 Poster: A snowHead
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[Note: Thread re-titled following official confirmation from the CA. Skip to later postings for this]
I'm awaiting a call from the Consumers Association press office concerning the 'Good Skiing Guide'. Current indications are that 'The Good Skiing and Snowboarding Guide' (to give it its full title) will not be published this year. This book has been published annually since 1985.
The CA could not give a publication date for an edition this year. More on this shortly.
'Where to Ski and Snowboard 2006' - which is edited by Chris Gill and Dave Watts - has just been published. Time Out launched a guide to European ski resorts last autumn, and there are rumours of a second edition. More on that shortly, too.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 8-09-05 13:26; 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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I bought Time Out's guide last year, an excellent little publication. I've still got it, it's amongst the reading matter in my downstairs loo 
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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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The Time Out site has no news of a 2006 edition yet, but copies of the first edition are being sold off for £4.49 per copy (half price). Details here. I'll try to contact them later.
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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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.... an ominous silence from the Consumers Association. The first press officer I spoke to this morning - not speaking officially, as it were - hinted at the Guide being "rested" this year. Still awaiting something official, though.
As for Time Out, just spoke to them. The new edition is apparently out today, with a claimed "6 new countries" (big number - the person I spoke to talked of the guide covering skiing "from Siberia to Iran") and 10 new resorts.
More to come.
P.S. They told me the price of the 2006 book has been cut to £7.99.
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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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Is there sufficient change in worldwide skiing to warrant these guides being annual publications? Surely the most recent info can be found online, and the guide that you bought 5 years ago is still helpful?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob@rar.org.uk, the answer may be in your post. CA has been trying to get people to sign up to their on-line information, and perhaps by reducing the number of books they produce, they can drive up their membership that way.
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Wear The Fox Hat, that's a tough sell when there is so much info available online already, from tourist offices/resort websites plus independent sites like this one.
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rob@rar.org.uk, true, but if you look at the rest of their business - yes, you can get reviews on lots of different products, etc from other places, but many people in the UK choose to subscribe to Which?, so they must be doing something right!
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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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One of the CA's editors has just rung to confirm that a 2006 Good Skiing Guide will not appear. He mentioned a general policy decision to be taken concerning a number of the CA's books. A general announcement on their book publishing plans will be made in some months' time.
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But isn't this basically what's available on the SCGB website? That's why I never bother thinking about buying it, as all the info's there.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It's not just the means of publishing that is going through a revolution. Is the CA approach of collecting subjective opinions for presentation in a book (albeit some very experienced subjectivity) becoming a bit of a dinosaur? I'm sure there is still value in the standardised testing of certain consumer goods, but simply collecting facts and opinions must be must become commercial non-viable at some point in the future because of the advent of the internet?
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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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rob, I think you have it on the button there, except that collecting substantial numbers of opinions achieves a level of objectivity. The essential thing is that paying punters on ski holidays provide the opinions, primarily. Objective ski resort inspection by editors of books is an expensive exercise and - in truth - the CA have never achieved this to the levels they'd probably aspire to.
'Where to Ski and Snowboard' has overtaken the CA's book because it's been more active in soliciting readers' experiences on their ski holidays, as we've discovered on the other current thread on this.
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I bought the CA book in 1995. Since then it's been WtSaS every time, as its scope is massively superior. Over the years I've been to several resorts not described by the CA, but WtSaS has comprehensive coverage of each. And its descriptions have been spot on every time, too - it's a great book.
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FAQ
