 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm interested to know what people think of the UK's ski mags. The three main paid-fors are Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard, Fall-Line, and Ski & Board; there are two main free papers distributed in ski shops and at dry slopes (In the Snow and Skier & Snowboarder); still some content in the thinning newspaper supplements and the odd travel mag. Not forgetting a couple of snowboard titles that I'm afraid I haven't examined closely. I admit personal interest as I've written for some of the ski titles and supplements. What's the verdict - especially on the 'big three'?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Bring back Dark Summer 
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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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^^^^^^^^^^^
FallLine otherwise
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Racer Ready, no questions.
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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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MountainMaid, They are all doomed. There has been a steady decline in distribution and in advertising going back a decade and the graph won't be turned upwards by anything. They have all failed to transfer their content and expertise to the web. I can't think of a single mag that has a sticky website that I'd revisit on an ongoing basis. That said, the content and production values of Fall Line eclipse the others and it deserves success as a magazine - perhaps if a few fall by the wayside it'll be one of those left standing. Trouble is, when advertisers get out of the habit of using mags in favour of the more measurable web advertising, there's only one way it's all going to go.
The stores have virtually stopped distributing the freebies. One told me they use the free mags as padding for when they need to send skis back to the distributor. I know that one of the big two retailers has decided to stop distributing free mags this season.
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Fall line is the best of the bunch, but could be improved
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Yep, Fall Line does it for me..
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| leedssteve wrote: |
| Fall line is the best of the bunch, but could be improved |
+1. Gear guides need to be taken with a big pinch of salt, but that's true for most magazine reviews regardless of sector.
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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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| Quote: |
They are all doomed. There has been a steady decline in distribution and in advertising going back a decade and the graph won't be turned upwards by anything.
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As long as people need to sit in bogs there will be a market for printed material with pretty pictures. And ski mags.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| leedssteve wrote: |
| Fall line is the best of the bunch, but could be improved |
+1. Gear guides need to be taken with a big pinch of salt, but that's true for most magazine reviews regardless of sector. |
Agree - probably hard to fix as long as people are being sent freebies etc. That is one of the ways it could improve - more objectivity about gear and resort reviews - whilst interesting they're pretty much gushing about everything they see/try. But as you've said, that's pretty symptomatic of a publication's means of testing gear.
To be fair to them, they do have some very good features.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Definitely Fall Line.
In the past couple of seasons they've made a concerted effort to write about resorts and countries beyond the brochures, and to highlight 'lesser discovered' areas in the usual alpine countries.
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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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| Mike Pow wrote: |
Definitely Fall Line.
In the past couple of seasons they've made a concerted effort to write about resorts and countries beyond the brochures, and to highlight 'lesser discovered' areas in the usual alpine countries. |
Plus the writers come across as real skiers. I'm sure the writers in DMSS are real skiers too but they come across as lowest common denominator pandering to the British package punter having had theri hand held by the tourist office throughout.
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fatbob, but why do I still buy it! I also have a subscription to Fall Line which is by far the better magazine, takes me more than a day to read
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You know it makes sense.
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All the UK magazines spend too much time on resort reviews imho. Fall Line is definitely the best of them though -- it's upped its game over the last year or so and has a breadth of coverage that the other magazines don't have.
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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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| Tiger2 wrote: |
As long as people need to sit in bogs there will be a market for printed material with pretty pictures. And ski mags. |
that's where my extensive back catalog resides. some go straight in there unread, then are discovered at a later date for perusal - always a nice surprise!
I like some of the American mags actually, have a sub to Backcountry & Telemarkskier, and pick up a few others when out there working occasionally
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Poster: A snowHead
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barry, strewth, how long do you spend in there?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Bode Swiller, a rare safe-haven round here!
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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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Agree completely about FL. It's the only one I want to read cover to cover - the content is not gushy, many pieces are people-based, it explores offbeat places and doesn't over-do resort info (which after all you can get for free in a brochure) and focuses on off-piste and adventures; plus - very importantly - it's intelligently presented. I don't mind DMSS but content is more mainstream so maybe more useful for newcomers or occasionals.
Bode Swiller, you're right, it's a challenging time for print to say the least, but I don't think the whole sector is doomed. I think it has been fairly saturated in the past (I'm talking mags mainly) compared to other countries' print sectors and in some ways it wouldn't be such a bad thing if it gets a bit slimmer. I'm optimistic that specialist mags and papers that offer a properly engaging, original and well presented read can not only survive but grow - and quite a range of consumer mags have done so lately, though of course you hear more about the death of print. I read the other day about several mags launched off the back of websites - lovely news for people like me!
And talking of transferring expertise and content to the web, I'd also be interested to know which ski sites people like, and for what purposes. Or perhaps once you're a snowhead not much else is required...?
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In the snow is the best. Okay - not a magazine but a freebie paper. The others are tosh in my opinion.
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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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| MountainMaid wrote: |
I read the other day about several mags launched off the back of websites - lovely news for people like me!
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Surely very isolated and limited examples? Remember most of us haven't got the hang of carrying around an always updated tablet with us yet but I imagine that content providers have to work to this potential readership who do not expect to pay more than buttons for feeds in the future.
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fatbob, FYI the daily mail ski guide is going to be in the Telegraph this year, maybe it will be less common denominator
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Fall line is the best easily, the daily mail resort reviews just seem to be padding, repeating the book wtss
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It's probably my poor eyesight, but although I like Fallline, I find it hard to decipher.
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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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We advertise in DM and Fall Line. Two different beasts with appeal to different skiers, but I personally do spend more time reading or looking at the pretty pictures in Fall Line. It is going through a revamp this season as it heads towards it's 100th issue with a new editor, so should be interesting.
