RIP Skiing Magazine

[Glenn]

Bummer. I always loved magazines. Maybe it's something about a tangible read vs digital. I still get Ski; free for a number of years.

I noticed Ski getting a bit political and high and mighty. I don't need that. If I want that, there's other places to go.

 

[SkiFanE]

I used to subscribe to it.

For all the people < 25 on here, people used to pay money in the form of a check or via handwritten credit card numbers to subscribe to monthly periodicals made from paper, and they'd arrive at your physical mailbox once per month. You'd travel to the mailbox to retrieve it, paying careful attention lest a carnivorous dinosaur was skulking in the woods.

My 16yo requested Thrasher magazine subscription for 16th birthday. And then yesterday mentioned she's waiting for a new skateboard magazine she subscribed to but hasn't come yet (subscribed over the Internet with her own debit card). I showed my surprise - and she said "I got it for the free t-shirt, but they didn't ask for my size at check out so not sure I'll get it". Thrasher mag came with free t-shirt too lol. So I guess if they want young readers - give away a t-shirt.

Also - I really think she likes checking mailbox and finding things for herself in it.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Also - I really think she likes checking mailbox and finding things for herself in it.

I hate when I get stuff in the mail. But then again, it's usually a bill.

Sent from my SM-G930F using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[Hawkshot99]

East? I think you mean "90mm and under".

I believe that's what they call skinny carving skis.

Sent from my SM-G930F using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[ERJ-145CA]

I liked Skiing better than Ski too. I let my subscription to Ski end a couple years ago. I used to be a magazine junky and would subscribe to a magazine or three of whatever I was interested in at the time. Now I find that I don't read them as avidly and they are piling up and getting read later and later. I still have some unread Powder mags from last season.

 

[Edd]

What was interesting... I looked it up out of curiosity. The percentage of skiers that are white people is actually half a percentage point less than the percentage of Americans who are white, according to 2010 US census.

So if we are concerned with the idea of racial equality we'd actually need to proactively add a half % more white skiers in this country. But that was not the angle Skiing magazine took on the subject

That's a shocking statistic. I've skied all over New England and all over the west for years and my eyeballs put the whites at over 80%, easily. I'll look into this a bit because you've made me curious.

 

[VTKilarney]

Skiing Magazine states that:
"Of the 9.4 million skiers in the United States, 72 percent are white."
http://www.powder.com/stories/opinion/extend-the-family/#EezsI93gDXRBzu11.99

Of course they don't reveal their source. Thanks to Google I was able to find that the source is a 2013 study conducted by SnowSports Industries America. Their study showed that African-Americans made up just 7.3% of alpine skiers, while 72% were Caucasian. African-Americans made up slightly over 10% of snowboarders.

These statistics surprise me as well.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'm surprised by that number, but thats kind of cool. I had always just assumed it was still a very white sport.

Who really gives a ****?

I really dont understand a subset of the population's almost rabid obsession with race. It is now omnipresent & unavoidable. You simply cannot avoid it so obsessed are various media with the topic.

See the woes that Sports Illustrated is have now, as well as ESPN - Stick to what you're supposed to be about (Sports) and let the social/political pieces stay in publications and/or channels dedicated to that

Yeah, those two are almost absurd in that regard.

NBC Sports is even worse. The mental gymnastic lengths NBC Sports goes to to tenuously attempt to insert their political bias into a football, basketball, baseball, etc.... telecast is almost impressive for its' Rube Goldberg machine of logic path.

 

[drjeff]

Who really gives a ****?

I really dont understand a subset of the population's almost rabid obsession with race. It is now omnipresent & unavoidable. You simply cannot avoid it so obsessed are various media with the topic.




Yeah, those two are almost absurd in that regard.

NBC Sports is even worse. The mental gymnastic lengths NBC Sports goes to to tenuously attempt to insert their political bias into a football, basketball, baseball, etc.... telecast is almost impressive for its' Rube Goldberg machine of logic path.

Doing what I do for a living all day long, you get to appreciate that on the inside of a tooth, we're all pretty much the same, can have the same degree of disease, can prevent disease the same way, regardless of what one's color, sex, or ethnicity is. If one chooses to focus solely on the outside, then they often forget that were all WAY more similar than different...........

 

[BenedictGomez]

If one chooses to focus solely on the outside, then they often forget that were all WAY more similar than different...........

Agree 100%, and that's where the irony comes into play.

 

[Jully]

Who really gives a ****?

I really dont understand a subset of the population's almost rabid obsession with race. It is now omnipresent & unavoidable. You simply cannot avoid it so obsessed are various media with the topic.

All I said was it was kind of cool primarily because it goes against what I previously had thought. I find that mildly interesting. I also find it kind of cool because it means you are going to have a more diverse body of people skiing. Many Cubans or Puerto Ricans are going to have vastly different experiences than the average white skier from the suburbs of Boston or NYC. It also means ski areas have a wider population to grow their customer base from than I previously thought. Good for the longevity of the sport.

