Thoughts on Snowsports

Iain Martin, The Ski Podcast

The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday
Ideas / Tour Operators

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...
Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?  
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’),...
'Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines' - article in 'Ski+Board' magazine
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...
Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay
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...
'I'm a modern-day Batman' says anti-ESF campaigner
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...
Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?
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,...
Latest entries
Iain Martin from Skipedia to speak at Brighton SEO
Ideas / Marketing / Resorts

Iain Martin from Skipedia to speak at Brighton SEO

by iain on Aug 22, 2013 • No Comments
Most British digital marketeers will know Brighton SEO – a superb free search marketing conference that takes place twice a year. Skipedia has attended the event the last few years and this year we are delighted to announce that we have been invited to present at the September 2013 conference. How Five Ski Companies Built...
US Market shows 3% decrease in participation
Ideas

US Market shows 3% decrease in participation

by iain on Aug 9, 2013 • No Comments
Snowsports Industries America have released their annual Snow Sports Participant Study showing that overall snowsports participation is down 3% year on year. Noting the slow start to the season, the survey suggested that there were 19.3 million participants across all disciplines.  There was a drop in Alpine Skiing participation by 19%, which with 8.2 million...
Two Brands Using Ashes Cricket Twitter Campaigns
Marketing / Social Media

Two Brands Using Ashes Cricket Twitter Campaigns

by iain on Jul 18, 2013 • No Comments
Most Brits are probably aware that England are currently battling Australia at cricket for possession of ‘The Ashes’. Twitter recorded high volumes of Tweets about cricket during the last Test match, particularly during the very close finish. With an interest in all aspects of social media, in cricket as well as snowsports, we’ve been following...
No recovery yet for snowsports equipment sales in the UK
Ideas

No recovery yet for snowsports equipment sales in the UK

by iain on Jul 17, 2013 • 1 Comment
Earlier this week we blogged about the recovery, albeit modest, in the number of Britons taking skiing holidays. This first increase in passengers in five years was welcome news, but was offset by research from from Snowsports Industries of Great Britain (SIGB) showing continued falls in equipment sales. Dramatic collapse in sales of skis and...
Crystal Ski Industry Report shows growth in market for first time in five years
Tour Operators

Crystal Ski Industry Report shows growth in market for first time in five years

by iain on Jul 15, 2013 • 1 Comment
Crystal Ski today released their annual ‘Ski Industry Report’ with positive news that the overall size of the market has grown for the first time in five years.    Helped by ‘good snow at the right time’ growth was modest at 1%, however Simon Cross from Crystal Ski claimed that it showed “early signs of...
Alpe d'Huez introduce great new Facebook cover photo
Resorts / Social Media

Alpe d’Huez introduce great new Facebook cover photo

by iain on Jul 8, 2013 • 1 Comment
July is going to be a big month for Alpe d’Huez. Last weekend they opened for skiing last weekend – an unusual summer event – and secondly, in just ten days time, the 100th Tour de France will be passing through the resort not just once, but twice in the same day.   Add in...

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email

Follow Skipedia

RSS Feed

Categories

Archives

© 2011 Skipedia | Site Map | Google+

Designed by Skipedia



The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. Please feel free to support or disagree with me in the comments section of each blog entry.