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The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday

by iain on Sep 25, 2023 • 8 Comments

Looking through a recent survey from Le Ski, I was struck by one stat in particular. While it was encouraging to read that the number of UK skiers and snowboarders is predicted to grow by 14% in winter 2023/24, the fact that only 13% stay in catered chalets highlighted how...

Ideas

Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?

by iain on May 11, 2023 • No Comments

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing fast. A few years ago, it was just the name of one of Steven Spielberg’s less good movies, but in 2023 AI has moved from the world of ‘futurologists’ into the mainstream. The chances are that even if you haven’t tried ChatGPT (or Google’s ‘Bard’),...

Iain / Ideas / Tour Operators

‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines’ – article in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine

by iain on Mar 8, 2023 • 3 Comments

Iain’s article ‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines‘ has now been published in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine. It’s also now available as a special episode of The Ski Podcast My first experience of working in the ski industry came 35 years ago when I went to Chatel...

Iain / Resorts

Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay

by iain on Feb 8, 2019 • No Comments

Iain from Skipedia recently went ski touring in Morocco. Flying into Marrakech, and then travelling to Imlil (1740m), Iain then spent three nights at the Refuge des Mouflons (3207m), ski touring to different 4000m peaks. Ski hire was from Braemar Mountain Sports, guiding and logistics were organised by Toubkal Guide. You...

Resorts / Tour Operators

‘I’m a modern-day Batman’ says anti-ESF campaigner

by iain on Nov 2, 2014 • No Comments

These are difficult days for the ESF in the UK. The current legal cases against Simon Butler and Le Ski have stirred up plenty of negative sentiment within the British market against the ESF. Both cases – which deal with different aspects of the law – are currently at different...

Tour Operators

Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?

by iain on Aug 13, 2011 • 2 Comments

Okay, not strictly anything to do with marketing, but just for fun… So why do chalet girls bake a cake every day? As far as I know chalets have always left out a cake for their guests to tuck into for ‘afternoon tea’. After a long day on the slopes,...

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Resorts

What does your ski pass money get spent on?

by iain on Feb 16, 2024 • No Comments

Have you ever wondered where the money from your increasingly expensive lift pass goes? French ski resort Alpe d’Huez have answered that question by publishing a full breakdown of how they spend the income from lift pass sales. The price of a day pass in Alpe d’Huez is €62. That scales down to just over...

Resorts

Fire at Chamonix swimming pool

by iain on Feb 10, 2024 • No Comments

Yesterday afternoon (09 January 2024) a huge fire broke out at the Richard Bozon swimming pool in Chamonix at around 17:30 CET. Around 50 swimmers were quickly evacuated and there were no injuries. A friend of ours was in the changing rooms with her children at the time: “It was a very narrow escape. We...

Iain

Lesley McKenna interview on welove2ski.com

by iain on Feb 1, 2024 • No Comments

In the third of my new series of ‘Chairlift Chat’ interviews for snowsports website welove2ski.com, I spoke to Lesley McKenna, Olympic snowboarder and founder of Wandering Workshops. You can read this article here. You can also listen to the entire interview in Episode 191 of The Ski Podcast:

Ideas

Revealed: Elon Musk’s luxury chalet in the Italian Dolomites (or not)

by iain on Jan 19, 2024 • No Comments

The theory goes that Elon Musk was in the Dolomites and was so struck by the area that he commissioned architects BlueArch from Bolzano in Italy to design a mountain chalet for him. These photos on this page were produced by the company founders Alessandro Costanza and Alberto Montesi, who specialise in bespoke ultra-luxury projects....

Iain / podcast

The Ski Podcast article in ‘Scottish Ski Club’ magazine

by iain on Jan 10, 2024 • No Comments

It was a real privilege to be asked to contribute an article to the annual ‘Scottish Ski Club’ magazine. The Scottish Ski Club has been producing printed journals since 1907 and are sent annually to every member. Thanks to the work of club members Alan Forbes and Colin McFarlane, you can now access the entire...

Ideas

Uber offers ‘UberSki’ transfers from Switzerland to ski resorts

by iain on Jan 7, 2024 • 1 Comment

Uber has launched a new service connecting skiers from the main Swiss hubs to ski resorts. It’s not cheap. Fares cost from CHF140 to a hefty CHF390. Potentially that could be less than train fares for a family of four. Switzerland to French and Swiss resorts According to the website iamexpat.ch, UberSki will connect you...

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The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday

Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?

‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines’ – article in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine

Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay

‘I’m a modern-day Batman’ says anti-ESF campaigner

Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?

What does your ski pass money get spent on?

Fire at Chamonix swimming pool

Lesley McKenna interview on welove2ski.com

Revealed: Elon Musk’s luxury chalet in the Italian Dolomites (or not)

The Ski Podcast article in ‘Scottish Ski Club’ magazine

Uber offers ‘UberSki’ transfers from Switzerland to ski resorts

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