I agree you can't avoid it, but I just find it interesting in the skiing sense (anything besides the skiing sense is 350% not a topic for AZ). Any context of race outside of skiing is irrelevant to my point.

 

[bdfreetuna]

If it was 100% whites that skied it wouldn't be a problem. Last I checked people's sports preferences aren't based on racial quotas.

When you have a "ski states" like Vermont that's 96.7% white, Maine at 97%, Utah at 89.2%, Wyoming 92.7%, Idaho 89.1% ... it's interesting to see that other populations (not that I like to divide people racially into "populations") are represented as well as they are.

And interesting is where I leave it. Stats are good for perspective and that's that. Start advocating we need more of one race to do this and less of another race to do this other thing, because that somehow means equality, and I think that's when we're moving in the wrong direction.


edit: Jully I got what you meant, on the same page. It is good for longevity of the sport, and on a personal level I'm glad to see my wife and her Latino friends getting into the sport.

 

[Jully]

If it was 100% whites that skied it wouldn't be a problem. Last I checked people's sports preferences aren't based on racial quotas.

When you have a "ski states" like Vermont that's 96.7% white, Maine at 97%, Utah at 89.2%, Wyoming 92.7%, Idaho 89.1% ... it's interesting to see that other populations (not that I like to divide people racially into "populations") are represented as well as they are.

And interesting is where I leave it. Stats are good for perspective and that's that.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

 

[Edd]

Who really gives a ****?

Almost certainly marketing departments. For ski areas, gear, and so on.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Almost certainly marketing departments. For ski areas, gear, and so on.

I'm telling you tho, if I was a ski area I'd be marketing to Latinos. I work in advertising and that's what I consider a sound investment.

 

[dlague]

Agree 100%, and that's where the irony comes into play.

All bleed the same!

 

[SkiFanE]

I'm telling you tho, if I was a ski area I'd be marketing to Latinos. I work in advertising and that's what I consider a sound investment.

. Yup. With a good chunk of metro Boston being Hispanic and a good chunk of ski area visits are from Bostonians - it makes sense. Especially as they get upworldly mobile. My daughter's boyfriend is from Colombia and when he visits over Xmas break he loves to ski. Like insanely loves it. The cold doesn't bother him. I had a Hispanic intern from Lawrence Ma that loved to ski - he'd go to small places in NH with his group of friends. He and his friends are future revenue as their income rises...they have families... etc etc.

 

[deadheadskier]

I get a free Ski Magazine subscription and also have a Powder Magazine subscription my wife got me as a Xmas present.

I don't really care for either. Ski magazine just seems overly loaded with advertisements. Powder has a lot more articles and great pictures, but most of the articles don't and never will apply to my or 99% of most skiers real life experiences. Reading about some sponsored skier's heli skiing adventures in the BC back country just bores me. It's awesome that they get to do it, but it's not on my radar.

I'm mostly interested in reading about ski destinations I can access. If the average magazine had ten articles per issue about different destinations the average Joe can get too, I'd be all about it. Tell me about what makes the place great now and what the plans are for the future. Share a few current local secrets both on the hill and off. These magazines have like six issues a year. There's something like 500 ski areas in the country. At ten reviews per magazine you could go almost a decade before repeating an area and over that time a lot will actually change. Give me four articles per magazine on Eastern areas, four on the West and a couple of middle America areas. The magazines could likely solicit local authors for the articles and local photographers capturing pictures when conditions are prime. The local author can interview Mountain GMs about future plans. Lots of information about attainable ski experiences is what I want to see. This is where I think the magazines lack much of



Sent from my XT1565 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[drjeff]

Hands down, the best ski related magazine that I've ever subscribed to is Ski Area Management Magazine (www.saminfo.com)

It's not cheap. It's an industry trade magazine, so you're not going to get articles about the best restaurants and/or runs at such and such a ski area.

You get articles about snowmaking, grooming, lifts, industry trends, etc. Basically if you're interested in how the vast majority of all aspects involved with running a ski area happen and what resort operators are thinking about operations, it's a really interesting read each issue.

If you want information about trails, restaurants, and other off hill activities at specific resorts, then you won't think it's worth the subscription cost

 

[BenedictGomez]

All I said was it was kind of cool primarily because it goes against what I previously had thought.

I wasnt meaning to single your comment out, just vent on how frustrating and sickened I'm getting with this. It's everywhere. I watch an hour of CNN and freaking virtually every subject they somehow manage to bizarrely & obsessively tie into race. I'm just done with it.

Ski magazine just seems overly loaded with advertisements.

Even the "articles" are sometimes disguised advertisements!