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,...

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Events / Resorts

What’s new at Grand Ski 2012…

by iain on Jan 20, 2012 • No Comments

This week saw the 21st edition of Grand Ski – the annual French snowsports event exclusively for the trade. This year saw 460 tour operators and agents from 17 markets around the world meet up with 238 exhibitors. Grand Ski was held in Annecy for the third consecutive year and will move to Chambery...

Ideas

How far away is this glimpse into the future?

by iain on Jan 15, 2012 • No Comments

Regular visitors to Skipedia will know what we love considering what our future is going to look like. Whether it’s considering ideas like virtual skiing, the advantages of a ‘world made of glass‘ or flexible computer and phone screens, they are sure to be with us at some point, it’s just a question of when....

Social Media

New Facebook Insights: Why there are more ‘People Talking About’ you than Lady Gaga…

by iain on Jan 14, 2012 • No Comments

Should you worry about the ‘People Talking About This’ metric? As a page owner, should you worry about the ‘People Talking About This’ metric recorded in your Facebook Insights and publicly on your Facebook page? Our answer is yes and no. But the good news is that you shouldn’t worry because there are probably more...

Tour Operators

Where are the ski companies of 1984 today?

by iain on Jan 9, 2012 • 86 Comments

Possibly our favourite Christmas present at Skipedia was an original 1984 copy of ‘The Sunday Times Guide to Ski and Apres-Ski’ (in association with Harpers & Queen, don’t you know…). Skiing was in a massive growth phase in 1984Written by Alastair Scott, who had been appointed skiing editor of The Sunday Times by Andrew Neil...

Resorts

After ‘Andrea’ – the storm that hit France

by iain on Jan 9, 2012 • No Comments

Les Trois Vallees recently posted these superb pictures on their Facebook page, which were just too good not to share. You can really imagine how cold and violently windy it was out there in the middle of the storm now known as ‘Andrea’ – just another part of what is becoming an epic snow season...

Resorts / Social Media

Snowbasin resort tackles social media ski patrol complaint head on

by iain on Jan 6, 2012 • No Comments

‘What if customers complain using social media?’ Our answer at Skipedia is simple – that’s great. Obviously no one wants an unhappy customer, but the great advantage of social media is that you can find out quickly if your customers are being negative about your brand online. Sunshine Village’s social media fail Then it’s...

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