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.
thegnomewithnoname, thank you. It's magnificently scripted but lacks that final touch, the emotional punch of a classic tune during the closing credits ...
Given the recent drift of this thread, with photo support from DT68 and x7 above, maybe it's time for another nugget from Rob Tillard's book Ski Story - The Decline and Renaissance of the Ski Club of Great Britain. Given the Club's very long association with Zermatt, and the resort's even longer love affair with British skiers, the following may come as a surprise - a shock, even. But here it is in black and white, on pages 116-20: a chapter called "Crisis in Zermatt". Tillard was Secretary-General of the Club at the time (winter 1969-70). The club then had around 18,000 members, with a substantial percentage going to Switzerland:
Tillard begins by explaining that the winter had "... started badly when Zermatt said that, now that The Club was no longer the authority for British skiing [it had, in fact, lost control of British ski racing some years earlier] it would not accept Reps for the coming winter." ...
Quote:
"This was a disaster, because Zermatt was the top resort with many Club members skiing there. More than a hundred new members were recruited in the previous winter. Worse, Zermatt's example might encourage other resorts to follow suit in refusing hospitality ..."
He runs through a list of SCGB top brass who might have been sent out to troubleshoot the situation but were otherwise engaged ... and thanks his lucky stars that he got the mission! Rob Tillard [remember that this is a privately published book, with more than a hint of vanity but brimming with info.] rode the iron horse into town. His first job was to find out what was up. Some of Zermatt's mafia were complaining that the reps weren't generating enough business for the hotels and restaurants, because they were staying in chalets. They alleged that a rep would often ski with "only one or two people, often the same". Interestingly, one prominent businessman - the appropriately named owner of the National and Schweizerhof hotels, Herr Zimmermann - said ...
Quote:
"I have reps every year from Inghams and Erna Low, who bring us guests. Why should we give food and rooms to your Reps, who bring us no one?"
Other hoteliers in the room thought this was very unfair and rallied to the Secretary-General, but Tillard concluded "It showed that The Club was vulnerable and needed to be seen to bring guests to Zermatt. The Ski Club Holidays were vital."
Ultimately, tradition had won out and, as far as I'm aware, the SCGB has stationed a rep (or two) in Zermatt ever since. It has organised the famous Luttman-Johnson ski race and restaurant jaunt every February since the early 1970s - except 2013, it seems.
I'm not quoting that extract to rub salt into wounds, but as evidence that the SCGB maintains its repping/leading service via constant negotiation with tourist offices. St Anton quit hosting a rep a very long time ago. Mayrhofen, it seems, refused at late notice this winter. The Club now has to pay rent to accommodate reps in resorts - I don't know how many. There are, as we know, issues about off-piste leading in France, though the Club insists that it is legally in the clear.
The 'Ski Story' continues to unfold ...
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Wed 20-03-13 18:09; edited 4 times in total
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Comedy Goldsmith,
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.
Sure, this thread is now 60 quid a year, unless you're under 24.
How old are you?
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
x7 wrote:
#1
Class
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Sheep1: So erm... who's following who here?
Sheep2: Well since we're 'slightly' off-piste, we all just happen to be going in the same direction: you're not following me and I'm not following ewe... geddit?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
admin, Surely Sheep 1 said to Sheep 2 "What's zermatter with you down there?" and the reply came "it doesn't matter hun"
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
"I've just been fleeced by that mountain restaurant over there."
"Really? I self-cater with sheepHeads. There's a Migros supermarket in the village - roast vole tonight."
"What's the grass-skiing like around here?"
"Rubbish. Too many rocks. Best grass on upper slopes."
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Don't give up the day job.
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?
Well, she couldn't be much worse than the current crop. Though maybe getting paid or possibly having access presumably to all sorts of "benefits" qualifies them for milking in some way...?
Anyway, here you are...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Bode Swiller,
After all it is free
After all it is free
Best post on this thread by a country mile.
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.
Poor old PJFlounce is missing all the lovely milky-thighed fun. Wonder how much she urns?
