 Poster: A snowHead
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An item from Grampian TV pondering the likely impact on younger Scots coming into the racing scene given that snow both indoor and outdoors is in such short supply nowadays for those trying to train north of the border...
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However it's a different story at youth level, where a lack of snow and top class facilities are being blamed for a change in the balance of power among the home nations.
The Scottish ski season was restricted to a disappointing five weeks this year, and there's been a sharp decline in the number of races taking place on Scotland's slopes. |
Video clips including some shots of the British Land Seniors Championship at Meribel and interviews about the falling numbers of young Scots in training on the linked site.
Sorry Sight
Anyone know where the rather sad picture was taken ?
< Edit - image converted to link to conform with copywrite >
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 30-03-05 11:29; edited 3 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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well, it's called Barron_skislope.jpg, so i'd guess it's a ski slope at a place called barron? never skiied in scotchland, but I know there isn;t a resort by that name, so if that's right it must be the name of an area - like Eychauda at Serre Che
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Dave Horsley, still it's a fact that the a large proportion of top youngsters coming through the ski racing system are from south of the border these days. The balance of power is shifting. Most of the staff at Hillend, Edinburgh (SnowSport GB) are still Scots and north-south rivalry and resentments continue. A significant number of parents and coaches complain that patronage plays a part in the team selection procedures. A crazy situation! - we should all be working together for the good of British skiing. At the moment there's not a small amount of paranoia and backbiting between clubs, and to an extent between Scotland and England. There is, for example, a British club association (BARSC - British Alpine Racing Ski Clubs Ltd). No member clubs from north of the border though.
No wonder British ski racing at children/junior level is in the state it is. www.snowracers.net has raised this on numerous occasions with the sport's administrators - including a meeting at Meribel last week with the (Scottish) CEO. So far, the barricades remain firmly in place, and the "modernisation working group" committee, detailed to work on communication, selection, recruitment, publicity and other problem areas, is still manned by the "old guard" responsible for the problems in the first place.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dave Horsley, thank's for that.
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Disappointing season in terms of length, but we've had some of the best snow since 2001
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That's the point of the article. Yes it was good while it lasted but it doesn't last long enough to arrange a decent training and racing programme for the youngsters. I don't see it as knocking copy. Just stating the facts that the numbers in training are dropping and projecting the likely impact onto the future of British competitive skiing. In the video clip, the guy talks about the old days of ~ 200 kids in the training programme but says it's virtually impossible to put together a Scottish-based season-long programme now. Can't argue with him on that. 
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PG, ' Fraid I can't really comment on the racing side as I'm not involved in racing. In fact for me one of the anoyances of skiing in Scotland is that all (most) of the local clubs seem to be aimed at racing for children. My main point about the written article was that it was knocking the Scottish season, no mention was made on how good the snow was just that the season was very short.
Also are the facilities in England and Wales any better than Scotland? At least we had 5 weeks of real snow, how many races were run at Yad Moss or Raise? Dry slopes wise the slope at Edinburgh is very impressive, how does Scottish dryslope facilities compare with the rest of the UK and are dryslopes usefull for race training?
I have this year joined Huntly Nordic Ski Club as the main reason for joining a club for me was to try and find people to go touring with locally. A big part of HNSC is XC racing (and they have a big and successful Junior Development Squad) so if I get reasonably fit over the summer I might try a bit of racing next year. I also looking forward to having a go at roller skiing over the summer.
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Dave,
The Lake District Ski Club used to have its own Race Committee but that was disbanded several years ago. Each of the ski clubs used to have a programme of racing on artifical and snow but that stopped at least 20 years ago.
I suspect that part of the problem is simply a lack of interest among skiers in racing these days.
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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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I suspect that part of the problem is simply a lack of interest among skiers in racing these days
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Not surprising given the lack of real coverage on TV these days, there are more exciting events than downhil, slalom and so on such as skier cross and boarder cross events plus the snowpark events but these get even less coverage than the ordinary events
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D G Orf, I caught about 6 hours of tremendous TV coverage of the Winter X Nine Games from Aspen on Orbit ESPN. An amazing range of events - mostly head-to-head but many very technical (1/2 pipe, rails etc). All thrilling edge-of-the-chair stuff. Sky cameras looking straight down on the ski/boarder cross events so you could see who cut up who and who was in the lead at all times, without effects of perspective. Cameramen filming on skis alongside competitors in many events. Split screens. Graphics. Action replays. The works.....
And Aspen had over 60,000 spectators present.
Seems obvious to me that the days of the traditional skiing events on television, except perhaps in Austria, Switzerland, France and the Nordic countries, are numbered.
Against the clock events just haven't got the wow factor the average viewer now expects. Let's be honest 10/15 years back most ski jumping was watched in the expectation (maybe even hope) that you'd see a spectacular tumble. Same with bobsleigh events and the like. Almost no viewers (and very often the commentators if they were Brits) had any real appreciation of the skills and athleticism on display. It was cheap TV with a couple of fixed cameras and a man with a mike. Filled in nicely when the horse racing was frozen or fogged off our screens. Not good enough for the next generation of snowsports viewers.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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kuwait_ian, you may have caught that but it did not appear on UK terrestrial broadcasts which is a real shame
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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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Some of it was on terrestrial tv on sunday night (or saturday - bit hazy on the details!) - channel 5.
I saw the superpipe which was brilliant - boarders pulling 1080 spins, and also some skiers in the pipe
There was some snowmobile racing which looked fab - 6 machines going round a course and just flying through the air - a bit boring after a while on the telly but i bet its great live!
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You know it makes sense.
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http://www.winterhighland.info/pix/displayimage.php?photo_id=431
just to go back to the topic a little, the link above is a picture of the Lecht during this season (6th march i think), taken from http://www.winterhighland.com (great website for scottish snowsport)....the building in the middle is the daylodge, and the chairlift going up and to the right of it is the same chairlift that is in the photo in kuwait_ians original post.
looking somewhat different there...and thats not (by any means) the best conditions of the year either (more on that sebsite if you want to look), but the only one i could find showing the 'snowy owl' chair in its true light for Feb/March this year...i guess that one evaded the press!! 
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FAQ
see 
how far they travelled in the air! As you say, even something that good loses its edge fairly quickly on TV (something I think is intrinsic to any activity which involves going round and round and round and...) but I should think it's fab in 'real life'. Not something I expect to see around my neck o'the woods. 
