202: Blair Aitken, British Backcountry Ski expert
Episode 202 is a special interview with Blair Aitken, British Backcountry ski expert. Blair is a former alpine national ski champion who has been backcountry skiing in Scotland since the mid-nineties. He now offers British skiers guided courses, introducing them to the Scottish highlands through his business British Backcountry. He is also the author of the book ‘Ski Touring in the Northern Cairngorms’. SHOW NOTES Blair was previously on the podcast in Episode 173 when we discussed the film ’10 in a Weekend’ (2:00) Blair skied on Hillend as a junior racer (4:00) Listen to our Dave Ryding special episode (5:00) Iain spoke with Zak Carrick-Smith in Episode 200 (5:45) Blair ran the New Generation Ski School in Val d'Isère (6:45) Starting British Backcountry (14:15) Gav Carruthers is Blair’s business partner (14:30) The impact of global warming on Scottish skiing (16:00) Cairngorm have introduced a ski touring pass (16:45) Watch Iain’s windy, raining ski touring experience at Glencoe (18:30) Travel by the Caledonian Sleeper to the Scottish ski fields is more popular (19:15) Blair’s book ‘Ski Touring in the Northern Cairngorms’ (20:45) Find out more about Iain’s trip to Scotland in Episode 203, going live on 01 March (25:45) If you like the podcast, there are three things you can do to help: 1) Review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 2) Subscribe 3) Book your ski hire with Intersport Rent using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. You can follow Iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast. Alternatively send your feedback about the show to theskipodcast@gmail.com