Magazines, online or offline need to remind us what we are missing and inspire us about our sport. Even though I am a web guy I still think magazines do that better with good visuals, like fall line. That's why we print our own guide each year too.
We regularly trip over Fall Line staffers testing product and are members ourselves of the Fall Line Test Centre which is the annual ski test, so although all magazines have their politics, the data for the ski tests and the feedback comes from all of the UK dealers who make the effort, take the time and pay the money to actually try the skis, so there is some credibility there and I sadly don't get big brown envelopes of cash to influence my feedback! I think this is something they could shout about even more maybe and even show our stats to show you, the paying public, that there is some validity in the reviews.
It's also pretty hard to make a bad ski these days though, hence mainly positive reviews. But there are always subtle differences.
Back on topic both magazines are on our toilet shelf every month :0)
Scottydog
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Just out of interest, does anyone rate Ski and Board these days? If so why/why not?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
I think this is something they could shout about even more maybe and even show our stats to show you, the paying public, that there is some validity in the reviews.
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scottydog, I understand that gear reviews are something that get the most hits online on websites such as Fall-Line. Agree that most are pretty positive but what's good about FL's reviews is that the layout and content makes it very clear which skis/boots etc are best for which types of skiers/conditions, which is sometimes overlooked by others - and contains practical, usable info, entertainingly expressed.
Pedantica, sometimes there is text over background pics that makes reading difficult and getting really specific one page has crazy red diagonal stripes in the background...
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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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| MountainMaid wrote: |
| Just out of interest, does anyone rate Ski and Board these days? If so why/why not? |
Pravda
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| scottydog wrote: |
We advertise in DM and Fall Line. Two different beasts with appeal to different skiers, but I personally do spend more time reading or looking at the pretty pictures in Fall Line. It is going through a revamp this season as it heads towards it's 100th issue with a new editor, so should be interesting.
Magazines, online or offline need to remind us what we are missing and inspire us about our sport. Even though I am a web guy I still think magazines do that better with good visuals, like fall line. That's why we print our own guide each year too.
We regularly trip over Fall Line staffers testing product and are members ourselves of the Fall Line Test Centre which is the annual ski test, so although all magazines have their politics, the data for the ski tests and the feedback comes from all of the UK dealers who make the effort, take the time and pay the money to actually try the skis, so there is some credibility there and I sadly don't get big brown envelopes of cash to influence my feedback! I think this is something they could shout about even more maybe and even show our stats to show you, the paying public, that there is some validity in the reviews.
It's also pretty hard to make a bad ski these days though, hence mainly positive reviews. But there are always subtle differences.
Back on topic both magazines are on our toilet shelf every month :0)
Scottydog |
Some good points there, nicely put - cheers. I had inferred that the reviews could be overly positive, but what you have said makes a lot of sense. I doubt there are many bad skis out there, and the Fall Line annual review did form the basis for my own ski purchase (as in, gave me a few ideas re what to go and try). I think the formal reviews are more informative than the spot tests, because products are tested by a group rather than one person - that's not a negative, as they are of course different things, just an observation. I like the spot tests too.
Showing the stats etc could be difficult in terms of format, but it would be interesting if it could be put across in a readable way.
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You know it makes sense.
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| MountainMaid wrote: |
And talking of transferring expertise and content to the web, I'd also be interested to know which ski sites people like, and for what purposes. Or perhaps once you're a snowhead not much else is required...? |
Thinking more about your questions.... what I would really like in a ski magazine, is regular, detailed equipment/gear testing.
Perhaps look at Trail magazine for what I mean - they do monthly tests focusing on a particular piece of equipment, eg, 3 season boots/ winter tents etc, then start with a huge bunch, before narrowing down to a first and runner up place, with vast amount of detail that you just couldn't otherwise get - now that is good value - I keep some of those reviews.
If you could do a similar thing, say, touring skis or something, and turn the review into a feature, with lots of in depth info. That would be good. 
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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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leedssteve, Trail magazine translated into ski mag form would I suspect be very tedious. Loads of discussion of various garments which ultimately boil down to whether the tester likes the cut and/or design features/pockets etc. There really isn't that much to say about skis beyond a spurious discussion of a lot of the technical features that SkiCo marketing types like to extol - so much comes down the individual and how they ski, what they ski, how big they are. Long term tests would be interesting - seasonnaires reporting on how long it took their skis to delam/lose pop etc but again that would be highly subjective based on how abused the kit has been. I can coreshot anything pretty quickly if I don't ski defensively.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| fatbob wrote: |
| leedssteve, Trail magazine translated into ski mag form would I suspect be very tedious. Loads of discussion of various garments which ultimately boil down to whether the tester likes the cut and/or design features/pockets etc. There really isn't that much to say about skis beyond a spurious discussion of a lot of the technical features that SkiCo marketing types like to extol - so much comes down the individual and how they ski, what they ski, how big they are. Long term tests would be interesting - seasonnaires reporting on how long it took their skis to delam/lose pop etc but again that would be highly subjective based on how abused the kit has been. I can coreshot anything pretty quickly if I don't ski defensively. |
Can't argue with that - I have to agree with everything you've said! Consider myself corrected I like the long term test idea.....maybe also some detailed technique sections and how different skis effect the way you ski/styles etc. I guess at the end of the day it is just ski porn isn't it - give us lots of pretty pics and inspiring text and we'll be happy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nice new copy of Powder magazine came through postbox this morning...
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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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Whichin between photo galleries of Alaska has quite amusing article about dry skiing in the UK...
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