Skipedia

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,...

Latest entries

Branding

Slide 2012 round up: Bawbags, Shaun White, Dare2b and more

by iain on Feb 13, 2012 • No Comments

Skipedia was at Slide – the UK trade show aimed at actionsport and streetwear retailers – yesterday, taking a look at the new products coming to the UK market in 2012. With a focus on brands, here’s our round-up of the highlights: Bawbags booming…! This success story is one we are so delighted to share, you...

Branding

Bawbags are big and getting bigger…

by iain on Feb 13, 2012 • No Comments

While at Slide yesterday, we took the opportunity to speak to Midge Whyte, founder of Bawbags – a brand that is getting bigger and bigger. Whyte was looking for a new idea after previous clothing ventures and was thinking about a range of ‘Bawbags’ tshirts. But it was noticing a bunch of yoofs showing off...

Mobile

Mobile is gaining ground fast: will you be ready?

by iain on Feb 10, 2012 • No Comments

Does January 2009 seem like yesterday? That month a whole 0.9% of internet usage was using mobile phones. Three years later in January 2012, it’s 8.5%. Let’s look at those numbers: Global use of mobile devices to access Internet (excludes tablets) Jan 2009: 0.7 percent Jan 2010: 1.6 percent Jan 2011: 4.3 percent Jan...

Ideas / Resorts

Manchester: A tourist office like no other…

by iain on Feb 7, 2012 • No Comments

When Manchester relocated its visitor centre to Piccadilly Gardens in July 2010, they decided to make a statement by creating a tourist office like no other. Using state of the art technology, the £800,000 project is designed so that visitors to the city have an interactive and fun way to access information, as well as...

Resorts / Social Media

The Top 10 Swiss Ski Resorts on Facebook (Feb 12)

by iain on Feb 6, 2012 • No Comments

Following our previous looks at French, Austrian and Italian ski resorts on Facebook, a look at Switzerland is certainly overdue. Here’s the scores on the doors in February 2012: The Top 10 Swiss Ski Resorts on Facebook 1. Laax – 22043 fans 2. Davos Klosters – 19116 3. Crans Montana – 10811 4. Zermatt – 9130 5. Verbier –...

Social Media

“Find Barbie” campaign a social win for Schweitzer Mountain Resort

by iain on Jan 31, 2012 • No Comments

We loved this recent campaign by Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Idaho, tying together YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Barbie in a whole load of fun. A compelling video Normally a 3:20 video would be pushing the boundaries, but despite featuring Barbie and very little snowboard or ski action, we couldn’t help watching to the end. Lesson...

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