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I'm not so sure what all the commotion is about... it is pretty evident that she is a poor example of a milk-maid... look how much she is spilling!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
The tea club needs to make up its mind what it is.
1. A members' club?
2. A business?
3. Or a self licking lollipop?
I have been a member for several years but the benefits no longer seem to be worth the dosh now that the Hemel corporate membership reduction has gone West in exchange for 3 months extra at the quite substantual full fare. That was the last remaining decent kickback that I was, in practice, getting from them. As for the magazine, I can put 'ski' into google and get a more balanced dump of adverts.
A year or two ago I put very much the same in response to a feedback request to the club but...
If they are listening then they need to sort their poo-poo out rapidly. Unless they actually want to become option 3 when current performance tends to suggest 1 and 2 are unachievable.
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.
mcspreader, sorry but I misread your username as muckspreader - which seemed appropriate given the agricultural turn of this thread. Nothing to do with your post content which is very sensible. I feel a bit sheepish posting this.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Indeed, dubaian, and what of the role of the Swiss cowbell in international ski racing?
You may laugh, but it's a historical fact that some of the glory days of the SCGB were played out on the slopes of Murren and St. Anton (etc.), as Arnold Lunn (the original, not the fake) pushed slalom poles into the snow for the first time and invented the future of ski racing.
Historical fact: Arnold Lunn, or rather the Lunns in general (his father Henry was a pioneering tour operator), was initially barred from membership of the Ski Club of Great Britain because of the family's commercial interests in skiing.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
This has obviously become a word-association thread. So, and continuing the theme of Arnold Lunn trivia (while gently steering this family thread away from CG's attempt to introduce swingers), I have always been entranced by a memorial tablet in a local church, both for the poetry of the language used and also for the snapshot of British pre-WW1 alpine history which it provides:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
DT68, beautiful stuff. Refreshingly, it doesn't mention if he was wearing a helmet.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Bode Swiller, or using coloured string.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
"There went out from England to search for him"
No Carre neige either
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?
Geoffrey Winthrop Young was one of the pioneer climbers in the Lake district, Tweed, big nailed boots, hemp rope and a pocket full of pebbles for chocks, definitely no helmet.
prometheus, he was the centre of gravity for many British alpinists just before WW1 (and generally regarded as the greatest English climber of his generation) but lost a leg in the War (while serving, as a conscientious objector, in an ambulance unit).
Elliott went on to be headmaster and, ultimately, Provost of Eton - a pre-war climbing injury almost certainly spared him the trenches as well as a part in the ill-fated Mallory/Irvine Everest expedition in 1924.
Lunn, Madan, Pope and Finlay had been contemporaries at Oxford who were drawn into Young's climbing circle. Madan was killed in the trenches in March 1916; Finlay was also killed in the trenches, dying just four months after Madan.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Thu 21-03-13 16:28; edited 1 time in total
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
"Therefore, a fast ugly turn is better than a slow pretty turn." Sir Arnold Lunn
While we look forward to the Alpine grazing season, here's some news from the croquet lawn of the Hurlingham Club: the SCGB summer party returns to this spectacular venue on Saturday 29 June. The Hurlingham has hosted many Ski Club Balls in the past (no, not croquet balls, silly), and the event has been de-foodied from the full-on banquet of former times, but there will be attractions aplenty.
Absolutely fabulous, darling, and where did you get that gorgeous dress/Californian surf shirt? [dress code will be non-posh, I believe]
Ticket prices are unconfirmed, as yet.
[Apologies: due to an editing error, the original post was lost. This is a reconstruction, from memory]
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Fri 22-03-13 14:11; edited 6 times in total
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Comedy Goldsmith, Excellent idea - do you think we could get discount for a snowHeads table
After all it is free
After all it is free
With your negotiating skills (is it true that your newsagent discounts your copy of the Financial Times?) I imagine that anything's possible, but please don't ask for a kickback.
What size of table did you have in mind?
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.
Brilliant location, they have done the right thing. Presumably the Northern one will be in a Wimpy bar or lorry park just off the M6.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Comedy Goldsmith wrote:
What size of table did you have in mind?
He generally likes them just above his knees when seated.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
