 Poster: A snowHead
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A certain David Ernst Goldsmith (sorry if you've never heard of him) these days seems to post on Winter Highland. Anyway, just seen that he's wasted no time in welcoming the Ski Club's new CEO who, it says, started today:
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Dear Frank McCusker
Congratulations on your new job as chief executive of the Ski Club of Great Britain, which begins today. At this juncture there is clearly huge potential for growing the organisation and any constructive and inclusive moves that you make will surely be warmly received.
You take up executive leadership of the Ski Club at a time when its membership has been flat-lining at less than 3% of British skiers – a situation that has continued for a considerable time. Therefore, the point you made on 29 May in accepting the role is particularly poignant:
“I am excited by this opportunity ... to ensure a vibrant thriving Club, relevant to all ages and types of snow sports enthusiast.”
Since you are a Scot (perhaps the first to run the organisation) this is perhaps a relevant moment to point out that the Ski Club of GB is currently unrepresented in Scotland and that Scottish skiers are not represented on its board, despite the Club defining itself as “the spokesbody of British skiers” [1995 mission statement] and “the voice of recreational snowsports in the UK” [2008 communications policy].
The percentage of Scottish skiers who belong to the SCGB might therefore be a worthwhile statistic to determine and build upon. In fact, it might also be a good idea to establish, definitively, the Club’s overall membership figure. The following numbers have been published by the SCGB since last autumn: 32,000 (29 Nov 2011), 30,000+ (21 Feb 2012) 31,000+ (22 Feb 2012), 33,000 (1 Mar 2012) and currently (2 July 2012) "around 34,000". Since your performance as CEO will be partly measured by membership growth it would be good to know exactly what you started with.
Relations with Scottish skiers have been affected by mis-reporting of Scottish snow depths, apparently by making them up or accepting false data from other sources. For example, last December the western Highlands were blasted with enormous early snowstorms, to the extent that the snow deposited was still being skied at the end of June 2012. On 16 Dec 2011 the SCGB reported that there was 45cm of snow on the upper slopes of Glencoe. On the same day the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) dug a 340cm snow pit on Glencoe, and on each of the subsequent days they measured 160cm, 240cm, 60cm, 370cm and 70cm at different locations.
On 6 Feb 2012 the Club reported that there was 50cm of snow on Glencoe’s upper slopes. The operator of the mountain said 150cm would have been a correct figure. There were many metres more snow in the deeper snow-holding gullies where the ski runs are located.
On 3 May 2012 (May proved to be the best month of 2011-12 for skiing on Cairngorm) the Club said there was 45cm of snow on the upper slopes, with the mountain “temporarily closed” (5 lifts were running). On preceding days the SAIS had cut 270cm and 280cm snow pits on the mountain. The Club then ceased reporting the snow on Cairngorm for the rest of May, leaving skiers to rely on other information sources.
As a completely fresh force on the scene, maybe you could take a look at this. If the Ski Club has no reliable Scottish snow reporters, maybe it would be best to link to this site – Winterhighland – and/or the Ski-Scotland site – so that British skiers can view live webcams, videos and photos from the slopes and read reports from skiers who have actually been on the hills.
On a related note ... I’m sure that any visits you make to the Scottish ski mountains would be warmly appreciated, since they are such an important element in the UK ski scene.
Yours sincerely
David Goldsmith (a London SCGB member) |
http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/read.php?2,148384
Now then, where's that microwave popcorn...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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What? No mention of eco-consciousness, the unnecessary profiteering of the avalanche safety industry, the Lewes avalanche, psychological profiling, the use of pseudonyms in internet fora and the costs of running the club HQ?
Mr Goldsmith is slipping.
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