free

David Goldsmith, the Journal cover spells it Downhill Only, In wengen it now acts more as a social club than anything else (not quite as eccentric as it used to be, though we still have what some might term eccentric individuals), the rivalry with the Kandahar club is not vicious, rather more friendly than that. as for that blasted doccumentary it's a continued source of embarresment for all who took part in the food fighting section and rightly so

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David Goldsmith,

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

brian

brian,

Well her 7th great-grandfather was hung drawn and quartered by the English after Culloden, so maybe she should get honorary life membership!

You know it makes sense.

What odds that one of her other 7th great-grandfathers did it? Shock

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

laundryman, Would be an interesting calculation! Though I know where a fair few of them were at the time. One had just been bumped off by the garlic-crunching French during the defeat at the Battle of Dettingen, so he definitely wasn't responsible. Others were in various foreign parts - Africa, West Indies, America so they can be excused. There have been a few scheming lowlanders in the family, mind you Wink

A snowHead

Surely Dettingen was a British victory (Handel wrote a Te Deum in celebration). Wasn't the defeat Fontenoy?

A snowHead

Sorry for confusion, that's what I meant to write - yes of course the Brits won that particular battle.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

PG, I'm beginning to think I should apologise for recommending the DHO to you, and by the way: none of you mentioned the fab article by my dad (although you couldn't know it was him) about the 1950 & 1951 London Ski Jump. that's real excenctricity for you. rolling eyes

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easiski, Not Sir George himself, surely! Wink

Come on Charlotte, you've got to admit, the whole thing's just a bit 'incestuous', lots of mutual back-slapping, little or no room for outsiders...

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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PG, Yes, I'm afraid that I do agree with you, which is why my name no longer graces the membership list. However, I was a trainee with several of the people mentioned in the off piste trip articles, and can tell you that they do ski very well - even if they are a bit "hooray-ish".

In the days of the ski jump it was really incestuous. Of course hardly anyone skied then anyway.......... My dad still thinks I'm just a ski bum Crying or Very sad

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