Author: Steve
Content Aggregation
I created thesnowway.com’s Aggregator to manage ski blog content. When I created it, there was a general lack of quality aggregation tools available (at least those that did not utilize an email client as a reader). I created the Aggregator for my own use. But since it was internet based rather than a local client, I shared it with others thinking I could increase exposure to other ski blogs.
Some might say that I was curating content. Visitors to TSW’s Aggregator could not control the feeds. I selected a collection of interesting blog feeds and others viewed my collection if they wanted.
I always had reservations about this public feed setup and the TSW integration. There is a lot of concern in the blogosphere about stolen content and attribution, and I can relate. TheSnowWay.com recently had a photo lifted without permission and poorly placed attribution.
Top Five Days of the 2011-2012 Season
#5 — Mad River Glen: Game On — December 30, 2011
Long before the season started to suck but long after the season should have properly started, Mad River Glen opened for the first day of the season. First tracks looked more like noon tracks. This was due to the prior days’ skin track looking like a Single Chair line on a powder day. But there was ample powder to snuff out in seriously ill advised locales.
#4 — Summer or Spring at Stowe? — March 19, 2012
Sometimes a great spring skiing day is way better than a great powder day. And it is always better than an average powder day. Unfortunately, this season had very little of either great or average powder days so it is a no brainer to include my best spring skiing day in my top five. Despite the ridge already having melted out, the spring skiing was stellar. Top to bottom bumps on Chin Clip absolutely killed it.
#3 — Dartmouth: TheSnowWay at the Skiway — March 11, 2012
I was brought to Dartmouth by The List. But I’ll be going back to Dartmouth because it is awesome. Actually, my desire to ski Dartmouth extended well past my creation of The List in 2010. This day made my top three even though at less than six inches, it didn’t qualify for TSW Powder Day status. Think about that.
#2 — MRG: Boot to Knee Deep is Boot to Knee Deep — February 26, 2012
This day wouldn’t have happened for me without Harvey. Despite forecasts for some powder, I wanted to save my legs for five days of skiing in a row. Throwing in with Harvey for his first trip to Mad River meant seven days of skiing in a row with three back to back powder days. I went for it and the forecasted few inches became my first (and only) boot to knee deep day of the season. If Harvey hadn’t reached out, I would have missed out. I was stoked to show Harv around the Glen, especially on such a great powder day.
#1 — Eyes Wide Open: Cannon — October 30, 2011
This day meant so much to me. This report was as close as I came to poetry all season. A lot is said and written about skiing and the meaning people attach to it. But for me, it is so ingrained that I don’t really reflect on it from that (often melodramatic) perspective. It is just what I do. But this day felt transformative and I reconnected with an aching passion in a meaningful way. Often times during great solo powder days, I rue my lack of companions and fellowship. But not this day. This day was all mine.
Thirty Days: A Season Retrospective
Thirty days may seem like a lot to many skiers. But I haven’t skied so few days since 2003-2004 (fifteen). But that doesn’t tell the whole story as 2004 was my final year in Massachusetts.
I was divisively split between the city and the mountains. My love of skiing was tempered by a developing stint as a club DJ in Boston and skiing was just one of my passions rather than my main focus. Fifteen days was a good season at that point. And now, double that is a bad one.
Ski Shops & the Internet
Neuvation’s January 3rd Newsletter (removed since posting) struck a chord. John Neugent was writing about the cycling industry and competition between local bike shops and online retailers, but the same issues are at play in the ski industry (incidentally, many bike shops double as ski shops).
Neugent is biased as his internet sales are much more robust and profitable compared to his brick and mortar sales. I come from the opposite retail perspective: a brick and mortar store with higher sales than our rapidly growing online store. Yet our vision regarding loss of business to online competitors is the same. Neugent writes:
“My job, either in my retail store or on the Internet is to give customers what they want while at the same time make a profit. Because of the Internet and more recently smart phones, our customers have fundamentally changed. Retailers who don’t change with the market will die.”
“The debate in the cycling industry should be how we can best provide those core services to our customers at a profit and not try to figure out ways to change their shopping habits.”
This is well put and on point. Customers want to utilize the internet to get the best deal. Consumers have developed shopping habits that include internet based comparison shopping. Local shops cannot change customers shopping habits, especially by brow beating them with guilt.